Fight (NOLA Zombie Book 2) (6 page)

We were too late. From the looks of things, it had been a survivor group holed up in the top of a restaurant. And from what we could guess, one got bit and the whole group went down. Marquez insisted that if we would have tried to rescue them when we heard the first scream, we would have found a few of them alive. He still brought that up with Zach regularly.
 

“If Marquez wants to play Superman every time, he’s gonna end up gray and moaning,” Baby scoffed.

“Hopefully, this rescue will get it out of his system.” I was tiring and had accomplished my goal and worked off a bit of my anger. I was done with the workout.
 

“All these macho boys and their hero complexes, fit to give a girl a headache.”

“You don’t like heroes, Hannah?”

“Oh, I like heroes, girl. I like heroes just fine. They just better back up their hero bullshit with a bit of brains or they’re fixin’ to be dead heroes.”

SIX

Lakeview

After my grueling workout, I went to check on the new girl. My guilt was a palpable bubble around me. Who knows, she could be an engineer or some genius herbalist and could save us all. Isaiah Smith had her on one of the hospital beds in the small clinic he had set up. She was out cold.
 

“What’s the verdict, doc?” I pushed through the doors with Baby behind me.
 
We both went to the girl’s bedside and looked down at her. She was a scrap of nothing, very petite, too skinny with long, dark, scraggly hair. She was of dark-complexion with dusty brown tones that hinted at Indian heritage. Underneath the grime, you could tell she was pretty, if you like that big-eyed doe look, but it was obvious she was trying to hide her looks. Her hair was a mess and there was dirt caked into every crevice of her face, as if she purposefully rubbed it in.

Isaiah had hooked her up to an IV and I gritted my teeth thinking about what we went through to requisition those supplies.
 

“She’s malnourished and dehydrated, which was probably what exacerbated the shock. I hooked her up to a saline drip and it’ll bring her around in time. It looks like she hasn’t eaten much in a long time. She’s severely underweight and from what I can tell she’s been abused.”

“Abused? How can you tell?” I asked.
 

“She has what appear to be cane marks on her back and a lot of bruising.”

“Jesus, the other woman that was with her mentioned they had escaped from the camp in Lakeview. Do you think it’s what we feared, that they are basically selling women and children and abusing them if they aren’t a commodity?” I was feeling a bit ashamed about thinking this woman was useless.

“There is no way to know until she can tell us, which shouldn’t be that long. She seems in good shape aside from the starved and dehydrated aspect.” Isaiah shrugged.

“Have Grace or Julie come talk to her when she wakes up, or maybe just be there for when she wakes up. She seemed a bit skittish around the men, and if she did go through what we were told, it might be easier for her to see a woman first.” I looked at Isaiah and he nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that makes sense. I’ll get one of them over here. Thanks, Alexis.”

“You did all the work, Doc. Get her up and running so we can give our newest S-Island resident a proper welcoming.”
 
He chuckled as we left him in the infirmary.
 

Baby and I stopped in the hallway when we got out of earshot of the infirmary.
 

“So, you think these Lakeview rumors are true?” Baby asked.

“It’s looking like there’s something out there. The woman with her, Margaret, said it was a refugee camp that was overrun by some gang. They use the women like currency, force them into prostitution or trade them off for commodities. The only way we can know for sure is if we send someone out for reconnaissance. And I don’t want to risk anyone, I’m sure Zach will feel the same way.”
 

“But if they’re doing shit like this, we’re going to have to face them at some point. I know it’s ten miles away, but that is too close for comfort.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “I’m sure they’re hearing rumors about us too. There was that one group that was heading west last week. They probably ran straight into them.”

“Well, no one knows our exact location, so we’ll spot them before they get close.”

“We should probably go a little farther on patrol just in case, look for any living that look suspicious. I’ll run it by Zach and then let Marquez know,” I said.
 

“I gotta relieve Cole on watch. If I see Zach, I’ll let him know you are looking for him.”

“Thanks, Hannah.”

