The Awakened (21 page)

I gasped, pulling back, grabbing the gun from where I had set it on the counter and pressing it lightly against his stomach. “Don’t touch me again, Ash, or I swear I’ll shoot you,” I said, trying to ignore the heavy breathing we were both experiencing, and the fact that we were both slowly losing our clothes.

To my surprise, Ash laughed, as if having a barrel pressed to his hard stomach was something he experienced every day. His stupid sexy naked stomach. How had I let myself get so far in? “You seemed to be enjoying it, the way I see it. It’s the end of the world, Z. You’ll ask for it again.”

I pressed the gun harder against him. “No, I won’t.”

He pulled away, creating a bit more distance between us, one of his hands pressed against my bareback. His other hand dipped lower again, right between my legs, right at the spot that had caused me to shudder with pleasure before. How was it possible that I wanted him to stop and continue at the same time? “Why do you keep denying this?” he whispered, his lips against my ear.

“Denying what?” I cried, pulling away from him and tugging his fingers away from me. I suddenly felt embarrassed, sitting on the counter, my face red, my breathing heavy, with my legs wrapped tightly around his waist. My pants were unbuttoned, my shirt laying forgotten on the ground and the straps of my bra were falling down my shoulders. But I didn’t feel like some kind of sex goddess anymore, just a girl that had gotten carried away in the moment. “Denying that you’re driving me insane, that you’ve been driving me insane and teasing me since the third grade?”

“Those were only ever jokes, Z. I was kidding with you,” he said, sounding confused. He still had a firm grip on me, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before my mom walked in on us in this precarious situation.

“It’s
never
not felt that way,” I said firmly. “You’ve made my life at school miserable since you made fun of me your first day at St. Joseph’s. You’ve made me cry with your all your teasing. How can I sit here and just let this happen and just forget all of that? We can’t tear each other’s clothes off without any regard to the past. Or at least, I can’t do that.”

“I made you cry?” he asked.

I sighed. “Yeah, you made me cry. Not recently but yeah. Several times. You hurt my feelings. You made me feel so low.”

He paused for a long moment. “I never meant it that way, ever. I panicked that first day. I was the new kid, and I wanted to fit in and make friends. I knew immediately that I had been stupid to you, and I wanted to fix it, but I was nine! I didn’t know how to fix it, come on.”

“I don’t think being mean was the way to go about it,” I said, my voice loud. “Pelting me with water balloons while I walked Bandit or filling my locker with glitter or stealing my clothes so I’d have to wear my PE clothes all day? You thought that would make up for it? Not exactly the right way to apologize, Ash.”

“I was an idiot, Zoey! I
am
an idiot. I liked you!” he said, sounding frustrated, his fingers flexing tightly around my waist. “I liked you, and I’d messed up, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I kept thinking, if I could make you laugh, you’d see that. I didn’t know how else to show you. I have never liked anyone that much, so much that it never goes away.”

“Wait, what?” I said, shaking my head, hardly daring to believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. “Did you just say…”

“I…like you, Z,” he said softly, his blue eyes meeting mine. “I have ever since my first day at St. Joseph’s. I remember you in your little plaid uniform dress, and your hair was so long. I swear it was past your butt. You had this huge book in your hands, so big that I thought you might tip over from the weight. But I cared too much about fitting in, and I chose that over helping you that day in the cafeteria. And I guess I never grew up and learned how to tell you. I just made a big joke out of it all because I couldn’t handle how much I liked you, and how much I still like you.”

I paused, a flurry of emotions rushing through me. I felt happy but wary, excited but anxious. “I don’t know what to think,” I admitted after a long pause.

“I know. I can understand that,” he said, his hands moving from my waist to my back.

I covered my face with my hands. “I seriously, I don’t…I don’t know how to handle this. I mean, you like me? That doesn’t just erase all those things you did to me. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what you want from me.”

