Love and Decay

by Rachel Higginson

  The transfer happened seamlessly. My nephews knew how to listen without hesitation and their parents knew how to protect them.

  Luke leaned forward, over the steering wheel and with more enthusiasm than I had heard from him so far, and warned, “Brace yourselves.”

  He plowed through the line of Feeders, running several over in one fell swoop. Their bodies landed beneath the tires and we bounced over them, cringing at the sound they made.

  I thought that might be the end of them. All we had to do was keep going.

  But the initial casualties had turned out to be a road block, slowing us down. The surrounding Feeders did exactly as Luke had said they would and latched on to the roof and side mirrors. Haunting faces pressed against the dirty glass while their blackened teeth snapped at us.

  The engine growled as Luke stomped down on the gas and accelerated. The Feeders held on with unprecedented strength. Their bleached bones winked at us in the moonlight, flashing stringy sinew and dried blood. I expected them to snap apart, breaking like weak twigs.

  Instead, they held on with one hand and dragged their cracked, elongated fingernails over the window. Jagger started crying and Reagan hurried to hush and quiet him.

  Bam!

  One of their fists came down heavily on the glass, rattling it from the inhuman strength. Luke whipped the car to the side, then to the other side. I realized he was trying to dislodge them. But he couldn’t seem to shake them.

  “They’re catching up!” Shay shouted with her Australian accent. “I’ve never seen them this fast before,” she gasped, echoing around the close space. “They’re helping each other. They’re propelling each other forward. Where is Oliver? Can Fang see this?”

  I shared a look with Miller over Reagan’s head. Only Shay would find this fascinating.

  “You have to get them off!” Luke shouted over the screeching Feeders and rumbling engine. “They’re slowing us down. They’ll try to tip us over!”

  In the next second two more Feeders latched on to the right side of the vehicle. The SUV jerked from their weight.

  Hendrix pushed up on his knees and looked back at me, “You got this?”

  I nodded. “Always.”

  He smiled at me briefly. “Then go get ‘em, little sister.”

  Hendrix and I cranked the windows down at the same time. I pushed through the resistance because of the pressure on the other side of the glass.

  A Feeder’s body lay over the window, holding onto the bar on the top of the car. As soon as there was space, a decaying hand swiped through the narrow opening and nearly caught my nose. I leaned back just in time and lifted the blade I’d retrieved from my holster.

  I poised my long dagger, ready to slide the hand right off, but Luke’s voice cut through my intentions. “No blood in the car! We’ll attract every Feeder between here and home!”

  I dodged another swipe. The Zombie was at an awkward angle, so its movements weren’t the most nimble, but he was still dangerous. Still deadly. And it didn’t look like he planned to retract his hand any time soon.

  My original plan had been to cut his hand off. But that wasn’t going to work if I couldn’t get blood in the stupid car!

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I had to shout to be heard over the rushing wind and straining engine. The Feeder screamed on the outside of the car, further obscuring my words. “I can’t not get blood in the car! There’s no way I can keep this clean!”

  “You have to!” Luke hollered back. “Their blood is like catnip! Every Feeder we pass on this highway will find us!”

  I growled at the door. And at the Feeder. And at Luke for being everything I didn’t know he was. Turning around to Reagan, I ordered, “Hold on to the boys!”

  Without waiting for her reply I unlocked my door, held the handle open and kicked out at it as hard as I could. The sound boomed through the car and Hendrix and Miller both shouted to see if I was all right.

  I kicked out again, rattling the Feeder. His hand dropped in, but with the rocking door he couldn’t get a good hold to do any real damage.

  I wrapped my arm around the seat and kicked again and again. The door flew open, the wind taking it and slamming it wide so it hit the Feeder Hendrix was fighting. Tyler grabbed my arm before my momentum could carry me out the door.

  My Feeder tangled with Hendrix’s before losing its grip completely. It let go of the roof and dropped to the ground, ending its plight with a sickening crunch on the harsh highway.

