“Val?” I asked, my voice raspy, broken.
She didn’t answer.
My fingers wandered to her neck to check for a pulse, but I felt none. “Val?” I said, this time louder, my voice filled with terror.
She looked so peaceful and calm, as if she was sleeping.
I scooped her up from Nick as tears welled in my eyes. “It’s gonna be okay, sis,” I whispered. “I promise.” I don’t know why I made a promise I wasn’t sure if I could keep; it just seemed like the right thing to do. Even if the cure didn’t work or we couldn’t get it back from Tahoe and had to end her life, I knew she’d be in a better place. Nick agreed to do it because there was no way I could. I refused, even if it would mean sending her to a better place. How could I ever go back to our parents and tell them I shot their only daughter?
“That’s it. She’s gone,” Nick whispered.
I shook my head, unwilling to believe him. “No, just wait. She’ll come around.”
Lightning flashed, followed by a roll of thunder that rocked the air, as if the whole universe was angry about the death of our sister.
Rain dripped down Nick’s hair and face “She’s gone, Dean.” He punched the side of the truck. “I can’t believe she’s dead!”
I cradled her close, blinking through the rain. Wet drops rolled across her green, tattered skin. I pulled the blanket up so I could protect her face. “What are we going to do?”
Nick ran a hand through his wet hair, as if in thought.
“You can’t shoot her!” I snapped. “I don’t care what she made us promise back at that airport control tower.”
“Of course, but she’s gonna change eventually. You have to understand that.”
I glared up at him. No! I knew it was going to happen, but facing it seemed scary, numbing, and surreal.
Nick grabbed some rope from the corner of the truck bed, the rope we’d used to hold the zombie that Claire had shot. “We’ll have to tie her up,” he said.
It seemed so cold, so heartless, but I knew it had to be done.
“You need to put her down and get away,” Nick said. “That’s not our sister anymore.”
“But it’ll be our sister again,” I said, “as soon as we get the formula.”
He nodded slowly.
I kissed her on the head. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Val.” I gently laid her down as Nick started to tie her hands behind her back.
“You said the cure was supposed to be given once she became a zombie,” Nick said over the howl of the wind. “Can she be a zombie for a while, or does it have to be given to her immediately?”
“I dunno. Doc didn’t say. He just said she had to be a zombie. I never planned on watching Val turn into one without having the cure in my hands to even try.” I clenched my fists as Nick tied the ropes around her arms. “I hate doing this to her,” I said.
He tugged at his wet clothes and turned his gaze to the passing scenery. “I know, but you know we have to. What other choice do we have?”
“We’ll find Tahoe and get the vials back,” I said, determined. “We’re going to save her.”
A long hiss made me jump. I shuddered as I stared into Val’s white eyes, devoid of any life or understanding as to what was going on. For a minute, the world around me froze. She looked so different, so evil. I didn’t recognize her, and she certainly didn’t recognize me as she eyed me hungrily.
Chapter 13
After a brief, heavy shower of icy rain rolling down my skin and soaking my clothes, the clouds cleared, and the sun peeked out. Shivering, I wiped the droplets from my face and let the brilliant sunrays warm my bare skin as I gazed up at the clear, blue sky. I jerked as the truck suddenly slipped to the right, and the sound of the rubber tires slapping against the wet asphalt soon snapped me back to reality.
Lucas didn’t seem to mind and just kept speeding down the highway like a madman, oblivious to what had just happened only a few feet away, on the other side of the partition window. He and the girls had no idea that Val had just died and come back to life as a zombie. I’d seen it with my own eyes, and even I couldn’t believe it.
Sitting in the back of the pick-up truck, grief and anger ripped through every fiber of my being. I wrung my hands in my lap, unsure of what to do or what to believe anymore. I wasn’t staring at my sister, but at a monster. I could see every vein in her face, spreading out like a spider web through her translucent skin.
