by Lake, D. K
“Good job they didn't ask us to take off our socks and lift up our feet.”
I sat on the floor and pulled my boots back on.
“Has it gotten any worse?” he asked.
“I don't know. I won't know until I get a proper look at it later.”
“Do you think you're infected?”
“Shh...” I looked around Lane's legs to see Carmen watching us.
“Do you feel any different?”
“No, not really. It's a little sore and I feel hungry, but that's no different to normal. A little light headed, probably because I haven't eaten anything, I've only had a few mouthfuls of water for breakfast and lunch.”
“You wanna tell me what that was all about?” he asked, holding his hand out to me. “Which part?” I let him pull me up to my feet.
“The part where you told a bunch of strangers we're married.”
“I didn't feel comfortable with the way Dominic and his so called friends were looking at me. Something seems a little off.”
“Okay, but why did you tell them we were married?”
“Isn't it obvious,”
Lane frowned, still unsure.
“I don't know them, which means I don't trust them. I'd prefer it if they thought we were married, so they don't get any ideas about getting too friendly with me, okay?”
He nodded, I think he understood what I was getting at.
“C'mon, Carmen's waiting for us,” I said, picking up my bag.
As soon as I had my bag strap over my shoulder Lane reached over to me and entwined his fingers with mine. I tried to pull my hand away, but he wouldn't let me.
“Nuh-uh! You're the one that wanted to be married, now you have to act like it.” I looked down at our hands interlocked, then back at Lane's face.
He smiled and pulled me close to his side.
“I think I'm going to like it here.” he said.
We met Carmen by the reception desk. The man at the desk was now sitting in a swivel chair on the other side. There was a rifle lying across the desk, next to a bottle of water and a packet of cookies. The man briefly glanced at me before pulling the other girl, (who didn't look much older than us), onto his lap. He nuzzled his face into the back of her hair, and I looked away, feeling a little awkward at having witnessed it.
“Ignore them. You get used to it.” Carmen said.
We followed Carmen to the end of the corridor, and down another corridor. We turned corners and walked past countless doors, the place was like a maze. We finally came to a stop at what looked like the cafeteria.
There were three other people sitting at a table, two men and another woman all looking at a magazine.
“This is where we eat breakfast, 8.30am sharp, then again at noon and 5 pm. Lights out at 8 pm. We have a generator going at the moment, which powers the kitchen facility and the showers, but they usually shut them off for a few hours during the day, so you might want to get showered within the next hour.”
“You have showers?” I asked.
“Yes, but it's cold water.”
“We're used to washing in the river.” Lane said.
“The girls prepare the meals, you're probably be asked to help out.” she said, looking at me. She beckoned us along the corridor and pointed at two doors.
“Entertainment rooms, there's not much in them, but it's all we have at the moment.” I popped my head around the door. The room had seven people inside, sitting on the couch and chatting in the small kitchen area, it looked like a staff room. A few lifted their heads in our direction and an older woman waved at us.
“How many of you are here?” I asked.
“At the minute, there are twenty-three of us. Sixteen male, seven female, well, seventeen male and eight female now including you two.”
“Not that many girls,” I said.
“You have to be a real tough cookie to survive outside, girls don't usually last that long.” Carmen said.
I felt Lane's hand tighten on mine, and I ignored the look he was giving me. The, you mean everything to me, look, yeah he did that, and I recognized it.
“Where does everyone sleep?” I asked.
“This way,”
Carmen led us along the corridor and further down I could hear men laughing.
“That's off limits, only Dom and certain ones in charge are allowed down there.” She brushed it off, smiled at us and led us away. She walked into a large room, which was once a laboratory of some sort, but had since had all the equipment stacked at the back and the desks had been moved to the other side of the room.
“This is the girls' room and sleeping area.”
“Girls?” Lane said.
