Only Love Survives (Love and Zombies)

by Renee Charles

  Sam thought back on the river and smiled.

  “Really, Sam?”

  “Less sisterly nagging, more getting the hell outta here.” He got back in the elevator, but caught a glimpse of a gutted doll in the first cage. It lay torn apart but was still recognizable as having once been a child’s toy. Sam held his hand out and stopped the door from closing.

  “What the hell is that?”

  Summer turned away and pulled his hand down so the door could close.

  “I didn’t know they kept her here. They don’t like the doctors to come down this far, only the soldiers come to the storage area.”

  “I’ve never seen a child zombie before.” Sam’s skin crawled.

  “They usually don’t survive the initial attack. This was a local child. Her mother, who worked here before we realized she was sick, attacked her. We saved the girl, and they planned to study her to see if the growth hormones in pre-adolescents slowed any of the cellular decay caused by the virus.”

  “Study her? Did you see that doll?” Summer gave him no answer. She just folded her arms and turned her face from him.

  Everything Megan had been trying to tell him came crashing down on him at the sight of that shredded doll. No matter how gruesome the infected became, they hadn’t started off as monsters.

  “What do you expect, Sam? We can’t get ahead of this, and if that child’s body held the answers wouldn’t you want to know?” She rubbed her forehead with her hands. “People literally rot away before they even die. Their cells lose their cohesive and regenerative matter. So when their skin cells slough off, there is nothing new underneath to replace it. The membrane that holds their brain together deteriorates, and they go mad. The synapses are still firing enough to keep them alive, but there is no pattern to their thoughts. They operate on less instinct than a predatory animal. The only thing they seem to understand is that they are ravenous. Every mammal is fair game. This is the horror of being infected.” She looked up, pleading with her eyes for him to understand.

  Sam pulled his little sister to his chest and kissed the top of her head.

  The music came on overhead again, alluding to the world being normal, a sick joke.

  “What happened to the child?”

  “One of the soldiers killed her, then himself.” Summer pulled away from him.

  Sam couldn’t help but admire the guy for having the balls to put that child out of her misery. The face of the girl Sam killed a few days ago danced across his memory, and he knew he’d done the right thing, but for different reasons now than he’d thought then. His fists clenched while they waited for the doors to open again. Sam’s brain felt like a ping pong ball that had bounced off the table.

  Then another thought took over. Megan is pregnant. His heart swelled with a mixture of horror and joy that made him a little sick to his stomach.

  The doors slid apart on the fourth floor and Sam followed Summer out of the elevator. He needed fresh air. There wasn’t any.

  Summer nodded at various people they passed in the hallway, most wearing either a lab coat or fatigues. They turned into a room that might have once been a banquet hall, but now held more cages as well as medical tables.

  “Dr. Woods, can I help you?” A balding man looked up from his microscope.

  “We’re looking for a pregnant patient brought in last night.” Sam stood silent and let his sister handle things. This was her element and he’d let her take the lead, for now.

  “She’s at the end. I’m just running some of her samples now.”

  “The pregnancy is confirmed?” Summer engaged the man while she moved past a row of empty cages and Sam followed. His legs felt like anvils under him while a storm raged in his heart.

  “Yes, just. The hormone levels are low, but present nonetheless. She probably doesn’t even know she’s pregnant yet.”

  They came to the last cage, and Sam almost lost control at the sight of her. Megan lay on her stomach unmoving, her hair covering her face. Summer answered his fear before he voiced it.

  “She’s sedated.”

  “Why does she have bandages?” Sam struggled to keep his voice low so only Summer could hear, even though he really wanted to let the thunder he felt trapped in his body roll off the walls while he bellowed.

  “They would have taken skin samples from the scar and healthy tissue near the area to see what changes, if any, the cells have undergone, hence the sedation.”

  “What else did they do to her?” Horrors of the worst kind flashed through his mind.

