Love and Decay, Volume Eight (Episodes 9-12, Season Three) (25 page)

The stories continued, one after another. We
all had memories of him that we wanted to share, beautiful moments
or meaningful advice that he’d given to us. We told stories until
we were all laughing and then longer, until we were all crying
again.

By the time the four brothers had pushed
Vaughan’s body beyond the tide, I had a headache from the tears and
a deep soul ache, I wasn’t sure would ever go away.

Hendrix came back and wrapped his arms around
me. I held him, dripping with saltwater and smelling like the
ocean, until Vaughan’s body was out of sight or it sunk… I wasn’t
sure which.

I didn’t want to think about either.

Hendrix pulled back from me and stared down
with a deeper intensity than I had ever seen from him. “Save me
from this,” he pleaded with a rough voice.

“I can’t,” I sniffled. “But I can walk
through it with you.”

He nodded, accepting that answer. The lost
look in his eyes slowly turned to determination and purpose. He
took his attention from me and looked around at the rest of his
family.

“We need to keep going,” he announced. “We’ll
drive the van as long as we can until we find something new. We’ll
keep going until we can’t, then we’ll walk until we can’t. More
than ever before, our goal is that research station. We’re going to
help find a cure for this goddamn disease if it’s the last thing we
do. We’re going to save other people from going through any more of
this shit. I’ve had it. I’m done with it. Together, we’re going to
stop it.”

Page sprinted from Nelson’s arms to
Hendrix’s. He wrapped his arms around her and for a brief second, I
watched the tough-guy demeanor crack and fall. He replaced it
quickly, but kept Page close.

The rest of his brothers moved into action.
They took every remaining supply or random item they thought we
could use and packed it in the van.

Hendrix had to carry Tyler to the van and
while the guys went through whatever remained of this small resort,
I held Tyler in my arms and let her weep.

I knew her grief had been doubled since she
had already lost someone she loved. I hated that she had to go
through this twice. I hated that she had fallen in love with him
only to lose him.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that Hendrix, Nelson,
Harrison, King and Page had to lose their brother after they had
already lost their parents. It wasn’t fair that they had to watch
him die slowly and suffer so much. It wasn’t fair that they had to
go on living, go on fighting through this world without him.

It wasn’t fair that Vaughan had fought so
hard and so well and still been caught in the evil. It wasn’t fair
that he was immune from turning into a Zombie, but not from dying
from the infection. It wasn’t fair that he had to leave the ones he
had promised to protect and love, the ones that he would have done
anything for.

It wasn’t fair that he had offered up his
life to save his siblings and the world had taken it. This
monstrous place had accepted his sacrifice like it was its
right.

It wasn’t fair that we had to move on, that
we couldn’t find a more permanent place to bury him or a marker to
come back and visit one day.

It wasn’t fair that our greatest work
potentially lay in front of us, but we had to leave our greatest
man behind us.

By the time Hendrix and his brothers returned
to the van, I had built up a bitter armor against this world. I
couldn’t predict it or plan for it. And I sure as hell couldn’t
trust it.

Vaughan had been more than a friend to me;
he’d also been my family. I was going to miss him.

I would always and forever, from this day
forward,
miss
him
.

I moved to sit in the passenger’s seat next
to Hendrix and said another useless prayer over the engine. The
engine shivered but slowly rumbled to a start.

Hendrix reversed the vehicle, turned it
around and moved back to the highway.

“We’re going to make it,” I promised Hendrix.
The sun had started to sink low in the sky again. We were going to
have to find another place to stay and quickly, but I knew none of
the Parkers could stomach the idea of staying at the same bungalow
again. I didn’t blame them.

“How do you know?” he asked in a soft enough
voice that I was the only one that heard.

“Because you know how to kick ass,” I told
him playfully. He squeezed my hand. He wanted a serious answer.
Okay… “Because you love this family more than anything. Vaughan was
the best at keeping us together, but you learned from the best. You
know what to do. You’ll make smart decisions and you’ll keep us
together. You can do this, Hendrix. I trust you.”

