Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) (16 page)

Zombies tasted disgusting.

Heather yelled and yanked at my arm. “Paul, that’s enough. Don’t eat him. Stop.”

What the hell was she talking about? Eating James?
Gross.
I ignored her, but allowed myself to be pulled from him. Blood dripped down his whitish skin. I’d have to be content with waiting while he warmed up. He hadn’t even flinched from the pain of my bite.

I returned to staring at the wall. My inner thoughts plundered each other in turmoil. How much worse could it get? Was there any way it’d get better?

James’s voice pulled me from my pain. “Heather?”

I turned. His face hadn’t recovered its color completely, but the shade had improved considerably. He scrunched his lips up and swallowed, like his mouth hadn’t been moist in months. A feeling I related to well. He forced out, “Where am I?”

There was no sure way to check on the swapping of mind control. I’d just have to take the chance. As close to my brother as I could get without Heather’s scent overpowering me, I spoke fast. “James, you need to get up. Run to the SUV. Drive as fast as you can to Sandpoint and help Travis and Connie find a cure. Warn everyone of what is happening. Heather will go with you. I promise, you can find something to eat on your way to Sandpoint, but the most important thing is
to get the hell out of here.
”

He looked at me like he hadn’t understood a word I’d said. I counted, one, two, three, four, but the numbers didn’t help reassure me. How long had Brian taken? How long would James take? There were too many variables in play. I couldn’t comprehend the damage it would do to my position, if his mind was still trapped under Dominic’s power. To put it bluntly, he’d never feed me to the furnace for letting Heather get away – or rather forcing her to run.

But I counted. And at forty-seven his eyes focused. “Paul.” He nodded. My brother fully functioned as himself. “Got it.” James struggled to his feet. Without another word my way, he motioned toward Heather. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”

Heather stood as if entranced. She trained her gaze on me. “I don’t want to leave you, Paul.” Her tear tracks had dried, leaving behind a stinging red in her cheeks that brightened when she clenched her jaw. Anger sparkled under her vulnerability, drawing me in, pulling me closer. “I can help you get back at Dominic. I have to get back at him. He’s taking everything from me.”

A lump formed in my throat, but I spoke around it. I’d never see her again. She had to know I understood her. I spoke softly, even with the imminent possibility of death ticking ever closer. “I know you do. But the best way to get back at him is to be prepared with a vaccine and maybe even a cure. Get as many people ready as you can. Fighting him is the only way to beat him. He won’t be expecting it.” Plus, it’d give her something to do while I died down here. Keep her mind off things.

Off me.

I hoped.

And yet part of me hoped she’d never forget about me. I know I wouldn’t be able to erase her from who I’d become.

James moved to the door, he peeked out. The absence of anyone emboldened him. He straightened. “Come on.”

Heather and I followed him out the door and into the lobby. The moaning from the pool less irritating since it covered our movements. I pulled Heather back. “Wait.”

For a moment, I imagined we were leaving together, we’d found the cure, I was normal. Better yet, there was no virus, no Dominic, nothing chasing us. For a moment, just a moment. But the moment passed like my life was – fast and all too unsatisfying.

She faced me. I lost the nerve to tell her how much I cared. “You need to hit me, over the head, so it looks like you escaped rather than I helped you go.”

Heather chewed on her lower lip – killing me with the action. There was nothing I wanted more than that right then. She licked her lip and nodded. “Okay, but on one condition. You get back at Dominic for me. He’s taken more than one person and it’s only because of
you
I don’t light this place on fire.” Her fiery anger colored her face and sparkled in her eyes. I could’ve kissed her then, but I needed her to hit me. I was close to going under as it was.

“Done.” I turned to stand by the desk. Anxious to get it over with. I needed something to distract me. Keep me from following her, chasing after her, loving her.

She whispered, “Sorry, Paul.” A solid thud from behind my ear shut out everything else.

