She wished me goodnight (I didn’t think it would be) and dragged herself downstairs, her whole body signaling her dejection.
Feeling like a pariah, I went and locked myself in my room. Nothing to do, I sat on the bed and stared at the cooler as my stomach began to gurgle. I opened a package and snacked on a nugget. Grabbing another, I thought a steady binge could probably head off the super-monster munchies.
I chewed without thought, no longer totally repulsed. The gross factor almost disappeared with the nuggets.
Oh, ick! Did it mean I was getting used to this?
The physical stuff was easy compared to all this other emotional garbage I found myself facing. I pondered this latest event, something I’d never expected.
Wow.
I had to give Carm credit for standing by me, even when I’d scared her to death. If things were reversed, I don’t know if I could put up with a friend like me.
Chapter Ten
The supply box at my feet, I sat on the edge of my bedroom window seat and took another count, satisfied we had at least a few hundred or more poison paintballs in my arsenal alone. I ignored the doubts swirling in the back of my mind—what if they didn’t work? What if all this was for nothing?
I moved on to my next morbid thought and tried not to think about how we’d use them. I mean, was it like killing my own kind? I felt strange, but I didn’t see any connection. None. Zero.
I couldn’t accept being like them. I wasn’t like them. No way!
My lack of sleep had been good for something, at least. Whenever I tired of staring at the walls or flipping TV channels, (when I wasn’t smacking myself so my eye would bounce back, of course), I’d pull out the box, inject a few more paintballs and add to the growing pile. Actually once I’d kept myself sated with those chicken nuggets every hour or so, the crazed hunger pangs vanished, leaving me with plenty of time while I sat bored out of my skull.
My aunt’s call forced me to push everything aside and head downstairs. On Sundays she liked to catch up on her cleaning, laundry, and baking for the week. She gave each of us chores, ignoring all our gripes and whines. My job was folding clothes, but I didn’t mind too much since there was nothing else to do. After dinner, we watched some TV before Carm spent an hour picking out one outfit, changed it for another, and then another, for school tomorrow.
The plan, I was happy to hear as we sipped tea (mine cranberry with more protein stuff, of course), was simple. Now that I’d eaten, I would double my liquid protein until morning. If I felt all right, my aunt reluctantly agreed to take us both to school in the morning so she could check things out. She still didn’t like the idea, but a new email from the principal made it clear everyone had to be there on the first day. They especially needed all part-Z students to check in so they could get counts for government funding, and see how the new class scheduling worked.
“If everything seems in order after I talk with your principal, I’ll leave you to go to your classes and come get you after school,” my aunt added.
“Carm, wouldn’t it be cool if we could walk home together? It’d be just like the old days!”
I jumped and Carm gasped when Tia slammed her mug on the table. “Ay Caramba! Becca, have you lost all sense or forget what we talked about? No way are the two of you hiking around anywhere outside alone, you hear me? If you stay at school mañana, I will be there waiting for you when your classes are done.” She got up and grabbed her mug to go get a refill. “Comprende? I don’t want to hear any argument. Agreed?”
I gulped. “Sí, Tia.”
Carm and I exchanged glances. Wow, Tia didn’t get mad often, so when she did, you knew to pay attention.
I scooted closer to Carm as she motioned my way. “Hey, cuz, is Tia okay? She was pretty upset.”
“Something’s going on,” I admitted. “I think it’s getting to her. We talked about the virus. It’s spreading. They were talking about it on TV. More people are getting sick—regular people.”
Carm’s face paled. Her hands twitched like she’d jump and run any minute. “Bec, no. Does that mean—?”
I stopped her before she went into a full panic. “No, uh-uh. You and Tia have been with me from the beginning. Don’t you think you’d have noticed something else going on by now?”
“Yeah, I-I guess so,” Carm whispered.
“I’ve been thinking about it since she told me. I really think you and Tia already built up a resistance. You had to. You’ve been with me almost day and night. They must be talking about people who haven’t been around the virus much, if at all.”
