Love & Decay (Season 1): Episodes 1-6

by Rachel Higginson

  “No,” he shook his head. “A militia camp. They’re building an army. They think they got this political machine that’s gonna restore balance to the great United States of America.”

  “Those are pretty big words for you,” Hendrix scoffed.

  “Yeah, well I’ve been forced to listen to their preaching now for a while. As stupid as it is, the phrases kinda get stuck in your head. I don’t believe it, but I can’t forget it either.”

  “They have medicine there?” Hendrix pressed.

  “Lots of it,” Miller confirmed.

  “And they have your sister?”

  “And my mom,” he whispered in a pained croak.

  “Does your mom want to leave?”

  Miller didn’t respond verbally, just shook his head with the first sign of vulnerability I had seen from him.

  “You and me are going to make a deal,” Hendrix announced firmly. “You take me to that medicine and I will help you get your sister.”

  “No,” Miller shook his head adamantly. “No way. You’re too big and too Yankee. You’ll just slow me down and I ain’t got time for this.”

  “Fine, then you’ll stay here until morning at which time we will return you to your mother. She’s staying with the militia right? I bet they’re wondering where you are right now.”

  “They don’t know I’ve gone missing. You think I’m stupid?” Miller was angry now, panic flashed in his eyes under the low light of the lantern.

  “Maybe not yet, but I bet they will by morning,” Hendrix argued.

  Panic turned to frustration and Miller snarled, “Fine. But I swear to god, if you give away my cover or leave my sister behind I will kill you myself.”

  “Fair enough,” Hendrix agreed.

  Reagan couldn’t stay quiet anymore. “You’re not seriously considering following him back to a militia camp? We don’t even know this kid! He could be leading you into a trap!”

  Hendrix spun around, took three steps toward the couch and sunk down to his knees. He cupped Reagan’s face in his calloused hands and held her attention. “You know I have to do this. And you know I’ll come back.” He held her gaze while words seemed to fail her. “I’m not letting you out of this, Reagan, so give up that idea right now.” Finally she nodded into his palm and he placed an intimate kiss on her forehead.

  I looked away from their private moment and my eyes immediately fell on Nelson. He met my stare and understanding flashed between us. Vaughan would stay- Harrison and King needed Vaughan to stay. I shook my head slowly, demanding that he stay too.

  “I’ll be right back, Haley,” he promised from a few feet way. “I made promises to you that I intend to keep.”

  “Can’t keep them if you’re dead,” I insisted.

  Nelson walked over to me, a gun in each hand. “Don’t.” His gaze locked onto mine and he held me there with severe passion. “Don’t doubt me, don’t doubt what’s between us and don’t ever doubt what I will do to return to you.”

  “Uh, if y’all are finished with your weird goodbyes, we got to go before the sun comes up. So that means now, Casanovas. Vamanos!” Miller was bouncing up and down, anxious to be on his way.

  Hendrix turned to Vaughan, “If we’re not here by morning….”

  “Contingency plan,” Vaughan replied without missing a beat. The very words sent shivers of dread trickling from my fingertips to toes.

  With one more intentional look, Nelson followed Hendrix and Miller out the back door.

  Reagan reached for my hand and held it tightly in hers.

  I felt out of my mind- not like in the crazy way, but in the out of body experience way. This was confusing and heart-stopping and my mind couldn’t catch up to Nelson walking out that door- no matter how intelligent it was supposed to be.

  “They’ll be right back,” Reagan whisper-promised.

  “They’ll be right back,” I echoed in dazed voice.

  Page moved on my lap, drawing my attention from the door to her adorable face. She was sleeping again, exhausted from her sickness. She was such a beautiful child- even in sickness. Milky skin, gorgeous blonde hair, big, beautiful blue eyes with impossibly long, dark lashes. She was all that was still good in this world, all that was still pure and innocent.

  Nelson did the right thing. Whether I liked it or not, if there was a chance to get Page some medicine, he should have taken it. He did the right thing.

