CHAPTER 15

A bright white light exploded from behind my eyes, and just before everything went black, I saw the girl on the bench get up and run towards me as I fell seemingly in slow motion to the ground.

The next thing that I became aware of was the pulsating pounding pain in my head. It felt as if my head might explode from it. I groaned and opened my eyes without moving from where I lay on the hard rocky ground. My head was pounding so hard that it was hard to think, and I felt that if I moved, I might actually break as I looked up at the dark-haired man who was leaning over me.

"Kaley, what happened?" he asked with concern darkening his blue eyes.

"Who's Kaley?" I asked before drifting off on a wave of pain.

The next time I awoke, I remembered who I was, and I recognized the dark-haired man who gave me a drink of water, but his name for some reason escaped me. My head was still pounding so hard it felt as if it was pulsating with each wave of pain. I groaned, and he gave me a pain reliever, which helped to dull the throbbing somewhat and settle my queasy stomach.

He kept asking me annoying questions like "what's your name?" and "where are you from?" until I finally just closed my eyes and refused to answer any further. Just as I drifted off to sleep, I heard him mutter something to himself that, for some reason, struck me as extremely funny, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

"Even when you're injured, you still manage to be the most annoying woman alive."

* * *

I opened my eyes and blinked in the dim light from a lantern in the corner of the room. I frowned, trying to remember where I was and what had happened. I was lying on a sleeping bag on the floor of what looked to be a tack room. Nick was sleeping a few feet away, and Moose was lying in the doorway as if guarding the two of us, but I had no idea how I'd gotten here. The last thing that I remembered was being in the garden. So how did I end up here with a bad headache?

I sat up slowly and gingerly touched the back of my head; it felt almost as if a horse had kicked me in the head! But that was impossible because I'd been in the -. That's when it all came rushing back. The sound of crying and then finding the girl who looked like me, and her face! It was all just so strange and confusing. My thinking was just so muddled by the head injury that I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. But I was just so thirsty, and that's when I remembered the old well pump just outside and the icy cold refreshing water.

I was still a little dizzy and made my over to the door. The funny thing was it should have been a straight path to the door, but as it was, I veered drunkenly to the left and instead ran into the side of the door. I staggered a little and grabbed the door frame while trying to keep my balance. Looking down at the floor, I smiled at Moose, who'd woken and was looked at me with his head tilted sideways as if trying to figure out what was wrong with me.

After standing there for a moment or two, I started feeling a little better and tried once more to go outside but again found myself held up, this time because Moose had grabbed hold of my pant leg and stubbornly refused to let go.

"Let go, you silly dog," I said and tried to pull away and gave a little shriek when I lost my balance and fell on the floor, which started my head to pounding even harder.

"What the hell is going on?"

I looked up to see an annoyed Nick standing over the two of us, "I just wanted a drink of water, but Moose wouldn't let me go."

"Let me help you back to bed, and I'll get you a drink of water," he stated, bending down to help me up off the floor.

"I'm perfectly fine and don't need any help," I replied, irritably brushing his hands away and attempting to stand on my own only to stagger sideways and almost fall on the floor.

"No, you're not fine," he said and caught me before I hit the floor. "Either your drunk or you have a concussion, and since you weren't drinking, that leaves concussion."

"Don't forget nauseous," I said and laid my head on his shoulder as he gently set me down on the sleeping bag.

Nick swore under his breath," are you going to throw up?"

"Just let me lay here a bit," I mumbled and closed my eyes, desperately hoping to not humiliate myself further by vomiting in front of him.

"Ok, don't move, and I'll be back in a minute with some water and something for that headache," he ordered.

I drifted off to sleep for a couple of minutes, waking up when he brought me some cold water and a couple of pain relievers. After a bit, I started to feel a little more like my old self when my stomach unexpectedly gave a loud growl, and I realized that I was starting to get hungry.

"I'm starving," I complained.

"All that we have is some jerky and the cookies that Clara (Mrs. Ford) gave us," Nick replied.

"Look in my backpack; I always keep some freeze-dried food in case of emergency. There's even some extra in there for Moose," I said.

"Moose is fine; I gave him our leftovers from lunch," Nick answered while digging through my backpack. "It looks like you're prepared for almost anything," he commented, setting out several packs of freeze-dried food, a large hunting knife, and my first aid kit.

" My mom and grandma always taught us to be prepared."

'Well, I think that they did a good job," he remarked, handing me a serving of macaroni and cheese before taking one for himself.