“Okay, I guess that makes sense. What’s she so upset about then?”
“Me, us going out, everything. She’s nervous. I don’t blame her. I am too.”
Our whispering stopped when my aunt came back into the room, mug in hand, and picked up the TV remote. “All right, girls, you’ve figured everything out, so I suggest you get those bags ready and bring them down here. I still don’t like the idea, but if you’re going to school, you won’t have time to get everything packed. Let me know if you need anything.”
We went upstairs and packed in near silence, both of us understanding the less we took the better. The most important thing, the poison paintballs, got bundled up and put in the duffel bag along with the paintball gun, Spence’s two BB guns, and extra ammo. I called them BB guns even if they really were some kind of air rifles with pellets he used for target practice. He even had several boxes of rubber-covered marbles for the paintball gun. I had no idea what he used those for, but if they helped us against the Zs, I didn’t care.
In reality, I hated the idea but we had to be prepared, no matter what. The extra “juice” went into an old thermos I dug out of my closet, along with a few other things I thought we might need. Carm eyed our two big bags, one for the necessary paintball stuff and my personal supplies, the other for our clothes (since we took the same size we decided to pool everything so we’d have less to carry), plus the cosmetic case filled with more paintballs, and raised an eyebrow.
“You think it’ll be enough?” she asked.
Her question wasn’t aimed at our limited wardrobe, I knew. “It’ll have to be. We’ll just have to make more when we use them up, providing it’s not real bad out there.”
She appeared thoughtful as we each grabbed a bag and carried it downstairs. “You think it’ll bother you?”
“What?”
“Shooting them. Isn’t it kind of like, you know, almost killing yourself?”
I stared, guessing at her logic, though she did hit on one of my fears—getting worse, becoming like them. I swatted the thought away. “Huh? No, uh-uh. I’m not like them. I don’t think I’ll have any second thoughts. If the choice is us or them, they lose.”
To my relief, my answer seemed to satisfy her. Good. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. The bags safely tucked in a corner by the front door, we wished each other goodnight early and took off to our own rooms. Carm would probably go through her wardrobe a few more times. I’d toss and turn.
I’d already decided on wearing jeans and Carm’s purple hoodie. Not that it mattered. I knew everyone would be too busy or shocked or whatever at the sight of me to even notice what I had on. I didn’t look forward to it.
I finally dozed off and was a quarter of the way into my less than two-hour nap (the most sleep I expected), when my eyes flicked open. I lay there and listened. There it was again. A funny, scratching sound.
I slipped out from under the quilt and hurried to the window. Peeking out, I expected to see something or someone beyond the empty street and parked cars. Nothing moved, but I felt uneasy. The feeling of not being alone grew.
My ears perked up as I heard something again, a kind of rustling sound. With the house so quiet, it made it easy to follow the sound coming from downstairs. Did we have mice?
Tiptoeing like I was crossing over hot coals, I rushed down the stairs and went to stand by the wall near the front door, careful to keep myself out of view through the
sidelight window in case anyone was out there.
The rustling grew louder.
I stood and listened, watching, when I spotted a shadow on the other side of the door. I wasn’t imagining things. Someone was there.
Panic! Should I call the police? Storm the door? Go wake my aunt?
One step forward, I thought maybe I could fling open the door. No, wait. Not a good idea.
Not sure what else to do, I reached out and, without thinking, flipped the switch to the outdoor light. The light flashed on and off several times causing a tirade of curses from whoever lurked outside.
A minute later, someone in a plaid flannel shirt and brown knit hat stumbled away. Darn, all I got was a glimpse of their broad back and not much else before something white stuck in the mail slot caught my eye. “Bec, what’re you doing?”
I turned to find Carm staring at me, a frown on her face, her eyes still sleepy.
“Carm, come here. I just scared somebody away from the door. I think they left something.” I reached for the crumpled paper sticking out of the slot and found myself staggering backwards after Carm intercepted me with a good shove. “Hey!”
