Love and Decay, Volume Eight (Episodes 9-12, Season Three) (32 page)

But we couldn’t stop. We had to fight the
evil that still plagued this world and do whatever it took to bring
about a cure and vaccine.

Haley had once made the point that she could
not protect those that she loved if she became stagnant and lost
her survival skills. We all felt that way.

We were safe now, but we knew it couldn’t
last.

We had lived through too much, seen too much.
We all knew how quickly our sense of security could be ripped from
us and replaced with something purely evil.

So until we had an infallible cure in our
hands, we remained vigilant… we remained dedicated to our mission
and our survival.

“What’s this?” I asked Haley. I picked up the
plastic sack that felt so light, I wasn’t sure there was anything
in it.

“A gift,” she said with a smile. “I found it
today and it made me think of you. I had to grab it.”

“She really did,” Nelson chuckled. “She would
not be distracted. Much like the first time she found it, in
fact.”

Something about his tone and the twinkle in
his eye kicked in my curiosity and suddenly I couldn’t wait to dig
into the bag. I plunged my hand into the gritty plastic and wiggled
my fingers until I grabbed hold of the thin object that reminded me
of a pencil.

I pulled it out and held it up for everyone
to see. “Eyeliner, Hales? Really?”

“I know how narcissistic you are.” She leaned
forward and pulled an identical pencil out of her pocket. “But
you’re not alone.”

My smile reached from ear to ear. “This is
the best present anyone has ever given me!”

“Hey!” Hendrix growled. “I gave you a baby!
That has to count for something.”

I looked up at my husband, at the man I loved
more than anything in this world. He stood in the doorframe with
arms crossed and an amused smile on his handsome face. He had never
looked more beautiful. His hair had been trimmed and his beard
shaved short. His body had regained the thickness that made him
look healthy and muscled. His clothes fit him and his eyes had lost
the haunted look that followed him for so long. He still grieved
for his brother, he still felt the pain of losing his parents and
the damage of the last three years, but he was on his way to
healthy. He was on his way to being healed. And he loved me more
with each day that passed.

I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

My hand landed on my swelling stomach and I
rubbed gently over the place where our baby grew. “She’s a close
second,” I told him with a pacifying tone.

He narrowed his eyes and said, “
He
beats eyeliner every day of the week.”

“But eyeliner led me to you,” I argued
sweetly.

His expression softened and his blue eyes
warmed with affection. “That it did. That might have been the best
panty raid of all time.”

“What’s a panty raid?” Page asked from the
couch.

I pressed my lips together and tried to hide
my smile. Hendrix’s mouth opened and shut several times while he
tried to think of something to say.

Thankfully, Oliver walked in and saved the
day. “There’s someone at the door.”

Adela looked up with wide eyes, “One of the
children?”

Oliver shook his head and I finally felt the
worry that entered the room with him. “No,” he said simply. “Come
see for yourself.”

Haley walked over to Page and grabbed Lennon
and we all followed Oliver to the security closet that had fuzzy
monitors. We didn’t keep them on constantly, but if someone rang
the blue button outside, we had the ability to see who was standing
at our front door. Usually it was children that wanted a hot meal
or were here for school. Only one other time had it been a stranger
passing through. We’d given them food and water, but they chose to
keep moving. That had been a fortunate exchange considering the
life of luxury we enjoyed here.

A man stood in front of the gate with a large
hiking backpack strapped to his back. His face was weatherworn and
beaten. He looked gaunt and starved, even in the fuzzy image of the
small screen. We watched him push the blue button again and wait
for our response.

“Hello?” he shouted at the blinking red
light. “Is anyone there?”

We sucked in a collective breath. I looked
around, hoping Oliver had a protocol for this. He was clearly as
confused as the rest of us.

“I’m looking for Vaughan,” the man shouted
some more. A slice of pain cut through me at the use of Vaughan’s
name. How could he possible know who we were or that we’d be here?
“Or Hendrix,” the man continued. “Anyone with the last name
Parker.”

Hendrix lunged forward and slammed his finger
down on the talk button. “Who are you?” he demanded with a gravelly
voice.

