The Undead World (Book 1): The Apocalypse (30 page)

“
I don't know,” Julia answered with fearful eyes and shaking hands. “What we should do is flush that wound properly. With something better than vodka.”

“
And maybe you should put up them guns in case you two turn,” Cassie mentioned.

Instead Ram dug for more ammo.
“What the hell happened back there?” he asked, glaring, watching her eyes flick away quickly.

“
I don't know, alright. There must've been another door open somewhere in the back cuz I was just sittin there and then they were right there in the hall behind me. I would have warned you but I was too scared because they were right close up on me.”

“
They came in from the back?” he asked, trying to picture the layout of the building they had just escaped from. “I saw them out front.”

Julia pointed for Cassie to take a right, toward a main street. After the turn she explained,
“They was out front too. After I saw the ones in back I went to the front and made a run for the car. It was my only chance.”

“
But they were coming in. Why didn’t they go after...”

Julia interrupted him.
“Stop. Look, there's a dentist's office. They should have everything we need to clean these wounds properly.”

At the idea of getting his wound cleaned,
Ram was pulled away from his train of thought—why had the dead come into the building instead of following Cassie in the Bronco as they normally would have?

“
What's a dentist have that we could possibly want?” he asked with a touch of hope. He had an unspoken dread of contracting the virus. This fear had been with him since day one and it had never been closer to going from fear to reality than just then.

It turned out plenty.
Dental offices were generally better equipped with medical supplies than most people knew, which was likely why this one hadn't been looted. They rushed in with barely a thought to security—though this time Ram kept the keys to the truck with him. He didn't trust Cassie's story. She was either lying about something big, or had run at the first sign of a zombie. That she hadn't run far suggested cowardice, however her eyes suggested much more.

Now in the offices of William
Hargrove DDS, deceased, they found rubbing alcohol as well as gobs of medical supplies: novocain, zylocain , #4 suture kit. “Should I try to stitch you up?” Julia asked.

“
Would it help?”

She bobbed her head a little.
“Only with infection and scarring, but not with the virus.”

“
Infection? Shouldn't we be taking some antibiotics against the virus? Something strong?” he asked.

She was busy going through the cabinets, squinting at the tiny writing on the tiny bottles.
“No,” she said somewhat absently. “Antibiotics won't work.”

“
You don't know that,” Cassie put in, her breath smelling of mint. At the receptionists desk had been a bowl of candy—the girl was partial to
Peppermint Patties
. “Maybe it ain't been tried yet, not early like this. Shit, if you don't want to try you should at least let Ram.”

Julia gave her a smile and patted her hand.
“You don't understand. Antibiotics can't treat a virus. They only work on bacteria. Only a vaccine or the human body can combat a virus. It's a common mistake.”

Cass
ie made a noise of dismissal as she picked through the candy bowl. “Ain't nothing on me. I ain't the one bit.”

This set the mood for the rest of the evening
—a mood of anxious waiting. Ram had seen the fever take anywhere from as little as five hours to kick in, to as long as fourteen, but once the fever hit, that was all she wrote.

As the clock ticked over past midnight, he checked his temperature and then touched his throat. So far he was normal. Cassie was
normal as well, she lay in the outer room snoring loudly as usual, sleeping easily and without care despite that her two companions could turn at any moment.

The thought stirred anger within Ram
—not that Cassie was so relaxed about the events, but that this could be his last evening alive and he was spending it alone on a cold leather couch. He glanced over and saw that Julia was laying there with her eyes pinned to the ceiling and with her lips pulled back in fear.

He went to her and she saw what he wanted.
“No,” she whispered. “Cassie's right there. We promised ourselves we wouldn't.”

Ram went to the door to the office and closed it gently.
“No,” Julia repeated louder.

“
Listen, one or both of us might be dead in a few hours. Do you want your last moments on earth to be in lived in fear or in love?”

“
We can't,” she insisted. Ram didn't listen. To keep pressure off of her wound she wore a light skirt and this he hiked upwards with an easy motion and just as he had earlier, he spread her legs and though she shook her head
No
, her legs opened so easily a breeze could have parted them.

And then he was on top of her and right before he entered her she said again,
“No.” However her body and her wet lips and half-closed eyes said,
Yes!

And then a second later she moaned the word as well,
“Yes...”

Did Neil think he was subtle in his affections? Sarah wondered as she watched the man scurrying about collecting long grass to place under the sleeping bags as extra padding and for warmth.

Or was he blissfully unaware that he wore his emotions so openly? To Sarah
's face he was nothing but polite and reserved. He looked to be striving for
coolly cordial
, however he couldn't seem to help himself and when he let his guard down, he gave her the largest portions of their limited food, the choicest places to sleep, the first option at everything, while he took the last.

He always put himself last because, along with his obvious affection for Sarah, it was clear that he had a father
's adoration for Sadie. As well he had a father's temper when she went too far in her joking, which was frequent. The girl could never seem to let anything pass without a comment or a look or a simple seemingly innocent quip. In her way Sadie was just as obvious.

And just as optimistic.

