The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (28 page)

“Why do I feel like I’m missing something?”
Wade asked.

“Because you are.” Hayden knew the truth. He
knew what my grandpa had put me through and he knew why. It was a
secret I kept carefully guarded. I loved my grandpa and understood
that everything he did was with the best intentions. He wanted me
to survive.

And I had.

Deciding it would be easier to sort through
the weapons with the lights on, we went back upstairs to get our
gear from the cars.

“It really bothers me to think that strangers
slept in my bed,” I grumbled. Hayden opened the front door for me.
We stepped onto the porch and looked around before going to our
vehicles.

“We’ve slept in other people’s beds too,” he
said and unlocked the truck. “We’ve even had sex in other people’s
beds.”

“Just one bed,” I corrected with a small
smile. I opened the truck, reaching inside for my bag. “And that
doesn’t matter. It’s my bed. I don’t want anyone but you in
it.”

“At least I’m allowed,” Hayden said, slipping
his arm through the straps of his own bag and then silently closed
the truck door. We walked around to the bed, grabbing our bags of
food. “It’s nice here,” he said quietly. “I can see why you like it
so much.”

“It is.” I opened the Jeep, struggling to get
a hold of Jason’s bag while holding the rest of our gear. “The
house is big for its age. But I think it’s the memories that make
it so special, as lame as that sounds.”

“Not lame at all,” he assured me and picked
up another duffle bag. We headed back to the house.

“There’s still gas in the barn, right?” Jason
asked as soon as we came inside.

“There was when we left,” I said and dropped
the bags of clothing to the ground. “But I know for a fact that if
I stayed here I’d take all the gas when I left.”

“Should we go check? We could fire up the
generator.”

“We should wait until the morning,” I said
and looked past the foyer and out the breakfast nook’s large
windows. There were too many hiding places, too many shadows in the
yard. We got lucky with the house. I had a nagging feeling this
kind of luck wouldn’t strike twice.

“This will do for now,” Hayden said. “I’ll
take the lack of power if it means we are safe for the night.”

“Me too,” Wade agreed. “This place is
perfect, Riss.” He shone his light around the living room. Blankets
were neatly folded on the couch. A mug sat on the coffee table, not
on a coaster. There was on ring that would never come out. Boxes of
board games were stacked alongside the fireplace. I couldn’t
remember the last one we had played.

“Hey,” Jason called from the kitchen. “Come
look at this!”

He sounded excited, not frightened. Hayden,
Wade, and I hurried through the house.

Jason stood in front of the pantry. “All the
food is still here!”

“What idiots,” Wade chuckled. “They stayed
here but left the food.”

“They’re loss,” Jason said and reached in,
grabbing a bag of potato chips. It was odd to leave the food, no
doubt, but we had done it as well. Maybe whoever was here last had
to run out just like we had?

I whirled around, compelled to check the rest
of the house for supplies. I fished a flashlight from my bag and
went back into the kitchen, opening cabinets and drawers.

“Yes!” I said when I opened a drawer. Hayden
moved closer, snaking his arms around my waist.

“What?” he asked.

“Candles. This drawer was full when we left
but look. We have about a half dozen left.” I reached in, pulling
out the tea lights. I set them on the counter; Hayden lit them with
his own lighter. We dispersed them throughout the first level, then
we were ready to settle in for the night.

I carried our heavy bag of sustenance into
the kitchen, setting it on the counter. My stomach grumbled and I
was tired. I had no idea what time it was but I guessed it to be
after midnight.

“Is this you?” Hayden asked from the family
room. I looked over my shoulder. He held his arm up, shining the
flashlight on a photograph that hung on the wall. I smiled as I
walked over.

“Yeah. It is.” I looked at my eighteen
year-old self, hair up in a mess of precariously placed curls.
“Prom.” My mom threw a fit about the low cut dress I wore. She
wasn’t home to take me dress shopping so my grandma, as sick as she
was, dragged an oxygen tank behind her and took me to an expensive
dress store. Knowing death could take her any day, my grandma had
become rather rebellious in the end and said the cleavage showing,
curve hugging dress was made for me.

“You look weird with makeup on,” Hayden
said.

“And I look ten years younger.”

