Chasing Colorado: (The Zombie Zovels #2) (16 page)

I tried to comfort her, placing a hand on her arm but she smacked my arm away. Then she started crying, but it was more noise than anything, she was whaling and getting completely hysterical.

I took a few steps back, not knowing what to do.

“Shut her up!” Drew growled.

“I can't, she's hysterical.”

“Then I will.” Drew raised his crossbow.

I stared at him, frozen in time as what he had said registered in my head. His eyes flickered to me, like he was waiting for me to tell him to stop... but I didn't.

The whaling and screams stopped a moment later and the trees became eerily quiet. He walked in front of me and bent down near her, he pulled out his arrow and walked back to the river.

I took a deep breath, and looked up at the trees, watching the birds, getting lost for a few seconds.

“You caught one,” Drew said, pulling me back to reality.

I looked back at him, he was holding the fishing rod I had chucked on the ground which still had a fish attached to it. “Not a bad size either.” he added.

I stared at Stacey's dead body on the ground and barely noticed Drew standing next to me.

“We need to go now. If those guys are around here then they would have heard her, that goes for deadbies too.”

“Okay.” I said but it came out as barely a whisper.

I didn't know how I felt about Stacey being dead, or how I felt about Drew killing her. But she had been bitten and was going to die no matter what, like me, the only difference was I didn't turn into a hysterical screaming toddler.

Drew started to leave but soon came back to me when he realized I wasn't moving and was still staring at Stacey.

“I know what you're thinking, but we don't have time to dig a grave, and we don't even have any spades.” Drew said.

“You should leave me, I'm a burden.”

“You're not a burden.”

“Yes I am, you're only doing this because you feel like you have to.”

“Alex,” Drew sighed. “You're not a burden to me. Now can we
please
start walking, or do I have to carry you?”

“No, my legs still work fine.”

“Then get your shit and let's get outta here.”

I took one last look at Stacey. The sun glinted through the leaves and warmed my face and for some strange reason, I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I quickly, and silently said my goodbyes. Evan was right, she wasn't a survivor.

We followed the river and walked for a good hour before Drew decided it was okay to stop for a bit. He cleaned and gutted the fish while I built a fire, I wasn't completely useless
yet
.

We ate in silence, I was on one side of the tree, Drew was around the other side. After we had finished, he walked over to the water and crouched down with his back to me.

“Are you mad at me?” he asked, washing his hands in the river.

“No, I'm not mad at you.”

“It's just.. you're being really quiet. I'm used to you being the chatty one.”

I looked over at him to find him watching me.

“I was just thinking about Stacey, is it weird I don't feel remotely sad that she's dead? I kinda miss Jasper and Luke, but Stacey, not so much.”

“Were you close to her?”

“I thought we were, we shared a cell, she shared her secrets and crushes with me, I dunno... I just think I'm numb to death now.”

“It's the best way to be.”

“You know she
once asked me if zombies had two stomachs because they're always hungry. I tried to explain to her they were still human inside, not frickin' aliens.”

Drew chuckled.

“S
he was told not to come in the first place, this was her fault, and she shouldn't have run away from me. Anyway, she wouldn't have lasted long, that bite looked bad, she would have died from blood loss. You did the right thing.” I said.

“Good. As long as we're okay.”

“We're okay.” I smiled at him and he looked satisfied with my answer. Was he really that concerned about me?

“So where to now? I'm completely lost, I have no idea where the road is, or which way we came from just now.”

He picked up his crossbow and held out a hand to me.

“Let's hit the road.” he said, waiting for me to take his hand.

It was strange, I had watched Drew shoot Stacey without hesitation but for some reason, I wasn't afraid of him. It was like I knew he wouldn't do that to me... even if I begged him I was sure he'd refuse.

I knew Josh had told Drew to follow me and look after me but he didn't have to. He could have easily left me to fend for myself, or killed me in a heartbeat. There was something else keeping him here with me but I couldn't put my finger on it. There was something
else
.

He smiled at me and wiggled his fingers, still waiting for me to take his hand.

With everything that was going on, Drew somehow had a way of making me forget.

Drew led me back to the road, and we wandered along it, keeping to the trees. We stopped for a few short breaks so I could have a drink and rest for a moment. But I wanted to keep going as much as Drew did. We both wanted to get out of these woods and away from what was hiding in them. I used to feel kind of safe hidden in the trees, now I felt vulnerable. We were on unfamiliar terrain and I wanted to get away from it. I was still worried we were going to walk into Gil's base camp. Drew was almost certain Gil came from a town, but I still wasn't so sure. I didn't feel so tired and achy today so I assured Drew we could keep walking, but I was sure my legs were going to pay for it tomorrow.

We carried on our journey and stopped just before nightfall, sharing a tin of spam and spaghetti for dinner. I got less than three hours sleep, I was jumpy and every noise had me awake in seconds, Drew was the same. I think he was still worried about Gil's men catching us but he didn't say that out loud. I think he was up most of the night keeping a lookout. I did offer but he refused and said we'd be okay hidden away at the bottom of an old, large tree which had gnarly roots the size of my waist. I curled up and wedged myself between two thick roots. Drew promised me he would get some rest, but I don't think he even closed his eyes.

