Obviously, the last two years had changed her and not necessarily for the worse. She was strong and independent now, focused and alert. Hendrix was definitely right for her in this particular scenario, but Vaughan would have stood more of a chance if he didn’t have so many obligations on his plate.
I thought all that, but then Reagan’s eyes followed Vaughan down the hallway and her eyebrows creased together with concern and…. something more. So maybe Vaughan wasn’t out of the running just yet.
Nelson disappeared for a while and I was left to sit with Page alone. I had my watch and the time for her next dose of Tylenol to keep me company. As the house grew darker, I scooted closer to the couch, reaching out for Page’s limp hand.
My heart was in literal pain for this little girl and I sat there until everything was pitch black around me, working through every memory I had of health care and illnesses. My mind screamed for antibiotics, but there was nothing I could do about that- at least for tonight. I wanted her to wake up and drink some fluids, soothe her aching throat with water or ice. What I really wanted was orange Jell-O and 7up, which was what I got whenever I had strep throat. But those were impossible demands.
Probably more so than penicillin.
My eyes eventually adjusted to the darkness. I could make out the forms of all the furniture surrounding me, and Hendrix and Reagan’s bodies as they sat huddled together in the kitchen. They stared out the back door, guns nearby, voices low and whispery.
I must have dozed off after I coaxed Page into taking her second dose of Tylenol, because the next thing I knew strong arms were pulling me on my side and my head was resting in a lap. I blinked against the sleepiness and looked up into Nelson’s shadowed face.
“Hey,” he whispered, cupping my jaw with his huge hand. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” I admitted with a yawn.
“It’s alright,” Nelson leaned forward and kissed my temple before continuing, “You can sleep if you want to. I’ll keep you safe.”
Ignoring the way his words took root in my heart and bloomed into something bigger and more exciting in my chest, I reached up and ran my fingers along the rough line of his jaw. He hadn’t trimmed his beard in a while- not that there had been any opportunity- and he was totally working the haggard man look. He was so undeniably handsome I could hardly stand it.
I had never been the kind of girl that suffered from low self-esteem. Honestly, I didn’t have time for it. Mostly I was just trying to occupy my brain to keep from sliding into insanity. But Nelson was the kind of guy that made me think, “Why me?” Why would he pick me?
And I did feel picked- chosen. He seemed to want me in a way and with feelings I never in a million years thought I would witness or experience.
With his focused pursuit of me, I never stood a chance. Of course I would fall for him; of course I would give in. He was Nelson; he was everything I wanted in a man, even before things went bad. And while I was sure we’d have problems ahead, and he wouldn’t always seem so perfect, I knew he would never let those times dominate our relationship. Even when everything else looked bleak and miserable, he would never let that get in the way of our happiness.
Was I in this forever? Like was this my happily ever after?
It was obviously impossible to say at this point. But it was a nice happily-right-now.
Nelson leaned down and brushed his lips over mine. And then again. My fingers found
themselves tangled in his hair, pulling on his neck to get closer to his delicious mouth. He resisted just enough to drive me crazy with a blinding hunger I’d never experienced.
“Tell me you like me,” he demanded, letting me tug him down just so he could kiss the tip of my nose.
“I like you,” I whispered with half effort.
“Tell me you want me to kiss you for the rest of the night,” he murmured and then allowed me one gentle kiss against his perfect lips.
“I want you to kiss me for the rest of the night.” This time there was no playing games, no teasing, I really did want him to kiss me until morning, maybe until the end of time.
“I really wish we were back in that barn,” he groaned.
“Me too,” I agreed.
We kissed for long moments, and eventually he pulled me into his lap so that I straddled his waist and cupped his neck with both of my hands. I tried to slow down his kisses as they grew more demanding and hungry. His sick sister was directly behind us and his brother and my best friend were probably watching us- perverts.
But he wasn’t having it. And I was having a hard time finding the will to stop him when he was devouring every rational thought with his mouth and talented tongue.
Finally he took a deep breath and pressed his mouth to my neck, letting his lips feel my pounding pulse against them.
“Haley, you’re a virgin,” he whispered like this was some kind of revelation.
“Yep,” I agreed- feeling irrationally embarrassed.
“We need to keep it that way for a while,” he was panting and undone by our hot and heavy make out session.
“Yeah, you really seem like you’re all into practicing abstinence,” I drawled and giggled before I could stop myself.
“Don’t try to sweet talk me,” he whined in a gruff voice. “I can’t take that away from you. At least not yet.”
“So…. what? Even if I’m in a relationship during a Zombie infestation, I still have to die a virgin?” I looked down at him upset over the whole idea. “That does not seem fair, Nelson. This better not be your attempt to save my life. This isn’t a horror movie, this is our reality, the same rules don’t apply.”
He looked up at me and squeezed my hips in his hands, “This is my attempt to save us- not just you. I’m probably going to make sure you’re in love with me before I take that from you.”
I snorted at his audacity and lowered myself on his lap just a little bit more- just enough to drive him crazy. “You think you’ll be able to manage that? I’m too smart to fall in love with just anybody.”