  I could finally tell that our SUV was picking up speed. But we still had at least three Feeders attached to the car like sucker fish.

  I pulled my arm free from Tyler’s stronghold and jumped up on my knees. The wind whipped at my hair, pulling it from my braid and tangling it in front of my face. I pawed at it uselessly.

  Blade in hand, I leaned out the door, hoping to aid Hendrix when the upper half of another Zombie dropped from the roof. I screamed from sheer surprise, but quickly recovered.

  Its feet were anchored above and it clawed at me while I scrambled back, half crushing Jagger and Reagan beneath me. I wanted to stab at it, but the no blood in the car thing was a serious problem.

  The Feeder, terrifying as all the rest, revealed his crazed, black eyes and peeling flesh. I heard Luke shout something at me but I couldn’t make it out over the pounding of my heart.

  I tried kicking at it first, but the Feeder grabbed my leg and dug its claws into my shin. I kicked it in the head with my other foot and it snatched that one too.

  Panic blinded me as I fought and kicked at the stupid thing. Tyler simultaneously beat it with her fists while she scrambled to reach a blade. And Luke continued to yank the wheel from one extreme to the other.

  I wanted to scream at him to stop because I couldn’t get settled enough to do any real damage, but in truth it was probably the only reason the creature hadn’t bitten me yet.

  Its vicelike grip tightened on my legs and my eyes watered from the pressure of it. Another window opened and wind blasted across the interior of the cab.

  My mind had gone black with confusion and hysteria and all I could manage to concentrate on was getting the Feeder off my feet.

  Suddenly something heavy landed on the top of the car. In the next second the Feeder jerked and wailed in anger. Its claws stabbed my skin, sinking deeper and deeper until I couldn’t bare the pain a second longer.

  “Grab her!” Someone shouted from above.

  Tyler threw her body over mine just as the Feeder’s body flew off the top of the SUV. Its arms still wrapped around me, the momentum nearly dragged me from the car. The impact knocked the wind out of me completely as my entire body jolted like it was going to be ripped in two.

  Tyler’s grip started to slip and I made my peace with death.

  Tyler held tightly and someone else grabbed me. The Feeder slipped instead of me, nearly taking my tightly laced boots with him. When he finally let go, I pulled my legs back and fought to stop the heart attack happening in my chest.

  Miller’s head popped down from where the Feeder had just been and I almost screamed again from surprise. We shared a very intense look before he reached over, jabbed his blade into the head of the last Feeder on the front passenger’s side window and dislodged it from the vehicle.

  I looked over to find Hendrix had been the other person to grab me. The look in his eyes said everything. It showed me how close I’d come to almost getting bitten again… to almost flying out the open car door… to almost losing everything.

  “I’m alive,” I whispered. “I’m okay.”

  There was no way he could hear me over the roar of wind and engine, but he nodded. He knew. He understood.

  He leaned down and pressed a swift kiss to my forehead. Then he turned to his wife and sons to make sure they were all right.

  Tyler jumped out of the way just as Miller landed in that seat. He just swung in like he was used to climbing around on moving cars.

  “Goddamn,” he murmured a
s he crushed me to him in a violent hug.

  I clung to him, grasping at his damp shirt and windblown hair. My hands trembled and I couldn’t stop shivering. The wind was cold as it whipped through the car, but that wasn’t the reason I shook.

  There had been plenty of close calls before, but never had death been such an obvious picture as that Feeder glued to my legs, desperately trying to drag me from the car. It felt like the very hands of death had immerged from the pits of hell to drag me back down to the fiery depths.

  “Page, no more,” Miller growled against my cheek. “I can’t take any more of those. You’ve got to stop.”

  I pulled back so I could look him in the eyes. I had to raise my voice to be heard, but I didn’t care if anyone could hear us. The haunted look in his eyes and grim expression across his face pulled at my heart.