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” One
corner of his mouth curved up with adoration.

I smiled tenderly at him. “I’ll never get
tired of hearing it, so feel free to tell me as often as you need
to.”

“Thank you for helping me keep it together,”
he whispered. “It’s not easy, and it’s not over, but I need
you.”

“Thank you for taking care of me,” I told
him. “I need you too.”

His hand reached out and I put mine in his.
“Tell me we’ll survive this one more time.”

“We’ll survive this, Hendrix,” I whispered
with weighted words. “We’ll survive this because we’re survivors
and that’s what we do. It’s not going to be pretty, and it’s not
going to be easy, but we can make it. We have each other. That’s
all we need.”

He nodded slowly, letting the words sink in
and take hold. “Don’t let that happen to us,” he added like an
afterthought. “Don’t let them get to us. Or take you from me.”

“I won’t,” I swore. And I wouldn’t.

We had a lot of fighting left to do, but we
couldn’t let this happen to us. We couldn’t get separated again, by
life or by death.

It was devastating to lose Vaughan, but it
was incomprehensible to lose Hendrix.

I
refused
to let that happen.

No matter what it took or what I had to do, I
would keep him safe.

I would fight to the very end to keep
us
safe.

Episode Twelve

Chapter One

1153 Days after initial infection

We had been quiet for hours. There had been
nothing to say until Harrison groaned, “Your foot looks
delicious.”

“If you so much as lick me, I’m going to
punch you in the face,” King growled in return.

“What happens if I like it?”

“Hendrix!” King whined.

I responded before Hendrix could open his
mouth. “Oh, my god, shut up. Both of you.” I dropped my face into
my hands and pressed my fingers against my temples
in an effort to
keep my head from exploding.
Harrison and King had been after each other since Veracruz and I
could not take it anymore.

“I can’t,” Harrison whimpered, sounding much
younger than he was. “I’m too hungry. I’m not kidding. I
would
eat King’s stupid leg if I
thought it could make my stomach stop hurting like this.”

King flung himself
against
the dingy couch he lounged on and puffed out a
breath of air. “If I thought donating my leg would make you stop
acting like a little girl, I would gladly give it to you.”

“It might,” Harrison
pouted
.

King rolled his eyes. “It won’t.”

“I resent
that,”
Page sighed.

Her brothers looked at her for a moment
before turning their attention back to each other. Harrison opened
his mouth to argue… some more… because he never shut up… when
Hendrix stepped in between them.

“Enough,” he said
simply
. But it was
enough
to silence them. “Harrison, you can’t eat your
brother. King, stop calling him a little girl.”

Neither brother had another response. They
turned away from each other and got busy bothering other
people.

Hendrix walked over to me and flopped down on
the dirty mattress I’d claimed. It wasn’t much. And it wasn’t
clean. Actually, it was the opposite of clean. I couldn’t decide if
I was going to end up with an STD or Tetanus. Neither were good
options for me. But it was better than the floor of this abandoned
house we’d found at the edge of Bogotá, Colombia.

That’s right, Colombia.

We made it.

We made it to the country, and then a week
later, we made it to the capitol.

I still couldn’t believe we were here.

That we made it.

That our happiness had been stolen, our
sanity questioned, our foundations rocked to the core, but we were
here.

Finally.

There had been continents in our way,
countries we crossed and so many cities that I lost count. We had
been through every kind of climate,
temperature
and terrain.
We’d
left mountains, driven alongside ocean front beaches; we’d seen
rain forests and regular forests, abandoned towns and desolated
ones, Zombies from all places and men who wanted to chop off our
heads and stick them on top of spikes in the ground.
We had
bargained our way out of tight situations, gone days without seeing
anyone, stolen maybe two hundred cars along the way and dealt with
a bout of the flu.

