Quickly, before he could think about it, Corwin opened the door just wide enough for his body and slipped through. The door closed with a soft click behind him, and the group settled in to wait.
16
Haven Medical Base
Simon and Tessa climbed the stairs to the fourth floor of the apartment building. It was the fifth building they had checked, and so far they had twenty key cards. None of the keys had anything printed on them to identify their purpose. Tessa opened the door of the first apartment they came to, and they were assaulted with the smell of fetid meat. Tessa wrinkled her nose, but threw the door open wide.
A man and woman lay in the middle of the room, their skin rotting and slipping from their bones. Simon reached past Tessa and shut the door.
“What are you doing?” Tessa frowned.
“If none of the key cards work, we can come back. I would have rather found zombies.” He shuddered and headed for the next apartment.
“That’s easy to wish for when the base has been clear for weeks,” Tessa teased, bumping his shoulder with hers.
Simon flushed. “Yeah, I guess so.”
There was no reek of death when he opened the next door. He pushed it wide and stepped into the small, cozy apartment. They were in the living room, with a dining room and kitchen to the left. On the other side of the room, Simon could see the hall that led to the bedrooms.
“I’ll get the kitchen.” Tessa flashed him a smile.
“Okay.”
Simon headed for the bedrooms. He paused at the first door, glancing back toward Tessa. She pushed her hair behind her ear as she dug through a deep kitchen drawer. His stomach tightened as he thought how nice it would be to do that for her. He shook the thought away and opened the door.
An unmade bed faced him from the master bedroom. He hurried around it to a nightstand, rifling through but finding nothing. He hesitated as he rounded the bed, hearing a rustling. His eyes slid over the empty room and dark bathroom doorway. Just Tessa. He shook his head and went to the other nightstand. He grinned.
“I got one!” he shouted to Tessa, and snagged the key card. He turned at Tessa’s muffled reply and took two steps back toward the door. “What?”
“I said awesome!” Tessa yelled back, laughing a little.
“No need to yell,” Simon teased.
The zombie lurched into him with only the barest groan as warning. Simon stepped back under its weight, his hands fumbling to find the thing’s shoulders and hold it back. Teeth snapped, its empty eyes seemed to stare over Simon’s head even as it scrambled to pull him closer.
“Tessa!”
Simon’s back slammed into the wall and he slid sideways, using all his strength to slam the zombie’s head into the corner of the tall dresser. It barely had any effect. Even as he heard the crunch of bone it continued trying to force itself close enough for its teeth to find flesh. He lifted a foot, shaking with the effort of balancing and pressed his foot into the thing’s stomach. He shoved as hard as he could, adrenaline giving him strength he didn’t know he had.
It stumbled back a few steps and Simon darted for the door. He wasn’t fast enough. The zombie caught him around the waist. Simon kicked and turned, unable to stop himself from falling. Again, he got his hands against the its shoulders, but now he was fighting both its desire for his flesh and its weight. His arms began to shake, slowly bending and bringing the deadly teeth closer.
A wet thwump filled the air and the zombie stopped struggling toward him. He shoved hard and it fell to its side. He crab-walked away from it and to his feet. An iron fire poker sat deep in its skull. Simon wiped his mouth and turned to Tessa who was breathing almost as hard as he was and staring at the downed zombie.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” Tessa reached for Simon, wrapping an arm around his forearm and tugging him toward her. “Let’s get out of here.”
They stepped back into the hall and Simon pulled the door shut with a click. Tessa let go of his arm and hugged herself, walking back through the kitchen and out onto the balcony.
“What are you doing?” Simon leaned against the sliding door, unsure if he should join her. He still felt shaken, his nerves jangling inside him. How close had he come to dying?
“Come here.” Tessa waved to Simon. He went to stand beside her. She leaned on the rail, resting on her elbows and not meeting his eyes. “I just need a minute.”
“You and me both.” Simon leaned on the rail beside her. The base spread out in front of them and if he didn’t look to the right he didn’t see any zombies. He lost himself for a moment, trying to pick out which apartment building had been his, but he had no idea. Slowly his heart beat returned to normal.
