Contagious (46 page)

“
You gonna get dressed first?”

“
Uh, oh yeah. See you down there, then.”

I imagined Ivan’s quizzical stare. A few horribly slow seconds passed before the door clicked shut. I didn’t move until Hayden told me the coast was clear. Hayden quickly got dressed and said he’d get Ivan to go down to breakfast with him. I waited a few minutes before getting up and doing the same. If Ivan questioned me, I’d say I was in the bathroom.

Raeya was leaving the cafeteria as I entered.

“
Are you just coming down?” she asked.

“
Yeah. I, uh, overslept.”

“
Funny, Hayden said the same thing.”

“
Well, we are roommates, remember. He forgot to set the alarm. Your new clothes look good on you.”

“
Oh, thanks! I wish I had a reason to carry a purse around. I could put my ID tag inside, but we’re supposed to have them in a visible area. Where is your tag?”

“
In my room…I think. Everyone knows me, why wear it?” I asked.

“
It’s a rule, Orissa,” she said as obviously as if telling the sky was blue.

“
So?”

“
It’s meant to keep order and make things easier. You really should wear it.”

“
It’s ugly and lame.”

“
Want a new one? I was thinking about making new IDs. There is too much information on them. It’s hard to read at a distance.”

“
You can do that?”

“
Yeah, there are a lot of office supplies here, surprisingly. You have no idea how much I can laminate,” she said with a smile.

I laughed. “That must excite you.”

“
It does! Is that sad?”

“
No. I think this is a ‘find joy in the little things’ world now.”

“
That is so true. I hate to brush you off but I have a meeting with the other overseers. We have so much planning to do for the extension.”

“
Have fun.”

“
I will!” she exclaimed. With a wave, she walked off. I got a tray and joined the A1s. There wasn’t a seat open next to Hayden. I felt more disappointed about that than I was willing to admit to myself. I sat next to Ivan.

“
Hello, Special Agent Penwell,” he leered.

“
You heard about that?” I stabbed my spoon into the oatmeal.

He laughed. “Yeah. That little A3 has a crush on you.”

“
No, I’m too much of a bitch for him. He has it for Ray.”

“
That makes two of us,” Ivan told me, raising his eyebrows. “She’s still not interested in anyone?”

“
I don’t think so. You could always try talking to her. Oh, you should bring her a porcelain doll. She
loves
them.”

“
She does?”

“
Yep. Can’t get enough. She used to have a huge collection. She’s really heartbroken they got destroyed,” I said seriously.

“
Then I’ll have to get her one. Where do you, uh, find dolls like that?”

“
I have no idea. Ray had a closet addiction to buying things from Amazon.com. She got all her dolls offline.”

“
Damn. I’m gonna find one.”

Hayden, having overheard our conversation laughed. His hazel eyes met mine and that stupid feeling came back, making my stomach flip-flop and not want to eat. I pushed it aside and forced myself to finish breakfast. Training went by fast that day. I had gotten back into shape quickly and was pleased to be able to push myself farther each day. And, seeing the male A1s shirtless and sweaty wasn’t so bad either.

Padraic gave me a little bag with empty vials. They were already marked in his messy, doctor handwriting.

“
Don’t risk your life over this,” he pressed. “We can get samples anytime. I don’t want to lose you, ok?”

“
Ok.”

“
Really, promise me.”

“
I promise,” I said.

“
I mean it.”

“
So do I. Come on, Padraic, want me to pinky promise?”

“
Maybe,” he said with a glint in his eye. “I know how you are, Orissa. You’re strong and you’re brave and sometimes I worry you forget that you are human.”

I shrugged. “I do what I have to do. And I’m not dead yet.”

“
Let’s keep it that way.”

“
I’ll do my best. But remember, if I go down, it’ll be fighting.”

He frowned. “That’s exactly what I mean. It’s not worth it. Not worth your life.
If
you can safely get a sample of blood, then do it. If not, come back here in one piece.”

