The Living Dead Boy (Book 2): Lost in Texas Page 2

  Nodding, Josh said, “Yeah, I do.”

  “Now trust me when I say that we’ve got a plan to get everyone to safety, and all you have to do is watch your brother, okay?”

  In the distance, more gunfire erupted. This time it lasted a lot longer than before. Standing next to his father, listening to the battle in the distance, Josh’s heart pounded with fear and anticipation. What Josh understood more than his dad and any of the other adults was that zombies had an eerie way of destroying even the best of plans.

  Chapter 3

  Heart thudding with fear, Josh scrambled onto the bus with his dad at his heels. Derrick quickly shut the door behind them. The slim young black man stared out of the windshield worriedly even though his view was blocked by other vehicles lining the road.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” he said.

  “It’s still some distance away,” Jamie assured him.

  A young woman near the front stood and blearily looked around. Big eyes the color of metal, which Josh thought was cool, stood out on her pale narrow face. She’d escaped Austin with Josh’s father, and seemed nice. She’d given the kids candy and protein bars from her bag. “Jamie, what is it?”

  Jamie started down the aisle. “They’re clearing the highway up ahead, Savannah. No need to worry.”

  Others on the bus were waking up, too. Josh was still learning the names of everyone. There was a young Latina mom named Melissa who had a little boy named Oscar just a year older than Drake. There was also a big white guy with red hair wearing a janitor uniform with the name “Beaux” on the nametag. They were the only ones to make an effort to talk to him or the other kids. All the other adults ignored them, spending their time crying, trying to call loved ones on their cellphones, or arguing with each other.

  Rachel, the blind woman, called out, “Are we safe here?” Her brown hair was falling out of her ponytail, and her fingers were white from her tight grip on her dog’s harness.

  “As safe as we can be,” Jamie answered. “Since the Army unit arrived, we’ve got a ton of firepower. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Except for zombies,” Troy muttered, blinking his swollen eyes.

  Jamie squeezed Troy’s shoulder. “I know, son, but we’re clearing the area.”

  Too nervous to sit, Josh stayed at Derrick’s side as his dad walked down the aisle of the bus reassuring everyone and answering questions. Since people had found out that Jamie was a former Marine, they looked to him for leadership.

  “Why aren’t we moving?”

  “We’re not far enough out of Austin to be safe, are we?”

  “I don’t understand! What’s the delay?”

  The raised voices from the back of the bus startled Drake awake. He promptly started to cry.

  “Not again!” a man exclaimed, annoyed.

  Corina gathered Drake into her arms and stood. Struggling to hold him on her hip, she scooted along the aisle. Her leggings had holes in them and her shirt was torn. She didn’t look like the type of person to ride a motorcycle to someone’s rescue, but Josh knew he was alive only because of her. She’d driven them both to the safety of the convoy on her dead boyfriend’s motorcycle. At one point she’d even shot a zombie during the escape. It was the most amazingly epic thing Josh had ever seen.

  Drake continued to sob, his face messy with tears and snot.

  “Don’t cry, Drake. The Army is killing the monsters,” Josh said.

  Clutching Rex the dinosaur in one grubby hand, Drake stuttered, “Killing monsters?”

  “Yeah. That’s what the noise is. All those pops. The Army is shooting them.”

  Corina leaned toward the windshield. “See, Drake. They’re far away from here. You can’t even see them.”

  “Is Mama with them?”

  Derrick visibly winced.

  “No, Drake. Mama is in our house,” Josh replied.

  “Want Mama!”

  Corina jiggled the sobbing toddler on her hip. She looked exhausted, and Josh realized how long she’d been holding his little brother. Josh wasn’t too sure why Corina was the only one Drake would go to, but he could see she was worn down by his demands. Feeling guilty, he held out his arms to Drake. “Want to come to me?”

  “No,” Drake replied. “Want Mama.”

  Resting his hands on Drake’s chubby middle, he said, “C’mon, little buddy.”

  “No!” He dug his knees into Corina’s waist. “You’re mean.”

  The words hurt, since Josh already feared that Drake blamed him for their mother’s death. “C’mon, Drake.”

