Beautiful Death (Bella Morté Trilogy Book 1) (17 page)

It was too surreal. Candice held her bloody. She could see her clothing stained red. It was the start of where all the bleeding came from. There was a huge chunk missing out of her arm just above the elbow and the starfish insignia of infection spread out in all sides. It wasn’t good. This same thing happened to Erica.

She rushed forward, donning a pair of Latex gloves. Once she was ready, she took a hold of her arm. She turned it to find the wound for the start and the finish of it. Sighing, she looked in her eyes. “What the hell happened?”

Candice shrugged. “We went in Walmart. I got bit.”

“Yeah. I can see that, but
how
did it happen? The boys said you were
just
goin’ for a drive.”

“Well, we did a little more. While we were there, we went shopping for a few needed supplies.”

Sophia stared at her dumbfounded. “You went shoppin’? Oh well, sure, ‘cause that makes a whole hell of a lotta sense. The world’s fucked up, an’ we dunno if it’s the end or not, but let’s take time out to go shoppin’.”

Trevor winced, seeing her arm. He turned, glaring at Justice. “What fuckin’ supplies? What the hell was
so
important ‘at you allowed ‘er outta the van?”

Frank shook his head. “We didn’t need anythin’
that
damn bad.”

Sophia grabbed Candice’s arm, looking it over. “This is jagged. Torn. It’s harder to heal, an’,” she paused, sighing slightly. “It’s bad.”

“Don’t
all
bites look like ‘at?”

“No. A predator animal has sharp teeth. It’s like a knife slicin’ into the flesh. Human teeth aren’t anythin’ close to bein’ sharp. This bite tore into the flesh, rippin’ it off. It’s harder to heal properly.”

It was a deep, jagged gouge in her arm, close to her armpit, above her elbow. The bleeding had stopped and a mucous plug replaced it. The streaks spread out from her arm, reaching up towards her shoulder. Candice had already started to pale, with a very small amount of perspiration beading across her forehead. It was obvious. She was sick. This looked very bad.

Montana glowered at Justice, slamming his hand down on the table. “How the hell did this happen? You were supposed to keep ‘er safe!”

Nervously, Justice ran a hand through his hair, watching Sophia with Candice. “She’s gonna be okay, right?” Sophia glared at him, but said nothing as she went back to inspecting her arm. He sighed. “We were at the Walmart. We didn’t see any people anywhere. I figured while we were there, we’d get a few supplies. Everythin’ was fine. We got in, started shoppin’, an’ then we were on our way out. It was after we were outt the store an’ in the van that she was attacked. I thought we killed ‘em. God, I got ‘er here as fast as I could.”

Zach heard the screaming and raced in the room. He looked around frantically. He saw Candice in the chair. He watched Sophia hovering over her. That was when he saw the blood. Racing across the room, he lunged at Justice, grabbing him by the collar. Before anyone could move, he threw him into the wall. “Oh my God, what the fuck happened to her? Why didn’t you protect her?”

Brandon and Trevor jumped up, getting between the two, separating them. Justice turned, trying to get back at Zach. Brandon held Zach in place, pushing him back. Trevor kept the struggling Justice under control, also pushing him back.

Justice sighed, struggling against Trevor. “I tried. I shot at it, but not until after it bit ‘er. We didn’t see it. There was nothin’ I could do. It already got ‘er.”

Meanwhile, Zach tried to get around Brandon, waving his hands in front of him, growling like a wild animal. Justice tried to get around Trevor, struggling to get at Zach. Furniture moved, chairs scraped, people quickly moved out of the way. The four of them looked like they were dancing. Montana shouted for them to stop, but nothing worked.

Candice shook her head. Putting two of her fingers in her mouth, she whistled loudly and that stopped everyone in their tracks as they turned to look at her. “Zach, that’s enough! Quit blaming him. No one forced me to go! He didn’t make any of this happen. I knew it was a bad idea, but I still went in the store. He couldn’t have stopped it any more than I could.”

He stopped fighting, struggling to fix his shirt, looking at her, accusingly. “Yes. I know, but it was still
his
job to watch out for you.”

