Alive Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  SNEAK PEAK - ALONE

  SNEAK PEAK - GONE

  SNEAK PEAK - SURVIVE

  SNEAK PEAK - ALIVE PART TWO

  Author's Note

  About the Author

  Free Books!

  ALIVE

  Ashley Shannon

  For my readers.

  Chapter One

  Screams filled the air as the gunshots began. Rion was vociferating, the pain of childbirth at its end, but the pain still residing. The baby screamed, filling his lungs with air for the very first time. Kimber held the small baby in her hands, both of them covered in blood and after birth. She tried not to cry out in terror as the hummer drove in circles around them, shooting toward them. Shots hit the back of the van but didn't come through to the inside. The infected that had been banging on the windows and doors now had turned to the other vehicle, following it as it drove around in a wide circle, walking to their death. Eli, her brother, was ducked down next to her. His arms were spread over her, Rion, and the newborn protecting them all as best as he could. He was acting like a human shield. Kimber knew he just wanted to keep them safe and would sacrifice his life for their lives.

  The gunshots had ceased around them. From what Kimber could see outside the window horde of infected that had surrounded them were now lying on the ground, dead, or dead again. Everyone with her in the van had ducked down, trying to keep safe from the shots. When the gunshots first began to sound, Kimber hadn’t been sure what the gunmen were shooting at. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized they were rescuing her and her friends, not firing at them.

  Kimber looked down at her hands to see the screaming baby boy she had helped deliver. She couldn’t believe how perfect he was. The world as they knew it was crashing down around them, but he was something completely good. The baby cried, which she knew was a good sign, and seemed to be breathing. It was a miracle that he was doing so well, born in the backseat of a minivan, his teen mother assisted by a teenager who’s only knowledge of babies came from a high school child development class. Her eyes searched for Drew’s. Adrenaline rippled through her body, causing her arms to shake as they held the tiny infant. Eli handed her a blanket, the name Cash stitched on it in pretty white letters. Seeing that his baby sister didn’t want to take her hands off of the child, Eli wrapped the blanket around the baby, helping her to carefully protect his sensitive neck and head.

  “Is that his name?” She asked, eyeing the lettering on the blanket. It looked handmade, not in a low-quality way. The blanket was meticulously made, by someone who was making it for someone they loved, paying attention to each detail.

  “Yeah,” Eli said, looking down at the baby. His eyes were wide with excitement and wonder. Kimber had never seen that look on her brother’s face before. Without hesitation, he reached out his hands and carefully took the child from her. She knew Eli had never held a baby before, but he held the child close to his chest, supporting Cash's head like a father who had done it a hundred times before. Her brother’s comfort and confidence with the newly born infant surprised her.

  “Is he okay?” Rion’s bottom lip was trembling as she spoke. She had to be in a considerable amount of pain, but the new mother wasn’t worried about any of that now. She just wanted to know that her son was okay, the true first step in becoming a mom. Rion looked like she had been through hell. Sweat covered her face, making her skin shine. Her skin was a pale milky white. Blood had seeped up into the shirt she was wearing, staining the white shirt red. The sight made Kimber feel lightheaded. She reached out a hand and braced herself on her brother’s shoulder. Normally he would have checked on her, but he was too infatuated with baby Cash to even look at her, let alone ask if she was okay.

  “He looks good,” Kimber said ignoring her dizzy feeling, her hands shaking as she held the umbilical cord. “We have to find a way to cut this, quickly.” Her mind searched back to the child development class she took early in the year. The teacher, Mrs. Worths, hadn’t gone into a lot of detail about what was supposed to happen after a baby was born. She had shown a video, which most of Kimber’s classmates had slept through, but left out most of the finer details. Kimber assumed this was because babies were born in hospitals with doctors and nurses who performed these details. Nowhere in the class had Mrs. Worth talked about what to do if you had a baby in a van at the end of the world.

