V-Virus Infected 1

by Dahlhaus, Jacky

  Chapter 38

  That night, when we were sitting on another kitchen floor, eating a reheated batch of lasagna, Harry told us of the plan he thought up, and a hefty discussion broke out between Charlie and himself. Charlie didn’t like it that Harry wanted to involve Rhona.

  “But it’s only to save everybody’s neck,” Harry explained. “If she also testifies that she saw you two getting killed by humans, then we have a greater chance they will not get suspicious.”

  “But can you trust her?” Charlie retorted.

  Harry sighed. “I already told you, I don’t know until I ask her.”

  It was obvious Charlie had set his mind to dismissing the plan. We didn’t have another plan, so I had to convince him.

  “Charlie,” I said as calmly as I could, “we don’t have to tell her we’re uninfected. All she has to know is that we want to leave Duncan’s pack. Everybody knows Duncan doesn’t want us in his pack, so everyone will be happy when we’re gone and ask no questions.”

  Charlie looked at me, shadows making his face look ominous. “I don’t like putting more lives at risk.” He slid his finished plate onto the floor.

  His words made me feel so selfish. Involving Rhona would make her an accomplice and put her at risk of the wrath of Duncan, whatever that was, should things go wrong.

  “Okay, let’s think of another plan,” I said, defeated.

  “No,” Harry said. He pointed his finger at Charlie. “This is the only way. Duncan will never let you leave, and he will certainly never let you go over to Caleb’s pack. We have to set it up as if you’ve died. It’s the only way for you two to be able to leave.”

  “I know,” Charlie said. His words sounded like they were coming from a corpse.

  Why is Charlie so negative? Harry’s got a good point.

  “I tell you what, Charlie,” I said, “let me talk to Rhona tomorrow night. If I can persuade her to help us out of her own free will, we’ll go ahead with it. If she shows any sign of objection, we won’t do it.”

  Harry and I had to persuade Charlie a bit more, but in the end, he agreed with the plan, pending Rhona’s reaction. It meant another day would pass and I would possibly be even farther from Caleb, but it was the only way.

  After the feeding that night, Harry invited Rhona to come hunting with us the next night. She was over the moon with the fact he wanted her close by. She was obviously madly in love with Harry, and it provided me with the angle for my upcoming talk with her.

  We slept in a large bar at the edge of town this time. It was one of those truck stops and even had a dance floor. After the gathering, Duncan called out the names of the new infected and of those who hadn’t survived the last few days’ hunts. The list was too long, but a small number compared to the humans who hadn’t survived the infected attacks.

  According to rumors, there was no enemy movement in the area, and the remaining citizens posed no threat. I heard Duncan had his bolos trained to scout the surrounding area and felt it safe enough to throw a party. They celebrated the new additions to the pack, the fact that everybody had fed enough, and their survival. Instead of everyone being down after the names of the dead being called, the whole pack went into a state of ecstasy, apparently very happy to be alive.

  The music was loud, and the crowd was heaving with sweaty bodies. I wanted to dance as well. Knowing I could soon leave Duncan’s pack and finally make my way back to Caleb made me feel happier than I’d been in a long time. Unfortunately, Charlie told me to keep a low profile.

  “The fewer of them noticing us the better. That way there will be fewer of them to miss us and get suspicious,” he said.

  I knew he was right, of course, but my soul ached to dance. Instead, I watched the heaving mob from the sidelines and had to imagine myself dancing with Caleb.

  Chapter 39

  We were told we’d begin the next night in the same town before moving on. Duncan didn’t want to leave anyone behind unturned and alive. Come hunting time, we set out with Rhona in our group. She was as giddy as a teenager in love, which she was of course if I guessed her age right. I could relate to her. I just hoped I could get her to relate to me as well.

  She was walking next to Harry, chatting away with him, when I linked my arm with hers and asked if I could have a private word with her.

  “Oh, okay,” she said, disappointment on her face as she looked at Harry.

