Free Dead Endz by Kristen Middleton

a good kid.”
    She closed her eyes and mumbled, “Don’t worry about him. I always take care of my family, one way or another.”
     
    ***
     
    Snowflakes and bright stars lit up the nighttime sky as he walked. It fell all around him, light and cool on his skin.
    “Bryce!”
    He turned around and his breath caught in his throat. A beautiful girl with long dark hair smiled at him in the distance. She wore a flowing white dress and there was a shimmery light surrounding her pale skin.
    She held out her hand, beckoning to him. “Come here!”
    He smiled and began walking towards her. Something about this girl was so familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
    “Hurry up, pokey,” she teased.
    “Okay,” he said.
    Her brown eyes were dazzling and he felt something tugging at his heart as he drew closer. Just as he was about to grab her hand, she picked up the bottom of her dress and began running away.
    “Wait!” he called after her.
    She looked back at him and giggled. “Can’t catch me!”
    He grinned and then began chasing her through the woods. He hadn’t felt so free or happy for a long time. He could spend all day chasing this beautiful sprite.
    Then he noticed the cliff.
    “Wait!” he cried in horror.
    She turned back towards him and laughed again. “Don’t be a chicken, come on!”
    “No, stop!”
    She didn’t notice the cliff until it was too late. She slipped over it as if in slow motion and her screams of terror followed.
    “Bryyyyccce!” she cried, reaching up towards him as her body fell towards the ocean and rocks below.
    “Cassie!” he choked, kneeling over the edge.
     
    ***
     
    Bryce woke from the dream in the early morning and stared up the street towards the bar where he’d abandoned Luke. He was responsible for putting him in such a dangerous situation and was determined to make it right. When Charlie and his crew left again, he’d rescue the boy and get the hell out of Atlanta. But for now he’d just sit and wait. As far as he knew, he had nowhere else to be.
    He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Although he’d remembered his name, his mind was still muddled and everything else was a mystery. Even the girl in his dream, he wasn’t sure if she was someone he used to know or a just a figment of his imagination.
    Sudden movements by the bar caught his attention. Charlie along with his two goons, were leaving the bar, again. They appeared to be stumbling and drunker than all hell. Unfortunately, this time, Luke was with them. He could hear their voices as they echoed down the street.
    “Going to make a man out of you yet, kid!” roared Charlie with laughter. “Make your aunt proud!”
    “Shit,” mumbled Bryce.
    The four of them got into the pickup truck and it began to move down the dark streets. From the sloppy way Charlie was driving, it was fortunate that there weren’t many zombies cluttering the road, or it would have gotten really ugly.
    He waited until they were far enough away, then started his engine and began following without using his headlights. As he followed Charlie he noticed they were moving less than twenty miles an hour; zombies stumbled faster than that. It then occurred to him that the group was on the hunt for women. The thought of that put a sour taste in his mouth.
    After about an hour of driving without apparent success, Charlie changed his speed and they eventually pulled in front of a luxury hotel where they were greeted on the curb by two well-dressed men carrying assault rifles. Charlie spoke to the men for a few minutes and then finally got out of the truck, taking Luke with. As he watched them disappear into the hotel he experienced a nauseating feeling of dread.
     
     
     

 
    Two Days Later…
     

Chapter Sixteen
     
     
     
    I’m not sure which woke me first, the horrifying screams or feeling so parched that my lips felt like drying cement. One thing I knew for certain, I’d been asleep for far too long and was no longer among