Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) (19 page)

My heels banged on the divider between carpet and concrete. No, I couldn’t be going to the pool. They kicked the door open, the blue lighting a signal for my terror. I couldn’t go in the pool. I couldn’t. If I went in there, I couldn’t help Heather. I needed to be able to help her. Three days or whatever I had left would mean nothing, if I plunged into that icy water. Nothing would get me out. I didn’t have enough energy to survive coming out of it, if my body didn’t die in the process.

Two more boys – honestly, trying to keep them straight was exhausting – waited beside the pool. My holders shuffled toward them. The pecking order made obvious as they marched up and plopped me on the floor. “All yours. Dominic wants him in the deep end.”

Double s
hit.

“Dominic just ordered us to start the warming process. Can we put him in the Jacuzzi until we clean out this pool? It won’t take long.” Someone to my right said.

I maintained my slump on the ground, head lolling about on my shoulders. The state I was in, I couldn’t combat one of them, let alone four. If I were a praying guy, I’d start praying then. Hell, I’d have started praying days ago… weeks ago… for help. But what do you do when you’re not sure if there’s a God – even if you’ve met the devil himself?

From the left, a hand snaked out and yanked my head back. I kept my eyes closed. Not challenging anyone again. Look what the hell happened when I did that.

The kid dropped my head. I let it fall to my chest and bob there. He and the other guy turned toward the door, tossing over their shoulders. “Fine. But put him in the pool when you’re done.”

Jacuzzi? A hot tub. No way would they put me in hot water when they wanted me to freeze. That’d just be stupid. Plain stupid.

They proved their idiocy. Glad to know I was being held by morons.

The boys I’d been dropped with pushed me over rough tile lines, kicking me with their feet. I contained my winces but wanted to scream.
Scream.
My nerves weren’t made of steel and every jostle wrote itself into my skin like acid etching. I couldn’t breathe. Maybe my body was going to die with all the misuse.

Thankfully the Jacuzzi wasn’t far, even though the ten feet or so might as well have been a mile. They rolled me into the warm water. And warm put it mildly. I sank into Heaven. The water embraced me with open arms and I curled into them like a lost partner, hungry for intimacy.

I held my breath and allowed my body to float freely. I could close my eyes and just let go. I could. But I wouldn’t go away. My body would die… and the rest – I didn’t feel like going over for the billionth time. Thinking about my death had grown redundant. And thinking about living without Heather was just terrifying. Not many things left worth thinking about – unless it involved revenge on Dominic or at least stopping the crazy ass bastard.

They hadn’t turned the heating jets off and my body turned and rearranged in the moving water. Face up, I breathed fast before I rolled under again. The tumbling game continued for several moments before my shoulder wedged underneath the side edge. Hell. Face down. Ever so subtly, I turned my face to the side. Opening my mouth, I sucked in air and blew it out through my nose. Shit, I couldn’t keep up the charade for long. Water moved around me and worked its way over my lips, trying to kill me. Maybe Dominic controlled the water, too.

From the angle I was in, I could make out each boy they pulled from the water. In between each one, Dominic’s goons – if that’s the word for a zombie mob member – would warm their arms and hands in the water about twelve feet from me. They didn’t acknowledge me with even a glance. Bastards.

The zombies they pulled from the water slouched and slumped in a pile at the edge of the Jacuzzi. Boys ranging in age from twelve to twenty-two or so. Some of their chests moved, others didn’t. The shape of one looked like it could be Brian, but I wasn’t sure.

Through the water lodged in my ear, I made out conversation they had when they stood by the water, but couldn’t differentiate who said what.

“Let’s start with ten or so. We just need to warm them up.”

“You warm them. I’ll take them out to the trucks.”

“I don’t understand why we have to thaw them. We’re just refreezing them. Nothing makes sense.”

“It doesn’t have to. Just do what Dominic says and we can eat. Got it? You want to end up like these idiots?”

