by Kate L. Mary
We stop at the door and Jim puts his arm around Tori’s shoulders. “While we’re gone, you two need to get as much packed and onto that trailer as possible. Remember to keep it to the back so I can hook up the chicken coops I made. We’ll cover all the supplies with a tarp so they don’t get covered in shit, but otherwise it shouldn’t be a big deal.”
“We’ll take care of it,” I say, not taking my eyes off Riley.
His gaze meets mine and he smiles, but it’s as tense as I feel. When he steps toward me, I start to shake. “It will be okay. In and out, little to no risk.”
“Are you trying to reassure me that you’re going to make it back or talking about sex?” I ask, trying to lighten the mood.
Riley chuckles, but it isn’t as light as usual. My joke didn’t work, not that I had any delusions that the zombie apocalypse could actually be funny.
“We’ll get everything we need,” Jim says.
I nod, but can’t get my mouth to form words.
Riley pulls me against him for a brief second, kissing the top of my head, and saying, “Tomorrow we can head down to Florida and find our dream home.”
He lets me go and steps back when Jim opens the door.
Tori and I stand on the porch and watch the men drive off, not going back inside until the SUV is out of sight. Seeing them disappear feels a little bit like I’ve been shot. I’m assuming. I’ve never really been shot, but the ache in my stomach is so intense it’s crippling, and I have to imagine that even a gunshot wound couldn’t possibly hurt this much.
“Well,” Tori says, turning to head back inside. “We better get busy if we want to get everything done.”
I don’t answer, but I do follow her into the house. I don’t think we’ll have much of an issue getting everything done between the two of us.
We get busy moving stuff to the trailer, and it doesn’t take long before my skin is covered in a fine sheen of sweat. It’s still early morning though—probably no later than ten—and I know we have a long day of waiting ahead of us.
“That girl must have been worn out,” Tori says as we head back inside to get another load.
“She was, but it’s getting late. You think we should wake her up?” I stop at the bottom of the stairs and stare up. The door to the master bedroom is just visible from where I’m standing, and it’s still closed.
“Naw. Let her sleep.” Tori lets out a deep breath and twists her head to the side, cracking her neck. “I need some water.”
I follow her into the kitchen, distracted from my earlier thoughts of Sally by the realization that my throat is also dry.
Tori grabs two bottles of water and hands one to me. I open it and gulp the water down until my eyes burn. Then I let out a big sigh of satisfaction.
Footsteps pound on the ceiling above us and Tori raises her eyebrows. “Sounds like she’s finally awake.”
“I should heat up the sausage we kept for her,” I say, peeling the foil back from the plate on the counter. “They’ll probably be gross cold.”
“Good idea.”
Tori drinks her water while I fire up the camp stove. Once it’s warm, I throw the cold sausage back into the skillet and push them around, trying to move the little links evenly over the hot surface. I want them to get warm, but not burn.
“I wonder what’s taking her so long,” Tori mumbles behind me.
“Maybe she’s nervous.”
“Well, I’ll go on up there and introduce myself so she feels more comfortable,” Tori says as she heads out of the kitchen.
I hum quietly as Tori’s footsteps pound up the stairs, trying to distract myself from the uncomfortable knowledge that Riley is gone. That he could, at this very moment, be in danger.
I’ve just plopped the sausages onto a plate when Tori’s scream rips through the quiet house. The plate falls from my hand and slams against the wood floor, shattering as I sprint out of the room. Thumps come from the master bedroom, and even though they’re loud and terrifying, they don’t come close to matching the pounding of my heart. I take the steps two at a time, my eyes on the open door at the top of the stairs, and when I reach the top I dash into the bedroom without thinking twice.
At first, I can’t figure out what I’m seeing. Tori is on the floor and Sally is on top of her. They’re fighting, but I can’t figure out why the small girl would be fighting Tori…
Shit!
“No!” I scream as I rush forward and rip the zombie child off Tori.