  “It’s okay,” Harry said, “I won’t go away.”

  I held Rhona back but continued walking with her a few paces behind Harry and Charlie.

  “You love him?”

  “Hell yeah, I do.” Her whole face lit up as she said it. “He’s so cute!”

  “How long have you known him?” I was curious.

  “Only a few days,” she said, “but he’s such a cutie. The other girls think he’s cute too, but they aren’t interested in him as he’s got this blood disease and isn’t strong at all. I don’t care about that. I’m not as shallow as the other girls. They only think he’s a nice piece of ass. I saw how he took you and Charlie under his wing when you arrived, and how he cared and all for you two, and I knew he was a keeper.” She went on about why Harry was so adorable, and while she talked, I watched the bubblegum going through her mouth. I had to suppress the teacher in me who wanted to make her spit out the gum. She drifted off track, so I had to steer our conversation back in the right direction. I had to stop her chatting.

  “So you love him very much?” I cut in while she was taking a breath before continuing her gossip on the other girls of the pack.

  “Yeah, yeah, I do. I just told you,” she said.

  “There’s someone I love very much too,” I said. I put in a smile for good measure.

  “Yeah, I know. Charlie seems like a really nice guy,” she said without blinking an eye.

  “It’s not Charlie, Rhona.”

  She stopped and looked at me. I thought her lower jaw was going to hit her knees, making her gum fall out.

  “It’s not Charlie?”

  “No, it’s not,” and I pulled her along to keep her walking. I continued talking before she could ask who it was.

  “Charlie is very dear to me, but I love someone else. Charlie is helping me to get to him.” Rhona listened, full of curiosity. “In order to find the person I love, we need to leave Duncan’s pack, and we are wondering if you would be willing to help us with that.” This time it was me who stopped walking, and I looked her straight in the eye.

  “Oh, okay, um, I’m not sure what I can do,” she said. As she moved her weight from one leg to the other, I realized that she was uncomfortable with the situation.

  This isn’t going as well as I had hoped.

  Fortunately, Harry came to the rescue.

  “You don’t have to do much, Sweet Pea,” he said as he and Charlie had turned around and were walking back toward us. They obviously had been following our conversation. Harry put his arm around Rhona’s shoulders.

  “All you have to do is agree with what I tell Duncan when we get back to the pack.”

  Rhona didn’t need a long time to think.

  “Oh, is that it?” she asked. Harry nodded, and with a big smile on her face, Rhona said, “I can do that.”

  “Great,” Harry said and returned her smile.

  “You’re a real lifesaver, Rhona.” I put my hand on her arm to emphasize my words.

  With that, the matter was settled. A heavy weight lifted itself from my shoulders. Charlie didn’t say anything, but I could read his face like an open book.

  Although … I can see you’re not happy, but are you moping about the setup or is it because of what I said to Rhona about you and me?

  Chapter 40

  We had decided the night before that if Rhona agreed to help us out, Charlie and I would steal a get-away car and try to escape immediately. The infected would go over the whole town to make sure they didn’t skip anyone, so going into hiding would still be dangerous, I argued. My main reasoning was that
I didn’t want to waste precious time, but I didn’t tell them that.

  Soon after Rhona agreed to help us, Charlie and I said our goodbyes to her and Harry. I gave Harry a big hug, thanked him for all his help, and wished him good luck as I winked in Rhona’s direction. I hugged Rhona as well and told her to take good care of Harry. She giggled and wished me luck finding my man. Charlie and Harry shook hands but didn’t say anything. Charlie only nodded to Rhona. She gave him a hug anyway. As we walked away, I wondered if we would ever see them again. It was beginning to be a normal question nowadays.

  Charlie and I went to the part of town closest to the highway exit leading to Bullsbrook. We picked out a huge all-wheel drive SUV standing in a driveway. It looked like it was fast and sturdy enough to withstand some damage should we encounter any resistance. We were lucky to find it as there weren’t many vehicles left in the streets.

