“Oh that’s cute,” she scoffs, “the mute finally mans the fuck up and says something, something insignificant and useless, just like him. Go back to being a pussy, it was more endearing.”
“Darius,” I growl, glaring at him. He knows but he won’t look up. “Don’t ever speak to her like that again.”
“Nice, you’ll come to her aid,” Tyrone says, nodding at Felecia, “but not your girlfriend’s.”
“Tyrone,” Caylee interrupts in a sweet yet stern voice. “Don’t.”
There’s something about the look they exchange that I find unsettling. What happened while I was gone? It was only a few hours but something went down, I can tell. What did they talk about?
“Nah, it needs to be said. Noah, you got an amazing girl right here. It’s time you start acting like she’s your girlfriend, not her.” Tyrone points an accusatory finger at Felecia. She surprisingly looks more hurt than angry.
“Tyrone, stop it,” Caylee urges, turning her attention towards me and Felecia. “Guys, this isn’t coming from me, I swear. Noah, I’m not jealous. It’s okay, you’re fine. Don’t listen to him.”
“We don’t have time for high school drama,” Felecia mumbles. “Look, I know none of you like me. I get it. But get over it. I’m not going anywhere. There aren’t many people in this world I like or respect, but he happens to be one of them,” she says, pointing at me. “And his girlfriend’s not so bad either. I’m sticking with him, no matter what, and if you’re smart, you would too.”
“What were you saying,” Caylee asks, flashing Felecia a half smile, “about feeling like something was off?”
“It’s just, there’s five adults on this bus now, and I don’t think any of them truly want to go to that evacuation center. So what are the odds it’s actually going to happen? I think if we have any intention of making it to Shasta Lake, we’re gonna have to get the hell off this bus and find a different way there.”
“Like what?” Darius asks, never lifting his head from his hands. “Walk? While Noah carries you?”
“Alright, look,” now I’m starting to get pissed off. “She lost her shoes out of the window she was dangling from. We had to walk through fire, glass and blood so yes, I carried her so she wouldn’t get infected. I did it without question, just like I would have done for any one of you. And if I hadn’t, it would have been the biggest mistake of my life. She’s saved my ass more times than I can count and if it weren’t for her, we probably wouldn’t be here right now. The only way we’re going to get through this is together. So let’s start working together.”
“There’s no work to be done.” Darius finally lifts his head. “All we gotta do is sit here and wait until we get to the evac center. No one needs to be a hero.” He doesn’t look at me but I know it’s directed at me.
“I don’t think you understand,” Felecia hisses. “Your flawed logic has two major holes in it. One, evacuation center doesn’t exist yet. Not sure what everyone finds so hard to grasp about that. Two, I’m pretty sure they don’t plan on going there. Getting a little sick of repeating myself here.”
“Okay,” Tyrone nods, “so what exactly do you propose we do?”
“Get off this rolling deathtrap, find another vehicle, and drive ourselves there.”
“Noah?” he asks, looking at me as if my opinion might validate hers.
“She’s right,” I say reluctantly, “but I can’t do it. I can’t keep going out there and fighting these things. Neil made it seem like his dad had some master plan that would save us all, but if he does, he certainly isn’t sharing it with any of us. I have to stick it out here, as much as I hate to say it. But if any of you want to get off the bus now, I don’t blame you.”
Caylee slowly raises her hand. “I don’t think we should go to the evacuation center.”
“Are you crazy?” Tyrone blurts out like it’s the strangest thing he’s ever heard. “Your family is heading there right now. My family. Everyone we know who’s still alive, that’s where they’re all gonna be. That’s where we need to be.”
“Why?” I ask simply, reaching over to hold her hand.
“My whole life I’ve been told what to do. My parents have babied me since my little brother died. There’s always family around, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and all of them have an opinion. Except me. I have to do what everyone else says, even when I know it isn’t right. For the first time in my life I know something isn’t right and I have the option not to do it, because none of them are here to force me into it. So I’m not gonna let anyone here force me into making a decision that in my heart I know isn’t right.”