  I was used to surviving for my family. I was used to making sure my family survived. And in a detached way, I’d always felt like that about Miller. But recently… recently I had started to take him into consideration.

  Don’t die because it will destroy Miller.

  Don’t get hurt because Miller won’t survive it.

  Don’t tip Miller’s scales any closer to the dark side.

  Survive for him.

  Live for him.

  If he can’t find the light, be the light for him.

  I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I didn’t know if I’d started to lose my identity in him or start to find my identity in us.

  I didn’t know if I should be so concerned with saving him.

  Or if I needed to let him do that himself.

  I didn’t know.

  “I’m okay,” I promised him. I put his hand against my cheek. “I’m okay.”

  He dropped his forehead to mine and let out a long exhale. The car had finally straightened out and we could sit there for a moment without rocking wildly back and forth.

  I breathed in and my fear started to dissipate. Miller’s warmth flooded me. I let it wrap around me and erase my fears. Yes, he was worried about me.

  Yes, he would do anything it took to protect me.

  But I would do the same for him.

  It was less concerning when I knew I would do whatever it took to see him happy and alive.

  “Thank you,” I told him. My fingers tangled in his shirt and I took my first deep breath.

  “Always, Page. Every damn time.”

  I had just started to smile, when Luke turned around and ruined the moment by barking, “You broke the door!”

  Miller chuckled when my entire body snapped tight and I hissed a curse word beneath my breath.

  I turned my head to face Luke, even though his eyes were on the road. “You’re welcome!” I shouted at him. “You ungrateful little-”

  He cut me off before I could finish my sentence, “You can fix it when we stop.”

  My eyes bugged and my mouth dropped. He wasn’t serious.

  He couldn’t be serious.

  This time when Reagan started cackling it was at my expense.

  Chapter Three

  We stopped just before dawn. The sky had lightened, turning a hazy gray so that it could hide the stars and wash away the moon.

  Luke and his people apparently had a series of safe houses between the Mexican border and their home base. If I had to guess, I would assume they had even more than that. Little, inconspicuous dots of shelter mapped out all over the Midwest… maybe farther.

  They were not stupid about how they did things. Or reckless. Or careless. Or forgetful. His team of men and women were relentless. Every moment of every day.

  And if he wasn’t such a douchebag, I would have been able to appreciate that about him.

  As it was, we were barely twenty-four hours into finding each other again and I wanted to strangle him.

  Or push him out of his broken door and feed him to the Feeders.

  Okay, that was probably an exaggeration. I wasn’t homicidal.

  At least not yet.

  I had expected another dilapidated heap of rubble, like the barn we’d gone to the night before. But this time Luke pulled up to an abandoned store I heard Reagan call Wal-Mart. The glass was mostly intact and the parking lot had only a few abandoned vehicles cluttering the space.

  I didn’t know if we’d crossed into another state yet or were still somewhere in the middle of Texas, but this area of the world had been abandoned for a very long time.

  We didn’t pass a town or other stores or anything other than overgrown or dead farmland before we came to this place.

  Luke and the caravan pulled around the back of the building, even further out of sight. The first ray of sunlight had just streaked across the sky when we all jumped down from our respective vehicles.

  Nobody made much noise. Luke hadn’t given any specific instructions to be quiet, but he also hadn’t let us know if it was okay to talk. So we just did what his people did.

  That seemed like the safest bet.

  Everyone moved toward a steel door that appeared to be sealed shut. The woman named Trish reached it first and brushed her fingers along the door and wall before retrieving a brownish colored strap tucked in the seam. She pulled the strap and the door swung open.

  Tricky.

  She held it wide and everyone looked to Luke. He stepped forward and ran his hand over his face again. When he looked at the crowd, I thought he seemed especially tired. Black and blue bags appeared beneath his eyes and his actual eyeballs were as bloodshot as possible.