  And he would do the right thing by coming back to us.

  That much I knew.

  He loved his little sister more than his own life- which was why he left in the first place. And he cared about me, in staggering degrees. He would come back to save Page.

  And he would come back to finish what he started with me.

  I had to believe that.

  Because while every other part of my life was filled and surrounded and suffocating in death, disease and decay, Nelson had given me something more to feel, something more to experience. He’d replaced my despair with hope, my misery with something to anticipate.

  And he’d exchanged my emptiness with love.

  He would come back to me. I just had to make it till morning.

  Episode Five

  Chapter One

  682 Days after initial infection

  Contingency plan my ass.

  I stood up from the floor below the couch and stretched. I hadn’t actually been asleep, not even for a minute. The night had been long and difficult and I was antsy.

  To put it mildly.

  More accurately, you could say I was dangerously blood thirsty and someone was going to die this morning. Possibly a Feeder. Possibly a stranger. Possibly Hendrix for leaving me behind. What happened to the whole, “Stay by me, Reagan? I need you next to me. Blah, blah, blah…”

  He was a dirty, filthy liar.

  And I was painfully worried about him.

  Haley was curled up on the couch next to Page, who still looked very, very sick. I felt my heart crack at the sight of her like a crumbling fission right down the center splitting it in half.

  This family.

  Page’s sickness. Hendrix and Nelson disappearing into the dark, unknown of the night.

  How dare they.

  They made me care for them, made me fall in love with them, and then shook my foundation of comfort and security.

  It was a total douchebag mood.

  And I was about to rectify this great injustice to my life.

  “Where are you going?” Haley mumbled; her voice was thick with sleep and confusion.

  “To save your boyfriend,” I whispered. My voice was dry and serious, working hard to keep the hundreds of fears and concerns clawing my chest at bay.

  “He’s not my boyfriend.” She shut her eyes tight, waiting for my contradiction.

  “Okay,” I shrugged. Her eyes popped open and narrowed on me. “He’s way worse than a boyfriend.” I allowed a small smile to twist my game-face. I had a pretty bad ass game face.

  “Shut up,” she groaned.

  “Well?” I laughed. “You let me know how breaking up with him is going to work out for you.”

  “Is that why you haven’t picked?”

  Her question caught me off guard- way off guard. I replied defensively, “I didn’t realize I had to.”

  “If you don’t pick soon, someone’s going to get hurt, really hurt.” She pushed up to sitting, shoving her long blonde hair behind her ears. “Don’t make this into something we can’t come back from.”

  “It doesn’t-“

  “It will affect all of us, Reags. Everyone.”

  I released a breath of air that sounded more like an animalistic growl than anything human. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

  “I’ve been told this often,” she laughed at me. “Now go save my boyfriend so I don’t have to live out the remaining days of my life as a virgin.”

  It was my turn to laugh, “Told you he was more.”

  “You’re pretty smart too, Babe,” Haley gri
nned at me.

  “Let’s hope so. Smart enough to get us out of this mess.”

  “You’re not going by yourself are you?” Panic and fear flashed behind her clear green eyes.

  “Nope,” I shook my head, whipping loose strands of my messy hair around my face. Long hair sucked during the Apocalypse. “I’m taking the losing half of the love triangle.”

  “Be gentle with him,” she warned in a small voice.

  “I think I lost those instincts when I popped Chris’s head off,” I whispered back, feeling sick all over again for that travesty.

  Haley let out a burst of inappropriate laughter. “Possibly.”

  “Probably. Love you, Hales.”

  “Love you too, Sister.”

  Then I left her to tend to Page while I searched out Vaughan.

  He was outside on the back deck watching the hazy sunrise on the horizon; just the barest tendrils of light snaked out into the still dark sky. His arms were crossed and his stance wide. He was coiled so tightly I was afraid he’d snap, like a rubber band pulled too tight.

  “Hey.” I approached calmly, carefully.