“Did you ever think of killing yourself when you got sick? Like the people in that last apartment?” Tessa asked abruptly.
“No,” Simon said after a moment. “I thought about it after I woke up though.” Tessa nodded as if she understood, but he doubted she really could. His eyes drifted toward the wall. Zombies stood pressed against each other. Across the fields, he could see more lumbering over to join the crowd. “There’s just going to be more of them every day, huh?”
“Yeah.” Tessa nodded. “What were you going to say back at the hospital?”
“Huh?” Simon asked, tearing his eyes away from the incoming zombies. “When?”
“When I said how weird it was that all the kids at the hospital survived,” Tessa explained patiently. “You looked like you were about to say something.”
“Oh, nothing.” Simon shrugged. “It’s weird we all survived.” He fidgeted, pulling away from the railing. “Do you want to head back?”
“Did we all survive, Simon?” Tessa brought her gaze up to meet Simon’s. Simon shifted uneasily, and she knew the truth. “We didn’t, did we?”
Simon let out a long sigh, turned and took a step away from the rail. “Tech was the second one to wake up.”
“And?” Tessa pressed, stepping around Simon to stand in front of him again.
“He was older.” Simon looked away, back over the base. “I was so glad that someone older was there to take charge, but Tech was even more lost than I was at first. We found another nurse’s gun, so at least we were both armed, but Tech just stayed in his room most of those first few days. He was there if I really needed him though.” Simon looked back at Tessa. “Before Matt woke up, another four kids woke up. They were all zombies.”
“God.” Tessa breathed slowly.
“I shot them all and Tech helped me get them outside. We burned them. Matt and a few others woke up, and they were all okay. I thought it was over, that maybe everyone else would be fine too. Matt and the others took off. They raided all the apartments and brought all the food to the rec center. Tech and I stayed at the hospital. Two more kids were zombies when they woke up. We took care of them.”
“Does Matt know?” Tessa asked.
“After they had all the food, they raided all the alcohol,” Simon said with a bitter grin. “You think Matt’s a drunk now? At the beginning he was worse. Every time someone woke up healthy, we sent them to the rec center. The ones who didn’t wake up right-” Simon shrugged. “-well, Tech and I took care of them.”
“How many?”
Simon met Tessa’s eyes and answered softly. “Sixteen came back as zombies.”
“You never told anyone?” Tessa was wide-eyed.
“Tech and Zeke are the only ones who know what happened.” Simon said. “I told Zeke, but I don’t like talking about it. None of them were any older than us.” Simon said, losing his fight against tears that needed to fall. He brushed at two as they streaked down his cheeks. Why was he always crying in front of Tessa?
“Simon.” Tessa wrapped her arms around him. She was taller than him, and his head rested comfortably on her shoulder. He let her hold him, resisting the urge to pull away and pushing down the guilt. He deserved this small happiness. After a moment, he tentatively wrapped his arms around her, keepi
ng his head on her shoulder and wishing she would never let go. He couldn’t remember being hugged like this. It wasn’t as if Zeke and the guys were giving out hugs, and his memories of his sister were murky at best.
The hug had to end, and it was Tessa who ended it. She pulled back and smiled shyly at him. He matched her look with one of his own, sniffling and using his sleeve to wipe his nose, a disgusting habit that he couldn’t break, even with her looking at him. She reached out and wiped a hand across his cheek, pushing away the wet trail of his tears. Instead of pulling back, she left her hand cupped to his cheek and took a step towards him, her body almost touching his.
Simon’s heart jumped to a rapid jig. She was so close. It all seemed so familiar, like it was set up for something, but he couldn’t quite remember what. Tessa leaned her face closer to his and he remembered. This was what people did before they kissed. His hands began to sweat. He couldn’t be positive, but he was pretty sure he had absolutely no kissing experience, and she was older. That meant she had probably kissed someone before. He could only hope that she didn’t remember it.
