The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (44 page)

I almost told him yes, there was a chance the
kids were just fine. But I had just preached about lies. I wasn’t
going to spread any more. “In my experience, young kids don’t do
well in this world.” I looked out the window at the door. “Do you
even know what it’s like out there?”

He was silent for a few seconds. Jason had
ceased screaming. My heart sank and cold fear wrapped around me.
Had something happened to him?

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Louis asked
me.

“You don’t,” I told him. “But why would I
make this up? What good would it do for me?”

He shook his head. “I…I don’t know. Are you
telling the truth?”

“Yes. I am. If you come outside with me, I’ll
explain.” I needed to get out, see what was going on with
Jason.

“Ok,” Louis agreed and wiped his runny nose.
I had him go first, still not trusting him at all. “I’m sorry about
your friend,” Louis said as we walked across the suspended
walkway.

“He’s going to be ok,” I told him. Jason had
to be ok.

Louis nodded, doubting what I had said. He
left the greenhouse and turned, gasping.

“What?” I asked and pushed past him. Shit. I
broke into a run, pulling an arrow from the quiver on my back. I
hadn’t thought about it but it made perfect sense. The screaming
and yelling…it had attracted zombies.

“Hayden!” I shouted and ran toward my
friends. Hayden and Brock were fighting off zombies. Jason lay on
the ground, hands and feet bound. I shot a zombie that fell just
feet before it got to Jason. I scooped up the knife that I had
purposely dropped before and tossed it to Louis. He reached for it,
catching the blade and slicing open his hand. “Kill them!” I yelled
and turned back around.

I fired off arrows, dropping zombies left and
right. Hayden pushed through the herd, knifing zombies in the
head.

“Get Jason out of here!” he called over the
death moans. My heart raced. Zombies circled Hayden. Blood sprayed
in the air as Hayden brought his knife up, making a perfect reddish
brown arch. Then he disappeared from view.

“Hayden!” I screamed. I shoved a zombie down,
stomping in his skull with my boot. “Hayden!” I stopped, fingers
trembling so much it was hard to focus. I shot three zombies, each
falling on top of the another. And then I saw Hayden, in the middle
of the herd, fighting not only for his life but for ours as
well.

I turned, stealing a glance at Brock, who was
dragging Jason toward a greenhouse. I pulled the machete from my
quiver and ran forward, slicing off heads as I went. They kept
coming.

“Riss,” Hayden said, stepping over a body.
“We have to get out of here.”

“Help Brock with Jason,” I said and turned to
shout to Louis. All I saw was his hand, on the ground and still
grasping the knife. Zombies crowded around him, pulling him
apart.

A vision of Wade lying on the forest floor
flashed into my head. I blinked but it was still there. I shouted
in frustration and pushed a zombie off of me before bringing the
machete up and down into his brain.

Hayden kicked open the door to the nearest
greenhouse. He and Brock carried Jason—who was still thrashing
around—up the stairs and across a walkway. I shut the broken door,
sliding a wheelbarrow in front of it to keep it in place. We went
into the suspended room and closed the door.

Jason had been gagged, which explained his
sudden silence. His hands were torn and bloody and his right eye
was stained red. I slumped against the door, panting.

“They’ll pass,” Brock said, catching his own
breath as well. “When they do, I’ll get the truck. We have to take
Jason home.”

Hayden pressed his hand to Jason’s forehead.
“He’s burning up. We have to get him back soon.”

“Fuck the mission,” I said and knelt by
Jason. “I’m not losing another friend.”

“We won’t,” Brock said.

“Those guys…” Hayden started.

“Dead.” I blinked and looked at the door to
the greenhouse, suddenly thankful for the strong chemical smell. It
masked our scent from the zombies. “But I got some info.” I
swallowed hard and told Hayden and Brock what I knew.

“We can’t stop now,” Brock said. “Not after
all this. And someone will come looking for those men. This is our
chance.”

“But Jason…” I started.

Hayden said, “Brock’s right. We can’t stop.
Jason has to go home, he needs medical treatment. I have no idea
what the detox is gonna be if he…when he gets to that point.”

Jason was drenched in sweat. He struggled
against his restraints and chewed on the gag. “What are you going
to do? Keep him tied up the whole way?”

