Love and Decay, Boy Meets Girl (7 page)

Page would always be my first priority, but I
couldn’t deny the intense urge I felt to protect Reagan.

I took in my surroundings, visualized our
escape plan and mentally pictured each and every future kill. The
key to survival and keeping those you loved alive was to always be
prepared.

I was a goddamn Boy Scout when it came to a
fight. Everyone in this room would make it to safety.

There was no other option in my life.

“Alright, well thanks then,” Reagan whispered
to me sounding sincere and final.

My blood went cold, freezing in my veins. I
watched Nelson and Vaughan finally pry the door open but it was in
a detached, confused kind of way. They began working with another
one of our pulley systems and I began working to process Reagan’s
words.

“For what?” I turned to her realizing she
hadn’t come to the same conclusion that I had about our remaining
lives. Even if we never became involved with more than friendship,
we definitely had a future together. From this day forward.

“For everything,” she shrugged and turned
away.

Maybe she wasn’t as brave as I gave her
credit for. Maybe she was resigned that this was a no win
situation. She had no idea who she was traveling with now, though.
The Parkers didn’t believe in no-win situations. We won everything,
every chance we got.

I needed her to believe that too, though.

“You sound like you’re expecting to die,
Reagan,” I barked, a little harsher than I intended. But I was
irritated that she didn’t trust me. Yes, I knew I was being
irrational. But I couldn’t help it. Testosterone had fused with the
adrenaline to transform me into the super soldier I needed to be.
“We have an escape plan. You’re going to be just fine.”

Confusion warred with frustration as she
tried not to laugh at me. I scowled at her, waiting for her to
explain. “I know that.” And then because I still didn’t understand
she sighed and made it clear why she was thanking me, basically
telling me goodbye. “But we’re headed south and you’re headed
north. I was just saying thank you before we got separated and I
never got the chance to. I mean it, thank you.”

I stared at her. She still didn’t get it. And
then I started to panic a little. Was I the only one that felt this
connection between us? I felt fused to her, hooked by a titanium
steel fishing line that would never release me. How could she just
not assume that from this moment on our lives were entwined?

My brothers started getting people through
the elevator, following through with our escape plan and
momentarily pulled Reagan’s attention away from me. I took the
opportunity to step forward and lean down so I could speak directly
in her ear.

“Alright, Reagan,” I said softly. She
shivered at the feel of my voice in her ear and I knew at that
moment I wasn’t the only one that felt this. There was something
real between us, something tangible and worth exploring. “I get the
independence thing, but you’re not going south until we get the
hell out of here and to safety. You stay directly behind me, you
got that?”

She whipped her head around and stared me
down with a soul full of fury, “Sweet offer, but I can take care of
myself.”

“Never said you couldn’t,” I admitted. And I
knew that she could. But that wasn’t the point. “Stay behind me,
got that?”

“Whatever makes you feel like a man,” she
sighed, sounding completely exasperated by me.

I suppressed a smile. “And we’ll talk about
going south later.”

She opened her mouth to argue with me,
sputtering a little and seeming completely flustered. I did smile
this time, I couldn’t help myself. I ushered her forward and she
crawled through the elevator space without hesitation or further
prompting.

I let her get adjusted and when she couldn’t
quite get in a comfortable position to get strapped in I laid down
on my stomach and grabbed her ass so she could settle. In any other
situation, I would have capitalized on this moment and investigated
how far she would let me take this. But this was life or death,
survival or Feeder-food. This was clinical, methodical, necessary
to our escape.

Although the surprised squeak she made when I
touched her did confusing things to my resolve.

“What the hell?” she growled at me.

“Just,” I strained against her weight and
clicked the carabineers into place, “there.”

She was now supported by the rope, although
it wasn’t exactly the most comfortable way to travel. It would do
the job. That’s all that mattered.

