Barely Alive (14 page)

Livestock. My meals had been delegated to the term “livestock”. Not a menu item I was used to seeing. Whatever. Food was food and I needed some. “We’ll leave, now. When we come back, we’ll knock three times, wait, and then knock again. Don’t let anyone else in. If someone does get in. Hide. I mean it. Hide.”

Heather paled. Can I go with you?”

“
No, I’m sorry. If you go with me, you might get eaten. I can take a couple of them at once, but I’m not strong enough to take more than three or four. I’ll come back as soon as I get done.” I stood and pulled Connie with me. “While we’re gone, you guys can get started on the research.” To Dr. Duncan I added, “Heather has a lot of the information, as well. She was there during Dominic’s great
reveal
.”

“
I have some of it myself.” Dr. Duncan smiled softly. “I’ll watch out for her. Take care of my wife.” He stood, his gaze moving to her. Dr. Duncan reached out, but quickly dropped his hand to his side. He couldn’t kiss her or embrace her. I understood the longing in his eyes. The chance she might bite him or infect him was too great. We needed him to find the cure, so we didn’t have to stay like this, but what then? Could he get his wife back, if he tried?

I hoped so. Damn, I hoped so.

Chapter 12

Heather’s fear scared me. She didn’t want to stay there, but I couldn’t watch out for her and defend myself. Connie would be a problem, too, if I had to take Heather with us. She hadn’t stopped staring at Heather’s exposed flesh since she’d finished the trail mix. I liked the bare skin as well, but I wanted to lick it. Connie wanted to bite it.

Shoving Connie ahead of me, I left by the closest door which would take us down through the inside of the building by the offices. Dr. Duncan locked the door behind us. I’d avoided any solid goodbyes with Heather. I’d be back in a little bit and it’d be like we’d never left. At least that was my plan.

We took the stairs two at a time, reaching the lobby floor in seconds. Connie was extremely new and her strength was nice to open up to. Nobody crossed our paths.

Through the bottom door, we stopped. No other movement. I turned to Connie and kept my voice low. “Would you rather go to the cafeteria or make a break for the butchering plant?” I wanted fresh meat, but Connie was a girl and I’d been taught some tight rules about girls and going first.

Her eyes flicked from the left to the right. “Can we have fresh? I’d like to try it. I’m so hungry.” She shifted on her feet, back and forth, back and forth.

“
Let’s go. Stick close. I’m not sure if the humans are fighting back yet or if we’re still abnormal enough they’re not sure how to tell if we’re human or not.” I had a feeling the humans who hadn’t been bitten yet were combating our kind, I just didn’t have any way to check.

Outside the building, screams permeated the air in the early morning hour. I closed my eyes, the fresh scent of blood ripe on the spring air. The sun was rising, the sky bright with orange and pinks and dusted with clouds in the distance. We’d never get rain – no matter how much the sky threatened. Our drought had lasted eleven years now and the experts didn’t project any relief in sight.

Connie stepped toward the screaming. I yanked her back by her sleeve. “No. Let’s avoid eating the humans. This disease can’t spread and we
will
spread it if we bite them. Our food is a short run from here. Let’s go.”

I opened my stride, confident she’d follow me. The promise of food compelled us to do just about anything at her stage. I was a bit more jaded and hadn’t always been given the things I’d been promised.

Connie matched my pace, her breathing even, her face exhilarated. I glanced at her and then over my shoulder. “Where were you attacked?”

She blushed. A sign she was still too young to have any tissue damage. “The parking garage. Sad to think I could still be human had I listened to Travis.” I felt the same way, sad to think I might still be human if I hadn’t been so prideful and selfish. The conversation fell and we focused on running. The black pavement muffled the slaps of our feet.

We crossed Flamingo and headed north. The butcher shop was under the elevated rail, the neighborhood hidden behind the height and glitz of the casinos.

One block down. The hunger ate at my muscles.

Two blocks down. I struggled to breathe.

How was Heather holding up?
My chest tightened at the thought.

