Surge (68 page)

“Where the hell have you been, Jared?” John demands when I walk into the kitchen. He sounds relatively back to normal today, so I continue on toward the cupboards, before I answer him.

“Sleeping, why?”

“Sleeping?” John asks bewilderedly, and I nod. “It’s freaking noon, that’s late, even for you.” Opening a bag of Cheerios, I pop a few in my mouth and chew. “Well?” I hold up my finger for him to wait as I swallow.

“I was tired,” I reply and point at him as I continue. “And you’re the one that wanted me to rest.”

Tossing another handful back, I wolf it down. I completely forgot about eating yesterday, so I don’t know how my creation turned out
,
and I’m ravenous. I can only imagine how Olivia feels. That thought spoils my appetite slightly, but I know that I need the sustenance and force more down.

“Yes, I wanted you to rest,” he concedes. “But I thought that you would’ve at least put up some kind of a fight.”

“Do you want me to?” I ask and raise my eyebrows. “Because I can if you do.”

“Fuck no!” John exclaims. He waves a hand rapidly back and forth as if he’s trying to erase that entire speech from my mind. I shrug, I didn’t fight him on it because I didn’t get a chance to
,
and I found a perfect method for me to do so most willingly.

“Okay, so you don’t want me to fight you, which I didn’t, and I got rest,” I puzzle out. “So, what exactly is the problem?”

“I-I don’t know,” he answers completely baffled. “You know what, just forget everything I’ve said since you arrived in the kitchen. Hit rewind and record over that shit, alright?”

“Sure,” I say and toss a careless handful of the delicious
‘O’
cereal into my mouth, before chomping away.

John observes me with inscrutable eyes, they’re squinted and it looks like he’s thinking way too hard and might fry his brain, but I ignore it. The sooner I eat and bathe, the faster I can go talk to Akio about Olivia’s condition. Then of course check to see if she’s actually resting, or running around like a free for all.

“What’s wrong with you?” John asks suspiciously. I give him a
‘what chu talkin’ ‘bout Willis?’
look and he explains. “You just woke up.” I nod. “Walked into the kitchen.” Once again I nod, not seeing what the big deal is. “And didn’t rip apart the cabinets like a rabid squirrel looking like coffee.” I shrug at that, I didn’t even remember it. “What the fuck have you done with my best friend?”

“Nothing, I’m right here,” I say. Holding my arms up, I look down at myself to show him that nothing’s wrong.

“Jared, do you realize that you’re sitting next to a warm pot of Dunkin’s coffee, and haven’t even looked at it?” John points to the pot he’s referring to. “Never mind ingesting it like it was crack?” Glancing at the jug in question, I wrinkle my nose.

“Shit’s bitter as hell,” I reply and John thrusts his finger violently in my direction.

“That’s the fuck it!” John bellows and stomps forward. Dragging me off the counter, he pulls my leather jacket off and tosses it aside. I glare at him, but John ignores me as he slides up my sleeves, and pulls the collar of my shirt down.

“What the hell are you doing?” I ask and slap his hands away as he goes to lift my t-shirt up. “Did you swap teams without telling me? I don’t care if you’re a switch hitter, but a little heads up would be nice.” John plants balled fists on his hips and glares right back.

“What the fuck does it look like?” John accuses. “I’m checking for bites, because obviously you’ve been bitten somewhere. There’s no other explanation for this shit, and I want you to fess up already. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Nothing! I had a good night’s sleep, Jesus Christ, is that really a crime?” John stares at me as if he’s never met me.

“Jared, you’re freaking chipper, and it’s disturbing,” he states. “My sullen bastard of a best friend wakes up and goes to bed with a scowl, no matter if he’s spent the night humping six women, or won the lottery. So
,
what gives?”

“Once again, nothing.”

“Bull shit,” a drawl says from behind me. Turning to face the voice, I scowl while John gives Cory a questioning look. “That bastard spent the night with Olivia.”

John turns his focus onto me with equal measures of betrayal, anger and smugness; an awkward mix aimed at me. Betrayal because I didn’t tell him, which I didn’t because then I would have had to share Olivia’s nightmares; and I would never do that without her explicit permission first. Anger for what exactly, I’m not sure, maybe because of the betrayal? I don’t know. And the smugness is obviously because he knew something changed last night to affect me this morning. But my good mood is quickly going sour with these fucks wasting my time and attacking me with accusations.

