The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) (8 page)

Something blundered through the woods behind
us. I whirled around, pulling the arrow back. Low tree limbs swung
wildly. Hayden hurried to get off the bridge. He looked up, taking
his eyes off the weak boards. A gargling growl came from the
trees.

The board broke with a sickening crack.
Hayden’s foot went through, causing him to fall forward. He dropped
the rifle; it landed with a heavy thud on the wooden planks. His
hands smacked against the bridge.

The zombie tumbled out of the trees, tripping
over broken branches. Her brittle bones audibly snapped and pushed
right through her skin. The scent of rotten fat and muscle
permeated the air. The broken leg caused her to tumbled forward and
roll down the slope that led to the water.

Her spine twisted; her legs and torso faced
opposite directions, and one of her arms was tucked behind her
body. She reached out with her free hand, eyes latched onto Hayden.
I took a step to the side and released the arrow.

“You ok?” I asked Hayden, moving to the
bridge. I set the bow down and put my hand on the railing.

“Don’t,” Hayden said. “It’s not strong
enough. And yes, I’m fine. Just, uh, stuck.”

“If your foot went through it can come back
out.”

“True.” He pushed himself up and sat, looking
at the hole. “I don’t want my shoe to fall off,” he said with a
smile. “I hate wearing wet shoes.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled back. “Me too.
The constant squishing bothers the shit out of me.” Hayden pulled
his leg up and winced. “What?”

“Got cut. Not a big deal.”

“Oh, ok.” I turned around, surveying the
land. “Do you feel like we’re being watched?”

Hayden looked up at me. “Not really, but I’m
a little distracted.”

I wrinkled my nose at the unease and scanned
the forest behind Hayden. The feeling of eyes pressed into me. Were
there more zombies?

“Almost free?” I asked.

“Give me a second, will you?”

I didn’t mean to come across as impatient. I
just didn’t like Hayden being stuck while I felt so
watched
.
I picked up the bow and strung an arrow just in case.

“Almost got it,” Hayden said. His ankle was
up to the boards now.

“Good because—” I cut off when something
moved through the forest. Hayden looked up at me, reading my eyes.
My heart began to beat faster. I raised the bow, holding the arrow
back. I let out a breath to steady my aim.

Something moved—fast. It was just a blur of
white and light blue through the leaves.

“Hayden,” I whispered. “Get out now.”

* * *

I could hear my heart beating in my ears. The
string groaned when I turned my body ever so slightly, wanting to
be released. I swallowed. Something else raced through the
trees.

Suddenly, a little girl wearing a white and
blue sweater stepped out of the foliage. She came to a halt, eyeing
me. I lowered my bow when I saw the gun in her hands.

“Hey,” I called to her. “It’s ok. We’re not
infected.”

Another person appeared behind her. He put
his hand on her shoulder and stared at me. Behind them, leaves
rattled and branches shook as at least a dozen more people emerged
into the weeds.

“Hey,” I called again to the group. But no
one responded. The little girl tipped her head. Something was
wrong…very wrong. “Hayden. We need to go. Like yesterday.”

I ran my eyes over the group that stood
across the river. They were dirty and ragged, that was for sure,
but who wouldn’t be? Almost all of them carried some sort of weapon
from the gun to a metal rake. But they had no packs, no bags, or
supplies. Half were dressed for much cooler days. And half had
blood smeared across their faces.

Nerves tingled along my spine. Fuck.

“Hayden, they’re crazies.” I swallowed hard.
The little girl raised the gun. “Hayden!” I raised the bow and let
the arrow go. The string snapped back, flicking the exposed skin on
my wrist.

The arrow lodged in the girl’s chest. The gun
flew from her hands. She stumbled back and fell. The man next to
her looked down, confused at what had happened. He wrapped his
fingers around the arrow and pulled. The girl’s body came up with
it. Her head flopped back, dead eyes open and her arms hanging
loosely at her sides. He put his foot on her stomach to hold her
down and pulled again.

The arrow cracked her sternum as the
broadhead point was brought up. Fresh blood dripped onto her body
as he raised it to his face. He sniffed it then snarled, turning
around to his fellow crazies. Then he raised the arrow and
growled.

“Hayden!” I yelled when they charged forward.
I reached behind me and pulled another arrow from the quiver,
shooting the nearest crazy in the head. “Hayden, now!”