The building spread before us in seconds. Its expanse was long and white. Nothing stirred. A truck parked at a loading dock with no one inside. Two other docks sat empty. A lone car parked close to the only man-door on our side of the building.

We slowed to a walk and watched for movement as we edged the perimeter of the parking lot.

The smell of blood seeped from the walls, the pavement, the truck bed. I closed my eyes and inhaled. Cow, pig, and bird. I couldn’t be more pleased to find the significant absence of human blood. I motioned Connie to follow me and turned the knob on the unlocked door.

Inside, a musty smell mixed with the coppery scent of blood. I didn’t mind. The blood wasn’t old smelling, just the paperwork and other items in the office were. If I’d been a termite, we’d have a problem, but I wanted meat. Pure, unadulterated meat.

Connie sniffed the air, pure pleasure wiping the pain from her face. “Is that blood?”

“
Yeah.” I sighed.

She winced. “I don’t know why that sounds so delicious right now. I could eat a whole cow.” If she only knew. “I feel like I’m pregnant, uncontrollable cravings and aches and pains.”

“
Yeah, I’m feeling the same way.” With another pig or two on the side. The blood distracted me. I smiled. “I mean, I’m feeling the same symptoms. I don’t feel pregnant.” A sincere smile flashed across her face and I saw her newly lost humanity in the light of her momentous anticipation.

I pushed the inner door open. The hallway had to lead us to the animals. Live animals were there. Had to be. The blood was too fresh.

Long and narrow, the hallway pulled us further into the building. A red and brown striped door marked with black lettering called to us. “SLAUGHTER” might as well have said cinnamon rolls. We picked up our pace, breaking into a run and pushed through the door. And stopped.

“
Look around.” I whispered. “We’re not the only ones here.”

Something else had ripped apart the animals we’d hoped to find. The artless massacre had spread blood and parts around the room, the walls, up to the rafters.

Connie nodded but trailed her fingers on the wall beside her and licked the blood from the tips. She groaned.

Oh, that damn groan. She didn’t know why it was abhorrent, but if she did it again, I’d spell it out for her.

I rounded the perimeter. Connie treaded the opposite way from me with care. She tucked a piece of stray meat into her mouth here and there. Hey, no judgment on my part. I can’t promise I didn’t do the same.

Whoever had killed the animals hadn’t understood the importance of the organs. I found three hearts and four livers in my first ten steps from the door. I had to test them to make sure they were real… or something like that. Oh, hell. I was hungry and who cared if I ate the leftovers. Sloppy seconds didn’t count. Protein was protein and I needed a butt load. Immediately.

The cement flooring shined, covered in a sea of blood. Drains set up under butcher hooks were blocked with hair and skin. Bones, discarded against the walls, piled into makeshift mountains, complete with muscle and tendons not quite cleaned off the skeletons. What a waste.

Machines at the far end sat silent and still. Never turned on. Not all the animal bodies had been eaten, some lay on their sides where they’d been tossed, their throats ripped from their necks.

The carnage wasn’t the work of a human or mass of humans. Something had been very hungry, to the point they hadn’t taken time to clean off the bodies – just ate a bite from this one, a leg from that one, leaving the rest for the flies.

Snuffling, like a dog, called from behind a large rectangular machine with three conveyors poking out of its sides like spiky limbs.

I lowered into a crouch, hands out in front of me, and stepped softer, softer. And rounded the corner.

A girl, no older than ten in human years, shoved chunks of meat into her mouth. Her brown hair and pale skin were the same shades as my cousin, Valerie’s, and they disappeared under all the blood and flecks of bone and skin. She couldn’t be older or younger than my cousin either.

Holy hell. Would a baby act with the same animal ferocity?

“
Hey. Are you okay?” I stepped into view, my hands loose at my sides. Connie was lost somewhere in the maze of meat and waste.

Valerie’s lookalike snarled and curled to protect her food. She glared at me over her shoulder with eyes glazed as if with 90-year-old cataracts. Ah. She’d been dead before she’d turned. She didn’t count as a person any longer. Her soul wasn’t there. Just the body. But her smaller hands gave me pause when I moved back a foot. So small.