It had been hell.

It had been hell, but it had been no worse
than what we’d already faced. So we pushed forward, we made
progress and somehow we made it to our final destination.

But we were running out of steam.

We’d rolled into town, or the edges of town,
earlier this morning. Our latest ride, a monstrous, rusted El
Camino from the nineties, painted bright pink at one time and
sporting a fuzzy steering wheel cover and sheepskin seat covers,
ran out of gas just as we passed the city line.

It was like a miracle.

Or a curse. Depending on your
perspective.

Although it had lasted a few days for us, we
were now trapped at the fringes, in a house that had been long
abandoned, without food, water or anything else we could need or
want.

While the last six weeks had been marginally
better than getting trapped by cannibals, fighting off Matthias and
watching someone we loved die… we were starving, dehydrated and
completely exhausted.

We had fought the armies of hell to get here
and the battle still wasn’t over.

Hendrix’s hand slid over my shoulder blades
and wrapped around my shoulder. He tugged me against his side where
I nuzzled up willingly and prayed he had the answers to all of our
immediate problems.

“I guess I imagined they would roll out the
red carpet when we arrived,” I admitted. “My only goal so far has
been to get to this city. Now that we’re here, I have no idea what
to do.”

Hendrix inhaled slowly and held it for a
beat. “I’m not sure I believed we would ever make it here
alive.”

So much for Hendrix and his trick bag of
answers. “Me either,” I admitted.

“We should probably look for the research
station, but first we need to make it through the night.” He
squeezed my arm. I could tell he wasn’t in a hurry to get up and
that worried me.

Without enough food, we were
alarmingly
without energy. The last week had
been the worst. As we worked our way through the Colombian
mountains, and closer to Bogotá, every possible place to
find
food or water had been
ransacked.

Once populated and booming with life, the
landscape was now filled with ghost towns and emptiness. We hadn’t
seen a person or Zombie in over two weeks.

“We need to eat something,” I whispered. My
throat burned from thirst and my stomach heated with hunger. I had
never been so miserable in my life and the weight of Vaughan’s
death only intensified my feelings of despair. We’d made it to our
final destination, but I couldn’t celebrate our circumstances.

This might as well have been the gates of
Hades.

Maybe it was.

Hendrix nodded slowly. His eyelids drooped
and he slumped against me.

We really needed to eat something
.

And maybe take a
ten-year
vacation from this forsaken world.

I glanced around the dim room and mourned the
loss of light. We should have pushed further into the city, but we
didn’t know what we would find and it was too late in the day to
take chances. Now we were trapped in this crumbling shack and we
were falling apart at the seams.

Lennon fussed across the room. Haley tried to
feed him, but he fought her with a toss of his head. Soon his wails
filled the dead space between us. He screamed out his frustration
and hunger, demanding that his mother feed him.

He had been like this for days, almost
inconsolable because of how hungry he was. His voice would go
hoarse with his screams until eventually he would fall asleep for
hours. His small chest would barely lift with his shallow breaths.
I worried about him the most.

Hendrix groaned and dropped his face into his
hand. “I can’t take much more of this,” he mumbled. “I have to do
something. I have to
fix this
.”

My chest tightened. “
We
have to fix
this,” I reassured him. “You’re not alone.”

His head turned until his
deep
blue eyes found mine. His lips were turned
down and the light in his eyes had nearly disappeared. I had never
seen him so anguished… so desolate. “I’m all they have, Reagan,” he
rasped. “I might not be alone, but it’s up to me to figure this
out.”

His words hit me like a physical blow, the
breath rushing from my lungs. I swayed forward until I pressed my
forehead against the bridge of his nose. “We’re in this together.
We have always been in this together. Vaughan would never have let
you take this on yourself. That’s not what he wanted.”

Hendrix pulled back and dropped a quick kiss
to
my forehead. “Maybe it’s not
what he wanted, but it’s what he left me with.”