Mostly Dead (Barely Alive #3) (16 page)

Shards from the front door’s glass crunched under my feet.
I pushed the ajar panel open and hesitated before entering the modest home. Someone hostile had been there, most likely searching for people, judging by the discarded body parts outside.

Hell, I wasn’t above collecting another leg like the roasting one by the garage and gnawing it for a bit.

I had to be down to hours.

Photos lined the ha
llway of Brian, Heather, and their mother. She looked a lot better smiling and alive than she’d looked as Brian had devoured parts of her dead body.

Through the hall, past the kitchen, and down three steps I found myself in the living room or family room, depending on how someone looked at it.
I collapsed onto the couch and leaned my head back, fully relaxing for the first time in ages.

A detail had escaped me as we ran all over the country trying to escape
and stay one move ahead of Dominic. James had seemed like the same old James after he’d been changed. His personality had stayed intact. Mine had, too. Travis seemed the same. I hadn’t known Connie before she’d been changed, so she couldn’t count.

All the other zombies I’d seen, except for Dominic’s gophers, were mindless, dead or alive. I couldn’t place how that had happened.

Why did it seem like the virus might be evolving, or changing? Those infected weren’t acting the way those of us in the beginning had acted.

Connie had said something about the virus evolving. We’d all assumed that the evolution would involve the mode of transportation. But what if it involved the manifestation of the symptoms? I wouldn’t eat another zombie, even if it was the only thing in the room with me. Dominic had said in the dungeons the trapped zombies had attempted it, but hadn’t expanded on the situation.

On the way north, multiple zombies had turned on each other – even with a city filled with humans. There were enough humans, too. Brian had been able to find a man to eat relatively fast.

What had changed and had I contributed to the overall mutation with something that I’d done? I stared at the ceiling. What had I done that could’ve changed things… and why did Dominic and myself seem to be the only ones that could control others with our minds? True, we were the only ones with the mental capacity to even try to control others, but what were the common variables?

Dominic and I had both been infected via a syringe with artificial saliva. I’d injected his actual saliva into me and then he’d had access to my mind. Our viruses were different somehow… but how?

I’d been pushing Connie and Travis to find a cure and a vaccine from what we had instead of discovering the origin of our virus. I had
a new virus in me from Dominic. Connie would need another sample from me to study. Hopefully the few hours before Dominic attacked would be enough to figure out the riddle that would save our lives. If she even wanted to talk to me anymore. And Heather.

Holy hell, I’d really messed things up.

What if I just stayed there forever? Or until I rotted away?

I laughed at myself. Dominic laughed with me. “I’m getting closer, Paul. Can you feel me? Shouldn’t be long now and my zombies will be eating your herd.
I’ll be screwing your bitch. You’ll be begging me for your life.” He sighed through my mouth. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

But I didn’t respond. I focused. I thought long and hard about things that I want
ed protected from him. I let my hatred and anger for him fill me, and suddenly my head was empty.
Ha ha.
Not empty like I teased James for being, but empty again with just me in there.

When I relaxed and thought about Heather or eating or Mom, Dominic’s presence stuffed my skull with a thick density like wet cotton balls. His anger slowed my thinking and reactions. He controlled my motor skills and mechanics. But he didn’t seem to notice when he was in and when he wasn’t.

But his voice filled my head all of a sudden. “Paul, I’m about ready. I’m feeling sentimental after the time with your girlfriend, why don’t you come and join me? Last chance. I’ll make it worth your while.”

I scoffed, the sound of my own voice comforting in the empty room. I literally had a voice in my head telling me what to do. I thin
k people were committed for that kind of crap. Couldn’t commit me. I’d just eat my way through the medical staff. “No. I’m not joining you. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll see you in hell, Dominic.”

He laughed. “You first, son, you first.”

Damn, I needed to keep my anger up so I could unplug my head from his. Dumbest ass thing to give myself that shot. Who the hell did I think I was? I wasn’t scientific. I didn’t have a damn clue how things worked. And yet, I’d been desperate enough to experiment on myself – giving Dominic a way in.

Dumbass. My own idiotic moves were going to cost me the girl, the family, and the friends. Not to mention my damn life.

Standing, I went to the slider off the back. The sun had set while I’d whined to myself on the couch. If those people weren’t afraid of the dark yet, they would be sooner rather than later.

A picture resting on the
end table caught my eye. I picked it up and inspected the five by seven inch shot. A younger version of Brian’s mom held a baby, obviously a baby girl. The look on her face confused me. If someone felt that kind of love for their child, then why the hell would she let people like Heather’s adoptive parents raise them? And the love on her face was astounding. It grew out of the frame and kind of spread onto your skin and enveloped you.

Shit, I was getting sentimental again. My death loomed. I’d be like those girls that
wept at commercials. But I was going to die soon. I didn’t want to and it didn’t seem fair.

Crap,
quit whining. Sure sign I needed to suck it up and save the girl.

I could do it.

I knew I could.

But first I had to make it through Dominic’s soldiers that had crept onto the back lawn behind the house, the lake a perfect backdrop for their silhouettes.

Things just got a whole lot more interesting.

Thank goodness there was no electricity. No motion lights could go off and give away my position.

A plate of potpourri sat inches from the couch armrest. I rubbed the rough petals and dried wood chips on my shirt and pants, even tucked a handful in my front pockets. I stank to high heaven and hopefully would repel the animals stalking anything that looked edible.

If I knew Dominic – his promise to wait was just a
gimmick to keep my ass away. He’d slip in, take over everything, and then laugh when I joined the party too late – I knew him. Well.

Time to put my plan into action.

