Zommunist Invasion by Picott, Camille (ebook reader ink TXT) 📗

the first to topple backwards off the roof. Stephenson’s was seconds behind. As soon as that side of the roof was clear, he spun around.

The female mutant was no more than six feet away. Blood gushed from her wounds, but still she came, dragging herself toward them.

“Get her, Juli.”

Stephenson braced the machine gun on his hip and advanced, firing as he went. The mutant screamed, throwing bleeding hands in front of her face.

He didn’t stop advancing until his pink Converse touched the widening pool of blood that spread from her body. She was finally dead, her body pulverized by bullets.

He stopped firing, but there was screaming in his ears. Several seconds passed before he realized he was the one screaming.

A hand came down on his shoulder. His scream dissolved into deep gulps.

“We got them.” Nonna’s voice was full of pride.

Stephenson spun around to face her. When she looked up at him, he felt like the person he really was: Juli Stephenson.

For the second time that night, he burst into tears. Nonna pulled him into a hug, patting him on the back while he cried.

“Ju—Juli did that.” He waved a hand in the general direction of the dead female mutant. It was hard to believe he had killed mutants.

And not just one. A lot of them.

“Juli did that.” Nonna leaned back to look at him. Stars shone all around her head in the dark sky.

Stephenson looked down at himself. From the pink Converse, to the skin-tight Jordache jeans, to the strappy tank, to the black mesh shirt. The person in these clothes was not the same person he’d been two days ago. He was a new person. A person who could fight mutant zombies and survive.

Tears still ran out of his eyes, but he threw back his head and laughed. He’d never felt this amazing in his entire life.

He was Juli Stephenson. He was a fucking apocalyptic Princess of Power, and he was going to wear these clothes until they were threadbare and fell off his body.

41

Engines

At that moment, Nonna Cecchino was convinced that Juli Stephenson was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life. She knew—she just knew—her brother’s soul was looking down on her from heaven, clapping with pride.

She had done right by Luca Trione today. It had taken her a lifetime to make amends for what she’d done, but today she stood in absolution.

She beamed at Juli, who stood beside her on the roof, laughing. Her head was thrown back, her arms outstretched as the night sky stood in silent witness to her transformation.

Nonna retrieved the bottle of whiskey she’d stashed in the backpack. Pulling out the stopper, she took a long swig. Then she passed the bottle to Juli.

“Drink up,” Nonna said. “You deserve it.”

The girl threw her head back and drank. She almost immediately started coughing. Nonna chuckled, returning the stopper to the bottle.

“Let’s get rid of this thing.” Juli toed the dead female mutant on the roof.

It took two of them to roll it over the side and onto the dirt below.

“God, that thing was heavy,” Juli said. “I think mutants might be heavier than regular people. Maybe it’s the mutated muscles.”

“Maybe.” As Nonna took in the bullet holes that riddled the roof, she sighed inwardly. The cabin inside would be a disaster. There would be no sleeping tonight.

“Think it’s safe to go down now?” Juli asked.

“We made enough racket to bring mutants all the way from Bastopol,” Nonna replied. “If there were more of them out there, they’d have shown themselves by now.”

They’d used a ladder to get onto the roof, but Nonna had purposely kicked it over once they were up so the mutants couldn’t use it.

“I’ll go first and get the ladder for you,” Juli said.

Pride swelled in Nonna’s chest as she watched Juli grab the eave gutter and swing over the edge. Juli might not be the strongest in their group, but she had twice the strength of Stephenson.

“Watch out for the bodies.” Nonna counted no less than four mutant bodies on the porch.

The blood was going to present a problem. The cabin deck was old, the wood faded and dry. Without a doubt, the blood would soak in and stain.

When this was all over, Nonna would make Leo repaint the wood. Dal and Anton, too.

If they ever returned.

Juli positioned the ladder beneath the roof. Nonna lowered herself onto it, glad for her lifetime of hard work. She might be old, and she might not have the strength of her youth, but she wasn’t a weakling.

She stepped down onto the porch, careful to avoid the blood.

“We have to get rid of these bodies.” Nonna frowned down at them in disapproval.

They had ruined her porch. Up close, she could see even more blood. There were not only big pools of it, but it had splattered everywhere.

Her late husband had built this cabin with his own two hands. He would turn over in his grave if he saw it now, and they hadn’t even been inside yet.

“What are we going to do with the bodies?” Juli asked. “Burn them?”

Nonna shook her head. “The smoke could draw attention to us. We’ll need to bury them.”

“Bury them? We’re going to need a really big hole, Nonna.”

They looked back and forth between them. They might be able to wield machine guns, but neither of them had the upper body strength to hack through tree roots and dig a hole large enough for all those bodies.

“We can get the boys to do it when they get back.” Those two soldiers who went with Leo were strong, sturdy young men. Nonna would put them to work when they returned from their mission to Luma. “In the meantime, we just need to get the mutants away from the cabin. They’re going to start stinking.”

“Okay. I’m going to let the horse out, then we can get these guys moved.” Juli headed to the storage room. The old mare could be heard, whinnying in distress.

Nonna stepped