SEVEN

Make the
Misere

Zach found me in the supply warehouse. We had put Frank Boudreaux, a man we all called Bubba, in charge of supplies. He was an older man that rolled in with Frank Ito a few months back. He was also pure Cajun and probably our biggest asset. He knew how to fish, catch crabs, crawfish, live off the land, grow crops and had run a general store in bayou country before Z. Ito’s group came in with a truckload of supplies and an ice chest of trout when they sped over our bridge. It was like manna from heaven.

“We low on da salt, vitamins and Justin say he wants grits if you can find ‘em. I wouldn’t mind no grits either, even that instant stuff that come in those brown packets.” I jotted down his request on the supply list that we updated constantly. It looked like the next run would have to be somewhere with a little more variety of items.
 

I turned when I heard the door open behind us and took a moment to appreciate the man that walked in through those doors. I might not want to get all complicated with him, but I could eye feast on his yumminess. It was just something about how he walked; it was a purposeful stride, confident, in charge.
 

“You were looking for me?” Zach walked up to us, nodding a greeting to Bubba and smirking at me. I probably had drool on my chin. He was obviously aware that I was checking him out. It pissed me off.
 

“Yeah, I need to talk to you. Can I meet you in your office in a second?”

“Alone?” His face broke out into a grin and he raised his eyebrows.

“Stop.” I held up a hand.
 
“It’s about the girl. Just meet me there in a second.”
 

“No sense of humor,” he huffed and stalked off, which gave me a moment to appreciate his rear assets. I had to stop doing this to myself.

“Couldn’t do much better than that one,
cher
. I know I done heard about the other one, but he ain’t here. And I ain’t ever seen Zach take his eyes off you. You gotta live. You can be tough and still let a man treat ya right. You get me,
cher
?”
 

“It’s a little more complicated than that, Bubba.”
 

“Seems to me you just making it all complicated in that big head of yours, cher. Take it from old Bubba,
craché nen laire, li va tombé enhaut vou nez.
”
 

“I don’t speak French.”

“Course ya don’t, ain’t no one speak it no mores. It just means,
cher
, that you messing your own self up, spitting on your own nose.”

“I will keep that in mind, I guess.”

“Get out of here. Ain’t no one listens to Bubba unless I talking about dem crawfish. Then everyone wants to listen to Bubba. You make the
misere
around here and there is quick way to fix dat.”

“Right now I would just like a quick way to fix our food shortage problem.”

“Get me a trawler, Bubba fix dat too.”
 

“I have no doubt.” I smiled at the older man and tried to make my way out without any more helpful love advice. Bubba had self-appointed himself as everyone’s daddy and took to giving advice to anyone that walked into his domain, welcome or not. It was charming until he directed it at you.

Zach was waiting patiently for me when I finally met him in his office.

“I think you just enjoy making me wait.” His double meaning was obvious. He crossed his arms when I walked closer, showing off his perfectly defined arms and shoulders.

“It’s a possibility,” I laughed, collapsing on the sofa that was crammed in the corner.
 

“So, what’s so important?”

“Lakeview.”

“You think they’re selling women?” He asked.

“This is the third account we’ve had of human trafficking. There here has to be some basis to it. What’re our options?”

“Ignore it or do some recon.” He shrugged.

“If we ignore it, it will probably bite us in the ass later.”
 

“True. Not necessarily though.”

“Is that a chance we’re willing to take?” I asked.

“Personally, I’m torn. If we do recon and we’re spotted, it could lead them right to our door, or at the least, alert them to our presence. I think we need to get a bit more information before we head that way. But we’ll make sure that we keep away from Lakeview for our supply runs.”
 

“The girl should know something more when she wakes up.”
 

“You think she was held captive by them like Margaret said, or was she just trying to make us take her?” It was a cynical thought, but he had a point.

“Isaiah said there were signs of beatings on her back and legs.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“I can’t imagine what it is like out there. We’ve got it good here.” He pushed up from his chair and moved to the spot next to me on the sofa. I tensed up, not knowing what his intentions were.

