The Infected, a PODs Novel

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The Infected, a PODs Novel Page 24

by Michelle K. Pickett


  He nodded once. “Until the PODs.”

  I let out a breath and smiled, pulling him down for a kiss. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach when his lips touched mine.

  When he pulled out of the kiss, he didn’t speak, or kiss me. He just looked at me, eyes roaming my face until his gaze fell on my lips. His fingers followed their outline. My body reacted instantly. Warmth grew in my stomach. My breath quickened as his calloused finger moved softly over my lips.

  “Devlin,” I murmured against his finger.

  He grabbed me by the shoulders and his mouth took mine. He backed me up until I hit the wall behind me. His kiss was forceful and demanding, like Devlin himself. His tongue dipped into my mouth, moving against mine in a sensual dance. He took the kiss deeper still. It was the kind of kiss that made my toes curl and stomach swirl. That created warmth in all the right places. A kiss that promised of better things to come.

  He grabbed the hem of my shirt and slipped his hands under it. His fingers splayed across my ribs, squeezing. His body leaned into mine, one of his legs between mine, until we were a breathless tangle of arms and legs and tongues. He pushed me harder against the wall until there wasn’t a whisper of space between us.

  I undid the buttons of his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders, moving my hands down his sides and around to the button of his jeans. I flipped it open.

  He groaned a curse and plunged his hands in my hair, kneading his fingers through the strands. He kissed me harder, sucking on my lip like he couldn’t get enough. Each kiss, each caress reached into my core and touched my very soul, demanding all of him—everything.

  A million things swirled through my mind like a tornado—the Infected, Seth, the PODs, David—and then it was silent. And it was just me and Devlin and the sweet sounds we made.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Jessica stood in the doorway of the room staring at us.

  “Dammit Jessica. I told you to knock first.”

  “Sorry. Hi, Eva.”

  “Hi, Jessica.” I pulled my shirt down and smoothed it into place, stepping to the side and away from Devlin, who was buttoning his shirt.

  “Are you guys, like, boyfriend and girlfriend?” Jessica smiled wide and giggled.

  “No, and keep your mouth shut about whatever you saw. What did you see?” Devlin glared at her.

  “Nothing. Just you two kissing. Looked like you were really into it, too.”

  “Yeah, it did.” David stood behind Jessica looking at me over her shoulder.

  Oh, no. David. This is so not how I wanted you to find out… if I told you at all. Oh, crap, crap, shit!

  David turned and walked away. I pushed by Jessica. “David! Wait, please.” He stopped with his back to me. “I’m not going to say I’m sorry, because I know you won’t believe me right now, but please listen to me when I tell you I didn’t mean for you to find out this way. I was going to tell you… but it was never the right time and I just never knew for sure—”

  “Knew what?” His voice was normal. He didn’t yell or curse at me. I wish he had. Somehow it hurt that he could remain so in control. Not that I didn’t deserve a little hurt.

  “I didn’t know who.”

  He laughed and started walking. “That’s rich, Eva.”

  “I love you both, David. I’m sorry but it’s the truth. I just don’t know how I love you. Shit! I’m not explaining this right!”

  He stopped walking and turned to me. I sucked in a breath. I could see the hurt in his eyes and it ripped at my heart. I felt physical pain.

  I did that. I caused his pain. Me.

  “I get it, Eva. I saw it that day in the grocery store. I’ve known for a while that you and Devlin had something going, I just didn’t know how much… it’s a little more than I’d imagined. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I understand what you’re saying. One of us you love and one of us you’re in love with. One is a friend and the other is a lover. I get it.” He turned and walked away.

  “David! David, wait.” I jogged to catch up to him. “I’m sorry.”

  He blew out a heavy breath. “I thought you weren’t going to say that.”

  “Do you believe me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we’re good? You and me?”

  “Yes. I’m not good with you and Devlin, but you and I are good,” He said, squeezing his forehead between his fingers. “I can’t be mad at you. I love you, and want you to be happy. If that means it’s with someone else… I’ll step aside.” His eyes held so many questions—so much pain.

