The Hunger (Book 2): Consumed (20 page)

“I feel terrible for her.”

“She bet on another man and lost.  Now she has nothing. Told you that you aren’t a loser.  At least, not when you have someone as cool as me hanging around.”

“You have a mohawk.  At this point, I’m pretty sure that I’m the cool one.”

“Don’t be jealous of my style.”

They spent the rest of the morning walking around, inspecting the property they’d confiscated from Ralph.  The setup was even more impressive than Lance had imagined.

A separate field with tilled and planted gardens was further in the woods.  Sprouts rose from the dirt.  Though he wasn’t sure if there were enough vegetables planted there to feed everyone, the idea of them being self-sufficient lifted Lance’s spirits.  With another garden or two, they might be able to grow enough food to last through the year.

Cass showed him the underground bunker where the weapons cache was located.  Thousands upon thousands of rounds filled the concrete room.  Most of the guns had been removed earlier, but a few dozen still remained.

Lance even spotted an RPG sitting in the corner.  Duffel bags filled with explosives were stacked along the back wall.  An old, rusted sword from the Civil War was mounted on a plaque that read Ellis’ Saloon.

“Christ, this guy is a loon,” he mumbled.

“No kidding.”

Every time Lance moved to tell Cass about his arm, someone would run up, asking them questions and calling them mister and miss.

They made their way to the greenhouse, hand in hand, around noon.  Lance hadn’t worn a watch since he’d left his apartment, but the sun was directly overhead, which meant it was noon to him.  He didn’t know how accurate that estimate was, but time didn’t hold as much relevance anymore.

As long as they were inside before nightfall, nothing else mattered.

Cass stopped him by the door to the greenhouse and stood directly in front of him.

“I have two questions for you.”

Several snarky remarks flew through his mind, but he wasn’t in the mood to utter any of them.  Between the bite on his arm and seeing Liz, his state of mind had soured.

“OK?”  He squinted at her, wondering where this would lead.

“First, how do you feel about seeing Liz?  You’ve been pretty quiet since she left.”

He took a deep breath.  “Honestly, I’m not sure.  It was weird.  Reversed.  Before this,” he waved his hand around at the compound, “before the plague, vampires, and the sex in armored trucks, I was basically her whipping boy.  Everything that went wrong in her life was my fault.”

Cass stood before him, listening and nodding.

“But seeing her now, like that... I don’t know.  It’s as if our positions have flipped.  I’m the one with my shit together and she’s the lost soul, wandering, literally, through the wilderness.  It’s a feeling I can’t really describe.  I’m not happy, because I feel terrible for her, but I’m glad that I’m not that person anymore.”

“I’m glad too.”

“What was the second question?”

Her arm jabbed out with a quickness that took Lance off guard and she punched him in the stomach.

His abdominals, already sore from the fighting and beatings of the previous day, quaked and cramped from the blow.  The air burst from his lungs as he fell to a knee, cradling his stomach.

“The hell?” he croaked.

“The second question is when in the shit were you going to tell me about the bite on your arm?”

Lance tried to stand, but his legs didn’t want to comply.  “How did you know?”

“Some douche bag named Nikola came into the cabin last night and told us about your little battle in the pit.”

Lance focused on breathing through his nose, forcing air into his lungs, despite the protests of his diaphragm.

“Damn, that really hurt.  I got my ass kicked yesterday, you know?”

“Stop being a pussy.”  Cass grabbed his shirt and pulled him to his feet.

“I’m not!  You punched me in—”

“And stop avoiding my question, dumbass!  When were you going to tell me that an infected man bit you?”  Cass put her hands on her hips and glared at him, her lips so pursed they nearly disappeared.

“I’ve been trying to all day.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“People kept interrupting us.”

“Well, what about right now?  Were you going to tell me in the greenhouse?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe.  Probably.  I was afraid to tell you.”

“What?  Why?  You think it would be better for me to find out later on when you’re trying to eat my face?”

Lance sighed and closed his eyes.  “I’m sorry.  I was afraid that you would be hurt when you found out.  The thought of leaving you alone has been killing me.”

Cass’ features softened, but only by a bit.

