He didn’t want to believe that Zeke was going to die. Out of all of them, he was the strongest, probably the only one of them who could survive on his own. He wished they had had more time to get to know each other. There was a lot he could’ve learned from him.
This whole thing was so unfair. Zeke, Harper and Zuckerman had all lost so much to this fever already. If this turned out to be some sort of government experiment turned awry, there was going to be hell to pay. He wouldn’t be able to stop Zuckerman from dishing out his own form of punishment, and to be honest, he wouldn’t want to either.
He turned his attention back to Zeke. So far the fever didn’t appear to have taken hold. He slept peacefully, his breathing slow and even. That wasn’t enough to put Chad’s mind at ease though. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he turned, and when that happened, he needed to be prepared.
The fire crackled loudly, making him jump. He hadn’t meant to doze off. With one quick look out the window, he stood and picked his way through the bodies on the floor to get to the wood stack. He hefted a few smaller pieces onto the diminishing flame, watching as they began to smoulder. Satisfied that he had saved the dying fire, he went back to his post on the window.
He checked on Zeke again, noting the flushed look on his skin. There was a light sheen of sweat on his brow and he kept screwing his face up in pain. It was happening.
ZEKE
Blinking his eyes open, Zeke found himself staring down the double barrel of his own gun. His gaze travelled up the long steel rod, to the intense stare of Chad. It took a moment for him to make sense of what was happening.
“Woah, man! It’s me!” he cried out, backing up against the wall. He looked around the room, noticing that he was no longer in the living room with everyone else. He was in the corner of his bedroom, and the door was closed. He turned his attention back to Chad, seeing the hesitation in his eyes before he lowered the gun, confusion settling on his face.
He sat back, realisation hitting him like a tonne of bricks. “I’m still alive?” he asked, slapping his hands down his body, to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “I don’t understand. What happened?” he demanded.
Chad sat back on his haunches, the gun across his knees as he searched Zeke’s eyes for any hint of red. “How do you feel?” he asked suspiciously.
Zeke thought for a minute. “I feel fine,” he said. “A little confused, but fine.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. You had the fever. You had it,” Chad said, running his hand through his hair in frustration. “You were sweating and panting. It went on for ages. That’s why I brought you in here, I figured it was nearly time,” he paused, glancing towards the door, “I didn’t want the others to see.” He looked up, meeting his eyes once more. “Your face was so pale, and then your breathing just calmed, like you were about to cark it. You just lay there, barely moving. And then you woke up.”
“Why didn’t I turn?” Zeke wondered out loud.
“I’d be interested in the answer to that too.” Chad stood up, offering his hand to Zeke. He pulled him up to stand, grabbing him, and giving him an awkward hug. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re still with us.” He slapped his hand on his back twice, before walking to the door. “I really didn’t want to have to kill you.”
ZUCKERMAN
“We all set?” he asked, throwing the last bag into the back of the Land Cruiser.
“Yip. Lead the way,” Tammy jumped into her battered old Ford with Harper and Caitlyn in tow.
“You alright to drive?” Chad asked Zeke as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I told you, I feel fine. If it changes I’ll let you know, don’t worry.” Zeke jingled the keys in his hand. “We good?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” Zuckerman had been surprised to see Zeke walk out of the bedroom alive this morning. He had helped Chad carry him out of the living room when his fever had broken. He thought for sure he was a goner. Now here he was, sitting in the front of his car, driving them to Cincinnati.
Holding on to both seats and pulling himself forward, he studied Zeke. “So, no cannibalistic urges?” he asked.
Zeke huffed out a laugh, “Nope, you’re safe.”
“That’s exactly what someone who was plotting to eat us would say,” he said, raising his brow. He stretched his hand towards Zeke, poking his face.
Swatting him away, Zeke frowned. “Come on, man. It’s really me. I know it’s weird that I haven’t turned, but I swear,” he turned to look at Zuckerman, “I’m okay.” Turning the car onto the highway heading out of town, he said “Hopefully these pharmaceutical guys can tell us why I didn’t turn. Maybe I’m immune or something.” He glanced in his mirror, making sure the girls were still following behind them. “Maybe we all are.”