His hazel eyes were wide. He turned around,
taking in the horrifying sight of the herd of crazies. Then he
pulled his foot free and grabbed the gun.

“There’s too many!” he shouted to me as I
grabbed another arrow. He was right, and I couldn’t retrieve my
ammo like I usually did and I couldn’t guarantee hitting—and
killing—every one of them with one shot. Those fuckers were moving
fast. He grabbed my arm and pulled me forward. We took off, racing
down a grassy path.

I stole a glance behind me. The crazies were
having a difficult time with the bridge and the water. I slowed,
watching. One chose to bypass it all together and waded through the
knee-deep water.

Shit.

I tightened my grip on the bow and pressed
on. Dried grass crunched under our boots. An old building loomed
ahead. Its roof was caved in from the weight of wet leaves and moss
grew up along the sides. Hayden tipped his head toward it then
looked at me.

“Yeah,” I breathed. We jumped off the path
into waist high weeds and sprinted to the old building. Hayden
skidded to a stop and raised his rifle. He ducked inside, scoping
out the surroundings.

“Clear,” he whispered and stepped into the
shade. The sweet smell of rotting leaves mixed with the foul odor
of rain-ruined boards.

I let out a breath and relaxed my bow arm.
Then something grabbed my hair, yanking me back. It caught me off
guard and I tripped as my feet scuffed the ground. Hayden whirled
around and jumped into action right as I elbowed the crazy in the
ribs. He didn’t react to the pain but hesitated when the air
whooshed out of his lungs. I brought my arm up and spun, bringing
it down on his wrist and breaking his hold on my hair.

Hayden rushed in and, with swift grace,
pulled the knife from his hip and shoved it into the crazy’s ear.
He stepped back and let the crazy slum to the ground. Blood
splattered my feet.

“You ok?” he asked and flicked the brain
matter from his knife. Fresh brains weren’t as sticky as zombie
brains. And it didn’t smell as putrid.

“Yeah, but the bastard ripped out several
strands of hair.” I reached back and felt my braid.

Hayden gave me a wry smile. “Well, if that’s
the worst he did then we’re lucky.” He put the strap of his rifle
over his head and put his hand on my arm. We stepped into the
shelter of the old building.

“What the hell,” I whispered.

“A herd of S1s?” he asked incredulously.
“That isn’t supposed to happen. And they’re armed. Not well,
but…”

“I know. This is bad. Really bad.”

“We need to get out of here.”

I nodded in agreement. “We need a plan
first.”

“Right,” he said and took a step to the
entrance of the old barn. He winced.

“Shit,” I swore. “You’re bleeding.” I swung
the bow up and over my shoulder and moved to Hayden’s side. I knelt
down and pulled up the leg of his jeans. A large splinter had
forced its way under his skin. I cringed at the sight of it. That
thing had to hurt like a mother.

“Just leave it, Riss.”

“No way. It could get lodged in even
further.”

He looked down at me. “I don’t think it works
that way.”

I shook my head. “Raeya always said so,” I
muttered. “This is gonna hurt.” I pinched his skin with one hand
and grabbed the splinter, digging my nails into the shard of wood.
I had to brace myself for the pain it would cause Hayden. On a
mental count of three, I yanked the sucker out.

“God damn,” he swore and turned away, lifting
up his leg.

I pushed my eyebrows together and stood,
holding up the splinter. “It needed out.”

Hayden took in the size of it and
shrugged.

“I need to stop the bleeding.” I said. I was
pissed at myself for leaving the first aid kit in the truck.

“It’s not that bad. And it won’t matter
unless we figure out how to get out of here.”

“Good point.” I dropped the splinter and
looked at Hayden. “I say we run that way,” I pointed in the
opposite direction that we had come, “and cross the river as soon
as we can. Then book it through the trees and get back to the
truck. Well, given we don’t run into the crazy train again.”

“Good enough for me.” He peered out once
more. “Ready?”

I nodded and we took off. We ran through the
long forgotten pasture that surrounded the little barn and jumped
over a broken white fence. More trees surrounded the old barn, but
they at least weren’t as thick as the ones we had come through
before.

Using the sound of the river as my guide, we
rushed forward. I held my bow out in front of me, pushing away
branches to keep them from scratching my face. Sunlight filtered
through the thick leaves, creating blinding patches of light.
Something snarled and crashed toward us.

