The Zombie Zovels (Book 4): Missouri Madness

  Missouri Madness

  The Zombie Zovels

  Book 4

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or by any information storage and retrieval system without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of a reviewer in brief quotations.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover image by BigStockPhoto.com

  https://www.bigstockphoto.com

  Copyright © 2018 by D.K. Lake

  Chapter 1

  Panic flooded through my body. I had to get out of here. I expected to be handcuffed to the bed but when I lifted my hand it moved freely and I touched my face and found a fresh dressing on my forehead.

  I wasn't strapped down which surprised me. I straight away shoved the creepy-looking girl out of my face and sat up the best I could but my body felt sore and stiff, and then I remembered landing on the ground with a hard thud when they cut the rope down. Before I could get off the bed she quickly grabbed me by the shoulders.

  "Alex, it's ok! You're safe." she said, looking into my eyes, but all I could focus on was the strange face paint she wore. What was that about? She reminded me of the cat from Alice in Wonderland. She was a skinny thing wearing some kind of black corset top with a red mini skirt, and biker boots on her feet. Her blond hair was a straggly mess, hanging just past her shoulders and she had a nose piercing.

  "How long was I out for?" I demanded.

  "Two days." Two days?!

  "Where are my friends?" I asked, about to rip her hands off of me.

  "Um, Rosie and Tobias are outside somewhere, Lane is helping to fix the fencing, Nick is next door, and Josh is in bed because of his leg." Josh was ok.

  And they knew all of our names. Except for one.

  "Where's Drew?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

  One of them had hit him on the back of the head, for all I knew, he was dead. I hoped not.

  "Um, I'm not sure. Your group doesn't seem to like him...something about him trying to kidnap you before. So they banished him." What?

  "Oww!" I cried out. "My shoulder." I winced, holding onto it.

  "You landed hard on it when you fell."

  "You were there?"

  "Yes, sorry I should have introduced myself. I'm Margo. I help Doctor Flynn in the infirmary next door, and this is the recovery area that you are currently in."

  I looked around at the room I was in, the walls were wooden, and there was a beaded curtain where the door should be. She handed me a cup of water and I looked at it suspiciously before my thirst got the better of me and I drank the whole lot.

  "Why did I hear shooting in the woods?" I asked, trying to get her to slip up.

  If they were friendly then why were they trying to shoot us?

  "That was probably Spencer, he's a shit shot but he tries to shoot a deer if he sees one for a dinner treat, but he never hits them anyway." she said with a laugh.

  "Uhh...one of your guys got shot with an arrow before I was knocked out." I said, wiping my mouth and watching her carefully to gauge her reaction, remembering Drew had shot one of them.

  "Ah yes, Sully." she replied with a smile as she went about organizing the medical supplies into baskets.

  "Are they alright?"

  "He's fine. He's been showing off his war wound to all the girls."

  I was relieved Drew hadn't killed anyone, but at the time I really thought they were going to kill us.

  "Ok, next question, where am I, not the hut, the actual place I am in?" I asked.

  "You're in Missouri, but we call this place Eden. It was a trailer park before but over the years it has been made into a community, a safe haven sort of thing for survivors."

  "Rosie told me about this place but I didn't actually believe it was real."

  "Half the people that arrive here say they thought it was all a rumor and it didn't exist, yet they still make the journey to get here."

  I stretched my arms and bent my legs to check everything was working. I was still in the same clothes I had on before and I didn't have any fresh wounds apart from my head.

  Margo saw me touching the dressing again and came back over to me and sat on the edge of the bed.

  "You reopened your wound. The Doctor had to stitch you back up again."

  "Is it bad?"

  "It's going to scar a lot worse than before." Margo smiled sympathetically.

  "You said Josh is in bed, is he okay? How's his leg? He still has two legs?"

  "Yes, he still has two, but one of them got pretty mangled in the bear trap."

  "Why were there bear traps everywhere anyway?"

  "I told Sully the bear traps were a bad idea. He thought it would trap the dead, he didn't mean to trap a human. There were signs up everywhere to warn people."

  "I'm guessing Josh missed the signs. Am I allowed to leave?" I asked.

  "Of course you are. I'm not holding you hostage." she laughed.

  I smiled and felt somewhat relieved.

  "Where can I find Josh?" I asked, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

  She pointed to a curtain behind me which I hadn't noticed before. I hopped off the bed and grabbed my boots that were sitting on the floor neatly beside the bed. I slid my foot in and my toes poked something hard. I tipped my boot upside down and Drew's pocket knife fell out. I pulled my boots on and quickly slipped the pocket knife into the side of my boot. If they were holding me hostage and this was some kind of kidnapping situation they had slipped up by leaving a knife inside my boot. I made my way over to the curtain, hoping Josh wasn't in a body bag or something, and she was just messing with my head as part of the torture routine. I moved the curtain aside and was relieved to see Josh sitting up in a bed with earbuds in his ears, looking at a magazine.

  "Josh?" I stepped into the room, it was similar to the room I had woken up in with just a curtain dividing us.

