Z Children (Book 1): Awakening (18 page)

“Marvin works in
the tech industry that designs and processes these types of systems. Some are
fully automated and will accept credit cards on a delayed basis, because the
credit institutions aren’t directly involved in their regulation. So, for a few
days at least, some of these pumps will dispense gas as long as they have
power.”

I smiled and
nodded my head in understanding. That was a handy bit of knowledge to have. I
plugged away that tidbit of info for future use and opened the door to step
out. It was as good a time as any to impress upon them my resolve to separate
from their… ‘flock’. Predictably, Cindy hopped out of the car also and began to
speak hurriedly.

“Now, you really
should stay with us, Virginia. Nothing’s more important than saving your soul
and the savior can do that. Let us take you to the Temple. You’ll understand as
soon as you step inside. I promise you…”

I interrupted
her, my voice sharp and resolute. “There’s no use trying to stop me, Cindy. I
appreciate you all wanting to help me, but…”

I stopped
mid-sentence. Cindy, so recently intent on saving my soul, he wasn’t looking at
me anymore. She was looking over the hood of the van and past me.

The hair stood
up on my neck, sentries warning me that something bad was coming my way, but I
was afraid to turn. I watched as the color drained from the woman’s face and
beads of sweat appeared on her brow. I willed myself to slowly face whatever
horror had paled my companion and arrested her speech. The little voice of
reason in my head chided
– bet the Temple looks damn good now, doesn’t it?

I was on the
same side as Marvin and Tye pumping gas. As my gaze roved over and past them, I
realized that neither of them had realized the threat that Cindy had seen. They
were too involved, talking in whispers with Tye clutching their ‘good books’ to
his chest. I had a feeling that I was the subject of conversation- how to make
the heathen stay with them until they could convert her. Maybe they just
thought a doctor would be useful. Whatever their conversation, they weren’t
paying attention.

And they should
have been.

Because heathens
weren’t the worst thing in the world anymore.

Three day-mares,
none of them taller than three feet, were sitting quietly on the trunk of an
Oldsmobile parked just in front of the mobile ice cream parlor.   

Triplets.

Three identical
children with fine, white-blonde hair and cobalt eyes that were so vibrant that
the milky film of infection did not obscure the intense shade. Saliva and
chocolate ice cream dripped from their too-shiny, too-sharp, white little
teeth.  

I couldn’t
imagine a more poorly-matched set of opponents. A mild-mannered, middle-aged
doctor and three people who believed a book could protect their physical
bodies. .

We were exposed,
in so many ways.

All of us were
out of the van and a mere fifty feet from the reaper, although, I could not
imagine these kids, who were somehow intensely beautiful and intensely scary,
wearing a dark shroud.

We had no
weapons. Did we? Tye had mentioned a shotgun, but it could be back at their
house for all I knew.

“Cindy!” I
shouted the woman’s name fiercely. “Cindy, where’s my medical stuff?!” I just
took it on faith that they had picked up the cheap drawstring bag and not left
rolls of gauze and priceless antibiotics on the road like a bunch of idiots who
thought prayer cured every bacterial infection and bodily distress.

My yell finally
shut Marvin and Tye up- Tye’s mouth was frozen mid-joke and they both looked
confused. Their expression was clear-
what’s wrong with that godless woman
now?

 I was far
from godless, but now wasn’t the time to profess my faith, which was, decidedly
more docile than that of the Gadsons’.

“Medical stuff?”
I could tell that Cindy wasn’t understanding me, that fear was eating away at
her ability to think.

“My pack I had
when you all ran me over!”

“Oh… that? I think
Marvin tossed it in back with the luggage. Why would you need medical
supplies?” She smiled softly. “There’s nothing God can’t handle.” Her voice was
soft, absent of the terror she definitely felt. The woman was internalizing,
wrapping religion around the horror like a tree repairing storm damage.

“What the hell
ever! God also helps those who damn well help themselves!”

I didn’t even
care that I’d cussed; let the Gadsons’ condemn me. I just wanted to fucking
live.

I raced to the
rear of the vehicle. The lift gate was locked. “Please, Marvin. Unlock the
back. Please!”

I glanced around
the side of the van. Marvin and Tye were now huddled with Cindy. Their eyes
were closed, the book held in all three sets of their hands.
Idiots! Fucking
idiots!
The children had abandoned the trunk of the early model Olds. They
were moving towards us- neither slowly nor with fervor. They moved slowly, with
the certainty that they could take their time and still bag fresh meat for
lunch.
Well, I’m not a walking human beef buffet! Eat the morons with their
eyes closed!

I thought about
diving back into the car, but all the windows were down and it would be a
short-lived sanctuary. I glanced around the parking lot and the area
surrounding it. Near the road was a highway service truck, its driver’s door
slightly ajar, but the windows were up. It was a hundred feet away. It seemed
like miles, an impossible situation, stalking killer triplets, the useless
Gadsons. I was as good as dead. It was my only option though. I sure as heck
wasn’t running into the station. Anything could be waiting for me in there. I
flexed my muscles to bolt, just as Cindy screamed.

So much for
prayer
.
And, despite that thought, I sent a silent plea to the big man upstairs as I
began to run full-out toward the truck.

The pain in my
body almost made me wretch as I made the mad dash to the truck. I heard
animalistic snarls followed by the screams of both teen and mother. I glanced
over my shoulder in mid-stride to see Marvin swinging the gas nozzle like a makeshift
medieval flail, but his attempt to defend was futile. The good book hadn’t
saved them.

Marvin fell
backwards, a monster attached to his face like some disturbing scene from an
Alien’s rip-off. I couldn’t see him, his body now obscured by the van. I
hesitated, not seeing any more movement. I was halfway to the truck. Had they
killed the Gadsons? Had they forgotten about me?

