“Where’s Luther going?” Ella cried out.
Scarlett’s sky-blue eyes shrouded over with fear. She obviously wasn’t back to her kick-ass self. The kidnapping had taken its toll. At least she had changed out of that outrageous Elvira-like gown. So unlike her.
Justin couldn’t let Dean die out there. “I’m going for him!”
Scarlett shook her head slowly. Sadly. “Stay here.” Her voice cracked.
“Fine,” he uttered under his breath. He watched the Z-covered truck through the binoculars, praying. The sporadic gunshots were his only confirmation Dean hadn’t bit the dust. But when the gunshots stopped . . .
Several trucks appeared in his viewfinder. “Awesomeness!” Must be Stanwyck’s men. They raced toward Dean. “C’mon, faster!” Justin cheered on as if they could hear.
“Is Dean okay?” Ella’s high-pitch revealed her panic.
“Help’s on the way! Looks like Stanwyck’s men are crashing the party,” Justin said while Scarlett scurried from window to window.
“What just happened?” Did Dean purposely dive out of the truck? He disappeared into the tall brassy grasses. And Zs dove after him!
“Silver Lady, please save Grandpa Dean!” Twila screeched.
“Holy shit! He let the binocs dangle around his neck. Another horde animated from the grasses. But it was the men with automatic weapons that sent him into a state of fear-laced panic he tagged, “fanic.” “Everyone! Hug the floor. Like now!”
“I’ll cover Ella!” Scarlett screamed from the other side of the room.
Justin dove for Twila, knocking her down. He shielded her body with his the same time Scarlett made it to the floor with Ella and Mateo. A rage of gunfire peppered the building. Bullets pinged off metal like those old-time westerns, and sunlight streaked in through the bullet holes. All they could do was wait for it to stop.
“Are they done yet?” Ella whimpered after several seconds of silence.
“Stay down,” Justin breathlessly urged as he crawled to the window. He focused in on the scene, afraid Dean and Luther hadn’t made it.
“O-M-G! Say something!” Ella moaned. “Are they okay?”
“Yay! Grandpa Dean and Uncle Luther are safe,” Twila cried out before Justin confirmed it with the binocs.
He turned to Ella. “I don’t know how they survived that one. The horde had them surrounded. And—”
The terror in Ella’s eyes shouted, Zip it.
“No, no, no,” Scarlett muttered. “Something’s wrong!”
“Holy sh—!” He kept forgetting he had promised to stop swearing around the kids, thanks to Ella’s nagging. If ever there were a time for cursing, a zombie apocalypse had to be in the top five.
“Guys, remember the Blue Suits?” The newbie Zs teetered and tottered with outstretched arms toward the men. “The HAZMAT Team just turned zombie on them.” He shook away the horrific scene, knowing he could never unsee it.
“Wait—what?” Ella faltered.
“Crap! Back to the floor,” Justin warned when the men went into a defensive stance with pointed weapons.
Justin waited several seconds after the gunfire ceased before checking on Dean and Luther again. “They’re okay, high-fiving and talking.”
“Yay!” Twila jumped up and down.
Scarlett rubbed her head. “Twila, sweetie—shhh. My head’s pounding.”
“There’s aspirin in the bathroom cabinet,” Ella said.
“I’ll get it.” Twila darted off.
“Hey!” Justin recognized one of the men. “That’s Lopez from Boom Town.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Ella retreated back onto her bunk with Mateo.
“Meh, Lopez is cool.” He didn’t trust his sidekick, Krasinski. Justin was far more worried over the sudden appearance of the new hordes.
An unwanted premonition revealed that all the Zs in Zoat were escaping. But sometimes his overactive imagination was too much. Even for him. Still, if it had been a legit ESP moment, it would take days, maybe weeks for Last State to neutralize that many Zs. In the meantime, he understood what Twila had said—no place was safe.
“What’s happening now?” Ella asked.
Justin focused in. “Looks like Lopez’s bringing Dean and Luther back here.”
Scarlett frowned questionably. She was too disoriented to trust her sporadic intuition. It was up to him to call the shots until Dean and Luther returned.
Justin analyzed every detail of their situation. Lopez and Krasinski had helped fight the horde at Zac’s lodge. But soon after, they had stolen Zac’s other truck, disappearing without saying goodbye. And, they know about the women and children. So, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure he trusted Lopez. Although, Lopez was an illegal. He might snitch on them in exchange for citizenship.
What would Dean do? “Guys, I mean women. And children,” Justin said, trying to be politically correct, “hide in the bathroom.”
Justin shooed them into the large bathroom before they could argue. He sprinted out the door to meet the men outside. The truck stopped in the clearing in front of the bunkhouse. “Wow! You guys kicked some zombie-butt,” Justin hooted. But really, the massacre had made him nauseous. Not so much the gore factor. It reminded him how difficult it would be to keep Ella and Mateo safe in the Lost States now that turbo-charged Zs were the new norm.
Lopez waved out the window to him. “How’s your wife?”
Shit, here it goes. “Didn’t they tell you?” Justin turned to Dean. “Ella didn’t make it—” Liar, liar, pants on fire, he could almost hear his mom scolding.
Dean butted in as Justin pretended to wipe away invisible tears. “Afraid the gals didn’t survive the attack at the lodge. As it was, we barely escaped.”
“Bro”—Luther’s turn to plug their story—“those muthers dug in through the damn basement.” He shook a fist in the air.
Lopez flinched. “Man, that’s just evil. What’re your plans?”
“Wait for Zac,” Dean took over. “Then maybe head south—”
“Let me know if you need anything. Anything at all. I’m in tight with old man Stanwyck,” Lopez said.
“Say, we could use some petrol,” Dean said.
“Sure. That’s the least I can do after you helped me escape the attack on
