Broken Dreams (36 page)

“We are sick, too, damn it!” Henry’s fists clenched.

Claire backed off some. “But now you condemned Nick to live this life, as well!”

“For real!” Nick barked and grabbed his head. “Christ…”

“Do you not think I know this? It was a natural reaction and I couldn’t help myself. I was deteriorating. The virus was taking over my brain and body!”

“That’s no excuse!” she snarled.

“You don’t understand! Do you honestly think I want to live this way? I couldn’t stop myself, Claire! I had no idea that I did it until the fresh intake kicked in! It’s like sharks when there’s chum in the water! The virus was taking over my mind and directing me. The longer I go without a fix, the more the virus takes over my body. That’s why those people, those undeads, are doing what they are doing! It’s the virus that has taken over their brains. They know nothing except they need to get their fix! We are like heroin addicts. It’s no longer a want; it’s a need.” Henry was choking back tears. “It pains me to know what I did to you, Nick, and to know I could have done it to any one of you. What if I did it to you, my love?” He was having a hard time getting his words out. He could only think of what could have happened.

“So to keep the three of you from becoming truly undead, you need a fix like a heroin addict?” Claire was trying to process all the information without pissing off Henry too much. She seemed to be a little frightened that they would turn on her. I had a feeling they wouldn’t. I figured if they were going to turn on us, they would have already.

“In a way, but not as frequent. If we can get a large vial about once a day or every other day, and a large quantity once in a while, we would be in as normal a state as we can be in. But that’s not always feasible.” Claire tried to process what she had just heard. The punk ass kid had retreated to the corner and sat on the floor to watch the surroundings, and I still stood there like a moron, staring at Henry. Everyone was silent for a few moments.

“I cannot fucking believe I have to drink blood now.” Nick was in an entirely unpleasant mood. I can’t say as I blamed him.

I could see Claire was rolling everything through her mind. His truth was difficult to process. She looked at me and pulled me in close. The thought of human beings doing this to other human beings changed my perspective of how dysfunctional the world truly was. I didn’t want to hear any more. Then Claire, ever the inquisitive one, decided there were a couple more questions that she wanted answered.

“How did he get you tied up?” Claire pointed at the kid.

“I was weak, and he grabbed me from behind and hit me over the head with that bloody gun of his. Which is empty, by the way. I was trying to tell you that. By the time he got me tied up, I had started returning back to my normal state. But I was stuck and bound.”

“I’m still lost about your eye-coloring. Why did his change to the same as yours?” she asked.

“It is like a chemical reaction of some sort. Since it is a man-made virus, a lot of chemical components are involved. I don’t have all the answers, but if we change all the way, we would have the gray glazed eyes like the undeads.” I shuddered. The little boy’s eyes came back into my mind. Then I flashed to my dream about Henry.

“That’s why yours look gray sometimes? If we see more eyes like yours, then they are like you?”

“Yes.”

Claire shook her head at the thought of more people being like them. She was fearful of Henry and Sophie, but it was obvious that she felt sorry for them, too. They couldn’t help who they were.

“How many?” Claire shut her eyes, waiting for his answer. I was afraid of the answer myself.

“Before the virus was let out, there were ten of us living permanently here in the States. There are another ten waiting on standby for assistance, if necessary.” He gestured toward Sophie. “There are an additional twenty recruits currently working through the program.”

“And this Gunther can help?” Claire asked.

“Maybe.” Henry looked at me and stepped forward. The want was in his body language. His eyes spoke volumes. They were so full of love. I didn’t move away from him that time. “Please say something, love.” He reached for my face, and cupped it in his cold, almost dead hands.

“I…I…”

“It’s alright, love. Take your time.” His voice was soft and tender.

“I’ve been fucking a dead person,” I whispered. It was all that I had.

He raised an eyebrow. “I guess you could look at it like that.” He paused. “Elaina, I am just like you, but I’m sick.”

“Sick…dead…sick…,” I mumbled.

I felt myself going down, and the lights went out.

***

“Whoa!” Henry yelled. He tried to grab her, but she hit the counter and then fell to the floor. “Shit! Elaina!” He dropped down to her side. “Love! Wake up!” His hands trembled as he tried to wake her. Then he saw blood coming out of the back of her head. “Shit!”

Nick looked down and saw the thick red liquid dripping on the floor. He groaned. Henry looked at him. Nick’s eyes were graying already. “Back off! You’re too fresh. Sophie, grab one of those small coffee cups.” Nick took a couple steps backward, licking his lips.

