"Shut up. Don't do this now, I'm too weak to fight back." "Oops."
"Hardyharhar."
"So ask the question already."
"You seemed nervous when.. Luke?.. was patting your shoulder earlier." "That's not a question. It's an observation."
"Why did you seem nervous?" "No reason."
"Malachi.."
"It's nothing, really. Here's the bathroom. I really, really, hope you don't need help in there."
"I don't. But you better be out here when I get out." "I will be."
Rather embarrassed by the fact that the boy was listening to me, I decided to talk to him while he was on the opposite side of the door. Maybe, since I was on the can, he'd lower his guard just an teensy bit. I started with, "Malachi, I don't really trust them."
"Why? They saved Dustin, and Pixie"
"And you. But that doesn't change the fact that I don't trust them." "Why don't you trust them?"
"I don't know for sure. It's just something, and even you seem nervous about them. You said that they said this whole zombie thing may have been their fault, and there's no denying the fact that it might be. We really don't know where this virus originated from."
"So?"
"What if they did it on purpose?"
"Get real, Excel. Why the hell would they do it on purpose?"
"Why does anyone do anything on purpose? Maybe they did it just because they wanted to. Really now, asking that is like.. like asking a psychokiller, why he kills. There's no real reason. He does it because he does it, and that's that. But, maybe they had some reason. Some hidden agenda that nobody knows yet."
"Like what?"
"Maybe they really were trying to make a steroid, like it said on the news." "But the news said the government did it."
"Maybe the news was half wrong." "Maybe they were right."
"I'm not saying these friends of yours" "They are not my friends."
"Ooh, testy." "Shut up, Excel."
"Why aren't they your friends?" "Because they're not." "Malachi.."
"Can I come in?" "What?"
"I can't explain it out here, okay?"
"Sure, I'm done, anyway." And I flushed right as the door was opening, and the man was coming in. He had an expression on his face that made me extremely, extremely nervous about what he was about to tell me. Like it was something I needed to carry to my grave. "You okay, Malachi?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I don't trust them either."
The confession made my stomach knot immediately. Because Malachi was a very smart boy, and if he didn't trust someone then I figured something was up. He didn't strike me as nearly as paranoid as he could have been. Especially considering the situation, but now he was leaning all his weight against the door like something was about to barrel through.
"Why not?"
"When I first woke up in the clinic, after they'd saved me from a group of zombies, they wouldn't let me leave." "What?"
"They wouldn't let me leave."
"They were probably just trying to keep you alive Malachi." "See, now you're scared, and trying to protect them, Excel." "No, I'm not!"
"Yes you are. But I won't dwell. They wouldn't let me leave, and they kept sidestepping details of their little story that I wanted. They kept saying I was going to help them, even though I didn't want to, and they seemed a bit eager for me to go get you guys."
"And you got us anyway?" "I was worried."
"Why?"
"Because you guys are my friends." I grinned a bit.
"Considering the situation," he amended when he saw my grin. "So you really were worried about us?"
"Yeah, I was. Now, why don't you trust them?"
"I'm not sure, it's just this feeling that I get, not to mention George is piss scared of them." "I thought it was just the coats."
"Well, when I asked him about it he said that they, specifically, were the ones that hurt him. When I asked him if he was sure, he said no, but that wasn't the point. It just upset me a bit that he was so scared of them. I mean, kids are the best at telling these things, right? Isn't that what everyone says?"
"I always thought it was that kids were best to go to for information because they didn't lie." "A load of bullshit."
"Precisely."
"Let's get back?"
"Yeah. Before anyone starts asking questions."
Malachi threw my arm over his shoulders, and attached his own to my waist as I waddled through the door, and down the hallway. We didn't get far before Serena was glaring at me, arms crossed before her chest like an angry mother. When I raised an eyebrow in question, she merely glared more fiercely.
"Why were the two of you in the bathroom together?" She asked suddenly, and I almost laughed at the insult in her voice. As if we'd committed some terrible sin or something.
"I couldn't quite make it on my own Serena. He let go of me, and I practically fell face first into the toilet." I tried not to grin, right as Malachi tried not to chuckle. "Let's just say we had some rather embarrassing bonding time, and leave it at that."
"Do you think I'm stupid?!" The girl demanded, storming towards us. For a minute I could swear she was going to pull Malachi away from me, but she didn't. She must have realized
I would have fallen, and hurt myself even more. "Do you think I'd actually believe that?! I want the truth!"
"Fine," I conceded, and Malachi almost stabbed me in the ribs. "We made hot, passionate love while visiting the commode. We will soon be turning it into our secret love den, that only the two of us can enter."
Malachi stabbed me in the ribs even harder, but this time it was to stop me from bursting out into laughter at the look on Serena's face. The ditz must have believed me, because she went storming down the hallway towards the room that everyone else was in, and Malachi shoved his face into my shoulder to stifle his own laughter once she was gone.
