Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) (12 page)

Suddenly, James attacked. I jerked Heather to my side and we fell to the ground, her cradled in my arms. James tore at the three who’d broken through the vehicle and clamored through to come for Heather. James screamed and struggled – and judging by the terror on his face, it wasn’t just the three strong, well fed, zombies he fought but also their boss in his head.

He felled two, and zeroed in on the third before Dominic laid him low. And hell, did Dominic flatten him. James crumpled mid-step, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, his mouth agape. I grabbed Heather and crawled to his side. His heart still beat and his chest moved. I wrapped my hand in his shirt. Thankfully his shoulder had healed and hadn’t caused him greater difficulty in the fight.

I’d thought for sure he’d leapt for me. I owed him one. My little brother.

Dominic. Dominic would be my prize for him. At some point.

~~~

I didn’t put up much of a fight as they surrounded us. Brian, one of the group, stood with his mother’s blood dripping down his chin and a glazed acceptance on his face.

Heather refused to let go, biting at the first boy who tried to yank her from me. She scratched at another and kicked in the direction of Dominic’s groin when he came too close. Dominic’s face hardened, the humor disappearing. We may be strong as hell, but our nerves are more sensitive and a kick in the sack would not only double us over, it’d most likely kick our asses for quite a while.

“Bring her.” He pointed at me. And what did I do? I pulled her along with me. James in one arm and my girl in the other. The two people I had to protect. The two people Dominic wanted the most.
Damn. What the hell had I gotten us into?

She gripped my forearm, secure in my hold, but for how long? I didn’t know what Dominic wanted and I wasn’t in the position to ask. James was dead weight. I jostled him up to encircle his waist with my arm. I was lucky he wasn’t into football like me or I wouldn’t be able to bear him for more than a foot or two. As it was, we made it inside.

The building was warm, spa warm like I’d just finished a shower. My goose bumps disappeared.

Posters littered the floor, ripped from the walls like last year’s holiday decorations. Glittering on the tile lay scattered paper clips and staples amongst other office supplies.

A low consistent moan called from down the hall to the right. The electricity hadn’t been shut off in Boise – yet. A bluish tinge lightened the walls down the moaning hallway. The noise made the hair on my neck stand on end and a trickle of goose bumps spread down my spine. Whatever was down that way wasn’t for us. Humidity filled the warm, clingy air.

Dominic turned down the hall. Or maybe it
was
for us.

I contained my groan. The nerves in my hands and arms screamed with the weight of James and Heather. She pulled against going down the hallway. I didn’t blame her. I was fighting it, too. But at the same time, any fear I showed would be exploited a thousand times over. I’d learned this first hand when I’d seen the rotting zombies who’d been in the gang before me, chained in a basement cell as they waited for time to tear apart their ligaments and bones.

We followed Dominic and his crew. I had no idea what waited for us. Heather’s hands shook. James slipped in my grasp, but I refused to let go. I wouldn’t drop him. I wouldn’t.

Concrete walls gave way to full length glass panels displaying an Olympic-sized swimming pool on either side of the hallway. Dark masses shaped like bowling balls bobbed in the glowing water. Heather cringed beside me, hiding her face in my chest.

I didn’t want to inspect the sight. I didn’t want to know what else Dominic had going on. I focused on Dominic’s head, the grains of his slightly wavy hair set in a pattern I’d rather memorize. But he stopped at the door, one of his followers opening it for him. He entered the pool room on the right. I had no choice but to do the same.

Water lapped at the edges of the pool, small waves licking at the sides and over the shoulders of the bodies suspended in the viscous mass. The moans boomed off the tiled walls, echoing and swimming around us, trapping us in our own form of viscous material. So many moans. I cringed.

Bodies. He had tens, maybe hundreds, of boys and men floating or standing in the clear water. In the shallow part, there was no definite line between the bodies, crushed together like a school of fish waiting for food or a predator to wander by. All of their eyes were closed and they didn’t acknowledge our entrance.

