ZOMBIE SHARK HIGHWAY
EIGHTEEN
Happy Friday ZSH readers!
Thanks so much to everyone who’s been sharing and “noting” these crazy undead fish monsters! Every like and share is important support to keeping the story alive so thank you truly, for getting the word out.
Things are ramping up and we’re driving ever closer to the end. But fear not! The second book in the series, Lava Cat Cruise Ship, will be coming close behind so I hope you’re ready for saber tooth tigers. In the meantime, if you know someone who might enjoy the adventures of Kayla and Justin and Melvin Bruce, feel free to share it with them!
Anyway, here’s chapter 18! Have a wonderful weekend!
EIGHTEEN
Main St was dead. Kayla stood carefully on her tip toes, the water where Main met the DeStefano's street shallow enough that she could just barely touch bottom. She watched for movement, for dark shadows beneath the floodwater's surface -- for fins.
There was nothing.
"God," breathed Justin behind her. "You'd never know this place was a regular town a few hours ago."
Kayla followed his gaze to an empty school bus, doors still open from where the children must have been made to evacuate. The metal groaned as the current tried to carry it away.
"Think they got away okay?"
Kayla didn't answer. She didn't know. For their sake, she hoped so.
"Tell you one thing," Justin said. "I'd feel a lot better if Melvin had given me a gun too."
Kayla felt the cold metal of the pistol against the skin of her back where she'd tucked it into her pants. She pulled it out. "You want it?"
"No, I didn't mean -- I just, you know. Two guns would be better than one."
"So take it. I don't want it." If the sharks found them, she didn't think the gun would help much anyway.
"Melvin gave it to you, though."
"Just because I was standing beside him when he offered it up."
"It's fine," said Justin. He held up the hunting knife Melvin had given him. "I've got this."
Kayla looked away.
Justin laughed hollowly. "Might as well be a toothpick for all the good it'll do."
"I told you not to come." She wished he'd listened. When Melvin told them someone would have to swim to the marina, Kayla knew she was the best option to go. She was a swimmer. A good one. Years of swim team had practically trained her for the job.
And then Justin volunteered to go with her.
"I couldn't let you do this by yourself," he said. "Besides, I'm a better swimmer than you."
Maybe so. Justin always seemed to make the podium -- when he was still on the team, anyway.
But going alone was what Kayla wanted. Alone, she could find Bo. If she got her hands on a boat, she planned to go to the trailer before returning to the group. Now with Justin here, she'd have to argue, negotiate. She'd have to beg him to let her go to Bo, and she knew he'd try to convince her not to. Back and forth and back and forth, talking in circles, wasting more time when Bo could be in danger.
"What are you thinking?" Justin asked. "Main over to Howard? The boat launch is right at the end of Howard."
Kayla shook her head. "We'd have to fight the current. We should head for Devon Road. That will take us down to the pharmacy on Anne Street and we can cut across the parking lot to the marina."
"That's the direction the sharks went."
Kayla knew that. But she also knew they'd exhaust themselves too quickly if they tried to fight the rush of the water and head to Howard. Devon was the fastest, easiest route.
"That was a while ago," said Kayla, trying to convince Justin as much as herself. "The sharks could be anywhere at this point."
Justin didn't say anything, but Kayla watched his throat throb as he swallowed. Finally, he nodded. "Ladies first then, I guess." He tried to grin, but Kayla could see his heart wasn't in it.
That was the other reason she wished he hadn't come. The Justin she knew was reckless, carefree. The Justin she knew had a gift for mischief and a permanent smirk on his face. Fear changed him. It faded his grin and dimmed his spirit. Seeing him that way, so different from the boy she'd grown up with, made her more afraid.
As they ventured onto Main, the depth of the water too much to touch bottom any more, they swam along with the current, coming to Devon faster than Kayla had hoped.
"See anything?" Justin asked her.
No. There was nothing much of interest on Devon at the best of times -- just a small side street made up mostly of the backs of shops. It was always a quiet street -- no pedestrians, few cars save those making deliveries -- and today it was quieter still, smothered by the rising floodwaters.
Something groaned behind her and she turned. A dark shape, rippling just beneath the surface.
"Justin -- "
"What?"
But it was too fast, barreling straight for Kayla with the current. She barely had time to reach for the gun, and she screamed, bracing herself for the razor bite.
Justin's frantic voice called out for her, "Kayla!"
And the shadow bumped heavily into Kayla's side.
A bump, she realized. Not a bite.
Between panicked breaths she opened her eyes and saw the malicious creature -- a loose car muffler.
Her heart began to beat again, and she focused on the feel of her blood still pumping inside her veins.
"You okay?" asked Justin.
She nodded, finding her breath again. Though she wasn't at all sure that she was. Devon Road. Point Chester. This had been her town yesterday. Her home. She felt the cold of the water as her limbs tread to keep her afloat, her teeth chattering from the chill. Today it was a foreign place. Another planet. A nightmare.
"Kayla?" asked Justin.
Tears stung her eyes and she squeezed them shut. Would nothing ever be the same again?
"Kay --"
A splash.
Kayla opened her eyes.
"Justin?"
He was gone.
He was there, beside her and now he was gone.
"Justin!"
He surfaced suddenly, thrashing and splashing, "Kayla!" and was dragged down again.
The cold shot through her heart, and she screamed for him. The water was too dark, too murky. She couldn't see him beneath the waves.
Shaking, she reached for the gun and pointed at the spot Justin disappeared, but she couldn't keep it steady, not while she had to keep herself afloat. How many was there? Just one? There was never just one.
Justin broke the surface again, screaming her name.
She cocked the gun.
And heard him laughing.
The splashing stopped and he looked at her, that signature Justin Heard grin.
"Had you going, didn't I?"
Kayla trembled, gaping at him in disbelief. Of all the sick, twisted, disgusting pranks. She could have shot him. She could have had a heart attack.
The smile slipped off his face, staring into the barrel of the gun she was still pointing at him. "Kay?"
He just didn't care.
Didn't think.
He held up his hands in surrender, "Kay, I'm sorry. I was kidding."
Kidding. At a time like this.
She was wrong. Fear hadn't changed him. After everything that had happened, he couldn't help but still be Justin Heard.
And she lunged for him.
Her frozen lips found his, and she wrapped herself around him -- Justin Heard -- the same Justin she'd always known. The one thing in Point Chester that maybe, just maybe, the sharks couldn't change.
He kissed her back, his eager mouth melting into hers.
They were still here. After everything they'd seen, the two of them were still here. And at the end, Kayla promised herself, they'd be here together.
"I thought you were going to shoot me," he said finally, resting his forehead on hers.
"I thought I was too."
He grinned, and grabbed her face in his hands. "We can do this Kay. You know that, right?"
She nodded. Not because she knew it, but because she wanted to believe it.
"Just a little further and we'll be at the marina --" But something stopped Justin mid sentence. Something further down Devon that made his grip around her middle tighten.
When she looked, she saw them.
Eight sharks. The biggest leading the pack.
Eight sharks at the end of Devon Road.
Headed straight for Justin and Kayla.
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