“Alyssa, they have Ding Dongs!” said Risa, bouncing up to me happily.
“That’s great, Sweetie. I think I’ll just get an energy drink and some chips, though,” I said, ruffling her hair. Grabbing a can and selecting some chips, I went looking for the guys. I found them at the end of the store, putting way too many condiments on questionable looking hotdogs.
“Hey guys,” I said as I walked up next to Jacob. “Hot dogs, huh?”
“Yep. Breakfast of champions,” said DeAndre, smiling. “Want a bite?” He lifted his onion-covered hotdogs up to my face.
Laughing, I pushed his arm away. “Actually, it looks pretty good, but I think I’ll just stick to these chips for now. I’m never very hungry in the mornings,” I said, smiling.
“This sweet pickle relish is going to go great with all the onions,” Mike said, ladling mounds of the green mixture onto his hotdog. I looked over at Jacob, who was creating a chilidog with cheese dribbled on top.
“Ewwww!” said Risa as she sidled up to my side. Her hands held her Ding Dong and a package of Twinkies.
I laughed. “Not quite you’re taste, huh kiddo?”
Risa shook her head, wrinkling her nose at the sight of the boys’ hotdog creations.
I laughed and headed to the register to join Holly and Caitlyn. Holly had opted for a cold iced tea and some crackers. After paying for everything, we headed out to the van again. The sun was just starting to break through the morning mist. I lifted my face to catch the yellow warmth and sighed. Looking at the van, I saw how worn it was getting.
“Risa, want to help me wash the windows, kiddo?” I asked. Risa smiled and ran to grab a squeegee. We spent the next few minutes trying to make a dusty windshield into something resembling clean. Risa went to the back and wiped off the rear windshield some.
“I’ll finish that up, if you want,” said Jacob, returning with Mike and DeAndre. He smiled at me and put his hand around my waist softly. A shiver of delight ran up from my toes to the top of my head and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Sure,” I said, turning to him with a smile. He lowered his head and kissed me lightly on the forehead, then rubbed my back.
“Go get in the van, I’ll take care of the rest,” he said.
Smiling dreamily, I got in the driver’s seat, and Risa hopped in after me. I saw Caitlyn and Holly exchange smiles.
“What?” I said to them.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” said Holly.
“Alyssa, he really likes you,” said Caitlyn, smiling.
I smiled back and looked out the window at Jacob cleaning the windshield in his white t-shirt. My eyes were drawn to his biceps and his muscular back and shoulders. I sighed.
“He’s a pretty wonderful guy,” I said softly.
“Who, who?” chirped Risa. Scottie let out a “yip!” beside her.
“Nobody, Sweetie,” I said, turning back to the dashboard and absently dusting off the console. A few minutes later, everyone was back in the van and we were headed back onto the eastbound freeway. Jacob was again up front next to me, looking up information on the iPad, and Holly was dozing in the back with the others, feeling better. I had a feeling of relief, I certainly didn’t want her going into full-blown labor in the van. I felt a strong urgency to get to Phoenix, not only to reunite with our families, but to get Holly to a hospital where they could check her out again, and find out what had caused those hard contractions.
“There’s not much coming out of Los Angeles,” said Jacob. “I think they may have gotten things under control.”
“That’s good news. Twitter is not going crazy with tweets about zombies then?” I asked.
Jacob shook his head. “Hardly anything, really. And I think they got the entire San Joaquin Valley evacuated, there’s really no news coming out of that area, not like there was last week.”
“Any news on any government quarantines of California?” I asked.
“No, but I wouldn’t expect that to be leaked anyway,” he said.
“What about the evacuations from L.A. to Arizona? All those buses leaving Griffith Park for Phoenix. Any word on those?” I asked.
