Dying Days 5 Read online

  Jeff smirked. "He's probably drunk in the stairwell again."

  "Not quite," Claude said as he came walking up. Vee could see he was as annoyed with Jeff as everyone else was. "I released four more people just now. Sent them over to the team working on the west end to help rip down the last of the buildings we don't need." He turned to the group Jeff had led in and smiled. "Hello, everyone. I'm Claude. I'll walk you through the process. This won't be too bad. We just need you to stay here and we'll feed you. Give you fresh clothing and wash what you came in with, if you want to keep any of it."

  An older man, standing in front of the large group, smiled. "Are we prisoners now?"

  "I already told you what is going to happen," Jeff said.

  Vee stepped in and got between Jeff and the newcomers. "No one is a prisoner. You can simply leave whenever you want. I'm Vee and I am the one you'll be speaking with each day for your daily assignments. Everyone helps out so the community grows. We have a garden we're currently expanding as well as a safe water supply. We have generators and electricity, too. We need strong men to man the walls against zombies and marauders and to help clear out areas and expand." She glanced at Jeff. "We also need fit people to go out and find groups like yourselves, as well as supplies."

  "Where will we live?" someone asked.

  Vee smiled. "One of the main projects we're working on is expanding from the two streets we currently occupy into a third and fourth. As we gain more survivors, we will be able to do more work and move the walls back another street."

  "And the zombie master lets you do this?" the group leader asked.

  Vee nodded. "He is the one encouraging it. He wants us to live and succeed. In fact, he often goes out at night and patrols the area and clears it of zombies. He will then tell us where supplies and items we need can be found. We'd never be able to do this on our own, especially at night."

  "Are we going to be sacrificed?" a young woman asked.

  Vee shook her head. "Of course not. No one living here has ever been sacrificed or eaten by The Lich Lord. I believe he has outgrown the desire to bite us or... do other things. I meet with him almost daily and he wants to know our progress and lets us do our own thing. There is even talk of starting mass if we can get as far as the churches in the area. Trust me. He is not going to eat anyone."

  "But I wouldn't get on his wrong side," Jeff said.

  Idiot. Vee ignored Jeff. "You should be more worried about everyone else if you don't do your own workload. We're all survivors and we've all been where you just came from. We know it isn't pretty out there. We also know the dangers and we'll never forget. Our goal is to never have to go back and it should be your goal as well. If you find something you're good at or know something that would interest you, I want to know. We work together and the hope is someday we'll be able to rebuild this world... together. And make it much better than it ever was." Vee looked at the group. "Any more questions?"

  * * * * *

  "Hello," Taylor said with a smile as Darlene came to, her eyes fluttering. When the woman tried to sit up, Taylor put a gentle hand on her shoulder and eased her back down onto the bed. "You need to rest for awhile. Sleep. I'll bring you food and water, but you need to regain your strength. You were so close to death."

  Darlene closed her eyes and began snoring softly within seconds.

  Taylor left the room quietly, closing the door behind her and locking it with the key The Lich Lord had entrusted her with. Just as she slipped it into her tight jean's pocket and turned to walk away, she saw Jeff at the end of the hallway. Staring at her.

  Taylor decided to go the other way.

  "Where ya going? I need to talk to you," Jeff called to her as she walked at a quick pace. She didn't want to run because she knew he'd get a kick out of that and it would get him riled up to do something. Since he'd returned with Darlene and saw she was back he'd made a few inappropriate comments, but he hadn't cornered her alone until now.

  Since Bri had disappeared, Taylor knew Jeff would focus on her and she didn't want the attention. She'd found her calling as a caregiver to the sick and elderly. The guy creeped her out, too.

  "I'm running late. I have to feed my patients," Taylor said over her shoulder. But, as she turned into the right hallway, she began to pick up the pace and, instead of staying in the Ocean Center, thought running outside and hiding on Main Street made more sense. Here, Jeff would follow and corner her.