Day 6

Slow reflexes, fatigue, and a headache that won't piss off.

After a sleepless night, I managed to wake up after three or four (not so gentle) shakes from Drew. We had been walking since before dawn. Drew had woken me up when it was still dark, wanting to move again. The day had dragged on and I was so tired.

And after hours of looking at trees and nothing else, we finally came across a building at the side of the road. It was a smallish building, with a pull in gravel parking lot with a low wooden fence around the outside with one car parked in it.

As we moved closer I could see a sign on the outside of the building,
Darlene's Deer Cafe
. There was even a picture of a smiling deer above the door. The front of the cafe had tall glass windows running the length of it.

Drew slowed down without warning and I walked into him.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to see over his shoulder but he grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a tree with him.

“You think there's someone in there?”

“I can see something moving inside.”

“Deadbie? Human?
Animal
?”

“It's tall and on two legs.”

We both peeked around the tree, watching whatever it was walking up and down the cafe.

“Deadbie!” we both said at the same time.

“If I tell you to stay here are you going to listen?”

“Probably not, I like to wander.”

“Well, stay close.” he said before slipping between two trees.

We hurried through the trees and over to the cafe, but we stayed hidden from view, watching the deadbie inside.

“There's no way in the front unless we break the glass, and I don't really want to do that. You don't know what will show up if we smash the glass.” Drew said, then he spotted something across the road and froze.

“Drew? What's wrong?” I asked on edge, trying to see what he was looking at.

“Nuffin, just another deadbie.” he whispered. “Come on, let's see what's around the back.”

We both crept around the back, trying to be as quiet as possible but me being me, I managed to trip over a crate.

“Sorry.” I cringed.

On the way we past a manky dumpster that was well overdue to be emptied, and had garbage spilling out at the sides.

“Ew, gross!” I said, quickly covering my nose.

Next to the back door there was a bicycle chained up to a pipe, and the bottom of the doorway was covered in dead leaves. Drew tried the door but it was locked and wouldn't budge.

“There must be a window we can get in through.” Drew said, walking further along. He stopped in front of a set of windows, two identical, small windows on either side of a pipe.

“That one's unlatched.” He looked sideways at me, looking me up and down, then back up at the window.

“You'll fit.”

“What?! No, I won't fit.”

“Sure you will.”

“No, I won't.”

“Well one of us has to go in through the window, the back door is jammed shut, we can't break the glass out front, so this window looks like our only option. Once we're in we can unlatch one of the kitchen windows to climb back out.”

We both stared at each other, there was no way I was scaling the drainpipe and squeezing my ass through the tiny window. I'd no doubt get stuck halfway through.

After two minutes of arguing, Drew tried to hand me his crossbow.

“Hold it.” he said.

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“What if something walks out of the trees?”

He looked at me and then glanced at the trees.

“Here, take it already,” he said, pushing the crossbow into my hands, then he grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face the trees.

He positioned the crossbow in front of me and made me hold it up, it was heavier than I expected it to be. Then he stood behind me with his arms around me showing me where to hold it.

“Hold it up... higher. Can you see through the scope?”

Looking through the scope wasn't the problem, it was having Drew so close with his arms around me. What was that all about?... and butterflies in my stomach?
What the hell, Alex, pay attention!!!

“You see anything, you shoot it, you think you can do that?”

I nodded.

“Good, 'cause once I'm inside it might take me a few minutes to suss out the place and kill that thing. I'll open one of the kitchen windows for you to climb through.”

“I'll just hang out here.” I said, looking around.

Before he turned away he helped himself to the knife from my waist belt and held it between his teeth.

“Good job I cleaned that, yeah?” I said.

He tried not to smile as he pulled himself up using the pipe. He then zipped up the pipe like a frigging monkey on crack, grabbed the window ledge, and swung over and hooked his fingers inside the unlatched window. How did he make it look so easy? He was so quick.

“What are you, like, southern Spider-Man. Working in a gun shop was just a cover, right?”

I heard him chuckle as he pushed the window open and somehow squeezed through. Drew was thin and didn't have hips and boobs to get stuck, I could just imagine how embarrassing it would have been for me to squeeze through the window. It was a small window! I may be small but I'm not that small, and flexible either. Drew had no problem pulling himself in through the window and landing softly on the other side from what I could hear.

I turned around and wandered back to the dumpster and stood still watching the trees, waiting for Drew. I heard a little scuffle inside which quickly died down. I got bored waiting and was about to walk back around to the front when I heard a
thud
. What was that?

I held up the crossbow and edged back the way I had come, all the while watching the trees. A bush rustled somewhere in front, then I heard another
thud
behind me.

“Drew?” I whispered loudly.

I slowly edged forward, away from the building so I could see the window Drew was apparently going to open for me, it was still shut.

Where was Drew? What was taking him so long?

All of a sudden a deadbie walked out of the trees to my right. It hadn't seen me...
yet
. I held the crossbow up again, my arms were aching from holding the thing up.

I tried to stay calm as I looked through the scope.
Breath Alex.

