Contagious (41 page)

While the others were sleeping, Hayden and I walked around the house. The sun was shining this morning and the temperature had to be around fifty degrees. Birds chirped loudly, making this place seem almost beautiful. I expected to feel awkward around Hayden, knowing what I did.

But I didn’t. We talked and laughed like normal. I traded my rifle for my bow and arrows, thinking I’d shoot a squirrel or rabbit if I got the chance. A large quiver had been rigged up for me out of a backpack that was able to hold three times as many arrows as normal.

I passed the bow to Hayden. “Want to practice?”

“
Sure.” His fingers brushed mine as he took the bow. I refused to let myself feel anything. “What should I hit?”

“
Hmm,” I said, turning around. “How about there,” I pointed, “at that big, whitish tree.”

“
Alright.” Hayden pulled back the arrow, released, and missed. I was busy watching his stance and posture.

“
You need to drop your shoulder. It should help with your accuracy.” I took my jacket off, dropping it off the ground. “Watch,” I said, taking the bow from him. “See how my shoulders are?” I hit the tree dead on.

“
Show off,” Hayden said. I slung the bow over my shoulder and walked forward to retrieve the arrow. Hayden had to yank it out of the tree for me. “Orissa,” he began, putting the arrow in the quiver. Something washed over me. But it wasn’t dread. It was…anxiety.

“
Hayden,” I said with a slight smile.

“
There’s something I want to tell you.”

I stepped closer to him, the smile growing.

“
There’s a zombie behind you!” He grabbed me, pulling me out of the way. A zombie with an arrow sticking out of its chest rushed at me. Hayden drew his gun and shot it in the head.

“
That’s what you wanted to tell me?” I asked, almost furious.

“
No, but you should know there are more.” He took a step back. “Run. Go warn the others.”

“
And leave you? No way.” I pulled an arrow and planted it in the head of a zombie. “Shit, there’s so many!” In horror, Hayden and I watched a herd come into view from inside the forest. Hayden emptied his clip. Rider came racing out, having heard the shots.

“
Holy shit!” he swore. “We have to get the civilians out of here.”

“
Yes, go!” Hayden yelled. The zombies swarmed at us. He grabbed my hand and sprinted to the house. There was a mad scrambling to gather up stuff. Hayden ordered to leave it so we could book it to the cars before the zombies got any closer. We had always banked on being able to get to our getaway ride. And we always had, closing in on a second too late.

But not today. Today we were too late. A crowd of zombies blocked us from our cars.

-Chapter 16-

Everyone stood frozen on the covered porch. We could make a run for it, a run for it in the woods that no one knew their way about. I wasn’t going to die by their hands. And I wasn’t going to let Hayden die either.

“
Cover me,” I told Hayden.

“
What? No!”

“
See that tree? I’m gonna climb it.”

“
Climb it, no!”

“
You have a better idea?” I desperately pleaded.

“
Yes! Gun them down!”

“
There are too many.”

“
We have plenty of ammo,” he said quickly.

“
We won’t always,” I said harshly. Hayden was wasting time arguing with me. “I’m going. Cover me.”

“
Ok, Tarzan, what will climbing the tree accomplish?”

“
A distraction. You were right—there are people left. The world isn’t hopeless. Get in the cars. Drive. I’ll-I’ll find you.” I put my hands on his waist, unclipping the walkie-talkie from his belt. “Now!”

Hayden shouted for the other soldiers to cover me. I leapt off the porch, ignoring the painful shock my ankles absorbed, my lungs already working overtime as I sprinted to my chosen tree. A well fed zombie ran at me, arms stretched and mouth open.

I pulled the knife from my belt, throwing it into its skull. A second later I whirled around, my foot landing in the center of the chest of an S3. It crumpled backward, tipping and falling. Ooze and puss splattered out. I got to the tree, madly pulling myself up. It had been years since I climbed a tree. Hoping it was like riding a bike and would come back to me, I was reminded of how hard it was on one’s hands. I was four feet up, not nearly high enough to be safe from the zombies. I kicked one hard in the head; the effect was similar to kicking a rotten pumpkin.

