Contagious (48 page)

The zombies didn’t start off as zombies trapped in a barn. By the looks of it, six guys bunkered up in here, thinking it was safe. One of them must have been infected. A tent lay in ruin, covered with blood stains, and moldy food was frozen to the cement floor. When we went into a room full of feed, I felt the pain shoot through my hip.

“
You’re limping,” Hayden observed.

“
No I’m not,” I brushed him off. The adrenaline gone, my hip hurt like hell. So much it nearly brought tears to my eyes when I moved. Not liking the worry in his eyes, I figured I’d lie my way through this.

“
Yes, you are. I can see it,” he insisted.

“
That’s just my pimp walk.”

“
Very funny, Orissa,” he said, unable to keep from laughing. “Do you need to sit?”

“
No, I think walking will help keep my joints from going stiff.”

“
Probably. You’re really something, ya know.”

“
Thanks.” I wasn’t sure what he meant. Instead of thinking about it, I went in the feed room. I shined my flashlight around, trying to look busy so I wouldn’t have to lift any heavy bags of feed. I just wasn’t feeling like doing anything physical right now. “Hey,” I said, when the light hit a stack of papers. “Look at this vet bill.”

“
What about it?” Ivan asked.

“
The address. It’s on Mill Road. We passed a Mill Road only five miles back.”

“
Sweet. Let’s get the cows, get the medical shit, and go home.”

“
Sounds like a plan,” Brock gladly agreed. The guys loaded up all the feed. We got into our vehicles and drove to the pasture. Not bothering to close the gate, we drove in. The cows looked up hopefully at the sight of the trucks.

Going with the pretense of being a lookout, I stayed in the truck while the guys opened a bag of feed. It was slow going. The cows didn’t recognize us, though they were familiar with someone driving through with food.

Finally, we had the trailer loaded up with as many cows that would fit. I felt a little bad for the long, cramped ride they would endure. I made myself feel no guilt when I remembered that they would be going to a new, better home.

I stayed outside, guarding our trailer full of livestock while the guys went into the vet’s office. I thought it was strange how Fuller told us to go north in February. He was a smart man; he would know that this was one of the coldest months for many states and that we would most definitely run into snow. And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that no humans means no one to plow the roads. Yeah, Hayden’s truck was big and had four-wheel drive. But that did no good on ice and didn’t make us invincible to big drifts and sliding off the road.

We drove straight back to the compound, taking turns driving. We stopped once to refuel; finding diesel was a pain in the ass. Hayden lied about not being tired, thinking it wasn’t right to make me drive since I was hurt. I gave him crap for going easy on me just because I was a female and he got out, letting me take the wheel for awhile.

The A2s and a few Cs in charge of the animals greeted us around midnight when we finally got back to the compound. They would handle getting the cattle settled into their new home. Ivan and Brock piled into the back of the truck and Hayden sped to the shelter.

I turned the water on in the quarantine bathroom. It was painful to strip out of my layered pants. A huge bruise had formed on my right hip, the one I landed on. Stupidly, I pressed it, wanting to measure the pain.

It was a lot.

I pulled my three layers of shirts off to reveal a bruise on my shoulder as well. My neck was stiff and it hurt to walk. This was just effing great. I stepped into the steamy shower, feeling my muscles relax almost instantly. I hoped Padraic wouldn’t be too disappointed when we told him we didn’t have a chance to get the samples.

Too lazy to braid my hair, I left it wet and hanging down my back. I got dressed in pink pajama pants and a black tank top. It hurt to pick up my legs to stuff my feet into my socks. The guys were playing video games and didn’t pay much attention to me. Tired and sore, that was more than ideal.

The clock on the wall told me it was after one in the morning. I got under the covers in the small bed. Hunger woke me up nine hours later. Hayden and Ivan were eating oatmeal while watching a movie. They informed me we had run out of milk, butter and brown sugar. They added syrup to theirs to help with the taste.

