She wrinkled her precious little upturned nose and shook her head again, her glossy hair bouncing around her shoulders. “No, thank you.”
“Those are great manners,” I encouraged before trading my offering to the sleeve of crackers. She took a few from the package and started nibbling on them.
“Hey, Page,” Hendrix greeted slowly. He joined us in the kitchen area, leaning up against the wall. His eyes were narrowed in distrust and he glanced over his sister with careful concern. “Making some friends?”
“Hendrix,” Page said seriously, “They have manners.”
Haley choked on a giggle and I shot Hendrix a saucy wink. He didn’t seem to know what to do with me, which made me kind of giddy for some reason.
“I think Page has given up on the male species as a whole,” I explained to Hendrix. “As it turns out, boys everywhere aren’t able to remember their manners.”
The peaks of Hendrix’s cheeks pinkened and he cast his eyes down at his shuffling feet. “We just tease her,” he admitted.
“And the male species is lost as a whole,” Haley grunted. Then in a whisper she said, “Probably best not to get her hopes up.”
“Is that why you two are traveling alone?” Vaughan interrupted the conversation, followed by the rest of the brothers. Nelson looked truly interested, but King and Harrison mostly looked like they didn’t have anything else to do.
“Who’s left to travel with?” Haley asked on an annoyed grunt. “Everyone we know is dead.”
“Except us,” I reiterated obviously, just so we could hear it again.
“Except us,” Haley whispered.
“How did you girls survive? How have you survived this long?” Nelson asked, his eyebrows drawn and his gaze fixed on Haley again.
“We got kind of lucky,” Haley explained somberly. “Everything fell apart for us in three days. When Reagan’s boyfriend tried to eat her, we decided it was time to skip town and head south.”
“Where are you from?” Vaughan asked this time.
I allowed the questions, but only because I had as many for them.
“Iowa,” Haley said.
“What do you mean your boyfriend tried to eat you?” Hendrix asked insistently.
I hesitated. Inside my head I joked up about it, but in reality it was pretty f-ed up. Not that everyone still alive and not eating human flesh didn’t have a similar story, but Chris had once been a person, had once been a friend and potential lover.
Ok, I shuddered at that. That just sounded…. wrong. Zombie or not.
“In two days, we’d both lost our parents,” I gestured between Haley and myself. “We hadn’t really taken the Zombie threat seriously until then. I mean, honestly, who could have known Zombies turned out to be real; they were supposed to just be this thing in movies. Our parents got off easy. They were in a town assembly, with most of the other adults, trying to figure out what to make of the military and news reports and the assembly was attacked. Some were turned into Feeders, but a lot of them were just slaughtered. Our parents were the lucky ones.” We all knew that meant they died on the spot, that didn’t need to be said. “We thought about sticking around, making a haven of the place we’d lived our whole lives, but when Chris came over to stay with me….” I trailed off, not knowing how to finish that one.
“He tried to gobble her up. So she stabbed him in the face with a butcher knife then practiced parallel parking on his body until his head wasn’t attached to his neck anymore,” Haley finished dramatically.
I sighed- so not one of the shining moments of humanity.
“Impressive,” whistled Vaughan.
“Necessary,” I countered.
“Definitely,” Hendrix agreed.
“And then you guys just booked it?” Nelson finished the story.
“First we confirmed that neither of us had added brains to our daily food pyramid, then we packed up the still bloody Escalade and drove it till there wasn’t any gas left.”
Haley added, “Which wasn’t very long. We’d only had a half tank to begin with and by the time we needed to fill up, the gas stations were war zones. We ditched the car and started walking.
“Smart of you not to risk gas,” Vaughan noted. And he was right. By the time Haley and I fled our childhood homes, humanity had seemingly forgotten everything civilized and safe. Grocery stores, gas stations and Costco’s- especially Costco’s- all became battlegrounds for a deadly version of capture the flag. All the settlements we saw along the way were set up near a cluster of those things. Even though gas and food supplies were probably on the thin side now, those buildings still represented power and wealth. Even if settlements were relatively peaceful, it was guaranteed they hadn’t started out that way.