“As long as he needs to be,” Brock said. “How
long does it last?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea. I don’t
even know what he had.” I leaned against the wall. “Do you think
he’ll make it? I mean, isn’t he going to get dehydrated from being
so hot and sweating?”

When neither Brock nor Hayden answered, I
knew it to be true. I stared though the window, watching shadows
flicker by the door as the zombies passed. Hayden held onto Jason,
keeping him from kicking the walls and making noise. He was
exhausted by the time he let Jason go.

“I’m going to be bruised tomorrow,” he
mumbled, rubbing his arms.

“Hah, tell me about it,” Brock said and took
his hands off Jason’s legs. “I’ll get the Jeep.”

“Make sure the herd is gone,” Hayden said.
“Completely. It’s not worth it.”

Brock nodded and took the walkie-talkie from
Hayden. “I will.” He silently slipped through the door and down the
walkway, taking the stairs two at a time. He held up his gun and
peered through the window of the broken door. Then he left.

“There’s a hose down there,” Hayden said,
eyeing the ground level. “We should try and cool Jason down.”

I nodded, feeling a stab of pain. Wade had
gotten overheated not that long ago. It was terrifying. And now he
was gone, his body torn apart in the bellies of zombies. Parts of
him were all over, constantly on the move. I shuddered.

“Yes, we should.” I flicked my eyes to
Hayden. “And you should wash your face. It’s covered in zombie
blood.”

“Yours is too.”

“When isn’t it?” I mused.

We waited until Brock pulled up with the Jeep
to move. The three of us struggled with Jason but were able to take
off his jeans, leaving him in just boxers, and spray cool water
over his body. Hayden removed the gag and offered Jason water. To
our surprise, he drank it. I kept expecting him to act like a crazy
and had to remind myself he wasn’t infected…just drugged.

Brock, Hayden, and I took turns washing blood
and grim from our bodies. I rinsed off my clothes, planning to
change as soon as we got to the truck. Day one and I was already in
my spare outfit. Great. I hadn’t packed enough, though having clean
clothes wasn’t a priority.

We situated Jason into the passenger seat,
keeping his hands and feet bound, and buckled him in. Brock gagged
him again, feeling guilty, but we all knew the screaming and loud
jabbering would attract more zombies. Hayden and I got in the back.
Brock drove us to the truck. I got out, going around to the front
of the Jeep.

I put my hand on Jason’s cheek before they
took off. His skin was still hot, though having removed most of his
clothes and spraying him with cold water had helped lower his temp
for now.

“You’re gonna be all right,” I told him,
looking in Jason’s dark eyes. They were rimmed with red as if a
vessel had burst. “And when you are, you tell Olivia that you’ve
been crushing on her, ok? She’ll be happy to hear it.”

I took in a breath and stepped back, closing
the door. I walked around the Jeep to where Hayden and Brock were
talking. I wrapped my arms around Brock, giving him a goodbye
hug.

“I’ll see you two again,” he said with a
forced smile. He gave Hayden a one armed handshake-hug and got in
the Jeep. I turned to Hayden. His hair was still wet and dripping
with water.

“Well,” he said and pulled his shirt over his
head, tossing it in the bed of the truck. “Ready to go to the Big
Apple?”

* * *

“I’ve never heard of the Regency Hotel,” I
told Hayden after he said it was the perfect place to hide out
during the apocalypse.

“Really?” he asked, taking his eyes off the
road to look at me. “It was a huge deal seven years ago.”

I lifted my shoulders and shook my head.
“Must not have been that huge since I never heard of it.”

“I was twenty-two and had been enlisted for a
few years by then. You were…what, only eighteen? Fuck that makes me
feel old.”

“That was a bad year for me,” I confessed.
“The freedom of college made me a little, uh, too free.”

“Oh. Maybe that’s why,” he suggested.
“Anyway, that’s when the economy starting tanking and the
healthcare system went through that reprise that didn’t do shit.
State hospitals lost funding.”

I nodded. “I remember that. A lot of them
closed and the patients were turned out, ending up in jail or
homeless.” I mostly remembered being angry with my mom and Ted for
going to China that year. So many people in our own country needed
help from their mission group. Why did they have to go so far away
and leave me?

