Melissa and Bobby Dean exchanged looks. Neither of them wanted to sit by an infected girl, especially because she wasn’t restrained very well.
“We can’t get in the car with an infected person, Mike,” Bobby Dean said plainly. “It’s just not safe.”
“We can’t leave her,” he cried. “You said you wouldn’t harm her. This is my car. If you can’t follow my rules, you’re going to have to leave.”
Bobby Dean clutched his shotgun. “You don’t know who you’re talking to,” he said with a menacing smirk.
“He means that he’s afraid of getting accidentally infected by your daughter,” Melissa quickly interrupted. She glared at Bobby Dean. He was going to get them all killed.
“I get that, but I don’t know what other option we have,” Mike said, getting frustrated.
“I have an idea,” Ariel said quietly. “Hear me out—we put the girl in the trunk.”
“She’s not luggage!” Mike exclaimed. “I’m not putting her in the trunk. Why don’t you ride in the trunk and you see how you like it?”
Bobby Dean and Ariel looked at each other and erupted into giggles. Mike looked confused and exasperated. But he was in no position to leave without the newcomers. They outnumbered him and could easily take his car from him, leaving his daughter without a chance of recovery.
“What are you laughing about?” Mike asked, about to lose his mind. “I don’t see what’s so funny about this.”
“It’s nothing,” Melissa said, trying to keep Mike from having a meltdown. “It’s just that Bobby Dean made Ariel ride in the trunk before their car got totaled. It’s not really funny.”
“I rode in the trunk for, like, two hours.” Ariel giggled. “I was completely fine. She’s a lot smaller than I am, too. Plus, your trunk is bigger than Bobby Dean’s.”
The man thought it over for a minute. He looked nervous.
“Look,” Melissa said, “we might be the only people in the world who are willing to help you with your daughter. Just do what you need to do to keep us safe and we’ll see what we can do for you. We really don’t want to make this more complicated than it needs to be. You’re essentially travelling alone and you could use our protection. We need a car so we can make it to a safe place. If we work together, we can get to this town you’re talking about much faster.”
Mike nodded. “Fine. Please be gentle with her.”
Together, Melissa and Mike picked up the squirming girl and gently set her in the trunk. Once they closed the lid, she calmed down. It was the perfect isolation chamber to get her to enter the dormant state.
Once the girl was safely stowed, Bobby Dean got in the front seat and the girls buckled themselves into the back. The car sounded terrible, but it was running.
“What do you know about the place we’re going to?” Melissa asked Mike.
“Only that they’re taking refugees and that they seem to have a cure for the virus,” he said softly. “Other than that, I haven’t learned much about it.”
“Do you know where it is?” Ariel asked.
“By the state line. I told you I don’t know much about it,” he said shortly.
For the rest of the ride, no one spoke to Mike. Bobby Dean and Ariel hardly spoke either. There was definitely tension between the passengers, but Melissa didn’t mind. It meant that she could enjoy a few hours of quiet as the car creaked down the road. She closed her eyes and listened to the engine strain to get up the hills.
Eventually, they drove past a small, handmade sign that offered refugees a place to stay at the next exit. Melissa’s stomach tingled. There were so many possibilities for what the camp could be—so much potential for it to be a life-saver or absolute hell. She just hoped it was the former.
At the exit, they approached a hastily-built, chicken-wire fence guarded by a man and a woman with automatic weapons. Though they wore bullet-proof jackets, they had big smiles on their faces. This contrast made Melissa feel uneasy.
“Welcome to Safe Haven,” the woman greeted them. “Are you in need of a place to stay?”
“Sure are,” Bobby Dean answered. “What do we have to do? Blood tests and all that? Are we going to be locked up in separate rooms? What’s this place all about?”
Melissa didn’t enjoy his tact, but she had similar questions. She would have phrased them differently.