  “They would not have taken samples from the fetus yet. It’s too soon. They wouldn’t risk it.” She put her hand on his arm, and he took a ragged breath.

  “What is your interest in her, Dr. Woods? There is no zombie tissue to study. Not yet.” Baldy sat at his microscope, but watched them closer than Sam liked.

  He was having a hard time maintaining control. “Okay Sis, get us out of here, now.”

  Summer nodded. “I’ve got this Sam.”

  Then louder, she answered the bald doctor. “I’ve decided to take tissue samples for our department as well. Technically, that healed wound is an irregular form of zombie cell. We don’t get immune tissue samples often.”

  “Who’s he?” Baldy pointed at Sam who managed to resist the urge to march over and snap that finger off.

  “I couldn’t find a vacant gurney.”

  His face twisted in confusion giving him an almost comical expression.

  “You didn’t think I was going to carry her myself?” Summer turned and pulled a skeleton key hanging on a chain from under her shirt. As soon as she got the door unlocked, Sam rushed to Megan’s side and turned her flat on her back, checking for a pulse. It was strong, and he swept the hair from her face so he could get a better look at her. His eyes fell to her flat stomach and the expectation of what was to come overwhelmed him, gripping his heart like an iron fist.

  Sam palmed her head gently and caressed her porcelain cheek with the intention to wake her up, but Summer stopped him.

  “This will be easier if she is unconscious.” She indicated to the open cage door, and Sam thought of Baldy and all the doctors they would have to pass.

  “All right.” Sam lifted her in his arms. Her head rolled against his chest as he cradled her. He steeled himself for a fight, but Baldy didn’t even look up again from the microscope. They just strode right out.

  “That was too easy.” Sam shifted Megan in his arms to accommodate the elevator door.

  “You don’t understand. No one comes here. Once a family member is brought in, most people don’t want them back. The security is mainly to protect against the zombies. We have no protocol for handling a break out.” The doors slid closed in front of them while Summer spoke. “Until we get to the front door.”

  ****

  Voices swam around Megan like fish in a glistening pond. Each time she reached for one it slipped out of her grasp.

  “The drugs...my child?” Masculine warmth surrounded Megan.

  “No need…worry…promise…Sam.”

  Sam? Where was Sam?

  “How long will she be out?”

  “Hard to say.”

  Megan couldn’t keep up, but the words tickled at her consciousness like frayed strings brushing her face. Megan swatted them away and came in contact with a warm body.

  “Here she comes. That’s it Megan. I’m here.” Strong arms held her, and she felt safe again. Not wanting to give that up, she wished the pesky voices would go away.

  “It depends on what they gave her and how deep they put her under. They wouldn’t waste full anesthesia for skin samples. She should be awake soon, then maybe a half hour for the fog to lift.”

  “This will be easier with her awake. We’re walking out of here.” A voice rumbled against Megan’s cheek.

  “I told you, that’s not possible.”

  “Summer, when have you ever known me to let something like that stand in my way?”

  A heavy sigh
filled the air. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see my big brother.”

  Brother? That jolted Megan into reality. Sam, I found your sister. Darn it. Why won’t my eyes open? Her mind focused, but her body wouldn’t respond.

  “Sshhh. Megan, stop struggling.” The solid command got her attention, and Megan took a deep breath. This time her eyes followed direction and fluttered open.

  It wasn’t a dream, he was really here, holding her. Megan buried her face in his chest. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. She tried to lend voice to her thoughts, but all that came out was garbled, slobber speech that even she couldn’t understand.

  “Here, take a swallow.” A feminine version of Sam’s good looks lifted a glass of water to Megan’s lips.

  She took a sip but didn’t let her gaze leave Sam’s face.

  “Give yourself a minute. They knocked you on your ass.” The girl explained.

  Megan choked on her own laughter and took another swallow. They even swore like brother and sister.

  The first thing Megan became fully aware of was Sam holding her on his lap while he leaned back against a headboard. No cages. No zombies. Megan found her voice. “Where are we?”