The girl flies across the room and Tori scrambles for the hall, but the second Sally is back on her feet she’s coming at us again. Arms out. Growling like a rabid dog. Tori is sobbing and my heart is pounding in my ears so hard I can’t focus, but I know one thing for sure: I don’t have a weapon.
“Out!” I yell, grabbing Tori’s arm and pulling her from the room.
Tori barely helps me as I drag her across the floor, and Sally’s nearly on us when I get the door shut. But even having the wood between us doesn’t help my heart rate slow down. The girl slams against the other side of the door, clawing at it. Howling furiously as she tries to get out. Panting and out-of-breath, I stare at the knob. Waiting to see if she’ll be able to figure out how to open it. It doesn’t move.
Gasping, I collapse on the floor next to Tori, who still hasn’t stopped sobbing, and when I turn to look at her for the first time, I see why. Her hand is pressed against her neck and she’s covered in blood. More seeps between her fingers. There’s so much. Too much for such a little injury.
My stomach clenches so hard I’m afraid I’m going to throw up.
“Tori—” I scoot across the hall to where she’s sprawled out on the floor.
Her face is pale and she blinks up at me. “I-I’m infected.”
“Let me see,” I say, pulling her hand away.
The bite is big. Deep. So much more damage than I’d ever imagined human teeth could do, especially from a child, but it most likely isn’t life threatening. There’s infection to worry about, I know the human mouth is full of germs, but we could easily get some antibiotics just to be on the safe side…
The horror of what this bite could mean dawns on me and I scoot away, my hands shaking and my eyes wide. We don’t. No one in the school was bitten, so we don’t know if the infection is transmitted that way. Sure every zombie movie or book ever made had it that way, but what do they know? It was fiction. It wasn’t real. This is real. Tori could be fine. This could be nothing.
I don’t scoot closer.
After a few seconds of silence, Tori swallows and takes a deep breath. “I’m going to turn.”
“No.” Her words snap me out of it and I move back so I’m once again pressing my hand over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. “You don’t know that. We don’t know. We haven’t seen anyone get bitten.”
“Oh God.” Tori squeezes her eyes shut and leans her head against the wall. “I can’t believe this happened. Things were going so well.”
Silent tears roll down my cheeks when I think about Sally and how I let her in here. This is my fault. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “She must have been bitten when she got here. She didn’t say, and we didn’t check.”
I feel like such a fool. Why didn’t Riley and I ask Sally if she was infected? Thinking back on it, I can remember how she tugged on her sleeve and how she didn’t want me to see her change. She must have been hiding it. She knew, but she didn’t tell us.
Tori shakes her head, and puts her hand over mine, still covering her wound. “It’s not your fault. But you know what you have to do.” Tears still fall from her eyes, but her voice is amazingly calm.
“What?” I shake my head, but Tori doesn’t tear her eyes away from mine. “No. You can’t be serious. No.”
“You need to kill me,” Tori says.
I press my hand harder against the bite, like if I push hard enough I can turn back time and she won’t get attacked. “We don’t know,” I say harshly. Behind me, zombie Sally slams against the
door and I jump. I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. When I open them I say, “We wait and see what happens.”
“I’m going to turn and then I’ll attack you,” Tori hisses, her eyes flashing.
The knob at my back rattles and Tori swallows, her gaze moving to the door. I spin around, my heart ready to explode, but it doesn’t open. Riley had trouble with that door this morning, and right now I can only assume that the sticky knob is the only thing keeping Sally inside. If she had any more brain function she might be able to get it open, but with the way she is now, we might be okay.
When I turn back, Tori is still staring at the same spot. Her expression is hazy. Unfocused. Her arms are at her sides and even though she’s still bleeding, she’s not doing anything to stop it. Is she in shock? Maybe. I should get the wound cleaned and then get her to bed, regardless.
“I’ll be back,” I say, jumping to my feet.
The doorknob continues to rattle as I hurry down the stairs. I find the first aid stuff in a box we hadn’t yet taken out, then rush back up. Sally hasn’t given up trying to escape and Tori is still staring at the door with a vacant expression in her eyes. It gives me the creeps.
