Beautiful Death (Bella Morté Trilogy Book 1) (12 page)

“It’s a deep scratch. There’s already pus leakin’ out. It’s really horrible.”

Montana nodded. “Is she contagious?”

“If she sneezed or coughed, I wouldn’t feel comfortable rulin’ it out.”

Cringing, Trevor covered his nose with his shirt, glancing over at her. “Well, that’s encouragin’. How do we stop breathin’?”

Candice pulled his shirt back down, hissing at him. “Don’t make it obvious!”

Shocked, Brandon turned to Sophia. “Are ya sayin’ she might turn into one of those things?”

She nodded. “I’m afraid so. I think she’s--”

“Infected. I get it. That would totally suck.”

Candice rubbed his arm sympathetically. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were close with her.”

“That’s the one girl I really wanted to hook up with.” He cringed as the rub turned into a hit. “Ow! What?”

“I’m really sorry for your loss.” Rolling her eyes, she turned back to Montana.

“Why does this always happen to the hot ones?”

She turned back to stare at him once more. “As opposed to the
ugly
ones? It would be okay if she weren't pretty?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Montana smirked at Brandon before turning back to Sophia. “What should we do with ‘er?”

“I’m not sure until we find out. We can’t risk what might happen to everyone on the chance of what she
may
or may
not
have, but I’m pretty sure she’s got.”

Brandon smiled. “Pretty sure’s a far cry from definite.”

Sophia stared at him. “I’m about ninety-percent sure.”

“So yeah. You’re not that sure about it. She still has a chance.”

Nudging Brandon, Candice shushed him. “She’s got the sickness, okay? Drop it.”

Glaring at her, he grumbled, “At least it’s not a hundred-percent.”

Sophia turned back to Montana. “Is ‘ere some place we could put ‘er where I could observe? Do you guys have a jail here for unruly campers?”

Shaking his head, he snickered. “No, we just called the cops an’ they put ‘em in jail.”

“So ya don’t have any rooms here that could hold ‘er?”

“Hmm, what about the freezer downstairs? We could always move the food. There’s a lock on the door so she can’t get out.”

Looking from Erica back to Montana, Trevor shook his head. “I would suggest ya think of another place. It’s too cold. Even for the Ice Princess.”

Stirring her coffee, Sophia shrugged. “Well, I guess we can watch ‘er. If she changes, we’ll deal with it then.”

Furrowing his brows, Montana shook his head. “So, you’re tellin’ us, we need to watch ‘er. If she does change, we need to get ‘er in the freezer? Wow, that’s a tall order. I mean outside was one thing, but now you’re lookin’ at a tight, closed-in area.”

Furrowing his brows, Justice looked around the room. “Yeah, that’s not happenin’, Doc. I watched the smallest girl in the campground rip a guy’s leg off like it was nothin’. I used to have to help ‘er get across the cable. She wasn’t heavy enough to go all the way. Why couldn’t we put ‘er in there now? We could watch ‘er from the safety of another room.”

Trevor adamantly shook his head. “Unless your goal is to kill ‘er, we can’t use the freezer. It’s cold in there. Too cold for a human.”

“Naw. We could turn the temperature down.”

“Even if ya turned it all the way down, she’d still die. Trust me. I got stuck in ‘ere for about ten minutes. I
almost
died.”

Nibbling on the inside of his lip, Montana looked from one to the other. “What about the storage room?”

Sophia looked at him. “What kinda place is it?”

“It’s a very sturdy door ‘at requires a code to unlock an’ open. The only way in or out is through the door.”

“Is there a window?”

“Yeah, but there’s only one in the door.”

“Are ya sure she can’t get out?”

He shook his head. “Not even. It’s small. Once she’s locked in ‘ere, someone has to let ‘er out.”

Justice nodded. “You guys keep ‘er occupied. We’ll get the storage room ready.”

Candice looked at him, questioningly. “How do you propose we keep her occupied?”

“I dunno. Use girl talk or somethin’.”

Montana looked at Brandon. “What’s in the storage room now?”

He shrugged. “Well, Matt told us to put all the out of date stuff in ‘ere.”

Sophia looked at Montana. “I can watch ‘er through the window?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Okay, let’s do this.”

Justice looked around. “Yeah, but how the hell are we gonna lock ‘er up?”

Sipping her coffee, Candice nodded. “Good question, because we can’t just push her in and run.” Then before he said it, she nudged Trevor. “And we can’t throw a rock either.” He smirked.

Brandon sighed. “We’ll have to figure that out when the time comes.”

Trevor clapped his hands. “Okay, let’s do this!”

Everyone separated, having gotten his or her coffee.

Montana looked around the room. “Could I have your attention, please?” Everyone turned to look at him. “The boys an’ I are gonna start makin’ rooms so we have a place to sleep. Everyone stay here. If you need anythin’ let Sophia or Candice know, an’ they’ll get one of us.” They looked at Sophia to Candice, back to Montana. “We shouldn’t be long. When we get back, we’ll start the showers so we can retire for the night. Well… except for those who have to stay up an’ keep watch.”

Winking at Erica, Brandon blew her a kiss. “Don’t miss us too much.”

Rolling her eyes, she sneered. “Don’t worry. We won’t miss you one second you’re gone.”

He nudged Trevor. “She wants me, dude.”

He laughed. “Yep, I can see that.”

Ian raised his hand. “Can I request a private room?”

Arching a brow, Montana looked at him. “Why?”

“I snore… loudly.”

Howard nodded. “Yeah, me too. When I start snoring, you guys won’t be able to sleep.”

As the conversation veered towards snoring and the inability to sleep while it was happening, the guides left the room. It held everyone’s attention as they all bragged about someone in their family who snored the loudest. Soon after the conversation died. They needed to think of a way to keep everyone’s attention. Taking a sip off her coffee, Candice motioned to Sophia. “Being a surgeon, you probably have some killer stories.”

