Love and Decay, Volume One

by Rachel Higginson

  But Hendrix was smarter than me. He didn’t care about revenge; he cared about getting us the hell out of here.

  He grabbed one of the guys that held the line by the back of his neck and threw him to the ground. Then he grabbed the next guy by the collar of his shirt and shoved him down too. Hendrix didn’t try to incapacitate them or even really hurt them; he just wanted them out of the way.

  He opened the floodgates of Feeders, creating a hole for them to rush through.

  With an opening that big, Feeders started to obliterate the men on the ground. The line had weakened and the Zombies used that to their full advantage.

  Diego’s face flashed white for a second before he moved into action. Not concerned with the Zombies racing to get to him, he lunged for me and managed to grab my arm again before I could jump out of the way.

  Besides, there was no place to escape now.

  The men that had been protecting us fell into a chaotic scramble to push back the frenzied Feeders. I was smashed among too many people.

  Diego’s grasp of my arm continued, but he had nowhere to go either. Hendrix fought off a throng of creatures from ten feet away with nothing but a machete he’d stolen from one of the guys he had pushed down.

  We needed to get out of here and fast.

  I dropped to the ground, taking all of my body with me. Diego kept his painful grip but I crawled forward, through the legs of two men pushed back to back. Diego shouted instructions in Spanish, but the pandemonium was too loud and too insane for anyone to pay attention.

  I ripped free of Diego and continued to crawl through the wet dirt. I willed myself to ignore the blood and mud caked on my fingers and knees; I couldn’t think about that now.

  Occasionally assailants made weak attempts at stopping me, but their other battle was too big to worry about something that wasn’t currently trying to eat their faces.

  Big hands pulled me to my feet, but this time I didn’t panic. I knew this grip. These hands were familiar.

  Hendrix and I were reunited.

  “Ready to go?” I asked casually.

  He gave me a look that probably should have made me afraid.

  He grabbed my hand and started pulling me through the crowd. “You’re trying to kill me! Aren’t you?”

  “Not intentionally!” I shouted at the back of his head.

  We were almost to the edge of town when I was jerked to a stop, halting Hendrix with me. One of Diego’s men caught up to us and grabbed the back of my shirt.

  I looked back at the man as disappointment and frustration washed over me from head to toe.

  No.

  No!

  Those feelings only lasted a moment though. A Zombie flew at my captor and tackled him. He let go of my shirt when hit with the impact. The Feeder sunk his teeth into him before they even hit the ground.

  I didn’t have time to catch my breath. Suddenly Hendrix and I were surrounded by the ghastly creatures.

  All of them were men in varying states of decay. Their bloodied skin hung from their exposed bones. Their mouths dripped with the blackish puss I was used to and their eyes gleamed crimson.

  They made a slow circle around us, watching us with expressions that seemed impossibly aware.

  Hendrix waved his machete around but hadn’t attacked them yet. What was the point? There were too many of them.

  We were already dead.

  My heart stopped beating in my chest completely. I prayed desperately that they would kill me. I couldn’t stand the idea of becoming one of them, of eating human flesh and losing my mind to an incurable, grotesque disease.

  Everything faded away as the Zombies circled us. I couldn’t hear anything but their heavy breathing. I couldn’t feel anything but Hendrix’s hand pressed against mine. I couldn’t think about anything else other than this moment.

  And what was about to happen.

  My life did not pass before my eyes. My thoughts did not find absolute clarity. There was no light at the end of this tunnel.

  There was only complete and utter fear. There was only relief.

  I could finally stop fighting this unwinnable battle.

  I felt its mouth on my back. I felt it start at the middle of my spine and move upwards. Its disgusting, wet mouth slavered on my neck and inhaled deeply. I felt its chest rise as it pushed against me, its quick intakes and outtakes of breath deciding something important.

  Something lifesaving.

  Another Feeder repeated the same movement to Hendrix. His hand that held the machete twitched.

