Reaching for his notepad sitting on the sofa, he scribbled out a few words.
Hiding the ones they don’t know about.
In here? The room was rather sparse and I doubted he’d find somewhere to put our weapons that wouldn’t be discovered in a heartbeat. Our room did have a lock on the door, but it had been busted most likely deliberately, which meant anyone could come and go. The bathroom had a lock, but I doubted it would hold out someone who was motivated enough to get in. Lawson’s gaze rose to the ceiling, and I followed it to find a clean, dark mesh grill that covered an air-conditioning duct. Up there? It was high, and there were no chairs in the room. Maybe if we dragged the sofa across Lawson might come close to reaching the ceiling.
“How exactly are you going to get up there?”
Lawson passed me the handguns and lowered to his haunches. Then he gave me a come here gesture, and patted his shoulder.
“Oh hell no, you can’t lift me up there.”
He huffed and shook his head, patting his shoulder yet again.
“Fine, what the fuck ever, but if you drop me, I am kicking your ass.”
Lawson silently chuckled as I positioned my butt on one of his wide shoulders. His arm wrapped around my thighs, securing me in place as he rose. It was like crunching weights, except all the weight was on one shoulder, and he crunched me like I might have been a feather. Noah laughed as she watched me reach up for the duct. It was smooth, but there was enough room to slide a fingernail underneath the edge and pry it free. I slid the guns into the duct, making sure they were easy to reach, then using my fist, I hammered the mesh back into place. Lawson then lowered me, slowly, my body sliding all the way down his, calloused hands wandering up my legs, over my ass, and finishing at my waist. Turning in Lawson’s hold, I found his glorious chest, and my hands rose to press against the hard plains there. His eyes fluttered closed for just a moment, almost as if raptured with my simple touch.
“Can we go eat now?”
Noah’s voice broke the moment.
“There’s that timing again,” I murmured.
Lawson reluctantly released me, and I grabbed Noah’s hand tugging her towards the door.
“Come on Boo, let’s go eat some food that isn’t from a can.”
***
Well, this was fucking weird. I’d been worried about coming to Silverleaf, concerned for our well-being and safety, but not once did this kind of whacked out shit enter my mind. We were sat at a long, elegant dinner table, Noah sandwiched between Lawson and me. The lights were dimmed, and flickering candles sat in matte black, three tier candelabras down the center of the table. The food was straight forward roasted chicken and vegetables, most likely the best meal I’d ever sat in front of, but the vision of all these people dressed so elegantly pulled my attention from the mouthwatering food on my plate. The men, women and children that sat at the banquet table were dressed like they were attending the motherfucking Oscars. The men were wearing expensive suits, and the women extravagant gowns, hair and makeup flawless. The five children amongst the group were also dressed as miniature versions of their parents. I was flat-out staring, and I knew it was rude, but hell, did these people miss the end of world memo? Lawson glanced at me, the same confusion and incredulity was etched into his features, though probably better disguised than mine. Unable to hold my tongue, I turned to our host, Dr. Dick, and cleared my throat before speaking.
“Did we miss the message about a dress code or something?”
The doctor smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Just because the world around us is falling apart doesn’t mean we need to fall apart. You’re new to Silverleaf, so you’re excused from dinner dress code tonight, but we’ll organize you some appropriate attire for future meals.”
“We won’t be staying long.”
Regardless of our opulent surroundings, these people were freaks, and I didn’t want to stay any longer than we had to. Dr. Dick sat up taller in his seat, his shark like gaze focused on me.
“We already explained to Terrence that we have a destination in mind. This is just a stop over for us to recoup before we continue on our way.”
For a moment, I thought the doctor was going to hemorrhage all over the dining table. His face went beet red, his eyes flared wide with surprise, and something akin to anger pinched his lips tightly together. Then it all disappeared as if his emotions had simply been shut down, like a blank mask falling into place. The man’s anger confused me. Why would it bother him if we were leaving? Our staying would be a drain on his supplies.
“Where are you headed?”
There wasn’t a chance in the fiery pits of hell that I was going to tell anyone here anything about our destination.
“East, far east.”
