White Trash Zombie Apocalypse (White Trash Zombie 3)

I fucking burst into tears. And then I couldn’t stop. Nick held me and gently rubbed my back while I lost it on his shoulder. All this time I’d managed to be tough and strong and stoic and all full of positive thinking, and Nick’s damn hug completely undid me.

“I was so worried,” Nick said, still hugging me. And damn it, it wasn’t creepy or grabby or anything. Simply supportive and comforting. “I just got back from…your place.”

I sniffled. “You mean my empty lot? It’s gone. All gone.” Behind him I saw Derrel standing there with an increasingly perplexed expression.

“I know. I saw.” He gently released me and pulled back to look into my face.

“Wait, Angel,” Derrel said, shock and disbelief heavy in his voice. “Your house? You lost your house? Oh my god. I didn’t know. I thought you only had a foot of water or so.” He shook his head. “I’m an idiot. I’m so sorry.”

I wiped at my eyes and nodded. “Lost the whole damn thing. We had to climb onto the roof.” I tried to smile. “But we got a helicopter ride out of it, so that was cool, y’know.”

“Ah hell,” he said, then moved up to smash me against his chest in his own massive hug.

I made an oof sound. “Can’t…breathe,” I gasped dramatically. Derrel released me with a gruff snort and shaky smile.

“Is your dad all right?” Nick asked, expression serious.

“He’s okay. Small bump on the head but nothing bad,” I told them.

“What do you need?” he asked. “What can we do?”

I took a deep breath. “I’m not even sure where to begin. I guess I need a copy of my ID from my personnel file so I can get a new phone and debit card and, hell, new ID though that’ll have to wait ’til Monday. And I need to go to my storage unit, and—”

Derrel held up a hand, stopping my babble. “You need a ride?”

“I’d love one,” I replied, relieved.

“I may be slow on the uptake,” Derrel said, “but I can at least play chauffeur.”

Nick looked as if he wished he’d thought to offer a ride first, but he managed an encouraging smile anyway. “Angel, when you get your new phone, be sure to call and let me know what you need.”

“I will,” I said, moving to him and giving him a hug. “Thanks.”

He gave a little shrug. “No biggie,” he said, trying to be nonchalant and utterly failing. He headed to the investigator’s office without another word. Derrel watched him go, slight frown puckering his wide forehead, then turned back to me.

“At your service, darlin’,” he said with a slight bow.

I smacked him on the upper arm. “Don’t make me start quoting Driving Miss Daisy.”

He chuckled. “Y’know, if I squint you look a bit like Jessica Tandy.”

“Oh my god.” I laughed. “Shut up and help me break into the personnel files.”

Chapter 22

Once again I found myself grateful that I lived in a small town. I expected to have to go through all sorts of hassle to get a replacement phone, since the DMV was closed and my only photo ID was a photocopy of my actual driver’s license. But the guy at the phone store remembered me from when I’d been in a few weeks before, and I scored new phones for my dad and me with practically zero hassle. Unfortunately the brand new phone had barely any charge and, since I actually wanted to use my phone, I ended up buying a car charger as well so that I could give it some quick juice in Derrel’s Durango.

The bank people were less accommodating and weren’t keen to give me a new debit card without something vaguely official. However, they cheerfully accepted my dad’s cash for deposit, though I remembered to hold back a couple hundred. Until I had an ID, I wouldn’t be able to withdraw once it was officially deposited.

The storage unit was my last stop. I worried that Derrel would want to come in with me to help get stuff, which would have been awkward as hell since, well, y’know, freezer full of brains. I assured him I wasn’t planning on taking anything out since I didn’t have any place to put it, so there was nothing to lift or carry, and told him all I wanted to do was look for a scrapbook I thought I’d stored a couple of months ago. I spun a line about how it would ease my mind to know that something personal had survived the flood and, luckily, he bought my lie and waited in the car while I went inside. Of course then I got stupidly bummed out because there wasn’t a damn thing in my storage unit but a goddamn freezer full of brains and some pork ribs, which meant that yeah, everything we’d owned really was gone.

Still have brains at least, I told myself. Could be a helluva lot worse.

I stuffed three bags of frozen brains into each of my side pockets, then instantly regretted the fact that I now had only the thin fabric of my cargo pants between me and frozen brains. Yeah, totally comfortable.

I returned to the Durango, gave Derrel a big smile. “It was there!” I lied.

“Awesome!” he said with a wide grin. Grief of loss swept through me again. Goddammit, but the next time I got some memorabilia I was going to make sure it was stored someplace safe.