Zombiemandias (Book 2): In the Year of Our Death Read online

  At one point during the party, Will was sitting on the stairs enjoying a song he didn’t know blasting through the house when Hannah approached him. She introduced herself, and Will did the same, and they talked for a few seconds before she left to do other things. That had been the good highlight of Will’s night.

  The bad highlight came shortly after. One of the other kids, Jason, had bitten some guy named Mick. Will hadn’t known either of them, but he felt bad for Mick. He felt bad for Jason as well; nobody could figure out what was wrong with him. Thankfully, no one had brought any drugs or alcohol (at least not that Will was aware of), and Rob called the police.

  They never came.

  The rest of the night had been a rush of panic and pain and fear. In the end, a few of the kids had gotten back to their families. They were the lucky ones. Some of the partygoers, including Will, had never been able to get in touch with anyone. They all wanted to go out and find their homes, but only Rob’s brother and one of his friends were old enough to drive. They took a few kids out and came back empty-handed, and after the things they’d seen on their outings, they refused to go out there again.

  Will wasn’t sure what happened to his family. He never found out, and after a few weeks, he stopped wanting to.

  It was strange for a while. Everyone waited at Rob’s house for the world to return to normal. They boarded up the windows and locked the doors, leaving only to get food or water or candles, and as months went by, waiting turned into living. No one questioned it, no one objected to it.

  It gave Will plenty of time to learn the names and faces. The new inhabitants of Rob’s house included Jeremy, Rob, Rob’s brother Steven, Steven’s friend Kevin, Kevin’s girlfriend, Rachel. There were Alex and Hannah, Mick’s brother Ed and his girlfriend Sharon (who had long been rumored to be dating Ed on the side; the kids all called her “Sharin’ Sharon” and now that Mick was dead she openly dated Ed). Hannah’s best friend was Gladys (who was Rachel’s younger sister), and another of her friends was Kalli (who Will thought had a cute smile made bright by her medium-brown skin).

  The group had learned to get along, mostly. Even after two years, Will wondered if they could always stay. Some of them seemed to be drifting apart; others, such as he and Rob, had never gotten along at all.

  Will was reflecting on all of this as he sat on the stairs. He spent a lot of time there; he had made it his spot at the party, and for some reason always found comfort there in the months and years after. The house was dark now, and there was never any music (even at the end of a cul-de-sac in a quiet suburb, that was too big of a risk) but otherwise, sometimes it seemed as though little had changed.

  It was early. Will rarely slept in late, though most of the others seemed to enjoy it. He just didn’t trust things. He didn’t trust Rob’s house, didn’t trust the other kids, and especially didn’t trust the barricades they’d built. Nothing had gone wrong, even on their outings to gather supplies, but Will didn’t trust them regardless.

  The sun was just creeping between the boards over the front window. Will heard muffled footsteps, then heard a door open and then close quietly. He looked up the stairs and saw Gladys walking down the hallway, rubbing her eyes.

  “Good morning,” Will said. Gladys looked at him, shrugged, then walked down the steps and past him. She disappeared into the kitchen only to emerge a few seconds later.

  “There’s no water,” she said.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Gladys grunted. “If you’re the first person up every morning, you’d think you’d check to make sure we have food and stuff we need.”

  “Maybe whoever uses the last of it should say something,” Will replied.

  “Whatever.” Gladys went back up the stairs. A few minutes later, Kevin walked down the hallway, with Gladys close behind.

  “I heard you the first time,” Kevin said. “What do you want me to do?” The two started down the stairs.

  “Go get some,” Gladys said.

  “Alone? Fuck that. Morning, Willie.”

  “Morning,” Will said. He hated being called that, and Kevin knew it, but Kevin was a nice guy and Will liked him.

  “I’m going to tell Rachel,” Gladys said.

  “I’m going to tell Rachel,” Kevin repeated in a whiny voice. Gladys hit his arm, but it did little to change his mind. He headed for the kitchen, and Gladys stood in the entryway for a moment, then turned back toward the stairs.

