Zombie Games Book Five (End Zone) (4 page)

I grimaced and the zombie’s
black lips pulled up into a black toothy grin, as if it knew what we were talking about. Its eyes traveled slowly to Kristie who took a step back.

“
Okay…why in the hell is that thing smiling at me?” she asked in a strained voice. “Like it knows something that I don’t.”

Page smirked.
“Hell, I think she just found her donut.”

“Time to close shop,” I said, pulling the cord on the curtain. Seeing that cold smile on the zombie’s face was giving me the creeps. It made me wonder if there was something actually going on up there.

Paige and Kristie stood back. As the curtain started to close
, the zombie began to moan its frustration and slap at the glass with its one hand.

“That window isn’t going to break, is it?” asked Paige when I dropped the cord.

“No,” said Kristie. “It should hold up.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “Actually, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to have your weapons within reach, girls.”

“I think we’ll be fine. That glass is pretty thick,” I said. “She’d have to throw something pretty heavy at it for it to break. I doubt she has enough sense to do something like that.”

The window slapping sound stopped.

Paige snorted. “Don’t give her any ideas, Cassie. I think she can hear us through that glass.”

“Even if she could, she’s not inte
lligent enough to do that,” I said. At least I hoped.

“Don’t underestimate those things,”
said Paige..

Now, feeling nervous,
I peeked through the curtain and watched as she shuffled away from the window and towards the steps. I winced as she missed them completely, landing on her face once again, this time in the grass.

I almost felt sorry for her.

She stood back up and
turned around.

I closed the curtains quickly.

“What’s it doing?” asked Kristie.

“Leaving,” I said.
“Hopefully.”

“Good,” replied Paige.
“Maybe she’ll bother the neighbors and forget all about us.”

The neighbors.

I wondered if they’d all turned into zombies or if any of them were still around. It would have been devastating for my grandparents
if they’d have had to shoot any of them on the way out of here. They’d been good friends with most of the people on their block.

“
You know, I’m surprised we haven’t seen many survivors. What about you Kristie?” I asked turning towards her. “Did you run into any on the way back?”

She took out a tube of Chapstick and applied it to her lips.
“No,” she said, putting the cover back on. “We haven’t seen much. Just Adria, that creep Travis, his driver, and your grandparent’s friends on the Saint Croix. Other than that, nobody else.”

“They
really didn’t want to leave, huh?” I asked, still not liking the sound of that. If things weren’t so complicated, I’d try and talk them out of staying.

Kristie nodded.
“Guess not. I wasn’t there, but they told Bryce they felt safer on the boat.”

I thought abou
t the zombies entering the water and it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. The possibility of it actually being tainted with blood was unsettling. “Well, I hope they have weapons.”

“Tom pulled a gun on Bryce,”
replied Paige. “So I’d have to say so.”

I sighed.  “That’s good, I guess. I still wish they’d come back to Atlanta with us.”

Paige sat back down on the sofa and pulled her hair over her shoulder. “I know. I think Bryce may have told them about the hotel, so they can meet up with us if they change their mind.”

“Hey, are those head
lights?” asked Kristie, opening the curtain again.

I stepped next to her.
“I think so.” A rush of relief warmed my stomach as they grew closer. Although I knew the guys could pretty much take care of themselves, they weren’t superhuman. A bullet or even one wrong step when combating a zombie could prove deadly.

I looked outside as a large SUV stopped in front of the house. I could see Bryce in the passenger seat and I had to fight the urge to rush outside and throw my arms around him.
With my luck that zombie that looked like Eva would be my demise.

“Thank God,” said Paige. “I thought they’d never get back here.”

“Missing Justice, Paige?” asked Nora.

Her eyebrows flew up.
“No,” she protested. “Why would I miss him? I don’t even really know him.”

“Oh come on, we all saw the way you’ve been drooling over
that guy,” she replied with a smirk. “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Paige rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I haven’t been drooling over him.”

Kristie chuckled. “She’s definitely got it for Justice. Her voice even changes when she talks to him.”

Paige scowled.
“What do you mean my voice changes?”

Kristie
fluttered her eyelashes. “Justice,” she gushed. “I love that tattoo of the scorpion on your back. It’s so dreamy!”

“
I didn’t say dreamy, I said
cool
,” snapped Paige. “
Dreamy
is like from the sixties.”

“Oh come on, since when have you thought scorpions were
cool?” asked Kristie.

“Since
Justice removed his shirt earlier,” teased Nora. “Ever since then she’s wanted to get stung.”

“That’s ridiculous,” replied Paige, crossing her arms under her chest.

“Oh, we’re just teasing,” said Kristie. “Lighten up.”

“
Whatever,” she said. “I don’t think it’s funny.”

Kristie sighed.

Paige raised her chin. “Seriously, though, you guys have to admit, the tat was really cool.”

“It was,” I replied.
It had been really cool but the sparkle in Paige’s eyes earlier hadn’t been from the tattoo. It was the guy under the ink.

Just then, t
he front door opened up and Tiny, Bryce, and Justice walked in.

“Well that was certainly a pain in the ass,” said Bryce, looking
weary.

“Why? Did you guys run into some problems?” I asked
as Tiny locked the door.

