Chapter 14
Theo had spent an entire hour pacing back and forth in Dillon’s bedroom, from the desk to the bed and back, while he, Gray, and Dillon waited for the danger in the front yard to pass so they could get out of there. His stomach hurt, burning with indigestion and stress, and his neck and shoulders felt stiff and sore. He rubbed at the back of his neck and rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen them up.
Gray had been crouched by the bedroom window that faced the street the entire time they’d been upstairs, watching the activity below through the blinds for the break they needed. He’d barely looked at Theo during the past hour. Theo wondered what was wrong, why his brother was avoiding him. Clearly, something was bothering him.
Dillon was on the other side of the room, half inside his closet, searching through his abundant amounts of clothing to find the most useful stuff to pack into the duffel bag on the bed. Theo wasn’t sure how much he would find. Dillon had always been the type who went in more for stylish than functional, and Theo was willing to put money on it that Dillon didn’t even own a suitable pair of tennis shoes.
His hands shaking, Dillon pulled a shirt down from its hanger and started to fold it, fumbling at the fabric. Theo went to Dillon, touching his shoulder lightly to get his attention. Despite the noise he’d made as warning of his approach, Dillon still jumped at his touch and whirled around, shirt in his hands, his eyes wide.
Theo took the shirt from him and started to fold it. “You okay?” he asked, pitching his voice low so Gray couldn’t hear him.
Dillon’s shoulders slumped, and he reached for another shirt in the closet while Theo tucked the folded one into the duffel bag. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s…a lot to take in, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” Theo said. Dillon folded the shirt he held, his hands moving more confidently than before. Theo swallowed, steadying himself, before murmuring, “Jonathan is dead.”
“Dead?” Dillon repeated. “How? Are you sure?”
“He got shot in the head. Right in front of me,” Theo said. His voice cracked as he forced the words out past the tightness in his throat. To his disgust, he realized he was shaking, and he shoved his trembling hands into his uniform pant pockets. Dillon’s eyes flickered over Theo’s face as he read the distress that was likely reflected there. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Theo in a tight embrace, returning the one Theo had given him just over an hour earlier, when he’d found him huddled against the wall in his father’s sick room. Dillon’s fingers feathered through the short, dark blond hair at the back of his head, and he buried his face into Dillon’s shoulder, letting him comfort him, silently praying that Gray wouldn’t turn from the window and see him in his moment of weakness.
When he straightened, Theo’s eyes were suspiciously damp, and he swiped at them discreetly. Dillon squeezed his shoulder in a clasp of his hand before letting go and turning back to the closet. Theo watched him pick through his clothes as he forced several deep breaths into his lungs, and then he turned away from him and looked toward Gray.
Gray hadn’t moved an inch in the intervening moments that Theo had spent with Dillon, still staring out through the space between two blinds, his fingers tapping impatiently against his thigh. Theo knelt beside him and asked, “How is it looking out there?”
“They’re almost gone,” Gray said. “Something down the street caught their attention, so they’ve been drifting down that way.” He motioned, indicating the direction opposite the ambulance base. “A few more minutes and it might be clear enough for us to get out of here.”
“I still want to stop by a pharmacy when we get out of here,” Theo said. “CVS isn’t that far from here. We could be in and out, quick and easy.”
“I think we should go home first and wait a few more days for some of the chaos to die down before we even think about going into someplace public,” Gray said.
“Gray, what are you going to do if we get separated and you have an asthma attack?” Theo asked. “What will you do if something happens to me and I’m not around to help you if you can’t breathe? You don’t have an inhaler.”
“I’ve got an inhaler,” Gray started to protest. “It’s…” He trailed off, remembering the events of the night before and the loss of his inhaler at the Brass Monkey.
“There are three of us now,” Theo stated. “Three is better than two. We can all go in, grab as much stuff as we can, and then get out of there before anything gets ahold of us. I know I’ll sleep better if I know you have what you need to take care of yourself.”