  “Will you move?” she said. The stairs were wide and Will wasn’t in the way, but he slid over anyway. Gladys sighed and headed up. A few seconds later, he heard another door shut, this one louder, and Rachel walked to the edge of the stairway wearing nothing but a shirt and panties.

  “Kevin! Go to the fucking store so my fucking sister will shut up!”

  “I’ll do it later,” Kevin called from the kitchen.

  “I’m fucking trying to sleep.”

  “So is everyone else, and you’re making that hard, babe.”

  Rachel stormed down the stairs, in no way regarding Will’s existence. Will heard a muffled argument ensue in the kitchen.

  Kalli sat next to him. He hadn’t even heard her door or her footsteps. Will blushed.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “Morning. Did they wake you?”

  “I’ve been up. Sounds like they’re having fun.”

  “Yeah,” Will said. They sat in silence for a while. Will’s leg hopped quietly up and down, something that only happened when he was nervous or listening to music.

  “Think she’ll get Kevin to go out?”

  “Not alone. Maybe we should wake Steven up.”

  “Steven doesn’t like being woken up.”

  “At this rate, he’s going to be anyway.”

  Kalli smiled. “Then let them do it. He can be mad at them.”

  Will heard more footsteps, and then a door popped open and slammed shut.

  “What the fuck?” Alex said. He was rubbing his eyes and wearing only boxers. “Do you fucking people know what fucking time it is?”

  Gladys followed him. “They wouldn’t be shouting if Kevin would just go get some water.”

  “You go get the fucking water,” Alex said. “You’re the one who fucking wants it.”

  “Don’t be stupid. I’m not going out there by myself.”

  “But it’s okay for everybody else to?”

  “Not everybody, but Kevin can handle himself.”

  “Kevin!” Alex said over the stair rail. “Go get the fucking water!”

  “You,” Kevin said. “I’m eating breakfast.”

  “I’m going to kick your ass,” Alex said. Everyone present knew it wasn’t true, but vulgarity was Alex’s answer to being defeated logically. Will thought it was his answer to everything.

  Kalli laughed. “I’m going back to my room before this gets ugly. Later.”

  “Later,” Will said. Kalli climbed the steps and moved between Gladys and Alex at the top.

  “I’m going to tell Hannah,” Gladys said.

  “Tell her what?” Alex replied. “I’ve done all I can.”

  “This is a big deal. I’m not the only one who needs water. This actually really pisses me off, we should never be out of water.”

  She was right, so Alex said, “Shut the fuck up.”

  “Don’t tell me to shut the fuck up, you shut the fuck up.”

  A door opened quickly. “All of you shut the fuck up, seriously!” It was Rob, and Will cringed. Rob walked down the hallway and knocked on Steven’s door. “Steven! Get up, we need water!”

  Steven opened his door after a minute. “What the hell?”

  “We need water.”

  “Go get some.”

  “Steven, seriously,” Rob said. Steven knew how to push Rob’s buttons better than anyone. It was easy; all he had to do was remind Rob that he wasn’t in charge.

  “I’ll get dressed,” Steven said. “You’re making dinner tonight though.”

  “You’re
not doing me a favor. It’s everybody else.”

  “Just killing the messenger.” Steven shut his door.

  Rob headed for the stairs. Will wished he would’ve left when Kalli did. “Get the fuck off my stairs,” Rob said. Will stood up, and Rob shoved past him and into the kitchen.

  “Happy?” Alex asked Gladys.

  “Yeah, I am happy we can all live longer.”

  “I would’ve been happy to sleep longer.” Alex left before Gladys could reply. Will reached the top of the stairs and got a good look at her. Her eyes were wet and her face was red, and Will felt a little bad for her. She did have a point, after all.

  “It’s okay,” Will said.

  “Whatever,” Gladys replied, then headed for her room.

