Day Zero (The Zero Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  “I’m leaving, Tomas,” Elle spat. “Get out of my way.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.” Tomas’s expression became feral. “You’ll pay for this.”

  “Don’t think so,” Elle heaved, still wracked with pain.

  She pulled her handgun out of her belt and pointed it at his face. She took a step backward.

  “You won’t shoot me,” Tomas laughed, taking a step forward. “You never had it in you to kill. That’s why you failed in the Pits, girl. It takes a killer to be a prize fighter.”

  “I’ve killed Klan members before,” Elle replied, standing her ground. “And I’ll kill you, too.”

  Her hands shook as she held the gun. She willed herself to remain steady, to make sure the safety was off. She had to do this; she had to kill Tomas. He deserved nothing less than death for everything that he had done.

  Crack!

  Tomas’s head jerked violently forward. Blood sprayed across Elle’s face. She stood there, shocked, her finger still on the trigger. She hadn’t fired a shot. What had happened?

  “Elle!” Jaybounded out of the shadows, Flash in tow. He ran to her, shook her shoulders. He shoved a handgun into his belt. “Are you okay?”

  “You shot him,” she said, numb.

  “Yes. Come on, we’ve to go. Now!”

  He took Elle’s arm and dragged her away from Tomas’s lifeless body. After a few seconds, Elle regained control of her emotions and yanked her arm out of Jay’s grip.

  “Where did you get a gun?” she snapped.

  “I’ve had one the whole time,” Jay grinned.

  “You’re an idiot.” She shot him a sideways glance. “Thanks.”

  Jay laughed. Elle didn’t know how to respond.

  It had been ages since she’d heard laughter.

  So she tucked her head, holstered her gun, and the three of them followed the flood of escapees into the night, disappearing into the darkness of Klan territory.

  Chapter Eight

  Elle wasn’t born into killing, she was thrown into it. She had been the daughter of an actress and a man who owned an organic health store. Her fifteen year-old brother had been a violinist. And Elle? She was a gymnastics competitor and a martial arts enthusiast. She didn’t start off as a survivor…but maybe, in some strange way, she had been preparing for life after Day Zero since she was born.

  Martial arts, gymnastics, survival skills. These are things that had saved her life in the city. Things that a lot of people didn’t know or couldn’t pull off.

  She was lucky, and she knew it.

  Elle, Jay and Flash ran through the night. They had become separated from Georgia and Pix when the Pits had erupted into total chaos. The flames from the explosive diesel tanks had spread to the trees and the grass. It was eating away at the park, and the Klan was scrambling to contain the blaze.

  Elle felt a rush of satisfaction.

  Good, she thought. I hope the Pits are completely destroyed.

  The prisoners that escaped from the cages were dispersing throughout the city. Some of them were recaptured by the Klan – but most of them got away. As they got farther away from the Pits, they slowed their pace. Elle’s muscles were burning, her throat was dry, and she was still shaken from facing down Tomas.

  “That man,” Jay panted. “You knew him. You were a prisoner in the Pits.”

  Elle said nothing. She didn’t need to.

  “Why didn’t you just kill him?” he asked.

  Elle grabbed Flash’s shoulder and pulled the younger child away from the corner of a building. She made sure it was clear, and they continued.

  “I don’t know,” Elle replied.

  “But you told Tomas that you had killed Klan members.”

  Elle picked up the pace again. “Klan members don’t count as humans. They’re just shadows of who they used to be. So it can’t be murder.”

  Jay didn’t reply.

  “You don’t have to be defensive,” he said at last. “Nobody is judging you for killing in self defense…except for you.”

  Elle blinked back tears. All her life, she had been the quiet child, the demure one. And now she was a hardened survivor, a girl who killed Klan members when she had to. She hated killing. Despised it.

  But in this world, her options were slim.

  Option A: Be killed.

  Option B: Kill.

