by Karen Carr
I caught the unmistakable whiff of a dead body and my hunger pains vanished, turning instead to repulsion. Would I ever get used to that smell? Hipslow’s team did a good job of cleaning up the bodies that I killed, but he must have forgotten to check the backyard. My instincts told me I should walk away, go to the church, but curiosity took over and I walked farther into the yard.
The smell was coming from one of the dilapidated sheds, this one the size of an outhouse. I took my bandana from my pocket, covered my mouth and reached for the door to the shed with my other hand. I wiggled the handle, managing to open the door a crack, but it had been locked by a chain on the other side.
I cursed and stepped back because the odor was burning my eyes. I felt a chill as the wind blew, making the hair on my arms stick up. Maybe I shouldn’t open it. I knew what was in there and didn’t really need to see another corpse. There was a body in this small shed, someone who had died after latching the door, somebody who had wanted to die or someone who was sick and died on the spot. What were they doing in there?
Crap it all.
All at once, I held my breath, stuck my bandana back in my pocket and yanked the door with both hands. I managed to take out a piece of rotting wood along with the latch and almost lost my balance with the force. I tripped over my feet as the body of a man fell down in front of me. He landed on his side and with his pants around his ankles. Crap it all indeed, it was an outhouse. The smell wasn’t just dead body, it was excrement and plenty of it. The man had crapped himself good.
I grabbed my bandana and covered my mouth again while I took a few steps back. He had fallen on his side with half of his head submerged in a pile of leaves. The other half of his head was pale and bloated and rotting, but it was still there. He was dead, but he hadn’t turned. Or if he had turned, my virus didn’t kill him. Why? He also hadn’t been dead for that long, maybe a few short days.
I bent down closer and noticed a small hole on one side of his temple. Gunshot. Suicide. I kicked around the leaves by his body looking for a gun. He could have landed on it, so I pushed his body over with a stick cursing my Birkenstocks. Sandals were great, but my kind of work required boots. When I didn’t find a weapon, I looked in the outhouse. Nothing, except a bottomless pit framed with a white porcelain toilet seat surrounded by rotting wood planks.
The wind blew once again, sending shivers through my body. Was he murdered? If so, how did someone get in the outhouse? With more gusts of wind, chilling me and spooking me at the same time, I didn’t want to find out. I stepped swiftly through the briars and bushes and trees, winding my way through the woods before I jumped out on the street and raced to my golf cart.
By the time I jumped in and started the engine, wind had picked up and the first few drops of a spring storm began to rain on the ground. I was so creeped out by the dead body, more than usual, so I decided to drive the short distance to the church. I always felt protected there. Maybe it was because it was a holy house, like somehow it would protect me from the undead, or because my social studies classroom was there, but I felt safe.
From my house, it was a short ride to the church I was soon walking up the stairs between the two turrets. The first thunderclap hit the area as I walked across the threshold and into the church’s greeting chamber. The rain began to pour down I called out for the Reverend.
“Hello,” I called in between thunder claps. No response.
I walked down the aisle, past all of the pews, as the lightening lit my way. I headed toward the stairs and the classrooms. The church smelled faintly of lemon and the pews glistened in the filtered light.
“Hello,” I called out again. It was unusual for the place to be empty.
“Hella.” The Reverend’s voice came from behind me.
I turned around and saw the Reverend, wet from the rain.
He came down the aisle to greet me. “Oh, Hella. You haven’t heard the news?”
“What news?” I asked. My stomach crumpled, reminding me that I was hungry and nervous and freaked out about finding a dead body. With news, that didn’t seem good, I didn’t know how much more I could take before I would be barfing all over the place.
The Reverend pursed his lips together and wrung his hands.
“Reverend, tell me now. What is it?” I asked.
“Lily is here, along with Trevan and another man.” A giant thunderclap filled the church, so loud it rattled the windows. Perfect timing.
“What?” Instinctively, I reached for my gun and pulled it out.
“Lily and Trevan,” the Reverend repeated, raising his hands and staring at my gun like I was going to shoot him.