“Not at all.” The man chuckled. “This is a commune that welcomes anyone who is trapped on this side of the quarantine. This town has been able to continue running like a normal society, but just a little differently. We just ask that everyone who enters pledges to act peacefully and respectfully toward the other residents.”
“Sure,” Ariel said. “We’re a pretty chill group.” She looked excited to head into town.
“That’s good to hear. We only ask that your party waits at the Grand Hotel on Main Street until the mayor is able to greet you and take your names down in the town register. Then, you’re free to do as you please. Welcome to Safe Haven and enjoy your stay here.”
“Thank you,” Mike said dully before starting to pull away from the guards.
“Wait,” Melissa yelled. “We have to tell you something.”
Mike glared at her in the back seat, but Melissa ignored him. It didn’t seem right to bring an infected person into a safe zone without anyone’s knowledge.
“There’s an infected girl in the trunk. She’s well-restrained, but she’s prone to violent fits.”
“She’s my daughter,” Mike said wearily.
“I just thought you should know that,” Melissa said guiltily.
The male guard smiled sympathetically. “She’s welcome, too. Keep her safe, and the mayor will be able to assist you with her care. Go ahead and park in the hotel’s lot.”
Melissa raised her eyebrows. Mike was right—they really didn’t care about letting infected people into their camp. Perhaps they really did have a cure.
As they drove to the hotel, Melissa was shocked by how normal the town looked. It was quaint, with little houses lining the streets. Around the park, people set up tents and were trading vegetables for goods like blankets. People seemed calm and happy. It was nothing she had seen post-epidemic.
The Grand Hotel stood out from the rest of town. The magnificent hotel towered above the one-story houses that surrounded it. Mike parked the car and went into the trunk to retrieve his daughter, who was fast asleep.
Melissa quickly walked inside the building and approached the girl at the front desk. Instead of a receptionist in a hotel-issued suit, she was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and jeans.
“Are you new in town?” she asked, flipping through a stack of keys.
“Yes,” Melissa answered.
“How many?”
“Uh—five, I guess,” she answered, not expecting to share a room with the infected girl and her father. “Is there any way we can get two rooms?”
“Sorry, we have to keep enough rooms vacant for newcomers. We don’t want to turn anyone away. We can try to get you into permanent housing sooner if you want.”
“I don’t know what our plans are,” she said quickly. “One room is fine.”
“Excellent. You have Room 205. Go up one floor and you’ll see it. If you need anything, just call the front desk. I’ll call the mayor and set up a meeting for you. Please just hold tight in the room until your meeting, please.”
“Okay,” Melissa said, taking the key. As she walked up the stairs, she wondered why it was so important to speak to the mayor. But she didn’t really feel like wandering around the town. She preferred to stay close to her travel companions, just in case.
“This place is awesome,” Ariel breathed as she looked at the ornate decorations on the walls. She looked at the ceiling and twirled around. “I’ve never been in such a fancy hotel before.”
“This place is too nice,” Bobby Dean said. “Why would they let us stay here when we’ve got an Infected with us? Makes no damn sense, if you ask me.”
“I was thi
nking the same thing,” Melissa muttered under her breath.
She opened the door to find a suite with one large living room and bedroom combination, plus a secluded, smaller bedroom hidden behind a sliding door.
“This is awesome!” Ariel exclaimed, leaping onto the bed with her dirty shoes on.
Melissa shot her a dirty look. “We have to sleep there, you know.”
She needed a moment to herself to think and observe, but there was too much commotion going on around her.
“Mike, do you want the separate room?” Melissa asked. “You know, so you can be with your daughter and all?”
“Fine,” he said softly. He carried the girl, still covered in the wool blanket, to the room and shut the door behind him.
Now that they were taken care of, Melissa looked out the window. People were casually milling about outside, as if there wasn’t an epidemic racing through the country. She wanted to figure out what made this place run when the rest of society couldn’t seem to get their act together.
Mostly, she wanted to understand exactly why she didn’t trust this place.