  “My room.”

  Memories of the dungeon they’d kept her in, along with the sweet and sour smell of rotting flesh rushed back in a flood of bubbling emotion. Summer shoved a waste paper basket in front of Megan just as she bent over and emptied her stomach.

  “There she goes.” The woman stepped back.

  Sam held Megan while she wretched. “What the hell?”

  “Completely normal, big brother. Don’t freak. Everyone responds to sedatives differently. She’s a cookie-tosser. It’ll pass.”

  Megan finished, pretty sure even her toes were empty. “I’m good.”

  Summer handed her a wet washcloth. “It’s mostly clean.”

  “Thanks.” Megan wiped her face and the bandages on her arm caught her attention. “What did they do to me?”

  “Skin samples, Sweetheart.” Sam took the cloth from her and wiped her forehead gently.

  Megan looked up into his strong face. “You came back for me?”

  “Someone’s got to teach you how to swear properly.”

  Megan’s heart swelled, and she buried her face in his chest. Suddenly she realized her toes weren’t empty after all. “Uh-oh.” Megan swung back over the basket. A little privacy while she puked her brains out would have been nice.

  “Do you have anything worth packing?” Sam talked over the top of Megan while he kept one hand on the small of her back.

  “A couple of things. Not much.” Summer stuffed books in a giant, black garbage bag as she answered.

  “Books? That’s what you’re dragging around with you?” Sam stopped rubbing Megan’s back.

  “I took them from the university library when I left. I have one on herbal medicine. I wish I would have paid closer attention in that class now. Basic gardening. I even looked for ones on basic plumbing and carpentry for you, but they were already gone. I wasn’t the only one who hit the library before they left campus.”

  “Why carpentry?”

  “Because I know how handy you are Mr. Over-thinker.” Summer teased her brother.

  “What? I’m handy.” Sam sounded indignant.

  “Really, Sam?” Megan couldn’t help but chime in. “You know that gadget of yours that siphons gas? Wouldn’t a screwdriver through the bottom of the tank with a bucket underneath accomplish the same thing?”

  Summer exchanged a smile with Megan, and they both turned to look at Sam.

  “But my way, I stay up off the ground and can see what’s coming.” His forehead wrinkled in denial, and Megan laughed.

  “See, basic is not your forte.” Summer added then joined in the laughter.

  Sam shook his head at them and changed the subject. “How long until they search for the missing Doctor Woods and her patient?”

  “Another hour maybe.”

  Sam got up and crossed over to the window. “No balcony. We’ll have to go out the front door.

  “I saw the alarm system in action last night. It’s just the fire alarm.” Sam moved away from the window as he spoke. “The only security I saw were the MPs at the door. I didn’t see any snipers posted, waiting to stop a breakout.”

  Summer nodded. “Our resources here are limited, even security.”

  “What if you take Summer as a hostage.” Megan suggested.

  “That might work. They won’t let us leave because there are so few of us. But the other side of that is they are very protective of us all. It might work.”

  “I guess it’s better than no plan at all.” Sam’s dislike for the plan showed on his crinkled brow.

  Megan stood, the world swayed, but she braced her legs and steadied herself. “Can I use your restroom?”

  “Of course. Over there.” She stepped aside and let Megan pass.

  After taking care of her body’s more immediate needs, Megan washed her hands and face, then rinsed her mouth with the tiny bottle of mouthwash on the counter.

  She stared hard in the mirror at the bandages and took a ragged, minty breath. As it turned out, there were monsters in Vegas as well, and they came in more than one shape.

  Taking in the bathroom and all its hospitality, a sense of the ridiculous washed over her. They hid the truth behind comical size bottles of soap and shampoo. All her hopes for the future had lain in a gilded cage from which she now needed to escape. A grisly truth proven by the cotton taped to her arm and the makeshift prison down in the basement.

  How could she have been so wrong?