They plopped one zombie into the warm water followed by another, letting them bob beside me like apples on Halloween. Water splashed my face and pulled me under in a rhythm I couldn’t grasp. I gasped water in and tried not to cough it out. I couldn’t hold it though and popped up from the viscous mass, spluttering and coughing for air.

“Hey! Get back in there.” One of them called.

“I’ll get him.” The other replied.

At least I was warm. I hadn’t used more energy trying to stay heated. But I stood there. Where would I go? They had more food on board than I did. Dominic would likely have more zombies at all the exits. And loading up into trucks – to go north. But according to Dominic the pool zombies hadn’t made it longer than twelve hours. No way would they make the eight hour drive with enough time to wage war. The preparation Mom and Grandma Jean had started would hold them off long enough.

And fire pits? They’d jump in all by themselves without any work on our side’s part.

But I’d never make it. The two boys who’d kicked me into the water came from both sides of the Jacuzzi. I looked up at them, one to the other. I could stay in the water, but what good would it do me? A previously chilled zombie stood beside me. Another. Then another. They warmed fast in the hot water.

But I was frozen.

Shit.

Some of their eyes were unfocused, like they were under Dominic’s control – waiting for instruction. Two raised their hands and moved toward me. Three others had the cataract glaze over their eyes. If they were controlled by Dominic, it wouldn’t be for long.

Brian stood behind two more walking toward me. He shook his head and wiped his eyes.

Brian! Help. Brian, you need to get me out of here.
My control still had to have hold. He couldn’t be freed by the cold water. James hadn’t been and the zombies approaching to strangle me were certainly under control as well.

He raised his eyes and watched me. I’d depleted my energy and sank into the warmth. If I had to go, then shit, I’d go warm and floating. Exhaustion ate at my concern. I didn’t want to leave Heather and James to the things Dominic had planned. But I couldn’t do more than my body’s limitations allowed.

And hell, my body’s limitations skyrocketed.

Brian. Get me out of here. We need to go save Heather.
I focused the last of my strength on Brian. He had to get me out. He had to.

The two boys standing above the Jacuzzi laughed. “Look at this one. He’s gonna eat him.”

Brian’s eyes narrowed and he thrust past the zombies with their arms outstretched, pushing them over in his haste. But anger covered his face and his own hands reached for my throat. He jostled past the last few, overtaking them. The water rushed and sloshed in the small, overcrowded pool.

I’d failed. Poor James. Poor Heather. All those lost people. I closed my eyes and waited for the slicing pain of teeth to drive through my skin.

Brian grabbed me around the waist and slung me over his shoulder like I was a damn chick. Seriously, the skinny idiot treated me like I was nothing but a sack of bones. The air hit my lower, more vulnerable half. I clenched my teeth against the stinging cold.

He spun and my dangling feet hit zombies which had to hurt me more than it hurt them. Brian stomped through the water and up steps I hadn’t been aware of. Out of the water, he continued walking.

The boys hollered behind us. “Hey! You can’t leave. Eat him here, but you have to stay in here.”

But luck was on my side. The two boys of Dominic’s that I’d bitten in the hall before saving James had warmed in the water. Dangling over the side of Brian’s back, I had a skewed version of the world. The boys reached from their spots in the Jacuzzi and tripped up the two chasing after us. I hadn’t ordered them to, but they must have ingrained in them to keep my best interests in mind.

Brian’s pace held steady, even with me added to his wet weight. I couldn’t speak. Too weak. But I could think. Hell, if my circumstances didn’t change, it was the only thing I’d be doing for eternity.
Ugh.
Brian, food. Please.

A grunt hardly counted as a reply. But shit, I’d take it.

I didn’t care how he got us out of there. The next thing I knew cold air had replaced the humidity of the pool room and my body quaked and shook. Brian’s fast pace had a jarring effect, slamming my head into his back every other step. Bam. Bam. Bam. Each time it connected, the chilled cloth of his shirt scraped my cheek.