“My life was never borin’.”

“Tell me one. Make it a
good
one.”

That was how they held everyone’s attention. Sophia began to unravel the gory details of a surgical nightmare. A woman came in for a busted appendix and when it burst, it started a chain reaction for more internal damages. It was so intense; like a ghost story that frightened them, but they couldn’t turn away. Everyone was dying to find out if the patient survived.

She shrugged. “That was when I realized we’d done all we could. It was up to her now.”

“Wow! That sounds crazy. What did you do then?”

“Not much I could do. I sewed the bleeder, closed the wound, an’ prayed everythin’ I did was enough to save ‘er. Doctors are just human bein’s, but people think of us as miracle workers. We can’t work a miracle. We don’t have an open phone line to God. We try to figure out what’s wrong, an’ how to fix it. Sometimes… there’s no fixin’ it. It’s about trial an’ error, an’ learnin’ from our mistakes.”

“Can’t all problems be fixed?” Erica asked, inquisitively.

“No. Everythin’ has an expiration date, includin’ people. Fad diets an’ wonder cures, not to mention those old remedies; slowly wears an’ tears on a body. Then again, we weren’t meant to live forever. Eventually we all die an’ our bodies give out on us.”

Walking back to the room, Brandon clapped his hands. “Hey, guys! We figured this is a good time for a tour. Everyone can take a shower an’ go to the bathroom. When you’re finished with all that, we can continue. We didn’t have a lot to work with, but it’s like a hotel.”

Standing, Howard stretched. “You made a hotel out of something that was once a campground? Do we get room service too?”

Erica growled. “It’s the least they could do after what happened.”

Brandon smiled. “We dunno how long we’re gonna be here, so we’re makin’ provisions just in case it’s longer ‘an any of us hope.”

The first stop on the tour was the bathrooms and showers. The bathrooms were like any other. Four bathroom stalls were on one side of the room, and three shower stalls on the opposite side. There wasn’t a lot of changing room. In the shower was a caddy with shampoo and conditioner.

Located on the wall of the door were two sinks on either side of the door. They were equipped with soap dispensers and a paper towel holder. There was one trashcan beside the door. The men’s room looked similar only they had two urinals installed where two sinks should have been.

The tour stopped as the showers started. Erica was the only one who didn’t bother and sat on the bench. There was a lot of hustling as people grabbed shampoo, conditioner, and a towel. They got louder, talking and laughing.

“You guys might wanna speed this along,” Brandon told them. “We’re only leavin’ the generator on for a short time.” The only response was laughing with more talking from either bathroom. After a half hour had passed, he looked at his watch. “Okay, if you guys could hurry up.”

Candice stood by the wall, towel drying her hair. She walked over joining him. When he looked at his watch again, she gently put her hand on his arm. “Relax dude. Give them time. Remember, some of them have body parts or blood on them. It might take a little while to get clean.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry I'm such a tyrant. I’m anxious to get everyone down ‘ere.”

Leaning over, she whispered softly. “I know, but just chill out. Hell, I know what’s going on, but if I didn’t… I’d know just by the way you’re acting.”

“Okay. You’re right.”

“Let’s talk about something else.”

He chuckled. “Okay. I know it’s none o’ my business, but I have to ask. What’s goin’ on with you an’ Zach?”

She arched a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Is everythin’ okay? Things seem a little… intense.”

She laughed. “That’s what you wanna talk about?”

“Humor me.”

“I don’t know. He’s always been obsessive about me.”

Resting a foot against the wall, he folded his arms across his chest. “What do ya mean?”

“If I leave the room, he wants to know where I’m going. It’s like he has to know everything I’m doing.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I truly don’t know. The whole reason for this vacation was to try and salvage our relationship.”

“What was wrong with it?”

“I’m tired of his jealousy. I thought if we got around other people, he’d chill out some.”

He nodded. “That hasn’t worked?”

“No. He’s just gotten worse.”

Looking down, he whispered softly. “Did ya ever give ‘im any reason to be suspicious?”

“No. I’ve never even looked at another man.”

“Maybe it’s not you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe
he’s
the one ‘at wasn’t faithful.”

She looked up at him, curiously. “If
he
was the one who cheated, why would he be jealous of me?”

“Because you didn’t know.”

“Huh?”

Raising both brows, he sighed. “If you didn’t know about his cheatin’ then maybe he doesn’t know about yours.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t cheat.”

“He doesn’t know that. His guilt could be portrayed to you because of what he might not know.”

Confused, she looked at him. “What?”

He chuckled. “Cheaters figure because you don’t know about their indiscretion, maybe you just might have one or two they don’t know about as well. It gets in their head an’ starts to fuck with ‘em. They start lookin’ for somethin’ that isn’t there until they find the littlest thin’.”

Staring at the floor, her brows furrowed, biting on the inside of her cheek. “Wow. I never thought about that. He did have to go to a lot of overnight hotel seminars for his job.”

He shrugged. “It’s just a thought. If he gets to be too much just come an’ chill with us.”

“I might take you up on that.”

“Good, I hope ya do.” He winked at her before looking at the people leaving the showers. “It looks like everyone’s finished. Are we ready?”

“Yep, let’s do this.”

Turning to the group, he was back to his usual charming self. “Okay then. On with the tour!”

Everyone fell in behind them. Each one talked about something different. Most of the conversations were about home, families, and hoping they were all safe. Despite the leering glare from Zach, Candice walked beside Brandon, talking in low tones. “What’s the plan to get her in the room?”

Leaning closer, he sighed. “I don’t have a clue. What if we just pushed ‘er in?”