Contagious (5 page)

Without giving anyone a chance to dispute my plan, I strode forward, bypassing the deli section of the store, which I could smell from several aisles over. Sunlight illuminated the front of the store; its rays not reaching the back. In the dark, we fumbled with dumping boxes of beef jerky, dried fruit and nuts into our cart.

“
Maybe there’s more in the back,” I said, as I took the last box of beef jerky off of the shelf.

“
Maybe,” Deron agreed.

“
We need to find a flashlight first,” I instructed, squinting to read the hanging signs that tell what section we are in. We detoured down the snack food isle; Deron suggested we get chips and cookies for the kids. Chips and cookies weren’t healthy when you weren’t trying to survive.

“
If there’s still room,” I told him. “We need to save room for the important stuff.” When we walked down the personal hygiene section, I pulled toothbrushes off the rack. My teeth felt absolutely disgusting. “Jack pot!” I excitedly exclaimed after seeing a display of batteries. I emptied it into the cart, telling Deron to open a pack to put in the flashlight he had picked up. Feeling we needed the room for food, I only put six packs in the cart. Deron flicked on the light. Logan pushed the cart and I led, staying alert for infected people. We successfully raided the storage room. Our cart was now over flowing with jerky, nuts, yogurt covered raisins, crackers, and cans of fruit and vegetables.

The carts rattled and scuffled along the pavement. We made it out of the parking lot before we noticed him, casually walking down the street. His arms swung at his sides and he appeared overall relaxed, head tipped slightly to enjoy the warm sun. Nevertheless, we halted, jolting our carts to a standstill so abruptly a few cans of peas flew out and rolled away. The noise caught his attention. He dropped down to his hand and knees and screamed.

“
I got it!” I shouted, brandishing my metal rod like a sword. I rushed ahead, waiting for the maniac to cross the street. He jumped up and down, looking like a crazed baboon, screaming. My heart thumped, my breathing quickened. What was he waiting for? Just run across the street like a good insane person and get this over with. His eyes darted all around. Maybe he couldn’t see me? Apart from being a crazed, homicidal lunatic, something looked…off. His skin was pale and had a blue tint. I edged forward another foot. His eyes were void of color.

He leapt up, arms out, coming toward me. I swung the metal, hitting him in the teeth.

“
Keep moving!” I yelled behind me. I hit the crazy over the head one more time before plunging the pointy end into his chest. Using my foot to pry him off my weapon, I turned, and nearly screamed myself. Thick, brown blood oozed out of his wound. The crazy sat up, unfazed and still alive. What the hell? I had stabbed him right in the heart. He couldn’t be alive.

Slowly, he rose and reached out at me. For good measure, I stabbed him in the heart again without success. He didn’t so much as look down at the gaping holes in his chest. Hands shaking, I rammed the rod into his forehead. That did the trick. Instantly, he died, or re-died…whatever you’d call it. I looked at the others across the street and, if possible, panicked even more.

“
Go!” I shouted. Padraic whipped around and shouted. Sonja screamed. Jason pushed his cart forward, breaking into a sprint. “GO!” I shouted again. Logan slowly started forward with our heavy cart. Rooted in fear, I watched them lumber from the parking lot. Moving slowly and groaning, I doubted they could easily catch us.

There was no mistake: Zoe’s monsters had become full-fledged zombies.

I hurried after the group. The loaded carts no doubt slowed them down. I needed to do something. Skidding to a stop, I desperately looked around for something, anything, to use against them. Three cans of peas rolled to a stop in the middle of the road. I dove to get them, chucking the first can as hard as I could into the herd of seven zombies that stalked us. It didn’t even hit one, just exploded in a waste of food on the ground. Actually aiming this time, I threw the second can into the face of a female zombie. It broke her jaw, her bones hanging on limp fragments of skin. She kept moving.

