Myopia (Young Adult Zombie Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria Series) (4 page)

“How many were there?” Garfield asked.

“A lot—twelve…” Her voice trailed off. Seeing the terror in Garfield’s eyes, she realized she should’ve lowered the number.

“Twenty-three,” Andrew corrected. “At least.”

“What? So, we go in?” Garfield asked nervously.

“No.” She shook her head. “We’ll use gas.”

“We?” Garfield exclaimed.

“Relax,” she tried to reassure him. “But we should leave before they catch our scent.”

Andrew contacted the base and he radioed the nearest patrol team.

Wisteria put the vehicle into gear to drive away and heard a crash.

Garfield shrieked. “The bloody biters are jumping out.”

“They must have gotten our scent.” Looking through the rearview mirror, she saw the biters from the school leap down the three stories to the ground and stagger haphazardly toward the gate.

Reversing past the gate, she tried to put the car into gear, but it stalled.

The undead behind the gates moaned as they neared the stationary SUV.

“Come on, Wisteria,” Andrew pleaded. “Don’t panic.” Placing his hand on hers, he got the vehicle into gear as the swarm of over fifty biters broke through the school gate and shuffled toward the SUV.

Wisteria sped down the street. She knew the biters wouldn’t be able to outrun the SUV, but they’d most likely follow their scent back to Smythe, unless they were stopped.

At the end of the cul-de-sac was another worn SUV. Standing on the roof were Wisteria’s mother and a tracker called Ferris Kinsey. They were both armed with dart rifles and were firing on the approaching biters. Because of the noise of normal guns, the trackers used cyanide dart-rifles when curing the infected.

Wisteria drove past her mother’s vehicle and parked a few feet behind it.

“What are you doing?” Garfield asked.

“We’ve got to help them.” Getting out, Andrew reached for his backpack.

“I thought you said there were no biters in Norton,” Garfield said as he aimed at biters.

“I never said that.” Andrew gave Garfield a dirty look while grabbing his gun. “And we’re not in Norton.”

“Take your time, Andrew,” her mother called. “They won’t be here for a while.”

Wisteria took out her rifle as well and aimed it at the street.

The approaching biters snarled.

“Lara, I’ve got you, just try to keep your daughter and her boyfriend from peeing in my car,” Andrew teased as he climbed on to the roof the SUV.

“Just get to work.” Her mother took out an old soft drink can.

Wisteria knew only one thing could be inside of it.

A few months back, one of the town’s scientists, Mr. Silas Cheung, had figured out how to make a gas that confused the biters and caused them to suffocate. This saved on the town’s ammunition.

Her mother flung the can into the swarm. It sailed through the air and thick smoke spread out over the biters.

Starting the car, Wisteria called out to Andrew, who was still shooting at the approaching biters. “Andrew, get in.”

They didn’t have gas masks, so they had to get out of the vicinity of the gas as soon as they could.

The soldier fired a couple more shots, and then got in.

“Mum!” Wisteria yelled at her mother, who threw another can and stood watching the infected succumb to the gas. “What are you doing? Ferris, get her down from there.”

“Relax, Wisteria, she’s done this a thousand times,” Andrew whispered. “Focus on getting us out of here.” Andrew was right, but it was still her mother.

“Let’s go.” Garfield banged on the back of her seat.

As she drove, Wisteria saw her mother jump off the roof of the SUV and get in.

“What is your mother’s deal?” Garfield wondered as they drove away and Ferris’s SUV followed them. “What do you think happened to those people? Why were they locked in there?”

They were driving on the side roads back to Smythe as Wisteria replied, “If I had to guess? Someone thought it was safer to lock them away.”

“The fool was trying to be humane,” Andrew muttered.

“How long were they in there?” Garfield asked.

“We didn’t take any pictures, did we?” Wisteria realized aloud while ignoring his question.

The scientists who lived on the Isle of Smythe used the pictures of the infected to help them understand the severity of the disease. At least that was what Wisteria had guessed. She’d no clue what those guys were actually doing. No one did, not even Coles. Their last experiments resulted in about forty biters almost breaking out of the mulberry orchard and infecting the whole island.

“Ha!” Andrew laughed. “If the doctors want those photos, they are going to have come out here and get them.”

“Yeah, right,” she replied. “They are even more sheltered than the children are.”

“Yes, they are.” Andrew’s tone became serious.

Garfield exhaled loudly in relief, as they entered Norton.

“At least those Einsteins aren’t putting the island in danger anymore,” Andrew remarked. “Unlike you kids. Go down that street.” Andrew pointed as Wisteria drove.

“Where are we going?” She pulled onto Norton High Street.

“You can stop here,” Andrew ordered without answering her pointed question.

Breaking in the middle of the road, she saw they were only a few feet away from the pub the kids had been to the night before.

