For a quick second, I wondered where all the zombies were. I expected to see a herd standing at the edge of the lake, reaching out for me. Jonathon had told me the place didn’t have much zombie activity, other than a few stragglers, but he was still convinced it was risky. I wondered why the zombies were so quick to leave the city, why they insisted on flooding the sewers and drain systems rather than staying on the streets to devour the remaining citizens. For all I knew, there was a scent or some kind of energy that repelled them, and I decided it was worth looking into.
It’d take a while for the scientists to fix the cure and even longer to produce it and distribute it to everyone. It could take years for my life to be normal again. As I floated on the lake, I began to ponder writing a book, a zombie survival handbook. I could interview survivors and scientists and put in all kinds of tips people may not know, like using fire extinguishers to temporarily disorient them. Maybe it was a stupid idea, but it would be something to focus on to distract myself from all the pain. I decided I’d jot down some notes when I got back. I could even talk to people about their stories. We’d all lost loved ones, and so many lives had been destroyed. More than ever before, everyone had a story to tell.
I realized I’d been gone a while, and I was sure Lucas and Nick were furious and worried about me. It was somewhat selfish to go out on my blowing-off-steam adventure on my own, but it had done me good and kept me from punching Jonathon in the face or smashing his microscope.
As I approached shore, I dragged my paddle, as if putting on the brakes. Peering around, I didn’t see any zombies or anything out of the ordinary. I hopped into the shallow water to pull the canoe toward the shoreline, doing my best to put it back exactly where I’d found it. I didn’t know if the owner was dead or alive, but I wanted to be respectful. I slung my rifle over my shoulder and headed back the way I’d come.
Chapter 22
I searched the shadows and maneuvered past the empty downtown streets and lonely alleys. It was absolutely quiet, even on streets that I was sure used to be booming and buzzing with activity. All that was nothing more than a distant memory, and the place had morphed into a lonely wasteland. As I walked, I felt like I was the last living person on Earth. Of course, that feeling only lasted for a minute, because I saw Lucas and Nick stomping toward me, shooting daggers with their eyes.
“Dean!” Nick said. The deep furrows between his eyebrows smoothed, and his shoulders relaxed as he drew in a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re alive, but what the heck?”
“I’m fine. Jonathon is sure Val’s gonna turn into a hybrid. I kinda flipped, so I took a walk to cool off.”
“Out here?” Lucas retorted. “Seriously?”
“Like I told Jonathon, I refuse to live in a bubble.”
“Man, that free spirit of yours is gonna get you killed,” Lucas scolded.
I glared at him; he was acting just like Nick. “I thought you liked my free spirit,” I said. “You’re always encouraging everybody to break the rules.”
“Yeah, but you’ve gotta have a brain about it, man. If you’re talking about the helicopter, I thought you’d all be safe,” he said, shooting Nick an apologetic look. “If I’d have known you were gonna crash, I would never have encouraged the escape. I might be a jokester, but I’d never knowingly endanger somebody for some reckless act.”
“Saving my sister was not reckless. If we hadn’t worked together as a team to get her outta there, she’d already be dead.”
“Right. Saving Val was worth it,” Nick cut in. “I think we all agree on that one.”
I blew out a breath.
“But you’re reckless, Dean,” he said without even blinking. “I can’t believe you’d be out here risking your life like this…and for what? Did you at least get us supplies?”
“No. Like I told you, I just needed to clear my head.”
He lifted a brow. “Where did you go?”
I paused, considering my words, but I realized there was no reason to lie. I was eighteen, an adult, and I could do whatever I wanted, whether my brother liked it or not. As he impatiently waited for my answer, I found myself looking into harsh blue eyes. “If you must know, I canoed to the middle of the lake and ate a Hershey bar,” I said, knowing it would piss him off.
My brother shook his head. “So you’re out taking a boat ride while we’re risking our lives to find you?”
“I didn’t ask you to come looking,” I snapped.
His lips pressed into a grim line. “This isn’t a game, Dean. You knew we’d come after you, and you put our lives in jeopardy by just being out here.”
“I’m sure you’ve been through worse,” I said, throwing his own words back at him.
His gaze narrowed. “I’m not gonna stand out here in Zombieville arguing with you. Get your bony butt back inside…now.”
Lucas slapped my back. “C’mon, man. All this drama isn’t gonna do any of us any good.”
I nodded, and we all headed back inside. Nick immediately locked the doors and stomped away without one word.
“What’s his problem?” I asked.
“What do you think is wrong with him? We were worried sick, Dean.”
“I was fine. I didn’t even have to use my weapons. Just took out a straggler here and there with my bare hands and steel-toe boots.”
“You lucked out.”
“Yeah, well, I guess that happens every now and then.”
“Remember when you were ten and Nick and I were fourteen?”
“I guess. What about it?”
“Back then, you followed us everywhere, like a freaking lost puppy. When we went to climb that old, jagged wall by the Rapid Transit Station, we tried to send you home because we didn’t want you to get hurt, but we could never get rid of you. You followed anyway and—”
“Yeah, yeah. So I fell and broke my arm. What’s your point? That I can’t keep up with you and Nick? I’m not ten anymore, Lucas.”
