Remy fell silent. A sinking feeling dropped into her stomach. Cade wrestled the case open and grabbed boxes of ammunition, handing them down to Remy. “How did he know?” Remy asked softly.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. I’m going to talk to Ethan about it later, see what he thinks. If the infected are getting smarter, if they’re starting to strategize … then we have a real problem.”
Chapter 20
By the time Brandt and Ethan made it back to the van, dragging two carts of food and water behind them, the others were already waiting for them. Remy sat in the open sliding door of the van, her head in her hands. Cade stood beside her, wearing a pair of latex gloves and cleaning the blood off of Avi’s machete. Nikola was already in the passenger seat, curled up with her head resting back against the seat. Gray stood next to her open window, talking to her and rubbing her arm gently. Theo and Avi were nowhere to be seen; Ethan guessed they were both inside the van already.
“Everybody okay?” Ethan called on approach. “Nobody hurt?”
“Yeah, we’re all fine,” Cade said. Remy lifted her head, and the two women exchanged an unreadable look. Cade moved closer to Ethan and said softly, “I need to talk to you and Brandt.”
“Can it wait?” Ethan asked, pointedly looking at the lot around them. Cade looked uncertainly at him. “I don’t like the idea of hanging around this place any longer than necessary.”
Brandt hauled the cart of water to the back of the van and flung the doors open. Ethan moved to help him, scooping a gallon from the cart and sliding it into the van.
“I’ll give you guys a hand,” Cade offered immediately. She grabbed two gallon jugs for herself and moved to push them inside.
Ethan waited until she’d put them down before he said, “This must be really urgent.”
“It is.” Cade paused as the two men loaded a few bags of food into the van. “Remy and I think the infected are getting smarter.”
“Getting smarter?” Ethan repeated. Brandt grabbed a case of water and bumped into Ethan as he slipped past to set it in the van. Ethan ignored him, focusing on Cade instead. “What do you mean?”
“I’m just speculating,” Cade said quickly. “I’m wondering, though. How did the infected man know to go after Avi and Nikki? They’re the weakest links, right? Makes you wonder if he’d even have attacked if, say, Nikola had been with me and Avi with Remy.”
“Interesting,” Brandt said thoughtfully. “Back when the big fight happened in Atlanta, there were a lot of casualties on their end, but after a few hours, it was like the whole mess of them adapted or something. They started to get harder and harder to fight, until they managed to push back, take out the men working the heavier arms, and overwhelm the rest.”
“They could just be noticing patterns,” Ethan suggested doubtfully.
“But we weren’t in there long enough to establish a pattern,” Cade pointed out.
Ethan shook his head. “I don’t know what happened back there, except for Nikola and Avi getting attacked and Remy playing Xena Warrior Princess.” He dumped the last of the food in the van and slammed the doors shut. “Get in. I want to get out of here before we run into any more trouble.”
Chapter 21
Darkness fell earlier than Cade was used to. It was like a heavy blanket being draped over the top of the van, and Cade blinked as it seemed to come on suddenly. She knelt on the back seat, watching out the windows with her rifle in hand. As twilight settled, Cade couldn’t help but wish she still had the lovely night-vision goggles she used to use when she was in the IDF.
The van was mostly quiet. It moved rather slowly, so Cade had plenty of time not only to study the landscape outside the van, but also to think about a certain man inside it. She could hear someone snoring nearby; she thought it might have been Theo, but she wasn’t sure. And she was not going to turn around to check. Mainly because she knew Brandt was somewhere behind her, and she knew that he was likely staring at her. After his revelation to her back at the safe house, after his confession that he’d follow her anywhere, Cade had been somewhat reluctant to meet his gaze or to find herself in a situation that involved sitting alone with him. She knew it would do nothing but stir up the uncertainties and feelings that she’d experienced almost as long as she’d known him.
Cade scanned the trees to her left. The grass at the sides of the roads had grown wild with no one left to care for it, and Cade could occasionally spot a pair of glittering eyes watching from the foliage. Deer, most likely. In Alabama, they seemed to be as plentiful as cockroaches. Cade sincerely hoped they didn’t hit one. She’d seen what they could do to a car, and it wasn’t something she wanted to experience firsthand.