“Let me check,” he answered. He tried a few different hashtags and Google searches, then:
“Hold on. Okay, here’s some news. It seems like everyone who was bused out of Griffith Park was definitely taken to Phoenix, but they ended up at several different locations in the city. It looks like there are at least three different large hospitals in the Phoenix area: St. Luke’s, Banner and St. Joseph’s. Plus there are lots of motels, hotels, and school auditoriums. They may have scattered when they got there. I’ll check if there’s any place where there’s a bulletin board or something.”
I drove on, worrying thoughts filling me head. I just wanted my mom and little brother to be safe, wherever they were. And I wanted to be with them. As if on cue, “Reunited” by Peaches and Herb started playing on the radio and made my eyes tear up. I switched it off in disgust, and continued driving on in silence. Jacob looked at me questioningly, but I stared straight ahead at the road, blinking my eyes clear again. My mom and little brother were fine, and I would see them soon, I kept repeating in my head. No need to worry at all.
Chapter Nineteen
We were a little more than an hour out of Phoenix when Holly doubled over in pain. I heard her gasp and looked back and saw her clutch her belly as it spasmed. Jacob went back to help, and even DeAndre stayed back there. I sped up a bit and raced on. Jacob had given me directions to St. Joseph’s Hospital, and I hurried to get us there. I hoped Holly would be able to last that long, but from the sounds coming from the back of the van, I wasn’t so sure. Then Jacob came to the front of the van.
“Alyssa,” he said, not bothering to sit down. “Holly’s face and hands are turning light grey.”
Oh my God! No! I pressed down on the accelerator until we hit nearly 90 mph and hoped there weren’t any police in the area.
“Tell me what’s going on. From the sounds of things I thought she was having more labor pains,” I said, trying to keep a note of hysteria out of my voice.
“I think she’s infected. She is having labor pains, but her skin. Remember how pale she was when we stopped?”
I nodded.
“Well,” he continued, “she’s white as a sheet, and near her ears and neck, and at her fingers, her skin looks like it’s getting slightly greyish. Her labor pains are about 10 minutes apart, but they are hurting her. And you can even see her middle contracting. I think we need to get her to the hospital as fast as we can.”
“I’m going over 90 miles an hour. I think we have about an hour’s drive to go. Try to make her comfortable if you can,” I said. He nodded and started to turn back toward the rear of the van.
“But Jacob,” I stopped him. “Get some rope, just in case. If she turns inside this van, with so many people in such a closed compartment…” I trailed off, looking up at him.
He nodded grimly. He knew it was a death sentence for us all if that happened. He went to check on Holly again and I turned back to my driving. The chips and soda I had eaten earlier began to make me feel nauseous as my stomach cramped with stress. Oh, God. Holly. Her baby. My eyes teared up again, and I made no move to wipe them. Grimly, I drove on, racing against an infection that was sure to kill our friend, and her unborn baby.
Holly’s cries were getting worse, and I still had about 50 minutes to go.
“Alyssa, she can’t last. Can you pull over, please?” Jacob said quietly right behind me, making me jump about a foot. “I’m sorry, it can’t be helped. The movement of the van is making it worse, and I think she’s getting greyer.”
“Sure. Absolutely,” I said, swallowing hard and pulling the van off the freeway, onto a side street and into a small parking lot. I stopped it and took the keys out, locking the doors as well. Jacob and I made our way to the back of the van.
Holly was stretched out on the back seat, her face covered in sweat an
d turning a combination of grey and red. Her eyes were full of fear.
“I’m infected, aren’t I?” she said, her voice shaking.
“Holly, just take it easy. We’ve pulled the van over. Just concentrate on your baby,” Caitlyn said gently as another spasm took hold of Holly. Her head lifted in pain as her midsection seemed to clench with the contraction. As it receded, Holly began to cry softly.
“Just tell me, okay? I have a right to know!” she said.
Jacob leaned forward and looked into Holly’s eyes.
“Your face is turning grey, Holly. That’s all we really know so far. You seem to be acting normally, like a woman in labor. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“We’re here for you, honey,” I said to her.
Risa squeezed her way between Jacob and me with a small, wet towel.
