Barely Alive (22 page)

We passed the sign welcoming us to Ely.

The phone at Heather’s feet beeped. A voicemail. Another beep. And another. Five total. Nobody had the number. Except Dominic. And Mom.

I’d have to talk to her first to get the phone. Tucked up by her feet, it was too far for me to reach without getting out of my seat and squatting into the area between her seat and mine. “Heather.” I poked the arm rest, jostling the seat. She turned her head, but that was it. Softer, I poked her arm. “Heather. I need the phone.”

Without fully waking, she bent over, grabbed the phone and handed it to me. She curled toward a rolled up blanket tucked between her and the locked door.

I flipped open the phone with one hand, while gripping the steering wheel with the other. The face glowed green in the dark. Five voicemails. Twelve missed calls.

Dominic’s messages would be threatening, cajoling, but he wasn’t a real danger to us anymore. There was nothing he could do to hurt me or James… or Heather at the moment. Our loved ones were in Idaho and we were closer than Dominic was, not that he knew where we were going. And if we could keep Connie fed, we’d have the answer to immunity and cures in no time.

A small piece of me hoped it was Mom instead of Jerkwad.

The confidence booster emboldened me to push call. After I entered the password, the demon’s voice crooned from the earpiece. “Paul. You silly boy. You took my toy and my guinea pig. If you’re as smart as you think you are, you’ll bring them back.”

The next one had less charm and more bite. “If I find you, I
will not
let you die. Do you hear me? I’ll feed you piece by piece to your brother. Give me the girl.”

He spoke a bit sweeter in the next one, the threats poorly hidden. “We can talk this out. Just give me a call. If I can’t find you, I know others who can.”

Number four he yelled. “Damn you, Paul. Call me. I want those brats you’re protecting and I want them now.”

But the fifth message sent shivers along my skin and a wave of nausea to rumble over me. He spoke calmly, almost bored. “Paul. I’m heading to northern Idaho. Can you guess why?” He hung up. No threats, but I didn’t need him to spell out to me what he would do. I could only imagine and since I’d changed weeks ago, my imagination had grown in leaps and bounds.

Ely boasted more stores than Beatty – a lot more. A Wal-Mart came into view with a gas station in the same lot. After midnight, not many people would be in the store. We could get in and out and be on our way.

I parked. My hands shook. I felt like I was falling and the only thing that would stop me was a ground full of craggy rocks. I’d be dashed on those rocks and I would lose my body while my brains would spread all over the floor. I’d never die. I’d stay there forever, a part of the landscape. The outcome would be vastly preferable to losing my mom.

James and Connie stirred. Nobody mentioned the voicemails. I know they heard, the volume was on max and they had stellar hearing. I didn’t know who Dominic was going after but north Idaho held important people to some of us and safety for the others. A silent agreement between us to not mention the threat to the humans seemed to form. Why worry those two when they had enough on their minds?

Connie woke Heather and Travis. Bleary-eyed they went to the store. James followed behind them.

I gassed up with one of Travis’s cards.

The chilly air wasn’t cooler than sixty-five, but it nipped at my skin. The area had recently had rain. Water-drenched creosote bushes smelled like wet dog. I smacked my tongue to get rid of the taste, but it didn’t do any good. I was hungry. Again.

The tank full - it ate a helluva lot less than the Nova had - I parked the van in front of the store and waited for the rest to join me.

They came out with a full cart. Heather divvied up the bags as they unloaded. A pleasant smile for James. A giggle for Travis. A question for Connie. Nothing but the cold shoulder for me.

I stayed in my seat and waited for them to finish. I didn’t even ask if they were ready, I just gassed it, biting back a smile when Heather hurried to click her seatbelt into place. I’ll admit it, I drove jerky – matched my mood.

Traffic lights led the way out of town. Nobody spoke to me, but had a conversation between them. And no, I didn’t invite any comments with my glare pointed out the windows.

