“Thank you.”
“No, thank you for letting me back in your life after all these years,” she said.
As we started to talk, the knot in my stomach eased. “I have no reason to be angry. I just want my family.”
“My life is now complete,” my mom said. “We have an unbreakable bond like no other.”
We hugged and I loved being held in her arms. And in that instant, I felt like I’d known her my entire life.
“Where’s Travis? He didn’t want to come?” my grandmother asked, handing me a glass of water.
I swallowed hard. “He would have, but…well, he died a year ago, when everything first started. I couldn’t get word to you, because all communications went down.”
“I’m so sorry,” my mom said, hugging me.
It felt so good to be held in her arms, and I never wanted to let her go.
She glanced down at my arm and saw the makeshift tourniquet, a piece of Kyle’s shirt tied in a tight knot. “Oh! Did you cut yourself, honey? We need to clean that up and get a proper bandage on it for you.”
I was speechless for a moment, and they both stared at me as the awful words left my lips. “I-I was bitten.”
Chapter 33
“You were bitten?” my mom asked.
“By what? A dog?” my grandmother asked, her voice wavering. “Please tell me it was an animal, dear.”
My eyes welled with more tears, these more bitter than happy. “No, Grandma,” I said. “I’m afraid it was…something much worse. It was a zombie.”
They both gasped, and my grandmother’s hand shot up in front of her mouth.
My mother looked rattled and absolutely terrified.
“I’m so sorry. I tried to get here in one piece, but I got nailed over at the docks. That’s why we swam, as I didn’t think they’d let me in if they noticed the bite. I was so close to getting here unscathed.” I looked down, then glanced up at my mom. “I know I don’t have much time, but I wanted to meet you in person. I considered turning around so you wouldn’t find me only to lose me, but I just…I couldn’t die without meeting you.”
My mother and grandmother were in complete shock. When my mother regained her composure, she took me to her room and got me some dry clothes and a pair of boots. I told her about my friends waiting outside. When she went to look for them, she didn’t see them. I assumed they went on a stroll to kill a little time while I talked to my mom, trying to give me some space. I knew they’d be back soon. While I changed, I could hear my mom softly crying as my grandmother tried to comfort her. I went back downstairs and my mother tried to hide her tears.
“Everything fits you great,” she said.
“Thank you so much.”
The door opened and a man walked in. When I saw him, I instantly knew he was my father. He smiled, then hugged me. “Valerie?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“I’ve waited so long to see you!”
I hugged him tightly as emotion once again consumed me.
“I finally have my little girl back,” he said, “and now I’m never gonna let you go. You can stay here as long as you want. Mi casa, su casa.”
“Jack,” my grandmother cut in, “she was bitten, just before she got to the island.”
Terror and panic spread across his face, and he held back tears as he hugged me tighter. “Oh no. Honey, I’m so, so sorry.”
“I just wanted to see you before I died,” I said, “and please don’t be sad. I don’t have long, and I just want to make my last few days…memorable.”
My grandmother held my mother as she sobbed in her shoulder. It was such a bittersweet experience for her. She walked over and hugged me. I knew from our many tearful phone conversations that she’d given me up because she was too young to raise me, and she wanted me to have a better life than she could have given me at the time. Now, she had to give me up all over again.
I learned the story of my adoption in full, heartbreaking detail. Meeting my mom brought closure for both of us. We shared stories, pictures, more hugs, and more joyful tears. Precious bonds were formed, long wondered about questions were answered, similarities were discovered, and missing pieces suddenly fit. It was the sweetest reunion ever.
“I’ve often wondered if you ever thought about me,” I said.
“Not a day went by when I didn’t.”
“Did you remember my birthday?”
“Always. The only thing that gave me comfort was knowing that you and I were under the same big sky.”
“I have so many questions.”
“Ask away, sweetheart.”
“I’ll get out the photo albums,” my grandmother said.
We all sat in the living room and looked at pictures. The family resemblance was amazing and I was in awe with every turn of the page. They told me all kinds of stories and caught me up on all the family history I’d missed out on.
“See this picture here?” my dad said, laughing.
“Yeah?”
“It’s Dean, at three. He wanted to be a dog for trick-or-treating. We used shoe polish on his nose, and his floppy ears were made from the insoles of my shoes!”
I looked at the picture of the little boy. His big, blue eyes shone brightly, and his face was painted white, with spots like a Dalmatian.
“Oh, and that’s Nick riding his first bicycle,” my grandmother said.
“Oh, here you are, honey,” my mom said, showing me a picture of myself, taken at the hospital the day I was born.
“Did Dean or Nick ever see this?” I asked.
“No. I kept this album hidden in my closet.”
“You were so cute,” my dad said, looking at me. “Giving you up for adoption left us with a sense of deep loss, and we’ve been haunted by it. We loved you so much, and we just wanted you to have more than what we could give you. We’ve thought about you every day since, hoping you were all right.”
