As Zaley’s socks were the tightest, Micah used those to sheath the water bottle itself and force the crack closed. Like the Zyllevir, the bottle would be at the top of a backpack in the hopes it didn’t get as saturated as the bottom. She put it in Austin’s after wrapping it in more clothing.
The straps were pulled tightly on each backpack. From a gap between branches, Zaley looked out to the bridge in trepidation. Very little of it was visible from their vantage point. It was almost dark. This hidden nook was where they’d be going into the water. Trees shielded it from the bridge.
“How much longer should we wait?” Zaley wanted to get this over with.
“We shouldn’t, I think,” Corbin said. “They’re all busy with cars, so they won’t hear us down in the water. Later on there won’t be so much noise to distract them.”
“Later on there might be fewer Shepherds to overhear us,” Elania said.
“But all it takes is one,” Micah said. “Now.”
The water was frigid when Zaley started into the reservoir, like the bites of ten thousand jaws along the nerve endings in her feet and legs. Other circumstances and she would have yelped and dashed back out. And this was drinking water! She was filthy, so filthy that there was a line of dirt showing how high she’d washed her arms in fear of getting poison oak on her skin. None of them were itching, and they were very careful with the clothes that likely had some oil on the fabric. They needed to be laundered. Maybe that could be done in Charbot, if they magically found more money to pay for detergent.
The coldness of the water pulled her thoughts back to the general unhappiness of her body. She hoped doing the breaststroke with one arm didn’t result in her paddling around in circles. The water deepened rapidly off the shore of the reservoir, her clothes dampening at the knees and the thighs, skimming her ass and then she stepped again and it was nearly at her waist. She gritted her teeth and forced herself deeper. For one loathsome second, she wished to be back at home.
But only because she’d be warm and dry there, and no other reason. Her friends were here, wet and cold and miserable. She was going to be wet and cold and miserable with them. Scuffling her shoe along the bottom, she moved forward. Her breasts hollered to be submerged in this liquid ice, and she realized that she was holding up her arms in reflex to keep them dry.
“I hate being cold!” Elania hissed. “There. I said it. That’s my whine, and the only whine you’ll hear from me. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.”
“I hate it, too,” Zaley commiserated. Bleu Cheese paddled along, her leash trailing back to Corbin’s wrist. Micah dunked her head under to wet her hair and darken it. Zaley despaired that she was going to have to do the same.
Once neck deep, she tipped her head back rather than stick her face in the water. The others moved ahead and she followed, swishing her left arm beneath the surface to keep her balance. Her right did its best to help out, making tiny, pathetic circles. At least the weight of it was off her damaged muscles.
The moon was over half full, but the greatest light was coming from the bridge. Snatches of it came into sight as they crept along the nook. In the lead, Austin and Micah slipped around the edge and went underwater in the patch of reservoir exposed to the bridge. The others took their turns and Zaley filled her lungs with air. She sank under the surface and did a clumsy breaststroke pull, emerging underneath more tree cover.
They huddled together in shallower water, listening for sounds of curiosity from above. Corbin held onto Bleu Cheese to give her a break from paddling. She lolled in his arms quietly. A voice said, “Pop the trunk.”
“Aw, come on!”
“Pop it now.” A trunk opened. “Hey, come and have a look.”
“Go!” Micah whispered as the woman on the railing jumped down to see whatever was in the trunk of the car. All of them pushed deeper into the water, Zaley’s eyes trained on the darkness under the bridge. It was only two lanes in width, yet the light didn’t penetrate far underneath.
Swim, you son-of-a-bitch, she thought to her arm. That dark stripe was only twenty feet away. Her left hand broke the surface, unbalanced by the weaker pull of the right. She pulled it down and stalled to pull her legs in for a kick. People shouted overhead, the Shepherd still not back to her post on the railing. They were talking about a cache of marijuana plants. The bridge clattered and brakes squealed, a car pulling up to go eastbound. Zaley kicked hard and propelled herself in the direction of that blessed dark.