“I heard you,” I said. Another thunderclap drowned my voice.
Lily was the third person I had met after the virus hit. Huck was the first and the Professor was the second. We had instantly become friends when she saved me from the kids downtown, from Harper’s brother. Trevan, her fiancée, had a rotten time with things, drank too much and then sobered up to join Mace’s gang. I didn’t trust him at all and if guilt were by association, I shouldn’t trust Lily either.
The Reverend held up his hands. “They’re not here, Hella. Not in the church. Put the gun down.”
“Where are they?” I asked, still holding my gun. I wasn’t going to put it away, pointing it at the door. The pink metal glistened with the next lightning strike.
The Reverend put his hand to his forehead. “I believe Hipslow and Fareva are hosting them over at the Roadhouse.”
“I have to go, Reverend. See you later.” I was going to get soaked in this storm, but I couldn’t wait until it let up.
“Stop, Hella. Now.” The Reverend’s tone surprised me so much that I froze in my tracks. He walked the short distance between us, grasped my hand and did a short blessing. He then pressed my hands to my chest. “Remember your heart. Follow it always because it beats strong.”
“How can I forget it?” I grasped my neck. “It’s in my throat right now.”
“Let it be your guide and you will do the right thing. He breathes life into our soul through our hearts. Let Him help you face your fears.”
I said goodbye to the Reverend and jogged to my golf cart, getting soaked in the process. The rain already sent buckets of water running through the streets and streams were running down each side of the road. No wipers on the cart meant I had to drive extra slow. I debated running to the roadhouse, I would probably get there faster and wasn’t really staying dry in the cart.
I turned the key and pressed on the gas to see how she would do in the rain. The big tires on the cart helped me manage the puddles forming on the street, so I decided to take my chances driving. I drove toward the roadhouse, not knowing if I should stop once I got there.
My first instinct, led by my heart, was to confront Lily. I wanted to tell her what I really thought of her stupid fiancée, but they were probably going to make me return with them. My second instinct, my brain, told me to run. I didn’t want to go to Mace’s across the river, not now and not ever. The safest thing for me to do would be to get out of there, but go where?
The wind gusted and showered me with water, as if to wake me up. Think straight, girl, it said. Straight with my heart or straight with my head? I couldn’t go back to the field and fly away in the Hughes in this weather. Hipslow hadn’t told me how to ditch the town in case of bad weather and my cart would surely not last that long on the road. Besides, I had nowhere to go. I didn’t want to start out life by myself again.
Lily and Trevan were outnumbered. The whole town probably knew they were at the roadhouse. The whole town wasn’t going to give up on me that easily. Lily and Trevan and the other guy were outnumbered by eighty nine to three, so I decided to go ahead and confront her.
I drove through the alley, in between several parking lots and down to the rear of the roadhouse. My plan was to park behind the restaurant to wait for the rain to slow down, but then I saw Zeke and Galen under the small awning to the rear entrance of the
roadhouse.
Zeke spotted me and marched through the rain in swift long strides. I hadn’t spoken to him since my intimate reunion with Huck, and felt nervous with his approach. The rain soaked his tee-shirt, highlighting his bulging muscles and broad shoulders. Shame on me for looking.
Zeke plopped his soaking wet body next to mine in the golf cart. A pool of water rolled in my direction.
“You’re dripping on my vinyl,” I said as I splashed the water away.
“You’re not going in there,” Zeke said. He took a hand through his crew-cut and flipped the water from it, but wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“Then it’s true? Lily and Trevan are in there?” I asked.
Zeke nodded. He gazed at everything around us, except me. “It’s not safe for you, Hella.”
“Let me be the judge of that.” I turned the golf cart off.
“They want you back, Hella,” Zeke said. He reached for the key to turn the engine back on. I stopped him by pressing my hand over his. The gesture made him clench his fist and he pulled his hand away. Like I had no right.
“I’m not going with them,” I said. “You know that, Zeke. I am going to greet my old friends and talk some sense into them.”
Zeke snorted and flexed his muscles. “Impossible.”
