Mostly Dead (Barely Alive #3) (18 page)

Heather’s laugh tinkled and she moved to lean beside me.
“Aren’t we the same species?”

I shook my head and held our joined hands at face level. Our intertwined fingers
made me feel all kinds of safe. “Honey, we’re not the same species. You’re immune and going to live a long time. I’m… changed and dying.” My voice broke and slid into a whisper. “I have hours. I’m not sure on exact time, but I can tell it’s closing in.” The lines of her fingers imprinted themselves on my nerves. “Does it make me seem uncool, if I say I’m a little scared?”

Heather’s hot tears burned my wrist as they plopped
one by one from her silken cheeks.

I turned and wiped them from her face with my oversensitive fingertips. The heat made me want to scream, but all I said was, “Don’t cry. You’ll be fine. I’m doing my best to make sure you have nothing to worry about, okay?”

She threw herself into my arms, sobs shaking her body and making her breathing ragged. I allowed myself to enjoy the weight of her on my lap without perversion. We fit. And the fact that I wouldn’t be there with her pinched my heart.

Cries dwindling
, she brushed the backs of her hands over her face and sat up, but didn’t move from my lap. “We’re like the modern day Romeo and Juliet, only older. It’s cool, right?”

I arched my eyebrow. “Seriously? They die at the end from suicide. I don’t find that cool at all.” But to temper the sting of my words, I added, “We could be like Bonnie and Cly
de except we haven’t hurt anyone, we’ve just stolen vehicles the whole way up here.” I laughed.

She joined me and then grew serious. “
What can I do? I want to help. Don’t tell me nothing, because I have to be useful for
something
.”

I hadn’t fully formulated my plan yet, but there was no way in hell I’d involve her in it. Anything that centered around Dominic’s presence at the house would be too dangerous to even attempt with Heather.

Even if my heart stopped beating, it would be reassuring to know that it lived on with her.

“Tell them, Paul, or I will.” James thrust his chest out in a physical declaration of challenge.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He ignored the thoughts I tried to get through for him to stop. Maybe blocking out Dominic also shut off my other capabilities. But if that were the case, then how had James figured out what I’d been thinking?

He sliced his hand through the air. “Shut up, dang it. We could do this. We could get rid of him and you’re too worried about your girlfriend to put your plan into action.” He stepped close to me and shoved his finger into the center of my chest.
“This might be the one chance we have to protect her for real and you’re too worried he might get a hold of her? We’ll all be here! One Dominic won’t be stronger than the four of us.”

Connie, Travis, Mom, Grandma Jean, and Heather watched us from the couches where James had called everyone in for an impromptu meeting.
I don’t think I’d ever seen him so angry. “Why are you so mad at me? I don’t want Heather in danger. We can do this a different way.”

He laughed, but sounded nothing like the James I’d grown up with. “Oh man. I’m mad because I don’t want to die either. If we can eliminate Dominic, we get that much more time to figure out if there is even a chance for a cure. I want that time. I want you to get that time. I’m sick of hearing all the thoughts you have about when you’re going to die. I’m living your damn countdown. It’s kicking my ass, Paul.”

I sat down on the arm of the chair and folded my hands in my lap. “I don’t know what you want from me.” Everyone needed me. Heather needed me as a normal boyfriend, one who could kiss her or just be around her without fear of another zombie controlling his mind to make physical threats on her body.

Damn it, I hated
the situation more than anyone.

Connie wouldn’t speak to me and Travis wouldn’t speak to Connie.

Grandma Jean lifted her chin. “What’s your plan, Paul?”

Arms crossed, I refused to look at anyone besides Grandma Jean or James while I spoke. No way would I try to sway
anyone with misunderstood expressions or inflections. We didn’t play a game. These were lives with considerable value. “Okay, so, Dominic can get in my head. He can’t if I concentrate on staying mad at something or someone. I think. He wants Heather, right? More than anything. He also wants me and I’m betting the Duncans, especially… well, never mind.”

I adjusted my tingling feet. They felt like they kept falling asleep.
The same numbness had taken over my hands. I’d never be able to work a knot or other small finger task with any sort of success. “Here’s the thing. I think I can get him to come up here, by himself. I came up from the back, towards Brian’s house when I returned and not one person saw me. I walked right up to the house. It’s our one weak spot because there are no trails and the slope is kind of steep.”

“We didn’t put anyone there because we figured nobody knew about it.” Grandma Jean crossed her ankles. Dainty, even in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Lady had class. I liked that. I’d miss that.

“Right, but Paul’s plan is to let Dominic know about the weak spot. I think we need to make the draw for him to come stronger.” James pierced me with his gaze.

He might have
tried making me do what he thought, but my anger was growing and nothing was getting past my mental shields. I was getting good at protecting myself. “Just us being vulnerable is enough for Dominic.”

Looking like a bobble head toy, James nodded, “Yeah, but he’ll organize a team to come with him. If you do it right, he might come alone. That’d be the easiest way to take him.”

Mom stood. “Easiest translates to safest, Paul. If Heather’s okay with it, I think we should plan it. Nothing will happen to her unless we let down our guard.” She winked at me. “I don’t know if I’ll let my guard down ever again.”

Leave it to Mom to make me feel like the whole damn thing might be a joke. It wasn’t. Even a little bit. But the respite from the seriousness was welc
ome like a cool breeze through hell.

Heather stood and placed her hand on her hip. “Why isn’t anyone asking my opinion? I want to help and sitting here being the bait is the least I can do.” She
closed her eyes and wouldn’t face me. “Don’t even start with me, Paul. Let’s get rid of Dominic so we can focus on a cure, right? We can do this. We don’t have a lot of time.”