“Sweetie, I’m not trying to sound like a bitch here,” Felecia says in her intoxicating whisper, “but what is it that you think is so bad about going to the evacuation center? Not being mean, for once,” she shoots at Tyrone and Darius, “I just want to know.”
“The guy behind the wheel,” she says nodding in Marty’s direction, “I know he seems crazy but I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about. I think he’s right, they’re gonna put us in concentration camps and herd us off to whatever safe places they have. We’ll essentially become their slaves. Haven’t you read Hunger Games?”
“There were no zombies in Hunger Games.” Darius sits up more and finally looks at the rest of us. “Are we all losing our damn minds here?”
“We don’t know there weren’t zombies,” Caylee sighs, shaking her head. “We don’t know what led to the fall of civilization. All we saw was what came afterwards. In every dystopian book or movie, it’s always the same, they’re the same because that’s how mankind would react. Well, this is it, we’re living it right now. We fight these things for two more days, board those buses and kiss our freedom goodbye. It’s the easy choice now, I get that, you’ve been through so much,” she says, aiming her words at me. “If you let soldiers with guns make your decisions and fight for you right now, you’re going to spend forever regretting it, wishing you could make your mind up for yourself. You’ll be me, letting people decide for you even when you know their decisions are wrong, but you’ll have no say in the matter. I can’t live like that anymore.”
We all sit in silence, trying to wrap our heads around Caylee’s words. I don’t want her to be right, but there’s a very good possibility she is. I don’t want to fight right now, but what about next week? When my wounds have healed. Next month? When my emotional scars have faded. Next year? When living in a government-run facility no longer seems like the right choice.
But what if she’s wrong? What if they have a safe area? A safe city? State? Country? Continent? What if it’s not some little fenced in, third world, concentration camp disguised as a village but a real society, like the one we’ve come to know. We’d be stuck living on the outside, rummaging for food, killing zombies before they kill us, fighting everyday just to survive, for what? Because we were too worried we’d have to live under someone else’s rules? We’ve been doing that all our lives. Nothing changes. How long could we possibly make it out here?
“What are you saying we do Caylee?” Felecia asks kindly, breaking the long silence, as if they’ve secretly been friends for years. “Stay on the bus?”
“For now, yeah. There’s a lot of room on here, especially after we drop off some of these people. That’s a lot of supplies. Drive around, gas up when we have to, until we find someplace safe to stay.”
“Safe,” Darius snorts, “like a military base guarded by soldiers with guns? Like a military evacuation center?”
“No,” Caylee snaps, not bothering to look at him, “like, a place with big fences that they can’t get through. Or a moat. A gated community. I don’t know, somewhere with walls where we can protect ourselves. Guys, I have no idea, I figure we’ll know it when we see it. It’ll take time to find but when we do, it’ll be ours. We’ve made it this far without anyone’s help. We learn as we go, it’s what we’ve been doing. If we go pick up Noah’s friends, weapons, supplies, that means even mor
e of us to fight, with real weapons that might stand a chance against these things. Not guns, we know guns don’t work. And we know what does. From here on out, I say we all fight. We all get off this bus together, and we all get back on together.”
“Oh fuck,” Tyrone mutters as the entire bus takes a collective gasp. “Downtown’s on fire.”
CHAPTER 12
The bus screeches to a halt downtown. A wall of fire stands before us. I can almost feel the flames coming from the burning buildings. There’s a car pileup, barely visible through the smoke. It’ll burn until it dies out on its own, there’s no one left to fight it. A few buildings have succumbed to the blaze already. If the rain doesn’t grace us with its presence again soon, come nightfall there won’t be any downtown left.
“I told you we shouldn’t have come here,” Neil yells. “Look at that shit, and there’s zombies out there. Fuck your friends! Fuck your stupid swords! We’re leaving.”
“I think that’s my call to make son.” Mr. Buckley rubs a hand over his graying hair, torn, trying to think quickly.