  As soon as they were a couple of miles away from the Pits, they slowed their jog to a fast walk. There had been no sign of Georgia and Pix yet, and Flash was panicking. Elle told him to relax. They were going to be at the bakery – that was the plan, and Elle had seen Georgia and Pix escape during the chaos. They would be there.

  It would be okay.

  “So what were you?” Jay asked, adjusting his jacket.

  “What was I?” Elle asked.

  “Before everything happened. What were you?”

  “I was just like everybody else,” she said. “I was just a kid.”

  “But where are you from? Did you live in L.A. before…well, everything?”

  “Beverly Hills,” Elle answered. “I was a freshman. Would have been a sophomore this year.” She sighed. “Too bad. I had plans.”

  Jay grunted. “Tell me about it,” he murmured.

  Elle saw Georgia out of the corner of her eye. Her long, thin frame was pressed against the brick siding of a building. Pix was clinging to her arm. They both looked terrified.

  “Georgia,” Elle stated, nodding in her direction.

  Flash surged forward, toward his sister. They embraced.

  “You made it,” Pix said.

  Georgia hugged Jay. He squeezed her back, and Elle wondered what it would be like to be hugged like that.

  “Elle,” Georgia panted, “I’m sorry. I lost you in the rush, but I had to get Pix out of there.”

  Elle shrugged it off. She felt awkward, watching everyone else embrace.

  “Let’s get back to the bakery,” Elle said. “The Klan will be looking for us. Especially me.”

  “Elle,” Pix whispered, tugging on her sleeve. “Thank you for coming for me.”

  Elle cleared her throat. She wasn’t used to gratitude.

  “Come on, let’s move,” she mumbled.

  They followed her through the darkness. They didn’t speak until sunrise, when they reached the bakery. They pushed inside, exhausted. Elle collapsed on the floor, her back against the counter.

  “I thought we’d never make it,” Georgia sighed, lying flat on her back. “God, what we just did was insane.”

  “You should get out of the city,” Elle advised. “The Klan will look for you. And once they start hunting someone, they don’t stop. Ever.”

  “You would know, wouldn’t you?” Jay replied. “They’ve been hunting you for a long time, haven’t they? You were a fighter in the Pits. That’s why you know so much about the Klan, and that’s how you knew where to find Pix.”

  Elle slid her backpack off her shoulders. She was dead tired.

  “Yeah,” she admitted. “I was a prisoner in the Pits.”

  “And you escaped.”

  The ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of Elle’s mouth.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “How did you do it?”

  Elle drew a circle in the dust on the floor.

  “I just waited for the right moment,” she answered. “The Klan is dangerous, but not all of them are smart. In fact, a lot of them are pretty stupid.” She pulled the sleeve of her jacket down. Her shoulder was black and blue, bruised. “Ouch.”

  “Tomas did that to you,” Jay stated. “That looks painful.”

  “It’s not bad.”

  “How long were you in the Pits?”

  Elle shook her head.

  “I don’t know. Two months, maybe?” She shrugged. “It wasn’t that long after Day Zero. I came to the city, hoping to find my family. I got caught by the Klan instead. I’ve been here ever since.”

  “If the Klan is hunting you,” Flash said c
arefully, “why don’t you leave the city?”

  “Because I don’t know what’s out there,” Elle replied.

  Jay and Georgia shared a secretive glance.

  “What?” Elle demanded.

  “In the bunker,” Jay answered, his tone even, “we had a radio. A ham radio. We had contact with some people before we left.”

  “You had radio contact with other survivors?” Elle asked, bewildered.

  “Yes. And militia groups. That’s how we kept track of what was happening in the outside world,” Georgia said. “The only reason we left the bunker was because we ran out of food and water.”

  “Elle, you should leave the city,” Jay interjected. “Staying here is suicide.”

  “Leaving is suicide. Omega is almost everywhere,” Elle pointed out.

  “Sacramento is safe,” Pix said. She straightened her spine. “We heard it on the radio. That’s where we’re going. We’re trying to get there.”

  “Sacramento is a long way from here, sunshine,” Elle deadpanned.

