Dark Realms(177)

Kristie cleared her throat. “I’ll let you drive,” she said to Bryce, handing him the keys. “I’m not sure how rational I’ll be if I see one of those things on the street.”

It turned out that the street was crawling with zombies, some of them walking around aimlessly in a state of confusion, while others were actually attacking their own kind. From what I could tell, the zombies that were at a farther stage of decomposing seemed to be the most vicious. They’d actually feed on zombies that looked like they’d just turned, somehow sensing that their victims still had some fresh protein available.

“How in the hell are we going to get out of here? I can’t imagine they’ll just move out of the way for us,” said Kristie.

“We’re not going around them,” said Bryce tightening his grip on the steering wheel. “We’re going through them. Sorry, Kristie, but you may need a little body repair after this.”

Kristie snorted. “Just get us out of here safely, screw the paint job. Dan’s not going to be around to complain about any scratches.”

“Okay, everyone, keep your windows up and lock your doors,” he said.

We started driving slowly onto the road towards the crowd of zombies who were beginning to take notice of us. As we approached, some actually did move out of the way while others decided to get a closer look.

“It’s odd how some are pretty docile while others are so violent,” Paige said.

“I think it depends on what stage there at,” I replied. “The ones who are crazy and more violent have probably been zombies longer. At least that’s my opinion.”

“Now we know why some of them are so bloody and torn apart. They’ve been attacking each other, too,” said Kristie, who looked rather ill.

When we reached a point where we couldn’t move the SUV anymore, zombies were standing all around the vehicle, running their hands all over it. Some stared with longing at us and eventually began climbing onto the hood.

Bryce sighed. “Okay, I’ve had enough of this. Close your eyes if you have a weak stomach, kids.”

The SUV barreled forward, jerking some of the zombies off of the hood. I covered my ears to block out the groans of the zombies and the sounds of their bones crunching under the tires.

“Oh, my God,” gasped Kristie, holding firmly onto the dashboard. “This is…I’m going to throw up!”

“No!” cried Kylie. “Don’t throw up or you’ll make me do it too.”

When we finally got past the mob of zombies, we drove down several streets to try and find my sister. Most of the neighborhoods were quiet, without any signs of life. Even the park was empty. It was frustrating and I knew there was no way we could search all of the homes, it was too dangerous. When our gas tank started getting low and the zombies started getting even more zealous, we had to leave.

“Sorry, Cassie. I wish there was more we could do to find your sister,” said Bryce.

“Me too,” I sighed, looking out the window towards the community’s front entrance gate.

“Hey,” Kristie gasped, pointing ahead of us. “There’s someone trying to run over there. Oh, my God, it’s a girl and she needs some help!”

My heart began to pound and I opened my window to see if it was my sister. Unfortunately it wasn’t, but I did recognize the mass of vibrant red hair.

“Eva King,” I mumbled.





Chapter Seventeen





“Is she a zombie?” asked Paige, lifting her bat.

I snorted. “No.”

Paige sighed and laid her head back against the seat. “Do we really have to stop?”

“Paige…” said Kristie, looking back at her. “That’s not nice.”

Two zombies were edging closer to Eva, who looked annoyed more than anything. In one arm she held a pink dog carrier and in the other an oversized Louis Vuitton tote bag.

“Stay here,” Bryce said as we skidded to a halt. He jumped out of the SUV carrying his rifle, and in less than five seconds, both zombies lay motionless on the ground and Eva looked like she’d just found Jesus. She stared with adoration at Bryce as he lowered his gun and moved towards her.

“Would you look at Eva? She’s smiling at your man like he’s a bowl of cream and she’s a cat dying of thirst,” said Paige dryly.

“Paige, he’s not my man. Besides, she’s just thanking him,” I replied. I had to admit, though, I felt a twinge of jealously when she threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

Paige raised her hands in exasperation. “There you go! She just left her nasty, smelly mark on him.”

Kristie chuckled. “Okay, enough, Paige.”