Discreetly, she slipped her fingers over the edge of the blind slat, wagging them in the face of the zombie.
It snapped its jaws at her.
A dark and evil, yet wonderful idea unfurled in her mind. It pushed through her red hot anger and spread through her like cold water.
Glancing over her shoulder, she glowered at the happy little scene of her children playing in the shadow of their father. How easily they ignored her. How easily they pretended she didn’t matter. That she didn’t exist.
How dare they ignore her.
She returned her gaze to the snapping teeth, her fingers scant inches from their broken edges.
Yes, it could be over. A little bite and her troubles would be done. Just a little nip on the end of a finger. No one would notice until it was too late.
And then they would not be able to ignore her. They would all see that her stupid husband’s plan would fail.
They would all die.
She pushed her fingertips closer to the desperate mouth of the zombie.
Alan was tired. Tired to the very marrow of his bones. Every muscle in his body ached and his head was pounding. Yet, it didn’t matter. He had to stay alert. He had to keep going. He had to find a way to save the people who were depending on him. He had to save his kids.
The smell of rotting citrus burned his nostrils as he spoke with the others about a possible escape route. The decaying fruit kept at bay the reek of the dead outside the chained factory doors. He wasn’t sure which was worse: the smell of the shambling, ravenous dead or the slowly-decomposing oranges in the crates.
Nearby, his two boys were playing with truck models that Julie, his secretary, had given them. The small trucks sported the logos of the orange juice companies to which the factory had provided juice until the dead decided to get up and attack the living. The models had sat on shelf in his office for years, but now they were the only toys his children possessed. The twins always played well together and he could hear Parker explaining to Hunter that the binder clips from Julie’s desk were zombies and they had to run them over with the trucks and squish them. Meanwhile, Alice, his baby girl, was asleep on the sofa in his office. He could see her through the open doorway. Her little pink mouth was pursed in her sleep and one little hand was tucked up by her tawny curls.
Nearby, the wife he had been divorcing sulked in a dark corner of the big building. They had invited Debbie to join their planning session, but her response had been “I don’t want to be around your slut secretary.”
Julie had almost burst into tears, but he had pulled her away before his ex could unleash more venom.
Now, as they tried to plan a way to get out, he felt ill at ease. Something was amiss.
Rob, the big burly plant manager, scowled slightly. He rubbed his scruffy beard with one hand as he considered the plan. “So we climb down using ropes, huh? That may be tough on the kids and the women folk.”
“They’ll have to go first. We’ll have to lower them,” Alan explained. “Then we’ll follow.”
“I don’t know if I like the idea of standing on the back of a truck with the kids and...” Julie’s eyes flicked to the figure standing in the shadows near the windows. She lowered her voice. “She’s so mean and erratic.”
“Do you think she’ll cooperate?” Rob didn’t look him in the eye.
Debbie was a difficult subject for Alan, and people tried to avoid speaking about her in a direct manner to him. It was almost as if they were afraid if they spoke of her, she would descend on them like a summoned demon. She was embarrassingly-bold with her nasty temper.
Alan pondered the question before shrugging his big shoulders. “I don’t know. But I don’t think she’ll hurt the kids.”
“But what about Julie? She’s convinced you’re having an affair with her. She’s irrational about it,” Rob pointed out. “How many times did she drive down here to cause a scene?”
“She even said that my baby isn’t my husband’s, but yours,” Julie whispered, tears threatening again.
Julie was a tiny thing, pretty as could be, and often too sweet for her own good. It made all the men at the factory want to protect her. Seeing her with tears in her eyes brought out the big brother in Alan. He put an arm around her and gave her a little squeeze.
“Don’t you worry about your little one, Julie. Your mama and your husband are taking care of your baby. I know it. And don’t let Debbie get to you. She’s been accusing me of fooling around since the day we got married,” Alan said.
Julie stared up at him with her enormous brown eyes and sniffled loudly. “You think my baby and Tony are alive?”