He laughed, one quick laugh, full of nerves. This surprised me; I had never experienced that coming from Ash before, not when it came to me. He gently pried the gun out of my hands and put it on the counter next to me. “Can you please just kiss me again?” he said, his voice low and full of desire. “I can’t stand being this close to you, and not kiss you.”

I bit my lip, thinking about it for a moment. I lowered my hands and raised my eyes to his and nodded. He broke out into a smile, and his hands came up to cup my face as he lowered his head toward mine. His eyes flicked upward and suddenly got very wide. “Zoey.” His hands dropped.

I pulled back, alarmed at the terror that suddenly filled his voice. I stared at him, trying to meet his eyes, but he was focused on something behind me. I turned to look over my shoulder and felt a chill of terror seep through my body.

A group of Awakened was sprinting straight toward our house; at least they were a good distance away. And my mom was outside, oblivious. I stared at her and noticed that, yet again, no matter how many times I told her, she was without a weapon.

“Shit!” I said.

I hopped off the counter and grabbed my gun. We both went sprinting outside, right toward her. She was at least a hundred yards away, right by the barn, a black bag next to her.

“Mom! Mom!” I screamed at her, running faster than I had ever run before.

She looked at both of us in shock, taking in our disheveled appearance. I remembered for a moment that we were both shirtless, our pants unbuttoned, caught unawares by a pack of Awakened. And they were running straight at us.

“What are you two doing?” she asked, her voice loud and yelling at us. They were right behind her. I needed to make it there before them. I needed to get there.

“Mom, behind you!”

She turned around, as if in slow motion, just as they came up to her. I reached her and shot the closest one to her but not before they had latched their hands tight on her shoulder, their teeth on her neck. The bullet went sailing past the Awakened that grabber her and straight into the one just a beat behind her.

“Shit,” I said, darting forward to kick the woman attached to my mom’s neck. She fell to the ground but was up on her haunches in a beat. This time, I aimed the gun for her head and shot, and her body crumpled to the ground. I turned just as Ash shot the man who had attached himself to my mom’s leg.

She was whimpering, fighting with another Awakened at her head. She wasn’t strong; she hadn’t trained; she was a freakin’ preschool teacher. I yanked the man off of her, sending my elbow into his throat before shooting him. I stood, my eyes darting in all directions as the Awakened surrounded us. I looked behind me as Ash kept guard on the other side. My mom was on the ground between us, blood gushing from her neck and leg. She was whimpering in pain, and I wanted her to get up, but she wasn’t going to.

“How many on your side?” Ash hissed out the side of his mouth.

I scanned the Awakened around me. They had slowed down and were just standing there, staring. I waited for them to say something, to do something, but they just waited. “Seven,” I said back.

“There’s five on this side,” he said.

“Of course, why would it be even?” I grumbled.

“Give us the blonde,” one of them spoke, his guttural voice sending shivers up my spine, so different from the ones Ash was creating earlier. “Give us the blonde, and we’ll let you and your friend there go free.”

“Do you think we’re stupid?” Ash growled at him. “We’re not giving you anyone.”

“Let us all go,” I said, trying to keep the tremor from my voice. “I’ll let you all walk away, scot-free. But if you make a move, if you try to take either one of them, I will take you down.”

They stayed silent for a moment before bursting into laughter. I had never heard them laugh before, and I decided right there and then that I never wanted to hear them laugh ever again. There couldn’t be a worse sound in the world than that one. I felt chills go up and down my spine, and it wasn’t because of the breeze on my bare skin.

“Suit yourself,” he said, shrugging.

They came at us all at once, and it was in that immediate moment that I knew that we were overwhelmed, completely outnumbered. This was when I knew I was going to die. After so many months of fighting and surviving, this is where it was going to end: in the middle of nowhere.

I immediately went to duck around the first man sprinting toward me, but I was a beat too late, and he went careening into my stomach. I fell to the ground, slamming my head against the rough dirt. For a moment, all I could see was the glaring sun in my eyes. It was blocked quickly by a looming shadow, and I quickly rolled over, just missing the man’s grabbing hands. I pushed myself up off the ground, feeling bits of dirt sticking to my sweaty palms. He was coming back for more, a grin on his face, blood staining his teeth. I shot him quickly, a perfect shot to the head.