  “No! I want Mama.”

  Did Drake think Corina was his mom now?

  “Corina isn’t your mother,” Josh retorted, starting to lose his calm.

  Drake glowered at Josh through his tears. “You’re stupid. Corina is my girlfriend.”

  “It’s okay,” Corina said. “I’ll hold him.”

  Josh sighed. “Sorry.”

  Corina shrugged a shoulder. “He’s just a little kid.”

  “I’m the baby,” Drake said with satisfaction.

  At the rear of the bus his father was in a heated discussion with several people. The dark shapes of the passengers clustered around Jamie looked as threatening as zombies. Josh couldn’t hear everything being said, but the arguing was making him feel anxious. The angriest of the passengers drowned out his father’s calm replies. It annoyed Josh to hear people shouting at his father. It wasn’t his dad’s fault that the roads had to be cleared.

  Troy stood behind Savannah, shaking his head with disgust. Sam and Yessica kneeled on their seat, watching the commotion. Corina observed the argument, too, her fingers gently rubbing Drake’s back.

  “You need to talk to your Army buddies and get us out of here!” a man shouted in Jamie’s face, his finger poking his shoulder with each word.

  Whatever his dad said was covered by the honking of several car horns further down the line. There was urgency to the sound. Was it a warning?

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Derrick muttered, then slid behind the big steering wheel.

  “We can’t leave unless they say,” Josh said quickly.

  “I know, kid. I just want to be ready.”

  Troy jogged up the aisle to Josh. “We need to figure out what to do, Josh. The last time we were on a bus things didn’t go so well.”

  “This time we have the Army. We’re okay.” Josh hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

  “Josh, Josh, Josh!” Sam arrived at the front with Yessica at his side. “Those people back there are jerks. They told your dad to take us kids and get off the bus!”

  “They can’t make us get off the bus!” Troy shot a furious look toward the cluster of adults at the rear of the bus.

  “I don’t want to get eated like Mary.” Yessica took a hit off her inhaler.

  “We’re not getting off the bus,” Josh replied. “My dad won’t let that happen.”

  “I won’t let it happen either,” Derrick interjected. “This is my bus after all.”

  “But the people back there are jerks,” Troy pointed out.

  “Then those jerks can get off my bus,” Derrick replied. “I got your back.”

  Not satisfied, Troy shot Josh a worried look. “Josh...”

  “My dad is a former Marine. He can handle it, Troy. We’re okay.”

  “I hate dealing with adults,” Troy groused.

  “Adult sitting right here. Listening.” Derrick looked amused and annoyed all at the same time.

  “I wish my dad was here,” Sam whispered, close to tears. “He’s a sheriff. He has a badge. Those people wouldn’t be yelling at him.”

  Yessica took another drag on her inhaler. “I don’t want to get eated by zombies.”

  Outside the steady pops continued. The noise reminded Josh of fireworks on the Fourth of July. The last Independence Day had been one of the best days of his life. Corina had come with his family to the county fairgrounds to see the fireworks. He’d sat with her o
n the bed of his grandfather’s pickup eating watermelon and watching the bright explosions. But he’d also been to the gun range with his dad enough to know that the staccato bursts were anything other than fireworks.

  “That’s some heavy-duty gunfire,” Derrick breathed. “Sounds close.”

  Josh nodded. “Yeah.”

  If the shots were closer, so were the undead.

  “Look! Look! Zombies!” Sam exclaimed.

  “Those aren’t zombies! They have flashlights,” Troy retorted. “Stop scaring everyone, Sam!”

  Several heavily-armored soldiers rushed along the side of the caravan. The beams from their flashlights cut through the night like lightsabers. One of them reached the bus and rapped hard on the side below the driver’s window.

  “Start her up! We’re moving out!” the soldier shouted.

  “Okay, kids, time to go.” Derrick turned on the engine and the big bus rumbled beneath their feet.

  Josh gripped the metal pole next to him. The gunfire continued, growing louder. It sounded different somehow, and Josh looked toward the back of the bus. Swallowing at the hard lump in his throat, Josh’s blood turned to sludge in his veins. The gunfire was coming from the rear of the caravan now.