“Shy, Nan and Pop’s-“
“Noah,” I snapped, immediately feeling bad for the way I’d spoken to her, but I did not need her sharing out Nan and Pop’s address again.
“East, to Nan and Pop’s,” I reiterated, but this time I kept my pleading eyes on Noah, hoping she didn’t say anything else. Thankfully she kept quiet, but the anger behind her glasses told me I was going to cop attitude from her for the rest of the evening.
“How long do you intend on staying?” Dr. Dick asked, bringing my attention back to him.
Lawson held up two fingers.
“If we could stretch your hospitality to just a couple of days we would appreciate it. We’d also like to talk about trading for some supplies.”
Swallowing hard, the doctor nodded and turned to chat with his assistant, effectively ending the conversation. Arching a brow at Lawson, he merely gave me a subtle shake of his head. This was all, so freaking weird. Terrence sat at the opposite end of the table, looking solemn and despondent. When his sad eyes rose to meet mine, something akin to a spark lit up his features. He looked oddly hopeful and I wondered if perhaps he knew who I was. A fan, maybe? When his downtrodden frown turned into a megawatt smile, and he gave me a sure nod, my new zombie tingly senses had the hairs on the back of my neck standing tall. So weird. It was then I noticed there was no teenage girl sitting with him. He’d said his daughter, Olivia, was supposedly fifteen, but the children who currently sat at the table ranged from somewhere around four to ten. So where was Terrence’s straight A teenage daughter?
Whatever, if we were going to get anything from this bunch of crazy fuckers it was at the very least a descent hot meal. Nobody moved to touch their plate, and I’d politely waited for someone to make the first move. When no one did, I picked up my fork and stabbed a piece of chicken. Raising it to my mouth, I stilled when I realized everyone was staring at me.
“We say grace at this table,” Evelyn, murmured.
She’d already finished a full glass of wine and was on to her second. I guess if I was Dr. Dick’s assistant I’d drink myself into oblivion too. Evelyn took the doctor’s hand and everyone else took that of the person sitting either side of them. Well crap on a cracker. I really didn’t want to hold hands with a perfect stranger. I knew I’d washed my hands before we’d come to dinner, and I’d made Noah wash hers, but the snooty cow sitting beside me, looking straight down her very obvious nose job, who knows were her grubby fingers had been today. When she went to snatch my hand I pulled it away, earning me a thorough eye stabbing from the bitch. Noah huffed out a frustrated breath of air and without hesitation she reached across my body and took the woman’s bony fingers. I was blessedly excluded from the circle of prayer. As soon as ‘amen’ slipped off their lips, I grabbed my knife and fork and dug into the now cold roast meal. With the first bite I groaned, loudly. Damn if that weren’t the best chicken I’d ever tasted. I might have had a few stares, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t had a hot meal in over a week, this right here…it was worth the weirdness.
Track Eighteen: Pink, Get The Party Started
CHAPTER 18
We fell into somewhat of a routine over the next couple
of days. We even dressed up like snobby dillholes at dinner time. Mind you, the meals were fresh, hot, and delicious, so I probably would have sat there dressed as a motherfucking hot dog if we’d been asked to. Noah absolutely loved the floor length, fuchsia princess gown she’d been loaned. She hadn’t taken it off since she’d been given it. The funny thing was, everyone dressed so fancy around here nobody even looked twice when she wandered around the club dressed like a damned Disney princess. She’d also gone bare foot, allowing her blisters to dry out and harden. The blood Dr. Dick took from us proved to be infection free, so we were essentially now allowed full access to the club, but there were places we’d been told to stay away from. Like the stairwell that led to the underground wine cellar. Showing me a door and telling me not to step through it was like dangling a cigarette right before my face and telling me not to touch. I’d found myself drifting back to the mysterious door and staring at it, wondering what lay beyond. It was only a matter of time before I thought “fuck it” and looked. In the meantime, my nicotine addiction had yet again been fed after finding a packet of Marlboro’s in a drawer in the commercial kitchen. I’d been quick to take them as my own. I might have even danced a little when I drew back on the first filter.
