PRIME (4 page)

“Aw, lay off him,” Zeke said, coming to Simon’s defense even though he had started the whole thing. “Simon’s not into all that.”

“That’s right. My boy Simon here likes the dick.” Matt Bowers appeared from nowhere and slung an arm around Simon’s neck; he gave him a hard squeeze. “Ain’t that right, fag? You and Zekey boy got yourself a love nest outside the gates. While the rest of us hole up in here, you two are out there sucking each other off, huh?”

“Shut up,” Simon muttered. He slipped out of Matt’s grasp, and glared at him.

“You’re the one with a preteen boy harem,” Zeke pointed out in a drawl. It was true. As they spoke, four younger boys were lurking behind Matt. They were the ones Matt sent to spy or fetch things for him. The closest boy spun a basketball nervously in his hands. “Is it because they have such soft hands still?” Zeke let his hand drop loosely and batted his eyes. Dodge snorted a laugh.

“You know where I’m getting it,” Matt scoffed, pulling Lara closer to him. Lara was a pretty girl with tan skin and wide eyes.

“Shut up.” Lara laughed, slapping away Matt’s arm.

“She don’t count.” Dodge grinned. “That’s where everyone’s gettin’ it. Hell, even Tech and I’ve been there.” Lara leveled her icy glare at Dodge, but Simon saw something flicker in her eyes that made him think Dodge was telling the truth.

“Don’t you talk like that about her, you scrab.” Matt’s face turned red with anger. Simon was sure that there was some beer fueling his anger. It was barely eight, and Matt was surely drunk. He’d probably been drinking since that afternoon.

“Back off,” Dodge snarled in Matt’s face. “We don’t need this right now. Everyone’s watching.”

Those were magic words to Matt, who was banking on the support of the rest of the kids to carry him out of the base. The room had gone silent as everyone watched what looked like it would be a good fight. He looked around the room, and then turned back to Dodge with a frightening smile.

“No fight here,” he assured everyone. “But I don’t want to see any of you talking to these four. Anyone talking with them will be left behind with them when we get out of here. Everyone understand?”

There was a murmur through the crowd as they agreed to this. Most of them were scared enough to agree to anything he said. Dodge stepped forward.

“Well if you’re not talking to me, then those of you looking for burn are gonna be sore out in a day.” There was obvious unease among the older boys.

“The scrab’s lying,” Matt countered. “You know I’ll take care of you.”

“Try me.” Dodge crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin. “And for the rest of you, the ones not dumb enough or old enough to be burning, think about this.” The room was silent as they waited for what he would say. Zeke was right; Dodge did practically drip charisma out his ass. Simon suppressed a smile at the mental image. “You follow this scrab off the base, and there’s no doubt you die.”

“Can’t you see what he’s doing?” Matt asked. Everyone focused their attention back on him. He was trying to remain calm, but he had begun to sweat as Dodge spoke. “He knows he’s going to die alone here, and he wants to keep you here to die with him.”

“Won’t the zombies eat us?” It was Noah who asked. He stood up, face defiant, and called the hostiles what they were. Simon could have hugged him.

“That’s bull, sit down and shut up,” Matt ordered, obviously becoming flustered. Noah didn’t sit. Beside him, his two friends stood. They crossed their arms as Dodge had and stared distrustfully at Matt.

“We have a better chance here,” Dodge continued. “Plenty of food and plenty to barricade us in once the zombies get past the walls, which they will. If you leave with him, you’re as good as dead. At least in here we have a chance.”

“A chance at what?” Matt asked. “To hide until they break in and kill you? Maybe to starve to death once the food runs out, even if it’s a year from now?”

“Can you promise we won’t die with you?” another kid asked.

“We’ll move during the day and hide at night,” Matt said. “We won’t be stupid.”

“And if you can’t find shelter one night?” Dodge asked. “What then?”

“We’ll find shelter,” Matt insisted.

“Well that sounds like a flawless plan to me,” Zeke said. He grinned over at Simon. “What do you think?”

“Perfect.” Simon returned the grin. “Sign me up for the death march.”

Matt grabbed Simon’s shirt and pulled him up so they were face to face. Simon’s heart leaped in fear. Matt was a scrab, but he was a big scrab, almost a foot taller than Simon. Simon tried not to cringe; he was well aware that all eyes in the room were on them.

“Listen, you worthless little scrab. I’ve had enough of you. I swear to God, one more smart comment from you, and I will end you.” Matt shook Simon twice, and then shoved him backward. Simon fell onto the couch with a huff of breath. He struggled to find his glasses and return them to his face.

Worthless. The word hit him in the gut. It was too close to his fears and bad memories. He could hear people whispering around him, maybe agreeing with Matt. Already, Matt was turning away from him, forgetting he was even there.

“Why don’t you just admit that you won’t be able to keep them alive?” Simon yelled, face red with embarrassment and anger.

Matt grabbed the basketball from the boy beside him. In one quick movement he lifted it and slammed it down into Simon’s stomach. Simon doubled over the ball, fighting the urge to puke as pain spread through him.

“Some of them have to die so that the stronger of us live. It’s fucking science,” Matt roared. Simon almost smiled through the pain, knowing that any chance Matt had was now gone. Even guys who stuck with Matt before were glaring at him.

“If we stay here we all have the same chance.” Dodge stepped in. Some of the kids still looked leery; the idea of starving to death was hard to push from their heads.

“We aren’t the only survivors.” Simon’s voice was still rough from pain. He slowly stood up, wincing. “We can’t be. Do you really think that thirty dumb, lucky kids in America are the only ones who survived this thing? Someone will find us, adults who know what’s going on.”

