Deathly Contagious (9 page)

“Still sick.”

“Know what can cure that?” he jeered. I knew my heart was racing in anger and fear. I took deep breaths to try and slow it down.

“Letting me go back to sleep?”

“Wrong,” he told me, running his hands down my leg. I couldn’t blow my cover, I knew that. But I wasn’t going to let him fondle me. His fingers moved under the hem of the stupid dress I was wearing. I twitched and his grip on my waist tightened.

“I feel sick,” I blurted, adding a moan for effect.

“You’re fine.” He put both hands on my waist and flipped me around. He pressed himself against me and I could feel his intentions through his jeans.

Gross.

“No, I don’t think I am. I think I’m gonna barf.”

“You’re fine,” he repeated, annoyance obvious. His hands trailed up my waist, over my stomach and onto my breasts. He rubbed against me, breathing heavily at the sensation.

I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t think I had a choice. I rolled over, pretending to be interested in Delmont. He was dumb enough to think I actually wanted him. I sat up and put my hands on his chest.

“Yea, baby,” he said.

I half smiled, narrowed my eyes just a bit and leaned forward, as if I was going to kiss him. Then I doubled over, moaning as if in pain. My hands flew to my mouth as if I was covering it up but really I stuck my finger down my throat, forcing myself to throw up all over the floor.

“Ah! What the hell?” Delmont shouted and shoved me off of him. “Ma!” he shouted. “Ma! Get in here!” He backhanded me across the face. It took every single ounce of self control not to react. “Clean that up, bitch.”

Beau came running in first. He looked at me and then the vomit. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing,” Delmont bellowed. “I didn’t get to do
nothin’
,”

Sue Ellen hobbled in. “Oh!” she exclaimed.

Delmont stomped his foot and pointed at me. “I want a new one!”

“Calm down, boy,” she instructed. “What happened?”

“She fucking threw up!”

“Well,” Sue Ellen said with pressed lips. “She got blood poisoning. I thought it’d be outta her system by now but I guess not.”

“She’s broken!” Delmont continued his temper tantrum.

“No,” Beau butted in. “Mine’s broken. I’ll trade ya.”

“No,” Delmont said, shaking his head. “Mine at least has nice tits. Yours barely has any.”

“Yea,” Beau agreed. “But yours is too muscular. Mine’s softer.”

They were talking about us like we were animals that were up for trading. I imagined the kinds of pain infliction I’d love to do to them.

“Give her a few more days restin’,” Sue Ellen assured Delmont. “Then, Del, she’ll be ready.”

“Fine,” Delmont said pointedly. The three left the room, shut, and locked the door. I got a towel from the bathroom and threw it over my vomit. I wasn’t allowed to eat much and I had barfed up what little food I had in my stomach. Now I was going to be hungry.

Shaking with anxiety, I got into bed. I laid there for hours, waiting for the sun to come up. When I drifted into a light sleep, I dreamed that I was back at the compound, safe, and warm cuddled up in bed next to Hayden. When I woke, my heart ached for him. I hoped to God he was ok. He took a bullet for me so I could live, and now he thought I was dead.

I wasn’t given breakfast. An hour or so after the sun rose, a Jeep roared to life, the loud engine echoing off the cold glass of my window. I jumped up and felt like luck just might be on my side when I saw Beau, Bart, Casey, and Harley get inside.

I did yoga, sit ups, and drank a lot of water; I wanted my body ready. I was starving when Jaylyn unlocked my door. She had a dress folded over her arm and a smug look on her face.

“That’s pretty,” she said, looking at my chest. My hand flew up to the little silver leaf that hung from a chain. “Give it to me.”

“No.”

“Do what I tell ya.”

“No. It’s mine.”

“I don’t care. I want it.”

“No,” I repeated. Would I be a horrible person if I hit a pregnant woman? She laughed, threw the dress at me and went out of the room. The yellow dress I was wearing smelled like vomit, since some had splattered down the front. I took it off, carelessly throwing it on the floor, and put on the new one.

It was the worst dress by far. Light pink and very short, the thing had lacey cap sleeves and a bow on the back. It was belittling, the way they made us wear the dresses.  It wasn’t right, by any means, the way they thought they could do whatever the hell they wanted just because rules and laws couldn’t be enforced. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

The door opened, startling me just a bit. Sue Ellen glared at me, dropping all pretenses of being nice and caring and concerned with my welfare. I knew now that she saw me as a baby maker and nothing else.

