The Living Dead Boy (Book 3): Journey Across Zombie Texas Read online

  Journey Across Zombie Texas

  By

  Rhiannon Frater

  Journey Across Zombie Texas

  The Living Dead Boy, Book 3

  by Rhiannon Frater

  Copyright © 2017 by Rhiannon Frater

  Kindle Edition

  All Rights Reserved.

  Edited by Kody Boye

  Interior formatting by Kody Boye

  Cover Artwork and Layout by Corey Hollins

  Dedicated to Tim Kirk,

  who inspired me to make sure the military were the good guys

  Special Thanks to my husband who encouraged me to finish the trilogy and not give up on Josh and the Zombie Hunters

  Chapter 1

  “Are those zombies or people?”

  Corina’s question immediately tugged Josh out of his light doze. Exhausted from the events of the last few days, he’d fallen asleep with his head resting against the passenger window. Now his head ached from the sunlight beating down on him while he slept.

  “Where?” he groggily asked.

  Corina was wedged between Dulce, who was driving, and Josh. She tugged nervously at the end of her braided hair with one hand while pointing with the other. “There.”

  Ahead, figures waded through the wavering heat shimmering over the asphalt.

  Dulce slowed the pickup, her knuckles nearly white from tightly gripping the steering wheel. “Not good,” the teenage girl from Mexico said in her thick accent.

  “Zombies. Right, Josh?” Sam asked from the rear of the cab.

  “I vote zombies,” Troy answered. “What do you think, Danny?”

  A long, drawn out snore was the only answer from Dulce’s younger cousin in the backseat.

  Josh sat forward to gaze through the dirty windshield. From a distance the people walking down the middle of road almost looked alive. Only the weird jerky motions of their bodies revealed their true nature. “Yeah. Those are zombies.”

  “A bunch of zombies,” Sam corrected.

  Dulce braked and the pickup idled. She craned her head toward Josh, clearly expecting him to tell her what to do. Josh could feel the weight of everyone’s gaze—except Danny’s—resting on him while they waited for his orders. Sweat trickled down the side of his face, and he wiped away the moisture with the back of his hand. It was hard to estimate how many zombies were moving in the direction of the pickup, but it was enough to make his stomach clench with fear. They were spread out from one side of the blacktop to the other.

  “What do we do?” Corina asked.

  “Let me think,” Josh replied, twisting about on his seat to study the area.

  The country road was bordered by barbed-wire fences on both sides. On one side was a thick gnarl of trees and wild grass. On the other was an empty pasture that sloped upward toward a hill. In the distance, dark shapes wandered among the trees. Josh hoped they were cows.

  “Do we mow the zombies down with the truck, Josh?” Sam asked excitedly.

  Josh glanced over his shoulder at the chubby boy’s round red face surrounded with messy blonde curls. Killing a zombie had boosted Sam’s confidence. He looked more eager than afraid. Just yesterday he would have been terrified.

  “Do we, Josh?” Troy asked.

  “Like in the movies,” Sam added.

  “We have a deer guard.” Corina’s fingers nervously twisted the end of her braided hair. “They’ll bounce off.”

  “My dad would tell us not to take unnecessary risks.” Josh’s mind whirled with all the possible outcomes of using the truck as a battering ram.

  “How are we supposed to get to San Angelo then?” Sam leaned forward and grabbed the back of the seat near Josh’s shoulder. Josh could feel the boy’s hot breath that smelled like beef jerky on his cheek. Sam wasn’t very good with personal space. “There are lots of zombies now, right? All over?”

  “Your dad did say that there’s a ton of them between us and San Angelo,” Troy said. “So we’re gonna have to use the truck as a battering ram at some point.”

  “But this is the only truck we have. We’ll need to be careful. If we get a flat, or anything goes wrong with the engine, none of us know how to fix it, right?” Josh stared ahead, trying to plot a course through the zombies.

  “I can change tires,” Dulce informed him.