Everyone jumped when they heard a knock at the door. Bobby Dean was the first to stand up to answer it. Mike peeked his head out of the separate room, a nervous expression on his face. Melissa could hear the girl moaning in the background.
“Can we help you?” Bobby Dean asked with mock politeness.
“I was told that there was a little girl up here who is infected,” the man in a jumpsuit said. “We’re here to take care of her.”
“What do you mean ‘take care of her’? I’m her father. What do you plan on doing to my daughter?”
“We have a nursery for treating children,” the man said, opening the door a little wider so they could see his gurney. “The doctor will take good care of her. She’ll be held in isolation with the other kids, treated, and then monitored to make sure she returns to full health. Once she’s better, she can rejoin you.”
“I can’t go with her?” he asked.
“We’ll keep you updated on her progress, but we can’t allow uninfected people to go in the contamination areas. It’s for everyone’s safety. Now, may we take your daughter to the nursery ward in the hospital? We assure you, she’s in good hands.”
Mike bit his lip and nodded. “Okay,” he said, retrieving his daughter. She struggled as he handed her over to the men in jumpsuits. Once she was out of his hands, Mike rushed back to the room and slammed the door behind him.
The other three watched as they carefully strapped the girl to the gurney. They filled a small syringe and injected the girl, causing her to go limp.
“What was that?” Melissa asked.
“It’s a mild sedative. It won’t knock her out, but it will keep her from fighting. She’s just going to feel a little sleepy. We don’t want her to hurt herself with the restraints.”
She had never seen anyone be so gentle with an infected person before. Even Melissa had qualms about keeping the girl in the trunk of the car. Maybe these people did have a cure for the virus.
“Do you know when the mayor is coming to see us?” Ariel asked impatiently. “I’m starving and I see people with food outside.”
“Why don’t you call room service?” the man asked, as if it were a silly question. “They’ll hook you up with whatever you need.”
With that, they pushed the gurney out of the doorway, shutting the hotel door behind them. Ariel raced over to the phone and found a room service menu.
“Do you really think they have all of this food?” she asked. “I haven’t had a burger in months.”
“It’s worth a try,” Melissa said, picking up the phone. She proceeded to order one of everything from the menu as Bobby Dean licked his chops.
“Is it possible to get other toiletries delivered up here?” Melissa asked. “I’d really like to be able to brush my hair. And my teeth. Do you have any spare clean clothes, by chance?”
The receptionist laughed warmly. “Of course. We’ll send that right up.”
While they waited for their food to arrive, Melissa jumped at the chance to take a shower. She turned on the faucet, expecting frigid water, but she found that hot, steamy water came out of the shower head. She poured a liberal amount of shampoo in the palm of her hand and nearly squealed with delight as she washed away all the dirt that had accumulated in her hair over the course of a few weeks. She scrubbed every ounce of her body, rinsing off flecks of dried blood she hadn’t even noticed.
When she was finished, she got out and dried herself on a bleach-scented towel and looked at herself in the mirror. She was surprised to realize that she hardly recognized herself anymore. Her fair skin was far more freckled than it had ever been. Her hair had grown past her shoulders and her eyebrows were bushy and wild. Her body was thinner, but much more muscular. Then she examined the pink circular scar on her shoulder. She traced the outline of it, amazed at how her body was able to come back from such horrible trauma. She thought of Thomas and how he had stayed by her side the whole time she was sick.
It was different, but she liked her new appearance. It told the story of a young woman who had gone through hell and continued to fight. Melissa grabbed a white bathrobe from the bathroom and tied it tightly around her waist.
Moments later, the goods arrived at the door. Bobby Dean and Ariel ate ravenously, stuffing food into their mouths as quickly as they could. Melissa grabbed a turkey sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup and hardly stopped eating long enough to breathe. Even Mike came out of his room long enough to take a hamburger, fries, and a soda before returning into his separate bedroom.
