Donna of the Dead by Alison Kemper

Author:Alison Kemper
Language: ara
Format: epub
Tags: zombie, high school, love triangle, florida, young adult, romance, apocalypse
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (Ember)
Published: 2014-02-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

When I wake up, Deke’s not on the floor beside me. Did he pull all-night guard duty? I hope not—we’ll need to stay sharp at the fountain. Won’t do us any good to have Mr. Zombie Slayer along if he’s dead tired.

Oops. I need to stop using the word “dead.”

I pull my phone from my pocket to check voice mail—in case I missed a call from Dad and Muriel. Or Liam.

“You have zero new messages and one saved message,” says the robot-female answering service.

In a weird way, it’s comforting to hear her familiar voice—reassuring that somewhere out there, cell systems are still up and running. I almost hit end, then change my mind. I’ve just remembered who left the saved message.

“First saved message, Monday, November twenty-second, two-fifteen PM.”

Monday. The last day I heard from Phoebe.

“Don-na, come back… I’m so lonely without you,” Phoebe’s voice fake-whines through the speaker. She laughs and I find myself laughing along with her.

“Dude. You won’t be-lieve this, but Mrs. Mosely is out sick today—well, actually, a bunch of teachers are out sick, and they couldn’t find enough subs, so Annunziato took over trig class. Oh. My. Freaking. God. Can you grasp the horror of this situation? Me, sitting in math hell with Annunziato, while you’re off sunning yourself in the Caribbean?”

She laughs again, the sound tinkling through the line like running water. “Tell Deke he’s lucky I’m not there—I’d totally push him overboard. Just kidding! Maybe.” Her giggles dissolve. “Seriously, I hope you guys are all having an awesome time on your cruise. Say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone for me. Love you! Miss you! Call me! Bye!”

“End of message,” says the robot-woman, “To repeat this message, press pound.”

I press the pound key seven more times.

Right now, I miss Phoebe so much, it’s almost a physical ache. I want to tell her about snuggling with Liam on the roof. And how weird Deke was afterward. And about how we tossed the vice principal off the roof.

I smile in the semi-darkness. Phoebe would like that last story. It was the kind of thing we’d joked about ever since we’d had our first run-in with the administrator.

Of course, in real life, the whole event had been rather chilling. Too real and too damn scary. My smile evaporates. Maybe we weren’t the ones to end Mrs. Annunziato’s life, but I still wouldn’t wish this change on her or anyone else in the world.

I find myself thinking about the attack again, and the way I totally froze when Mrs. Annunziato hurled herself into the newspaper room. What if the same thing happens today? Should I really be tagging along on this adventure? What if it costs me my life?

Last night, when the trip was still hours away, it was easy to say I’d go. Now, in the light of morning, all my fears have returned, crushing me under a weight of uncertainty. Should I bail? Stay inside, like I promised my dad? Deke would be pissed, but he’d still bring me back some water.

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