“Come downstairs and eat,” she said dryly. I followed her down the hall. A door on the left was open; my eyes curiously looked around inside. It had to be Jaylyn and Casey’s room. An old wooden crib was pushed up against a wall. I almost didn’t see them since a dirty pair of pants covered one up. My heart fluttered and my eyes widened when I saw the familiar camo pattern of my combat boots.

“Oh no,” I groaned. “I’m gonna be sick.” I turned around and scuttled into the bathroom. I made gagging sounds and flushed the toilet. When I got back into the hall, Sue Ellen was gone. I dashed into Jaylyn’s room and grabbed my boots.

The stairs emptied into the very cluttered living room. An old, tattered chair housed various forms of crap that should have been thrown away years ago. I tucked the boots safely underneath it, out of sight but easy to grab. Olivia didn’t meet my eyes when I went into the kitchen. She had a fresh bruise on her cheek.

She dished out a watery stew. When she took her place, she coughed three times.

“Ah hell,” Delmont cursed, pounding the table with his fist. Soup sloshed out of his bowl. “You better not be gettin’ sick now too.”

“No, just a tickle in my throat,” she muttered. After we ate, Sue Ellen demanded Olivia and I clean the kitchen to perfection while she went to her room to watch recorded episodes of Judge Judy.

“You got them?” I asked quietly, the sound of running water drowning my words from unwanted ears.

She nodded. “Yea.”

“Ok, do you know what they go to?”

She nodded again. “The old Ford truck outside.”

“It works?”

Another nod. “It’s Del’s truck. I’ve seen him drive it before.”

“Perfect. Where is it?”

“Probably in the driveway. The garage is full of junk so all the cars are outside.”

“Even better. When I say ‘run’, we run.”

“Ok.”

I stepped away from the sink, looking through the kitchen doorway. In the living room, I could see Jaylyn and Del making out. What the fuck? I
knew
they were related. I wanted my boots, but I wasn’t going to risk getting caught over them. I opened every drawer in the kitchen, looking for the sharpest knife. I decided upon two small yet effective vegetables knives. I gave one to Olivia.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw what I did when I looked in the living room once more. Jaylyn was on her knees, her mouth and hands busy with Delmont.

“Ew,” I said under my breath. Wait…that was a perfect distraction. Del’s eyes were closed and his head was back. I took a deep breath and carefully took a step into the living room. All Del had to do was open his eyes and he’d see me. I took another step. And then another, and another. I was almost to the chair. His breathing quickened. Shit, he was almost done. I snatched my boots and ran out of the room.

“I think the baby’s his,” Olivia stated once I skidded to a stop on the kitchen floor.

“Sick,” I said and sank to my butt to lace up my boots. I stuck the knife inside my sock. “Do you have shoes?”

“No.”

“I’ll get you some.” I stood. “Ready?”

“You have no idea how ready I am.”

“Ok, then, run.”

Leaving the water running in the sink, we fled out the back door. We raced out, pausing in the snow covered yard to find the truck. Olivia instantly shivered in the cold air. She had just raised her hand to point to a truck about fifty yards away when the shot rang out.

She screamed. I grabbed her hand and sprinted forward. The shop was closer than the truck. I flung the door open and jumped inside, pulling Olivia along with me. I don’t know how he saw us, or how he pulled his pants up and grabbed the shotgun so quickly, but I caught a glimpse of Delmont chasing after us.

We ran down an aisle of junk, bumping into overhanging shit that loudly toppled over. We ran through a break in the aisle before going down another one. This place was a fucking maze.

“You can’t hide from me!” Delmont yelled. “I will find you!”

I slowed to a stop, pulling Olivia close next to me. We huddled next to a shelf full of doll parts. Arms, legs and broken heads stared up at us. I needed a weapon. I looked around; next to the dolls were their clothes, blocks and a bag of dingy stuffed animals that looked like they had spent too much time on a day care floor.

Olivia shook with fear. I took her hand and nodded reassuringly when my own bravery was replaced with trepidation when the click of Delmont’s boots came from the next aisle over. Olivia put her hand over her mouth. I held my breath, waiting.

“You’re dumb, you know, trying to run away. You can never make it out there. You will get eaten in a matter of hours,” he threatened.