“I found some water, Holly,” she said as she spread the little washcloth over Holly’s forehead. “There you go,” Risa patted Holly’s head and smiled at her.
“Thank you, Risa,” Holly said, smiling. Her smile twisted into a grimace as another contraction hit her. It seemed to last several minutes before it let her go, and she fell back panting as her body relaxed again.
“Alyssa, Caitlyn.”
We leaned forward.
“My baby. I want my baby to survive,” she said.
We didn’t say anything. We didn’t know what to say.
“Jacob,” Holly said, grasping at Jacob’s shirt front. He leaned in to her face.
“Please, save my baby. Please.” She fell back as another contraction began to take hold of her. Her face turned red as she fought the pain. After another minute, she relaxed.
“Listen. Please. My baby. I don’t care what happens to me. But take care of my baby. He deserves a chance,” she whispered. She looked exhausted.
Her face was turning greyer by the minute. I looked down at her arms and legs. They were even darker than her face. I gulped and looked at Jacob, and then down at his hands. They held the coiled rope, half behind him, but at the ready. I looked back into his eyes and nodded slightly.
“Holly, I promise to take care of your baby,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I give you my word.”
A look of relief washed over her face, then a look of peace. Then another contraction seemed to take hold of her. She doubled over in pain, and a whimper escaped her mouth. She stayed like that for several minutes, doubled over and grimacing. Then she fell back against the seat.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “His name is Luke,” she said, and then she seemed to pass into a state of semi-consciousness. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell back, breathing hard.
“Christ,” Jacob said quietly, as he brought the ropes up and tied her hands together and then tied her up so she wouldn’t be able to really move. He tied her head back so she could breathe, but firmly enough that she could not reach forward to bite anyone. Then we waited.
It didn’t take long.
In less than ten minutes, Holly came to again, but it wasn’t Holly that surfaced. Her eyes opened and they were bloodshot red, and a low growled issued forth from her mouth.
Her body bucked as she tore at her bindings, growling even harder. As I watched her middle, I could see it spasming again and again as it fought to push the baby out.
“Hold her, okay? This baby has to come out,” I said.
Jacob nodded, and he and DeAndre managed to position themselves at Holly’s head, holding her shoulders and torso down as best they could. Caitlyn and I positioned themselves at her legs, which had been tied down as well. Mike held Risa up front.
Caitlyn and I lifted her dress and pulled down her panties. Her legs spread wider, as far as the restraints would allow. I looked up at Holly’s eyes once more and was surprised to see them mostly clear.
“Promise me again, Alyssa!” Holly said, able to get this one last sentence out before turning completely.
“I promise, Holly,” I said.
Her face then turned upward and she let out a scream like no other. It began as a normal scream then changed into a howl and then a loud growl. She seemed to be howling in rage against the unfairness of life. She had to get infected and turn into a zombie and die, right at the moment that her baby was born into the cold world that was becoming impossible to live in.
I looked down at her and saw the baby’s head had crowned. With another howl and spasm, the baby’s shoulders popped out, first one, then the other. A moment passed and then he slid out, hot and steamy and wet, into my arms. And Holly growled and raged at the heavens.
I wrapped the little baby up in a blanket Caitlyn had handed me and held him to my shoulder, my arms curled around him protectively as his mother screamed her rage at the sky. The placenta slipped out, and Caitlyn wrapped it up into the blanket, too. Another howl filled the interior of the van. Looking back up at Holly, I saw her face was turning a dark grey, her eyes were going milky, and the last vestiges of the person she had been were gone.
“Get out!” yelled Jacob. “The ropes are slipping! Get out of the van, everyone!!”
Mike had open the side doors, and we all piled out like ants boiling out of an anthill. I turned and jumped, clutching the baby to my chest protectively. My feet hit the pavement, and I straightened, looking back. The dogs rushed past me. Everyone was out of the van except Jacob, who was trying to control Holly.