Copper filled my mouth. I chewed reflexively and swallowed from desperation. I’d never imagined I could achieve blackout affected by the virus. The sensation had been close to sleep, except I could understand everything around me but I was unable to respond while my head healed from Heather’s strike. Shit, the girl was strong.

“There, he’s coming around.” Dominic’s rough voice was not the first sound I wanted to hear. But at least I remembered who he was, if not where I was or what I was doing.

The solid feel of meat falling into my stomach acted like a key and I remembered how to breathe again. It was like my whole body had waited for this and suddenly I was more alive than I’d ever been. Everything hurt like hell, but at least it hurt which had to mean my body hadn’t died. Theoretically, right?

“Paul, open your eyes. I can see them flickering. Come on.” Dominic’s harshness pushed me over the edge. I struggled to come all the way around.

My eyelids fought me but only for so long until they slid up, grating and grinding like broken glass fragments lined the inner sockets. I winced. Hopefully no tears had leaked out. I could only imagine what Heather would think if she saw me crying.

Heather! Reality flooded back. It’d been nice for a moment thinking the only one in contact with Dominic was me, but Heather and James had more to fear and more at stake at that moment. I had days. And the last thing I planned on doing was making sure Dominic wouldn’t be able to take James’s weeks or Heather’s potential years.

I focused on Dominic kneeling over me and two of his boys over his shoulder. The desk in the office took up the left side of my vision. From the looks of things, I’d fallen just under the edge of the desk and a chair.

Groaning, I tried to sit up, but the room spun and I think Dominic traded places with the desk. I can’t be sure. I lay back down.

“Don’t try to get up yet. You need more meat.” He shoved another handful into my mouth.

I barely chewed, swallowing it nearly whole. The muscle fiber had a different texture from the deer or elk I was used to, but the flavor was amazing. There was a decided lack of gaminess to the flesh, the warmth not overpowering or undermined by the length of time it’d been detached from the creature they’d pulled it from. I accepted the next bite and took longer to enjoy it.

Dominic sighed and leaned back on his heels. His hands fell between his bent knees. The air thickened with palpable disappointment. “What happened, Paul?”

Moisture returned to my mouth and I swallowed the unfamiliar delicious taste before speaking. “I’m not sure.” My voice warmed, dispelling the croak I’d developed.
Holy hell, Paul, make something up
. “I sent Brian to check on the blankets. I think I turned the heat up. It was cold as a witch’s tit in here. And then I tried to, you
know
, with Heather, but the last thing I remember is turning to the table to clear it off.” I reached up to the back of my head. I tried looking worried, anxious maybe. Hard up. “Is my hour over? I didn’t get to do anything.”

Dominic’s grimace didn’t indicate what had happened. Did they make it?

Strength filled me. More than I’d had in a while. I slowly sat up, the dizziness gone. My fingers had returned to full color, relieving the need to worry about the charcoal color turning to black. If my fingers had turned black, they might as well have fallen off.

With my shoes on, I hadn’t checked my toes. I don’t know how close to black they’d gotten.

I raised my fingers to the back of my head.
Yeah, shit, Heather had popped me a good one.
Already healing, the bump only stung when I pressed on it. But Dominic didn’t know that. I winced and tried to play it up. Whatever he’d fed me, healed me at a remarkable rate. Very impressive. And my mind had fallen into a very organized path. I looked around, inspecting the small room for a possible hiding place. Of course, I had to look like a damn idiot. “Where is she? I’m pissed and not done with her.”

Dominic stood and waited for me to join him. My legs and arms had filled out. Nothing creaked or groaned in my body as I moved. He pointed out the door. “She’s gone. She and James got out. I have no idea what happened, but one of them must have clobbered your ass and they ran off. My two guys got a hold of Heather, but were only able to get a bite of her before James grabbed her and got her into your car. They sped off.”

Hell, Heather had been bit? She’d heal if it wasn’t too bad, but what if it was? She was immune to the virus –
not
to a wound. I broke out in a sweat.

