by Kate L. Mary
“You’re preaching to the choir.” Kellan winced when I wrapped the shirt around his arm, tying it as best as I could. “Shit, that hurts.”
I gave him a crooked smile. “You’re preaching to the choir.”
Kellan ran his thumb over the bite on my arm. “It’s healed pretty nicely.”
“Thankfully.” My gaze moved to the man, and when the fear hit me again, I threw my arms around Kellan. “Don’t scare me like that again.”
“I won’t,” he said against the side of my head. “I promise.”
When the shelter came into view, Kellan slowed the sedan and let out a low whistle. For the first time in weeks, a decent size horde had gathered outside the fence. There weren’t as many as there were right after the new people moved into the shelter, but it was still more than we’d been seeing lately.
“What the hell?” I said.
“I thought we were over this,” Kellan muttered.
“We’re not going to be able to get that gate open without resistance,” Blake said from the back.
He was right. There were at least fourteen zombies and just four of us—and Kellan wasn’t exactly at his best right now. The second one of us got out of the car, the zombies would be on us. Already, a handful were staggering our way, the goats and other animals forgotten.
Realizing he was drawing them toward us, Kellan killed the engine.
“What do we do?” I asked, keeping my voice low since the windows were open.
In the driver’s seat, Kellan was rolling his window up, leaving only a crack. With as hot as it was and no air conditioner, we couldn’t shut it completely, not that the dead couldn’t get to us through my window. It had broken in the open position years ago, and now more than ever I found myself wishing I could roll it up.
“We’re going to have to fight,” Kellan said, answering my question.
He was nuts.
I turned to face him, feeling like my eyes were about to pop out of my head. “The four of us against all those zombies?”
“Nope.” Kellan nodded to the shelter and I turned to find the door open and our friends spilling out.
Cade and Bill led the way, but Ernie and Diane were right behind them, followed by Emma and Scott, as well as a few others. They were all armed and ready, all heading for the gate.
Kellan put his hand through the small crack he’d left when he rolled up his window and gave our friends a thumbs up.
“Get ready,” he said, pulling his knife.
I let out a deep breath as I slid my own weapon from its resting place on my hip.
The fence rattled when our friends slammed their hands and knives against it, drawing the attention of the dead who’d started heading our way. My open window made me utterly exposed, and seeing the zombies head back was a relief.
We watched from the car, holding our breath and not moving while the people inside the fence got to work on the horde, stabbing them through the chain link. This was the first time I’d seen our normal routine from the outside, and it struck me how slow the process was as I watched Emma beat her palm against the fence and call out to the dead, trying to grab their attention.
Whether it was the four of us in the car or the bodies littering the ground, or even the fact that these zombies were infected with a newer strain, giving them the ability to process thought better, most of the dead weren’t taking the bait. They were keeping their distance, standing at least six feet from the fence, growling and pacing, but refusing to get too close.
“It’s not working this time,” Kellan muttered.
I said nothing but watched as the group inside the fence gave up and moved to the gate.
“You ready?” Blake asked, and I didn’t respond because I instinctively knew he was talking to Christine.
“I’m good,” she responded.
I turned to face Kellan. “How’s that arm?”
“Hurts like hell, but it isn’t anything that’s going to stop me from kicking some zombie ass.”
Blake slapped him on the shoulder. “Good man.”
“Just be careful,” I said. “If you think you can’t handle it, ask for help. Got it?”
“I promise,” he said, his tone solemn.
“The gate’s open.” Blake shoved the back door open. “Let’s do this!”
We scurried out of the car and moved to join our friends. There were still six zombies up and more than enough of us to take care of them, but with Kellan’s injury, I felt like we were facing a much bigger threat, and it made me sweat even more than the sun pounding down on us.
I kept close to his side instead of going for a zombie myself, ready to help if he needed it. It wasn’t a surprise that the injury didn’t hold him back. When he slammed his foot into the leg of the first zombie he reached, it gave with a crack, sending the creature to the ground. The thing reached up, trying to get Kellan while also struggling to get to his feet, but his efforts were cut short when a blade found its home in the zombie’s skull, and the creature went still.
The thing had barely stopped moving when Cade slammed his knife into the skull of the last zombie, and it went down, putting an end to the fight. Thankfully. The shirt wrapped around Kellan’s arm had come loose during his fight with the dead man, and blood was now dripping down his arm. We needed to get it taken care of as soon as possible.
“Cade,” I called, “we’re going to need you.”
He shoved his knife in its sheath and headed our way, his focus already on Kellan’s arm. “Let me get a look at it.”
Bill moved to Christine’s side, an expression of concern on his face. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” his daughter said, nodding her head in our direction. “It’s not me. It’s Kellan.”
“It’s nothing.” He waved her off with his uninjured arm.
“It’s not nothing.” I gave him a stern look as I untied the shirt. “It could get infected.”
When I removed the shirt, revealing the bite, Cade took a step back. “Holy shit.”
Before anyone had time to react, Ernie raised his gun and aimed it at Kellan’s head. “He’s been bitten.”