She stood in front of me, making sure only she could reach the mail slot. “Bec, no! Don’t touch it!”
“What’re you doing? It’s only some piece of paper. What’s the big deal?”
Carm’s eyes got big as she pointed at the door. “There, Bec. See?”
Puzzled, I wondered what she was talking about. A gasp escaped as I saw what she’d noticed first: a small trickle of some kind of white powder on the floor beneath the paper.
“That’s why I didn’t want you to touch it. What if…?”
She didn’t need to finish her thought. I gulped. “Ohh…but no one else has the formula. No one but us.”
“Probably, but you never know. What if they found something else will kill Zs? What if they stumbled on something by accident?”
Whew. Close call.
At least one of us was thinking ahead. “I guess you’re right. Okay, you get it.” She hesitated, then reached out and grabbed the paper, unfolding it and shaking it to make sure nothing else fell out.
The way she stood there, as still as a statue, just staring at the paper, made me more nervous than ever. “Carm? What is it? What’s wrong?”
Her face white, my cousin stood and stared at me, her eyes round and glistening with tears. A teardrop trembled on her eyelash and made its way down her cheek. “Oh, Bec.”
If I had a stronger heartbeat, it would’ve jumped several times when she held the paper up for me to see.
I gulped as I read the message: “DIE FOR REAL!”
Chapter Eleven
We watched the police technician clean up the rest of the mystery substance, handing it and the envelope to an officer. He spread a swatch of black fingerprint powder around the door, making it seem like the front of the house had gone through an Etch-a-Sketch storm.
I bit my lip and took deep breaths.
Calm, be cool. Breathe.
The event spooked me a little, I admit. Okay, maybe more than a little, but I clamped down on my feelings and pretended like nothing had happened.
My preference? Forget the whole thing. After all, it was only a good scare, right?
My aunt’s stern expression told me I’d best keep such thoughts to myself. She wouldn’t appreciate my making light of it, especially after the mob of locos we’d run into at Carm’s house, but I couldn’t do otherwise. A group outside was one thing, but someone coming to my house? Not something I wanted to dwell on. Not now, anyway.
The one reason I wanted to go to school was to have at least a little normalcy in my life, even if it lasted only a day or so. I wasn’t so deluded to think it would go on much longer than that.
Since I hadn’t really gotten a glimpse of the intruder, I didn’t expect the police to have any luck catching him (or her as I couldn’t really tell what they were), especially when the officer added that no usable prints had been found.
“Did they wear gloves?” he asked.
I shrugged. I hadn’t really noticed. I wasn’t much help, either, when he asked if we had any enemies or other threats, excluding the vigilantes, of course.
Like I said, it was nothing, but my aunt had insisted we call anyway and now…
Oh, no! I raised an eyebrow at Carm. Tia began talking about us staying home, but luckily the officer didn’t think it necessary, even with what was happening lately.
“I doubt they’ll come back,” he said. “We’ll add a few more patrols, but go about your life. We’ve been getting a lot of pranks, mostly baking soda or baby powder. Just keep your eyes open. I’m sure they’ll close the schools if necessary.”
I saw how his eyes flicked to me when he talked with my aunt about taking precautions. To our relief, his arguments must’ve convinced her, though I noticed every little event made Tia a bit more nervous. I could tell by how she acted.
Once everyone left, it didn’t take her long to put other plans in motion. The clock had barely struck five when Tia phoned the security company to get motion detectors and a security system installed. Next she called her brother.
“Never needed it before, but these are dangerous times, niñas. When you’re gone, I don’t want to be afraid every time I hear something outside. Franco said he’d bring his big German Shepherd dog over for a few days. Maybe I’ll even get a dog for myself. I hate the idea, but if you girls leave, it’s going to be mighty empty and quiet in this house.” She struggled to put on a happy face and shooed us upstairs. “Now, go, get yourselves ready for school. I have juice and cereal if you’re hungry. We’re leaving in an hour.”
