Barely Alive (23 page)

We paired off. Heather and I in front. Travis and Connie in the middle and James bringing up the rear. If the lights weren’t so bright from the cars and trucks, the stars would have hung right on our shoulders.

I’d give anything to make a wish on a shooting star and have it come true.

Heather asked the question weighing on everyone’s minds. “What do we do if we get caught?”

Connie laughed. “Eat ‘em.”

James’s chuckle called from a few feet back. “Is that your answer for everything?”

Connie tossed over her shoulder. “Well, I’d say screw them, but I’m married and since I’m not dead yet, it’s still adultery, right?” Travis didn’t say anything. I glanced back at him, but he didn’t raise his eyes.

And I did something I wasn’t used to. I offered another explanation. “Connie and James, I’m sorry you’re going through this.”
And an apology? What the hell!
“What you have isn’t easy to deal with. You weren’t prepared for the change or the needs of your body. One thing Dominic did right was prepare us for what we would experience in the first week. As limited as his knowledge was, he at least gave us more than you guys got.”

Nobody replied. Like I hadn’t spoken. The lack of responses wore on me. One more and I’d most likely go buffet on them and eat at will. Well, okay, I wouldn’t, but I could… oh, I
could
.

The base of the hill was closer than we’d estimated. The ground flattened and we were parallel with the lights. Maybe another twenty yards and they’d be able to see us. We stopped. The ground had a damp chilled feel that permeated the air around us. Cold, brisk air hurt my lungs, annoying me. And our goal was further north.
Brr.

“
We are crazy bastards. There I said it.” James stole my thoughts and gave them to the group. “It’s freezing here. How do we expect to survive the snow?”

“
I don’t think we can freeze to death. But I’m not sure.” Wow, I was just a bright ray of hope, wasn’t I?

“
Elevation in Vegas is about two-thousand feet and here…” Travis thought, shifting his feet. “I think it’s about five-thousand. So as we go further north and higher into the mountain range, it’s just going to get colder.” Never mind. I was like Susie Sunshine next to Dr. Dingleberry. At least I was warm… ish.

“
Let’s go. Stick together, but try to be quiet.” We picked our way over rocks and through thick brush. Heather stumbled and reached out to grab my arm, but I was faster. I wrapped my arm under hers and steadied her on the ground. Neither spoke, but everywhere we touched, my nerves tingled. She had more of an effect on me than I wanted her – or anyone – to know about.

We moved slower and quieter with each footfall. We could see the border patrol, but how did we know if they could see us? I moved deeper into the dark, pulling Heather with me.

Her whisper startled me, her breath warm on my cheek. “What would they do to us, if they caught us?”

Truth time.
“I don’t know. Nothing? Or put us in jail? Keep us here.” I stared at the collection of vehicles set up on the roadway. “If they keep us, though, we won’t make it to Sandpoint. Don’t you want to make sure your grandma’s okay?” But not complete truth. The time wasn’t right to tell her about the calls. She didn’t need more stress added to the dark night.

She stepped in sync with me, slow and steady. I couldn’t imagine the damage the prickly bush did to her shapely legs. I wished I could see them.

Two hundred yards took longer than I’d thought possible. Another fifty yards and I realized we were only a set of four footsteps. I stopped and waited for James and Travis to reach us. I whispered, “Where’s Connie?”

Travis looked around, squinting in the dark. “I thought she’d come up here with you guys. She’s faster than I am, now.” Yeah, I hadn’t wanted to say anything, but she seemed way out of his league. Maybe it was the “change” or maybe she’d married the “older professor”.

“
She’s not with us.” I tried to see out into the dark perimeter, but even my sight couldn’t create light where there wasn’t any.

A scream called from the road block which spread into a chorus of screams made by grown men being attacked by something only heard about in horror movies.

“
Connie!” Travis gasped. He pushed his hand to his throat. “I… I don’t…” He turned from us, his shoulders slumping.

