The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (10 page)

“No, not at all,” he said with a sigh. “And I
will talk to you in the morning, ok? Just please let me have a
meeting and get some sleep.”

“Fine.” She uncrossed her arms and stepped
forward. Hayden gave her one more hug before walking her to the
basement door. Raeya inspected her bracelet, running her fingers
over the brown leather strap and rubbing the metal elephant charm
as if she was polishing it.

Bullshit. She was avoiding me. Hannah had
said something she wasn’t supposed to, and I wanted to know what
was going on. Before I had a chance to ask, Ivan bombarded me with
questions.

“What did Underwood do to piss you off enough
to shoot him?” He flashed me his characteristic toothy smile.

I shook my head. “Nothing…today.” I took a
deep breath. The memory was right there, fresh in my mind. The
scent of the rotting stomachs was so strong I was sure my hair
reeked of it. “Crazies,” I began, “aren’t so crazy anymore.”

Ivan’s brow furrowed. “Come again?”

Hayden returned. He put his hand on my back.
“Is everyone asleep?” he asked, eyeing the stairs.

“Probably,” Ivan said. He looked at Raeya and
smiled. “I stayed up so Ray wouldn’t have to wait for you two
alone.”

Raeya looked at the ground and smiled.
“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I know it’s late.”

“Nah, it’s not that late. And besides, I
couldn’t sleep not knowing if I’d be setting out on a rescue
mission in the morning,” Ivan said.

Hayden curled his fingers under the hem of my
shirt. “It can wait until morning then. We need to have a meeting
with all the A’s; they need to know this. And Dr. Cara and Padraic
would probably want to know too.”

“Whoa,” Ivan said and put his hand up. “You
can’t leave us hanging.”

Hayden nodded. “Come upstairs then.” He
tipped his head back, signaling to the A3 who stood a ways behind
us. Ivan and Raeya followed us upstairs and into our room. I
stopped at the threshold, kicking off my dirty boots. I grabbed the
hem of my t-shirt, ready to pull it over my head.

“Uh, I can see you,” Ivan said and held up
his hands.

“Please,” I sighed and pulled the shirt off.
I had a tight tank top on underneath. I gobbled up the shirt,
keeping it inside out so the grit and grime wouldn’t rub off on
anything. I went to the closet and tossed it in our hamper.

“Can you close the door?” Hayden asked and
bent over to unlace his boots. He winced when he pulled them off. I
knew his ankle still hurt.

“What happened? I’m getting scared,” Raeya
said and sat on my unmade bed.

“We ran into a herd of S1s,” Hayden said.

“Crazies don’t group in herds,” Raeya said.
“They kill each other.”

Ivan tipped his head. “Not all the time.”

I removed the hair tie from the end of my
braid and started raking my fingers through my messy locks.
Something sticky coated the ends…I didn’t want to think about what
it could be. “We saw it before,” I told her. “When we were in
Texas. But this…this was way worse. They were nesting, like with
blankets and bags of organs left to bake in the sun.”

“It was like they were organized.” Hayden
took over the explanation. He went on to tell them exactly what we
had encountered. Raeya traced her fingers over her collar bone
until the skin was red.

“What are you going to do about it?” she
asked, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat and put her hand
down, pressing her palm against her thigh. “I mean, if they are
grouping together and more or less
planning
how to attack,
then that is a really big threat.”

“It is,” Hayden and I said at the same time.
I turned to look at Hayden, reaching inside my shirt for his dog
tags. I pressed my thumb against the flat metal.

“We need to go back and kill them,” I said,
voicing the conclusion Hayden and I already had come to. “A nest of
crazies that close to home isn’t something we can ignore.” I turned
my attention to Ivan. “We still have a few Molotov cocktails left
over that will come in handy. The six of us will go tomorrow after
breakfast and the meeting and take care of business.”

“Molotov cocktails?” Raeya asked. “Your
idea?”

I raised one shoulder. “What can I say?
They’re easy to make?”

“Wait…” she began and shook her head. “Why
did you— Oh. Never mind. Eastmoore. Bombs. Makes sense now in a
dark, disturbing way.” She quickly shook her head and fiddled with
her bracelet again.