  I reached out to touch his face, but fisted my hand and let it fall to my side without touching him.

  “How are we going to work this?” I bit my lip waiting for his answer.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it the way it’s been. There’ll be less talk that way. It’ll be easier on you.” He raised his eyebrows.

  Yeah, me and two guys. Slutsville here I come. Reserve my room now.

  “We’ll just keep everything low key until you make up your mind. But, Eva?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m not going to play this game forever. I love you, but you have to decide.” He turned, but looked over his shoulder, saying, “And I’m not just going to step aside. So if you think I’m making this easy for you, think again. I’m using everything I have, every trick I can think of, to make sure I’m your choice.” He walked away without another word, or backward glance.

  Jessica and I shared a room that night. She didn’t think I should be alone after what happened. And although I loved her, I would have given just about anything for some quiet.

  Devlin slept in the adjoining room. We didn’t discuss what David and I talked about, and he and David didn’t speak to each other. Both worried me.

  I lay awake most of the night. That was nothing new, though. I didn’t sleep most nights. I listened. That night was no different. And like the night before it, I heard something. I slipped out of bed and pulled my jeans on, careful not to wake Jessica. Moving to the window, I pulled a hoodie over my head and pushed up the arms.

  I stood at the window and listened, barely breathing. The blood rushed behind my ears and I strained to hear over it, and my galloping heart. I didn’t dare move the curtains. If something was out there, I didn’t want to give it the slightest indication that we were inside. So I stood next to them and waited.

  Come on. I know you’re out there. Make some noise.

  I heard shuffling, followed by a grunt and thud. When something clattered against the cement, I sucked in a sharp breath.

  The men standing guard!

  I turned to wake Devlin and ran right into his chest. He wrapped his arm around me. “Shh.” He bent down so his mouth was at my ear. I could feel his lips moving. “Wake Jessica and move her to the bathroom. Then make sure David is awake. Be quiet.”

  I nodded, and moved to Jessica. She was already awake. With her tucked safely in the bathroom, I grabbed my gun off the bedside table, pocketed extra magazines and ammunition, and went into the adjoining room to make sure David was awake.

  “You hear it, too?” I stood next to him at the window.

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing good. Get Tiff and take them to your room and stuff them in the bathroom with Jessica. And be quiet.”

  Why do they keep telling me to be quiet? Like I’m going to start singing and dancing my way through the motel. Geez, they’re frustrating.

  I helped Tiff get the kids into the bathroom with Jessica.

  George stayed with Devlin, who went outside to check on the men standing guard, only to return a minute later.

  “Are they okay?” I asked when he walked into the room.

  “No.”

  Then we waited.

  I watched the minutes tick by on my watch. Five. Seven. Ten. Twelve. Fifteen. Eighteen. Twenty—three.

  The doorknob rattled. Everyone snapped to attention. Devlin’s gun was trained on the door.
David’s gun was aimed at the door in the adjoining room. George aimed at the window. I waited. I’d learned that as soon as you thought you knew what the Infected was going to do… you didn’t.

  The doorknob rattled again, more forceful this time. The door started to jerk back and forth, and we heard scratching on the window glass. I stood from the bed and walked to the door that adjoined our room with David’s.

  “What are you doing?” David whispered through clenched teeth. “You’re walking in front of my loaded gun!”

  “Just let me through.”

  He moved so I could pass by, and I went to the window and listened. When I didn’t hear them, I stood in the center of the room and waited. I didn’t have to wait long. The first one busted through the door just seconds later.

  I aimed and fired. He crumpled to the floor. The infected woman behind him stepped over his body and into the room. I aimed and fired. A miss. Another gun fired. Her head exploded, bone and brain hit the wall next to her.

  David rushed into the room just as they broke through the window. One pulled the window air conditioner out to make room for them to crawl through.

  “How’d you know?” David fired, hitting an infected man climbing over the pile of dead bodies in front of the door.