“So not telling me was going to keep that from happening?”

“Well, no.”  Lance cocked his head and glared back at her.  “Hold on now, I’m the one who’s dying.  Why am I getting the riot act?”

“You aren’t dying.”

“Um, yeah, I am.”

“Um, no, you aren’t.”

“Don’t mock me!  I’m infected!”

“Brown checked you out last night after that guy told us what happened—you’re fine.”

Lance rubbed his temples as he attempted to work his way through the conversation.

“I don’t understand.”

“He looked at the bite, checked your pulse, and took your temperature.  You aren’t infected.  He said it shows up in the first few hours.”

A lightheaded sensation hit Lance.  He grabbed the door handle on the greenhouse to steady himself.  He examined Cass, looking for any kind of hint that she wasn’t telling him the truth.

“If you’re messing with me, this is the meanest thing ever.”

“I’m not.  That Nikola dick said that the man who bit you had only been infected a few seconds before that.  Brown says you can’t pass it along that quickly.  So, you’re safe.  You’re an idiot, but you’re going to live.”

Lance felt such complete, encompassing relief that he looked at the cloudless sky and screamed.  Everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing and stared at him. He looked back at Cass, his skin tingling with excitement and joy.

He picked her up in his arms and spun her around, ignoring the ache in his muscles and ribs.  Their lips locked as he swung them in a full circle.  He laughed in the middle of their kiss, making her chuckle as he dropped her back to the ground.

“Holy shit!  I’m going to live!  I want to run around and scream like a maniac.”

“I think you’re already doing that.”

Lance’s heart pounded away.  He felt so alive that he didn’t know what to do with himself.

Cass waggled her eyebrows at him.  “Follow me.”

She opened the door to the greenhouse and stuck her head in, looking around.  When she saw no one was inside, she walked through the door backward, curling her finger for him to come in after her.

Lance walked inside, locking the door after him.

“I don’t want to reward this kind of behavior, but what the hell.”  Cass lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it onto a long table beside them.

The greenhouse was full of long, grated tables with potted plants on top of them.  They looked suspiciously like marijuana to him.  He hadn’t seen one in person for nearly twenty years, so he couldn’t remember exactly what they were shaped like.

Was Ralph selling this shit?  Is that how he funded this crazy compound?

“Hey, maybe we should figure out what this is before we get into anything,” he said reaching for one the five-pointed leaves.

Cass had scooted onto an open spot on one of the tables and was in the process of unbuttoning her pants.  She stopped and gawked at him.  “Are you kidding me?”

“Yeah,” Lance laughed.  “Just messing with you.”

“God, you’re such a tool sometimes.  Now get over here.”

By the time they stepped out of the greenhouse, sweaty and covered in soil, Brown had returned. He stood at the back of the cabin, smoking a cigar and examining a flesh wound on someone’s scalp.

As they left the greenhouse, he spotted them and grinned, shaking his head.  They walked across the lawn, their faces still flushed, not even trying to hide their salacious act.

“Did Nikola tell you that he pushed me into the pit?” Lance asked.

“Yeah.  Said he was trying to save himself.  He told us they’d just killed a man in front of him and he didn’t want that to be him.  I figured we’d let you make the call on what we do with him.”

Lance thought about it for a moment.  He understood Nikola’s position, even if his decision had almost gotten Lance killed.  “Let him stay.  I’ll try my best not to strangle him the next time I see him.”

“How’s the bite on your arm?” Brown asked as they drew near.

“Fine, now that I know I’m not dying from it.”

“You should have told us right away.”  Brown finished with his patient and let them leave.  “If you’d actually been infected, we would have had a big problem to deal with.”

“Cass already gave me the riot act.”

“Looks to me like she just gave you a reward.”

“That’s what I said.”  Cass smoothed her mohawk back into place.

Brown motioned for them to follow him inside.

“How’s the kid?” Lance asked as they moved down the hallway into the kitchen.

Eggs and sausage and toast covered dozens of plates spread across the table and counters.  Two men and two women put more servings together at a harried pace.  They dropped food all over the place as they scrambled to get the meal together.

“Slow down,” Brown said.  He clapped one of the men on the shoulder.  “You’re doing a great job.”

