The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (43 page)

“I can hear the machines running,” Jason
said, sounding startled. “Are they working? Should we check?”

“No. You be on your way,” Cal snapped. “And
leave us be.”

“That’s not gonna work,” I said, dropping my
act just a bit. “We’re hungry.”

Cal narrowed his eyes. He was angry, but I
could see the panic he hid. He hadn’t expected to run into anyone.
He wasn’t prepared for this. “Stay here,” he grumbled and went to
his truck.

“How many were in your group?” the younger
guy asked. He kept his distance, looking at us like we were covered
in the virus and could pass it on with just a touch.

“About fifty,” I answered.

His eyes bulged, giving away the only clue I
needed to know that he had been fed a lie. He had no idea what was
going on. Cal, on the other hand…he knew exactly what he was
doing.

“Louis,” Cal called. “Keep your mouth shut.”
Cal came back, holding a sandwich. He ripped it in half and offered
the pieces to Jason and me. We had to eat if we wanted to keep up
our act but there was something about it, something that seemed
off…too off.

But before I had the chance to warn Jason, he
took a bite, acting as if he really hadn’t eaten in days.

“Thank you,” he said with his mouth full. I
picked off the crust and took a bite.

“Eat and be on your way,” Cal said, grinning.
He put his hand on Louis’s arm and guided him away. They walked
down the road, going into the greenhouse at the end, as far away
from us as they could get.

“Spit it out,” I said to Jason. “Don’t eat
any of it.” I opened the sandwich, looking for zombie blood.

“It’s actually good,” Jason said. “I miss
lunchmeat.” He stared at his sandwich. “Is it just me or are those
guys super shady?”

“The shadiest,” I said and sat on the ground,
pretending to eat. Jason sat next to me. “Cal’s not going to talk,
I can tell you that now. Fuck. Give me a minute and I’ll think of
something.”

I slowly picked the sandwich apart,
scattering the pieces in the tall weeds. I looked across the street
near the shed where Hayden and Brock were hiding. Maybe they’d have
a better idea of how to get info out of Cal and Louis. Everything I
thought of involved violence.

Jason’s body slumped forward, shoulders
hunching and head drooping.

“Jason?” I asked. The rest of the sandwich
fell from my hands. I reached out for him, wrapping my fingers
around his forearm.

His skin was hot. “Jason!” I said and pressed
my hand to his forehead. He was burning up, like he had a high
fever. Nerves painfully tingled through my body, I scuttled up to
my knees, shaking Jason. “No, no, no!” I shook him. His head
flopped back. I pulled him to me to keep him from falling.

My heart was pounding. There was something
wrong with Jason. Had they poisoned him? If they had, with what? I
hadn’t seen anything on the sandwich. Carefully, I laid him down.
His breathing was shallow. I grabbed the walkie from the back belt
loop on my pants, ready to tell Hayden I needed him. I wasn’t fast
enough.

Jason sprang up, eyes bloodshot and teeth
pulled back in a snarl. He let out a harrowing growl and lunged at
me.

I screamed, for real that time. Horror
paralyzed me. Jason snarled, saliva dripping from his mouth. He
came at me, teeth bared. I blinked, snapping back into action. I
moved away, getting to my feet. Jason sprang up, gargling growls as
he reached for me, fingers splayed as if he had claws.

I didn’t think. I balled my hand into a fist
and punched him in the throat. His hands flew to his neck, and he
fell back, wheezing.

“Hayden!” I yelled. “Hayden!”

Jason dropped to his knees, still wheezing.
His head flopped down, drool seeping from his open mouth. Then he
looked up at me, bloodshot eyes narrowed. His lips pulled up in an
evil smile and he laughed.

“Jason!” I called to him. “Jason, please,
no!”

He collapsed onto the street, rolling onto
his back. “Hot…hot,” he mumbled and started pulling at his clothes.
He kicked his legs in the air, as if he was seeing something that
wasn’t there. “Get away,” he panted and pulled at the hem of his
shirt.

“Riss!” Hayden said as he ran over. Brock was
right behind him. Hayden stopped next to me, arm going around my
shoulders.

“Fuck,” Brock said, moving next to Jason.
“What the hell happened?”

I spun around, staring at the last
greenhouse. Could the guys even hear us? “They did it! They
infected him!”