Within minutes, I had tears of mirth running down my face, and I couldn't breathe. Malachi was shaking so badly he could barely hold us up, and had to lead me to the wall so the two of us could lean there. Considering how stupid the woman must have been, there was absolutely no way that they'd caused this mess. They, especially her, weren't smart enough to make such a virus. Unless, of course, she was really trying to make jam, and it turned into this.
That was entirely possible.
Blond eyebrows were raised at us when Jared walked towards us. Probably wondering why I was crying, and the boy beside me was practically convulsing. Neither of us could pause long enough to explain the situation, so I just tried to wave my hand in a dismissive manner. Attempting to wipe my tears at the same time.
"What did you guys do?" Jared asked, barely getting a glance from Malachi, although I did look up. "Serena ran by crying."
He started laughing harder, but I sobered up a bit. Figuring the girl must have really like Malachi to take what I'd said so close to heart. Crying? I wiped my tears, and calmed my breathing, while trying to help Malachi calm down a bit as well. My entire body was hurting again, but I tried to ignore it. I had to focus on explaining the story to Jared.
"Malachi helped me to the bathroom. I couldn't quite get things working by myself, considering I almost fell face first into the can, so he came and he was helping me. It was embarrassing, but it happened, and we dealt with it," I reiterated my first lie. "But Serena refused to believe us, so I told her that we had a steamy sex session in the bathroom. For some reason, she chose to believe the second story."
"She's got bad experience with men," Jared explained, and I nodded my head in understanding.
"I'll go talk to her," offered Malachi once he had control of himself. "You just have to get Excel back to the room, okay? Where'd she go?" "Around the corner, second on the right."
"Alright."
I was passed between the two men, and promptly led into the room with everyone else, who looked at me rather funny. I burst into laughter immediately, and everyone else followed suit even though they
didn't know what I was laughing about. Ian said something about it being contagious, and I was seated beside the boy, who I immediately fell into, mumbling the story to all of them. Everyone except for Lila continued laughing, she was the one who smacked me in the arm.
"That was mean."
"It was her own fault for not wanting to believe the truth!" "He really had to help you in the bathroom?"
I considered telling everyone the truth, but Billy, Luke, and Jared were all still in the room, and I didn't want them to know about my conversation with Malachi. So I simply nodded my head, chuckling a bit more. "It was extremely embarrassing, but when you gotta go, you do what you have to, you know?"
"Yeah."
"It was still mean though." "Yeah, I guess."
"Maybe you should apologize."
"As soon as she gets in here I will, okay? I promise."
Lila nodded her head in agreement, and I rested on Ian. He really was quite comfortable, regardless of how awkward it was to just lay on him. It felt more intimate than friendly for a short moment, but I forced that out of my mind, and just closed my eyes, trying not to concentrate on the pain. But there was a lot of pain, and it was hard not to focus on it. I wanted to ask for more Advil, but didn't want to pass out again. What I remembered from my dream was bothering me. I didn't know why I'd had it.
"Serena is a perfectly nice girl, Excel." "I never said she wasn't."
"Then why are you so mean to her?"
"I did one mean thing. And she deserved it for calling me a liar." "You were rude to her earlier."
"When? Before I was sedated?"
"Yeah!"
"Apparently my back looked like it was hacked at with a meat cleaver. I was in pain! I would've told a few select words to my parents had they been here. But they weren't. And she was the one with the smug grin, okay? I promise to try and be nicer."
"I'll hold you to that."
"She's stopped crying," everyone looked up when Malachi spoke from the doorway. "I explained that it was a joke, and we didn't have sex, you just needed some innocent assistance. But she says she won't come out until you go apologize to her, Excel."
"Fine then, take me to her."
And I was lifted to me feet, and led to the room that Serena was in. I sat quite daintily once there, and waited to see what Serena had to say. She in turn waited for Malachi to leave us alone, and then stared at me for some odd reason.
"I'm sorry Serena, but you contested my honesty." "You guys really didn't.. you know?"
"Hell no! I wouldn't do that if my life depended on it. I'm not into that type of stuff." "Well that's a relief."
"Isn't it just?"
"It was mean what you said." "I know, I'm sorry."
"I'd like for you to keep away from Malachi from now on."
That upset me. I don't know why it upset me, but it did. She was talking as if she had some control over my life. Or Malachi belonged to her, or something. I just glared for a moment, trying to keep my temper. But I knew the attempts failed when I asked, "So, who's Criss?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Something about her…
If there was one thing he didn't trust, or even remotely like for that matter, it would be the people who thought they controlled the universe. She, apparently, was one of those people. Acting as though she was master, and ruler of all things. Of all people. She presented herself as if she held life in the palm of her hand, and there was little to be done aside from unquestioning obedience. She had such a smug, stuck up tone, one he wanted to beat out of her, but wouldn't. Of course he wouldn't. He probably wouldn't get close enough. First and foremost everyone else would stop him. Even if he did get close enough he probably couldn't anyway.
