Shattered World (Broken World Book 2) (23 page)

25

I’M ALMOST RELAXED AS WE LEAVE the pharmacy. Well, as relaxed as a person can be during a zombie apocalypse. It should be a straight shot to the exit. Then we’re off to the parking lot. That could be a little rough, but nothing we haven’t faced before. After that we’re in the clear, and we’ll be headed back to the safety of the shelter.

Victor leads the way, taking long strides that Hadley and I have to jog to keep up with. I don’t care, though. I’m just as anxious to get out of the hospital as he is to get wherever he’s going. To his wife, I’m assuming.

We turn a corner, and Victor almost bumps into one of the undead. It’s a massive man who probably weighed over four hundred pounds in life. In death, he’s become gray and saggy. He’s shirtless, and folds of decaying fat hang on his body. His skin is torn and oozing. His eyes are milky and lifeless. Several of his teeth are missing. He grabs Victor and leans forward with his mouth open, ready to take a big bite out of the doctor.

Victor just stands there, waiting for it to happen. He closes his eyes, and his mouth turns up into a smile. This is what he wanted. The perfect way to be with his wife. My heart pounds, and everything seems to move in slow motion while I try to decide what to do. Help him or go? There’s only one zombie. We can get away if we leave him. It’s what he wants, so maybe we should.

Just as I’ve made up my mind to run, Axl slams his shoulder into the zombie’s side. The monster stumbles back and loses his grip on Victor’s arm, then lets out a bloodcurdling scream. The doctor cries out and moves after the zombie like a madman rushing toward the edge of a cliff. Hadley grabs him and pulls him back as Angus points his gun at the zombie’s head.

He pulls the trigger, and the zombie collapses. Victor lets out a cry of despair that sounds so much like the zombies it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Just then, a chorus of moans fills the hall, followed by a stampede of zombies rounding the corner and rushing toward us. Cutting us off from our escape.

“Shit!” Axl grabs my arm and pulls me away from the charging mass of undead. He doesn’t even look at anyone else. Not even his brother.

I can barely keep up with Axl as feet pound down the hall behind us. The strap from the canvas bag slides down my arm. It almost falls. A pill bottle falls to the ground and skitters across the floor. Angus swears behind me. Victor is crying. I glance over my shoulder long enough to see Hadley dragging the doctor forward. Angus is behind them, shooting over his shoulder as he goes. The zombies are hot on their tail.

Dozens of zombies scurry after us. The smell and noise is so intense that it feels like a wave pressing down on us. Axl yanks on my arm, and his fingers dig into my skin, bruising me. He keeps pulling.

We’re running back the way we came. Toward the pharmacy. I’m panting, and the muscles in my legs ache. Axl’s fingers dig deeper and he pulls harder. When we reach the pharmacy, he shoves the door open, pushes me inside, then turns back toward the others.

I stumble forward and fall to the floor, slamming against a shelf full of drugs. Bottles fall, pummeling me on the head and shoulders. I can’t catch my breath. Axl stands with the door propped open, hanging half in and half out. He fires out into the hallway and yells for Angus to hurry. Seconds later, Hadley rushes in, dragging Victor with her.

I still can’t catch my breath, but I can’t stay where I am. Not with Axl still standing at the door. I pull myself up and run to the door, grabbing Axl by the shoulders. Trying to pull him in.

He shrugs me off and fires again. “I ain’t leavin’ Angus.”

Where the hell is he?

I stick my head out into the hall. Angus is barely running. He shoots at the zombies and laughs when they fall. He acts like this is some kind of game. Like this isn’t a matter of life and death. He’s a damn psycho.

Axl and I scream at him to run. Angus looks toward us with his lips pursed, then finally turns and jogs our way. He makes it inside, and we barely have it shut before the zombies slam into it.

Axl’s face is red from exertion, and his back is to the door. He’s leaning against it, trying to hold it shut while the bodies pound on the other side. “Get a shelf!”

Angus and I work to together to drag a metal shelf across the room. Zombies throw their bodies into the door, trying to get it open. Banging fills the pharmacy, and my heart beats in tune with their pounding.

