The Complete Lethal Infection Trilogy

by Tony Battista

  Vickie and Eve helped Jake to the table that evening, ignoring his protests that he was capable of getting around by himself now, and he wondered why everyone had such big grins on their faces. Vickie went out the kitchen door and returned a minute later carrying a plate with a baked potato, steamed carrots from the garden and a thick, juicy deer steak.

  “Oh – my – God,” Jake said, reverently. “Are you serious? Fresh meat?”

  “Vickie bagged a deer,” Eve announced with a big smile, and Jake looked at her and grinned.

  “Well, don't just sit there smiling, dig in!” she laughed. “Tom's bringing in steaks for the rest of us.”

  For the first time in weeks, they forgot about the hardships, the tragedies, the dangers they'd faced ever since the infection began and enjoyed good food and good company and a bottle of wine from the island. After supper, Vickie went out on the porch to sit with Jake.

  “You've sure come a long way from the day we first met,” he told her as he lit a cigarette. “I don't think there's much you couldn't do for yourself now.”

  “I couldn't have gone on without you,” she told him, looking him in the eyes. “I died a little when we pulled you out of the car and your face was pale as death and your skin was so cold and clammy.”

  “But you got me back. You took care of me, nursed me back to health.”

  “Well, that was mostly Carolyn. And, anyway, I had to help get you healthy again. We have some unfinished business, you and I.”

  Jake looked away. “I can't help remembering what happened the last time we tried. I really did like Art, even with his religious fanaticism. And Ellen. I can't imagine what went on in her mind before she-. Ah, I guess there's no point in dwelling on the past. We have a future to build.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Vickie said as she snuggled up next to him on the glider, tucking her legs under. She laid her head on his shoulder, and they watched the sun set together.

  Chapter 23: Awkward Hookup

  Carolyn sat up and shook Vickie by the shoulder after trying, unsuccessfully, to get to sleep over her restless tossing and turning.

  “Is it possible for you to just lie there and go to sleep?” The frustration was evident in her voice.

  “I- I just have a lot on my mind tonight.”

  “A lot, or just one thing, or just one person maybe? Vickie, I love you, but you’re driving me nuts not letting me get any sleep at night. Honestly, I feel like going downstairs and finding a nice, soft chair to curl up in.”

  “No, you don’t have to,” Vickie came back. “I’m the one with the problem. Warm milk always helped me sleep before all of this. Maybe I can mix up some powdered stuff and get the same result.”

  “Ask Jake how he’s feeling while you’re down there.”

  “Oh, he must be asleep by now,” she answered with a sigh. “It’s well after midnight.”

  “I don’t think he’s been sleeping well at night. He still dozes off during the day but he looks like he needs a good, long night’s sleep.”

  “Well, if he’s awake, I’ll talk to him about it.”

  Vickie went into the bathroom and freshened up a bit and pulled on a robe, then gave Carolyn a quick kiss and started downstairs.

  Jake was awake and watching her as she walked to the sofa bed.

  “You look like you were expecting me,” she told him.

  “You look beautiful,” he said as he flicked his lighter to light a candle.

  “Humph! I'll never be beautiful. My grandma said I look like a pixie.”

  “And you don't think a pixie can be beautiful?”

  “How are you feeling?” she changed the subject.

  “Still sore, weak. I really don't think I'm up to finishing what we started that night in the barn, but I'd love to have you next to me, to hold you in my arms.”

  “You know, there are things we could do that wouldn't require a lot of effort on your part,” she purred as she kissed him.

  She pulled his blanket aside and tugged his shorts down and took him in hand. A few firm strokes brought him to full attention and she kissed him on the mouth again before bending her head down. Jake drew his breath in sharply when he felt her lips make contact and he shut his eyes and smiled as they closed over him.

  Eve shrieked and everything stopped. Jake sat quickly up and Vickie spun around to see Eve standing a few feet away, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

  “I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know! I just came downstairs to- to- to-. Omigod, I'm sorry!”

  Jake threw the blanket back over himself as Tom came charging down the steps, pistol in hand, followed closely by Liz.

