Deathly Contagious (43 page)

I wasn’t familiar with this particular campground. We meandered slowly down the road, the bugs getting worse the closer we got to the lake. Despite the heat I felt cold inside. I hated this. Before the outbreak, if I felt like this I’d call Raeya, lock myself in my room, and wait for her to talk some sense in me. She always had a way of making things seem better. Or, I’d use my lack of coping skills and go out, find a guy to buy me a drink and make me feel good about myself…for the time being.

I shook my head; what the hell had I been thinking? My life was such a serious mess. Just thinking about it made my stomach knot up. I wasn’t that girl anymore, was I?

Hayden and I walked next to each other over a dirt path that broke away into the shore of the lake. The air was thicker here than back at the camp. I looked around, hoping to find a zombie so I could beat my feelings out on it. We walked along the lake until we came to a dock. Thinking it would give us a better view of the surrounding lake, Hayden led the way down it.

We spent several minutes examining our surroundings. I closed my eyes and listened for anything crashing through the underbrush. I took my bow and quiver and carefully set them down on the dock.  I stuck my hands in the water, feeling instant relief. I wished I could jump in.

Hayden sat down and patted, signaling for me to take a seat next to him.

“Want to tell me what’s really going on?” he asked once I sat down.

“Just thinking,” I said simply.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked me again, though this time he was serious.

“Things I shouldn’t think about. Things that make me upset.”

“Tell me about them,” he gently encouraged.

I shook my head and picked at a splinter on the weathered wood. “Nah. It’s fine. I’ll get over it.”

“Riss,” Hayden nearly scolded. “First of all, you’re really distracted with whatever is going on inside your head. You could get hurt that way. Second—and most of all—I don’t want you to be upset.” He leaned back on his arms and tipped his head at me.

When our eyes met, something grew inside of me. I took a deep breath and layed down on the hot wood.

“I was thinking about my aunt and how I let my grandpa down for not taking care of her. And I feel horrible that I didn’t get to my grandpa. I should have found a way out of the hospital and saved them both. I can’t stop thinking about how much I failed. And it hurts
so much
. I should have done something. But I didn’t.”

He layed down too. “There is nothing I can say that will take the pain away. You rescued Raeya.”

“I should have rescued them all. And then I keep thinking why me? Why am I alive when they are dead?”

“You don’t know they’re dead.”

“Be realistic, Hayden.”

“Ok, we have no idea what happened. But it doesn’t hurt to wish.”

“Yes! Yes, it does hurt. It breaks my heart,” I exasperated. “It’s all I can think about.”

Hayden pushed himself up and looked into my eyes. “You have two choices: You can focus on the things that break your heart, or you can focus on the things that keep it together. No matter what, it’s up to you.”

I reached up and put my hand on Hayden’s shoulder, running my fingers over the spot where the bullet hit. “You’re right. I might have lost them, but I got you.”

He got to his feet and extended a hand to pull me up. “I know this sucks, Riss. It does for all of us. Losing someone isn’t easy. They say time heals everything but I think all it does is fill the wound with scar tissue; it will never heal but it won’t be the painful gaping hole it once was.”

His grip on my hand tightened as he continued his speech. “Maybe we don’t have much to be thankful for. But we have not only each other but the rest of our friends back home. And the compound is far from perfect but it’s safe. We have fresh food, full tanks of gas, and now we have nearly a dozen people to bring back. A long time ago I promised to make you happy. I intend on keeping that promise.”

“Thanks,” I said shyly. Hayden took the gun from his waist band and set it on the ground.

“Did your other pair of boots ever dry?” he asked suddenly.

“Yea, why?”

“Just curious,” he replied casually. He stepped away from the water before jumping at me, his arms wrapping around me as he picked me up and put me over his shoulder. I didn’t have time to protest before he jumped in the water.

“Hayden James Underwood!” I scolded as soon as I popped my head out of the water.

“I fell,” he said innocently and splashed me.

Treading water, I laughed and splashed him back.

“Don’t tell me this doesn’t feel good,” he said and swam on his back.

“It does,” I agreed and let myself sink under the water. I swam over to Hayden. “Thanks,” I told him.