“
What books did you get, James?” Heather twisted in her seat, holding one of her bags in her hands. “I got some magazines and coloring books.” I silently scoffed. The world was ending and she got coloring books? Great, I had the hots for a sixteen-year-old with an eight-year-old mentality.

“
I’m packing Michael Crichton, Stephen King, and, of course,” he passed a paperback up to her, “your paranormal romance. I peeked at it. This one has werewolves. Since zombies are turning out to be real, who knows, you could take notes on how to fight off werewolves.” He grinned – his white teeth flashing in my mirror. Jackass. “Have you always liked romances, Heather?” I wanted to tell the ass to shut up, but why give him the satisfaction? I know flirting when I saw it, even poor flirting.

She sighed. “I love them. You know the problem in each one can be tied to pride. Always. If the guy would just talk instead of keeping everything to himself, they would be together by the end of the first chapter. But I guess that’s part of the fun, right? What’d you get, Connie?”

I bit my tongue. She had to be referencing me. But she didn’t know that when I’m wrong, I admit it. This time, I wasn’t wrong.
She
was. I tuned them out. Close to town, a radio station had to be broadcasting. More news about Vegas wouldn’t hurt and might sober up their shopping spree excitement.

Fiddling with the buttons gave me an AM station. Heather reached over and filtered the sound to the front and to my side. I ignored her but almost bit her hand for touching my stuff. I was the driver, therefore I was in charge of the crap in the van.

“
Las Vegas has been quarantined as fires break out all over the city. The National Guard has set up road blocks preventing traffic in or out of the city.” Talk died in the car. Heather turned up the volume and adjusted the filter. The news came at us in surround sound. “There is talk about bombing sections of the city, but they will not do anything without having absolute evidence that there is no way to save the residents from this terrible gang.” The announcer adjusted his tone to a warning with less information. “Stock up and plan to stay in your homes, Nevadans. This gang is spreading over the state. They don’t care about who they hurt or kill. And their number is growing exponentially. Turn in any that you find. Better yet, stay in hiding. You just might survive this.”

I flipped off the radio. They’d never get it. People didn’t share information as much as they should. Would Nevada be quarantined? I didn’t want to get to the state line and find we couldn’t get into Idaho.

It wouldn’t be until early-morning that we’d reach the Idaho border.

Chapter 18

I had to be seeing things. We’d been on the road too long.

Cresting a hill, I stopped when the border came out of nowhere. Lights lit up the two-lane highway from tanks, trucks, and cop cars. The mix of red, blue, and white lights startled me after miles and miles of nothing but the reflective yellow double-line leading the way.

Watching Heather while she slept hadn’t lost its intrigue under my anger. If anything, watching her had softened my resolve. Double damn.

“
Why did we stop?” Connie lifted her head from the notebook. She’d illuminated her own section of the van with the reading light above her head. James mooched off her light, sitting in front of her, and leaned forward from the book he’d been engrossed in.

I pulled to the shoulder and shut off the lights. “They’ve blocked the road. We can’t get out.”
Exactly what I’d been afraid of.
If we were stuck in the state, we couldn’t rescue our family in Idaho. Small consolation Dominic couldn’t leave either – being double quarantined as he was. Dominic would find his way out. He was slippery like that.

Heather sat up and rubbed her eyes. She took in the situation and looked at me. Finally. “We have to get through.”

“
What do you want me to do, Heather? Ram them? I doubt the minivan will get us far through that road block.” She didn’t deserve the attitude, but after hours of silence, she couldn’t expect much else. I was irritable, hungry, and pissed that she looked so damn cute with her hair rumpled and a crease on the side of her cheek from the makeshift pillow.

“
That’s not the border.” Travis wiped the sleep from his eyes and slipped on his glasses. He pointed past the lights. “See the lights further on? That’s Jackpot, Nevada. It’s on this side of the border before heading into Idaho. Looks like they set up the road block outside city limits.”

