Contagious (36 page)

“
Ok. How?” I could track something through the woods. I looked around at the vast nothingness that threatened to swallow us whole. “They could be anywhere.”

“
And they probably are. Anywhere that’s not here.” He stepped back. “We can canvass the area in a…a ten mile radius. If we don’t see any signs we can call it.”

We didn’t find anything. It was frustrating, knowing that somewhere out there were people. I told Hayden about our days of being gypsies, always on the run. If these people were like us, they were long gone.

And, I reminded him, a campfire can burn for hours. We hadn’t bothered to put out our fires; there was no point. It might do the world a favor if a huge fire broke out and burned some infected bastards.

“
Let’s go. It’s almost dark and we need a place to stay for the night,” I suggested.

“
Alright,” Hayden agreed with a sign and pulled the keys from his pocket.

We didn’t find a safe place before the moon took place of the sun. So we drove to the compound. Hayden called it ‘home’ but I just couldn’t bring myself to call it that. Around two in the morning, Hayden said he could barely keep his eyes open. I offered to drive since I had fallen asleep earlier in our drive.

Hayden stopped the truck, put it in park, and hesitated with his hand on the door handle.

“
Maybe you shouldn’t,” I suggested. It was dark and we didn’t know what was around us. “I can just climb over and you can go under.”

“
Sounds kinky,” he sleepily joked.

“
You wish.”

“
Maybe I do,” he chuckled. I felt that weird, warm feeling in my heart again. I shook my head and forced it away. Without much grace, we switched places. Following the map, I drove us back to the compound.

-Chapter 14-

“
This is the soldier’s quarantine?” I asked, looking around the room.

“
Yeah,” Hayden said, unlacing his combat boots.

“
It’s freaking nice!”

“
It is. Don’t, uh, tell anyone, ok?”

“
Why? ‘Cuz you know it’s majorly unfair?”

“
After going out there and risking our lives, I’d say it’s plenty fair,” he chuckled.

“
Can’t argue with that.” I took my shoes off as well. And my jacket, and my sweater, and the cargo pants I had on over leggings. “It’s so warm in here.” We were in the basement of the estate, in the room across from the weight room. It was large, well lit, and homey. A huge TV was centered against a wall, surrounded by comfy looking couches and armchairs. There was a pool table behind all that, next to the kitchenette. Two beds were pushed against the opposite wall, and there was a full bathroom.

“
Do you want to change? I can go get clothes,” Hayden offered.

“
That would be wonderful. You can leave?”

“
I can run upstairs and come back.”

“
Then yes. I want my pajamas,” I informed him.

“
Me too. I’ll be right back. You can take the first shower then.”

And I did. The water stayed warm for way longer than ten minutes. The Bs and Cs might be stuck in dungeon-like rooms but at least they got warm water. And a heater. I stretched out on the couch, enjoying the warmth. I was so freaking sick of being cold.

Hayden joined me, his skin red and hot from taking a hot shower. He put a pillow against me and rested his head on it, closing his eyes and sighing.

“
What’s wrong?” I asked.

“
Nothing,” he lied.

“
It’s those people, isn’t it?”

“
What people?”

“
The ones who built the fire in Texas. You’re thinking about them.”

“
Yeah,” he admitted and opened his eyes. “I feel guilty for not finding them.”

“
Why? It’s not your fault they wandered away.”

“
We should have looked longer.”

“
We needed to get back,” I reminded him.

“
One more day wouldn’t have hurt anything.”

“
Hayden, you can’t feel bad about not rescuing everyone in the world. There are how many people here because of you?”

“
You’re right,” he said, not sounding convinced. We watched a movie, ate a bland meal of rice and beans, and retired to the couch. Hayden pointed to a blinking light on the ceiling and told me that it was a camera. Someone would occasionally glance at it and make sure we weren’t going crazy.