  The English words sounded awkward coming from her lips. Each word was said precisely, but haltingly, like she was searching for each one before saying it. Josh could only speak a few words of Spanish, and could only imagine how intimidating it would be to try to communicate with native speakers. “That’s good to know. Thanks.”

  Dulce smiled slightly, but her fingers hadn’t loosened their grip. “I hit the zombies now?”

  “There was a road a few miles back. Maybe it’s best to backtrack,” Corina suggested.

  “That could lead us further away,” Josh answered. “I wish we had a map.” An earlier search of the pickup had turned up empty.

  “Just Grand Theft Auto them,” Troy said. “We have a big truck and they’re squishy.”

  Again, various scenarios played out in Josh’s mind, mostly based on the zombie films and television shows he’d watched. “On Z Nation a zombie got stuck in the wheel well, so that would be bad if it happened to us.”

  “What’s Z Nation?” Sam asked.

  “Seriously?” Troy responded in surprise. “The zombie show on the Syfy channel? The one with the blue guy?”

  “My dad won’t let me watch scary stuff.”

  “That sucks.” Troy sounded sympathetic.

  In the old days, Arturo would have ripped Sam apart for being zombie illiterate. But Arturo was dead now, and Josh and Troy had agreed that Sam was part of the Zombie Hunters. Zombie Hunters always stuck up for their own.

  Danny snored on.

  “So what did they do on the show?” Corina asked Josh.

  “Uh. Killed the zombie—” Josh started.

  “It was still alive?” Sam gasped.

  “Yeah, but messed up. Warren piked it,” Troy answered. “I’m going to marry her when I grow up.”

  “She’ll be too old,” Sam scoffed.

  “She’s pretty!” Troy sounded peeved.

  “Off topic. Again.” Corina glared at the boys in the backseat with her best babysitter look, effectively shutting them up. “How do we handle the zombies in front of us that are getting closer while we waste time?”

  The thought of backtracking to the side road and possibly traveling further off course bothered Josh. They needed a map and a plan. The country road they’d been traveling on for nearly an hour was bordered by endless fields, woods, and pastures. The only houses they’d seen were behind gated fences and at the end of long drives. He’d considered having Dulce stop at one, but he was worried about how adults would respond to a group of kids traveling on their own. They were on a mission to get to San Angelo, and he had a bad feeling adults would try to stop them.

  “Dulce, I want you to aim for the spot with the least zombies,” Josh said finally. “Try to avoid them if you can. We shouldn’t risk the truck.”

  “Okay,” Dulce answered. “Don’t hit zombies.”

  “Right.” Josh gave her an encouraging smile.

  “I want to hit them.” Dulce pouted.

  Corina giggled despite the tension bunching up the skin between her eyebrows. “I kinda want to, too.”

  “It would be so cool!” Sam exclaimed.

  “I gotta agree with Sam,” Troy said.

  “Yeah, me too, but we gotta be sensible.” It occurred to Josh that he sounded like his dad, which he took as a sign he
was doing the right thing.

  During their conversation, the zombies had advanced to the point where their moans were audible and their bloody faces clearly visible. The zombies were much grosser than any film or television show. There were big chunks missing from where skin, muscle, and even bone had been pulled away when they’d died. Josh’s mom and Arturo had died from a single bite, but the zombies coming toward them had died while being mauled by a pack of the undead. It was not a fate he wanted for himself or his friends.

  Another snore came from the back seat. Josh envied Danny. He was so tired, but doubted he’d get a chance to doze again if the road ahead was going to continue to be zombie infested.

  “I go now?” Dulce asked.

  The zombies were gravitating toward the center of the road as the neared the pickup. Josh had the impression they were clustering together to attack. The undead on the right-hand shoulder of the road were sparse in numbers. That’s where Dulce would need to drive.

  “Wait just a little longer,” Josh told her.

  “Oh, I see what you’re waiting for.” A smile teased the corner of Corina’s lips as she glanced toward Josh. “Smart.”

  He puffed up his chest a little at her approval.

  “I don’t get it,” Sam said, breathing heavily in Josh’s ear.