We talked about for another hour, and I really came to understand that they really, truly loved me and had only wanted what was best for me. Kyle, Sammy, and Jenny sat on the back porch and my grandma gave them food and drinks. They decided to sit outside so we could have some alone time.
When the door creaked open, a guy walked in. He had dark hair and blue eyes and looked just like me and my mother. He looked eighteen so I knew it had to be Dean.
He looked at me and smiled. “I didn’t know we had company.”
I stood and shook his hand. “I’m Val.”
“Nice to meet you. Are you staying on the island?”
“Just visiting for a couple days, maybe a week. I’m not sure. I guess it all depends on Mother Nature.”
“I hope you’re staying for dinner,” he said.
“She is,” my mom said.
He grinned. “Great. Are you a friend of my mom’s?”
I smiled. “I know your parents and your grandma. We met over a year ago before this whole zombie thing happened.”
Dean said he couldn’t wait to talk to me more, then walked upstairs. My family and I chitchatted about everything. About thirty minutes later, Dean walked in with a confused look on his face. I think he might’ve overheard us. We tried to keep quiet once we knew Dean was in the house, but I think my mom slipped up a minute ago with one of her comments. And then I called her mom. We were so busted.
He looked at me in stunned amazement. “Did I overhear something I shouldn’t have?”
“You should talk to your parents,” I softly said.
“I’m going to tell you everything when Nick gets here,” my mom said.
“Did Val call you Mom?” Dean asked. “What’s going on?”
“Dean,” my dad said, “there’s no easy way to tell you this…”
“Tell me what? What the heck is going on?”
“Your mother and I had a child when we were fifteen. We gave her up for adoption, but just before all this zombie business broke out, she found us. We were in contact for a while, and your grandmother invited her to c
ome to the island. When we didn’t hear from her, we assumed she hadn’t made it.”
His jaw dropped. “I have a sister?”
“Yes,” my mom said, “and this is her.”
I waved. “Your…er, uh, our mom told me all about you and Nick. It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long.”
He just stood there, dumbstruck, staring at me in disbelief.
“Dean?” our father asked.
“How could you keep a secret like this from me?” he asked, looking at our parents in shock. “I had every right to know I had a sister.”
“I was fifteen, two years younger than what you are. Could you raise a child right now?”
He pondered. “No, but I’d try. I would never give my own child up.”
“Son, I have regretted it every day, but I was so young, and I was scared to death. My father convinced me that it was the best thing to do, that I would be a failure as a parent if I kept her. He told me the baby needed a stable family who could give her everything I couldn’t.”
“The reasons aren’t important here,” I said. “What’s done is done, and my time is short. Now that I’m here, I just want to spend my last few days with my family.”
My mom touched Dean’s shoulder. “Val was bitten by a zombie on her arm.”
He gasped.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“When were you bitten?” Dean asked.
“Just over on the dock, a while ago.”
“Then we have time.”
“Not much.”
“No, I mean…well, we may have time to save your life,” he said.
“What?”
“I know we just met, but I won’t give up on you,” he said.
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know that you’re my sister, and that’s enough. I’ll go to any lengths to protect my family.”
“There’s nothing you can do, Dean. I admire the fact that you want to help me, but I’m afraid it’s a done deal once death digs its nasty teeth into your skin.”
“Oh, I’ll stop it all right. Watch me.”
I admired the determined look on his face. “That’s sweet, but you can’t.”
He looked at our mom and dad, then our grandmother. “We can save her.”
“It’s risky,” my mom said.
“Isn’t it worth it?” he said. “You said you regret giving her up before. We can’t give up on her now. We have to try.”
“What if you get caught?”
“I won’t.”
“What are you guys talking about?” I asked.
A knock on the door startled me, and I gasped as the door opened and soldiers flooded the room. I wanted to get out of there, but there was no way I could take on a dozen armed men.
“What’s going on?” my mom asked.
“Ma’am, we’ve been informed that you’re harboring a female with a zombie bite.”
My mom cocked a brow. “Who told you that?”
We have her three companions in custody. And the little girl told us.”
My stomach clenched. They had captured my friends and were holding them. Did they leave the porch and decide to walk around again, then get caught?
“And you believe her?” my dad said.
The man peered at me. “Only one way to find out. Lift up your sleeve. Now.”
I didn’t do it and one of the men came over and slid my sleeve up. “That’s nasty,” he said. “I’m not untying that.”
“She’s coming with us,” the soldier said. “So that wound can be properly bandaged.”
“Where are my friends?” I shouted.
The soldier met my gaze. “Come with us, and we’ll let you see them.”
“Escort them off the island if you have to, but please let them go,” Grandma pleaded.
“The rules are the rules,” a soldier said, “no exceptions.”
When another trained his gun on me, our father stepped in the line of fire. “She’s done nothing wrong and doesn’t deserve to be treated like a criminal!” he snapped.
One of the men roughly jerked my arms behind my back and handcuffed me.
“Lucas,” my mom begged, “don’t do this. How can you? You’re one of Nick’s best friends, for goodness sake, and she’s his sister!”
