by Castle, W. A
“Enough,” I say annoyed and tired, “You guys aren’t welcome with us anymore. It would be best if you guys leave as soon as there’s light.” I’m not sure if we all feel the same way but I figure if anyone feels differently they will speak up. They don’t.
“You can’t kick us out,” Matt begins.
Ulises throws his head back and sneers, “This coming from the people who repaid our goodwill with theft.”
“I will leave, if that’s what it takes. Let the others stay and I will leave,” Nadine looks at me as she says this.
I was not expecting that.
“Nadine,” Tom places an arm on her shoulder. She looks up at him and shakes her head.
“I really am sorry for stealing your gun, Maddie. But I know you would have done the same,” she says quietly.
Would I have? I hate that my answer is probably yes, I would have done the same. I’m a hypocrite and I know it.
“I don’t know if I want to stay,” Stacey speaks up, “She,” Stacey once again points at me, “was somehow talking to those things out there. We don’t even know who these people are!” she turns to her group. Some of them nod in agreement.
“Maddie?” Momma asks behind me.
I really have to do this huh? I take my sweater off angrily. I have to bear myself in front of these strangers and in front of my family and friends. I can’t hide my sorrow when I raise my gaze to Trevor and then to Jax, who hasn’t taken well to the news that I had been bitten and survived.
I ignore the group of strangers and close my eyes as I lift my shirt over my head. I clutch the shirt in a clenched fist. I grit my teeth as I turn 360° to show everyone the scars from my past bites. I know the bite mark on my lower back is still bleeding. I hear the expected gasps of shock. When my fingers fumble with the button on my jeans, cool hands cover mine and stop me.
I startle and open my eyes. Jax is standing in front of me, his body centimeters away from mine. It is then that I realize I am shaking. I haven’t taken a close look at the healed bites that cover my body. I have pretended they just aren’t there. I push away at the memories of my attack every time they want to resurface, refusing to acknowledge that I was attacked and did, in fact, die and came back.
I lift my hand with the mangled finger; another part of me I have tried to pretend isn’t deformed. I look up at Jax, truly open and raw and utterly vulnerable.
Jax intertwines his hand with my raised one and brings my hand to his lips. His face is as hard as stone but his baby blue eyes are swimming with sorrow and guilt. I buckle when his fingers trace a bite mark on my stomach. That’s when his impenetrable facade breaks. When he pulls me into his arms I release the breath I haven’t realized I’ve been holding ever since he turned away from me hours ago. I shake as I cry into his shoulder; I really had thought I had lost his friendship and his love.
“You were bit?” Nadine asks from behind Jax, breaking the moment.
I pull away from Jax’s embrace and face the group of strangers, my skin crawls as their eyes travel all over my exposed torso, the bra I have on doesn’t keep me from feeling completely naked. I straighten my back and hold my head high, “I was bit when I was attacked by a horde of flesh eaters. I survived in the end and I didn’t turn. I don’t know why, I have no explanation to give because I don’t know.”
Matt’s fingers tighten on the pistol in his hand but he doesn’t make any other move.
“How were you talking to those flesh eaters out there?” Tom’s mouth twists in disgust as he says the words ‘flesh eaters’.
“I wasn’t exactly talking to them,” I pause to swallow, my mouth feeling excessively dry. “I don’t know exactly, I just wanted them to leave. I wasn’t even fully aware of what was going on,” I finish with a loud exhale. I quickly pull my shirt back on.
“You people still need to leave,” says Aaron from behind me. When I turn back to look at him his expression is an odd one.
“There’s nothing out there, man. Only hordes of flesh eaters, you are the first group of people we have come across. This is the only relatively safe place we’ve come across,” says Matt.
“There are more people out there. We’ve seen them,” Aaron says coldly, “you will find other safe places.”
“Maddie,” Nadine looks at me, her eyes asking me for something I am no longer willing to give.
