Duality (The Hitchhiker Strain) (4 page)

It takes an infuriating minute of ski
mming through medical terminology before I find what I’m looking for: Savannah Marie Cooper is officially infection free.

Chapter 5 - Chelsea

Unfiltered sunlight burns my eyes, forcing me awake the next morning. I still check my wound before doing anythi
ng else. Dried blood sticks to everything as I pry the fabric off of the bite, which sends waves of pain through me all over again, but it has stopped bleeding. That’s all I can ask for at this point.

I feel better, but raw. Mentally and physically exhaust
ed.

I couldn
’t do it. I couldn’t speak. And I have no interest in trying again.

My body is still slumped against the wall directly across from the window, in spite of the twin bed that takes up nearly a third of this small room. Instead of using it, I fell
asleep on the floor. Now I’m going to have to spend the day with stiff muscles as well as an injured arm, and I have no one to blame but myself. So much for my superior decision-making skills.

I
’m barely in control anymore as the beast stirs awake within me. It takes so much effort to snatch down another shirt from the closet and rewrap my arm, but before too long, I’m stalking down the stairs and back into the living room.

I still feel strange, slightl
y off, and I can’t seem to untangle my thoughts enough to figure out what it is that’s bothering me. It’s probably hunger. Now it’s always hunger. My body just needs more fuel than usual in order to get back into peak physical condition. Healing takes energy, even with super-powered antibodies fighting alongside you. And these days, each meal needs to last longer than the one before as my prey becomes smarter and more wary of the dangers that face them.

I
’ll still occasionally luck into someone stupid enough to try and scavenge for supplies on their own, but they’re always armed. I sometimes spend whole days waiting for the right moment to strike, minimizing my risk of injury. If needed, I can go almost a week without eating, using the time to analyze any holes in the defenses of small camps. I haven’t needed to go much longer than that, but I suspect that if it comes down to it, I’ll have no issues with killing my own kind in order to give my body what it needs to stay alive.

But it hasn
’t come to that yet. And I doubt it will. As much as the non-infected have become better at saying alive, I’ve become better at hunting and killing.

Go for the throat first so they don
’t scream.

A blow to the head
is fatal to everyone.

Control your breathing, your steps. Don
’t let them hear you coming.

If given the choice between an adult and a child, always choose the adult. They fight harder for their young than they do for themselves.

Yes, I may not have had the best night’s sleep, and still I’m more than ready to get back to the hunt.

It
’s with uncontrolled glee that I leave the house, all thoughts of yesterday gone from my mind. This is what I live for now.

It's
after my next meal—eighty-one—that I begin to understand that something isn't right. It has been three days since I was bitten in that fight, but there's still something wrong with me, and I'm not clearheaded enough to figure out what it is.

             
I'm usually filled with energy and vigor after I eat, but today I only feel tired, as though something is eating away at me for a change. I could sleep for a week if I weren't so damn hungry. The man I killed should have lasted me days, but no matter how much I eat, I don't feel satisfied. There's so little of him left that I know he won't be waking up again, not even as a walking corpse. His jeans and tweed jacket more than cover the scraps.

Why am I still hungry?

Without knowing what the problem is, there isn't a thing I can do to stop it.

Best I don't think on it for too long.

Maybe the man in the tweed jacket had friends nearby. He seemed a little unhinged, and I know he isn't someone I would have ever chosen to spend the apocalypse with. But those people tend to stick with their own. Where there's one post-apocalyptic crazy, there's bound to be a whole family of them.

I'm moving mo
re slowly than I should be, but I push myself forward anyway, refusing to rest. Not until I've found where my victim has been living. Not until I find something new to distract myself with.

My memory lapses are getting worse. Is it connected to how sick
I've been feeling, or am I finally losing my mind once and for all? I don't think I want to know. All that matters right now is figuring out where I am and how I got here.

I woke up nearly frozen to death, slumped beside a dumpster. And I have no idea how
I got here. None.

In the past it's
been the memories of my old life that have disappeared into nothing, but I don't remember anything about the last—I don't even know. Hours? Days? I can't remember anything, and every muscle in my body is screaming for me to curl up and go back to sleep. To rest and fight off...

It finally comes to me. I pull up my sleeve and hastily untie the makeshift bandage on my arm.

It's infected. Badly infected. Blood-poisoning levels of infected. Red streaks stretch out from where I was bitten, and the whole area is red and swollen, practically radiating heat.

I never even considered that this was something I had to worry about. I've been able to fight off every other ailment since I
was infected. It's been the one upside of the fate I've resigned myself to. Nothing can stop me. Nothing can kill me.

