Deathly Contagious (44 page)

“It what?” Rider asked, his grip on his M16 tightening.

I nodded. “It threw a rock, like he was trying to disable me.”

Brock shook his head. “I don’t like how the crazies are getting smarter.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yea. It’s like they are evolving.” I picked up my rifle and went over to the crazy to yank the arrow from its dead body. Something stringy got caught on the head of the arrow as I pulled it up; it stretched and eventually snapped, sending little bits of blood to splatter on my arm. I flicked off the goo, wiped the arrow the best I could in the grass and put it back in the quiver.

“I don’t like it here,” Rider observed as he looked through the trees. “There are too many places for them to hide. If the woods aren’t bad enough, we have all these abandoned campers to worry about.”

“Let’s get back to camp and go,” Brock suggested. “If everyone is too tired to drive we should at least get to a clearing so we won’t get snuck up on…again.”

“Yea, let’s,” I agreed. Brock led the way and Rider and I brought up the rear with Addison safely sandwiched in between. Everyone back at the camp was on edge waiting for our return, having all heard the scream.

I was pondering the effectiveness of screaming as a defense mechanism when Hayden rushed over to me.

“You’re bleeding…again,” he said and gently wiped away a drip of blood from my forehead. “Do you ever wonder how much total blood loss we’ve had? Both of us have almost bled to death.”

I smiled and set the rifle down on the picnic table. “You’ve lost more than me.”

“That was just one time. I bet if we measured it all you’d be the winner,” he teased. “Sit, I’ll get the first aid kit and then you can tell me what happened.”

Brock and Rider spoke quietly with Ivan, Wade, and Zane. I could see by their concerned faces that they had all agreed to get the hell out of here. Hayden jogged back over and laid the first aid kit on the table. I explained how the crazy threw the rock at me while he poured peroxide on a piece of gauze. I closed my eyes and tried not to wince as he cleaned up the cut.

“It’s not bad,” he assured me. “And now you have matching scars on both sides of your head,” he said with a smile.

I reached up and touched the shiny patch of skin I got as a result of hitting a windshield. “Gee, thanks, just what I wanted.”

“I like your scars,” he added quickly.

I glared at him to let him know I knew he was lying. “Sure you do.” I took a deep breath and stood. “Let’s go. I want out of here and I’m dying to go home and take a shower.”

“That sounds nice,” Hayden said and snapped the first aid kit shut. “Are you doing alright?”

“I’m fine,” I promised. I touched the bandage on my head, thinking the tape wouldn’t stick since I was sweaty. “Like you said, it’s not bad.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said gently.

“Yes,” I said automatically. “Really, I am. I had my moment of weakness but I’m back to normal now.”

“It’s not weakness, Riss,” he reminded me and extended a hand to pull me to my feet.  

“You’re right. Can we talk about it when we get home?” I put my hand on his shoulder, running my fingers over the spot the bullet hit.

“Sounds good,” he said and pulled the keys out of his pocket.

We made sure all four vehicles were fueled up and took off with smooth sailing for the first four hours. A derailed train blocked our path. After a quick bathroom break, we turned around to find another road home. The group had loaded into a Suburban and a truck. Hayden, Ivan, and I led the way, the two cars full of civilians followed and Brock, Wade, and Rider brought up the rear.

We ran into a herd when we crossed the Kentucky boarder. If the bed of the truck wasn’t full of fruit and vegetables, we would have rained a storm of bullets down on the slow moving zombies with the high powered machine gun. Eager to get home, I wasn’t too disappointed when Hayden decided to bypass them all together. We sped away, literally leaving the herd in the dust.

The sunlight was disappearing; a blood red sunset covered the sky. Hayden flipped through songs on the iPod, Ivan stared at the map, and I picked dirt and blood from under my nails. I looked at the clock; only a few minutes had passed since I last looked at it. I closed my eyes hoping I could fall asleep. Wide awake, I opened them only a moment later.

“If you’re a hymenopterist, what do you study?” Ivan suddenly asked.

“Virgins?” Hayden supplied. Ivan shook his head and looked at me.

“I have no idea,” I told him.

“Bees,” Ivan answered. “What was Elmer Fudd’s original name?”