  Megan held on to the edge of the bathroom counter for support while the entire world crashed down around her ankles. There’d be no saving the world. There would be no cure. At best, the future was grim, and she didn’t have the power to change it after all. She could only ride it out like everyone else.

  Where did that leave her, besides destined to spend the rest of her life hiding. Hiding the bite mark. Hiding from discovery. She was an aberration. There was no place for her in this world. Not even here. This place held on to the old world so tight it crushed the very people clinging to it. Megan turned her back to the mirror. She would not be one of its misguided masses. Not anymore. Sam had been right all along.

  Megan’s grip relaxed a bit. She’d have to build her own future. Out of what, she hadn’t a clue. But, it wouldn’t be in Vegas.

  A soft knock at the door made her sigh. She knew it was Sam before he spoke.

  “Come in, Sam.”

  He’d come back for her, despite the secret she kept from him. Maybe it was time to share her other secret before it was too late for that too. She loved him. Perhaps love was enough to build a future together.

  “You okay?” He closed the door behind him and crossed the room in three long, muscular strides.

  “Getting there.” Megan looked up into his strong face and felt better.

  Sam lifted her wrists and examined the bandages. “Summer thinks you should leave those bandages on to keep the wounds clean. She doesn’t have any antibiotics.”

  “I had a tube of Neosporin in my pack. But that’s gone now.”

  “It’s in the rig.”

  “Really?” Megan’s heart swelled when he nodded. “Sam, I am so sorry I didn’t tell you.”

  “I didn’t give you much of a chance did I?” His voice sounded rough, strained. But he took her face in his hands and kissed her so thoroughly, she forgot all her hesitations. It was time to tell him. When he pulled his lips from her mouth, he put his forehead to hers and spoke before Megan could.

  “Now there is something I have to tell you.” He placed a hand on her abdomen, fingers splayed. “The blood tests they ran on you showed that you’re pregnant.”

  “What?” Megan stepped back, but he blocked her retreat by wrapping an arm around her.

  “That’s not possible,” Megan argued.

  “Ohhhhh, but it is.”

&
nbsp; Megan struggled in his grip, but he didn’t let go. “Sam, this isn’t funny.”

  “This is not a joke. You are pregnant.”

  Cold reality struck like a sucker punch to the gut, and she would have gone down on her knees if he’d not had a hold of her. A baby? In this world? How would she manage that? She could barely keep track of her backpack. Megan peered up into Sam’s face in utter desperation and realized that he came back for her because of the pregnancy, not because he loved her. The desire to tell him how she felt fled. There were no words. In fact, she couldn’t speak at all, dumbstruck by the harsh reality of their situation.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here.” Sam wrapped his strong arms around her.

  Of that, Megan had no doubt, but then what? Overwhelmed, Megan sank into his embrace. Out of all the fantasies she’d ever had of meeting the man of her dreams and creating a family, not once had it played out like this. In her “happily ever after,” the man loved her.

  Sam buried his face in her neck and pressed his lips on the tender skin there. A shiver shot down her spine. Could she settle for this? It was tempting, but she wanted more. She wanted to be loved.

  A knock at the door interrupted them. “Hey you two, no time for hanky panky. Let’s get moving.”

  “Yeah, we’re coming.” Sam kissed Megan on top of the head and let go of her. The world seemed cold without his arms around her.

  “Sam, wait.” Megan stopped him just as he reached for the door.

  “Yeah?” He turned to her, and she still had no words, so Megan launched herself at him and captured his lips in an onslaught of passion. His arms coiled around her like pythons, and he returned the kiss with vigor. Megan felt the proof of his desire pressed into the flat plane of her stomach. When she finally withdrew to catch her breath, he stared hard into her eyes.

  “We will finish this later tonight,” he warned in a raspy voice.

  More frightened of that conversation then the soldiers they were about to face, all she could do was nod. Mostly because she had no intention of spending whatever future she had left with a man who didn’t love her. Megan also knew that, because of the child growing inside her, Sam would have something to say about it.