Contagious (29 page)

“
Crazy,” I whispered, grabbing Raeya’s arm. “Don’t move. Maybe she’ll pass us.” And she did. She went through a break in the fence. I wasn’t even worried; one crazy wouldn’t be a threat for the four, well armed soldiers.

But the herd of zombies that followed her would.

-Chapter 10 –

I had to do something.

“
Come on, Hayden,” I whispered, nervously pulling on my braid. “Come
on
.” I stared at the door, trying to will the guys to emerge before the zombie herd drew near. My mind raced trying to figure out what to do. The soldiers needed to know. Rider had a walkie-talkie. Surely he had warned his comrades. I looked through the Range Rover, past Padraic’s worried blue eyes, and into the other truck. Yes, Rider held the device to his mouth and his lips were moving.

Brock exited first, opening fire on the herd. He could have made it back to the truck. He could have guaranteed his life. We could have sped away to safety leaving Hayden, Brewster, and Wade inside. But he was a Marine and he would never do that.

And neither would I.

Brock shot the crazy between the eyes and gunned down a few zombies. The herd moved in. Brock closed the gate, reeling away from the zombies’ reach. Their skin peeled off as they stuck their arms through the chain link fence. I caught a glimpse of Hayden before a wall of zombies blocked him from view. He was carrying a child.

The fence wouldn’t hold for much longer. Rider had started shooting the trailing zombies; it was too risky to shoot at the ones that posed the biggest threat without being able to see the guys behind them. They didn’t even turn and look at Rider, more concerned with the perspective group meal trying to get away.

It was now or never. I looked around, my eyes settling on the building next door. It was close by and under construction. Before Raeya could object, I got out of the truck and ran to it. I climbed up the scaffolding, just out of the zombies’ reach. I turned and shouted,

“
Hey! Stupid zombies! Come and get me!” My voice was drowned by their moans. “HEY! ZOMBIES!” I screamed. Again, my voice just blended in. I needed to catch their attention somehow. Screaming wouldn’t work but maybe…it was worth a try. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and sang,

“
Don't listen to them
'Cause what do they know
We need each other,
to have, to hold
They'll see in time
I know.
”

My voice floated out over the groaning and creaking of the rusty fence. A few zombies turned. Oh my God, it was working. But not well enough. A very dirty box cutter lay forgotten a few feet away. I didn’t want to think about the risks. I picked it up, resumed singing and held out my arm.

“When destiny calls you
You must be strong
I may not be with you
But you've got to hold on
They'll see in time
I know
We'll show them together.”

I pulled up my sleeve and sliced my skin. The scent of blood on the wind did the trick. One by one, the zombies turned. The blood slowly trickled from the cut. I squeezed my fist, twisting my arm to let the blood drip ten feet down. Then it really started bleeding.

Shots echoed and zombies dropped. Hayden and the three others made it to the cars with two children and an adult. The realization that I was stuck set in the same time I realized I had sliced open the same vein that is ideal when slitting your wrists.

The scaffolding shook under the zombies’ desperate attempt to get me. Like the fence, it wouldn’t hold. I scrambled up and into an open window, blood trailing. The faster I ran the more I bled. I was feeling woozy when I made it to the where the stairs should have been. A crash came from outside.

The scaffolding had come down. I clasped my hand over my gushing wound. I went to the window on the other side. It was zombie free, and a three story drop. Dammit. Why had I gone up another story? I looked around, trying to find something to ease the drop. An orange extension cord was covered in dust. A saw was still attached. My bloody hands couldn’t get a good grip on anything. It took longer than it should have to tie the extension cord to a wall frame. It wasn’t long enough to shimmy down to the group.

I wiped my hands on my pants and held onto the cord, hoping to ease my way down the hole that should have been the stairwell. I lost my hold halfway down. I landed hard and my hip took the blunt of the fall. I think my blood splattered. I wasn’t sure of anything at that point. I crawled in the direction of light.

I grabbed a plastic dust curtain to hoist myself up. It tore out of the wall, showering me with sawdust and bits of drywall. On my knees, I dragged myself over and left bloody handprints on the wall and I attempted to stand.

