The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (5 page)

The quarantine barn came into view. It was a
large barn, newly built and looked like something that would house
expensive horses. The interior had been reconfigured to safely keep
anyone recently infected under control by using high voltage wires
that wrapped around the metal fronts to the stalls.

I ducked around it. The black Silverado was
still nowhere in sight. I spun on my heel, ready to run to the
front gate and ask if Hayden had left when a snarling growl came
from inside the barn.

I froze.
Shit
. I hadn’t brought any
weapons with me. I suddenly felt naked without a gun on my hip or
my quiver hanging down my back. My eyes darted around as I looked
for a makeshift bludgeon. A metal rain gauge was stuck in the
ground next to the barn. In a pinch, it would work as a hand-held
spear.

I whirled around, ready to dive to the ground
and yank the gauge free. I looked into the barn. Nothing came
running at me. I silently moved forward.

“Hey,” I called.

Still nothing.

Curious, I stepped into the barn. My eyes
didn’t adjust right away and for a split second, I was blind. But
no one attacked me.

The growl floated down the barn’s center. And
then something rammed into a stall door.

“Right,” I said to myself. “The trap.” I
pushed my shoulders back and walked down the barn. It was narrow
like an aisle. Dr. Cara was catching crazies. I didn’t know why,
but I didn’t know why she did half of what she did.

The scent of horse lingered in the air,
covered up by the heavy smell of bleach that was used to clean the
stalls. Each was set up with a cot and a blanket, and sheets hung
up along each side to give its occupant some privacy. I stopped at
the second to last stall. A red-headed child flew to the front. Her
small hands clasped around the iron bars. Electricity clicked and
sparked from the hot wire, but she didn’t let go.

I inhaled slowly, pushing away the sick
feeling in the pit of my stomach that always formed when I saw an
infected child.

“Let go, dummy,” I said under my breath.
Finally, the charge built up and her head flopped back and she fell
to the ground, twitching. I stepped closer to the stall and looked
inside. A fluffy comforter was wrinkled at the foot of the cot. Two
stuffed animals had fallen to the ground. There was an overturned
table, broken dishes, a smashed tomato, and a dog bowl filled with
the bloody remnants of some sort of meat.

I leaned closer. The toys, table, and dishes
weren’t supposed to be there, even if she wasn’t crazy. Why the
hell did she have this stuff?

She groaned and pushed herself up. I shook my
head and stepped away, moving down to another stall. This one
housed a tall adult male. Like the child, he thrashed against the
bars in a desperate attempt to pull me in and rip my stomach out
with his teeth.

I stood just an inch out of his grasp and
stared into his eyes. He precariously stuck his arms through the
gaps in the iron bars, avoiding the hot wire. The burn marks on his
arms told me that he had learned to avoid the electricity. Crazies
weren’t supposed to figure shit out.

My stomach twisted again. I couldn’t accept
that as truth anymore, not from all we had seen while out on
missions. Was that what Dr. Cara was trying to figure out?

I peered into the stall. There was only a
sleeping bag and a bucket of water. I stepped back, even more
curious now. I’d hunt down Dr. Cara later and have her give me
answers.

With both crazies banging against the stalls,
snarling and growling. I left the barn, blinking in the bright
sunlight again. I made my way to the front of the estate, jogging
down the driveway. The compound was lined with double fences and
trees. Outside of that was ‘the moat.’ Really, it was a deep and
wide ditch that worked as zombie sink holes, preventing the undead
from pushing on the fences—like they had done once before.

“Hey,” I called as I approached the guard
tower. The sun was almost directly overhead, making it impossible
to keep my eyes open as I looked up.

“Hi, Orissa,” someone answered and came out
of the stone structure.

“Did you happen to see Hayden leave?”

“Yeah,” he answered and I recognized the
voice to belong to an A3 named Jones. “He left just around
sunrise.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I
muttered to myself. “Did he say where he was going?”

“Yeah, the farms.”

“Sure he did,” I muttered again. “Ok,
thanks.” I turned on my heel and went back into the house, going
directly downstairs. I detoured to the weapons room so I could get
my bow and arrows. I punched in the code to open the door and
stepped in.