“You can make it up to me later,” he joked with a half smile. He took a hold of my hands and pulled me through the water until our body’s touched.  “I love you,” he reminded me.

“And I love you,” I told him. A long, deep, passionate kiss would have been ideal at that moment but making out while treading water wasn’t as easy as Hollywood made it out to be.

Begrudgingly, we got out of the water, did another sweep of the woods for zombies and walked in wet boots back to camp. Ivan stood in the middle of the semi circle holding a machine gun. He raised an eyebrow at us.

“Fall in?” he asked with a smirk.

“We had to make sure there weren’t any zombies in the water,” Hayden said so seriously it was obvious he was joking. He looked out at the civilians. “Everyone ready?”

“Almost,” Ivan responded. “They asked if they could rest for a while before taking off. I said it was alright since we have a long drive.”

Hayden nodded. “Only a couple hours at the most. I don’t feel safe here.”

“Well,” I said sarcastically, eyeing the salt circle. “We all know zombies are allergic to salt; we’re so safe.”

Ivan laughed. “Did you find anything out there?”

“No,” Hayden answered. “It was quiet. But these woods are thick; it’s hard to see far.”

“Yea,” Ivan agreed. “I’ll keep watch,” he offered so Hayden and I could change into dry clothes. Once I had changed, I sat near the fire hoping the smoke would keep the bugs away and combed out my tangled hair. A young woman with golden, shoulder length hair timidly joined me.

“Hi,” she said shyly.

“Hey,” I replied and yanked the comb through a tangle. “I’m Orissa.”

“I’m Lynn.”

“That’s my middle name,” I told her though I doubted she gave a rat’s ass what my middle name was.

“What’s the place we are going to like?” she asked.

“It’s not bad, I promise,” I told her, remembering my doubts of the compound when I first learned about it. “It’s underground so it’s safe. It kinda looks like a school in some ways. Bright lights, white walls, a big cafeteria, and dormitory style housing. When we left they were working on building a safe place for people to go to spend time outside, so don’t worry about cabin fever.”

“Good. And it’s really safe? The last quarantine we were at got taken by the zombies.”

“Yes. No one can get downstairs without knowing pass codes and hand scans. There are multiple steel doors that were meant to withstand a bomb. I bet my life that zombies will not get inside the shelter.”

“Do you have power?”

“Power, oh, like electricity? Yea. The compound is run by solar and wind power. We have a few of those creepy, giant windmills by our farm near the shelter.”

“Is the farm safe?” She angled herself at me and looked intently and hopefully at me with brown eyes.

“No,” I said since I didn’t want to lie. “I think the barns are. But the fields aren’t. There are fences but I don’t think it would stop a herd. There are ditches dug along the livestock pastures which work like moats. But it’s still not fool proof.”

“Herd?” she asked.

“A big group of zombies. They move like herds.”

“Oh.” She pushed her dirty hair out of her face. “We call them packs. Like a wolf pack that surrounds its prey.”

“That’s a good way of putting it.” I smiled at her and set the comb down so I could braid my hair.

“Is he your boyfriend?” she asked, looking up at Hayden, who was talking to Zane and Amos.

“Yea.”

She looked him over before turning back to me. “Have you been together long?”

“Not really,” I said right away and mentally tried to add up the months I’d known Hayden. Since time was so irrelevant during an apocalypse I hadn’t bothered to keep track of what month it was. I think I met Hayden in late December and I really wasn’t sure what day let alone month it was right now. “Four or five months, give or take,” I told her.

“So you met during all of this?” she asked, suddenly interested.

“Yea.”

“Did he save you? Because if he did, that would be so romantic and just like something from a movie.”

I knew my eyes widened and I gave her my best what-the-fuck face. “Yes, a movie that stars the death of our family and friends while the supporting cast slowly starves to death.”

Lynn swallowed hard. “Sorry.”

I shook my head and cast my eyes away. “It’s alright.” Not wanting to talk relationships with anyone, let alone a total stranger, I got up to help the others get ready to go.  It didn’t take much longer to get their remaining items inside the cars. The Impala we had spotted earlier belonged to them as well. Three had set out earlier that day in search of food but when the engine over heated and started smoking, they were forced to pull over and come back to their camp.