  “It’s a National Guard stronghold,” Jay replied. “And the California militias are cleaning up the Central Valley. Omega isn’t everywhere, Elle. We came to Hollywood because we thought we might be able to scavenge for some supplies, but we’re not staying. We’re heading out. To safety.”

  Elle looked at the four of them. They were really into this idea.

  “How do you know this isn’t some kind of a trap to lure survivors into Sacramento?” Elle asked, raising her eyebrows. “At the beginning, right after Day Zero, Omega set up emergency relief camps. It was a big trap. They brought people in just so they could kill them.”

  She knew because Uncle had told her. Uncle had seen it.

  “This isn’t Omega,” Georgia answered, firm. “This is safe.”

  “Nothing is safe.”

  “Well, it’s either Sacramento or this,” Jay retorted. He took the handgun from his belt and held it in front of Elle’s face. “Is this fun, Elle? Do you like having to shoot people?”

  His voice was harsh, and Elle recoiled.

  “You don’t know what it’s like to survive out here,” she snapped. “It’s getting worse every day.”

  “So take a chance and come with us to Sacramento,” Georgia said. “You’re smart and you know more about survival than any of us. We could all help each other – and you wouldn’t be alone anymore. We’d be a big, happy family.” Georgia winked. “You know you want to, shortstack.”

  Elle hesitated. The idea was appealing. Being alone was the smart thing…but being with people, with friends…that would be nice. Very nice.

  “Leaving means admitting that my mother is dead,” Elle said.

  Jay said nothing for a long time before reaching over and touching Elle’s hand. She stiffened at the warmth of his fingers. He smiled softly.

  “We’re all orphans,” he said. “We all have a common goal. We all need to survive. Juvenile delinquents or not.”

  Elle pushed the hair away from her face.

  The Klan would hunt for her. They would never stop, and eventually, they would find her. And then they would kill her, and that would be the end of everything. Leaving the city was a terrifying prospect, but it also brought about the hope of a safe haven. What if there really was something out there…something safe?

  Something sparked in Elle’s chest.

  Hope.

  “If I come with you,” Elle said, choosing her words with caution, “you have to listen to me. You’re all clumsy and noisy. You’ll get us killed in a couple of days. You have to be willing to take advice.”

  To her surprise, Jay started laughing.

  “I think we figured that out, Elle,”he chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’ll listen to your tips and tricks. They’ve worked so far.”

  Elle was pleased with his answer.

  “Before we go to Sacramento, there’s somewhere we need to go first,” she said. “My Aunt and Uncle, they had a home in the Tehachapi Mountains. I left it to come back to the city to search for my family. If they’re still there, they’ll be able to help us get to Sacramento.”

  “You have living family members?” Flash asked. He tilted his head. “Lucky.”

  Elle wasn’t so sure. She didn’t even know if Aunt and Uncle were still alive.

  “We go there first, and then we go north,” Elle stated. “What do you say?”

  Georgia reached for a cigarette – she seemed to have an endless supply.

  “Sounds good to me,” she said.

  “I’m in,” Jay added.

  Pix and Flash raised their hands.

  Elle nodded. She would go with them to Sacramento, and if they betrayed her, she would leave. It was a simple plan. Either way, she was escaping the Klan. She was escaping the memory of a dead family. She was escaping Day Zero.

  Chapter Nine

  “Do not do this, Elle,” Aunt said.

  Her pretty white hair was mussed. It was the middle of the night, and Elle was standing at the doorway, her backpack over her shoulder. The night was cold and brisk.

  “I have to!” Elle replied. “I can’t just stay here. Maybe she’s still alive.”

  “Your mother is dead,” Aunt answered, her voice firm. Almost cold. “If you go back, all you’ll find is an empty apartment.”

  “I have to try. She would come looking for me if it were the other way around.” Elle shook her head. “Explain it to Uncle. He’ll be mad at first, but he’ll understand.”

  “He’s seen the city. He knows what it’s like.”

  “I know.”

  “The city is death.”

  Elle flinched. Her mother had said that very thing to her not so long ago.

