Authors: Armand Rosamilia
Tosha was tired, her legs hurting, but she'd found this outbuilding near the river at a coffee factory. The room still smelled like coffee and she had a funny vision of lying on the ground licking at the floorboards to get a taste.
"I'd kill for a cup of coffee. Shit. Even decaf right now. Why can't you be a cool fucking ghost and lead me to a secret stash of ground coffee, a coffee pot, a nice mug and some cream and sugar? Huh?" Tosha was about to say something else when Mathyu turned and walked through the wall, gone.
"Well... holy shit. Are you leading me somewhere or just being an asshole?" Tosha waited a few minutes to see if she came back. When it was obvious she wasn't, Tosha had no choice but to see where she'd gone to.
She walked outside and looked around. The sun was going down and a nice breeze was coming off of the river behind her, which was a nice change. She wasn't a big fan of Florida weather.
There were no zombies she could see, which was a nice change of pace. Even though they weren't much of a threat individually, the bastards sometimes hunted in packs.
"Where did you go, sis?" Tosha whispered.
She walked the grounds, careful not to attract attention, but Mathyu was gone once again without a trace.
Except... Tosha kept looking across the I-95 exchange, where several exit and entrance ramps converged. In earlier times, this area must've been crazy busy with vehicular traffic and angry rush hour drivers. Now it was just another place where a battle had been fought, abandoned cars and bloodstains.
And the football stadium in the background.
Tosha was about to turn away but she thought she saw her sister in the distance, standing on one of the ramps to the stadium. She turned but Mathyu was gone again.
"I know I saw you. What are you doing over there? Why do you want me to suddenly follow you, after all these months of staying out of my shit?" Tosha didn't get it.
She also had no choice but to follow her sister and see what was going on at the stadium. Maybe there was a game going on. Maybe the stadium was filled with hot food and cold beer or super hot dudes who just wanted a redhead to wait on hand and foot.
A girl can dream
, Tosha thought.
She made her way across the road with minimal interaction with zombies, easily dodging them as she moved as quietly as possible. She was getting really good at moving fast and quiet now.
Her only concern was getting to the stadium and the sun going down and her being trapped in no man's land between the safety of the coffee factory and the stadium, which she was sure was locked down tightly, especially if someone lived inside.
A group of zombies appeared, coming across a parking lot near the stadium. Tosha stopped, ready to hit and run, taking a couple down before getting away.
At least two looked in her direction before turning their heads away, never missing a step as they kept going in the same direction.
Tosha thought maybe they were smart zombies, but they moved and acted like all the rest.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
, Tosha thought, one of her mother's stupid old sayings. Mathyu would say it every now and again just to piss Tosha off, especially if they were arguing about something.
Tosha had a clear shot across the parking lot of the stadium but she'd be vulnerable. Anyone watching from any direction would see her as she moved. She'd be exposed. A sniper with a decent gun could take her out before she knew where the shot was coming from.
"Grow some balls, bitch," she whispered and started running, her feet pounding the pavement. The sound would alert anyone around but she was done with crawling through the bushes and hiding against the wall. It was time to act.
Tosha made it across the parking lot without any trouble. She'd been glancing up at the imposing walls of the stadium as she ran, expecting to see someone aiming a gun at her or Mathyu. She saw no one as she got to the chain-link fence surrounding the area.
She was about to climb over when she looked down thirty feet and saw an actual gate with no lock. It was just... closed.
Tosha's knee-jerk reaction was to flee. This was a setup and she'd get a few feet inside before she was surrounded. No way you left a gate unlocked and didn't have sentries above.
The only way this worked was if the boss inside was a bad motherfucker who wasn't scared of shit.
It made her pause again and wonder what trouble she was walking into.
"Here I go again, on my own," Tosha sang and entered the gate, running across the pavement in case a shot rang out.
There was a secondary gate, also unlocked, and she went through. She could go up the cement walkway to the upper levels or go forward to see if she could get near the field or maybe under the stadium. She was sure, if anyone was living here, they'd be camped inside somewhere.
Since she had weapons she wasn't afraid of finding a nice spot and spying for awhile instead of plunging headfirst into danger, so she went up the ramp.
Sound echoed down but it was too faint to know what it was.
At the next level, she stopped and took a peek. The concession stands had been demolished and ripped out but there was no debris. Everything was just gone, an empty spot left. There'd been plenty of work done in the stadium.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she walked to one of the tunnels leading to the field, stopping at the end to survey the field.
At the fifty yard line was a couple of large white tents but from this angle and distance she couldn't see if they were occupied.
Tosha turned to make sure no one was above her ready to pounce. She was alone in the stands. She took her time, scanning all around the empty stadium.
It was clean and everything looked in order, as if a game would be played at some point soon. The field was ragged and piles of debris had been pushed to the corners of the field itself, but it wasn't as bad as anything on the outside.
A man walked out from a side tunnel on the field and Tosha ducked. He was heading for the tents.