He dropped me to a grassy section across the street from the YMCA. Lights lit up the road, but beyond that, the dark city looked abandoned. How Dominic had secured electricity for just a block blew my mind. His power seemed to stretch in directions I couldn’t foresee. Brian dragged me into the shadow of a tree. The inky black covered the level of gray I’d reached. I didn’t want to see. To know. How far did I have left? What had I lost to the black? I hoped nothing was about to fall off.

My head pounded in sync with the rhythm of my heart. Damn lungs couldn’t inflate enough. My palms tingled and I couldn’t move my fingers. I had to somehow figure out a way to dissociate from my body. The pain had risen to excruciating levels. The damn sting clung – I couldn’t shake it. Son of a bitch.

“You need food.” Brian crouched on the ground beside me. At least he recognized the obvious.

I forced my eyes to meet his.
Yes.

“I’ll be right back.” He disappeared further into the dark, outside the protection of the lights. Truck engines rumbled behind the building, the sound easily heard in the silence of the comatose city.

The lights were very hazy. Or maybe that was my vision. I couldn’t tell. I allowed my eyes to close. Gray covered me. I could feel it, taste it, like so many particles overtaking me. I didn’t want to die. Not body. Not mind. I wanted to see Heather.

No matter what.

A rustle in the grass. Scraping. Shit. Dominic found me? Nothing would be worse. He’d put me in that damn pool and I’d never escape him.

The hand that grabbed my wrist was wet and warm. Brian muttered, “Here you go. Eat this.” The chunk of meat he thrust in my partially open mouth had a comforting copper flavor I recognized, but was too weak to identify.

Stupid mouth. I couldn’t move the muscles like I had a bad case of lock jaw I’d once heard of. The meat just sat there on my tongue. Juices I didn’t want to call blood dribbled and mixed with saliva suddenly present. The tingling in my palette disappeared. I forced myself to swallow. I got out a croak. “More.”

Another chunk, similar in size to the first one, passed my lips. My ears didn’t sting and my hair lost some of its sensitivity. More, I wanted to scream, more. I chewed. He shoved more in. I chewed and swallowed. I opened my eyes. He turned from me and tore more meat from something behind him in the dark. I grabbed from his hands as they moved toward me. He moved faster, matching my pace.

I couldn’t get enough in me. The meat was unbelievable. Tangible. The grays pushed out further with each bite and swallow. Oh, my skin returned to normal – like when I was human. I breathed in and the dry grass and dust scent mingled with the iron of the flesh.

The pale skin covered flesh.

I took another strip from Brian’s hands, slowly, and tried to peer around him. He saw my attempts and rolled his shoulder to block my view. He shook his head.

I scrunched my eyebrows. “What?” Suspicion angered me. He gave me more, but didn’t answer. I took the chunk but held its warmth in my hands. “What are you hiding, Brian?”

He’d tell me. He had to. I’d ordered it.

Against his will, he backed up, revealing the carcass behind him.

I gagged on the piece halfway down my fully revived throat. An older male lay there. Male human. Half of one thigh was torn into shreds while the other had been almost completely cleaned of meat. His neck was bent at an odd angle.

Before I could let my emotions run crazy, I bit out. “We can’t eat human. He’ll be one of us now. We have no way to kill him.”

“I didn’t bite him. I’m tearing him up and I broke his neck so he wouldn’t become like us. You don’t eat human, but there aren’t a lot of options regarding cattle in the area. You’re going to have to deal.” His attitude stank of disrespect and truth.

“You hate me, don’t you.” I didn’t care, but the fact was important if we’d be working together. I had to trust him. He didn’t have to like me, but damn if I didn’t want to turn around later on and find I’d been tossed in the fire.

“I ate my mother.
You
didn’t stop it. What’s not to hate?” Monotone words, angry jerking of his hands as he tore more meat from the man. His jumbled emotions pushed around us.

I put the meat down. Grateful for the dead man’s protein, but unable to stomach more when I knew what it was I ate. I swiped at my mouth before answering. Hell, how did I answer? The bite I’d half swallowed completed its trip, before I spoke again. “Not a lot I could do. But I get it. You don’t have to go with me.”