Dex Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Other Books

  Paranormals

  Thrillers

  Author's Note

  DEX

  by Stacy Claflin

  http://www.stacyclaflin.com

  Copyright ©2017 Stacy Claflin. All rights reserved.

  ©Cover Design: Rocking Book Covers

  Edited by Staci Troilo

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental or used fictitiously. The author has taken great liberties with locales including the creation of fictional towns.

  Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. Do not upload or distribute anywhere.

  This e-book is for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be resold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with others, please either purchase it for them or direct them to StacyClaflin.com for purchase links. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

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  Chapter 1

  Dex Sheahan held his breath and readied his bow. He stepped back, inching away from the dozen or so insatiable wanderers. They growled, hissed, and reached out, scratching one another but not finding Dex. The rancid odor of rotting flesh and exposed internal organs made his eyes water, but he held still. They would soon forget about him and move on as long as they couldn’t find him.

  The zombies were nothing if not predictable. Chase after anything with warm internal organs and fresh brains. Rip them out and eat. Repeat. They were strong, but incapable of intelligence. And that was how Dex had managed to live as long as he had—he used his brain, unlike so many other people he’d run in to over the years. Use it or lose it. That was the law of life in the wild.

  How many years had he managed to survive? His guess was close to eleven years, but it was only that. A guess. He’d lost count of how many cold winters and hot summers had passed since escaping the safety of the tiny town he’d grown up in. But if he was right, he’d spent exactly half his life on his own, fighting to live.

  The groans and grunts grew quieter. Several of the wanderers stumbled away in the opposite direction. They meandered without direction, which was no doubt how they had earned the name.

  Dex released a quiet sigh of relief. The others would soon follow suit. Then he could carry on his way and find a place to sleep for the night. With any luck, it would be better than the tree branch that had been his bed the night before. It hadn’t been his worst night of rest, but there was nothing like finding an old bed or couch to crash onto, no matter how lumpy or stiff.

  Growl.

  His heart skipped a beat. That hadn’t been one of the monsters. It was his stomach.

  Growl-growl.

  Several of the wanderers turned his way and reached into the bush that separated them from him.

  Crack. A branch broke in two.

  Dex swore. Why now? It was surprises like that which would get him killed like so many other before him.

  Cracked yellow claws reached for him. Growls and hisses grew louder as the creatures inched closer.

  He tightened his grip on the arrow, aimed his bow at the nearest head, and released. It flew the short distance and burst into the monster’s temple. It—Dex never referred to them as he or she, despite what they once had been—cried out and fell to the ground. Three more pushed through the thick bushes, snatching at him.

  He reached into his quiver and readied another arrow. Unfortunately, he was running low on ammo. He hadn’t had much time lately to make more or go back for the ones he’d shot. He had four, but five chased him.

  Dex backed into a tree, stopping him from going any farther. His heart raced. He would need to either kill two with one shot or run from the last one. His only other option was to pull out one of his knives, but that would be a last resort. Using a blade meant allowing them close enough to bite or scratch him. If that happened, he would soon turn into one of those mindless freaks of nature.

  He shot an arrow at the nearest one and again hit it directly in the temple. After an over-dramatic display of hissing and thrashing, it finally fell to the ground. Dex maneuvered around the tree while pulling out the rest of the arrows. He used each one in rapid-fire succession.

  The remaining wanderer raced for him, growling and snapping. This one was fast, which meant it was especially hungry. A dirty, torn floral dress hung in tatters off its shoulders. Maybe the garment would impede its reach enough that Dex would stand a fighting chance with a knife.

  Dex slung the crossbow over his shoulder and reached for his longest blade. It was seventeen inches from tip to handle and had once belonged to his dad. It would have to be good enough.

  Behind the fast zombie, a group of three more headed his way. All the noise from the ones he’d just killed had gotten their attention.

  Dex took a deep breath and focused on the one in front of him. It moved faster with each step. Definitely hungry for his organs.

  The trees and other plant life were especially thick, making his getaway all the more challenging. He kept his attention on the rapidly-approaching creature while trying to map an escape. It was never easy, but this time would prove extra difficult with the thick trees and poison oak blocking his way.

  He stepped back, barely avoiding the itchy plant, and bumped into another tree. All the branches were higher than he could reach, and the bark too smooth for him to scale. His breathing grew labored. The three behind this one closed in.

  Dex stumbled over a rock. He reached down, picked it up, and threw it at the monster’s face. It flinched and hissed, clawing at the air. While it was distracted, he ran past it, barely getting by. Then he rushed past the other three, careful to stay out of reach.

