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Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Ninety Nine
What if I decided to hurt him? What if I attacked him?As much as I currently disliked him, I couldn’t take the chance.Panicked, I ran in the opposite direction, away from Cole, from the fight, from everyone and everything. I ran and never looked back.Gasping, I jolted upright. Panic cloaked me as I scanned surroundings I didn’t remember stumbling upon. I was...On the cold, hard ground in front of my old house. The house I’d lived in most of my life. The house my father had built. The house I hadn’t visited since the death of my family.Tremors rocked me. How had I gotten here? I’d run from Cole, from the zombies and the voices, yes, yes, that was right, and then I’d...blacked out, maybe. I remembered nothing else.Now the sun was in the process of rising, though it was hidden behind a thick wall of clouds—one of which was shaped like a rabbit. I gulped. Looked away. The tree swing my dad had built for Emma had been removed. The rose garden my mom had poured her blood, sweat and te
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 100
“I can guess about the worry,” I said, and looked away from him. I was too raw, too susceptible to his concern and his mood, torn to shreds all over again. “And I’m sorry,” I repeated.“Where were you?” he demanded a second time.“At my old house.”“Why did you go there?”“I don’t know. I woke up, and there I was.”Mr. Holland opened his mouth, but Cole cut him off.“You don’t know?” Cole snorted, his anger far from assuaged. “How can you not know?”What had brought about this transformation in him?Gavin slapped him on the shoulder. “Dude. Let’s give her a minute to explain.”Cole whipped to him, snarling, “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”“Uh...yeah. We’d all like that.” Confused, Gavin looked to me, probably expecting me to explain Cole’s odd behavior. I couldn’t.And then I didn’t want to. The world faded——Gavin was in my room, standing in front of me. I spun him and pushed him down on the bed, then climbed on top of him. I forced his head to the side, baring his neck. My tongue s
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 101
“Your grandmother went to church,” a soft voice said from behind me.I turned and saw one of the maids dusting a side table. “Thanks.”Nana and I always went to church together. I hated that I’d missed. Especially since it probably seemed like I’d blown her off. Again. I hoped she wasn’t upset.I trudged to my room. Avoiding the mirrors, I sat at my desk and thumbed through the journal. I expected to start by rereading what had already been decoded. Instead, I found that every word was once again hidden from my understanding. But...how could that be?Frowning, I went through every page slowly, line by line, studying every symbol, every number. Nope. No miraculous unveiling.Must simplify the to-do list: Learn how to kill the zombie inside me without the journal. Actually kill her.Where to start? My sister? Maybe she’d learned something else about my situation. “Emma. If you can swing another visit, I’d love to see you.”I had to wait longer than usual, but she did, eventually, arrive
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 102
Such a delicious buffet, unable to defend itself...A wave of hunger hit me.Kat ran over to push me away from the girl, but I batted at her hands and leaned down to sniff Veronica’s neck. How sweet she smelled. Not as good as Cole or even Mackenzie, but she would do. I licked my lips.One taste wouldn’t hurt.Muscled arms banded around me, jerking me backward. I struggled for freedom, desperate to return to the girl.“Hey, now,” Gavin said. “I’ve always thought there’s nothing wrong with a little bloodshed between friends, but I draw the line at murder.”“Just want to—” Bite her, I realized. I wanted to bite her.Horror bathed me in ice, the hunger instantly forgotten.“I’m so sorry,” I said, my entire body beginning to tremble. “I wasn’t thinking... Wasn’t myself—” Oh, heaven help me, I’d been zombie. Almost fully zombie.Want to die.“Calm now?” Gavin set me aside and crouched beside his friend. Gently he smoothed the blood-soaked hair from her brow. “Veronica, honey. You okay?”I
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 103
Finally eternity came to an end and eleven-thirty arrived. I loaded myself with weapons and sneaked through the secret passages Mr. Ankh had built throughout the house. He’d wanted his daughter to have an escape route if ever it proved necessary—not that she would know what chased her.Reeve. I frowned. My nose wrinkled after I inhaled. I smelled her perfume. She must have used the passage, and quite recently.Huh. The passage led to a hatch just beyond the front yard, seconds from the road. Still. I’d have to be careful. Mr. Ankh had cameras everywhere and—as I eased my out, I caught movement several yards away.Gaze zooming in, I palmed a blade. Was that...Reeve? Had to be. Dark hair swished as a slender girl matching Reeve’s height and build walked north. She’d sneaked out.Dang you, Reeve! No matter how badly I wanted answers, no matter how dangerous I currently was, I couldn’t let her wander the streets without backup.As I followed her through the shadows, I dialed Bronx.“What?