“What are we doing here?” Garfield tried to ask innocently.

“Come on.” Andrew got out of the car. “Both of you.”

“We can’t leave the vehicle,” Wisteria pointed out. “Someone has to stay in case we need to leave quickly.”

“Yeah, we just saw fifty biters at Woolmer, Lieutenant. We should get inside and regroup,” Garfield added. “Coles won’t be happy to hear you’re breaking the rules.”

“You seem preoccupied with the rules and regulations now,” Andrew replied. “Interesting, because there’s one that says no one leaves the island without a gate pass.”

She inferred he was talking about last night’s party. If Andrew knew, no doubt her mother knew, too.
Wonderful
. But to be frank, if Coles knew? Her mother knowing was a given. Wisteria wondered now about what she would be walking into when she got home.

“What are you talking about?” Garfield feigned ignorance.

“Now!” Andrew called out. “I need to show you something.”

Wisteria paused for a moment before getting out of SUV. She trusted him; with the exception of Garfield, he was her only other friend.

The two kids followed Andrew as he headed to the main entrance of the pub.

Picking up an empty glass jar, he sniffed it. “Do you know how Coles found out you guys were sneaking out?”

“David told Coles,” Garfield replied.

“Smell this.” Andrew tossed her the jar.

Catching it, she sniffed and noticed a very particular scent that reminded her of Garfield’s house. She passed the jar to Garfield.

He didn’t take it. “I know what that is,” he said.

“That’s Thomas Clarkson’s moonshine,” Andrew revealed.

Garfield had been placed with Thomas Clarkson. Thomas supplied most of the town with two things—moonshine that didn’t kill people and smoked rats.

At one point, she’d suggested Garfield stay with her, but he wasn’t too keen about living with Coles. She suspected that since everyone in town ate rats to supplement their rations, Garfield always had something to trade.

“First patrol found it,” Andrew explained.

“So?” Garfield shrugged. “Anyone could’ve brought it. Thomas doesn’t give me his booze.”

“So, if you guys are going to sneak out and party, you don’t do it in a way that gets Coles mad,” Andrew instructed.

“What? You’re okay with this?” Garfield gasped.

“Listen, Norton is safe. You should let your hair down once in a while, but tell your friends they’ve got to be smarter, otherwise Town Hall could kick them out,” Andrew smirked.

“Really?” Garfield exclaimed.

Wisteria folded her arms. “We should get back to the car—”

A huge growl sounded from behind them and three mangy figures burst through the door of the pub.

“No!” Garfield screamed and rushed through the side exit.

Instinctively, Wisteria cocked the dart gun she was carrying.

“Stupid kids!” Rebecca O’Leary called out as she stood in the doorway. She laughed loudly while her tracking team stood behind her. “You should’ve seen your faces.” She pointed at them.

“Andrew, are you out of your mind?” Wisteria fumed as she turned to face the four adults. “You’re doing this now after what just happened at Woolmer?”

“There are biters out here and you guys are playing around? I could have shot you,” Garfield called as he stormed back to the SUV.

“Yeah, but you left your weapon in the car,” Andrew pointed out.

“Well, I didn’t.” Checking the dart gun, she saw the darts had been removed. “Very funny.”

“I definitely thought so,” Andrew teased. “The most fun I’ve had all day.”

“Do you both know how stupid you were being? Even if Norton’s safer, it will never be totally safe,” Wisteria exclaimed.

“Really?” Rebecca chuckled.

“You should’ve thought about that when you crawled through that hole and came into town, Wisteria. Instead of coming to us,” Andrew replied coldly.

“I was looking for David. I wasn’t going to leave him here,” Wisteria defended.

“What do think would’ve happened if even one biter got into the party?” Andrew sounded hurt.

“That’s why I had to get him,” Wisteria maintained.

“Leave her.” Rebecca laughed. “We scared her good, and her little boyfriend is going to wet himself.”

“No, Wisteria,” Andrew shouted. This was unusual for him. He never lost his temper, at least never with her. “You were stupid. Any one of those children could’ve been bitten unless you checked them all for bites.”

She hadn’t

“What if one got back to the island? What if one bit David?”

“So, what was I supposed to do? Leave him there? You know if I told my mother she’d overreact.” If Bach had been in Smythe, she could’ve gone to him, but he wasn’t, so she took care of it on her own.

“You could’ve come to me or Rebecca. You still could’ve told Coles. Anything except what you did,” Andrew suggested with a disapproving glare.

Although he was right, she couldn’t imagine a world where she’d leave David to die. “So, if I came to you, you would’ve come out and gotten David?”

He nodded. “I’d also break both of his legs so he wouldn’t sneak out again.” His stern face broke into the more familiar smile.

She shook her head.