Deathly Contagious (20 page)

“No,” Ivan started. “I hear…” he trailed off and we all looked at each other in horror. “Nothing.”

Chapter 9

“The birds were just chirping a minute ago,” Hayden obviously stated. “Something scared them off.” We dropped our food and picked up our weapons, poised and ready for an attack. A strong breeze rattled dry branches. Twigs crunched and snapped in the woods behind us. And then somebody screamed.

It was high pitched, girly, and sounded like a child. We jumped from the truck and took off after the source. We flew down the street, hurdling over garbage and broken glass. The strap of my M16 slid down my shoulder. I yanked it up just as I noticed the blood. Too winded to talk, I pointed. Hayden nodded and shouted to Ivan and Brock.

We rounded a corner and slid to a stop in an alley. Standing a few feet in front of us was a little girl, dressed in blue pajamas. She only had on one slipper, and she clutched a tie-dye teddy bear in a blood crusted hand. She turned to face us and screamed again, another high, ear-piercing yell.

Fresh blood dripped from her neck. Her lips curled into a snarl and she took a step in our direction. Her gait was steady. Hayden raised his gun but didn’t pull the trigger. Sunlight glinted off the metal barrette in the crazy’s hair. She screamed again, though this time it was more throaty and animal. Then she leapt forward in a full sprint.

A shot rang out, echoing against the brick walls of the buildings that boxed us in the alley. The girl crumpled to the ground, her teddy bear flying from her hand and landing in a dirty puddle. Hayden slowly lowered his gun, unable to take his eyes off the child.

“It’s hard when they look normal,” Ivan acknowledged, giving Hayden a pat on the back. Hayden nodded, shook himself back to reality and re-holstered his gun.

Many things didn’t seem right about this situation. But one stood out in my mind. I picked up the teddy bear and set it on the girl’s chest.

“She’s been bitten,” I said, expecting everyone to realize the weight of my statement.

“Well, yea. That’s probably how she got in infected,” Brock told me.

“No, I mean recently. Look.” I pointed to the fresh set of teeth marks on her neck. “So either a vampire was after her or…”

“We can expect zombies,” he finished for me. He cocked his gun. “Teams or singles?”

“Teams,” Hayden and I said at the same time.

“Too bad you left the bow in the truck,” Ivan said with a smile.

“I don’t need it to beat you,” I teased. “Game on.”

We edged our way down the alley, stopping when we came to a fork; we looked around silently. Ivan motioned for us to keep moving forward. Tall brick buildings were on either side of us, tunneling us in the alley.

The four of us froze when we heard a scuffling of feet. We raised our guns, eager to get the first kill and be in the lead point-wise. I think we all fired at the same time; all four bullets hit the zombie’s head in unison. His skull exploded, brains splattering the bricks. But before we even had the chance to argue over whose bullet landed in the festering flesh first, a dozen zombies came staggering from around the corner.

“Shit,” Ivan swore and opened fire. We emptied our clips, reloaded, emptied those and realized we were screwed.

“We need to retreat,” Hayden shouted over the moaning. I nodded, knowing that he couldn’t see me. The herd moved closer, packing themselves into the alley like sardines. We whirled around, prepared to run and stopped.

More zombies slowly filtered in through the fork in the alley, the speed of their limping walk increasing when they caught sight and scent of fresh food. With mouths open and hands grasping the air, they lumbered closer. We stood close together, going over our options.

Hayden jumped forward, grabbing onto a dumpster. He jerked it backward; it moved about a foot before the wheels jammed on loose gravel. Ivan rushed to his side and helped yank it free. They rolled it out and turned it, creating an obstacle for the zombies to go around. It bought us time, but didn’t provide us with anywhere to go. Brock madly beat on a back door of a building, trying to break it down. I was sure he could…if we had more time.

My eyes darted around looking for something—anything that could spare our lives. Ivan joined Brock in his attempt to break down the metal door.

“Riss, come on!” Hayden shouted and raced over to the door. I didn’t move; my eyes fixed on something on the ground. “Riss!” he shouted again. I looked at him and then back at the alley. His eyes followed mine.

“It’s my only idea,” I blurted, knowing it was stupid, trembling with fear as the zombies came closer.