Once she was finished eating, Melissa lay on the couch, too full to move. She initially wanted to have first pick of the clothing that had arrived, but her eyes were heavy. She sipped a mug of hot chocolate while she listened to Bobby Dean and Ariel recap every bite of their feast. Before long, the other two retired to the bed, kicking their muddy shoes off before flopping down on top of the sheets.
The hot shower and warm food had a tranquilizing effect on Melissa. There was so much that she wanted to do, like pick out new clothing or read the literature in the hotel room, but she was too sleepy. She wanted to discuss exit strategies and plans with Ariel and Bobby Dean, but they were asleep on the bed. That was fine with Melissa. It would have to wait until after their nap.
6
The motorcycle’s tires were slowly spinning when Alec returned to consciousness. He pried his face from the edge of the road as the blood from the road rash had already begun to dry on the pavement. He tried to stand up and examine the damage that had been done in the crash.
He limped back toward the motorcycle, which he didn’t remember falling perfectly into the ditch beside him. In most crashes, the drivers sometimes landed nowhere near their vehicle at the time of an accident.
Alec looked all around him, but he didn’t see Thomas. He walked a few feet in each direction, but he didn’t see anyone. Was it possible that Thomas was thrown off before Alec lost control of the motorcycle?
When he returned to the bike, he tried to start it, but it didn’t do anything besides make a groaning sound. He kept trying, but he didn’t have the knowledge to rebuild a busted motorcycle, especially without the use of tools. It was worthless to him now. He pushed it to the side of the road and let the tall grass cover it.
Thomas had yet to return. He was worried about his strange behavior. Alec’s memory of the crash was a little hazy, but as far as he could recall, it seemed like Thomas was suffering from sort of traumatic stress reaction. Alec had known guys from the police force who had been overcome with brief fits of violence because their minds created dangers that did not truly exist.
Not knowing what else to do, he started calling Thomas’s name. First, he said it softly, walking up and down the road, looking for him. Then, when he could confirm that Thomas had left the site of the crash of his own volition, he called for him a little louder. Eventually, he cupped his hands around his mouth
and shouted.
Then he saw movement in the bushes, just twenty feet away. He stood on the edge of the road and waited for Thomas to explain himself.
It was not Thomas who emerged from the brush, but an infected woman. She staggered toward the road, dazed, as if she had just woken up from a long sleep.
Alec recoiled. He tiptoed behind a nearby tree, hoping that she hadn’t seen him. She made her way onto the road and looked around wildly, searching for the voice that had summoned her. But when she didn’t find any fresh meat, she scampered back into the bushes.
After several silent minutes, Alec returned to the road and cut his losses. He couldn’t do anything to help Thomas without getting into more trouble. He couldn’t take the bike along with him; it would only slow him down. It was time to move on and just hope that he would find Thomas again.
Alec quietly continued down the road on foot, on high alert for any signs of life. He was sore from the accident, but he eventually loosened up and his limp slowly transformed into a steady jog.
His next order of business was to find a working vehicle as soon as possible. Alec didn’t care if he only found a bicycle—he just knew that he would never make it anywhere useful on foot. When he saw a sign directing him to the next town in three miles, he surged ahead, ready to look for a car.
He couldn’t get over how strangely Thomas was acting after he rescued him from the base. Thomas had always been a little quiet and reserved, but he was truly out of his mind. He looked slow and weak, and the vomiting was not normal, even for a tired, stressed-out kid.
Alec feared that whatever Thomas had seen or experienced in that base was so horrifying, his mental state had completely changed to deal with the trauma. It seemed plausible—Alec had heard stories of first responders who needed intensive therapy to deal with things they had seen in the line of duty.
He had heard a story about a young officer who was the first one to respond to a noise complaint in a ritzy neighborhood. Expecting to interrupt a dinner party and ask the hosts to turn down the music, he jumped to deal with it just so he wouldn’t have to deal with the gangs in the bad neighborhoods. But when he went to the door, he wished he had never become a cop in the first place.
Last Man Standing (Book 3): Zombie Decimation Page 4