  This was it. This was when the bloodshed would start. My bloodshed.

  The Feeder got to Hendrix’s neck and sniffed deeply.

  Then at once, they stepped back. All of them. In unison. Like a synchronized dance movement.

  I shared a wide-eyed look with Hendrix. He spun around, with machete raised, but they were already gone.

  They’d jumped back into the chaos and chased after other prey. Apparently we didn’t smell right? Could that be?

  “What the hell?” I gaped.

  “Let’s figure it out later.”

  “Good plan.”

  We took off again. His hand had never let go of mine and I relished the warmth, the comfort. I needed this more than I needed my next breath.

  Just as we rounded a corner, I assumed the same corner Vaughan had taken earlier, I heard Diego’s enraged cry as it rent the air.

  “Reagan!” he screamed. “I will find you!”

  “Oh, god,” I shuddered. “That’s a little too familiar.”

  Hendrix looked back over his shoulder at me. “You’re not planning on falling in love with him are you?”

  I stuck my tongue out at him. That seemed like the most appropriate response.

  A minute later we finally caught up with Vaughan and the others. We jumped onto the back of an open bedded truck that had wood panels for sides and no back gate. Vaughan already had the car running, so as soon as Hendrix and I were laid flat in the back, he punched the gas and we took off, straight through the Mexican desert.

  Eventually, after a dangerously bumpy ride, we found the highway again. Not that it was much better.

  Vaughan flipped on the headlights and we ripped through the early night, racing as fast as we could from yet another scary, near death experience.

  Eventually, the road evened out so that Hendrix and I felt safe enough to crawl from lying flat to sitting against one of the rickety sides.

  He never let go of my hand.

  I sat sandwiched between Hendrix and Adela. She stared openly at me. I bet I looked absolutely horrifying.

  And smelled even better.

  “No bites!” I shouted at her over the whipping wind. I held up my free hand and waved at her.

  She didn’t seem to comprehend.

  When she didn’t stop staring at me, I tried a different approach, “Diego… uh, no bueno!” My limited Spanish was going to become a serious problem.

  I could already tell.

  This made her crack a small smile. She nodded slowly. “No bueno.”

  “You’re safe now!” I shouted at her. “We’ll keep you safe!”

  She just kept looking at me.

  I finally turned around and decided to ignore her. Sure, it was a little unnerving the disbelief that painted her expression like it was impossible I had survived.

  Actually, it kind of screwed with my confidence.

  Was there an actual possibility that I might not have survived?

  I shook that crazy thought from my head. No way.

  “She doesn’t know that you’re invincible yet!” Tyler shouted from across the truck bed. Her entire body bounced and vibrated as Vaughan pushed this downgrade of a getaway vehicle to its limits. I would have laughed, except I knew I looked just as ridiculous.

  Only covered in dirt and blood.

  “That was a close one!” I hollered back.

  Tyler grinned at me. “Is there any other kind?”

  I threw my
head back and let the release of adrenaline fuel a slightly-crazed laugh. No, there wasn’t any other kind.

  And they were only getting closer.

  I leaned over to count my friends in the truck cab. Haley sat up there, wrapped in Nelson’s arms. Page’s shorter head bounced between Haley and Vaughan who drove. The rest of us crammed back here without any supplies, any change of clothes or food or medicine or anything useful. Our only weapon was the machete that Hendrix held tightly with his other hand.

  That was it.

  This was all we had.

  There was a large metal toolbox strapped to the corner of the bed and I prayed it had something in it. Guns, fuel, soap… something. Other than that, we escaped with the clothes on our back and the shoes on our feet.

  But we were alive.

  And that was all I could bring myself to care about.

  Hendrix let go of my hand to put his arm around my shoulders and pull me to him. I snuggled into the warmth of his body, careful of pushing against his ribs and chose to ignore the warnings of my heart.

  This was a dangerous place for me.

  Maybe even more dangerous than Diego. Or Matthias. Or a horde of Feeders.

