Contagious (34 page)

“
And by confused you mean?”

“
He tried to kill me, but not with his bare hands and teeth. He shot at me, thinking I needed to be punished for breaking into a house. It was…weird. Like he wanted to make up for his bad thoughts somehow. And then others snap.” Like Logan. He had been fine mere minutes before he attempted to slice me open. “And I think I came across one that could still drive.”

“
Crazy Cara will want to talk to you,” Ivan told me.

“
She’s not that crazy,” Hayden defended.

“
Aw, how cute. Hayden’s got a crush on the socially inept med student,” Ivan jeered.

“
Shut up,” Hayden began.

“
Uh, guys,” I interrupted. “Who’s gonna help me chuck the body out the window?” Hayden picked it up easily. The crazy was female and young. I didn’t want to look at her face. I hated that they were alive. Though no one was tired after that rush of adrenaline, Hayden and I took over watch and let Ivan and Brock attempt to sleep. Eliminating the chance of another crazy coming up, Hayden and I hoisted the heavy ladder up into the loft. We stood guard looking out the small window. It was nearly worthless in the dark.

We heard the groans in the purple haze of twilight. Hastily, we gathered up our stuff, woke up the others, and raced out of the barn. I shot the first, nailing it right in the head. The four of us hammered the zombies, the boys calling out scores as each dropped. The threat of a dozen or so zombies was nonexistent. If it didn’t sound so twisted, I would have said I had fun.

“
So,” I said over Ivan and Hayden’s bickering about points. “I think that a ‘rekill’ by arrow should be worth more points than by bullet.”

“
Fair enough,” Ivan said. “But you’re the only one with a bow.”

“
Lucky me,” I said with a wink.

We drove back into town. The zombies that lurked here yesterday must have been the ones we took care of at the barn because there weren’t very many anymore. The first items on the list were tools. Ivan and Brock went to a drugstore store while Hayden and I hit the hardware store. Three zombies milled about. Not wanting to waste any bullets, I shot two with the bow. A gummy, or more technically called S3, limped toward us. I passed the bow to Hayden.

“
Take your best shot,” I said. He did and missed. When he finally hit it, the gummy was merely feet away. “It takes getting used to,” I assured him. We cleaned off the shelves of anything useful and everything heavy that was on the list. We loaded it in bags and deposited it in the back of the truck. We went back in, getting the next items on our list.

Empowered. That’s how I felt. Cocky was probably the better word to use. Hayden was fast, strong, and could hit a zombie from yards away. I was all that and more, able to use the bow. I didn’t have to worry about him lagging behind, not being able to load the gun or make a stupid mistake that landed a bullet in his foot. We milled through that small crowd of zombies like we were in a video game, as if it was nothing at all.

I didn’t feel the fear right away. When enough zombies pressed against the windows and doors to block out the sunlight, I thought we could handle it. The sound of the glass shattering sent shivers up my spine.

We couldn’t handle it.

-Chapter 13-

Not just Hayden and I. We were only two people. And I couldn’t count the number of zombies that filtered into the store. True, between the both of us, we had enough ammo to take them all out. But we didn’t have enough time. Hayden grabbed my hand and ran, pulling me into the stockroom.

“
There has to be a back door,” he said in the darkness. Dressed in a military issued vest, I patted my many pockets until I found the flashlight. I locked the door knowing it wouldn’t hold. I moved the light around the room. There was no back door. We were stuck in this room. “Fuck,” Hayden swore. “I’m sorry, Orissa. I thought we could get out.”

“
We will,” I breathed. My heart raced. Nothing about this was fun anymore. We were in a world filled with monsters. It didn’t matter how well armed we were, they outnumbered us. We were no match. We could never be a match.

A zombie slapped at the door causing me to jump.

Calling Brock and Ivan wasn’t an option. They’d be zombie bait, not back up. My eyes scanned the dark room. There had to be something we could use. We were in a large supply closet, not the stockroom like Hayden had hoped. Mops, rags, and cleaning products cluttered the shelves.