  Will’s own room was a guest bedroom he shared with Jeremy and Alex. Rob’s family had been borderline upper-class, and his house was large. Rob had his own room, and so did Steven. Kevin shared a bedroom with Rachel, and Hannah and Gladys and Kalli shared another room. Ed and Sharon had the master bedroom that belonged to Rob’s parents in another lifetime.

  There was no electricity, but Rob had a generator. They rarely used it, as it made a lot of noise and required gas to work. The group had stocked up a lot of gas early on, or at least what seemed like a lot. All of them knew it wouldn’t last, especially if the generator was put to use every day. They used rechargeable flashlights and candles more often, and there was one camping lantern that could be wound and charged up, but Steven and Rob always got to decide where it went.

  They went on food runs to the local grocery store. That was the hard part. They gathered as much of the least perishable items they could, and for other food they mostly turned to nearby houses. The neighbors were all gone or changed, and nobody else came around. Why would they? It was a quiet cul-de-sac in a quiet suburb. To the world, it might as well not exist.

  But to Will, it was the world. He didn’t like it, and he never had. Sometimes he wished he could go back to his house. It wasn’t too far and he knew the way, but he knew there was nothing there but another dark house, only this one would have no food and no light and no other people, but it might have some corpses he’d recognize.

  Will entered his room and climbed back into his sleeping bag. For two years he had kept a wall around himself. It seemed foolish, now. That was two years he could’ve spent getting close to these people. Maybe it was time to take that wall down and finally let them in.

  3

  In the Desert

  “Go, Bailey, go!”

  She pumped her legs, but not because of their stupid yelling. She ignored the soreness, her muscles asking her to stop, to sit down, perhaps to sleep, even just to walk. The fence was only a few feet ahead of her, yet it was a hundred miles, a light-year. Bailey tried to lie to herself, to say this was the hardest part and ignore the fact that she still had to climb over it and back down the other side. Of all the lies she had told herself in life, this one just wouldn’t fly.

  “Come on, you’re there, baby! You’re there!”

  Bailey wished he hadn’t said that. It was as distracting as it was repulsive.

  Don’t look back.

  But she did. They were still behind her, still following, nowhere near as fast as her, but that was no reason to slow down.

  Then the fence. She leapt, so tired she was sure she’d bounce off of the fence and drop to the ground and die right there, but she grabbed on and started climbing.

  “Yeah!” Amanda said.

  “Fucking go!” Bailey replied. She shouldn’t have, she needed every breath. She reached the top of the fence and swung her legs over, and then her strength was gone. She fell to the dust below.

  “Come on,” Gerald said. He lifted her to her feet and shoved her, and Bailey had little choice but to start moving. She jogged; she couldn’t have picked up her former pace if she wanted to, and she didn’t. But her companions moved at the same speed, and Bailey let her muscles throb and her heart and breath return to normal.

  Amanda turned back as she ran. “Suck on that, you fucks!”

  “Fucking cowards!” one of the men stopped at the fence replied. “Come fucking face us like men!”

  Gerald called back to them. “Oh, we’ll be back, baby! You count on it!”

  After a while they slowed to walking, and the laughter faded from Amanda and Gerald. Bailey couldn’t wait to get back and fall asleep.

  “So did you get the shit?” Gerald asked. Bailey looked at him with narrowed eyes.

  “Of course I did.” She shoved her bag into his arms. “And next time you can fucking get it yourself.”

  “Sorry,” Gerald said. “You’re the pretty one. You got a face people trust, so you do the undercover work.”

  Bailey ignored him and kept walking. It was hot out and the sun was relentless, but it wasn’t long before the interstate met them, and that meant they were close. Gerald apparently couldn’t wait; he opened the bag and rummaged through it.

  “Are you shitting me?” he said.

  “Don’t like it?” Bailey asked.

  “Nothing too great. A couple nines, a mag, and barely enough ammo to kill anything. What the fuck, Bailey?”

  Bailey wiped her hand across her head. Her thin strip of hair was already messed up, and her sweat slicked it back and made some of it curl. But she was far too tired to worry about keeping her ridge in line, and anyway the buzzed area around the hawk felt nice on her hand.