  “Just a guess.” I dropped the magazine out of my gun and slapped in another.

  The fight lasted more than an hour. When it was over, bodies overlapped on the floor, laying in awkward positions, limbs bent at unnatural angles like discarded ragdolls. A pool of blood and body tissue surrounded them, soaking the beige carpeting.

  “We make a good team, Evangelina,” David said softly, wiping blood from my face with the sleeve of his shirt. “And not just in this.”

  I nodded. Tears formed in my eyes. I swiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. “Geez, their blood stings.”

  David gave me a small smile before bending and touching his lips softly to mine. “Take some water and wash it off.”

  After I’d washed the blood and grossness off me, David and I found Devlin and George. Their room looked much like ours. We had to step over a pile of dead bodies, their eyes open and vacant. The carpeting was spongy with blood.

  “Is everyone okay?” David asked, then shot a wounded infected woman in the head. Leave no survivors.

  “Yeah.” George was out of breath. He wiped his forehead with his arm. “Why is my skin stinging?” He held his arms out in front of him.

  “Their blood stings when it touches us.” I handed him a towel to wipe his arms off.

  “Ah. This just gets better and better,” he muttered. “I need to check on Tiff and the kids.”

  “Are you okay?” Devlin laid a hand on my shoulder.

  I looked up at him and smiled. “Everything’s peachy.”

  “Will someone please tell me what the hell they are?” Tiffany stood in the doorway of the bathroom staring at the pile of dead, her hand rubbing her forehead.

  I blew a piece of hair out of my face and looked at her. “They’re infected humans.”

  “I’ve never seen one.”

  Consider yourself very, very lucky.

  She crouched next to the body of an infected man and reached her hand toward him.

  “Don’t touch the blood!” George warned quickly.

  She closed her fingers into a fist and pulled her arm back, not taking her eyes off the man. “He can’t be any older than me,” she whispered. “Why do they look so weird?”

  “We don’t know why their appearance changes,” Devlin said. “I would have thought you’d seen one since you were in medical research, Tiffany.”

  “No. All the bodies of infected humans were taken to Area-One to be studied and disposed of.”

  “Well if we don’t pack up and get out of here soon we might be seeing more of them than we’d like to.” David turned and made his way through the maze of blood and bodies back to his room to grab his gear.

  “David’s right. Blood attracts them. Try to get as much of it off your packs as you can,” I said wiping my pack off with a dingy motel towel. Devlin crouched next to me and did the same to his and Jessica’s packs.

  We were packed and on the road with the rest of the group in ten minutes, minus the three men who were standing guard that night.

  “We need vehicles,” I said. I walked between Tiffany and David.

  “The chances of finding enough vehicles for so many people…” David shook his head.

  “I know, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’ll be more Infected. They’ll follow us until our numbers dwindle… or theirs do. The only thing we can do is out run them. That takes vehicles.”

  “I need to get some water,” Judy said, grabbing a pitcher and stirring a pot of soup hanging over the fire simultaneously.

  “You’re busy. Where?”

  “There’s a little brook straight through there.” She pointed down a small footpath.

  “Okay, I’ll be right back.” I started jogging down the path.

  “Wait, Eva, you shouldn’t go alone.”

  “I’m okay.” I waved her words away.

  I slowed to a walk when I saw the rocky edges of the brook and heard the water bubbling over the rocky bottom.

  It’s so peaceful. I could sit here for hours and enjoy the quiet if it weren’t for the group of blood thirsty living zombies chasing us—the damn things ruin everything.

  I knelt next to the water and filled the pitcher, letting the cold water run over my fingers and soaking in the few minutes of quiet before I returned to the campsite.

  I heard leaves crunch. I reached for my gun, my hand moving from pocket to pocket when I didn’t find it.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid, I shouldn’t have come alone, and no gun. Genius.