I took a bowl, heated it up in the microwave and sat in between the boys. Their eyes latched onto me.

“
What?” I asked Ivan.

“
Sorry,” he said, suddenly flustered. “I’m not used to seeing that much feminine skin.”

“
And I’m not used to seeing it all bruised up,” Hayden added.

“
Oh.” I looked at my shoulder. “My side is even worse. Even the pressure from my waistband hurts.”

“
Want me to inspect it?” Ivan joked.

“
It’s fine. It’s just a bruise. Ugly, but nothing threatening.”

“
Maybe you should have it looked at,” Hayden commented, concern hidden behind his eyes once again. “You know, to make sure you didn’t crack your bones.”

“
It’d hurt more if I did,” I assumed.

“
Suit yourself. You could at least get something for the pain.”

“
Actually,” I said. “That isn’t a bad idea. I bet Padraic would give me something that would knock me out for the rest of the time in here too.”

“
You think he’d do that?” Ivan asked.

“
Sure. He has before. Well, not in the same situation, but close enough.”

“
How did you two meet up? Was he your friend from before like Raeya?” Ivan questioned.

“
No,” I told Ivan. “I had my appendix out before the virus went national. I had to go to the hospital for a checkup after surgery. To make a long story short, I got attacked by a crazy, gassed, and woke up in the hospital basement. Padraic saved me.” It was the first time I said those three words out loud. I felt a little guilty for how bitchy I’d been. As annoying and irritating as he could be, I wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t gotten me out of that room.

“
Gassed?” Hayden asked, raising an eyebrow.

“
Yeah. Padraic told me that some sort of law enforcement agents—he couldn’t tell what kind—came through to save the healthy people. They had knock out gas. He thought it was for crowd control, but that doesn’t seem right to me.”

Hayden and Ivan exchanged glances. “I suppose,” Ivan said, though he didn’t sound convinced “Why were you in the basement?”

“
Padraic took his patients down there. There was a room, a secure room. It kept us alive for awhile.”

“
Then what happened?”

I told them the rest of my story, skipping over Zoe’s death. “And then you guys showed up, so you know the rest.”

“
You’re kind of crazy, you know that, right?” Hayden asked me, smiling.

“
Yeah. Always have been.” I smiled back and our eyes met. I felt that thing again, this time I didn’t want it to go away. I could have sworn only a few seconds went past before Ivan loudly cleared his throat. Hayden dropped his gaze.

“
Do you still want some pain meds?” Hayden asked.

“
Sure.”

He got up and stood under the camera, waving. After a minute, he was still waving. “I thought someone was watching us at all times,” he huffed, annoyed. It took five more minutes before a voice came over the intercom. Hayden explained the situation, assured the voice that none of us were feeling infected and sat back down next to me.

Padraic came in mere minutes later. He had bags under his eyes and looked kind of pale.

“
You need a vacation,” I told him with a wry smile.

“
So do you,” he said when he saw the bruises. “What happened?”

“
I fell. Slipped on ice. Nothing too bad. I’m just sore and wanted something to help me sleep, if you could do that for me.” I smiled an innocent smile.

“
Of course. It’s, uh, the morning though. Do you want it now?”

“
Yeah. What else am I going to do?”

“
We need to talk about your drug addiction,” he joked. “I’ll get you something.”

“
Ok, thanks. Oh, and Padraic,” I said before he could turn and leave. “Thanks for saving me at the hospital.”

His eyebrows pushed together as if he couldn’t quite figure out why I brought that up. “You’re welcome. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be alive.” He smiled, his blue eyes as bright as a clear sky. “I’ll be right back.”

Whatever Padraic gave me was disgusting. I think it was some sort of cough medicine that failed at trying to taste like grapes. Half an hour later, I was feeling sleepy. The guys were watching
The Simpsons
on DVD. I took a blanket from the bed and curled up next to Hayden, careful not to put any pressure on my bruises. Ivan and Brock were in armchairs set at an angle next to and in front of the couch. If they turned around, they would see us. Since we were out of their line of sight as they stared at the TV, Hayden put his arm around me.