  A red-faced Eve ran up the stairs past them, still saying she was sorry and Tom and Liz looked at Jake, then at Vickie kneeling beside the sofa bed, then at each other, and they both smiled and turned around to head back upstairs. Carolyn looked down from the top of the steps with a knowing smirk on her face before turning back toward her room.

  “Well, that was embarrassing!” was all that Vickie could manage.

  “Yeah, you could say that.”

  “Well, at least we know nobody else is going to interrupt us now. Shall I start over?”

  “Actually, I think we're done for the night.”

  “Oh, no one is going to walk in on us again, Jake, not after that.”

  “That's not the problem. When you jerked your head away, well, you sort of caught me with your teeth.”

  “What?” Vickie pulled the blanket aside and saw there was indeed a small but ragged cut and a trickle of blood. “Oh, God, Jake! Oh, I'm sorry! I'll get Carolyn to take a look!”

  “No! No, it's not that bad,” but he was talking to her back as she was racing up the stairs. “Just what I need; Carolyn to look at it!”

  A few moments later, Carolyn and Vickie hurried back down the steps, Carolyn with the first aid kit in her hand.

  “Let me have a look, Jake.”

  “It's nothing! Really! Just a nick! It'll be fine!”

  “Oh, for crying out loud, Jake! Do you imagine I've never seen a dick before?”

  “It's nothing! I’ll take care of it myself!”

  “Let me make sure! Even a tiny cut there, if it gets infected, is going to cause you a world of hurting. Let me clean it up and put some ointment on it at least.”

  It took a bit more convincing, but Jake finally gave in and let Carolyn tend to his injury.

  “There, you big baby, it's all done. Just keep it clean and let me look at it again in a couple days. If it looks like it's healing okay, I won't bother you about it again,” Carolyn told him as she closed the kit and got up to go. She paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked back over her shoulder at him. “Not bad, by the way.” She gave him a wicked smile, then winked at Vickie and went back to her room.

  “Yeah, that wasn't the least bit awkward,” he told Vickie.

  “Jake, I don't know what to say.”

  “Don't worry about it, Vickie. Up to the point where Eve walked in, it was sheer heaven.”

  “I'll sit with you a while. We can still make out, if you want.”

  “No, I think it would get real uncomfortable real fast if we did that. Let's just say goodnight, and I don't think anyone else needs to know the, ah... particulars here.”

  “Believe me; they won't hear it from me.” Vickie kissed him and he watched as she climbed the steps.

  “What else can go wrong?”

  . . .

  Carolyn was sitting at the foot of the bed when Vickie walked in.

  “I can't believe I did that,” she sighed.

  “Me either! You kiss me with that mouth, you know!”

  “Oh, shut up!”

  “Why didn’t you just have sex with him?”

  “I intended to, but he was feeling too weak, so I decided to do that instead.”

  “Well, did you at least get to finish?”

  “No,” Vickie answered with a sigh.

  “Well, go on in and brush your teeth
anyway. And use Listerine, too. Lots of it!”

  . . .

  Vickie woke in the morning, eased out of bed so as not to disturb the still sleeping Carolyn, and went downstairs. Jake's sofa was empty, but she could see a waft of cigarette smoke floating across the front porch. The smell of coffee drew her into the kitchen where she found Liz and Eve.

  “Good morning,” Liz smiled at her. “You're just in time. The coffee is just now ready.”

  “Thanks, Liz. It smells wonderful. Hi, Eve.”

  Eve smiled and nodded, still somewhat embarrassed about last night, and got cups down from the cupboard.

  “There's sugar and some powdered creamer.”

  “Hmm, I'll take both. I'll take a cup of black out to Jake,” Vickie answered.

  “Vickie? Can I, can I talk to you about something?”

  “Sure, Eve. What is it?”

  “Well, I've seen the way you and Carolyn act around each other, especially when you think no one else is watching, and I hear what goes on in your bedroom at night, even though you think you're being really quiet about it.”

  “Oh, God! Liz, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for her to overhear.”