“What? What the hell do you need a cup for?” Claire knelt down next to Elaina.

“The blood. We can collect some for Nick. He needs to have some…before things go awry.”

“Go awry? I do believe we are already past that point,” Sophie grumbled as she headed for the cups.

“This won’t hurt her?” Claire asked with great worry.

“No. Do you think I would hurt her?” Claire lifted her eyebrow. “Fuck me.
Physically
, do you think I would harm her?”

“No, probably not. I would hope not.” She was concerned. Henry held the cup Sophie handed him under the small gash on Elaina’s head.

“Just let me get about a vial’s worth, then I will take her out and stitch up her head.” Claire was nervous, watching everything unfold. She worried that Elaina was seriously injured.

Nick’s joints and muscles were becoming stiffer by the second. He growled as the blaring headache started kicking in. Claire looked up at him. She recognized the symptoms. He looked just like Henry when he was struggling with his pain.

“Here, mate. Drink up.” Henry handed him the cup. Nick looked at the contents, and swirled the blood around the cup. “Drink it! Trust me, you will feel better.” Henry tucked his bloodied t-shirt behind Elaina’s head.

Nick tossed back what little blood there was in the cup. “Fuuuck…,” he moaned. He started rolling his neck. His face was changing from a pained expression to more of a relaxed state. He looked over at Claire, and he felt a rush of erotic desire when their eyes met. He felt a stirring in his jeans. Then he exhaled loudly, and shook off all of his thoughts and feelings for the moment. Slowly, his joints and muscles freed up. Then his focus turned to Elaina when she moaned.

“I think she’s waking up,” Claire said.

***

I began to come to. My head was pounding, and all I could see were emeralds sparkling in front of me. Beautiful green sparkly emeralds…Wait a second. It was Henry, Sophie, and Nick. I gasped and weakly pushed myself back to get away from them.

“Elaina. Elaina, my love. Please, take it easy.” His voice echoed in my head. “You hit your head.”

My vision became somewhat clearer. “Henry?” I rasped.

“I’m right here, love.”

“Are you going to bite me?”

“No, I won’t.” I was still frightened, and struggled some to get away from him.

“Please, you have a small gash on your head.” I was shivering under all the cool breath that was coming at me. Then I saw Claire. She had real eyes. Bright blue eyes.

“Claire?”

“Oh, honey.” She looked so sad. Her eyes were wet with tears. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get you fixed up.”

“What hap…happened?”

“You passed out and when you fell, you hit your head on the counter.” I wanted to go back to sleep. I felt my eyelids closing. “Elaina, stay with me. You have to tell me what else you are feeling.” I forced my eyes open.

“My head. It h-hurts. Headache.” The pain was almost blinding. I tried to reach up to the spot.

“No, honey, save your energy.”

“Will she be okay?” I heard Nick’s voice in the distance, echoing in my head. I looked around, trying to find him.

“Nick…” I whispered.

“I’m right here, sis.” I saw him kneeling down next to me. Maybe it was all a nightmare. I saw that his eyes were still emerald green, and I was confused.

Henry said, “Let’s just get you to the truck and then, after you rest, we will talk more about it.”

“Okay,” I whispered. “Water, please?”

“Sophie, run out and get Elaina some water, please, before we move her.” I heard the familiar clicking of her heels go past me. It was almost a comforting sound to me because it was something I knew.

A minute later, Claire raised my head a little, and I took a few sips of water. I felt myself drifting. “Is there anything else you can feel or not feel?”

“Sleep,” I murmured, and drifted back off.

***

“Now what?” Claire asked in a mild panic.

“Let’s get her into the truck. We can fold the seats down and try to keep her comfortable while we medically attend to her.” Henry reached down and scooped Elaina up.

Just as he took one step toward the door, they heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun pump. They all stopped dead in their tracks. Henry turned his head, still holding Elaina firmly in front of him, only to see the little punk ass kid pointing a shotgun at everyone. “No one is goin’ nowhere!”

“Listen, kid…” Henry started. He realized he must have had some shells stashed away in his pockets. He cursed at himself for not checking. After he had tied him up in the back room, the kid showed him that his gun was empty and laughed. Henry wasn’t amused.

“I ain’t no, kid!”

“Okay, mate. Listen, we need to get her in a safe zone so we can clean her up and stitch her if need be.”

