Breakfast over, the women bustled about, gathering bowls and utensils. The bowls clanged together as they scrubbed the hardening food from the sides.
A man who looked to be in his late twenties, with a ruddy complexion and red hair, kicked sand over the fire; smoke billowed out, stinging my eyes.
“Dang it, Roy! I done told ya I’d do it. Now you smoked us all out!”
“Woman, that’s why we don’t go helping you none,” Roy called over his shoulder with a grin.
“I ain’t got any use for yer help,” the woman muttered, gathering dishes and walking away.
“That’s Judy,” Jessica whispered. “She and Roy have a thing for each other. At least, that’s what Devlin says. But Roy and Judy don’t know it yet.”
I laughed. “Who’s going to tell them?”
Jessica shrugged. “Not me. I’ve got my own love life to sort out.”
“Oh?” I tried to hide a grin.
“Yeah. His name’s Chris. He’s that one.” She pointed to a teenaged boy with shaggy blond hair wearing a rock band t-shirt. He looked over and smiled at Jessica. She blushed and giggled. “Devlin says I’m too young for a boyfriend. I tell him that,” Jessica said.ad huddledou’s okay ‘cuz Chris and I aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“No? Then what are you?”
“Soulmates,” she sighed, waving her fingers at Chris. He dipped his head and smiled, a small blush coloring his cheeks. “I’m going to go see if he got enough to eat.” Jessica skipped to Chris. I watched her cross the divide between the women’s side of the camp and the men’s.
“Are you ready to go shopping?” David asked, walking toward me.
“Are we going together, or are we segregated? The womenfolk shopping in one area while the strong, manly menfolk shop in another?”
He laughed. “I guess it does look like the women are segregated from the men. But it’s just how it turned out. We fell into a routine and it stuck.”
“Whatever. But I’ll tell you right now, I’m not washing anyone else’s dishes but my own. Well, maybe yours, if you ask right.”
“You’re going to start a women’s lib movement in the camp? That’ll really throw everyone for a loop.” He chuckled.
“No, that’ll throw you guys for a loop. It’ll be a nice change of pace for the girls. They’ll thank me for it.”
A stuffed bear met us at the entrance of the sporting goods store, holding a “welcome” sign. Canoes and kayaks hung from the ceiling.
“Too bad we can’t find a river and float away,” I said, staring at the boats.
David grinned. “I’m just glad this one hasn’t been looted. Most of the ones near the major highways have been stripped bare.”
Tents were set up for display in the middle of the store. I looked them over, choosing a four-person tent with windows on the sides.
“It’s too big, Eva,” David whispered in my ear, his breath tickling my skin.
“I’m just dreaming of having a mansion instead of a bungalow.”
David chuckled.
We grabbed some one-man tents and bedrolls. I found the backpacks and picked one big enough to hold the supplies I thought we’d need. When I put it on, it was so big and bulky I stumbled backward. Chris—who seemed to go wherever Jessica went—reached out to steady me.
“Maybe you need a size smaller.” He patted the pack. “You won’t be able to stand once it’s full of supplies.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” I took the smaller pack he held out for me. “Thanks.”
My pack in place, I looked around the store and found David and Devlin at a gun counter, filling their packs with ammunition. I walked over and looked in the glass gun cases. Shotguns lined the wall behind me; I knew a shotgun would be too big for me to handle, and I didn’t know anything about them. But the handguns didn’t look too complicated. In fact, they looked like the handguns I’d seen on television.
I walked around the gun case and pulled the door—it was locked. I grabbed a shotgun Devlin had left lying on the case and used the wooden butt to break the glass. Brushing away the shards of glass with my sleeve, I reached in and grabbed a medium-sized gun. It fit my hand He chuckledad huddledou just right and looked easy enough to work. I looked it over. I immediately found the lever that let the thing the bullets loaded into drop out.
Not hard at all.
“What are you doing?” Devlin asked.
I thrust my hand out, showing him the gun. “I need bullets for this.”
“No you don’t,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because we take care of that kind of stuff.”
“You mean the guys form a circle and shoot at the infected while the girls stand around inside the circle like a bunch of ninnies.”
“Eva,” David said quietly.
“I got news for both of you. I’m not standing around doing nothing. I want something to protect myself with. Now what kind of bullets do I need for this?”
I thought Devlin would argue. But I saw him purse his lips to hide a grin. He looked at David and said, “Feisty. Sure you can handle her?”
I scowled. “I don’t need handling.”
David rolled his eyes. “Give her the bullets.”
Gun and bullets safely tucked away in my pack, I patted it and winked at David. As I walked away, I grabbed a pink pocket knife and jammed it in my pocket.
“What do you need that for?” David sighed.
“You never know.” I smiled. “Besides, it’s pink.”
He snorted. “Well, that makes sense.”
Our next stop was a general store. It had everything from clothes to car batteries. I grabbed three days’ worth of clothing. That’s all that would fit in my pack. I also found a box of powdered milk and some canned meat. I shoved it all in my pack, the zipper skipping when I tried to pull it shut.