Disgust filled me. She was the smartest one of the group. Travis would work fine on the problem since he was the acting researcher with Dominic, but with Connie’s accelerated brain activity and less need for sleep, losing her was a significant blow to the cause.

And we had lost her. I didn’t eat humans - well, anymore. Any zombie that traveled with us wouldn’t either. We needed Heather and Travis to feel safe. Poor guy had lost his wife more than once in the last couple days.

“
Come on. We can make it to the city, if we jog.” James grabbed Travis’s arm and dragged him behind him. Travis’s reluctance pushed off him in waves.

Heather and I caught up to them in seconds. I snapped my fingers in front of Travis’s eyes. He hadn’t stopped staring in the direction of the chaos. The lights reflected off tears tracking his cheeks. Crying.
Again.
Seriously. “Hey. Focus. She’s gone. You have a job to do. Get to Jackpot. I’ll go back for her.” And I’d kill her ass, if I found her.

He turned from the roadblock and nodded.

James took Heather’s hand in his and helped her over the rough ground. I’d worry about that later. Connie was my first prerogative.

I turned into the dark to round the perimeter of the border and come in at a different angle. The way was much easier to traverse alone than with Heather hanging on me. Less enjoyable, but much easier. I broke into a bouncy jog, over the dark profiles of the low lying bushes.

The ground got lighter as I got closer. I slowed to watch the area.

Something darted between two vehicles. Another scream. The strong scent of blood drenched the night. I stopped and breathed in. Oh, there was a lot of death. The screams stopped.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. Connie’s lips were pulled in a feral snarl, her hand drawn back to punch me. I held up my finger to my lips and pointed toward the area.

We crouched down. I leaned in close. “Do we know who it is?”

She shook her head. “No idea. But there are at least four of them. I led one away from our group earlier, but the screams started in the road block. I was just heading in there to see how I could help.” The firelight reflected in the dark black circles in her eyes, but showed a distinct lack of blood around her mouth. “What are you doing here?”

“
I came to stop… well, I thought it was you doing the attacks.” I lifted my chin. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed anything. If there are three or four, there’s nothing we can do on our own. We need to get Travis and Heather out of here.” I pointed toward the city, sick with the thought. “We need to get to the city before they do. That will be next.”

Connie followed my finger with her gaze. She nodded, defeat pulling at the sides of her mouth. “Are you sure?”

She wasn’t the only one who could hurt. The loss of the humans in the town would be substantial. But I couldn’t help that. “No. But there’s enough of a chance I don’t feel comfortable risking our people. We need to cure this thing or come up with some way to stop it from spreading. We’ll save more lives that way than risking ourselves for a few thousand.” I crab-walked out of the circle of light, further into the shadows.

Connie fell back and did the same. She stood beside me and we fell into a quick jog that ate the distance to our group.

A groan, two and a snarl echoed off the metal behind us. The new zombies would take a little time to scavenge the meat in the area, if there was any, before heading toward town.

We had minutes.

Connie and I almost tripped over James, and the two humans. They’d stopped to rest. I knelt beside Heather. “What’s going on? We have to move.”

“
Connie!” Travis wrapped her in a hug. The first time I’d seen them actually touch.

She held up her hands and smiled at the group over his shoulder. He released her and she nodded. “I wasn’t eating them. There are other zombies up here.”

I glanced over my shoulder and asked again, “What happened?”

Heather held her arm, her honeysuckle scent strong and fresh. She turned her head toward me in the dark, but her expression remained hidden. “I fell and my cut opened again. James was trying not to eat me.”

I saw red and growled. Lowering my shoulders, I rammed into James. We rolled on the ground, rocks and prickles tearing at our backs as we threw punches and clawed at each other’s faces. “You can’t eat her.” I grunted. “She’s the only chance we have to become humans again.” A fist connected with his cheekbone and he stilled. I straddled him, my knees in the dirt on either side and my breath coming in gasps. “We need her. We need you. And zombies are coming this way. Sniff the air. You can smell them.”