I didn’t stop to marvel at my success. I immediately dove onto the back of another Awakened, taking them down as quickly as I could.

“Zoey, Zoey, Zoey.”

I turned at the whimpering sound of my name and saw my mom propped up against the door of the barn. She was covered in blood, and I couldn’t even begin to tell where it was coming from.

She was going to be okay. She was going to be fine. I repeated it in my head like a mantra. She was going to be okay.

“Get in the barn, Mom. Get in there and lock the door,” I said firmly, turning away from her.

I caught Ash at the corner of my eye, taking two Awakened down so quickly that I wanted to stop and clap or throw my arms around him and kiss him. I shook my head and started shooting at the remaining Awakened that were coming toward me. One by one, they went down, and all I could see in front of my face was red. I was on fire; I wasn’t even a person anymore. I was a weapon, and I wanted to kill. I wanted to kill these stupid Awakened that had taken away my city, my father and attacked my mother.

I was still shooting an Awakened on the ground when I felt a strong hand on my arm. I turned, quickly, ready to fight.

“They’re dead, Zoey” Ash said, his hand gripping my arm tightly. “You got them. You can stop shooting. They’re gone. You can stop.”

My arm fell to my side, and my gun dropped to the ground. He grabbed me tightly, pulling me close to him, and I felt his heart beat on my cheek. For a moment, I felt safe.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he said. “Let’s go find your mother.”

I pulled back, remembering. “Mom.” I spun on my heel and saw the barn door standing slightly open with just enough room for a person to squeeze their way in. Blood was pooled at the entrance and streaked across the hay that was spread inside. I followed it quickly, my eyes darting all about. I spotted her, lying against a bale of hay, her eyes closed, her breathing heavy. “Oh, no. Mom.” I ran the last few steps to her, and fell to my knees next to her.

She was completely torn up. There was blood everywhere, and I couldn’t even see where it began or where it ended. I shifted her a bit, and she groaned. I pulled my hands back, afraid to touch her. I didn’t want to hurt her any more than I already had. “Ash, we need to take her into the house.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I can get her.” He leaned over and took her into his arms gently, like she was a doll. A whimper escaped her lips, and I saw a flash of pain cross Ash’s face. We made our way out of the barn and across the lawn to the house. On the way, I gathered up the gun I had dropped, ignoring the bodies strewn all over the ground.

“Put her in the downstairs bathroom,” I said, as we went into the house. He nodded, pushing the door open with his foot and walking in. he bent down, slowly, laying her as carefully as he could into the bathtub.

I pushed past him, grabbing the removable showerhead from its hook and turning the water on, waiting until it got a little warm. I started to wash her down, my hands shaking as the blood ran on the sides of the tub, toward the drain. There was so much of it. There were gashes and bites everywhere, consistently gushing blood. “She’s covered, Ash,” I trembled. “I…I don’t know where to start.”

“Zoey…” My mom’s voice was weak, her eyes still closed.

“Don’t,” I interrupted her. “Don’t talk. Save your strength.” I looked over my shoulder at Ash. “Get me towels, a bunch of them.” He was staring at me. “Now, Ash!”

He shook himself out of his daze and turned on his heel. I could hear the hard falls of his step as he ran upstairs to the linen closet, the familiar creak of the doors, and he was back in a moment. He dropped them next to me, and I started pressing them over the wounds. There were just so many, and the towels were crimson before long.

“Zoey, please.”

I could feel tears in the corners of my eyes, and a large lump was in my throat, threatening my ability to breathe. “You’re going to be okay, Mom. You’re going to be okay. I’m going to fix it, okay?”

Her eyes fluttered open and met mine. Her eyes were red and, for a moment, I wondered if any other color existed. All I could see was red, the deep red of her blood that was now covering the bathroom. “I love you, Zoey.”