Page 10 of Dyana (Love in the Apocalypse #3)

“Thank you,” Jack said. “I appreciate the fuck out of you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bryce replied, shoving Jack lightly. “If I turn into a fucking zombie, you’re the first person I’m eating.”

“Deal,” Jack laughed.

We went downstairs and packed some clothes to take with us.

Nothing that would slow us down too much.

I also grabbed my tool kit because I knew it would come in handy, despite the added weight.

Then, after some debate, we grabbed our football pads and put them on.

For some, the pads seem cumbersome, but not for us.

We’ve spent far too much of our lives in the gear to be slowed down by it.

If anything, it made me feel more secure.

The other nice thing about living in the athletics dorm was that tons of sports gear were lying around.

Like handy metal bats. And sticks you could chisel down to make a spear.

We didn’t have that kind of time, but the others would, so I wasn’t sorry about taking three bats with us.

“Where do you three fucks think you’re going?” the RA asked as he stood in front of the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Anywhere but here, brother,” Bryce replied.

“I don’t think so. Nobody is allowed to leave. It isn’t safe,” he replied sternly.

“I’m not sure what about this fucked up bullshit makes you think your rules still apply,” Jack said, “but we’re leaving, and there isn’t a fucking thing you can do to stop us.”

I looked around the lounge at the men still loitering there. They glared and looked pissed, but it wasn’t directed at us. They didn’t appreciate him blocking our exit any more than we did because, eventually, they would want to leave as well.

“We won’t let you,” the RA replied.

“Who’s we?” I asked as I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “‘Cause these guys don’t look like they will back your play.”

Two of our linebackers stepped forward and clapped Bryce on the shoulder. “Are you sure you want to leave, brother?” one asked.

“Yeah, man. We gotta get out of here before shit gets any worse,” Bryce replied.

“Then allow us.” They stepped forward and physically lifted the RA out of the way. “Good luck, QB,” they said to Jack.

“You too, guys,” he responded as he opened the door and left. Bryce followed him out, and I fist-bumped one of the linebackers before following. The door slammed behind us, and I heard the lock tumble. We were well and truly on our own now.

“I hope this wasn’t a mistake, J,” I muttered.

“Me, too,” he replied.

We crossed the campus as quickly and silently as possible, which took far longer than it should have.

Stealth was our best option, which meant a lot of hiding.

We had made it about halfway when we almost ran smack dab into a group of about ten agitated zombies.

We ducked behind a row of bushes, ready to wait them out.

They would eventually wander off toward the closest sound if we stayed silent.

The sound of thundering footsteps reached my ears, and I peeked over the bushes in time to see two of the girls we had been with earlier come running in the direction we had come from.

They shrieked when they saw the zombies and ran into each other, getting all tangled.

They fell to the ground, mere feet from us, on the other side of the bushes.

They scrambled to get back to their feet, but the zombies were too close.

Bryce’s hands clenched around his bat, and his body tensed, ready to spring to the girls’ rescue, but Jack grabbed his pads and held him back. He shook his head when Bryce tried to shrug him off.

“It’s too late,” Jack whispered. “Eye on the prize.”

That was easy for him to say. He never let those girls get close. But Bryce? Bryce had spent time with them. He knew them.

“This whole thing is fucked,” Bryce growled.

“Let’s just go,” I hissed. Listening to the sounds of the dying girls was too much. We needed to move on; sadly, they had provided the perfect distraction for us.

We continued the rest of the way across campus like that.

Hiding when needed and ultimately getting lucky.

Too lucky. I was worried our luck would run out before we found Dyana and got off campus.

When we reached her dorm and saw the door hanging off its hinges, I was sure we were too late.

Only two zombies lingered in the lounge amid a sea of red.

Bryce and I quickly took them out with our bats and then followed Jack up the stairs.

“Do we know what room she’s in?” Bryce asked.

“Room 104,” Jack replied.

Usually, I would have taken that moment to comment on him being a creeper, but it wasn’t the time. Jack killed a zombie hanging out on the first floor, and then we burst into Dyana’s room. Dyana’s empty room.