I scrambled up another branch, finally daring to look at the porch. Everyone was still there; the boys were hitting zombies, decreasing the numbers just slightly.

“
Hey, you pieces of shit!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, praying that would be enough. I didn’t feel like singing and almost bleeding to death again. I hooked my leg around a fat branch and leaned on the trunk, pulling my bow off my shoulder. I fired an arrow into the skull of a child zombie. “Up here!” I screamed. “Free food, come and get it!”

I gained a few more zombies’ attention. Damn it, it wasn’t working. I smacked the tree, watching the zombies close in on the porch. Hayden held his arm out defensively, in front of everyone, ready to go down fighting.

I wasn’t going to let him. With more care this time, I used the point of an arrow to slice open my index finger. I milked the blood out, shouting. The first drops hit the ground. A female S2 dove at it, licking it off the ground. I smeared the blood all over an arrow and shot it below me. That got everyone’s attention.

“
Go!” I shouted to Hayden. “Get them out of here!” I used the rest of my arrows, kind of pissed I wouldn’t get them back. Engines roared to life. The van and the SUV peeled out of the gravel drive. Hayden’s truck slowly drove forward.

Then he made a sharp turn. He revved the engine once and floored it, running into the pile of zombies that desperately reached at me. He reversed and ran over them again. Blood crusted zombie hands slapped the truck.

My plan was to jump into the tree next to me. On the ground, it seemed like a good, fool-proof idea. Up here, the ground seemed a long way down. I put the bow over my shoulder and across my chest, slowly moving away from the trunk.
Here goes nothing,
I thought and jumped. The branch snapped. The flesh on my hands tore as I slid down. My face caught the fat, gnarly branch. Blood instantly gushed from my nose but I wasn’t falling anymore.

Any hope of Hayden distracting the zombies died. The steady dripping of blood from my face brought them back to me. I was still twelve feet or so in the air. With one hand over my nose, I scrambled down another set of branches. The truck came to a stop under me. Then it rolled back, running over a zombie. And then forward, stopping.

I knew what Hayden was hoping for. I swung my legs over a branch and jumped. I landed hard on the roof of the truck. I pushed myself into the bed and hit the back window. Hayden floored it again and took off, leaving the zombies in a trail of dust. I removed the bow from around me and collapsed against the cold liner.

Worried about me, he stopped before we were far enough away. Leaving the truck running and his door open, Hayden flew out and jumped in the bed. One arm went around me, pulling me to his chest. The other gently tipped my head up.

“
I’m ok,” I assured him, spitting out blood.

“
Yeah, you look ok,” he joked. His smile was genuine and his voice was calm but his hands shook. “I’ll get a towel or something.”

I leaned against my shopping bags, not caring if I got blood on the new clothes. My heart was hammering and my nerves were alive with electricity, in an odd state of shock that I wasn’t dead. Hayden gave me a clean rag to hold to my face. I didn’t know the proper procedure for taking care of a nose bleed. I only had two in my life—one from a dodgeball incident in middle school and the other when Mindy Croswell punched me in the tenth grade. In her defense, I provoked her. I couldn’t even remember why anymore.

Hayden sat behind me, stationing me between his legs. I let my body fall back against his and I could feel how fast his heart was still beating.

“
Lean forward,” he said. “You won’t get blood in your mouth then.”

“
Ok,” I said, my voice sounding funny. Grimacing, I pinched my nose to try to stop the bleeding.

“
Is it broken?” he asked.

“
I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“
Good.” His arms tightened around me and his lips brushed my neck when I made a strangled noise of surprise and pointed.

The herd of zombies had caught up. Hayden jumped up, extending his hand for me. A little weak, I stood. He helped me over the side. The walkie talkie got caught and flew off my belt. I dove for it.

“
Forget about it!” Hayden yelled. My fingers closed around it when he landed on me. I didn’t see him coming. I didn’t even know where he came from. If I was a screamer, now would have been a good time to scream.