I slid under the elevator that hovered above
a just-big-enough space to slide under and strapped myself into
place too. We would go down together. From now on, we would always
do things together in order to survive. And this time I wasn’t
being a possessive stalker. That was how we did things in my
family. We stayed together so we could stay alive together.

“Where are you supposed to stay?” I asked her
again. I needed to make sure she got this.

She glared at me through the darkness, her
features oddly highlighted by the flashlight down below. “Hendrix,
are you kidding me?”

She would get it. I just had help her. “By
me, Reagan. Always, by me.”

Her breathing came faster and more
unregulated, echoing off the cavernous walls. I hoped that was a
good thing for me. She went back to staring at the wall in front of
her and we worked silently down the wall until our feet were once
again on solid ground.

“We rigged it so it’s not connected to
anything, but there’s a barrier to keep it from falling down the
shaft. It should hold in place for a while. We’re just trying to
confuse them while we get out of here. But if they follow our
scent, the elevator won’t hold them for long.” I explained the
logistics of the plan.

“Do you think my bloody clothes will confuse
them?” she asked and I hoped she meant because she left them
upstairs and hadn’t tried to bring them with her.

No, she was smarter than that.

“Probably.” I confirmed.

“Hey, I’m sorry-“

“Not now, Reagan.” We didn’t have time for
that and she didn’t have anything to be sorry for. I raised my
semiautomatic and she followed suit. We had to be ready for
everything. Feeders fed Feeders. That was just how things were.
They were mostly lonely creatures until the possibility of food
presented itself and then the more racket they made, the more of
their kind they drew in. One Feeder could become one hundred
Feeders in just minutes. They seemed to crawl up from the cracks in
the ground and out of the shadows of buildings. They were
everywhere, overpopulating this planet with death and disease.

I didn’t know if there was a long term
strategy to exterminating their threat, but there had to be some
kind of solution to winning back humanity. We had to be stronger
than them. Humanity wasn’t lost- not completely. And we were
smarter, more discerning and most importantly, we still possessed
souls.

We had to take back this planet- if for no
other reason than to keep anyone else from getting infected.
Zombie-ism was a true predator- not sparing one single life in the
wake of its destruction.

Vaughan, Page and Haley were waiting for us
on the ground floor. Page was tucked between them like she belonged
there- or rather, like Haley belonged there. Page wore her brave
face and met my eyes when I looked at her.

She was just so very courageous and I admired
every little part of her.

She didn’t have a weapon on her this time,
and hopefully she wouldn’t need one. We had all taught her how to
use every kind of gun we had that she was strong enough to hold and
she’d had some knife-training too, but that didn’t mean we just let
her run around willy-nilly with weapons. She was eight.

And we were trying to keep her alive.

This part of the store stayed secluded from
the rest of the departments, so we could hide undetected until the
rest of my brothers made it to the bottom of the shaft.

The Feeders swarmed everywhere else though,
loud, hungry and single-minded with the need for our brains. They
were slow, clumsy and hardly cognizant of anything but flesh, still
they were the most dangerous enemy mankind had every fought.

One bite. Just once. And that was it. The
poison of the disease infected you immediately and your rational,
functioning thought died in the wake of a desperate addiction to
flesh, blood and brains.

There was no cure, no immunity, no anything
but kill or be killed.

Eventually, Nelson, Harrison and King joined
us on the ground, weapons ready and bodies tensed. We moved into
position and Vaughan held up three fingers, counting down. Then we
were off. I led the way and Reagan stayed directly behind me just
as I’d asked.

I always led the way- it was my place. But
with Reagan so close and vulnerable, I was suddenly rethinking this
position. The rest of my family took up the rear and I had never
once second-guessed them or doubted their ability to perform and
protect. I shouldn’t start tonight.

We moved as silently as we could, stepping
over dead bodies, and around the gore and carnage left littering
the floor. I led my group to the outside though the wall we’d blown
up just for this very purpose and immediately engaged the
enemy.