The six of us from the compound wandered around with weapons in our hands, ready for anything, while the civilians rested. I retrieved one of the hunting rifles from the truck and went a few campsites over, stationing myself in the shade of another RV. I held up the gun and looked through the scope, trying to locate any source of movement.

“Girls aren’t supposed to know how to use guns,” a voice came from behind me. I turned to see one of the young girls looking curiously at me. She was the older—or at least taller—sister, Addison.

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

She kicked at a clump of thistle in the overgrown grass. “That’s what my dad told me. Girls grow up to be ladies. Ladies don’t shoot things.”

I flicked the safety on the gun. “Don’t ladies want to live?”

“Of course they do.”

“Then they better learn how to defend themselves, right?”

“Yea,” she said shyly. “I’m not allowed to use a gun.”

“Maybe when you’re older,” I suggested, thinking her father’s talk about ladies was only a way to keep his daughter from trying to use a gun and get herself hurt. “You should go back to camp,” I told her. “Before your dad gets worried.”

“I’m not far,” she objected. “And he’s watching Quinn; he won’t notice that I’m gone.”

I looked through the scope again, wondering how the hell they were able to keep a toddler alive. Something moved through the trees. It was fast, too fast to be a zombie. 

Dammit; it was a crazy.

“Go back to camp, now,” I whispered to Addison. “Tell the guys I came with that I went to check something out.”

Stricken with sudden fear, she nodded and had to shake herself before she could turn around and run. I traded the rifle for an arrow, muscles tense and senses on high alert. A sea of brown and green lay before me like a maze, hiding my violent enemy.

Her breath came out in a hard whoosh as her body thudded on the ground. Reluctantly taking my eyes off the forest, I turned to see Addison pushing herself up. Her foot had caught on a tangle of weeds and caused her to trip; and the fall caused her to bite her lip. Her hand flew to it and tears of pain welled in her eyes.

“Shit,” I swore under my breath when sunlight reflected off of the scarlet drips.  I set the bow and arrow down and rushed to her side, helping her up. “Don’t move,” I told her and gently pushed her up against the RV.

She nodded, trying her best not to cry from the pain of her bloody lip. I turned to grab the bow and arrow when a rock struck me in the head. I recoiled in pain, stumbling over my own feet. I fell hard on my ass.

I ignored the pounding headache. My fist closed around the arrow and I felt around the tall grass for my bow. Once I had it in my grasp I sprung up and quickly took a stance. Blood dripped in my eye, making it hard to focus. I took a step back closer to Addison, wanting to shield the girl from anything that came at us.

She screamed when the crazy galloped from the trees. He only made it a few feet before an arrow whizzed through the air and pierced his throat. His body twitched and blood bubbled from his mouth before he fell.

I immediately drew another arrow and waited, my eyes darting over the forest. A mosquito landed on my cheek. I didn’t dare take my hands off my weapon. Sweat rolled down my forehead. I slowly let my breath out and stepped forward. The mosquito’s needle popped into my skin. A flock of birds suddenly took flight. My muscles tensed and my heart sped up.

But nothing came out of the woods. Still not putting the bow or arrow down, I used my shoulder to wipe away the bug. Instead of flicking it away, I only smashed it on my skin. As quietly as I could, I moved a few more paces in the direction of the trees. Why did the birds have to be so loud?

I wasn’t sure if I imagined the sound of leaves crunching under foot. Not wanting to leave any stone unturned, I ventured farther away from the RV. I held the arrow back until my arm grew tired. I shoved the arrow back in the quiver and shook the tension out of my arm. I let out a deep breath and dropped my guard only to raise it again at the sound of running.

 In a matter of seconds I had another arrow ready. I spun around to face the source of the footfalls.

“Oh,” I said aloud when Brock and Rider came into view.

“We heard the scream,” Brock said and looked around to assess the situation. Rider raced over to Addison, ready to cover her if need be.

“Just one crazy,” I told them. “It came from the woods.” I put the arrow away, hung my bow over my shoulder and wiped the blood and smeared bug from my face.

“Did it get you?” Brock asked, eyeing my head wound.

“Kind of,” I explained and walked over to find my rifle amongst the tall grass. “It threw a rock at me.”