“We usually sleep separately, girls in here and boys down there,” she pointed. “I know you guys are married...” She looked at me before continuing. “But you're going to have to sleep separately, it's what everyone else does, and I don't think Dom will make any exceptions.”
Lane edged closer to me and angled himself toward me.
“It's okay, we're not attached at the hip or anything,” I said, scooting away from him, but our interlocked hands stopped me, and he yanked me back to him when Carmen wasn't looking. “Good,” Carmen sighed. “You'll do fine in here if you follow the rules.”
We walked back into the corridor, and two girls walked around the corner... their pretty faces wasn't what caught my attention first... it was their swollen stomachs.
They smiled at us as they passed, then another girl walked around the corner carrying a box of clothes.
“Laundry?” Carmen asked the girl.
“Yes, it never ends.” the girl replied.
“This is Tammy,” Carmen introduced us.
Tammy was taller than me, dark skinned, with warm brown eyes, a cute button nose, and lips that looked like they should be on TV advertising lipstick, full and perfectly heart shaped, her frame was thin with hardly any curves to it, and she had braided her black hair close to her scalp like mine. “I'll just show you where you're sleeping, and then I'll find you each a sleeping bag.” Lane followed Carmen down the corridor and I watched Tammy as she picked up a pile of dirty clothes that had been left on the floor.
“Do you like it here?” I asked.
“Who cares what I think? I'm just a cleaner.” Tammy said, walking away with the box of laundry. I watched the back of her disappear around the corner, and Lane appeared beside me. “Carmen's just gone to find us some sleeping bags. Oh, and the girls' showers are on the upstairs floor and the boys' showers are down the corridor that way. I'm not sure if I like the sleeping arrangements, though.”
“You're worried about the sleeping arrangements?”
“Yeah, I'm used to sleeping near you.”
“I think you'll be fine. Once you fall asleep and the snoring takes over you're usually out of it until morning.”
“It's still going to be weird, sharing a room with a load of other guys. I'm used to you and your delicate features.” He gave me a cheeky smile.
“I don't think the sleeping arrangements is what you should be worried about.”
“Huh?” He looked at me confused.
“Do you not get what's going on here?”
He shook his head.
“Lane, there are pregnant girls not much older than me here.”
“And?”
“And who willingly gets pregnant in a zombie apocalypse? No one! You keep your legs shut no matter what.”
“Maybe they couldn't help it,” He smirked at me.
“Lane, be serious. I don't like that Dominic guy.”
“Stop,” he said, taking my shoulders and turning me to face him. “We're going to be just fine. We have a roof over our heads, food, and a safe place to sleep. We're finally safe from the zombies.” “Maybe the zombies aren't the monsters in this place.” Lane frowned at me. “I'm sorry. No, you're right, I'm being silly, it's nothing, I'm just imagining it.”
I hope.
He smiled at me and pulled me into a h
ug. I buried my face into his hoodie, it smelled of cigarette smoke, but I didn't care, it was one of the few things that felt familiar to me nowadays, and at this present point in time Lane was the only one I trusted.
“Here we go, I found two sleeping bags, we've got plenty spare.” Carmen said.
I took my sleeping bag and walked back into the room, looking for a space to roll out my sleeping bag, somewhere I felt comfortable. Not that it made a difference, it would all feel the same, cold hard floor. I carried my messenger bag back into the corridor and found Lane waiting for me. “I'm going to take a shower, wash my hair. You should take one too.” He nodded. “Meet you back here afterward?”
He nodded again, and I saw Carmen down the corridor chatting to an older man, they were both looking in our direction. Lane was about to leave, but I called him back and dropped my bag on the floor.
“Lane,”
“Yeah,”
I quickly closed the distance between us and reached my arms up around his neck, he didn't question me or pull away, and instead, he leaned down to me and I pressed my lips to his. It felt like the most natural thing to do. His hand slipped around to the back of my head, holding me close, and his other hand looped around my waist pulling me against him.
