Nope, better to travel alone. No one to discover the nasty scar, and no one to tie her to a pole. Sam seemed nice enough, but she’d learned her lesson.
“Look, you’ve saved my butter twice now. Don’t you think that’s above and beyond the call of duty?”
“I can’t do it. I can’t just leave you on the side of the road.” He shrugged as if that settled the matter. “My sister is a scientist. Maybe she headed there instead of home. It couldn’t hurt to look. But, I think we should stay off the main highway for a time. Head south on the back roads in case those idiots are waiting for us down the road.” He rambled on to himself as if Megan’s opinion didn’t count.
“I am pretty sure I have a say in the matter, and I don’t need an escort.”
He turned and pierced her with his blue eyes. Sam seemed to be used to getting in the last word without actually saying it.
She adjusted the weight of her pack with a shrug of her shoulders. It did nothing to relieve the weight of his stare.
“You don’t think I’m going to drive off and leave you standing in the middle of the road do you? What kind of man do you take me for?”
“The kind that should go look for his sister and not worry about me. I’m a big girl and can handle myself. Thanks again for sharing your road kill.” Megan turned her back to him and marched down the highway. She counted three strides in the gravel behind her before she felt his hand on her arm.
“You’re not walking to Vegas. It’s not happening, so you might as well go get in the car.”
“Why do you think you get a vote?” She kept walking. Even though the car ride was tempting, there was no way she could keep the scar hidden on a road trip. She had to go alone. The thought of those blue eyes staring down the barrel of his rifle at her only cemented her resolve.
He caught her by the elbow and stopped her. “Look, I am holding on to my humanity by a shred here. If you think I’m about to abandon a woman to the animals…”
She yanked her arm free. “Let me go.”
“Megan…”
She turned from him. In less than a heartbeat, her world flipped upside down when he scooped her up and slung her over his shoulder like a rolled rug.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Put me down.” She pushed against the hard plane of his back and pumped her legs to break free of his grasp, but his single arm held her in place effortlessly.
“Not until you show some reason. You can’t just wander off into the desert alone. It is a desert you know. A dry, monster-infested wasteland.”
Her stomach jostled against his shoulder while he walked. “No it’s not. They are rebuilding the world there, and I plan to be part of it. Let me go.”
Megan pushed harder, and she felt him relax his arm around her legs.
“Whoa.” She slid from his shoulder and landed with a thump on her butt next to the car door.
“Get in.”
“No.” He couldn’t do this. It was kidnapping for Pete’s sake.
He rested his fists on his lean hips above her. “I’m not asking again.”
“No.” But even she didn’t believe the weak tone of her voice.
He squatted so he was eye level with her. “Please get in. I’m not leaving you here, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
“This is kidnapping.” Megan gave him her most intimidating teacher glare. He didn’t seem to notice.
“Maybe so, but you are getting in that car.” The hard glint in his eyes told her he was right.
****
Megan sat in the front seat with her pack at her feet, pouting while she stared out the window. How long could she possibly hide the bite mark from him?
Her stomach growled, and she glanced at her watch. Two hours had gone by and she still refused to speak to him. Nonetheless, when she rummaged through her pack and came up with a lonesome piece of beef jerky, Megan broke it in half. Without saying a word, she handed Sam a piece.
She couldn’t very well sit eating in front of him and not share. Not after all he’d done for her. Well, besides the picking her up and wrestling her into the car after she’d said goodbye and walked away part. Other than that, he’d been a perfect gentleman.
“Thanks.” He took it and ate while he drove, seemingly immune to her sour mood. “If you reach behind your seat, there’s a box of crackers stashed back there.”
Megan undid her seatbelt and turned around on her knees in the seat. His car was very tidy. Everything had a home. She felt around his dry goods and rummaged until her hand bumped a box.
“Ritz.” She spun around and flopped back in the seat. “I haven’t seen these in a long time. Thank you.” It seemed like a lame response considering all he’d shared with her, but it was all she could muster under the circumstances. The wax paper crinkled when she pulled a stack out and handed them to him.
“I have three boxes in the back.”
She recognized the pride in his voice and chuckled to herself. It was the little things that brought the greatest amounts of joy. She put the buttery cracker in her mouth and savored it while she chewed.
“Look, I know you have your secrets, and maybe you’ll come to trust me enough to tell me. But they can’t be worth dying over. You’ll be safe with me. It’ll take long enough to pick our way down to Nevada in a car. I don’t see you making it on your own. Not on foot.” Sam watched the road as he spoke, and she watched him.
He was right. She knew it. The trip was taking far too long, and the way things had been going lately, she was starting to doubt she’d make it to Vegas at all. If her blood did indeed carry antibodies to the disease as she hoped it did, surely the future of humanity was worth the risk of discovery…again. All she had to do was hide the bite mark from him for a few days. Her eyes skittered to the watch. Simple enough.
“Keep your door locked.” His voice carried an edge that startled her.
She checked the door without thinking, even though it was already locked.
“Did you see something?” Her heart thumped harder while she scanned the street ahead of them.