The two were strangely happy and content. Though to be sure they had their moments, still on the whole they acted as though the zombie apocalypse had been a benefit in their lives. And perhaps it had been. From what Sarah could piece together, Neil had been somewhat of a hermit—a lonely man who knew little besides work and keeping his garden vegetables from being pilfered by the neighborhood squirrels. While Sadie had been virtually ignored by her single mom and had never known her father save for yearly birthday and Christmas cards he'd send.

For them this was a new beginning and a grand adventure. For Sarah it was one miserable day after the next with little to look forward to and only pain to look back on.

Still the pair tried their level best to make her happy and she allowed them to. And in her heart she knew it was wrong of her. They gave and gave and she did nothing in return. Yes, she helped with meals, and she stood watch, and she hiked loads of water from the chicken coop down the boat and all the other chores of this new life, but she could never return their emotions.

She had already failed at being a mother and wife; it wasn
't something that she could force herself to do again. So she strived instead to be simply a companion and, unbeknownst to her, in this she failed.

Their third night on the river was as cold as the others had been and snow seemed to be threatening.
“I wish we could build a fire,” Sadie said through chattering teeth. “I'm fricken freezing here.”

“
When Neil finally puts the tent up we'll get the candles lit,” Sarah said. “You'll see what a difference they'll make; I guarantee you'll be taking clothes off before too long.” The night before the three of them had camped out in the boiler room of an elementary school and despite being out of the wind and the light snow, they had shivered and snuggled to stay warm. Neil had forgotten entirely that he had found candles and when he had pulled them out of the bottom of his pack that morning with a laugh, saying:
Hey look at these. I forgot all about them
, Sarah could've smacked him.

“
Taking off clothes, sounds sexy,” Sadie said with her smirk. “Maybe I'll get my own tent. Or better yet, my own barn.” They were in another barn for the night—this one had stairs that Neil pried away. Height or solid brick walls seemed to be the only real guarantee of safety against zombies. However, against the soldiers, who prowled constantly in search of supplies or women, only being sly and lucky proved of any use.

The day before the rain had stopped for a few hours around noon and allowed the dirt roads in that part of Southern Illinois barely enough time to solidify so that Sadie in the prow of the boat was able to see a dust ribbon in the air just over the crest of a hill. Frantically Neil had killed the engine and they drifted into a run of tall
riverweeds as four humvees had come into view down river.

Luck had kept them from blundering right into the patrol. Sarah didn
't want to think what would have happened if they had been caught. For certain Neil would've been killed. The little she knew of him made it clear he probably would have chosen that moment to make a stand for her honor, not knowing she had very little honor left. Every time she thought about the colonel and what she had been willing to do to save her parents and herself a shiver racked her.

Being turned away from the Island without food and weapons had, in a way, been lucky for Neil and Sadie. They at least had been able to preserve their honor.

Their barn for the night was just south of the little burg, Naples Illinois, where earlier, they had been able to scrounge another ten gallons of gas and some more canned vegetables, which Sadie ignored; this wasn't out of place for her. The girl had turned up her nose at the broccoli and after two apples refused any more, and as she and Sarah watched Neil putting up the little tent, she nibbled on Jolly Ranchers and pop tarts contentedly. Finally Sarah had to say something.

“
All that sugar is going to rot your teeth. And besides there's nothing nutritious about any of it. And it'll stunt your growth.” Sarah had just thrown that last in, certain it wasn't in any way true.

“
I can't eat broccoli even when it's cooked,” Sadie had replied. “And apples aren't all that healthy. Do they have riboflavin? Or six other essential nutrients? Because pop tarts do. It says so right on the box. And these are blueberry. That's a fruit.” As emphasis she pointed to the blue filling that was likely ninety-nine percent sugar.

Sarah shot Neil a look that said:
Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to say something
? He cleared his throat and announced: “Sarah's right.”

“
About what?” Sadie asked, taking another dainty bite at the edge of her pastry. “Am I really going to have my growth stunted? Is that what happened to you two?” Neil stiffened at this; he never liked his height mentioned.

“
We're both taller than you,” Sarah replied, and seeing his discomfort added, “I'm five foot, four and Neil is probably five foot, six.”

This was such a clear lie—he stood a bare quarter inch taller than Sarah
—that it had him mumbling, “I'm…I'm not that tall, really. But the point is, I guess, um, that you would do well to eat better. Even at your age, people still grow.”

“
I'll take my chances with the pop tarts,” Sadie replied. “My parents were shorties, and you can't cure genetics, right?”

Sarah heaved out a big sigh, set her jaw as she would have when talking to her own daughter, but before she could say anything, Neil said,
“Maybe you're right.”

“
Neil!” Sarah said, putting her hands on her hips.

“
I'm just saying that maybe a break from broccoli would be good for all of us and since we share and share alike, I would like a pop tart tonight to go along with my apple. And I think you should vary your diet as well, Sarah.” Her brows came down—she had made it clear to Neil that she thought pop tarts were gross—but then he tipped her a little wink.

“
I guess I can have a couple,” she said, not understanding Neil's play. But trusting that he knew what he was doing.