  “I have a knife, in my front pocket,” Eli said leaning his left hip towards his sister. Her hand dug into his pocket, squirming to get the knife out. The metal gleamed in the glowing light from the headlights of the vehicle parked beside their van. No one mentioned a word about the looming vehicle that was parked a few feet away from them. The important thing for the group right now was making sure Rion and Cash survived, and Kimber was the only one who had the knowledge to make sure that happened. She couldn’t think about what was waiting for them outside the minivan, she had to focus on the problem that was facing her inside.

  Minutes passed as Kimber stared at the chord leading from the baby back inside Rion. Her eyes flicked from the mother, who was growing paler and quiet, to the baby who Eli had managed to calm down. It was easy to see that Rion was still losing blood and that the last steps of this birth were crucial. If Kimber left one step out, forgot to do one thing, it could end up killing Rion or the baby. It was a pressure she wasn’t use to feeling, and Kimber wasn’t normally good under pressure.

  “What’s wrong,” Drew asked. She leaned over the front seat to see why Kimber wasn’t moving.

  “I don’t know where to cut and I know that we have to put something on the cord of the baby, or he could like bleed out or something. They use a clip in hospitals, made of plastic. But we don’t have one. We don’t have anything.” Kimber started to shake again, feeling the weight of two lives hanging in the balance, with only her to help them.

  Kimber looked at Drew, her eyes pleading with her girlfriend. Drew hadn’t taken the class with her but for some reason, Kimber was hoping she could step in and take over the heavy burden laid on her shoulders. But she didn’t know what to do. None of them did. They were not prepared for this situation. Jasper began digging around in the van, Carin and Drew watching him.

  “What are you doing?” Carin asked, wanting to help but not understanding if Jasper had an idea or if he was digging around until he came up with an idea. Kimber didn’t take her eyes off of Rion, watching the new mom for any sign that she might not be in decent shape.

  “I’m looking for a rubber band,” Jasper said, waiting for them to understand what he was thinking. When nobody seemed to get it he started to explain, “If we wrap a rubber band or something around the umbilical cord it will cut off circulation and we won’t have to worry about the baby losing any blood. It’s just like a tourniquet like they use when they cut off a limb in the movies.” Carin and Drew finally understood what Jasper was thinking. They both joined in the search, opening compartments and looking through the seats. Drew climbed on to the floor of the clearly used minivan and started searching under the seats. Her hands fumbled underneath the passenger seat when something caught her eye. Without asking, Drew reached her hand over to Carin and pulled her hair out of the ponytail it was in.

  “Will this work?” She handed the elastic band to Jasper and he grinned.

  “Sure will.” He readied himself to take quick action, “Cut the cord Kimber, maybe two inches from the baby’s belly and I’ll wrap this around the cord.”

  Kimber hesitated, taking
a deep breath and trying to steady her shaking hands.

  “You can do this, Kimber.” Her brother looked her in the eyes, his shining with confidence. He was actually smiling t her. It was almost magical to see how a baby that wasn’t even his was affecting him so much. Kimber didn’t want to take that away from him. Determination rose through her and she tried to be confident in what she was about to do.

  The cord felt slick under her touch, but she tried not to think about the fact that is was Rion’s blood that made it that way. She pressed the knife against the cord, preparing to make the cut. Trying to cut the cord was nothing as she expected. She thought it would sever in one cut but she ended up cutting it like she would a steak, pulling the knife back and forth in jagged movements. It wasn’t a very sharp knife and it took a few slices, but she finally severed the cord. Jasper made quick work, twisting Carin’s hair tie around the cord, watching it, making sure the bleeding subsided.

  “Everything’s good Rion, he’s perfect.” Eli’s voice had an almost dreamy quality to it, causing the new mom to weakly smile.

  The back seat under Rion’s body was covered in blood, sticking to her bare backside and Kimber’s hands. She tried to pull a blanket over Rion, covering her and trying to keep her warm. Now that the baby was born, her attention turned to the others.

