Plague of the Dead (Book 2): Plague of the Desert

by Rayfield, Alli

  I got my key out of my pocket and made my way to the trunk of the car. Ian and I kept a first aid kits in all the vehicles we used. They were all first aid kits we were able to get from sporting goods stores with some additional items added. I put in needles and thread in all of them for cases like this when stitches might be necessary. So far there hadn’t been any but I was glad I had thought of it before.

  I turned the key and popped open the truck. I was over whelmed by a smell that I hadn’t noticed when riding in the car. Though the smell of rotting corpses hangs in the air all the time so of course I wouldn’t have really thought much of smelling it while riding down the road. But Milo hadn’t paid attention to it either or I just didn’t notice if he did.

  There was a dead possum in the back of the trunk. That was what had attracted all the zombies. I was grossed out but I picked up the possum and threw it as far as I could. It landed a good fifteen feet from where I stood.

  I didn’t understand how it had gotten in the trunk. I decided to ask Ian about it later. I got the first aid kit from the back of the trunk. When I turned around there was a zombie right behind me. I wasn’t sure where he had come from because I didn’t see him when I threw the possum.

  It lounged for my throat. I managed to move out of the way. This zombie was quick and chumped its teeth at my throat again. I tried to move again but lost my balance and fell on the road hard.

  The first aid kit flew out of my hand as the left side of my body erupted in pain from my thigh all the way up my side.

  I didn’t have time to swear before the zombie was on top of me. I managed to get my right forearm under its neck to prevent it from getting any flesh with it chumping teeth. Its breath stunk really badly and between the pain on my left side and the smell, I was having a hard time not passing out.

  I was trying to get my knife but couldn’t reach it. I had to think fast. I looked at how close the zombie’s head was to the back corner of the car. We were practically under the vehicle. I took a chance and grabbed the side of the zombie’s head. I pushed him violently into the corner of the car. The first blow didn’t stop it in its tracks but I knew it would work. So I hit the zombie into the corner of the car several more times, getting dark blood and decayed brain matter all over my face, neck, and clothes. The zombie stopped moving. I pushed it off of me.

  I was in so much pain. I took a deep breath and crawled over to the first aid kit. It was lying under the driver side of the car.

  After I got the first aid kit, I used the car to help get myself back to my feet. The blow I took was bad. I didn’t take the time to look at the damage. It hurt to walk and I was limping. I managed to make my way to the back entrance without getting attacked again which was lucky because I don’t think in my condition, I’d be able to fight another zombie off.

  It hurt to make my way up the stairs. My body was in agony every time I made to lift my left leg for the next step. Milo heard me and came a fourth of the way down the stairs to meet me. His tail was wagging.

  “Hey, boy,” I said weakly.

  “What the hell happened?” Ian asked.

  He was down the stairs to meet me before I could reply. He helped me up the stairs. He wiped my face with his sleeve. I forgot I had zombie blood on my face.

  “I took a nasty fall fighting a zombie,” I said.

  When we got to the top I rested against the side wall.

  “You okay?” He asked.

  I nodded, “I’m going to have to take a break from runs after this but other than that I’m okay.”

  “You sure?” He asked.

  “No, but I’ll fake it,” I replied. “Did you put a possum in the trunk and forget about getting it out?”

  “What? A possum? No. Why?”

  “There were zombies all over the car when I got out there and when I went to get the first aid kit, there was a dead possum in the trunk. Which is weird, Milo didn’t even smell it.”

  “Well, Milo was licking the back seats.”

  I shook my head, “He always licks the backseats.”

  “Only in the Nissan,” Ian stated.

  I looked at him and it clicked. I never thought about it before that it was a habit that was particular to one car.

  I sighed, “Can’t try to piece that puzzle together right now. Need to stitch up Natalie.”

  Ian helped me over to the break area.

  “Oh my God,” She said when she saw me. “This is my fault.”

  “Really? You became one of the dead and tried to attack me?” I asked.

  She looked confused for a second and then gave a weak smile before frowning. “No, but you’re trying to help me. That’s a mistake,” she said.

  I sat down next to her, “Not a mistake. This would’ve happened anyway cause of that clumsy fool,” I said pointing to Ian. “And it’s not your fault. I want to help you. Now give me your hand.”

  She hesitated a second then put her hand on the table in front of me. I opened the first aid kit and got out the antibiotic wipes to clean her wound to see how deep it was and to find out if stitches were necessary or if she could get away with some butterfly bandages.

  Ian pulled up a chair and sat down at the table. Milo laid down at my feet.

  “You did this trying to get food out of the vending machine?” I asked Natalie.

  She nodded, “Yes. I kept on trying after the initial cut. I was so hungry.”

  “You really don’t remember the last time you ate?” I asked.

  She shrugged, “I had a box of crackers. I ran out a couple days ago.”

  After cleaning her wound, I saw that it wasn’t very deep at all.

  “It looks like you don’t need stitches. It’s not terribly deep,” I stated.

  “Why does it keep bleeding?” She asked looking scared.

  “It’s in an awkward place on your hand and there’s nothing covering the wound. You probably keep opening it on accident. We’ll put some butterfly bandages on it and cover that with a few band-aids and it should heal fine.”

