Deadly Night: Jenni and Katie's Untold Tale: A Short Story From the As The World Dies Universe (As The World Dies Untold Tales Book 4) Read online

  Jenni eyed the Beretta tucked into Katie’s belt. “Gimme the gun.”

  “Dammit, Jenni.”

  Jenni held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “C’mon.”

  “Fine. Just take the damn thing, but don’t run off.”

  Jenni stuck out her tongue and tugged the weapon out of Katie’s belt. “I’m not leaving you alone out here. You’re not used to being outside the wall.”

  Katie rolled her eyes, then lifted the walkie-talkie to her mouth. “Peggy, we have a situation. I need backup.”

  “I hear ya, hon. What’s going on?” Peggy’s voice asked.

  The baby’s cry came again.

  Jenni directed her full attention to the street while tucking the Beretta into her belt so her shirt bunched around it. Even with the full moon, it wasn’t easy to make out details. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she detected movement in the gloom.

  “We have survivors stranded several blocks from the fort on the corner of Williams.”

  While Katie talked, Jenni reached into Katie’s jean pockets and pulled out the spare clips for the Beretta and put them in her shorts. Katie’s green eyes narrowed with annoyance, but she continued answering all of Peggy’s questions.

  At last, Peggy said, “Gotcha, Katie. I’ll send Curtis to get Nerit up so she can deal with this.”

  The baby’s cries were very clear to Jenni now. She could even hear the little hiccup as the baby took a breath between wails. Then she heard something that sent shivers of fear and anger up her spine.

  Zombie moans.

  Grabbing the flashlight off Katie’s belt, Jenni shone it up the street. Caught in the beam were the dead shambling toward the stranded long haul vehicle and the baby inside.

  “No time to wait,” Jenni said to Katie. “Right?”

  “We need reinforcements now,” Katie said into the walkie-talkie. “Zombies are closing in on the stranded survivors!”

  Satisfied, Jenni took off running toward the zombies, clutching the crowbar and flashlight in her hands. There wasn’t time to sit around and make plans.

  It was time to save the baby.

  Chapter 3

  The mad gleam in Jenni’s eyes was enough to short-circuit Katie’s brain for a split second. Without a doubt, Katie knew that something bad was about to happen.

  Jenni turned and rushed up the street.

  Sometimes dealing with Jenni was like trying to wrestle lightning.

  “Send people now, Peggy! Jenni is running toward the zombies. I need to cover her!”

  Katie sprinted after the other woman while clipping the walkie-talkie to her belt. To avoid drawing more zombie attention with gunshots, she opted to use her machete against the undead and slung the strap of her rifle over one shoulder. She’d spent hours sharpening the blade while watching the street. The heavy weight of the machete in her hand was reassuring. It would easily cut through any zombie.

  The red brick road was a little uneven, which slowed Katie’s pace. The last thing she wanted to do was trip and hurt herself. She’d witnessed the injuries that occurred when people were careless. One salvage team lost a man when he tripped and fell on his machete. She did not want to repeat that error.

  Rushing past abandoned storefronts, Katie swallowed the hard knot forming in her throat. Though she often helped patrol the walls, she was not part of the regular rescue or salvage groups. Being outside the wall was incredibly disconcerting after so much time inside. Every shifting shadow seemed like a threat.

  The growing cries of the baby, the moans of the undead, and the clap of Jenni’s boots against the road propelled Katie onward. Fingers tightening on the machete, she mentally prepared herself for what was about to occur.

  The zombie lurched out of a snarl of overgrown bushes in a vacant lot and loped toward her. Katie paused in her sprint, pivoted on her heel, and swung at its moldering head. The blade caught the zombie right above its temple and dug deep into its skull. Instantly, the zombie slumped into final death. Jerking the machete free, Katie abandoned the corpse and rushed after Jenni.

  In the moonlight, Jenni’s filmy white tunic gave her a ghostly appearance. Turning on the flashlight, Jenni tossed it onto the ground so it illuminated the shadowy figures emerging from the night. Jenni launched herself at a zombie, crowbar hoisted over her head.

  There was a grunt, a burst of blood, and then the creature fell.