“I ain’t lettin’ you undeads, or whatever the fuck you are, leave!”

“We
need
to tend to her medically. Let us at least take her to the truck.” Sophie started to maneuver her way around behind him, while Henry held his attention. They worked well together because they were so in sync.

“What about my deal? I was supposed to get some supplies in exchange for not shootin’ you.” Sophie grabbed his neck from behind, and shoved him onto the cold hard floor with her knee jammed in his back.

“ARRRG! Get off of me, you whore!” She jammed her knee into him further. His protruding spine began to sway beneath her weight.

“Now it’s my turn,” she growled. The kid continued to struggle underneath her. “You listen to me, and you listen carefully. Understand?” There was no response except a little struggle from him.

Henry, Nick, and Claire had taken off to head to the truck. Before she left the store, Claire turned around when she heard all the commotion. “She has got him handled. Let’s go. We need to get Elaina fixed up.” They hurried out the door.

“Do you understand me?!” Sophie screamed in his ear.

“Yes! Yes!” The kid choked out.

“We are in charge. You will do as we say, or you’ll end up like us because I surely could go for a fix right about now. You got that?! I said, do you have it?!”

“Yes!” The kid coughed and squirmed as much as he could. “Please, please get off me.” He coughed again. Sophie searched him all over. He had a couple shanks in his back pocket, and bullets in his front. She also found what looked to be a school ID.

“Oh, what’s this?”

“Please!” She still had her knee crammed into his back.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh, you really aren’t photogenic are you, Thomas Anderson.” Sophie giggled. She couldn’t help herself. “Is that your name, Thomas?”

“Yes!” he yelled in pain.

“Alright, Thomas. I’m Sophie, and I will be your worst fucking nightmare if you do not follow orders. Now, I’ll be taking this, thank you very much.” She grabbed the shotgun from his hand. “When I let you up, you will walk calmly outside those doors, and wait patiently for your supplies and further instructions. You will not argue, fuss, or threaten any one of us, or you will find yourself true dead. Hmm…maybe we could tap you first. What are you? B positive? O negative?”

The taunting broke Thomas. “Alrigh’, alrigh’! I will do wha’ever you say, just don’ eat me, please!” He was so scared that he whimpered the whole way out to the truck. Sophie kept pushing him with the business end of the shotgun to spur him to move faster.

“Claire, gather up some food for little Thomas here so we can go. And, for the love of god, shut the hell up!” She was tired of his whimpering so she swatted him in the back of the head. Thomas recoiled and held up his thin arms around his head, hoping she wasn’t going to bite him. Not that he could have stopped her if she wanted to. Claire was a little taken aback when Sophie swatted Thomas.

“What do you want me to give him?”

“Hmm… What are you worth?” Sophie stepped back and looked Thomas up and down.

“Alright, Sophie. Enough! Think about this as if he was Samuel.” Henry spoke sternly from the cargo area of the truck. He was looking at the situation while he was stitching up Elaina’s head.

That hit Sophie hard. She had forgotten about Anna and Samuel. She needed to stay in check over it. She didn’t want to give anything away.

“He is just a boy. You remember what it was like for us when we were that age?” Sophie backed off some. She looked humiliated. “Claire, grab him a few packages of food and about six bottles of water.”

Claire did as instructed. She was scared of what would happen if she didn’t comply with the orders. She also wanted to find out who Samuel was, but she dared not cross anyone at that point. The air was thick with frustration and anger.

Henry finished stitching Elaina’s head. He rummaged through the supply box in his truck and pulled out a t-shirt to put on. He helped Nick position her so he could pull down the liftgate. After that, Henry walked up to Claire and Thomas.

“She should be fine. Nick’s tending to her now that the bleeding has ceased. She’s just passed out right now. She may end up with a concussion, though.” Claire nodded with relief. Henry cleared his throat, focusing on the scrawny kid that tied him up. “Now, Thomas…is that your name?” The frightened boy nodded. “Look, we aren’t going to hurt you. We aren’t like them.” Henry pointed across the way, toward the small strip mall. There were two undeads aimlessly wandering near the storefront. “I realize what you witnessed earlier but, I assure you, I will do my best to keep my composure.” Henry put his hands on his hips and looked around for a minute. “I’m going to make you an offer. I need an answer right away, though. We’re on a mission, and I would like to continue it before it gets dark. Understand?”