Gray heaved a sigh, running his hand through his hair to push it back from his forehead. He squinted through the blinds, and Theo followed his gaze, examining the yard below for himself. Where before there had been ten zombie-people in the yard, now there were only two. One of them was milling near the sidewalk, close to the end of the driveway; the other lurked near Theo’s car. Though the man by the car looked easy enough to take down, the woman at the end of the driveway was larger than he was, and while he was used to hauling around and occasionally manhandling heavier patients in his line of work, there was only so much he could do when he was with two people who weren’t used to that.
The sound of a zipper sliding closed behind them let Theo know that Dillon had finished packing his clothes. Perfect timing too, since he didn’t want to wait any longer to get moving now that most of the danger below had passed. Theo pushed himself to his feet and shouldered his pilfered axe.
“Come on, let’s get to the car while we’ve got the chance,” he said. “Both of you stay behind me and don’t make any sudden movements that might get their attention on you. Got it?”
“Got it,” Dillon said, and Gray nodded. Theo moved to the bedroom door, leading the way into the hall and down the stairs. As they skipped down them, single file, Dillon said to him quietly, “What about my father?”
“What about him?” Theo asked, his voice just as hushed. His palms were sweating against the handle of his axe, and he wiped them on his uniform pants.
“Shouldn’t we do something about…about his body?” His voice cracked, and Theo heard him sniff.
“We don’t have time,” Theo told him, feeling a pang of sorrow. “We’ve got to get out of here while we’ve got the chance. I’m sorry, Dillon. We’re just going to have to try to come back in a day or two and deal with it then.”
He glanced back at Dillon and saw that his eyes shone with tears, but he was nodding understandingly. “Yeah. Okay. You’re right. The living are more important now, right?”
“Right,” Theo confirmed. They reached the bottom of the stairs, and he paused, checking their surroundings. Everything still looked secure, and he could see from where he stood that the first door was still closed and locked. Dillon still looked a bit uncertain but willing to go along with whatever Theo led him into. Gray, on the other hand, looked determined, his jaw set, his crowbar gripped in his right hand as if he were ready to swing it at the first thing that pissed him off.
“You two ready?” Theo asked after his rapid examination of them both. They both nodded, and he started toward the door, unlocking it and pulling it open.
Chapter 15
Gray drummed his fingers nervously against the steering wheel of Theo’s Hyundai SUV, studying the building in front of them. The CVS Pharmacy was the only major chain pharmacy in town, and Gray had expected them to walk into a mess. Oddly enough, the beige-painted concrete façade, red awnings, and plate glass windows were untouched. There were no other vehicles in the parking lot besides them, and everything was still, though that didn’t do much to erase Gray’s nagging worry. The sun had fully risen while they’d been inside Dillon’s house, but it hadn’t quite crested over the building to shine into the area of the lot where they were parked, casting everything around them into shadow.
“What are you thinking?” Gray asked the silent figure in the passenger seat.
Theo barely moved, his gaze intently studying the buil
ding. Finally, he said, “I don’t like it.”
“Why not? It’s untouched,” Gray pointed out.
“It’s untouched, yes,” Theo repeated. “I’ve seen several other stores that have been looted. Even a coffee shop. But a pharmacy hasn’t been touched? I want to know why.”
“Maybe they just haven’t gotten this far yet,” Gray suggested. Theo wordlessly pointed to a hardware store across the street; its plate glass windows were broken, and the front door was smeared with a streak of blood.
Dillon sat forward from the back seat. He’d been so quiet that Gray had nearly forgotten he was there. “All of this shit started overnight,” he said. “The rioting and violence and stuff. And it all started on the east end of town, judging by the little bit I gathered on the news before the power went out. CVS closed at, what, eight last night? Maybe Gray is sort of right.”
“Sort of?” Gray repeated, trying to decide if he should be indignant or not.
“With everything starting on the other side of town, maybe nobody has made it down here quite yet,” Dillon said.