"I'd like for you to keep away from Malachi from now on."
The absolute nerve of her. As if she had any right to boss anyone around. It was the attitude that he remembered quite as much as he recalled the hair, and the eyes. Both terribly dark colors, and the hand around her vanity. Anyone with eyes could tell she was vain. She was primped, and polished, and the zombies were all coming to eat them. All of them. No matter what she seemed to think, she was no different from them. No better than the rest of them. She didn't have some special immunity. And even if, but some fluke, she couldn't be turned into a zombie, that didn't mean she was impervious to cannibalism.
Unless she had a secret of course.
Some kind of secret that did make her impervious to the zombies scratching along the first floor of the building they were in. Maybe, if he could figure out what it was, he could
save everyone. There had to be some secret. Something aside from certifiable insanity that made her so.. so her. She truly was an odd one. A frighteningly odd one. She was afraid of another person being even slightly connected to a person she was infatuated with, but unafraid of zombies.
The only way that he would ever, ever be unafraid of the zombies scratching against one barrier or another plugging up the stairwells in attempts at safety, was if he had a cure, and an escape route. The cure, he thought with a shake of his head, was more believable than the escape route. Everyone had been over the building, everyone concurred that there was absolutely no escape. No escape but down and out, which was virtually impossible with the lower floors overrun with cannibalistic once humans.
However, and he shuddered at the thought, there was always the possibility of a decoy. The image was horrifying, since there were a handful of people they could use as bait. Excel was in extreme pain, and couldn't move without assistance, Ian wasn't much better, Pixie was a kid and expendable in some minds. He refused to think about himself right then, knowing he wasn't in any better a position than the others. There was an excuse to use any single one of them.
The even more horrifying thought was that they, she, might have known a weakness. A way to wrap the zombies about her fingers. Jesus, what were the chances? Malachi and Jaden had been talking about the government making a mistake. Doing experiments. Trying to construct a helpful steroid, or something of the like. They accidentally released it, and had caused the outbreak of zombies. The Rvirus. The Reanimating virus. He wouldn't put it past the government, at all, but he still didn't entirely want to consider that their leaders had done this to them.
So it was her.
Of course, there was the chance that it wasn't her, it was instead someone else in the general group. Another possibility he didn't want to consider, because they weren't the ones with the attitude problem, she was. A crybaby if his opinion meant anything, but then again it really didn't. Thoughts and feelings never mattered if no one paid attention.
They'd never understand what he wanted to do, if he went to do it. They wouldn't believe him if he expressed his theories. They were just so far out there, and it was every other opinion against his own; odds he knew he couldn't beat. Proof then, he needed proof and he walked away from the door he'd hidden beside, determined to do whatever it was he had to do. At any cost. So long as the truth was let out.
It was no way for him to be thinking, because he had no right to choose who was to live, and who was to die. He hadn't the right to decide who deserved it, no matter how justified his reasoning was. It was cold, possibly cruel thinking. But a strategic replacement here or there, and sooner or later he'd have all the proof he needed.
Certain things were shifting, with the force of the zombies slamming up against the door as he crept down the stairs, silent as a mouse. The fact that certain things were moving, while other things remained immobile told the boy exactly what he'd best reposition. A chair wedged awkwardly between what might have been a cabinet and the wall. A broom, angled diagonally through the rungs of the chair, under the cabinet, to keep it in place. The moment he shifted those two items, everything seemed loose, and he made to move quietly back up the stairs.
Until there was a rather large thumping noise, and a shout of horror. Something about, "Oh my God, Excel!"
He ran up the stairs then, wondering desperately what hap
pened while he was gone. It hadn't even been that long. He'd been quiet, yes, but certainly not slow. Bumping into everyone who had the same idea as him, everyone who was wondering why Serena sounded like she was having a breakdown again. The door flew open, and the first thing anyone saw was blood.
Excel's blood.
"Oh my god!" It might have been Lila who screamed, Blaz pushing past everyone to get to the prone and bleeding form. "What happened?!" "Oh my God. Oh my God," Serena chanted, covering her face, and an expression of absolute horror.
He didn't buy it for a minute.
"What did you do?!" He screamed, almost rushing through the crowd to throttle the hysterical girl, certainly intending to try, but hands grabbed and restrained him. "George! Calm down!"
"But, Excel"
"Shush. Excel will be just fine."
There was definitely something about her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
"Fell?"
"Yes! Oh, it was terrible. It was like Excel completely lost balance or something." "While sitting?"
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