Dying Days 8 Read online

  She’d need counseling. A group of people she could trust to help her secure Main Street and eventually rebuild The Promised Land.

  Tosha stood, dusted herself off and went outside. “Anyone seen Bernie?” she yelled.

  When no one answered, she waved her hands. “Please, someone tell her I need to see her. Thank you.”

  Tosha needed the rest of the hour to sit and think.

  She also needed a decent beer and decent sex but she’d settle for her thoughts right now.

  Chapter Three

  Mitch knew better than to show his face and try to enter Main Street. He’d royally fucked up and gotten a lot of people killed. For what? To enrage The Lich Lord, causing him to go ballistic and wipe out most of the survivors. The zombie horde had nearly taken out the rest.

  If it hadn’t been for the zombies retreating for no reason, everyone would be dead and they’d eventually find him in his hiding spot on the top floor of the hotel, one of the only remaining ones left in Daytona Beach now.

  The damage between The Lich Lord and the zombie horde had been startling: hardly anything but Main Street really existed. The west side of the hotel he was in. Parts of the boardwalk to the east and a lone stretch of seawall the zombies hadn’t pulled down.

  Mitch could see the parking garage across the street had collapsed. The Ocean Center looked like God had reached down from Heaven and punched the top of it in, causing the four sides to explode outward.

  It was a glaring reminder of what he’d done to trigger all of this damage.

  There were a few stragglers, mostly the injured, slowly making their way to the compound. Mitch guessed there might be a hundred people remaining at this point. The corpses littered the street below and there were still a few fires that would spread unchecked.

  Utter chaos and he’d have to stay on this side of the wall for now.

  His initial thought this morning was to gather up anything he could carry and head north. Or maybe south. Just go somewhere else and forget how badly he’d screwed up.

  Mitch had been on his own for so long before The Promised Land. Hell, he’d barely settled in when he was recruited by Terry and his faction to be their shooter.

  What had he been thinking?

  Right now everyone was holed up on Main Street, guarding the walls and letting survivors inside. A death squad of half a dozen people was patrolling just outside the walls, taking down any zombies that remained behind.

  Once the dust settled and it was obvious another massive scale attack wasn’t coming anytime soon, they’d branch out again. Try to reset The Promised Land back to its height. Then they’d find him, if he was still this close.

  The opposite could also happen: the zombies could return for round two of the assault on Main Street. The survivors were preparing for a long siege, trying to gather any supplies they could find. No matter how big or small.

  Mitch hoped they wouldn’t eventually turn their scavenging attention to the hotel where he was hiding. While it didn’t contain anything worth taking, it was an obvious place to search.

  If it weren’t for the few zombies still around and everyone still alive wanting to shoot him in the face, Mitch would simply walk down the street and find somewhere else to live.

  Did everyone know I was the shooter? There were only a few of us in on the plot. Maybe everyone else is dead. I’m hiding like a wimp and I might be just another survivor. I’m over thinking this.

  What if he was wrong, though? Everything had happened so fast. He wasn’t sure who he could trust. All it would take was one person to point a finger at him.

  Were Terry and the others still alive?

  Mitch really needed to either run away and hope the zombies were busy attacking the survivors or join the survivors and perhaps get killed by the zombies.

  In his mind, it was a coin flip.

  If he went to the gate and no one knew what he’d done, he’d be safe. If they did know the shit he’d started, they’d string him up by the balls in the center of Main Street.

  Running away didn’t afford many good options, though. There was no food or water. The zombies had run roughshod over everything in their path for miles. They were still hanging around somewhere close and he didn’t want to blindly walk into a thousand zombies standing around waiting for an idiot to get in their way.

  It was obvious he needed to roll the dice and take his chances with a pissed off Main Street rather than a life of wandering again. He hoped no one alive remembered what had really happened.

  Sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind, Mitch began the slow descent to the street below.