“
But there'll be none left,” Sadie said, leaping forward to grab the bag with the food in it and holding it back from Neil. “That's not fair. You two like broccoli and apples and corn. I don't. I would eat good stuff if you could find it—other stuff I mean. A cheeseburger. Something hot. I'm dying for hot food.”

“
We may like some things you don't but it doesn't mean we like them every single day,” Neil replied, holding out his hand. “Come on, hand it over or maybe next time I'll just happen to 'over look' some pop tarts.”

This was a real threat since it fell to Neil to do most of the exploring. Cramped places gave the fleet-footed Sadie the heebie-jeebies and Sarah wasn
't strong enough for hand-to-hand combat with most of the zombies that would come storming out of their bizarre hiding places.

“
If that were to happen then you'd either starve or learn to like other foods,” Neil said.

“
Then maybe I'll starve,” Sadie replied glaring.

“
I could give you my pop tarts for breakfast,” Sarah suggested. “If you'll eat an apple now. Or some corn? What do you think? The pop tarts won't last anyways as fast as you eat them. This way you can have what you like and we can sleep knowing that your bones won't turn brittle with malnutrition.”

Neil was quick to agree,
“And I'll save mine for the next day and before you complain, yes this is extortion. And it's what my parents did to me.”

Sadie sulked.
“I doubt it, Neil. You were probably the dream child. Did your homework, ate your veggies. My parents didn't even know I existed.” She suddenly turned to Sarah and asked, “Can you cook? I mean like good food, like pizza? If we found the right ingredients could you make that from scratch?”

Sarah put on a brave smile and said,
“I had never thought of myself as much of a cook, but I can try. We can do it together.”

“
And I'm a wiz at homemade bread,” Neil put in. “I could make the crust for you. I'll do it as soon as we find some flour. Yeast will be easy. No one seems to have given it much thought. In fact we should be able to get some tomorrow.”

The thought of what tomorrow held dampened their mood. They hoped to get through St Louis by running down the Illinois River until it joined with the Mississippi. This ran smack dab through one of the largest cities in the country and they all figured that the stiffs would number in the tens of thousands, if not more.

And unfortunately tomorrow came very quickly. The candles and the extra blankets made the neat little tent a cozy nest and the night passed in a blur for each, save for Sadie. At the best of times she was a wild sleeper. She frequently talked or thrashed around, or seemed to think it nothing to throw a leg over either Sarah or Neil.

By unspoken agreement Neil no longer slept in the middle—it was always Sadie who acted as a buffer between the two adults

That night she went through near continuous nightmares, though the two adults barely even stirred as they had gotten used to her unstable sleeping patterns. In the morning, as was usual for Neil, he got up before the rest and left the tent, making no more noise that a whisper. His routine was to kill any stray zombie left over from the night before, using his trusty axe if they weren't too big, or the bow from afar if they were particularly large or aggressive.

When Sadie first laid eyes on the bow she had practically squealed in delight—which turned into near instantaneous disappointment when she found out that she was too weak to draw back on the cable. Even Sarah couldn
't budge it, and from that point on it became Neil's official weapon, despite that he wasn't very good with it…or so Sarah thought.

The morning they began their assault on St Louis Neil demonstrated that he had progressed as an archer. The two women woke to a sizzle and the smell of cooking meat.

“What is that?” Sadie asked, her breath a grey plume in the morning chill air. “Is that meat? Is that a fire?”

Neil, looking more pale than usual smiled up at them as proud as can be.
“It's rabbit. I shot a big one this morning.”

“
Aren't you worried about stiffs?” Sarah asked, looking out into the distance as she came down the ladder. “Or the army? We're only seventy or so miles from the Island. This is well within their range.”

He shrugged and waived a hand.
“I say pish posh on the army. The fire isn't all that smoky and besides we should be gone in twenty minutes. And I figured you two deserved a treat.”

“
I have been a good girl,” Sadie said and then quickly amended the statement at Sarah's look. “I was a good girl yesterday. I didn't sic any monsters on nobody.”

“
On anybody
,” Sarah corrected, staring at the spread Neil had made for them. Along with the rabbit he had a can of corn frying in oil they had found the day before. Glasses of clean water were set out next to plates and silverware. These sat around the fire at three spots where blankets and couch cushions had been hauled down from the house.

“
Why don't you two go
have a talk
and I'll breakdown the tent. The food should be done by then.” Work of any sort never fazed the man. He would do dishes, roll sleeping bags, haul water, carry all the baggage, without ever a word of complaint, and by the time the two women came back—one holding the axe and the other the M16—Neil had them ready to go on a moment's notice.

Sadie moaned and groaned her way through the meal and when she was done she rubbed her slightly swollen belly and belched loudly. Sarah and Neil glanced at each other, wondering which of them would correct her. They were both full
for once and a little sleepy and only smiled at each other.

“
What's up?” Sadie asked. “Are neither of you going to say anything? I just burped like a pig and all you two are doing is smiling. Have you given up on raising me so soon? What happened to:
A girl needs structure
? And all that crap you two spun the other day?”