Lawson had been rostered on to patrol the grounds from five until ten in the morning. Because he still didn’t want us separated that meant Noah and I were patrolling with him. Well, Lawson was the one doing all the watching and patrolling. Noah and I were sprawled like starfish on a putting green. Noah in her pink princess gown, me in a pair of hand washed denim cut offs and black tank top with “I’m in the band…who the fuck are you?” printed across the front, a skeleton hand flipping the bird. I’d received more than a few distasteful frowns as I stomped behind Lawson through the corridors of Silverleaf this morning. It made me smile to think I was ruffling a few feathers, these people were too freaking uptight. I couldn’t believe they’d managed to survive the initial outbreak.
Dr. Dick had pulled Lawson aside at dinner last night, apparently curious as to when we were leaving and what we were looking to trade. He was most unhappy to have me join the conversation, but without me it would be an entirely one-sided affair. Doc was willing to trade some of our cans of food for some dried and persevered meat. We also managed to acquire a couple more pairs of shorts for me, extra socks for Noah, some more matches, and sunscreen. We’d asked about the possibility of getting a vehicle, but the doctor of course shot that down real fast. As it turned out, Terrence liked to chat, a lot. While he was pretty tight lipped about the stupid wine cellar door, he was quite obliging when it came to information about the three vehicles they had stashed away, along with several drums full of gas. Dr. Dick tried to assure us only one of the vehicles ran and there was barely more than half a drum of gas. He was a terrible liar.
“I wish we could stay here,” Noah murmured.
“Screw that, there are too many people, and they’re all nut jobs. I can’t wait to get to Nan and Pop’s.”
“I like the people,” Noah countered.
“Only because they gave you a pretty dress.”
“And cheesecake.”
Rolling my eyes, I nodded. “And cheesecake.” That had been pretty awesome.
A sharp, piercing whistle caught my attention, and I lifted my head from the lawn. Lawson flicked his head to one side, indicating he wanted to talk to me.
“Keep up the grass angels, Boo. I’ll be right back.”
Climbing to my feet, I stomped over to Lawson, my boots unlaced as they flopped about on my feet. I kinda wanted to go bare foot like Noah, but I also didn’t want to leave my boots alone. There had been more than a few people seeming to take far too much interest in my clothing, including my favorite boots. Don’t get me wrong, I was positive they didn’t covet any of it. I wouldn’t put it past them to make it all disappear though. Tapping a cigarette out of my swiped pack, I lit up and approached Lawson with an easy smile.
“S’up soldier?” He tried to scowl at my nickname, but there was humor in his eyes each time I used it. He handed me a piece of paper with a note he’d already prepared.
We need to leave, I heard something last night, screaming. It sounded like an infected.
As if on cue my prickly new zombie senses tingled as I glanced around our surroundings, expecting a manic, rotting zombie to come charging at us any minute.
“Maybe one came close to the club, you should check with the night patrol and see if they saw anything.”
Shaking his head, he grabbed the paper from my hand and pulled the pen out of his pocket. Scribbling something across the bottom of the note, he handed it back to me.
It was coming from inside the building.
Fuck. Creepy much? “Okay, so let’s go.” I said, my cigarette hanging from the corner of my mouth as I spoke. There was no way I was going to argue. This place was freaky as hell, and we’d originally come here expecting to only stay a couple of days. Our time was up and I was keen to get moving again. Lawson seemed surprised at my easy acceptance and willingness to get gone. The thing was, I wanted to go, I wanted to get to Nan and Pops, like yesterday.
“We need a vehicle. How would you feel about a little auto theft?” I asked, wiggling my eye brows.
Lawson was trying hard not to smile. My compulsion to steal had been sated by sneaking the odd furnishing or ornament to our room. Stealing a car would certainly give me a fix that might last more than a few hours. With a nod he let me know he was fine with it.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?”
Flipping over to a fresh page in his book, he began to write while I watched our eerily quiet surroundings.
We bug out tomorrow night.
“Bug out?” I stopped reading and asked, “do soldiers actually say ‘bug out’?” Rolling his eyes with impatience, he pointed at the note.
“Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a twist.”
If we have to leave suddenly, I think we should head into Phoenix, I have a feeling they won’t follow us there.
“Phoenix?!” I spat out and Lawson shushed me. “Lawson, that’s a zombie mosh pit in there!”
We’ll be safe inside a car.