  "I need to see you. I have something for you," Jeff said. Taylor didn't want anything he was offering.

  "I can't. Busy." Taylor pushed through a side door and outside and began running, hoping to get around the building and away from him.

  But Jeff was also running, laughing as he began to chase her. "I just want to talk," he was saying. "We never spend any quality time together."

  Taylor ran onto Main Street, hoping there would be someone who could help or hide her. There were only a group of children kicking a ball of socks around and some older people near one of the gardens.

  She began running west, at full speed, hoping to find an open building or something to hide behind. Taylor looked over her shoulder and saw Jeff, grinning, keeping pace with her. The bastard was enjoying this. Her fear was driving him.

  "Leave me alone," she yelled and kept moving.

  She ran three blocks, weaving around a barrier someone had set in the road in the event they were breached, and was dashing past a parking lot people were busy digging up to plant another garden. But she didn't see anyone who could protect her, and knew, even if she found a big guy, there were no guarantees he'd interfere. Jeff wielded way too much power.

  There was an abandoned building behind one of the bars and Taylor ran through the wide alley, hoping to circle the area or duck inside until Jeff moved along.

  Taylor could hear the sounds of someone using a saw inside the building. She could also hear Jeff gaining on her.

  "Help," she began yelling as she ran. Taylor shot into the building and right into a guy using a chainsaw.

  Taylor fell to the ground, a puff of sawdust making her sneeze.

  "Be careful. I almost cut you or cut myself. I don't want to lose a limb," the guy said. He turned the chainsaw off. "Are you alright? And God bless you."

  "She's fine and she's mine. Come with me, Taylor," Jeff said from the doorway.

  "Help me," Taylor whispered to the man. It was her only hope now. If he was scared of Jeff and let him take her, she knew he'd do horrible things.

  "What's going on?" the guy asked. The chainsaw had stopped but he still held it in his hands. He took a step forward and got between Taylor and Jeff.

  "None of your concern, asshole. She's my property."

  "I didn't think slavery was legal, even in these dark times."

  Jeff put a hand on his gun at his side. "There is no law. Only what I say around here. Step aside and stay out of my business."

  "I can't do that," the guy said.

  "I don't remember giving you a choice."

  Taylor crawled to where the guy had been working and stood up, picking up a hammer from the workbench. She'd fight Jeff until he killed her if she had to, but there was no way she was going anywhere with him.

  "She isn't property and she isn't leaving this building with you," the guy said.

  "Do you know who I am?" Jeff asked and his fingers pulled out his gun an inch.

  "Oh, I know damn well who you are." The gun started the chainsaw. "I also know you don't want to lose a few fingers or maybe an arm over her, right? I suggest you go back to the hole you climbed out of, Jeff. Go bother someone else."

  Jeff looked like he was about to pull his weapon but the guy raised the chainsaw. Taylor hefted the hammer and stood next to her defender.

  "Fine. Whatever." Jeff took his hand off his gun. He stared at Taylor. "This isn't over by a long shot, though, you little bitch. You owe me something and you know I'm going to collect on it sooner than later. I'll see both you dead people around."

&nb
sp; Jeff walked out.

  Taylor went to the door and watched the jerk leave, but knew this was far from over.

  "Are you alright?" the guy asked her.

  She turned and smiled. He was older and very cute. "You can turn the chainsaw off now," she said.

  He blushed and turned it off, setting it down on the workbench when it stopped.

  "I'm Taylor. Thank you for saving my life."

  "I didn't..."

  "Yes, you did. I think he's going to end up killing me at some point," Taylor said. "He has no soul."

  "I can't let that happen. To you or anyone. I've only been in the compound a few weeks but already I see what a problem he is. I don't know anyone who likes him but for some reason The Lich Lord lets him keep his power."

  "It makes no sense to me, either. I'm afraid to say anything to The Lich Lord when he's around, though. I really just want to ask him what he's thinking by keeping Jeff in charge. Vee does such a great job. Ever since Azrael left, it's been harder and harder to get away from Jeff," Taylor said.