  This was a place that felt like home, but shouldn’t. My familiar place that would rip me open and tear out my heart.

  But I couldn’t bring myself to pull away.

  “We made it another day,” he said with his lips to my temple.

  “Why did you come back for me? You could have died, Hendrix. He could have killed you.”

  He squeezed me against him until it was almost painful. I loved it.

  “I will always come back for you, Reagan. Nothing will stop me from getting to you.”

  I fell silent then and closed my eyes against the torrent of emotion that his words brought. Happiness. Peace. Fear. Anxiety. Doubt. Disbelief. Desire. Hope.

  I wanted his words to mean so much more, but I was too afraid to ask. And so I leaned against him and let his warmth envelop me. I let him cover me completely with his presence and savored these moments deeply.

  We had all survived another night. We made it another day.

  Who knew where we went from here. But all that mattered was that we kept conquering the day. Day after day after day.

  We kept making it.

  We kept surviving.

  The rest would fall into place as we went.

  Episode Three

  Chapter One

  1068 Days after initial infection

  What do you do when you’re stuck in the desert without food, water, clean clothes or weapons?

  The answer is easy.

  Die.

  At this point, we had all started questioning our hasty escape from Diego’s village. Things were bleak.

  We drove through the night as soon as we had escaped the village. Vaughan had not slowed for anything. Well, until he ran out of gas.

  It was near dawn when the truck finally puttered to a stop. We opened the toolbox to find it empty. There was no extra fuel or food or clothes or any supplies of any kind.

  We were screwed.

  Vaughan had rallied us and used the sun in the sky to lead us south. By foot.

  The morning had grown unbearably hot. The warmth thickened the air and landed heavily in my lungs. My arms drooped at my sides as the savage heat pressed down on me, bending me toward the ground as if in worship of its great and unparalleled power.

  My throat screamed in agony. My tongue swelled in my mouth. All I could do was think about water and how thirsty I was. I tried to focus on the direction we headed or my friends or the horrors we had just escaped from, but the only thought that circled through my head was of something to drink.

  I felt insane.

  Water. Water. Water. Water. I’m so thirsty. Water. Water. Water. Water. I’m so thirsty.

  Haley asked me a question, but all I could do was grunt. My steps stumbled and my vision drowsed from thirst.

  It had only been twenty-four hours since I’d had a real drink of water, but sweat dripped from my temple and pooled on my lower back. I told myself that as long as I could sweat, it wasn’t so bad.

  Not yet.

  But it would be soon.

  I looked to my pregnant friend and noticed that her forehead was dry. Shit.

  The Mexican desert was difficult to walk through with tired feet. It was rocky as all hell and not flat. Before we were stranded in the middle of it or before I had to imagine my life racing through any kind of desert while men hunted me, I imagined the desert to be a flat place. I pictured miles and miles of endless sand that stretched out like a beach without water.

  I learned through the course of the last day that my high school geography teacher had failed me. Mr. Ruttland, you are a liar.

  “Who’s Mr. Ruttland?” Hendrix asked.

  “Huh?”

  “You’re mumbling,” he informed me.

  “Oh. He was my geography teacher in high school. He did a piss poor job explaining this place.”

  Hendrix looked at me, really looked at me. “You going to make it, Willow?”

  I shook my head, “I’m really thirsty.”

  “You’re not the only one.” I followed his gaze back to Haley and Nelson. In front of them, Page and Adela dragged their feet as well.

  “What are we going to do?” I whispered just loud enough for him to hear my voice over the crunching rocks and dirt beneath my sluggish feet.

  “Survive, Reagan. That’s the only thing to do.”

  Yeah, but how?

  I made sure not to mumble that last part. I didn’t want to discourage the man if he had hope.

  Hendrix put his hand on my forearm and held me back while the group trudged by us. I raised my eyebrows at him and waited patiently for an explanation.