The smell of the food made Lance’s mouth water.  He had to look away from the eggs for fear that he would dive in with his hands and shovel them into his mouth like an animal.  There hadn’t been any chickens around, that he’d seen anyway, so he assumed the eggs were of the powdered variety.

A month ago, he wouldn’t have touched a dehydrated egg.  Now, he couldn’t wait to dig into them.

Brown led them through a series of rooms adorned with maps or weapons.  The indoor security station, replete with monitors for the exterior cameras and alarms for different sections of the fencing, was off to the left.  A woman sat at the controls, watching the screens.

They settled in a large space that appeared to be a converted bedroom.  A table sat in the middle of the room with a large map of Pittsburgh sitting atop it. Brown took a seat at the far side of the table and motioned for Lance to sit across from him.

“Sorry,” Brown said.  “The boy is doing fine.  He has a respiratory infection, but it’s not too big a deal.  Most babies don’t feed well when they have a URI.”

Lance nodded as if that made sense to him.  It didn’t.  Before the fall, he’d gone to WebMD for his medical advice and he always had trouble understanding the information provided.  His healthcare coverage had lapsed years before.

“Where’s Nathaniel?” Cass asked.  She pulled a stem from one of the plants in the greenhouse from her hair.  If it embarrassed her, she didn’t show it.

“He’s staying with his family.  He’ll be back in a few days.  Earlier if we need him.”

Lance studied the map before them.  One point in the city had a pin stuck in it.  A few others were circled.  More had red Xs crossed over them.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Pittsburgh.”

“OK, you two, I’m supposed to be the smartass around here.”  He jabbed his finger at one of the Xs.  “What’re the marks for?”

“They’re obviously points of interest for Ralph, but I can’t say what they are with any certainty.  If I had to guess, I’d say they’re possible locations of the man on the radio.”

Lance leaned closer.  The nearest X was over the Monroeville shopping mall.  Two more covered Heinz Field and PNC Park.

“Well, we know that they took out the stadiums.  This would suggest they did something similar at the mall.”

“Maybe the circles are places they still have to check out.”  Cass pointed at one over The Strip.  “There’s a lot of shops and stuff here.”

A pin sat by the X over PNC Park.

Lance scooted forward in his chair, wanting a better look.

Eifort walked in, holding an M4 in her right hand.

“Hey, guys!  How are you feeling?”  She looked at Cass’ eye.  “Damn.”

Cass sighed, “Yeah.”

“I feel great,” Lance said.  “I’m not dying.”

“So I hear.  Thanks for telling us about the bite.”

Lance leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.  “For the love of God, I’m sorry.”  Even with the constant ribbing from everyone, his mood continued to improve through the morning.  Not even the encounter with his ex-wife could dampen his joy.

Eifort bent down and planted a kiss on Brown’s forehead.  The doc’s face went red.

“I’ve got people hiding in trees a mile out in every direction,” Eifort said as she sat down at the table.  “They’ve got walkie-talkies so we’ll know if Ralph tries to sneak through.”

“Great idea,” Brown said.

“What about at night?” Lance asked.  “We can’t have people in the trees at night with the Vladdies out.”

“We’ll bring them back in.  It’s not like Ralph can walk around at night anymore than we can.”

Lance bobbed his head up and down.

Brown laced his hands together on top of the map and leaned forward, taking in everyone around him.  “I called you in here because we need to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

“From what Cass told me this morning, we’re securing the compound, right?” Lance asked.

“Of course, but that will only take a day or two of work.  Ralph had this place stocked with most of what we need already.  What I’m talking about goes beyond that.  Greensburg is in disarray.  The safe zone is gone and the few survivors left are wandering around, looking for another safe haven.  How do we get them here?”

“Maybe we can send out patrols,” Cass said.  “Take a couple of trucks out and pick up everyone we see.  Assuming they want to come, anyway.”

“What if one of those people is from Ralph’s camp?”  Lance asked.  “How can we tell them apart from anyone else?  It wouldn’t take much to fool us.”

The men from the kitchen brought them plates of food, placing them on the table.  They left a thermos of coffee and four mugs as well.