Jason Campagna - White Ash on Bone - A Zombie Novel

"Actually,” Rex said, “This is my friend Alison. My wife Ginger is back that way watching our gear."

Go figure Alison thought, I am on the way to deal with ending my marriage and some gothic chick is holding me up.

"How did you end up here?" Rex asked Mazie.

"I was heading back to school in Kentucky. I drove south along Interstate 79 and the highway was blocked off near Cranberry. There was a big traffic jam, but I managed to squeeze my car through to get to a smaller back road. I heard on the radio this morning that the airport here was safe, and I found it with my GPS."

"Rex," Alison said, "I’m going to head over to the hanger, you can catch up when you get a chance. It sounds like your friend here might like to join our group at the trucks."

"Could I?" Mazie said. "Because that would be great, I've been freaked out all night. Let me grab my stuff from my car, and I can follow you to your truck."

"That’ll work fine," Alison encouraged Rex.

Might keep him out of trouble if I decide to shoot my bastard husband, Alison thought. She turned and walked in the direction of the hanger leaving Rex and Mazie behind.

Maybe everything will be ok, she thought. I’ll enter the room and find him thrilled to see me, and it’ll have all been a misunderstanding. Fat chance, she conceded to herself. I’m that girl who the other wives whisper about when they gossip. They feel sorry for me, but that doesn’t stop them from giggling. My life was supposed to be different, but can I stop loving him, she wondered. No, I cant, he’s my husband, and I committed my life to him.

I can’t be that girl; I should just walk in, pull the trigger and leave. Why’d you do this to me, Carson, she thought. I gave you everything in my life, but it wasn’t enough. If only I could run from this and drive away, but where could I hide from the pain? It hurts to breathe, she thought. Please heart, stop beating and spare me.

Alison found that she was standing in front of office number seven inside hanger two. She wiped the sweat from her trembling hands and reached out to the door. Her fingertips found the metal of the doorknob cool to the touch. She closed her eyes and waited, feeling the metal gradually warm from her fingers.

Carson’s heart raced as he finished off Kimberly’s young body underneath him on the desk. I love it, Carson thought. These young girls just need constant gardening.

He hadn’t been feeling well when he headed back to the office, but Kimberly insisted she could make him feel better. Come to think of it, he thought, I do feel better. Carson massaged his arm near the area where the girl at the hospital had managed to bite him. The bite was small and he had cleaned the wound thoroughly the first chance he had.

The light fever could just be a normal infection setting in, Carson thought. It’s possible I’m immune and a vaccination could be derived from my antibodies. That would be awesome, he thought. I could set myself up with a whole harem of girls in the new world if that happened. If it turns out I’m going to die from this, then I am at least going to go out nailing every piece of ass I can manage.

“Carson,” Kim said, “do you think we can get married?”

It’s what they all want, Carson thought; commitment. I sort of committed to Alison, and if the world was a better place she might be here with me. It’s a shame I didn’t get to give her the diamond necklace I bought for her birthday.

“We don’t need to talk about that right now.”

“You don’t think she could still be alive?” Kimberly said.

“No, she was waiting for me at the mall when it got hit. Let’s not think about that. Here, I bought you a present. I was saving it for you as a surprise.” Carson pulled a small square box out of his pocket.

“I managed to hang on to it all through the hospital,” he added. Carson removed the necklace from the box, “Let me put it on you.”

The door creaked open behind Kimberly. Alison walked in and the door swung closed behind her. She pointed a silver revolver at Carson. “Let me help you two with that,” Alison said. Kimberly scrambled for her clothes and pulled them over her exposed body. “I want to hear you try and explain this to me. Go ahead and try.”

“You were happy enough to pretend it wasn’t happening as long as you could have your upscale lifestyle. Now put down the gun before you shoot somebody,” he said.

“I’m not talking just about that Carson. Did you even try to find me while I was out struggling for my life?”

“He couldn’t,” Kimberly spoke up. “He’s a doctor. He had responsibilities at the hospital and here.”

“Bitch, don’t tell me about my husband. In fact, you’d do well to just keep your fucking mouth shut. He may be a doctor, but that doesn’t excuse him from his responsibilities to me.”

“Alison, put down the gun. Someone could get hurt,” Carson ordered.

“So you were planning on flying out of here without another thought of me, cute. Problem is there seem to be a lot of people here and not many planes or pilots. I bet there’s going to be a space problem, but I bet you weren’t worried about that as a doctor. Well I’m going to make sure they know what a piece of shit you are, and how you left your wife out there while you were here fucking this bitch. I bet the crowd will be real happy about that. Especially the ones being left behind knowing someone could have your seat.”

Alison smiled at him, “I hope you enjoyed fucking her as much as I’m going to enjoy screwing the two of you over."

Mike moved around the desk placing himself in front of Kimberly. “Listen baby, I’ve hurt you. You didn’t deserve this. Leave Kimberly out of it, it’s my fault.”

Carson let his body go limp in a sign of submission then lashed out at Alison. His left palm connected with the side of the gun and sent it sailing harmlessly to the floor. It clanked and skidded to a stop along the office wall.

He swung his right hand at Alison’s head, his fist tightening to a hard knot. The blow caught her full in the side of the face. Her head twisted to the right, and she fell over on the floor stunned. A spatter of dark red dotted the floor near her mouth.

Carson leaned down and grabbed Alison by the back of the hair, and yanked her face around.

“Don’t you ever threaten a man, you worthless bitch.”

He slammed her head against the floor and Alison’s body went limp.

“What did you do?” Kimberly said.

I’m a monster he thought. Get a hold of yourself, Carson. I’m a doctor; I have people’s lives in my hands every day. This is no different than a day at work.

“Kimberly, honey,” he said, “You saw the gun. She was threatening you. She could have killed us, but I stopped her to save you.”

“Is she dead?” Kimberly said.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We have to get rid of her. If people find out, they’re going to come after both of us. We have to be cool, or this could blow up in our face."

"This isn’t right, Carson,” Kim said. “I don’t know if I can do this."

"I know,” Carson said. “I can't believe she would put us in this position, but I won’t let her screw up our lives together."

He put his hand on Kim's bare shoulder. "I’d do anything for you." She leaned her head forward on his chest and hugged him.

I should snap her neck and be done with it, he thought. "What do you think we should do with her, Kimberly?"

"I don’t know, she replied."

He caressed her hair, "We can’t leave her here. Someone could find her."

"We could drive her out of here and leave her somewhere," Kimberly suggested.

Carson held Kimberly close to his chest and smiled. She's my accomplice now, he thought. Hell, I might even be able to blame it all on her if need be. "That’s a good idea, I think it’ll work," he said. "I can use the SUV parked in the hanger and pull it up to the door. We can throw a tarp over her and drive out of here. If someone asks, we can tell them someone died and we’ve been told to dump the bodies outside the facility to keep disease from spreading. We’ll need to do that anyway."