I had lost too much blood. I was already weak from the lack of food, water, and sleep. My vision blacked. My legs buckled.

“
Orissa!”

Had someone really shouted my name? I struggled to remain conscious. I slapped at the ground since I had no strength left to scream.

“
Orissa? Where are you?” Yes. That voice was real. I didn’t recognize it at first. It was strong and deep and full of concern. The ground vibrated. “Oh God, Orissa.” Hayden scooped me up, closing his hand over my still bleeding cut. I went in and out of awareness as Hayden carried me down a ladder and out to the truck. He jumped in the bed and the tires squealed. I remember him taking off his jacket and wrapping it around me. He held me close to him, trying to keep me warm. Then everything blacked out completely.

Searing pain brought me back. I opened my eyes, vision fuzzy. Padraic was leaning over me, pressing on my arm. He poured something on it that I swear fizzled and smoked like holy water on a vampire. I yelled.

“
Try to hold still,” he said gently.

“
Easy for you to say,” I mumbled. Hayden laughed, making me aware that my head rested in his lap. “Did we win?”

“
Win?” Padraic asked, setting the bottle of pain down. He rolled gauze around my arm.

“
The zombies. Back there?”

“
Yeah,” Hayden said. “I guess you could say that. We got away, thanks to you.”

“
It was a piece of cake,” I said sarcastically. “All I had to do was almost bleed to death.”

“
You were brilliant,” he said admirably.

“
You were stupid,” Padraic spat. “You could have died.”

“
Well I didn’t.”

“
What were you thinking, taking on all those zombies?” he said and wrapped tape around my arm.

I shrugged, then realized it made me move awkwardly on Hayden’s lap. “I told you, if I go down, it’s gonna be fighting.”

“
You are one of a kind, Orissa,” Hayden said. “We got three people back there, thanks to you.”

“
Yes, that is true,” Padraic argued. “But she shouldn’t risk her life like that. It’s not her job.”

“
Oh, it’s mine?” Hayden interjected.

“
No, well, yes,” Padraic stated.

I sat up. “It doesn’t matter, ok? I’m alive I’m—” I cut off, searing pain in my arm. “What the hell did you do to me?”

“
I didn’t have anything to stitch it with,” Padraic said apologetically. “So I used safety pins.”

“
What?!” I felt a little sick. “That-that’s…inventive. Thanks.”

“
You’re welcome. Try not to move your arm, alright? I don’t want you to rip your skin. You cut yourself deeply and lost a lot of blood. You’ll need proper medical care once we get to this compound.”

“
I’ll see to it,” Hayden promised. He wrapped me tight in his arms and stood. As ashamed as I was to admit it, I was too tired and weak to fight him off and insisted I was capable of moving on my own. I wasn’t sure if I actually would be.

The truck was warm and comfortable. I closed my eyes and rested my head on the cool window. Raeya took my spot up front. Hayden drove while Padraic and Argos joined me in the back. I wanted to stay awake but failed. I was so sore when I woke up. Almost everything hurt. I leaned on Argos. I wanted to sleep and not wake until this was over: the pain, the dying, the zombie filled world.

“
Home sweet home,” Hayden spoke in the darkness. The headlights illuminated a narrow gravel driveway cut into thick woods. We drove maybe a hundred feet before stopping. Hayden got out and opened a heavy iron gate. Another hundred feet after that was another metal gate. On either side were two masonry towers that reminded me of watch towers of a castle.

“
Back already?” one of the guard shouted to Hayden.

“
Got ten civilians,” Hayden answered. The guard nodded, pressed some buttons and the gates swung open. We drove through a winding tree lined path and emerged into a large field. The brick estate wasn’t just big. It was fricken huge.

Hayden was right. It looked like a rich family lived here, raising expensive race horses or something of the like. There were armed soldiers at every entrance. We drove around it to a large, white barn. Hayden parked the truck, told us to stay put, and got out. The other soldiers followed suit. After what felt like an eternity, Hayden came back.