“This is the land of the free. You are free to look for your safe haven somewhere else because this place won’t be it,” I say.
Chapter Nine: Broad Stripes
“We ain’t leaving,” says Matt. He looks me dead in the eye then squares his shoulders, “I don’t believe you survived a flesh eater bite, nobody survives that. You were bit,” he points to the bite my lower back, “In a few hours you will turn into one of those freaks.”
“You son of a bitch,” Jax lunges towards Matt but Ulises is faster and in a blink of an eye he knocks Matt out with a punch to the side of the head.
“Anyone else got something to say?” Ulises says in a deceptively calm tone.
The tears and fear on the strangers’ eyes tug at my conscience. Yeah, Nadine took my gun, that’s bad, but now I’m beginning to realize that I’m acting like this just because I’m embarrassed that I hadn’t even realized I was missing my gun to begin with. Will I really give these people a death sentence because I am too prideful?
My head starts spinning as everyone stares at me with different expressions. I need air. I take a big breath and their different smells register in my head. A few hours ago I had stopped smelling the others so I figured I was going back to normal, but the smells are back. I try to swallow again but my tongue feels too big and the incredible thirst has me scratching my throat.
Suddenly the walls and the people in the house begin to crowd me. Everyone gives me a wide berth when I run out of the house.
I make it three houses up the little road before I drop to my knees and vomit. I dry heave a few times before a terrifying thought surfaces in my mind, could Matt be right? What if I’m not totally immune to whatever this disease is, what if last time was a fluke and now that I am bit again, I will end up just like those monsters out there. I can’t keep up with my panicking thoughts as vile rises up my throat again. I collapse unto the grass.
I’m dying. Is the single thought that I repeat over and over again in my head. A deep burn radiates from the bite on my lower back to my heart and then it explodes to the rest of my extremities. My lungs contract and I can’t get enough air. My eyes roll back into my head and I subconsciously know that I am convulsing. Just like the flesh eaters do right before they get sucked back into their living nightmare.
“Maddie, Maddie wake up!” I hear a voice off in the distance calling my name.
I groan as I open my eyes and Trevor comes into focus, “What happened?”
“I came after you and found you on the ground,” Trevor crouches down next to me and pulls me into his arms. It takes me a while to be able to but I eventually lift my heavy arms and throw them around him. My heart is racing so hard it feels like my whole body is shaking and there is an awful roaring in my ears.
“I’m dying Trevor,” I cry into his shoulder.
“You’re not dying,” he pulls away and holds my face in his hands, “You won’t die, you’re immune to whatever this disease is. We do need to disinfect that bite though, I doubt you’re immune to the bacteria in that bite, just take deep breaths” he says lightly, obviously trying to lighten the mood. I let out a teary chuckle appreciating his effort.
“I don’t feel too good,” I close my eyes and I feel his lips press softly against mine. I sigh and press my lips against his; a warm feeling spreads across my chest and the cold terror I felt moments ago dissipates in the slightest.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on,” I whisper, “I wish things weren’t like this.”
“We will be okay,” Trevor smiles at me and it is the nicest smile I’ve ever seen. He helps me stand up. I’m still shaky and fe
eling ill but now more than ever we must all come together. Nadine’s group has survived this far, they’re good under pressure, they proved that today. We must all start looking at the big picture if we want to survive this.
“What do you think about them?” I ask Trevor as we walk back towards the house, him supporting most of my weight.
“Tom and the others? I think they’re good at surviving, you should have seen them fight,” he says stealing a look at me to see my reaction.
“I did, they’re good,” I whisper, “we can’t stay here and it makes no sense to force them out of here when we’re leaving soon anyway.”
Trevor just nods his head deep in thought, “I agree.”
Great, I owe a lot of people an apology.
As we step through the door an old woman rushes past us and goes straight to John, the elderly man, “Carrie was bit! Oh god Carrie was bit!” the woman cries into John’s shoulder.