“What if we break down?”
Hearing my shriek, Noah sat up and watched us with a curious expression on her face.
Shaking his head, he tried to give me a placating look. Running a hand down the front of my face, I shook my head. His plan was dangerous, so many things could go wrong, but I had a feeling that any plan in this fucked up world would involve danger. If things went well, we’d end up with a car, supplies, and we’d be on our way to Nan and Pop’s. I didn’t even want to think of all the things that could go wrong.
“I said I’d follow your lead,” I mumbled, still hating his plan. “Whatever you think is best.”
Before I could turn to walk away, Lawson grabbed the silver tags hanging around my neck and gently used them to tug me forward. The action took me by surprise, and I watched his face carefully, wondering what was going through his head. His gaze wandered over my face, searching, determined, hopeful. He was so freaking handsome he made me giddy like a teenager. My stomach was awash with butterflies, my skin tingling. I was assaulted with feelings I hadn’t felt in so long they were foreign.
“We’ll be fine,” I murmured, and he nodded. “And you better be fine too. You’re like a weed, Law, you’ve grown on me.”
Lawson gave his customary silent chuckle and surprised the shit out of me when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to my forehead. It was nothing short of a promise, and I was going to hold him to it because this man was worming his way inside of me. He was becoming something and someone I cared for, another person to worry over, another soul to save. Dropping the I.D tags, he stepped out of my space, and I missed his presence immediately.
“Come on, Boo,” I said as I walked to stand over her. Stretching out a hand, she wrapper hers in mine and I pulled her to her feet. Still sta
ying on the bright green grass of the golf course, we shadowed Lawson across the perimeter he was guarding.
“So, we’re planning to leave tomorrow night.”
Noah gasped and stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes full of fear and disbelief.
“Why are we leaving? It’s nice here!”
“It might seem that way, but it’s not where we need to be. We were never going to stay here permanently, you know that.”
Wrapping her arms tightly across her chest, her lips pursed, her furious eyes glaring at me from through her glasses, she all but blew steam from her flared nostrils.
“Come on, Boo, please don’t give me a hard time about this. These people aren’t our family. I want to be with our family, people we can trust.”
With a long huff, Noah’s posture relaxed, and the stubborn set of her jaw fell away.
“Okay.” The word was mulishly drawn out, but I was still floored she had given up so easily.
“Okay, but you can’t say anything to anyone. We might need to sneak away if these people aren’t going to help us.”
“We can’t even say thank you?” She looked freaking outraged.
“How about if you leave them a thank you letter?” That seemed to pacify her. “But don’t you dare tell them where we’re going!” I added, pointing my finger in her chest.
Noah rolled her eyes like that was the most stupid thing she’d ever heard before nudging me aside and skipping over to Lawson. Watching her go, my serious frown turned upside down. Noah was dancing in circles around Lawson, showing him how her long dress flew up as she spun. She looked ridiculous, and happy, and I would do anything to keep that spirit intact.
Track Nineteen: Rolling Stones, Dance Little Sister
CHAPTER 19
My muscles burned, but damn did it feel good. My arms cut through the water and when I reached the end of the pool, I tumbled around and continued in the opposite direction. I’d lost count of my laps after thirty-two. I loved to swim, it was kinda my thing. Exercise had never been my forte, but swimming almost felt therapeutic. Once Lawson finished his shift, we grabbed a quick bite to eat in the kitchen before stepping out into the pool area to relax. I’d quickly stripped down to my underwear and dived in. Noah hated swimming, so she sat at an outdoor setting, listening to an iPod Lawson had dug out from the bottom of his pack. It had been flat, but here at Silverleaf we’d been able to charge it back up. Coming to a stop when I reached the opposite end of the pool, I allowed my arms to hang lazily over the edge as I struggled to catch my breath. The view overlooking the grounds was spectacular, but it didn’t feel like home. Nan and Pop’s was calling to me, the acres of freedom, the privacy, the familiarity. They didn’t have a pool, but they did have the San Antonio River, which I’d swum in as a little girl. I couldn’t wait to swing out off the rope we’d strung up to a wide tree hanging over the water almost twenty years ago.
Zombie Playlist: A Rock Zombie Romance Page 14