Kellie's Diary (Book 4) Read online

  Then I got really pissed– one of them came off the train and was pulling Lydia by her hair! I wanted to scream, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn't know what to do!

  Then someone found us. I don't know how, but all three of us got picked up and dragged around to the side of the train with everyone else. They searched us and took all our weapons!

  I heard some of them talking about how much stuff we had in there... all the weapons, food, water and supplies we've been collecting. They're nothing but crooks, trying to steal our stuff!

  They made us get on our knees and put our hands on our heads. They took all our weapons and bags from us. Sarah yelled at them to tell us what they were doing, but they didn't answer her, they just kept talking to each other quietly. I wasn't able to figure out what they were talking about.

  Then one of them came up to Lydia and tried talking to her, but she didn't say anything, she just looked at me and Sarah... I've never seen Lydia so scared in my life. He grabbed her hair, then... started touching her face, telling her how pretty she was. I couldn't help it, I started thinking about him. It's like it was happening all over again. I felt sick, I didn't know if I was going to scream or puke.

  I guess Sarah snapped, because she yelled at them to leave Lydia alone. Then they...

  They took one of their guns... and smashed her in the back of her head. She fell down, they hit her again and she started bleeding all over the ground. She didn't move, and I didn't see her breathing. Oh, god, what am I going to do!? Damn it! I don't believe this!

  Then a bunch of the others started yelling at the one who hit her. A few of them shot their guns into the air and yelled at us to shut up.

  It was quiet for a minute, then there was another gunshot and one of them fell down. I didn't know where it came from until I heard two more shots and saw Dan fighting one of them! Then the bigger guys in our group started fighting back!

  The one watching me pulled me up to my feet, but then fell down dead when someone else shot him. When I looked back at him, he had a hole in his head, and I saw that he dropped my gun so I took it back.

  It felt like they were going back and forth for a long time. There were so many that it got hard to run around everyone. It was hard to keep from getting upset– so many people were getting killed because of these guys!

  When I found Lydia, she was crunched into a ball on the ground, so I grabbed her and tried to get back to the train. I had to make sure she was safe. She started asking about Sarah, but I just kept her going toward the train.

  Then I heard someone yell "Horde!" We saw zombies pouring in, so everyone freaked out. A lot of shots were fired, but it looked like there were too many zombies. We were almost to the train, and I just stood there staring. I thought about what happened in school all those years ago, and it was pretty much the same thing. Everyone got overwhelmed and the zombies were tearing up everything and everybody in sight. It was a weird feeling thinking about that, it was like I'd gone back in time.

  A zombie got too close and Lydia screamed, so I shot at it. We kept working our way back onto the train, and Lydia and I made it back here in the room. I found some extra bullets in the stash, and I told Lydia to stay in here until I told her it was safe and to lock the door.

  I got to the doors of the train car and a couple zombies were trying to climb on! I shot them down... then I saw what was left of everyone outside. There were bodies and blood everywhere. There were still a lot of zombies outside, but some of our people were coming back to the train, fighting off the zombies. I was able to see Dan, Jonathan and Pastor Paul coming back on the train, then I heard Mark yelling to get the train going. I went back to Lydia and closed the door behind me.

  It was a few minutes before the train got started, but Lydia and I sat quietly until then, and we kept hearing guns and yelling outside.

  I can't believe Sarah's dead... I need to lie down, I feel sick.

  Chapter 9– April 15, 1999

  I slept for maybe 2 hours. No idea what time it could be, but the sun will probably be going down in a little while. I keep seeing Sarah getting bashed in the head over and over in my mind, and I felt like I was close to crying all night. I still see it now.

  Lydia's been really upset. I found out that when one of those men dragged her off the train, she was holding on to Mr. Floppy, and when we were running back to the train she dropped him.

  If it were any other day, I'd be pissed... but I can't even get myself to be angry. I actually feel too depressed to care. Mr. Floppy has been with us for so long, so we lost two family members today. She fell asleep a while ago, so I'm leaving her alone for now.