Axl moves out of the way when Angus and I get the shelf to the door. I collapse on the ground, panting and gasping for breath. Axl sinks down next to me, and I lean against him, burying my head in his chest. He smells like sweat and dirt and death. I probably do too.

His strong arms wrap around me, and that does it. Something in me crumbles. We’re trapped again. This time there’s no one on the outside to set off an explosion, and no Angus to come to our rescue. No escape. This is truly the end.

“I hate Vegas,” I say into his filthy shirt.

“I’m sorry.” His lips brush against my head when he talks. “I wanted to get you out. I’m so sorry.”

I suck in a deep breath and pull my face away from his chest. “This isn’t your fault.”

Axl leans down, and my lips find his. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to block out all the nose and banging. Everything awful in this place.

The sound of crying distracts me, and I pull away from Axl. My gaze lands on Victor, who is sobbing into his hands. His whole body shakes.

“I wanted to die,” he says between sobs. “If you had just let me die, we wouldn’t be here. I did what you wanted. I got you the drugs. Why couldn’t you just let me die?”

Angus curses. He paces back and forth, kicking the shelves and hurling anything he can get his hands on across the room. “Shoulda let the bastard die! Now look where we are!”

The undead outside the door scream louder. Banging on the door harder. Every sound Angus makes seems to drive them wild.

“Shut up, Angus,” Axl says.

He kisses my forehead and climbs to his feet, then swipes his hand through his filthy hair. His lips are pursed and his body tense. He glances over at Victor occasionally as he paces. He’s thinking something through. I just don’t know what it is.

Victor is still crying. He shakes his head, and his body slumps to the floor. He curls up in a ball like a child. Closing in on himself. I’m not really sure he’s been with it since his wife died. Here in Vegas he came back a little, but only because he thought it would all be over soon. And we took that away from him. We should have let him die. It was his right.

Hadley crawls over to where I’m sitting and scoots up next to me. I’m not sure if it’s because she wants to be closer to me or further away from Victor. It doesn’t matter to me, though. I put my arm around her and pull her closer.

“I didn’t really think we were going to die today,” she whispers.

I bite my lip as tears come to my eyes. I have to fight to keep my voice level. “We aren’t going to. Axl will think of something,” I say with more confidence than I feel.

Axl is smart. So much smarter than he gives himself credit for. If there’s a way out of this, I have no doubt he’ll figure it out.

I just don’t think there is.

Angus keeps cursing, and eventually Axl goes back to talk to him. I can hear their voices, but I can’t make out the words. Axl is trying to talk Angus down, though. I know that much for sure.

After a few minutes, Axl comes back and sits down on the floor next to me. I still have my arm around Hadley, but she scoots away. Guilt squeezes my stomach, but I lean against Axl anyway. I need comfort too.

“Do you think if we’re quiet enough they’ll eventually leave?”

He squeezes my shoulder. “I hope so.”

We sit in tense silence for what feels like hours. The moans and banging on the door goes on. It’s constant and overwhelming, and it threatens to drive me crazy. My head throbs, and the longer we sit here the more I feel like throwing up. No one talks. It’s like we’re dead already.

I curl into Axl, then take a deep breath and look up. “This can’t be the end.”

His Adam’s apple bobs when he swallows, and his gray eyes sweep over my face. My chest tightens. I love him so much that it physically hurts. Like my insides are in a vise.

“If I could get you outta this, I would. I’d die to save you.”

“I don’t want to live without you anyway.”

Axl grabs my face in his hands and pulls me toward him. His mouth crushes against mine. It’s so violent it catches me off guard, and I have trouble finding my breath. He parts my lips with his tongue, forcing my mouth open. The kiss gets deeper. More urgent. There’s too much space between us, so I pull myself up and move so I’m straddling him. My chest brushes against his, and his hands move down my back. He pulls me closer until it feels like I’m being crushed in his grip.

“This has to stop!” Victor screams.