I know what he’s going through because I’m going through the same thing. Are we stopping here to get weapons that’ll protect us on our way to the evacuation center? Or are we getting weapons to protect ourselves when we decide to drop the others off and leave the evacuation center before we’ve stepped foot on the premises? Whatever decision we make, we need to make it quick, we’re out of time.
“Bus driver,” Mr. Buckley shouts, “how close can you get us?”
“The name’s Marty you pretentious dickwad. I can get us right to that pileup but this fire’s spreading fast. Noah man, you sure you wanna do this?”
“I, I don’t know,” I stutter. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Do you see your friends out there?”
“No, they probably saw the fire and left. Marty, we need those weapons. Where the hell else are we gonna find another stash of swords?”
“We’re probably not, but is it really worth risking your life?”
For some reason I look to Felecia for an answer, she’s shaking her head no. So is Caylee. Why did I look to Caylee second? They’re right, we can’t do this. The flames are too much.
Someone’s hands land on my shoulders from behind.
“You’re damn right he’s going.” Mr. Buckley, I can practically feel the ice flowing through his veins. “Get in there and get as many weapons as you can. Bring some of your little buddies with you, the more swords the better. We’re gonna need them.”
“I can’t do it,” I say sternly. “The zombies are bad enough, but that fire, I can’t risk their lives. We’ll never make it out of there.”
“You see, Britton,” he says, slinging his arm around my shoulder. He’s holding a gun, tapping it off my skin. “We’re counting on you. We need those weapons. You’re gonna go in there and you’re gonna try your hardest. Don’t be scared of dying in the fire. Be scared of dying right here if you decide to disobey a direct order. I want those swords. Bring your friends, and get them for me. Do I make myself clear? Yeah, you understand, you get it, you’re a smart kid.” He shakes my shoulder with his gun before looking to the back of the bus. “You guys are coming with me,” he says to his business suit buddies. “Neil, Blake, you too. We gotta raid this pharmacy before the flames reach it, grab everything you can, never know what we’ll need down the road. And you,” he nods at Felecia with a smirk, “you’re coming with us.”
“No,” she says defiantly, taking a step towards me, “I’m with him. He goes I go, we work better together.”
“Neil, son, I’m confused. Why is it that your girlfriend seems to be attached to Noah’s hip?”
“Girlfriend?” Felecia chokes, raising her eyebrows curiously. “I’m your girlfriend now?”
“Dad,” he says, ignoring his apparent girlfriend, “it’s complicated.”
“She’s a woman, of course it’s complicated. Is she your girlfriend or not?”
“I mean, we’re not, exactly, look, I didn’t–”
“You didn’t tell me the truth. That’s what you didn’t do. You told me you were dating her but failed to mention she’s in love with young Mr. Britton. So what you actually meant to say was ‘Dad, Noah won, again’. I can’t keep fighting your battles for you son, not anymore. Not in this world. Lying isn’t going to get anyone, anywhere,” he says to the rest of us. “If any of you ever feel the urge to lie to me, I want you to make that lie a reality, then tell me, and don’t tell me until you’ve done it. That’s the only way we’re going to make this arrangement work.” He puts his hand on Blake’s chest to stop him. “Change of plans, you stay put, Neil’s doing this one alone, so he can think about the error of his ways. Bus Driver Marty, open the door.”
“This was not a good idea,” Marty grunts in my direction as I hang around the front seat, mentally preparing myself for something we shouldn’t be doing. “This friggin’ psycho’s gonna kill us all.”
“I know,” I whisper, “what are we supposed to do?”
“Hell if I know, but if Nutcase Negan Junior here doesn’t like it, he’s pulling that trigger.”
“I gotta follow his orders, if not, he’ll kill us. I can see it in his eyes Marty, this is the world he wants.” I look back at the maniacal dictator in the making but only see my friends coming towards me, fully intending on stepping off the bus and into a world humans no longer have a place in. Felecia, Caylee and Tyrone step forward, each grabbing a makeshift weapon that with any luck, we won’t have to use for long.