  “The zombies are moving from the sides of the road cause they’re zeroing in on us,” Troy pointed out. His face was squeezed between the headrest of Josh’s seat and the passenger side window. “Smart, Josh.”

  “We’re just lucky that they’re aiming for us, and giving us a path.” Josh leaned forward, watching the zombies gather into a mob. There were more than he’d originally thought. All were adults dressed in the type of clothes people wore to office jobs. He suspected they were evacuees from one of the bigger cities. But where were their vehicles? What had happened? “Okay, Dulce. The right-hand shoulder is open now. Aim there.”

  The sixteen-year-old girl pointed to the side of the road. “There?”

  “Yeah. Just drive onto the shoulder,” Josh instructed.

  “Over your shoulder?” Dulce looked confused.

  “See that white line? Cross over it. That’s called a road shoulder,” Corina explained.

  Dulce looked a bit doubtful at this explanation, but nodded. She lifted her foot off the brake and the pickup rolled slowly forward.

  The zombies were several car lengths away. Their eerie moans grew louder with their excitement.

  Dulce drove at an angle, aiming for the shoulder. She kept a firm hold on the steering wheel as she picked up speed.

  “I’m scared,” Sam whispered. “But excited.”

  “We all are,” Corina replied.

  “We’d be stupid not to be scared,” Troy assured Sam.

  Danny snorted in his sleep.

  “Just keep calm. We’re going to cruise right past them.” Josh felt Corina’s fingers on his arm, and he gave her a small smile. “We’re going to be fine.”

  “What’s that noise?” Troy asked.

  “What noise?” Sam answered.

  Josh picked up a growling sound that was not the zombies.

  “It’s a car!” Corina exclaimed.

  In the side mirror, Josh caught sight of a sedan zooming up alongside the pickup. A familiar face was behind the wheel. “Dulce, watch out!”

  The teenage girl slammed on the brakes just as the car swerved in front of the truck, nearly clipping the front end. It didn’t slow down as it zoomed toward the crowd of zombies.

  Danny sputtered awake. “Uh, what’s going on?”

  “Oh my gawd! That driver is crazy!” Sam shouted.

  With a grim look on his face, Josh said, “Yeah. It’s Chad.”

  Chapter 2

  “I hate him!” Sam pounded his fist on the back of the seat.

  “He’s going to ram the zombies!” Troy exclaimed. “That car is not gonna hack it.”

  “Totally a noob move,” Danny agreed.

  Josh couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Maybe Chad was playing a game of chicken with the zombies and would swerve onto the shoulder and miss the cluster of zombies. Striking the zombies with a car so low to the ground and without a deer guard was suicidal. They wouldn’t get deflected away from the vehicle, but scooped up. Josh had seen that happen in plenty of the more realistic zombie movies.

  “He can’t be that dumb,” Josh muttered.

  “Oh, yes, he is,” Corina answered.

  A second later the car plowed into the zombies. The bodies of the undead piled up on the hood, a few rolling off the sides onto the road. The bodies falling from the front were caught under the wheels and dragged along the blacktop, leaving a long trail of blood and gore. There were so many zombies on the hood of the car, Chad obviously couldn’t see where he was going. The sedan slowed as it drifted to the left side of the road. The sedan lurched off the road and into a fence post a few feet from the shoulder. The hard impact sent the zombies flying over the wooden fence and into the pasture. A few remained on the hood, clawing at the shattered windshield.

  Chad’s stupidity had inadvertently cleared the way for the pickup. Zombies were scattered across the road. Some were truly dead, their heads smashed open, while others clawed at the asphalt trying to pull their mangled bodies toward the crashed car, or pickup. Most of the zombies were immobilized by their fresh injuries and the rest were lying in battered heaps behind the fence. The few still on the hood of the sedan were focused on Chad behind the shattered windshield. Josh couldn’t see him through the bloody smears on the driver side window.

  “I hate that guy,” Sam grunted staring at the crashed vehicle. “He’s so dumb. Now he’s gonna get eaten.”

