Only Love Survives (Love and Zombies) (18 page)

“I know, but your name is not Stan. My way is more fun.”

School teachers
. “Let’s focus. I think knocking on the front door is our best shot inside.”

“I agree. No sense in sneaking around until there’s a reason to. You done with these?” She lifted the box of crackers and peanut butter.

Sam nodded and she turned around in her seat and got on her knees to put them in the milk crate behind them. “By the way, what was that kiss all about earlier?” She paused to eye him suspiciously.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Just who were you showing off for?” Still facing the wrong way, she took a drink from her water bottle before offering it to him.

“The competition.” He let his fingers graze hers as he took the bottle.

She burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

She climbed over and straddled his lap facing him. “You don’t have any competition.”

Her sweet breath caressed his face as she spoke. She took his face in her hands and ran her tongue across the seal of his lips. He bumped his arms on the steering wheel when he tried to wind them around her, then reached out and adjusted the tilt wheel behind her and she leaned up to allow him the room to maneuver. Sam wound up with his face buried in her breasts, not that he minded.

“We have a bed for this now,” he reminded her.

She looked down into his face. “Do you want to wait?”

“Hell no.” Sam opened the door and climbed out with her still entangled in his arms. Megan wrapped her legs around him and took his earlobe in her mouth. The sensation of her lips and teeth on his ear sent electricity through his body straight down to his manhood, which woke up and pressed against his pants, demanding freedom. He left the door open and set her on her feet between him and the driver’s seat. When Megan looked up into his face, desire gave her smile a sultry edge, and he seized her lips in a kiss he hoped would leave her knees weak.

The moan that escaped from her was almost his undoing, but he shivered and regained his control. She tasted sweet, and he could easily drown in her lips if she let him.

Sam’s mind raced. Megan had become as necessary to him as the air he breathed, and he knew she had no intention of leaving with him. It was time Megan told him the truth, but before he could pull his lips away to demand her to, the high-pitched hum of an engine interrupted them.

Sam turned and watched another military vehicle pass them on the way to the medical building. A transport held more men in the open back. Some of the soldiers took notice of them as they passed by. Sam turned to make sure Megan was pulled together.

She smiled. “Reinforcements?”

“I don’t see any boxes to unload. Change of shift, I expect.” Sam watched the transport pull into the makeshift hospital entrance.

The soldiers piled out of the transport in well-practiced uniformity, but the orderly shuffle melted into chaos.

“Sam, look.” Megan trembled and pointed at a pile of rubble the soldiers took aim at from behind the truck.

Two walking corpses staggered toward the transport. One male, one female, equally tattered in flesh and clothing, with the exception that the female had lost an arm at some point. The remnantsof a tux and an evening gown hung in shreds on their mangled bodies. Even in death they still wandered together. Sam didn’t want to consider the implications of that.

He reached over the top of Megan to grab his gun just as the troops opened fire. Sam grabbed Megan instead and gathered her under his body across the seat, just in case the zealous soldiers decided to hedge their bets by shooting in their direction as well. Megan screamed and covered her ears. When the rain of gunfire stopped, the only noise he heard was Megan sobbing under him.

He lifted her up to examine her. “You okay?”

She nodded, but he didn’t believe her. She shook so hard in his arms he thought her teeth might fall out of her head. Sam peered over at the soldiers who charged into the building without giving Megan and him a cursory glance.

Against his better judgment, Sam could not keep his gaze from sweeping to where the zombies had fallen in a single pile of torn flesh and fabric. “Let’s go back to the hotel. I’ve seen all I need to here.”

“Shouldn’t we stay the night and watch?” She tried to pull herself together and pretend nothing had happened, but the tremble in her voice tore at Sam’s armor.

Sam wiggled his eyebrows at her to lighten the mood. “And waste a perfectly good bed?”

If Summer was here, she’d still be here in the morning. They’d have daylight and a good night’s sleep on their side. Which was about the only advantage they’d have as far as he could see.
Hold on Baby-Girl, I’m coming for you.