  “Kids, get back to your seats. We’re moving out,” Derrick ordered.

  No one moved until Josh motioned for them to obey. As Josh slid onto a seat, Corina sat next to him with Drake on her lap. Troy took the place in front of them while Sam and Yessica claimed a spot on the opposite side.

  Jamie hurried up the aisle with several men and a woman behind him. The complainers, Josh thought. When his dad reached the front, Derrick told him about the order to get ready to move. Jamie glanced back at Josh, and gave him a quick thumbs up.

  Josh nodded, returning it. He trusted his father with all his heart.

  It was the other people he was worried about.

  The dog, Bonnie, pushed past Josh’s knees to stare out through the window. Growling low in her throat, she backed toward Rachel.

  “Look, she knows zombies are out there,” Sam said fearfully. “The dog knows.”

  “Keep cool, Sam,” Josh instructed.

  “With zombies out there?” Sam widened his eyes.

  “Yeah, with zombies out there,” Troy answered. “You’re a Zombie Hunter now, Sam. You gotta be brave.”

  Breathing heavily, Sam clenched his hands on his lap. “Okay. I can do that.”

  “No you can’t,” Yessica said, patting his arm. “But it’s okay.”

  The noise of a helicopter flying overhead drew everyone’s eyes upward. The whump!whump! of the blades sounded very close. A spotlight swept over the woods and filled the spaces between the tree trunks with shadows.

  “Oh, crap,” Josh whispered.

  “Those are zombies, Josh!” Sam shouted.

  Then everyone started screaming.

  Chapter 4

  “Everyone stay calm!” Jamie instructed in a loud voice. “Don’t panic!”

  No one onboard the bus listened to him.

  Josh really couldn’t blame them.

  There wasn’t a ton of zombies like in the movies, but there was enough to be scary. The shambling dead were badly charred and moved very slowly between the gnarled tree trunks. Somehow that made them even more terrifying.

  “They look like burned meat,” Sam gasped.

  “They are burned meat,” Troy answered, eyes wide with horror.

  “We need to go! We need to go now!” a man shouted from the back of the bus.

  “I can’t!” Derrick motioned toward the bumper of the vehicle in front of him. “I’ve got nowhere to go!”

  “Everyone stay seated,” Jamie ordered. “Clare, Hector, and Ron, please take a seat.”

  The people who had followed Jamie to the front hesitated, clearly not ready to give up their argument. The couple was dressed very nicely, like they were going to church. The woman’s blonde hair was still a very stiff helmet of waves around her head despite the day on the road. Her husband, a Latino man with a shiny bald head and mustache, had his arms crossed and looked more scared than angry. The third man was the one Josh instantly didn’t like. He had a round sunburned face and was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt. There was something about the set of his jaw and the way his eyes didn’t seem to blink that made Josh think he’d be the one to defy his dad at every turn. He kept taking off his beat up trucker hat to mop the sweat from his thin brown hair with a kerchief.

  “We’re not done with this discussion,” the third man said.

  “We got more important matters right now, Ron,” Josh’s dad answered. “This isn’t the time for arguing.”

  “We need a lot more answers,” Hector said in a thick Texas drawl. “And you need to get them.”

  “We’ll talk later, hon,” Clare added with a sugary-sweet smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

  The couple retreated to their seats with uneasy looks on their faces, but Ron shoved Bonnie aside to sit next to Rachel. He was clearly unwilling to retreat to the back. Bonnie gave the man a questioning look, and kept her furry body planted firmly at Rachel’s side.

  Corina pressed her elbow into Josh’s side, and he looked at her pinched face. Her eyes flicked to the man, and her lips mouthed, “Trouble.”

  Josh somberly nodded. He hoped his dad was prepared to deal with Ron.

  Jamie, meanwhile, stayed next to Derrick. His dead wife’s pistol was tucked into his belt, and Josh felt a little safer seeing the weapon. His dad had reloaded it earlier when a soldier had given him a box of ammunition for it.

