Waking Up Dead

under her and Luke’s feet and they both paused for a few moments. The groans continued to sound—though distant now—and the air had that same tangible feel to it. Danger. It was what had made Luke stop the car with a frown a few blocks back, before suggesting they scout the area out a little.

“You were bang on the money,” she whispered. “It’s almost like we can feel them.”

He stepped a little closer to her, so that there were bare inches between them. As always, Jackson found her gaze on eye level with his despairingly muscular chest, and swallowed carefully before raising her eyes to his.

“Houston, we have a problem,” he whispered and despite the fact that a horde of flesh eating beasts was just a few blocks away, Jackson smiled.

“We so do.”

He lifted a hand to indicate the direction he wanted them to go in and Jackson crept behind him until they made it back to the car. The panic subsided ever so slightly when they were inside. The illusion of safety, she thought. But then there almost was an element of it with Luke behind the wheel. She trusted him to drive right, not to take chances, and she could actually sleep as he traversed the country.

How odd.

Jackson swallowed carefully and eyed the man who sat next to her. She’d never really thought about it. How, when she was in the car with him, she did relax a little. She’d thought it was only when they were holed up somewhere, snuggled up together, but clearly that was not the case. What that said she didn’t know, but when he reached out to take her hand in his and give it a squeeze, she kind of thought that might have something to do with it.

Priorities.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” Luke whispered.

For a moment she thought he was talking about her internal dialogue and gaped a little. “Huh?”

“Where they are in relation to the roads,” he said waving in the direction of the fire escape, and Jackson realized he was talking about the zombies. The many, many zombies that should have been at the forefront of her mind too!

“I did mention geography is not my strong point, right?” she asked.

“That you did. So here’s the deal. We have to go through them,” Luke said and Jackson felt her jaw drop.

Go through them? “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

He frowned. “We have to. It’s that or turn back completely and go through Kansas.”

Her heart gave a nasty thump and Jackson let out an exhale, needing it to steady herself. “Kansas sounds good.”

“Unless we find the same thing there,” he said. “We have to assume we will. We have to assume this is normal now. Fucking hell. Giant packs.”

“Let’s not just assume.”

“We have to,” Luke insisted. “Assume the worst, hope for the best.”

“But going through them?” The very idea made her skin crawl. “Do we really want to risk that?”

“It’s the only way across the river that I know of. If we do it right, gun the car, we should sail right through them. I scoped it out when I was up there. It’s one clear road once we get past them. The only danger will be in the beginning.”

“You realize this plan is crazy?”

“I know. It’s almost as bad as some of yours.”

She punched him lightly on the arm with her free hand and he smiled. That smile…her heart thumped again, she couldn’t lose it. She wouldn’t!

“We have to be fast. You have to put your foot down and do not let it back up. I’ll be on point.”

“They won’t get in the Batmobile,” he insisted. “I’ll be fast.”

“I don’t doubt it, but we’re just-in-casing here.” She paused for a moment, their hands still clasped together. “This is def our best option, right?” she asked, though she was fairly sure she knew the answer. Luke was at his best when confronting a problem head-on.

“Yeah.”

Jackson shivered and plotted it out in her mind. It could work, assuming they drove fast enough, but the thought of being in the midst of that many waking dead made her feel slightly sick. It wouldn’t, once she was actually in there. She knew she’d be fine when they got going. The anticipation was always the killer and right now it was scaring the fuck out of her.

“Let it go,” she whispered. Because this was one of those moments where doing that was the only thing that made any sort of sense. Letting go was all about putting yourself in a place where you could think, yeah I might die, let’s hope I don’t, but I’ll roll with it either way. It was like recapturing the exact moment when she’d been poised to jump off the skyscraper. That exact, slightly insane moment.

“Jack?”

And she trusted Luke, didn’t she? If he thought they could make it, then surely that was good enough for her?

“Okay…” she said slowly. “Let’s do this.”

Luke nodded, squeezed her hand once more before releasing it, then readied himself to restart the car. But at the last moment he paused and shot her a look. “Spit it out, already.”

“Spit what out?”

“Whatever’s going through you mind. I know something is. Your brow’s all scrunchy.”

Jackson shrugged, but Luke must’ve seen it anyway. After a few weeks together now she and Luke were pretty much in sync. He picked up on what she was thinking before she even thought about telling him. It was vice versa, as well. When she looked into his warm eyes she got what was there. It was slightly scary but exciting too. Just one more thing in the constant catalog of things she liked about him. One more thing that made the nights more and more difficult…well, that and the kiss.

“Going through is what it is,” she said slowly. “I’m ready. But I’m just wondering… why are they here in the first place?”

Luke gripped the steering wheel and shook his head. “Who gives a shit? The important thing is that we’re not. They’d tear us apart, Jack. Into pieces. We’d be like a doughnut at a Weight Watchers convention.”

She gave him a smack on the arm. “I went to Weight Watchers a time or two. Don’t be snarky.”

“Just making the point. And we should go. Now. Get this done.”

Jackson spread her hands wide. Trying in some way to explain the feeling that had hit her. “Something feels weird,” she finally said. “Why are they all there? Think about it. When have you ever seen that many together apart from in the early days?”

“Well… I haven’t,” Luke replied. “They formed their packs. Fighting among one another and eating anything with a pulse that crossed their paths.”

“Exactly. So what the hell is going on? That many in one place? What the fuck are they up to?”

“I have no idea. I don’t much care, to be honest. We need to leave. Now.”

“Yes we need to leave, but just think about it for a moment, Luke,” she said, because it felt important to her that he understand. “They all looked pretty healthy, not skinny or feeble. I only got that off a quick look, but the ones I could see you know, they looked fine. They weren’t snapping at each other, eating each other. But then more than that, they looked as if they were waiting.”

Luke frowned. “For what?”

Jackson thought of the zombie crowd. Visualizing them in her mind. Yes. She was sure of it now. They had looked as though they were waiting.

“I don’t know. That’s my point. And I can’t help but wonder…”

“You wonder too damn much,” Luke said. “They are what they are. This is what it is.”

Jackson sighed, took a sip of water from her Evian bottle and frowned. Luke was getting impatient. A state he rarely seemed to be in. Wasn’t he always the understanding one? The most easygoing? So really, that right