Thrashing, she struggled in her bindings. Her beautiful blue eyes were now glazed over: white and glassy, sunken and hollow. But what freaked me out the most was the way she kept hissing through her yellow teeth, then savagely biting into her tattered skin, as though she might just gnaw her own arm off if she couldn’t devour one of ours.
Nick pounded on the glass divider with his fists to get the girls’ and Lucas’s attention. I tuned out as he delivered the horrible news in a monosyllabic way, choked by the emotions he desperately tried to keep in check. From the corner of my eye, I caught Jackie’s horrified expression and then, just a few seconds later, the truck stopped abruptly, jolting us in our seats. Lucas and the girls hurried out to offer us their condolences, uttering the right words with the right amount of compassion, though I don’t think one word actually really reached me.
Everything was a blur: the soft wind that had begun to blow at some point, the chirping birds in the nearby trees, and my heart drumming in my ears. At some point, it began to drizzle again, then stopped. The sun peeked through the dark clouds, bathing me in a warm sensation that felt strange and surreal. I cringed at the beauty in the aftermath of such horror.
Nick shot Claire and Jackie a thankful look, but I could tell from his furrowed brows that the emotion was becoming too much for him to handle.
“We appreciate it,” I said to the girls, then grabbed my brother’s arm and guided him toward the truck. We had wasted a lot of time and needed to get back on the road. Sticking around wasn’t safe, not to mention that we still had to find Tahoe. As long as the vials were missing, Nick was a ticking bomb, ready to explode, and no amount of sweet words and compassionate looks was going to appease him. Suddenly, he broke away from me.
“I hope you know this is all your fault!” he said to Claire.
She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “How can you blame me?”
Even though his voice was calm, his face was a mask of anger, his eyes glowing with fury. I had never seen him so angry, yet composed in my life, and it scared the crap out of me.
“It’s not anyone’s fault,” I said sharply, in the hope my tone might calm him down. I was grieving too, but I didn’t take it out on the people around me.
Nick took a hissing breath and let it out slowly. A few moments of silence passed, and I almost thought he’d regained his control, when he opened his mouth again. “If we’d left Tahoe on that deserted road, like I wanted to, we’d have the cure in our hands right now, and everything would’ve gone according to plan. My sister wouldn’t have to suffer.” He met my gaze, as though waiting for me to back him up.
I pressed my mouth into a thin line and kept quiet. Even though he had a point, I wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire. What was done was done.
“We’d be giving it to her, Dean, right now—this very second! She could be already healed.” His voice rose an octave. When I didn’t answer, he continued, “But no! Instead, we had to tend to Tahoe’s wounds, to supposedly do the right thing and take care of a jerk who was friends with Earl…the dude that threw Val over the balcony into a crowd of hungry zombies!”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing my words wouldn’t do any good. I didn’t know how to comfort Nick. I didn’t even know how to comfort myself. I just stared in a daze. How could things go so wrong?
Lucas pulled Claire and Jackie aside and started to whisper. I craned my neck to catch their dialogue: “It might be best if you get back in the truck and drive. When Nick gets like this, it’s best just to give him his space and leave him alone
until he sorts out his issues. Just give him some privacy.” Then Lucas shot me a quick look, and I nodded, thankful.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Claire said. “I didn’t know this would happen.”
Lucas nodded slowly. “I know that, and deep down, Nick knows it too. As I said, just give him some time. Until recently, he didn’t even know he had a sister, so it’s only natural that he’d take her loss badly.”
“You didn’t know any of this would happen?” Nick yelled over at Claire. “You didn’t know picking up a criminal would turn out disastrous?”
I nudged him, hissing. “What good is fighting going to get us?”
“We were only trying to do the right thing,” Jackie insisted. “Trust me, if I could go back in time and change things, I would. We all would.”
“Your little Girl Scout act cost my sister her life!” Nick said, kicking the side of the truck. “If she doesn’t come back from this, I’ll never forgive you.”
