ZOMBIE SHARK HIGHWAY

TWENTY SIX

TWENTY SIX

Her body was weak. Everything felt like rubber. She wasn't even sure how she'd managed to throw the knife. But she did. And now he was safe. Now, he had his arms around her.

Kayla held tight to Justin as he hugged her, kissed her, both of them bobbing in the slimy green water. She wanted him to hold her forever. But she was so tired. Her lower back, where the creature had hooked itself in, burned where Justin ripped it out. She could barely keep herself afloat. She needed to rest.

"I thought you were dead!" said Justin.

"I thought I was too." Her eyes felt heavy. Oh so heavy.

Her legs stopped kicking, just for a moment, and she dipped below the waves.

Justin grabbed her, pulling her back up and she gasped for air.

"Kay?" His voice was panicked. "Kay, what is it?"

"I'm just so tired."

"Here." He took her right arm and draped it back over the dead hammerhead, letting her use it as a flotation device. "Better?"

She nodded as best she could, letting her forehead rest against the oozing, boiled skin. "What happened?"

"A fish. Some kind of sucker fish. The sharks had it too. It -- it-- changed you. All of you."

A sucker fish. She remembered feeling something -- a bite -- just before she blacked out. Something pierced the skin at the small of her back. And she lost herself.

She looked back at the big shark, the one that lead the pack. And she saw the fish, white, with blue snaking veins and blisters bubbling beneath the skin. "What did I do?"

Justin's eyes drifted to the suckerfish, and he seemed fixed on a memory. He shrugged. "You weren't yourself."

Kayla's stomach churned. Who had she been?

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," said Justin. "It's over now. The sharks are dead. You're okay. It's over."

"Justin," Kayla said, firmly. "What did I do?"

His eyes dropped, unable to meet hers and Kayla was frightened.

"You're not the first girl who wanted to kill me, Kay."

And there it was. The signature Justin Heard smirk that always made her heart flip. Forgetting her exhaustion, she kissed him, so hard and so long she hoped she'd just melt into him forever.

And then the shark beneath her arm moved.

Justin pulled away. "Did you feel that?"

They both looked at the shark Kayla still had her arm draped over. It bobbed in the water, belly up. Dead. Had it moved? She was sure she'd felt it. Even Justin felt it.

And then another twitch.

"Oh God," said Justin. "It's waking up." He glanced around them and Kayla followed his gaze -- hoards of dead sharks floated in the slime. And they'd all begun to twitch.

"We gotta go," said Justin.

He draped her other arm over him, and began to swim, heading toward the boat where Melvin was bailing out water.

"We're gonna need another boat," Melvin called out. "This one's toast."

"Well find it now, Melvin!"

The way Justin's voice broke made the shark expert look up, and his eyes went wide when he saw the twitching sharks. "They're hatching," he said.

"Yeah!" agreed Justin. "We gotta get out of here now!"

Melvin fired up the motor, driving closer to pick the two teens up. Kayla reached for the edge and tried to pull herself aboard but it was no use, her muscles had no strength left. Justin pushed her up and Melvin grabbed under her arms, hauling her in. She landed in half a foot of water. Melvin was right, there was no saving the boat.

She glanced over the marina, several covered ski boats still floating above water. Without a key, they couldn't start one. They needed another simple fishing boat and there were none to be found.

And then his voice --

Justin's voice --

Crying out in anguish.

"Girly," growled Melvin, bending over the side, "get over here and help me."

Kayla forgot the aching in her muscles and scrambled to help Melvin. There was Justin -- face twisted in pain -- held up by Melvin who was trying to pull him out of the water. Kayla watched the water -- watched for blood, watched for churning sloshing waves -- any sign of a shark. But there was nothing.

"Don't just stand there," roared Melvin. "Help me!"

Kayla grabbed hold of Justin's arm and heaved, Justin's pained cries blistering her heart. They awkwardly pulled him into the little boat and Justin lay on the floor, in a half foot of water. Kayla took his head in her lap, brushing the hair from his eyes.

"Justin, what happened?"

He couldn't answer. He was lost in the pain, arching his back and gritting his teeth.

"What is it?" demanded Melvin.

But Kayla knew, she knew this pain. It was the pain that took her away.

Quickly, she turned Justin over, lifting up his shirt to reveal his back -- and the squirming, wriggling white sucker fish that had been stuck to the big one hooked into his flesh.

Kayla pulled, but the creature was so dug in.

"Melvin, do something!"

The shark expert took hold of the writhing fish and pulled, but that only made Justin scream louder.

"Hang on, Justin," begged Kayla. They were running out if time. The fish would kill him. And then it would change him.

Finally, Melvin pulled the pistol.

"What are you doing!?" she shouted. "You can't shoot him!"

But Melvin wasn't trying to shoot him. The shark expert grabbed the gun by the barrel and clubbed the fish with the butt. The slithering stopped and the fish hung limp. Melvin pried the sucker fish from Justin's skin and the second it was done, Justin bolted upright, panting and heaving.