The group began to talk all at once, none of them paying attention to Dodge or Matt anymore. Dodge looked over at Simon and gave him a slight smile and nod of approval. Simon had to fight back his grin; he’d just proven himself to Dodge.

4

John Khane Medical Center

Alice stood behind a two-way mirror as
Grace interrogated Cale for the second time in twenty-four hours. Underneath the tired eyes and three days of scruff the man was handsome, with easy features and blue eyes, but he looked ragged at the moment. No surprise, considering the story he told them. Before, Grace regarded half of it as crap, the deranged imaginings of a man too far gone in a world with few limits. The fact that he made it to their stronghold had been something of a miracle in Grace’s opinion. With the video of the hostiles opening a jar, Alice had a feeling Grace was going to change her tune.

Grace and Quigley had pulled Cale from his bed in order to figure out the truth of his story. If Cale knew first hand what was happening outside, then he had become the most important resource they had. Alice thought the interrogation room was a little extreme, but Grace was in charge and she operated with military efficiency. Before the world had gone to hell, the room had been used by cops who needed to question suspects who were too ill or injured to leave the hospital.

As Alice watched, Grace leaned over Cale. Cale stayed where he was, head resting on his piled fists as he repeated the story he’d told early yesterday afternoon. He spoke in a monotone; bored and exhausted. Beside Grace, Quigley sat back with one leg crossed over his knee. He listened intently to both Grace and Cale.

“You said you’re from the Culex base,” Grace prompted again.

“Oh, good, you were paying attention yesterday,” Cale grumbled as he lifted his head and ground sleep from his eyes. “I thought maybe I was talking to myself. Do you really need to hear all this again at five in the morning?”

“Yes,” Grace assured him. “We really do.”

“I’m from the Culex base.” Cale sighed, sitting up and wiping his face.

“That’s at least six hundred miles from here,” Grace said. She crossed her arms and leaned against the table. She was deep into Cale’s personal space, but it didn’t seem to bother him.

“Six hundred and forty-eight,” Quigley said. Cale turned to look at him, but Grace kept staring at Cale. Quigley shrugged. “To be exact.”

“I’m well aware of that.” Cale turned back to Grace. “Walking half that distance makes it very obvious.”

“You made it that far without being attacked?” Grace arched her eyebrow in disbelief. Alice had to smile a little. Grace was impressive to watch, but Alice had no desire to be in Cale’s position.

“No. I had a moped, and that took me almost halfway before dark. I found a house to hide in, and when they came I shot as many as possible,” Cale said.

“You weren’t afraid they would get into the house? You said they were getting smarter over at Culex.” Grace was trying to catch him in his own story, twist him up in it; Alice had seen her work often enough to recognize her methods. Cale glanced up, first at Grace, then the mirror. Alice knew Cale was aware of someone watching him. She shifted nervously under his gaze.

“I was terrified,” Cale spoke to the mirror. It seemed like he looked right at Alice, even though there was no way he could see her. She stepped back from the window all the same. Cale turned his attention back to Grace. “From my experience it would only be a couple hours before they were inside that house, if I was lucky enough to fend them off for that long. Instead, they just stood around outside. Some of them leaned on the doors a bit, but that was it. I stopped shooting after I figured out they weren’t going to make it inside. No point in wasting ammunition.”

“Why even leave Culex if you knew you’d have to stop and thought they would get inside?” Quigley asked. Grace’s gaze bore into Cale as Quigley spoke.

“Because I know there’s a cure out there somewhere,” Cale said with a shrug. “I wasn’t going to sit around and wait to become one of the undead.”

“Hostiles,” Grace corrected him. It sounded like she was getting tired of calling them that.

“Whatever you want to call them.” Cale held up his hands in surrender, but Alice was sure he didn’t mean it.

“But we only have a vaccine, not a cure,” Quigley said. He shifted in his chair so he could lean toward Cale. “It’s not quite the same.” Cale leaned in toward Quigley, matching his intensity in a way that made Alice smile. She was sure it was pissing off Quigley, though he would never show it.

“I never said I was looking for you. Though the vaccine was a pleasant surprise I must say.” Cale smirked and sat back in his chair. “I don’t know about you guys, but Culex is off the grid. We didn’t have intel on anyone ‘cept our own selves. Last bit of intel that slipped through was that a cure had been discovered. Though I didn’t get the impression it was the sort of cure any of those hostiles-” he glanced at Grace, then back at Quigley- “would be looking for, given the choice.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to us?” Grace sounded bored, but her jaw was clenched, a sure sign he had every ounce of her attention.

“Might to Quigley here.” Cale jutted out his chin toward the other man. “You passed the Kill ‘em all Bill didn’t you?”

“The Bill to Kill, actually,” Quigley said dryly.

“Whatever. Point is, this cure is really just an extension of that bill. Something supposed to wipe out the zombies.”

“Impossible,” Quigley scoffed, but Alice could tell that he was intrigued. “Those things don’t die.”

“Well apparently someone figured out how to kill them.” Cale shrugged. “Now do either of you want to tell me why it was so damn important to wake me at this ungodly hour when you know well enough I’ve been sleeping off the worst hangover of my life? After all you’re the ones who pumped me full of the vaccine.” Alice cringed, thinking back on how she felt as the vaccine worked its way into her system. It had taken all her self control not to vomit. Her skin tingled at the memory. She rubbed her bare arms, wishing she had a sweatshirt in the observation room.