We ate in silence for a few minutes before Nick sat his dish aside, "can you tell me what happened to you earlier?"

"You didn't see anything at all?" I asked.

"No," he replied. "I had finished watering the horses when Moose and I noticed that you were missing, and I followed him deeper into the garden where he found you unconscious."

" I saw a girl sitting on a bench and crying; she looked just like me," I paused for a minute as I tried to process everything that had happened. " But half of her face was missing; it looked like it was burned or eaten away," I whispered with remembered horror.

"She wasn't a zombie?" Nick questioned.

"No, I called to her, and I could tell that she was self-aware."

"Was she the one who attacked you?"

I frowned, trying to remember; my memory of the previous hours was still a little fuzzy, "No, it was someone else. They must have hit me from behind. One minute I was looking at her, and the next -"

"But you didn't see anyone else?" he asked.

"I don't think so," I said and slipped the family photo from my backpack. "This is all just so strange. Do you think that she could be the same girl?"

He shook his head, "it's been at least 18 years since that photo was taken. I don't see how it could be the same person; she would have to be in her mid-thirties by now."

"Ok, then how do you explain what just happened to me? Because I didn't imagine the whole thing, and I certainly didn't imagine that someone hit in the back of the head," I snapped.

"Listen, I do not deny the fact that someone attacked you, and just as soon as your concussion wears off, we'll try and get to the bottom of things. But in the meantime, why don't you get some rest? I'm sure that by morning you'll be feeling a lot better," he said, looking a little frustrated with me.

Feeling contrite and just a little ashamed of myself for my outburst, I laid back down on my sleeping bag, "I'm sorry for taking things out on you, Nick. None of this was your fault."

Nick gave me a reassuring smile, "it's fine; I know that most of that was just the concussion talking and the rest was just your usual contrary personality."

Ignoring his last comment, I was just starting to drift off to sleep when a disturbing thought occurred to me, and my eyes flew open. " Nick, do you think that we're safe in here? What if whoever attacked me comes back?"

"We'll be fine," he said and gestured at Moose, who was lying in the doorway. "Moose will let us know if anyone is out there. He's been very watchful and protective ever since we found you knocked out."

"Ok," I replied and closed my eyes, trying to get a little sleep, but no matter how hard I tried, my thoughts just kept spinning, and I couldn't stop thinking about that girl. I sighed and rolled over on my sleeping bag, I couldn't seem to get comfortable, and every time I closed my eyes, I would see the ruined face of that girl in the garden.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Nick asked with a sigh, no doubt, disturbed by my tossing and turning.

"Yeah," I confessed. "I can't seem to get that girl out of my mind."

"Why don't we just talk until you're tired," he suggested.

"All right, why don't you tell me a little about yourself."

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Oh, just the usual, tell me about your family, where you grew up, that kind of thing," I suggested.

"Ok, I've lived in Louisiana for all of my life. My family lives in the next parish over, and I have one sibling, a younger sister named Emma. My family has been a part of the militia for years, and my dad, who was second in command, just took over as General earlier this year."

"You seem a little young to be a Captain," I commented.

"I've been in the militia since I was 14, and I'm 21 now, so probably not as young as you thought," he answered.

"People have to grow up faster than they did when our parents were kids," I remarked drowsily.

"We do have a lot more responsibilities," he agreed. "But, I think that, for the most part, we're more than capable of handling it."

"We are. But my grandma seems to be having a particularly hard time letting me go. I think that she feels guilty about what happened to my mom, so she's trying doubly hard to protect Lucas and me."

"You're probably right about that, but still, everything turned out all right in the end. In fact, your mom turned out to be one of the greatest zombie fighters to have ever lived."

"You've heard about my mom?" I said with surprise.

"I've even met her before," Nick replied.

"What! when did you meet her?

"It was a few years ago; my dad took me to a horse-train seminar that your dad was doing just outside of Atlanta. Your mom was there with him, and I remember thinking that she was the most beautiful woman that I've ever seen."

"She still is," I replied. "When I was little, I used to wish that I looked like her with her black hair and perfect skin. Instead, I ended up with ginger hair and freckles. And anytime I said anything about it,

Grandma would always say, "pretty is as pretty does," I ended with a laugh.

Nick smiled, "that sounds like something a grandma would say. But, personally, I happen to like red hair and freckles."

"My hair is ginger, not red," I said with a yawn.

"Do you always have to have the last word?" Nick asked as I drifted to sleep without answering.