I hold my breath while I feel her head, wondering if she has a fever. The original infection that killed off most of the population made people burn with a fever so hot that I’m surprised their brains didn’t bake. Then again, maybe they did and that’s why they turned into zombies.
Tori’s skin is cool though, almost unnaturally so. I think about Sally the night before, how her skin had felt chilled when our hands brushed. No. That can’t be right. Thinking that way will only scare me. Tori is going to be just fine. We were all immune to the original virus, and we’ll be immune to a bite to. We’re safe.
I clean the bite and bandage it up, then help Tori to her feet. She moves when I urge her forward, but it’s automatic and she doesn’t seem to register any of it. She’s like a comatose person who’s mobile, walking into the room without blinking, then lying on the bed. Since I’m now almost positive that she’s in some kind of shock, I cover her with a blanket and tuck it in around her.
Then I sit the chair next to the bed and wait.
I know I should finish loading the trailer, but I stay at Tori’s side. She doesn’t move, and if her eyes weren’t wide open I’d think that she was asleep, but they are. They stare at the ceiling unblinkingly and absent.
Time stretches on and I doze, jolted awake occasionally by the sound of Sally slamming her body against the door in the other room. The sun gets higher in the sky and Tori’s state doesn’t improve, and the later it gets the bigger the pit in my stomach becomes.
I wish Riley were here.
“Kyra?”
I bolt upright and shake my head, but it only takes a second for my eyes to focus on Tori. “Oh my God,” I whisper, running over and practically throwing myself on the bed at her side. “I thought you were going to die. You were so out of it.”
“I’m okay,” she says, tentatively touching the bandage on her neck. “I’m okay.”
I let out a sigh, nearly bursting into tears, but somehow manage to hold them back. “Do you need anything? Are you hungry?”
She swallows and nods. “Yeah. Food and some water would be good.”
“Okay.” I’m already headed for the door when I say, “Don’t get up. I’ll bring it to you.”
The pounding of my footsteps as I run down the hall riles Sally up all over again. She slams against the door, harder this time, and growls so loud that I can almost imagine it makes the walls around her shake. It sure as hell makes my legs shake.
In the kitchen I grab a bottle of water and some peaches, then hurry back up the stairs. Tori is still in bed, and even though she looks dazed, she seems okay. She drinks some of the water, then scoops a few peaches out of the jar. When she puts them in her mouths and chews, though, her expression sours.
“What’s wrong?”
Tori shakes her head and holds the jar out to me. “They taste weird.”
Sally did the same thing last night when she ate the peaches. Maybe some of them went bad. Maybe they weren’t canned correctly or the seal was broken at some point.
I take the jar and give the peaches a sniff, but they smell fine. Sweet and fragrant, and exactly how they’re supposed to smell. I scoop one out and taste it myself, but it’s fine.
For a reason I can’t explain, my stomach flips upside down.
I brush the feeling aside and screw the lid back on the peaches, then set them on the bedside table. “I’m going to leave them here in case you change your mind.” Tori nods, but the way her mouth scrunches up tells me she isn’t going to change her mind. “I need to finish loading the trailer now that I know you’re okay, but I want you to stay in bed and rest. Got it?”
“I’d argue, but I’m feeling a little weak still.”
“It wouldn’t matter anyway.” I get to my feet. “I’m not going to let you leave this bed until Jim and Riley are back and we can get out of here.”
Loading the trailer takes me two more hours, but even then I can’t fit all the boxes we packed on. Hopefully, Jim and Riley come back with a second vehicle and trailer so we can take the rest.
Back inside I take a moment to clean myself up and drink some water. The sun is so low now that it will be touching the horizon before long, and I know the men will be back soon. I’m ready for them to be. Ready to curl up on the couch with Riley, possibly have sex, and then get some rest so we can head out tomorrow.
First, though, I need to check on Tori.
The door to the master bedroom is still shut and Sally’s labored footsteps are still audible—although at least she isn’t currently throwing herself against the door. I make my own steps light so she can’t hear me and get agitated, and as I pass I keep my eyes glued to the door like I’m afraid she’s doing to throw it open at any second. The longer she’s in there, the more unnerving it gets.