  “I'm not a child! You don't have to apologize to my mom! I'm not judging you and I'm not trying to say I disapprove or anything. It's not like I haven't done a little experimenting myself.”

  “Oh, God, Eve, what are you saying?” Liz choked, leaning against the counter for support.

  “Just a little kissing, mom, nothing more serious than that,” Eve said with a guilty look. “I tried it and decided it wasn’t for me.” Turning again to Vickie, she added, “But I'm confused. You've been having this love affair with Carolyn the whole time we've known you, and then, last night, I walked in and saw what you were doing to Jake.”

  “Is this really the time to talk about this?” Liz pleaded.

  “Why not now?” Vickie answered as she sat down at the kitchen table. “It's not going away. What Eve saw can't be unseen now, however much I wish it could. Jake has been very good to me. He's literally saved my life more than once and he's never asked anything in return. Well, except to patch him up when I've gotten him hurt. But he's never tried to take advantage of me, though, God knows, he could have easily enough. I've grown to love him in the few short weeks we've been together. But I also love Carolyn. I love her in a different way, obviously, but I do love her all the same.”

  “Well, that's certainly nice to hear,” Carolyn offered as she walked into the kitchen.

  “You know I do. And I'm really torn between you and Jake. I can't turn off my feelings for him any more than I could my feelings for you.”

  “I've already told you that I'm okay with it. With everything else going on in the world today, that doesn’t even crack the top ten for crazy ideas. Be with Jake, be with me, just keep the two affairs separate.”

  Liz let out a soft moan and plopped down on a chair, slowly shaking her head.

  “I'm sorry we have to discuss it in front of you and Eve,” Carolyn told her. “But Vickie is right. This isn't just going to go away. And, with us all living together like this, it's not likely to stay hidden, either. Now that it's all out in the open, maybe we can all deal with it.”

  “Deal with what?” Tom asked as he came into the room. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

  “Vickie,” Liz was the first to speak, “why don't you take that coffee out to Jake? Carolyn, can you step out of the room with Eve for a few minutes? Tom and I need to talk.”

  . . .

  “Morning! I brought you some coffee,” Vickie sang out as she carried two steaming cups onto the porch.

  “Oh, yeah, that's good stuff,” Jake answered after taking a sip.

  “Really? Even better than mine?” she teased.

  “Um, maybe just a bit.”

  “I still don't know how anyone can drink it black.”

  “When I was growing up, everyone I knew put cream and sugar in their coffee, so I always assumed that was the way it was meant to be drunk,” Jake explained, taking another sip. “Never did like it. When I was in the Army, one day at the mess hall, guy next to me had a cup of black. I decided to try it that way and that's the only way I'll drink it now. Oh, if the coffee is really terrible, I might put a bit of creamer in it, but if it's got sugar in it, I won't touch it.”

  “You didn’t put any creamer in the coffee I made you in the house on Spring Street,” she pointed out.

  “I was just teasing you. It really wasn’t all that awful. It was almost drinkable.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him and said, “Well, I've tried it black and I think it's just nasty.”

  “So... I couldn't hear much, but I gather you were in the kitchen talking about what happened last night.”

  “I left out the part about biting you,” Vickie smiled.

  “Yeah, well, thanks for that. So, is Eve scarred for life now?”

  “Eve and I have talked a few times before this. She's no innocent little lamb. But, don't mention that to Liz, obviously.”

  “Really? Here I was planning a gossip session this afternoon.”

  “Oh, shut up! Where do we go from here, Jake?”

  “I don't know. I don't know if we go anywhere from here. Our track record on getting together has been less than stellar so far.”

  “I don't want to give up, Jake. I don't want us to stop. I want there to be an us.”

  Jake lit another cigarette, drew in a big lungful and let it slowly out.

  “Let me have one of those, will you,” Vickie asked.

  “Filthy habit, don't you know,” he laughed as he passed one to her.

  “How long do you think we can stay here,” she asked after a long pause.