  “What are we going to do about them?”

  Kimber brought everyone’s attention to the hummer. It was parked ten feet away from them. No one had exited the vehicle. Maybe they were waiting for them to make the first move.

  “They can’t be all bad right, they did take out the mob that was about to kill us.” Drew offered a positive statement, but it didn’t make Kimber feel any better. Her brother who had been a leader to them of sorts was consumed by Cash. Eli didn’t even appear to be listening to any of them.

  “We can’t just sit in here. We need to figure out who they are and whether they’re here to help or harm us.”

  “Kimber, you can’t just walk out there and ask them if they mean to mess with our shit,” Drew warned.

  “Actually, I can.” Kimber found the handle on the back door and slid it open. She got out slowly, closing the door behind her. Then she turned towards the hummer and faced them putting her hands in the air. The windows of the hummer were down, but she couldn’t make out the details of their faces, just the outlines. She could see only the outlines, facing her.

  The passenger side front door opened. A guy who looked older than her dress in camouflage climbed down from the lifted vehicle. Kimber didn’t think he was military, the camouflage he wore wasn’t like the standard issue normally seen on soldiers. Not that she saw a lot of soldiers, but she knew what Army camo looked like. His was more like hunters camo, made to look like the forest, to hid him from the eye of animals scanning for danger. Without saying a word to her, he turned his back to her and put a hand up. He was helping someone out of the seat beside him. When the girl climbed down from the Army issued vehicle, Kimber didn’t recognize her at first. It wasn’t until her feet were on the ground and she turned toward her that Kimber knew who had come to their aide.

  “Sada!” Her voice didn’t sound like her own, it cracked with exhausted but was filled with joy when she saw her friend.

  Chapter Two

  Sada couldn’t explain how good it felt to be wrapped up in a hug by a close friend. In the past day, she had lost the three people she was closest to in her entire life, and the comfort that came from Kimber’s embrace was priceless. A sob made its way up her throat, but she choked it back down. Even though she was happy at the sight of her friend, she didn’t want to cry. Not again, not now, when this reunion was the best thing to happen to her in the last twenty-four or so hours.

  “I’m so glad to see you.” Her face was nuzzled in her friend’s hair, muffling her voice. Kimber squeezed her tighter, letting her know that her sentiments hadn’t fallen on deaf ears. Two days had passed since the last time they had seen each other, but it seemed like decades had passed instead of mere days.

  “How did you guys end up here?” Kimber asked.

  “Nolan left me a voicemail.” Sada’s voice cracked with emotion. She pulled away from her friend. Ignoring the people who were getting out of the hummer behind her, she focused on Drew. Kimber’s girlfriend had gotten out of the van and came up to taken her lover’s hand.

  “Where is he? Is he still with you?” Guilt pulsed through Sada as she asked about Nolan and Johnny stood just behind her. She couldn’t think about that now. Taking comfort in Johnny was harmless, and she hadn’t done anything wrong, but the thought didn’t make her feel any better.

  “No, he’s not.”

  With the door to the van open, Sada could hear a tiny voice crying. Her head shook. Clearly, she was hearing things. She tried to come to her senses.

  “Is that a baby?” Johnny asked, still standing close behind her. She refused to look at him now.

  “Yeah, it is. Crazy huh? Rion just had him. Kimber delivered him.” Drew smiled with pride, placing her arm on her girlfriend’s shoulders. Kimber was shorter than Drew and made the perfect armrest. The last time she saw the two of them, they were fighting at a party. Between now and then the two must have made up. Facing almost certain death had a way of making you remember the important things and people in your life.

  “You delivered a baby? Is that why you weren’t fighting off the zombies?”

  Kimber looked at Johnny, then looked down at her feet. Sada thought she looked almost embarrassed that Drew had made such a big deal about it. She knew Kimber wasn’t one for being quiet about her accomplishments. Registering that this was out of character, Sada steered the conversation in a different direction, trying to make her friend feel less uncomfortable.

