Dark Realms(171)

“Well maybe they’ve all escaped?”

“God, I can only hope so. Listen, have you heard anything at all from my mom, dad, or Bryce?” I asked.

Another pause, then, “No, Cassie, I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath. “Okay, well look, I’m going to keep searching. Call me if you hear from anyone in my family. Bye.” I hung up before she could start in on me again about returning home.

I put my head in my hands and tried thinking about where Allie and the others could have possibly went. I felt like I was missing something and it was driving me crazy. Then it hit me like a sledgehammer, the new safe-room! It was a family shelter that wasn’t supposed to be finished for a couple of months, but it would still be a good place to hide. Paige had mentioned that it was in the wine cellar, so I ran back downstairs to the lower level and began looking. It was supposed to be hidden at the very back of the wine cabinets.

“Yes,” I squealed when I located the entrance, it looked like an ordinary panel wall with a keypad attached. As I raised my hand to pound on the wall, it opened.





Chapter Fourteen





“Thank God!” I cried, standing face to face with my best friend. Although it was obvious that Paige was relieved to see me, the haunted expression in her eyes spoke volumes. She collapsed into my arms and sobbed.

“Paige, where’s Allie?” I asked, trying to look beyond her into the safe-room. Unfortunately, she appeared to be alone.

She shook her head as the tears streamed down her face. “I…I don’t know!” she cried.

I wanted to shake her but instead forced myself to remain calm; we’d all been through our own kind of hell the last few hours. “What do you mean?” I asked slowly.

“I don’t know! Allie and Kylie ran away. They were going to try and get help,” she cried through her tears. “I don’t even know where my mom is!”

“Okay, calm down and start from the beginning. What happened?”

Her light green eyes grew large. “It was my stepdad, Dan. He turned into some kind of freak! He tried to fucking bite me. Then my mom…she whacked him with a frying pan. But he…he kept coming towards me with these…horrible red eyes. Mom told me to run, so I did! I ran away and have been hiding here ever since. God, I’m so scared!” she sobbed.

“Paige, I didn’t see anyone else in the house.”

“Well, where’s my mom? She just wouldn’t leave me. They’ve just got to be here somewhere!”

“Paige, it’s okay. We’ll find them, somehow,” I replied softly. “Listen, do you have anything to drink? I could really use some caffeine.” I’d been up for almost twenty-four hours and was finally feeling the effects.

She pulled me inside. The hidden room was larger than my entire bedroom. It held a black leather sectional, an arsenal of electronic equipment, and a fully-stocked refrigerator. I grabbed a soda and walked over to the surveillance cameras.

“Do these things work?” I asked.

“No, I’ve already tried. They hadn’t finished installing them yet.

I sighed. “Well, at least you’ve got the generator, and didn’t have to sit in the dark.”

She nodded and then stared vacantly. “What should we do?”

“Well, do you have any weapons?” I asked.

“What…what do you mean?”

I pulled out the Beretta I had tucked behind my back. “Well, I lost my sectional staff when I was searching your house, but I still have this. You’re going to need something to defend yourself, too, just in case.”

Her eyes narrowed. “From…Dan?”

Crap. She didn’t know about the zombies.





~~~





“Paige?” I’d just recounted my last few hours to her. The expression on her face was unreadable. “Are you okay?”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” she finally said. “That’s just plain nuts.”

“Believe me, I wish I was. Do you really think I’d make something like that up?”

Paige shook her head but I could tell she was still having major doubts. It was crazy for me to imagine and I’d lived through it.

I shrugged. “Well, you’ll find out soon enough. Do you have a baseball bat or something you can hit zombies with?”

She looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“In my room,” she muttered.

We grabbed a second flashlight and hurried to Paige’s bedroom. She took out a metal baseball bat and two softball helmets, one pink and one black.

“Great idea!” I said, putting on the black helmet. “Okay, now stay close to me. I haven’t seen any zombies in your house but there’s a ton of walking dead on the streets.”