  Dex came to a new-growth tree. It was too weak to climb, but it had plenty of branches. He ripped a few off. They weren’t arrows or spears, but they would have to do. The group of three was now closer, so he turned to them and dug the pointed end of the longest branch into the nearest temple. The creature flailed about and hissed, but crumbled to the ground.

  One of the zombies behind it tripped and face-planted onto a stone. Pieces of flesh and gray matter—though it was yellow and red—splattered out, some landing on Dex’s pants. It wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last. The last of the group lumbered toward Dex, staring with hollow eyes and grasping for him with long ragged nails. A torn t-shirt barely hung to its body with the phrase World’s Greatest Dad scrawled across the blood-spattered front.

 
; “Not anymore.” Dex ran at it and aimed another branch into the wanderer’s temple. The thing screeched, spraying something orange onto Dex’s shirt and snapped its few remaining teeth at him. Before Dex could dig the weapon into the skull, the zombie reached out for him. Dex jumped out of the way and missed getting scratched by less than an inch.

  His heart jumped into his throat. He hadn’t had a close call like that in some time. Dex raised a foot and pulled his leg close to his body before side-kicking the thing in its stomach and then knees. It reached for Dex, hissing, as it stumbled backward. The thing managed to keep its balance, proving to be more difficult to kill than its now-dead friends.

  It hissed, spraying orange into the air, and marched toward Dex. The zombie in the dress had finally figured out where Dex had gone and rushed toward him, twice as fast as the world’s greatest dad approached. In less than thirty seconds, he would have to fight them both off at the same time.

  There was only one thing to do. He held both branches in the air, aimed them at the nearest one, and launched them with all his might. One hit the dress-zombie, who crashed into a tree with a loud thud. The world’s greatest dad turned toward the noise, and Dex took advantage of its distraction. He grabbed another branch and threw it. It sailed silently through the air and smashed into the zombie’s temple, shattering the skull upon impact. Dad convulsed before falling only feet from his companions.

  No time to catch his breath. The dress-monster raced over, screaming and growling. As it ran toward him, intestines fell out and hung from its middle, but it didn’t slow down. It bared its graying teeth and reached for him with disgusting jaundiced nails.

  He aimed his last branch at the monster, but froze before throwing it. A sliver of sunlight shining through the trees reflected off the creature’s necklace.

  Dex recognized it. He’d seen it countless times as a boy. It was one of his family’s few heirlooms. His mom never took it off. Ever.

  The monster trying to kill him was his mom.

  Chapter 2

  Dex froze and stared at the creature. He took in the mangled form in front of him. If he looked past the rotting, hanging flesh and the empty, hollow eyes, he recognized the face of the first person who had ever loved him. The one person he could rely on above all others. The woman who had always gone out of her way to help him.

  She groaned and hissed before swiping her gnarly claws at his face

  He jumped back. No, not she. That thing was no longer his mom. The woman who had once cared for and raised Dex was gone, never to return.

  Mom… she… it… growled and snarled, once again clawing at him.

  Dex’s heart shattered into a million pieces as the woman who had given him life was now trying to take it. She—it—didn’t even recognize him. Just as he hadn’t realized who she was at first.

  She… it… clawed at him. Snapped her ragged teeth over and over, ready to consume him.

  The branch in his hand shook. Could he do this? Kill her? It! Could he kill it? The frame, the shell of the woman he once knew? Her essence was long gone.

  He needed to run and forget he ever saw her. It. This wasn’t fair. He couldn’t do it.

  Scratch.

  A filthy hand grazed Dex’s shoulder. The only thing preventing him from being scratched was the leather vest he wore. That he’d taken from a wanderer he’d recently taken down.

  Dex snapped his head to attention. That was the wakeup call he’d needed.

  Yes, he had to kill this monster. It would be an act of love for his mom. She wouldn’t want to be like this, and she certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be trying to eat her firstborn. He had to stab her in the brain. It was the only thing to kill the monsters—not even starvation would do it.

  “I love you, Mom.” In one quick motion, Dex swung at the wood protruding from her temple and plunged it into her brain. Then he turned away, for the first time unable to watch a monster fall to the ground.

  Finally, the groans, hisses, and writhing stopped.

  He drew in a deep breath and turned around. The shell of his mother lay on the ground with the branch still sticking out from the side of her head. Her right leg twitched, but the rest of her had gone limp.

  A lump formed in Dex’s throat. He swallowed it down, refusing to give in. The last time he’d succumbed to tears had been the night he’d escaped home and had faced the monsters for the first time.

  He crept over to her and knelt. The blank eyes stared at him no differently than they had a few moments earlier when she’d been trying to kill him. Dex brushed his palm over her eyes, closing the lids. Then he cupped the necklace. The little silver heart with a cross etched into it had originally belonged to his grandma in a time when monsters had been nothing more than stories to scare children.