“Are you going to be able to walk with that?” Jessica asked.
“I hope so. Help me put it on?”
“Sure.”
She put one strap over my arm and then the other. I staggered a few steps backward, leaning precariously against a counter. Jessica giggled. Chris reached out to steady me. Once I got used to the weight and bulkiness, I was able to balance myself enough to carry the pack without falling on my butt. Jessica and Chris wandered away to fill their own packs.
“Are you sure you can carry all that, Eva? You don’t have to fill your pack so full,” David murmured behind me. His breath made my hair move, tickling the side of my neck. I turned my head and kissed him. I didn’t stop until Jessica came around the corner talking to me. I sighed and turned to listen to what was so important she needed to interrupt my mind-numbing kiss with David.
It seemed I’d made a friend in Jessica. She followed me around and chattered away. I liked it. It’d been a while since I had a girlfriend to talk to. Jessica reminded me of Katie—a bittersweet connection.
We left the store and found two cargo vans parked outside near the loading bays. Devlin broke a window on each, reaching in to unlock the doors. He climbed into the front seat of one and pulled down the sun visor.
“Of course. They’re never in the visor. Things on television are always easier to see each other.r little ">“1,” he muttered.
He jammed a screwdriver into the steering column and pried away the plastic covering; it cracked as it came loose. Devlin pulled out a tangle of colored wires, bending two until they broke in half. Ripping away the plastic sheathing, he twisted two of the wires together and flicked a third wire across them. The van roared to life. He repeated the process on the second van.
“These should get us to the next town. They might not be very comfortable to sit in, though. Jessica, run into the store and grab some pillows and blankets. They’ll help cushion the back and make the ride a little easier.”
We made it to the next town before running out of gas and found a small motel to spend the night in, making a fire next to the near-empty shell of the swimming pool.
<
br /> “Show me how to work this, David.” I pulled out my gun after we’d finished dinner.
“You don’t need that. Give it to me,” he said, reaching for the gun.
“I probably won’t need it, but I’m keeping it.”
“Eva, the men—”
“The men, the men. I don’t care about the men and their super-inflated egos. You guys probably will be able to keep all us poor, helpless womenfolk safe, but I’m not taking a chance. After seeing those things, I think we all need guns. This isn’t some western movie where we all run around in our frilly petticoats and Sunday bonnets.”
He grinned. “Can’t you take anything seriously?”
“I am taking this seriously. We all need to know how to protect ourselves.”
“So your idea of protection is putting a gun in the hands of someone like Jessica? She’s twelve, Eva!”
“Boys are taught to hunt at that age. If she’s taught how to properly handle one, I don’t see why she shouldn’t have a gun. Women are just as capable as men when it comes to hunting.”
“Evangelina…”
“David.” I glared at him.
“Fine. Go grab some of the pop cans left over from dinner.”
I ran to the area around the fire and picked up the Coke cans littering the ground, jogging back to David.
“First lesson. Don’t run with a loaded gun.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a total fool. The safety’s on.”
David walked a short distance into the forest. Twigs snapped when he stepped on them, and his movement stirred up the smell of rotting leaves and wet dirt. He balanced the cans along a fallen log before turning and walking back to me. It was already getting dark. The inside of the forest was nearly black. The trees were so thick, the moon’s rays didn’t reach the ground. I had to strain to see the cans.
“These are your sights. Line up the can here,” he pointed. “Don’t put your finger around the trigger, just extend it along the side of the gun until you’re ready to shoot. When you shoot, keep your shoulders relaxed and make sure your hips and shoulders are square to the target. Wrap this hand,” he picked up the hand not holding the gun and kissed it softly, “around the gun grip to help steady the gun. Make sure you are making contact on all four corners of the gun. The higher you grip, the steadier it over my headororG61 will be. Both thumbs should be pointing at the target. Use your thumb to click the safety off, place the tip of your finger on the trigger, look straight at the target and aim dead center. Your sight should be crystal clear—the can slightly out-of-focus. Gently,in disgust. It
Chapter 25:
Banned
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“Dunno,” I heard Devlin answer.
“What are you doing in here?”
“David was in here. I thought it was a party.”
“Well, you weren’t invited,” I said, hearing David chuckle.
“Damn. Jessica, wake up.”
Jessica jumped out of bed, the headboard knocking against the wall.
“Be quiet!” Devlin whispered.
I reached slowly for my pack. The zipper scraped loudly in the silent room. I reached in the little compartment and took out my gun and extra magazines. I knew what was about to happen. We could stay quiet all we wanted. They still knew we were here. They could smell us.
“What are they doing?” Devlin asked David.
“Too dark to tell. It looks like they’re standing in the road.”
“They’re gonna rush us.”
“Yep,” David said. “Here they come.”
I heard the grunts as the infected ran toward the motel. I screamed when one jumped through the window. The glass shattered, splinters flying toward my face. I shielded my eyes with one hand.
He lay on the floor next to David, a charcoal outline in the moonlight. He—it—was so still I was sure it was dead, until it grunted, the glass clinking as it tried to stand. David pushed the infected man’s head to the floor with his shotgun, firing one shot into its skull.
