Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) (6 page)

I picked at the side of my thumb. “I’m not sure. At least fifteen minutes to get over Grandma Jean’s driveway. That thing is like driving through a damn mine field. But the Hummer would be here before us, right? I’m going to check out the house.”

I jogged up to the front door and peeked through the small decorative glass. Pictures adorned the wall opposite the hardwood panel. Photos of Heather, Brian, and a woman with similar coloring to Heather glazed across the wallpaper. But nothing moved. I knocked on the door. No one answered.

The papers on the doorstep tripped me. I swear the little bastards jumped out at me. I clambered to catch myself on the railing. In another two seconds I was at the gate, closing it behind me. Another glance at the house and back up the road and, of course, I acted like I hadn’t almost fallen on my ass. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s in there. I knocked, but no answer. Should we give them another ten minutes?”

“And then what? Do we assume he’s taken her? Or do we go into town and search for her? What do you suggest we do?” James leaned on the post holding the gate. “She’s not a kid. And I don’t think she’s interested in this guy.”

“I don’t care about that. Hell. He said he was bringing her here and they’re not here.” I did care, a lot. But he was right. I didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I had to be cautious. This was Heather and I had done my best to get her to safety. The last thing I would allow to happen was for some human to come and undo all my work.

Dominic’s arm was long. It was too close to a coincidence that this kid was up from Reno and Dominic was close to Nevada. Hell, he’d said something about Salt Lake, yet hadn’t given away his position. I pressed my fingers over my eyes. “Ugh, James, what do we do? I have no idea how to deal with this.”

James picked at his nail – copying me since we were children – checking the road once more for traffic. “I don’t know. If he’s headed south to Dominic, we don’t have much choice but to follow her, right?” He snapped his fingers, standing upright. “Was Brian infected? I didn’t catch much off him when he passed by. Did you?”

My eyebrows drew in tight over the bridge of my nose. “No. As a matter-of-fact, his smell was decidedly human. I remember thinking I could add him to my list of people to possibly test the vaccine on. Do you think that makes this less Dominic involved?” I could handle that. I’d dealt with jerks before – every jock did.

And Heather had kissed
me
– even with my infection – and she had seemed to like it. If Brian thought he wouldn’t get much competition, he was dead wrong.
Oh, dead wrong.
I had a small chuckle at that one.

James looked at me weird when I laughed, but he let it go. “Should we head back to the house or grab something to eat on the way?”

The paranoia was justified. I couldn’t shake it off. Too much was at stake. Dominic wouldn’t have control over a human. He’d never let a young guy like Brian go without biting the hell out of him. The situation was getting to me and I couldn’t make sense of the details.

I rolled my shoulders and popped my neck to the side. “We need to get home and get the SUV. If Dominic
is
behind this, we need to get them before they get too far. If he’s not, then Brian won’t have far to go.”

Nausea sickened me. My face had to be green. We fell into step, my brother and I, jogging because of the thick underbrush and low hanging branches. I didn’t know if I should be manic about Heather or what. The girl confused the hell out of me and I swear I was going insane wondering what was in her head.

He elbowed me in the ribs. “No worries. Girls do that to us. I’m still crushing on that chick in my biology class.”

I glanced at him. “You realize she’s probably dead, right?”

He stopped and looked down. I ran a few feet ahead and then turned to look at him. The despair written across his face had me backpedaling, fast. “Look, James, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. She’s probably fine. A lot of people were prepared with food storages and stuff to get through a disaster like this. You know I’m an asshole when I’m stressed. I’m sure she’s fine.”

But the lies fell between us, like hot tar. The likelihood she’d made it out alive, if at all, wasn’t plausible. Sobering thought, yet one we had to face. I’d give him the facts, tough love and all that. “We need to accept that Dominic will cater to his desires for world domination. It won’t take long for him to spread his army across the nation. Luckily, he wants something
we
have so he’ll focus on this area of the country, but it won’t be long before he’s attacking the White House and whatever other power positions he wants. Can you imagine if he bit the President? He’d have complete control and never have to actually take the role.”