I’d blocked my mind for a while. The hunger had reached unreal burning in my gut and in my head. As quiet as I could, I slid the door open and slipped through the narrow opening. Another severed leg hung from the edge of the deck just within arm’s reach of the back door. Zombies circled around to the front, about thirteen in all. A window crashed. I pulled the leg into my arms and dropped into a crouch.

Huh, I’d have to eat and run. Mom h
ad always said that was so rude.

For the first time since I left, I wondered how Mom was doing. Had she woken up? Had Grandma Jean?

Was Heather okay? I hadn’t dwelled because I couldn’t wrap my head around the incident.

Biting off a hunk of meat, I watched
for straggler zombies. I had a leg that was definitely worth fighting for. True, I had opened up into a full run in the dark and they could barely coordinate their movements in the daylight, but I’d learned overconfidence would cost me.

M
eat filled me, but not as completely as before. My toes still tingled and my breathing labored with the exertion to run with a leg in my arms.

I crossed the first line of defense from the back and didn’t run into any people. Hell, they could’ve been eaten for all I knew.

Calling would be counterproductive. It might get me the people’s attention, but it could also get zombie attention as well.

Dominic pounded against my brain, but I’d locked it. I’d allow
ed my anger to fester and grow. He couldn’t get in. I wouldn’t let him.

Lights from the house came into view. I slowed. I
hadn’t yet finished the leg and I needed every advantage I could claim. I cleaned off the femur, tibia, and fibula and then used moss known as Bear Hair to clean my face and hands, wiping the final remnants on a damp lichen mat. It’d have to do. I wasn’t getting close enough to Heather she could check my breath or notice my graying skin.

I raked decaying forest material over the bones and walked as innocently as possible up the rest of the small hill and onto the domestic grass.
Every person C.J. had arrived with stood in the center in a circle with their hands grasped in the person’s next to them. All heads were bowed.

C.J. held James’s. All eyes were closed.

The pastor’s booming voice filled the clearing.

Before that moment, I hadn’t realized I held myself back. From caring. From doing. From helping. I’d assumed I was the leader and left it at that. I hadn’t allowed myself to be forced to do anything preventative. I ran away from the flames and the presence of the humans. But I’d never taken into account that Travis, Connie, and James all had to fight the pull of the meat and the flames as well. And to compound my regret and guilt, it dawned on me that I’d had training on what to expect of the condition.

I’d chosen the virus. Not one of them had.

“Amen.” The group chorused, even James. Did we
have souls at this point? I didn’t know if we really even existed. I’d become a bad dream, someone’s nightmare, and I didn’t want to wake up.

What if we were real?

C.J. directed the groups around the clearing. “I know you’re all tired. I’m sorry. I am, too. But we must defeat this evil, if we want to return to our homes. James says the fire is the only way to kill them. You can hurt them. You can stop them. Without fire. But if you want to kill them and get rid of the possibility that they will spread the virus further, you must spread the flames.”

Holding up a canning jar with a thick, white sock dangling from a hole punched in the metal lid, James matched C.J.’s
volume. “In each trench, you’ve been given a stack of over thirty cocktails. All of you have lighters now or matches. Only throw them, if you see one of the creatures. You don’t have to hit them with the cocktail. Aim for their feet. They won’t run. In fact, just lighting the forest on fire would work, if we weren’t in the trees, too.”

A woman called from her group beside the shed. “What happens if they bite us?”

I stepped into the middle, careful to keep Dominic from my mind. “If they get close enough to bite you – you’re dead. Light yourself on fire. Have someone shoot you first. Some of you haven’t been vaccinated yet. If you change, you’re going into the flames, too. This is a guarantee. Those of you who have been vaccinated will be dinner for them, and they don’t care if you’re dead or alive when they eat.” I kicked my foot in the grass and placed my hands on my hips. “If they get within ten feet of you, run. As fast as you can. They don’t seem to have any real mental control. Their stimulus seems centered around food. You’re food. Get the hell out of there, if you can.”

Every man, woman, and child for themselves. But I wouldn’t
suggest it. I didn’t live that way. I couldn’t hope any of them would either.

James walked by and I grabbed his elbow. “How’s Mom and Grandma Jean? Are they…”

He shook his head. “No, they’re fine. Woke up while you were gone. Grandma Jean broke into her food storage and has been cooking for everyone. I didn’t realize that the back building was her food and supply area. That lady is prepared. There’s a tank behind that one,” he pointed to the metal shed off the driveway, “filled with propane. If that thing explodes, these trees are going to shatter.”

But an explosion made me think
. It’d be instantaneous and I would most likely not feel a thing since I was headed toward death as it was. The leg meat hadn’t made much of a dent in my hunger and physical fatigue. My heart stuttered and beat sporadically, increasing the labor and wheezing in my lungs.

Heather’s
scent teased me on the spring breeze. I closed my eyes and ignored everything else around me.
Oh, Heather.
I turned. She sat on the couch inside, her arms folded and resting on the back, the window open. She watched me.

I couldn’t look away. She meant more to me than I’d ever be able to explore. The only thing Dominic had done was give me a taste of what I’d never have. She’d fit in my arms. Like puzzle pieces. My hands ached to hold her again. But on my terms.

If I were a praying man, I’d kneel right there and beg for a cure to be dropped in my lap. But I wasn’t. And the cure didn’t exist.

The heat in my gaze would challenge the heaviest of flames.

Dominic better be ready. I was ready to die. Nothing was satisfying me. Instead of holding Heather, I wanted to wrap my arms around her and tear chunks of flesh from her bones. And I’d eaten moments before.