“There’s still a chance, but you need to think straight,” Jackie said. “Instead of arguing, we need to get our butts back on the road…like right now.”
Lucas hopped into the truck bed. “Jackie’s right. Let’s get a move-on. Claire’s driving,” he said. “I wanna be back here.”
“Why?” Nick asked.
Lucas shrugged. “Because I need fresh air. Don’t you?”
I knew that wasn’t the real reason. He wanted to make sure Val didn’t hurt us.
“Dean and I don’t need you. We can handle Val,” Nick said.
“When she turns violent, which you know she will, you’re gonna need all the help you can get.” Lucas looked down at his tracker. “Hey, our medicine man’s on the move again, heading north.”
I slapped Nick’s shoulder. “We’re gonna save her. Trust me on this one. We’re all counting on that vial, but if we want to get our hands on it, we have to go after Tahoe.” It seemed strange that I was acting as the voice of reason, as that was usually Nick’s role. I could tell by his confused expression how rattled he was.
Claire looked over her shoulder to make sure we were all in, and as soon as Nick was settled next to Lucas, Val, and me, she hit the gas and took off. My stomach turned, and my nerves were on edge. Lucas still had a signal, so we knew Tahoe couldn’t be far away. Hundreds of ideas on how to get to him raced through my harried mind, desperate to be put to the test, but I had a hard time focusing on any of them with Val constantly growling at me. She struggled in her bindings, growing more furious and hungry by the second. I didn’t want to think about what might happen if she broke free.
“Don’t worry, Val,” I said, inching closer. “I’m gonna save you, if it’s the last thing I ever do.”
She lurched at me, her jaws snapping.
“Are you crazy?” my brother asked. “I told you to stay away from her.”
My heart raced in my chest. Seeing her like that was more than I could bear, but I knew I had to stay strong. She needed me, whether she realized it or not.
Lucas held her down while Nick wrapped a red handkerchief over her mouth, then shrugged a burlap sack over her head.
My jaw dropped. “Is that really necessary?”
“It’ll confuse her,” Nick said. “When they can’t see, they’re temporarily disoriented. We can’t chance anyone else getting bitten.”
I nodded, trusting him. He must have really known his stuff, because Val suddenly grew quiet and quit thrashing around, like parakeets in a cage when the cover is put on. She just moaned and let out a breathy growl.
“Hey!” Lucas looked up from the tracker. “The signal’s stopped. We’re right on his butt.” He stood and knocked on the glass.
Jackie slid open the divider.
“I need the map,” Lucas said.
She fumbled around in the glove compartment and handed it to him.
As he studied the map, Lucas’s eyes narrowed.
“What?” I asked.
“By my calculations, Tahoe stopped in a town called Kingsville.”
Nick handed the map back to Jackie.
“Kingsville, huh? Sounds like the perfect place for a royal pain in the butt. We’re en route to catch his sorry self,” Jackie said.
“Why would he risk his life by stopping in a town in broad daylight?” I asked.
Nick shrugged. “Maybe the Jeep broke down or his wound got infected. I don’t know, and I honestly don’t care. All that matters is that we finally have a chance to catch up with him and get back what he stole from us.”
Lucas nodded. “You’re right. I don’t care what happened to him. If the zombies got him, good. Karma or whatever. At least then the vials will be safe.”
Chapter 14
An hour later, we pulled off the highway and into the outskirts of Kingsville. A giant United States flag flapped atop a tall pole right outside the towering gates. Tanks, military trucks, and infantry troops were stationed around the city. Clearly, the military wasn’t messing around when it came to battling the undead. About a thousand feet ahead, a seven-foot barbed-wire perimeter fence stretched as far as my eye could see, as if to surround the entire city. In seconds, sirens sounded, and military vehicles rushed toward us. I glanced at Val. She seemed motionless, but we had no idea how long that peacefulness would last.
“Uh…this isn’t a deserted town,” Lucas said.