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 104
I gazed down. I was absentmindedly rubbing my thumb over the daggers. Oh. Well. “They comfort me.”Reeve gasped and stomped on the brake. The car jerked to a stop, throwing me forward as much as the belt would allow.“What the—”“Bronx,” she screeched, tearing off her belt and stepping into the daylight.Just in front of her car, right in the middle of the road, was Bronx’s old, rusted truck. He leaned against the hood, arms crossed.I should have expected this.“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.“What do you think you’re doing?” he spat. “Sneaking out in the middle of the night, meeting some strange guy and going to his place. Do you know how dangerous that is?”“How did you—argh! It doesn’t matter.” She grabbed a rock and threw it at him.Reflexes honed, he ducked.She shook her head, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just done. More calmly, she said, “He’s not some strange guy, he’s my boyfriend, and what I do with him isn’t your business.”“Everything about you is
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 105
I still wasn’t sure what his motives were, but at the moment I had nowhere else to turn. “Possibly.”“Possibly?”I sat down. “That’s all I’m willing to say.” For now.He sat down beside me. “Okay, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what you’re dealing with.”“Will you actually help me, though?”His shoulders wilted, and he said, “I guess I deserved that.”Yeah, but I didn’t have to be so crabby about it, did I? “Do you know someone by the name of Dr. Bendari?”“No. Why?”Crap. So...maybe Dr. Bendari wasn’t with Anima, after all. Maybe Justin was lying. Or maybe Justin just hadn’t met him. “Forget it.”“Ali. Please. Talk to me.”How many times was I going to hear those words?The bell rang, saving me from having to reply. “Later,” I said. Maybe.Lunchtime arrived. I’d successfully managed to avoid Justin after first and second period. Trina and Mackenzie, too. But not Cole.He cornered me in the girls’ bathroom.I was washing my hands as he stepped inside. A classmate of mine was in
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 106
“Hold everything.” Kat bounced up and down in her seat and clapped. “I think I see one.”“Where?” Reeve demanded.Kat pointed. “Pull over.”Groaning, Reeve slowed the car, eased to the side of the road and parked. I freed one of the balloons and exited. The girls joined me, and together we approached the centerpiece of our project—a dead raccoon, its arms and legs stiff and pointing in the air.“Gloves,” Kat said, holding out her hand.Reeve dangled a pair just beyond her reach. “These are cashmere, you know.”“I’m sure the raccoon will be thrilled,” she replied drily. “Even though I told you to buy latex.”“I thought you’d appreciate something softer.” Sighing, Reeve relinquished the gloves, and Kat tugged them on. “I bought hand sanitizer instead.”“Balloon,” she said next.I handed it over.Then Kat crouched over the poor dead animal and tied the ribbon to one of its wrists. There was no wind, so the Get Well Soon balloon stayed perfectly straight, flying proudly over the motionles
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Chapter 130
- (Last Chapter) -Before I realized what was happening, a collar was being snapped around my neck, sharp electrical pulses shooting through me. Suddenly I couldn’t move, could barely breathe. Panic filled me, joining the adrenaline rushing through me, and my body wasn’t sure how to react. Keep fighting, or shut down.“What are you doing?” I heard Kat scream. “Let her go!”She could see me? The collar, maybe...Keep fighting. Definitely keep fighting. I tried to stand, but my legs refused to cooperate.“You want me docile? Leave the girls out of this,” I tried to shout, but only gurgles escaped.“Ethan?” Reeve gasped. “Help us!”“You told me you wouldn’t hurt Reeve,” Ethan shouted.Instant comprehension. He knew the Hazmats, because he was one of them.He was the spy—no doubts about that now—and he had gotten some of his information from Reeve. When I’d lived with her, she’d known my schedule. The rest he must have gotten by watching me.He’d covered his tracks very well. I still felt