Blood and brain matter sprayed through the room, burning when it hit my arm.
Another man tried to climb through the window to see each other.ar right, running my fingers favorite movie. This time, it was Devlin’s gun that fired. More infected yanked at the door. It shuddered, the doorknob jangling when they tried to push their way through.
“You get the door, David. I’ll take the window,” Devlin said.
“Heard that.”
Five figures swarmed the window, pushing and clawing at each other to get through. I loaded my gun and extended my arms like David had showed me. I flipped the safety off, aimed at one of the infected climbing through the window and… froze.
I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. David seemed to sense my hesitation and shouted at me. “They aren’t rational human beings, Eva! They’ll kill you in a second, without thought or remorse.”
I nodded in the darkness and took aim. I fired my shot, hitting a woman climbing through the window. They were coming so fast Devlin was having a hard time keeping up with them. I fired again, grazing a man. He screamed in pain and anger, shoving the person beside him out of the way as he climbed halfway through the window. I finished the job—one bullet through the forehead.
I could hear the faint sound of gunfire—pop, pop, pop—from other parts of the motel. I knew the others in our camp were in the middle of their own fights.
The door to the room gave way, and a surge of infected fell forward. Devlin turned to help David. I covered the window. Each body that tried to come in, I shot. I tried not to think of them as human. Whatever they were, they weren’t human anymore.
Their numbers depleted, the infected disappeared into the darkened forest just as the sun peeked over the horizon.
Stunned, I looked around the room. Blood dripped from the walls; a mound of dead lay in front of the door and window. I was covered in gore. My hair dripped blood onto my shoulders; my arms stung where glass had become imbedded in them, my blood mixing with the infected blood.
“David.”
He turned and looked at me. I spread my arms, looking down at myself, letting him see the amount of blood covering me, drying on my skin.
“Go wash up, Eva.”
I did what he said. I didn’t ask why and I didn’t voice my fear. If blood was how the virus was transmitted, I’d just been exposed to the infection.
I came out of the bathroom a little while later. I’d washed my hair in the cold remnants of water left in the pipes and scrubbed the blood from my body before dressing in clean clothes. I started to walk by the bed when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Jessica was huddled between the wall and bed, her knees pulled to her chest, her hands over her ears.
I reached out and touched her arm. She screamed and jumped up, running to Devlin.
“It’s okay, little one. It’s over,” Devlin reassured her in a soft, soothing voice.
I looked at David. “She’s his half-sister,” he told me.
“Oh.”
David walked over to me, reaching for my hand. I jerked away from him.
“You shouldn’t touch me, David.”
“Why not?”
“I was just covered in their blood. I could be infected. You shouldn’t be around me,” I whispered, scared of becoming one of the monsters we,” Jessica said.ad promiseou’d just seen.
“No one’s been infected by just touching their blood. We’ve all gotten blood on us. You’re fine.” David reached for me.
“Hold out your arms, Eva,” Devlin said.
I held my arms out in front of me. My eyes never left David’s face. I knew something was wrong the second David looked at the cuts covering my arms. His face turned ashen, and his shoulders sagged.
“She’s right,” Devlin said. “If their blood got into one of those cuts she’s at risk of infection.”
My heart froze at the confirmation. Infected—like those no-longer-people who just attacked
us. Becoming one of them…
“She’s fine,” David insisted.
“You know the rules, David. We can’t bend them for her just because she’s your girlfriend. The rules are in place to protect everyone. They can’t be changed for one person.”
“Wh…what rules?”
“You have to be segregated from the camp for a week. In a week we’ll know if you’ve been infected. If not, you come back and everything is fine. If you are…well, let’s just hope you’re not,” Devlin said.
“You’re going to leave me?” I asked, my voice rising in panic.
“No!” David yelled. I jumped at the hard tone. “You just have to stay away from the camp, but you’ll follow us. We won’t leave you behind. You’ll just have to be separated from the camp. You’ll eat separately, bunk separately and, if we find some cars, you drive alone. But you stay with us.”
I was put in a hotel room by myself. David sat outside the door talking to me for most of the day. The camp members decided to stay another night at the hotel. It was risky. The infected knew we were there, but we needed time to figure out where our next stop would be.
Dinner was left outside my hotel room door. David moved away from the door when I opened it and took my plate. When I was back in the room, he sat at the door again.
“How will I know?”
“I’m not sure, Eva. I don’t know how it feels.”
“Outward signs. Things you can see. What are they?”
“First you develop a rash—large, red splotches with red dots through it. But that doesn’t really mean much. People develop rashes all the time out here—poison ivy, poison oak. There are a hundred different things that could give a person a rash. So we don’t really think a person is infected because of that. Besides, your skin is already irritated from their blood burning it.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, “it did burn.” I looked at my arms. They were red where the infecteds’ blood had stung my skin. It would be impossible to tell if I developed a rash there. I pulled up the leg of my jeans and looked at my legs. No rash. Yet.
“I’m sorry.”
“What else? What should I look for?”
PODs Page 18