  “Right now, I don't see any reason we can't ride this thing out right here. The barricade is coming along nicely and should be rather formidable once we pick up that load of lumber and hardware we left behind on the 350. I'll be in shape to finish that supply run in a few more days and, with any luck, the truck and the lumber will still be sitting where we left it. We can fortify this house pretty well, I think, and we've got clear fields of fire all around. We've got a source of water, brought in plenty of food to add to what we already had, and you might even bag us another deer or two. I think we're good. Once winter hits and the infected start freezing, I think the worst of it will be over and things can start getting back toward normal.”

  “Are you just telling me what you think I want to hear, or do you really believe that?”

  Jake turned to face her, took her hand and looked her straight in the eye. “I really believe we'll come out of this okay. We're going to make it.”

  “Knock-knock! Are you guys decent?” Carolyn called from the doorway.

  She walked out onto the porch with a big grin, a giggling Eve trailing her.

  “Oh, that is just hilarious!” Vickie said acidly.

  “Well, we can't have you corrupting Eve's delicate sensibilities any more than you already have, can we?”

  “Well, I think I'll take a little stroll around the fence,” Jake started to get up.

  “Not so fast,” Carolyn held up her hand. “I want to take another look at your wounds. Both of them.”

  “I didn't know you got wounded twice, Jake. What happened?” Eve asked innocently, and Carolyn almost contained a burst of laughter while Vickie's face reddened and Jake gritted his teeth and looked away.

  “Nothing too serious. I'll explain it to you later,” Carolyn told her, smiling at the sharp look Jake gave her.

  Carolyn checked the wound in Jake's side and, much to his relief, took his word the other injury was giving him no trouble.

  Chapter 24: The Carltons

  Two more days passed uneventfully before Jake decided they couldn’t wait any longer to go check on the truck they'd had to abandon. Despite all her arguments, Carolyn was unable to convince him that he still needed a few more days to recover. Vickie would accompany him in case they needed a silent
weapon and he wanted one more person; he felt it would be better to take two vehicles on the run, just to be safe, and they would need a third driver to bring back the truck. Eve informed her parents that she was going along as well and Vickie convinced a reluctant Liz that Eve was learning to take care of herself and the experience would be good for her. And so, Jake drove the Hummer while Vickie and Eve followed in the Town and Country.

  The Ford was still where they left it, the bed still loaded, but the hood and doors were open and the gas cap lay in the road. Upon closer examination, he discovered the battery had been removed, the interior rifled and the tank siphoned dry. The doors and trunk lids of the other two cars also stood open, the hoods down in the ditch beyond easy access. Both had been drained of gas too and their sparse contents were strewn about. The bodies of the men they'd killed had had their pockets turned inside out and they'd been partially devoured, apparently by small animals and birds rather than the infected. As always, thick clouds of flies swarmed the remains.

  “Do you think it was part of the same group?” Eve asked him.

  “No way of knowing for sure, but I'd guess not. If it had been the same group, they'd have known if there was anything valuable in those other two cars and wouldn't have torn the insides apart like that. I'd have to guess they'd want this truck, too, to make up for the two cars they lost. I'm no tracker, not by a long shot, but some of these footprints look to have been made by a child.”

  “So, what do we do now?” Vickie asked.

  “Well, we're close enough to that mini mall that I say we should go ahead and check it out again. Any luck at all, we'll at least find another battery and enough gas to get the truck back to the house. Be nice to have that lumber to finish the barrier.”

  Back in the vehicles, Jake again in the lead in the Hummer, they headed toward the mall, Jake trying to shake off the light-headedness that was beginning to plague him with a cup of coffee from the thermos Liz had sent along. He turned off the road to go across a field, pulling up behind a billboard a few hundred feet short of the TSC after seeing a couple of figures moving around near the doors, carrying items to a big Suburban parked close by. Jake got out and set Vickie at one end of the billboard and Eve at the other to cover him as he worked his way closer. Shotgun slung over his shoulder and Glock in hand, he crept from cover to cover until he reached the parking lot. Most of the vehicles there had their doors and trunk lids open and a number of gas caps were missing. Scattered about were a few infected corpses. He holstered the Glock and held the 12 gauge at the ready. Moving from car to car, he made his way to the near wall of the TSC and peeked carefully around the corner.