  “I guess it’ll do,” Gerald said.

  “Yeah,” Amanda added, “We’re going back there soon anyway.”

  Bailey was almost too tired to dread that. The building came into view ahead, and her muscles started singing.

  “When we get back, you’re making dinner,” Gerald said.

  “Fuck you,” Bailey replied. “I’m going to bed.”

  “Don’t be such a cunt,” Amanda said. “It’s your turn.”

  “Should’ve thought your schedule out better.”

  Gerald grabbed her arm so hard he let go of the bag. Bailey stopped walking and looked at him. She wasn’t tall but he was shorter than her, with little hair on his head compensated for by his goatee. She could barely see his eyes through his sunglasses, but she was sure they were on fire.

  “You listen to me, bitch,” Gerald said.

  “Yeah, Ger, give it to—”

  “Shut the fuck up, Amanda.” He turned back to Bailey. “You do as I say, you got that? Or I’m going to make your life a living shit, am I clear?”

  “Fuck you, Gerald. You answer to Mike, same as all of us.”

  “Mike ain’t here. I’m sure he’d be heartbroken to hear of how he lost another member of his precious family on an outing.”

  “Kill me or don’t,” Bailey said, “you still have to find someone to make you dinner.”

  He punched her in the face, and she fell to her side. Blood speckled the dirt, bright in the desert sun, it was almost pretty. Bailey wiped her face with the back of her hand. She looked up just in time to see Gerald’s fist coming at her again, but Bailey caught it. She didn’t have the strength to do much else, but fortunately she didn’t need to. Gerald didn’t throw another. Instead he grabbed her by the arm and lifted her to her feet as though nothing had happened.

  “I’ll make dinner tonight,” he said. “You get my next shift, and yours. And you’re not fucking backing out on either of them.”

  “If you ever touch me again, I’ll kill you,” Bailey said, but Gerald and Amanda both laughed. Gerald grabbed the bag from the dirt, and the three of them headed into the compound.

  ****

  Bailey was tired, but she couldn’t sleep. She lay still on the cot, staring up at the ceiling, watching as the light shining through the holes in the curtain got darker. Her jaw ached.

  How did I get here?

  She knew the answer to that, didn’t she? She’d traced over it in her head a thousand times. It all went back to that night that seemed so long ago.

  ****
>
  Bailey had managed on her own for several weeks. She lived in the heart of the city, so after she boarded up her apartment, she dared not go outside. Eventually she had to; there was no food and no power.

  It might have been fate or luck, but either way it was cruel. When she left her front door, it wasn’t zombies she found outside, but people. They stood several yards apart, guns and pipes in hand, facing each other in the middle of the street. It was three against a dozen or so, and Bailey wanted no part in it, but it was too late.

  “You picked a bad fuckin’ time to come out here,” one of the trio said.

  “I’m just leaving to get food,” Bailey replied. Her hair was long then, it was another life.

  “There is no food,” someone from the larger group said. “These guys just took the last of it.”

  “Just let us go,” the first man said. “We’re just trying to get by, same as you.”

  “Well, you’re getting by in our town, and so you’re taking some of our food. You’re welcome to it if you join us, but you live by our rules.”

  One of the trio laughed. “What rules? Pillage and steal, and kill anyone who tries to slow you down?”

  “That’s the gist of it,” a balding man with sunglasses said.

  “Sorry. It’s not our style.”

  “Your choice,” the leader of the large group said. He turned to Bailey. “How about you, kid? You with us, or them?”

  “Neither,” Bailey said.

  “Fuck that,” a girl in the large group replied. “That’s all there is now. Us or them. Or dead.”

  Bailey was scared. It was no excuse, but she was so scared.

  “We’ll take care of you,” the leader said. He had a kind face and a kinder voice. “We take care of our own. And we ask so little in return.”

  “Yeah,” said the leader of the trio, “all they ask for is your humanity.”

  “Our humanity has already been taken from us. Those flesh-eaters did a thorough job of that. This is what life is now.”