Free Get Zombie: 8-Book Set by Raymund Hensley Page B

wonderful.

JACKSON

    Why
was Woodrow following Janice around? Was he making moves on her? How
was I gonna handle this one? He was dangerous. Rumor had it that
Woodrow killed a gang of Samoan women back in the '80s. They all had
knives, but it didn't matter to him. I heard he was stabbed, but no
blood came out. He was a beast! A REAL man. At least that's what I
heard. Looking at the old man, you'd believe it. He had that
confident, tough, chest out, straight-back saunter. He was not to be
messed with. I had to be careful.
    I
turned a corner and walked into Pepper. She had her hands on my
chest.
    “Slow
down, sailor, what's the hurry?”
    “I
told you never to touch me.”
    “What's
the matter? I'm not going to bite.”
    I
showed her my arm.
    “Then
what's this?”
    “I
told you not to surprise me,” she said. “Besides, that
was a long time ago. I don't do those things anymore. I've calmed
down. I'm normal .”
    I
tried to walk around her.
    “I
have to go.”
    She
fell.
    “Oh!
I've fallen and I can't get up! If only there was a strong man to
help me up. But who?”
    I
picked her up.
    “Dammit.
This is the last time we talk. Deal?”
    She
laughed.
    “Now
you know I can't do that.”
    Someone
screamed. It was Janice. Pepper gripped my arm. She brought her face
close to me, looking like she wanted to kiss. I tore her off and ran
away. Janice was in a stairwell, holding onto the railing. Woodrow
had his foot on her chest. I charged and yelled “HEY!”
and when he turned around I socked him in the jaw. He went tumbling
down the stairs, and I heard many bones snapping like firecrackers.
Janice hugged me. She was trembling and weeping and hyperventilating.
Her breaths were hot against my neck.
    “Pepper!
It was Pepper Ann,” she said, words echoing in the stairwell.
“She warned me to stay away from you. Or else.”
    I
believed her.
    A
nurse ran into the stairwell and gripped the sides of her head and
shrieked.
    Woodrow
was on his belly, but his head had turned all the way around. And he
was still alive and looked at us in absolute shock. His mouth moved,
but no intelligible words came out...just a strange creaking sound,
like a door slowly opening. Janice wanted to look too, but before she
got the chance, I forced her face into my armpit and dragged her
outside. I, on the other hand, could not take my eyes off Woodrow's
weird situation. The sight of him made me sick to my stomach. That
wasn't my thing. I didn't get off on death. You know how people
passing car crashes just have to look? Never me. I just kept driving.
Why pollute my mind with such spooky imagery? I didn't even have the
stomach for the gross details on the local news shows – but
this time, I couldn't look away. For a second, I questioned my own
purity. It would take a lot of soccer games to wash his disturbing
image out of my mind.
    The
boss, the main honcho in charge, Veronica – the warden –
took Janice, whispering soothing things to her. Janice kept nodding
at whatever she said. Her hair was a noisy mess. I gave Veronica a
stern look.
    “Pepper
tried get Woodrow to push Janice down those stairs.”
    Veronica
always had these two Russian girls by her at all times, both dressed
in white and wearing those little hats with the red cross. These
nurses/bodyguards were huge – muscular – arms the size of
legs, and it was like they had no necks.
    “Bring
her to me,” Veronica demanded.
    The
two nurses grunted and ran away.
    Behind
me, in the stairwell, a nurse said:
    “He's
finally dead!”
    I
leaned against a wall. My food was coming back up. I had seen too
much. Janice was staring at me as Veronica spoke, and I wanted to
hold Janice, hug her, tell her everything was going to be okay.
Seeing her eyes made the sick feeling in my belly go away. I saw
ourselves in a big house on a mountain, away from the city, from the
world. Just the two of us alone and in love. That was it. She was the
one, man. The one . Was she thinking the same of