“Jacob!” I screamed. I was so terrified that he would get bitten.
He finally turned and jumped out himself, slamming the van door shut behind him, and we ran to the far end of the parking lot. Holly was still in the van, growling and fighting her restraints. She was nearly free of them.
“The shotgun is still in there, dammit,” Jacob said, watching the van rock back and forth with Holly’s thrashing. Suddenly, she threw the door open and fell out sideways and I saw that her feet were still tied together. She kicked at the restraints madly, and we all backed further from the van. It was mesmerizing to watch. Her face, arms and legs had gone almost black, they were such a dark grey.
Suddenly, a police cruiser pulled over next to the van and an officer got out. He didn’t see Holly at first, and approached us.
“Are you people okay?” he asked. We mutely shook our heads and pointed back at the scene next to the van. Holly was still kicking violently and had nearly gotten her legs free. The police officer turned and jumped at the sight. Drawing his gun, he slowly approached Holly, who was still down on the ground. As he got closer, she screamed like an animal and kicked her legs free of the ropes Jacob had tied. Scrambling to her feet, she growled and advanced on the officer.
“Watch out!” Mike yelled.
“Oh my God …,” Caitlyn said.
Holly got within five feet of the policeman, growling like an enraged animal, before he emptied his gun into her. The first shots hit her in the torso and knocked her back to the pavement. But after a few seconds, she growled and picked herself up again and began to advance on the officer again. I heard him gasp.
“What the hell?” he said in amazement. Then he shot her again in the chest. It would have put any normal, living creature down for good, but Holly just stepped back a few feet and turned again toward the policeman. Her milky eyes were rimmed with red. Red blood ran down both legs, not from the shots fired into her, but from the birth of her baby. Her blood had stopped pumping after the birth and before she had been shot. She took several more steps toward the officer, and he backed away from her. He was clearly dismayed, but his training clicked in and he didn’t panic. He pumped a third shot up higher, this one hitting her in the shoulder. Holly spun around halfway and stumbled. But then she got her footing and again advanced on the officer.
We were all watching this with amazement. Our friend had turned into a zombie and was taking gunshots at close range that were barely slowing her down. She weighed all of 120 pounds soaking wet. But now she was tougher than a bull.
The officer’s gun rang out a fourth time, this
shot going over her shoulder as she ducked. She was learning. In the short time the duel had been occurring, she was learning. I watched, incredulous, as I held the baby close to me. I took a peek at his face and saw his mouth was open and he was crying softly. I patted his back and soothed him as another shot rang out in that early sunny afternoon on the side of the street just outside of Phoenix, Arizona.
The officer’s fifth shot hit Holly square in the face, shattering her nose and part of the forehead as it drilled into her brain. It stopped her in her tracks, and she fell backward. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Blood, almost black, and brains spewed out from the hideous wound, as her body hit the ground. Pieces of her brain were splattered behind and below her head. Her face was half gone, and she looked like a crumpled little zombie doll, covered in bullet holes.
And definitely dead.
Chapter Twenty
The police followed us in our van as we drove to the hospital to have Holly’s baby checked out. News had spread to them about the plague infection, and several evacuees had turned after arriving in Phoenix, but this was that officer’s first personal experience with a zombie. His fellow officers, who arrived a few minutes after he called for backup, had to calm him down to get the whole story. Then they questioned us all, at the scene, thoroughly, before letting us go.
We all ended up at the hospital, where doctors checked the baby out. He had still been inside her when she had turned, but only just barely. We didn’t know if he had been infected, too.
Jacob presented himself as the baby’s father, so they would let us keep him after they were done examining him. I had made a promise to Holly, after all.
On the ride to the hospital in the squad car, I studied the baby’s face. His eyes were tightly closed, and his face was red, but I was looking for signs of the plague. I looked very closely, and I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like his face was slightly greyish. I worried years off my life on that ride to the hospital.
Mad World (Book 1): Epidemic Page 13