The moisture must have shined on my face. Dominic patted my shoulder and handed another piece of meat my way. “No worries, Paul. I don’t blame you. Judging by the color your skin had been when I got here there wasn’t much you could do anyway.” He propelled me out the door, never removing his hand from my arm. “Let’s go. You can help me plan how we get the bitch back. And since I’m going that far north, Duncan will have to make it worth my efforts.” He leaned close to me, trying to keep his words just between us. “I have a theory this virus could make us immortal, if we could unlock the atrophying and death of the bodies.”

Going north? I had to have misunderstood him. It was cold north. He couldn’t possibly want Heather bad enough to track her ass that far north. But of course, he’d mentioned immortality. If he had a shot at Duncan and the advances the couple had made, he’d consider it worth his while. Heather was immune and he’d want to nail that, but only his immortality would make Dominic consider uprooting his operation. He’d want to live longer than twelve weeks with the strength and mental capacity the virus gave us.

I’d only assumed before. I didn’t want him to go that way. “You think Travis can do that?” We walked past the pools. Hopefully he didn’t notice Brian or the other two goons in there. Although how anyone could differentiate between the bodies was beyond me.

“You’d be surprised what Duncan can do. Didn’t you say his wife was with him?” The knock to the head must have won over enough trust. He wiggled his hand, the light glinting off his slightly feminine metal watch.

From there on in, I’d have to be as forthcoming as I could – or appear to be at least. Maintain the trust, if not build it more. But how much should be revealed and what would help Heather and Travis and what would help Dominic? “Yeah. They’re both infected.” Leave out the details? I wasn’t smart enough to know what would or wouldn’t help anyone.

His guffaw echoed eerily on the concrete walls. Dominic’s humor could only be tied to someone else’s misery. “That’s why they’re doing this. They need a cure.”

Our destination wasn’t the locker room, as I’d supposed. We turned left two doors before the meat room, into a brightly lit, multi-mirrored workout area that had been converted to a lounge.

Free weights and counter-weight machines had been shoved into the far corner, draped with dozens and dozens of different styled, sized, and colored female shirts. Creating a Christmas tree effect, the shirts had some bright red spots or tears out of them. Ghastly and horrific. Under the “tree” a pile of pants and underwear resembled presents.

If I made it past the next couple of days, I’d never look at another Christmas tree the same again.

A table against the far wall held books and maps strewn amongst papers. Stacked beside the chairs, boxes I recognized from the compound watched me. The damn research boxes. More important to Dominic than the boys he turned into his army.

I took the indicated seat beside him, sickened with my own deceit. “I don’t know if that’s why Travis and Connie are doing it. They seem genuinely interested in helping others with a vaccine. You can create the cure. Make it a race.” Maybe his narcissistic ego would respond to the challenge.

Dominic’s eyebrows creased and the look he gave me suggested he compared my smarts to that of a piece of dog crap. His voice dripped condescension. “Are you serious? You had the only immune flesh and you let her get away. We need the vaccine to figure out the cure. There’s an enzymatic approach to the cure and I’m assuming that’s the basis for the vaccine as well.” He waved his hand at the piles on the table, irritation slicing lines beside his eyes and mouth. “I’m not interested in the vaccine which is why I’m having such a damn hard time figuring out the cure. Even something to slow down the process isn’t motivation enough.”

I understood that. My motivation had just left with my brother. Focusing was going to suck – big. My stomach grumbled. “Do you have any more of that meat?”

“See what I mean? I sit down to research and get something done and my mind wanders. I’m thinking about sex or food or food or killing. I can’t focus on the work.” Dominic slapped the table. “It’s a wonder I’ve done half of what I’ve accomplished.” He leaned back in the hard chair and tapped the side of his thigh. “You know what we need?”
Meat?
“An overall game plan. Even if we do succeed at obtaining Duncan and that girl, what do we hope to achieve in the amount of time we have?”