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning Sam led Megan to the main entrance of the medical building. The red cross loomed in front of them and it gave Sam the creeps. The hotel’s fountains had dried up long ago. Debris, the charred remnants of shrubs and trees and who knew what else, collected in the corners where water once flowed. Megan maintained her composure right up until they passed an assortment of bloodstains on the walkway. When her breath caught in her throat, Sam wrapped his fingers around hers and lent his silent support.

The ornate glass door felt heavier than Sam expected and when he pushed it open, a medicinal smell slammed into them. Sam coughed out of reflex while he held the door for Megan and she brushed past him.

“What do you need?” An armed guard demanded before they even got in. Two more fell into position around them before Sam answered.

“We came looking for somebody.” Sam pulled Megan behind him while a man in a lab coat approached them.

“It’s okay, gentlemen.” The doctor stepped forward and looked them up and down.

“Dr. Summer Woods. Is she here?” Sam didn’t back down from the doctor’s scrutiny, but he felt Megan take a step back.

“Yes. Dr. Woods came to us six months ago. But before you are allowed any further in the building, there is the matter of a medical inspection.” He pointed to the screened areas in the lobby.

“Fine.” Sam answered as calm as he could muster, pretending his dark cloud hadn’t parted, allowing the sun to pour on his shoulders. His overwhelming relief to finally have a bead on his sister crushed any irritation about being poked and prodded.

Several more doctors showed up, and two females led Megan behind the screen while the soldiers stayed on the other side.

“Undress to your underwear please.” Sam listened to them giving Megan direction while another medical team escorted him to the next examination area.

“What are you looking for?” Megan’s voice sounded almost frantic and Sam wondered what they were doing to her.

“Bandages, bite marks.” The male doctor with Sam answered from their side of the screen while Sam undressed.

“Let’s get this over with.” Impatience gave Sam’s voice a guttural quality.

“Lift your arms out.”

Sam complied.

“He’s clean.” The doctor hardly took the time to look.

Sam slipped his shirt back over his head as the doctor walked around the other side to examine Megan.

“So’s she.” The nurse commented as Sam fastened his pants.

“Really?” The screen shook and the doctor chuckled.

“I was just letting her get dressed, Doctor.” The nurse explained.

The hairs on the back of Sam’s neck stood up.
Something wasn’t right.

“Hey.” Megan shouted and a scuffle broke out next door.

Sam went through the screen growling, but two big guards got a hold of him before he got a hold of the doctor.

“Sam?” Megan writhed, breaking loose from one of the nurses grip just as the doctor got the watch off.

“I’ve got a healed bite wound here,” the doctor called out and the world came to a halt.

Sam stopped struggling against the guards and stared at her. His gaze fell to the garish white skin on her wrist where the comically sized watch had been all this time, then found her eyes again. He didn’t move, unable to breathe.
She’d been bitten.

“Sam, I…”

Someone pulled the fire alarm and the world began to turn again. More guards filled the room and the blaring alarm drowned out her words. Brown uniforms with guns filled the space between her and Sam.

“Take her to the lab first for blood work, then quarantine.” The doctor shouted orders over the top of the blaring alarm.

“No stop. I’m here to help. I’m immune.” Megan’s screams brought Sam back to life.

He threw off one of the guards, who sailed across the room, but the second one cocked his rifle at Sam’s temple. “Get down on the ground.”

The cold metal dug into the side of his head, and Sam dropped to his knees.

“Sam.” Megan cried out for him, and he raged inside.

“On your belly.” The soldier wasn’t taking any chances.

Sam’s view of Megan disappeared as he complied, obliterated by the white lab coats and brown fatigues that surrounded. They picked her up. Her torso hung as they lifted her, each soldier at a limb. She twisted and struggled.

“Stop. I’ll come, just let me see him. Please.” She screamed again. “Sam?”

“Leave her alone.” Sam shouted, but nobody listened.

When her foot found someone’s jaw, they dropped her on the stone floor. Sam flinched.