  “Inspect the cars,” he told his people. “Look for blood. Look for spit and puss and anything they might have left behind. Then stock up. We’ll head out for recon in about six hours. Be ready.” When his succinct speech was finished he took three long strides to the open door. Trish held it for him like a good soldier. He turned back at the last second and barked, “And someone see if they can fix my goddamn door.”

  With that he disappeared into the dark hall. A few people followed quickly after him while others stayed to deal with the cars.

  I didn’t know where to go and it didn’t appear my family did either. We stood there awkwardly until Trish, still holding the door open, said, “Just go inside already. He would have told you if he wanted you to wash the car. He wasn’t talking to you. So get out of our way.”

  Trish looked as hard and rough as she acted. Her very short, bright blonde hair could have been masculine if it weren’t for her overtly feminine face. She reminded me of Tinkerbell from when I was a kid and Zombies were only something Scooby Doo could pull masks off to expose evil librarians and greedy grounds keepers.

  That is if Tinkerbell wore leather from head to toe and carried a sawed-off.

  Haley walked by Trish first and said, “We’re nice people. You’ll learn to like us. I promise.”

  Trish did not verbally reply but the look on her face said that she thought she would too, she just needed time to get to know us.

  Just kidding.

  The look on her face said she was super disappointed the Zombies hadn’t eaten us all yet.

  Reagan walked by next with a massive smile on her face. She even stopped to introduce Trish to Jagger and Halen who she was trying to herd inside the building.

  Trish was polite to the children, but not excessively polite. Reagan stood there for a while chatting with her, forcing her to answer inane questions.

  I watched my sister-in-law with awe. She had nerves of straight steel and was not afraid to piss people off.

  “Ten bucks says that girl punches Reagan in the next ten minutes,” Harrison chuckled.

  “Twenty that it happens in the next five,” King countered.

  I dropped my head so that Trish wouldn’t look over and find us all laughing at her. “At least Reagan’s not trying to have this conversation in Spanish.”

  My brothers lost it. They laughed loud and grabbed the attention of everyone around us. Several people shushed us, driving us inside and away from the judgy Unde
rground. Hendrix grabbed his wife’s hand on the way through the door and pulled her along with him.

  “That’s not going to work with her,” I heard him tell her.

  Reagan lifted her chin high and said, “People all across the world love me.”

  “Or they hate you,” he reminded her. “They really, really hate you.”

  She leaned in to him, knowing he was right. Reagan had that effect on people. They either loved her and would do anything to save her and keep her safe. Like my brother. Or Diego. Or the scientists.

  Or they wanted to murder her.

  Like Matthias.

  And a whole slew of other people that were mostly dead now.

  We had stepped into a dark hallway smelling musty and dirty. It was impossible to see, but we pushed forward.

  I was sandwiched between Harrison and King, so I watched Harrison’s feet as he shuffled through the hallway, complaining about this being a trap.

  Eventually the oppressive darkness lessened. Light penetrated through windows past swinging doors and once we’d pushed through them, skylights overhead filled the abandoned store with natural sunlight.

  The inside of this place had been turned into a curious compound of sorts. Memories flashed in my head of what a store like this used to look like. They were quick and hard to hold on to, but I had a sense that a place like this would be crowded. I could imagine standing in the middle of one when I was four or five, holding my mom’s hand as we walked through the busy aisles.

  I sucked in a breath at the pain that tiny memory brought. I could almost feel her palm against mine… I could smell her again. I could picture her laughing as we picked up silly things on shelves and tried on elf hats and white wigs.

  “We have to hurry,” she told me. “King is waiting for us to pick him up from practice.” I pictured snow globes on metal shelving and aisles of candy. “Hendrix and Vaughan will be home soon,” she said. “They said by dinner.” She turned to me, kneeling down so her beautiful face was right in mine. “I need my babies together again,” she whispered. “I need you all under my roof at one time.”