I rolled my eyes. If only he knew…My muscles tensed and I squeezed Olivia’s hand. She shook her head, eyes darting to the direction Del’s voice was coming. I nodded encouragingly and yanked her forward. We silently slipped through the aisle. There had to be a back door to this place.

I picked up a broken iron. I wrapped the cord around it, getting it out of the way. I motioned to an empty spot on a shelf, trying to nonverbally tell Olivia I wanted her to hide there. It took her a few seconds to understand. With shaking hands she crawled in, hugging her knees. I ran to the break in the aisle listening for Delmont, feeling as if the tables had turned.

His footsteps echoed loudly throughout the vast warehouse. I picked up a clock and threw it as hard as I could down an aisle. It clanked and skidded to a stop. Del fell for it and raced over, shotgun raised.

He dumbly looked at the clock, not able to put two and two together. I crept up behind him and struck him in the head with the iron. The gun flew out of his hands. I kicked him in the back and he fell to his knees, whacking his kneecaps on the hard cement floor. The gun was in my hands in seconds.

A smirk broke out on my face. Using the gun like a baseball bat, I hit him over the head. The scuffling of feet made me whirl around, pumping the shot gun. Olivia held her hands up. I flipped the shotgun around and extended it to her. She looked at it fearfully.

“Keep your finger off the trigger,” I told her. “Only shoot if necessary. And trust me,” I said, turning back to Delmont. “It won’t be.”

He staggered to his feet. I stood back and waited, allowing him time to regain what little composure he had. He took a swing at me. I easily ducked out of the way. When he swung again, I caught his fist, twisted his wrist, and in one swift movement, kicked him in the balls. When he doubled over in pain, I brought my knee up to his nose and shoved him back. I yanked a box of old books off a shelf, ripping the cardboard. They fell out, each one landing hard on Delmont’s body. I pulled the knife from my boot.

“Don’t kill me!” Delmont shouted, holding up his hands. Blood oozed from his nose. I laughed.

“Kill you? No, that would be doing you a favor. I’m not letting you off that easy.” I held up the knife, the overhead florescent lights glinting off the metal. “Let’s see…I could…cut off your balls, shove them in your mouth and sew your lips shut.” The corners of my mouth pulled up in a sadistic smile. Delmont quivered. “Eventually you’ll bleed to death. Or maybe choke. Either way, we will be long gone before anyone finds your cold, lifeless body you disgusting, cousin-fucking prick.”

I took the shotgun from Olivia and hit Del over the head, knocking him out. Then I yanked another box—this one filled with random junk—down on him, rammed the butt of the shotgun down on his balls, and grabbed Olivia’s hand. She whimpered as I pulled her along. I pushed open the back door. It only moved a few inches. Something had been pushed up to it from the outside. Dropping Olivia’s hand, I used my body to force it open. I had to slam into it several times, no doubt creating nasty bruises on my shoulder, but it opened enough for us to barely squeeze through.

We weaved our way through the junk yard, all the while I was hoping Olivia didn’t step on something sharp or rusty. The entire yard was fenced in with a six foot, wooden fence.

“We’re trapped!” Olivia cried.

“No, we’re not,” I promised. I walked along the fence, looking for a weak spot. I kicked it; the board cracked. I kicked it again and my foot went through. Feeling like a zombie, I crawled my way through the broken boards, painfully forcing my body to fit through the small opening. Olivia clambered through next, her hair getting caught on a splinter. She yanked it free, leaving several strands blowing in the wind.

Sue Ellen was waiting for us, holding a buck knife. Olivia made a strangled noise of fear but I eagerly marched forward. I pumped the shotgun once more and terror washed over Sue Ellen’s face. I wickedly smiled and raised the gun.

I didn’t want to waste bullets on her—she just wasn’t worth it. But she didn’t need to know that. She held her ground until I was six feet away. Then she dropped the knife and fled. As much as I’d love to punch her in the throat, it wasn’t worth it either.

“Let’s go,” I told Olivia. I wanted out of here right away and, more importantly, I wanted out of here before a truck full of people with rifles and bows and who knows what else gets home. We ran to the truck. I held out my hands for the keys. Olivia didn’t move.

“Orissa, wait,” she spat. “We-we’re safe here, from the zombies. I don’t want to die.”

“I told you I’d take care of you,” I reiterated.

“How do I know that’s true?”