I had wanted to wait to start shooting until
we were closer to the Hummer, since I knew the sound would draw
attention our way; but firing shots was unavoidable. Feeders of
every size, shape and degree of disease were scattered before me
and if I didn’t kill them, then they would come after me in the
space of a heartbeat.

I spared one extra moment to look down at
Reagan and remind her she needed to stay by my side. “With me,” I
mouthed and she nodded obediently.

Pride and satisfaction swelled in my chest
and I felt a surge of extra energy. I also felt the resolute
certainty that we were doing the right thing by going with
them.

As I looked around at the Zombies swarming
us, from in front of us, down the street or now streaming back down
the stairs in order to get to us, I knew with absolute certainty I
couldn’t let Reagan and Haley continue on their journey alone.

They needed us as much as we needed them. And
I was just starting to realize how much
we
needed
them
. And not for any of my own selfish,
a-little-bit-delusional reasons. The boys needed women to soften
them and Page needed girls to confide in, to teach her how to be a
woman. I would dissect my own reasons for needing them, or at least
Reagan… later.

I trusted my brothers to take care of
themselves and Page. And they trusted me to clear the way. This was
my job- eliminating the threat. I was the best shot, had the
clearest aim and held the highest kill record- if we were counting…
which we weren’t. Well, they weren’t.

I pulled the trigger time and time again. The
gun reverbed through my body, making me feel electric, making me
feel invincible. Feeder after Feeder dropped in front of me, but it
was never enough. They were everywhere, in every direction. There
was no end to them, just endless supplies of creatures trying to
kill us.

I pushed my body harder, until my ears rushed
with the sound of my breathing and pumping blood. My heart hammered
furiously and warred with the panting of my lungs. My legs burned
with the stretching pace, but this was a pain I enjoyed. My arms
stayed steadily raised and my gun expertly trained.

They were run of the mill B-roll. I was a
skilled assassin, born and bred for this.

“Reagan, to your left” Vaughan shouted from
behind me.

My gun went with hers. Her instincts took
over and she started shooting before she had time to process
rational thought. I shot with her, avoiding her kill, but making
damn sure there were no other Zombies to fill the space of her dead
one.

She hadn’t hesitated. She hadn’t let a single
misplaced guilty feeling cloud her judgment. She had done what was
necessary.

This. Girl.

I was lost to her.

When I faced forward again, the Feeder
population had somehow tripled. I felt our ranks close tighter
together, filling in the gaps, covering all angles. Page started
screaming- or maybe she continued screaming and I hadn’t heard her
over my own racing thoughts. Guns started firing more rapidly. And
all around us Feeders descended upon us with feral, insatiable
hunger.

I ignored their smell, their putrid, peeling
bodies and their red, desperate eyes and focused on surviving.
Honestly, it didn’t matter what they looked like or who they used
to be. The only thing that mattered was that they were a risk and I
would never let them touch those I cared about.

The realization that I had gone from
singularly obsessing over protecting “my family” to “those I cared
about” was not lost on me. But probably it was better to ignore
that Freudian slip until I had a little more time to think it
over.

We reached the old garage where we’d stashed
the Hummer and I lunged for the lift gage.

“Reagan,” I shouted. “Haley, help them cover
me!” Although I doubted they needed my instruction. Mainly I didn’t
want them to think they needed to help me lift this gate.

But goddamn this gate was heavy.

We’d been over this scenario time and time
again, but we’d never run through a full practice in which I had to
lift the gate by myself.

“Hendrix, we have to get out of here! Now!”
Vaughan ordered.

I let those frantic words fuel my effort.
With one final grunt I jolted the gate upward, propelling it upward
with enough momentum to keep it moving up on its track.

The stagnant, stale air from the sealed
garage poured out in a rush of disgusting wind, but it was still
better than the stench waiting behind me. I sucked it in deep with
a breath of relief and raised my guns again to cover my family so
they could climb aboard our vehicle of salvation.