“No, it’s good,” Hayden said quickly and ran over. He put his fingers through the grates and pulled. His face showed the pain he felt in his shoulder but he didn’t acknowledge it. The cover scraped against the gritty alley pavement. “Ivan, Brock!” Hayden yelled and climbed down the manhole. I followed, stepping on Hayden’s fingers more than once. Ivan came down next and Brock barely made it in before dead hands got a hold of him.

Shaking, I jumped off the last wrung of the built in ladder. Hayden flicked on his flashlight, shining it around the sewer. It smelled horrible in here, and wasn’t at all as cool as sewer systems in movies were. We stood in a narrow, rectangular room, I supposed I could call it that. Wet leaves lay in rotting clumps on the cement ground, their sweet smell a reprieve from the putrid stench of decaying flesh.

“Good thinking, Underwood,” Ivan said, pulling his own flashlight out of one of the many pockets on his military issued vest.

“It was Orissa’s idea,” Hayden said causally.

“Good thinking, Penwell,” Ivan said with a hint of a smile. Brock turned on his flashlight too. I was the only one not dressed in military clothing; I found it difficult to move with that much stuff on me, plus the extra vests were two sizes too big. Baggy clothes weren’t good for running and fighting. I gave the guys major credit for their ability to do so. Hayden told me before that overseas he used to carry even more, and did it in sweltering temperatures.

Hayden grabbed me by the waist and pulled me out of the way. A S2 had fallen down the hole; her body went limp on impact. I stared at her, and pulled my gun when she began to sit up. I stopped, realizing that the blast would deafen us in this small, tight space.

Brock thankfully knew that too and he drove his knife into her eye socket. He wiped the goo on his pants and pocketed the knife.

“Now what?” he asked me.

“Uh, we walk through until we find another way out,” I suggested. Ivan nodded in agreement and took the lead. We had to walk single file through a narrow passage. It smelled more and more like shit the farther we went. At one point we had to get on our hands and knees and crawl through sludgy water. Then the tunnel emerged into a large, catacomb style system. I shook the slime from my hands.

Something splashed a head of us. I grabbed my gun, unsure of where to aim it.

“What do you think the chances are that it’s a crime fighting turtle?” Hayden asked dryly, taking a tentative step forward.

“I wish,” Brock said with a laugh. “They could help us kill the sons of bitches up there.”

Instead, a water logged S3 dragged itself through the half foot of water that sat stagnant in the sewer. Its entire body was swollen, its skin was puffy and pruney, and bits of skin literally oozed off. Its legs didn’t work anymore; I assumed it was from the odd state of edema. I tipped my head with curiosity, thinking it was almost pathetic.

Ivan kicked it in the face and its bones easily broke, sending mushy brains to seep out of the cracks. It fell into the thick, brown water. Someone’s flashlight flicked over the body, the light glinted off a diamond earring.

Like a punch to the stomach, I was reminded that this disgusting S3 wasn’t a creature. It was a human. A real human, just like me. A human with thoughts and feelings and drives and needs. I shook that thought away. I couldn’t think that like; I needed to be cold if I wanted to live.  And it wasn’t a human, not anymore. All aspects of humanity died when the virus nestled its way into the brain.

We walked probably another mile before we turned down another tunnel. Circles of light spilled through a manhole cover. Ivan slowly climbed up and listened. Assuming the coast was clear, he shoved it open.

“It’s clear,” he confirmed and pulled himself out. It felt good to be above ground again. My boots were covered in brown slime and my pants needed to be burned. I grimaced, laughing internally over the fact I was slightly happy I was covered in something other than zombie parts for once.

I blinked in the bright sunlight, holding my hand up and squinting. Ivan moved the cover back over the manhole, saying zombies in the sewers were worse than alligators. We were in the middle of a residential street; scattered abandoned houses surrounded us. With the sun centered in the sky, it was hard to tell which direction we had come from.

“This way,” Hayden said confidently. With our guns at the ready, we marched down the familiar street, knowing that the herd of zombies had to be close. About fifteen minutes later, we reached the town.

“Sorry, baby,” Hayden said to his truck as he picked the spilled food out of the bed. I rolled my eyes and peeled off my top outer layer, careful not to swipe the soiled material across my face. Thinking it was pointless to save, I dropped my long sleeved shirt on the ground.