  Hands shaking, he reached around his mom’s neck and unclasped the chain. Then he slid it around his own neck, fastened it, and tucked the charm underneath his shirt.

  He stared at what his mother had become before rising and walking away. Guilt stung at his core. He couldn’t leave her like that—like every other organ-starved murderous monster.

  Dex scanned the area. It was free of wanderers. He had time to do what he needed to do as long as no more showed up. It would take longer without the proper tools. Dex pulled out his longest knife again—the one that had belonged to his dad—and dug into the earth.

  It was nearly dark by the time he had created a shallow grave. She deserved a lot better, but this was the best he could do. He wiped the dirt and grime from the blade before returning it to the sheath in his belt, and he scooped his mom into his arms. As gently as he could, Dex set her into the hole.

  “You deserved so much more. A long, happy life without whatever happened to turn you into… this.” He choked back a sob as memories from his childhood flooded his mind. Never before had a kinder, gentler woman walked the earth. What a cruel twist of fate that she had ended up as a wanderer.

  Had she gone out in search of Dex? His disappearance had to have crushed her. That much he’d known since his fateful decision, but he hadn’t been given the time to mull over his guilt. Nearly every day of the last decade or so had been filled with fighting mindless, murderous brutes.

  And he wouldn’t turn introspective now, either. It was only a matter of time before another group of monsters showed up. He needed to bury her and move on. He knelt and pushed soil onto her middle.

  Dex froze.

  What if the other zombies he’d killed were family or friends?

  He ran over to the group of three he’d taken out before his mom. They were all strangers. He ran over to the others he’d defended himself against. Again, they were unfamiliar.

  Dex returned to his mom and packed dirt on top of her grave. What had happened to the rest of his family? Had his dad and younger siblings turned into monsters? Were they still safe behind the walls protecting their tiny town? Or had the walls finally crumbled after the years of zombies trying to get in? The enormous structure had been built in his grandparents’ time. Dex had worried about its stability as a boy. It would be even weaker now.

  He patted down the soil and piled some rocks over her head to mark the grave, not that he’d likely ever return to the spot. Then he leaned against the closest tree, not wanting to leave his mom alone.

  His mind wandered back to his family. Could they still be alive? Or had everything been destroyed? His dad had been in law enforcement, and he would have been the first one to fight any wanderers that made their way in. What about his younger brother and sisters? Would they have been old enough to defend themselves? Lanie had just been six when Dex left, Gray three, and Lark only a baby. What about his friends? Would they have been able to survive?

  With so many questions tumbling through his head, and the fate of his mother churning his gut, Dex came to a decision. He had to go home. It was time to find answers, and if any family were left, he had to tell them about his mother.

  How would he be able to get back afte
r more than ten years of traveling through the world? It wasn’t like he had a compass or had paid much attention to what direction he traveled, especially since much of his time moving was spent running. If Dex wasn’t escaping monsters, then he was fleeing from the more dangerous killer—people.

  The only answer was to go back the way he’d come and hope to avoid all the dangers he’d run into along the way. He’d stayed in the same general area, so it shouldn’t take eleven years to get back. But even if it did, it would be worth it to get answers.

  Snap! Growl!

  First, he needed to get to safety and find a place to get some sleep before he started his journey. He gathered the salvageable arrows he’d shot, stuck them in the quiver, and headed down the path to find a place to sleep.

  Chapter 3

  Dex sat up and in one quick motion, pulled an arrow from the quiver and nocked it in his bow. Something had woken him, but he neither saw nor heard anything now. His pulse quickened as he scanned the former mattress store. Early morning light shone in, revealing nothing.

  All the windows were shattered and most of the beds were destroyed, but he’d managed to find a couple that had survived the years without being torn, burned, or spattered with various bodily fluids. He’d even slept with a pillow and blanket! It had been a long time since he’d managed such a luxurious night’s sleep.

  Still, something had woken him. He slid the blanket off and put his feet on the floor. When he stood, the mattress springs creaked with the release of his weight, but nothing else in the building moved.

  Maybe he’d heard something outside. Given the broken windows, it made sense. Glancing around, he stepped back until he was pressed against a wall.

  Silence.

  The nothingness was worse than the grunts and groans of the undead. At least when he heard those, he knew where the predators were.

  Dex reached into his quiver and counted his arrows with his fingers. He’d managed to salvage seven the night before when he went through the area checking the various wanderers he’d fought the previous evening. If he had time, he’d make a few more before heading out for the day. That was one nice thing about being so close to the forest—lots of wood to work with, and he had the craft of arrow-making down to an art and a science.