He reaches out and steadies me, but abruptly lets me go and backs away. Without another glance in my direction, he picks up his pace and takes a spot at the front of our group, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. Aaron whistles softly. “Wow. Things really are weird for the two of you right now.”
“Yep. It appears so,” I say tightly. I haven’t been blown off by a guy in a long time, but I definitely haven’t forgotten how much I dislike the feeling. “Come on. He’s getting too far ahead of us.” The two of us pick up our pace, and Todd slows down once we catch up to him, but he doesn’t look at either of us as we join him.
We get off the street and slip into the nearest store. The bell above the door clings as it opens, and I flinch, hoping there isn’t anything in the area that might have heard it.
The inside of the store is a mess, just like so many others around the city. The body of a young man lays slumped over the check out counter. Blood drips from a wound in his head to the floor, where it forms a pool of dried, tacky blood. His hand still grips the revolver he used to blow his own brains out, and Aaron pries it free and checks for bullets.
“Nothing.” He sets the revolver back down on the conveyer belt. “We don’t have the strength or room to carry weapons we have no ammunition for.”
We pass the checkout registers and continue walking. To my left is a rack of brightly colored bathing suits that no one will ever wear again, and beside that is a table of carefully folded blue jeans. “Aaron? Do we need anymore clothes?”
He eyes the clean clothes with obvious longing, but he shakes his head. “We have to use our available space for food and water. Clothes are too bulky. We’ll find more when we get to where we’re going.”
“If we get to where we’re going,” Todd mutters under his breath as he passes by.
Aaron ignores his remark and keeps walking. I bring up the rear, walking slowly behind the others, scanning the area for danger. The gun in my hands feels lighter than usual, and I wonder if I’ve somehow gotten stronger since leaving the school, or if we’ve just been in so much danger that the gun now feels at home in my hands.
We come up on the frozen food section of the store, but since the electricity shut off long ago, all of the freezers are no longer working. We pass by frozen pizzas, melted ice cream and popsicles, bags of french-fries, and loaves of garlic bread. I stare wistfully at all of the foods I’ve missed since the world ended, and I wish there was a way we could bring some of this stuff with us. But we have no way to cook a frozen pizza, and even if we did, I’m sure it’s all spoiled by now.
The last thing we need right now is food poisoning…
We take a left at the end of the freezer aisle, and we pass by the fresh fruits and vegetables. A basket of what might have once been bananas catches my attention, but everything is so rotten it’s hard to tell for sure what any of it might be. I start to wonder if anything in this store is going to be edible, or if we’re just wasting our time and risking our lives for nothing.
“Hey!” Todd hisses. “Keep up.”
Todd and Aaron are already moving on to the next aisle, and I hurry to catch up with them. Finally, we find something that isn’t spoiled—the candy aisle. The shelves on both sides of the aisle are filled with bags of candy and bags of chips. Some of it has been picked away at, but most of it is still here, which is surprising since most stores are cleaned out of anything edible.
“I guess New Yorkers are smarter than I originally thought,” Todd says dryly as he stares at all of the junk around us. “They took all of the non-perishables that would keep them healthy and sustained and they left the junk that would rot their teeth. Good for them, bad for us.”
“Food is food,” I say, shoving past him. “And right now, I don’t feel like being picky. Besides, I haven’t had a Snickers bar in months.” When I look back, Todd and Aaron are standing at the front of the aisle, staring at all of the food uncertainly. I get their attention by snapping my fingers impatiently. “Guys! Food is food,” I say again. “Dig in.”
Aaron unzips his backpack and begins shoving in candy bar after candy bar, making sure to try and fit as much as he can. “She’s right, Todd. If we find something better, we can always empty our bags to make room. But this might be all that’s left, and we’ll have to make the most of it.”
“Todd, there’s a school supplies section that way,” I say, jerking my head at the opposite end of our candy aisle. “Why don’t you go and see if you can find another backpack or two. The more room we have the better.”
