“We should find out.”
“I know, but that don’t mean I want to.”
“I can draw the blood today.”
Shit.
Axl kicked at a rock and let out a deep breath. “Fine.”
“Meet me at Mike’s?”
“Four,” Axl said, shaking his head as he headed down the street. “I’ll meet you at four.”
Axl tried to stop the question from popping into his head as he headed to work, but it was impossible.
Was Angus alive?
Just thinking about it made him want to hurl. Angus was his brother and for all the shit and rough patches they’d been through in their early years, he’d come around in the end. He’d been a changed man. Putting others first, helping out. It wasn’t something he did easily because it wasn’t how they’d been raised, but he’d been doing his best and he’d been taken from this world too early. Axl had always thought that. Before Angus had even had a chance to be rewarded for everything he’d done, he’d up and died and it hadn’t been fair. Life was hardly ever fair and Axl had always known that, but his brother had deserved more. He’d deserved the chance to be the man he should have been all along.
The workday dragged, probably because Axl was barely thinking about what he was doing. He’d promised the doc they’d meet at four, but the closer the time got, the more he started dreading it. This whole thing was bringing up too many questions and he wasn’t looking forward to trying to figure it all out. He just wanted life to be simple. He wanted to be able to settle down with Vivian and raise their kids, but he had a strong feeling that this whole thing was going to flip everything upside down all over again, and the knowledge made him sick.
He was headed to meet up with the doc when he spotted the lady on the corner. Ruth Ann was her name. Axl had seen her before—they’d had to chase her away from their apartment more than once—but it still got under his skin every time they crossed paths. She was a fanatic and out of her damn mind. Maybe she’d always been crazy or maybe she’d just gone nuts when her daughter almost died from a zombie bite—it wasn’t that far-fetched, Axl couldn’t imagine losing Megan. Either way, he didn’t care just as long as she stayed the hell away from him and his family.
Today the woman was standing on the corner holding a sign that said Angus James will return to save us all. Are you ready? Axl snorted and rolled his eyes, but what he really wanted to do was rip that sign out of her hands and break it in half.
“Repent!” she yelled so loudly that her voice shook. “The zombie virus was a punishment from God, and if we are to be free of the vermin that now plague our planet, we must repent and accept the help of God’s vessel. If we are diligent, Angus James will return to save us, this time destroying the zombies once and for all.”
Most people ignored her, but Axl knew The Church was growing. They’d set up in a building across town last year, but just last week he’d heard that they were petitioning the government for a larger one. From what people were saying, she had her sights set on an old church that had been sitting empty for the last two years.
Axl walked faster, hoping to get by without being noticed.
His luck had never been that good, though, and he hadn’t gotten far before she yelled, “You!”
He froze even though he knew he should run, and when he turned to face her, she was already heading his way. Her pale blue eyes were wild and crazy-looking, and she was flapping her arms to get people’s attention, but all it did was make her look like she was trying to fly away.
“Behold!” she yelled again, looking around to make sure she had everyone’s attention. “The brother of Angus James.”
She brought her arms around so she could motion toward Axl, and it made him think of all the times he’d passed that damn shrine and seen people kneeling in front of it. He had the sudden fear that this crazy woman was going to drop to her knees and start praying to him too, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen.
“The blood of our savior flows through this man, and if we have enough faith, he too will become immune.” She raised her arms above her head, motioning to the sky. “Then he will rise up and lead the charge in tearing down the walls of our oppressors, allowing the dead into our city so Angus can come again and save us all.”
“Holy fuck,” Axl muttered, backing away from her. “You’re outta your damn mind.”
Everybody on the street was watching him, staring like they were seriously considering what she’d just said. It didn’t make any sense. A person couldn’t be this screwed up in the head and still get people to follow them. Could they?
Of course, he knew they could. History told him that.
“Stay away from us, you hear me?” he said as he backed away faster. “I told you before and I mean it. Stay away from my family.”
Axl turned and took off, jogging down the street as her voice echoed after him. His heart was pounding, but even worse was the sinking in his gut. This was a new twist in The Church’s beliefs, and something he didn’t want getting spread all over the place. The last thing he wanted was to have a statue that was supposed to be him pop up in the city, but even worse was the thought that soon he and Vivian would have a baby and it would get dragged into this insanity too.
He’d calmed down a little by the time he reached the apartment, but the climb up the stairs helped even more. Instead of stopping at the third floor, he went up one more flight and headed to Mike’s place where he knew the doc would already be waiting for him.
“You get chased by zombies on your way here?” Mike asked when he opened the door.
Axl snorted as he stepped into the apartment. “Zombies woulda been better than that crazy woman from The Church.”
Mike made a sound that came from deep inside him, but Axl couldn’t tell if it was a grunt or a laugh. “Saw her earlier today myself. That woman needs some anti-psychotic drugs and fast.”
“No shit,” Axl said, dropping onto the couch.
“Got in a shipment of Skoal,” Mike called on his way to the kitchen.
“Shit.” Axl shook his head and grinned. “Angus loved that stuff.”