The deadbie turned its head and groaned. It actually sounded like the thing groaned 'Mmmm', like I was some yummy take-out.

It started to walk toward me and I walked backwards trying to keep the crossbow steady while I aimed at its head. Then something moved in my peripheral vision, making me jump, and I accidentally fired the crossbow.

“Drewwww!!! You scared the shit outta me!”

Drew laughed and we both looked back at the deadbie. The arrow I had fired by accident was sticking out of its chest.

“At least you hit the thing.” he said, walking in front of me and holding up the knife. He grabbed the deadbie's T-shirt and stabbed the thing in the temple and straight into its brain, it took all of three seconds and it was over. Then he let go and the thing crumbled into a heap on the ground.

“Like a pro.” I muttered. “I thought you were going to open the window for me?”

“I managed to get the back door open, it had a bolt across the top and a chain, but the thing was stuck.” He pointed at the back door with the knife before cleaning it off on his pants.

“Is that what all that thudding was, you?”

“Uh-huh.” he said, retrieving his arrow, and chewing on something.

“What are you eating?”

He pulled something from his back pocket. “Chocolate chip?” he offered, holding out a bag to me.

“What is this?” I asked, taking a few to try.

“I dunno, cooking shit you put in cakes and stuff.”

“No, I meant where did you get it?”

“There's some stuff inside.” he said, handing me the knife and taking his crossbow back.

Just before we got to the back door, Drew turned to me. “You might wanna cover your nose.”

“Why?”

“Um..it's..”

“It's what?”

“Just cover your nose.” he said, pushing the door open.

I followed Drew into a dim corridor and wasn't quick enough to cover my nose.

“Ugh. What is that?” I said, trying not to gag.

“Rank food and a deadbie. Here, use this.”

Drew handed me a tea towel from a shelf in the corridor, and was already wrapping another around his face like a bandanna.

There were two doors to the left, with male and female symbols on the doors. There were another two doors further down, I guessed there was an office and a staff room. I pushed the door to the ladies restroom open. It looked rather clean.

“The water's still running.” Drew said, hovering nearby.

“No way. Do you mind if I just freshen up quickly?”

“Go for it, I'll just be out here.”

I went straight over to the sink and turned the faucet on, letting the water run. I dropped the bag on the floor and just stripped off. I desperately wanted a wash, I felt hot, sticky, and dirty. I had told Drew I wanted to freshen up, hopefully, he would know what I meant and wouldn't just walk in at any moment. I cleaned myself up using a ripped off piece of the tea towel and Josh's shower gel that he thankfully remembered to pack. I had no clean clothes of my own so I pulled on one of Josh's clean white T-shirts. What was it with Josh and white T-shirts?

Re-wearing underwear for this long should be a criminal offense.
I thought while scrubbing them out in the sink and leaving them to air dry over one of the cubicle doors. It was getting late and I guessed we were probably going to spend the night here so I could grab my panties in the morning. I packed all my stuff away, and turned to leave and saw a female dispensing machine, sanitary pads on one side, tampons on the other. I stood in front of it trying to count the days in my head until my next period, I was pretty sure Mother Nature was due any day now. I pressed the button, I don't know why, though, I knew it wasn't going to magically start working on its own, but I didn't want to ask for Drew's help. I looked around for anything I could use. All I saw that wasn't attached to anything was a toilet cleaning brush hidden behind one of the toilets. I lifted it out of the pot and looked at the thing, the brush end screwed off easily enough and I used that end to try and break into the dispensing machine. After five minutes of nothing happening, apart from me getting angry, bothered, and hot from fighting with the machine, the restroom door swung open and Drew stood in the doorway.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I was..um..”

And this was why I didn't want Drew's help, boys get all weird when you mention the word
periods
.

He looked at the machine then back at me putting two and two together. He walked over to me and looked at the toilet brush stick in my hand.

“What is that?”

“Toilet brush.”

Drew grunted a laugh.

“Hey, shut up, you think you can do any better have a go.”

“Step aside.”

I did as he said and h
e hit the machine with the handle end of his crossbow a few times and a second later a waterfall of tampons and pads cascaded out of the machine, spilling onto the floor.

“Err.. thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

He left me alone again and I quickly picked up what I needed and shoved it in my bag. I found Drew in the main cafe area, he was walking around picking up random bits and pieces.

“Do you want to freshen up?” I asked.

He shook his head.

Okay.
But if I was completely honest Drew did kinda look good with a few dirt marks on his face and arms.
Oh, God, what am I thinking?

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“No,” I said, trying to hide the blush that was creeping across my face. “So where's this food you found?” I asked, pulling the tea towel up over my nose as it was slipping, and I wanted to hide my pink cheeks.

“It's through there. I had another look but there's not much that's edible, though.”

He was on the other side of the counter, I could see moldy cakes,
worm
cakes, and cakes that no longer looked like anything, just furry lumps.

“I'll take a look anyway.” I said, sidestepping around the deadbie, the same one we had seen from outside. I thought it was weird the deadbie was still in her uniform, a pale green, straight fitting dress with a white pinafore, she even had her name tag still on, Colette. Her skin was shriveled and her hair was patchy, some of it I could see on the floor in clumps.