The soldier stepped on the back of Sam’s neck and slid the end of his rifle to Sam’s cheek.

“Stay put,” he ordered.

Sam searched for her between the feet and finally found her gaze. The desperation in her face before the boots closed around her again was more than he could bear. He closed his eyes and turned away, listening as they marched her out of the room.

The grit on the floor bit into Sam’s cheek while the soldier’s boot balanced on the back of his neck. “What about this one, Doc?”

“Let him go. He has no bite marks.”

Sam reached up and slapped the guy’s leg off him. The guard lost balance for a second then brought his gun up to his shoulder taking aim.

“Knock it off, Charlie. You had your foot in his neck.” One of the other soldiers spoke as he reached down and offered Sam a hand up. Sam ignored it. “Just doing our job, brother. You’d best forget her. Nobody with a bite mark leaves this place.”

Before he pushed up off the floor, Sam sucked in two deep breaths in an effort to control the frenzied urge to knock them all down and go after Megan. Getting them both killed wasn’t going to solve a damn thing.

One more deep breath cleared his head.

“My pack.” Sam pointed to Megan’s pack buried in the rubble he’d made of the screens.

“Get it and get out.” Charlie kept his gun on Sam.

Sam picked it up and strode out of the building. He marched right up to the Suburban and kicked the back fender.

“Damn it,” he shouted for the entire world to hear.

How could he not have seen that coming? Sam opened the door threw the pack in Megan’s seat and slammed the door shut again. He crossed his arms above his head on the door and leaned his forehead against the car.

“Damn it.” He closed his eyes and saw Megan’s face again, terrified, broken by his reaction.

Why? Why hadn’t she told him?
The alarm switched off in the distance, and Sam looked up. The soldier’s warning to forget about her rang in his ears.
Yeah, he might as well forget to breathe or blink while he was at it.

Sam got in the car and headed back to the hotel to regroup. He’d wait for a change of the guards, go back in and get her and his sister out of there.

He needed a plan.

The twisted expression of betrayal on Sam’s face was exactly what Megan had been avoiding. She expected he’d find out eventually, but not like that. If she’d had the courage to tell him herself, at least she could have explained and possibly said good bye. Megan felt a sorrow so deep, her body ached.

The two soldiers who flanked Megan led her down the unassuming hall behind the doctor.

“This isn’t necessary. I came to help. I’m immune.”

The doctor turned and regarded her over his shoulder.

She lifted her wrist so he could see it had indeed healed.

He glimpsed at her wrist then her face again. “Yes, well you and about a tenth of the population as we’re finding out.”

Megan’s feet stalled, but the solider to her right grasped her elbow and nudged her along.

One tenth?

“I’m not your first?” It sank in slow. Her grand plan, saving the world, saving Allan’s little girls, shot down by Dr. Evil without even an explanation.

“Then why haven’t you cured it yet?” She shouted but her accusation bounced off the back of his head.

He didn’t even turn to face her. “We are doing our best.”

Everything she’d clung to, hoped for, needed, including Sam had been ripped from her for nothing. Her world caved in on her and, as they walked down the hall in silence, devastation melted her hope like a hot knife through butter.

It was just like any other hall, in any other hotel, until they turned the corner. Megan gasped. Plastic sheeting hung across the wall on string, apparently for the sole purpose to collect blood splatter. It did its job fine, and every lab coat in the room matched. Each coat with its own blend of new and old stains. Plastic bags hung on one wall with signs hand-written in Sharpie claiming “Caution Bio-Hazard” above them. And right smack in the middle of the room, a bare table reeked of bleach. Even the crackly tissue paper used in doctors’ offices would have added a welcoming touch. The room came straight out a horror flick, the kind Megan didn’t watch because they scared the bejesus out of her.

“What are we doing?” Megan tried to hide the quiver in her voice.

“Blood work.” The doctor in charge scribbled notes on a spiral notepad as he explained, if one could call that an explanation.

Megan hadn’t noticed the restraints until they were right up on the table. She pointed at the leather cuffs. “You won’t need those.”