“How do you figure that?” Zuckerman asked cynically.
“Think about it. All of us have been exposed to it. We’ve all had their blood on us at some point or another. None of us have gotten sick so far.” Zuckerman snorted. “Until I got bitten, obviously. But I still didn’t die. That’s gotta mean something.”
“It does make sense,” Chad agreed. “We know you don’t have to be bitten to turn, so it has to be passed on like a virus. Zeke’s right. We’ve all come into contact with it, so we should be sick or dead by now too.”
“Why us though?” Zuckerman challenged. “What makes us so special?”
“Why not us?” Zeke said. “Without us, the world may have never found the cause.”
“So, you’re saying it’s a fate thing?” Zuckerman asked, rolling his eyes. “You don’t really believe that shit, do you?”
“I’m just saying, the authorities don’t know what this thing is, where it came from. They don’t know where to even start. I think we were meant to survive, to bring the peace back.” He shrugged, knowing how he sounded. “I know it sounds corny, but why else would I survive? Maybe they can make some sort of antibody or whatever, out of my infected blood.”
“So now you’re like, the saviour? This just keeps getting better!” Zuckerman hooted, scooting back in his seat and slapping his hand on his knee. “Can you say God complex?” he laughed.
“Wouldn’t you want to see if you could help save others if you were him?” Chad asked, turning to look at his friend. “He may be our best hope at beating this.”
Zuckerman raised his arms in defence. “Okay, okay. You guys win!” he grinned. “I guess he could be kinda useful.” He gave Zeke a playful shove on the shoulder. Leaning through to the front again, his face suddenly drained of all colour. “Oh shit! Stop the car!”
“What? Why?” Zeke asked, slowing the car to pull over.
“Oh God. Billy.” Chad whispered when he realised where they were. “We forgot to go back for him.”
They clambered out and made their way over to the tree where they had last seen their friend. There was a smear of red down the trunk where he had been propped up. One of his shoes lay on the ground a few feet away, along with the hammer they had left with him for protection.
Zuckerman crouched down, trailing his hand along the trunk. “D’you think maybe he could’ve survived? Like Zeke?” he asked hopefully, his earlier scepticism forgotten.
Chad shoved his hands in his pockets, staring out across the fields beside them. “I hope so,” he said, knowing deep down that it wouldn’t be the case. If he had survived, he certainly wouldn’t have left his only weapon behind. “We should probably get going.” He walked over to the tree, resting his hand on the trunk, and ducking his head for a moment before heading back to the Land Cruiser, Zuckerman following behind, scuffing his feet. Chad could tell he was struggling with the loss of another friend. “It’s not our fault,” he said, trying to offer some sort of relief.
“We should have come back for him.”
Chad stopped. “Z, you know there’s nothing we could have done for him. He would’ve turned on us like all the others.”
“You don’t know that. If Zeke can g
o through it and come out the other side, then so could others. He can’t be the only one to have this freak ability.” Zuckerman was glaring at Chad. He knew he was being unreasonable but he had to believe that his friend made it out alive. He already had his parents’ deaths on his hands. If only he had gone back home to check on them…
“Z?” Chad placed his hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eye. “I want to believe it too. I do. But you know as well as I do, that it’s not looking good. Billy wasn’t even bitten and he got sick. I don’t think that’s a good sign.”
Zuckerman averted his eyes, his jaw working. He let out a slow sigh, nodding his head. “Yeah, I know,” he said quietly.
“The best thing we can do right now, is try to find that cure.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. My head’s all screwed up after yesterday.”
“Just after yesterday, huh?” Chad said, raising one eyebrow with a smirk.
“Shut-up, dick-wad. Get in the car,” Zuckerman grumbled.