Micah was the first to breach it, vanishing into the blackness and Austin going in immediately afterwards. The loudest sound in the water was Bleu Cheese’s panting, and Corbin’s frog kicking too high. A little ahead of Zaley, he changed to a flutter kick deeper under the surface. Wind coasted over them, shaking the trees and rippling the water.
Elania disappeared. The argument about the pot went on as Zaley pulled and kicked. The Shepherds were confiscating some of the plants, and the owner yelled that they were for medicinal purposes. Footsteps scraped along the bridge. The railing was high enough that someone sitting in a car could not see directly down to the water, only farther out. But if that Shepherd took her place on the railing at this time, looked down through the shag of the last tree, she’d see dark heads bobbing along.
Corbin entered the shadows with the dog at his side. With another kick, Zaley pushed under it and they seized her. She didn’t know who and she didn’t care. Pulled underneath the bridge, she clung to someone’s shoulders and her left hand was stretched out to a thin curb along the wall.
“Hold onto this and tread water, baby,” Micah whispered, and let go of Zaley. Even now she was teasing, although her voice was serious. The curb was disgustingly slick and it was for the better that Zaley couldn’t see what was growing there. She reached out tentatively with her right hand and found Bleu Cheese. Moving her hand up, she felt the dog braced to Corbin’s chest as he clung to the wall.
They had made it under the bridge, and now they had to cross the two hundred feet or so to the other side. The light from above dimly illuminated the far shore, and farther away was the glow of a store sign over the trees. It just read Mini-Mart.
The argument concluded overhead, and a car rattled westbound over the bridge. There was one support stand at the center of the crossing. Zaley had no idea what the proper name was, but they’d have to skirt it. All of them edged down the curb to be closer to the northern side, and then Micah kicked off the wall and skimmed through the water. It seemed terribly loud to Zaley, even though she knew objectively that it wasn’t. Tiny waves rippled out from Micah’s form and to what would a Shepherd attribute it? A duck or fish, those were the explanations that came to mind first. Not zombies swimming under the bridge.
“One day this will all be a memory, and I won’t ever, ever speak of it,” Austin whispered to no one in particular, and pushed off the wall.
They watched him go. Elania whispered, “I will.”
Micah was a fast swimmer, and she was already to the support. Barely able to see her, Zaley watched the dark figure hug the stand and move around it to the other side. Then she was swallowed up into blackness. Elania pushed off and the bridge rattled. A Shepherd ordered, “Pop your trunk.”
“Go,” Zaley whispered to Corbin. “They’re busy.”
“You go,” Corbin said.
“But-”
“I’m not leaving you back here on your own,” Corbin said. “Come on, Zaley. I need both of my girls to get across.”
She wished he hadn’t said that. It made her hurt for what she’d given up so stupidly, sending him into the arms, or jaws, of Sally Wang. It was doubtful that Sally had engaged in great internal debates about prudery in their relationship. She was nothing if not secure. Zaley pushed off the wall and let the momentum carry her along. Then she flutter-kicked deep in the water to minimize the ripples coming out from under the bridge. Her arm ached and she didn’t have time for that. She dog-paddled along in the direction of the support stand. If the electricity
went out, she was screwed.
Austin had rounded the stand. Only Elania was still in sight. The flutter kick and hand paddle was a slow way to go, but it kept Zaley better balanced in the water. She was hardly aware of the cold any longer. Elania circled the stand and Zaley thought buttress. No. A leg? It wasn’t an abutment. Why was her mind doing this when she had to focus?
A foundation. A column. Whatever it was, she reached it and dug her fingers into its shallow grooves. Hanging there, she caught her breath. Then she started around it, moving her fingers along the grooves. Something brushed against her leg and she prayed it was a fish.
The muscles in her right arm were screaming at the angle. She brought it down to lower grooves under the water and crept along that way. The dog was breathing loudly as she paddled along with Corbin, a rhythmic HAH-HAH-HAH that made Zaley cringe. But they wouldn’t hear it over the car currently rattling over the bridge.