  "Azrael? You mean like the Smurfs cat?"

  Taylor laughed. "As in the Angel of Death. Russ was a great guy. He's the reason I left for a couple of days and found all the people I help. He gave me purpose without realizing it."

  "Where is he now?"

  Taylor looked away. "Jeff said he killed him. Shot him in the head."

  "I'm sorry to hear that."

  Taylor shrugged. "I'm sure you've seen as many deaths and lost as many people as I have."

  He nodded and put out his hand. "Yeah. It was a long journey from Illinois to this spot. I lost way too many important people during my travels. My name is Scotty, by the way."

  Chapter Eleven

  He didn't see the ambush until it was too late. Just as Heath and John got to the latest roadblock, they came out of the woods and the train tracks on their right and from the houses on the left.

  A swarm of zombies led by obviously intelligent ones who held back and watched the coming battle.

  Lincoln knew they had no time to mount up on their bikes and vehicles and escape, but they needed to keep from being surrounded. "To me. We fight forward," he yelled. If they could break through the blockade, they'd have enough room to drive away, but it was going to be close. They'd have some casualties today.

  They formed into a rough circle but, if they mounted their bikes or got into their vehicles, they'd be overrun before they got far. Lincoln shot the zombies ahead of them before they could close the gap and cut off the main group from Heath and John.

  There were too many zombies.

  Lincoln turned to his right when he heard a scream and had to turn away when one of the group members was pulled down and bitten.

  "Run away," someone was shouting. "We're lost. Scatter or we'll all die."

  Lincoln turned to see who was yelling: one of the smart zombies standing off to the side, grinning as he yelled and created even more chaos.

  "To me," Lincoln yelled, but there weren't many of the living left to rally. He shot a zombie coming at him and aimed at the smart zombie, who saw Lincoln and ducked as he fired.

  He couldn't get close enough to the ring leaders, standing off to the side and enjoying the ambush from a distance.

  Lincoln knew all was lost. He turned to get onto his motorcycle and ride away but he'd taken too many steps away from his ride and there were six zombies blocking his path.

  Another member of his group fell next to him and he watched two more former allies now rising from the dead nearby.

  Lincoln shot twice before his weapon was out of ammo. He used the gun to bludgeon the nearest walking corpse but he didn't think he'd get far without a real weapon. His machete was strapped to his bike.

  "Where are you going? Come to us. We want to play," one of the zombies was taunting. Lincoln didn't know if he was addressing him or someone else and he didn't care. He decided if he died on this spot he'd take one of the smart zombies to Hell with him.

  Lincoln turned and barreled through three zombies before the mass of them was too much. He scanned the crowd for any survivors but saw no one. The shooting had stopped. He knew they didn't have many bullets between all of them anyway, but his heart sunk because he knew he was alone.

  But he had a mission and he would see it through if it killed him.

  Lincoln put his shoulder down and ran as fast as he could forward, aiming for the group of zombies watching and making comments.

  He knocked down two of the mindless zombies in his path but as he tried to run forward his foot caught on one on the ground and he pitched forward, falling in the dirt.

  Lincoln pulled himself up. He was only a few feet from the taunting zombies but it may as well have been a mile.

  A zombie sank rotting teeth into Lincoln's ankle. He tried to kick it away but it was no use.

  Another zombie fell on top of Lincoln and bit his exposed forearm.

  Lincoln locked eyes on the zombies smiling and watching him and pushed away at the zombie that was biting him, managing to break free.

  “You can’t win in this world,” Lincoln said.

  “I beg to differ.” The other zombies laughed at the joke.

  This close to one, Lincoln could see they could pass for another living being except they seemed a bit off. It was the eyes, tinged bright red and seeming to look right through you. It was unnerving, but Lincoln knew he had to destroy as many of them as he could before he died.

  “If you kill all the humans, what will you have to hunt?’ Lincoln asked, trying to buy some time as he took another labored step closer, the pain in his ankle and forearm already starting to drive him mad.