Except this probably will.

No, this definitely will. There aren't any options available to me. No doctors. No drugs.

There aren't any miracles for people like me. Not now.

The sound of a car door slamming pulls the beast forward. We're not alone here. But I can't place where the sound came from because my ears are ringing so loudly. Is this why I came here in the first place? Tracking someone? It doesn't matter now. I pull myself up, but it takes most of my energy to get back on my feet. I don't think I can fight. But the beast won’t let me hide.

Whatever I do, I can't just stand here, waiting for someone to come along and kill me. No one asks questions before they shoot
—not anymore. Both ends of the narrow alley open up to a street on the other side. I'll have to pick a route and hope the direction I choose won't lead me right to the barrel of a gun.

Faced with a fifty-fifty chance, of course I choose wrong. I move barely thr
ee feet out of the alleyway when I see someone, maybe a soldier, rifling through the trunk of his car. The beast wants me to try and take him while his back is turned, but I’m already backing up. My foot knocks against something and it makes the tiniest noise.

Run.

Too late.

He stands up and turns, looking right at me.

After months of fighting, I finally choose flight. As soon as his eyes lock onto me, I turn and run back into the alley with everything I have—which isn't much. But maybe he'll let me go. Maybe he doesn't want to risk a fight either. Or not.

Within seconds, I hear his footsteps close behind me. I want to keep going, but I know there's no point. The only thing it will change is that I won't see the bullet that kills me.

I turn, and as soon as I do, my pursuer stops chasing me, though his gun stays level right with my head. He's young, my age maybe, with cropped blonde hair and sad eyes. He seems steady, strong. We both know he'll win this fight. He is about fifty feet away, staring. Watching me watch him. I snarl a warning, but it sounds weak even to my ears.

There's nothing left to do.

He takes a step toward me, and I'm sure I can hear the sound of my own heartbeat because it's hammering that loudly. The beast wants to lunge, to fight. But I’m looking forward to the end of this long struggle. It's nice to know that my end means I won’t ever be able to hurt anyone else.

I don't want to die.

I try to push myself to run again, to do anything, but I can't. Two parts of me are warring against each other and I'm caught in the crossfire, unable to do anything at all. I fall to my knees.

He's almost on me now. Twenty feet away. Ten. A scream tries to rip out of my throat, but the result is little more than a tired wheeze.

Five feet now. This has to be it—the end. My body is begging for me to curl into myself—or at least look away. I won't do it. I can't fight, but he'll have to look me in the eyes when he ends me forever—to look at what’s left of Chelsea Zimmerman.

The boy raises his weapon, his expression
grim and set in stone. He braces for the kickback, and I refuse to blink. He pulls the trigger. I feel the moment of impact, but barely. Getting shot feels nothing like what I imagined.

I fall anyway. The last thing I feel as my eyes flutter closed is my
killer scooping me up into his arms.

Chapter 6 – Savannah

Tap. Tap. Tap tap tap.

Tap tap. Tap.

Cole reaches over, placing his hand on top of mine to settle the drumming of my fingers. Playfully, I struggle against him until he wraps my hand completely up in his, interlocking our fingers. I should be focusing on how I won’t be seeing him for a few days—the longest we’ve been apart since I temporarily joined up with the United Militia—but I’m too excited to sit still.

Will the world be different now? I know as well as anyone how quickly everything can change. Whatever is out there, I want to see it for myself. I want to know that the ruins o
f the world I grew up in are still there, waiting for me. Before it gets any worse. Because the other thing I know now is that, no matter what you imagine rock bottom to be, things can always get so much worse.

Once upon a time, getting turned down by Samu
el Rivers was the worst thing I could have imagined for myself. A nightmare. The end of the world as I knew it. But I never even got the chance to ask him out because all social events were canceled as the first strain of the Z-virus began terrorizing the planet, killing millions before reanimating them. Then, for a few months, the worst thing I could imagine was losing my friends and family. Seeing them suffer, torn apart, and devoured. That was the worst.

I had no idea what I was in for.

Then came the cure. The first so-called miracle, a vaccine that could stop the virus from killing anyone at all. We all thought our nightmares were over. I started to imagine my old life again with something more than nostalgia. There was hope.

I was wasting my time. That
life was meant to be little more than a series of wonderful memories to fuel me in my darkest moments.

Like when the people who were vaccinated started killing indiscriminately. They weren
’t dying, but they weren’t living anymore either. They were monsters. Stronger and faster than the first generation of Zs, they destroyed everything, and I thought we had reached hell itself.

And then my parents died.

And then I lost my friends.