Alan lied to keep her calm. “Yes, I do.”
“You could at least keep your hands off of her in front of the kids!” Debbie’s venomous voice raked him like a claw.
Dropping his arm, Alan slowly turned to face the woman he had once loved. She was wearing her usual uniform of stained sweat pants, a faded t-shirt, battered loafers and a hoodie. He hadn’t realized until today how much he avoided looking at her directly, but he forced himself to study her face. Her blue eyes seemed too wide and gleeful above her pale, tight lips. Instead of the long tawny tresses that had fluttered around her shoulders during their courtship, her hair was cut very short. Nothing about her seemed feminine anymore. Nor was she particularly manly. In that moment, she reminded him of the mythological harpy. She was always so ready to pluck out his heart.
“He was just comforting a friend,” Rob dared to say.
“Really? Is that what we call slut whores now?” Debbie asked sharply. “Friends?”
“Could you not speak like that in front of the children?” Alan asked in a soft voice, trying to calm her.
The boys were staring in their direction, both of them wide-eyed with their mouths slightly hanging open.
“Why? So they won’t know what an asshole their father is? So they won’t know he’s going around and fucking his secretary? So they won’t know that their father is a fucking douchebag who cheats on his wife?”
“How can you be so mean?” Julie exclaimed. She pressed a trembling hand to her chest, her eyes wide. “How?”
Debbie smirked at Julie. “Mean? You call this mean after what you’ve done?”
“Enough of this,” Alan said shortly. He was barely keeping his temper.
One of the main reasons he had been divorcing his wife was because on more than one occasion, she had driven him so far into a rage he had wanted to hurt her. It had become more difficult over time to endure her verbal abuse, but her physical attacks were the last straw. When she had knocked him out with a frying pan after accusing him of cheating on her with Julie, that was the last straw. He had woken up to the children crying over him, thinking he was dead as Debbie nonchalantly made dinner.
“We’re getting out of here, Debbie. We are sorting out the details now, but we’re going to get out of here and find somewhere safe with supplies for the kids. Can you help us?” Alan looked at the disheveled woman beside him, willing her to be cooperative.
Her hands tucked into her hoodie, Debbie shrugged. “I need a nap.”
“Fine,” Alan sighed.
“Glad to get your permission,” Debbie snarled, then strode into the office. She picked up her baby girl, placed her on the floor with a pillow, and spread out on the sofa.
“I need to feed the baby soon,” Julie whispered.
“She hasn’t caught on?” Rob asked, raising his eyebrows.
“No,” Alan answered. “We’ve been out of formula for three days and she hasn’t said a word about the baby needing to be fed. She has no clue Julie’s been breastfeeding Alice.” Alan’s mouth drew into a hard line. Debbie had stopped breastfeeding Alice within a month of her birth. She complained that it was too much work. It was good fortune that Julie was breastfeeding and willing to feed the six-month-old baby. It touched Alan’s heart every time he saw Julie holding Alice. He knew how hard it must be when she didn’t know the fate of her own child.
“How can a mama not know that? What is wrong with her?” Rob shook his head.
Alan shrugged. “No clue. She wouldn’t go to the doctor.” He rubbed the scruff on his chin with agitation and glanced over at his boys. They had returned to playing with muted enthusiasm.
“I’ll see what I can do about the rope or a ladder to get down to the back of a truck,” Rob said finally. “We have to get out of here before we’re totally out of food.”
“Strange saying that in an orange juice factory,” Julie sighed. She rubbed her nose and looked into the office warily. “What if she tries to shove me off the truck or something?”
“I don’t think she’d go that far,” Alan assured Julie. “She’s bitter, but she’s not homicidal.”
Rob sighed. “You better hope not. We got enough trouble with those zombies out there. I’ll be back.” The big guy took off across the concrete floor, his head down.
They were all weary. The zombies outside, coupled with Debbie’s rants, had them all on edge. Julie watched Rob walk away. Her big eyes were rimmed with tears again.