The single lane highway they’d been driving down led right through a small town. They had no choice but to follow it to the other side.
“I’m not sure. I thought I saw something move behind the store over there.”
“A person?”
“Not sure.” He slowed down in front of the store, the tension in his shoulders unmistakable.
“Do you want to chance going in?” She knew the opportunity to find supplies, maybe even food, outweighed a slow moving zombie.
“Do we have a choice?” He turned the engine off.
“Not much of one,” she admitted.
“Do you want a gun?”
Megan turned and faced him, stunned by the question. It never occurred to her to carry one.
“I didn’t think so.” He answered himself while he reached behind and grabbed his.
“I wouldn’t even know how to use it.”
“You should learn.” He checked the ammo, then looked at her.
“I don’t want to.” Her heart ached at what they’d become, a world of scavengers and killers.
“Somehow, I knew that too.” He reached out and palmed her cheek before opening the car door.
Chapter Four
Inside the store, Megan was all business. She’d done this a thousand times before. A vast selection sat untouched on the shelves, a bad sign. It indicated a heavy zombie presence, seeing how the walking dead didn’t need any of this stuff, and no one else had stayed long enough to grab it all. The store stood suspended in time, as if the houses had been caught in that moment before everything changed.
Megan moved to the back of the store first, toward the storeroom to lay out an escape route before she did any searching. She listened between each careful step. No groaning, only the shuffle of Sam’s feet on the next aisle.
She ducked through the double doors to the storeroom and scanned the area. While some of the boxes an
d pallets still sat stacked in tidy piles, others were scattered and spoke of a struggle having taken place. The door to the employee lunchroom stood open and she peeked inside. Personal items littered the table and floor. The abandoned lunches and purses told her all she needed to know. People left this place in a hurry. However, there were no bodies. The blood smears on the wall were not a good sign either. She stepped back out into the storeroom and listened. Still no groans.
The swoosh of the double doors when Sam joined her made her jump so hard her skin hurt. She blew out a startled breath. It was a good thing she didn’t have a gun or she’d likely have shot him.
“Are you crazy? Wait for me,” he hissed at her.
“I need to know more than one way out of a building before I spend any time in it,” she hissed back. Did he not plan an exit strategy before a search? Bad idea.
“How about we get in and get out, without making any more noise than need be.” His voice grew louder.
“How about you do your thing, and I’ll do mine.” She met him shout for shout.
“How about you listen to me for a change.”
“Why? Because you’re the man?” Zombies or not, she was done being bossed around by this guy.
“I have the gun.” He lifted it up as if she’d forgotten.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are going to shoot me if I disobey you?” She put her hands on her hips, seething with anger.
“What? No. Now you’re just being ridiculous.”
“I’m being—” she started, but stopped short when his face went ashen, and he drew the gun to his chin. She ducked behind him, and they both knelt behind a stack of pallets. “What did you see?”
“Somebody walked by that window.” Sam nodded to the small window in the backdoor of the storeroom that led outside. Their view of the door was partially blocked by a pallet with a crate on it, but Megan could see out the top. “Couldn’t tell if he was human or zombie.”
“The window’s too small.” She agreed and looked back behind them. “Forward or back?”
“Forward?” His head snapped around to gape at her.
“To see what we are up against. See if it’s a human who needs our help.”
He was looking at her as if she’d sprouted two heads when the back door swung open, then closed again. He drew the gun back to his chin and aimed at the back door.
“Hello?” A weak voice called out. “I saw you come in here. I need help. They’re coming.’ The teenager stepped out from around the pallet. Megan gasped and stood up. So did Sam. The girl in front of them bled heavily from several recent bites.
“Don’t come any closer.” Sam gathered Megan behind him and backed toward the double doors that led into the main part of the store.
“Sam, do you hear that?” The faint groans of a swarm approaching grew louder and unmistakable.
“Yeah. Grab whatever you can get on our way out, but stick close to me. We’re not staying.”
Megan’s heart raced. All she could do was nod, while the girl in front of them pleaded.
“Help me.”
Sam kept his gun pointed at the girl and pushed Megan through the double doors behind him.
“There isn’t anything we can do for you, sweetheart. Stay back.” He spoke as he followed Megan through the passage.
“I’m not a zombie.” She continued to follow them while she argued with Sam.
“You will be soon enough. You’re already sweating from the fever.”
Long shadows filled the corners of the empty store, and Megan tried not to imagine the things that might lurk there waiting for them. She focused on gathering what she could while Sam reasoned with the girl and steered them toward the front of the building at the same time.
“Please. Help me.”
“Stay in here and hide while we draw them away. It’s the best we can do.”
“Please.” Her desperate plea started as a scream, but ended with the hint of a growl.
“I’m sorry.” He shook his head and repeated, “I’m sorry.”
When they got to the front windows of the building, Megan saw the wave of undead about to swallow Sam’s car.
“Sam, look.” Megan tapped him on the back and pointed out the window. The path to their only means of survival narrowed with every staggering step.
“Wait, let me get the keys out.” He dug in his pocket. The girl whimpered, and Megan’s resolve withered.
