memory.
He turned and lowered his face close to my dad. Dominic’s voice boomed. “I am their god and Paul is wasting the power I gave him.” His laugh filled the room. Filled the forest. “But a brother? I never knew.”
Dad’s horror twisted his features.
I clenched grass and fallen needles in my hands, but I couldn’t see them. Dominic’s mind forced me to watch.
“Where to start, Ledger?” Dominic lifted my dad by the arm and shoved him to the dining room table, across from the two kids. Dad’s wife cried. Two new guys pounded on the sliding glass door inches behind her. Dominic m otioned for her to open it. “Let them in. They’d like to help.”
She slid the door open, her hands shaking. Her fear excited Dominic. He leaned down to my dad and sneered, “I think I’d like to have your wife first.” My dad struggled against Dominic’s vise-like grip. Dominic marveled at his own strength, gave an extra squeeze to test it out.
My dad’s collar bone snapped and he moaned. The woman shrieked. Their children whimpered.
Dominic leaned down and pointed at the kids. “You stay with them. I’ll take your wife. If you leave the kids, they’ll eat them.” He jerked his fingers toward the woman. She looked from my dad to the kids and back to him. Something in her eyes hardened and she straightened her spine. Dominic’s smile faltered, his confidence revealed itself as false bravado.
He showed me his weakness.
The vision stopped. My eyesight back, I raised my foot, with all my will and kicked Dominic’s knee. The idiot still stood above me. He staggered backward.
Anger clenched his fists . He narrowed his eyes. A sharp shaft of pain shot through the back of my brain. I rolled my head back and forth on the ground.
R ocks dug into my scalp, the pain more welcome than the mental hell he caused. I closed my eyes and yelled, “Stop!” Suddenly the pain was gone.
I sat up.
Dominic watched me from a crouched position, his hands out. His stance reminded me of playing defense in basketball.
We eyed each other. I didn’t know what had happened, but a shift in power had occurred. Moving to my feet, I never took my eyes off him. “Did you kill them? Or change him?” I didn’t have any illusions about the woman… or even the kids. Dominic ate them and did it with pleasure I’m sure, most likely after he raped the mom.
But Dad. He would do something horrendous to Dad. And Dad had told him about James. They both had died because of me. And James was as good as dead without a cure.
Far off screams filled the air.
Dominic and I looked north. Smoke snuck through the trees. His zombies must have found the vaccinated humans.
We faced each other and then we ran. We both crashed through the forest. I headed towards town and Dominic pounded straight to the freeway.
His saliva. His control.
But his greatest fear was women.
Chapter 10
I ran as fast as I could, calling on energy I didn’t know I had. At the edge of the trees, I stopped.
Bodies clashed left and right. Men and women, both infected and vaccinated fought on the grass and pavement. Zombies tripped over their own feet, clumsy and unsure. They didn’t stop or even register when people hit them with hands, feet, or sticks. The zombies went for whatever body part they could reach with their teeth.
A little girl, maybe seven, launched herself at a man standing three feet from me. She snarled as she bit into his thigh. He screamed and slapped her off him. But she came back for more. And more. A younger boy grabbed the man’s forearm and together, the two child zombies dragged the man down and ate him as he thrashed and screamed.
The body stopped twitching. They grunted, becoming aware of each other as they ate. They growled and attacked each other – fighting over the meat. Rolling on the ground, they abandoned the dead man.
And he was dead. His body didn’t move.
A moment of victory filled me. The vaccines worked.
Nobody watched the tre
He turned and lowered his face close to my dad. Dominic’s voice boomed. “I am their god and Paul is wasting the power I gave him.” His laugh filled the room. Filled the forest. “But a brother? I never knew.”
Dad’s horror twisted his features.
I clenched grass and fallen needles in my hands, but I couldn’t see them. Dominic’s mind forced me to watch.
“Where to start, Ledger?” Dominic lifted my dad by the arm and shoved him to the dining room table, across from the two kids. Dad’s wife cried. Two new guys pounded on the sliding glass door inches behind her. Dominic m otioned for her to open it. “Let them in. They’d like to help.”
She slid the door open, her hands shaking. Her fear excited Dominic. He leaned down to my dad and sneered, “I think I’d like to have your wife first.” My dad struggled against Dominic’s vise-like grip. Dominic marveled at his own strength, gave an extra squeeze to test it out.
My dad’s collar bone snapped and he moaned. The woman shrieked. Their children whimpered.
Dominic leaned down and pointed at the kids. “You stay with them. I’ll take your wife. If you leave the kids, they’ll eat them.” He jerked his fingers toward the woman. She looked from my dad to the kids and back to him. Something in her eyes hardened and she straightened her spine. Dominic’s smile faltered, his confidence revealed itself as false bravado.
He showed me his weakness.
The vision stopped. My eyesight back, I raised my foot, with all my will and kicked Dominic’s knee. The idiot still stood above me. He staggered backward.
Anger clenched his fists . He narrowed his eyes. A sharp shaft of pain shot through the back of my brain. I rolled my head back and forth on the ground.
R ocks dug into my scalp, the pain more welcome than the mental hell he caused. I closed my eyes and yelled, “Stop!” Suddenly the pain was gone.
I sat up.
Dominic watched me from a crouched position, his hands out. His stance reminded me of playing defense in basketball.
We eyed each other. I didn’t know what had happened, but a shift in power had occurred. Moving to my feet, I never took my eyes off him. “Did you kill them? Or change him?” I didn’t have any illusions about the woman… or even the kids. Dominic ate them and did it with pleasure I’m sure, most likely after he raped the mom.
But Dad. He would do something horrendous to Dad. And Dad had told him about James. They both had died because of me. And James was as good as dead without a cure.
Far off screams filled the air.
Dominic and I looked north. Smoke snuck through the trees. His zombies must have found the vaccinated humans.
We faced each other and then we ran. We both crashed through the forest. I headed towards town and Dominic pounded straight to the freeway.
His saliva. His control.
But his greatest fear was women.
Chapter 10
I ran as fast as I could, calling on energy I didn’t know I had. At the edge of the trees, I stopped.
Bodies clashed left and right. Men and women, both infected and vaccinated fought on the grass and pavement. Zombies tripped over their own feet, clumsy and unsure. They didn’t stop or even register when people hit them with hands, feet, or sticks. The zombies went for whatever body part they could reach with their teeth.
A little girl, maybe seven, launched herself at a man standing three feet from me. She snarled as she bit into his thigh. He screamed and slapped her off him. But she came back for more. And more. A younger boy grabbed the man’s forearm and together, the two child zombies dragged the man down and ate him as he thrashed and screamed.
The body stopped twitching. They grunted, becoming aware of each other as they ate. They growled and attacked each other – fighting over the meat. Rolling on the ground, they abandoned the dead man.
And he was dead. His body didn’t move.
A moment of victory filled me. The vaccines worked.
Nobody watched the tre
Similar Books
