The policeman reached into his stand and pulled two raffle tickets off a big spool. “Here are your tickets. Make sure they match.” He handed Sam a piece of tape. “Tape one to the window. Don’t lose the other one. When you drive outta here your ticket will be checked and if it doesn’t match you walk. There is no car swapping here.” If his demeanor wasn’t so serious, Megan would have laughed at the low tech security system. “And no excuses. I don’t care if you had to eat your ticket. You don’t have it, you don’t drive this rig out of here. Understand?”
“Yep.” Some of the tension left Sam’s shoulders as he taped the ticket to the windshield.
“Okay, park where ever you like. The elevators still work.”
His words felt like a bucket of cold water. Megan leaned forward and asked, not sure she’d heard the man correctly, “There’s electricity here?”
“Yes ma’am.” The guard smiled at her with his chest puffed out.
“One last thing.” He turned and addressed Sam directly. “No guns in the building. Leave ‘em in the car.”
Electricity? Megan sat back in her seat and let it soak in. Lights. Air conditioning? Oh Jeeze, maybe even a hot shower. The possibilities were endless.
Sam parked in a corner and turned off his car.
“That part was easy.” He turned his head and smiled at her. They both broke out in laughter. As if anything about their life now was easy. Megan reached behind her and grabbed her two packs. She unloaded a few of the heavier cans and tossed them on the floor behind her seat.
Sam watched her. “You can leave all that here, at least until we check things out.”
“You know my rule. Leave not, want not.”
He shook his head, and stuffed a small gun in his pants.
Megan stared in disbelief.
He shrugged.
“Yeah, well the same rule applies. I don’t know what we’re gonna find in there. Besides it’s just a little gun.” He emphasized with a pinchy motion of his fingers. He locked up the Suburban, and they strolled to the elevator. The door magically opened and then closed behind them.
When it lurched to life, the entire experience felt foreign to Megan. Not to mention, confined. A small part in the back of her brain started to scream. Trapped. She needed to get out before something else got in. Panic mixed with bile burned the back of her throat. She grasped the handrail, and took a deep breath to steady herself.
“Hum de hum de hum de humde hum…” Sam broke into a rendition of The Girl From Ipanema.
Megan turned to him and glared. “Are you really humming that?”
He shrugged. “It is elevator music after all. Besides you looked like you were about to have a heart attack.” The doors slid open in front of them, and they were greeted by opulence that would have blown Megan away before the epidemic. Sam nudged her in the back with his shoulder. “Let’s go, tourist.”
“Bite me,” she answered over her shoulder but took a step forward.
“Hummm, maybe later.” He passed her and went on to the front desk. Megan straggled behind taking in the grandeur. Gilded walls, ornate vases and elegant furniture filled every alcove. It was an odd contrast to the people milling around in rags. She joined Sam at the desk, where he discussed sleeping arrangements with the clerk.
“One room is fine.”
“Here are your punch cards. You each get one per month. It allows for two meals a day and one personal item from the shop a month. If you lose it, you won’t get another until the first of the month, no exceptions.” She handed one to each of them.
“We understand.” Megan tucked it in her pocket and zipped it shut.
“As far as living quarters go, since there are only two of you, you’ll get a small room to yourselves. We save the suites for large families.”
“That’ll work.” Sam answered.
“Thank you.” Megan responded at the same time.
“You will be expected to report to the management office…” She pointed to a door behind them, “…within three days, where you will be interviewed. Then assigned a job based on that interview, which will contribute to society as a whole, for which the resources shared with you here will be compensation.” She stopped her little speech for a second. “Get it? No pay. Just a roof over your head and food.”
“Seems like a fair trade.” Megan wondered how anyone could expect to get paid.
“Your names?”
“Sam Woods and Megan Fletcher.”
“You remember that?” Megan was flabbergasted.
“I wouldn’t be much of a corporate mogul if I couldn’t remember names, now would I?”
“A-hem.” They turned to the clerk. “Room 712. Here is your keycard.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, don’t lose them, we get it.” Sam’s patience was wearing thin, and Megan hoped for everyone’s sake, they were almost done.
“Actually those you can replace.” The girl went back into speech mode. “You are required to report any bites or fevers, at which time you will be directed to the medical building.”
“About that,” Meagan asked. “Why didn’t they just use a local hospital? Why the hotel?”
The girl’s face lost all pretense of indifference, the distress instantly aging her beyond her years. “The hospital was overrun by the epidemic. That’s where everyone went in the beginning. They lost control of it and so, in their infinite wisdom, they burned it to the ground with everyone inside.”
“Who did?” Sam demanded.
“I’m not sure. There are rumors that the military did it. Nellis Air Force base is still operational about fifteen miles north of here. Soldiers come and go at the medical building, but they keep the public out. Personally, I think it was just a crowd of scared people that lit the fire, like a modern day attempt to burn out the monster.” She straightened the piles of paper on her desk as she spoke.
“And what if I want to visit someone at the hospital?”
The clerk’s head snapped up, and she peered at Sam.
“Why? Do you know someone who’s sick?” The girl glanced at Megan, then back to Sam waiting for an answer.