And then, and then, and then. I
’ve finally accepted that it’s a matter of riding out the storm until you see what catastrophe is coming for you next. All I can do is make sure I’m not sitting on my ass, waiting for the world to heal itself when the next thing comes for me. While my nightmares are all gruesome memories now, that is what fuels my dreams—getting another chance to get out there and make a difference.

“
Two minutes,” Cole points out, giving my hand another squeeze.

“
Two minutes.” Two minutes until freedom! A smile creeps onto my face, even though I know Cole will worry himself sick every hour I’m away. I play it off as flirting to distract him. “How much are you going to miss me?”

“
I don’t know how I’m ever going to manage,” he says. He leans across the table and plants a soft kiss on my lips.

I glance up at the clock one l
ast time. We still have another minute and a half. That’s plenty of time. I bounce up from the table and drag him after me until we’re tucked away from the prying eyes of the other Initiative members who are hovering around. After I pull him close to me, we get lost in each other for a long, blissful moment. Tangled up in goodbyes and a hundred lingering kisses. We separate once I’m already a few minutes late.

“
Time to go.” I sigh.

“
Where are you meeting them?” Cole asks as we finally pull away from each other, resigned. Time’s up.

“
At the car park. I was kind of hoping I’d get the chance to go outside first.”

“
You should have thought of that before using up the last of your free time with me. Now that you aren’t quarantined anymore, it would have been easy enough to get you outside for a few minutes.”

This wasn
’t such a bad way to spend our time though, right?” I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow. “Besides, Liam promised that I’d have lots of time to run around and get some fresh air tomorrow. I’ve waited this long, so a few more hours won’t kill me.”

“
And by wander around you mean you’ll be incredibly cautious and always have someone watching your back, right?”

“
Right. No flesh-eating super monsters will be getting anywhere near me.”

“
Damn straight,” he says. “Seriously though, you’ll be safe?”

“
The very safest. Liam says the other guys going with us are good. I’ll be fine and back before you’re even halfway through whatever project your dad has waiting for you while I’m away.” I reach toward him and smooth down a flyaway hair near the top of his head. “Try not to worry too much. Or get too bored while I’m gone.”

The two of us walk hand in hand until we reach the door of the garage where the Veritas Initiative keeps all of their vehicles
—an area I haven’t been allowed access to until now. I peek through the window of the swinging metal door and see Liam with two guys I don’t recognize. Sloppy goodbye kisses in front of them probably won’t work wonders toward making them see me as one of the guys and not just some girl they’ve gotten stuck with. I know I won’t slow them down, but I don’t want them to think I’m some silly little girl either. I place my hand on Cole’s chest before he can lead me into the garage.

“
No way. I won’t have you hovering around while I drive off into the sunset…so to speak. You’ve wasted enough of your day waiting to see me off already and there’s no point making a big show of it. I’ll be back in a few days.”

“
You’re sure?”

“
Totally.” He leans down toward me for one last kiss, and I let myself get pulled in—but only for a second. “I’ll see you soon,” I say.

“
Be safe.”

I push my body into the swinging door and le
t myself glide into the next room before turning away. I can feel that his eyes are still on me as I walk toward the car where Liam is waiting, but I refuse to look back. Eyes on the prize. And right now the prize is making a good first impression with my new team.

As soon as Liam notices me, he waves me over and I pick up my pace. It
’s time to get out of here, and the only person slowing me down now is me. Probably not the smartest way to go about making a good first impression,

“
And here she is, the woman of the hour. Guys, this is Savannah. Savannah, this is Eduardo,” Liam says with a gestures toward a black-haired man who seems to be in his early forties, “and Dooley.” He nods towards a guy who is probably a few years older than I am. He looks familiar, but I’m sure I’ve never met him before.

“
Sorry I’m late.” I reach out and shake Eduardo’s hand before turning to Dooley. “Are you related to Doctor Nickles?” I ask, extending my hand to him as well.

“
She’s my mom.” Figures. They both share the same wavy reddish hair and the broad nose that suits him better than it does her.

“
She has a fondness for poking me with needles. It’s twisted.”

“
Well, we’ve all got to get our kicks somewhere these days,” he jokes back. Eduardo rolls his eyes but chuckles along with us. And neither of them mentions that I’m over ten minutes late for my first day out. That’s got to be a good sign.

Both Eduardo and Dooley look like they can handle themselves in a fight, and since they live here, I
’d guess they’re pretty smart too. I could do a lot worse.

Once we
’ve all thrown our packs into the trunk—mine with nothing but a toothbrush, some clean underwear, and another shirt—I pull open the rear passenger’s side door. Before I can slide in, Eduardo knocks it shut again with his hip.