  “Who cares?” the zombie said. “This is just fun for us. You don’t get it and you’ll never get it. You know why? Because you’re not going to get the gift we’ve received. You’re not going to stand with us in a few months and hunt like we do. You’re not going to become part of our clique.”

  “We don’t need someone like you,” one of the other zombies said.

  The original one he’d been talking to nodded. “And I’m going to make sure you don’t rise from your grave. When you die today, on this shitty stretch of highway, no one will mourn your passing. No one will remember your name. And already no one cares.”

  Lincoln was only a few feet away and put his shoulder down slightly, ready to use the last bit of strength he had to charge, when he saw the zombie pull a Glock 22 from behind his back.

  “That’s… not fair,” Lincoln said. God, wasn’t it bad enough they were getting smarter? That they didn’t tire or need food or water? They had no conscience? Now they were going to shoot us, too?

  “Life isn’t fair, buddy. Hell, un-life like we have sometimes isn’t fair, and that’s the real bitch.” The zombie aimed and shot Lincoln in the face.

  * * * * *

  When Taylor and Scotty left the building together, Jeff followed. He needed to know anything he could about the guy, because he was standing in his way to get the girl. If he could get Taylor and destroy this new threat, it would be even sweeter for him.

  He knew he couldn't petition The Lich Lord to get rid of Scotty or let Jeff kill the guy, so as long as their leader was none the wiser...

  Scotty seemed too smart to be led out on a scouting mission without knowing what was going to happen. He'd make sure Jeff stayed in front where he could see him, but maybe it still wouldn't be enough. Jeff could get one of his goons to kill the guy, and then if The Lich Lord called Jeff on the carpet he could deny having any knowledge about it.

  But it was too risky, even though the end result would be great.

  Jeff would watch and learn. It was all he could do right now. Besides, he had work to do. Work that would strengthen not only the compound but his place in it.

  He turned to go back to his home and fish out another bottle of bourbon he'd hidden in the wall when he saw one of the newer women who'd recently come into the compound. He smiled.

  "Excuse me," Jef
f said as he approached her. She was covered in sweat, her white shirt clinging to her big chest and a pair of tight jean shorts, shaping her gorgeously big ass. She was Puerto Rican or Mexican or something exotic, and she had the big ass and tits Jeff so loved.

  When she saw him, she frowned and stopped walking down the sidewalk, glancing across the street for an escape.

  Jeff put his hands up. "Hey, I'm just stopping you to talk. I'm Jeff. I'm the guy who helped bring you to safety, remember?"

  "I remember," she said.

  Jeff loved her New York-tinged accent. She was so sexy. He could only imagine what a night with her would be like, and he wanted to find out. He'd already forgotten about Taylor and her new boyfriend.

  "Where are you staying?" Jeff asked.

  She paused before answering, and kept taking small steps forward and away from him. He knew the jerkoffs had already told her to stay away from him. Not that it really mattered. "They have a bunch of us cramped into what might've been a storage unit."

  Jeff shook his head. "That really sucks. I have a full bar to myself. Two stories. I set up a couple of beds and even have a couch. When's the last time you saw a movie?"

  She just stared at Jeff and was probably trying to figure out what his angle was.

  "I have a sixty-inch television. Six TV's, actually, in the bar. And so many DVD's I'll die before I watch half of them." He knew she looked intrigued. He went for the kill. "I also have my own bathroom with a running hot shower."

  He'd hooked her. She wiped the grime and sweat from her cheeks and stopped trying to walk away. "How is that possible?"

  "I'm the go-to guy around here. I've been The Lich Lord's right hand man since the beginning of this shit. As such, I have the best of the best when it comes to the spoils. I'm the guy who runs the scouting crews and gets first crack at everything." Jeff smiled. "You like jewelry?"

  "What girl doesn't?"

  "I have a box in the bar overflowing with necklaces, rings, earrings, charms... you name it. And no one to give it to," Jeff said.