Zombie Games Book Five (End Zone) (8 page)

“Speaking of,” said Tiny. “You guys keep your eyes peeled. Just in case. Hey, you getting wet
from the rain back there, Justice?”

“A little.
But I won’t melt.”

“Good. How’s your hand doing, Nora?” asked Tiny.

“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s still bleeding, but I’ll live.”

“Good.”
Tiny turned left as we all watched uneasily for the headlights while Bryce continued giving directions. When we finally reached the police station, there were three squad cars parked in the back lot, along with a few regular ones. The building, unfortunately, was dark like the rest of the city, and didn’t look very promising.

“
It looks pretty empty,” said Kristie, craning her neck as we drove around the building. “Otherwise wouldn’t there be lights
somewhere
? I’m sure they’d have had to have a backup generator.”

“E
ven if this place is inhabited, I’m guessing they’d be conserving energy,” said Tiny. “Especially this late at night.”

As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a
couple of familiar shadows lumbering around the garbage dumpsters. As soon as they noticed
us
, the zombies turned and began shuffling our way in earnest.

Frowning,
Tiny backed up the SUV until the fender was up against a tall metal fence. “There, this should make it harder for any of those bastards to get in through that broken window.”

Kristie
’s forehead wrinkled. “Well, let’s hope. There’s still a little clearance.”

“It will be fine,” replied Tiny.

The zombies approached the SUV in the rain, their gaunt faces slick with water. If anything, I thought they looked even more gruesome.

“I suppose we should take these two out,” said Tiny.

“I’ve got ‘em,” said Justice. He climbed out of the back window holding a baseball bat and charged after them.

“Be careful, Justice!” hollered Paige.

“See what I mean?” said Kristie. “If a big kid like him can get out, they can certainly get in.”

“He still had to inch his way out. The zombies aren’t going to figure out how to maneuver their way in,” replied
Tiny.

“
Let’s hope not,” she said.

“
Uh, you guys better get out there and help Justice,” said Paige, watching as several more zombies rounded the corner of the precinct.

Tiny
pulled a gun out of the glove compartment, stuck it into his jeans and then grabbed a wooden mallet sitting by Kristie’s feet. “After we take care of these guys, you should be just fine waiting for us out here.” He looked back. “Hey, you coming, Gramps? I’m sure you need to stretch out your legs and relieve some pressure in your back.”

Henry
didn’t answer, he was sleeping.

I picked up the crowbar.
“He’s out cold.”

“Whoa, what are
you
doing?” asked Bryce.

I nodded towards the building. “
What does it look like I’m doing? You need my help.”

He touched my arm. “
Oh no… you stay out here with the girls. Tiny, Justice, and I can handle this on our own.”

I
raised my eyebrows. “You don’t know exactly what’s in there. There could be a dozen zombies wandering around.”

“Even
better
that you stay out here,” he said.

“Look,” I said, clenching my teeth. “I think I’ve proven time-and-time again that I’m not a liability, Bryce. Don’t start getting all macho on me again…”

“
Cassie, why don’t you just stay out here with us,” said Kristie. “I seriously think the three of them can handle it.”

“Actually, I think we should
all
go inside the station,” said Paige, biting her lip as Justice dislodged the bat from one of the zombie’s crushed skulls and then aimed it towards another. “What if those guys in the pickup somehow find us?”

“I hope they do,” said Nora, removing Bryce’s shirt
from her hand. Seeing more blood seep out of the largest cut, she grimaced. “So I can thank them personally for this.”

“
Honestly, the chances of those guys finding us are pretty slim,” replied Bryce. “I’m sure you’ll all be safer out here in the SUV.” He held out his gun to me. “Especially, if you’re armed with this.”

“
Fine,” I said stiffly, taking it.

“Gross,” muttered Kristie, as a male zombie, most of his jaw exposed, began stroking the window with his tongue. “God, do they honestly think if they keep licking the glass like that, they’ll get to us?”

“Uh, someone better get out there,” reminded Paige, as three more zombies surrounded Justice. “
Hurry up, you guys!”

“
Paige is right, we’d better take care of these guys before they attract even more attention,” said Tiny. He opened the door and joined a very winded Justice.

“Be careful!” cried Kristie
as Tiny raised the mallet and charged the nearest zombie.

“
Actually, Bryce, I think they could
both
use a little help out there,” said Nora, wincing as Justice tripped over one of the zombies on the cement and landed on his back. Another leaped on top of him and tried gnashing at his face with her teeth. She was tall, at least six feet, and carried a lot of weight, especially for a zombie.

“You’re underestimating them,” answered Bryce. “Hell, Tiny lives for this stuff. He’s a wrestler and enjoys
the challenge. Let him have some fun before I get out there and finish the rest of these guys.

I couldn’t help but snort.

“Maybe so, but I don’t think Justice is having fun with that Amazon woman,” replied Paige, chewing on her lip.

Scowling, Justice
tried flipping the zombie off of him, but her weight was too much, even for a muscular guy like him.

“Tiny! Help Justice!” hollered Paige.

Tiny, cursing loudly ran over to Justice, picked up the zombie as is she weighed nothing more than a pencil, and tossed her into the garbage dumpster.

“Nice,” c
huckled Kristie.

Tiny smiled cockily and flexed his muscles.

“Mm…. mm… mm…” said Kristie. She blew him a kiss. “What a man.”

“
Wild, you know, I’m not doing this to piss you off,” said Bryce, opening up his door. “Just remember that.”