21
Cade was the first to move, putting himself between Kellan and the gun. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Are you blind? He’s infected!” Ernie took a step closer to Cade, his gun still up and the same cold expression I’d seen in his eyes the day he held a gun on me.
I moved to Cade’s side, my hands out in front of me, trying to calm the other man. “Put the gun down. It’s not a zombie bite.”
“You think I’m a fool?” Ernie spit the words out like he was trying to expel a mouthful of poison.
“I was there,” Blake called. “The guy wasn’t infected. He was just out of his mind.”
Christine was clinging to her dad’s arm. “It’s true! I saw him, too.”
“You all may be willing to take a chance like that,” Ernie said, “but I’m not.”
“Son of a bitch.” Bill swiped his hand over his bald head, his gaze sweeping from person to person like he was trying to figure out how to defuse the situation. “Put the damn gun down.”
“What are you thinking?” Diane chimed in.
“I’m thinking about keeping everyone safe. If he’s infected and he goes into the shelter, he could kill everyone.”
“First of all,” Kellan pushed his way past Cade and me, ignoring my attempt to grab his arm, “it wasn’t a zombie. It was some crazy guy. Secondly,” he took a step closer to Ernie, his hands up in a gesture that indicated he wasn’t a threat, “even if it was, we all know people can be immune. Shooting me would be premature.”
“The odds are against you, my friend,” Ernie said.
Behind his taped glasses, his eyes flashed, but it wasn’t fear. It was more like…satisfaction. Like he was happy to find Kellan in this position.
“Put the gun down,” I snapped.
Ernie didn’t look my way when he moved, and this time when he stopped, the
gun was less than six inches from Kellan’s head.
“What the hell are you doing?” Bill growled.
“Ernie!” Christine cried, while behind her, Diane called out, “That’s enough!”
“He could kill us all!”
I moved, shoving my way between Kellan and the gun so the cold steel was pressed against my forehead. “We have a holding cell!”
Ernie blinked, but said nothing.
My hands were still out in front of me, and slowly I reached up. “You don’t need to worry because we have a holding cell. Kellan can stay there until we know for sure he isn’t infected.”
Ernie’s gaze moved past me, but the hard light in his eyes didn’t fade. He wanted to shoot Kellan, I realized. Maybe not murder him, necessarily, but he wanted a reason to get rid of Kellan for good.
He wasn’t going to get the chance.
Ernie’s focus was still on Kellan when I snatched the gun from his hand, and he stumbled back like I’d hit him. His mouth fell open in shock, but he’d barely had time to do or say anything when Kellan stepped around me and slammed his fist into Ernie’s face.
The guy dropped to the ground, and his glasses went flying. The tape was apparently no match for Kellan’s punch, because they were now in two pieces, lying nearly a foot from one another. Hopefully, for his sake, we had more tape.
“Shit.” Ernie grabbed the side of his face, which was red and already starting to swell.
Kellan knelt in front of him, getting close enough that Ernie was able to hear his words even though they were low. “The next time you pull a gun on someone in this group, the consequences are going to be a lot worse.” His tone was menacing. “We have enough bullshit going on without having to worry about our own people. Do you understand?”
Ernie looked up, his gaze moving from Bill to Diane, and then over everyone else standing around him. The dead we’d just taken out were slowly baking in the sun as flies buzzed in circles over their bodies, and everyone was staring at Ernie like he was the enemy. That was how it felt, too. Like he was against us. Maybe he’d always been against us, and Bill was just too blind to see him for what he really was.
I grabbed Kellan’s arm and urged him to stand. “Let’s get you inside so Cade can look at that bite.”
He stood with little resistance, but he didn’t look away from Ernie, who was still sitting on the ground. I couldn’t read the other man’s expression, but it sure as hell wasn’t friendly.
“I’ll take care of the bodies,” Bill said as we passed him.
Kellan paused long enough to nod. “Thank you.”
Bill patted him on the shoulder. “Just take care of yourself.”
My heart was pounding as hard as the thump of our feet against the stairs when Cade, Kellan, and I headed inside. I wanted to go back up there and kick Ernie in the balls, but that would only make things worse. Hopefully, after this, Bill would be willing to step in and take care of the situation before things really got out of hand.
When we reached the industrial level, Kellan headed for the holding cell.
I stopped walking. “What are you doing?”
“We told Ernie we had a holding cell.”
He stopped outside the closed door and typed the code into the keypad. The red light went out and a green light flashed on, and the door clicked open.
At my side, Cade looked as unsure as I felt.
“This isn’t really necessary, man,” he said. “I know you wouldn’t put anyone at risk. Plus, you have three people backing you up. If you say it was a crazy guy, I believe you.”
“This isn’t just about you.” Kellan pulled the door open and went in.
He flipped a switch, and light flooded the small room, and I watched in silence as he took a seat on the bed, remembering the day Harper showed up and how we’d locked her in here. Kellan hadn’t wanted her here, and I’d known it, but we’d taken a vote, and he’d lost. But he’d insisted we lock her up until we knew if we could trust her, and even though I’d agreed, I’d hated the idea of leaving her in this tiny cell overnight. Even worse, she’d stayed here for almost a week, sleeping in the locked room even after we’d come to realize she wasn’t a threat.