Todd grumbles something about bossy girls, but he goes looking for another backpack all the same. When Aaron and I are finished shoving candy into our bags, I turn to him. “There are some other things I need to look for while we’re here.”
“What things?” he asks, zipping his backpack shut.
“Female things,” I say quietly. “Things that Daisy, Felicia, Janelle, and I are all going to need, which we probably won’t be able to find out in the wilderness of Colorado. Plus I wanna grab some mouthwash. Even if we can’t spare the water to brush our teeth, I at least want my mouth to feel clean, especially since we just grabbed a bunch of shit that will rot our teeth.”
“I’m coming with you. I don’t want all three of us separated from each other and spread out around the store.”
I roll my eyes but don’t argue with him as we leave behind the candy aisle and look for the hygiene department.
Todd meets up with us on our way to look for the rest of our necessary supplies. “There are a few zombies hanging around the electronics department, but I don’t think they’ll be too much trouble. Just keep your eyes open,” he says. Todd has two brand new backpacks with him, and I’m surprised to see that while one of them is plain black, the other one is red and blue and has Spiderman on the front. When Todd sees the two of us staring at it, he shrugs. “I like Spiderman. Is that a crime?”
I almost feel like giggling, but then I remember the way he’s been acting today, and I turn away from him with a frown. Aaron takes the black backpack and fills Todd in on what we’re looking for, and I can’t be sure, but I think I hear Todd mutter the word gross under his breath when Aaron mentions the need for feminine products. For some reason, that really angers me, and I’m tempted to reach over and smack him on the back of the head.
Aaron hands me the black backpack. “We’ll take care of the mouthwash and stuff. Go find whatever else you need, but be careful and don’t wander far.”
“Relax. It’s like two aisles over. I’ll be fine.”
The end of the mouthwash aisle has a shelf of several kinds of toothbrushes, and I grab enough for everyone in our group to have one. We may not be able to use water, but we can still use them to scrub food from our teeth. Even though it isn’t a very important thing to worry about, I dislike the idea of having to survive without my teeth.
The next aisle over has curling irons, flatirons, hair dye kits, makeup, and nail polish. Just seeing all of that stuff makes me think of Todd and his blond roots and clean fingernails. I almost say something, but I think better of shouting to him in the middle of a store with zombies in it. After the makeup aisle, I find the aisle I’m looking for.
The shelves that are normally full of several kinds of feminine hygiene products are almost bare, and I sigh heavily. We need this stuff, almost as badly as we need food. I’m not sure how attracted to blood zombies are—some people think they’re like sharks and can smell a drop of blood from a great distance away—but we can’t take any kind of risk. Not only do we risk attracting zombies, we also risk infection and sickness if we can’t keep ourselves properly clean.
I scan the products that are still on the shelves, and I’m not entirely disappointed. I grab a box of tampons and rip it open, pouring the contents into the bag. The boxes will only take up extra room that we don’t have, so I toss the empty box to one side and grab a box of pads. I didn’t get a chance to ask what the others are comfortable using before we l
eft, so I’ll have to make sure to grab a bit of everything.
I empty two more boxes and make sure to cram as much into the bag as possible. When all of the pockets are filled as much as they can be, I zip everything shut and start walking back to the others. Once again, the aisle with the nail polish and makeup catches my attention. This time, instead of just walking right by, I stop and I grab the nearest thing of black nail polish and slip it into my pocket. The eyeliner is at the far end, and as I head for it, I look at all of the other stuff on the shelves. Even though I’m angry at Todd for blowing me off, I still feel like I should take a quick second to grab him something.
When I reach the eyeliner at the end of the aisle, I turn away from the products on the shelf…and walk straight into a zombie.
Chapter Fourteen
The zombie swipes at me with dirty, cracked nails, and I stumble back in an attempt to put some distance between the two of us. I hit the shelf behind me and several boxes of hair dye fall to the ground as the zombie shuffles forward. I bring my foot up and kick him in the stomach, forcing him back. He hits the opposite aisle and several bottles of nail polish fall to the ground, bursting open in puddles of colorful liquid.
