Manipulated

by Kimberly Montague

  He kissed my cheek and sat back down on the edge of the bed, pulling me away from him a bit as he brushed my hair away from my face. "I don't know how it works, baby, but I think you're even more beautiful with green eyes than you were with blue, and I—"

  A loud explosion rattled the windows and made us both jump. He picked me up again and turned to set me on the bed. "Stay here. I'm just gonna look outside."

  I nodded, too tired of Infecteds and fighting and everything to go look with him.

  It took him several minutes to come back, but his large, green, scared eyes and urgent movements told me what I needed to know. Instead of jumping up to face fight number 5,001 I fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

  He was rushing around the room, pulling his shorts off and shoving things in my backpack. "It looks like they blew up a—a—I don't know, but the fire is huge. We have to move, baby. Come on, you need to change." He'd said it gently, but the underlying panic in his voice was what made me stay right where I was.

  I didn't want to do this anymore. I didn't want to think about any of it. He wanted me to change. I looked down, focusing on my shirt. I kept thinking what's wrong with this shirt? Green was a good color. I'd always liked green. I was pretty sure Dad's favorite color was green since his room, his car, and several of his shirts were that color.

  "Risa, take off your shorts."

  I nodded and tried to focus on his instructions—shorts, yep, shorts. I pulled off my shorts and laughed a little. I mean it was so ridiculous. Why were we changing? Why run? Where were we even gonna go?

  "Here, put these on." He threw a pair of jeans on the bed beside me.

  They were my dark blue jeans. "I don't like these as much as my light blues ones." His scowl made me put them on anyway. When I finished, I got up and walked over to the videos beside the TV. I picked up the next Star Wars movie. "Guess we can't bring this with us, huh?"

  "Risa," he scolded.

  "What?" I held out my arms. "Don't you think this is all a little stupid?" I laughed again. "Let's just stay here and watch the next movie. They can come and kill us and it'll be over with, done. No more running, chasing, fighting, blood, dead parents—just done."

  He threw my backpack onto the bed angrily and grabbed my upper arms. "I wanna make love to you again and again for years and years, and marry you, and get you pregnant—I'm not gonna give it up because you're too out of it to put your fucking socks and shoes on!" He dropped his arms and grabbed a pair of socks from the bed, holding them out to me. "Please?"

  "Okay," I agreed quietly and took the socks, sitting on the edge of the bed. I felt a little guilty. He was trying to make sure we'd have a life together, and I was ready to throw in the towel—well, not really. I was just tired of it all. Too much had happened, and I was having trouble processing it all.

  He grabbed the Star Wars movies and shoved them in my backpack then kneeled in front of me with my shoes in his hands. "We'll get away from here until things calm down. Then if we can come back, we will. If not, we'll find a hotel or Grams' got friends up in Rio Rancho—we'll find somewhere safe. And you and I will lie in a bed somewhere and watch the entire freaking series again from start to finish."

  I nodded. "Okay." But something told me that would never happen. Maybe I'd die, maybe we'd all die, maybe a nuclear bomb was headed for us as he quickly tied my shoes for me—I didn't know. It just all felt pointless. But when he grabbed my backpack, slinging it over his shoulder and put his hand out to me, I knew I'd always follow him regardless.

  Downstairs, Brodie went to the kitchen and I stood with him, watching him shove granola bars, bags of cereal, and chips into my backpack. Lara and Sammy had backpacks too, and Grams was transferring items from a red duffel bag marked "emergency" over to a blue backpack. When Brodie handed me my backpack, I followed him to the kitchen table where he picked up his backpack from a chair, dumped out the contents and started filling it with bottled water.

  "That'll be too heavy for you, Brodie," Grams warned.

  "Even when I wasn't infected, this would've been no problem, Grams."

  Several screams made us all look toward the front door.

  Brodie put my backpack on my shoulders and took my hand again, pulling me to the others. He slapped Sammy in the shoulder to get his attention. "Did you ask Larissa and Meaghan to come too?"

  He nodded. "They're out front."