Cade shook her thoughts free from the deer and lifted her rifle’s scope to squint through it into the darkness. A throat cleared behind her. It took her a moment to realize it was Ethan attempting to quietly get her attention. Cade twisted around and nudged Theo awake. He lay sprawled in the seat in front of her; he sat up and wiped at his mouth, shaking his head sleepily. Cade smirked before she nodded to Ethan to go ahead.
“I think we need to pull over,” Ethan announced, slowing the van. His attention was focused on the road, as it should have been, and his voice was muffled as he faced away from the rest of them.
“It’s not going to be very comfortable with all eight of us trying to sleep in the van,” Remy pointed out. Cade nodded in agreement. Tonight, she wasn’t too game to sleep on top of someone else, either literally or figuratively.
“What do you propose, then?” Ethan asked.
“I think we should find a place to hole up for the night,” Cade answered. “Especially since it looks like it wants to rain out there. Where exactly are we?”
There was a pause as Nikola shuffled through the maps on her lap. She turned on the light above her visor and leaned over them. “It looks like we’re near a town called Weogufka,” she said, pronouncing the town’s name slowly and awkwardly. “It looks pretty small, if I had to guess. Close to Sylacauga.”
“Any word on how Sylacauga fared during the outbreak?” Gray asked.
“I never heard either way,” Cade admitted. “But I can’t imagine it was any better than Montgomery or any of the other cities like that.”
Ethan glanced at Cade in the rearview mirror. “We’ll see if we can find a motel and secure a couple of rooms. We can stay the rest of the evening and night there and set out once the sun comes up.”
“That sounds perfect,” Remy said. She stretched languidly. “This seat is beginning to chafe my ass.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow, and Cade smirked. She was sure Ethan was doing nothing but thinking about Remy and her ass now.
Cade looked at the rest of the group as Ethan took his foot off the brake. He let the van roll forward a few feet and watched the rest of them intently. “Brandt?” Cade said questioningly, her own eyebrows rising as she realized the man had yet to say a word.
“Yeah?” Brandt said, turning to look at Cade. He still held her duffel bag in his lap, and she smiled slightly.
“You okay with that?”
“Do I really have a choice?” he said. A touch of despondency in his voice made Cade frown deeply.
Remy opened her mouth to speak, but Cade punched her between the shoulder blades just hard enough to warn her off saying anything.
“I guess not,” Cade conceded. “Kind of outvoted there, big guy.”
Brandt glanced at Cade and shrugged before turning his attention back to the bag in front of him. Cade wondered what in the world he was looking at inside her bag, but she wasn’t going to push the question. There were more important things to do, like plan out just how they would infiltrate a motel and barricade themselves inside.
Chapter 22
The motel the group chose was a rundown Super 8 just off the highway near Weogufka. It was obvious—to Remy, at least—that no one had been there in quite some time. Several of the windows that weren’t boarded over were sha
ttered, and amidst the trash in the parking lot were six cars in various stages of disrepair. The vehicles’ windows were broken, likely by thieves looking to steal whatever they thought was still valuable. Remy confirmed her suspicion when she eased out of the van and peered inside the dirty windows of one of the cars. The stereo had been ripped out, only a few sliced cables hanging out of the space the electronic equipment once occupied. Remy wondered what good a car stereo would do for anyone now; it might make a decent weapon to hit people with, come to think of it, but it definitely wouldn’t stop one of the infected from ripping one’s face off.
“Come on, Brandt, let’s check this place out,” Remy said, tugging at his ankle. He remained in the van, still looking in Cade’s bag. Remy rolled her eyes and jerked at his pants leg. “Come on. You look like you need some excitement in your life.”
That was enough to elicit a response from Brandt. “If there’s anything I don’t need, it’s more excitement in my life.” He shoved the bag off his lap, and Remy was happy to see he had a handgun in his fist. “And you could use a little less too.”