“No, I was just wondering.”
“Nobody visits anyone who is sick. It’s too dangerous.”
“Thank you for your time.” Sam tapped the keycard on the counter. He must have recognized he wasn’t going to get anywhere with her. “Room 712?”
“Down the hall to the main elevators, up to the seventh floor, then back toward us again. The linens in the room are all you get for the month. So use them wisely. You will be issued clean ones with your new punch card on the first. And fair warning, if you accidentally throw clothes in the laundry pick up with your linen, you will never see them again. Trust me.”
“Thanks for the heads up.” Sam took Megan by the elbow and led her to the elevator.
When the doors slid shut Sam asked, “Do I need to hum again?”
“No. I’m good.” She resisted the urge to elbow him in the gut.
“You sure? I know a few songs.”
“Keep it up. I’m a fourth grade teacher. I can sing the kinds of songs that get stuck in your head and haunt you for days.”
He laughed. “I give.”
The doors opened and Megan followed him to their room.
She watched Sam use the keycard. The blinking lights changed from red to green just like nothing had happened and all was right in the world. What a joke. They walked in and stared at the room. It was a time capsule, teasing the senses with its huge bed and flat screen TV.
Sam walked directly to the bed and flopped down face first. He spoke into the mattress, which muffled his words beyond understanding.
“What?” Megan laughed as she let her messenger bag slide to the floor.
The mattress didn’t even creak when he flipped over and spoke again. “You want the shower first?”
“No. Go ahead.”
He got up and worked the buttons of his shirt. “Showers, dinner, then back here for dessert in bed?�
� He wiggled his eyebrows at her while he pulled the shirt off his shoulders exposing his fabulous abs and tan skin. Megan felt warmth creep up her cheeks and spread throughout her body at the same time. When he undid the top button of his pants, she turned and busied herself unloading her bags.
“One of my shirts is clean, but do you think anyone would notice if I went to dinner without pants?” He meandered into the bathroom as he spoke, but left the door ajar.
“Last time I checked you didn’t have underwear on. I think they might notice.” Goodness. Did she really just say that?
“Wanna check again?”
Before she could answer he hollered, “Hey, there’re toothbrushes in here. Even toothpaste. I guess I don’t have to use my voucher for that. I’m so tired of brushing my teeth with my finger.”
Megan got a brilliant idea as she listened to him turn the water on. She slipped her pack back on and went in the bathroom to grab the keycard out of his pants pocket. When she caught sight of him, she stopped short. His back faced her, and she watched the muscles ripple under his skin while he worked the shampoo in his hair. His body glistened in the water. Megan wet her lips without thinking about it. Sam turned to rinse and caught her staring again. His startling blue eyes widened in surprise for a split second, then darkened with something far more primal.
Megan blinked, he did not.
“I…I’ll be right back.” She shouted over the stream of water while she grabbed the key card and checked his pants size.
“What? Where are you—”
Megan hit the door before he finished. The elevator took a while to get to their floor. While she waited, she shook her arms and rotated her neck in an attempt to banish the image of him standing there in all his glory, devouring her with his eyes. It was enough to make her want to run back in the room and throw herself at him. However, she had a mission.
Down in the store, she dug through the piles of folded jeans and cargo pants for Sam’s size. Piles of piles covered every flat surface. The two store clerks didn’t offer to help. They just continued their conversation oblivious to her predicament. One had a toothache and the other suggested going to the hospital. Megan eventually found the size she was looking for and pulled them out from under the stack.
“Yeah right. Go be around sick people? I don’t think so.”
“Maybe you’re one of those immune people and won’t get sick.”
Megan dropped the pants.
“Don’t even say that. Do you know what happens to people who are immune? They disappear. I heard they do experiments on them. My tooth is fine.”
Megan shivered and picked up her treasure. It’s just gossip. But she couldn’t shake the queasy feeling their conversation left in the pit of her stomach.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” One finally asked Megan when she approached the counter.
No thanks to them. “How is it there is so much stuff here? I expected fluffy robes with hotel logos on them. Not tents and giant packages of vitamins.”
“They collected all the stuff from the three warehouse stores around here before everything got burnt to the ground. We even have a fine jewelry section.” The girl pointed to a dusty cabinet behind her.
Without another word, Megan handed them her punch card and headed back to the room.
It’s just gossip, she kept telling herself in the elevator. Those two girls had nothing better to do.
Megan opened their door with the keycard and found Sam standing with a towel wrapped around his narrow hips staring out the window. One hand held back the thick drape, the other clenched open and closed at his side. Megan joined him.
Seven stories gave them the entire view. The devastation was complete.
“What were they thinking?” Sam shook his head.
Megan couldn’t stand the view any longer. “Hey, I got something for you.”
He turned and faced her, letting the heavy curtain fall back into place. She held the pants up in the air. “Ta Da.”
“What’s that?”
“They’re pants. First, you put one leg in, then you put your other leg in, and zip them up. Very technical.” She tossed them at him, which he caught. Then Megan plopped down on the bed behind her to take off her shoes and slide out of her pack.
