Waking Up Dead

in his eyes when she’d confessed her single state. Luke was interested, smaller pool or not, and the possibilities that created gave Jackson a weird feeling she hadn’t experienced in a while, and had not expected to feel again.

Anticipation. How odd.

“I wish it wasn’t getting dark,” he whispered, pointing his gun around the corner.

“Does it really make a difference?”

He shrugged. “It’s probably a survival thing. I always like to be back in the bunker before all the light goes. It makes no difference to them I know, but I feel safer facing off against them in the daytime.”

“Because you can see them?”

“Yeah.”

They passed a McDonald’s and Jackson’s mouth watered despite all the food she’d eaten already. Like whispering when the zombies were close by it was an ingrained reaction, because God knew she’d chomped down enough Happy Meals in her time.

“We’ll be safe in the bunker,” Luke added, interrupting her fast food thoughts. “And then we can start figuring out what to do from there.”

“What to do?”

“How we’ll get to the interstate.”

His words startled her, namely the “we,” and she almost stumbled into a pothole. “You’re going to come with me?”

“Sure I will. If Tye’s not there, you won’t be able to find the way back to the bunker…”

“You don’t think he will be, do you?” Jackson asked, picking up the tone of his voice and remembering his words from the pool room.

“You want honesty?”

“Always.”

“Then no. I don’t. When I arrived there,” he shrugged a shoulder behind them, “a pack of zombies were in and busy doing something. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what. I’ll come with you to make sure, but it might be that you have to accept they got him, and then we’ll have to start making other plans.”

“Other plans?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “You said something about Texas. Does that still hold without Tye?”

They rounded a corner and Jackson looked left and right before speaking—Luke’s thoughts, his question, prodding her. Without Tye. It was an odd prospect. After being alone for so very long, she’d gotten used to having him around. Maybe that was stupid. Maybe she should have expected this. After all everyone died, and in this new world, it happened a whole lot faster.

“I started this journey a while ago,” she said slowly. “Two years or so ago. Mainly, in truth, because I didn’t know what else to do. I had no clear plan on where to go. I just started walking, but meeting Tye changed that completely.”

“Changed it how?” Luke asked.

“He’d been traveling as well, almost as long as me, but he had a clear goal in mind, and the moment I heard it, it became my goal too. How could it not?”

“What was—”

Jackson held up a hand to halt Luke’s words, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest. She gestured to the side of the road and together they jogged over to the entrance of a large building. It looked like it used to be a bank, the first clue being piles of money on the floor inside. Now it was just paper.

Luke leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “What did you hear?”

Jackson shivered, not from whatever was moving, but from the feel of Luke’s warm breath feathering across her skin. He could easily become a major distraction. Priorities, she told herself. Remember what’s important. “I’m not sure. Wait.”

They stood perfectly still, stance ready for whatever Jackson had heard and then watched as a ratty dog skittered past them. The poor beast looked like it was on the verge of collapse and Jackson’s heart went out to it. Animals seemed to be immune to the virus, but were in trouble regardless. They got eaten.

“Little guy won’t last much longer,” Luke whispered.

“Literally.” She heard the zombie before she saw it and the momentary relief that had sparked at the sight of the dog died a swift death. Jackson flattened herself against the doorway, pushing Luke back as she did so. He made to protest but she held up Mandy and hissed a warning.

The zombie was faster than the dog by a fair margin and it was less than a heartbeat before it pounced. The dog’s bark was followed by a whine that screamed pain as the zombie ripped its front leg off, stuffing the limb in its mouth. Bright red blood pooled on the floor as the dog tried to crawl away. It had no chance.

Though she knew it was the height of stupidity, because the damn canine was pretty much a goner, Jackson moved forward, the image of one of those bastards doing the same thing to Tye flashing through her mind. Luke pulled on her arm but she shrugged free and stepped onto the road. The zombie paused, howled, and turned.

Despite herself Jackson’s stomach lurched. It was a woman and tufts of gray fur were stuck to its chin. Its mouth was working overtime trying to chew the dog limb up and as it straightened it spat out what looked like bones.

Bile welled in the back of Jackson’s throat, swiftly followed by anger. She’d always liked dogs, and the little guy had survived for so long. She shot it a quick glance and her heart squeezed. It was trying to crawl away, fangs not even bared.

“Take care of the dog,” she said.

“How about let’s get the fuck out of here?” Luke replied. “They travel in packs, remember?”

The zombie pounced. Jackson did not move. It was all about the timing. One, two, three…she stepped back. It landed right in front of her and met Mandy’s blade. Straight through the neck.

She moved to the left, avoided the spray of blood and pus, and pushed Luke in the same direction.

“How sharp is that blade?” he breathed. “I mean, Christ.”

“Not always sharp enough.” The zombies head was still attached, by maybe a half inch of sinew and skin. “Take care of it, Luke. I need to help the dog out.”

Jackson jogged forward, ignoring the thud behind her. Her heart was pounding and she had to swallow several times to push down what felt like a little ball of vomit. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought. Because there were probably others close by, and could arrive at any moment. She’d put them in danger, for what? The dog looked up at her and whined. For a quick death, her mind answered. For saving someone, something, the excruciating pain of being eaten.

Jackson thought of Tye as she brought Mandy down on the dog’s neck and her heart squeezed for them both. Dog and man.

For the headless zombie she felt nothing.

Chapter Twelve

“This goal of Tye’s,” Luke whispered a few minutes later, more to break the tension than anything else, because Jackson had been completely silent from the moment she’d killed the dog. “What is it?”

She didn’t answer at first, and Luke wondered if she was going to, but after a moment she spoke, and there was an odd note to her voice. Because of Tye or because of the dog? He had no way to know.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” she said, her eyes everywhere. Checking and checking, but it seemed the zombie had been a straggler—which was weird but not unheard of. Luke had come across a few in his time. They didn’t stay alone for long. “When he told me, I mean,” she added. “I didn’t believe him. I thought maybe he’d been alone for too long and had gone a bit…off…plus he was so reckless. It was like a game to him, the zombies. He was fearless.”

Luke wondered if Jackson realized she was using the past tense. Probably not.

“I asked him where he was heading,” she continued, “and he told me he was going south.”