“Egghead,” Hayden answered after a minute.

“Correct,” Ivan praised.

“What U.S. president never married?” Hayden asked. I shook my head; I had no idea. When Ivan didn’t answer correctly, Hayden informed us it was James Buchanan.

“What is a group of ferrets called?” I asked the guys.

“A pack?” Hayden guessed.

“Nope. A business,” I told him. We continued asking each other trivia questions for another forty-five minutes.

We stopped once more before we arrived home. We pulled into an empty field, parking the cars in a semi circle to offer a small barricade if need be. Brock and I hurriedly dished out food and water bottles. The fifteen of us leaned against the cars as we ate.

“It feels so good to be somewhere warm,” Lynn stated with a sign. She picked at the orange in her hands. “I’m so over being cold.”

“Why did you stay so far north?” Wade asked.

“Zombies don’t fare well in cold weather,” Buddy answered. “It was horrible, I won’t lie. But I thought it was worth it.”

“We noticed that too,” Hayden informed him. “We got caught in a snow storm and barely saw any zombies. The ones we did come across were nearly frozen.”

“We didn’t even worry about zombies on the nights it was really cold,” Buddy said. “Which was nice since we were more concerned with not freezing to death. I was afraid the warmth and light from the fires might attract them.”

“How did you keep from freezing?” Hayden asked.

“If we were outside, we’d build four or five fires and stay in between them. If we were inside, we’d cram into the room that had a fireplace. The pioneers did it; I knew we could,” he said with a smile. “Though they didn’t have to worry about flesh eating monsters.”

Hayden nodded. “That’s how I think of it. We’ll pull through this. Once you guys get to our compound you’ll see how we work together. We are all survivors and we’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way.”

“That’s a good attitude,” Amos approved. He opened his mouth to say something but Myra interrupted.

“He will come for them soon. If you think things are bad now, just wait. At least we can repel the demons while they are in corporeal form,” she told us in a shaky voice.

“Who is coming?” Brock asked.

“The Horsemen,” she replied gravely. “The Seals have already been broken. It happened several years ago; the Mayans were right. I always knew it would happen.” She wrapped her arms around herself and turned, taking several steps away from us before she started muttering something in a different language.

“Too bad they were over a decade off,” Brock said under his breath. “Everybody done eating?”

The kids weren’t. Deciding they could finishing eating in the car, we loaded up and set off again. We were fortunate enough to avoid another herd, road blocks or bad weather, making for an uneventful ride home.

My heart swelled with relief and excitement when the truck turned onto the gravel driveway. Jason’s smiling face was a most welcome sight. I waved and smiled back at him and insisted he come down from the tower and grab an apple.

We parked the cars; Hayden and Ivan led the civilians to the barn, explaining the quarantine procedure. I striped myself of my weapons, shoved a few pieces of fruit into my bag and went inside. It was too late to find Raeya or Padraic to tell them I had made it home safely.

I quietly went up to my room, dumped my dirty laundry into my basket and grabbed pajamas for myself and Hayden before heading to the quarantine room. Brock, Wade, and Rider were already there, bickering over who would get to take the first shower. Finally, after several games of rock-paper-scissors, the order was decided. 

Not wanting to sit on the couch in my dirty clothes, I sat in the kitchenette and waited for Hayden. About ten minutes later he and Ivan came into the room. Hayden told me that they quickly briefed Fuller on the mission. The eleven civilians were set with food, water, and blankets for the night and were extremely grateful for everything.

When the door opened a second time, I looked up expecting to see Fuller. The sight of Doctor Cara—who always looked like she just rolled out of bed—surprised me. She clutched a plastic basket full of vials. It dawned on me that after the surprise of Jessica becoming infected, we would all have our blood tested upon admission.

After we all had given a blood sample, showered, and ate several bags of microwaved popcorn, we settled down for the night for some much needed sleep. With the lights off, Hayden and I assumed it would be hard to see the two of us getting into bed together.

“It feels so good to lie down,” I said with a sleepy sigh.

“It will feel even better in our own room,” Hayden told me. “This bed is so small.”