And you could. They had a musty, rotten leaf scent, bad breath from empty stomachs.

He took a deep breath and bucked me off him. I rolled to the side and sprang into a crouched position, hands up, ready to fight.

James didn’t even pretend to be ready. He held out his hand to pull Heather up, and looked at me. “I wasn’t going to eat her, dumbass. I needed a second away from her so I could gather my control.”

“
Oh.” I stood. And looked behind him. A shadow moved in the circle of light. I grabbed at Heather’s arm and pulled. “Come on. They’re coming. I think they smell Heather’s blood.”

We moved as fast as our humans’ limitations allowed on the terrain. I felt like a snail caught in airplane glue, going nowhere fast.

Well, I was a jackass. Top notch. I’d jumped to the worst conclusion possible, because I expected the same behavior from myself. I hadn’t only done it once but twice. I grumbled at the group when I was really mad at myself. “We need to move faster.”

Connie grabbed Heather and scooped her onto her back. “Get Travis, you two.” She headed toward the city, the smaller casinos and western style hotels larger than they’d been a few minutes before. We’d made good ground and could carry the humans the last few hundred yards or so to town. We’d have to. Twigs and brush cracked behind us.

James and I tucked under Travis’s arms and picked him up as we ran.

“
That store-bought meat was disgusting.” I breathed, feeling like I had to say something with James’s face no more than two feet from mine.

He grimaced. “I gagged mine down, but I feel like I ate a bowl of Crisco frosting. It was nasty. Just sitting in my stomach. Do you think a steak would have been better?”

We dodged around a large collection of bushes and trees. The girls weren’t far ahead of us. I forced a smile. “I think a walking steak would be best.” Man, not only did a steak sound good, but a baked potato and salad on the side with the ability to taste it. I missed the extras. The salads, milkshakes, chicken parmigiana, garlic bread, the extras.

In the first parking lot, we gathered with Heather and Connie under a neon sign boasting prime rib twenty-four hours a day.
Bastards.
I wanted prime rib. “We need a car.” I motioned to James to put Travis down. We gasped at the release of extra weight. “Food, too.”

An emptier parking lot would be hard to find. We stood together, looking around. The Arby’s lot next door had a few cars, but we needed something with space. A couple hatchbacks weren’t going to do anything for us.

“
Look.” Heather ran toward a Volkswagen van half-hidden behind a large dumpster. I wasn’t the best with German cars, but I recognized classic automobiles and this one had to be late ‘60s or early ‘70s. The red Arby’s lights shined on the white top and green paint. Swirly pink and green curtains covered the rear windows.

Heather knocked on the side door. If I’d been a nine year old girl, I would’ve crossed my fingers. Nobody answered. On tiptoe, she peeked between the split in the curtains. Her smile took my breath away. I’d never felt so euphoric before. And she directed it right at me. “Empty.”

I grinned back. What if I reached out, closed my fingers around her upper arms and pulled her in for a soft, slow kiss? Would she open her lips and kiss me back or would she smack me? I didn’t reply, just stared at her, plans and possibilities rampant in my mind where escape ideas should have ruled.

We stared into each other’s eyes. James cleared his throat. “Do you guys need to get a room? We need to go.”

I clenched my jaw at the lost moment and glared at him. “Thanks. But we’ll take the van instead. You coming?” Older vans had fold-in windows. Most people didn’t lock them. We’d see if this owner was more cautious. At the driver’s side, I squeezed the handle, but no luck. I pushed on the side window corner and sighed when it slid open. I loved predictable people.

We were pressed enough for time I was tempted to break a window.

“
Heather, you have the smallest arms. Can you reach in there and unlock the door?” I had no idea if we were better and moving past our issues or if we were fine because of the necessity to get along, but she did as I asked without prompting.