“What am I five? I can watch out for myself and I did! The bitch snuck up on me after we left the store! It was my fault for not being careful. I understand you’re upset. I would be too if the situation was reversed, but enough is enough. Drop it!”

Sophia sighed. “I’m not gonna lie. You’ve been bitten, an’ you’re infected. There’s no reason to put in stitches ‘cause the virus stopped your bleedin’.”

Holding her stomach, Candice nodded before jumping up, running from the room. She raced to the bathroom.

Zach glared at Justice. “You told me everything was going to be fine.”

He nodded. “It was. Everythin’ was perfect until we left.”

“You weren’t supposed to get out of the fucking van. You were irresponsible. Now my fiancé is going to die because of your bravery. Are you feeling brave now?”

“We found out information. It is goin’ on everywhere, not just here. We found out somethin’ else too. They use infected little kids to draw people in so they can attack.”

“You shouldn’t have been in there.”

Montana was angry. He wasn’t shouting like Zach, but his facial expression showed his disappointment with Justice. “What do ya mean,
they use little kids
?”

He sighed. “We would’ve been back long ago, but as we were leavin’, we heard this kid. Candice couldn’t leave until we found ‘er. That’s when we found the trap they set. They attacked as soon as we found that little girl.”

Rachel groaned. “A little girl? Well damn, anyone who’s not a cold-hearted jerk is gonna check on a kid.”

Zach growled at him. “It’s your fault! You know that, right. You had to be king shit. You knew she wanted to get out of here. You decided you two should go off on your own.”

He sighed again, running his hand through his hair. “No one knew this was gonna happen.”

“Bullshit! We told you it was a bad idea! None of this would have happened if you just waited for the others, but no. You couldn’t do that. Mr. High and mighty fucking big shit had to go out on his own and prove he could do it. No one fucking tells me what to do! Now look at her! I swear to God… if she dies…”

Candice walked back in, sitting down. “Zach, that’s enough already.”

Justice shook his head. “Dude, it was a fucking accident! I think they planned that shit down to the last second. It took us a little while to find the kid. We didn’t see hide or hair of anyone else. As soon as we found the kid is when it happened.”

Montana nodded slowly. “Are ya sure it was a child?”

“She was a little girl holdin’ onto a baby doll, or a stuffed animal.”

“How did she act?”

“She turned around an’ we saw she wasn’t a cute little innocent kid. She was a killer. That’s when ‘ey attacked from every corner. We killed some of ‘em, but there must’ve been one hidin’. That place looked like a bloody massacre.”

Brandon shook his head. “That should’ve been your first clue not to go in, much less with her.”

“Yeah, but you had to take her, didn’t you? Big man thought he could protect her. She even thought she was safe. If something happens Justice will protect me,” Zach mimicked Candice, not in a complimenting tone. “Well, I guess you’re not the safest person to be around, are you? You probably just got her killed, you son-of-a-bitch!”

Candice glared at Zach. “Stop it! Just fucking shut up! It’s not his fault! I wanted to go. It was my idea to find the kid. He tried to talk me out of it. It was me with my arm hanging out the window smoking a cigarette. I got careless so if you want to blame someone, blame me!”

Sophia sighed. She was on the verge of tears as she sat next to Candice. “Ya know what this means, right?”

“I know. I should be okay for a few days before you guys have to lock me up. Besides, I’m not sure you can put both of us in the room at the same time.”

“I know. I hate to ask, but what better way to find out?”

“What’s that?” Candice looked at her with a slight cant of her head, curiously.

“When you start experiencin’ things can ya tell me so I can keep a record?”

Zach rolled his eyes. “Seriously Sophia, that’s almost… cruel.”

“Zach, I understand what she’s talking about,” Candice said, nodding. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Sophia nodded. “What happened when you were bitten?”

“It felt like someone shot liquid fire in my arm. On the way back here, it was like that fire spread upwards. I can feel it moving through my veins like lava through a valley. A few minutes ago I puked up my guts until there wasn’t anything left but blood.”