  Josh must have heard me because he looked up and pulled the earbuds out of his ears with a huge smile on his face. As I approached the bed I noticed he had cleaned up and was wearing different clothes and his leg was all wrapped up with some kind of makeshift board underneath it, wrapped in bandages and resting on a pillow.

  "You're awake. How do you feel?" he asked, smiling.

  "Just a sore shoulder and my forehead feels a little itchy, but nothing major. How's the leg?" I asked.

  "They managed to save it but I'm not allowed to get out of bed or put any weight on it for at least six weeks."

  That didn't sound good, Josh was supposed to be coming with us to D.C. but how was he going to make it there with a poorly leg?

  "I'm sorry this happened. I felt so bad when I saw you stuck in the trap, and I didn't know what to do to help-"

  "Alex, it's ok. There were bear trap signs everywhere, I should have paid attention."

  "When we ran away and left you there I really thought that was it, I thought I'd never see you again."

  "Me too. It's a good job these guys found us, otherwise, I would have never made it."

  "I thought they were trying to kill us." I whispered.

  "Trust me I thought the same thing when they stepped out of the trees."

  "Margo said the others are around here somewhere?"

  "Nick is next door, and Lane is somewhere outside."

  "Rosie and Tobias?"

  "Safe. He
re somewhere."

  "And where's Drew? Margo said you guys banished him?"

  Josh didn't answer straight away and helped himself to a cheese cracker from a plate of nibbles that had been left next to him.

  "The guy kidnapped you and could have killed you in that fire he started and you still want to know where he is?"

  "That guy came back to rescue me when I was stuck on the bridge. I didn't see any of you coming back to help. He's only looking out for me, and he only did all that stuff because he doesn't want me to go to Washington, but he wouldn't ever hurt me. Please tell me you didn't send him away again?"

  Josh didn't answer me and munched his crackers, turning the page on his magazine.

  "Josh! Tell me where he is? Did you make him leave again? Josh, I swear if you don't tell me I will stomp on these damn crackers." I said, snatching up the plate and holding it out of his reach.

  "He's staying in one of the trailers at the end somewhere." Josh waved his hand in the direction of the door.

  "Thank you." I handed him back the plate and went to leave but he called me back.

  "Alex, the guy isn't right in the head. He's dangerous."

  "Not to me." I said, and lifted the beaded curtain aside and stepped out into the air.

  I looked around and took in my surroundings, wooden buildings, teepee style tents, the normal kind of tents, small caravans, and campervans. I wandered around open fires and picnic benches, watching a group of children playing with a puppy in a sandbox. It was a whole community. I had never seen anything like it. In the distance, I could see trailer homes and more tents. There were vegetable plots and herb gardens, apple trees, and chickens running around everywhere. A group of people walked past me and one of them squealed when they saw me.

  "Alex!" Rosie squealed and beelined for me.

  She threw her arms around me and hugged me. I hugged her back and looked at the strangers she was with, most of them had their faces painted, and some were wearing masks, including a clown mask and a rubber pig mask was sitting on the top of one of the guy's heads.

  "Are you ok? They said you fell down a hole." she said.

  "Uh, yeah...I think I hit my head on the side of it but I'm ok. I thought they were trying to kill me so I ran."

  "Don't worry, I thought the same thing when they chased after us and they were just trying to warn us about the traps."

  "So this Eden." I smiled, looking around.

  "Yes, and look-" Rosie pointed to a girl wearing a black tutu and striped tights, she was leaning over the back of a deckchair talking to some people.

  "That's Alice." she said.

  "Alice?" I had heard that name before.

  "My sister."

  "You found your sister?" I said in amazement.

  "Yes, and the rest of our group made it. They're all here! I can't believe we made it, and we couldn't have done it without you, Josh, Lane, and Nick to help, you guys are the best."

  She purposely left out Drew.

  "Where's Tobias?"

  "Helping out with the vegetable allotments."

  "And Lane? I haven't seen him."

  "He's over on the far side securing the fences."

  I looked again and noticed the whole place was sealed off from the outside with a metal chain-link fence, and further down I could see some type of watchtower with a man standing at the top.

  "Do you know where I can go to the bathroom around here?" I asked.

  After standing up I suddenly needed to pee.

  "There is a line of porter potties over that way, don't worry, they keep them really clean." She pointed behind me somewhere.

  "Rosie, you coming?" called a girl.

  "I'll catch up with you later." Rosie said and skipped back to the group.

  I wandered in the direction of the toilets first and found them easily enough, and they were really clean and tidy inside, and included air freshener, a container full of sanitary towels and tampons, a little bucket to wash your hands in with some fruity hand wash, and a little trash can in the corner. There was even some minty mouthwash that I used to quickly rinse out my mouth.