“Maybe not, but you’re sure as heck acting like it,” he said. “You weren’t ready then, and you aren’t ready now. We’ve been trained by the military and have countless hours of experience dealing with this. You’re a fighter, but you haven’t been out here that long. Getting cocky equals getting killed.”
“I can handle myself just fine,” I said.
“I know you think so, and if you want to join the fight when we get back, that’s fine, but before you go out on any one-man excursions, you need some combat training. You need to be prepared, and you shouldn’t leave the safe zones unless it’s for good reason. Taking foolish risks isn’t gonna bring Jackie back, and it isn’t going to save your sister.”
I contemplated his words and swallowed hard.
“In some ways, it’s good to look up to your brother, but you can’t follow all of his footsteps, Dean. Nick takes all kinds of stupid chances because he’s hurting deep down, just like you. He still loves Darla, and he’s not gonna get over her anytime soon.”
“Right. Sometimes I wonder if he even cares if he dies. He’s a different person, Lucas.”
“I’ve noticed that too.”
“He needs to grieve for Darla instead of keeping it all bottled up. He’s gonna explode one of these days, and I hate to think what might happen. Maybe he’ll sacrifice himself in some epic zombie battle, thinking he’ll be with Darla forever.”
“He does take crazy risks.”
“So now you know where I get it from.”
“Well, in all fairness, his risks are for the greater good, not for Hershey bars and canoe trips.”
“Right. What’s up with him and Claire?” I asked.
“He’s lonely and brokenhearted, and I think she fills a void in his life, but no one will ever replace Darla.”
“Well, he’d better not be using her or playing her. She’s my friend, and I don’t want her to get hurt in the end when he walks away.”
“Speaking of that…”
I leaned against the wall. “What?”
&n
bsp; “Val and I have decided it’s best to just be friends. I like your sister a lot, but all things considered—”
“Yeah, it’s better that way,” I said. “You are an awesome friend, but I’m sure you’re not into settling down.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? I’m completely capable of being serious…sometimes.” He laughed nervously.
“Right. You’re a regular groom-in-training,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I just don’t want Val to have her heart broken, and with you being in the service and all—”
He looked away. “I know. I hate this world. I’ll never have a normal life, not ever.” He shot me a hard look. “Don’t enlist to fight the zombies, Dean. It’ll make you something you’re not. I’m not the same guy I was.”
“I don’t think any of us are,” I said, and we chatted for a while longer, then went our separate ways.
Chapter 23
I stood on the roof and stared down at the city as Nick paced. His Glock .22 was wedged tightly into his waistband. It was just the two of us, and it reminded me of the nursing home, on the rooftop. The only difference was that we weren’t on guard duty, since the city didn’t seem to be swarming with zombies like every other place on Earth.
“It’s been too long, and we still have no answers,” I said.
Nick let a long breath out. “I know.”
“Do you trust them?” I asked.
“They don’t seem like snakes, if that’s what you’re asking. They’ve given us shelter and food, looked after the girls, and nursed Lucas back to health. They’re desperately working on the serum and all the samples they took.”
I held his stare. “They’ve kept the girls locked up like caged animals.”
“They have to, Dean. They can’t risk them hurting anyone. There are little kids and civilians here.”
“We’re supposed to meet with the scientists in an hour. Let’s see what they have to say.” I shifted my stance. “Does Claire still have the vials, or did you hide them somewhere else?”
“She still has them, as far as I know, and they have absolutely no idea. They still think we only had a couple.”
“Even that scientist from the nursing home?”
“Yeah, Jonathon’s clueless. He thinks the gang stole the bag and that I had a couple hidden in my pocket.”
“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”
He gave me a fist-bump, then stared into the distance. “I can’t lose Val, not again.”
“I know. We went through so much so save her.”
“This can’t all be in vain,” he said, turning away to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.
“I love Val,” I said. “She’s our sister, and I’ll fight for her. I can’t face Mom and Dad again unless I can tell them we gave it 120 percent.”
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to endure,” Nick said. “I feel numb and sad at the same time. I wanna scream, shout, and punch a wall—maybe more than once.” He let out a long breath. “Sometimes I want to lock myself in a room, and other times I just wanna pound one of those scientists and tell them to fix her. I want to scream at them, to demand that they develop another serum that will keep her from changing.”
“Do you think she’s going to?”
“It’s inevitable, Dean. Otherwise, I would have taken her and left this place by now. As much as I hate it, those scientists are her only hope—if she even has any hope at all.”
“No! You’re wrong,” I said.
He softly clapped my shoulder. “Dean…”
I glanced down and spoke the dreaded words. “I don’t want to believe it. I try to tell myself it won’t happen, but part of me is scared to death that I’m wrong and you’re right.” My brother hugged me as emotion consumed me. I’d finally come to terms with the fact that I might very well lose Val all over again and the thought made me sick to my stomach.
“I hate that the girls are locked up,” Nick said. “I want to leave so bad, to tell these people to screw off.”
“I hate it too.”