My head hurt from the very real possibility Dominic could get a hold of Heather and create an antidote that would sustain him in an immortal way while he let his very disposable army wither after twelve weeks. Note, I didn’t say die.

James straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. A hard glint in his eye silenced my headlong pursuit of understanding. “I think we need to talk to Mom.”

Mom? This was hardly the time for a family meeting. “If she can talk fast. We need to find Heather.”

“But, it’s not only about Heather anymore, is it? There are a lot of innocent people out there Dominic wants to take advantage of. There has to be a way to stop him.” His conviction gave me pause. James was right. I’d been so focused on saving my own ass and, of course, Heather’s, I hadn’t stopped to really think about the consequences of Dominic’s virus invading the country. I’d only thought about how it would affect me and my life.

We took off. I was starving, but didn’t dare take the time to eat. I’d love for Brian to be wandering the woods right at that moment – lunch with a side of pissed-off-jealousy. Sounded like the daily special at Paul’s Bar and Grill.

~~~

James banged the back screen door open and hollered for Mom. I winced at the pitchy tone in his near scream. “Man, let the balls drop already. When is your voice going to finish changing? That is irritating.”

He blushed and ducked his head. “Ass. It was done, but since I was infected, I’ve noticed weird stuff like that – my voice, my stubble going back to a peachy fuzz, and my chest hair is different, softer.” He pulled up his t-shirt. “Here, feel.”

“What? I’m not going to touch your chest. That’s sick.” I backed away, my hands in the air by my shoulders. “You want me to kiss you, too?” I smirked, but my heart wasn’t completely in it. I wanted to leave. Heather was gone. But honestly? I had no idea where the hell they’d headed.

James threw a fist at me. I ducked. My mom found us with my arm wrapped around his neck in a half-Nelson. I grunted, “You might be tough, James, but your scruff is fuzzy soft.” Had to get my last dig in.

Mom clapped her hands. “Let go, Paul. Jeesh, you’d think this virus you have would’ve at least matured you a bit. What are you yelling at me for?” She snapped her fingers. “Both of you. Now. What did you want?” For the first time, I felt like I’d never left home. Sergeant Mom was back.

James pointed to the kitchen table. We sat and I leaned on my elbows on the massive three inch thick chunk of oak used for the table top. Someone had treated it and then let it age. Maintenance involving rubbing oil every once in a while into the scraped and scratched surface had created a velvet smooth top that I wanted to run my hands over. Sensitive fingers wouldn’t hurt touching this wood.

Come on.
My right foot tapped with anticipation.

My brother eyed Mom and me, drawing out the dramatic effect for another minute. I shifted in my seat. I hated the boy’s melodrama. But I waited it out, inspecting his face for the signs he’d reported earlier. Not only did his facial hair seem lighter and thinner, but his cheeks had taken on a healthier, rounder shape. Was he reversing with the virus?

Finally, he spoke, placing his hands flat on the table and leaning toward us. “Mom, Paul is going to tell us what Dominic told him and then we need to hear what you think from a strategist’s perspective. Oh, and we think Brian took Heather, so we need to know where you think he would’ve taken her.”

Under the weight of his gaze, I reported what Dominic had said during the phone call, the army and the dead people. But I fell silent afterwards, because I had nothing new to add, nothing to contribute and frankly, worrying about Dominic was getting old. I was tired of it. Flat out exhausted with the whole situation. Heather’s absence had added a whole new stressor.

“An army, Mom, and so far all we’re doing is talking about putting in ditches and preparing to burn things. Pretty much, we’re sitting here on our butts, waiting for Dominic to go on the offensive so we can protect ourselves while he wipes out the rest of America.” James lowered his voice to a soft whisper. “I think we should go after him. Meet him somewhere. Keep him from coming to us and our playing field. I’d rather not lead him here and ruin the only place you guys might be safe.”