“
Shit,” I swore and blindly threw the last can, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference anyhow. The zombies were gaining speed, catching scent of their prey. We couldn’t outrun them, not with the carts. Sonja’s shouts yanked my attention away from the zombies. Another one limped forward, dragging a broken ankle. My mind raced. I wasn’t about to die at the hands of these creatures. No, not today, not ever. “This way!” I shouted. “Leave the carts!” I darted around an abandoned car, weaving my way over debris to the back of the store. Without checking to see if any of my living companions had followed, I jumped and yanked down the roof access ladder and frantically climbed up.

I startled when Sonja joined me, doubting her ability to move quickly. I pulled her away from the edge just in time for Jason to madly scramble out of the way. Deron plopped down next, followed by Logan. Padraic was last, tumultuously pulling the ladder up away from the grubby hands of the zombies.

“
What…the…fuck?” Jason panted.

“
Zombies,” I breathed.

“
No,” Padraic said, catching his breath. “That’s not possible.”

Jason motioned to the edge of the building. “You wanna tell me
that’s
not possible. What the hell else are they?!”

Below us, the zombies gathered, smacking the sides of the shopping center and moaning. The stench of death was heavy in the crisp, fall air.

“
Can they get up?” Sonja asked, her voice quivering.

“
No,” Logan answered, precariously leaning over the edge. “The ladder is too high. They’d have to jump.”

“
But Orissa was able to get it down.”

“
She jumped,” Logan went on. “I don’t think they are smart enough anymore.”

Deron looked down. “I hope you’re right.”

Looking dismally down, I shook my head. “They came out of nowhere. Sons of bitches are faster than they look.”

“
Yeah,” Sonja agreed. “Aren’t zombies supposed to be slow?”

“
Zombie’s aren’t supposed to be,” Padraic remarked. His blue eyes met mine; he was scared.

“
No,” I agreed. “But they are now.”

“
Orissa,” Jason asked. “What do we do now?”

I shook my head, running my hand through my hair. “I-I don’t know.” I was too fazed by the zombies to think it was weird he was asking me for advice. “Wait. I don’t think they will stay down there forever. Then we get back to the hospital.” As much as I hated being trapped, it was safe.

“
But they
can
wait forever,” Sonja argued. “They’re dead. We’re the ones who can’t wait.”

“
I know,” I said, pacing around. “Ok.” I sat back down. “We wait for now, hope they disperse and create a diversion. That’s all I have for now.”

My plan seemed to go over, since everyone agreed, but it wasn’t like we had a genius back up plan to rely on. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and the zombies still milled about below us. Without the sun it was cold, really freaking cold. We huddled together, deciding to sleep in shifts. There was no way I would be able to fall asleep, no matter how tired I was. Turns out, neither could Jason or Logan. We took the first watch, each taking a direction to gaze blindly at. Somewhere in the hazy dawn of morning, I leaned against an air vent and drifted into a light sleep.

Not even twenty minutes later, I woke up, my heart pounding. Tiredness clung on to me, urging me to close my eyes. Padraic spoke softly to Sonja. Deron walked around the perimeter. Ok, we were safe…for now. I let myself get pulled back under. I woke up again not long after. My brain just wouldn’t let my body relax. For the next two hours I repeated the irritating pattern of barely falling asleep and then startling awake.

This time, I got up. As I stood to stretch, Logan waved me down. Instantly, I dropped. Army crawling over to him, I nonverbally asked what was going on.

“
The zombies are leaving,” he mouthed. I peered over the edge, my heart swelling with joy. They were yards away, moving on to find another source of food. No one dared move a muscle until they were long out of sight.

“
What do we do now?” Sonja asked me.

I turned to Padraic. “Do you have a car? I mean at the hospital?”

“
Yeah I—”

“
Good. Our new plan is to get back. We are not equipped to fight them. I’ll go first, and when I say run, run. Got it?” After being satisfied everyone listened, I climbed down the ladder. Not wanting to make any noise, I jumped the last six feet to the ground, the shock stinging my ankles. After checking to see if the coast was clear, I rounded the corner. “Run!” I loudly whispered. I sprinted forward, leaving everyone else in the dust, passing the carts of food. I leapt over random crap that made the streets a freaking obstacle course.