  Jamming the pitcher under a rock ledge, I got a good running start, and made it up the side of a tree far enough to grab the lowest branch. I pulled myself up, standing on the branch, and stepped to the next. I climbed as fast as I could, forcing myself not to think about what I was doing, or look down. When I was sure I was covered as much as possible in the few dead leaves still on the branches, I crouched and scanned the area.

  I was high enough that I had a decent view of the area around me, but I didn’t see any Infected amidst the trees, the multi-colored leaves littering the ground and the small brook snaking its way through it all.

  I tried to listen over the rapid beating of my heart, and the blood rushing behind my ears. There were no twigs breaking or leaves crunching, but still, I didn’t move from my perch. I don’t know how long I sat there until I heard the faint rustling of leaves a second time. My head snapped in the direction of the sound, just as the voices reached me.

  Climb down. You should let them know you’re here.

  I stayed where I was, and strained to hear.

  “What the hell are you thinking? You could have just about anyone you want and you pick Eva?”

  “I asked you,” Devlin said, jamming his fingers through his hair twice. The second time he let his hand rest atop his head.

  “Uh, no you didn’t,” David yelled.

  This isn’t what I want. They shouldn’t be fighting. Well, what’d you think was gonna happen… they’d make up a dating schedule? Gads, Eva, you’re a moron sometimes.

  “Yeah, I did. I told you there was someone I was interested in—”

  “Someone. Not freakin’ Eva!” David shoved Devlin’s shoulder. “You know how I feel about her.”

  “I told you it was complicated. That there was still someone in her life and you told me to go for it,” Devlin said, throwing a stone into the brook.

  “I wouldn’t have if I’d known, and you damn well know it.”

  “You didn’t ask,” Devlin said.

  David glared at him. “I shouldn’t have to.”

  Devlin turned his back, his hands on his hips where his jeans rode almost too low to be legal. When he finally turned to face David, he sighed. “You’re right. I overstepped. A friend wouldn�
��t have made a play for another guy’s girl—whether they were together or not. I’ll back-off.”

  “Like hell,” David shouted. “You’re not backing off and making me wonder if she’s with me because she didn’t have any other choice.”

  “What, then?”

  “We let her choose. The one she doesn’t choose bows out and walks away,” David said.

  “Friends no matter what.” Devlin held out his hand to shake David’s.

  David batted Devlin’s hand away. “No.” David shook his head.

  Devlin’s composure slipped for a fraction of a second. “No?”

  David’s fist darted out so fast I almost missed it. Devlin’s head snapped backward and the momentum caused him to stumble a step. When he stood, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing blood across his chin.

  “I won’t fight you, David. Take another shot at me. Hell, take two, I deserve it. But I won’t fight you.”

  “I can’t stand to look at you.” David turned and walked away.

  Oh, no. David, don’t do that. He’s your best friend. Don’t throw it away because of me and my selfishness. I’m so not worth it.

  Devlin jammed his fingers through his hair and cursed. He stood alone for what felt like hours, before washing the blood from his face in the brook.

  We followed Interstate forty. If we’d been able to keep our pace, we would’ve made it to Oklahoma. But it started to rain, slowing us down. It was difficult to see through the fat raindrops, and the ground became one big puddle. Our shoes were so wet they squished when we walked. Our clothes stuck to our skin.

  “We need to stop,” David yelled over the rumble of thunder rolling through the air.

  “There’s a town comin’ up in ‘bout a mile. We’ll find a neighborhood we can bunk in. Everyone can get out of the cold rain and sleep in a nice, soft bed,” Roy said.

  The farther southwest we went, the harder it was to find a town to crash in. They were farther apart and smaller. And they were picked clean.

  David nodded at Roy and said, “Tell Devlin.”

  We found a subdivision on the outskirts of a small town. The group members paired up, each picking a house for the night. We grabbed two houses next to each other. David, Devlin, Jessica, George, Tiffany and the kids stayed in one and Roy, Judy, Juan and Rebecca stayed in the other. That left me. I could make things real simple and stay with Judy and Rebecca, or I could make things real complicated by staying with David and Devlin. In the end the decision was made for me.

 

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