Mom thrummed her fingers on the wood, staring at the cupboards lining the large room. She’d lost the focus of her gaze as she scrutinized the actions we could take. “And you think Heather has been abducted…” She didn’t ask, so we didn’t reply. “Well, that’s easy. If he works for Dominic, Brian will take her straight to him.”

I caught James’s attention and raised my eyebrows. He didn’t acknowledge the question I tried with all my might to signal to him. He returned to watching Mom, waiting. He seemed to have a lot of faith she knew what to do with his questions and information.

She regained focus and pulled from her far-off thought processes. She poked the wood with her index finger and used her I’m-all-business-now-so-listen-up voice. “The best thing to do would be to meet him – surprise him with an offensive of your own. This doesn’t mean have an army, you shouldn’t need one. But if you could get one, you’d be better off.” She scrunched her lips and nose. “Although what kind of an army would do any good against these things? Sounds like the police didn’t do well against them, right?”

Mom sighed and leaned back in the high back chair. “I think, guys, that if you want to stand a chance against Dominic, you have to either beat him at his own game or figure out a way to alter the playing field. It might be an option to allow him to have Heather. He won’t hurt somebody he needs, right?”

“Wrong. He’s twisted. Plus, he can’t have her.” The shout nearly bent me in half. I shoved my fingers through my hair. “I like the other idea. How do we beat him? He’s making zombies or killing people. What am I supposed to do? Kill everyone with a gun or knife before they get here so they have nothing to bite? I think they can still raise the dead, I’m not sure.” Heavy with worry, my head fell easily into my hands. I’d kill for a nap and some meat. Where was Brian when you needed him?

“I doubt that would be the way to do it.” James fell silent.

The three of us concentrated.
How do we fix this?

I jerked up as Travis joined us. His ability to keep his movements silent would have to be taken into consideration when everyone went to sleep at night. He could do some freaky shit without anyone even knowing about it.

“I know how.” Travis offered a nervous smile. The man had slowly returned to his more human nature as Connie provided more food for him. And sex, can’t forget about that.

James guffawed. “What do you know, Dr. Duncan?” He looked at me like ‘where’d you get this one?’

Travis replied with the seriousness my mom had approached the issue with. “We vaccinate the people, spread it as far as we can and then hope it sticks.”

“Have you talked to Connie yet? We can’t plan on a vaccine until you two figure out how to manufacture it – in mass.” I eyed Travis. “How did you know what we were talking about?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just heard in my head the problem and then the question how do we fix this? The voice sounded like yours so I thought I would tell you what I came up with.” Straight forward, I liked that.

The phone rang.
Great. Another call from Dominic?
Maybe he knew when I was discussing him because he still had some kind of connection with James.
Hell, I don’t know.
I didn’t want to talk to him this time, though. The man was a prick.

Grandma Jean entered the kitchen and picked up the headset. “Hello? Heather, dear, where are you?” Sweat ran down to my waist all of a sudden. Grandma Jean placed the rags on the sidebar and rubbed the small of her back. “Heather…. Slow down. You’re where? Why aren’t you with Brian? You are.” Cricking her finger my way, Grandma Jean lifted her chin. “Young lady, you need to speak with Paul about this. Because he’s the one who has to come rescue you. And you tell Brian I’m very disappointed in him.” Alarm crossed her face, but her voice stayed calm.

I took the phone with little fanfare. Grandma Jean joined the other three at the table and repeated what Heather had told her in a rushed whisper. I put the phone to my ear. “Heather? Where are you? What happened?”
Was Brian acting on his own? Or did Dickhead Dominic have a hand in it?

Sobs punctuated her words. “Brian told me he was taking me to town to pick up something at the store for his mom. But we drove through town. Now we’re in Coeur d’Alene. He stopped to get gas and is in the station right now. I’m on his car phone. I don’t know where we’re headed but it’s not back to Sandpoint. He keeps checking his watch and muttering about being late for something.” She whimpered. “Oh, hell, Paul, he’s coming back. What do I do?”