My heart raced, my palms sweat, and my cheeks burned.

“
Burn. That’s it!” My eyes focused on the cleaning products, full of chemicals. Chemicals, that were sure to be flammable.

“
What’s it?” Hayden asked.

I snatched a bottle of bug spray from above me. “Do you have a lighter?”

“
Yeah. Why?”

“
We’re going to burn them.”

“
That’s great and all, Orissa, but won’t we burn too?”

“
We shouldn’t.”

“
That’s reassuring. We’ll come up with something else.”

“
No, there is nothing else.” I forced myself to take a deep breath. Using my knife, I ripped the rags into strips. I tied it around the tip of an arrow. “Hold this,” I told Hayden. He held it at arm’s length while I saturated it in bug spray. “Shoot a hole in the wall.” Hayden handed me the arrow.

“
Where?” he asked.

“
Uh, high enough to keep them out. For a while at least. But low enough for me to shoot through.”

The door frame threatened to give in from the pounding of zombies. Hayden opened fire on the wall, speckling holes in the drywall. He dragged a table over to stand on. Using the butt of his rifle, he punched the remaining particles of the wall away. I wrapped another piece of the rag around a second arrow and jumped up next to him.

“
There,” he said, pointing to a clearance display of barbecue accessories. “Can you hit it?”

“
I think so.” Zombies shoved each other, blocking my target.

“
I have an idea,” he said and looked at the bug spray can. “Get it.” I jumped off the table, shocking my ankles, and grabbed the can. “Throw and I’ll shoot,” he told me. I tossed it in the air above the hungry, manic crowd. Hayden hit it. The can exploded. Several zombies turned at the noise. Hayden lit the first arrow. I carefully drew it back, the heat of the flame hot on my face. I could still see the brightness etched into my vision after I let the arrow go. It sunk into the chest of the zombie that got doused with the most bug spray. She was too soggy and rotten to burst into flames.

Her clothes caught fire, burning just enough to create a diversion. The zombies moved at her, attracted to the heat and the light. Hayden lit the second arrow. I aimed. I didn’t have time to see it nail the target. Hayden used his body to shield me from the explosion.

The blast knocked us off the table. He had to be in as much pain as I was. Hayden cradled my head, protecting me. Flames shot through the hole in the wall. I felt the hot fire above us. In a flash, it was gone. We got up to inspect the damage.

“
Holy shit,” Hayden swore. Charred zombies blundered about. Some writhed on the ground unable to move since their skin and muscles had been burned off. Smoke hung in the air and the entire place reeked of barbecued road kill.

It was now or never.

While the zombies still tripped over each other in the hazy confusion, Hayden and I made a break for it. Moving so gracefully he could almost be dancing, Hayden sliced his knife through the air, cutting through a gummy’s skull. He spun and sunk the knife into the eye socket of a S2. He looked behind him and kicked a zombie in the stomach, knocking him over. Before the creature hit the ground, a bullet made a home in its rotten skull.

We jumped over bodies, dodged burning merchandise, and sprinted to the truck. As soon as our asses hit the seats I locked the doors. Panting, I turned to Hayden.

“
That was fucking brilliant,” he told me, grinning as he took in air. Suddenly he leaned in close, his eyes fixed on mine. His hand landed on my cheek when Ivan’s voice came over the walkie. He had heard the explosion. A flaming zombie raced at us in a blur of smoke and fire. I watched it, hypnotized by the crepitating flames.

A gunshot echoed and he went down, collapsing into a pile of burning flesh. Hayden started the truck. I tossed my bow in the back and didn’t bother with my seatbelt. Ivan and Brock had cleared out the drugstore store and were halfway done emptying a small electronic store, since we desperately needed space heaters for our rooms, when a group of S3s came in.

No big deal, right? It wasn’t, until Ivan slipped in gooey brain matter and twisted his ankle. He was pissed more than anything. He could still walk, though the pain he was trying to cover up was obvious through his limp.

“
Let’s call it,” Brock said, almost sounding relieved to have an excuse to go back to the shelter.