  The moon cast shadows, and we used them to hide our movement. When we thought there was nobody around, we casually walked to the side of the car, and I lifted the door handle. It was locked. I looked at Charlie, but he shrugged his shoulders.

  “I would lock it too,” he whispered.

  I scanned the ground around us but couldn’t find a rock or anything to throw through the window.

  Why is there never one when I need one?

  I tried breaking a side-window with my elbow as you saw them do in the movies, and as I had done with the thrift shop door-window, but all it resulted in was me silently doing a bent-over rain dance while holding my painful elbow. Charlie clapped his hand over his mouth and tried very hard not to laugh out loud.

  Thanks for the compassion, Smudge.

  I stopped dancing and gave him my evil stare.

  “Sorry, it just looked too funny,” he whispered. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’ll live.”

  “Come on then,” and he pulled me by my jacket to the back of the house to which the driveway belonged. When we got to the back door, Charlie broke one of the windows without a problem, and we went inside. It was a mess, with upturned furniture throughout. There would be no humans here anymore.

  “Let’s look for the car keys,” Charlie said.

  “Great idea.”

  We looked in the usual places; kitchen drawers, pockets of jackets, and key rack. After a few minutes, we found them in a dish on the hallway cupboard. The logo on the keyring matched the one on the car. We sneaked around the back again. As we crouched along the side of the house to the front, I tapped Charlie, who was in front of me, on the shoulder.

  “What?” he asked but didn’t stop moving.

  “We’re stupid.”

  He stopped.

  “Why?” he said as he turned his head to me. “I thought we were very clever finding the car keys.”

  “Yes, that was clever, but we probably could have left through the front door.”

  Charlie chuckled, and I had to suppress a giggle myself.

  “Never mind, we’re almost here now,” he said and walked on.

  We crept into the shade of the left side of the car and Charlie pressed the button on the key fob. ‘Bleep,’ the car said, and the four blinkers flashed simultaneously. We waited, but nobody turned up to have a look. Charlie opened the door and motioned for me to get in first. Once inside, I moved over to make space for him and he closed the door as quietly as he could behind him. We sat in the car with our heads low, waiting for somebody to jump out at us from the shadows. Nothing happened.

  “Drive,” I said to Charlie, anxiously keeping a lookout for anything suspicious.

  “I can’t drive this car,” he said with a tone suggesting I was an idiot. I looked at his face and then at the movement of his legs.

  How can I be so stupid?

  “We’ve got to change seats,” Charlie whispered.

  “Okay, you shove this way and I’ll climb over you,” I said.

  We both began moving, and as I lifted my body, Charlie grabbed me by my hips and helped me lift myself over him without touching his lap. I thought it was thoughtful of him to do so as there wasn’t a lot of space for the maneuver, and it could have put us in an awkward situation. When we had swapped seats, he giggled.

  “What?” I said as I adjusted the seat and the rearview mirror.

  “Don’t worry, just drive,” he said waving his hand, still grinning.

  “No, tell me,” I insisted.

  “You really don’t want to know,” he replied again. Apparently, it was extremely funny as he couldn’t get the smile off his face.

  “Yes, I do. I won’t drive until you tell me,” I whispered, taking my hands off the steering wheel and demonstratively laying them on my thighs.

  “You asked for it,” and he suppressed another giggle. “I just couldn’t help noticing that this was the second time this week you were on top of me.” He looked straight ahead, trying to suppress his laughter.

  The cheeky bugger!

  I couldn’t believe my ears. Here we were, fearing for our lives, trying to get me to the love of my life, and Charlie was thinking dirty thoughts about me. Again.

  But it is funny.

  “Smudge,” was all I could think of saying and slapped him playfully on the arm. Charlie laughed out loud. I couldn’t help but smile. Hearing him laugh again was good. I turned the ignition key.

  The car engine roared which we could have expected from the size of it. It was facing the house, so I reversed into the street. The car was almost parallel with the street when I saw them stepping onto the road about a hundred feet in front of us. Two infected blocked our way.