“Duck!” I shouted as I pulled an arrow.
Hayden bent at the waist. I strung the arrow without looking and
pulled it back. Right before I let the arrow go, another crazy
leapt out from behind a tree and tackled me.

I was pushed off balance, and my arrow didn’t
hit its target.

It hit Hayden instead.

“Hayden!” I screamed as I fell to the ground.
My head hit on a fallen log and the bow bounced out of my hand. The
pain radiated, making my ears ring. “Hayden!”

The crazy moved on top of me, pinning my legs
down. The arrows in the quiver stabbed into my back. She grabbed my
wrists and snarled. Her curly red hair was matted with dirt and
blood. One of her blue eyes was clouded over and unmoving. Saliva
dripped from her mouth and she bent over me. I twisted my body to
the side with enough force to knock her off.

I brought my legs up and kicked her square in
the chest, pushing her onto her back. I scrambled to my knees and
pulled the knife from the sheath and slashed the blade across her
face. I turned my head just in time to avoid the spray of
blood.

“Hayden!” I desperately called and turned
around. He wasn’t dead—thank God—and was fighting off two crazies.
I grabbed an arrow and raced forward, driving it into the back of
the skull of one of the crazies.

Her body went rigid, arms and legs
stiffening. Then she fell, taking the arrow with her. I grabbed the
other crazy by the shoulders and yanked him off Hayden. Hayden
recovered quickly and shoved his knife into the crazy’s open mouth.
I dropped the body and looked at Hayden, panting.

“I hit you,” I stammered, eyes wide with
horror.

Hayden held up his left arm and the cloth of
his shirt was torn, but there wasn’t much blood. “Clipped me.”

“I am so sorry.”

“I’m always getting shot when I’m around
you,” he said with a smile. “It could have been worse.”

“Be mad at me, please.” I needed him to be
mad at me; I was mad enough with myself.

“No time and you didn’t mean it,” he said and
pressed his hand over the sliced open flesh on his arm. “This place
is crawling with S1s.” He shook his head. “It’s like they’re
gathering together.”

I grabbed my bow and arrow from the crazy’s
neck and flew back to Hayden’s side. I carefully peeled his hand
off of his wound. The cut wasn’t too deep, but paired with the open
gash on his leg and Hayden was a walking sponge for infection.

“You have blood on your cheek,” he said and
used his thumb to wipe it away.

“So do you.” I readjusted the quiver and
pushed the bow into place on my shoulder. Keeping our knives in
hand, we took off again, going slower this time to look for
crazies.

The end of the trees couldn’t come soon
enough. A small bit of relief flowed through me when we stepped
back into the tall weeds. Bugs flew around us, attracted to the
sweat and the blood that clung to our bodies.

We paused, inspecting our surroundings for
crazies. When we didn’t see any, we continued on.

“Where are we?” I asked aloud. On the other
side of the river was a large plot of pavement. A bunch of
dilapidated old buildings sat on the surface. In front of us was an
old covered merry-go-round. Beyond that was the rickety skeleton of
an old roller-coaster. “You have got to be freaking kidding me.
We’re in a theme park?”

“An abandoned one by the looks of it,” Hayden
said.

“Way to pick the destination,” I mumbled. “I
didn’t even know there was a theme park in Arkansas.”

“Looks like it was abandoned years ago.”
Hayden peered into the merry-go-round. “Wait a minute.” He sheathed
the knife and drew his gun. “Riss, look.”

I took a step closer to the merry-go-round. A
pile of blankets was gobbled in the center of the sun-faded
animals. They were dirty and haphazardly thrown around but one
thing was certain...

“It’s a nest.” I blinked. A tingle of cold
fear ran its finger across my spine. “What the hell?” Hayden looked
behind us before stepping closer. I followed. “Do you smell
that?”

“Ugh, how can I not?” he asked and wrinkled
his nose. “It smells like someone microwaved leftover roadkill then
shoved it up a dead horse’s ass.”

“I don’t know what that smells like but
sure.” I rolled an arrow in between my fingers. “There,” I said and
used the arrow to point to a garbage bag that was half covered by a
tattered yellow quilt. “I bet you it’s full of stomachs. The last,
uh, organized crazy I came up against collected stomachs to
eat.”