  As much as Sarah was pissing me off lately, I didn't want her to die. Yeah, it's how things are now, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Sarah has been such a good friend to me, and she's been really important to Lydia. I always figured she'd die fighting off a horde, not by some asshole with a big gun killing her in cold blood.

  A lot of the others either got shot or got bit in the attack. There's probably close to a dozen people in the medical car getting treated for bullet holes, and the others that couldn't be counted were assumed dead. Amy was hit by a stray bullet when running away... she'll be okay, but she got hit in the hand, so she'll probably have some problems gardening for a while.

  There's maybe only half of us left now.

  Just to top it off, the train's been moving WAY too slow today. Usually I'm able to relax listening to the train parts moving, but the slowness made me really uncomfortable. I went to see Jack a little while ago about it, and I wasn't the only one asking. There were 3 other people talking to him in the engine room, and he said that he and Henry were working on figuring out the problem... something about the engine, and fuel, or something like that.

  After the others left, Jack asked me to hang out with him for a while. I've never seen Jack so miserable before. I knew it was because of Sarah. He said that when she got slammed with the gun, he was hoping she was only knocked out. But after he saw the blood, and after the horde outbreak, he knew the worst had happened, and he said he just accepted the fact that she was gone. I don't think he has though– his eyes were red and glassy, like he wanted to cry but was hiding it.

  I can't imagine what Jack's thinking. He said he's been friends with Sarah since the beginning of the zombies, and that he loved her. Honestly, I knew that a long time ago. The way he always looked at her, he helped her all the time, took her side if there was an argument... it was obvious he liked her. He said he never told her how he felt, because he was afraid they'd never stand a chance of having any kind of life together. Now he wished he did tell her, and even if she had said "no," it would have been better than her being killed.

  I'm starting to wonder if I should tell Jonathan how I feel. It's scary to get close to someone, because any of us can be taken at any time. We have no way of knowing when it'll be our turn to return to God, so I think we need to be as honest with each other as possible, even if it's not something we want to hear.

  He may not feel the same about me, but he needs to know that I care about him. He lost Sarah too, they were good friends. He needs to know he's not alone.

  I'm going to go talk to him. Wish me luck.

  Barb, we can't find Jonathan anywhere! Jack came in here and asked where he was, which is odd because he's usually in his room. He wasn't there, so I went to help look for him. He's not anywhere on the train! We knocked on everyone's car, checked the storage cars, the medical car, the food and water storage, even the church car!

  I swear I saw him getting on the train during the outbreak! He went in right after Dan! Am I going crazy? How can he NOT be on the train? He wouldn't have jumped back off, there were way too many zombies out there, and he's not stupid enough to try something like that. God, haven't we lost enough people?!

  I mean, there is a chance he's alive, but it's a pretty small chance. Jonathan is a fast runner, so maybe he was able to get away. That means that we left him behind...


  Well, if he survives, maybe he can follow the tracks to Los Angeles. I'll talk to Mark about it. He won't stop the train in the middle of travel or put it in reverse, but maybe I can convince him to stay an extra day or two, just in case Jonathan shows up.

  I guess Jack isn't the only one that lost someone really important.

  Lydia is still sleeping somehow, but she doesn't look very comfortable. I don't blame her... Mr. Floppy has been hanging out with her for so long that they were never very far apart from each other. Even though Mr. Floppy's been my friend since I was 4, Lydia seems to need him more than I ever have.

  I don't know how much longer I'll be able to deal with this. I'm tired of losing people I care about.

  What the hell? The train stopped for some reason. I didn't think we were going to stop yet.

  Pastor Paul wants to talk to me, be right back.

  Chapter 10– April 15, 1999

  The pastor is a freak! He and his friends have been keeping zombies hidden in the church train car!

