Before she knew it, the front wheel of the motorbike slapped the crumbling pavement.
They jerked forward and then were tugged back the back wheel caught on the broken edge of the concrete.
“Jump!” Dave ordered as he threw himself off.
Without hesitation, she leaped off and landed in a heap on the cement on the other side of the bridge.
We made it!
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Paige fought to catch her breath, but she was laughing like a complete nutcase.
“Holy crap!” she said, and Dave said, “We did it!”
They were both so happy to be alive that they couldn’t stop laughing and shrieking.
“That was really badass,” he announced smugly.
“Me? I did nothing. You drove,” she countered, still in high spirits.
Suddenly, the motorbike caught her eye. It was still caught and now dangled off the edge of the bridge. She grinned, not quite able to believe their good fortune. Their wheels had made it as well, and they needed them more than ever.
Which also meant that the last thing they needed right now was to lose it.
There’s no way I will get to Willow in time without it. Anxiety reared up once again and she bit her lip to force it back.
Dave followed her gaze. He understood immediately and jumped up on his feet. Paige stood as well, and they sprinted back to the motorbike. Working together, they fought to pull it up beside them on the bridge.
“Damn, why is this motorbike so heavy all of a sudden?” he muttered, though she didn’t think it was too heavy.
After dragging it to a point where she knew it wouldn’t fall off, they simultaneously collapsed next to it, exhausted.
Lying on her back on the ground, she allowed herself a few minutes’ rest.
“I can’t believe we just did that,” Dave said softly, and she understood what he really meant by that.
“Yeah, me neither.”
In such a short period of time, so much had fallen on her shoulders. Paige was used to security and the feeling of being protected by others, but that was all gone now. It all fell on her.
It wasn’t only her own survival at stake here, but the survival of her sister and mom as well.
On the other hand, it was empowering to know that she was tougher than she realized, though it was sad that it took the world to end for her to realize that.
“Do you think we can survive all this?” she heard herself ask.
Dave remained silent for so long she was sure he wouldn’t answer her. Then, taking a deep breath, he did.
“If you’d asked me that question yesterday, I would probably have laughed in your face. Because yesterday, I was just a punk, too wrapped up in my own stuff to notice anything. But then today happened...and everything changed.”
“Yeah.”
“But to answer your question, I really don’t know.” He rose so he could look her in the face. “But I am optimistic. We managed to survive this long, and with style.” He delivered that last part with a smile and she smiled back, pondering over what he’d said.
Survival. That was what all of this was about, and it was the only thing that mattered. Slowly, they stood and pulled the motorbike up, readying it for the journey ahead.
“I gotta say, after the frigging leap over that abyss…” Dave exaggerated the last word with a dramatic tone. “My confidence in riding the motorbike has skyrocketed. I believe I can ride it through anything now,” he joked.
“Oh, the horror.” She pretended to be afraid and he laughed out loud.
They headed off with only one thought on both their minds—to get to Fort Hamilton in one piece.
Paige rested her head on Dave’s back. She was glad he was there. It was funny that they’d only met a few hours before but felt like they’d know each other for years. Still, she realized, they didn’t really know much about one another at all. She made a mental note to ask him what his last name was. It seemed important. She should really know that.
They got no further than ten minutes of solid riding away from the bridge when the bike began to sputter.
“What the hell?” Dave exclaimed, trying to steer a clearly dying motorbike.
Give us a break, Paige pleaded. “I think we ran out of gas.”
When they first found the bike, Paige hadn’t given much thought to the gas part of it, and because of that, they were now paying the price. It definitely didn’t sound like it had enough gas to go anywhere, much less to their actual destination.
“Yeah, I think you may be right.”
The good thing was that on Long Island, gas was for sale on almost every street corner. It wouldn’t be long until they came across a gas station.
Dave slowed and coaxed the bike onward. Paige thought it would die on them in earnest, but a gas station came up just ahead. She patted him on the shoulder and pointed, and he immediately coasted the slight downhill into it.
There were cars parked around the pumps, but Paige couldn’t see any people. He was probably wary about the same thing and approached slowly.
The cars were all abandoned.
Weird. The thought pushed itself into her consciousness. Something must have happened here. No shit, Sherlock. The world has been flipped upside down with people acting all crazy.
There were cell phones on the ground and wallets tossed aside like they had been abandoned on purpose.
The people must have seen something and decided to make a break for it, she speculated.
Can’t say I blame them at all, the way this virus seemed to work. All she wanted to do was run away too.
Although right then, her concern wasn’t the virus or the sick. It was the healthy people who would want their motorbike. As they’d proven so far, it was the best transportation available, which made them both lucky and royally screwed at the same time.
There was an empty spot near a pump, and Dave headed toward it.
Getting off, he said. “I’m gonna go and see if we can score some food from the store while you fill the tank.”
“Okay.”
