And then his voice filled the truck cab.
"Hello? Katie?"
And Katie started to cry as Jenni said, "No, but she's here with me."
Katie grabbed the phone away from Jenni. "Daddy!"
"Katie, are you and Lydia okay?"
Katie shook her head and whispered, "No, no. I'm fine, but Lydia, she didn't make it. She…Daddy…she…"
"I'm sorry, Katie-baby. I'm sorry."
She could tell by his voice that he truly was. Despite his misgivings with her lifestyle, he had come to accept and be quite close to Lydia. Though her mother had remained blissfully in denial until her death, her father had tried hard to understand. His painful, sometimes embarrassing questions had only showed her how much he was trying. And when he had shown up at her wedding, dressed in his military uniform, beaming and near tears, to walk her down the aisle, she knew that he loved her even if he didn't understand her completely.
Now they shared a moment of silence over the woman Katie had loved so much.
"I'm sorry, honey," he said again. "But you can't let it affect you right now, understand?"
"Yes, I know. I'm trying to keep a cool head."
"Good girl." A tinge of pride crept into his tone, though it remained dominated by fear. "Listen, Katie, whatever the hell this is, it's all over the city. You need to get down to the police department. We're barricaded in and you'll be safe here. We got the National Guard on its way."
"Okay, Daddy. Okay. We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Katie, be careful." His voice was rich with emotion and she wiped a tear away.
"I'm armed, Daddy. I have a good vehicle."
"Not that little-"
"No, no. A truck. I'm in a truck."
"How…nevermind…this day…too many weird things."
Katie nodded and pressed the cell phone tighter to her ear, ignoring the little stab of her earring against her skin. "Daddy, what are they?"
"I don't know. I don't know. The damn Ruskies are behind it. I know it.
We never could trust them. Everyone else is saying terrorists, but I'm telling you, Katie, the Soviet Union never really died."
She couldn't help but laugh a little. He was such a Cold War warrior. She could hear many voices behind him, demanding, questioning. Without a doubt her dear old dad was at the center of the storm.
"Katie, I gotta go. I love you. Get here as soon as you can. Be careful."
"Okay, Daddy. Okay. Love you."
Katie snapped the phone shut and pressed it tightly against her lips. She couldn't think of Lydia right now. She couldn't think of how she had pulled up to their beautiful home to see Lydia tearing at the mailman with their neighbors at her side. She couldn't think of how Lydia had rushed toward her, not to kiss her and hold her and make the world better, but to kill.
"I know what they are," Jenni said softly beside her. She was intently staring at her feet, especially her one bloodstained toe.
"Yeah? Well, what are they then?"
"Zombies.”
Katie laughed bitterly, then her voice died away as the crested a hill.
Before them lay the city. It was smoldering. Down in the city, chaos ruled.
Even from their high position, they could see clearly that it was overrun. The things were every where.
The phone rang.
"Katie?"
"Daddy?"
"Katie, don't come here! Don't come here! I just got word in. It's not safe to come in. The National Guard was overrun. Don't come, Katie! Run! Get the hell out of the city! Keep safe, baby, keep safe."
Katie rested her forehead against the steering wheel. "Daddy…"
"Just do it, baby. Just do it."
Either he hung up or the lines finally went dead for suddenly there was nothing but a pulsing tone.
Katie looked up through the windshield as she clutched the steering wheel. A car sped past her and down the hill toward downtown. She watched it for several blocks and then it was overrun by a horde of those things.
"We need to go now," Jenni's faint, singsong voice said. She turned her glassy gaze to Katie. "We really do."
Katie turned the wheel and they headed back up the road.
"Turn here," Jenni said.
Katie obeyed automatically. Tears streamed down her face.
Jenni pointed again. "Turn here."
Katie turned the truck and sped down a back road that sliced behind the suburbs nestled into the hill.
"It will take us far away from the city," Jenni sighed and reached down and cleaned her toe with the edge of her bathrobe. "Away from the zombies."
Katie whispered, "There is no such thing."
"Then what are they?" Jenni's voice held a hint of emotion. "Some bum bit Lloyd last night when he was coming home from work. This morning he ate my baby!" Abruptly, her voice was on the edge of hysteria.
Lydia racing toward her, bloody hands stretched out, her chest torn open…
Katie drew in a sharp breath.
"If they are not zombies, what are they?" Jenni's voice was shrill.
Katie looked at her and reached out and grabbed Jenni's cold, clammy hand with her own.
"Zombies, okay, Jenni. They are zombies. And you're right. This is the end."
Jenni sighed and nodded and laid her head against the back of the passenger seat. "I know. I know…" And she closed her eyes and slept
4. Into the Hills
Jenni woke to the steady hum of the road. She opened her eyes slowly.
Her nightmares released her and she sighed with relief. Her dreams were even worse than this new, horrible reality. In her sleep she had curled up, resting against the passenger door. Now raising her head, she saw the dry and caked blood her son had smeared on the window when he had tried in vain to reach her.
Not for hugs and kisses, but for far worse.
Beyond the swath of gore the world was speeding by. Hills, large and small, covered in trees decked out in colorful spring flowers greeted her gaze.
Time for Easter and Easter baskets. She would fill them with candies and toys and the kids were scramble around the backyard looking for colorful eggs. But that wouldn't happen now. It was all over.
Lloyd had taken away her kids. Stolen them away. Just like she had known he would. Maybe he was something else when he had attacked them, but he had only finished out the cycle he had started when he had decided to marry his blushing eighteen year old bride. His looks, his money, and his success had blinded her. He was older and wiser. In her heart, she hadn't truly loved him, but she had believed she would one day. When he spoke of his first failed marriage, she had vowed that she would never let him down.
She would be his perfect wife, his perfect companion, and that he would never have to say a negative word about her.
Somehow, she had failed him. No matter how hard she had tried, she had failed him. At first his lashings were verbal and fierce, then it was the back of his hand, and, eventually, it was his fists. But she had continued to try. She had struggled with her inadequacies, done everything he asked of her.
Toward the end, she had known in her heart it would come to this. She would either die at his hand or he would kill the children as he had threatened to do so many times before.
"But he was a zombie in the end," she said softly.
"What?"
Jenni blinked, not realizing she had spoken aloud. She turned slowly to gaze at the woman beside her.
The driver of the truck was a very pretty lady with golden blond hair that fell just to her shoulders in tousled curls. She had a strong, pretty feminine face with cat-eyes and a sensuous mouth. Jenni was sure that the driver was the sort of girl who was the homecoming queen and head cheerleader and student council president all rolled into one. The smart, pretty girl who was actually nice. Jenni felt comforted by this. She had always been on the fringe of the popular girls. She understood this type. They lead, you followed. It was simple.
Her name was Katie. That was right. Katie.
"I was dreaming," Jenni answered.
Katie nodded. "You didn't miss anything. After the last traffic light on the edge of the neighborhood it was smooth sailing."
"No one comes this way anymore. Not since the highway was built. I like it out here. It's peaceful." Jenni didn't feel so cold anymore. She still felt awfully numb, but it was a pleasant sort of numb.
"I'm not sure where we are going," Katie said after a beat. "I'm just driving."
Jenni looked at the phone resting on Katie's lap. "Did you talk to your Dad again?"
Katie shook her head, pressing her lips tightly together for a moment.
"No, no. There's no signal." She motioned to the radio. "And that doesn't work."
Jenni nodded, understanding. They were alone, detached from the rest of the world. Strangely, this was how she often felt. It was almost comforting.
Besides, she was sure Katie would figure things out. She looked strong and very capable.
"We'll need gas soon," Katie said. "Know if there are any stations out this way?"