I smiled at her as if it didn’t bother me.
And it didn’t, not on the surface at least. I hadn’t had time to
process everything that had happened at the state institution just
yet. I wasn’t sure if I would be bothered knowing that I had killed
people—people who weren’t infected but who were just as bad if not
worse than zombies.

“What time do you want to meet in the
morning?” Ivan asked.

Hayden shrugged. “After breakfast is
fine.”

“All right.” He took a step back, shoulders
tensing just a bit. Raeya’s eyes flitted to his then back down
again.

“What are you not telling us?” I asked,
nerves fluttering.

“Nothing,” Raeya blurted quickly. Too
quickly.

“I can tell you’re nervous about
something.”

“Of course I’m nervous, Rissy! You just said
there is a flock of crazies not too far from here!”

I pursed my lips. “I saw you acting off
before we told you.”

“It’s nothing bad,” she promised. “And you
have so much going on right now.”

“He needs to know,” Ivan said suddenly.

“What do I need to know?” Hayden asked.

Raeya looked up at Ivan again, unsure of
whatever she was about to say. Then she smiled and turned to Hayden
“You won.”

“Won what?” Hayden asked and unclipped his
pistol from his side.

“The vote.”

My stomach dropped. I had completely
forgotten about the compound’s election.

“And you won by a lot. Over eighty-five
percent of the votes were for you,” Raeya continued.

Hayden sank down on his bed. He closed his
eyes, slowly exhaling while shaking his head. He looked at me and
laughed. “This was supposed to avoid that.” He rubbed his forehead.
“I don’t want to do it, but it seems I have no choice now.”

“Yes you do,” I told him, heart racing.
“Don’t do it.” I shook my head. “Not if you don’t want to. No one
will be mad at you.”

Ivan stepped forward and held up his hand. “I
have to respectfully disagree, Penwell.” He brought his hands
together. “Underwood was here when this place was just a bare bones
operation to save anyone we could find. He has a good reputation
and everyone knows he was close to Fuller. And we all know that
Hayden is fair but will also do whatever it takes to keep this
place safe. There was a reason Fuller picked him all along.”

“You want him to do it?” I asked.

“I do,” Ivan said and shyly smiled. “I voted
for him.”

Hayden looked at his friend as if he had just
betrayed him. Forgetting my pants were dirty, I sat on the bed next
to Hayden, putting my hand on his arm. I bit the inside of my
cheek. I couldn’t refute Ivan’s statement. Hayden
would
make
a great leader. This place would be in good hands and I knew that
Hayden would have no issue keeping certain types of people out.

Hayden ran his hand through his hair. “Do I
have to make a speech or something?”

“I don’t think so,” Ivan told him with a
shrug.

Raeya’s eyes widened with excitement. “I’ll
write it. I love writing speeches!”

“Uh, have at it,” Hayden said, looking at her
as if she was crazy. His muscles were tense. I wanted to strip him
of his clothes and give him a massage. I pressed my hand against
his leg and winced when his jeans caught on the fresh scab forming
on my palm.

“I feel bad,” Raeya said and sat next to me.
She linked her arm through mine. “Now that I know what you guys
went through today. This is the last thing you need.”

“You got that right,” Hayden muttered. He
slowly inhaled, steadying himself. “First things first. We need to
eliminate the threat of the S1s. Then I’ll worry about how the hell
I’m going to fill Fuller’s shoes.”

I smiled at him, knowing that he was already
worrying about it. There was no putting off the huge weight of
taking over. It was just added on to the stress he was already
dealing with.

“Holding the meeting is a good way to start,”
Raeya said. “You’re taking action. Fuller would be proud.”

Hayden forced a smile. “Sure.”

“I’ll do what I can to help. I organized
Fuller’s office so I know where everything is and what binders and
lists go to what.”

Hayden seemed even more overwhelmed by the
thought of going through Fuller’s things. “Thanks, Ray.”

“But now you two need to rest.” She looked at
the bloody bandage around Hayden’s left arm. “Probably go to the
hospital ward first, though.”

We all knew she was right. After saying
goodnight to Ivan, she went with us downstairs. I opened my mouth
to ask her if any feelings had finally sparked between her and Ivan
but stopped. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. Too much had happened
today.

* * *

“And this?” Hayden looked up from the binder
that lay open on Fuller’s desk.