  “Hit it!” Charlie yelled.

  I changed gear and floored the gas pedal. One of the infected pulled out a gun and shot at us.

  “Holy shit! They’ve got guns!” Charlie yelled as he ducked down.

  We’d heard gunshots during the hunts, but somehow, I’d always assumed they were used by humans in defense, not the infected attacking. I thought the infected would want to prevent spilling their food. Unfortunately, these infected were of the opinion that if they couldn’t have our blood, neither should we.

  “Get down!” Charlie yelled, pulling my sleeve, but I was pumped with adrenaline. Nobody was going to keep me from getting closer to Caleb any longer.

  While I kept my head low, I decided to play chicken. I kept going straight for the guy with the gun. Another shot was fired, and the windshield shattered, blocking my view for a moment. Then glass fell everywhere. I noticed the shooter’s aim was getting better as the next shot whizzed past my head, whirling my hair. Just before I was about to hit him, I recognized his ugly mug. It was Mr. Ugly Sweater. Instantly, my memory took me back to the town square in Bullsbrook, his ugly face close in front of me, and I remembered his horrible breath. I pressed the car to go even faster. The other infected pulled my target out of the way just in time.

  Such a pity.

  It didn’t take long before Mr. Ugly Sweater was on his feet again, shooting at our taillights.

  Chapter 41

  I drove erratically from left to right, desperately trying to avoid being hit by Mr. Ugly Sweater. I threw Charlie from side to side in the car in the process. Both of us had forgotten to put on our seatbelts, and I nearly lost control of the steering wheel. I scraped a parked car and heard a bullet hit metal, but nothing slowed us. We got away unscathed.

  When we were at a safe distance from the town and sure we weren’t being followed by the infected in cars, I told Charlie I had recognized Mr. Ugly Sweater as the shooter. He didn’t get my point immediately, so I had to spell it out.

  “If I recognized him, don’t you think he could’ve recognized me as well?” I said. I bit my nails.

  “Oh, shit …” Charlie said as he realized the implications. “Do you think Harry will be in trouble?” I threw a glance at him and noticed he was looking rather pale.

  “I don’t know. Harry does have Rhona as a backup for his story. It’s their word against his. I just hope Harry can pull it off,
and that they believe him.”

  My mind drifted off into possible scenarios, but I didn’t dare to utter them out loud, just in case I would jinx them. The brick in my stomach tried out an Irish dance.

  We drove on in silence along the highway. Clouds appeared and blocked out the moonlight. The road ahead became as dark as my mind was now. I wanted to talk to Charlie, but I didn’t know what to say to him. I felt so stupid and irresponsible. I had put so many lives in danger because of my obsession with Caleb. It was my problem, not theirs. Yet Charlie, Harry, and Rhona had all risked their lives for my happiness. I wanted to hit my head on the road surface again and again. I would have done so if it wasn’t for the facts I’d have to stop the car first and that it wouldn’t make any difference to the situation.

  I found Charlie’s silence upsetting. I knew he was silent because he was against the whole plan in the first place. We hadn’t foreseen this complication.

  And while he’s fighting his own demons for letting me go ahead with it, he’s also letting me get further away from him, emotionally speaking.

  I glanced at him and noticed his frown. Now and again he rubbed his face as if trying to get rid of a thought. Although I wanted to talk to Charlie about everything, I couldn’t make myself talk about anything. There was nothing positive I could think of that Charlie would want to hear.

  The little village where we had spent the night at the motel came into sight. We were to drive past it and go straight to Bullsbrook, but the car began to slow down.

  “Why are you slowing down?” Charlie asked.

  “I’m not.”

  Before long, the engine stopped, and we came to a complete halt. I realized we were out of gas, but I didn’t know if the car being hit by a bullet had anything to do with it. Whatever the reason, the fact remained that the fuel gauge was at zero and the car wasn’t going anywhere.