  He glanced at me over his shoulder and turned his gaze back to the sunrise. “Hey.”

  I moved to stand next to him and mimicked his pose. “So, I don’t know what Hendrix exactly meant by ‘contingency plan’ but-”

  “It means we go and get them.”

  I relaxed just the tiniest bit. Part of me was terrified of a plan that required that we leave them behind if the situation got too dangerous for the family as a whole. No matter what Vaughan and Hendrix decided, I was still planning on saving Hendrix’s sorry ass, but it was also nice to know I wouldn’t be going alone.

  Before I could voice my relief, Vaughan continued, “We don’t leave each other behind, not anymore. I did that once before, Reagan, and I will not do it again. I will never leave one of us behind again.” He turned to face me and the cold determination in his expression made my heart stutter. He was so…. good at this leading thing. I hated that he felt so much guilt for his mom and dad, but he saved everyone else. I wanted him to see that; I wanted him to know he hadn’t failed and that he had succeeded.

  “Vaughan, your parents-“

  “Reagan, you can give me the hero speech later, right now we need to save my brothers,”

  I nodded, because, well, what else could I do?

  “You’re up for this?” He clarified with a force behind his voice that twisted my heart inside my chest.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m not Hendrix,” he explained slowly. “I’m taking you because you’re my best option to save my family, not because I need to know where you are at all times. I trust you to be able to handle yourself.”

  “I don’t want you to be Hendrix,” I snapped. “And I can handle myself.”

  “Then lock and load, little girl. You and I are the cavalry.”

  He turned around and walked inside. The screen door slammed shut behind him with an alarming finality.

  Everyone knew Vaughan was the leader. While Hendrix also led, he did not carry the responsibility of this family like Vaughan did. The difference between them was subtle, but obvious. Hendrix would always be the one risking his life to save the family, the first into the fray. And Vaughan would always be the one that saved Hendrix, that ensured the family stayed whole. They were both fighting for their family. They just had different ways of doing it.

  I followed Vaughan inside and set about loading what guns I had left and finding places for them on my body. I had a small, canvas pull-strap backpack that I kept rolled up inside my larger one. I pulled that out and added a bottle of water, two energy bars and a flashlight on top of the three handguns and various bullets I thought I needed. I tucked a hunting knife into my tall socks and secured it around my ankle with the strap tied to its sheath, even though it was uncomfortable and a little awkward; it stayed and it could possibly mean the difference between life and death for me. I slipped a pocket knife into the side pocket of my cargo pants and borrowed a gun from Hendrix and a gun from Nelson to carry in my hands.

  I was like the female version of Rambo.

  Bad. Ass.

  Well, truthfully, doubts and fear plagued my every thought. If I were honest, if I allowed myself to actually feel the cyclone of emotions uprooting my insides, then I would feel how terrifying this unknown enemy was, how anxious and sick with worry for Hendrix and Nelson I felt, and how afraid of my own life I could cowardly acknowledge.

  But for the sake of everyone involved I forced myself to push every last one of those thoughts into an air-tight, locked box somewhere in the middle of my chest and ignore it. Fear would get me nowhere successfully, and doubts would only cloud my decisions and actions. For Hendrix I would be strong; for the Parker family I would pretend to be everything I wasn’t.

  I met Haley’s firm gaze as Vaughan laid out instructions for them to hide in the hidden pantry Miller had talked about last night. Vaughan had since been down to inspect it and there was in fact plenty of canned and dry food. It was also hidden behind a secret panel that might keep them safe should they be attacked while we were gone.

  What was left unanswered was attacked by what? Human or Zombie?

  When final instructions were given, Vaughan turned to me and lifted his eyebrows. “Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t mind going alone.”

  “But then tomorrow morning I’ll just have to come after you, too,” I sighed as if annoyed. “It seems more efficient if I just go now and save you all at once.”

  “Ha!” Harrison laughed, surprised by my quip. “Amazing that we survived at all without these two.”