“Get him off the street,” Brock said. It took
all three of us to grab Jason’s arms and legs and drag him out of
sight. He writhed around on the ground, reaching for us and
snarling.

“No,” he mumbled, swatting at nothing. “No!”
He rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up, charging at
Brock.

“What do I do?” Brock asked and caught Jason
by the arm. He twisted Jason’s arm back and pushed him away. Jason
stumbled, laughing manically. He wildly looked around before
turning his head up to the sun, staring at it unblinking. Then he
started pulling at his shirt again.

“He’s infected,” Hayden said, voice flat. He
pulled his gun from his hip, shaking his head. “There’s nothing we
can do.”

Jason had his shirt around his head, unable
to pull it free. He was blinded and stumbled, falling down in a
patchy spot of weeds and gravel. He moaned in pain, hand flying to
his injured knee.

“Get them off me!” Jason yelled, thrashing
around and clawing at the shirt that was over his head. “Get off,
you motherfuckers. Get off!”

“Wait!” I said and moved closer to Jason.
“Crazies don’t feel pain or fear.” I put my hand on Jason’s exposed
chest. “His heart is racing.” I turned up to Hayden. “He’s been
drugged!”

“Drugged?” Brock asked and knelt down, taking
hold of Jason’s legs so he wouldn’t kick me.

“Yes.” I grabbed one of Jason’s arms, unable
to keep a hold of it. He was unusually strong . “PCP or bathsalts
or something.”

Hayden holstered his gun and yanked the shirt
off of Jason’s head. Jason looked at Hayden and screamed, calling
him a demon.

“Holy shit, you’re right.” He pushed down on
Jason’s arms. “What do we do?”

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. “I
don’t know. The few times I’ve seen this it always ended with a
trip to the ER.” I put my fingers on Jason’s neck. “His heart is so
fast. He’s going to have a heart attack!”

“No he won’t,” Hayden said. “We’ll do
something.”

There was nothing we could do except wait
this out. And those guys inside the greenhouse could come out at
any second. I stood and took my belt off. Brock and Hayden
struggled to flip Jason over.

“Please,” Jason begged. “The fire is hot.
Don’t take me to Hell. Not to Hell!” Then his fear twisted into
laughter and his body contracted as he rambled about spiders.

“Jason,” I said, hoping to reach something
inside. “It’s Riss. We’re going to get you help.”

“Riss,” he repeated and relaxed.

“Yes, Riss.”

He laughed again and swung his arm, his nails
scraping the skin off my chest. I pushed back, reeling. Then I
jumped up, flying to Jason’s side. Hayden and Brock flipped him
over. I straddled him, using my weight to keep him down while I
wrapped the belt around his arms.

We flipped him back over. Jason screamed and
was talking nonsense. Brock used his teeth to yank a braided cord
bracelet off his wrist.

“It’s a survival bracelet,” he told me. I
grabbed it and immediately started to unwind the red and blue nylon
cord, using it to bind Jason’s hands and feet to his sides. I took
my belt back, quickly looping it around my waist without bothering
to feed it into the loops.

Jason started pounding his head against the
ground and thrashed his legs around. Brock slid his hands under
Jason’s head to lessen the blow.

Hayden was wearing my quiver and had dropped
the bow several feet away. I scrambled over to grab it and took the
quiver from around Hayden’s arm. He looked up at me, pleading with
me not to go. But we had no choice. We couldn’t leave Jason alone,
and it took more than one person to control him in this drug
induced mania. I snapped the quiver into place and sprinted down
the road, rage fueling me.

The door to the last greenhouse was locked. I
stood back and kicked it, breaking the frame. The door swung open
and I stepped inside, looking for Cal and Louis. They were in the
little room that each greenhouse had. Having heard the door break
open, they looked up, stunned and scared. Had they expected Jason
and me to kill each other while high?

I didn’t give them a chance to explain.
Nothing they could say would make things better. I grabbed an arrow
and shot the window. It crashed down in a rain of broken glass,
tiny shards flying everywhere. Cal and Louis ducked, covering their
heads.

“What did you give him?” I demanded and moved
inside, stringing another arrow. Cal had a gun. Would he try to
shoot me? I let the arrow go, hitting a corner of glass that had
remained in the window. I ran up the metal stairs and kicked the
door to the little computer room. Both men had ducked under the
desk. The gun rested on top.