“I know that,” he agreed, looking up at me with so much tenderness and affection suddenly I was convinced I was already in love with him. “So no, I’m not sure if I can manage that, but I am going to try.”
“You must have some strong will-power if you can wait that long,” I teased.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with will-power,” he promised with so much conviction I tensed, waiting for what was to come. “It has everything to do with wanting something more than sex.”
“My love?” I whispered hardly able to voice the question.
“Your love,” he confirmed.
And then Page flopped over and puked next to us on the floor.
Nelson and I scrambled away so we weren’t hit with the splatter- not that there was much in her stomach after a full day of not eating. I crawled back over to her and rubbed her back while Nelson darted after a bowl or trash can.
Her poor, little body continued to heave and convulse as her angry stomach tried to empty itself of every last drop of food or liquid.
“Her fever’s too high,” I announced when Hendrix and Reagan rushed into the room. “We have to lower her temperature.”
Finally, she settled down and rolled onto her back. One of her arms draped over her eyes as if even the darkness of night was too bright for her. Tears streamed from both eyes and her breathing was fast and ragged.
I cleaned her up with a cool, bottled-water-made wet wash cloth and pulled her hair into a bun on top of her head, so we wouldn’t have to worry about it if there was another episode like that. Then I pulled the blanket off her and her socks, jeans and long sleeved shirt. She shivered in a t-shirt and underwear but I didn’t know what else to do.
The expired Tylenol was not working and keeping her bundled up was only intensifying the fever. She had too cool down or she would continue to puke and whatever little good the medicine was doing, was worth it.
“Go w
rap some ice in a washcloth and bring it back to me,” I ordered Hendrix who loomed over me like a predator getting ready to pounce on his prey. He turned around without another word and stalked off to the kitchen.
“I wish we could give her a cool bath,” Reagan sighed. She sunk down to her knees and picked up Page’s hand in her own. “We need to do something.”
When Page whipped over again, we had the bucket ready this time- although not much came out. Her stomach convulsed painfully, and tears streamed from her eyes, but still her body did not give up the effort to empty itself.
There were many terrible things about her puking, but the noise level was definitely on the top of the list. But it wasn’t like you could exactly tell someone to vomit quietly. And she wasn’t really in a state of mind where she would be able to listen anyway.
The rest of the brothers stumbled to the living room, clicking magazines into place and shoving their feet into pants and shoes. They were prepared to go to war, prepared to do whatever it took to save their little sister.
By the third round of vomiting, every Parker brother was armed with as many weapons as we had and standing guard at a window or door. Reagan and I played nurse over Page’s exhausted, fever-stricken body and prayed for the best.
Currently, her head was resting in my lap and her feet were sprawled across Reagan. She was sleeping- for now- and I was counting down the minutes until morning.
Zombies were still perfectly capable of attacking us with the light of day, but somehow the daylight made things feel possible. I held onto the hope that if Page could make it through the night, things would get easier.
A scuffling of feet and a door opening and closing had me sitting at full alert. I was careful with Page’s lolling head, but I was desperate to know what was going on.
I heard Hendrix whisper shout, “Nelson!” and my entire body felt doused in ice water.
Fear like I had never known before prickled painfully against my skin and my heartbeat kicked into overdrive.
Reagan reached out and took my hand, squeezing it in hers tightly.
The door opened again and I heard Vaughan and Hendrix take off after their idiot brother. I couldn’t believe I was falling for someone that ran out into the middle of the night probably on a suicide mission! I was stupid to give my heart away when it could so easily be destroyed, right along with Nelson.
I waited, stressed and unmoving, for Nelson to return or something to give away what was happening outside- a shout, a gunshot, the unholy keening of Zombie’s on the attack. But there was nothing but silence and stillness.
My stomach was riotous with nerves and my brain ticked completely out of control. I couldn’t see anything sitting in the damn dark, so my brain just started going through a list of all the horrible things that could happen to Nelson or his brothers at a million miles a minute.
I went through about every, single scenario possible- all ending with Nelson dying a gruesome, painful death, until I finally settled on the fact that he was going to get bitten by a Zombie, but eventually fight his way free. He’d walk into the house expecting a hero’s welcome at which point I was going to have to shoot him. He was infected, I didn’t have a choice.
And I would never recover from that. How could I?
Not when he was right, not when I was more than halfway to falling in love with him. And he had somehow managed to get me to admit that on the same night he was going to die!
The bastard.
But then the door opened again and the sound of struggling and scuffling filled the house. Page moaned in my lap and I forced myself to stay still, to keep her steady and as comfortable as she could be.
Finally figures stumbled into the living room, three tall ones and one that was… not tall. It was hard to make out what the three Parker brothers were carrying, but whatever it was did not seem happy.
Finally, the clicking of a bullet being loaded into the chamber could be heard over everything else and the lumpy, wriggling thing went still- so not a Zombie. A flashlight turned on and Harrison came in with a camping lantern on low filter. Hendrix and Vaughan lowered what now could be described as a body to the ground while Nelson kept his gun trained expertly on the head region.
Hendrix flicked up his flashlight to the boy’s face and Reagan and I let out mutual gasps of surprise.