While the zombie struggles to get to his feet, I make a mad dash for the end of the aisle. My boot slips in nail polish, and I go down hard, cracking my head against the tiled floor. Hearing the commotion, three more zombies round the end of the aisle, blocking my exit. The zombie I kicked reaches out and grabs my ankle, keeping me pinned to the ground as the other three descend on me.
I bring my gun around and scream as I pull the trigger. The back of the zombie’s head explodes, and his grip on my ankle relaxes enough for me to yank it free just as the other three reach me. I bring my boot up and kick at the closer of the three, shattering her kneecap. She moans and falls to her knees, and I kick her in the face, snapping her head back and knocking her to the ground.
“Maddy!”
I can hear their hurried footsteps, but that’s not all that reaches my ears. From behind me, I can hear the death moans of more zombies. Without looking, I know at least two more zombies are cutting off my other exit, effectively trapping me between a rock and a hard place. I’m cornered like a wild animal, and I have a handful of drooling freaks trying to tear into my flesh. I get to my feet and look quickly over my shoulder. There are three zombies behind me and two in front of me.
I bring my gun up, but before I can pull the trigger, a zombie tackles me from the front, sending me crashing down to the floor. My gun slides out of my grip and disappears into the space between the bottom shelf and the floor, skidding to a stop the next aisle over. The zombie lands on me, his elbow driving the air from my lungs. He gnashes his yellow teeth together inches from the end of my nose, and I twist and buck, desperate to get him off of me.
The zombie I kicked in the face crawls forward and she grips the fabric of my pants, pulling my leg closer to her open mouth. Before she can sink her teeth in, Todd runs down the aisle—shoving aside a zombie in the process—and tackles the zombie on top of me. The two of them roll away, and I kick the zombie in the face once more. She screeches at me as I get to my feet, desperate to find a weapon of any kind.
She lunges at me, and I knock her aside by swinging my heavy backpack full of feminine products. Her head cracks against the metal shelf and her face splits open. Thick, slightly congealed blood oozes from her face, but she gets to her feet again, and I quickly look around for any other kind of weapon to use against her as I slip my backpack back onto my shoulders.
My gaze falls on one of the tampon applicators that fell out of my bag, and I scoop it up and turn, ripping off the wrapper as I do. She lunges at me, and I drive the hard plastic applicator deep into her left eye. Her eye pops, and the feeling is like sticking your finger into a container of putty. Blood gushes from the wound, soaking my hand as she falls to the ground. When I see the unmoving zombie that I killed with a tampon, I feel a brief sense of triumph at having survived yet another zombie attack. That—combined with my pounding heart and the dull roar between my ears—makes me feel invincible.
But that euphoric feeling comes crashing down when I hear Todd curse from behind me.
I look over my shoulder just as Aaron shoots the final zombie in the head. It slumps over Todd’s chest, pinning him to the ground. I rush over to him and haul the dead zombie off of him. When he sits up, the first thing I notice is the bleeding double crescent-shaped wound on his forearm. One of the zombie’s teeth is still embedded in the flesh.
When Todd doesn’t say anything, my stomach drops and I feel like I’m going to be sick. I want to scream or throw something, but I don’t. I just drop to my knees beside him, and I begin to cry. Todd and I stare at his forearm in disbelief. It doesn’t seem possible that we could come all this way and survive so much, only to have him become infected now.
And it’s all my fault…
I sniff and wipe at my watering eyes with the back of my clean hand. My throat goes dry and I can feel it constrict, as if someone were choking me. “Todd—” I stop when my voice cracks and I just burst into tears. “I’m so sorry.”
Todd looks over at me. His face is blank and his eyes are emotionless, almost like he’s still trying to process what just happened. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He just looks back down at his bleeding forearm, and he picks the tooth out of his tan skin, flicking it somewhere down the aisle. “It’s not your fault,” he says quietly.
“Yes, it is. Todd—”
“Maddy, we have to get out of here. Any other zombies in the store will have heard those gunshots and they’ll come running. Help me get him up,” Aaron orders.