I noticed one of
the towheaded ‘angels’ laying in a pool of black fluid near the front of the
van. A result of the metal gas nozzle and Marvin’s panicked defense of his
family? I didn’t care how it was dead. It was dead, but… where were the other
two? Slowly I continued moving backwards toward the truck, wary now and worried
that my pause had doomed me.  My gaze was glued to the van, waiting for
the remaining two of the former triplets to appear.

I was within
thirty feet of the partially-opened truck door when the other two zombie
children leaped in unison over the front of the van and began to bound towards me
like large cats.

I turned and let
loose a guttural cry as my body refused to move faster than second gear. I
wasn’t going to make it. They were just too damn fast! Why had I stopped to
take a look? I was the moron now, tempting fate as much as three people relying
on a book and belief to save them.

It may as well
have been suicide by idiocy.  I’d just killed myself.

Help!
My mind
screamed, seeking aid from that unseen force I often ignored.

The silent plea
morphed into an audible shriek. On the hood of the service truck was the most
terrifying animal I had ever seen. It was wolfish, but not a wolf, resembling a
German Shepard, but with distinctive markings that were uncommon to the breed.
Its prosternum, upper legs, shoulders, and neck were covered in hideous burn
scars, leaving much of his body without fur.   I froze. I had nowhere
else to run, so I waited for the inevitable.

I gasped and
fell to my knees as the animal leapt, its sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight.
Its growl was vicious, full of primal anger and raw hatred. I could not say why
this animal found me so threatening, but it did. And I was dead. At least my
tombstone wouldn’t read ‘died of her own stupidity’.

Closing my eyes,
I decided this really wasn’t so bad. I wouldn’t have to deal with the
apocalypse.

A whoosh of air
and a brush of fur against my body; the dog had passed me, sailing towards the
threat behind me. The screeches of displeasure from the two zombie children
were deafening. I heard a crunch and rip of flesh as the dog attacked and I
rolled over on my butt to watch the death match unfold.

The dog had
ripped away the neck of the first child. He couldn’t have had any time to
react, not from the look on his now inanimate face- frozen in surprise, somehow
made innocent again in sudden death. His slight body wilted toward the ground,
falling into a small heap of ‘boy’ covered in blood.

Now my furry
savior was crouched and circling the last of the terrible triplets, but this
one wasn’t going to be caught off guard. He matched the animal’s movements with
precision and patience.

They circled
each other for what seemed like an eternity, until finally the dog had the girl
in an advantageous position- facing away from the truck, away from me. It was
like watching a perverse game of chess, and I was the king- without skills and
needing protection.

The dog did not
attack. Why wasn’t he attacking?!

I didn’t have to
wait long for my answer.

The
ear-splitting crack of a rifle broke the air, so recently arrested in an
animal-zombie stalemate.

The deadly
little zombie’s head exploded in a shower of brains and red, a special order of
spaghetti with marinara on the pavement. Satisfied that he had done his job,
the ferocious looking animal ambled back toward me and sat down in front of me
as if making sure I didn’t move. Moving was the furthest thing from my
terrified mind. Where the hell had the bullet come from? Who had killed the
kid?

A man’s voice,
brusque and deep, accompanied heavy footfalls. “Good job, Ranger. Looks like
you earned your keep for the week.” I looked for the voice, and there he was-
scruffy and tall. “How you doing, Miss?” He reached out his hand to me,
offering to lift me to my feet. I stared at that hand, scarred and well-worn.
He dropped it after an instant, realizing I was too traumatized to respond. The
dog… Ranger… sidled up to the man, pushing into his side until receiving what
he wanted- a good scratch behind the ears.

“I asked if
you’re okay. Have you been bitten?”

This man,
unkempt, a bit grizzly, at least in his late thirties… he was the most
wonderful man she’d ever seen. “Are. You. Okay?” He asked again, punctuating
each word as if I was a small child needing crayons and paper.

I stuttered,
forcing the words out. “I am okay. Thanks to you.”

“You mean,
thanks to us,” came a voice, young and girly, from around the back of the
service vehicle. “I mean, I didn’t really do anything, because JW made me stay
in the truck, but Ranger did and he’s sort of my dog.” My eyes left the man and
animal and found a pre-teen in torn jeans.

Curly, dark
auburn hair was an unruly, frizzy mess around a freckled face. Black rimmed
glasses framed bright green eyes, which held an undeniable degree of grief. The
girl smiled at me though, a motion that took away some of the poorly-disguised
sadness. She jabbed a thumb at the big man standing nearly over me. “He’s great
though. Really. You couldn’t be in better hands now.”

JW, as the girl
had called him, grimaced. “No one’s making you come with us, just to make that
clear, but company’s not something to scoff at in terms of safety.”

“Like I’d
survive on my own out here for long.” I wanted to say I was independent, able
to survive and that the duo and dog could get the hell away from me, but I was
a doctor, practical, rational, logical. Most of the time…

The grizzly man
nodded. “Need anything before we leave? You seemed damned determined to get
into that van’s trunk before.”

It was my turn
to nod. “Yeah, I need my medical supplies.”

“You a doctor?”

“Yes.”

JW nodded again.
“Alright, I’ll be back. You stay with Bonnie and Ranger.”

I didn’t
respond.

So, this is the
company I keep in an apocalypse- first a van of religious zealots and now a
hobo, a girl, and a torn-up canine. What did I do to piss off lady karma?
Today had been
too fucking much to process.

I flopped back
onto the pavement and stared up at the sky.
Stiff drinks at the end of the
world should be a medicinal must- along with antibiotics and sterilized
bandages.