  I opened the butterfly bandages and began to cover the wounds on her hand. She sat quietly as I went about taking care of her wounds. Ian was cleaning his own cut. He didn’t need stitches either. In fact his wasn’t deep at all. It looked like I was the one who was injured the worst of all with my fall.

  I was about done when Natalie asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m on my own?”

  “There’s a desert filled with dead humans trying to eat our flesh. Not very hard to figure out. Besides, I figure you will tell us your story when you’re ready.”

  “Are you going to take me with you?” She asked.

  I looked at Ian. I knew what he was thinking. Aaron and Laura didn’t want any more new tenants. They didn’t want any more mouths to feed. I felt this was different though. She was just a kid.

  “Yes, we’re going to take you with us.”

  She smiled a little bit and pulled her hand close to her chest.

  “Cate, can I talk to you for a second?” Ian asked.

  I nodded and followed him down the hall past the bathrooms.

  “What?” I asked when we were out of earshot.

  “We can’t go back,” he said.

  “We have too,” I said.

  He shook his head. “This is going to go over like a lead balloon. Aaron and Laura won’t like it. They won’t let her stay.”

  “She’s kid; they’ve got to be understanding on this.”

  Ian sighed, “I just don’t think we should go back.”

  I felt the pain shoot up my side and it was so painful I had to lean against the wall. I closed my eyes and breathed in deep.

  “You okay?” He asked.

  I nodded, “Ian, I would agree with you if I wasn’t useless right now. You can’t take care of me and her. You need help and I need to heal. We have to go back. I’m no good to you in this condition.”

  “How hard did you fall?” He asked looking concerned.

  “It was bad,�
�� I answered.

  I finally looked down to excess the extent of the damage. My left hand was scratched up and a bit bloody. My arm was scraped and my jeans were torn. I was going to be badly bruised and it was going to hurt like hell to walk probably for the next week.

  “I’ll be alright though,” I finished.

  He nodded. “Okay. We’ll go back.”

  He and I walked back to the break room.

  Natalie was on the floor petting Milo.

  “We should get going,” I said. “Before we lose daylight.”

  “Yeah, we’re barely going to make it back before dark,” Ian agreed.

  Natalie stood up. I handed her one of my knifes. She didn’t take it, she reached into the back of her pants and pulled out a rather large switch blade with a blue handle in the shape of a bat and Batman printed on it.

  “Where’d you get that?” I asked.

  “Down stairs. It was the coolest thing I found that I thought might be useful. The Harry Potter cookie jar I found however probably wouldn’t be useful just extra weight.”

  I nodded, “Well, I take it you know some what of what you’re doing since you’ve survived this long.”

  She shrugged, “I’ve been really lucky and I used to run track.”

  Ian and I laughed.

  I grabbed the bag of food and drinks putting the first aid kit inside.

  Ian lead the way downstairs and outside. There was a zombie at the back door when we went outside. Ian took care of it without any trouble.

  We headed to the car without incident. The only zombies that were near the car were the ones I killed.

  “Damn,” Natalie said. “You did that by yourself.”

  “Yep,” I said opening the back door. “And I paid for it.” I said pointing to my left side.

  Milo jumped in the backseat. Natalie was going to go in after him but before she did she looked at me and said “Still pretty badass though.”

  She got in the car and I closed the door behind her.

  I made to get in the front seat.

  “What’s that smile?” Ian asked.

  “I’m a badass,” I answered.

  He laughed, “Don’t let it go to your head there champ.”

  “Too late.”

  We both got in the car. Ian started the engine and we were off. We didn’t have time to look at the other places around which bothered me since I knew our score wasn’t going to be enough. Aaron and Laura would just have to get over it and learn to be reasonable for once.

  Natalie fell asleep in the backseat within fifteen minutes of us driving. Milo had his head in her lap.

  “What do you think her story is?” Ian asked.

  “I can guess and it’s not good,” I answered.

  “How long do you think she’s been on her own?” He asked.

  I sighed, “Hard to say. She ran out of food only the other day but that doesn’t really say much. But she was scared of us when we first came across her, makes you wonder if the people who were alive that she met were worse than the dead.”

  Ian nodded, “Poor kid.”

  Chapter 4

  The sun was beginning to go down when Ian drove through the gates. Jerry came to greet us and saw Natalie asleep in the backseat. His face went pale.

  “That’s not going to go over well,” He said shaking his head. “You both know that full well.”

  “We didn’t really have a choice,” I said. “She’s a kid. We couldn’t leave her.”

  Jerry’s face was grim, “I know but those two…they’re not reasonable.”

  “They’re going to have to get reasonable real fast,” Ian said.

  Jerry said nothing else and waved us through. We didn’t drive around the complex this time. Ian pulled in an empty spot near the office. He rolled down the windows before shutting of the engine. We left Natalie and Milo asleep. It was very nice out so the car wouldn’t be too hot for them.

  I got the bag of food and drinks out of the car. Ian and I made our way to the office.

  Aaron was sitting at the desk when we walked in.

  “You two made it back before dark. Good. Did you make a good score this time?” He asked.