  The pops of gunfire continued close by, but none of the zombies caught in the spotlight of the helicopter were killed. They continued on their trek toward the line of vehicles on the road with slow steady steps.

  “Why aren’t they shooting them?” Yessica asked in a small voice.

  “There’s a fence.” Josh pointed to the barbwire strung between posts. “It’ll catch the zombies. They’re probably trying to conserve the bullets.”

  Horns behind them started to honk again, and Josh could see Derrick impatiently tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. The rumble of engines, the honking of the horns, and people shouting at each other outside of the safety of the bus reminded Josh too much of the escape from the school. His hands trembled against his thighs, and he clenched them into fists. Again he felt helpless, unable to do anything other than sit and stare at the ghastly creatures meandering toward the road.

  There was something hypnotic about how slowly the zombies stumbled through the trees and tall grass. His friends and all the adults craned their heads to watch, for it was difficult not to stare at the zombies trudging toward the long line of vehicles. The first few hit the barbed-wire fence, and came to an abrupt halt. The zombies didn’t seem to understand how to push past the barrier, and they flailed their charred bodies against the wires.

  “That’s holding them,” Troy said, slumping down in his seat. “You were right.”

  The pops of guns being fired sounded nearby. If the soldiers weren’t shooting at the zombies on the other side of the fence, then they were shooting at zombies that were much closer.

  “Guys! Guys! Guys!” Sam shouted, his voice booming.

  “There’s more zombies,” Yessica said, matter-of-factly. “Lots of them.”

  The space around the back of the bus was suddenly filled with the undead. Many were burned, a few were missing parts of their bodies, and all were very slow.

  “It’s a herd!” Troy exclaimed!

  “I don’t like them! Make them go away!” Drake added his voice to the escalating noise level.

  Jamie ordered people to be quiet, but again no one listened. Panic started to set in as the attention of the zombies was drawn to the bus by the frightened cries inside. Gnarled dead hands started to slap against the bus, and the eerie moans of the zombies competed with the shrieks coming from the living.

  Yessica slid off her seat and crawled under it, leaving S
am to stare out the window in horror.

  Some of the people around Yessica saw her action, and scooted off their seats to crouch out of sight.

  “Get down, get down!” Jamie called out.

  Rachel and Bonnie immediately obeyed, but Ron defied the order and stood to glare out the window. Corina and Josh fought to get Drake under their seat, and he finally obeyed once he saw Yessica wave to him. Clutching Rex, the little boy sobbed piteously.

  “Will this work?” Corina whispered. “Hiding out of sight?”

  Josh shook his head, but he wasn’t about to disobey his father. The cries of the people inside the bus definitely had the attention of the herd. A group of them pushed against the rear entrance, rattling the doors, their prey easily visible through the glass insets. Josh dared to lift his head to peer through the window near his seat. The zombies in the road were surging toward the rear of the bus and bypassing the RV behind it.

  “We need to go! We need to go now!” someone shouted.

  In the back, a woman wailed in fear.

  Josh scampered along the dirty, sticky floor to where his dad was huddled on the front stairs. “Dad, they’re making the zombies come to us. We gotta be quiet.”

  “You’re right. I’ll take care of it.”

  Josh returned to Corina’s side and touched Drake’s arm. His baby brother was sucking on his fingers and didn’t pay attention to his older brother.

  Meanwhile, Jamie physically pulled Ron down out of sight. “Don’t let them see you.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do,” Ron retorted.

  “Please, mister, please do what he says,” Rachel pleaded.

  A few other voices chimed in, and to Josh’s relief, Ron stayed down.

  Jamie continued through the bus, quieting people, and urging them to stay hidden. It was harder toward the rear of the bus where the zombies could see several seats. Jamie squatted out of sight and called out softly to those huddled in the rear. “Keep out of sight. Keep quiet.”

  To Josh’s relief, people obeyed. One woman continued to cry loudly, but it sounded muffled, like she’d covered her mouth to squelch the noise.

  The sound of a car approaching was followed by a voice on a loudspeaker calling out to the zombies using all the sorts of swear words Josh wasn’t allowed to use.