  The screams got louder and Brodie walked toward Grams. "Good. We better go." He turned back to Grams. "Ready?"

  She looked around her townhome. "I hope it's still here when this is all over."

  Brodie put his arm around her shoulders. "Me too, Grams. Let's go."

  Over? Would this ever be over? Was there an over? There were obviously too many Infecteds for the police and National Guard to handle. Maybe they would keep spreading the infection until the whole world was psycho and eating whoever was left. I looked up in the direction of Brodie's room. It was all the more reason just to stay where we were and await the inevitable.

  Brodie put his hands on my hips and pushed me forward. "Stay with me, baby."

  Stay with him, I repeated in my head. Stay with him. Yes. I wanted that. And I let him push me forward out the front door.

  It was completely dark when we got outside. The street lights were all off, and the moon was covered by the smoke that hung sickeningly thick in the air. I wanted to throw up at the reminder of the previous night, but I managed to hold in the impulse as well as the tears.

  A dark-haired woman taller than me stood on the porch with the young girl I'd seen standing so close to Brodie at the party. Toothbrush Meaghan, I'd dubbed her. She stood there, her dark hair in a ponytail and her arms folded across her chest, looking annoyed. I wasn't impressed with her so far, but with the infection raging and all the fear and destruction, I decided it was only fair to give her the benefit of the doubt.

  Brodie steered my hips out toward them and stopped. Meaghan glared at me, but her mom stepped forward.

  "This is Larissa and Meaghan," Brodie explained, keeping his hands on my waist. "And this is Risa, my girlfriend."

  Larissa's eyebrows shot up high on her forehead. "Uh, well. It's really a—sorry, did you just say girlfriend?"

  Brodie kissed my neck, forcing me to look over at him. "I'm in love with her, Larissa."

  Meaghan started laughing and walked toward the sidewalk. "Are we going or what?" she shouted back, still laughing.

  Larissa shook my hand politely. "Don't mind her. She's not feeling well." She leaned closer to me. "That time of the month, you know."

  I nodded and sincerely hoped that was all there was to her behavior. If she harbored some feelings for Brodie—well, I wasn't sure it was such a good idea for her to be coming with us.

  "It'll be fine, sunshine," Brodie whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear him.

  We moved as quickly as we could away from the glow of the fire and away from the most populated areas of the city, or at least, that's what we thought we were doing. In truth, we had no idea what was going on in the city or where people were.

  Everywhere we went, there were bodies. I did my best not to notice them, to keep my eyes on Brodie, but every so often, my eyes would fall on someone who'd died an obviously painful death. The first twenty minutes, Grams stopped to check each body for a pulse, but it was pointless—the Infecteds left no survivors. Eventually, she stopped.

  "If this is what this area looks like, I don't even want to imagine what downtown is like," Lara commented as we took a moment to rest and drink some water.

  The screams had become like white noise in the periphery of my brain, but the explosions still rattled me, and I jumped toward Brodie.

  "The farther we get from everyone, the better off we'll be," he said firmly and started walking slowly again, pulling my hand.

  We kept walking for what felt like hours in the dark, but it was significantly less than that. Lights were off everywhere we looked. Homes were dark and silent�
��those that weren't burning, that is. I stared at Brodie's footsteps for so long, I'd almost become mesmerized by them when he stopped abruptly.

  I looked up and tilted my head in confusion at the lights coming our way. There weren't a lot of them, but they seemed odd. Brodie pulled me off to the side of the street against a building—maybe a bank of some sort. The others followed, and we watched several cars pass us by.

  Not thinking much of it, we forged on until the screams reached our ears. I hadn't had too much experience with the term blood-curdling. I wasn't too sure I even knew how blood could curl, but I was pretty sure mine was as the screams got louder, closer, along with gunfire—extensive rounds of gunfire.

  "Come on!" Sammy yelled and started running in the direction we'd come from with Lara right behind him.

  We ran and ran, and I wasn't exhausted really, but I was tired of running. When Lara got too tired, Sammy carried her. When Grams got too tired, I offered to carry her, but Brodie insisted he was stronger. I had to admit to the truth behind that and took his backpack instead.

