The Living Dead Boy (The Living Dead Boy #1)(10)

“It doesn’t feel real,” Corina said, pulling his focus back to her. “None of this. Even them.” She jerked her chin toward the shambling corpses stuck behind the barbed wire fence. “It’s like a really bad dream that I can’t wake up from.”

“I feel that way, too.”

“But you always believed in zombies. I thought maybe it was easier for you.”

Josh shook his head. “I believed that zombies could be real because of the articles I read on the Zombie Tracker forum. There was a lady on there who said she was a scientist and that she knew about research that could end up making zombies. I didn’t want it to happen, but I was afraid it would. I just thought that my family and friends would be together. That we’d all survive.”

“It happened so fast. The world just changed.” Corina rested her head on Josh’s shoulder. “I wonder if it will ever go back to normal.”

Frozen in place, Josh wasn’t certain what to do. Should he try to hold her hand again? Or put his arm around her? Or was he supposed to just sit still? He caught movement out of the corner of his eyes, and saw his dad looking at him. With a slight smile, Jamie motioned for Josh to just relax.

Exhaling slowly through his lips, Josh tried to do just that, but it wasn’t easy. He wanted to comfort Corina, but not make a fool out of himself at the same time.

Growing up was rough.

Savannah scooted past Josh’s side, and perched at the edge of Troy’s seat. Leaning toward Jamie, she whispered, “I got Zoey calmed down, but she’s not in a good headspace. Is there a chance we could maybe get her some medication from the medics?”

“They said there’s going to be doctors at the FEMA camp,” Jamie answered. “I don’t know if they have anything right now. I’ll ask.”

“Why was she so crazy?” Troy blurted out. “Trying to get off the bus with zombies all around.”

“She’s scared, and not thinking straight. She thought if she got off the bus, she could just run away from the zombies,” Savannah answered.

“How does that make sense?” Sam’s pudgy fingers gripped the back of Jamie’s seat and the boy leaned forward to be part of the conversation. Yessica was asleep under their seat, and Josh noticed Sam was careful not to step on her fingers. “That’s crazy.”

“I knew this guy in high school who used to run toward things that scared him,” Jamie said. “We went to the haunted house one year and he was so scared of the monsters, he’d run at them and hit them. We got thrown out. We were so mad at him.”

“That’s a good way to get killed.” Troy shook his head with disapproval.

“Why was he so dumb?” Sam asked.

“It’s a fear response. We have three: fight, flight, or freeze. Fight is what my friend would do when he was scared. He’d instinctively charge toward things that scared him to fight it. He once kicked his television over when watching a horror movie. His dad was not happy. Flight is when you run away.”

“I have that,” Sam said.

“Me too,” Troy agreed.

“What’s freeze?” Corina asked.

“It’s when people can’t move. They’re so scared it’s like they’re frozen in place,” Jamie replied.

“That’ll get you killed,” Josh said somberly.

“Yes and no, son. It depends if you’re freezing in a safe spot or not. Not being seen by the enemy is as good as running away if it keeps you safe. You boys say you have the flight response, but so does Zoey. She saw all those zombies, so her instinct was to run away.”

Troy gave Jamie a doubtful look. “But she almost ran into them.”

“That’s because she wasn’t thinking clearly,” Savannah replied. “She panicked.”

“That will get you killed, too,” Sam said with authority.

“You boys did a lot of training for the zombie apocalypse. You taught yourselves to think before acting. That’s why you survived when others died,” Jamie pointed out.

“Not me. I wasn’t allowed into the club until yesterday,” Sam said, pouting.

“You saved Yessica, so you’re a full member,” Troy said with a nod.

“You’re a very brave boy,” Savannah agreed.

Sam puffed up under the compliments. “My dad’s a sheriff. I take after him.”

“Josh helped us survive,” Corina said. “He helped us know what to do.”

Blushing, Josh ducked his head.

Jamie gently patted Josh’s arm. “You’re good at thinking on the spot, so you got an advantage over a lot of people.”

“I learned it from you, Dad.”

“Why aren’t you shooting the zombies?” Sam asked, pointing to Jamie’s gun.

“I have it on good authority that those zombies will run into a world a hurt when we reach the highway. I’d rather save my ammo. Just in case.”

The words were heavy in the air. They all understood what “just in case” meant.

Josh shivered.

“I hope we never get to ‘just in case,’ because that would suck,” Troy said.

Everyone remained quiet, and Josh suspected that they, too, like him, were imagining the worst scenarios.