  “I’m sorry,” Elle said, fighting tears. “I have to go.”

  Aunt folded her arms across her chest. She wasn’t going to hug Elle, and she wasn’t going to cry. Aunt was too hardened for that – too much like Elle.

  “I’ll be back,” Elle promised.

  Aunt said nothing. She didn’t believe her.

  “Goodbye,” Elle whispered.

  She stepped over the threshold.

  She left the safety of Aunt and Uncle’s home behind.

  _____________________

  “I had a six-month sentence,” Georgia said.

  It was mid-afternoon, and they were inside Elle’s apartment, gathering every last scrap of food and supplies she had here. It had taken everything in Elle to show them where she lived – show them her dismal stash of supplies. But now that she was leaving…well, she needed all the supplies she could get her hands on.

  They couldn’t go back to the underground basement and scavenge food.

  The Klan had taken it.

  “What did you do?” Elle asked.

  “I sold drugs for my older brother. You know. I was all cute and innocent-looking-” she batted her eyelashes with dramatic flare “- and he’d send me outside to do the exchanges. I got wise, and I started selling my own drugs on the side.”

  “And then you got arrested, which wasn’t so wise,” Elle remarked.

  “Yeah.” A shadow fell across Georgia’s face. “It was a mistake. All of it was.” She sighed. “I grew up in Atlanta. It’s a nice city, you know? A couple years ago my mom moved to California with her new boyfriend, and that’s when things got real bad.”

  Elle opened the cupboards in the kitchen.

  “We all make mistakes,” she said. “Welcome to the human race.”

  “Well…” Georgia gave Elle a sly look, gesturing to Flash and Pix on the other side of the apartment, going through their own packs. “Those two were in juvie for credit card hacking. Like, major hacking.”

  “That explains the nicknames,” Elle commented. “They don’t really seem like the criminal types, though.”

  “They’re not. Their foster parents were using their brilliant little minds to hack bank accounts and everything else.” Georgia smirked. “Ironic thing is, Pix and Flash ended up in the correctional facility,
but the foster parents didn’t get any time. They got off without anything.”

  “That’s stupid.”

  “That’s the justice system, sweet pea. Everything was blamed on the twins.”

  Elle rolled her eyes.

  “Like I said,” she sighed. “Welcome to the human race.”

  She peeked over her shoulder at Jay, who was gathering Elle’s stash of ammunition from the closet. “What’s Jay’s story?” Elle whispered.

  Georgia picked up a can of peaches and studied the label.

  “Wish I knew,” she shrugged. “He won’t tell.”

  “He’s keeping secrets?” Elle zipped her backpack shut, doing a final sweep of the supplies in the kitchen. “How bad do you think he was?”

  “I don’t know.” Georgia threw the peach can into her own pack. “The thing is, most of the kids in juvie weren’t bad, they were just…lost. Like me. We didn’t mean to get off track, we just didn’t have anybody there to tell us we were doing the wrong thing.” An expression of profound sadness spread across her face. “It took the end of the world to change us.”

  Elle bit her lip.

  “The end changed everybody,” she whispered.

  Jay slammed a duffel bag on the counter.

  “That,” he announced, “is a freaking huge bag of ammunition for a girl your size. Where did you get all of this?”

  “I’ve been collecting it,” Elle replied. “We don’t have much food, but we’ll have plenty of ammunition.”

  “For two guns,” Georgia chuckled. “That’s overkill.”

  “If you’ve got something good, don’t waste it,” Elle said. “Ammunition and food are the two most important things we could bring with us. The ammo goes. The blankets stay.”

  “But it’s cold out there, Elle,” Pix complained.

  “Trust me, you’re better off with more bullets than blankets,” Elle assured her. “There are bad people out there – people worse than the Klan. We want to be able to protect ourselves.”

  “What about this bag?” Georgia asked.

  “We’ll divide the ammo up between our packs,” Elle said. “And then the rest of it can stay in the duffel bag. Jay, you can carry it because you’re the strongest.”