It was meant to be a quick peck on the lips, all for show, to pretend we were really married and in love, but when Lane's tongue pushed its way into my mouth I momentarily lost all thought. I wouldn't have been able to tell you my name. That's how amazing kissing Lane Walker was. My tongue dipped into his mouth and I was sure I heard a little moan escape from his lips. I couldn't believe it had taken me this long to do this again, after a very heated tongue twisting kiss, I pulled away gasping for air. Lane grinned at me and kissed me once more, softly on the tip of my nose, keeping his eyes locked on mine the whole time.
“That's just like I remember from last time,” he said, grazing the back of his hand down my cheek. “It's for show, Lane, we have an audience down the corridor.”
“Maybe for you, but not for me, you know you mean more to me.”
I stepped away and picked up my bag. “I'll see you in a bit.”
He licked his lips, still watching me, and I had to look away first. I was scared my feet would betray me and walk me straight back into his arms.
I found the shower room, which consisted of four showers and two rows of toilet cubicles. I stripped off and started washing, it was cold, but it was better than the river. I lifted my foot up to inspect it, the cut didn't look any worse, but then I felt bad for kissing Lane. What if I was infected and I'd already passed it on to him?
I dried myself down and got dressed, feeling guilty for kissing Lane in the first place, it would only encourage his behavior.
After I was dressed I went back downstairs and found Lane waiting for me in the corridor. I dropped my bag off in the sleeping area and we spent the next thirty minutes getting to know everyone before the generators were turned off. During this time, the inside of the Lab was pitch black in certain areas, so most of the group trickled outside, with the help of Carmen who was keen to get us all outside. There was a basketball hoop set up around the back and Lane joined in their friendly game while I sat on a crate beside Carmen. The two pregnant girls kept to themselves, Tammy stood on her own, the older one woman, Marina, sat on a bench sewing, and the other two girls didn't join us, I couldn't even see them anywhere, which was weird, because when I counted the group, there were two guys missing from the numbers as well.
Hmm, maybe they're patrolling. Maybe it's a coincidence. I thought.
When we were allowed back inside, I wandered back to the girls' room. I found one of the other girls in there pulling on her clothes hastily, she looked a little flushed.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She nodded and quickly pushed past me in the doorway.
“Hey, Alex,” Carmen called from down the corridor.
I walked back to her.
“Marina's going to show you how we wash the clothes, and afterward, you can help Amy and Jo in the kitchen.”
“Um, okay.”
Do I have a choice?
I had only been here for three hours, but I was starting to see how things worked.
I helped serve dinner, which didn't take long. All I had to do was hand out packets of food and place the cutlery on the tables while Amy and Jo handed out water bottles to everyone. I joined Lane and we sat by ourselves.
“How pregnant is she?” Lane asked, eyeing Jo, who was the larger of the two pregnant girls. “Only seven months.”
“She's huge.” Lane whispered.
“Maybe she's got more than one in there, it's not like anyone knows, there's not a Doctor here.” I chewed on a mouthful of the strange mush, that came in a white packet, trying to work out what it actually tasted of, then after another mouthful I decided it was weirdly tasteless, yet, it still managed to taste disgusting, there was no other way to describe it.
“What did you do this afternoon?” I asked.
“Hung out in the games room.”
“With who?”
“Um, with Scottie, a guy called, Trevor,” He pointed at a table where Trevor was sitting. Trevor had been one of the two missing guys from the basketball game. “and Ron.” Lane added. “Well, while you've been hanging out with your new buddies, I've been scrubbing dirty undies and listening to Amy and Jo chatting about their birth plans and baby names.”
Lane smirked. “It's not funny, Lane. You don't see what's happening here.”
“Sure I do, you've gotta earn your keep. I think Dom's got it right, putting the ladies to work while the men take care of security.”
“I actually want to punch you right now. Do you even know what earn your keep means in this place?”