“How do you know?” The wind began to blow horizontally, soaking my left side. Zeke looked unbearably gorgeous in his wet shirt. Heart, what are you telling me? Heart says it’s not me it’s my libido. Nervous energy transferred to other parts of my anatomy, that’s all it was.
Zeke twisted his big frame, blocking my view of the door and looking me right in the eye. “You are not going to talk any sense into Trevan. He’s an idiot and Lily is just his puppet.”
Anger flared when Zeke called Lily Trevan’s puppet. He might be right, but I didn’t like the words coming from his mouth. He didn’t know her. She used to be a kind and caring person, spending hours with me sorting through the pockets of the dead so that we could retain their history. She was all for rebuilding society and the only thing Mace wanted to do was tear it down.
“She is not a puppet,” I said. “She’s just trying to save Trevan. She wants to save everyone. She stopped Trevan from killing me once, I know she’ll do the right thing. She won’t let him hurt me.” I twisted my legs out the other side of the golf cart, and was ready to walk away when Zeke grabbed my arm.
“Let go,” I said.
Zeke pinched my arm harder. “Ana’s brother is with them.”
I froze with one foot on the ground. “Ana’s brother?” Ana’s brother had killed his own sibling. Why on earth was he here? If they had sent him to get me, then they were seriously thinking of trouble.
“Trevan and Santiago are friends,” Zeke said.
The hair on my arm bristled. “Santiago?” That’s Ana’s brother’s name. “Trevan is friends with that murderer? He couldn’t have sunk that far.”
Feeling defeated, I put my foot back in the cart and watched the rain wash the windshield. How could I confront Santiago as well? From what Huck had told me he was a cold-blooded killer—no reasoning with him, only death. I thought of the man in the outhouse with a bullet through his head.
“Hella, I don’t think Trevan sees it as sinking,” Zeke said. “In fact, he probably thinks it’s a promotion. Military history professor becomes military leader.”
I regarded Zeke with my mouth open. Maybe he did know more about people than I did. I could totally see Trevan’s ego being massaged by Mace into a military leader. “I have to talk to them, Zeke. Don’t you get it? I can’t go anywhere. They know I’m here, so what’s the point in hiding?”
“Huck’s not going to like it,” Zeke warned.
“Since when do you care about what Huck thinks?” Why did these boys think I was their possession?
Zeke gave me a sour look. “Don’t insult me. He’s my bro and he asked me to watch out for you. I’m doing this for him, not for you.”
“You’d do this for him?” I put my hand on Zeke’s thigh, coming dangerously close to his privates. I had to know Zeke’s deal. I had to know how I felt about him too. What I felt was a rock-hard muscle, and not much of anything else.
“Is that good for you?” Zeke asked. His face was flat and lacked any sign of emotion. Nothing appeared in his pants either. He obviously wasn’t registering any feeling toward me, so I took my hand away.
“You are heartless,” I said.
Zeke grabbed my wrist. “Me? What do you want, both of us? You can’t have it, Hella. I’m not into threesomes. I’ve lost interest in you, chickie. You might be the best and hottest chick around, but I don’t want you anymore. You break my bro’s heart, I’m going to make sure you hurt more.” He threw my hand back in my lap.
I couldn’t help but feel hurt by Zeke’s words. I wanted to ask him why he didn’t want me, but I felt the fog lift around my own emotions. He was right, I couldn’t have both of them and I didn’t want both of them either. I was acting in fear. With both of them by my side, vying for my attention and maybe even my love, I would always feel safe. I had to rely on myself first and no one else, including Huck.
“I’m going inside,” I said.
I stormed out of the golf cart, ran the few short feet to the entrance, nodded to Galen and went inside. The back door led to a small hall with bathrooms and the entrance to the kitchen. I wrung myself out as much as possible before I walked into the bar and restaurant area.
When I walked into the room, my heart jumped in my throat. I covered my mouth to prevent it from escaping and hid behind a post while I soaked it all in.
Lily’s olive skin gave off a healthy glow and her eyes shined with happiness. She was wearing clean clothes, and her dark black hair was braided down her backside, interwoven with yellow and red ribbons. Someone had styled her up.