“First off,” I say with a scowl aimed at the two of them. “I didn’t
spend
the night with Olivia. I went to check on her last night, and we talked, that’s it.”

“Then why did I find you sleeping in there when I went to see her this morning?” Cory questions with suspicion lacing his voice.

“We were talking, and she fell asleep on me,” I answer. “Not wanting to wake her, I let her be. I thought that she’d wake up and then I could go to bed, but I feel asleep and she never woke up in the night.” Cory looks surprised, while John still looks confused as hell. “Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I didn’t go straight to a coffee pot because I was freaking hungry. Shoot me, I didn’t eat in two days so my stomach was caving in on itself, and demanded something a little more filling than bitter liquid that makes you fucking jittery.”

“I don’t believe it,” John says with a grin as he turns to Cory. “Do you see this?” Cory nods.

“Yeah I see it,” he mutters. I look between the pair with puzzlement of my own displayed prominently on my features.

“You are in freaking love with Olivia!” John exclaims and I shrug.

“So,” I answer and give him an
‘and?’
 face. John’s excitement settles down slightly.

“
‘So’
? What the hell do you mean
‘so’
?” John demands. “Where’s the denial? The anger? The
‘I don’t love anyone but blood’
bull shit?”

“It burned down with that house,” I reply with complete seriousness, and see John’s exuberance taper off. “Why the hell would I want to waste time fighting myself on something that I feel, when I could just sit back and enjoy it? You don’t know how long you have, so live life to the fullest while you still can.” I remember Olivia saying something similar back at the condo, and back then, I didn’t quite understand it. But I do now. “Time is precious and should be spent doing things that make you happy, not brushing those very moments aside. That’s when you really die, and I plan on living.”

I exit the kitchen, leaving behind a gaping John and a smiling Cory; which is slightly disturbing because he only smiles for Olivia. Retrieving my backpack from the parlor, I wave at the majority of group gathered in the living room on my way to the bathroom. Using the first floor’s functioning bathroom, I relish the perks of running water again. The heat and ease of it still baffles me after living so long without it, but I don’t let that dampen my spirits. After brushing my teeth, I finally lift my eyes to view the damage.

Raising up my bandaged hands, I see that they’ll need a clean wrap since they’re covered in dirt and blood, but I ignore that for now, and focus on the facial covering. Having seen it yesterday, I already know what’s to be expected. The blisters are still there, mainly on my ear and neck, so that’s pretty much the same. What I didn’t expect, is for the redness from yesterday to have darkened from a beet red to a burgundy and to be weeping fluid. It’s clear, so I know it’s just water, but it’s still gross and highlights the vulnerabilities in my skin. If even one little droplet of infected blood were to get inside, I’m fucked.

Setting the dirty bandages on the counter, I strip down for a shower. I know that I should be covering the burns, but how the hell else am I supposed to wash myself with my hands being as damaged as they are? Knowing that it’s physically impossible to avoid, I slip under the hot spray and compromise that I’ll leave my head out of the water. Still doesn’t help the absolute agony that I feel when the droplets hit my burned shin and hands. Biting back curses, I grab up a bar of soap, which certainly doesn’t help, and do a speed wash.

After adjusting the water’s temperature to ice cold, I rinse off my stinging flesh and feel slightly better. I don’t smell like smoke and charred skin anymore, so that’s a plus. Grabbing a towel from the linen closet, I dry myself off until my hands protest further movement. Digging around in my backpack, a decide sweats and a t-shirt to be my best bet, so I slip them on. Grabbing the dirty bandages, I remind myself to get new ones when I see Akio, and exit the bathroom.

Walking back to the now empty kitchen, I toss the old gauze in the trash, and pick up my leather jacket before slinging it over my bag on the counter. I’m not feeling the chill as bad today as I was yesterday, so I decided to leave it off for now. Heading back to the living room, I find that John is now laughing on the couch with the twins, Sarah and Danny are playing a game with Mike and Whitney, and Morris is sprawled along a couch by himself, but the rest are elsewhere. Wanting to check in with Sarah, I walk over to the group settled around the coffee table playing poker.