  I went to talk to him, and a bunch of the others were gathered around him. He started talking about how we lost a lot of people in the attack, and how they've finally joined the new world. Paul said it was close to the time that we'd be joining with God again. He used to say that as more people joined the ranks of the dead, we get closer to learning God's plan.

  At the time it made sense. Since there are less of us now, God has to worry about less people. The dead will just wander around until it's their time for redemption.

  Paul started saying the Lord's Prayer, so the rest of us did too.

  Then for some reason I heard zombies growling. When I opened my eyes, I saw Rob and Tim holding onto a zombie! I freaked out and aimed my gun at it, but before I could shoot, Paul walked in front of me telling me not to shoot!

  I said we needed to get rid of it so it doesn't hurt anybody on the train! Paul said that he wasn't going to hurt anyone, that he was going to make sure we all become God's chosen people.

  I was confused. I thought that since we were alive, we were the ones that God was testing. He said that I didn't understand, and he had Ron open the door to the next part of the church car. He told me to go look inside, and I wanted to throw up. There were probably a dozen people inside, and they'd all been bit! They were all lying down and it looked like they were about to die! Some of them were ones that I thought were missing, and some were from the gang! Thank God Jonathan wasn't in there, but it was still sick!

  I started yelling at Paul and asking why they were in here when they're about to turn, and he said they would be set free once they crossed over. Like, he was going to set them free on the train!

  It just got too weird for me, so I told Paul that I needed to go check on Lydia. The train still wasn't moving yet, so that was worrying me– Mark doesn't like stopping if we don't have a reason to.

  I got back to our car and locked our door, and Lydia was awake and sitting at the edge of our bed. I told her that we need to be careful around Paul, Rob and Tim because it looked like they were going crazy. She didn't even look at me, but she nodded a little. That's good enough for me, at least I feel like she listened. The problem is I'm not sure she's going to keep listening to me.

  My stomach's turning. I don't know how to feel about all this. These were people that I trusted, and I thought they would be able to give us some kind of peace during all this craziness. But it looks like they're just adding to the crazy. I mean, I found God again because of them! I'm able to move on with life! Why does there always have to be a catch?!

  I need to tell Mark and Dan what's going on, maybe they can do something about it.

  No way, Barb! Paul won't listen to me! Yeah, I know Dan's tough, that's nothing new, but he knows how to get things done, and he doesn't screw around. If Mark can see what Paul and his guys are really doing, maybe they can talk to him. Or throw him off the train, whatever needs to happen.

  Don't even go there– remember Oscar? He got kicked out for being less of a nutcase than Paul is. Mark will totally do it if he needs to.

  What the hell is wrong with Paul? It's like everything I believe is, I don't know, being tested? You think God is testing my faith?

  Somehow I don't think God would be too happy with Paul right now– God's supposed to be about love, or at least I thought so. It's not about helping people die. I seriously don't believe th

  Chapter 11– April 15, 1999

  We jumped off the train. We didn't have a choice. Paul was trying to kill us! And tried to kill everyone on the train! He might have already!

  We're safe for now. I found an empty bar, so we'll be able to stay here for at least a little while. My right ankle is killing me though. It's puffing up and throbbing.

  When I was talking to you earlier, someone knocked on our door. Lydia ran up and got it first, but she went outside the room. I heard a man's voice, so I got up to check who it was. I looked, and Paul was bringing Lydia around the outside of the train cars! I called for her, but she wasn't answering me, so I yelled at Paul to tell me what he was doing. He ignored me, and we ended up back at his train car.

  I was right behind Paul as he brought in Lydia, and then when I was about to run in after him, Tim came out and grabbed me! He pulled me inside with them and locked the door! I freaked out, Barb. I tried to reach for my gun, but when we got inside, there was the entire church group in there. There was no way I'd be able to get out without me or Lydia getting hurt.

  Paul was still holding on to Lydia, and then he started making this speech. I don't remember his exact words, but he was talking about our day of salvation, that now was the time that God's plan would be brought to life, some bull like that. I was pissed, so I asked what he wanted with Lydia. He said that since I didn't help them, she would be used to 'bring the plan to action.' He said that she was going to bring the dead to the others on the train.