“Bullshit. The potential for excitement is what keeps me crawling out of bed in the mornings,” Remy said with a huge grin. She brandished her bolo knife and twirled it in her hand idly, stepping back to give Brandt room to exit the van. She really did love her bolo knife. It was once her grandmother’s; she used it while working in the cane fields outside New Orleans, helping with the harvests on Remy’s great-grandfather’s farm. Before then, it came from relatives who lived in the Philippines. It was a prized possession in Remy’s family, and it had served her well in her war against the infected, now that no one else in her family was able to use it.
Remy’s smile faded slightly, and she lowered the knife. Thinking about her family always caused her pain and anger and hatred. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to avenge them. Nothing would stop her from taking out as many infected as she could before they took her down. It was what she’d sworn to her mother she would do after she put a bullet in her head.
Lost in her thoughts, Remy wandered toward the building, but she was stopped by a hand on her elbow. She looked down at it silently for a second, her eyes focused on the fingernails. They were dirty and cracked and broken, signs of a hard worker. She blinked and let out a breath, and then she looked up the arm attached to the hand, slowly letting her gaze travel of its own free will to the arm’s owner. It was Brandt, and he gave Remy a small, gentle smile as he offered her a flashlight.
“No need to go in there without a light, is there?” he asked. There was something in his voice that made Remy think he was actually concerned about her. She didn’t know why anyone would worry for her, but there was definitely something there beneath his words.
Remy let a small smirk cross her face, raising an eyebrow and shrugging. “I don’t know, Brandt. Are you scared of the dark?” she teased. He rewarded her with a grin, and Remy took the flashlight from him, gesturing toward the door. “After you? Or would you like me to go first and run off the big scary monsters?”
“That’s a great idea!” Brandt agreed. He nodded and motioned to the door with a grand sweep of his hand. “I mean, I’m much more valuable than you, so it won’t be a great loss if the monsters hiding in the motel eat you instead of me.”
“Hey!” Remy protested. She made a face at him and swatted at his outstretched arm before she pushed past him, walking almost haughtily to the door to the sound of her friends’ laughter.
Despite her confidence, Remy still paused at the door, her hand on the door handle. She looked back at the van for a moment. Nausea swam in her stomach, and she swallowed, forcing the bile down once more as she gripped the handle tighter. The weight of her bolo knife was reassuring, but she didn’t know if it would be enough if something did jump out and try to gnaw on her head.
“Well, are you going in already, or do you want me to get Cade?” Brandt asked. Remy made another face, wrinkling her nose and sticking her tongue out at him. Her momentary lapse of confidence disappeared just like that. She lifted her knife and pulled the door open, peering around the edge of the door and shining her light inside.
The cheap motel’s small lobby was empty, save for paper littering the floor and a squirrel scavenging among the trash. Remy ignored the animal and eased inside, stepping onto the chipped tile and moving her light over the fixtures. She reflexively flipped one of the light switches to see if the power was on. She wasn’t sure why she bothered to check; she knew it would be off. Old habits die hard, she supposed.
Remy let go of the door and walked farther inside, moving her flashlight’s beam over the front desk and to the elevators stuck on the first floor with the doors wide open. Still, there was nothing in sight. Remy pushed the front door open, propping it there with a heavy trash can, and motioned to Brandt. “Come on in. I don’t see anything in the lobby that would find Brandt Evans particularly appetizing.”
Brandt snorted and followed Remy into the lobby. He turned on his own flashlight and stepped into the darkened interior. Remy made her way across the lobby to a set of large double doors that led, presumably, to a conference room, pausing outside of them for a moment. Her instincts argued against opening the door, but she didn’t know why. A dark, ominous feeling settled into her stomach on top of the nausea, making her feel like she was about to puke. She swallowed again and pushed one of the doors open just a crack. She shone her light inside for a moment before letting the door fall shut once more.
“What’s wrong?” Brandt asked, moving to stand at her side and reaching to touch her forearm. Remy shook her head and pressed her palm flat against the door before she took a step back from it.
