Controlling the Dead (27 page)

“You made it!” Leila yells, rushing to Mya. It makes me happy. Mago gives me one of his rare smiles.

“Best part, no casualties. They’re quite comfortable with their fake sense of safety.” Everyone congratulates us and I introduce them to Mya. I yawn and wave the map. “I have a pretty good map of the compound, and Mya knows the rest.”

Reece takes it, looking it over. Nastas and Sander peek over his shoulder. I flinch when someone grabs my sore arm.

Rudy loosens his grip. “Sorry. Are you hurt?”

I shake my head. “Just held someone in a headlock for a bit.” His lips tip up as he rubs the soreness.

“We’ll make some concrete plans in the morning, but it’s good to get a peek now,” Nastas says. They gather around the map.

Everyone else jumps the gun and starts throwing up tents now that they know they are mostly safe from famished because of Mya. Climbing into the truck, I grab a pillow and pass out.

*

Someone shakes me. When I open one eye, Rudy tries to hide his amusement. “You’re drooling on my pillow.” He holds up a fingertip covered in my saliva before wiping it on his jeans.

“Sorry,” I stammer, wiping my hand across my mouth. It’s still dark out. “How long was I asleep?”

“You’ve only been sleeping an hour, but Gwen cooked while you were gone.” He holds up a cup. “Vegetable soup. Just for you. Canned, but it’s good.”

“Thanks,” I say taking a sip. “Mmmm. It’s hot.” I watch Rudy as he plugs in a little heater, turning it on the lowest setting.

“Can’t leave this on for too long.”

I agree with him and pull out the leaflet, holding out it to him, “Your reputation is holding up swell.” His eyes widen and then he smiles. Flipping page by page, I know when he gets to Gray because his face hardens.

“Yours is, too.” He studies the front, his eyes skimming back and forth, and he cocks a brow. “Government?”

“I guess that’s what they are telling themselves.” I relate my brief conversation with Ashley.

“You were way too young to have a mug shot.” He smiles at the picture. I throw a pillow at him. It bounces off his head.

I sigh. “I was young and dumb once.”

“You mean you’re not now?”

I grin. “Okay really young and really dumb.” I blow out a breath. “I was arrested for trying to change a grade. Malachi’s grade. They never found out what I changed, but they knew I was there. Traced it back to me. They thought I had changed my own grade as if I’d go through the trouble,” I scoff. “My teachers confirmed that I hadn’t while I claimed to do it just to see if I could.”

He thinks about this for a long moment. “Lucky guy.”

“He didn’t know I did it for him until he got his grades and his GPA was still a 4.0. By then, I had already gotten off. Not gotten off, but my dad pulled as many strings as he could and I had to do stints of community service. I was extremely lucky to have it written off. When Malachi found out, he was going to turn himself in, but I talked him out of it. He was furious at me for a long time. But somehow the revolutionists know about it, hence the mug shot. I don’t know why they used that one. There’s another one floating around.” Rudy’s eyebrows shoot to his forehead. “A year later, I took Malachi’s truck as a prank while he was in class one day. He thought it was really stolen. Truthfully, I thought he would call me first, not the police.” I laugh and shrug. “Needless to say, my days of pranking were over. Especially after paying to have all of his ignition wires put back.”

Malachi deserved it after constantly pranking me with small things.

He frowns. “Bet you didn’t think stealing cars and hacking into computers would have gotten you into this mess.”

“No. I did not,” I say in a small voice. “Look at your picture. You look like you’re ready to kill someone.”

“Of course I was pissed. They threw me in a cage for quarantine after fighting off some guys manhandling Michelle. Remember the little girl who took care of Dex?” I nod. “It was a mess. For days, I put up with some fucked up shit. You really don’t want to know the details of being up close when someone turns and seeing it over and over. Keeps me up at night sometimes. And the smell of burning bodies…” This is true, from what I’ve gathered about him, he doesn’t go near a fire when it’s burning zombie corpses. “This was after a grueling trip there with Julie and the few others we picked up along the way.”

My face pinches. “I can only imagine how Julie was when everything first went down. Understandable.”

“You have no idea, Darlin’.” We laugh, but he calms his tone, searching my face.