We played cards, watched another movie, talked about our messed up childhoods some more and eventually fell asleep. When Fuller came in to talk to us the next day, I was surprised at how fast the twenty-four hours had gone.

While Hayden filled Fuller in on the details of our mission, I went to find Raeya. She was in her room, refolding the new clothes she got—thanks to me. Upon seeing my face, she dropped a sweater and ran over, her arms flying around me.

“
Ohmigod, Rissy!” She squeezed me tight. “I was so worried! When I saw those other two soldiers you left with come back without you…I thought something terrible happened.”

I hugged her back. “You should know it takes more than zombies to stop me.”

“
How was it? The mission I mean.” We sat on her bed while I recanted the story, leaving out the part about finding traces of human existence in the lone star state. “Oh!” she exclaimed as soon as I shut up. “I got my ranking!”

“
Ranking?”

She shook her head. “From the tests.”

“
Oh, oh yeah. What did you get?”

“
I,” she said proudly, “am an overseer!”

“
Really? That’s great! Congrats, Ray!”

“
Thanks. I suggested they redo the test. It just plain sucks.”

“
You would suggest that,” I said with a slight giggle.

“
Anyway, I’m helping reorganize a lot of stuff. Oh, and Jason is an A3.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah. Sonja’s not happy about it. Though, I don’t think she has to worry. A3s don’t go anywhere, do they?”

“
I don’t think so. From what I got in training, they have the chance to move up to an A2 and eventually an A1 but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

Someone knocked on the door. Raeya got up to open it. A familiar pair of blue eyes widened in delight.

“
You’re back,” Padraic said with a smile. He strode in and hugged me. “How was your first mission?”

“
Not too bad. We got everything we needed.” I hugged him back, happy to see him again.

“
What’s it like out there?”

“
It hasn’t changed in the few weeks we’ve been here,” I said with an equivocal half smile. “I blew up a building.”

“
Seriously?”

“
Yeah. It was awesome.”

“
Nice, I guess. Are you going out on any other missions?” he asked apprehensively.

“
I’m sure I will. That’s the point of being an A1, remember? I’d like to go to Florida. I’m sick of the cold.”

“
Oh, if you go I’m coming,” Raeya told me. “Can we go to Mexico?”

“
That’s where Hayden’s going as soon as this is over,” I said with a laugh. “We have this plan to find a yacht and live safe and sound in the ocean. Zombies can’t swim, ya know.”

“
Ohmigod,” Raeya exclaimed. “What the hell is wrong with us? Why haven’t we all packed up and gone to Hawaii? Why are we
here
when we could be there?”

“
It’s not that easy, Ray,” Padraic said, not understanding Raeya’s sense of sarcasm. And since when did she let him call her by her nickname? He sat next to me, wanting to be all chatty and social.

“
How’s Ivan?” I asked suddenly.

“
Ivan…oh, his ankle is sprained. He’ll be fine in a week or two. It’s not a bad sprain at all,” Padraic responded.

“
Oh, good.” I stood up. “I’m gonna find Argos. I miss that dog.”

“
I’ll come with ya,” Padraic offered. I had gotten used to his company and didn’t mind him tagging along—as long as he didn’t try to kiss me or hold my hand or any of that stupid middle school romance crap.

There was about an acre fenced in outside for the dogs to roam in. The bigger dogs seemed to like the space and weren’t bothered by the cold, so they stayed out for as long as they liked. The dogs all belonged to people at the compound and lived with them just as they did before zombies roamed the earth.

“
Why do you think people brought their dogs?” I wondered out loud, looking at a small toy poodle.

“
You know people love their pets,” Padraic supplied. “And, I was told, dogs are able to sense the infected people. Even that little thing over there,” he said, pointing to a Chihuahua. “Its owners told me that he basically saved their lives.”

“
That thing? He’s a sad excuse for a dog. He’s wearing a sweater.”

“
Maybe, but he alerted them to the zombies lurking about their house at night. Gave them enough time to get away.”

