Only The Dead Don't Die by Popovich, A.D. (management books to read .txt) 📗

was in defense mode. She didn’t bother checking on Mindy; she was probably meditating too. She grabbed her bat before stepping onto the bucket to reach the hatch.

Once she was on top of the bus, the groaning Zs flooded her with a nauseous wave of lightheadedness. No! She thrust back her fear. She was no longer the timid teenager she had been during the beginning of the pandemic.

She handed the bungees to Luther and fought for her balance as the bus trampled across a grassy field. She carefully took in the scene: Zs scrambling after the slowing bus, Luther securing a bungee around Justin’s waist, and Scarlett angling for a strategic position precariously near the edge of the bus.

Ella caught eye contact with Justin and blew him a kiss a second before he disappeared over the edge of the bus. She inched as close to the edge as she dared, realizing he was the only one nimble enough to attempt such an insane feat.

Luther held Justin over the edge of the bus by his ankles.

Zs stumbled closer.

What can I do?

“Gas cap’s off!” Justin yelled. He let it dangle against the side of the bus.

“Scarlett, wrap the bungee around the gas can’s handle. And lower it!”

Ella should have thought of that. So immersed, she had even forgotten to say her Hail Marys. She walked to the end of the bus as the mega-horde scurried after them. Idiot! Do something! The horde was almost to the bus. And the bus was rolling to a stop.

“That’s it!” A distraction! Before she realized it, she started chanting a high school cheer. “Zombie’s suck—spell it out! Zombie’s suck—spell it out.” But she couldn’t remember how to form the Z. Who cares? It wasn’t like her cheerleader cousin was there judging her.

The horde stopped at the back of the bus, craning their necks at her. Forming letters with her hands, more like drawing them in the air, she continued making a spectacle of herself. She couldn’t remember any of the cheers Lolita had taught her. So, she just shouted out random statements.

But when the gun went off, Ella spun around to check on Justin. More gunshots! They weren’t supposed to fire their weapons in the Forbidden Zone. Justin had repeatedly warned not to. If anyone just outside the Forbidden Zone reported gunfire, Enforcers would send patrols.

Her corpse-like audience must have realized her ruse. They shuffled on. Ella ran to warn Justin. Suddenly, the bus started moving.

“Guys! Pull me up!”

The words she’d been waiting for, the words she thought she would never hear.

Luther pulled him by the ankles and nearly flung him onto the top of the bus. Just in time!

“Easy-peasy.” But the tremor in Justin’s voice revealed his terror.

Ella dropped to her knees and lavished him with tender kisses.

Chapter 23

Justin Chen scouted the northern horizon from the roof rack with his nifty binoculars. He zoomed in on the Forbidden Zone’s border wall, afraid of what awaited them on the other side.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” They were still there. And he hadn’t mentioned anything to Dean . . .

His thoughts jumbled into a massive headache. How were they making it out of Last State? Alive? Luther made out like he was tough shit, but he was still spaced-out from drinking the Andara tea. Scarlett hadn’t been her usual kick-ass self since Zac left. Ella worried about Mateo every freaking second of the day, and Twila was delusional most the time.

Don’t get him started on Mindy. To say he resented her, was an understatement. She didn’t do a damn thing except goo-goo over Starla. A part of him wished Luther hadn’t found her.

This was totally whacked. The best fighter watching his back was a sixty-something man. What if Dean stroked on him during a horde attack?

A bright light flittered around his eyes. He let the binocs dangle from his neck while rubbing his strained eyes. Weird. The lights turned into ones and zeros. He pulled the tarp completely over his head, shielding him from the intense sunlight. Was he having one of those optical migraines Dad used to get? Sure, he easily envisioned binary code when thinking of computer coding, but the only thing on his mind was getting to Tent City.

Perplexed, Justin waited for the random flashes of ones and zeros to fade away. “Amal-zing.” The numbers morphed into an exploding star in his mind’s eye, blinding him. Trillions of light particles danced about before snapping into position like a celestial Lite-Brite creating a Shangri-La scene in a lush valley of wildflowers surrounded by forests and babbling creeks.

A sensation of timelessness whirled around him as if he were no longer part of this dying earth, as if he existed in a different dimension where evil no longer dominated. People laughed and ate around a firepit while children played on tire swings strung from trees and jumped into the creek.

Uh, is that Mateo—all grown-up? It had to be. A man in his twenties with Ella’s lovely smile and his Asian eyes kissed the woman next to him. The blue-eyed woman reminded him of Mindy. Starla—twenty years from now? She was shorter than Mindy. To his surprise, his inner vision panned to the grinning baby in Starla’s arms. Hey—that’s my grandson! It was more of an internal knowing.

Justin was about to shake away the dreamy mirage. But he couldn’t. He cherished it. The Imax screen in his mind took in every detail. Wait a minute. It seemed like an alternate reality, like one of those artsy indie films with different endings. Was he seeing a possible future? His future? A sadness stung his heart when he realized he didn’t see Ella, Dean, Scarlett, or Luther in that future . . .

Twila always bragged about getting cosmic downloads of information. Was this what it was like? Had he just accessed that