  Josh noted that no one suggested trying to save Chad from the zombies. He wasn’t about to advocate a rescue after what Chad had done to Corina. The older boy had a chance to be a part of their team and had rejected it. Over and over again, he’d made it clear he had no interest in saving anyone but himself. Ramming the zombies had probably been his way of showing off, and now it had backfired.

  “I thought the zombies would go flying through the air,” Troy said, disappointment in his voice.

  “Physics work differently than special effects.” Corina looked just as shocked as everyone else in the truck, but fear haunted her big gray eyes. Her fingers touched the bruises Chad had left on her skin. Josh realized she was trembling.

  “Let’s go,” Josh said to Dulce.

  Lifting her foot off the brake, Dulce drove forward, weaving between the bodies on the ground. “Slow okay?”

  “Yeah. Slow is good,” Josh answered.

  The pickup bounced over something on the road.

  “Oops,” Dulce said, wincing.

  “It’s okay. They’re dead anyway,” Troy assured her.

  Josh was more concerned about the tires, but he didn’t say anything. There were pieces of the zombies on the road. A broken bone stuck out of a part of a leg, the end as sharp as a dagger. Dulce took care to avoid it.

  A male zombie managed to get to his feet and hurled toward the front of the pickup. The deer guard deflected the zombie and he flew through the air before crashing onto the road.

  “Wow,” Sam gasped.

  “Now that’s more like it,” Troy said with satisfaction.

  “That was kinda epic,” Danny agreed.

  Watching the zombie violently tumble until it struck the back of Chad’s battered car, Josh felt grimly satisfied with his choice to evade the zombies and not ram them. The sedan was clearly out of commission, and the same could have happened to the pickup.

  The door to the ruined car creaked open and Chad tumbled out. Clutching a crowbar, he evaded the clutching hands of the zombies plastered to the hood and windshield. The teenager darted past a few crawling on the ground dragging their broken legs. Then, much to Josh’s dismay, he sprinted toward the pickup, his plaid shirt flapping around his skinny frame.

  “He’s coming!” Sam shouted.

  Co
rina winced and threw an angry look over her shoulder at Sam. “Don’t yell in my ear!”

  “But he’s coming!” Sam protested.

  Seemingly flustered by the shouting of the other kids in the pickup, Dulce swung a little too wide around the few zombies still on their feet and the vehicle drove off the road, over the shoulder, and into the scrub brush growing alongside the blacktop. Wild grass whipped at the sides of the truck as it bounced along the uneven terrain. Josh gripped the dashboard as he was jostled about. Corina’s elbow caught him painfully in the ribs. Dulce jerked the wheel, trying to get back onto the road. The wheels spun in the fresh mud from an earlier downpour, and the pickup lurched dangerously to one side. Somehow the teenager managed to keep control of the pickup as it skidded onto the road in a sharp turn. It spun about in nearly a complete circle when she hit the brakes.

  The truck came to a hard stop a few feet from several zombies.

  “Sorry,” Dulce muttered.

  “He’s coming! You need to go!” Sam wailed.

  “Gogogogogo!” Troy and Danny chorused.

  Dulce cautiously pulled the pickup around in a U-turn on the narrow road, the muddy wheels making it difficult.

  “Faster,” Corina urged in a breathless voice. She was staring out the rear window, her eyes large with worry.

  Josh swiveled about in his seat and craned to see past the boys blocking the view. “Where is he?”

  “The zombies are trying to grab him!” Sam exclaimed with glee.

  “They missed,” Danny grumbled.

  “He’s almost got us. Floor it, Dulce!” Troy called out.

  Finally Josh caught sight of Chad racing toward the truck. He was quick on his feet and dodged past zombies attempting to grab him. The pickup surged forward, and Chad launched himself at the pickup. The teenage boy’s desperate leap paid off as his hands caught the top of the tailgate.

  “No!” Sam whipped about to face Josh. “Don’t let him come with us!”

  “He’s not on the truck yet! We’re dragging him!” Danny then leaned forward and said something to Dulce in Spanish.