  A second later, Katie joined the fray. Careful to keep away from Jenni, Katie slashed and kicked her way through the throng descending on the long haul rig where the baby still cried. There were more zombies than she had anticipated. Luckily, they were the slower, more decayed ones, which made it easier to dispatch them with quick, brutal strikes. Pivoting about, she swung her machete at the necks and heads of the zombies.

  In the early days - when the zombies had still resembled the people they’d been in life - it had been hard to kill without some pinch of regret. Now the elements had worn away the more defining features of the individual monsters. It was easier to kill something that no longer appeared human.

  Katie kicked the knee of a zombie, sending it to the asphalt, and swung her machete down onto the back of the head. From the side, a gnarled hand grabbed her arm, but the thick denim kept her safe from the ragged nails. Bringing her elbow up, she knocked the zombie back, twisted about, and two blows sent its head rolling across the street into the curb.

  Arms burning with exertion, lungs gasping for air, Katie surveyed their battlefield. The dispatched zombies lay scattered around the women, but a few still twitched. Meanwhile, Jenni was lunging and striking with deadly efficiency at a small circle of zombies attempting to overwhelm her.

  Katie leaped over a tangle of corpses and attacked one of the bigger zombies from behind. He was tall, and it was hard to get a killing strike. She instead hacked at his legs while he attempted to spin around and grab her. Black blood splattered her clothing, and she clamped her mouth shut as she continued her assault. The weight of the zombie helped break the bone once she’d caused enough damage, and it crumpled to the ground. Katie hoisted the machete over her head and brought it down viciously on its skull.

  “Katie!” Jenni screamed in warning. “Duck!”

  Instinctively, Katie lunged away before two zombies could tackle her. Her boot skidded on the bloody road, and she fell hard on her hip, the machete falling from her hand. The pain was blinding. The zombies loomed over her. Dragging her rifle about, Katie ignored the panic clawing at her mind and raised the weapon.

  Aim to end the danger, her father’s voice whispered through her mind.

  Katie squeezed the trigger, the jolt of the weapon strangely familiar and comforting. The nearest zombie fell. The second was bending over her, and she shoved the end of the rifle into the underside of its chin and fired, turning her face away. The zombie collapsed to the street beside her. Katie snatched up the machete and clambered to her feet.

  Jenni’s hair was caught in the vice-like grip of the remaining zombie. She stabbed it viciously with the end of her crowbar. Unable to get a killing blow, she spun about, dragging the zombie with her, trying to knock it off balance. Tripping over its feet, the zombie hit the ground, nearly dragging Jenni on top of it. Katie ran up and killed it with a single shot.

  “Fuckin’ hell,” Jenni grunted, attempting to get her long hair out of the clutches of the dead creature.

  Katie studied the cab of the long haul truck. The windshield was gone, and blackness dwelled beyond the frame. The front of the rig was smeared in the dried viscera of dead zombies. The baby wasn’t as loud now, and Katie thought she heard additional sobbing issuing from inside. There were more zombies shambling toward them from the side street that led from the outskirts of town. The illumination from the flashlight only reached so far and created disturbing shadows along the abandoned fronts of the buildings.

  Finally, Jenni untangled her hair from the fingers of the corpse and kicked the dead zombie for good measure. She swiftly wrap
ped her hair around her fingers, knotted it, and left it as a messy bun at the back of her head. Her white tunic was splattered with blood and darker, meaty bits.

  “We got more zombies coming this way, Jenni,” Katie said, wiping off her machete on her jeans, then shoving it back in its sheath.

  Tossing the crowbar to the ground, Jenni pulled the Beretta from her waistband. “So we deal with them.”

  “We don’t have enough ammunition, and we can’t fight all of them by hand. We need to head to higher ground and hold on until the rest of our people arrive.”

  Katie scrambled onto the step under the passenger door of the semi-truck. The passenger door was locked. Using the mirrors and door handle as rungs, Katie managed to climb onto the hood. Jenni followed close behind.

  “Hello?” Katie called out, staring into the cab. In the moonlight, she saw that there was a curtain behind the empty seats. The floor was filled with food wrappers, drink bottles, and toy trucks. The air stank of vomit, urine, dirty diapers, and sweat. “We’re here to help you. Hello?”