I wa
s expecting some sort of hazing but I’m actually surprised when instead he swings open the passenger’s door instead. “New rule. Ladies ride shotgun.”

Part of me wants to insist that I be treated like anyone else, but I
’m trying to be smarter about picking my battles and this isn’t really something worth going to bat over.

“
Thanks!” I grin up at him before hopping in beside Dooley. “So where are we headed?” I ask once the other guys have climbed into the back of the sedan.

“
Kearney,” Liam answers from behind me. “It was one of the towns that was evacuated early after the second wave hit this area. It’s been pretty good for us so far, as far as supply runs go.”

Dooley pulls out of the spot and takes us toward a tunnel that slants up to the surface when a ques
tion pops into my head. “If this is a supply run, why are we taking a car?” I glance back when I hear Liam chuckle and see Eduardo rolling his eyes. “Sorry, I know I can be a bit much with all the questions.”

At that, Liam laughs even louder.

“You’re fine, darlin’,” Eduardo says, reaching over to pat me on the shoulder. “Questions are good. Shows me you’re paying attention.”

Okay…
then what? Liam is still red-faced and catching his breath. I’m obviously missing something.

“
Liam’s the one with the reputation for questions around here,” Eduardo says.

“
Yeah, we couldn’t get him to shut up for at least a week,” Dooley adds. “And that was actually the first thing he asked too. He was a pain in the ass.”

The way Dooley is grinning says he doesn
’t really mean it. Liam has been with these people just as long as I have, but he’s already found himself a group that’s accepted him. Now I’m the one on the outside. I smile so I have something more to do than sit there with a blank look on my face and I’m sure Eduardo sees right through it.

“
As for the answer to your question,” Eduardo adds. “Once we get there, we’ll start finding other vehicles, hopefully vans or trucks so we can take more in one trip. But it saves gas to only take them the one way, so we all have to get cozy for the next few hours, sharing the one car.”

“
Smart.” Even if it will take me a while to really be part of the group, at least I can learn something useful from these guys. I turn back to face the front as Dooley stops the car to punch in an access code and activate the large gate that separates the Veritas Initiative from the rest of the world.

I need to shield my eyes at first as they adjust to the sunlight, and then we
’re off into the remains of a small, suburban city. The facility is hidden deep underground in a part of town that houses several small office buildings. Concrete and glass surround us on either side, and if it weren’t for the complete absence of other cars, you almost wouldn’t know anything changed. I’ve only been underground for a month, but somehow I was expecting more.

Once we
’re out of the city and on an open stretch of background that parallels the highway, the difference is even less pronounced. All I can see are swatches of green and brown surrounded by small clumps of trees and the occasional house. Every farmhouse we pass is aging and neglected, but that could easily be explained by hard times that happened long before people started getting sick.

After half an hour of Eduardo telling me about where we
’ll be going and the types of things we’ll be looking for—the usual stuff: canned food, medical supplies, weapons—we all settle into a comfortable silence, alone with our own thoughts. At least until Liam starts snoring in the back.

It
’s weird seeing him like this. He seems genuinely happy and comfortable with these people. Nothing like the brooding, lonely guy I met when he saved my life and killed his infected girlfriend in the process. He’s actually doing well. Hell, he has more friends than I do.

More fr
iends than I do here, I correct myself immediately. I’m lucky to have Zack with me at Veritas, even if I never see him anymore. But that’s only half of our little group. Less, if you count Belle and Marybeth, which is something I’m only willing to do if I’m having a really good day. My other friends are probably somewhere out there, still with the rest of the survivors from my town. Alex and Pierce. My guys.

Alex still has his mom and Marybeth, but I worry about Pierce every day. He was
—is—like a little brother to me, and he’s on his own. Even if any of his family survived, they’re all in England and there’s no chance he’ll ever see them again. Pierce is smarter than the rest of us combined, but he can be kind of an idiot in his own special way. And I know he’ll go looking for trouble without someone there to keep him in check. If Alex isn’t looking out for him, I’ll kick his ass. Assuming I ever see him again.

It was supposed to be me, Alex, Pierce, and Zack fighting the good fight together. Those guys were
supposed to be my team. And now even Zack, my best friend, is starting to drift away from me. I am going to lose them all, just like I lost everybody else.

Zack and I had been neighbors back when Ravencrest was a regular, non-zombie-infested town. We hadn
’t really started to hang out until my parents were killed and the surviving Ravencrest citizens had moved into the high school. He was my only friend when I thought I’d lost every person who ever loved me. He was my rock.