Chapter 129
I wasn’t going to get through to her, was I? “Seriously, how did you find me? And who is we?”“I can answer that.” Ethan moved to her side, watching me warily.Ethan? The potential spy?Great. Wonderful. This couldn’t get any worse. “Fill me in before I have a panic attack.”“Well, for starters,” said another female, “I found out about the zombies.”Reeve stepped up to Kat’s other side.Okay. It was officially worse.“My dad doesn’t know that I know,” Reeve said.“When you disappeared, Reeve did some investigating, and told me what she learned,” Ethan said, “and that’s when we discovered the zombies, and your whereabouts, and decided to bring Kat in to help us save you. You’re welcome, by the way. Do you have any idea what we had to do to hack into Mr. Ankh’s computer and get the coordinates to this place?”I hoped that was rhetorical.“In other astonishing news,” Kat said before I could process everything I’d been told, “Frosty and I broke up—of course. He wouldn’t tell me where you
Chapter 128
He loaded a third. “This is a sedative.”I felt a third sting, and whatever the sedative was, it worked quickly. Darkness fell over me, and my knees collapsed. I knew nothing more.My head pounded as I blinked open my eyes. I lay on...my bed? No, the mattress beneath me was too narrow to be mine. Gingerly I sat up. Dizziness struck me, and I moaned.“Hey, Ali-gator.”Cole’s voice. I breathed deep in an effort to clear my head, saw the haunting beauty of his face. I hated to look away, but curiosity got to me. We...were in a small bedroom I didn’t recognize, with log walls and planked floors.“You’re in a secluded home Ankh owns. It’s twenty miles from my house,” he said, “but they aren’t highway miles, so it takes me forty minutes to get here.”I’d been banished.My expression must have fallen to reflect my dismay, even though I knew this was for the best, because he added, “You’re too dangerous to be around others right now, sweetheart.”Acid eroded my throat, and I choked. “I know,
Chapter 127
“O-kay. I should have guessed this was why you both took off so unexpectedly.”Nothing except Frosty.Dang it! I was so sick of interruptions!Cole sprang away from me, assuming a battle-ready position.Frosty rolled his shoulders, hard and intractable, and just as ready. “Don’t bother trying to get rid of me. I’m not leaving without Ali. Nana is worried.”“Fine. But you will turn around,” Cole snapped.Though he looked as if he wanted to protest, Frosty obeyed.My cheeks burned, and my heart pounded as I sat up. Cole helped me right my disheveled clothing before righting his own. Our gazes locked for a long, strained moment, and we both knew there were a million things we needed to say, but couldn’t. Not now.Later, he mouthed, hooking a strand of hair behind my ear.I should tell him no again, that this was it, the end. I might be dangerous to his health, but he was dangerous to my self-control. Instead, I found myself nodding.Cole kept his arm around me while we walked back to the
Chapter 126
“You trusted me,” I said, shocked to my soul, “despite what you saw.” That was absolutely, utterly huge.“Yes,” he said. He fit his hands against my jaw. “I told you I did. I’m in this thing, Ali. All the way.”“But...why did you stop texting me?”I saw the ice frost over his eyes, and I shuddered. “My dad was monitoring my phone feed.”Oh. The ice wasn’t for me, but for his father.I looked away from him, trying to give myself time to think, and caught a glance of my reflection in the glass. I stumbled backward.Zombie Ali was back.Flickers of red burned in her eyes, and the black smudges on her cheeks were thicker. She smiled at me, waved—and then, through the reflection, I watched her step out of my body, away from the glass.With the tick of a clock loud in my ears, I watched Z.A. glide off the porch and into the driveway. She paused to look back at me and crook her finger, a silent command for me to follow. A need to know her purpose consumed me, and I stepped off after her.Unc