“
Aye-aye, captain,” I said with a salute. “I’ll see you in a few days.” Before I could leave the lab, Padraic hugged me. It was a crushing hug, the kind that made me very aware of my breasts pressing into his slim yet firm chest. Thankful I had the bag to awkwardly hold, I put one arm around Padraic and patted his back. “Don’t worry about me,” I told him.

“
I’ll always worry about you,” he confessed, slowly letting me go. “That’s all I do when you’re out on missions. Raeya too. Even Sonja, Jason, and Lisa. We still feel like a family, you know.”

“
I do know,” I lied. I made a mental note to spend more time with Sonja and Lisa when I got back.

“
You have no idea how it feels to not know what’s going on with you. The days you are gone are quite horrible for us,” he continued.

“
Way to make me feel guilty,” I said, wrinkling my eyebrows.

“
I didn’t mean to. I wanted you to know that we care. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t worry.”

“
I know. I’m smart, I’m fast, and I’m good. And so is Hayden. We’ll be fine.”

“
I know you will. Now get some rest. Goodnight, Orissa.”

“
Night, Padraic.” I put the bag in Hayden’s truck and dashed in from the cold. Hayden was in bed already. “You feeling alright?” I asked. It wasn’t even seven o’clock in the evening yet.

“
Yeah. I’m fine. Just tired. I couldn’t fall back asleep last night.”

“
Oh, sorry.”

“
It’s not your fault. In fact, you…you made everything better. Thanks.”

“
Of course,” I said, sitting on my bed and taking my boots off. “Want to watch a movie? I can sit by you. Maybe you’ll fall asleep early, which would be good since we are leaving bright and early.”

“
Yeah, if you want.”

I picked out a movie and got in bed next to Hayden. He did fall asleep before it ended. I was hungry, so I snuck out of bed and rooted around in the box of junk food. Slowly, as not to make too much noise, I opened a bag of cheesy popcorn, eating half of it by the time the movie ended.

I padded down the hall to shower and to brush and floss the popcorn from my teeth. Hayden had sprawled out, looking peaceful and comfortable. I got under the cold sheets of my own bed. Somewhere in the middle of the night he had another nightmare. I woke him up again, though this time he didn’t seem so confused.

He smiled right away. “Orissa,” he whispered my name, almost sounding alluring. “Stay with me?”

“
Of course,” I promised and got under the covers.

-Chapter 17-

We set out first thing in the morning. Since we had hopes of bringing a semi full of animals back, we all rode in Hayden’s truck. The vials were stashed in the glovebox. Ivan rode shotgun, annoying Hayden by putting his feet on the dashboard. He was recanting a funny story about strippers in Mexico when we saw them.

A herd of twenty or so zombies blocked the road. With the frozen ground, we easily could have avoided them. Hayden turned, a wicked smiled on his face. We were all thinking the same thing. The zombies, most in the S3 stage, didn’t notice us until we got out of the truck. Ivan yelled ‘go’ and we started firing, shouting out our points as the zombies hit the ground.

Trying to get a higher score, I picked out the S2s. We easily mowed through the herd. No one could agree on fair scores. S3s became S2s and Ivan swore there was an S1 in there that he shot and killed. Brock was ready to drop it and move on but Hayden and Ivan kept bickering about who had the higher score.

“
Give it up, guys,” I said and got back into the truck. “You both know I kicked your ass and will continue to kick your ass. You’re lucky I don’t have a bow and arrow, since that was worth double points.”

“
Teams,” Hayden said. “There has to be a hunting store along the way to get another bow and some arrows. She’s on my team.”

“
That’s not fair,” Brock complained. “Neither of us knows how to use a bow.”

“
Your loss,” Hayden teased. “Find another weapon to use for double points.”

I rubbed my hands together. “Can you turn on the heat? I’m freezing. Thanks,” I said after Hayden turned it on. “Why are we going north in February?”

“
That’s where we were told to go,” Ivan said with causality.

“
We should go south.”

“
We were told to go north,” Ivan reiterated.