I pull away just as the doctor jerks open the shutters covering the pharmacy window. I’m still straddling Axl. His hands are still on my back. Angus watches with his mouth hanging open and Hadley scrambles to her feet. But none of us are close enough to stop Victor when he climbs over the desk and throws himself out the window. Right into the mass of zombies outside.

Cries of agony break through the silence and slam into me. Hadley screams, and Axl jumps up so fast I fall on my ass. I scurry to my feet. Axl rushes toward the shelf, but I can’t move. I’m paralyzed in shock while Axl struggles to pull the shelf away from the door.

Angus runs forward to help his brother, but the expressions on their faces are very different. Angus is ready to run. He’s always easy to understand. Axl, on the other hand, has a different kind of determination on his face. He’s tense and frantic. Growing more and more panicked with each passing second. He wants to
save
Victor. A man who was lost before we even left the shelter.

They finally get the shelf away from the door, and Axl runs out into the hall. Rushing to help Victor. Is he insane? I scream for him to stop, and my heart twists in agony. Angus runs after his brother, and my feet move on their own. Axl could be in trouble, and I’ll do anything to help him. Including throw myself in the path of any zombie that threatens to hurt him.

Hadley grabs me before I can rush out of the pharmacy. “Angus will get him.”

I try to pull away, but her nails dig into my forearm when she holds me back. She’s surprisingly strong for someone so thin.

She won’t let me go, and my body shakes. Axl needs me, but if I can’t get to him, I need to help from here. I shake Hadley off. Her gaze meets mine, and she nods. I pull out my gun and start shooting into the horde. From somewhere deep inside, Hadley manages to find the courage that’s been eluding her all day. She pulls her own gun and shoots into the hall, putting down two of dead.

Angus’s face is covered in sweat. He hacks away at the bodies in front of him, trying to extract his brother. Arms reach for him, and he grunts when they pull him down. The hand holding my gun shakes. I can’t distinguish my friends from the horde of the dead anymore. Desperately, I search for a good shot, but I’m so afraid I’m going to hit Axl or Angus that I can’t make myself pull the trigger.

Victor’s agonized screams penetrate the air, and my hand shakes harder. He’s lost. I knew it the second he jumped through that window. But where are Axl and Angus?
              “Axl!” I scream again.

I focus on the zombies and pull the trigger. Hadley shoots too, and slowly the mob thins. My heart races, and I search the mass of bodies for Axl. I don’t see him. Is he gone? Did Victor take Axl down with him?

Two gunshots ring out, and Angus pushes his way through the bodies. He shoves the zombies aside, then reaches back. When he steps forward, Axl is with him. He’s covered in blood and black goo.

He’s hurt.

My insides threaten to crumble.

I manage to keep it together. I tuck my gun into my waistband and run forward, grabbing the arm Angus isn’t holding and pulling Axl down the hall. Away from the bodies feasting on Victor. Hadley runs behind us with the bags of medical supplies, and a few zombies trail after her. Angus releases Axl and turns around. He fires at the zombies as we go.

Axl pulls me against him, but I have no idea if he’s doing it to keep me closer or to steady himself. There’s no time to stop and find out. No time to check him over for bites. Just looking at him makes my legs weak. He’s covered in blood. Real human blood.

Axl stumbles, and his weight almost pulls me down. Somehow I manage to keep us upright. Hadley struggles under the weight of the bags. Angus is still shooting, and Axl is breathing heavily. He holds his left bicep and blood seeps through his fingers. Now I know that he is in fact bleeding. We need to stop and check him over. I keep my eyes ahead and focus on the hall. Every time I look at Axl, my body shakes.

“We need to stop!” I yell over my shoulder.

I point to an office in front of us, and Angus jogs ahead. He breaks down the door, and the four of us stumble inside. Axl falls to the ground just as Angus shoves a bookcase in front of the door.

Hadley drops the supplies on the floor next to me and wipes her forehead. It’s covered in sweat.

I aim my flashlight at Axl. My hands shake, and it takes me a minute to focus on his bloody arm. “Where are you hurt? Did they bite you?” My fingers fumble on the buttons of his shirt so it takes longer than it should to pull it off.