“We do and we need to keep it that way. This place can be even more,” I said warily.

“You’re a major part of that, Lex. Half the stuff you come up with, I’m baffled by, but it works. I trust you. I trust your opinions. Do you want to send out recon on this group?”

“No, you’re right.”

“Wait, say that again.”

“Shut up.” I pushed at him and he caught my hand. His touch was comforting–I had to admit it to myself. I liked how it felt even though I didn’t want to feel that way, not at all, not from a simple handholding. “Zach, please.”
 

“I feel like a stalker, but fuck, Lex, I can tell you want it too and it’s killing me.”
 

“I can’t, I just can’t, Zach. I feel like a fucking broken record. Can’t you understand I’m all fucked up and I can’t add this to the mix? It would be like running a race with a broken leg.”
 

“I’m sorry for pushing. I just think things could be so good between us.”

“Or they could end up blowing up in our faces.” I frowned.

“You think I’d walk like Blake? I would never do that. You know that, right, or are you still waiting for him to come back? Just talk to me.”

“I’m not waiting for Blake and I know you wouldn’t do that. It’s not about you leaving voluntarily. It’s about…shit, I can’t even explain it. I just don’t want to screw things up. Don’t push me, Zach. Soon it’s going to be too much.”

“I won’t, fine. This will be the last, but, please, just think about it, Lex. We could be so good together. Right now you’re just going through the motions, you are just existing. Together we can live.”

I stood up abruptly. My mind reeling. I did want him, my body wanted to curl into his, wanted to turn my face up to his, invite him to take our relationship to a baser level, but my mind was having none of it. I didn’t want to increase my feelings for him by adding romantic love to the equation. It was a matter of survival, and if Zach left, voluntarily or involuntarily, there would be no bouncing back with a little zombie killing.

I fled the office without saying anything, pissed that he had done this to me again. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? But then that little romantically starved voice in my head broke through my defenses, wondering why he didn’t try harder.

EIGHT

The Other Shoe

When I walked into the cafeteria the next morning, everyone was buzzing about the rescue yesterday.

“She’s up,” Grace said as she walked up to me before I could grab a plate of food.
 

“She’s eaten?” I asked.
 

“No.”

“I’ll go get her and maybe she’ll be up for a plate of food. I set my plate down with a sigh and headed to the infirmary.

When I pushed open the door, big brown eyes and a clean face greeted me. She must have taken a shower because her skin was glowing as if recently scrubbed and her hair was still wet and fell down her back. The dirt had hid her good looks well because she was stunning, exotic looking, but so young.
 

“Lani, I’m Alexis. How you doing?” She swung her legs off the hospital bed and stood. Even though it didn’t make a lot of difference, she barely came up to my chin.

“Fine, I’m much better now. You were one of the people that brought me here?”

“Yes, we brought you here when Margaret asked for our help. You remember that?”

“Sort of, I think something was wrong with me, it’s kind of fuzzy. Isaiah said I was dehydrated and in shock. You saw Margaret. Did she,” her voice cracked, “did she turn?”

“No, she chose her own path. She was a strong woman. Her last thoughts were about you. She
 
just wanted you to be safe. You’re safe here. This is probably one of the safest places you could have ended up.”

“That’s what Grace told me. She said all they expect of us is to help out. We
 
don’t have to do things we don’t want to do.”

“Grace is right, there is a lot of work that goes into keeping this place safe and providing us with food and water, so we do expect everyone to help out…it’s how we survive.”

“You’re in charge?”

“Zach’s in charge. I help him out.”

“Does he make the women do things?”

“Things,like in sex?”

“Yeah, that–like they did in the Lakeview camp. The leader–” she trailed off, her mind far away.

“No and no. Zach and the rest of the men at this compound are good people. They would never force a woman to do something she didn’t want. And if I even suspected something like that was going on, Zach would have their balls.” She giggled at my statement and I was again aware of how young she was.