“Momma said I was,” Shay said softly.
“Where’s your momma?”
“She turned into one of them zombie things. She and daddy tried to eat me,” she said and her mouth began to wobble and her eyes filled with tears. Zahara stopped and squatted down. The little girl walked into her embrace and Zahara felt her heart break. She’d never liked children, never understood them, but she understood this child. She was only a couple years older than her when she’d lost her own mother and father to violence.
“It’s okay Shay, you’ll be okay,” Zahara said, her voice catching in her throat.
“Reggie is helping me,” Shay said. Zahara looked over at Reggie, who hadn’t moved a muscle. He nodded hesitantly.
“Your momma told you to keep this a secret? Good,” Zahara said when Shay nodded. She looked up at Reggie.
“When she hits puberty, she’ll start her change. Let me get cleaned up and get some clothes on and we’ll get out of here before more of those zombies head our way. My weapons are over at the hospital.”
She walked over to the display and picked up a pack of water and headed to the women’s department. She’d need something for her feet as well. She could hear Reggie following.
“You might want to pick up another set of clothing, I think you ruined those,” she said, a smile in her voice.
Ž
Rose Duncan watched as Julia and Mrs. Gilbert drove away, weaving around the bodies. Ethan had gone to the ambulance bay to find an ambulance. The blond man, Alexander, stood looking around.
“Are you looking for your friend? The lady who’s a werewolf?” Rose asked.
“Yeah, hopefully she’ll be here shortly,” he said as he folded what was left of a shirt and shorts. He placed two guns and a samurai sword on the seat of the truck. She shifted back and forth and looked up into the sky. It was getting to be late afternoon.
“My apartment is in the downtown area. I don’t think I want to go there, since like here, it is more than likely full of zombies. My uncle has a farm about two hours away from here, to the west. Do you think we could go there?”
“I think we can do that. Maybe my friends and I could stay the night, if you don’t mind?” Xander said.
“Oh, my, yes. Of course. Goodness, you’re so kind to give me a ride, bless your heart. My uncle also has several guns, so I think I should be fine. Is this all over the whole country? The news is looping and most of the channels have gone dark. I tried calling some of my friends, but no one is answering. My uncle said he’d not seen much activity.”
“I don’t know. I drove from North Carolina and saw evidence all along the way. Ethan said he was coming from the west, Las Vegas and then from the north and there was also evidence of zombies, but that was a few days ago.”
Both turned when a Jeep Gladiator came weaving through the parking lot, the truck bounced over bodies and rocked. Rose saw the woman that she’d seen earlier sitting in the front passenger seat. Alexander stepped forward and went to open the door to the Jeep. She could see that he cared about the woman.
Xander was relieved to see Zahara, though he knew full well that she could take care of herself. It was still an odd and very new feeling within him. The week he’d spent with Zahara at the cabin had been eye-opening. He’d never expected her to have such a sweetness about her, she’d always been so prickly before. She had a wall she kept between her and the world and he’d been gifted with a glimpse of the real woman at the cabin. Then, when she’d turned, he’d seen her animal. He’d been surprised that her animal had submitted to his animal’s dominance. He’d never in a million years think of Zahara as anything but a dominant alpha. In the werewolf kingdom, female werewolves were rarely alphas. He’d known Zahara was an alpha, one reason she was good at her job as an assassin.
Zahara hopped out of the Jeep and grinned up at him and he looked behind her and saw a little girl in the back seat. The man who’d been driving got out, looking around nervously.
“I see you picked up a couple of friends,” Xander said, nodding his head to the duo.
“I did, she’s a werepup,” Zahara whispered and Xander leaned and looked harder.
“Is that her father?”
“No, Shay said her parents were turned into zombies. That’s Reggie, he found her.”
Xander nodded and looked down at the Invisible Empire bumper sticker and then his eyes went to the man. The man backed up a step and held his hands up defensively.
“That’s not me anymore. Everything I was is dead now. I can’t think like that anymore. I mean it,” Reggie said, fear lacing his voice. Xander’s eyes slid over to Shay as Zahara was helping the girl out of the Jeep.
“What about her?” Xander said in a low deadly voice.
“I’ve protected her with my life. She reminds me of my littlest, my boy, Jeb,” Reggie said, his voice breaking and he swallowed hard. Xander stared hard into the man’s eyes, tried to see the truth of his words. Satisfied, he nodded.
The group turned when an ambulance came from around the back of the building. Ethan pulled the vehicle up next to Xander’s truck and jumped out.
“There’s about half a tank. I think maybe we should hit the gas station and fill up the vehicles and maybe get a few cans of fuel to take with us,” Ethan said.
“Sounds like a good idea. Rose says that her uncle lives about two hours west of here. She’s going to let us