“I hope they can tell us where we stand so I know what direction to go. I’m getting tired of waiting around in limbo. I need to know what’s going on.”
“I know it’s against the odds, but what if Val and Claire never change?” I asked.
“We’ll never know for sure. If the scientists don’t find some kind of solid cure, they might change a month from now and call every zombie from kingdom come to the island. We can’t take that chance. We need scientific proof that they’re not gonna morph into one of those things, and I’m praying to God that we’ll find that proof here.”
“And if not?”
“We leave and find another lab, smarter scientists with better equipment and thicker books.”
“Maybe we should just deliver the cure to the military,” I suggested.
“Not until we know what’s going on with the girls. The powers-that-be would whip those vials out of our hands so fast we wouldn’t know what hit us.”
“So we focus on getting the girls better, then deliver the serum.”
He nodded. “That’s the game plan.”
“I love it when a plan comes together,” I joked.
“Well, let’s just hope this one does. I’m running out of Plan B’s.”
Chapter 24
Jonathon took me in to see Val, Claire, and Jackie. The smell of dust lingered all around me, and my eyes adjusted to the dim light as my gaze swung toward Jackie. She was sleeping on the bed, not moving a muscle. I knew she was sedated and couldn’t hear me, but I still said hello and reassured her that we were trying to help her.
“How is she?” Claire said.
“Zonked out.”
Claire looked pale and thin, and her long red hair was in disarray. Dark circles hung under her blue eyes, and she didn’t look good at all, but her face lit up a bit when she saw me. “It’s great to see you, Dean. Now get me out of this nightmare!”
I put my hands over hers, resting on the steel bars. “I’m working on it. Stay strong.”
“I’m not a criminal. I don’t belong here.”
“I know. Just trust me, Claire.”
“I have total and complete faith in you, Lucas, and Nick.” She glanced over at Jonathon. “It’s these guys I’m having trouble trusting,” she whispered.
“Uh…let me just leave you to some privacy with your friends,” Jonathon said, jingling his keys as he left the room.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Dean,” Claire said, “do you know how hard it is knowing Jackie is right next door but not being able to comfort her? I watch them come and go, taking all kinds of samples from her for their stupid, pointless tests. My cousin’s not a Guinea pig. Tell them to stop, Dean. They’ve taken enough from her already.”
“They’re trying to save her life, Claire.”
“You say that, but they’re freaking me out. They walk in here in surgical masks and scrubs, like they’re afraid to be near me. They make me feel like a disease, like I’m not even human. I revoke my consent, Dean. I refuse to let them administer any more tests, and I swear to God I’m gonna deck the next person who comes at me with a needle.”
“I’ll talk to them,” I said.
“Talk? Dean, what you need to do is get Val and me out of here,” she snapped, her voice trembling.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to calm her.
A tear ran down her face. “Tell me, Dean, do you think Jackie is too far gone to be saved?”
“I prefer to believe there’s always hope.”
“I-I just want her back,” Claire sobbed, her voice echoing in the small, confined, yellow space. “But I guess I shouldn’t complain. The serum gave me a little extra time with her. Technically, she should’ve be dead back in Kingsville.”
I wiped a tear from her eye. “I know. I’ll cherish that extra time forever.”
“She’s touched my life so much.”
“Mine too,” I said.
“She’s n
ot just family. She’s also my best friend.”
I cupped Claire’s face as tears welled up in my eyes. “All we can do is hope she’ll beat this.”
“She’s going to beat this, Dean.”
I nodded, kissed her hand, and moved over to Val’s cell block. “Hey, Val,” I said, gripping my sister’s hands.
“Hey, little brother.” She smiled. “Remember when you broke me out back on the island?”
“Yeah.”
“Think you could do that again?”
“I would, but you’re doing this voluntarily.”
“Right. Can you believe I signed up for this?”
“You did the right thing. You could’ve easily left with Asia and Kate, but you didn’t.”
“I need them to run tests so they can figure out how to stop me from transforming. If they can halt this disease, I guess this is all worth it.” Val stared at me with big, bloodshot eyes. Her long black hair hung in greasy strands over her pale face. “Don’t I look beautiful?” she asked sarcastically when she noticed me staring at her.
“Val, you’ll always be a beautiful person inside and out,” I said.
“Aw, little brother. Aren’t you just the sweetest. I know I look awful. Life gets a little messy sometimes.”
“You’re taking this really well.”
“Not really. I just know how to put on a good show.”
“I heard about you and Lucas, about just staying friends.”
“Yeah, it’s for the best. I can’t get attached only to have Lucas leave me day after day to fight the battle. If I’m going to have a man, I need to be his top priority,” she said, laughing. “Gosh, I can’t believe I just said something like that.”
I gripped her hand. “He’ll only break your heart, Val, on purpose or not. Break it off now, before it gets any harder.”
She paused, then continued, “Enough serious talk. My love life sucks. On another note, have the scientists found out anything new? We’ve been here longer than they said. Surely the tests have revealed something by now. Tell me, do I have a life-threatening diagnosis or what?”
“How much time do we have left?” Claire chimed in.
The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) Page 21