Well, a road block was a road block and it didn’t matter where it was. It’s not like we could go around… “We’re ditching the minivan, guys. Eat everything you can, pack the rest. We’re trekking it to Jackpot.”

Surprise, surprise, no one complained. I’d expected at least one or two groans, but nothing. They just dug into their bags and started eating.

James tossed a plastic wrapped pound of ground beef to the front where it landed by the base of the bucket seat. I reached down and grabbed the package. The contents wouldn’t be fresh, but they’d be meat.

“
Thanks.” I muttered, pulling open the wrapping. A piece of me wanted to vomit at the stale scent. I stuck two fingers into the formless mass, the texture at odds with how I wanted the meat to be. It was cold.

James dug into his own package. “Don’t thank me. Heather grabbed it for you.”

I tossed a glance her way. She ignored me and worked with dainty bites on a sub sandwich. She’d need to loosen up with her manners, if she continued traveling with zombies. Hell, we didn’t care about the difference between blood or sinew, we just went to town. Still, her little pinky poking into the air transfixed me. She’d thought of me. Brought me meat.

The first mouthful I ignored the taste – it was a present from my wannabe-girlfriend. The second and third, I struggled down – doing my best to pretend the cold was actually heat. By the fourth bite, I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. The meat tasted like worms and wasn’t satisfying in the least.

But why wasn’t the meat satisfying? Because of the missing blood? Maybe we needed a mix of the two – meat and blood. I choked down one more scoop to be polite. The answers would have to come from the researchers. I’d lead, they could study.

In minutes, everyone polished off what they could eat. I pocketed the boxes of matches and a flare. “We need to leave anything that will rustle or make noises when it moves. We’re going just to the right of the group to get into town. Bring blankets or any clothing that you have.” They’d figure out I had no idea what to do about travel when we got to other side. If the four of them had any brains between them, they’d figure out I had no idea about anything and was winging the whole damn thing.

Still no one spoke. I flicked the button to disengage the dome lights and we climbed from the van. The road block patrollers could have seen the van when we parked, but the lack of activity below suggested otherwise.

I grimaced and crossed my arms to rub my lower biceps. Ninety-two degrees during the day and forty-one at night – according to the digital temperature readout in the van.

Click. Click. Mine and Heather’s doors shut. Rub and mechanical hum as the side door closed.

We congregated at the nose of the van.

Heather had wrapped a folded blanket around her shoulders, leaving it to drape to her waist. Travis did the same.

Connie, James, and I wouldn’t freeze to death, but we’d consider the people in front of us as meals in about ten minutes as our metabolisms worked overtime.

But Heather surprised me, handing a large down-filled coat to me. James took one and Connie pulled another on. A smile spread across my face. “How…” I wouldn’t be a jerk and lose the chance to be warmer, but I had to know. “Why?”

She shrugged and tucked the blanket into the tops of her shorts. “You guys get cold fast. Travis said we could buy them at Wal-Mart. So we did. No big deal.” She avoided my gaze in the moonlight. I searched her face for a moment. The jacket was a peace offering,
or it wasn’t
. Either way I was confused as hell. But not so cold.

“
Paul, if we take the road down to the base of this hill, we might save ourselves some work.” Connie zipped her coat and snugged her hands in the front pockets.

I considered the route she suggested. Not one of us had on hiking shoes. Heather and I had on tennis shoes. James wore a weird version of Doc Marten’s for which I’d raz him about later. Travis and Connie had on rubber shoes that most people wore around hospitals. None of us had socks on.

Can anybody say blisters?

Gauging the distance between us and the town in the dark was next to impossible. I couldn’t see any landmarks besides the road block, couldn’t see if there were fences or animals chained up waiting to eat any “escapees”.

“
I like it, Connie. Let’s go.” The trudging began. Couldn’t say we traipsed or danced, ‘cause no one was particularly excited about the change in travel modes. I think me least of all.