“Maybe there isn’t anyone else alive to loot it,” Theo said.
“Because that isn’t morbid or anything,” Gray retorted.
“Turn the engine off but leave the doors unlocked,” Theo said. “Just in case we need to get back in quickly. Nobody comes out to the car alone, and inside, we stay within earshot of each other, no matter what. Once we’re in there, Gray, I want you to grab as much canned food as you can, and Dillon, you hit up the OTC medications and the bandages and all that stuff. If either of you happens to see anything else that’s potentially useful, go ahead and grab it.”
“What are you going to be doing?” Gray asked, already visualizing the interior of the store and the location of everything inside.
“I’m going to hit the pharmacy for the prescription drugs,” Theo said. “I’ll know better than you two which medicines are essential and which we could live without.”
“You should grab any prescription painkillers for sure,” Dillon said. “If not for our use than for trade or whatever. I have a feeling if things get worse, the barter system will make a comeback.”
“Good point,” Theo said. “Shall we?”
Gray flung his door open and slid out onto the pavement. After picking up the crowbar he’d tucked between the driver’s seat and console, he waited impatiently for the other two to join him and followed Theo to the front doors. After they jimmied the doors open with the crowbar and shoved them wide, all three of them stood just inside the entryway, staring into the darkened store, trying to see if there were any dangers lurking in the aisles. When nothing emerged, Theo turned on his flashlight. “Wait right here,” he instructed, and then he ventured into the store, cutting to the left toward the cash registers. As he disappeared from sight, Gray took a couple of steps forward to follow, not liking that he was out of sight.
A hand closed around his bicep, and he whirled around to hit whoever had grabbed him with the crowbar before checking himself when he realized it was just Dillon. “What?”
“Theo said to wait here,” Dillon said. “We should do what he says.”
Gray scoffed. “You always do what you’re told?”
“Not usually, but considering this could be a matter of life or death, I figure it’s smart to listen for once,” Dillon said.
“Life or death is precisely why I’m going after him,” Gray replied. “And if he was really your friend, you would agree.”
Before Dillon responded to that, Theo reappeared, carrying two plastic-wrapped flashlights and a package of batteries. “Help me open these,” he said, shoving one of the lights into his hands. Gray cracked the plastic open and tossed it onto the floor, then accepted batteries from Theo and inserted them into the flashlight. It turned on, its yellowish beam illuminating an endcap of candy, and Gray grinned and grabbed a shopping cart.
They split up then, heading in different directions, Theo making a beeline for the back of the store where the pharmacy counter was, Dillon heading in the same general direction to dig through the OTC medications, and Gray moving toward the left where the grocery items were.
There wasn’t much in the way of food in a pharmacy store like this, but Gray filled up one shopping cart with several twelve-packs of bottled water and quite a few shopping bags stuffed to bursting with canned goods. Once he’d cleared everything usable off of the shelves, he started to shove the heavily laden cart toward the front doors, and by the time he made it up there, he had begun to feel a little winded. He sagged against the shopping cart, taking a moment to breathe, and remembered Theo’s orders to not go to the car alone. He pushed off from the cart and headed back into the store to sweep each of the aisles for anything useful.
Chapter 16
Theo went straight to the pharmacy counter at the back of the store, walking along with Dillon for most of the way since their destinations were pretty close to each other. They spent most of the walk in silence, and it wasn’t until they’d reached the end of the aisle with cold medications on it that Theo broke the silence.
“I want you to take this,” he said, holding the axe out to Dillon.
Dillon looked at him with wide-eyed surprise.
“Just while I’m at the pharmacy counter,” Theo insisted. “You can give it back when I’m done.”
Dillon stared at him and then he asked, “Why did you do this?”
“Do what?” Theo asked, confused.
“Come after me,” Dillon said. “Bring me with you.”
“You’re my friend,” Theo said.
“You have other friends,” Dillon pointed out. “I don’t hear you making plans to go after them.”