“Maybe I should open the door and put her—” I freeze in the doorway of the other room.
Tori is up and her back is to me, but something about the way she’s standing feels off. Her skin, too, is an odd shade. Pale and slightly gray. No, that can’t be. Maybe it’s the light in here.
I take step toward her and she turns slowly. Her arms sway at her sides and the way she tilts her head makes it seem like it’s barely attached to her neck. When she’s all the way around and her eyes meet mine, my blood runs cold at the milky emptiness of her irises.
“Tori?” I stumble back as she starts to move toward me. “Tori!”
I can’t make my legs work fast enough and I can’t think, and suddenly the creature that used to be Tori is running toward me, and I’m running too. Only I turn the wrong way when I get out into the hall, and suddenly I find myself rushing away from the stairs and safety as my friend who has just turned into a zombie charges after me.
The bathroom door is open, and I dash inside as footsteps pound against the floor at my back. The zombie moans and I skid across the floor, practically slamming into the wall. My hands are shaking so hard I have a tough time grabbing the doorknob on my way by. My fingers slip off, but I get it on my second try. I swing the door around, trying to get it shut, but Tori is right on my heels me. She squeezes her face through the crack before I can get the door closed completely. She growls and chomps her teeth at me. Spit flies from her mouth and I scream, then punch at her with my free hand, trying to force her back.
Her head jerks and is suddenly out of the way, and somehow I manage to get the door closed. The second it clicks shut, I throw the lock, then collapse with my back against it. Sobs shake my body as Tori slams against the other side of the door, trying to get in.
I’m trapped. Trapped in the bathroom with a zombie on the other side. No weapons! How stupid could I be? What was I thinking?
Then a thought enters my head that I hadn’t even considered before, and more sobs rip their way out of me. Jim an
d Riley have no clue that Tori turned. They’ll get back soon and she’ll hear them, and she’ll attack. She’ll kill them, and then I’ll be all alone. What the hell am I going to do?
I take a deep breath and force the sobs to stop. I can’t cry. I need to get it together, then take care of Tori so she doesn’t hurt the men. Pus, I don’t want Jim to have to see her this way.
I climb to my feet as I scan the room. We’ve been through every drawer and closet and cabinet in this house, so I know there aren’t any weapons, but maybe there’s something in here I could use as a weapon.
My gaze moves over the toilet and sink and bathtub as I force my brain to think rationally. If I were in a bedroom I might be able to break a piece of furniture and use it to pummel her, but I’m not. I’m in the bathroom. What else could I use?
The mirror above the sink catches my eye, and I almost let out a sigh of relief. But that would be premature. First, I need to take care of Tori, then I can let out a deep breath.
I grab the toothbrush holder off the sink and throw it at the mirror. The thing shatters, and shards of glass rain down, falling into the sink and onto the tile floor at my feet. I say a silent prayer as I bend down to inspect the glass, hoping I can find a good-size piece. There has to be a shard big enough, a few inches long at least. I brush the glass around until one catches my eye. It’s only three inches, but it’s better than anything else in this room. It will give me a chance. Plus, I have a plan.
I grip the glass in my hand as I stand up, giving myself a little pep talk. “Okay, you need to be fast. Don’t act on emotions. You can do this, Kyra.”
Tori is still scratching at the door, but it’s calmer than it was before. Like she’s losing interest. I don’t want that. I want her going crazy.
I rap my knuckles against the door a few times, and she goes nuts. Her body slams against the other side so hard the whole thing shakes. It makes my pulse quicken, but I know I need to move. Now.
I unlock the door as I step behind it and take a deep breath, then I turn the knob. The door flies open and slams into me while Tori crashes to the ground, right on top of the glass. She growls and tries to get up, but I jump on her back before she can. I straddle her, putting my knees on her arms so she can’t move and using my body weight to hold her against the ground while I grip the glass harder. The sharp edges pinch my palm, but don’t break the skin.