He shut his eyes as she closed the space between them. Whatever happened now, he didn’t want to see. Her lips pressed to his, warm and just a bit wet. Without thinking, he pressed his lips against hers in return. Simon’s hand moved up to rest awkwardly on her shoulder. Tessa’s head was pressing his glasses into his forehead, but that was nothing more than a dull throb as the rest of his body swayed with happiness from the kiss. When she pulled back, he slowly opened his eyes, blinking a couple times and adjusting his glasses while she smiled shyly. It was all he could do to stay standing; he still felt dizzy.
“I’m sorry.” Tessa looked away after a moment of his silence. “I don’t know why I did that.”
“Oh, no!” Simon’s brain finally reengaged, and he hurried to do damage control. “That was great.” He grinned widely. A thought crossed his mind and his grin faded quickly. “Unless it wasn’t, for you I mean. I don’t think I’ve kissed anyone before.”
“It was nice.” Tessa’s smiled. “You kiss . . . better.”
“Better?” Simon’s forehead wrinkled. “Better than who?” He was afraid he already knew the answer. The memory of Dodge’s touch on her shoulder that morning came back to him.
Tessa bit her lip and looked down. Simon’s heart sank; she kissed Dodge, he knew it. What else had they done?
“Better than before,” Tessa said. The response was so different than what Simon expected that he stood blinking at her.
“Huh?”
Tessa sighed. “You kiss better than before. You know how you said I never talked to you? You were right. I avoided you because you were the only person I remembered.”
“From before?” Simon’s head swam at the idea.
“Yeah,” Tessa said. She blushed. “I really liked you, but after we kissed you told me you liked-” she frowned, trying to come up with the name. “I can never remember the girl’s name. I didn’t remember your name was Simon either. I thought if I ignored you, I wouldn’t start to like you again. Then you were just always there and after what you did today, killing that zombie at the hospital, I couldn’t help it.”
“I must have been a real idiot to not like you.” Simon grinned. “Geez, the things we remember.”
“Yeah.” Tessa hesitated then leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the lips again. It was over as fast as it began. “Let’s go back.”
They made their way silently out of the apartment building and over to the hospital. The sun was high in the sky and even with a slight breeze the day was beautiful. Simon hardly noticed though. For once he didn’t hear, or think about, the zombies outside the wall. He was too busy replaying the kiss in his mind to notice anything, or to try to make conversation. He thought maybe his lips had been too dry, but she said it was good. Just thinking about it made him tingle all over again. He would have to come up with a cool way to tell Zeke about it when they got back to the hospital.
*
The sight of the hospital brought reality crashing back to Simon. His good mood faltered. They hurried through the empty halls, very aware of the silence and the death it represented. Halfway to the lab Tessa took Simon’s hand, holding it firmly in hers. As they neared the lab, the sound of voices echoed out to them, breaking the silence and the tension.
“Simon!” Zeke grinned as Simon and Tessa stepped back into the lab. “We found the mother load.” He motioned to the bowl that sat in front of Tommy and him. It was a large salad bowl, filled practically to the top with access cards. “We went into this one office and they were all just hanging there.”
“Nice.” Simon slapped Zeke’s hand in a high five. He and Tessa added their key cards to the bowl.
“Everyone found cards?” Dodge stepped into the lab with Tech. They both held handfuls of access cards. Dodge’s face was like stone, but Tech looked sick.
“You okay?” Simon asked Tech, concerned.
“Yeah man, you look about to toss.” Zeke grinned.
“I’m good. We searched all the rooms here.” Tech’s face was pale. “Those rooms just smell pretty bad, and the people are in rough shape.”
“It was bad,” Dodge confirmed with a nod. Simon caught a softness in his eyes for only a moment before he was back to business. “I need you set for this though, Tech. Can you handle yourself?”
“Yeah,” Tech said, though he looked far from able. It seemed more likely he would pass out.
“Let’s head down then. Grab your guns.” Dodge took the bowl of cards and led the group down to the door.