“
No way,” Ivan argued. “We only got half of our supplies.”

“
Clothes are on the list,” Brock interjected. “I think they can survive awhile longer with what they have.”

“
We were given orders. I plan on following through with those orders,” Ivan said sternly.

“
Ivan,” Hayden said to his friend. “Your ankle is sprained at least. You’re in no condition to carry out a mission.”

“
I’m fine! I’ve been worse. Hell—you’ve been worse!”

When Hayden brought up a bad situation that happened to the guys overseas, I stepped away respectfully. I hadn’t known Hayden and Ivan had served together. I rested against the truck, scanning the horizon. Smoke billowed from the hardware store. There must have been a tank or two of propane along with the dozen or so bottles of lighter fluid. I was a little pissed that I lost two arrows since I had no way of replacing them.

“
Orissa,” Hayden called. I jogged over. “How do you feel about finishing the mission with me?”

“
Fine,” I said casually.

“
Without Ivan and Brock.”

“
Oh. That’s fine too. We can avoid overrun towns.”

“
See,” Hayden assured Ivan. “We will be fine. I’ll be smart. I won’t take on what we can’t handle.”

“
They just blew up a building,” Brock said with a smile. “Don’t worry about it, Ivan.”

It took awhile of more convincing, but finally, Ivan agreed to go back to the shelter with Brock to get his ankle checked out. We put everything we had gathered, so far, in their truck. Hayden and I spent the rest our daylight hours driving around looking for a place to spend the night.

I had never been this far south. Moss hung off trees, making the landscape seem foreign and mysterious. We passed numerous swamps. Great. Now along with zombies, I had to watch out for alligators.

We drove down a lonely road for a mile or two before something caught my attention: a historic plantation house that had been converted into a bed and breakfast. Raeya would love a beautiful place like this.

It was free of infected. We chose a room that had a balcony—just in case we needed to make a quick escape. I spotted a trashcan that was filled with empty pop cans just outside the back door. Hayden looked curiously at it, then told me he had a plan of his own. We strung the cans on electrical cords, hanging them across the stairs. If anything tried to get up, we’d hear them before they made it to the door. Hayden walked around the house while I put together a crappy dinner.

Something buzzed and roared to life. It scared the shit out of me before I realized it was a generator. Hayden came back inside, looking victorious. Not wanting to draw attention to our hideout, we turned every light off except for two: one above the stairs and one in the room we were bunkering in.

“
Oh my God, it feels so good,” I said when I stuck my hand under the running hot water. “Keep watch while I shower?”

“
I can do that,” Hayden said. He watched me take my outer layers off, his eyes hungrily wanting more. He blinked, shook his head, and spun around. He showered after me, both of us dressing in our spare and clean clothing. I grabbed blankets off the bed across the hall. I haphazardly threw them on the bed, nervously eyeing a porcelain doll. Her eyes were as blue as the dress she wore and perfect blonde curls surrounded her painted face. I suppressed a shiver. I don’t know why the hell anyone would want something as creepy as that.

“
How do you want to do this?” I asked Hayden when he opened the bathroom door. He looked at me, laying in the bed, wide-eyed.

“
Do what?”

“
Sleep. Are we gonna go one at a time, keeping watch?”

“
Uh, sure.”

That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. “Do you think we need to? I mean, this house had been ignored for awhile and we would hear if anyone tried to get in.”

“
True,” Hayden said and sat on the bed. “I guess we could both get some sleep.”

“
Yeah,” I agreed. “Are you tired?”

“
Not really.”

“
Me neither. It’s like my body is but my mind isn’t. I have a hard time sleeping in this dead world.”

“
Me too,” he agreed.

“
We can be insomniacs together then,” I offered.

“
Deal.”

We had everything ready in case of an attack. Hayden got under the covers, his body heat instantly reaching me. I wanted so badly to be close to him. We turned, backs to each other. I shut off the bedside light, leaving only the light spilling in from the bathroom to illuminate the room.

“
Are you cold?” Hayden asked some time later.