“The Regency Hotel is on Wards Island. There
used to be a state hospital on that island. Once it closed, a
private buyer—don’t ask me who cuz I don’t remember—bought it out
and heavily renovated the building into a fancy hotel for high
rollers. Only three years later, it closed. No one could afford
that shit.”

“Oh. And it’s been abandoned ever since?”

“Supposedly. The whole island was abandoned.
The last I remember was that the bridges were blocked off to keep
gangs out.” He drummed his fingers along the steering wheel. “I
wonder how long Samael has been setting this up.”

“Me too.” The thought made my stomach bubble
with anxiety. What exactly were we going to find? I closed my eyes
in a long blink. “It’s so…weird to think that our government is out
to get us. I never thought it would happen.”

Hayden stiffened. “I know. I spent how many
years risking my life for them? And Ben…” he couldn’t finish his
sentence. I reached over the center console, putting my hand on his
thigh, knowing that Hayden was thinking his childhood best friend
lost his life overseas for nothing.

He put his hand over mine and held his head
up, focusing on the road. About an hour later, we made a pit stop.
We were a little over two hours from New York City. I walked away
from the truck to go to the bathroom and came back to find Hayden
leaning on the hood, looking over the map I had taken out of Louis
and Cal’s delivery truck.

“Their path isn’t clearly marked,” Hayden
grumbled. We figured they were familiar enough with the journey to
not need a map anymore. “All it shows is this bridge,” he said as
he pointed to the map, “is closed. It looks like we have to go
through Manhattan.”

“That seems like a horrible idea.” I stopped
next to Hayden, putting my arm around his waist, fingers resting on
his hipbone. “Indy was so overrun we could barely get out alive.
Even Bowling Green had too many zombies. Can you imagine what
Manhattan will be like?”

“Oh, I can.” He shook his head and folded the
map. “But if those guys came through that way then…” He sighed,
running a hand through his hair. “There has to be a way,
right?”

I nodded. “I guess.” I didn’t see how there
could be could be. Even if half the population of Manhattan had
died instantly from the virus, that still left too many crazies and
zombies.

“If it’s overrun, we leave,” Hayden decided.
He took my hands in his. “I’m not stupid; I know our limits. Yeah,
we need something big to get us through the winter but dying won’t
solve anything.”

I took my hands out of his and wrapped my
arms around his shoulders, stepping close so that my hips brushed
against his. “I hate that you’re in harm’s way,” I started, looking
into his hazel eyes. “But I won’t want anyone but you on this trip
with me.”

“Trip?” he questioned. “I think we should
call it a quest. I always wanted to go on a quest, you know.”

I laughed. “You’re such a nerd.”

Hayden smiled and kissed me. We ate and got
back in the truck. I calculated our time and the daylight we had
left. If everything went smoothly, we’d get to the outskirts of
Manhattan with two hours until total darkness, giving us just
enough time to find somewhere safe to spend the night.

* * *

“Don’t worry, baby,” Hayden said. “I’ll be
back as soon as I can. You know I hate leaving you.”

I tapped my foot, impatiently waiting. Our
daylight was fading fast.

“You’ll be fine, I promise,” Hayden went on.
“You’re safe in here.”

“Do you want me to get you a jar of Vaseline
and leave you and the tailpipe alone?” I asked.

Hayden patted the truck hood and scowled at
me. He pressed the lock button—again, and looked at his truck as he
joined me. We had just made it through the Lincoln Tunnel. Anxiety
still prickled through my body. If I never went through another
dark tunnel again, it would be too soon.

Only one entrance to the tunnel was open. The
others were blocked off with cement walls. A large chain link gate
blocked the only opening to the tunnel. Hayden dragged it away and
in we went. We stashed the truck in a warehouse a few blocks away,
thinking it would be best to hoof it the rest of the way and not
risk being seen until we were ready.

Hayden picked up his heavy pack and put it on
his back. He insisted we combine everything we needed into one pack
so I could wear the quiver. We didn’t want to use guns unless
absolutely necessary.

I put my hand on the warehouse door, looking
at the rusted metal sides. My heart thumped so loud I could hear
it. Sweat beaded around my hairline and adrenaline made my knees
shake. Hayden put his hand over mine, his skin warm, his touch
reassuring.