She nodded. “Why did ya throw up? Erica did that before we first got here.”

“I don’t know, but the urge was definitely there. I was hungry before bitten, but now… no appetite whatsoever.”

Brandon cringed. “Yeah, that makes two of us.”

Sophia closed the book then stood. “Come with me to check on Erica. I wanna see if she reacts differently towards you.”

“You’re not going to put her in that room,” Zach exclaimed.

“No honey. I’m not gonna put ‘er in the room. I meant from outside the door. I would never do anythin’ to hurt this girl.”

“Sure, let’s go down,” Candice said, turning and glaring at Zach and Justice. “You two fucking behave. We need to get through this together. That doesn’t mean trying to rip each other apart. Got it?”

Justice nodded, looking down. “Yes ma’am.”

Zach groaned angrily. “Fine.”

Candice and Sophia walked down the stairs. It was obvious there was something on Sophia’s mind. She kept looking at her. Candice finally stopped on the steps and turned to her. “What is it?”

She sighed, wrapping her hands through the crook of her arm. “Honey, what possessed you two to go off by yourselves?”

“I was tired of being stuck in here with nothing to do. I wanted to be helpful in some other way than sitting here waiting to either die or be rescued. It looks like I rushed one part of that anyway.”

“I dunno what’s gonna happen. I can tell you from what I’ve seen with Erica… it’s painful. There’s a lot of sweatin’, no appetite, an’ lots o’ pain. I can help ya with the pain part.”

“Why worry if I’m in pain? We know anyone who gets bitten is gonna die anyway. So just save the meds for the living. It’d be wasted on me.”

“I don’t think it’s as cut an’ dry as ‘at, besides I don’t wanna think everyone dies or that--” Sophia stopped talking, looking through the storage room window. Splatters of crimson covered the walls. Blood was everywhere and Erica stared at the wall, facing away from them. “Erica honey, are you all right?” She knocked on the door, but she didn’t budge.

Candice looked in and kicked the door. “Oh my God! Erica, look over here! We found your baby mouse!”

She still didn’t move, just continued to stand completely still in the middle of the room, facing the opposite wall. There was blood dripping off the fingers of both of her hands.

Sophia arched a brow, turning and looking at Candice, curiously. “You really thought that was gonna work a second time?”

“She’s a ditzy sorority girl. It was worth a shot.”

Montana heard the commotion and ran down, carrying his rifle. He looked from Sophia to Candice. “What’s wrong?” He looked from them to the window. Reaching up, he scratched his head. “Is she bleedin’?”

“It looks ‘at way,” Sophia said, pushing the combination into the pad.

“What are you doin’?”

“I have to find out.”

He shook his head, pulling her back, putting his hand on the pad. “Wait a minute! What if you open ‘at door an’ she attacks you?”

“You’re worried about me, an’ I appreciate it, but I’m the doctor. I’m the only one who can find out what’s wrong with ‘er.”

“Fine, you do what ya have to do. If she makes one wrong move towards you, I’m gonna do what I have to do.”

“I understand.” He moved aside. She put in the code, slowly pulling the door open. Popping her head inside first, she whispered, “Erica, are you okay?”

Erica still didn’t move. She stood like a statue in the center of the room. The only movement was the blood dripping off her fingers to ping into the pool of blood beneath her.

Sophia slid further inside. Slowly, she moved behind her. Candice followed closely behind her. Candice stood at Sophia’s side moving with her, matching each of her steps. Montana moved in behind the both of them. He had his rifle ready to pull the trigger if necessary.

Sophia cleared her throat. “Erica honey, what’s wrong?”

That was when all hell broke loose.

Sophia reached Erica and put her hand on her shoulder. Erica flipped around to look at her faster than the speed of light. Her front was covered in blood. She looked like a rabid dog. Her eyes were wide, pupils dilated, mouth open, and she showed her teeth. She had blood dripping from her chin. Her arms were shredded and it looked as if she had bitten into her own flesh. With every movement she made, she splattered blood around the room. She grabbed at Sophia. Her red eyes intent on her, growling low in her throat.