  What if they shoot me when I’m in sight? Maybe there’s a hit out on me, Mitch thought. Maybe I’m already a dead man walking. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

  Mitch walked down the road with his weapon drawn, waiting for a zombie to jump out at any moment.

  He had to look away when he passed the rubble that was the parking garage. He remembered getting sucked in by the group. They’d lured him in with a card game and begun to set the groundwork for Mitch to become their shooter.

  The guy who was going to change the world for them, while they got to sit in the shadows and see how it played out.

  It had played out very badly.

  Mitch also looked away at the sight of the destroyed Ocean Center, where The Lich Lord had resided. Where Mitch had snuck in and shot The Lich Lord in the head.

  That had pissed off the zombie. Enough to not only chase Mitch from the building but to begin wiping out everyone The Lich Lord saw and knocking over structures as he moved like a miniature Godzilla through The Promised Land.

  When he got to within a hundred feet of the gates, he could see several survivors aiming weapons in his direction.

  Mitch waved and kept walking but made sure his own weapon was now across his back and his hands were out in the open.

  When someone yelled down for Mitch to stop, he did what he was told.

  “I’m Mitch. Hello. I was part of The Promised Land. I got separated during the battle and hid. Let me in before the zombies come back.”

  “I don’t know you,” the guy on the wall said. “Who can vouch for you?”

  “Considering most of the people I know are likely dead… how should I know? Do I look like a zombie? You let people in about an hour ago. I was making sure it was safe to come down the street. Don’t be an asshole,” Mitch said. “Who the Hell are you, anyway? You’re not someone I recognize and I was on the wall. Near the river with Terry.”

  “Terry patrolled the ocean side.”

  Mitch shook his head. “Terry showed me to my station. I had to fight a big guy my first day. Why do I have to give you my resume? Open the gate.”

  There weren’t any zombies in the area but Mitch didn’t like being this exposed. He also wanted to get this over with.

  “Is Tosha still around? She can definitely vouch for me, if you know what I mean,” Mitch said and smiled.

  “Just open the fucking gate and let him in already. Stop with the power trip, Reed,” a woman said. “Stop acting like you’re the gatekeeper.”

  “Fine. Come in.”

  Mitch had no idea what awaited him as he stood by patiently and waited for the gate to open.

  Chapter Four

  “Bernie, get up here. I’ve been looking for you,” Tosha said from the stage, as Bernie pushed through the crowd. “Stand next to me.”

  Bernie looked confused but she got on the stage.

  “Our leader is dead,” Tosha said to the crowd. She decided to just attack this head on and see what shook out. She’d been trying to think of something heartfelt and catchy for the last hour but nothing seemed real. She had decided to just start talking and see if everyone was on the same page when this short speech was done.

  There were maybe two hundred people milling about in the street.

  “We’ve lost the greater bulk of the survivors. We’ve given the walls of The Promised Land back to the dead. I wasn’t here
when Main Street began but I know this wasn’t the vision anyone had for surviving. We need to slowly grow again. Rebuild the walls. This time make them higher. Stronger. We got too complacent. Too safe. We forgot what it was like on the outside. Sure, we took turns staring across the river or at the ocean. But we stopped seeing threats because of the walls and the numbers we’d gathered,” Tosha said.

  Everyone was quiet and listening to her, which was a good sign. She started pacing back and forth across the stage because she felt weird standing in one spot.

  “Bad things have happened. Guess what? Bad things will keep happening. We’re survivors. Hell, we might be the last people left on earth. Who knows? We had really bad things happen to all of us before we got here, too. Take a second to think of the shit you had to go through to get here,” Tosha said and put up a finger. “I know damn well I did a lot of things I’m not proud of. How many people have you had to kill so they didn’t kill you? I’m not talking about zombies, either.”

  Bernie gave her a thumb up.