  Neither of us answered.

  “That bad?” He asked shaking his head.

  “We brought back a girl,” I answered, “She’s fifteen, injured, and on her own. We couldn’t leave her.”

  Aaron sighed, “Of course you couldn’t.”

  Ian and I looked at each other confused. I looked back at Aaron. His expression didn’t indicate sarcasm or annoyance. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on.

  “It looks like you were injured too,” He said.

  I nodded, “Yeah. I fell fighting a zombie.”

  “She’s pretty banged up. I don’t think she should go on runs for a while,” Ian suggested.

  Aaron nodded, “Cate can take a break. Tom can help you on runs for a while.”

  Aaron got up from the desk and got a set of keys. He handed them to me.

  “The girl can stay in 2154, next to you and Emma.”

  I nodded in confusion. I still wasn’t sure why he was being so cool about a new mouth to feed. This wasn’t like him.

  “How old is she?” He asked, “And her name?”

  “Natalie. She’s fifteen.” I answered.

  “And the haul?” He asked pointing to the bag.

  I handed it over to him. He looked through it.

  “Not great but there’s water in here. So I guess that even things out.”

  “Yeah,” I said still confused.

  Ian and I made to leave.

  “Cate, a moment please.”

  I stopped. Ian looked back at me and I could tell he was going to protest to stay. I shook my head at him. I knew I was going to have to pay for the argument I had with Laura and Aaron earlier that day. I was prepared to take the heat for running my mouth.

  I could tell Ian didn’t want to but he walked out the door leaving me alone with Aaron.

  I sighed and turned back to Aaron, he was taking the food out of the bag.

  “Look, I know,” I began.

  He put his hand up to stop me from continuing.

  “It’s alright. Things are heated right now. We’re all hungry, thirsty, scared. We say things we regret. I just wanted to let you know my mom and I understand your frustration and we want you to know we do appreciate the risk you take every time you do a run. I mean look at what happened this time,” he said pointing to my left side. “We’re going to be putting together a group to begin hunting. The runs won’t stop but we’re going to take the pressure of you two tremendously.”

  I felt extremely uneasy. I felt like I was going to be sick, my stomach was beginning to turn itself into such intense knots.

  I nodded, “Thank you for understanding,” I said with as much sincerity as I could fake.

  He handed me my bag back. “Rest up and get better. Mom and I will go by to welcome Natalie in the morning and bring her food.”

  “Okay,” I said and headed for the door. Then I remembered and turned back around. “Hey, Aaron. You wouldn’t happen to know why there was a dead possum in the back of the Nissan would you?”

  He looked at me but I couldn’t read his expression. I knew he wouldn’t tell me if he had anything to do with it but I was hoping I could at least gage his expression when I asked. He just shook his head, “No. Maybe it was put in there by the previous owner.”

  We had that car for nearly five months. The possum would have started to decompose by now.

  I just nodded, “True, I didn’t think about that. Night.” With that I headed out the door.

  Ian was waiting for me a few feet from the door, where he was out of sight from Aaron.

  “What was that about?” Ian asked.

  “He apologized for earlier,” I replied.

  Ian looked lost and began shaking his head, “None of this makes sense. He’s okay with Natalie staying and he apologized?”

  “They�
��re putting together a hunting group to gather more food to take the pressure of us but I think he was basically saying because we can’t take it.”

  “Maybe not, maybe he was being sincere,” Ian suggested.

  I looked at him, “Is there any part of you that actually believes that?”

  Ian shook his head, “No, not really.”

  “I can tell you right now, those two are up to something and it’s bad. As soon as I’m healed, we’re gone. Maybe before but we can’t stay here much longer,” I said.

  Ian nodded in agreement, “Don’t take your eye off Milo either.”

  “You don’t think…” I began but saw the expression on Ian’s face. “You’re right.”

  We headed back to the car. Natalie was awake when we got in there.

  “Hey,” I said. “You sleep well?”

  She shrugged, “Yeah except my neck hurts now.”

  “That’ll happen. Listen you’re going to be staying in the apartment next to me and my friend Emma. If you need anything, you can stop by okay?”

  “Okay. Thank you for everything,” She said.

  Ian drove around the complex. He gave me a gentle hug before we parted ways. He whispered in my ear to be careful and I told him to do the same.

  I showed Natalie to her apartment. There wasn’t a lot of furniture in this one. Whoever lived here didn’t have a lot or didn’t feel the need to own many things.

  I did a sweep of the apartment. I knew all the apartments were supposed to be clear but I wanted to make sure Natalie was safe.

  “Anything I should know?” She asked. “You and Ian don’t seem to really like it here.”

  “What makes you say that?” I asked.

  “I heard you back at the antique store debating not to come back because of the people who run the place.”

  I sighed, “It’s safe from the zombies.”

  “But not safe,” She replied.

  I looked at her face. She looked concerned, maybe a little scared.

  “They have keys to all the apartments. They do random checks. If you’re worried at all, I can change the lock on the bedroom door and you can put a chair in front of it as well.”

  “You can change the lock?” She asked.

  “Ian and I got a bunch from a hardware store a while ago,” I said.