Save Me (Life After the Outbreak), page 1
Save Me
L J Baker
© LJ Baker
All right reserved.
http://www.lj-baker.com/
Cover art by Staci Hart @ http://redpenkisses.com
ISBN-13: 978-1483989136
ISBN-10: 1483989135
Table of Contents
~Chapter One~
~Chapter Two~
~Chapter Three~
~Chapter Four~
~Chapter Five~
~Chapter Six~
~Chapter Seven~
~Chapter Eight~
~Chapter Nine~
~Chapter Ten~
~Chapter Eleven~
~Chapter Twelve~
~Chapter Thirteen~
~Chapter Fourteen~
~Chapter Fifteen~
~Chapter Sixteen~
~Chapter Seventeen~
~Chapter Eighteen~
~Chapter Nineteen~
~Chapter Nineteen~
~Chapter Twenty~
~Chapter Twenty-One~
~Chapter Twenty-Two~
~Chapter Twenty-Three~
~ - Acknowledgements ~
~ - About the Author~
This book is dedicated to my beautiful daughter Jennylee. Have faith in yourself and your abilities. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to.
~Chapter One~
It's funny the way things happen.
One day you're being asked out by the cutest boy in school and shopping for the most fabulous dress for the spring formal, and the next you are standing in the middle of a group of flesh eating undead who want you as their next snack.
I guess that's how things work out, though. At least I got to think about going to the dance with Zach. I was able to live in a world where I could imagine Zach and I would get married and live happily ever after. That is, before his little sister Claire turned into one of those monsters and tore him to shreds in the middle of the street.
I will never forget that dumb look of disbelief he had on his gorgeous face. He just stood there as she hobbled over to him in that typical undead manner, missing most of her left arm and some chunks of flesh from her face. She was still in her cheerleader uniform, though it was in pretty bad shape by then. When Claire got about two feet from Zach, she lunged forward, biting into his shoulder.
And still, he just stood there in shock. He didn't even try to stop her. He just stood there screaming like a little girl as she ripped chunks of flesh from him.
There was no hope for poor beautiful Zach anymore, but I, however, had about five of the undead bastards trying to reach me through the chain link fence of this piece of shit dog pen I now found myself caged in. In hindsight, it probably was not the best idea I’d had, but when you're out of ammo and you drop your trusty zombie killing hammer, all you can do is run. Not that a 4x6 flimsy cage was the best place to go, but sometimes a girl's out of options.
I guess that would have been the end of me, if not for my knight in shining armor. And by knight in shining armor, I meant a tall boy wearing combat boots, ripped black jeans, and a black t-shirt with a pretty pink pony smack in the middle.
Okay, maybe this will be the end of me.
I didn't even notice him, until he shot an arrow almost clear through the head of one rotting skull reaching through my cage. The other four dumb bastards just climbed over its twitching corpse, hell bent on making me their dinner.
I still found it somewhat funny to watch. It was nothing like what you saw in the movies where the hero shoots a zombie in the head and down he goes -- dead for good. They tended to twitch a bit before the light went out permanently. Definitely more creepy.
Plus you had to get them in the right spot or totally blow their skull open. If you didn't take out the brain stem, it wouldn't stop them for good. Although, it did slow them down quite a bit, and sometimes kept them from walking if you managed to destroy enough of the brain. They could be slower than an old woman with a walker as it was, but anything that could give the living an advantage was a good thing these days.
Except for the fresh ones anyway. The fresher they were. the faster and stronger they were. Once they were around awhile, they tended to break down at a faster rate, becoming slower and clumsier. Even the older ones were strong, though. That wasn't what you would expect from something that was basically a walking corpse. Maybe they had a shitload of adrenalin coursing through their half-dead brains or something.
My knight in pink pony armor managed to take three more clean shots with his crossbow, leaving just one rotting bastard grunting his desire for my flesh. I thought for sure he would break down my cage any second. I couldn't imagine what pink pony boy was waiting for with this last one. I thought maybe he was out of arrows, but no, he was trying to show off. He came right up behind the last one, catching it off guard, and smashed its rotting skull with a hammer. My hammer. He grabbed hold of the metal gate which was just barely held on at that point, and pushed it open just enough for me to squeeze out.
"I think you dropped this," he said, handing me the hammer and looking me over with a smirk.
He looked proud of himself for saving me. Like a comic book hero, in a pink pony shirt.
I climbed out from behind the fence, stepping over three bloody once-human forms. I used to wonder who they had been before they turned. Were they good people? Did they have families? That was enough to drive you crazy though. You couldn't let yourself feel bad about killing them or think of them as one of us. They weren't anymore.
I just tried to imagine them as a completely new species, as if they were always like this. It definitely made it easier to kill them, and to ignore their rotting corpses strew around the streets. In addition, it cut down on the nightmares. It was the only way to survive.
I had met a girl once named April who used to give them names and make up life stories for them. Her stories could get quite elaborate, too. Unfortunately, she became dinner for one of her characters she named Wayne.