I’d hated having to do that to her, but seeing Kellan here felt even more ominous, and so wrong. Kellan was more than our leader; he was the glue holding us together.
Cade shook his head like he didn’t agree, but he moved to Kellan’s side anyway. “I still don’t think this is necessary, but if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” Kellan held his arm out.
“Damn,” Cade said in a low voice as he inspected the bite. “He really sank his teeth into you.”
“No shit,” Kellan muttered.
I moved then, heading into the room so I could take a seat at Kellan’s side, and almost absentmindedly, he put his free hand on my knee.
“It looks bad,” I said, studying the bite again.
“Well,” Cade got to his feet, “the good news is you won’t become a flesh-eating monster from it. The not so great news is that it could get really infected if you’re not careful. I’ll head down to the clinic and grab some supplies, but you’re going to have to make sure to keep it clean.”
“No worries.” Kellan gave my knee a little squeeze. “I have my own private nurse.”
Cade shook his head as he turned away. “I don’t need to hear about your sex life, man.”
Kellan only chuckled.
When we were alone, I turned to face him. “What are we going to do about Ernie?”
“Let Bill take care of it.”
“Seriously? He hasn’t been very willing to do anything so far.”
“I could step in, but it would only make things worse right now. The guy doesn’t like me. Maybe it really is the age thing, or maybe has to do with the color of my skin. I don’t know.”
I hadn’t thought about the guy being a racist ass, but maybe Kellan was on to something. Although, Bill wasn’t white…
“Bill’s black.”
Kellan gave a small shrug. “He could just hate Indians. Either way, I’m staying out of it until absolutely necessary. The harder I push, the harder he’s going to push back.”
“I was terrified when he pulled that gun on you.” I moved closer so I could kiss him.
He leaned his forehead against mine. “I was terrified when you decided to be a moron and step between me and the gun.”
“You think I’d just stand back and do nothing while he shot you?”
“So the alternative is getting shot yourself?” Kellan asked, and even though he was working hard to keep his voice light, there was a slight tremor behind his words.
“I just knew I couldn’t watch that happen and do nothing.”
“Just don’t ever do anything like that again. Understand?”
“I’m not promising anything,” I said.
Kellan was shaking his head, but the sound of feet pounding on the stairs stopped him from saying anything else.
We turned toward the door as people filed past. Christine had the cooler, and she was talking quietly to Diane as they passed, not even seeming to notice us, but Emma and Blake stopped just outside the open door.
Emma frowned when she looked at the bite. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Kellan said. “It’ll be fine as long as I keep it clean.”
“What happened to Ernie?” I asked.
“Went with Bill to get rid of the bodies.” Blake crossed his arms, shaking his head as he did. “That was messed up. What the hell was that guy thinking?”
“He was thinking he finally had an excuse to get rid of me,” Kellan said.
“We might have another Laurie on our hands,” Blake said.
He and Emma moved aside when Cade came back, and we all watched in silence as he cleaned the wound and bandaged it. Kellan hissed a few times and his lips scrunched up, but for the most part he stayed silent during the whole thing. I knew firsthand how much it had to hurt, though. I’d been h
ere. Twice.
When he was done, Cade sat back but didn’t stand. “How long do you intend to stay in here?”
“Overnight should do it.” Kellan rubbed the area above the now bandaged wound. “Just until I can prove to everyone I’m not showing symptoms.”
“This is idiotic,” Blake muttered. “I was there. I saw the asshole. He wasn’t infected.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Kellan said. “If it puts everyone at ease, it’s worth it.”
“Don’t do this just to satisfy that prick,” Emma said. “He doesn’t speak for everyone.”
“Just because he was the only to speak up doesn’t mean other people wouldn’t be thinking the same thing. I want to show them I’m a team player.” Kellan pressed his lips together, hesitating before saying, “Especially because I have a feeling Ernie isn’t going to settle down any time soon.”
“You really think he’s going to try to push you after what just happened?” Cade asked. “No one seemed to be on his side.”
“I think he believes he’s better suited to give orders. Hell, from what I’ve seen this past week, he was definitely the one calling most of the shots back in the hangar. Bill’s a laid-back guy, and despite the fact that he brought everyone together, I don’t think he would have cared in the least if someone else stepped up and made the decisions.”
“Yeah,” I said, “I think you’re right.”
“What happens if it comes down to that?” Emma looked from Kellan to me to Blake, and then to Cade. “We all know we can’t kick someone out of the shelter, especially someone who might hold a grudge. Even if he doesn’t have the code, there’s nothing stopping him from coming back. Maybe even with reinforcements.”
Silence settled over the room.
She was right. It would be like Laurie all over again, and that was a risk we couldn’t take. But the alternative was killing Ernie, and just because he didn’t want to play nice didn’t mean he deserved to be put to death.
Kellan exhaled. “That’s something we’ll have to work out if the time comes. For now, I’m just going to hope Bill is willing to step up and lay down the law.”
