by Kate Morris
“Elijah, I’m eighteen years old. I’m not twelve. I want to do this.”
She rolled to face him and slid her hand down the front of him. He caught it right before she grabbed hold of him. A few more inches and she would understand just how much he wanted her. That wasn’t something he knew how to fake, not even just to himself.
“This is no place to experience your first time.”
“But I want to,” she argued.
She was tempting him, tempting his moral code something strong. Instead of arguing, Elijah rolled her away from him.
“You should get some sleep,” he said, to which she glared at him. He grinned. He almost couldn’t believe this. Here the new girl, hot, sexy new girl was basically throwing herself at him, offering up her virginity, and he was telling her no. Damn morality. She had an urgency to experience sex so that she didn’t die with regrets. He had news for her. He wasn’t about to let her die at all. They had time, hopefully a lot more time together.
“Let me make you a deal,” he said, trying to come up with something off the cuff so that she didn’t proposition someone else. That thought made him sick.
“A deal? We don’t need to make a deal. I already said I’m willing to have sex with you. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal for you.”
He laughed. This time he couldn’t stop it.
“Only you would say that,” he pointed out. “But no, that’s not what I meant. I won’t take your virginity just so you can get rid of it. If something happens, though, if it seems like things are going to get worse and we might not actually make it out of all this alive, then I’ll grant you your wish. I’ll do it. I promise. If it seems like it’s going to be the end for us, I’ll do it.” Why the hell was he promising her this? Oh, right. She was a beautiful, beguiling girl offering up her virginity if the world was ending. “Deal?”
“Um, okay. Deal. But what about tonight?”
He grinned. “Tonight, we sleep.”
Her cute frown of disappointment made him hug her to him and bury his face in her neck. She smelled good. Like chlorine water mixed with whatever soaps or perfumes she used. Or maybe it was just her. He didn’t know enough about girl stuff like that. All he knew was that she smelled good like a mixture of coconut tanning lotion and chlorine.
“Promise me you’ll have sex with me if things get worse?”
“Look, new girl, I’m definitely having sex with you at some future date if the world’s gonna end. Just not tonight. Not like this. Better?”
“Tell me about your family,” she requested and pushed back into him more firmly.
If she kept squirming against him like that, he was going to renege on his own deal. Morality be damned. He was thankful he’d remained on the outside of the blanket.
“What do you want to know?”
“Tell me something about your mom,” she asked.
Elijah took a deep breath. It was hard talking about them. He adjusted the bean bag pillow under his head and stroked his fingers through her hair. He started slowly, talked about her taking him to all his practices every summer and hosting lots of cook-outs for his friends on the team. She never complained. That was something he remembered about her very distinctly.
“She always gave and gave and gave and never asked for anything in return from any of us. The only time I ever saw her cry was when Alex left for the Army. She was really sad about that. Then when we found out she had cancer, I saw Alex cry. He was sorry he left and couldn’t come home for more than a weekend leave. That tore him up. Then when Dad and Stevie died in the car crash, it was just the two of us. They discharged him so that he could come home. If he hadn’t, I would’ve been stuck in foster care. He took on the roles Mom had always taken care of. He made sure I stuck to a strict schedule, took me to practices until I got my car, cooked and cleaned, and took care of the bills and all the adult stuff. He was only twenty when he had to come home. It’s my dad’s car, actually- the one I drive. I just got it running with the help of Jeremy’s dad. He’s good at that kind of stuff.”
“Now he’s dead, too.”
He nodded against her dark head. Jeremy’s dad was cool, one of those hands-on, involved parents. He was going to miss him. “Tomorrow, before we go home, I’m gonna zip over there and check on Jeremy. I don’t feel right not being there for my friend.”
Outside the window, the noises started up again, and Elijah knew they were no longer alone. She pushed back against him closer, and his arm instinctively tightened around her. A while later when she finally fell asleep, he rose and went to the windows again. Periodically, he’d see one running by. His gaze always flew to Wren’s sleeping form. He had to keep her safe.
His goal for the past six years of his life was to become the starting quarterback on his team, lead them to as many victories as possible, improve his stats every year, get noticed by a college scout, and finally obtain the right scholarship that could change his life. Over the last month, he felt himself feeling something different from ambition. Although he was definitely distracted by the annoying, irritating, gorgeous new girl, Elijah also felt his priorities shifting.
When everything started going south, he realized that being with Wren and keeping her safe was something he felt strongly about. Tonight, she had wanted him to take her virginity. There was no way he was doing that. For some reason he couldn’t quite figure out, Elijah didn’t want her to hand it over just so that she could experience sex with someone in case she died. He wanted something else. With other girls, he hadn’t cared. She was different, and she was changing him. He felt the shift slowly taking place within him. If someday they consummated their relationship, Elijah wanted more than just her body. He wanted to own her body and soul. Until she felt the same about him, he would wait. He wasn’t even sure how he felt about her, and he didn’t want her to give herself to him unless she had feelings for him. Until then, he just had to keep her alive and safe.