Dominic’s voice echoed in the cavernous area. “Take James into the water, Paul. I’ll let you decide where he goes.” He pointed toward the ladder secured exactly between the shallower end and the deeper end.

“What the hell? James doesn’t need to go in there. He’s fine.” I tightened my grip on my brother.

“I don’t trust him. You and I need to figure some things out. I could kill you, but I need too much from you, right now.” He pointed to the water. “Put him in there. The guys are just in hibernation, like they’re frozen. No big deal. If he’s in there, he’s safe from me. Consider it a goodwill offer.”

I remembered how ineffective I was when Travis had been too cold. He hadn’t acknowledged me. I’d love for James to not have to worry about Dominic while I dealt with the bastard.

I didn’t want to, but the logic was hard to deny. If James were out of immediate harm’s way, I could focus on Dominic and protecting Heather. There was no way I would get out of there, if I tried making a break for it with both of my prizes tucked under my arm.

James wasn’t the best swimmer, but he was tall. The shallow end would be the best bet.

Closer to the edge of the pool, I got my first glimpse of the bodies floating under the surface. Who knows how long they’d been there. But their hands drifted in the slight current created by the large filter. It’d be just a matter of time before one of them was sucked into the filter and unable to get out. Half-expecting to see one break the water for air, I dragged James closer to the furthest part of the shallow end. Were their bodies dead?

I lowered James into the water. His eyes flew open and he thrashed against my hold, splashing freezing water on my exposed hands and forearms. I pulled back fast, releasing him into the four-and-a-half feet depth. He couldn’t fight against the wet weight of his pants and jacket. But he tried pulling them off, unzipping his jacket with tremoring hands. His eyes met mine as the cold overtook him. I hoped it was water in his eyes and not tears.

His movements slowed. I swallowed. Heather again stuck against my side, having slipped back the barest distance to allow me to put James into the pool. My brother’s face twisted like he wanted to cry. He mouthed, “Paul, please.” Then his eyes closed and he slid into a frozen state that reminded me of how Travis had acted at the house after he’d been converted – like the power had been shut off. I rocked back on my feet, unsure I could leave him in there. The water reached above his waist, almost to his shoulders, covering enough to overwhelm him.

Dominic’s voice rebounded on the walls. The eerie quality only added to the tortured moment. “Don’t worry, Paul. He’s frozen, almost literally. They don’t gray, their bodies stop hungering, pretty much they become dormant. James will be fine until you and I come to an agreement. I promise my boys won’t touch him and they’ll make sure he stays above the water line.” He motioned for us to follow him.

One more glance at my coma-like brother. How could I do this to him? How could I lose control of a situation I shouldn’t even be in? Heather’s silent sobs pummeled my chest as her hot breath beat through my shirt. We left the cooler swimming room and stopped outside the closed doors. Heat caressed me and I flinched.

Dominic noticed, of course. He threw an arm over my shoulder, brushing his fingers over Heather’s hair. She burrowed deeper under my arm. Dominic chuckled. “Don’t worry, son. James is better off than most of us. It’s
almost
like he’s sleeping.” He peered around my chest and slid a seductive smile toward Heather. “Doll, you won’t pull from me soon.”

She lifted her head, fire blazing in her eyes. “Will you be dead?”

He laughed with brazen mirth. “I don’t even know how to respond to that. I won’t be dead before Paul. I might not even be dead before you, depends on how much I can get from your flesh.” He shrugged. “Come. Join me for something to eat. I haven’t eaten for a couple hours.” Dominic slid his arm from my shoulders, the relief of his absent touch greater than the ability to breathe.

I glanced in the direction of where I’d left James, but he’d mixed in with the other bodies. Sorrow nearly crippled me, but I pressed forward, abandoning my brother. And for what? For who? I wasn’t doing anything productive by that time. Hell, I’d shoved three of us into the dragon’s lair with no armor or sword.

I was way out of my league.