Sipping my own cup of juice, I went upstairs to apply the rest of my body makeup and do what I could to make myself presentable, as much as I could anyway. I brushed on some blue eye shadow, swiped my lashes with black mascara, and slicked my lips with my special gloss, what I called Ghoul Girl Pink, designed to correct even the most stubborn Z traits.
Slapping the side of my head, I waited for the dizziness to pass and stared at myself, hoping my eye would stay in one place. It seemed to be better and keeping still for longer periods, but just the same, I didn’t feel like wearing glasses if I didn’t have to.
Satisfied I’d done my best, I ran, okay, stumbled, one foot crossing the other as I went downstairs. A gurgle in my stomach made me grab a protein drink from the fridge and down it, quick. Seeing my cousin, my jealousy meter hiked up a notch. Carm came out of her room dressed in an awesome bright green tank over a long-sleeved black shirt and tight black jeans, a shimmery silver and green necklace around her neck. I couldn’t wear green anymore, for obvious reasons.
“Wow, cuz, love the shirt. Sure looks good on you.”
Pulling my now favorite purple hoodie over my head, I reluctantly followed my cousin and aunt out to the car, a little envious and a lot more nervous about not becoming the main attraction. I stopped for a second to scan the street and make sure our resident loco wasn’t lurking around some corner.
The coast clear, we piled into the back seat. Carm chewed on a chocolate donut and offered me a piece. I hesitated, afraid of repeating my last experience with real food, then gave in and took a teensy pinch.
Wow, never thought it could happen, but chocolate didn’t taste as good as it once did (or like much of anything).
I shook my head no when she offered more. My mind barely registered on Carm’s chatter as we drove down the side streets and headed for Windale High. It didn’t even bother me when she shoved me and my eye twirled. Not even the sight of several military Jeeps out front and Guardsmen stationed around the school put me as on edge. This was more nerve-wracking than going to school the first day as a freshman. What would my old friends say once I showed up? Who’d be here? Who would be different, like me?
Once inside, we waited for what started as a pretty boring half-hour in the main office while my aunt met with the principal. To my surprise, I saw quite a
few other kids who’d been changed by the virus, actually more than I expected. I shrank back and watched, my uneasiness growing as some of the usual teasing turned meaner. Only a security guard interfering got several of the boys going their separate ways.
Carm and I glanced at each other when one of the men behind the desk turned and glared at us. Another woman’s muttering made it clear she wasn’t happy either about the changes, namely, kids like me. The bad vibes in the room grew stronger. I’d almost considered acting sick so we could leave when Tia’s voice interrupted my observations.
“Okay, girls, you’re all set. Here are your schedules. I’ll pick you up at two-thirty. Bec, if something isn’t going right, or you need to come home, the principal is making allowances. You should tell your teacher and they’ll let you go to the office. They told me that, uh, special students are being classified under federal disability guidelines, so you’ll get more consideration if anything is wrong. Have a good day, honey. I’ll see you both later.”
Carm gave me a shove, (I didn’t need to ask why), before she unfolded her schedule for us to compare. “We’ll be fine, right? Looks like we have several classes together, English and—.”
We both noticed the difference in our schedules at the same time—mine had a big red Z on the top. It wasn’t until we turned the corner that we noticed something else new: guards at the end of the hall, metal gates behind them cutting off what used to be the art and band rooms. The guards checked schedules, directing most of the students down the other hall.
My cousin drew a lot of admiring glances, which didn’t surprise me, but I stared at the floor when a group of guys laughed and threw crude comments my way. Carm glared at them and pulled my arm, urging me to pick up my pace.
As if everything else wasn’t bad enough, since my transformation, I’d started walking sometimes in this weird, loping gait, which, every now and then, left me an embarrassing few steps behind everyone else. I’d become the female version of the Wolfman slinking along on his hairy tiptoes.
Carm pulled my arm again. “Cuz, c’mon, hurry up, ignore them. Ignorant pigs. Don’t let them bother you.”
Girl Z: My Life As A Teenage Zombie Page 9