Everything had suddenly become more complicated. “Do you think Tahoe’s under military protection or something?” I asked.
“Without a doubt,” he answered, stuffing the tracker inside a pillow. “According to my device, the idiot’s here.”
Claire immediately stopped the vehicle.
I shot Nick a look. “They’ll kill Val the second they see she’s a zombie.”
“My thoughts exactly, and we can’t let them see her with a sack over her head either,” he said, taking it off and throwing a dusty green blanket over her.
“What good’s that gonna do?” Claire asked through the partition window.
“Yeah, that’ll never work!” Jackie suddenly raced out of the passenger side of the pick-up truck and jumped in the back with us as the military vehicles headed steadily in our direction. “I’ve got an idea!”
“What?” I asked.
“I’ll play the ditzy card and get under the covers with Val. We’ll tell ‘em we girls are embarrassed to come out because of how dirty and awful we look. We can blame it on a bad hair day!” She slipped into the covers next to Val.
“Think they’ll buy it?” Nick asked.
“Yep!” she retorted.
I knew some girls who wouldn’t leave the house without makeup, so I had to hope her ploy would work, even though I didn’t think Jackie could ever look awful. “Val’s gagged and everything, so you won’t get bitten.”
“That doesn’t mean she can’t scratch me,” Jackie said.
“She’s tied up pretty tight,” Nick assured her.
Jackie glanced up at him. “Yeah? Well, I’m not taking any chances.”
“They’re coming!” Claire said, gripping the steering wheel as she glanced over her shoulder at us.
I glanced around for something to cover Val’s hands.
“Just use the sack that covered her face,” Claire yelled through the open back window.
“Got it!” Jackie said. She grabbed the burlap sack and put it over Val’s hands, then pulled the cord tightly, tying it in a knot.
Nick covered the girls up as I held my breath, wondering how it was all going to play out. The trucks squealed to a halt as armed soldiers fanned out around us. The blanket over Val’s head seemed to calm her.
“Put your hands up in the air!” one of them shouted.
I slowly raised my arms. We all knew it was best to act like naïve drifters, just trying to survive another day. If the troops discovered that we were there like bounty hunters, looking for someone in their custody, they’d never let us enter. “We’re just lookin’ for some food and a place to sleep for the night,” I lied.
>
“You got weapons?” a man shouted.
“Of course,” I said. “Martial law has been declared. How do you think we survived all those zombie attacks out there?”
“We’ll need you to hand them all over,” a soldier said. “You can have them back on your way out or if you don’t pass inspection at the clinic.”
Soldiers rummaged through our stuff and took our entire arsenal. I hoped they weren’t lying and would give us our guns back before we left. There was no way I was going to go out amongst the cannibals unarmed.
“Any of you been bitten or scratched?” the voice asked.
“No,” Nick said.
“So you’re only here for sanctuary?”
I nodded. “Yes, just one night. We’re passing through, and we’ll be on our way tomorrow.” I figured that would get us plenty of time to find Tahoe, without arousing too much suspicion. For a moment, I considered telling them a thief had entered their town, carrying a bag of vials that might be the cure to the virus. I was sure having the military on our side would be a huge benefit. But what if they snatch the vials away from Tahoe and leave us out in the cold? I reasoned, knowing there’d be no hope for Val then. We couldn’t take any chances—with her life or our own.
“You can put your hands down now,” a soldier said.
Another soldier peered over the rim of the truck bed. “What you got hiding under the covers?”
My jaw dropped as he pointed his gun straight at the girls. Any second, the soldier could uncover our secret, and we’d all be doomed and caught in our lies.
Lucas draped himself over Val under the covers. “Come on, babe,” he said. “Don’t be shy. Nobody cares how bad your hair looks right now.”
“No! I’m not coming out,” Jackie hissed. “I have no makeup on, and I stink worse than the zombies!”
The Zombie Chronicles - Book 2 (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) Page 7