The man jumped back, startled. He looked up
and down the street clearly nervous. “A friend,” he finally
answered. “I’m a friend.”

“How did you know to find us here?” Hendrix’s
anger became a palpable thing in this small space. I knew him well
enough that hearing his brother talked about as if Vaughan were
still alive, had rocked him to the core. I slipped my hand into his
and squeezed.

“Andy Carlisle sent me.”

“We don’t know an Andy Carlisle,” Hendrix bit
out.

The guy ruffled his greasy hair with one hand
and let out a slow breath. “He’s married to Joy,” he explained.
“They helped you out in Mexico when things got a little tough.”

“Andy and Joy?” Haley whispered. “Why would
they send someone after us?”

“Let him in,” Nelson ordered. “It must be
important.”

Unease prickled my skin and turned my
stomach. I didn’t want to think about all of the different reasons
for sending someone after us. It had to be a very bad thing for
someone to risk his life and come all the way down here.

Oliver and Hendrix walked out to the
courtyard so they could unlock the gate and let the newcomer in. I
paced the common room and tried not to puke.

With the baby, I tried very hard not to get
worked up these days, but nausea assaulted my system and panic
fluttered in my chest. Intuition screamed that I didn’t want to
hear what this guy had to say.

I knew better than to ignore my gut
instinct.

I turned around, convinced I had to keep this
guy out, just as Hendrix led him into the common room. He met my
eyes and held firm. Hendrix didn’t want this newcomer here anymore
than I did.

“You need water,” Haley offered as soon as
she took him in. She rushed to the kitchen to pull a Nalgene bottle
filled with boiled, safe water from our storage unit.

The man drank deeply before he said a word.
We watched him gulp down every last drop of that water and wipe his
face with the back of his hand. He panted heavily when it was
finished, out of breath but finally refreshed.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked with a rasping voice.
“I didn’t know… I didn’t expect it to take me so long to find
you.”

“You’ve been looking for a while?” Nelson
asked carefully.

“For months,” he admitted. “Andy sent me to
find you, but the directions were vague at best. A research station
in Colombia. My horse died somewhere in Costa Rica, I think. It’s
taken me so much longer than I planned. I’m sure they think I’m
dead by now.”

“Who thinks you’re dead?” Oliver asked.

He looked at us like we were crazy for not
knowing. “The army.”

“What army?” I blurted, impatient with his
lack of explanations. My heart took off in a gallop and I realized
one of my worst fears was about to come true.

“The revolution,” he explained. “The one
fighting the Colony for control of the former United States.”

The breath whooshed out of me and I staggered
back until I found a chair to collapse into. I didn’t know what I
expected, but I had hoped that after all of this time had passed,
that Andy and Joy were able to take control… that they were able to
defeat the Colony and give freedom back to those oppressed
people.

“How big are you?” Hendrix demanded. “How
many are in the army.”

The man’s face fell with disappointment. “Not
many,” he admitted. “There were fifteen when I left. There might be
less now.”

Hendrix ran a hand over his face and looked
up at the ceiling. “Why did Andy send you after us?”

“He sent me with this.” The man fumbled
around in his hiking backpack until he produced a graying, wrinkled
Ziploc bag. There was a torn piece of paper inside, but it was dry
and intact. I could make out thick black words scrawled in marker
and I held my breath until the paper had been put in Hendrix’s
hand.

I studied Hendrix’s face as he read over the
letter. His shoulders slumped and his mouth turned into an angry
slash across his face. I stood up immediately and rushed to his
side. I wrapped my arms around his middle and pressed my chest into
his back.

He turned the paper so I could see it and
read the words. I blinked through disbelief and tempting denial and
took in the message Andy had sent this long way.

It said simply:
He’s alive. Find a cure
and come help us. We are at war.

It was signed, Andy, Joy and Luke.

“How did he know we were alive?” Hendrix
asked after several minutes of silence.

The man looked Hendrix straight in the eye
and said, “He didn’t know for sure. He hoped.”