Half of the zombie’s face had been burned. Blackened bones were exposed, teeth, not hidden behind lips, bit at the air. The wind had been knocked out of me and my nose still bled. Covered in my own blood, my hands slipped off his rotten face as I tried to push him off.

This is it
, I thought. After all I’d been through, I didn’t see getting out of this. The zombies were surrounding us. If Hayden had any sense, he’d leave.

The shot rang out and brains splattered my face. Hayden’s hand reached for mine. My fingers laced with his just as a festering row of teeth clamped down on his skin. I punched it in the side of the head. I sprang up, kicked it off of Hayden and fell into his arms, tripping over a zombie. Hayden managed to shoot another and we scrambled into the truck, both entering through the driver’s side door.

We didn’t speak; Hayden just drove. I already felt nauseous from swallowing my own blood. Seeing the bloody teeth marks in Hayden’s arm was too much.

“
Stop,” I said. Without questioning me, Hayden slammed on the breaks. “Let me see it.” My voice came out hoarse and weak.

“
It’s ok,” he reminded me. “I’m immune, remember?”

“
Then why do you look so freaked out?” With shaky hands, I took his left arm, pushing his sleeve up. “Where’s the first aid kit? Even if you don’t get the virus, this can still get infected with a whole bunch of horrible things.”

“
It can wait. You’re still bleeding.”

“
My nose is fine. You can’t do anything for nosebleeds but wait till they stop anyway.” I got the first aid kit from the back. I went around the truck and opened Hayden’s door. He held his arm out as I poured peroxide on the cut. He didn’t so much as wince and I knew that hurt like a bitch.

He was scared. Scared that the virus had mutated and he was at risk for getting infected. I wrapped a piece of gauze around his forearm and pulled the sleeve back down. I looked into his eyes.

“
No one will know about this. Not until twenty-four hours have passed, ok?”

“
Riss—”

“
No. I don’t want anyone thinking that you’re infected or might become infected. They might do something stupid.”

“
They should know. What if I—”

“
No! I know. I’ll handle it.” I moved closer. “Hayden, no. This never happened!”

“
If you suspect
anything
, you have to shoot me.”

“
I will,” I promised.

“
I believe you. Thanks.” He slid out of the seat. His arms went around me and mine went around him. The distant roar of a car drove us apart. Rider stopped next to us, horror and worry taking over his face as he took in the sight of me. Catching a glimpse of my reflection in the side mirror, I could see why.

Blood had dripped down my face, all over the front of my shirt, mixing with zombie splatter. Hayden picked a chunk of something from my arm. The skin on my palms had suffered horrible tree-burn; I flinched when I wiped the blood on my jeans.

"Jesus Christ," Rider whispered and got out of the truck. "I want to ask if you guys are alright but I think I know the answer to that."

"It's worse than it looks," Hayden assured him.

Rider looked me up and down. "You're kinda amazing, you know."

"Thanks," I said. My stomach flip flopped from the taste of blood. Afraid I was going to puke, I walked to the other side of the truck. I listened to Hayden and Rider's plan of going straight back to the shelter since we had six people and I was injured. Cold, I got back in and turned the heat on, my hands hurting when I moved them.

"We're gonna find a clearing," Hayden informed me when he took his seat. "Then I will take care of you."

"Thanks," I said.

"Really?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

He smiled. "I expected you to protest."

I shrugged. "Meh. I've done my share." And I was tired and sore and scared. And...it would be nice to have someone take care of me.

Hayden put his hand on my leg. "Rider was right; you are amazing."

By the time we reached a clearing, my fresh cuts were nearly scabbed over. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, holding out my hands for Hayden to clean. He had to break open the dried blood to disinfect my cuts and scrapes.

“
Did you touch that S2 with your hands?” he asked as he picked out pieces of bark.

“
No, I fought him solely with my feet.”

“
Orissa, this is serious. Did you touch him?”

“
Yes. I kept my hands closed though.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes. But I mean, I suppose it’s possible…” I trailed off.