Grabbing the pillow again, I lie back down fully clothed. Just in case. It was too easy to get Mya, and guilt hounds me knowing Ashley and Bryce wait, bound and gagged. Not to mention, the girl in the bathroom. I voice all of this to Rudy, who agrees with my assessment. I have an icky feeling.

*

The next morning I wake up and my eyes are stuck together, but after rubbing out crust, I blink them open. My nose is icy from breathing the chilly air, but my body is warm from its entanglement with Rudy.

I smile at him because he takes up the entire space, leaving me in a ball beside him. It’s really hard for him not to. His stubble is days old with his hair tossed about. The serenity on his face is something I like seeing as his thick lashes shadow the top of his cheeks.

He opens his eyes and catches me watching him. Smiling, his arm tightens around me.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“For what?” he asks, searching my eyes for any hints.

“For being patient with me. It means a lot.” The dream of him turning rushes through my mind. “Don’t…” I can’t even say it.

Somehow, he knows. “I’m not going anywhere.” He grins. “You were right.”

“I’m always right, but for clarification purposes, what am I right about this time?” We both laugh.

“These people are my family. You are, too.”

The doors open and sun streams in. “Okay, you two. I have two words for you,” Reece says when he climbs in with Glinda right behind him. “Wake and bake.” He grins. His goatee is freshly braided and the sun bounces off his colorful head.

“That’s three words,” I say, no longer whispering.

His head moves back and forth as if he’s counting. “Two
important
words,” he emphasizes. Rudy laughs and it’s rich with sleep.

“Go right ahead.” I grab a jug of water. “Any change of plans?”

Reece shakes his head and glances at Rudy. “Nah, we don’t want to get there until dawn. Mya says that’ll be the best time.” He takes a drag off his joint and passes it to Glinda.

“We’re going to be outnumbered,” I say, throwing in some logic. No matter how long and much we plan, it’s not enough.

Glinda scoffs. Reece says, “Not when we have a Voodoo king, two zombie queens, and one immune.”

“I’m not immune,” I disagree, taking the joint away from Glinda. I think about the rogue at the fence, deciding not to mention it.

“Might as well be.” Rudy sits up, tying his white bandana on top of his bed hair. I pass him the weed.

“It doesn’t help you guys any.” I dig in Rudy’s bag for a brush and pull off his bandana. He raises his eyebrows and moves so I can brush his hair.

“I’m not worried, Suga. We got this,” Glinda says, watching our every move. Reece is, too. He doesn’t even notice Rudy hogging the joint. I think they have a lot to worry about since we’ve decided to only blow up any labs we find. After scouring them, of course.

Rudy exhales, “I think we’ve taken the extra precautions, but you’re right to worry about it. We’ll get whoever we can, even if we have to drive to Arizona riding on top of one another.”

“You’re planning to go to Arizona?” I brush through the tangles, and the sun makes his hair shine with golden honey-brown colors.

He takes a minute to answer. “To get the survivors there, yes.” Rudy’s deep voice vibrates through his scalp. Glinda tries to hide a smile.

“What are you smiling for?” I ask Glinda, letting go of Rudy’s hair.

She grins wider. “Nothin’ Suga, I think it’s funny, yew brush Rudy doll’s hair, but not yer own.” She takes a deep puff of smoke and hands it to me.

Rudy ties his bandana on and grins at me, too. Exhaling smoke, I roll my eyes at them and toss the brush in his bag. “Is there any of that veggie soup left?” I smack my lips. Everyone laughs.

*

My buzz makes the rest of the day a peaceful one instead of an anxious one. Rudy shows everyone the leaflet I acquired, and just like us, the team dismisses it as a scare tactic. Rudy and I are the butt of everyone’s jokes because of our outdated pictures. I take a long nap after I eat and wake up to a bored Glinda wanting to paint my fingernails.

“You brought nail polish?” I ask, watching her dig through what I deemed the bag of torture. She brings out the metal pointy thing used to push cuticles back, and her pink lips smile at me.

“I gots my priorities,” she says, checking out my nails. “Yer cuticles are nasty!”

I sigh. My nails are long, but I chew and pick at my cuticles. “At least I don’t bite my nails.”

She scoffs, buffing out some ridges. “Yer nails don’t mean shit, if yer cuticles are all roughed up and bleedin’.”