I had to deal with her, make sure she died, but first I needed to eat. And I couldn’t do that with the danger of her attacking me any second.

A cord furled next to the machine. I grabbed it, unable to draw more attention from the child-beast than another growl. What a waste of so much food.

I came up behind her and wrapped the cord around her waist. She stood and turned, slow, to face me. Her throat had been ripped out when she was alive. I wrapped the cord again, and again, pinning her arms at her sides. She struggled but with a mindless energy. An easy enough knot sealed her to the machine.

With my eyes trained on her, I finished the sheep she’d been working on. Her scream echoed through the warehouse with rage. My energy and strength returned in force. But I needed more. The fuel gauge wasn’t even close to halfway. I’d need to eat more.

Connie crept beside me, her hands and face smeared with red. “There’s no one else here. Why’d you tie up the little girl? She could come with us.”

“
No. Look at her eyes. She’s a dead one. There’s no rationalizing with them.” I licked my lip and tore a fresh strip of muscle from the haunches of the sheep. “Eat as much as you can. We’ll set the place on fire when we’re done. If we found this place so easily, we can’t be the only ones. Hurry.”

She nodded, sparing one more glance at the girl who whimpered and snarled feet from us. But Connie listened and moved from me to eat. In another minute, I’d finished the sheep. I slipped around and picked off the carcasses. More. I needed more.

Connie did the same on the far side of the warehouse. Our fingers blurred as we moved faster than humanly possible to fill our mouths. A full sensation I hadn’t felt in a while warmed my stomach.

A door slammed.

We jerked our attention toward the open doorway and then glanced at each other. My hands were deep in the chest cavity of a cow. Connie was midstep between two pigs. We were eating, getting our fill, but something was there – human or another creature like us.

I ran and pressed my back against the wall. She copied me and closed her eyes, her palms flat against the surface. The doorway was between us. Our eyes met and I realized she was afraid. Sudden calm washed over me. We’d get through it. A human would be sent away. Another zombie would be tied up and added to the barbeque we were about to have.

A harsh whisper ratcheted down the hall. “Paul? Are you here?”

My mouth fell open. What the hell was James doing there? I clenched my fists. Had he brought Dominic? How could he not? I held out my hand to Connie whose eyes had opened wide, asking her to wait.

What did I do? Answer him? I waited. More whispers of my name echoed to us. He ducked through the door. I’d always hated his height, but never begrudged him his looks. Hell, I was good looking, too.

He squinted in the dimness, and trained his gaze on my captive in the far corner. He stepped further inside, his hands raised to her. “Valerie?” James was more confused than I’d been. The girl growled.

I stepped into the rectangle of light cast by the door. “What do you want, James?”

He faced me, his clean shirt rationalizing his confusion. He weaved on his feet and smiled with a drunken curve. “Paul!” He waved and then refocused on his wiggling fingers. He giggled.

What the hell was going on? My baby brother didn’t giggle. “James, have you eaten yet?”

He shook his head and sniffed. “Can I?” The anger he’d harbored at Heather’s house was absent. I don’t know what happened, but I’d be fine with a break from contention.

I pointed at the cow I’d been working on. “Hell, yeah.” He was my brother. The fight would have to be in the past until we could figure everything out. I couldn’t say no. Plus, if he was busy eating, I’d be able to scout out the area for Dominic and his other followers.

James fell on the body and scraped at the bones with his teeth. His clean shirt dirtied in seconds. Not a problem. A bit of color tinged his pale face.

My fingertips had lost their gray again and the palms of my hands were dusted pink. Pink! I hadn’t seen evidence of blood in my body since I was injected. The discovery bloomed like a flower in my chest – no, not the discovery. Hope. Maybe if I ate enough, I could reverse the effects. Maybe it was like a cold and instead of vitamin C, I had to eat a truckload of meat every few hours to help my immune system fight off the virus. Maybe I could be human without research on Heather. Where would I find that much meat?