She’d thrown my words in my face. I could deal with that. I couldn’t cope with her sitting in the house while Dominic came closer and closer, eager to have his way with her.

“Fine. What the hell? Why not?” I moved to the shelves. My preoccupation with the figurines seemed unjustified. But I wanted to be as permanent as a tin soldier. As stable.

James leaned in and read my face like I was trying to hide something. “Really? Because when you open up to tell Dominic, I’ll know. I’ve felt you shut down and open up all night.” He lowered his voice. “You’re actually getting to be pretty good at it.”

His praise made me feel all warm and cozy. I offered a half-smile. “When do we want to do this?”

~~~

They chose thirty minutes. I went along with the plan. I think I had maybe two hours left anyway, give or take.

I ducked past
the full length mirror in the hallway. I didn’t need a damn piece of silvered glass to tell me what careful inspection of my arms told me. What the carefully placed expressions on everyone’s faces as they tried not looking too closely at my face told me.

Heather couldn’t look at me.

Disgusting couldn’t describe me enough. My skin had to have reached gray. I was in dire need of a dose of Technicolor, but meat wouldn’t help me at that point. Nothing would help me. My own breath stung on my sensitized skin. The night breeze could have been arctic in origin.

I shivered.

Leaving Heather in the living room had been hard. I’d forced myself to stare at her as she’d pretended to sleep on the couch. Everyone else had split.

The plan was to see Heather alone and then walk off the property via the weakened hole. I’d leave myself open at the time so Domini
c could see. He’d be drawn to Heather all by herself. Who wouldn’t be?

What nobody knew was when Dominic was going to start his war.

I made James, Travis, Connie, Mom, and Grandma Jean keep their destinations a secret. If I imagined them where they would be, Dominic would see. I just wanted to have a peaceful moment with Heather in my head before I pretended to abandon them for myself. He had to think I didn’t want to be there when they all died.

He had to believe that I didn’t think we stood a chance.

I’d watched her. And I’d memorized the lines of her face and curves of her body under the blanket she’d tucked around herself. When I opened myself up to Dominic, it would be with some distance between me and her. No extra chances needed to be taken.

Hell, I was pissed enough we were playing Russian roulette with the bastard as it was.

I stepped off the back step and looked over my shoulder at the well lit house.

And let the anger slide away.

Dominic slammed in, like he’d been waiting with his full weight on the door.

I ran the thoughts through my mind, like we’d rehearsed in the living room. Step by step I wound my way through the woods, the trees my allies as they hid my progress from C.J.’s human army. They weren’t mine. I’d never have an army of my own.

I’d be dead before dawn.

Dominic didn’t say anything to me, but I felt him in my head like a splinter in the sole of my foot.
The forest felt alive. And to my right something moved. Not an animal. Nothing I’d imagined. I had just reached the road outside Brian’s house and it wasn’t a some thing, it was a lot of some things. About thirty zombies staggered in the direction of the ditches, not working together but not apart either.

The first cocktail sailed through the air, the fuse aflame in the night sky before slamming into the ground at the first group’s feet. Vodka sprayed the few
zombies in front and the fire attacked them. Their heat and flammability attracted a handful of the others, stopping them in their hunt for Heather. But the majority of them continued toward the people hiding in the hole.

More cocktails smashed to the ground and in seconds not only were zombies on fire but the brush and dry grasses along the road as well. I sprinted past the stumbling creatures as they continued to move forward.
I had to warn the other groups of people if they hadn’t been attacked yet, and get away from the heat. It was still too soon for me to walk into the flames.

Around the corner, another set of Dominic’s
soldiers stalked toward the next ditch. Young men and women hesitated to throw their homemade bombs. I couldn’t blame them. The zombies moving closer weren’t any older than twelve. The youngest looked to be five. And they didn’t stumble or lurch. Instead a graceful dancing glide carried them toward the ditch. Lit fuses glowed, the slanting light casting a weird orange sheen on the small children’s faces.

They didn’t moan.

Oh, hell, they didn’t speak.

A woman in the ditch screamed. A seven-year-old had made it past the protective barrier line followed by another child zombie. I looked away as more terrified screaming filled the air. I could sprint by them. I had to at least try to help another group.

Before Dominic went after Heather.

Another scream spurred me faster. The next ditch had been attacked by the time I reached them. Zombies filled the hole. Unused Molotovs lay on the ground outside the ditches. One exploded as the fuse burned to the fluid. I jumped back from the flying glass and searing droplets.

I’d never make it around the perimeter in time to warn everyone. They’d just have to hang in there. At least they hadn’t…
wait
. I moved to rush into the woods, but the zombies froze and climbed from the hole. They ignored me, ignored the abandoned meat like they didn’t live to eat, and walked back the way I imagined they came.

Abandoned meat.

I didn’t care. Death was imminent. I could make it a few more hours without eating. The last leg hadn’t done anything significant anyway. Why compound my guilt?

The ditch didn’t hold anything I wanted. I ran up the hill, jumping logs and roots protruding from the ground barely d
iscernible in the dark.

Had
zombies made it to the house?

Why had they stopped? Were they only supposed to be a distraction as Dominic closed in on the house?

Was
Heather in danger?

C.J. hollered at a group of people. I couldn’t make out the words with his drawn out bellow
through the woods, but I could see bobbing heads through the layers of leaves and needles. My hearing had lost the sharpness from just hours before.

Quite disappointing.

I burst from the trees and grabbed the nearest person. “What happened? Who made it?”