Cal’s muscles twitched. He was thinking about
making a mad dash for the gun. It was out of his immediate reach,
but he could get it. And if he did, I’d be dead. His eyes met mine.
Gray eyes, full of hate and loathing. I was a fly in the ointment,
annoying and in need of purging.

He jumped. And I shot. My arrow hit him in
the shoulder, just below his neck. I was aiming for his arm and I
missed.

He slumped to the ground, crying out in pain.
His body trembled and blood poured out before he went still. I
hadn’t meant to kill him but I did. My blood turned cold and I
stared at Cal’s lifeless eyes, still harsh and full of hate.

“What did you give him?” I asked, turning
back to Louis.

He held up his hands. “I don’t know!”

“Bullshit!”

I couldn’t look at Cal. I stepped to the
side, blocking him from view. I leaned over the desk and grabbed
the gun, tossing it down onto the greenhouse floor. I nocked
another arrow and turned on Louis. “I will ask one more time,” I
threatened, able to hear Jason’s screams from outside.

“I don’t know!” Louis repeated.

I pulled the arrow back. The string groaned,
wanting to be released.

“I don’t know what it is. It’s…it’s what they
told us to use if anyone found this place!”

My arm drooped. I shook myself and refocused.
“Who?”

“Samael!”

My heart skipped a beat. “What?” I asked, my
voice too shrill for my liking.

“W-we have to keep it a secret. But he
said…he said there was no one left. He said they searched!”

“I won’t shoot you,” I said calmly. “As long
as you tell me everything.”

“And then what?” he asked with a sharp laugh.
“Then what do I do? I can’t go back…he won’t let me, not after
this. Not after I screwed up.”

“You didn’t screw up. You ran into a horde of
zombies.” I lowered the bow and released the pressure on the
string. “Samael lied. There are plenty of us left. And
nobody
came looking.”

Louis shook his head like he couldn’t believe
me. “No. He wouldn’t do that. We’re all that’s left. They told me
they spent weeks.” Tears filled his eyes. “My wife…my wife and kids
were out there, but he said there was no one left…that it wasn’t
worth looking.”

“I’m sorry,” I said honestly. “But there was
a chance they were alive. Samael lied,” I repeated. “He’s nothing
but a coward, hiding in safety while the rest of us are fighting to
survive, barely getting by.”

Louis shook his head, tears falling from his
eyes. He reached into his pocket. I pulled the arrow back, raising
my arm.

“Don’t!” I shouted, thinking he was reaching
for a gun. He held up a picture—faded and worn from being folded—of
his family.

“They would have waited for me.” He shook his
head. “They would have waited!” he yelled. “But I never came.” He
sniffled. “They told me everyone was dead.”

“No, not everyone. A lot of us made it. Even
after Samael dosed us with the second round of the virus.”

“What?” he asked incredulously.

“You don’t know?”

He shook his head. “What are you talking
about?”

I lowered the bow again. “How about this?” I
asked, wincing over the sound of Jason’s screams. “You answer one
of my questions, and I’ll answer one for you.”

“Ok,” he said and took a breath. He stared at
the picture of his family.

“Where is everyone hiding?”

“The Regency Hotel. What is the second
dose?”

“The zombie virus. We were hit with it again
to try and kill everyone.”

“What do you mean?” Louis begged.

“That’s two questions,” I said and shook my
head. “How many people are at the hotel?”

“A thousand, maybe more.” He put the picture
of his family down. “The virus was meant to kill everybody?”

“Yes,” I answered. “How is the hotel
guarded?”

He shook his head. “You didn’t answer my
question.”

“I told you yes. That’s an answer. My turn.
How is the hotel guarded?”

My words didn’t sink in. Louis slowly shook
his head as the truth revealed the lies he had been living. “I gave
up everything for this. My home…my job…my-my
family
. They
told me it was an accident…it wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Again. Lies. When are you going to get that?
It wasn’t an accident. Not at all. Everyone was supposed to die.
The accident was that we lived.”

“My family.” He looked up at me, eyes wide
and brimmed with tears. “Do you think they could still be
alive?”

“It’s possible.”

“My kids…they are young. Oh God…to think what
Laura went through.” He fell back, shaking his head. “The kids are
all right, don’t you think? They have to be all right.”