April wasn't exactly my bff. She was actually quite annoying, but I certainly did not want to see her have her throat ripped out by Wayne the gas attendant.
"You're welcome," he said smugly, as if he expected me to get down on my knees and praise his greatness for saving me.
As if that would ever happen.
"Uh huh," I muttered, climbing past him.
I put my hammer back in its place on my belt, and made my way out of the rubble that used to be the local animal shelter. I know he expected more, but I wasn't in the mood to talk to him.
I pretty much kept to myself. It was just easier that way. I didn’t need to get to know him. I didn’t need a new friend. I had been down that road too many times since the outbreak began. You let yourself get to know someone. You let yourself care about someone and you think everything will be okay, as if they will stick around, but it never ends well. Either they get their face chewed off by a group of middle school undead, or they take off in the middle of the night with all your stuff, including the gun your own father used to blow his brains out after he was bitten.
I just didn't have the energy anymore to waste on making friends. My energy was better spent on surviving and killing anything without a pulse, and definitely not on some totally hot idiot who thought he was a super hero. Even if he was the cutest boy I'd seen since Zach. Well, was before his sister ripped his face off with her rotting teeth.
"So that's it? I save your ass and you just walk away?" He yelled after me, annoyed.
He followed me down the road, amazed by my lack of appreciation. Don't get me wrong, I did appreciate him stepping in and saving me from certain death. I would have been corpse chow for sure if he hadn't shown up. I just didn't need him tagging along like I owed him something, nor did I want to say anything to encourage him.
It wasn’t like I had asked him for help. He had done that on his own. Now he could get lost.
"Hey!"
Okay, now he was getting annoying. I spun around to face him, not realizing just how close he had gotten. We were practically in each other's faces. I couldn't help but take a moment to let my eyes graze over his features. His black hair fell around his face in soft waves, perfectly framing his sparkling green eyes and full kissable lips. He had a smudge of dirt on his left cheek, and for one brief second, I wanted to reach up and wipe it away. What the hell was I thinking?
"What?" I yelled, shocking him into silence. We stood there for a moment, glaring at each other.
"Do you expect me to throw my arms around your neck and shower you with gratitude? Oh my hero! You saved me!" I spat at him sarcastically.
I was clearly being a bit too dramatic. I told myself just to thank him and go on my way, and in my head it sounded right, the problem was, my mouth was not cooperating. I didn't quite know why I was being so mean to him, but still, I couldn't stop myself.
He took a step back, looking me over as if to assess if I could really be as much of a bitch as I seemed.
"A simple thank you would be nice." He raised one eyebrow and smiled crookedly, just a bit. It was an awkward expression but on him, it was adorable.
"Thank you." After a pause, I relented and turned to be back on my way.
I should have known from his persistence so far that wouldn't be the end of it. Not saying a word, he followed several paces behind me for the next half hour. Part of me wanted to yell at him to go, to leave me alone. Another part of me wanted to turn around and see his crooked smile and his sparkling green eyes staring back at me just one more time. Ignoring both parts, I just kept walking.
He at least had the sense to keep quiet for awhile. Unfortunately, that didn't last.
"I'm Will, by the way," he called out, moving faster to catch up with me. "Will Harrison."
"Good to know."
I still wasn't ready to make friends but I had to admit, I did feel just a little bit safer with him following behind for some strange reason. It wasn’t like I should have felt safe with some boy I don't know there. For all I knew, he could be plotting to steal from me, not that I had much. Or worse.
I just didn't think I needed to worry about him though. I didn’t usually come across people I felt so at ease with these days. Normally I kept my guard up, not even turning my back on a stranger. You had to look at every unknown as a threat if you wanted to survive in the new world. Something about this boy was different though. I just wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not yet.
"And you are?" he asked sweetly, as he jogged up in front of me and began walking backwards to face me. He was clearly trying to start over and get past our nasty start.
I was about to tell him to get lost when he tripped over a branch in the road and fell ungracefully right in front of me. I couldn't help but laugh. My hero, taken down by a branch in the road. It was the first time I had laughed in longer than I could remember. There wasn't a lot of comedy around these days.
"Ok, now I saved your life and made you laugh. I deserve a name at least. Don't I?" He gave me that crooked smile again, trying to be cute. Unfortunately, it was working.
"Andi Sheppard." I offered him a hand to help him off the ground, which he quickly accepted as if he thought I might rescind the offer at any time.
"Well Andi Sheppard, it's nice to meet you."
That smile of his made me lose track of my thoughts for just a moment, something I certainly wasn't used to, and definitely didn't like.
I could just barely remember what that felt like from life before the outbreak. I could picture myself as one of those silly innocent teenage girls, just waiting for a boy to smile at me and talk to me like it was the most important thing in the world. However, that wasn't me anymore. The world was different now. I was different. I didn't have the luxury of getting lost in the eyes of a cute boy, or daydreaming about spring formals or kisses. Survival was all that mattered now, and that didn't require boys, even ones with sparkly green eyes.