“Let me go,” the young boy growled. His hands were shaking fists at his side, his face filthy and covered in dirt and grime. It was impossible to tell what color hair he had or even exactly what ethnicity he was. He had a thick southern drawl; I could tell that even from the few words he spoke. So obviously he was from around here; but there were a million more questions to be answered.
“Not a chance,” Hendrix replied. His voice was smooth steel, cutting but solid. “What were you doing sneaking around out there?”
“That’s none of your concern. But it had nothing to do with you. Now if you’ll kindly let me go, I’ll just be on my way and we can pretend we ain’t never met.”
I pressed my lips together at his spunk, but when he lunged forward and kicked Vaughan in the shin, my amusement quickly faded. Vaughan let out a string of curse words and raised his own gun, locking and loading it with one swift move of his finger.
“You might not understand this little boy,” Hendrix walked forward until he loomed over the kid- clearly not afraid of a kick in the shins. “But you are in serious danger. Obviously, if you’re running around at night, you might be a bit delusional. But hear me. I am infinitely more dangerous than any Feeder you will find out there. It is better to answer my questions than ignite my anger. Are you capable of understanding that?”
“Listen here you sumabitch, I got things to do and you are keepin’ me from my task. I wasn’t after you or your people. I just need to grab somethin’ out of the barn and I’ll be on my merry way.”
Before anyone could respond, Page went through her fourth round of dry-heaving. Everything stopped so Reagan and I could tend to her needs. There wasn’t any point in trying to talk over her anyway, but I hated that this boy was witness to our weakness. I understood the necessity to pull him inside, out of the open and vulnerable spaces outside, but now it felt like he knew one of our most private secrets.
“What’s wrong with that one?” he asked with a lift of his defiant chin. “She sick?”
“You’re pretty smart, aren’t you,” Vaughan bit out sarcastically.
“She need medicine?” the boy pressed, his voice dropping low to a dangerous octave.
He couldn’t be more than eleven or twelve, but this little boy was wise way beyond his years. I recognized the hardness and experience lighting his expression. This boy was a survivor. And we were about to witness his survival techniques.
“Most sick people do,” Nelson answered slowly.
“I know where there’s medicine,” he declared confidently. “I know where there’s lots and lots of medicine. I just seen it the other day.”
“Really?” Harrison scoffed unbelieving. “You’re just like this little kid that creeps around in the dark, stealing things from barns and taking them back to his secret hide out where there’s medicine and food and pillows?”
Pillows? Harrison must be really tired tonight.
“Yeah, I’m that kid,” he argued. He stood up straight, not seeming to be afraid of the guns pointed at him at all. “But I wasn’t stealin’ nothin’. I came back for what’s mine. This ain’t your house. You can’t judge me for doing something wrong when you don’t live here. When you’ve stolen more than I ever have.”
He had a point. But that got me to thinking, “Is this your house?”
“Was my house,” he clarified adamantly. “But y’all can have it. Good luck with it. There’s a storage room full of food and stuff downstairs beyond the washer and dryer. Help yourselves to whatever you like- just as long as you let me go.”
“No,” Hendrix growled. “We are not letting you go. Even if we thought we could trust you, we can’t in goo
d conscience let you go running around out there in the pitch dark. You’re going to get yourself killed, or worse.”
“Aw thanks superman,” the kid snarled back. “But I know y’all ain’t goin’ to shoot me. You got that do-gooder look on your faces. The kind that thinks you can save the whole freakin’ world. So here’s the deal, if you really want to do good then you’ll let me go. I got things I need to get back to and you’re holding me up!”
“What’s your name?” I asked calmly from the couch. Page had turned into me and I couldn’t force her off my lap, even though I knew how bad my body heat was for her fever.
He lifted his stubborn chin even higher and spit out, “Miller.”
“Is that your first name or your last name?” Vaughan asked gruffly.
“Don’t matter,” Miller countered. “It’s the only name I got and it’s the only name you’re gonna get. Now let me go.”
“No,” Nelson growled.
“Fine, then let’s make a trade,” he offered quickly. “You let me go and I’ll come back with medicine for your sick child. I wasn’t lying about that. I know exactly where some is.”
“You don’t even know what kind of medicine she needs,” Hendrix argued.
“Penicillin. Everybody needs penicillin. They give it out all the time,” Miller huffed.
“Who’s they?” I asked, carefully.
“Listen,” he answered instead. “This house ain’t safe. And y’all ain't safe stayin’ here. They,” he gestured to the three of us girls sitting on the couch, “are especially not safe. So if you know what’s best for you, you’ll pack up now and be on your way. And I’ll be on mine. Or they’re gonna find you and take you. Then you’ll be as bad off as my sister.”
“Your sister?” I jumped on the word, realizing his insistence was tied to something extremely important.
He groaned and put his head in his hands. “Yes, my sister! Now let me go, damnit. It took me six months to get out of there and I only got one shot to go back for her. Time is ticking!”
Silence ensued for several charged minutes.
Finally, Vaughan asked, “Who’s they? A settlement?”
Love & Decay (Season 1): Episodes 1-6 Page 24