  One of the older ladies opened the back door, and Rob went inside and brought a zombie out! I saw its face, and I almost passed out... it was Amy. I didn't get it, she was only shot in the hand, that wouldn't make her turn into a zombie! She leaned over and snapped at Rob, then I saw a chunk of her arm was bitten off. Rob got a grip on Amy's other arm and the back of her neck so she wouldn't get away. Lydia saw her and started screaming, but Paul covered her mouth.

  I started yelling at them more, I needed to know why they'd hurt her like that! Amy didn't do anything wrong to deserve being turned! Paul said that her time had come and that she and Lydia will be the ones to bring the new world to the community.

  Then the train car shook, and we all lost our balance. After a few seconds, I felt the train start moving again. That's probably the only good thing that happened in those few minutes.

  Rob brought Amy closer to Lydia, and Lydia tried pulling away from Paul, and she kept trying to get away from him. I tried to run over to her, but Tim grabbed my hair to keep me still. He pulled really freaking hard, too. My head still kind of hurts from it.

  Paul started talking to Lydia, telling her not to be afraid. She kept struggling, and then Paul hit her across her face, demanding that she not defy the word of God.

  I couldn't take it anymore. Tim was still holding one of my arms and part of my hair, but I was able to reach my gun. I think that was the fastest I've ever moved, because I shot Paul in... maybe a second. I hit him right in the middle of his chest, and he fell over backward. I didn't even think about it, I just knew I had to stop him from hurting Lydia. Tim pulled me back again, but I turned around and shot him in the leg. He let me go but sort of pushed me forward at the same time.

  I don't know everything else that happened, it was kind of a blur, and it felt like it was all over in a few seconds. I remember falling forward, I got over to Lydia, and she was crying and scared. Rob screamed, and Amy was biting into him! The others in the room went for their weapons. The back door had opened again, I don't know how, but zombies were starting to walk out from there! So I grabbed Lydia's hand, we started ru
nning through everyone and got through the door to the next car. I don't know how we got through, but there was a ton of people we were fighting through. It sounded like some of them were already getting bit by the time we made it out.

  I closed the door behind me, and we were in one of the storage cars. The car was empty, so I pulled one of the smaller boxes in front of the connecting door. I wasn't sure how long it would hold them, but I was trying to buy some time so I could find Mark or Dan.

  We ran through all the train cars until we got to ours. We didn't find Dan or Mark anywhere, and everyone we ran intohadn't seen them. I told Lydia to grab her bag– she looked at me like she was confused. Then I remembered she's not used to dealing with danger or zombies, so she doesn't know that she has to grab what she needs to be ready to run. I told her we weren't going far, just maybe finding somewhere else to hide on the train until we could find Mark.

  I got all my stuff, put on my sweater and we went outside the train car. The train was moving again, so the wind hit us pretty hard. and we had a hard time getting around. We couldn't go far because not all the cars had the outside walkways. It was getting darker, so it made it harder to see.

  Then we heard screaming inside. Then growling. The zombies had gotten out of that room! We went back to one of the last cars where there was a door around the side. We got in, but saw that a few of the zombies had gotten inside already! I pulled Lydia through the middle of the train cars toward the back of the train. I was really hoping Mark or Dan would be there somewhere.

  Nobody was in there. That meant they were somewhere up at the front of the train... which meant that they probably already knew that zombies were on the train. God, I hope they made it out alive.

  As we started coming back through the train, one zombie was on the other side of the door. I didn't think, I just pushed Lydia behind me and pulled the trigger. It fell down and started twitching. When I looked, I had shot it in the neck, but... it was Amy. I started feeling sick, and Lydia cried a little. Amy was still awake and trying to get up, so I had to finish her off. I shot one more time in the side of her head, and I dragged Lydia past her.