He jogged toward the store while she fumbled with the backpack.
* * *
Dave whistled some stupid tune he’d heard the previous night while going to bed, and now the darn thing wouldn’t stop playing inside his head.
No matter what was going on around him, he realized—whether chased by crazy people or stealing a car—his personal background music seemed to have remained a constant.
And it was slowly driving him insane.
Leaving Paige alone to fill the tank, he walked into the store and was disappointed.
“All the Tootsie Pops are gone,” he whined, discovering a sudden craving for an apple-flavored one.
Debating whether he should use a cart, he strolled about, looking happily for something he could actually take. A lot of things were already gone, and the rest were on the floor, broken and trampled.
“The horror,” he screeched in outrage, looking at his favorite can of Pringles. Picking it up, he noticed that some were still inside and edible, so he started munching.
Making a full circle with practically nothing to show for it, Dave acknowledged his disappointment—like he’d somehow been robbed of a fun experience. Reaching the register, he jumped, startled, only then noticing a cashier behind the desk.
“Sorry, man, didn’t see you there,” he muttered but the other man ignored him. With dread, Dave figured out why. The clerk stared blankly into space, a telltale sign of the virus infection, and a trail of blood seeped from his nose.
Freaked out by all the people he’d encountered in the recent past, including the man at the museum and the running pack at the park, he stiffened instinctively. He knew how this would inevitably play out.
Looking around him to find some type of weapon, Dave came up empty-handed.
There is nothing in this piece of crap of a place, he raged, walking slowly toward the cashier. He waved a hand in front of him but t
here was no response.
Realizing that he was too far gone in his catatonic state, Dave leaned in and tapped the register. It sprang open with a loud dinging sound and for a split second, he worried that it would bring his new best friend back from his stupor.
Thankfully, it didn’t.
“Easy money,” he said cheerfully, collecting all the cash—partly because he could, and partly in case the world righted itself tomorrow. It was always preferable to have a bit of spending money stashed away.
Besides, he wasn’t like the rest of the rich snobs at his college. He didn’t have wealthy parents who bought him an admission. He had to fight and work hard for everything he had.
“Thank you very much for everything.” Dave bowed to no one in particular, but something else caught his eyes.
Paige would like this, he thought and stashed the item in his pocket.
A loud scream from outside sent him hurtling out of the store.
* * *
For some crazy reason, Paige had it in her head that even though it was the end of the world, someone would still want to take her money.
She slotted her debit card into the card reader at the gas pump. Lo and behold, the card still worked.
Interesting how even in the scariest of times, establishments will still take your money, she thought, shaking her head at the crazy, funny world.
Absentmindedly, she started to fill up the motorbike but then reminded herself that she should probably remain alert to her surroundings. She wasn’t used to having to be on guard so much, but it was amazing how quickly a person could adjust to it when you didn’t have a choice.
Through all the mayhem, Paige had seen the lengths people would go to survive. And she didn’t really blame them. She was willing to do a whole lot to survive and to reach her family.
“That’s a nice sword you have there.” A deep voice spoke behind her. It’s a Samurai, you muppet.
Startled, she spun around to find a large man grinning at her from a few feet away. Something about him sent chills down her spine, so she was pretty sure their interaction wouldn’t end well.
“I really like that motorbike, too. Must be nice to have,” he mused, looking at her with a special kind of confidence and arrogance that suggested he’d already won and knew it.
Paige thought about how long it would take her to pull out the sword he seemed to like so much.
He approached slowly, and she couldn’t help but notice that he seemed to lean on his right leg. Which meant his left one was weak.
That would be her target, she decided. Resolved, she prepared herself for what would come next.
“You won’t have the motorbike for long.” The man moved quickly, and once he was in front of her, she reacted and kicked at his bad leg. He screamed but the blow didn’t stop him.
If anything, it only angered him, and he lunged forward.
She swung her sword at him.
He waved with his arms in an effort to protect himself, a futile gesture against a Samurai sword.
The blade connected with his arm and gave him a nasty wound that wouldn’t heal anytime soon. He stumbled back and examined the gash.
“My motorbike, my sword. Get your own!” Paige yelled at him, pissed she even had to defend herself in the first place. It wasn’t like she didn’t already have a horde of infected people to worry about. Now, the healthy ones were a threat as well. It was maddening.
She had no time for this.
There was no way she could fight him off on her own, she was aware of that. He was bigger and stronger, even though she was the one holding a sword. And the moment he realized that, Paige was screwed.
She had to get him out of the way before escaping. At least he wasn’t infected, which was one thing she didn’t have to worry about.
While he was still in shock that some little girl had been able to hurt him like that, she took the opportunity to slash her sword at him again. He raised his hands, stupidly trying the same useless defense. She lashed out again and again until he fell, covering his head with his arms now as he pleaded for his life on his knees.