“It is,” I agreed. I really liked being in Hayden’s embrace while winding down for the night. Staying in it and trying to sleep that way just wasn’t comfortable. We didn’t have much of a choice in the little twin bed. He kissed my neck and ran his hands over my body, making me wish we were alone.

It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I dreamed that Hayden, Raeya, and I went on a camping trip to a place that didn’t have zombies.  It was an average, run of the mill, wishful thinking type of dream, the kind that leaves you wanting more when you wake up.

The wistful pain of what could have been didn’t have time to settle in my heart. Someone flicked the lights on, waking me up. I pulled the blanket over my head, too tired to bitch out whoever turned on the damn lights.

“Orissa,” Hayden said. His voice was serious and tense. My body went rigid in fear. My first thought was that I wasn’t really in the quarantine room and that I dreamed that up too. Blinking, I looked around the room.

Hayden was standing next to me and I was definitely in the quarantine room. Everyone else was up. Brock was feverishly lacing his boots. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. Gabby stood in the doorway, her face stressed.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“A herd. A herd is at the fence,” she said quickly.

“Fuck,” I swore and jumped out of bed. If the herd was at the fence it wouldn’t take long for them to push through and discover our barns full of animals…or the one full of innocent people.

Chapter 18

I shoved my feet into my boots, hastily pulling at the laces. Once they were tied I sprang to my feet and raced out of the quarantine room. Since our weapons were cleaned upon arrival, we sprinted to the weapon room on the B level to load up.  All of the remaining A1’s, A2’s and A3’s were moving about in a panicked fashion as well, having just been woken up like we had.

I knew Jason was working the gate tonight. My heart skipped a beat in fear when I thought of something bad happening to him. We shoved guns and ammo unsafely in bags in a hurried attempt to leave. On an impulse, I grabbed two flares and shoved them in the bag before slugging it over my shoulder. It was heavy, and the guns dug into my back.

Hayden, Rider, and I raced out of the weapon storage room. The A3’s guarding the doors to the compound had left them open for us. We ran right past and were almost to the front door of the brick estate when Hayden suddenly skidded to a stop.

“Keys,” he said. He dropped his load of weapons and dashed off. Rider picked up the bag and motioned for me to continue out the door. Since there was no use hiding from the zombies, all of the security lights were on, their harsh, artificial sunlight-strength bulbs blinding. We reached the truck in just seconds.

The food and supplies had been cleared out. I set my bag down and jumped in the bed; Rider handed me the heavy bags one by one before jumping in as well. I untied the cover from the machine gun while Rider dumped the contents of the bags out. He shoved the ammo in my direction; I quickly clicked the belt into place and draped the others around my shoulder.

We had all of the other machine guns, rifles, and pistols loaded by the time Hayden returned.  Hayden took two loaded guns and got into the driver’s seat.  He fired up the engine and stomped on the gas without giving Rider or me the chance to brace ourselves.

I knew there was a problem before we even got to the gate. Two A3’s crouched down at the top of the tower, shooting the few zombies they could get a good aim at. Brake lights glared at us like demonic eyes. Why wasn’t anyone going through?

“Orissa!” Jason shouted from the tower.

“Jason!” I called, standing up. “What’s going on out there?”

“Can’t open the gate! There’s too many out there! They’ll get in!”

Over the pounding of my heart I could hear the groaning. “How many?” I asked.

“Can’t tell,” he said. “A whole fucking lot!”

Rider stood. “We need to get out there. We need to start killing!”

My mind raced. I wanted—no needed—to do something. Zombies crashed into the fence, the sound of metal rattling echoing ominously in the dark night. If only we could get one car through; they could take down the crowd that surrounded the gate while Rider, Hayden, and I cleaned up the few that would no doubt get through.

I started at the brake lights until my vision blurred red. “That’s it!” I said aloud and dove to pick up the flare. Jason would be the best person to throw it since he was up the highest. I looked at the tower.

“Jason!” I shouted.

“Yea?”

“Take this!” I said and held up the flare. “Light it and throw it as far as you can! The motherfuckers will be attracted to the light. Once they move out of the way, open the gate and let them through,” I told him and motioned to the SUV in front of us. “Then close it; we’ll take care of any that got through!”