A lone zombie meandered about with one of his arms missing. I pulled the metal rod from my boot and rammed it through his eye. Instantly he went limp. In the few seconds it took me to kill—or re-kill him— the others caught up. Nodding in approval, Padraic took my hand, encouraging me to go on. I yanked my hand free; it was easier to run with the ability to swing my arms at my sides.

My lungs burned by the time my feet graced the hospital entrance. I put my hands on my knees, gasping for air. I was nearly recovered by the time the others made it in. Once everyone else was able to breathe normally again, we picked our way into the hospital. Adrenaline running, I jumped at every sound, expecting to see a zombie, or worse, a fully mobile, fast-moving crazy person.

But what we found was much, much worse. The heavy metal door had been pried open. A horde of zombies stomped around the safe room and everyone inside lay dead on the floor.

-Chapter 3-

“
No!” Sonja started forward, tears streaming down her face. I shoved her aside, into Jason’s arms, and slammed the door shut. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

“
There has to be twenty zombies in there and who knows what else,” I told her.

“
They could still be alive!” She reached for the door. Jason grabbed her around the waist, pulling her off her feet.

“
Shut up!” I whispered. “They respond to sound.”

“
What do we do?” Padraic asked, his eyes filled with fear. I felt a small twist of pity for him at seeing everyone he tried to save resorted to zombie food.

“
Your car. Where is it?”

“
The garage.”

“
Keys?”

His face went blank for a moment. “Third floor. In my locker.”

“
Was it locked?”

“
Yes,” he answered.

“
Combination or keys?”

“
Combination.”

“
Ok, then, take me there,” I said.

He nodded. My hands shook. I forced a stoic expression and eased away from the door. I had just put one foot on the basement stairs when I heard her call my name.

“
Zoe!” I clamped my hand over my mouth.

“
Orissa!” her weak voice carried through the dark hall. “Help me, Orissa!”

“
Zoe, you need to be quiet!” I called as loudly as I dared. Padraic rushed forward, following her voice. I reached out to grab him, my hand missing the back of his lab coat by only an inch. The crazy person, however, was close enough to grab him around the throat. Having left my only weapon in the broken skull of a zombie, I dropped and spun, kicking the crazy’s legs out from under him. He fell, taking Padraic with him. I hadn’t counted on that.

Padraic scrambled to get away. The crazy snarled and hissed, trying with enraged might to bite into the doctor’s flesh. His cacophonous screams were sure to get the other zombies’ attention. Careful not to miss and nail Padraic in the face, I kicked the back of the crazy’s skull, forgetting that they didn’t react to pain. I needed to kill him before he killed Padraic.

I remembered Nurse End-of-Days’ words. I didn’t want to kill a living person. But my desire for not wanting Padraic, a living, non-crazy person, to die was greater. I tangled my fingers in the crazy’s hair and yanked. He growled, released Padraic and turned on me.

“
Get me something!” I yelled, annoyed no one was helping us. The crazy slunk on all fours, hissing. Misjudging his strength, I tried to counter his jump with my own weight. He slammed into me, whacking me against the wall. My head hit hard, sending black, sharp pain throughout my body. My legs threatened to buckle. The crazy opened his mouth, set on ripping his flat teeth into my flesh. Letting my knees give out was actually a good idea. I slid down the wall, darted in between his legs, got back on my feet and kicked him into the wall in seconds. Padraic outstretched his hand, holding a broken brick. I took it, and, closing my eyes, brought it down on the crazy’s head.

The brick fell out of my grip. It sickened me; the crack of his head, the way he still growled as his blood gushed out. Padraic took my hand and pulled me to him.

“
Are you alright?” he asked, breathing heavily.

“
Yes,” I answered, too worked up to tell him that no, I wasn’t alright you freaking idiot, I just killed someone.

“
Ok, good.”

I heard Logan shout. He and Deron were fighting off zombies. At least their attackers were slow moving. I picked up the brick and ran over, smashing in the skull of one of the zombies. Its blood splattered and I slammed my eyes shut just in time to block out the infectious ooze.

“
There’re too many!” Deron panted.