“What’s your ultimate plan?” Hendrix asked in a rumbling voice. I looked up at him and met his stare. He was intimidating and practical. I got the distinct impression when Hendrix asked questions they were always directed to get necessary, concise answers.
“We’re going south,” Haley said on a shrug. I shot her a glare but she either didn’t see me or was ignoring me.
“South where?” Hendrix asked, standing up a bit straighter. His shoulders were tense and rigid, his body strung tight with something aggressive.
I cleared my throat in a plea to get Haley to shut up, but she plowed forward, definitely ignoring me. “South America, Compadre. Or what used to be that general vicinity.”
“You can’t be serious,” Vaughan scoffed, sharing a look with his brother. Vaughan rubbed a hand across his scruffy jaw in a gesture of frustration.
“Dead,” Haley smiled sweetly. “Serious, that is.”
“Why in the hell would you want to go down there?” Nelson gaped at us.
“Language,” Page hissed in the sweetest, sternest voice I’d ever heard. Pretty sure I was already in love with that little girl.
“Sorry, Pagey,” Nelson smiled sheepishly down at his little sister who gave him a benevolent nod of approval in return. “Why in the world would you head south? You have to have heard about the drug cartel? The slaving? The armies of Zombies?”
All eyes landed on me, as if this was my idea alone and I was dragging poor Haley along to her death. Which…. okay, maybe that was true, but I had a good reason for going that way.
“Sure, we’ve heard of those things,” I lifted my shoulders casually.
“And you’re still going there?” Hendrix asked incredulously. His eyes were flashing with anger, as he worked his jaw back and forth in frustration. “What’s down there that would make you willing to face Zombies in hordes, or worse, ex-cartel that would enslave you and make you entertain whole encampments of men?”
“It’s the mountains,” I whispered. I didn’t really want to give this away, but I had the deepest urge to defend my decision.
“We have mountains here,” Hendrix said slowly.
He seemed to have reined back the control he’d lost moments ago. It wasn’t until he regained his composure that I realized how out of place it felt when he’d started yelling at me. I shook my head a little at that, though, wondering why I even thought I knew him enough to judge his character or personality. We literally met hours ago; I had no idea who this guy was.
“My dad’s cousin lives, or um, lived down there. As far as I know, she’s still alive. Anyway, she was this missionary. She had an orphanage in the Andes Mountains. When things started to get bad, she begged my dad to move us down there. She said it was safer than Iowa. She was protected by the mountains, there were very few people up there and she knew of this ancient Mayan city that had walls. She said we’d be able to protect ourselves, rebuild society.” My stomach churned with uncertainty, even as I pressed myself to sound confident. Mayan ruins? Andes Mountains? It really did sound crazy.
“Yeah and when’s the last time you talked to her?” Hendrix pushed, that careful control slipping again.
“Right before my parents died,” I answered. There wasn’t a way to make them und
erstand, to get them to see my view on this. I knew that- mostly because it was practically insane to try to get through Mexico. Things had been dangerous down there for young girls traveling alone before the Zombie infestation. Now? It would be a miracle if I survived just crossing the border. “The phones were still working and my parents were considering it. They thought they would see how the assembly went, what other news was being floated around, then we would either stay or buy a plane ticket.”
“Your parents died early,” Page whispered with the wisdom of someone five times her age. “Ours didn’t go to heaven until after the planes stopped flying and the cars stopped driving.”
I pressed my lips together, uncomfortable with her sentiment. Iowa had been overtaken surprisingly fast, considering how many empty miles fell along all that farmland. It still seemed impossible that my entire home town was now a Zombie playground.
Page was right, though, my parents had gone early, because we’d been unprepared. Something I vowed never to be unprepared again, until tonight when I karate kicked my way into these people’s lives- literally. These boys made me feel very unprepared for life.