Kayla grabbed him, trying to help him stay balanced. His eyes came back into focus, locking with Kayla's and his grip on her arms tightened. "Did it change me?"

Kayla smiled and shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "No, it didn't change you." None of this chaos had. Justin Heard was still Justin Heard. And she was so grateful for that.

"Don't break out the champagne yet!" said Melvin, and just as he did, the first of the hatchlings rammed the boat.

Kayla looked out over the marina -- hundreds of shifting sharks squirmed and shifted, waking from their death state.

And the water in the boat was rising.

"What do we do?" she asked. Who was she asking? It didn't matter. She knew neither Melvin nor Justin knew the answer. The boat would sink. And they'd be shark bait.

Another hit.

And then another.

The water rose to Kayla's shins. Justin held her tight and she clung back. The sharks would win in the end.

"What is that?" said Melvin, pointing to the sky.

Kayla looked up, and when she did, her heart swelled,

A chopper.

A police chopper.

It thundered overhead, moving straight for them. As it closed in, she could see two figures waving out the door -- Maddie and DeStefano.

Kayla laughed, overcome with relief. Never did she think she'd be so happy to see Maddie.

Waves sloshed over the side of the boat as Maddie and DeStefano lowered a rope to the sinking vessel.

Kayla, Justin and Melvin grabbed hold, and just before the boat was swallowed up, they were lifted skyward, feet dangling above a hundred hungry decaying sharks that churned the water white.

It was over. Finally. And Kayla, safely onboard the miracle helicopter, felt like she could breathe for the first time since she'd seen eight dead monster fish in the headlights on the highway.

"You OK?" Maddie asked.

Kayla nodded, gulping in air. She was surrounded by friendly faces -- Maddie, DeStefano and his family, Melvin. And Justin.

"How did you get a helicopter?" he asked, laughing.

"We didnt'!" said Maddie, nodding toward the pilot and co pilot. "They did."

Kayla's heart nearly burst from her chest -- there in the co pilot's seat, reaching for her, was Bo. Kayla threw herself into his arms as tears flooded out of her in the greatest release of happiness she'd ever felt. "You saved us, Bo!"

"Well," he shrugged, ever so modestly. "Robbie helped."

Robbie, Officer Howe, winked at her and Kayla laughed. She closed her eyes and breathed in Bo's smell -- sweet cigars and chicken soup.

It was over.

The sharks had taken her father. But they wouldn't get anyone else.

"What the hell is that?"

Kayla opened her eyes to see Maddie jumping back from Melvin. He was holding up the dead sucker fish.

"This is what made them sharks the way they were. This is what made them...." He stopped, looking for the right word.

"Zombified."

Everyone looked at DeStefano, surprised. Because he was right. That was what they were. Kayla knew that now. Always had. Ever since that night on the highway some part of her knew that was what they were. She just never dared to say it.

Zombified.

Kayla felt goosebumps on her neck.

Justin leaned in for a better look at the sucker fish. "It's different from the others. All the other sharks had grey fish. Kayla's fish was grey."

Melvin nodded. "You saw how the rest of 'em keeled over as soon as this one got hit? The others were just drones. This one -- it must have been controlling 'em somehow."

Just drones. Kayla shuddered to think of herself under that thing's control.

"It looks ancient," said DeStefano. "Like something from the time of the dinosaurs."

"Or before," agreed Melvin.

Maddie squinted. "But what IS it?"

Melvin shook his head. "I'm not sure. But I have friends who might."

Kayla glanced out the window, down to the water. It frothed and boiled with the activity of a thousand sharks.

Zombie sharks.

And there was no one to stop them from spreading.

How many more highways, she wondered. How many more Justins and Kaylas would have to face down the throat of the beast?

How could anyone stop it?

"What kind of friends?" she asked.

"Paleontologists," said Melvin. "Dr. Troyer and Dr. Wright. Working near a volcano way up North last I heard." The shark expert looked up from the fish and grinned fiendishly. "Don't suppose you folks want to give me a lift to Alaska do you?"

Finito

---

Thank you so much for reading ZOMBIE SHARK HIGHWAY! You made it all the way to the end and I’m so glad you came on this crazy journey with me. I don’t know how my fish monsters got on goodreads, but they did! So, if you enjoyed ZSH I would be so grateful if you took the time to leave a review or a comment here.

I’ll be leaving the chapters up for rest of the month, but in January, chapters will be coming down to make room for the next serial! If you want to revisit ZSH in 2024, you can always become a paid subscriber and download the ebook for a copy of your very own! Subscriptions are only $30 for the whole year, and that gets you all my ebooks, digital art downloads, extra posts, tutorials, step by steps and more!

And don’t worry, there’s lots more ZSH universe coming in 2024.

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The follow up to ZSH!