“What ‘cha doing, PITA?” I ask. Sarah turns her head enough to scowl at me before placing two cards on the pile in the center. “Ooh, wrong move there, baby sis.”

“Yeah?” Sarah asks and I nod. “I don’t think so.” Picking up her two cards from the deck, she adds them to her hand and shows me her three of a kind.

“That’s a good hand, but, you could have made a better one if you kept the ace and king.” Sarah looks at me questioningly. She made be smart, but she definitely can’t play cards for the life of her. “You would have had a straight which beats that. Just watch when Danny sets his cards down.” Sarah nods as she sets down her three of a kind, Mike shows his two pair, Danny his straight and Whitney her flush.

“Damn, Whit, that’s three in a row,” Danny says and she smiles.

“And I believe that means you two will be helping me do the wash,” Whitney replies as she gives Danny and Sarah pointed looks. They grumble, but nod their assent. “Good, off to the kitchen then.” Once they step out of the room, she turns to me. “Everything alright?”

“Perfectly fine,” I answer. “Just checking in after...” Whitney nods in understanding. “So, how is everyone? And Mike, I haven’t been able to ask how you’ve been feeling.”

“I’m fine,” he replies. “Just a bit of a headache, but I’ll be right as rain in no time.”

“Glad to hear it,” I say and he nods. “You had some good defensive moves out there, did you face a lot of wheezers before meeting John?”

“A few,” Mike says and looks at Whitney.

“We found others before John found us,” she explains. “One was infected and attacked the others, but Mike got us out. So, we’re sorry for our losses, but we’re alright. We’ve survived worse.” I nod. “As for the rest.” She jerks her chin at the twins and John. “The twins were out there, so they know what it’s like. They miss Lenny, but they’re fine. John’s been a little quieter than usual.”

I know this already, but seeing other’s pick up on it too shows just how much it affected him. Not only losing his girls and Lenny, but the guilt he feels because of it. I’ll figure out another way to approach it later, because as I’ve said before, he will not be going through this alone.

“And the others?” I ask to be polite.

I know that they’re all upset, but I want to know specifically how Sarah is taking it. One, because she’s my little sister and it’s wired in my big brother DNA to want to protect her, and two, because three people that she’s known for months were killed in front of her. Lenny she’s known for almost nine months, and the girls for three, so their deaths had to have made some impression on her.

“Akio’s as stoic as he is professional,” she answers. “Danny’s a tough read, but I think he knows by now that people live and die, and if you want to survive, you need to have a steel backbone.”

I nod at that. The kid came to us alone six months ago, shortly after John brought Whitney and Mike back, so he’s lived out in the world and knows how cold it can be. Sometimes I forget that he’s only seventeen, like when he wore those pants for Sarah a few weeks back. It was because he was impressionable and was trying to appease his girlfriend, which shows his immaturity
,
but it was dangerous. I regret punching him, I do. One, because he’s just a kid, and two, because it was childish of me to not keep control of my temper. He made a mistake, just as I’ve made some. We live and learn, and at some point I know that I’ll have to apologize. And I will, eventually.

“Tommy’s been upstairs and hasn’t come out,” she continues. “I went in last night with some food and sat in for a little while. He was obviously upset and didn’t want to talk, so I left him alone.”

I expected no less, but make note to check up on him myself. It must be hard losing the last person you’ve truly known and loved all your life, but that goes double for Tommy. He completely depended on Leonard. Leonard was his bodyguard, companion and confidant as well as his father figure. Now I know why Lenny was so concerned with his welfare, and pointed it out to Olivia. It was because he knew that Tommy was going to need someone and wanted to prepare for the inevitable. I’m sure that Lenny didn’t expect that his time was going to be cut so short, but at least he seen his grandson connect with at least one person, and I’m sure it gave him peace of mind before he was gone.

“Sarah?” I ask.

“Sarah cried,” Whitney says. I feel guilt creep up on me, I should have been there for that. “No, don’t make that face, she went into hiding and I flushed her out. She didn’t want anyone to know, not even Danny.” That makes me feel marginally better, but I should have at least said goodnight to her. “She’s fine now. We had a little talk, she said that she wished she could have done something to help out, but I explained that we were all surprised and didn’t react fast enough. It was a freak accident, and we have to use more precaution to prevent a repeat in the future.”