“Shit!” Jack yelled.

“It’s ok,” I told him. “It looks like Dyana packed a bag. She might have already escaped.”

“Her car! We need to check the parking lot,” Jack said excitedly.

“That’s a good idea,” I replied. “We’ll need a way out of here, too.” We reached the parking lot without any issue, and when we got there, I saw why. We crouched in the tree line to get a lay of the land and figure out how to proceed. Zombies littered the lot, likely led there by escaping students.

“Dyana drives a blue Explorer with a discernible ass dent on the hood,” Jack told us.

“How do you know it’s from an ass?” Bryce asked.

Jack smirked. “Because I put it there.”

“My man,” Bryce chuckled, clapping Jack on the back.

I rolled my eyes. Even in the apocalypse, some things never change.

“Evan, find us a car. Bryce, I’ll take the left side; you take the right. Look for Dyana’s car. God, I hope we don’t find it.”

They snuck off and left me alone. My task should have been an easy one.

Zombies made it more complicated. Before leaving the trees, I scoped out what I thought would be a good car to take, a bright red Ram.

I ran to the truck and crouched by the wheel to make sure none of the zombies had spotted me.

When none of the zombies came for me, I crawled to the driver’s door and pulled on the handle.

The door opened, but the car alarm immediately began to blare.

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck! That wasn’t what you wanted in the zombie apocalypse.

I ran from the truck as fast as I could, weaving between the other parked cars to avoid the zombies headed toward the truck.

Ok. That wasn’t the worst possible outcome as long as we kept quiet the rest of the time.

I paused near one of those cars from the hamster commercials and decided that was as good as any at this point.

I held my breath as I opened the door and was relieved when the alarm didn’t go off this time.

I climbed inside and shut the door so a zombie couldn’t sneak behind me while I worked.

I started digging through my toolkit when I caught movement in the rearview mirror.

I spun around and nearly shit myself when a zombie lunged toward me.

I avoided it by inches as I fumbled for the door handle.

I fell out of the car and kicked the door shut just in time.

The zombie inside slammed against the window, but the sound couldn’t be heard over the car alarm still going off.

Fucking hell. This was supposed to be easy, but it had become anything but.

I spotted a black Wrangler toward the end of the parking lot and approached it.

By now, most of the zombies in the lot were by the Ram, so I didn’t have to crawl around; however, it was only a matter of time before the sound attracted other zombies around campus. I didn’t want to be here for that.

I peeked into the windows to check for zombies this time before opening the door. Only this time, the door was locked. I pulled the Slim Jim from my bag and jammed it into the door. After a few seconds, I unlocked the door.

“Who the fuck are you?”

I jumped and spun to face Bryce. “Don’t fucking sneak up behind me!”

“Sorry,” he chuckled, “but seriously, why do you know how to break into cars?”

I shrugged as I opened the door and pressed the unlock button. “I was a curious kid growing up.”

“Curious about Grand Theft Auto?” Bryce asked as he stood in the doorway and kept watch.

“Just curious,” I replied as I hammered a screwdriver into the ignition to unlock the wheel.

Bryce bent his head down to look at what I was doing. “Right, curious.”

He stood as I unscrewed the paneling on the steering column.

It was true. As a kid, I wanted to learn everything there was to know, and after watching someone hotwire a car on TV, I was determined to learn how to do it too, much to my parents’ annoyance.

I practiced on their cars, and they weren’t nearly as excited about my accomplishment as I was.

“Jack! Over here!”

Once Jack got into the passenger seat, Bryce shut my door and hopped in the backseat. “I didn’t see her car,” Jack said.

“Me neither,” Bryce replied.

“That means she got out of here and is probably headed home. She’s safe,” I said.

“That leaves us with one question: Where are we going? Do we follow her home or check on our parents?” I twisted the wires together and then touched the starter wire to the bunch.

The Jeep roared to life, and I quickly wrapped the wires in electrical tape.

Once I finished, I sat up and looked at my friends, who stared at me like I had two heads.

“Seriously,” Bryce said, “who the fuck are you?”

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