Tosha crouched behind a row of seats just above the tunnel she'd come up through so no one could sneak up on her that way, still keeping everything in her sights.
She pulled all of her weapons and made sure she was ready for anything thrown at her now.
Chapter Twenty-Four
She was alive.
Bernie turned onto her side and threw up water, coughing and sputtering and unable to breathe for a second.
She felt like she'd been beaten once again.
Bernie managed to stop puking and rolled onto her back, staring at the last rays of the sun and wondering how she'd managed to get out of the water.
She remembered the fall from the bridge, awkwardly twisting in the air before breaking the surface with such force she must've been knocked out.
Bernie stood on shaky legs but nothing seemed broken. Her legs and arms worked although every inch of her body was sore.
How she'd managed to get to the shore without drowning was a mystery, but one she was happy about. She didn't know how long she'd been out but it was going to be dark soon and she needed to find somewhere safe to hide for the night.
There were no zombies in her immediate area, which was another miracle.
Bernie took a deep breath. Her ribs hurt but she'd had the wind knocked out of her and nothing more.
This day is filled with miracles
, she thought.
As if to drive the point home, a woman appeared across the road, a redhead just standing and staring at Bernie.
"Hello?" Bernie reached for a weapon but she was unarmed.
The woman had no expression on her face as she stared.
"Are you hurt? Lost? A zombie messing with me?" Bernie asked. If she had to, she'd charge across the road and use her fists to survive.
Bernie didn't think she'd have to, though. The woman seemed calm and not threatening in any manner, but the fact she was standing out in the middle of nowhere with no weapons or fear was unnerving.
"I'm Bernie. I'm trying to find a place to sleep for the night. Are you with a group? Is your home nearby? I need you to speak or I'm going to be on my way. I don't have time for games."
The woman kept staring so Bernie took a step to her left.
Before she could take another step, the woman put up a hand and beckoned her to follow, turning and beginning to walk away.
"If this is a trick, I will hurt you," Bernie said. "I have a gun tucked into my jeans. I will use it. I have one bullet with your name on it." Bernie thought it was a stupid thing to say. What if she had friends? "I mean I have a full cartridge of bullets. I can take out everyone you're hanging with. Understand?"
The woman didn't respond. She just kept walking.
Bernie didn't know whether to follow or not. What if she was walking right into a trap? What if she was being setup and a group of bad people or zombies were right around the next corner?
What if... what if...
"What choice do I have?" Bernie asked herself and began to follow. At this point even an ambush would give her something to do.
Bernie didn't think the woman was a threat, though.
"Slow down," Bernie said when the woman picked up her pace, seeming to glide across the ground. She was unaffected by rocks or debris in the way and when she slipped into a weed-choked field on the other side of the highway only her head was visible.
Bernie pulled up. If she was going to get attacked, it would be in this field. You could hide fifty people and no one would know because it was so wild and dense. She hoped she'd be able to hear anyone moving around in there.
And then it hit Bernie.
The woman was moving in a straight line but the weeds, some stalks as high as five foot tall, weren't being bent. There was no actual displacement as the woman flowed through the field.
"Are you a ghost?" Bernie asked, feeling foolish. It would make more sense than her being able to walk between the stalks without making a sound.
Bernie entered the field, expecting to hear hidden foes. The wind picked up, a gentle breeze blowing the weeds. Her own feet crunched the ground underfoot.
The woman's head was out of sight and Bernie panicked as she realized she was surrounded by the weeds and whatever else was hidden in the field.
Something made a faint noise and Bernie stopped. Was it her walking or her imagination? She didn’t know. Sound echoed in the field now and the breeze picked up, enough to mask if anyone was approaching.
Don’t panic. Walk. Follow the woman’s path out of the weeds
, Bernie thought.
If a zombie stepped out of the stalks right now, she’d only have her fists and feet to defend herself. As tired, scared and weak as Bernie felt right now she’d be no match.
Something was moving near her.
Bernie stopped and held her breath, turning slowly in a circle. If she could see a zombie approaching, maybe she could run from it or hide.
There was nothing noticeable but the noise was clearly heard over the rustling sound of the wind.
Bernie crouched down and balled her fists, praying this wasn’t going to be the end for her.
She was still feeling sorry for herself when the thin brown cat appeared, eyes staring at Bernie.
“Well, hello, little fella,” Bernie said. It was just a cat wandering around looking for food.
She put a hand out to show it she was friendly.
The cat hissed at her before jumping back and disappearing in the weeds.
Bernie could hear it moving away from her at a fast pace and she smiled.
“Stay safe, little fella. Watch out for zombies,” she whispered.
Bernie rose and moved as quickly as she could to catch up to the woman, wherever she now was. The fear she’d left or was too far ahead propelled Bernie to move, pushing through weeds and stepping over thorny bushes.
When she broke through to the other side and put her feet on cracked pavement, she sighed in relief.
Now, where was this woman?
Bernie looked around and was about to give up when she spotted her.
The woman had somehow gotten past the fence and was standing on the ramp leading to the second tier of the football stadium.