  The curtain drew back in one corner, and the barrel of a weapon appeared.

  Katie froze just as Jenni clambered up behind her.

  “Who are you?” a woman’s voice asked, shaking with fear.

  “My name is Katie. The woman with me is Jenni,” Katie replied, her voice surprisingly calm despite her wildly beating heart. “We’re from a survivor encampment called the fort. It’s just a few blocks from here. You almost reached us.”

  “The fort?” The curtain drew back a little more. Katie barely caught the gleam of eyes in the gloom. “Like the military?”

  “A few of us are, but mostly just regular Texan folk.”

  “We’re not going to hurt you,” Jenni said adamantly. “We’re here to help you, and there are a lot of zombies coming.”

  “We’re waiting for Alan and Rob,” the woman said, clearly unsure and afraid. Her voice was trembling, and she coughed when she finished speaking.

  “Do you know what direction they went in?” Jenni asked, trading troubled glances with Katie.

  “Toward the gas station,” came the answer.

  Katie suppressed the urge to moan in frustration. The men had headed away from the fort and toward the more infected area of town. They clearly had not realized salvation had been close.

  “I’m going to check in with our people, okay? We’re trying to help you.” Dragging the walkie-talkie off her belt, Katie noted the cracked case. She’d landed on it. That’s why her fall had hurt so much. Her hip was still aching. Twisting the knobs, she tried to get it to work, but it remained silent.

  The moans of the dead were steadily increasing. They were drawn to the flashlight and the sound of human voices. Katie now regretted Jenni’s attempt to light the area. What was taking their people so long to arrive?

  “Is the baby okay?” Jenni crouched at Katie’s side, her fingers gripping the frame of the window as she peered into the cab.

  “She’s got a fever,” was the reluctant reply. “We were looking for medicine when we ran out of gas.”

  Jenni shifted her weight, preparing to climb inside, but the woman’s hand with the gun extended out from beyond the curtain.

  “Stay back! I mean it!”

  “I promise you, we’re not going to hurt you.” Katie quietly reloaded her rifle as she spoke. “We’re going to protect you until our people arrive.”

  “Stay back,” the woman ordered. “Please, just stay back.”

  The wave of zombies descending on the truck was growing ever closer. “We should make a run for the fort,” Katie said as gently as she could. “The zombies are almost here.”

  “I’m not leaving until Alan and Rob get back,” came the fierce response.

  “I’m scared,” a child’s voice whispered.

  Katie saw Jenni tense and immediately restrained her with one hand. Jenni’s wild-eyed look was upsetting. Katie shook her head at Jenni. “It’s not them,” she whispered, then witnessed Jenni regaining her senses. Her friend’s shoulders slumped, and she focused on the zombies reaching the intersection.

  “It’s okay. I promise,” the woman answered the little one.

  “Julie, is Daddy back?”

  “No, not yet.”

  At last Katie had a name. “Julie, how are the kids? Can they run?”

  There was a long pause, then the woman pushed aside the curtain. She was a tiny young woman with big brown eyes and messy brown hair. A baby under a year old was clinging to her breast, and a little boy was burrowed into her side. The gun was still held aloft, aiming at Katie.

  “Parker has a fever, too. We all got sick and are still recovering.”

  “No one has a bite, right?” Jenni said abruptly.

  “No. No. We got sick after we got past San Antonio. We thought it was food poisoning, but we all ran fevers. It has to be the flu.” Julie’s hand was violently shaking, but the fierce look in her eyes indicated that she would not be lowering the gun any time soon.

  “Katie! Jenni!”

  “Juan!” Jenni shouted. “We’re up here!”

  Running down the street from the fort was a group of men and women. Their flashlights bobbed in the night. It was just in time. The first wave of zombies entered the intersection and screeched as they spotted Jenni and Katie atop the hood of the truck.

  Chapter 4

  Jenni was relieved when she heard Juan’s voice. Though she was ready to take on the zombie herd descending on them, she was glad for the backup. Hearing the voice of the little boy hiding in the truck had unnerved her. She wasn’t usually this sensitive, but after her nightmares about Benji and Mikey, she felt mentally fragile.