  “We don’t need another omnipotent leader,” Tosha said, hoping she was using the word right. “What we need is the person to your left and to your right to believe you’re worthy enough to be alive as well. We need a group effort. I’d like to form a committee. A group of people to govern so no one person can gain absolute power. If you want me to be the face of it, the spokesperson, the one to pass along the information to everyone…” Tosha paused and glanced at Bernie. “I think she’s better qualified. I want to protect each and every one of you. I can’t do that bogged down in paperwork and politics.”

  Bernie looked like she was about to say something so Tosha put up a hand and smiled.

  “I want to be outside those walls, protecting us. Killing anything that gets in our way. Making the roads and the walls safe. I’m not interested in all of this shit. I’ll be a part of the committee if you want but that’s it,” Tosha said.

  Tosha stopped and smiled as a few more people joined the rest of the group. Late stragglers, including Mitch.

  Mitch.

  Just standing there with a concerned look on his face, staring at her. Probably trying to see what she knew or didn’t know.

  Tosha waved at Mitch and motioned for him to come onto the stage.

  “I want to bring up a special guest, ladies and gentleman. Someone who will be very valuable to the welfare of our community. Someone I know intimately,” Tosha said.

  Mitch looked like he was about to run.

  “He has protected us on the walls. In the short time he was with us, he became a vital part of what made us work. I’m happy to see he’s still alive,” Tosha said. “I insist you bring him up.”

  There was sporadic clapping as people tried to see who he was.

  Tosha glanced at Bernie and gave a subtle nod, which was returned.

  Mitch came up on stage, his weapon over his back. His hand was at his side, close to the pistol he also carried.

  Tosha clapped. “I want to thank you, Mitch.” She shuffled to her left.

  “What are you doing? Can we talk in private? I need to explain myself,” Mitch said.

  “Very soon I’ll hear your excuses. Your version of what happened,” Tosha said and stepped to her right.

  The crowd gasped and she knew Bernie had drawn her weapon when Tosha was blocking her from Mitch’s sight. The simple move had worked like a charm.

  “If you go for a weapon, Mitch, you know she’ll blow off your head in front of everyone. Put your hands on your head and lock your fingers. If you make a move, I will laugh when she kills you. Understand?” Tosha asked.

  She moved around Mitch as he placed his hands on his head, quickly getting behind him and taking his pistol and jamming it into his neck. “Get on your knees and put your hands up so I can get your other weapon. No funny shit, Mitch.”

  “I just want to talk to you,” he said.

  Once she had his other weapon, she drove a knee into his back and stepped on him as he hit the stage. “Stay down.”

  Mitch obeyed.

  “We’re going to need a secure room. Mitch is the reason we’re in this shit to begin with,” Tosha said.

  Bernie stepped in front of Tosha and shook her head. “Don’t do this. Not now. Not here.”

  Tosha wanted to let everyone know Mitch was the reason they were so fucked.

  “Let’s put him away for now. Trust me,” Bernie said.

  Tosha sighed. “Fuck it. Fine.”

  “What’s going on?” someone shouted. The crowd began to murmur.

  Bernie turned to the crowd. “Until we can figure out a few things, we’re going to need to keep Mitch under control. It could be nothing. We’re not here to alarm anyone or have someone jump to false conclusions. We still have laws and we obey those laws, right? Mitch will get his chance to tell his side of what happened. Just because things changed over the last day or so it doesn’t mean we don’t follow the rules. What he did happened before. It will be dealt with in the future.”

  Tosha helped Mitch to his feet. “She saved your life, Mitch. Actually, more like bitch. If I’d had my way, this mob would’ve ripped you apart for what you’ve done.”

  “I screwed up. I know I did. I just want to explain myself,” Mitch said.

  Bernie pointed at two men standing to the side of the stage. “Take him to the nearest building and watch him. If he does something stupid, shoot him in the foot. If he keeps doing stupid things, shoot him in the kneecap.”

  Tosha pointed at Bernie. “I think we’ll be in good hands.”