“What? What are you saying Jolene?” Nadine all but screeches the words.
“Back at the house,” Jolene presses her hand over her face and cries into it.
The house is instantly cleared out and I follow everyone else to the house the guys had given Nadine and her group last night. When we get to the house at the back of the property two women are sitting on the ground, one of the women has her back to the wall muttering to her own self. I tilt my head as I try to figure out what is off about this scene.
“Are you sure she was bit just now, Leena?” Nadine asks the woman sitting next to the one talking to her own self. Nadine walks closer to Carrie, the woman who was bit who doesn’t even notice we are in the room with her.
“I- I don’t… Carrie said she wasn’t feeling good right after you guys left, after we fought those things off. And so I brought her back here and she collapsed,” Leena has her ankle on top of her pack, it looks swollen and bruised, she must have twisted it in the fight, “Phil and Jase are dead.”
“Damn it!” Tom runs a hand across his face and walks out of the house.
“I’ve seen my share of people getting bit, the timeline for succumbing to the disease varies but the succession of the symptoms is all the same. This woman, Carrie, seems too far gone to have been bit just an hour ago,” we all turn to see Jax speaking from just outside the door.
The safety being removed from a gun sets off a series of gasps from the people in the room. “What do you think you’re doing, Luis?” Nadine goes nose to nose with the large man that drew out his gun.
“She’s going to turn,” Luis swallows thickly.
“There’s still time!” Nadine growls.
“We don’t know that, Nadine,” Luis antagonizes, not backing away from Nadine’s aggressive stand, “Look at her! She’s too far gone.”
“Fuck you!” Leena screams from where she sits next to Carrie and then she points her gun to Luis.
“Okay, it seems like there are way too many guns here. Put them down,” Jax orders. Reluctantly Luis holsters his gun; Leena sets hers down but keeps it close.
“Carrie’s been with me through a lot of shit, long before all of this. This can’t be how it ends,” Leena’s voice cracks when she turns to look at her friend who is covered in a sheet of sweat, passed out against the wall.
“We should keep her fever down and keep her as comfortable as possible,” Stacey says as she kneels next to Carrie.
We still have Vince’s bags in the car… maybe he has some medicine in them.
“I’ll go see if Vince had anything we can use,” I say to no one in particular, and then I walk out of the house.
“Hey wait up Mads,” Jax calls from behind me, I stop and wait for him to catch up, “How are you feeling?” he asks.
I smile up at him, stoked that he’s talking to me, “Honestly? I’m shaken up but other than that I’m right as rain,” I look at him from the corner of my eye and continue; “We should move on from this place and keep going on our way.”
Jax looks at me as he scratches his beard clad jaw, “We should, but I thought you had a mind to stay here, make this home for a bit.”
“Nah, I was being an idiot. This place is good,” I take a second to look around and my eyes glaze over the dead bodies on the lawn and falls on the fallen gate, “but I would feel better if we got to your bunker sooner rather than later.”
“I agree,” says Jax.
Did he just agree that I was being an idiot or that we should get a move on? Probably yes to both.
I’m about to open Ulises’s hummer when we hear them, the snarls and growls that will haunt me to the end of my days.
“What the hell?” Jax whips around. There are flesh eaters everywhere! They are getting nearer to our gates as the seconds pass. The noise and stench is unbearable. The horde is too big, the gates will never hold against them.
“What’s going on?” Clara barrels out of the house in a panic, covering her ears because the growls and snarls are that loud.
“I’ll go warn the others, you get everyone out of the house and get everything into the cars!” Jax orders before taking off back towards the others. I sprint up the steps and usher Clara back in.
My thoughts are in frenzy as I start throwing everything into our bags.
“There’s a horde coming, bigger than the last one, we need to get out now!” In an instant we are all shoveling our belongings into bags. Eli and Patty stick close to mama as we pack everything into the cars.