Getting around the north face of the column, Zaley looked to the shore. A figure was slipping into the shadows, its features indecipherable. Tonight they were going to be freezing, in sopping clothes and with nothing dry to change into, and no fire. She knew exactly why Austin never wanted to talk about this, and why Elania did. Zaley felt stretched halfway between both. It might be easier to speak of this than how her father had slapped her for being friends with someone with Sombra C, threatening to send her out naked into the world as a betrayer to the family, and her mother covering up the bruise with cosmetics.
It was time to push off, yet the pain was holding her back. It had to die more before she could continue. She thought of Shepherds spotting them and opening fire. How fast did a bullet travel once it hit the water?
Goddamn her mind! This wasn’t what she wanted to think about. She pressed to the western side of the column and got her bearings. Her arm hurt viciously. Lights glowed within the Shepherds’ trailer up on the eastern embankment beyond the fence. None of the windows were open to the cold.
Corbin splashed into the column on the other side, his whisper carrying to Zaley. “Come here, Cheesie.”
“I’m over here, so don’t yell to find me,” Zaley whispered.
“Are you okay?”
“My arm hurts like a bitch.”
“You’re halfway there, Zaley.” He came around the column one-handed, the dog pressed to his chest and her paws over his shoulders. Once on Zaley’s side, he said, “Over there is a nice hotel. That’s what I’m telling myself.”
That sounded delicious. “With a big fire in the fireplace.”
“And a bed with warmed sheets.” He hesitated. “Two beds, I mean.”
“Yeah, the dog needs one.” It was out of Zaley’s mouth without a chance for her to think about it first. She still felt that current from earlier thrumming through her body.
“Zaley-”
“Forget I said it,” Zaley begged with embarrassment.
“Okay. It’s forgotten. But just so you know, if I didn’t have a zombie virus in my blood, I wouldn’t have a problem sharing a bed with a pretty girl.”
Even in this frigid water, a charge coursed through her. The cold was supposed to dampen these feelings, not heighten them. Still embarrassed to have said that, Zaley kicked off the column and paddled away. Her arm told her with every movement just how much it hated being attached to her.
She was seriously flagging by the time her fingers found the slick curb in the darkness on the other side. Edging to the end, she forced herself around the corner and soon found ground under her feet. The fence on the bridge was above her, a light as well, so she slunk by the wall and waded out. Water streamed off her body, and a breeze made her shiver. Her legs shook from the lancing pain in her arm.
“Zaley!” Elania hissed from the trees. Checking over the bridge first for cars, Zaley ran into the cover of the canopy. She picked up her right arm to ease the aching. The other three were running their hands over their arms and faces to get the drops of water off.
They heard the HAH-HAH-HAH of the dog, and then Corbin and Bleu Cheese joined them. Micah whispered, “We’re in a bad place. If we shine the flashlight, they can see it. If we travel on the shore using moonlight, they’ll see us anyway.”
“We can’t wait for daylight this close to the brace,” Elania said.
They were right by the fence, but this definitely wasn’t the place to climb it. Nor was it the time to wring out their clothes. Cars went by on the bridge as Zaley held her arm and breathed in and out with the pain. A zipper was undone and the flashlight came out. Micah pressed it to the side of her leg and shined it on the ground.
They held hands and walked in single file, Micah picking out the steps to take and everyone following slowly. The activity on the eastern side of the bridge was out of earshot if not eyesight. The woman was on the railing, but her back was to them.
Zaley was last in line. She didn’t know how far it was they went, minute by plodding minute with her body shaking from her wet clothes and her arm in a tantrum from not being held up. She forced her fingers into her sodden jeans pocket to alleviate some of it. Step . . . step . . . step . . .
At last they stopped, pushing through bushes into a cove hidden from the bridge. It was also concealed from the fence. After checking for poison oak, they separated to strip off their clothes and wring them out. Zaley peeled off everything on top with her left hand in the little private space she had between trees. The skin on her shoulders and under her breasts was irritated from wearing a sports bra all day and all night. Once it was off, she slicked her left hand down her skin to remove the droplets. They showered to her feet and she swung her braid around to wring it.