  Bernie put her hands up to address the crowd.

  “There will be no fighting when it comes to the committee. No power plays. I know a lot of the people here and I’ll pick a couple to start. We need to get the ball rolling. Everyone had a job before this happened. I suggest getting back to them and letting me know where holes exist because there aren’t people doing a job anymore. We’ll go back to posting jobs on the board and doing what needs to be done. That will include doubling up on certain jobs, too,” Bernie said.

  “We’ll do whatever needs to be done. I’ll kill twice as many zombies if I have to,” Tosha said.

  A few people in the crowd laughed.

  “Let’s rebuild The Promised Land better than before, without the underlying fear of a zombie as our ruler. Let’s survive,” Bernie said.

  Everyone was cheering and Tosha was about to step down when the alarm bell went off. She turned to look at the men behind her on the wall.

  “Hobie’s back,” a guy yelled to Tosha.

  “Who the fuck is Hobie?”

  The guy frowned. “He’s been watching the zombies. He has some really bad news.”

  Tosha turned to Bernie. “I guess we need to do this together.”

  Chapter Five

  “Oh, shit,” April said.

  “What’s wrong?” Carlie asked, coming up behind her sister.

  “He’s gone.”

  “Who?”

  April looked around. “Terry. I tied him up so Tosha wouldn’t kill him.” She bent down and picked up the cut rope. “Now Tosha is going to kill me.”

  “I’ll protect you,” Carlie said.

  April didn’t think she was trying to be ironic. Her sister was maybe five foot, if she wore heels, and weighed about a hundred pounds soaking wet. Carlie was a fighter, though, and she had no problem standing up to a bigger person if she thought she was right.

  “I appreciate the offer but stay out of Tosha’s way. She’s dangerous and she’ll end up being our boss. With The Lich Lord gone and Darlene a zombie/vampire thingy, it’s up to Tosha to rally the troops,” April said.

  “I wish you’d stop doing that,” Carlie said.

  “Do what?”

  “Trying to protect me all the time. I’m not a little girl,” Carlie said and put up a finger. “And, before you make a stupid comment about my size and shit, I already know I’m petite. I’m small. Just taller than a damn midget. I get it.”

&nb
sp; April laughed. “People dismiss me all the time because I’m full-figured. A bigger girl. It works both ways. I’m not trying to protect you because you’re tiny. I’m trying to help you because you’re my sister.”

  “Well… thank you. And stop it.” Carlie kicked some debris at her feet. “Can we get out of here now?”

  “I don’t want to go back empty-handed. We need to at least walk a block in either direction and see if he’s left clues to which way he went. Maybe he swam away,” April said. “His body might be in the weeds across the street. He could be a zombie. We need answers before we go back.”

  “Then let’s start looking. This place is creepy,” Carlie said. “Stay with me, too.”

  “You always were afraid of the dark,” April said with a laugh. “Especially when we started messing with you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  April clapped her hands. “We had you believing you lived in a haunted house. Remember when you heard chains rattling in the attic? That was dad moving stuff around. He was looking for something. It freaked you out so I told you it was chains and a ghost.”

  Carlie punched her sister in the arm. “I told everyone we lived in a haunted house.”

  “I know. It was funny. Mom and dad knew what happened and went along with it,” April said.

  “Ugh. Worst parents ever.”

  “Best parents ever you mean. They had just as much fun as I did messing with you. Dad even draped the extension cord to our window from the roof and the wind banged it around. You freaked out that night,” April said.

  Carlie laughed. “I’m guessing the stuff moving around in the kitchen when I went to bed wasn’t real, either. I used to talk to the ghost. I called him Mikey.”

  “It just became part of our daily lives. Honestly, we didn’t want to stop it. When you started watching so many horror movies, we thought you’d figure it out. You started to stop being scared and started to become friends with the ghost,” April said. “I guess it toughened you up.”