As the noises outside became louder and louder, those things making the sounds they did that were so terrifying, Elijah paced in front of the windows. Then he left her to check the whole building again. As he passed by the pool windows, he saw the same one that had chased him and Wren down.
He slipped behind a concrete pillar and stood in the shadows watching it track back and forth as if trying to figure out how to get inside. It was still out there, had possibly circled back remembering they were in this building. Every now and then it would poke its nose in the air as if trying to catch a scent. Then it would make screeching sounds. Even through the thick glass, Elijah could hear them. They weren’t noises a human vocal range would seem to be capable of creating. He’d watched all the classic Jurassic Park movies with Alex when he was younger. The noises this thing trying to find them was emitting reminded him of those screeches of the dinosaurs from those movies but mixed with a human-creature hybrid. The doctor on t.v. was right. These former people weren’t capable of much other than killing now, but they might be better hunters than any mere human ever was.
Chapter Thirty
Wren awoke from a nightmare, jerking awake with a gasp, her body sweating and covered in goosebumps. Her heart was racing. She was lying on her back staring up at the dark ceiling above them. Beside her, Elijah was sleeping soundly with his back to her. She waited until her heart rate slowed back to a reasonable speed before slipping away.
The second she stood, Wren felt a chill. She slipped her jeans over the black shorts since the material was so thin. Then she pulled on her leather jacket. Her pistol was still resting beside the mats.
Quietly uncapping one of the sports drinks, she took a sip, even though she felt the urge to use the restroom. Stupid slushie. She shouldn’t have drunk so much. However, she also felt parched, strangely enough. Sleeping next to Elijah was like lying next to a space heater. Plus, her nightmare had left her thirsty.
A siren somewhere outside drew her attention, and she crossed the room to the windows to peer through the blinds just in time to s
ee two police vehicles racing down the street. Dawn was breaking, which was strange because she thought it was still the middle of the night. She always woke from nightmares in a hazy state of reality.
Wren stretched her back and then touched her toes trying to work out the kinks from sleeping on a mat with some weird sort of squishy thing for a pillow. She had to pee. It was no use trying to distract herself. The only problem was that Elijah was sleeping, and she didn’t want to wake him to escort her to the bathroom.
“Baby,” she chastised herself in a whisper.
Wren pulled on her boots, laced them, strapped on her pistol, held her breath when Elijah stirred, then quietly sneaked out of the room without letting the door clank noisily closed behind her. The building was still very dark, shadows everywhere, but she kept going. Her needs were outweighing her concerns at the moment. Besides, it was just her cowardice getting the best of her, and she still had the light of her phone to see.
The gray, gloomy light of pre-dawn filtered through the three-story windows to her right in the aquatics center as she fast-walked to the bathroom. Once inside, she wasn’t able to lock the door behind her, which made her edgy. Wren flashed her light under each stall, then felt silly for doing so. She made quick work of her business and flushed. It sounded so loud as the water power flushed down the bowl. She rolled her eyes with irritation. After her hands were washed and dried, she paused as a shiver of apprehension ran up her spine. It wasn’t unsubstantiated this time. She heard a noise.
Wren dropped her paper towel on the floor and put her hand on the pistol instead. She didn’t move an inch, didn’t even breathe. She’d heard something. She was sure of it. The automatic water dispensing system with the red LED light sensors under the tap finally shut off. Her hackles were up. It was probably just Elijah, her brain tried to reason. He probably woke and found her gone.
She stepped silently to the door. The second her hand made contact with the pull bar she heard something again. She jumped. If it was Elijah, he’d gone down to the first floor. The noise was beneath her feet. Wren paused a few more seconds. It grew quiet.
She couldn’t stay put. The door didn’t lock. If Elijah was still asleep down the hall, she was leaving him to hang out to dry. So, she bucked up and pulled the door open without noise. Not seeing anyone in the hall, Wren stepped out into it and turned off her phone’s flashlight. A ruckus, loud and unconcerned, came from the first floor again. She sprinted. Without making a sound and careful not to let her feet slap on the floor noisily, Wren made it to their room and shut the door quietly behind her, locking it.
“Elijah!” she whispered fiercely.
He didn’t move. Wren rushed over and fell to her knees on the mat beside him. He startled and rolled over onto his back.
“Elijah, wake up! Someone’s in the building,” she blurted in a decibel barely above a whisper.
He sucked in a sharp breath and shot to his feet. He was dressed in a nanosecond and had his shoes on in another two. He pulled on his jacket while she did the same. Then he grabbed the shotgun.
“Did you see?” he asked in a husky whisper.
She shook her head, “They’re downstairs. I heard them. It sounded like…” Wren thought hard to describe it. “I don’t know. Rummaging?”
“Could be looters.”
“Could be crawlers,” she added, shortening the already terrifying name being given to the infected people. He gave her a short nod.
“Let’s get outta here,” he said. “We’re on the same floor as the walking track. We’ll try to sneak over there and use one of the emergency exits.”
“That’s far,” she remarked, remembering it was on the other side of the building.
“I think that’s the closest exit,” he said, his eyes pained.