“What’s going on—I heard screams.” Dave barreled out of the store in a rush with a couple of bags of chips. The kind no one liked, Paige noticed inconsequentially.
“Dave, look out,” she warned, pointing behind him. A store clerk rushed toward him, and by the look of things, he was prepared to bite Dave simply to see how tasty he really was.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Dave protested. “Will this shit ever stop happening?” He engaged in his own fight as Paige resumed her own.
While she was talking with Dave, the man on the ground lunged at her again. Using her weapon, she managed to fend him off, cutting him once fairly deeply. But her arms were tiring now, and he kept on coming.
Something pushed against her back and she screamed so loudly it felt like her own ears started bleeding.
“Relax, it’s only me,” Dave responded in a guttural tone. They were pressed back to back, both panting and covered with sweat.
“Let’s trade places. I’ll take care of your little problem, and you take care of mine.” He rushed over his words because they were in a bit of a bind and needed to end it sooner rather than later.
“Deal,” Paige replied, and with a quick move that resembled a practiced dance, she slashed at the murderous clerk. Behind her, Dave pounded a few well-placed punches into the would-be criminal.
Knowing all the weak spots by now, she aimed for the neck and the heart and succeeding in hitting both targets. The infected cashier succumbed to his wounds and collapsed in a heap, moaning as his blood trickled out onto the concrete.
Turning to see how Dave was faring, she was horrified to see him sitting on the man’s stomach, punching him over and over.
“It’s over—stop,” she screamed.
Paige knew the man couldn’t come after them now, not in his condition, so she grabbed Dave’s arm and practically dragged him away and toward the bike.
“What happened?”
“He tried to rob us. Let’s go.” She gave the short explanation, closed the tank, and took her place on the motorbike.
The man sprawled on the ground, bruised and bloodied, trying to crawl away from them and failing miserably. He kept up a stream of invectives as if he was the victim in this story and not the other way around. Luckily, he was still alive.
“Are you okay? Was it one of those crazies who call you a Seedling?” Dave wanted to know, stealing quick glances at her every once in a while.
‘No. Just a normal piece of crap human. I’m fine,” she replied instantly.
He was annoyed, that much was obvious. She worried he wasn’t angry at the man who had attacked her, because he got what he deserved, but at himself because he shouldn’t have left her on her own.
She wanted to tell him otherwise but knew that was not the time.
Dave straddled the motorbike and revved the engine, then kicked it into gear to ride away.
Paige began to think about the wounds the man now had because of her. If he didn’t manage to stop the bleeding, he’d end up dying, and it would be completely on her. His blood would literally be on her hands. No matter how hard Dave hit him, he’d simply used his fists while Paige had used a sword.
“Stop the motorbike,” she screamed suddenly, breaking the silence. Dave pressed the brakes immediately, and they jerked to a halt.
Without missing a beat, she rummaged through her backpack and pulled out one of her T-shirts.
This should be enough to help stop the bleeding.
“What is up with you?” Dave demanded.
“We have to go back,” she replied, looking at him with pleading eyes.
“Go back where?” he asked in confusion.
“To the gas station.”
“Why?” he demanded.
“Please, Dave,” she urged.
Looking at her with questioning eyes, he simply nodded and without hesitation, turned the bike around
, and rode back to the gas station.
The man was still there on the ground where they’d left him, trying to stop the bleeding.
The sight of him pulled at her heart, and she started to feel guilty for what she’d done. But, then again, people were willing to do crazy things to survive, Paige reminded herself. Present company included.
“Use this to stop the blood.” She tossed him the shirt and turn to leave.
“Why’d you come back?” the man whimpered.
“I don’t want your death on my hands,” she replied, grateful for the knowledge that there were still some lines she was not prepared to cross.
But the real question was how long that would last.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
With the tank now full, Dave let loose.
He couldn’t drive full throttle the whole way because panicked people were still everywhere, but they managed to make up a fair amount of time.
They were now driving through an area that had lots of traffic and houses, and apparently, the people hadn’t realized that they needed to ditch their cars and find another way to get the hell out of there.
Infected people were still mixed with those who looked healthy, but to Paige’s relief, they didn’t act crazy like some they encountered.
Just as before, Dave was very creative with his driving.
“Hold on,” he advised once when they had to use a flight of stairs to avoid a traffic bottleneck.
Paige squeaked, feeling like she would definitely fall off, but she held on tight and surprisingly, they made it without incident.
That little adventure made them slow down a little and suddenly, a man who still looked healthy ran toward them.
“I need the motorbike,” he yelled. “Give it to me now.”
That alarmed a few others nearby and they all looked toward them. It was obvious that the whole damn lot of them now coveted the bike as well.
Not again.
Paige debated with herself whether she should pull her sword from the backpack, but Dave solved her dilemma.
Contamination (Invasion Survivor Book 1) Page 19