He held them up to his waist while she untied her sneaker. “Where did you get them? You didn’t kill some poor sap on the elevator for singing did you?” He lifted the tags stapled to the pocket, and the awe on his face made Megan’s day, week…millennia. She smiled and went about untying the other sneaker.
“No innocent bystanders were hurt. I used my punch card in the store downstairs. You should see—” Megan looked up just in time to see him drop the pants and tackle her, pinning her to the bed under him.
“You are amazing. Thank you.” He traced her face with his finger then dipped down and kissed her deeply. Heat sizzled in every inch of her like a florescent light bulb waiting to ignite those three seconds after flipping the switch.
But, Megan wanted a shower more than she wanted sex.
She wiggled out from under him. “Did you leave me any hot water?”
He rolled on his side and watched her. “Hope so.”
Removing her dirty socks made her think about all the new clothes she had waiting for her in the messenger bag. Megan buzzed with excitement. “I also have a package of new socks. They’ll only come up to your ankle but they’re clean.” She went to her bag and tossed them at him.
“Damn. It is a Mary Poppins bag.”
Megan smiled, picked up the bag with clothes and went into the bathroom, shutting the door gently behind her.
Cool marble tile, freestanding glass sink and fancy linens, all a luxurious lie. She looked at the glass shower stall beaded with water from Sam’s shower, then at the oval tub with Jacuzzi jets. If she was going to swallow the lie, even just for a few minutes, why not go all out? Megan dumped her bag on the floor, plugged the tub and turned the water on high. She picked up and read each tiny bottle on the counter, one of which boasted bubble bath.
“Score.” The room filled with a flowery scent when she poured the bubble bath under the running water. She watched the bubbles grow until the entire surface of the water glistened with tiny rainbows.
Megan stripped, except for the watch, and collected a handful of the tiny bottles. With a smile that made her cheeks ache, she lined them up one by one on the edge of the tub. When she stuck her toe in warmth traveled up her leg, and Megan shivered deliciously. Megan stepped in and sank into the water up to her chin, oh so careful not to splash and waste the wonderful bubbles. Enough laughter bubbled up inside her to rival the floating rainbows. It echoed off the bathroom walls back at her before she took a deep breath and slipped under the surface to relish in the cocoon of liquid warmth. When she surfaced, she leaned back resting her head on the edge of the tub and listened to the gentle crackling of the foam around her.
If not for the glaring reminder on her wrist, she could almost forget the horror outside. Lifting her hands out of the water Megan twisted the watch around and took it off to examine the skin underneath. A perfect half-moon sat on both sides of her wrist filled with nasty white scar tissue from the infection that ensued, and subsequently healed. She washed the twisted skin with some of the scented soap.
The gossip downstairs pressed Megan’s desire to run to Sam and tell him about the scar, but his hatred frightened her.
The child that bit her had been one of her favorites last year. Sonja, sweet girl, came down with a raging fever in class the day after the comet went by. Megan waited with the child in the nurse’s office for a parent pick-up. In the time they sat there, Sonja turned and when Megan reached out to touch her forehead, Sonja bit her.
Megan ran her fingers over the twisted skin and shivered at the memory of Sonja’s face, twisted with pain and confusion while she sank her teeth into Megan’s flesh.
“Hey, the lobby called up to announce dinner’s being served in one hour.
” Sam opened the door and walked in, then froze.
Splashing water everywhere, Megan dropped her hand back in the tub and sank to her chin. The storm brewing in his eyes made his face hard to read. Had he seen the scar?
Chapter Eleven
It took all of Sam’s self-control not to climb into that tub with her, clothes and all. But when she’d headed off to the bathroom instead of staying on the bed with him, she’d made her priority pretty clear. “Sorry. I thought you were over there in the shower.”
Megan sat directly in front of him, all shiny and wet, causing his staff to stand up and pay attention.
When she sank under the water to her chin, Sam had to bite his tongue to keep from voicing his disappointment. What did he hope she’d do, rise out of the tub, dripping and soapy, reaching for him? His pants grew tighter at the mere thought, while he stood in the doorway gawking like a teenager. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Sorry.” Sam slammed the door unintentionally as he ducked back out.
He didn’t know what she had to be self-conscious about. She’d barged in on him while he was in the shower and stopped to rummage through his pants. Sam rubbed his thighs with splayed fingers for the thousandth time since putting them on.
“Hum.” Who knew a second pair of pants could feel so good? The twentieth suit didn’t feel any different from the twenty fifth or the thirtieth. But a second pair of pants felt damn good. Megan was about the most generous woman he’d ever met.
A half hour later, Megan emerged from the bathroom in a new black T-shirt sporting a low neck-line and a pink heart on her hip. Gray and silver swirls followed the curve of that hip ending right at the tiniest part of her waist and practically pointing at the underside of her left breast. It was sexier than the skimpiest black dress he’d ever stripped off a woman.
“Not a word. I didn’t see the heart when I grabbed it.”
“It looks good on you.” Sam cleared his throat. “You hungry?”
“Always. You?”
For more than you know. But since she observed him warily, as if searching for something in his eyes, he decided to play nice. “I could eat.”
Only Love Survives (Love and Zombies) Page 11