  I highly doubted he wanted to sneak off for a few minutes and make out. But I won’t lie… it did cross my mind, until I tried to move my tongue around in my mouth. Yeah… I wouldn’t be using that for anything fun for a while.

  Unless something needed sanding. I was pretty sure my tongue could double as a sturdy piece of sandpaper.

  TMI?

  “What do you think of Adela?” he asked in a low voice.

  “I have no idea,” I whispered back, forcing the words to come out clear enough so he could understand them. “The old woman seemed pretty anxious to let her escape.”

  “Is that enough to trust her?”

  I looked up into his bright blue eyes and knew he could read the helplessness all over my face. “Hendrix, I have no idea. None. But what are we going to do? Run away from her? Leave her here? Kill her? There aren’t many options right now.”

  He nodded thoughtfully, “You’re right. And there isn’t really a way for her to lead Diego back to us.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Help me keep an eye on her?”

  “What about your brothers? “

  “Sure, they’ll be watching too. But you’re a girl. You’ve got that touch or whatever. People always end up trusting you. Just do your thing.”

  “My thing?”

  “You know, whatever it is you do to get people to like you.”

  I snorted a laugh, “I thought I did the opposite. I’m pretty confident I’ve made more enemies in the last three years than anyone else still alive.”

  “Maybe,” he conceded. “But only because you also get a lot of people to like you. Like Tyler. And she doesn’t like anybody. I don’t even think she likes Vaughan.”

  “She loves Vaughan,” I whispered, afraid she would hear me.

  “Yeah, sure, she loves him. That doesn’t mean she likes him.”

  He had a point. “Does that bother you? For Vaughan’s sake?”

  Hendrix shot me a mischievous grin, “Are you kidding? It’s good for him.” I rolled my eyes dramatically, but his focus was on the ground so he didn’t trip over the uneven terrain. “Plus, you don’t hear Vaughan complaining.”

  “Why is that?”

  “P
erks of dating a tempestuous woman. They are usually passionate about… everything.”

  I felt my cracked, dried lips turn up in a smile, “Boys only ever think about one thing. We’re dying, in the middle of a desert and sex is still on your mind.”

  He gave me a shameless grin, “Well, something has to motivate me to keep living.”

  “If only it were that easy for the rest of us.”

  He leaned in until his lips brushed against my earlobe, “I could help you focus.”

  I tripped over a rock, but Hendrix was there to catch me. His hands flashed to my waist to steady me. I felt the heat of his fingers press through my thin t-shirt and melt into me.

  This was such a different kind of warmth than the beating sun. This searing, heady mix of repressed desire and familiar feelings started low in my belly and burned through my body slowly.

  I forgot about my thirst, my exhaustion and the rank smell wafting off me. I forgot my own name. I hadn’t been touched like this in so very long.

  Hendrix’s affection was like nourishment after months of the desert. He was sweet water to my parched, shriveled heart.

  His hands could feed me. Rescue me.

  Save me.

  I looked up at him, watching the same feeling reflect in his hooded gaze. There were words on the tip of my tongue, hiding behind the heavy breath I needed to take first.

  “Hendrix-”

  “Run!” Adela screamed. “Rapido! Rapido!”

  I looked over my shoulder and immediately saw the reason she panicked. Zombies.

  Was there ever another reason to panic?

  Matthias. Diego. Bounty hunters. Cartel… Okay, there was more than one reason to panic. But this ranked up there with the rest of them.

  Hendrix grabbed my hand and we took off after the group. We were quite a bit behind the others and the safety of the group seemed forever away.

  My feet pounded against the dirt and rock, uncaring of where they fell. My ankles twisted several times when I landed on a lumpy piece of desert grass or in a hole, but Hendrix kept my hand in his and pulled me along uncaring of my discomfort.

  My heart pounded in my chest and thumped in my ears. My breathing seemed to shout through the air as I panted desperately. The heat swarmed my senses and my exhaustion warred with my adrenaline. I had felt despair before, but never like this.