He ignored me and shoved another mouthful of mushy crap into his mouth. He scrunched up his nose and swallowed, his face said everything, it tasted rank, but I wasn't about to complain out loud. “Dom's going to let me patrol with Tim and Ron tomorrow.”
I let it go, Lane thought this place was amazing. Someone plopped down in the seat next to me, I turned to see Scottie smiling back at me.
“How you two getting on?” he asked.
“It's um, it's...”
“Awesome here.” Lane finished for me.
Of course he thought this was awesome, anything that didn't involve sleeping in a tree was awesome to Lane.
“It's really nice here.” I smiled back at Scottie.
“Scottie!” Carmen yelled from across the room.
“Ah, sorry, sis wants me.” he said, standing, picking up his food packet and spoon. “Carmen's your sister?” I said.
“Step-sister.” he said, before walking away.
“Step-sister? Didn't Dom spank her ass in the corridor earlier?” Lane said frowning. “I'm guessing she has a different father.”
Lane pulled a face trying to figure it out.
“Scottie's dad obviously married Carmen's mom, it's not rocket science, Lane.”
“All right, Alex, there's no need to be a bitch about it.”
“I wasn't.”
“Whatever! Why don't we go and sit at Dominic's table?”
“No thanks,” I said.
Lane abruptly stood up and I looked up at him.
“What are you doing?”
“If you wanna be unsociable and be a complete bitch, that's fine, but I actually like it here and I want to socialize. This is exactly why you had no friends in high school, you never wanted to join in.” he said, pushing his seat back in.
“I had friends.” I mumbled, but Lane was already out of earshot.
His seat didn't remain empty for long.
“Where's he going?” Tammy asked.
I turned around and watched Lane as he took a seat next to Carmen.
I caught Dominic staring at me, and a chill went down my spine.
“He's making friends,” I said, turning back around and unscrewing my water bottle. “He's good at that.�
�� I added.
Tammy shoveled another load of mush into her mouth, and rolled it around inside her mouth for longer than necessary, not enjoying it by the look of it. We finished our food in silence. I didn't mind, though.
When we had finished dinner it was Tammy's turn to wash up the cutlery and I stayed behind to help her. She wasn't a big talker, she talked briefly about where she was from and how she had ended up at the Lab. Her story sounded a lot like mine, drifting from place to place on her own, trying to find somewhere safe until she eventually ended up here.
After the washing up was done, we cleaned the kitchen area down together. Tammy swept the floor and I dried the cutlery and placed it back in the drawer. One of the spoons got away from me and landed on the floor. I crouched down to retrieve it, just as Tammy went to sweep the floor in front of me.
“Sorry,” she said.
We both laughed. I reached over to pick up the spoon and spotted dark marks around Tammy's left ankle. She was wearing small slip on shoes, no socks with three-quarter length leggings, exposing her ankle area.
She caught me looking and quickly moved away and swept a different area.
It looked like something had been rubbing on her ankle, it didn't look like an old wound either. I wanted to ask, but she busied herself throwing all the empty water bottles into a garbage bag, avoiding me.
I decided to let it go. Maybe I could ask her about it later. We left the kitchen and found most of the group playing games in the games room/staff room. Three of them were involved in a game of twister on the floor and four guys were sat around a table playing what looked like poker, in the middle of the table I saw a packet of cookies, three packs of cigarettes, a chocolate bar, and a can of soda.
I spotted Lane in the kitchen area at the back, Carmen was sat on the counter top, and they looked deep in conversation. I imagined he was probably telling her how horrible I had been to him over the months, how I rationed his food, how I made him sleep in a tree... and how I wouldn't snuggle. Give me a break!
I wandered back to the room where I would be sleeping and organized my sleeping area. I found my toiletries and used the bathroom to freshen up and brush my teeth, then I changed out of my boots and jeans. As I was folding my clothes, Amy and Jo (the pregnant duo) walked in and started arranging their sleeping bags.