  After, I followed the trailers, noticing some of them had been here a long time. The place was so large, and there were people everywhere, children, and animals. Two working vehicles drove past me on the dirt road, kicking up dust next to the fence. I cut across the grass and wandered through the trailer homes, looking at the potted flowers and garden gnomes outside one of the homes. There were people all over the place sitting in chairs, some reading, some playing games, some gardening, there was even one man walking around mowing the grass. I came out on the other side of the trailers and saw Lane helping a group of men and young boys. They were putting boards up against the fencing. I hovered nearby and just watched Lane for a bit, he was shirtless and I loved the way his muscles flexed when he picked up something heavy. One of the other men noticed me and tapped Lane on the back and he looked up at me and grinned from ear to ear. He pulled off his gloves as he walked over to me and I jumped into his arms.

  "Hey, cutie." he said, lifting me up and wrapping his arms around me. "I've been waiting for you to wake up."

  I hugged him back and noticed how good he smelled, and his hair was silky and clean.

  "You took a bath." I said as he put me back down.

  "They have a stream at the end, you can get washed in it and not worry about zombies, it's really private with wooden huts."

  "Oh, that sounds nice."

  "So how's your head?" Lane asked.

  "My head's fine." I looked around still wondering where Drew was.

  "Have you seen Josh?" he asked.

  "Yes, I just came from there, he seems quite perky considering everything that's happened."

  "Every time I go past there he calls me inside and makes me sit with him. He's really lucky he didn't lose his leg."

  "I guess this means he's not coming with us to D.C. now?"

  "Looks that way." Lane slapped the gloves in his other hand.

  "Where have you been staying?" I asked, looking around.

  "Oh, it's a surprise." Lane wiggled his eyebrows.

  "What?" I laughed.

  "Lane!" an older man wearing a green cap and cut off shorts called him.

  "I should be done in about an hour or so. I'll come and find you." Lane said and leaned down to give me a quick kiss on the lips before walking off.

  "Lane!" I called and he spun around to look at me, trailing his fingers along the fence.

  I couldn't believe I was about to ask him this but I needed to see him.

  "Where is he?" I asked.

  Lane looked across the trailer park, squinting from the sun, and loosely pointed towards the trailers at the back.

  I nodded and left him to get back to work but I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away. I walked around the trailers and passed different people sitting out front of their trailers, and I was just about to give up looking for Drew when I came to the last trailer and saw Drew sitting in a deckchair with a cigarette between his fingers and a beer in his other hand, and there was a girl with ebony skin and dark hair wearing a black halterneck dress sitting in the chair next to him sipping a beer. I slowed down and listened to them chatting about some nudest lady that lived in the trailer with all the flowers outside. The girl flipped her hair over her shoulder and leaned in close to Drew, smiling and touching his arm. Drew took a sip of his beer and happened to glance my way.

  Our eyes connected and my stomach did a little somersault.

  I quickly turned around and walked the other way, and got lost in all the trailers. Here I was worried that Drew had been banished from the group again and then I find him chatting up some girl, enjoying a cigarette and a beer. I heard someone running up behind me.

  "Alex, wait!" Drew tried to grab my hand but I quickly moved it away and stopped walking.

  "You're awake." Drew smiled, walking in front of me to block me.

  "Yup." I said and looked down at the ground, avo
iding his eyes.

  "How's your head?" Drew asked, touching my forehead.

  "It's fine." I replied and tried to walk around him.

  "Hey, stop, what's wrong?" He grabbed my arm this time and put his other hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

  "Oww, don't grab me there." I tore his hand off my shoulder.

  "What's wrong with your shoulder?"

  "I landed on it, it's just sore."

  "What's wrong, you're acting weird?"

  "Nothing is wrong. I just came to check on you but you seem to be keeping yourself busy."

  Drew raised an eyebrow at me and quickly figured out why I was acting weird.

  "You're jealous." he smirked.

  "Am not." I snapped and pushed him away so I could get past.

  "She's just been keeping me up to date on how you are."

  "Uh-huh." I muttered and slipped around him.

  "No one would tell me anything, and I wasn't allowed to see you." he said, chasing after me.

  "Probably because you kidnapped me before and now none of them trust you."

  I heard Drew sigh behind me.

  "Her name is Sophie."

  "That's nice." I said, veering off and walking around the side of someone's trailer trying to find my way out of the damn place.

  "And she has a boyfriend called Hutch, and they're letting me stay in their trailer."

  I slowed down and he came up beside me. He leaned down to look at my face and stroked my arm.

  I noticed there was a woman looking out of her trailer window at us and a porky young boy sitting on the steps, playing with a yo-yo listening to us.

  "C'mon," Drew nodded his head at me to follow him and I quietly followed him back to the trailer he was sitting outside of before. The girl was now gone and he hopped up the steps and opened the door and I followed him inside.

  He stood in the kitchen area with his arms crossed, leaning back against the sink.

  "You came back." I said.

  "I told you I wouldn't leave didn't I?"

  "So the whole time you were following us, watching us from the trees?"

  "Does it matter?"

  "Josh sent you away."

  "Yes, but I didn't go very far. I did leave you a few clues along the way, pieces of a ripped up shirt."