“They’re all dead in there. Don’t go inside,” Remy warned, her voice hushed. She moved toward one of the hallways leading off the lobby, pausing to look down its dark depths. She let out a shaky breath as memories slammed to the forefront of her brain. The inside of her own house, the blood on the walls, the bodies on the floor, begging her mother, pleading to her …
“Remy?” Brandt questioned. It was enough to shake the young woman free from the memories haunting her. She shuddered and breathed out slowly before she looked to Brandt. She gave him a falsely perky smile and pushed her hair back from her face.
“I’m ready!” Remy said, heading quickly down the hallway. Brandt hissed for her to stop and slow down, but she ignored him, walking deeper into the building. “Where do we want to get rooms?” she asked as he caught up with her. “I’m rather partial to the really fancy suites in hotels myself, even though I could never afford—”
“Are you okay?” Brandt interrupted. He caught her by the forearm and gave it a squeeze.
“Why are people always asking me if I’m okay and grabbing me and shit?” Remy asked. She yanked her arm away and headed for the stairs, leaving him behind. “I’m fine, Brandt. There’s nothing wrong.”
“Could have had me fooled,” Brandt muttered.
Remy glared at him. “Shut up. Just shut the fuck up,” she snapped. Her anger and hurt overrode any sort of happy front she could manage to put up. “Don’t fucking … talk about shit like you know anything about me. You don’t know shit, Brandt. So shut the fuck up.”
Brandt put his hands up in the air defensively. That only served to irritate Remy further. She rolled her eyes and set off again. “Upstairs or stay on the first floor?” she asked, changing the subject quickly.
Remy felt Brandt’s eyes on her, and she stopped at the stairwell entrance. She leaned forward and rested her forehead against the cool metal, closing her eyes and trying to breathe steadily. Irrational tears sprang up in her eyes. Exhaustion hammered at her brain. Remy didn’t hear him walking toward her, but suddenly Brandt was at her side.
“I’m sorry,” Brandt said. His voice was soft and gentle and comforting, and he rubbed her back in slow, soothing circles.
Remy shook her head. “No, I am,” she said. “I’m the one who got bitchy and took it out on you when
you didn’t do anything to deserve it.”
Brandt continued to rub Remy’s back, humming softly in response. “We all have our bad memories to cope with,” he said. Remy sensed that Brandt was talking about something from his own past as he continued. “All we can do is try to move on and avoid the things that hurt us. Even if it’s next to impossible to do.”
Remy shook her head and stepped away from him, grabbing the door’s handle. She didn’t meet his eyes as she whispered, “It’s not like that, Brandt. You’re not the one who had to kill your own mother.” She pulled the door open and stepped into the dark stairwell. Brandt followed her without another word.
Chapter 23
The chance to spend a quiet evening in a motel without immediate problems to deal with was a temptation entirely too great to pass up. As a result, the members of the group had secured two rooms for themselves, barricading the doors leading to the hallways for safety, and traveling between the two rooms by way of the opened door between them.
It really was a perfect setup, in Cade’s opinion. Especially once they factored in the food and water collected in Clanton early that day—even the warm sodas. It was as close to a party as they would ever get, and Cade was enjoying herself immensely.
They spent several hours piled up on the beds in one of the rooms, sharing drinks and jokes and stories and laughter. It had been a long time since they’d had a good time, and it seemed like it’d been even longer since any of them had heard laughter—real laughter, not the forced kind people used when they felt the obligation to laugh. It was revitalizing, and it lifted the spirits of everyone present, Cade included.
It was almost midnight when Cade managed to escape the mini-party, retreating to the room Ethan had designated as the girls’ room. She felt gross and grimy, and she desperately needed to clean up. As she passed the bags of supplies so thoughtfully piled in the corner, Cade grabbed one with several bottles of water in it. There was no way she could get an actual bath, and a shower was out of the question—though the thought of a hot one nearly made her salivate. She could at least get a decent sink bath, though, and that was exactly what she planned to do. She poured water into the stoppered sink and used a washcloth to clean up as best she could.
The Becoming: Ground Zero Page 13