“Can’t we take her away from here, and drop her off before she turns?” Megan fought back tears. She knew the truth as well as he did, but she needed to protest, if for no other reason than to feel like a human and not a monster.
“Let’s go.” He pushed open the glass door that still held its “Open for Business” sign, then turned to the girl. “Stay inside.” He stuffed the keys in his mouth on the way out, and shot the zombie closest to the Suburban right in the head.
Megan ran the few feet to the car door and ripped it open to jump in, then climbed over the center console to her seat. Sam shot one more creature before he piled in next to her, started the car and tore away from the lurching mob.
The girl hobbled out the glass door behind them and screamed drawing the zombies’ attention. They turned and stumbled toward her.
“No.” Megan pleaded and covered her mouth in horror.
“Damn it.” Sam hit the brakes and stood on the seat with his gun just as the first two zombies grabbed the girl.
It was as if the whole thing unfolded in slow motion, and tears ran down Megan’s cheek. One zombie took hold of an arm while another grabbed a shoulder. The girl screamed and fought to break free. Overhead, Sam steadied himself on the edge of the sunroof and took the shot, which rocked the inside of the vehicle. The girl collapsed dead in the monsters’ arms, but it didn’t slow her attackers down. Megan turned away from the carnage.
“Damn it.” Sam slid into his seat passing the gun to Megan, and hit the gas. He floored it all the way through town while Megan let the tears roll unchecked.
Why hadn’t the girl just stayed put? He’d shot a lot of walking corpses in the last few months, but none that were still human.
It was all he could do not to curl up and hide in some dirty shadow. Any last pretense of decency had been stripped from him in that little maneuver, and Sam felt like raw meat exposed for all to feast upon. He’d become a monster without the luxury of dying first.
He didn’t dare look at Megan. He didn’t dare look in the rear view mirror. He just drove, eyes on the road, hands on the wheel, foot on the pedal. The harder he fought not to think about it, the harder he gripped the wheel until he thought it might snap in his hands.
Seven months. Seven months of this shit. He didn’t think he could handle one more hour like this. If not for finding Summer, he might just let the next monster eat him and be done with it all.
Forty miles passed before Megan stopped crying, another thirty before she spoke.
“I…” Her throat cracked, and she started again. “I have to stop.”
Sam jerked his chin in a tight nod and pulled off the road at the next turnout. The nice thing about a country highway was all the little places to pull over and gawk at the scenery. When the car ground to a stop in the gravel, she opened the door without a word and headed for the trees. Sam didn’t bother to offer a gun this time.
His white knuckles ached from clenching the steering wheel for the last hour. He rubbed his hands together to dull the pain. It didn’t work. The image of that child being eaten alive filled his mind again and overwhelmed him. He slammed his fist into the roof of the Suburban. Once, twice…by the fifth time he’d lost his head of steam, and it ended in more of a tap. Sam examined his knuckles again. Red and swollen.
He leaned back against the headrest and caught sight of Megan out of the corner of his eye. She stood at the side of the car, hands on her hips with her head tilted sideways. Great. He closed his eyes. The car door clicked and the seat creaked as she got back in, but he ignored it. She c
ould think whatever she wanted about him. He couldn’t let that child…suffer.
Megan’s small fingers cupped his chin and he opened his eyes as she turned his face toward her.
“It had to be done.” She stared deep in his eyes, and for a second, he thought he would break in two. “Do you hear me, Sam? It had to be done. You know it, I know it. Anyone who had a shred of humanity left in them would know it.” She let her hand drop, but did not release his gaze. She repeated. “It had to be done.”
Something came over Sam, he grabbed the hand that had just been on his cheek and kissed her palm, then held it to his chest. He had no words, but drove his gaze into her consumed with the need for her to understand what he felt, even though he didn’t really understand himself.
She nodded and gently pulled her hand free.
“I found a river back there. It’s not much, but it’s enough to wash in.”
Sam watched her grab the pack and slide back out of the car. She turned and slammed the car door shut, then leaned in the open window with her arms crossed.
“I have a bar of soooap,” she tempted in a singsong voice. “I tell you what, since you were kind enough to share your raccoon and crackers with me, I am willing to share my bar of soap with you. Follow me.”
That was it? No lecture about losing it? No comment on what a miserable SOB he was? He watched Megan saunter away in awe, until he realized she was about to disappear from view. Sam grabbed his gun and his spare, dirty shirt from the back. Maybe, if he was lucky, she’d share enough soap so he could wash that too.
Megan stopped at the tree line. She waited for him with an amazing smile that reached down his throat and soothed the sore spots. Sam locked the rig and jogged to catch up to her. Then he heard it. The rush of flowing water. She turned and he followed her down an overgrown path. It wrapped around a tree, then some bushes before he actually saw the water.
She was right. There wasn’t much to it. But it looked clean and at least waist deep, enough to dunk his entire six-foot four-inch frame all the way under, if he bent in half. Sam didn’t even want to think about how long it had been since he’d had a proper bath, shower…anything.
Only Love Survives (Love and Zombies) Page 4