  The screams finally died behind us, and I was too wired and tired and numb to really notice how, but we wound up inside a building under construction. Orange cones and a few hard hats caught my eye as we made our way inside courtesy of our Infected strength—I smashed the doors open. There were a bunch of rooms set around one large area, and I thought maybe it was an office or some sort of a hotel or—I didn't know. Upstairs, where we could watch the windows, we collapsed on the ground in a heap of exhaustion.

  Sammy, Brodie, and I seemed to have more energy than the others—it wasn't rocket science to figure out it was due to the infection. When Brodie offered to take first watch, Meaghan volunteered to stay up with him, but I immediately grabbed his hand and refused to let go. Stay with him, my brain reminded me, and I had no intention of doing anything else.

  "Get some rest, Meaghan. Risa will stay up with me."

  She put her hands on her hips. "You're supposed to be watching the street not her, Brodie."

  The anger and hatred in her voice made me step in her direction, ready to knock her unconscious so I didn't have to hear her mouth. Brodie stopped me, though. He stepped in front of me, between the two of us, pulled my hair away from my neck and sucked on the spot that he knew made my knees go weak. With pissy-girl glaring at me, I couldn't really give in to making out with Brodie, but I knew I'd piss her off even more if I pretended. I closed my eyes and tilted my head so he had better access.

  He slowly pulled away from my neck, but kept his sexy eyes on me. "I'm an excellent multi-tasker, aren't I, love?"

  I smiled at him. "Mmm, that's for sure."

  "Meaghan," Larissa scolded. "Come and let Grams look at that cut on your back." In a softer voice, Larissa said, "Her and her friend went out to see the fire last night and one of those monsters chased them. He was wounded, thank God and only managed to scratch her before he died." Louder, she said again, "Come let Grams see it."

  She was practically fuming. "It's fine, mother!" she spat out, but walked in that direction anyway. "Just go to sleep."

  We walked over to the window and Brodie sat on the ground next to it. He convinced me to lie down and rest my head in his lap, even tried to get me to fall asleep by running his fingers through my hair, but I couldn't. I stayed awake, staring at him, memorizing the lines of his face, the size of his hands, and the way his muscles tensed when I slid my fingers across his stomach. We stayed that way for a long time until reality ate its way through the wall I was trying to trap it behind.

  "Brodie?" I whispered.

  "Yes, sunshine?"

  I wasn't sure I wanted to admit to reality out loud or make him admit to it, but my mouth went there before my brain could make up its mind one way or another. "We aren't gonna get to watch the series again are we?"

  He didn't flinch, didn't stall his movements, just kept running his fingers through my hair for several minutes. He smiled down at me so tenderly, so lovingly. "No, baby. I don't think we are."

  "All those bodies, all those screams," I whispered, shivering slightly.

  "I know."

  I kept eye contact with him, fearful something would happen in the amount of time it would take me to blink. I thought back to being in bed with him, watching the movies, listening to him recite the lines with perfect tone and inflection. "I'll miss your imitations."

  He let out a short burst of air. "I can't believe I finally found a girl who likes Star Wars and doesn't beg me to take care of her."

  "And loves you with all her heart?"

  His voice was shaky. "Come here." He pulled me up to him, kissing me so thoroughly that my knees were shaking. But then he held me at arm's length and looked so upset. "I'm on watch. I have to be—alert."

  Movement nearby made us turn suddenly in the direction of Sammy as he walked our way. "Can't sleep. Lemme take watch, Brodie."

  "You sure?" he asked, still holding me from him.

  "Yeah, go." He bounced his head away from the others who were sleeping not far from us. It was all the encouragement we needed.

  Don't Hurt Her, please!

  Brodie helped me up and guided me away from the others and into another room across the building. Looking around, I found it was a little more complete with a stronger scent of new paint and a larger window. He pulled me to the window and down onto the floor.

  "I need you to know how much I—how strong—" He had such a firm grasp on my cheeks, like he couldn't control his own intensity.

  "I know, Brodie. I love you too."