“Is it going to work?” Tessa asked suddenly. “I mean do you really think it’s hooked to the generator?”
This made everyone pause for a second. Dodge and Tech exchanged a series of meaningful glances until Dodge nodded. Tech turned to Tessa.
“Whatever is back there has to be important, so I assume it would be hooked to the grid. They would have probably needed to get to it even if the power was down.”
“And if it’s not important?” Simon asked, worried Tessa could be right.
“Then we wasted a day.” Tech shrugged. “Did you have anything better planned today?”
“I guess not.”
“Tessa, can you scan the cards?” Dodge held the bowl toward her.
“Sure. I just slide them in the slot, right?” She took the bowl and leaned her bat against the wall.
“The light will either come up red or green,” Tech said. “Green means the card worked.”
“Really?” Tessa mocked.
“I suppose it’s obvious,” Tech muttered, blushing.
“No worries, Princess.” Zeke slapped him on the shoulder. Tech glared.
“I didn’t know that meant it worked,” Tommy said helpfully. Simon was pretty sure he wasn’t just saying it. Tessa gave Tommy a look and started to say something, but thought better of it.
“Whatever.” Tessa rolled her eyes. “I can do the cards.”
“I figured you weren’t actually stupid,” Dodge said with a half grin. “Everyone else; guns ready. Anything could be in there. When it comes up green, I’ll lead the way in. Tessa, you take the rear.”
“Okay.”
It took a moment, but everyone got their weapons raised. They held them with minimal shaking and pointed them at the door. The cold gun in his hand brought back memories Simon didn’t want, but he did his best to push them to aside as Tessa tried the first card. Red light; she tossed it towards the stairs.
She tried each card as quickly as possible, one after the other coming up with a red light; access denied. Simon began to sweat as he thought about what could be behind the door. It was a toss up whether to focus on that, or the last time he held a gun. He glanced at Zeke. The older boy was watching him closely. Zeke gave Simon a small grin and a chill out motion with his hand. Simon nodded and tried to focus on the moment. He watched Tessa with the cards.
Just as Simon’s arms began to ache from holding the gun ready,
the green light blinked on. There was a momentary lapse as no one moved, surprised a card had worked. Dodge sprang into action. He jumped forward and took the door handle.
“Here we go,” he muttered as he pushed the handle down.
17
Haven Medical Base
Dodge opened the door with amazing speed, or at least that was Simon’s first thought. Then the zombies came. Five of them stumbled out into the hallway as the door opened. They had been pressed to the door, waiting the whole time. If zombies could be surprised, then these were as surprised to be out of the room as the kids were to see them. The zombies recovered more quickly.
Within a second of tumbling through the door, the zombies were up and clawing at Dodge and Zeke. The half rotting corpse of a woman latched onto Dodge. She jumped on him and wrapped her legs around his waist. She clung to his shoulders as she tried to sink her teeth into his throat. Dodge shoved her away, one hand on her neck, the other still clutching the gun which was buried in her stomach. Dodge stumbled through the door into the room beyond. Once clear of the small stairwell, he pulled the trigger. The sound of the blast momentarily deafened him and sent a shudder through the woman. She held tight and was snapping at his neck again in seconds.
The zombie that went after Zeke didn’t bother standing, just clamped down on Zeke’s leg. Its head shook violently as it tore through Zeke’s jeans. It managed to take a good sized bite of Zeke’s leg before Zeke could stop screaming and think through the pain. He pushed the barrel of his gun to the thing’s head and pulled the trigger, miraculously not shooting off his own foot. The thing fell off his leg and Zeke reeled to the ground. His head spun in pain and confusion.
Tessa stepped through the door after Dodge with the bat held high. He still struggled with the woman. She hadn’t let go of him, but he was keeping her mouth from his neck. She tore at his neck with her dirty nails. Red lines of blood began to flow, driving the woman into a further frenzy. Dodge’s back was to Tessa, and she knew there was no way she could hit the woman without knocking out Dodge as well.
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