I stayed drugged up on the horrible cough medicine the next day. I really didn’t hurt that bad. I was impatient and hated being held back by a stupid injury. Hayden told me Raeya threatened to drag me to dinner if I didn’t get my lazy ass out of bed. I got dressed, braided my messy, unbrushed hair, and followed him down.

“
I’ve been waiting!” Raeya said impatiently. “I have something for you. It’s not as good as designer purses or diamonds, but it’s something.”

“
What is it?”

“
It’s at your spot on the table. There’s one for you too, Hayden.”

A little, white laminated card was upside-down in my spot. I picked it up and read aloud, smiling. “‘Zombie Kill Squad: killing the undead.’ I like it Ray!” My name, class, and division were under the title.

“
I thought you’d like it better. Maybe you’ll actually wear it like you’re supposed to,” she said brightly.

“
I will,” I promised. “But I don’t have one of those string things.”

“
A lanyard,” she informed me. “I’m working on making some.”

“
Then I’ll always wear it.”

Ray and I talked about fairly normal stuff throughout dinner. I accompanied her to the theater room so we could watch a movie with Lisa. We snagged seats on a couch just in time before the room filled up.

The next day Fuller pulled Hayden and me into his office after training. Two detailed lists were on the table. One was alphabetized and the other ranked items in order of importance. That would be Raeya’s doing, for sure. He told us that the compound was running very low on vitamins. Since we had a craptastic diet that consisted of mostly canned food, it was important to take vitamins every day. There were other things needed, mostly hygiene items, that we could get at the same place we found the vitamins.

“
Now,” he said, folding his hands. “I’m going to leave this up to you two. I know you just got back and I would never send you out again. However, those samples are important. It will not be held against you if you decline this mission.”

I looked at Hayden. He shrugged, telling me he didn’t care. Great, now the decision was up to me.

“
It’s fine. But I have one condition,” I stated.

“
Name it,” Fuller said and crossed his arms.

“
We get to go somewhere warm, like out west.”

Something flickered across Fuller’s face. Was it fear? “How about Texas. That’s not so far and it’s a hell of a lot warmer than it is here.”

“
Good enough.”

“
Is leaving tomorrow too soon?”

“
No, sir,” Hayden said automatically. “Oh, Riss…”

“
I’m fine,” I replied quickly.

“
Fine?” Fuller questioned.

“
I fell on ice,” I smoothly lied, though I had no reason to keep the truth from Fuller. I had already lied about it once, might as well stay consistent. “It’s nothing major.”

“
Rest tomorrow,” Fuller ordered. “No training. Then leave the following day.”

“
Sounds good,” I said over Hayden’s formal ‘yes, sir’.

Raeya was meeting with the other overseers today. She told me that the supplies needed to be better inventoried so we wouldn’t run the risk of running out of things again.

I didn’t tell her that eventually we
would
run out of things. The world would run out of things. There was no one left to work in factories. We would have to go back to total old-fashioned lifestyles, harvesting our own food and hunting. The compound had solar and wind powered generators but we still relied on using gas for transportation.

I don’t care how much we needed something; I wasn’t about to go out a mission on horseback. Not while zombies roamed the earth and not while it was as cold as it is. Jason stopped us on our way back to our rooms.

“
Hey, Orissa,” he said shyly. “Tomorrow is my first day on duty.”

“
That’s great, Jason.”

“
Yeah, I’m excited.”

Why anyone would be excited about standing in the cold was beyond me. “Great.”

“
Can you teach me how to use the bow and arrows?”

“
I would but I don’t have any arrows,” I said bitterly, still upset on losing my arrows.

“
Oh, never mind then,” he said, totally dejected.

“
We’ll get more,” Hayden assured him, seeing the boy’s upset. “And then we’ll have Orissa give us lessons. I’m not that good at it—yet.”