“I know exactly what you’re doing,” I
said, annoyed. “Trying to protect me when I don’t need it.”

Another
zombie, an older fellow with dark skin and a missing upper lip, staggered over towards Bryce, his arms outstretched. Before the creature could get too close, his face met with Bryce’s right foot and he toppled backwards.

“Is that such a bad thing?” he asked, holding the zombie down with the heel of his boot. He reached down and stabbed him in the forehead. “Protecting someone I care about?”

“It is when I could be helping you
.”

He wiped his knife on the zombie’s shirt
and then pointed towards Paige and Nora. “They need protection too, Wild. Nora’s hand is messed up and Paige, well…”

Paige’s, head whipped around.
“Excuse me? Paige is what?”

He smirked. “Not exactly trained in self-defense.”

She raised her bat. “You want to put those words to the test, karate man?”

Bryce laughed. “No. Any
way, Wild, you know what I mean.”

Before I could answer, another small group of zombies headed towards us, growling like a pack of dogs.

“Stay inside,” ordered Bryce. He slammed the door to the SUV and began moving towards the new zombies.

“Do you ever get tired of him bossing you around?”
asked Nora.

I watched
Bryce as he kicked and sliced the zombies effortlessly, admiring the way his muscles flexed and glistened in the rain. Even with lack of food and nutrition, he was still pretty ripped and made my insides tingle. “Sometimes, but,” I smirked, “tell you the truth; I can’t say that I don’t mind watching him fight either.”

“Amen, girl,” said Kristie, reaching back to high-five me. “They do put on a good show. The only thing missing is popcorn.”

Nora rolled her eyes as I slapped Kristie’s hand.

“He’d better watch out for that one,” said Paige, pointing to another zombie that was growling and rushing towards Bryce.

“He’ll be fine,” said Kristie.

I watched as Bryce leaped
into the air and kicked the zombie in the chin, sending it skidding across the wet cement. Relentless, it got back up and tried attacking again. Before I could even blink, Bryce threw a knife, hitting the zombie in his left eye. It fell backwards and this time stayed motionless.

Bryce
turned around and our eyes met.

Smiling,
I blew him a kiss and he wiggled his eyebrow before rushing after another zombie.

Nora g
runted. “Wow, such a romantic group we have here.”

Nobody said
anything. I certainly didn’t, because I knew that deep inside, she was still hurting and pining for Billie.

When the guys were finished killing the last of the zombies, Bryce
jogged over, opened my door, and leaned inside.

“What are you doing?” I asked, staring
into his eyes.

“I need some luck,” he said, tilting his head. He slid his hand behind my neck and I smiled as his lips pressed against mine.

I opened my mouth to his, wishing we were alone, that things were different. Then, just as quickly as it began, he pulled away, ending it

“
Don’t worry, we’ll finish this later,” he whispered, his breath warm on my face.

I sighed.
“I hope sooner than later.”

He kissed the corner of my mouth. “Me too.”

“You’d better get out there before they leave without you,” said Paige.

He nodded.
“I know. Look, if something happens out here, or if those guys do show up, lay on the horn.”

“Okay,
” I said.

“And worst case scenario,
if we get separated, go to the MOA and wait for us in the parking lot by the main entrance. Between Macy’s and Bloomingdales.”

“If we get separated?” I asked.

He smirked. “Like that’s going to happen

He kissed me quickly again and then slammed the door.

I watched as he joined the other two and felt a sudden pang of dread in the pit of my stomach as the rain began to pour harder.

***

Bryce followed Tiny and Justice into the cop station. Fortunately, they lobby was clear when they entered, but the familiar rank of the undead was everywhere.

“We’ve got zombies somewhere,” whispered Tiny. “Let’s check out the back rooms. Try and find where they keep the weapons.”

“Never thought I’d enter one of these places voluntarily,” said Justice in a low voice.

“I hear you,
brother,” replied Tiny.

Justice stepped over a
couple of gutted rats and grimaced. “Nasty.”

Bryce snorted
. “You’ve been surrounded by zombies and a few dead rats bother you?”

“Well, we used to have an infestation at my cousin’s shop. Rat shit everywhere, it was disgusting. Still hate the little bastards, dead or alive.”

“Good thing they don’t come back as zombies,” said Bryce. “You’d never sleep again.”

“No shit,” he replied.

Bryce swatted at a large spider web. He hated spiders, even more than rodents. “So, what freaks you out, Tiny?”

“
A plus on a pregnancy test,” he replied, as they walked through a door marked “Employees Only”.

Justice and Bryce laughed.

“Either of you ever have any trouble with the law?” 

“DUI once,” said Tiny. “After my bachelor party.”

Justice’s eyes widened. “
You
drove after your bachelor party?”

“I know- stupid
. My bride-to-be threw a fit that night and I obviously wasn’t in the right state of mine. I drove over to her place to calm her down and was nabbed.”

“That’s a bummer,” said Justice.

“Tell me about it,” he replied. “To make things worse, I caught her cheating on me with another wrestler a couple months after we were hitched.”

“Did you kick his ass?” asked Justice.

“I wanted to at the time, believe me. He certainly got his in the end though.”

“How so?” asked Bryce.

Tiny smiled grimly. “Well, he knocked her up right after our divorce and they ended up getting married.  She ended up cheating on him, too, after the baby was born. They split and he’s had to pay child support for the last ten years. Or was paying.”