Aaron and I each take one of Todd’s arms, and we haul him to his feet. He sways unsteadily, but I let him lean on my shoulder for support as Aaron darts into the next aisle to retrieve my weapon. Together, the two of us hobble toward the front door while Aaron leads the way. He’s got his navy blue backpack on his shoulders, and he’s got Todd’s Spiderman bag in his left hand. My red backpack is in my free hand and the other one is still strapped to my back. Aaron is the only one with a free hand for his weapon, and I hope he has enough ammunition to get us safely back to our hideout.
*****
Todd gets weaker and weaker by the minute, and when we finally reach the house where everyone is waiting for us, Todd has almost no strength left. Aaron has to help me drag him up the stairs and back to the room we spent the night together in. When we set an unconscious Todd down on the bed, he falls back against the pillow, and I get my first real good look at him since leaving the store.
His face has lost most of its natural tan color and now looks like an unhealthy shade of gray. His shirt is drenched in sweat and plastered to his chest, which heaves with every wheezing breath he takes. The wound in his arm is bleeding heavily, and the edges of it are rapidly turning a dark purple color and are warm to the touch. His eyes have dark circles under them, but I’m not sure if it’s from exhaustion or the infection.
I dig through Aaron’s backpack and find the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and the package of bandages. “Go find me a washcloth,” I tell Aaron without looking away from the wound on Todd’s arm.
“Maddy—”
“Please, Aaron,” I say wearily. “Just find me a washcloth. Or I’ll have to do it myself, and I don’t wanna leave him…”
Aaron disappears with a sigh, but he comes back a few moments later with a handful of colorful washcloths and a small bowl of water. “I filled this with water from the small fish pond in the backyard. It’s better than nothing.”
“Can we boil the rest to make drinking water?” I ask as I dip one of the washcloths into the cold water.
“Michael is gonna try.” Without another word, he leaves, closing the door behind him and leaving me alone with Todd.
I wring out the washcloth and crack open the bottle of hydrogen peroxide. I pour a little over the wound, and it instantly bubbles up. I let the bubbl
es sit for a minute, before wiping them away with the damp washcloth. Todd moans quietly, but his eyes don’t open. When I’m sure he isn’t going to wake up, I pour more peroxide over the wound, repeating the process a few more times. Then, I take the wet washcloth and scrub the wound as best as I can.
The pain is enough to rouse him from his unconscious state, and Todd jerks away from me. I have to hold him down as he thrashes and fights against me, and in the end, I have to sit on his stomach and pin him to the mattress so I can clean his wound. He fights me the whole time, at one point crying and begging me to stop.
“My arm is on fire!”
I finish scrubbing the wound, and I dry it with one of the washcloths before bandaging it as best as I can. When I’m done, Todd’s entire body goes limp, and his eyes close again. I take another washcloth, dampen it, and use it to wipe the sweat from his face and neck. When I’m done, I brush aside a strand of his greasy black hair, kiss his forehead, and head out into the hallway.
I’m halfway down the stairs when I hear Aaron speak. “We have to think about doing what’s best for the rest of the group,” he says softly.
The meaning behind his words slowly sinks in, and I feel my heart squeeze painfully in my chest. “No!” I shout, startling everyone in the group. They all look up at the stairs, where I’m crying and clutching the banister so hard that my knuckles are all white.
Aaron takes a step forward. “Maddy,” he says gently. He’s getting ready to plead with me, but I won’t have it. “We have to be rational here. Todd is going to be a threat to the rest of us, and if he turns, he could kill someone.”
“I don’t care,” I hiss, narrowing my eyes at my best friend. “He is not a zombie. He’s still Todd, and I won’t let you kill him.” My hand drifts down until it finds the gun tucked into the front of my pants, and Aaron’s eyes widen a fraction of an inch. “Nobody sets foot upstairs. I won’t let you.”
Zombie Country (Zombie Apocalypse #2) Page 18