“
I guess.” I picked up a tennis ball and threw it.

“
Argos missed you.”

“
He did?” I asked, my heart almost hurting for the poor dog.

“
Yeah. He looked around whining, thinking you’d be coming to see him.”

“
You come out here and play with him?”

“
Every day. Well, not out here, but when they are inside.”

“
Oh.” I had no idea. “Uh, thanks.”

“
You don’t have to thank me. I like that dog. He’s saved us many times.”

“
He has.”

We played with the Doberman for awhile longer before going back inside. I spent the rest of the day with my old gang. Sonja was happy she was assigned to taking care of the young children because that meant she got to be with Lisa. Raeya and I snickered behind Lauren’s back at her job as dishwasher.

Lauren had found herself a new group to be with, which was more than fine with us. Sonja, Jason, Raeya, Padraic, Lisa, and I sat together at dinner. When I saw Hayden come in, my face lit up and I waved him over. He said something to the soldiers he was with, grabbed a tray and joined us. Sonja blushed when she caught his eye.

Jason drilled us about our mission. He was convinced he’d go up in the ranks from A3 to A1 quickly. Hayden bragged about how many zombies we killed, joked about being a better marksman than me, and told everyone how awesome blowing up the building was—and that we narrowly avoided getting blown up as well. I wasn’t in the social mood anymore so after dinner I went up to our room. Hayden said he’d be up in awhile. I showered, watched an entire movie, and put away my new clothes. He still hadn’t come up. I was tired, though I had hoped to wait up for him. I crawled under my covers; it was so cold in here they did little good.

Only a few minutes later the door slowly opened. I pretended to be asleep, listening to Hayden quietly strip out of his clothes and into a pair of sweat pants and a long sleeve T-shirt.

“
Riss?” he asked quietly. “You asleep?”

“
Not anymore.”

“
Oh, sorry.”

“
It’s ok. I can’t sleep when I’m shivering.”

“
Here,” he whispered. I heard a swoosh of material. “This should help.”

“
You’ll be freezing,” I said when he put his blanket over me.

“
No I won’t,” he insisted.

“
Yes you will. Take it back.”

“
Nope.” He sat on the edge of my bed, sticking his cold feet under the covers. “Scoot over.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. He tucked the blankets around us, telling me that since our room was at the end of the hall and had two windows instead of one like everyone else’s, we had the coldest room. He was playing video games with Ivan and Brock in their room before and, while it was still cold, it wasn’t as cold as ours. That, of course, justified him getting in bed with me.

I liked the physical warmth. There was no denying that I was meeting a rudimentary basic need. There was something else I liked. Maybe the comfort I felt with him holding me. It was frivolous to think about things like that in a world like this. Still, I put my hand over his and closed my eyes.

The alarm was most unwelcoming. Since it was on Hayden’s nightstand, he got out of bed first to turn it off. He had to coax me out of bed and into the workout room. I grumbled the whole time about not understanding why we had to get up so early. I didn’t see how an extra hour of sleep would hurt anything. We just had the usual cardio and strength training today followed by a training session with the A3s. Jason smiled and waved like an excited school girl when he saw Hayden and me.

My muscles were a little sore; Fuller had devised a workout plan for me that was more intense than anything I’d done before. I sat around talking to the only other female A1s: Jessica and Gabby. Jessica was several years older than me and had lost her husband and son in the initial outbreak. She served a tour overseas in the Army and had been a cop. Gabby was young, also Army, following the footsteps of her father. Both of her parents were at the compound; her father worked closely with Fuller running the place.

Jessica had lost the two people she loved most in this world. She was a shell of her old self, quiet and broken. It was upsetting to be around her. I only stayed long enough to be polite, which was something I didn’t normally do. I was really trying to make an effort to be a better person. Raeya was busy doing her overseer job and Hayden had disappeared with Fuller.