Waking Up Dead

“Then stay the hell back,” she shrieked. “Wait for the other one.”

Luke looked into the restaurant, because yes, of course, one had gone around the back to flush them out. It would arrive at any moment. He went to grab his gun, but then thought better of it. The moon’s light was dim and he could well end up hurting either Jackson or himself. There was no choice but to wait, but he wouldn’t do so while she fought off two, no matter what she said!

He moved forward, determined to help her, but the moment he did the zombies closed in on her and Luke watched in horror as she fell to her knees. He roared as he moved, and for a second he couldn’t understand what he was seeing, but the moment the now-damaged zombies hit the ground he realized. She’d sliced through them at the kneecaps, removing a leg a piece in one single, graceful arc.

She beheaded one before even looking in his direction, then took care of the other, and though really he should have been looking out for the other zombie, Luke couldn’t help but admire her moves. She was so efficient, so matter of fact, and so damn cute.

“Can you believe that,” she growled, pointing Mandy at one of the zombies.

They were both naked and Luke sort of shuddered as he noticed where she was pointing, a male, and he was dripping yellow pus from his dick.

Disgusting.

Another shriek behind them and Luke turned to see the final zombie, a female, charge out of the restaurant. She didn’t have the calculated look the others had. She was wild and crazed—a zombie model one, as in minus the smarts. She also went straight for Jackson.

“Think it through already,” he heard her say and Luke wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or the zombie, but he lifted his ax anyway and cleaved it straight through the back of the zombie’s head.

The skull cracked, brain oozed out, accompanied by a significant amount of pus, and the shriek turned into a dull scream. Luke flipped the ax in his hands so that the thick part was now directly above the cracked skull and bashed it once, then again, until the whole thing split like a melon.

Jackson shot him the biggest grin the moment the zombie gave its final twitch. Moral dilemmas or not when it came down to the fight, she was ruthless. They both were.

“Come on, Luke! Time to get the hell out of Dodge.”

She was grinning and running toward the car and Luke followed her, exhilaration at another battle survived making him almost high. The moment they were inside, both breathing heavy, Luke took a deep, steadying breath, and turned to Jackson. “You’re something to behold, Jack. You might not know how you manage it, but damn you do.”

“You’re not too bad yourself.” She grinned, and before he could think better of it, Luke leaned forward and deposited a kiss on her open lips.

Maybe it was the adrenaline? Maybe it was the thrill of the win, or maybe it was just her, but the moment their lips touched his chest expanded and a strange tingle ran down his spine. He lingered for just a second before pulling back and tucking a stray strand of spiky hair behind her ear.

“What was that for?” she whispered, but she was still grinning and his heart thumped some more.

“Because we’re bad-ass.”

Slowly she nodded, her smile widening, her beautiful eyes filled with something that made his entire body harden. “You damn right we are. Come on. Let’s go kill some more zombies.”

And so they did.

Chapter Nineteen

Several days later Jackson watched as, binoculars in hand, Luke looked down to the middle of the fire escape where she perched.

“How many?” she whispered.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” he mouthed back.

“Roundabout?”

Luke scowled and even from a distance Jackson could see the worry lines around his eyes crinkling.

“Put it this way, Jack,” he said. “We’re in the shit.”

Jackson watched as he poked his head over the wall again and let out a long, slow exhale. She knew from his position that he could see pretty much the whole area, and by the sound of things, aka the shrieks and groans, it was not a pretty sight.

She took a deep breath, flooding her body with oxygen and she felt her stomach rumble, almost like it was demanding calories for the fight it knew was coming.

“Yep, totally in the shit.”

“Scale of one to ten?” she whispered.

He turned and scowled. “Ten.”

Jackson sighed. Why the hell wasn’t she surprised? After traveling for days without any trouble beyond a couple of dead things, it was too good to last.

Of course a lack of action meant a lack of other kinds of action. No adrenaline meant no adrenaline-induced kisses. She shivered ever so slightly as she replayed their kiss. Part of her had been so tempted to initiate another. After all, he’d started the first and turnabout was fair play, right? But she knew it had to be organic, natural, and it was all about timing, and now was so not the time. Not for another kiss or even to be even thinking about it! Something had Luke worried, something bad, and Jackson was not surprised. Yep, too good to last.

“What’s the deal then?”

“I’m gonna come down and you take a look yourself. Be prepared.”

With some rather dexterous movements they swapped positions and Jackson, ignoring the feel of Luke’s body brushing against her, climbed up until she too could look though the binoculars—a handy scavenge from an Outdoor World shop—and see out across the area. The sight that greeted her was enough for any thoughts of further kisses to subside and panic to judder through every single cell of her body. Nervous energy joined it, creating a nasty combination that made her sway slightly on the ladder. Shit. She bit down on her lip and steadied herself before letting the shock of what she could see settle across her. Accept it and deal with it, she told herself. Only way.

A minute or so later, once the adrenaline peaked and held, and the fear—because despite what Luke thought, there was always fear—settled into its usual spot on her shoulders, heavy and painful, Jackson began to think. How many were there? Then she realized that it was hard to say. The press of flesh was immense. Mottled, elongated limbs pressed up against one another, teeth snapping, pus dripping, and howls sounding. She guessed more than a hundred but either way it didn’t really matter. It was a hundred too many.

They were spread out across the entire area as far as Jackson could see. In the doorways of the abandoned buildings, hanging from the lampposts, shrieking from atop cars. One in particular caught her eye, though she didn’t know why. It was a female zombie, probably a retiree when she had died. The image of her snarling face against the soft flowers of her smock jarred somehow and Jackson felt vomit rise.

Swallow it, she told herself and her body complied.

Her gaze went to another waking dead. A teenager. She still had pink hair and bits of metal in her face. Piercings, of course, and Jackson’s heart went out to the girl she’d been. Another face, a young boy, then another, an elderly man… Mr. Jenkins flashed through her mind.

The sheer sight of so many boggled her mind. She’d seen nothing like it since the very early days. To see a pack, a fucking immense super-sized pack now, scared the shit—and then some—out of her. What the hell did it mean? Why were they banding together like that? What were they living on? It didn’t seem like they were eating each other.

She crawled back down the fire escape, her mind in a million different directions. A cloud of dust erupted