“What the fuck are we going to do?” Lexi says panicked as she stares out, the sun is raised and we can see the flesh eaters crystal clear. The fast ones are already snarling at the gates. Distressed sounds come from the children and Diego starts to wail. I scratch an itchy spot on one of my, now hidden, bald spots. So many flesh eaters.
“Everyone into the cars!” Aaron’s voice booms as the guys come barreling towards us. I grab unto Eli’s hand and push momma and Diego into the hummer, I lift Eli up and he practically melts himself into momma. I pull myself up and Clara comes in behind me, Gary jumps into the passenger’s seat.
Ulises jumps in and the wheels of the Hummer spin in place before we’re all lurched as he speeds off towards the back of the property.
The cars stop in front of the other group and they pile into the cars. Clara shimmies her way towards the front with Gary just as the back door of the hummer is thrown open. John and Jolene are helped inside. Eli climbs into my lap and we all squeeze together and we get the hell out of dodge via the broken gate. The guys work quickly in tearing down the fallen gate completely off so the cars can make it through.
“Do you even know where we’re heading?” Clara asks as she sticks her head out the window from the passenger’s seat and looks back at the receding property. The hummer leads the way back to the highway.
“Well, no but we’re bound to come across a town or something,” Ulises trails off as he taps a nervous beat on the steering wheel.
“Where did we put the maps?” Gary asks as he moves about his seat and reaches across to the dashboard and pulls out the map Ulises carries around.
What I wouldn’t do for GPS right now. This entire area is a dead zone, when we left California that was when the luxury of electricity ended.
Before Gary can even find where we are on the map, up ahead a few miles we come up on a small town called Primrose.
The decision to stop in town and stock up on supplies is made and very quickly the guys clear a random house and the immediate vicinity. We need to resupply but we can’t do it lugging around injured people and children.
Momma looks at me for a few moments right after I tell her I plan on going into town with the group, “If you get yourself hurt out there I’m going to give you a good whooping, you hearin’ me girl?”
I nod at her solemnly, “Yes ma’am.”
“Let’s get going then!” Ulises hollers from the door.
“I’ll be back soon, give Diego a kiss for me,” I look over my shoulder and smile at her as I head out the door with Clara, Lexi and G
ary, Nadine and Luis.
Jax, Trevor, Aaron, Stacey and Tom are going to see what they can find in the houses around the neighborhood and the others are staying put to watch over Carrie.
We stop in the middle of a part of the town where it seems it was the hub center of the whole town. Shops and cafés and restaurants litter the block, fourth of July banners rustle in the wind and I can’t help but thinking they give the whole place an eerily haunted feel of a world that once was.
“Alright folks let’s split up and see what we can find. Pair up,” -with the way Ulises talks and carries himself I can’t help but wonder what he did in the before- “And if you can, we should try and syphon some gas, or hell, try to find a gas station,” he looks around looking doubtful, “You think gas stations will still work?”
“Don’t know but we’ll keep an eye out,” Luis says as he straps on his backpack around his waist. I look around the street we’re on and I can’t shake the uneasy feeling in my gut. Where in hell have all the people gone? This looks like another ghost town and it feels wrong to ransack it, even if we need to in order to survive.
“Want to partner up?” Clara’s voice startles me out of my consternation when she jumps to my side.
I huff a laugh, “Sure,” I say.
Gary and Lexi brake into a liquor store across the street and Nadine and Luis head to the other side of the Quad and disappear behind one of the buildings. Ulises heads off down the road by himself, looking behind every car, staying away from the small alleys between the buildings.
“Think we can find something useful in a pastry shop?” I call to Clara who is a few feet away. She walks over and presses her face against the window of Annie’s Pastries and looks inside. The place looks locked up tight and undisturbed. The rotted pastries inside the display cases make the entire place look like some sort of macabre painting.
“Doubt it. I’d give anything for a fresh baked cupcake though,” she says.
“Ain’t that right,” I snicker as we walk away from the bakery.