Beyond the tree at her side, Corbin was doing the same. She caught glimpses of him in the moonlight, his muscles flexing as he twisted his clothing. He had such a beautiful body. While he worked, he talked softly to the shaking dog. “Thank you for getting me wet again, Cheesie.”
Peeling off wet jeans one-handed was an arduous task. Finally she won her freedom and started the long work of wringing out everything. The bra was the easiest. Zaley couldn’t force herself to put it back on over her irritated skin. Hanging it on a branch of a tree, she focused on her shirts and sweatshirt. One by one, they went up into the tree to dry, which was a fantasy she had to allow herself. Knowing damn well that they were going back on damp and cold, she thought about the fire roaring in the fireplace of the hotel room and picked up her jeans.
Her arm was done with twisting, and getting these jeans back on was going to be even harder than getting them off. She squeezed the material with her left hand and sighed. It sounded more alarmed than she had intended. Corbin was there in a shot. “What’s wrong?”
She threw her bad arm over her bare chest. “Nothing!”
All he had on was his underwear, which clung in shriveled misery to his body. The waistband was torn. Zaley shook her head, too tired and pained to be embarrassed. “I can’t wring out my jeans.”
“I’ll do it for you,” Corbin said. He held out a hand for the jeans, which she extended. His eyes lingered on her form, and Zaley dropped her arm. Half because she didn’t have the strength to keep it up, and half on that charge still going strong.
She didn’t have anything that riveting, just a B-cup and nipples she thought were too large for the small size of her breasts. But he stood there frozen on the shore, not seeming to know what to say, and she didn’t know either. This was what she had, and it captivated him. She liked that he was looking. The jeans were stretched out between them, one leg in his hand and the other in hers.
The wind blew and they shivered simultaneously. Fifty degrees at most and they were standing outside in wet underwear. Her braid dripped icy drops down her spine. They moved together, Zaley pressing the other leg of the jeans to him and Corbin coming closer to take it. His skin was icy upon hers in the brief moment they touched. She relinquished the jeans to his tug and he turned to wring them out over the water. Droplets pattered down as he made short work of the
m. Uncomfortable by the silence, Zaley said, “What are you thinking?”
He grinned at the jeans. “I’m not thinking anything.”
“Yeah?” She pressed to his arm, in disbelief at her forwardness, and he grinned more widely. “Nothing?”
“Baseball cards, fuzzy kittens, Mr. Dayze,” Corbin said.
“Why?” Zaley teased.
“So I don’t think about a mostly naked girl at my side.”
“I want that hotel room you promised.”
“Oh, believe me, I want it too.” Glancing over her things, he said, “I can’t believe you still have that.”
She followed his gaze to her amethyst and red bead bracelet, which was drying on a rock. “Of course I still have that!”
“You stopped wearing it at school. I just figured-”
“We broke up.” That sounded so much nicer and more collaborative than I dumped you. “I thought if I wore it, I’d look clingy or something. It’s the most beautiful piece of jewelry I’ve ever gotten; I wasn’t about to throw it away.”
He returned her jeans and she hung them from the tree. When she turned around, he was watching. “Anything else you’d like me to wring?”
“I’m good.” Zaley wished for the courage to take off her underwear and hand it to him, to see what he would do. God, her hormones were out of control. He retreated back to his side and she slicked her hand down her legs.
“The Zyllevir survived,” Elania announced.
“So did the cell phones,” Austin called.
“I’ve got something even better,” Micah said. “One dry T-shirt for everyone.”
“How the hell did you manage that?” Corbin asked.
Bushes rustled and Micah appeared to pass a shirt to Zaley. “I stuffed them in the Super Robo-Man bottles. Robo Power!”
“I don’t care if it was up your ass, it’s dry,” Austin said.
“Now that would have been a smart place to put something,” Micah said as Zaley shrugged into the T-shirt. It was a men’s size large that went down to her thighs, and wonderfully dry.
The Zombies: Volumes One to Six Box Set Page 70