  “What happened to Nolan? I need to know.”

  She tried to meet Kimber’s eyes then Drew’s, but neither one would look at her. Sada knew they didn’t want to hurt her, but she needed to know the truth. If Nolan wasn’t with them, she feared the worst had happened. After her mother and father, Sada didn’t know if she could handle losing anyone else.

  “He’s gone.” Drew’s voice was quiet and she looked at the ground as if it was suddenly very important and needed all of her attention.

  “How?” Tears skidded down her cheeks uncontrollably. She had tried so hard to keep from crying after she heard his voicemail. Nolan had told her that he was infected, but no one knew how long it took for the sickness to kill you. A small part of her knew there was a chance he wouldn’t be with Kimber’s group, but she had hoped that he would be. All she wanted was to be able to at least say goodbye to him before he was taken from her too.

  “He was infected trying to save Rion’s little sister when we were at the hospital.” Kimber put her arm around Drew’s waist as she spoke. “Eli was trapped with them and Rion. He helped her and Nolan helped Emmy… her name was Emmy.”

  “Was? Did she get infected too?” Sada was trying to piece together what happened, but Drew was being vague, seemingly on purpose. When Drew didn’t continue to explain, Sada rolled her eyes, annoyed and eyed Kimber until she gave in.

  “Nolan turned when we were out at Drew’s cabin, you know the one we use to drink at all the time? We went there after the hospital. None of us knew he was infected until after he called you. Then we were talking to Tripp and Nolan came back and he killed Emmy.”

  Sada’s heart sunk into her stomach. Her knees felt like they could give way at any second. Her hand instinctively went back to Johnny. She pushed herself into his arms, catching him off guard. Drew and Kimber looked at one another, confused by the bond Sada had to this person they didn’t know. Wails left Sada as she finally let herself feel the emptiness that came with her great losses. This was her body and mind breaking down, unable to handle losing everyone she loved in one great cosmic joke.

  “Nolan wouldn’t have ever hurt a little girl!” Her voice was loud and laden with outrage. “There isn’t any way he knew what he was doing.”<
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  “Of course he didn’t,” Drew said, stepping forward and putting a hand on her friend’s back. “Once the infection takes over, they are nothing but monsters. They have no sense of reality at all.”

  Sada cried harder, creating a damp spot on Johnny’s chest. The thought of Nolan becoming one of them, the man she loved lost and turned into an abomination. Drew had said it best, he had turned into a monster. Sada had seen those things, zombies, as Levi called them. They tore people apart while they were still breathing, causing them to scream in pain. When they were trapped in the classroom at East High she watched Laura rip apart her own husband with her teeth, savoring the bloody flesh. If a wife could kill her husband without a second thought and turn him into a meal, Nolan could have done something out of character, like hurting a little girl.

  “I hate to break this up, but we need to find some cover. Who knows how long it will be before more infected come this way.” Frankie’s voice cut through the group, reminding them all that there wasn’t any time for sadness. If they were to continue to survive, none of them could spare the time to process emotions or spend time worrying about events that had already happen. They needed to move forward, together, with the common goal of staying alive.

  “Where are you thinking?” Palen asked, ignoring the new members of the group. He was still taking on a leadership role, shared with Frankie.

  “Is the store safe?” Frankie asked Kimber and Drew.

  “It wasn’t, that’s why we were leaving. They broke the front doors and we weren’t sure we could keep them out.” Drew said, wanting to be helpful. She didn’t want to give them a reason to leave her group behind, though she wasn’t sure Sada would let them.

  “If we can fix it so it’s safe for the night, we could load up supplies and plan where to go.” Frankie was turned to Palen when he spoke, and the gesture of excluding Drew and the other members of her group wasn’t lost on her. Who did these people think they were, coming in and taking over.