Dominic’s group didn’t lead us back the way we came. Instead, we followed the flesh hungry group deeper into the building. Gray walls stripped of their decorations pressed in around us. I pulled Heather further under my arm – any further and she’d be inside my rib cage. Her shock had grown to cripple her and she tripped alongside me, forcing me to half-carry her.

The zombie boys of Dominic’s had started giggling, pushing and shoving like a bunch of twelve-year-olds. The flat carpet changed to tile at the turn of the hallway where a set of emergency doors stood open. Our footsteps padded from the floor to the ceiling, odd how in sync the new zombies’ rhythms were, like they couldn’t help it. Brian had fallen into step with them like he’d been part of their clan for weeks, albeit minus the horseplay.

Mentally, I had no idea what the guy was going through. I’d bitten Heather, but I hadn’t eaten her flesh. I craved her, but I had control. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be so subdued by someone else’s power that I couldn’t stop from eating a loved one. The reality gave me the heebie-jeebies.

I don’t know that I’d want the cure, if I were in his shoes. What a way to live.

I held on to the fact that James had been able to fight it, even a little bit. I just didn’t know why. He’d had the wherewithal to fight it just a bit more than Brian.
Damn, I wished I was smarter.

We didn’t take any doors on the sides of the hall. Our destination lay at the end, where a new set of doors waited like a gate to hell. Anywhere Dominic reigned had to be hell.

The closer we got the louder and more boisterous the boys became. Dominic motioned downward, signaling quiet. His boys hushed, but didn’t calm down. I hung back, holding Heather half behind me, half on my side. Based on my history with the leader, nothing behind that door was going to be good.

Dominic’s oily snake smile promised so much. I remembered how full his promises were – or rather how empty. But something about this one was different. Like maybe he planned on keeping his promise. I just didn’t know what it was.

“Okay, boys. You’ll need to wait. Don’t run anywhere. Don’t forget, I’m first.” He chuckled and pushed open the double doors with his hips, turning at the last second to allow two boys to hold the doors for him.

The number of guys seemed to swell as they crushed forward into the room. I didn’t want to enter as images of the dungeon he’d had in Vegas flashed through my mind.

But the fever of excitement was hard to avoid. Like a mob mentality, it ate at my nerves and a part of me – the part Dominic had instilled in my graying flesh and heightened sensibilities – wanted to join the group and push forward, to be rewarded, to see what I’d been promised and for once receive it. Dominic’s generosity had been in words before, but maybe, based on the excitement he’d surpassed the potential of words and delivered with actions.

Dominic returned to the doorway. With quiet intensity, he said, “Don’t make me fetch someone to
help
you inside.”

Oh, hell. I
had
to go in there. I pulled on Heather. I didn’t want her to go, but no way in hell was I leaving her out there alone.

Screams resounded through the tiled room. After we entered and Dominic allowed the doors to close, the familiarity of a locker room overwhelmed me. The last one I’d been in had been flooded with blood – blood I hadn’t been able to deny. The one bite of human flesh I’d allowed myself to consume. I’d been so damn hungry. Heather groaned. She must remember, too.

More screams overridden with taunts and laughter filled the air. Dominic grabbed my elbow and led Heather and I to the right, past aisles of forehead high lockers and benches screwed to the ground. The screams grew louder as we got closer… to wherever the hell Dominic wanted us to be.

Heather’s grip tightened on my fingers. The smell of rusty blood, old maybe, filled my nostrils mixed with the smell of mildew and the scent of unwashed bodies. The urge to gag and sniff deeply warred within me. Would I never be rid of this constant fighting within myself?

We passed the last locker. Dominic left us to join his boys at the half-wall surrounding a group shower, much like the one I’d sent Heather and her group into before. Except this one was filled with almost twenty women, young and middle-aged, tied naked to the center tower, huddling together. The random scream and repeated whimper filled the stall.

I almost broke down with the injustice. Some of them had obviously been raped multiple times, blood smeared down their thighs. Heavier girls than the others had to be on Dominic’s menu for him and the boys, their layers more attractive as food than sexual capacity. Chances were good Dominic tested the lust versus hunger issue and included himself in the experiments.