He looked at me then the picture. “Not
really. You don’t look like a teenager now but you haven’t changed
much.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I
smiled.

“This looks like the Riss I know,” he said,
moving to another photograph. This one was only a few years old. I
was tan and barefoot, standing along the edge of a lake wearing a
tank top and jeans with a fishing pole in my hand.

I had to drag Hayden away from the pictures,
telling him we could look through old photo albums during our
watch. Jason and Wade were already eating, sitting at the counter
in the kitchen. I smeared peanut butter over crackers and sprinkled
raisins on top, then hopped up on the counter to sit while I
ate.

“We totally could have stayed,” Jason said
with his mouthful. He finished chewing then continued. “We left
because we thought the zombies were gonna bust through the
door.”

The thought had occurred to me as soon as I
saw the front door still on the hinges. “If we were inside maybe
they would have,” I said. “And besides.” I picked up another
cracker. “I’m glad we left.” My eyes flicked across the room to
Hayden.

Jason made a gagging sound and rolled his
eyes. I kicked him and he dodged away, laughing. “You know,” he
said, wiping his hands together and sprinkling more crumbs onto the
floor. “I’m surprised this doesn’t stink.” He put his hand on the
handle of the fridge.

“Ugh,” I started, ready to tell him not to
bother opening it. But he beat me to it and I almost fell over.
Yellow light spilled from the refrigerator. Jason stood,
transfixed. Wade sucked in a breath and pushed off the counter,
striding over to the sink. His hand landed on the wall. He slid it
up, flicking on a light.

“Holy shit,” I said and jumped down. Hayden
rushed into the room. I turned on the overhead light. “We have
power.”

The four of us stood there, dumbly staring at
the light as if it was some sort of mystical source. I shook
myself.

“I don’t hear the generator.” I didn’t think
about it; I turned around and opened the backdoor. Hayden called
after me but I was already on the wraparound porch, eyes flitting
to the large generator. It indeed was off and had even been pushed
to the side of the porch. “It doesn’t make sense.” Hayden’s hand
landed on my wrist. Then I noticed the wires. I followed them down
and off the porch. It was hard to see in the dim light.

“It’s solar powered,” Hayden said.

“That’s fucking brilliant.” I smiled, shaking
my head. We returned into the house where it was safe. “Something
bad must have happened to whoever stayed here,” I guessed. “To
leave all this.”

“Unless they intended on coming back,” Wade
said casually. Then his words hit us. “Oh, shit.”

“I don’t care if they come back. This is my
house.” I crossed my arms.

“What if they say it’s theirs?” Jason
asked.

“It’s not theirs. And I’m in the pictures to
prove it. It was mine before the apocalypse, it’s mine now, and I
won’t give it up.”

Hayden held up his hand. “Let’s not get ahead
of ourselves. It’s late; we need to spilt up and get some
sleep.”

Hayden and I took the first shift. I opened
all the windows in the house. It was uncomfortably stuffy from
being closed up in this heat. I went up to my room and hesitated in
the doorway, eyes settling on my bed. Unable to take it, I strode
in and threw back the comforter.

The mattress had been flipped and smelled
faintly of bleach. Faded pink sheets stretched over the queen-sized
bed, neatly tucked in. Even the pillow cases had been changed. I
kicked off my boots and jeans and opened the dresser, looking for
something comfortable to put on.

I settled for black yoga pants and a pink
t-shirt that had a black print screen skull over the chest. I
grabbed the scrapbooks my grandma had made for me, knowing Hayden
would enjoy looking at them.

He had already found something to entertain
himself with when I came back downstairs.

“Oh my God, no,” I said, having to really try
and suppress my smile. “We are not watching that.”

Hayden sat on the floor in front of the TV
stand with a shiny disk in his hand. “Yes, we are. I’m not passing
up a chance to watch home videos of my future wife.” He looked up
at me, beaming.

“Fine. Just one.” I rolled my eyes. Hayden
plugged in the TV, dusted off the screen, and popped the DVD in. We
settled on the couch. This particular recording was of me, only
twelve years old, going through an obstacle course of sorts my
grandpa had set up. He followed behind me with the camera as I
moved through the course, shooting targets.