I shrug, watching as she buffs, bases, and paints them a lavender color. “I don’t know why you’re even going through the trouble. I’m going to chip it away.”

“Betta that, than yer skin. Anyways, yew used to paint ‘em.” She’s right. She knows this because you can clearly see my nails holding up my case number in the mug shot. She’s smart and doesn’t say anything about my picture perfect hair. I was a vain person then. A lot has certainly changed.

“I didn’t like Mac cause he killed my husband.”

My body tenses from the shock of her words. “I’m sorry.”

She sniffs and continues with my nails. “Don’t be. Took me a long time to realize he did it out of mercy. My husband, Justin, was in a bad way. All messed up with some kinda infection.” She looks at me now with seriousness. “I didn’t know whut to do. So I hid him and tried to take care of him the best I could.” Peering at what she is doing, she keeps going, “I couldn’t kill him, but he was sufferin’. Sufferin’ so bad, Suga.”

I don’t know what to say. I know how she feels.

“Anyways, I neva got to thank Mac for that. He shot him up with some drugs, and he went to sleep forever. No more pain.”

Sam and Ty walk by the truck and when they see me at Glinda’s mercy, they burst into laughter, unknowing of our conversation. I shoot them the bird. Glinda snatches my hand back. This brings another round of laughter. “Ha ha!” I mock.

*

We leave sometime deep into the night. I ride in a car with a few members of the team. Sam. Thomas. Even though he can be a major prick, he will watch my back. Last, but not least, Sander. He insisted, I think just to watch me doing my thing. Everyone else takes one vehicle each, leaving behind Rudy’s truck for Leila, who has stayed with Ariella.

Rudy is with Julie, Maddie, and Bunyan. They are getting out survivors and searching for Jonathan. Mya told us she doesn’t know him, but if he is there, then he’ll be in the singles dorm. Doesn’t matter he’s already married, but I hope he hasn’t already impregnated someone else.

Mago and Mya won’t be going in, but they’ll be close. Reece, Glinda, and Ty are working in the girls dorm. Felix, Nastas, Nita, Gwen, and Kale are going to the independent housing. Nita is more concerned with children than anything else. I told them about the couple I had tied up, but more than likely they are already loose and the whole compound knows we are coming. I hope Bryce and Ashley listened and believed me. I honestly don’t know if I would in their situation.

The plan is everyone else is going in first. Diversion. Mya tells me exactly where to go. I try not to worry about anyone because Mac was very thorough in teaching them hand-to-hand combat. If all else fails, they have guns. A tear escapes and I wipe it away.

Sander glances at me through the darkness. “Everything will work out, chingona. You’ll see, we’ll be in Arizona in no time.”

“I’ve never been to Arizona. It’s probably hot and dry.”

He laughs. “It is, it varies. The temperatures seem hotter because it’s dry.”

I grin. “Good thing I like it hot. I hate the cold.” Looking out the window now, I squeeze my jacket tighter. “What about you Sam? Willing to relocate, even though Guido didn’t say he’d kill you?”

He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter to me. Ty will go, if anything to get Felicia.” Felicia is Ty’s girlfriend. “I think they’ll leave.”

Sander’s brow scrunches in confusion. “You’re basing your answer on whether your amigo goes or not?”

“No, I’ve been talking to him about it. He doesn’t know if Felicia would want to. She has family at the community,” he explains.

“I’m going to get those people out, Samaru, right after I put a bullet in Guido’s skull.” I say with absolute determination. Stuffing down the anger, I’ll have plenty of time to think about it, but right now, I need to focus on this mission. Through the darkness, his septum ring flashes in the lights from the dashboard. My words hang in the air, in our silence, for the rest of the drive.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-
E
IGHT

We wait an hour at the car before we set on the quickest path to our destination on foot. Going through the throng of zombies unnerves us all, but I have to hand it to the guys—they don’t flinch or say anything. It’s not so bad now I’m not alone in it. We have another hour before Mya lets the zombies loose. When we get close, my stomach sinks at the nonstop gunfire. The compound knows we’re here. We easily scale a fence near the building. No one is around, but the smell of gunpowder is strong. We covertly make our way around to the back door Mya instructed us to go to. It’s locked with a keypad for a code.

“Mya didn’t say anything about a keypad. I don’t have any tools,” I whisper, studying the solid door, with a vertical panel of glass.