Right away I noticed the shelves were scary
low on ammo. We had dozens of rifles, shotguns, pistols, and
machine guns. All had been cleaned to the point of gleaming. But
what good would they do when we had no bullets?

I unbuckled my belt and slid the sheath of a
knife through it so that the blade rested on my hip. I picked up my
bow and held it in front of me, making sure nothing had been messed
up when it had been cleaned. I liked not having to scrape the
zombie goo from my weapons, but it bothered me to have someone else
messing with my bow. I drew the string back, testing the pull.
Satisfied, I set it down and picked up my quiver, filled it with
arrows, and slung it over my head. I grabbed the bow again and went
to the back of the room.

The tunnel door stuck when it opened. I
yanked it hard and got hit with a blast of stale air. A path had
been worn on the dust and dirt covered floor from people walking in
and out of the tunnel. It wasn’t used very often. It was dingy and
creepy and full of spiders. But it was a direct—and safe—route to
the farms. If Hayden really did take over, I’d have him enforce the
use of the tunnel. Why waste the gas driving to the barns and
fields?

I turned around, stepping back into the
weapons storage room and grabbed a flashlight. Then I went back
into the tunnel and closed the door behind me. I clicked the
flashlight on and made my way down the dark hall.

There was a steep and narrow stair case at
the end of the tunnel. I hooked my arm through the bow so that it
hung on my shoulder and climbed up the stone steps. There was a
small platform at the top of the stairs. Double doors guarded the
entrance to the tunnel and could only be unlocked from the inside.
I twisted the heavy wheel lock and the metal bars that held the
door banged into place, echoing down the long hall.

The steel door creaked and slowly opened.
Holding the flashlight in my mouth, I pulled it closed and opened
the second door. Spiderwebs crackled when I pushed the door open.
Refusing to let myself be bothered by them, I stepped through that
door and flipped the lock to the exterior door, which looked like
an old fashioned root cellar.

I turned off the flashlight and looked out,
making sure the coast was clear. The exit to the tunnel was outside
of the fences near where the cars were parked. A shed had been
built around the trap doors. Sunlight filtered through the slats in
the wood and the little building smelled like hay and grain. I
stepped out and closed the doors, brushing dust from my shirt. I
stood perfectly still and listened.

Birds chirruped and I heard voices in the
distance. I closed the door and stepped out of the shed to see our
small herd of cows lazily grazing under the warm sun. I hiked up a
small hill, looking for the people who were patrolling the
field.

“Hey!” I called and held up my hand. I didn’t
feel like getting shot at today.

An A2 with buzzed dark hair turned around,
gun in hand, and squinted. He was standing under the shade of an
oak tree with a rifle held loose in his hands. “Oh, hi Orissa.” He
smiled and slid his eyes up and down my body when I came near. I
set my face and glared. He cleared his throat and looked away. I
walked over, looking at his name tag. I hadn’t bothered to learn
the names of most of the people here.

“What are you doing out here?”
Brian
asked. He was very tan and had red areas of sunburn on his cheeks
and arms.

I unhooked the bow from around my shoulder.
“I wanted to see the horse,” I lied and stole a glance over his
shoulder. Cars were parked a ways down by the main barn. Hayden’s
truck wasn’t among them.

“Oh. He’s out here somewhere.” He turned,
sweeping his hand over the pasture. “Sundance, right?”

“Yeah.”

“He was scared of the cows,” he said with a
laugh. “But he got used to them quick. Nice looking horse.” He
tipped his head and raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know anything
about horses, though. Do you?”

“Yeah. I used to ride. My grandparents always
had horses.”

“I figured you would.” He took a breath,
puffing out his chest a bit and held the gun up. “You’re so
athletic you look like you can do anything.”

“Pretty much,” I agreed and turned around,
holding my hand to my face. I spotted Sundance at the opposite end
of the pasture. His head was down, busy grazing.

“So, I, uh, hear you’re pretty good with that
thing.”

“What?” I whirled around and caught Brian
checking me out again.

“The bow,” Brian said and flicked his eyes to
my face.

“Oh, yeah. I am. I’ve been into archery for
years.”

“I can tell by your muscles.” He leaned
against the tree. “I’ve always wanted to learn.”