“You’ll never make it through Mexico,” Hendrix announced gravely, getting us back on topic.
“We’ve made it this far,” I argued.
“By pure luck and our generosity,” he countered.
I snorted at that, “Hardly. We would have made it out just fine. In case you didn’t notice, Haley swept up down there.”
“Yeah, fine,” he bit out. “But now her gun is empty. And how much ammo do you have left, Reagan? You hadn’t even drawn your weapon when you came flying through that door. I bet you have less than a handful of bullets left. I bet you’re on the last of everything.”
“That’s not entirely true. I’ve got plenty of makeup.” I shot him a sassy look and turned an evil glare on Haley.
“My point exactly,” Hendrix growled.
“Okay, great plan-maker, what’s your long term goal? You can’t stay here forever. Eventually you two will run out of supplies, water, and food. Then, what?” I was furious by now. Hendrix had made me feel tiny and my plan seemed stupid. It was obnoxious how quickly he could derail me then fluster my every thought.
“We’re heading north,” Vaughan replied evenly, not at all as angry as his brother. “Nova Scotia, or anywhere isolated in the Canadian provinces.”
“No slavers up north and not as many people turned Zombies to run into,” Nelson explained further. “We’re going through the Dakotas, taking our time so that we can stay strong, well-fed.”
“Racing your way anywhere, so that you’re starving and unarmed is foolish,” Hendrix echoed, obviously digging directly at our methods of travel.
“Going the pace of a snail, so that all that glorious land you were gunning for, is occupied and settled, is just as foolish,” I growled back.
“It’s not the California Gold Rush, Reagan. You’re playing with your lives when you expose yourself like this. You’re obviously starved and undersupplied. What would have happened to you if we wouldn’t have found you digging through the women’s clothing? Where would you have slept tonight?” Hendrix’s blue eyes were as deep as the ocean, his face flushed with emotion.
This both bristled and terrified me, “What do you care, Hendrix? We are not your concern. In fact, in T-six hours, we’re going to be well on our way, headed toward the other side of the equator than you. Leave it alone.”
I met his heated stare straight on and dared him to make some kind of contradiction, although I couldn’t even imagine what he would say. And apparently neither could he, because he stayed silent, except for the click of his jaw as he ground his teeth in frustration.
Vaughan cleared his throat uncomfortably before saying, “Alright, now that we’ve gotten that settled, its’ time for bed, Page.”
She put up a pathetic attempt at getting out of it, but after a stern look from her older brother, she obeyed by heading off to brush her teeth.
Haley and I too, said goodnight to the brothers and walked over to our comfortable room. We laid down on the bed, side by side, our fingers interlocked and our thoughts spinning a mile a minute.
I didn’t know how to explain to Haley the need I had to go south and the instinct and faith I had in us; I had to keep us moving that direction. And I was guessing, after all the doubts Hendrix had just planted, that she was thinking about what a mistake she had made to follow my lead. Neither of us could voice our thoughts, though, so we stayed quiet.
Besides, we’d made it through this day. And in our uncertain lives, each day we survived was enough to be thankful for.
Eventually, we both turned so our backs were to each other and our hands on the guns under our pillows. Mine was loaded and ready; Haley’s had simply become a security blanket after it had run out of bullets. This wasn’t the first time we’d been low on ammo and it would by no means be the last. I was just thankful Nelson had returned it earlier, after they decided we weren’t threats.
Sleeping on the bed was the most comfortable experience I could remember. I’d finally drifted off in peaceful sublime when the first pounding of a fist sounded loudly through the empty room.
Like the hand of a demigod that boomed a rattling echo throughout the room; the fist came down again on the steel barrier that sat melded on those stairs. Another bang and I was sitting up in bed, watching the entire room of brothers, Page and Haley follow suit. I shared a terrified look with Haley as our nightmare became reality.
One fist was joined by two, then two more. My heart got caught somewhere in my throat and I rubbed my sleepy eyes roughly.