It had been a habit that Axl had hated at the time, his brother always carrying an empty can around so he could spit into it, but he felt different thinking about it now. It didn’t really make sense because no matter how he looked at it, the bulge in his brother’s lower lip had been disgusting, but somehow it had turned into a good memory over the years.
“I remember,” Joshua was smiling too when he came out of the kitchen. “He’d drag us into gas stations and stores in the middle of nowhere looking for the stuff.”
He took a seat and set a black bag on the table. When he unzipped it, Axl’s stomach dropped because he knew what was coming. A blood test. The one good thing that crazy woman on the street had done was distract him from the uneasiness that had been following him all day. Now, though, as Joshua pulled out a couple syringes and an alcohol pad, all the doubts and fears came rushing back.
“A bad habit don’t go away just ‘cause the world ended,” Axl replied, trying to focus on the memory of his brother and not the dread that was threatening to consume him.
“No, I guess not,” Joshua replied.
The doc went quiet as he ran the alcohol pad over the inside of Axl’s arm, right at the crook of his elbow. He looked away when Joshua reached for the needle. Not because he was scared of it, though. No, it was more like he didn’t want to think about what this test could mean for them.
The prick of the needle was fast, and then the tourniquet was loosened and blood spilled into the vial. Axl watched it fill, his mind going back to all the blood they’d seen before coming here. Sometimes he had to think back to how things were before they got here so he could remember why they put up with all the shit going on around them. Sometimes the memories of those weeks and months on the road were the only things keeping him from packing their shit up and leaving. Whether or not he was immune and whether or not Angus was still alive, there wer
e things about this place that he didn’t like, things that made him nervous for the future and his family, but even he had to admit it was better than being out there. Better than running and hiding and searching for safety even though you were pretty sure such a thing didn’t exist.
“You really think we outta go back?” Axl asked Joshua as the other man slid the needle out of his vein. “To Colorado, I mean.”
“Maybe. If not there we could go somewhere else. Somewhere closer. An unsanctioned town, maybe. It’s something to think about, that’s for sure.” The doc handed him a cotton ball, frowning. “It might take a few days to get the results,” he said as he got up. “I have to be careful about this.”
“Yeah.” Axl stood too, pressing the little piece of cotton against the crook of his elbow. “Take your time.”
He wasn’t in a hurry to find out the answer, but he didn’t know what that said about him. Did he think he could really be immune to this thing? It had never occurred to him before, but that didn’t mean anything and Axl knew it.
“You ready for this?” Mike called from the kitchen.
Joshua rolled his eyes but headed over anyway, and Axl followed. They rounded the corner to find Mike grinning and holding up a bottle of Woodford.
“Got this today, too. I considered selling it—it would bring in a lot of credits—but I decided to be selfish. Who knows if I’ll ever get another one.” His smile faltered as he filled three glasses.
When Mike handed him the glass, Axl took it without hesitating. He’d never been much of a drinker—an alcoholic mother will do that to a person—but at that moment he needed a drink to settle his nerves. He didn’t want Vivian to know a thing about the blood test, at least not until he had the results, and unless he was able to get his body to relax a little, he was pretty sure she’d be able to see it written plainly on his face the second he set foot through the front door.
“To—” Mike hesitated with his glass held in the air. “Shit. I don’t have a fucking thing to toast to.”
“Just means you need more than one drink,” Axl said.
He clinked his glass against the other man’s, then Joshua’s, and then threw the liquid back.
Axl only had to live in suspense for three days. It wasn’t long enough, though, and when Joshua came to see him at work in the middle of the day, he knew what the results were before the doctor had said a word.
“We need to talk.” Joshua looked around like he was afraid everybody on the construction crew was listening in. “Now.”
“Shit,” Axl muttered, pulling his safety goggles off. “Not really sure I want to, but okay.” He tossed the goggles aside as he looked around. When he spotted the foreman, he yelled, “I’m takin’ a break.”
The other man barely took his eyes off his work as he nodded.
Jim looked up as they passed, but he didn’t follow. Axl was relieved. The fewer people who knew about this thing the better off they were.
“They sure are throwing these apartments together,” Joshua said as they headed out, careful to step over the lumber and other supplies laying everywhere.
“Gotta. People are campin’ on the streets ‘cause they got no place to sleep.” Axl snorted. “Which is dumb as shit ‘cause there are plenty of buildings the government is usin’ for other stuff. And what the hell do we need with all them bars?”
“It keeps people sane.” Joshua looked his way as he shoved the front door open. “People need a way to blow off steam.”
“People need a distraction from what’s really goin’ on is more like it,” Axl muttered as they stepped outside.
The sun was bright and warm and beating down on their heads like it was trying to burn them alive. It was only May, meaning they had the whole damn summer to get through still, and Axl wasn’t looking forward to it. It was too hot here for his taste. It made him miss all the snowy days in Colorado more than ever.
“How’s Vivian feeling?” Joshua asked when they stopped on the sidewalk.
Axl pulled a cigarette out, a habit he’d picked up from Jim, and lit it. “Better now that she’s done with the first trimester. Far as she’s concerned, though, November can’t get here soon enough.”