She swore under her breath but gave him a nod, too. Wren followed as he crossed the room to the door. He held the shotgun out front, not bothering at pretense. She removed her pistol from her holster and held it pointing down at the ground. The weight of it felt good in her hand, solid, like something that would protect her. Elijah’s wide back in front of her face also felt good as she rested her free hand against it so that he would know she was right with him. He also felt solid, strong, like something that would protect her.
“Let’s go,” he whispered over his shoulder.
Elijah pried open the door slowly, causing the faintest of creaking sounds. It unnerved her. She followed him through, and he let her pass before he closed the door softly behind them. Wren was starting to wonder if they shouldn’t have just stayed in there with the door locked. Surely whoever or whatever was in the building wouldn’t have wanted to loot or explore a workout room.
They walked down the hall overlooking the aquatics center. She noted the water in the lap pool was moving. Not like someone was swimming laps, but more like someone had recently fingertip touched the water, causing it to ripple. Wren bit her lip until it hurt in order to stop herself from reacting to the fears welling inside.
Elijah froze in front of her, and she almost bumped into him. Then she realized why he’d stopped so suddenly. She heard it, too, a commotion on the first floor again. Then guttural, slurred words. It wasn’t the conversation of people looting. They weren’t really words at all. It was just like that first time in the pharmacy when she’d frozen at the sound of that woman freaking out. This one wasn’t using words, either. That seemed like a lifetime ago, not mere weeks.
Elijah looked over his shoulder at her and indicated they should move closer to the solid wall beside them and away from the glass partition wall where they could be spotted. She followed as he kept moving. They weren’t even close yet.
He made a left at the end of the hall, and she could see the beginning of the walking track up ahead. They still had quite a long way to go, past other rooms and the stairs leading down to the first floor, but at least she could see their destination as he crept steadily forward. She felt a sigh of relief bubbling inside her.
Then the sigh became an exhalation of surprise. All of a sudden, a man rounded the corner, stopped for a second after spotting them at the same time, and growled. There was blood all over the lower half of his face and streaking down his white t-shirt. His eyes grew wider and wild at the sight of them. He didn’t even pause more than a second before barreling toward them.
She stumbled backward over her own feet and almost fell all the way. Wren watched as Elijah didn’t hesitate. He raised the shotgun against his shoulder and pulled the trigger when the man got within ten yards. The round blasted him in the chest and caused a sudden, blunt stop that sent him flying backward and into the wall beside him. It screamed as it hit the wall with a loud impact. The pale-yellow wall was now covered in blood splatter as his body slid to the floor and slumped over in a heap.
From the first floor, someone let out a primordial cry as if either scared or infuriated. She wasn’t sure which. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know, either. Then another scream echoed it from somewhere far behind and below them right before a blast from a gun went off that wasn’t theirs. It had to be from the aquatics center. One of them was, indeed, in there and had probably touched or maybe even drank from that pool. That’s why the water was moving a moment ago.
“Looters and crawlers,” he whispered.
Elijah yanked her arm and tugged her forward from her shocked state of immobility. This was horrifying. It was nothing like running from the Greek mob. Maybe looters had come in, broke in by smashing a door or window and crawlers must’ve pursued.
Another gunshot from somewhere on the first floor sounded off. She was frozen in fear.
“C’mon, Wren!” he urged.
This time, he didn’t creep along in stealth mode. He all out ran, and she kept up pace for pace. They hit the running track, and Elijah sped up even more as she heard footsteps pounding the stairs behind them. It spurred her into running faster.
The sign she passed let her know that three laps were a half-mile. She wasn’t conc
erned about getting in her cardio for the day. She just wanted the hell out of the bloody building.
They were halfway around the track when she spotted the exit sign glowing above the steel door tucked away at the corner they were approaching. Alcoves were designed into the track where pull-up bars, sets of weights and benches were located for those who were into cross-training in the middle of their run. She wasn’t interested in that, either.
As they sprinted past one of those nooks, however, Elijah was hit by someone before either of them could even react. The man charged like a professional football player and knocked Elijah into the metal railing overlooking the basketball and volleyball courts. The shotgun went flying out of his hands and over the railing, hitting the polished hardwood floors of the courts below them with a loud clatter. He almost went over the railing, too, with the big man. He was even taller than Elijah. It was one of those people things. And, like the one he’d just shot, this was not a looter.
Wren screamed and pulled up her pistol, trying to aim it in on the thing. They were wrestling too quickly, spinning around too fast. Then they went flying backward into the alcove.
“Stay back, Wren!” Elijah called out to her as he landed in a heap on the rubbery black floor of the workout area.
Somewhere in the building, another one of those things screamed with rage. She didn’t know if it was because of the commotion they were causing or if they just did that from time to time. Either way, it sent new tremors coursing through her.
The crawler rolled Elijah, pinning him beneath him. Wren approached cautiously and attempted to aim at the man. Then they shifted too quickly, and Elijah was almost on top of it again. That didn’t last long, though. It did some sort of survival mode maneuver and rolled with Elijah twice until he was on the bottom again. Wren still tried to sight in on the thing. It was trying to strangle Elijah now.