Through the pounding of fists, the low, tell-tale moaning could be heard like an undercurrent of the Grim Reaper’s soundtrack. The putrid stench of death floated through the air, and I knew that my peaceful night of sleep was officially at an end.
The Feeders had followed us, right up to the top floor of utopia.
Looked like we would be checking out a few hours ahead of schedule.
Chapter Four
“Time to move on?” Haley asked dryly. Her voice was rough with sleep, her blonde hair a rat’s nest of messy.
“Looks like it,” I agreed in an equally raspy voice. Up until this moment I was sleeping better than I had in a very, very long time. And, even though I was ripped from sleep by an impending Zombie infestation, I was at least waking up semi-rested and without a nasty crick in my neck.
So, this was much better than most nights.
“Girls, we’re moving out in three minutes.” Hendrix stood in the doorway, semi-automatic machine gun held firmly in his hands. Where the hell did he get that? “Throw some shoes on. You don’t have time to pack.”
I snorted. “Like, we’re not completely ready to go already.”
Haley and I jumped up from bed and slipped our shoes on while simultaneously throwing on long-sleeved t’s over our tank tops. I had my hair knotted on the top of my head and my backpack shouldered in thirty seconds.
“Ready,” Haley said with a smile. She twirled her empty gun on her index finger and I probably would have laughed if the solid steel over the stairwell hadn’t started shaking from the incessant pounding of hungry Zombies out for a midnight snack.
Hendrix gave us a look of mixed surprise and respect and nodded his head for us to follow him.
“Do you have any more of those you want to share?” I asked, indicating the machine gun.
“Over by Vaughan,” he pointed to a table that had been covered by a curtain before. “Take your pick.”
The table was layered with guns and ammo of every size, shape and power. I walked over in a dazed stupor. Where did all this come from?
At my look of amazement, Vaughan smirked, “We’ve been collecting.”
“More like hoarding,” I moaned excitedly. “I can pick?”
“Take whatever you want, but make sure you know how to use it,” he instructed while strapping on his own guns and filling a second back
pack in addition to the one he was already wearing. “We leave in one minute.”
Haley and I shared a smile and loaded up; two semi-automatic hand guns in each palm, several more thrown into the top of our packs with matching ammo and then… that was it.
“Damn it, the sweats!” Haley groaned. With jeans we could have easily tucked a gun in the back of our waistband, but yoga pants didn’t have pockets and weren’t tight enough- comfy to sleep in, sucky to run from Zombies in.
“We’ll be okay,” I assured her evenly. “Move your water to your pack and tuck some more guns into the side straps of your backpack.”
“Good idea,” she agreed.
We did that quickly while Nelson, King and Harrison strapped on their own assortments of guns. By this time the steel bent and groaned with the pressure of so many Feeders pushing against it. It was just a matter of moments before the barrier snapped like a crushed can of soda.
My heart dropped a little bit when I saw how many guns would get left behind, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that or the food that wouldn’t make it either. This was survival. We would be fighting our way through who knew how many Zombies; there wasn’t time to mourn left-behind peanut butter.
Okay, maybe there were five seconds to whimper about it.
“Let’s go,” Vaughan called out quietly from in front of the elevators. Despite his effort to keep his voice soft, the Zombie’s frantic pounding increased at the sound of life where they couldn’t see it.
We stood in line while Nelson and Vaughan took crowbars to the seamed steelwork that kept the elevators locked up. Page stayed tucked in Harrison’s arms through the tense minutes it took to pry the doors apart; and all the while the metal cage above the stairs shifted and swayed. The hungry growls of Feeders only grew louder and more insistent.
“This leads to the outside?” I asked Hendrix who had come to stand next to me.
“Eventually,” he shrugged. He sounded casual, but he was bouncing on the balls of his feet, his hands fidgeting and eyes continually drifting to Page. He was a ball of energy, completely alert and ready to protect his family.
Love & Decay (Season 1): Episodes 1-6 Page 5