“That’s true,” Theo conceded. He idly picked up a package of cold and flu medication and dropped it into one of the plastic shopping bags in the cart Dillon had brought along with him. “But I’m not sleeping with my other friends either, am I?”
“I don’t know,” Dillon replied. “Are you?”
“You’re really going to ask me something like that?” he asked incredulously.
“It’s a simple yes or no question, Theo,” Dillon replied.
“Fine, then. No, I’m not. You’re the only person who even knows I lean that way, and you’re the only one I care about like that,” Theo said, his exasperation overcoming any reticence he might have felt about admitting that.
Dillon looked flattered. “Really?”
Oh God, Theo thought. “Dill, I don’t think this is a good place or time to have this talk. Can we save it for when we get to my house? We can explore it all in depth then.”
“Among other things,” Dillon joked, and when Theo rolled his eyes, he held his hands up defensively. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m trying to distract myself from the crappiness of the situation.”
“Well, keep trying,” Theo said. “And take my axe already, would you? For my peace of mind?”
Dillon took the axe from him, setting it on his cart. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Only because you asked so nicely. But you’re getting it back the minute you finish clearing out that pharmacy counter.” Dillon surged forward and caught Theo by the front of his shirt, hauling him in for a kiss that could only be considered scorching. He broke away from it quickly. Cheeks flushed, he said, “For luck.”
Theo let out a little laugh. “Best lucky charm ever,” he commented. “I’ll be right back.” He turned away from Dillon and headed to the pharmacy counter, climbing over it to get into the employee-only area on the other side and set about the task of gathering as many medicines as he could stuff into the reusable canvas shopping bags he’d pilfered from the front of the store. Starting at one end of the drug racks, he began looking at each drug bottle there, picking out the useful ones, leaving the ones that he had no use for or wasn’t sure about, and dumping his selections into the bags he carried.
Theo was nearly done when he heard the shout of alarm, followed by a crash of metal shelving. He dropped the two bags and r
an for the counter. He braced both hands against the smooth countertop and vaulted over it easily, half-sliding on his hip across it and dropping to the carpet on the other side. “Gray? Dillon?” he called, and then he heard a moan coming from the general direction he’d left Dillon. Then there was another crash, this time sounding like metal on metal, and Dillon’s cry of pain.
“Dillon!” Theo shouted, racing along one of the main aisles as he checked each of the narrower ones, searching for his friend frantically. “Dillon, where are you?”
“Theo!” Gray’s voice yelled out, and Theo skidded to a halt, disoriented, trying to figure out which aisle it had come from. There was a clang, and then Gray shouted out, “Aisle seven! Seven!”
Theo altered his course to run for that aisle, halting at the end of what turned out to be the family planning aisle for only a sparse few seconds to assess what was going on before charging into the melee. Gray was standing over Dillon, swinging his crowbar at an unknown man that was grabbing at Gray with a manic-ness that suggested to Theo that he was one of the crazy people like his patient from the night before. Dillon lay on the carpeted floor just behind Gray, making soft, choked moaning sounds. Several shelves were collapsed, the merchandise that had once been on them scattered about on the floor and on top of Dillon, the metal shelves bent as if something had been flung hard against them. The axe lay beside Dillon, and Theo lunged forward, practically falling on top of Dillon in his haste to grab it, and scooped it up, taking it into both hands and scrambling to his feet.
“Gray, down!” he shouted, and Gray dropped without hesitation, falling to his knees, and both of them struck at the same time. Theo swung his axe sideways as Gray thrust upward with the pointed end of his crowbar, and the crowbar embedded into their attacker’s stomach at the same time Theo’s axe sliced into its neck. The force of the axe blow took the man’s head half off, and Theo pulled the weapon free with a splatter of blood, hefted it, and swung it again, slicing the man’s head the rest of the way from his neck. The head banged against a shelf of lubricants and tumbled to the floor. The body followed close behind.
Origins (The Becoming Book 6) Page 20