CHAD
“That’s where it all started for us,” he said, pointing at the bus in the distance. It was parked on a diagonal across the road. After Ross had started attacking their team mates, Coach had slammed on the brakes, sending the rear end of the bus into a skid. Some of their friends who had been trying to escape were sent flying towards the front of the bus, smashing their heads on the divider separating the driver from the rest of them. One of them had snapped his neck, others were just dazed, making them all easy targets. Ross had pounced before they had even had a chance to get to their feet.
Joe, the one whose neck had snapped, had turned almost immediately, skipping the fever altogether. Between the two of them, they had managed to sink their teeth into the majority of the bus. Coach had been so shocked, it had taken him a while to open the doors for their escape.
Chad and Zuckerman had both scrambled over seats and bodies to get out, leaving the rest of their team mates to their demise. He still felt bad that they hadn’t tried to help the others sooner.
The closer they got to the bus, the slower Zeke went. It was impossible to tear his eyes away from the bloodied bus. He could only imagine the carnage that had taken place.
“Looks like it was pretty bad,” he said.
“Yeah, it was. We were lucky to get out,” Chad answered. “I don’t think anyone else made it.”
Zeke swerved the car to go around the front of the bus. Running full speed towards them, were two flesh-eaters. More were emerging from the field, all making a beeline for their vehicles, all moving at speeds they hadn’t thought possible.
“Jesus!” Zeke cried out, slamming his foot on the accelerator. “They just came out of nowhere!” One bounced off the bonnet as he ploughed through them like skittles.
“The girls!” Chad yelled, watching out the back window, as the crowd ambushed their car, rocking it back and forth, clawing at the doors to get to the fresh meat inside. “We need to help them!”
Zeke brought the car to a stop. He turned to the back, reaching for his shotgun. “I’ll go first, try to lead them away. You guys follow behind, take the spears Harper made.”
“Are you crazy? We should shoot them from here.”
“They can’t hurt me, remember? I’ll be fine.” He already had his hand on the door, swinging it open. “Hey!” he yelled, drawing their attention. He shot at one of the stragglers who hadn’t made it to the car yet, not wanting to put the girls at any more risk. “Distract them! I’ll gun them down!” he hollered over his shoulder as he started walking towards them, firing shots as he went.
The boys began to bang against the side of the car, yelling and waving their arms. They had their spears beside them, ready for any flesh-eaters that got too close.
Zeke was gunning them down, one after another. The sound of the girls screams spurring him on. He was almost half way to the car and the few he had missed, were charging at him, teeth bared. He could hear Chad and Zuckerman behind him, finishing off any he hadn’t shot in the head.
His finger pulled on the trigger, but nothing but a click came out. He was out of ammo. Spinning the gun around so that he was now holding it by the barrel, he started swinging it like a baseball bat, swatting them left and right.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Harper had managed to climb out of the car too, she held her spear above her head, bringing it down on one of them, dropping him to the ground. She joined Chad and Zuckerman, helping to finish them off.
Sweat-soaked, and bloody, they surveyed the area, making sure they had got them all.
“You okay?” Chad asked Harper. “That was really brave of you.”
“That’s nothing,” Zeke said. “You should’ve seen her when I first found her.” He winked at Harper. “She took down a whole herd by herself.”
“That so?” Zuckerman asked. “Got some pretty big balls there, Harper,” he said, wiping his arm across his forehead. “And I mean that as a compliment.”
“Thanks. I could hardly let you lot get all the glory now, could I?” She dragged the tip of her spear along the grass verge to clean it off. “I better check on those two.”
“I’ll come with you,” Chad said, joining her. He knew both girls wouldn’t have seen this many before. He could only imagine how scary it must’ve been for them.
Tammy was cradling Caitlyn in her arms as she sobbed. When they opened the door, she screamed.
“It’s okay, little one,” Tammy soothed. “We won’t let them hurt you.”
“They’re all gone now,” Chad said, crouching down to her eye level. “We will keep you safe, I promise.”
Caitlyn sniffed, throwing her arms around his neck. He scooped her up, rocking her in his arms as she cried. “Shhh. We’ve got you,” he whispered into her hair. He caught Tammy’s eye, trying to gauge how she was feeling.