"So Andi, you from around here? Are you with a group?" He looked hopeful, as if he was willing me to say yes.
Most people figured it was safer in a group, more people to keep watch so you could sleep, more to fight. Even just to have others around for the company was enough to make people entertain the idea.
I thought most people were idiots.
Sure, I started out in a group too, including my parents, our neighbors old Mrs. King and the Allen's, with their two small children, and even a few kids I went to school with, including Zach and my best friend Amy, for a little while.
My dad was a bit of a prepper. As in, stockpiling shit for the end of the world. Our basement was pretty secure, and we had plenty food for everyone for the first couple of months at least. It was easy to get comfortable in feeling safe. No zombie was going to break into our basement, and we had weapons to keep out the living.
We didn't even venture outside once until old lady King kicked the bucket out of old age six weeks in. We wrapped her up in garbage bags, but the smell was too much. We had no choice but to take her outside.
It wasn't bad at first. No zombies to be found anywhere. No one alive either. It seemed that the whole area was deserted. I guess that's why we thought it was okay to start venturing out after that.
At first, we just went out to look for more supplies and toys for the Allen's kids. Then it started getting more and more frequent. After a couple weeks, people were spending more time outside than in the basement. My dad tried to warn everyone it wasn't a good idea, but none of us wanted to spend any more time in that dark basement. Including me. We should have listened.
Zach, Amy, and another girl June and I were out one day and met up with another group of teens who had also been hidden away somewhere. Like us, they were desperate for some normal teen fun and were dragging around a wagon full of beer. For some reason, we decided we should hang out and drink with them. We all knew it was a dumb idea, but we just wanted to feel normal again. After all, we hadn't seen anyone else in weeks, so it couldn't be all that bad. Needless to say, we were wrong.
When I first saw Zach's little sister Claire walking down the road, I was excited. She had been missing since the outbreak and every time we left the basement Zach looked around for a sign of her. I never thought we would see her again but there she was coming right down the street.
I didn't realize when I yelled out to her that anything was wrong. It wasn't until Amy started screaming, and I mean screaming, that I realized what was happening. We all took off running, but they were coming from both directions. I'd never seen so many at once, not even during the first days when they overtook the town.
I tried to pull Zach with me, to get back to the basement where we were safe, but he wouldn't move. He just stood there looking at his sister getting closer and closer. Amy grabbed me, and we ran, dodging past dead arms reaching for us.
We managed to make it back to the basement, but not without Amy being scratched. We didn't even know at first that a scratch could infect you, but we learned the hard way. None of the others made it back Everything got worse from there.
"Hello? Earth to Andi?"
Will was waving his hand in front of my face to break my trance. I hadn't even realized I had zoned out so long. Those weren't memories I wanted to get lost in.
"Sorry. Uh, I used to be." I tried to get those memories out of my mind.
"Which? You used to be from around here or you used to be with a group?" Will asked, leaning down under my face to force me to look at him.
"Both. I used to live not far from here. I was with a few different groups but none of them worked out."
I could tell he knew what I meant. The look in his eyes gave away his own painful past.
"Yeah, I was with a group for awhile, but now it's just me. So I guess it's a good thing we found each other."
He smiled, and I could tell he was genuinely happy that he wasn't alone anymore. I couldn't worry about that though. This wasn't going to work out. I was perfectly fine on my own. Sure, I almost became zombie chow a little while ago, but it's not like that happens every day.
"Look, Will." I tried to be gentler with him this time. "I do appreciate what you did for me earlier but I'm not looking for a new friend. I do things my own way, and I like being alone. We are going to have to go our separate ways."
I tried not to look at him while I spoke, not wanting to see his disappointment. For some reason that I couldn't quite understand, that mattered.
After I finished, I slowly looked up, expecting to find him at least unhappy about what I said, but instead he had this big goofy grin on his face. I must have had a confused expression to match what I felt, because when he looked at me, he started laughing. Actually laughing. Because I told him he basically had to get lost. Something was seriously wrong with him mentally.
"What are you laughing at?" I said, stepping forward. I could feel my cheeks warm with anger.
"You," he chuckled once more.
"What the hell for?"
My anger was growing. I tried my best to be nice and let him down easy and the jerk was making fun of me. Who does he think he is?
"You're just cute, that's all," he smiled, letting his eyes travel down over me and back up before turning and continuing down the road.
Cute? What was wrong with this boy? I should have just turned around and went in the other direction and left him right then and there to show him I was serious. In fact, that really was the best idea. Just part then and get it over with rather than dragging it out.
I started off down the side street and returned to my original plan to find supplies and a new place to hold up. Part of me expected to find him following me again, but when I turned around to check, Will was nowhere to be seen. Good.
I didn't need him distracting me from things. I had to think about me, and I didn't need to be worrying about anyone else. It might have been a good idea to stick together until I found more ammo and some supplies but it didn't matter. I could manage just fine on my own. I certainly didn't need some wannabe superhero following me around thinking I was some poor defenseless girl who needed saving. I could take care of myself. I did not need to be saved.