I gritted my teeth as I saw she was talking to Ana. Not only were they talking, they were engrossed in conversation. Lily spoke Spanish and apparently she was fluent. The lilt of her voice drifted over to my ears. I imagined they were talking about food and wine by the way they lifted their cups and took small bites of Fareva’s delicious morsels and smacked their lips. Yummy. My stomach growled again, reminding me I was hungry, but I wasn’t ready to enter the restaurant.
I found Trevan talking to a small dark skinned man that had to be Ana’s evil brother, Santiago. Trevan was pointing and talking distances, describing the town to the short and fat man. Trevan knew the area, having been a graduate student at Chapel Hill, and was obviously filling Santiago in. Traitor.
Huck walked in the front door and when I saw him I pressed my back farther against the wall. I didn’t want him to see me, not yet. I watched as Ana’s eyes lighted up and gestured for Huck to come to her side. I watched as Huck smiled, walked over to her, and gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek.
It was all for show, Huck had told me. He had to pretend with Ana, pretend that he liked her and not me. As Huck’s hand rested on Ana’s shoulder, I thought that he was very good at pretending. I knew they kissed, from what Harper said they kissed often. How far would he go with her? My lips stung as if they remembered being kissed by him and felt the betrayal all on their own.
Chapter 12
I rested my hand on my gun and stepped into the center of the roadhouse restaurant, taking it slow like a cowboy in a western. Everyone turned at once, their mouths gaping open and their eyes revealing true feelings. Lily’s mouth turned down as her gaze flickered to Trevan. Trevan, in turn, stroked his neck. Santiago grinned from ear to ear, like his prized pig had just walked in the door. Oink, oink.
When Huck saw me, his nostrils flared like a wild beast. He gritted his jaw as he dropped his hand from Ana’s shoulder. That’s right, Huck, I caught you in the act. Ana looked up at him and then to me with a look of sorrow and fear all mixed up together. Too bad, girl. You’re not the one.
“Hi,” I said. I gave a short wave. “You all know I’m here.” I smiled and swept everyon
e with my eyes.
Zeke appeared behind me and walked swiftly into the room, making his way to Huck’s side. Huck glared at Zeke and made a gesture with his head toward me. Zeke shrugged his shoulders. I glared at Huck, telling him with my eyes that Zeke couldn’t stop me.
Everyone was still staring and glaring and looking to each other and then back to me, like they were waiting to see who would shoot first. I decided it was going to be me.
I walked over to Lily and her face went ashen. “Hi Lily.” I gave her my best fake smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Hella,” Lily stammered.
“Hella, great to see you.” Trevan walked toward me with an outreached hand, but Huck stepped in his way.
“Why don’t we take a walk, Trevan?” Huck grabbed Trevan’s arm roughly. “Santiago, por favor?”
Huck waved his hand toward the door, but didn’t take his eyes off of Santiago. Zeke stepped to the other side of the man so that he was boxed in by my two boys.
Santiago’s eyes strolled over my body as he touched his mouth and licked his lips, like he was turning me into pork chops. He was short and fat and the whites of his eyes were yellow with jaundice. Santiago’s lifestyle was obviously one that would kill him, but I didn’t want to wait for that death. I could kick his ass barehanded, choke him to death right now, but that wouldn’t stop Mace.
“The girl comes with us,” Santiago said. “It is time.”
I squared my shoulders. “It is not time,” I said. “Why don’t you eat the other half?” I gestured toward a half-eaten strawberry pound cake on a near table.
“The girl stays here.” Zeke grabbed Santiago’s arm roughly. “You go out.”
Santiago turned and sucker-punched Zeke in the stomach. I could tell he hit him hard by the sound of Santiago’s fist meeting Zeke’s stomach, but Zeke barely flinched and didn’t let go of Santiago’s arm. Huck jumped in and bent Santiago’s arm behind his back.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Zeke said.
“I will,” Santiago said. He twisted out of Huck’s grip and grabbed a barstool. For an overweight and sickly man, he sure moved fast.