“You gotta take off the rest of your clothes,” Hayden told me. I raised an eyebrow and glanced at Ivan and Brock, silently telling Hayden to shut up before he was overheard. “No, really. I don’t want that shit in the truck. It’s bad enough we’ve gotten blood and zombie parts all over the interior. I draw the line at human shit-juice.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I said through gritted teeth, though, truth be told I didn’t want to be stuck in a car for hours that reeked like sewage either. Remembering the drug store, I traded my M16 for the compound bow and arrows. “I’m gonna go check something,” I told Hayden. He nodded as if he was ok with it but didn’t take his eyes off me. I only made it across the street before he jogged over.

“What are you checking?” he asked, clicking a magazine into place in his pistol.

“That store,” I told him, pointing to the drug store. “I’m hoping to find soap. That way, if we find water we can actually get clean instead of just rinsing off. My skin’s starting to itch.”

“Another genius idea,” he told me with a smile. “That’s why I love you.” He went in first, waving me in when he found it to be safe. “Hurry, alright? That herd isn’t far.”

“I will.” I made a bee line to the conveniently labeled ‘hygiene’ aisle. There was a small display of homemade, organic soaps. I picked up a lavender-mint scented bar. It smelled wonderful, but wouldn’t kill the germs we had to be covered in. Nonetheless, I picked up the little wicker basket that the soaps were displayed it and took a step down the aisle to grab something to sanitize with.

“Got enough?” Hayden questioned, looking at my basket.

“It smells good,” I told him with a slight smile.

“So you need twenty?”

“First of all, it will run out eventually. And it’s not all for me. Ray loves this kind of stuff. I’m gonna give half to her. Trust me, she’ll be happy. What did you get?” I asked, seeing the full bag Hayden was holding. He held it up for me to look in. “And you think my soap was extensive,” I joked, seeing that the bag was full of boxes of condoms.

“This has to last us a while,” he explained, unable to keep the wanting smile from his face. “Plus, we’re not the only people back home who have sex. It would probably be good to have, uh, supplies.”

“You’re right; I hadn’t really thought about it.”

We walked around the store, looking for anything useful, happily discovering the unharmed display of Halloween candy. We loaded a bag full of it and went back to the truck. I put my basket in the back and Hayden stashed his bag of goodies under his seat.

I unlaced my boots, feeling more than a little grossed out at when my fingers pulled on the slimy laces, kicked them off and tossed them in the bed. I rolled up my pants and stood in front of Hayden, who had stripped out of his shoes and outer layers as well. “Good enough?” I asked him.

“I guess,” he said half heartedly. He looked guiltily at his truck before he got in.

“There’s a river a mile and a half away,” Brock informed us as he took off his shoes. “I saw an ad for the river that has cabins for rent along it hanging up in a store window. If it’s safe, we can wash up there. Is anyone else really itchy?”

“I am,” I told him, refusing to scratch and rub the shit any deeper into my skin. I climbed in the back and Brock got in next to me. “Where is this river?”

“A little north of where we are right now. The ad had a map. I can get us there,” he promised. And he did. Hayden drove past the cabins and parked as close as he could to the water’s edge. Leaving the truck running, we quietly got out and assessed the surroundings.

“The herd isn’t far,” Hayden reminded us. I nodded, my eyes scanning the trees. “It seems safe—for now,” Hayden said and cut the engine. We grabbed our clean clothes, all pissed we didn’t have spare shoes and walked down to the water.

“How should we do this?” Brock asked, his eyes jumping from me to Hayden and then me again. “You two go and we’ll keep watch? For zombies, not watch you get naked,” he added with a wry smile.

“Look but don’t touch,” I teased. Brock immediately looked at Hayden, almost as if to see his reaction. The rocky ground hurt my bare feet. I tip toed my way to the water, dreading how cold I knew it was bound to be. I pulled my tank top over my head and shimmed out of my jeans, shivering instantly. Hayden stood next to me, goosebumps breaking out over his skin as the breeze blew.

“On the count of three,” he said, feeling as much resistance to the cold water as I did. “One, two, three!” We stepped into the river. The water was so cold it hurt. With one hand, I splashed water up my legs, rinsing away the crusted gunk. I plunged the soap under the water and quickly scrubbed myself, then did the same with the rest of my body.