“You were raised like a warrior,” he said and
turned off the TV. He stood, extending his hand to me. I took
it.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I’m not saying it’s bad.”

I raised my eyebrows. “But you’re saying it’s
not normal.”

He smiled. “No, not normal at all. But in a
weird way I’m kinda jealous.”

I laughed and moved to the window. “That is
weird.”

“Just think of how good I’d be if I started
young.”

I turned to see him smiling. I rolled my
eyes. He came up behind me, putting his arms around me. “This is
weird too,” I said and hugged him. “Having part of my old life
back. I never thought I’d come back here again. I wanted to, of
course. And now that you’re here with me…I don’t want to
leave.”

“We have to,” he said gently.

“I know. I know we do. The compound is home.
This…this isn’t home anymore.” I sighed and let go of Hayden. We
made rounds around the house then sat in the living room going
through the scrapbooks, getting up every few minutes to look out
the windows until it was our turn to sleep.

Once in my room, Hayden stripped down to his
boxers. I unhooked my bra, slipped it over my arms through my
shirt, and took off the yoga pants. I threw back the comforter and
settled under the sheets. Hayden put his gun on the nightstand and
got in bed next to me.

I closed my eyes as he snuggled close,
wrapping his arms around me and pulling me in. If I tried, I could
pretend none of the bad shit had ever happened, that Hayden and I
had met under different circumstances and that everyone I cared
about was alive and well.

“You know,” I said and pulled the sheet over
us. “You’re the first guy to be in this bed with me. My
grandparents were very strict.”

“No one ever sneaked up?”

“My boyfriends were scared of my
grandpa.”

Hayden laughed and kissed the back of my
neck. A shiver rippled across my skin, goosebumps rising. “I like
learning about you.”

I turned around and hooked my leg over his
hip. “Learning how messed up I am you mean.”

He shook his head and brushed my hair out of
my face. “You’re not messed up, Riss.”

“You do know you’re a terrible liar,
right?”

Hayden laughed. “We’re all a little messed
up. Some just hide it better than others.”

I put my hand on his cheek, his day old
stubble rough on my hand. I pulled his face to mine and kissed him,
biting at his bottom lip. Hayden moved his hands to my waist, and
in a quick movement, lifted himself up and on top of me. He
deepened the kiss, grinding himself against me. I opened my legs,
feeling his erection through the thin layers of fabric. Warmth
tingled deep inside of me.

“We don’t have to be quiet,” he whispered,
barely taking his lips off of mine. It was true. The only other
people in the house knew about our relationship. We had nothing to
hide. The thought of throwing all inhibitions to the wind turned me
on even more.

I smiled deviously and stuck my hands inside
Hayden’s boxers, tugging them down over his butt. He kicked them
off and moved back onto me, his cock pressing hard against me,
begging to be let in.

I raked my fingers up his back, nails
scraping at his skin. He shoved his tongue inside my mouth, his
kiss showing his desperate desire to make love to me. I slipped my
hand down and wrapped my fingers around his hardness. I slowly
worked my hand up and down.

Hayden let out a sigh of pleasure and nipped
at my neck. He reached his hand down, pressing his thumb over my
clit. Warmth shot through me, tingling down my thighs. I let go of
Hayden and grabbed his hand, sticking his fingers inside my
panties.

I arched my back when he slid them inside of
me. My heart sped up and desire wound in me, needing to be
released. Unable to take the slow burn any longer, I yanked my
panties down and took hold of Hayden’s erection, guiding him to
me.

But he wasn’t done teasing me. He removed my
shirt and trailed kisses down from my mouth, stopping at my breasts
to suck on my nipples. My hands curled into fists, balling the
sheet. He moved his mouth to my stomach, going slow on purpose. I
put my hands on his head, wrapping my fingers through his hair, and
pushed him down between my legs.

He wrapped his arms around my thighs and
opened my legs before diving in. The hair on his cheeks tickled the
inside of my legs. His mouth was against me, open and so warm.

I moaned, lifting my hips off the mattress
just a bit. Pleasure was building up. “Hayden,” I groaned, looking
down at him. He flicked his tongue and I threw my head back as
pleasure rippled through me.