“You could say that,”
replied Tiny, moving towards the window. “We were almost shot taking the Yukon that’s now parked in the alley. I think we lost them, but I don’t want to take any chances. Let’s get moving.”

“
Who were they?” asked Kristie, looking out into the darkness nervously.

“Looters,
I think,” said Tiny. “They took us by surprise after we located the keys for the SUV at one of the neighbor’s homes up the street. They chased us for a few miles until we finally lost them. That’s why it took us so long to get back here. You girls haven’t noticed anyone near the house, have you? A big white pickup?”

“No,” I said. “Unless they drove by without lights and we didn’t see them.”

Tiny rubbed his chin. “Well, like I said - let’s get packed and moving. Just in case.”

“I
just don’t understand people,” said Kristie, frowning. “You’d think you’d want to ban together with people, not try and rob them.”

“
How many were there?” I asked.

“Couldn’t tell,” said Bryce. “
They started firing at us and we took off.”

“What happened?” asked Henry,
stepping into the family room wearing the clean white button-down shirt. The other one had splattered blood from Travis and we’d burned it.

“
Looters again,” I said. “The guys ran into some when they went out to search for a vehicle.”

He smoothed down his white hair and put on his Stetson. “
You get them bastards?”

“
No, but they almost got us,” replied Tiny, walking over to Henry. “You get much sleep?”

“Just re
sted my eyes some,” he replied, rubbing his lower back. “Feller like me can’t sleep too long with a herniated disk.”

“You need to take it easy,” said Tiny. “You’re always overdoing it.”

“No way around it when you’re trying to fight zombies and rescue people,” he replied, patting the pocket of his shirt. “Oh, hell, where’s my chew?”

“Forget the chew, why don’t we find something for the back pain? In fact,
I think I have some aspirin,” said Kristie, walking over to her duffel bag.

He waved his hand.
“Just keep them,” he said. “If I don’t feel the pain, I might mess it up even more.”

“You sure?” she asked,
pulling out a bottle of pills. “I’ve got some right here.”

“If you really want to help my back, you’ll massage it,” he replied with a
wide grin. “Haven’t had me a good back massage since the nursing home.”

“We don’t really have time, gramps,” said Tiny
, frowning. “We need to get out of here and search for the girls.”

“I know,” he replied. “Obviously, my old bones can wait
.”

“Don’t worry Henry, I’ll rub those old bones of yours later,
” said Kristie, kissing him on the cheek.

His eyes twinkled. “Haven’t had me a kiss or a promise for some bone rubbin’ in a very long time. This is a good woman, Tiny. Better treat her well or I’m gonna steal her from you.”

Tiny put his arm around Kristie’s waist and brushed her lips with his. “Whatcha think, babe? Am I treating you good or do I need to step it up?”

She smiled grimly. “You find me those girls and there’s no higher step than that, Tiny.”

His face became serious. “I’m going to do everything in my power. I promise you that.”

“I know,” she replied
, staring up at him. “And I have total faith that you will.”

“
Damn right,” said Henry. “If we have to search the ends of the earth, we’ll find them.”

Ends of the earth
.

His words made me shudder. The truth was they could be headed anywhere and it was going to take a miracle to find them.
If
they were still alive. 

“You okay?” asked
Bryce pulling me into his arms.

“Yeah. Just worried.”
I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against his chest. As usual, his embrace gave me strength. “I’m just so glad you made it back to me.”

His kissed the top of my head.
“Me too, Wild.”

I sighed.
“I’m sorry.”

He pulled away and looked down into my eyes. “For what?”

“For coming here,” I replied softly. “If it wasn’t for me taking off like that, none of this would have happened. The girls would be safe, Luke would still be alive, and
nobody
would be missing.”

His eyes softened. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Besides, if we wouldn’t have come looking for you
, we wouldn’t have rescued Adria.”

“Yeah, but her life is in danger now
,” I replied.

“
Not as much as it was when she was on that boat in Stillwater. Another few seconds and she would have been zombie food if it wasn’t for Billie and Paige.”

“And now he’s kidnapped her. I just don’t get it.”
I bit the side of my lower lip. “Where do you think he’s taken them?” 

“Maybe back to Atlanta? What do you guys think?” he asked turning around.

“I think Atlanta is a pretty good assumption,” said Nora. “Heck, maybe he misunderstood us and thought we were all driving in separate vehicles.”

Paige snorted. “I doubt it.”

Nora’s face darkened. “Why do you have to be so pessimistic all the time?”

“I’m not.
It’s just that there was only one vehicle here, so
why
would he think that we were all driving separate? It wouldn’t make any sense,” she countered.

“It wouldn’t make sense, but he also may have not been thinking clearly,” said Nora.

“You’re right. He may have been confused,” said Kristie. “Look at what had just happened before he walked out the door. If that wasn’t enough to drive someone a little off center, I don’t know what else could.”

Paige sighed. “Yeah. Maybe
.”

“There are other
things to consider,” said Bryce. “I hate to say this, but it’s also possible that someone else kidnapped Billie
and
the girls.”

Kristie’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“I’m still going with my first gut feeling,” said Paige. “And if you ask me, I believe that Billie brought the girls back to the Mall Of America.”

“Why would he bring
them back there?” asked Bryce.

Kristie
sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Paige has this crazy notion that Travis is controlling Billie.”