Andy’s optimism revealed just how desperate
the situation had gotten. He had risked this man’s life on the off
chance we had made it all the way to Bogotá… on the even more
remote chance that we could find a cure.

“What does it say?” Haley demanded.

Hendrix passed off the plastic bag to Nelson,
who read it aloud to the group. The shock that rippled through us
was a palpable burst of energy.

“Matthias?” Haley gasped again. “It’s not
possible.”

Miller took a step forward, “We killed him! I
saw that bastard die!”

“How?” Harrison grated. “How is this
possible? How is he still alive?”

We all turned to the new guy and waited for
his explanation. To us, it couldn’t be true. I had watched him die.
I had watched bullets go into his chest and a building collapse on
him. He could not be alive. I would not believe it.

“He’s barely human,” the man said. “He’s
confined to a wheel chair and his skin has been severely disfigured
by burns of some kind. But he still leads the Colony. He’s more
brutal than ever.”

“No,” Tyler breathed. “
No
.”

“What’s your name?” Hendrix asked the man.
“How did you find Andy?”

The man looked a little startled by Hendrix’s
questions, but quickly composed himself. “I’m Mark. I, uh, I was
there when he shot your friend… at that storage facility. I was
part of the problem until that day. It was that moment, when I saw
you risk your life to put your friend out of his misery…” he
pointed at me and my stomach flipped with the memory of that
horrible day. I pictured Gage in my head, changed into a Feeder
seconds after he was bitten. I pictured the gun in my hands, felt
the pull of the trigger against my finger… “I couldn’t accept the
Colony anymore. I couldn’t stand by and let that happen again,” he
finished.

Nelson shook his head in suspicion, “And
there’re only fifteen of you that feel the same way?”

Mark’s face fell. “There have been more.
There were only fifteen still alive when I left.”

“How is that possible?” Harrison demanded.
“The country is huge! You could hide anywhere!”

“He’s trained the Zombies somehow. He’s
turned them into an army. We’re hunted day and night and we don’t
have the weaponry to fight them. He feeds those loyal to the
Colony. They’re safe from the Feeders and his army of men. We have
nothing. It’s hard to convince people to join our cause when all we
can offer them is starvation and death by infection.”

“Will you stay with us?” Hendrix asked him.
“Or will you head back?”

“I’d like a few good meals,” Mark answered
humbly. “But I’ll get back there as soon as I can.”

“Is he still looking for us?” Tyler asked.
She had gone completely still at the mention of her father. Her
voice reflected the despair she felt.

Mark shrugged apologetically, “I can’t say
for sure. But I don’t think his condition will let him travel
easily. Besides, it’s common knowledge that Mexico hates him. They
would kill him if he tried to cross their borders again.”

I smiled at that. We were still safe. For
now. “Did you have any trouble in Mexico?”

“I made it through the Territories unseen,
but Mexico City is a war zone. I barely survived.”

“We can’t help you through Mexico City, but
if you get into trouble in the Territories, tell Diego that you’re
friends with Reagan. He’ll let you through.”

“Thank you,” Mark replied sincerely. “I can’t
tell you how glad I am to finally have found you.”

I could imagine.

Oliver led him away to find him a shower and
something to eat. The rest of us circled around each other and took
comfort that we were still alive… that the news of Matthias’s
survival hadn’t managed to kill one of us just by the malicious
intent we could feel from here.

We took seats in the couch area and squished
together so we could all fit. We were silent for a long time with
only Lennon’s cooing to break up the quiet.

“We’re safe here,” Hendrix finally spoke. “We
need to stay here.”

I didn’t think anyone disagreed with that
until Page said, “Until we find the cure.”

As if we hadn’t been shocked enough for one
day, nobody responded to Page. We didn’t know what to say to
that.

Finally, she continued, “We can’t hide here
forever. It’s our job to take him out. We have to kill him and we
have to take the cure to the rest of the world.”

Once again her wisdom astonished me, but this
time I was not on board. We were more vulnerable than ever these
days. I had my own child to worry about. There was no way in hell I
would willingly walk back into that mayhem and risk these lives I
loved again.