  "I don't know how else or what else to say, sunshine, but I feel more. I don't want—" He stopped trying to tell me what I already knew and pressed his lips to mine forcefully. Our tongues danced together and our hands touched every inch we could of each other. When he undid the button and zipper of my jeans, I was more than happy to pull them off, but the sound of screams made us stop.

  "They're closer," I whispered and several more screams reached us. "Too close."

  Brodie jumped up and put his hands out to me. As soon as I was standing, I expected him to pull me back to the others, but he pulled me into his arms again, nearly crushing me. "Promise me if we can't get away, you'll run, you'll do whatever you have to to get away."

  "No," I said, smiling sadly, not happy really that he was so intent on my safety, but it made me love him even more. "I'm sorry. What—what would I do? Spend the rest of my life crying over you and Dad? I don't—you're all I have, Brodie. If we're gonna die, I want it to be in your arms." His clenched jaw made me think he was mad. "I know you're pissed about—"

  "Disappointed, sunshine, but I understand. I don't wanna go on without you either." He pressed his lips to mine, tasting every inch of my mouth with his tongue then pulled away. He looked out the window, bringing my attention to it as well.

  "What are those lights?" I asked.

  "Looks like vehicles. Let's check the other windows. Maybe we can see better."

  We jogged around the floor, looking out the windows. We saw several large trucks like military vehicles pass by, and we could hear gunfire, but it wasn't in front of our building.

  "Maybe they won't know we're here?" I suggested.

  "Maybe," he agreed. "If we just stay quiet, I don't see why they'd come in here."

  We walked slowly back toward Sammy and the others, but just outside the doorway, Brodie silently pushed me up against a wall. He picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist.

  Something he'd said earlier came back to mind and made me smile in a giddy sort of way. "You wanna get me pregnant?"

  He chuckled softly, holding back the rolling laughter I loved so much. "Someday, sunshine, someday." He kissed me, but chuckled again. "Although, I wouldn't mind a little practice right now. You know what they say? Practice makes perfect."

  "If our first time is any indication, you've got the skill down real well."

  He shook his head and ground his body harder against mine, pushing me against
the wall more. "Baby, I was so damn overwhelmed by your big blue eyes and how much you loved me and trusted me. It was too much, Risa. You've yet to really experience my skills."

  I couldn't help but laugh. "How do you manage to make it through the day with such low self-esteem?"

  "Mmm, I love your sarcasm. Now shut up for a minute." He winked before his mouth devoured mine.

  It was only a matter of seconds before a gunshot rang through both our ears—directly beside us! Brodie let go of me and turned around, shielding me.

  "Meaghan," he yelled angrily. "What the fuck are you doing?"

  I could just glimpse her standing in front of us, a small handgun in her steady grasp.

  "We're supposed to be together," she said like a true stalker. "Not you and her. She has you confused. Move so I can kill her."

  Even more frightening than the gun in her hand was the calmness to her voice. She really believed what she was saying.

  "Are you insane?" Brodie shouted. "Put the fucking gun down, Meaghan."

  She narrowed her eyes at him, pulled back the hammer of the gun and aimed at him. I shoved him forward, and we both landed on the ground as the gun fired. I rolled off Brodie and charged at the little bitch. She just got the gun cocked again when my hands grasped her wrist, and I snapped it like a twig, shoving her dumbass to the ground.

  She got up immediately, and I was close enough to see her very green eyes. "Shit, she's Infected," I yelled.

  She came at me, but I stepped out of her way, and she stumbled forward. When she turned to me again, her working hand was raised in this grotesque claw-like position—just as the other Infecteds had. She growled, and I leveled the gun on her.

  "Stay where you are or I'll shoot you and then I'll rip your fucking eyes out."

  "No!" Larissa screamed from the doorway, but I didn't take my eyes off Meaghan. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Sammy wrap his arms around Larissa, holding her back. "Please don't hurt my daughter."

  "She's infected," Brodie explained. "She just tried to shoot Risa and me. Larissa," he said sadly. "She'll try to kill us all if she has the chance."