“It’s not my choice,” he said. “Orders are orders.”
“You can’t let them hurt my baby. I’ve waited my entire life to see her, and now you’re taking her away from me!”
“It’s protocol,” he said, “but you know I’ll try my best to help her.”
“Protocol? Lucas, this is my daughter we’re talking about,” she said, as a man held her back. “Please let her go.”
My father jumped at the man holding the gun.
The soldier retaliated and hit him in the side of the head, and he collapsed to the ground.
My mother screamed and ran to his side.
“Stop this, Lucas!” Dean yelled.
“I don’t have the authority.”
“Can I just talk to you…alone?” Dean whispered in Lucas’s ear.
Lucas nodded, then escorted me out the front door. “C’mon,” he said to Dean.
My mother raced out behind us. “Lucas, just give me one more minute with my daughter,” she begged.
He nodded, and she ran over and hugged me. She touched my face. “I’m gonna save your life somehow, baby. I swear. I won’t let them hurt you.”
I let out a trembling breath.
She kissed my cheek. “I love you, Val.”
I gazed into her blue eyes. “I love you, too, Mom.”
One of the men shoved me forward, pushing me into a military Jeep.
As we sped off, I looked over my shoulder at my sobbing mom and realized again just how much she loved me. The wind blew my hair around as we rode along, and I knew I was being driven somewhere where they could contain me so I didn’t infect the entire island. Maybe it was selfish of me to come here, I thought. I didn’t want to cause harm to anyone on the island, and I didn’t mean to get the military involved. I hadn’t thought through it logically, because I’d been so desperate to meet my family before I died. My emotions had clouded my sense of reason. Still, I didn’t understand why everyone was so riled up. I wasn’t a danger to others, since the virus wasn’t airborne. I couldn’t give it to anyone unless I bit or scratched them, and I’d already made arrangements with Kyle to end my life before I did that.
* * *
We pulled into the parking lot of a huge brick building. The door opened, and Lucas helped me out of the Jeep. The other soldiers still pointed their guns at me, as if I had some kind of plague they didn’t want to catch.
“I’m not resisting arrest,” I said.
“Put down the guns, boys,” Lucas said.
They slowly lowered their guns and led me into the building. We walked down a long hall and turned left. I was ushered into some kind of exam room and told to wait there.
Before long, a bald-headed man in a long, white lab coat came in to talk to me.
I shuddered; the last time I’d seen a man dressed like that, he had planned to make appetizers out of me.
“I’m Dr. Masters,” he said.
I set my fear aside and held out my arm.
Much to my surprise, he actually shook my hand.
“So…you don’t think I’m contagious?” I said.
“As long as you don’t bite me,” he replied.
“Never,” I said.
“Don’t make that promise,” he replied. “You’ve been compromised.”
“About that—”
Holding a hand up to silence me, he pointed to the wound on my arm, then put a pair of rubber gloves on. “I’d like to examine that, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. Have at it.”
He took off the old bandage and carefully scrutinized the wound, not being too gentle about it. “Just as I thought. You’ve indeed been bitten by one of the infected.”
“Please tell me something I don’t know.”
He washed out my wound, and it stung so bad that I had to bite my lip to stifle a gasp. “You seem…very knowledgeable. Are you aware of what happens now?” he grimly asked.
“Yes. By next week, I’ll be zombified.”
He shook his head and applied a fresh bandage that was far more comfortable than Kyle’s wet, dirty shirt. “No, that won’t be happening.”
“Because you’ll have to put me to sleep first, eh, Doc?” I said sadly.
“Surely you understand that we cannot allow the change to take place. For the safety of everyone on the island and society as a whole, we must euthanize you, albeit as humanely as possible.”
“Like a dog at a shelter?”
“You are dying anyway. This will be a much more gentle way. You will simply close your eyes and go to sleep, without having to endure the horrific transformation caused by the virus. Your family will be able to give you a proper memorial service and burial.”
“Or maybe they can just store me in their china cabinet. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, right?”
“Yes. I’m afraid cremation is necessary.”
I hated all the talk about death, especially my own. I understood that I was facing a death sentence, and I had to agree with the doctor that the lethal injection would be the most painless way to go. I just wanted a little more time to spend with my mom. Just one more day would make all the difference, even if I had to see her in that exam room. I would have preferred to die in the comfort of my mother’s home, but they were too freaked out to ever let that happen. “I understand that I can’t escape my death sentence. I’m going to die one way or the other, whether you kill me or the virus does. I know I’m a goner. Can’t you give me a little more time, wait until right before I turn into a zombie? Please. I just want a few more days to live, some time to get to know the family I just met. That’s all I’m asking.”
He put tape over the edges of the soft dressing. “That’s not the way it works.”
“Then why are you even bothering to bandage me up?”
“We’re not monsters. You’re so young, and I hate that you got bitten and the fact that we have to euthanize you. Still, you deserve food, water, and a clean dressing.”
Val: Prequel to The Zombie Chronicles Page 26