“I’m okay,” she mouthed, attempting to smile at him, though the slight tremble to her lips betrayed her true feelings. Chad reached out to her, cupping her face in his hand. She wrapped her fingers around his, her shoulders sagging as she puffed out the breath she had been holding.
“I will do everything I can to keep you both safe.” He pulled away to look at them both. “You’re my girls.”
TAMMY
After taking a minute to catch their breath and digest what had just happened, they each climbed into the cars ready to get back on the road. Chad decided to ride with Tammy and Caitlyn this time, relieving her of her driving duties as she was still quite shaken. Harper rode up front with Zeke and Zuckerman.
Tammy sat in the back seat with Caitlyn draped across her lap, while she gently stroked her hair off her face. No longer crying, Caitlyn lay there, staring vacantly, the fingers of one hand curled tightly around Tammy’s free hand, the other hung limply by her side.
The moment she had first seen the flesh-eaters coming towards them, she had screamed and cowered in a ball, with her arms wrapped around her head. It had been the first time she had encountered one before, let alone a whole herd.
When they had started shaking the car, their, grotesque faces pressed against the windows, Tammy had pulled her onto her lap, her arms shielding her face from seeing them. She had sung quietly in her ear, trying to distract her from what was going on outside, not allowing her to think for a second, that they wouldn’t survive.
Chad met her eyes in the rear-view mirror. A few wayward strands of his jet black hair had fallen across his forehead, making the blue of his eyes stand out even more. He smiled.
Once he had turned his attention back to the road, Tammy studied him some more. His strong jaw was speckled with dirt and something that she could only assume was blood. The clean shirt he had put on this morning was no longer white, and one sleeve had been torn at the seam.
His muscular arms flexed as he gripped the steering wheel. She felt an urge to reach out and touch them, but thought better of it.
It still amazed her that someone she barely knew a few days earlier, would be willing t
o risk his life for hers. She owed him. She owed all of them.
“Tammy?” Caitlyn whispered, rolling onto her back.
“Mmm? What’s up kiddo?” She smiled down at her, moving her hand to the top of her head.
“Are my Mommy and Daddy…” she blinked, her eyes filling with tears. “Are they, like those scary people?” she asked, making Tammy’s heart break.
“Oh honey.” She scooped her up to sit on her lap, holding her face in her hands. “Honestly? I don’t know, sweetheart. But I hope not.”
“Why didn’t they come back for me?” she sniffed, burying her face in Tammy’s chest. Her shoulders heaving as she sucked in a deep breath, sobbing.
“I bet they tried really hard to get back to you, and for whatever reason, they just couldn’t make it. But you know what?” she said, using her thumb and finger to lift her chin to look her in the eyes again. “I think they knew that you would be safe. That you would find your way to people who could help you.”
“How would they know that?”
“Because, they know that you’re smart and strong. They knew you could make it.” Caitlyn nodded, accepting her answer. She rested her head against Tammy again.
“I miss them,” she said, her voice not more than a whisper.
“I know you do, sweetheart.” She wrapped her arms around her, wanting to take her pain away.
A short time later Caitlyn had fallen asleep, the adrenalin having worn off and leaving her drained. Tammy lay her across the back seat and climbed into the front with Chad. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, and resting her head on top. She stared out the side window, watching the trees sweep past. Occasionally seeing one of the dead walking around aimlessly. One or two had charged the cars, but they had been better prepared this time and avoided impact.
They were nearing the outskirts of Cincinnati and she was both nervous and excited. She worried that it might be worse here, that it might be completely overrun and they wouldn’t make it to Farrelly. There was still a tiny piece of her that was hoping that it hadn’t reached here at all and they would be safe. A foolish thought, she knew. They would’ve sent help if it was only their little town that had been affected. The cavalries would have come in and gunned down the dead, rescuing the living.
Flesh-Eater (Book 1): Fear the Fever Page 14