Chapter 125
He even dropped me off at work, only to return an hour later and remain inside the coffeehouse for the rest of my shift. My coworkers stared at him, the guys frightened, the girls excited. Everyone whispered, speculating about who he was, and why he was there.I think I blew their minds when I left with him.“Any zombie sightings tonight?” I asked. The moon was high, full.“So far, none.”“Shouldn’t you be out there searching?”“I traded nights with Gavin.” His voice tightened. “He owed me.”“Don’t fight him over me. Over what happened.”“I want to, but I won’t,” he said tightly. “You aren’t mine. Not officially. Technically he didn’t do anything wrong.”He dropped me off at home but didn’t try to kiss me. I couldn’t blame him.I received a text from him the next day. No party tonight, I’m sorry & I’m not ditching U this time, promise. My dad is sending me out of town. Will U miss me?Me: I plead the 5th.Him: I will definitely miss U.Sappy girl. My heart soared.I could have gone to
Chapter 124
“I’m so glad you’re okay. When Cole called and told me you’d been in a car accident, my heart almost stopped.”“I’m sorry,” I said.“Ali, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”“Nana, I...” Didn’t know what to say.“I know you’re fighting for a good cause, but it’s hard on me sometimes. Waiting and worrying.”“I’m sorry,” I repeated, but I couldn’t promise to morph into a normal teenager with normal problems, and we both knew it.“Yes, well, enough about that for now.” As she bustled around the kitchen to make me a sandwich, she changed the subject and said, “Are you and Cole back together? Or are you seeing two hot totties at the same time? Or are you single and just playing the court?”Hot totties? Playing the court? “No, Cole and I aren’t back together, but we are going to a party on Thursday. And Gavin... Well, he and I will only ever be friends.”“I think maybe you need to rethink things with Cole. He’s good for you. You light up when you see him, and he can actually get you to
Chapter 123
He instantly sobered. “Okay. Point taken.”“Tell me her name. I’m going to track her down and knock her teeth down her throat.”“As hot as that is, no. She’s part of a past I’d now like to forget. But...I’m glad you never slept with anyone. I don’t like the thought of you with anyone else, probably would have fed the fuc—uh, the guys more than teeth.”Must resist this possessive, charming side of him. “Do I get another question?”“You get as many as you want.”He sounded determined.I’d probably make him regret that.“Did you sleep with Veronica?”He stiffened, but he didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes. But it was over a year ago, when we were dating.”“Mackenzie?”“Yes. Months ago, for a little while after we’d stopped dating. Then I met you, and that was over.”“Others?”“Yes. You want the exact number?”“No,” I grumbled. Yes. Maybe. “Am I the only girlfriend not to go all the way with you?”“No,” he said. “But I wouldn’t change anything about what we’ve done—and haven’t done. I wanted
Chapter 122
“I’ll tell him.” My pronouncement was quickly met with inquiring glances. “I know what it’s like to lose your family. And I know you guys do, too,” I added in a rush. They’d all lost someone in the war. “But with me, the loss is fresh. Jaclyn was his twin, and he loved her more than he loved himself. I felt the same way about Emma.”Mr. Ankh sighed. “Very well.”Cole made the call.It wasn’t long before Mr. Holland was escorting Justin to my bedside. He sat down opposite Cole, his expression closed off. He had no idea why he was here. My chin trembled as I said, “Justin, I met with a man named Dr. Bendari.”He nodded. “You’ve mentioned him before.”“Yes. He was...he was killed in front of me.” Tears streamed down my cheeks, burning, leaving track marks, I was sure.Justin softened. “I’m sorry.”“Before he died, he told me that your sister—”With a pained groan, he jumped up, the chair skidding behind him. “I know. Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it.”“You know?” Cole asked.Justin cl