Darius remains in his seat, we make eye contact for a brief moment before he drops his head in shame. He’s not leaving this bus, that much is clear. I can’t decide if I’m proud of him for standing his ground or if I hate him for not standing by our side when we need him most. His disappointment is obvious, but I can’t tell if he’s ashamed of himself or me. Either way, his mind is made up.
“Neil,” Mr. Buckley coos in an I’m-better-than-you tone, “you think now’s the time to start winning over her heart? Maybe not let your supposed girlfriend go out there where she faces certain death. That’s what the colored girl is for.”
My grip tightens around the handle of my hatchet. He’s only seven rows back. Do I have enough time to lodge it in his skull before he shoots me? Dad’s looking at me. I can’t tell if he wants me to do it or not.
I make my move but Felecia blocks my path just as Mr. Buckley turns around and raises the gun in my direction, well aware of my intentions. It’s a good thing she stopped me, he was even quicker on the draw than I expected. Dad’s just standing there, watching.
“Noah,” she uses that soft whisper she must know I love, “the buildings are burning fast. If we want those swords, we need to get in there before it’s all destroyed.” Is it just her gentle whisper I love?
“Felecia…” Neil’s patronizing voice comes from behind. He’s trying to reason with the girl he wants to steal away from me but can’t, because she isn’t actually mine to steal. “Stay here, those dumbasses are gonna get themselves killed.”
“Well then I’ll be getting killed with those dumbasses then. Be sure to put that on my grave, my dearest boyfriend.”
“I’m sorry, look, I didn’t mean, I just wanted it so bad that I said it and I thought… Come with me instead, pharmacy run, the fire isn’t there yet. I’ll protect you. Please, just give me a chance. I don’t want you out there with his girlfriend, she’s gonna get jealous and try something. Don’t risk it. Felecia, I need you.”
She leans in close to Neil and gives him a hug while whispering something in his ear. I need to know what she’s saying but I can’t hear her, even a little bit. What is she telling him? Why am I so worried she’s falling for him? She’s not my girlfriend. Caylee is. Caylee, who is so far beyond amazing that she can’t even see amazing in her rearview. I never expected her to be so strong. So incredible. Don’t get me wrong, I knew she was something special, hence having a crush on her for so long, but
this warrior princess side of her is something I never would have predicted.
“I can’t let you do this,” I say quietly as she saddles up beside me, pitchfork in hand. “Look out that window Caylee, this is practically suicide.”
“Well then, we all die together,” she says, eyeing the back of the bus with daggers in her gentle eyes. “We stick together.”
“Noah, she’s right.” Tyrone puts his hand on my shoulder but doesn’t look away from Darius. “We can’t do this alone. It’s gonna take two people to guard the entrance while the other two get the weapons. And it still won’t be enough. Look at that shit.” He points a shaky finger at the burning buildings, spires of smoke rising high into the menacing clouds. Walking corpses wander dangerously close to the flames. There’s too many of them to count. “If we’re gonna do this, we gotta go now.”
Marty opens the door to speed things along. “Noah, weapons ain’t worth your lives. A sword won’t do you any good if you’re dead.”
I nod but get distracted by Felecia as she joins us up front. “What was that about?” Shit, I sound like a jealous boyfriend. “Is everything okay?”
“It will be,” she says, glancing over her shoulder. “We’re not getting back on this bus,” she whispers, passing Marty my phone. She must have grabbed it from my seat. “Call his friends, when they get here, run. We’ll be in touch.”
What the fuck is she talking about? What did she say to Neil? We’re not getting back on the bus? What’s going on here? What the hell are we doing?
She grabs her axe and nudges me down the steps. The four of us step outside. The flames from across the street warm the crisp afternoon air. The building we want is burning but by the looks of it, the fire started on one of the upper stories. If we didn’t make the detour to pick up Mr. Buckley, we’d have been in and out by now.
I cross my fingers and hope for the best. We obviously shouldn’t be running into a burning building but what choice do we have? Death by flame, or death by bullet? At least with the flames we stand a chance. If that’s what we’re even doing. What does Felecia have in mind?
Blood Type Infected (Book 2): Fallen To The Flame Page 7