Raeya turned around. “That is the master list
of everyone living here. It has their name, age, room number,
category, and any significant info, like a few people have health
conditions. It’s alphabetized.”

Hayden set his jaw and flipped the page. He
slowly blinked and looked up. “Fuller knew everyone. How am I
supposed to remember their names? I’m horrible with names.”

“Everyone wears name tags,” Raeya encouraged.
“Well, everyone except Riss.” She shot me a glare over her
shoulder.

“Everyone knows who I am,” I said without
looking up from the map. I traced my eyes over the black Xs that
marked the map. Each was earned after fully exploring a town. It
was a reminder for us not to go back and waste time looking for
supplies; there was nothing left.

“Right,” Hayden said, unsure of himself. He
closed the binder and leaned back in the chair. “Name tags.”

“We need to talk about the tunnel,” I said
and stood, picking up the map. I pinned it back to the corkboard
that hung on the wall opposite Fuller’s desk and turned around.
Raeya took the binder from Hayden and put it back on the shelf
behind him.

“Right,” Hayden repeated. He shuffled through
the notebooks and papers on his desk until he found the list Raeya
had made, ranking the suggestions the other A1s and I had come up
with. “You are right about wasting gas.” His eyes scanned the page
before he looked up at me. “And it would be safer. The drive from
here to the farm isn’t protected. We don’t want anybody hijacked by
crazies. And if a herd came through the same time anyone was
driving…” he trailed off, shaking his head. We all knew the outcome
of that situation.

“You’re going to make people use the tunnel
instead, right?” I asked.

“Yes.” He nodded. “But, there is one
issue.”

“Oh,” I said as it hit me. “The weapons
room.”

Raeya waved her hand in the air. “Easy fix.
The storage room across the hall is twice as big and has better
lighting. There’d be a place to set up a table for cleaning the
weapons so you don’t have to do it in another room and then drag
everything in.”

Hayden smiled. “You’re a genius.”

Raeya beamed. “Thanks. I’m just good at
organizing stuff.” She picked up her ‘to do’ list and jotted
something down. “You’ll want the hall blocked off while we transfer
everything, right? And probably only have those authorized to use
weapons do the moving?”

“Yes,” Hayden said, his shoulders relaxing
considerably.

“It’ll be done by tomorrow,” Raeya said with
a smile.

“Thank you,” he said slowly. “Really.”

Raeya held up her hand. “No need to thank me.
It’s my job to keep things organized.”

“I never realized how much you did,” I
confessed. “I’m impressed.”

Raeya tried—and failed—not to smile at the
compliment. She looked up, blinking. “It’s nothing. I make lists
and alphabetize stuff.”

“You’re keeping me sane,” Hayden told her.
She brushed off the compliment.

Hayden eyed the clock.

“Anxious for our meeting, sir?” I asked him
with a half smile. I was, though most of the anxiety had to do with
going back and killing the crazies before they killed us. I wanted
to get it over with without any of us getting hurt. And then I
wanted to come back and rest. We had been on the go since
Eastmoore, and I was tired.

“Yeah,” he said. “Go get breakfast while you
still can. I’ll meet up with you later. I want to go through the
files once more.”

“I’ll have them save something for you,” I
said. He flicked his eyes up and smiled. Raeya and I left Fuller’s
office. I made a mental note to stop referring to it as Fuller’s
office. It wasn’t his anymore.

* * *

Raeya took Hayden’s spot at our table in the
back of the cafeteria. Alex, Mac, Noah, José, and Gabby—the
soldiers who made up the other A1 group were eager to sit in on
Hayden’s meeting. They wanted to know about the new information we
had learned and they wanted to know their assignment for the next
mission.

I noticed Padraic sitting close to a woman
named Maya. She was pretty with flowing hair and flawless, pale
skin. But she was also weird in a way that made Dr. Cara seem
normal. I still remembered her throwing salt into the air saying it
would keep the zombies away. She was the only person I had yet
encountered who thought that the virus was really caused by
demons.

Padraic leaned in, laughing at something she
said. A subconscious smile pulled the corners of my lips up. It was
nice to see the blue-eyed doctor happy.

Olivia approached me when I stood to dump my
tray.