“Mh-hm,” I said and scanned the rest of the
farmland, still not spotting Hayden or his truck.

“So,” he started. “What are you doing
tonight?”

Nothing
with
you
,
that’s
for
sure
. “Training.” I readjusted the
quiver and turned around.

“Oh, well, if you have time and want to watch
the Friday night movie with me…” he trailed off, running a hand
over his short hair.

“Yeah, no,” I said then heard Raeya’s voice
in my head telling me to be nice. “We have a lot to sort out from
our mission. But thanks.” I forced a smile. Maybe I
should
let Hayden get me an obnoxiously large engagement ring. “Well, I’m
gonna go.” I spun around and went into the shed, climbing back into
the tunnel. I swatted away another dangling spiderweb and locked
the doors behind me as I passed through.

* * *

I went directly upstairs, not in the mood to
talk to anyone. I wanted to sulk in my room and think of what I was
going to yell—I mean
say
—at Hayden when he finally came
home. A little voice in the back if my head wanted to question that
‘when’ with an ‘if.’ I yanked on my braid and took a steadying
breath. Hayden might be stressed beyond his limits but he wasn’t
stupid. He would come home.

“Hey, Riss,” Jason called from inside Wade’s
room. I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing upstairs and
quickly snapped it shut when I saw the boxes.

“Welcome to the official A club,” I told him
with a slight smile.

“I have a window.” He turned behind him. “An
actual window. And TV. And a bathroom that doesn’t have stalls and
is shared with thirty people.”

“Feels good to be this close to normal,
doesn’t it?”

His smile grew. “Heck yes.”

“Have fun unpacking.”

“I’m almost done. Luckily I don’t have much
to move.” His brow furrowed as he thought about what he just said.
Shaking his head, he turned back to me. “And the guys have video
game parties?”

I rolled my eyes. “All the damn time.”

“You don’t like video games?”

“Not really my thing.”

“Huh, interesting. You’re so
not
a
typical girl with a lot of other things, I figured you’d like
them.”

I shrugged. “I think they’re boring.” And I
majorly sucked at them. I couldn’t get my video game characters to
walk straight let alone run and fire a gun at the same time. I
hated losing.

“So you don’t go?”

“I usually sit with Hayden and end up falling
asleep,” I admitted.

Jason laughed.

“But have fun. See ya later.” I walked down
the hall and into my room, slamming the door shut on accident
behind me. I strode to the window, drumming my fingers along the
sill. Where the hell was he? My heart started beating faster. I
grabbed the end of my braid and pulled on my hair.

My anxiety was reaching the point where I
couldn’t breathe. I moved to the center of the room and stood
still. I closed my eyes and reached over my head, inhaling deep.
Then I bent forward and placed my palms flat on the floor.

I repeated the Sun Salutation six times. My
muscles were relaxed but my head still spun. Going for the next
best thing, I opened the closet and pulled out a bottle of Captain
Morgan. I unscrewed the lid and took a swig, making a face from the
strong flavor. I took another drink and waited for the fuzzy
feeling to take over. Once it did, I went back downstairs. Finding
Raeya seemed like a good idea. I needed a distraction.

* * *

“I’m going after him.” I set my cup down so
hard on the nightstand that water sloshed out. “And when I find
him, I’m going to kill him.”

“You’re not going out there,” Raeya said
calmly. “It’s late.”

“Exactly. Hayden should have been home hours
ago.”

“I agree with Ray,” Ivan said. “You’re not
going out there. Not alone. I’m going with you.”

I smiled and sat up, throwing the blankets
off my legs. Raeya, who was sitting on my bed next to me, franticly
snatched them and yanked them into place, as if the material would
keep me from springing up and going out into the dangerous
unknown.

“No,” she said. “Neither of you should go
anywhere!”

I whipped around. “You think Hayden should
fend for himself?”

“Of course not, Rissy. But how in the world
are you going to find him? It’s dark. It’s late. He left in a car.
You can’t track him and find him,” she said, being the voice of
logic. “He’s my friend too,” she told us. “And I want him back here
safe and sound, but leaving right now isn’t a good idea.” She
smoothed out the blankets. “What if he comes back right when you
leave?”