“
We should go south. No one would know. And besides, cows in Florida aren’t any different than the cows in Ohio. In fact, they’d probably be healthier since they’ve had more nutrition. See, that settles it. Let’s go south.”

Ivan skeptically looked at Hayden, his eyes saying something I couldn’t interpret. Brock stared straight ahead.

“
Orissa,” Hayden said in a level voice. “We don’t disobey orders.”

“
Technically we won’t be. We were told to bring home animals. No one will even question us on where we got them. It’s not like you can bite into a steak and go ‘mmhh, this tastes like an Indiana raised cow. So much better than those damn Georgia cows’.”

“
That’s true and all, but we were told to go north. So that is where we will go.” Through the rearview mirror, his eyes met mine, silently pleading for me to shut the hell up.

“
Right. North it is then.” We drove nonstop for four hours. Sitting in the back of the truck wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The extended cab offered more legroom than a normal truck would have. After eating, peeing, and a walk to stretch our muscles, we got back inside, arguing over what kind of music to listen to.

Brock didn’t care as long as it wasn’t jazz or classical. Hayden liked his awful country music and Ivan and I wanted hip hop. We tried to use the two-against-one angle, but since this was Hayden’s truck, he reminded us, he got to choose. I also learned that this really was Hayden’s truck. Like it was before the world became overrun with infected cannibals. He had invested a lot of time and money into it, hence the not wanting to mess it up at all. And, though he didn’t admit it, I was sure it reminded him of home and of a time where things weren’t so fucked up.

It was snowing when we stopped somewhere in Missouri late that night. It would have been wise to stop in the daylight, but we were all eager to make good time and get back to the safety and warmth of the compound. Doubting we’d get lucky and randomly find a house with a generator, our next best hope was finding a place like a school or hospital that would for sure have one.

Having been avoiding big cities, we drove through unplowed streets of small towns, the truck slipping on ice every now and then. No one said anything, but we all had to think it: driving a semi full of animals back to the compound seemed like a horrible idea in this weather.

The roads were covered in black ice. The four wheel drive did nothing to help with that. When a small, brick elementary school loomed in the glow of the headlights, Hayden slammed on the breaks, purposely making the truck spin in a circle. Though doing donuts in the empty parking lot was fun, it made me realize that a jump-in-the-car-and-drive-like-the-wind getaway wasn’t possible.

“
We should stay here tonight,” Hayden said, putting the truck in park.

“
We have no idea what’s inside,” Brock rationalized.

“
I’ll go check.”

“
No, you won’t,” Ivan interjected. “It’s too big.”

“
That’s what she said.”

Ivan playfully punched Hayden. “You wish, Underwood. And no. It’s too big of a place to investigate at night when we have no reason to.”

“
I can wear the vest. If any zombies are in there, I can pretend I’m one of them.”

Ivan shook his head. “Underwood, that’s the dumbest thing you could do.”

Hayden grinned. “Obviously you never met my high school girlfriend.”

“
There are no tracks,” I interrupted. “At least none I can see from here. And apart from the snow that’s currently falling, I’d say it hasn’t snowed in awhile. See the top layer? You can tell it melted and froze again. It’s been that way for at least a day, probably two.”

The guys’ eyes settled on me, as if I stated something profound. Then Ivan nodded.

“
Right,” he stated. “No tracks. So nothing’s gone in—or out.”

“
There’s only one way to be sure,” Hayden pointed out. He shut off the truck. We zipped up our coats, cocked our weapons, and left the warm cab, stepping into several inches of snow.

“
I’ve never seen this much snow,” Brock told us, awe in his voice. “I’m from South Texas,” he explained, easing the incredulous looks he was getting.

“
You’d love North Dakota then,” Hayden said under his breath. “We got lots of snow up there.”

“
You know,” Brock said, turning around with his rifle raised. “I always wondered why anyone would live up north. It’s so cold.”

“
I thought the same thing,” Hayden admitted. “I always wanted to move where it was warm. Now, I’d give anything to go back.”