He inhaled, sucking the smoke into his lungs while he waited for the doctor to get to the point. He’d been hoping the cigarette would calm his nerves, but it wasn’t working like he’d wanted. His hand shook when he put the thing to his lips a second time, and even though he didn’t want to, he looked up to meet Joshua’s gaze.
“You’re immune.”
It shouldn’t have felt like a bomb, not when he’d known already, but it did. And not just any bomb. It felt like an atomic bomb. Like the one they’d dropped on Japan back during WWII. It made Axl’s stomach jump to his throat, forcing the smoke he’d just inhaled up into his nostrils. He coughed, and once he got started he couldn’t stop and neither would his stomach. It crawled its way through his body, clawing at his insides, and before he knew it he was puking his guts out. Right there on the sidewalk.
“Take it easy,” Joshua said from behind him.
He patted Axl’s back awkwardly, making him think of Megan and how he’d pat her back when he was trying to get her to go to sleep at night. Then he was thinking about the baby and what this would mean for it. Would it be immune too? Would it be safe staying here?
“Shit.” Axl wrapped his arms around his stomach and leaned against the wall.
“I know.”
The doc didn’t say anything else and Axl’s eyes were closed so he couldn’t even come close to figuring out what the other man was thinking. He just knew that he was thinking about all the ways this could have been different. They could have stayed in Colorado. Could have run somewhere else when they’d found out Angus was immune. If they’d done that he’d still be alive, and probably Hadley and Jon too.
“We shoulda never left Colorado,” Axl said.
“I’ve been thinking about that, about what you said the other night, I mean. We could go back you know.” Axl cracked one eye to see if he was joking, but Joshua looked dead serious. “Why not?”
“It’s a long fuckin’ way, that’s why.” Axl realized his cigarette was still between his fingers and tossed it aside. It landed in the pile of puke and his stomach rolled. “It took a lot out of us gettin’ here and we lost people. And that was before. Now Vivian is pregnant.”
“Ginny was pregnant when we left Colorado.”
Axl frowned up at him. “That turned out real good, too, didn’t it?”
“No.”
Joshua shook his head and Axl felt like an asshole, knowing the doctor blamed himself for all that had happened. It wasn’t his fault, though. They’d been on the road trying to get here and Ginny had been a month early when she’d gone into labor. Joshua had done everything he could, but he was just one man and without a hospital his hands had been tied. She’d died of complications only a day after giving birth, leaving Megan behind for them to take care of.
“You did the best you could,” Axl said.
The doctor just shrugged.
“Anyways, we got kids in the group now. And things are bad out there. I know that most of what they print in the National Newspaper is a lot of bullshit, but the stories come from someplace, and I wouldn’t doubt that the raidin’ has gotten bad. We don’t got the numbers to deal with zombies and raiders, not with three babies in tow.”
He didn’t even want to mention the fact that there was no way in hell the CDC would let him leave. If they knew he was immune, which there was no reason to think they didn’t, he wouldn’t be allowed to just walk out the front gate. No, they’d think of a reason to keep him here or go after him, and then who knew what the hell would happen.
“You’re right.” Joshua exhaled, but then turned his gaze on Axl. “But this? What the hell does this mean? You’re immune and the CDC knows it. So why lie? What are they doing in there that they decided to keep something this huge from you? And don’t even get me started on the rum
ors about Angus.”
Angus, shit. Axl had been so focused on what this whole immunity thing meant for his family that he hadn’t even thought about his brother. Was this proof that Angus was alive? Wouldn’t they need Axl if his brother was dead?
But he had to be dead, Axl had seen his brother with his own two eyes and he could remember exactly what he’d looked like. All hooked up to machines. Pale. Brain dead. He’d sustained too many injuries on their way in, putting himself between them and the horde of zombies because he’d known that he would be able to survive the bites. But he’d lost too much blood and they hadn’t been able to save him. That’s what they’d said…
Now, though, Axl found himself doubting everything he’d been told since walking through that gate.
As much as he tried to force things to go back to the way they were before he learned he was immune, Axl found it impossible. He found himself constantly looking over his shoulder when he was out on the streets of Atlanta, certain that he was about to be dragged to the CDC. He dreamt about Angus being locked away, about his baby, who hadn’t even been born yet, being taken from them at birth. Sleep, which had never been an easy thing to accomplish, became nearly impossible, and he found his fingers itching to feel the cold steel of a gun once again.
He had one, which he’d gotten on the black market, but carrying it around was illegal and the last thing he wanted to do was get the CDC angry at him. Which was why he found himself seriously considering a change in careers. Parvarti, who had recently been promoted to Judicial Officer, had been bugging him to come work for them since the day they’d arrived in the city. For the past two years he’d brushed her off every time she brought it up, but now, faced with the knowledge that he’d be permitted to carry a gun with him if he made the switch, he found himself actually considering it.
“The government is going to be doing some restructuring,” Parvarti said later that night at their weekly Friday night dinner.
Everyone was crowded into his and Vivian’s apartment, the group feeling much too big for the tiny space now that they had toddlers, and Parvarti had once again brought up the idea of Axl coming to work the wall.
Twisted World Series Box Set | Books 1-3 & Novella Page 57