“
You guys have to be quarantined for twenty-four hours.” He held up his hand before we could object. “We do too. If anyone leaves the compound, they have to go through it. It’s not that bad, I promise. I’ll take Argos inside and give him to the dog handlers. Orissa, someone will come and take care of you. See you in twenty-four.”

I wanted to be mad at him for not telling me that earlier, though, I agreed it was a smart idea. More soldiers ushered us into the barn. It had been transformed from horse barn to holding barn. Each stall was set up with a cot, sleeping bag, and a bucket. I didn’t understand the bucket at first. Then it dawned on me that we would be stuck in here for twenty-four hours and needed something to go to the bathroom in.

My stall smelled strongly of bleach; I guessed its last occupant hadn’t made it out alive. Sheets had been nailed to the sides, creating little privacy. Something buzzed and clicked. A hot wire had been weaved around the metal bars on the stall’s sides, electrifying the entire thing.

I stepped willingly into the stall. I sat on the cot—as instructed—and waited for a medic to come stitch up my arm. She was dressed in a homemade hazmat suit. Her face was pretty behind the protective plastic mask. She smiled at me and opened a first-aid kit. I wish I could have taken a picture of her face when she undid the bandage and saw my Frankenstein arm. It hurt like hell when she undid the safety pins. As iron stomached as I am, I had to look away.

When my medic left and the stall door clicked shut, I felt panic creep into my heart. I didn’t trust anyone in here anymore. I wanted to talk to Hayden to find out more about this place. Would I be trapped like this forever? Not in the stall, I knew that wouldn’t be true, but would this place be run like a jail? What kinds of rules did they have? Did I have to take orders? Maybe it was a mistake letting him take us here. Maybe we could have gone back to Kentucky and made things work.

I paced back and forth, wearing myself out more than I already was. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I sat on the cot, shivering. For the time being, there was nothing I could do. I didn’t feel safe enough to sleep. Maybe I was safe from zombies, but since I was undecided about the soldiers, my mind wouldn’t let me rest.

Sometime in the night a lunch bag of food was delivered. I devoured the sandwich and apple and downed the water in minutes. Without taking off my boots, I eased my aching body into the sleeping bag and tried to sleep.

I was beyond bored when the sun came up. Raeya was next to me and we talked back and forth for awhile until she fell asleep again. I watched the soldiers guarding us. They walked past each stall, inspecting us and assessing for zombie symptoms. Based on the position of the sun in the sky, I judged the time, waiting to get out of here. We got one more meal before we were released.

Everyone passed, even the three others we stopped to save. A female soldier with US ARMY stitched onto her jacket told us we could shower before going inside to ‘learn the ropes’ of the place. We would even get clean clothing. We followed her into a room inside the barn. It was once a washing area for this place’s fancy horses. The water was probably cold but I didn’t care. The smell of soap and shampoo was wonderful. I unzipped my boots when another soldier opened the door.

“
Orissa?” he called.

“
Yeah?”

“
Come with me, please.” I looked at Raeya. She reached out for my hand. “It’s nothing bad,” he promised. “You can meet up with your friends later.”

I nodded and left the shower room feeling grosser than ever. The soldier was dressed in greens and had an official looking ID tag hanging from his neck. I only caught a glimpse long enough to inform me his last name was Jones. We went up a well lit path and into the house. The first floor was set up just like a normal house. Hayden
did
say that the house was a great cover. I would have no idea we were over a top secret bomb shelter. We went to the middle of the house. Two soldiers stood next to a door that led into the basement. My guide used an old fashioned skeleton key to open it.

We went down normal looking stairs into a hallway with three doors, there was one on each side and one in front of us. Jones unlocked that one, held it open for me and relocked it once we stepped in. Inside the door was another set of doors. These were thick, shiny steel doors that required a pass code to get through. The doors closed with a whoosh. Another set of steel doors was ahead of us; these required a pass code and a hand scan to open. One more door had to be unlocked with a regular key before we could go down another set of stairs.