  “He’s right,” Haley drawled. Page’s head was resting in her lap and she was running her fingers through the sick little girl’s tangled, long blond curls. “It is, in fact, amazing.”

  “Come on, Wonder Woman, let’s go save the day,” Vaughan walked by me and inclined his head toward the door.

  I gave a small wave to Haley and grinned at Harrison and King before I followed after. “I was thinking more like the female version of Rambo.”

  Vaughan snorted and shook his head. Okay, so maybe I didn’t look as bad ass as I felt.

  He bounded down the deck stairs and stopped in front of the minivan. Turning around he looked me over carefully.

  “I have no idea where we’re going,” he admitted on a shrug. “That kid Miller said the camp was southeast of here. When I looked over the map, there was once a little town not far from here.”

  “So that’s where you think they are?”

  He shrugged, but his shoulders were tense. “Yes.”

  “Are we driving or walking?”

  “Walking.” He started out with determination. I hurried to catch up with him. “We have a better chance of running into them if we follow somewhat of the same path.” Vaughan pointed a finger at a slew of footprints in soft mud and I was beginning to understand that he was tracking them. “We also won’t cause a scene by driving up to a settlement.”

  The minivan sounded like Sasquatch singing Ninety-Nine Bottles of beer on the wall after drinking ninety-nine bottles of beer. Not pretty. Obviously we couldn’t drive it anywhere and remain discreet.

  We set out toward the back of the property. We passed the outbuildings that were spread out on all the land that stretched between the house and the beginning of the fields. We skirted around the fields that were cropless and barren from the last winter.

  The sun was just barely gracing the day, low over the horizon and pale with morning light. The sky was gray with clouds and the air cold and breezy. We were still in early spring, and while I was convinced the landscape would never look fresh and green again, green grass was poking through the mud packed ground and leafless trees were budding but barely. The new life seemed so out of place when we were faced with ugly death every single day.

  Winter had been miserable for Haley and I. But we were used to the ice cold temperatures and full feet of sn
ow. We had managed to survive, mostly because we liked to cuddle and Zombies were slower with their feet entrenched in snow. They were resilient to a lot of things, but they froze just like the rest of us if left out in the elements.

  Unfortunately, they were as resourceful when it came to survival as humans were, if not more so in some cases.

  Finally, we made it to spring. The weather was usually cool, but not miserably so. It was always jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt weather, which was kind of perfect since it was better to keep as much skin covered as possible. We weren’t freezing every night, we weren’t perpetually wet because of all the snow and it wasn’t hot enough yet that the decaying world around us created the disgusting stench of rotting bodies that intermingled with the already pungent smell of Feeders.

  “Vaughan, do you have a plan?” I asked in a small voice. I hated breaking the silence between us; but it was both comfortable and necessary. I needed to know, mainly, so I didn’t f- it up if he did.

  “I have a goal,” he replied firmly. “Reagan, I will do anything to get my brothers back. You need to know that.”

  “I do,” I whispered with conviction.

  There were a few more minutes of silence between us before he explained, “I just don’t know what we’re getting into. Looking back, I should have pressed that kid for more information. But I never thought it would come to this. My brothers know how to handle themselves.”

  He sounded so edgy and concerned that my stomach twisted with nerves. This was Vaughan- always-in-control-of-the-situation-Vaughan. He didn’t let things bother him; he adjusted and adapted. He saw every scenario from every angle and knew exactly what to do to keep us all safe. If he was nervous about Hendrix and Nelson, things did not look good for them.

  “You’re worried about them?” I guessed.

  “I’m worried about what we’re going to find. If someone or something has managed to detain my brothers, it’s formidable.”

  “Yeesh,” I complained. “Way to reassure a girl.”

  He flashed me a devilish grin, “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you’re the kind of girl that needs to be reassured.”

  “Maybe I am,” I shrugged, but my tone was teasing. “Maybe I’m very insecure and need you to promise me everything will be alright.”