  The first of the zombies reached the truck, and Jenni steadied herself on the hood and opened fire. The grisly creatures didn’t even try to duck away. They had no sense of self-preservation and died as bullets tore through their skulls and pulverized what was left of their rotting brains.

  Kneeling at her side, Katie was a deadly shot with the rifle. During one of their late night talks, Katie had told Jenni how her father, a former Marine and police chief, had taught her to shoot and defend herself. Maybe Jenni had been foolish to worry about her best friend, because it was clear that Katie could handle herself. But Jenni didn’t know how not to worry about Katie and Jenni’s stepson, Jason. They were her only family left.

  Pounding on the truck, the zombies attempted to reach the women that were systematically killing them. Rage fueled Jenni, and she welcomed it like a lover. Reloading, she glanced toward the speedily approaching people from the fort. The clawing hands of the zombies slapped against the metal of the truck, rocking it. Jenni immediately grabbed onto the window frame and swung her legs partway into the cab, trying to stabilize herself. Katie recognized the situation was growing more precarious and climbed into the cab.

  “You shouldn’t have shot your guns,” Julie exclaimed. She was on her knees on the bed in the back, the children shoved behind her. Parker was holding the baby. “Now they know we’re here!”

  “They heard the baby and were already on their way,” Jenni snapped. “You’re lucky we got here before they did.”

  The reek of the dead overpowered the scent of sickness in the cab. Jenni held onto the rocking truck and attempted to fire down at the zombies. She realized it was a bad idea and grunted with frustration.

  The people from the fort reached the outskirts of the zombies. Aware of the danger of firing weapons in close proximity to the other humans, blades flashed in the night and makeshift spears were driven into the rotting corpses. Jenni spotted Juan’s familiar cowboy hat, plus his tall muscular frame made him stand out among the others. Swinging an ax, he cleaved heads from necks and chopped legs out from under the zombies.

  An undead creature attempted to grab Juan from behind, but its head erupted in a spout of blood. Jenni gasped before catching sight of Nerit standing further up the road. The former IDF sniper was flanked by two other people as she killed the
zombies with ruthless accuracy from afar.

  A zombie clambered onto the piled bodies of his dead comrades and attempted to crawl onto the hood. Jenni kicked it in the face with her boot heel, knocking it back.

  The cluster of undead was being cut down faster now that the fort fighters had arrived, but Jenni wasn’t satisfied to be out of the fray. She kicked another zombie out of her way, then scrambled down. Skirting along the outer edge, she fired at the zombie heads, feeling pleasure as each one fell before her.

  In only a few minutes, the area was cleared. Jenni found her discarded crowbar and helped ensure all of the zombies were dead. A quick thrust into the head was all it took.

  “Loca,” Juan said, reaching her. His thick West Texan accent drawled out the word in a way that made her want to do nasty things to him. “What the fuck are you doing out here?”

  “Zombies needed killing. What are you doing out here?”

  “My loca girlfriend needed rescuing,” he retorted.

  Jenni was glad his green eyes were in the shadow of the brim of his cowboy hat. She was certain he was furious with her, but she was too flushed with the pleasure of their victory to take it seriously. Despite the blood and sweat dotting her skin, she hugged him.

  “Ugh!” Juan said with distaste. “You smell like zombie.”

  “Only an excuse for a sexy shower later,” Jenni teased.

  “Shit, girl. You’re so good at making me not be mad at you.”

  “All right, children. Enough playing around,” Nerit’s voice called out. “We need to get our survivors back to the fort before more of that herd arrives.” The older woman stood nearby in jeans and a heavy denim jacket. Her yellowed silver hair was twisted into a braid that hung over one shoulder. “We’ve got more on the way.”

  “I’m not leaving,” Julie’s voice rang out. “Not without Alan and Rob.”

  Katie jumped off the hood of the truck and landed near the remains of several zombies. Approaching Nerit, Katie reloaded her rifle as she walked. “There’s a woman and two small children up there. They’re all sick with the flu. I suspect she’s feverish and a bit...out of it.”