“You smell good,” said Ellis as he entered the room. “I can’t see a damn thing, but you smell good.”
“Thanks,” I managed to mumble as I spit into the sink.
“You sound tired, Poppy.”
“That’s an understatement.”
His steps brought him closer to me and soon I could feel his warmth. I drew back until the counter was to my back.
“You’re distant. I know I scared you earlier,” he said quietly. His voice was laced with sorrow.
“Yeah. A bit.”
“I’d never hurt you. You know that, right?”
“I don’t really know you, Ellis. I mean I thought I was getting there, but today was really brutal.”
He took a step closer. I didn’t want to shrink away from him but didn’t make any moves to welcome him either.
“Please don’t shut me out. I don’t think I could handle it. Everything I did today was to keep you safe. Everyone I…killed…today…they weren’t still human. You know that, right? Even that girl, Jennifer, she was infected and had gone mad. I hated doing it, but she was going to start shooting.”
He choked up, sounding like he may start crying. It was in that moment that I realized he held deep regret over the loss of life, and that his actions had profoundly scarred him.
“Ellis…” I began.
His hands found my face. They were warm and gentle. “Shh.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, cut off by his lips finding mine.
He kissed me deeply, wrapping his arms around me. He smelled of woodsmoke and sweat, but I didn’t mind. I wrapped my arms around his neck, careful to not touch the road rash that was still healing on his back.
“I just don’t want you to be scared of me, ever,” he said, breaking the kiss.
I let go of his neck and re-tucked the top of my towel but didn’t say anything.
“Will you share a room with me tonight?” he asked.
“Yeah. You don’t have to ask.”
“Matt and I closed the drapes, and there’s a dresser full of clothes in the farthest bedroom down the hall if you want to pick some out. I need to wash up and will be there soon.”
“Thanks.”
“Here. This is from the bedroom,” he said, placing a cold cylinder into my palm.
“A flashlight?” I asked.
“Yeah. Keep it aimed at the floors away from the windows.”
“Okay. Where’s Matt?”
“He’s checking out his room. It’s at the opposite end of the trailer behind the bathroom. I’d rather he be closer to us, just in case anything bad goes down, but I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“Maybe we could set up the living room as a bedroom for him? It’d be closer.”
“Not a bad idea. We can talk to him about it later.”
***
I left Ellis to find the bedroom. The flashlight was small, offering just enough light to illuminate the floor. The home didn’t smell as rank as I had imagined after Barbara mentioned clearing it of the dead. For that I was glad. The hallway was short and narrow. There was a closet on the left followed by a single door. I peeked behind the bi-fold doors and noted a washer and dryer and several shelves that held folded linens. The single door led to a bedroom, as I expected. It was nothing fancy. Each of the two exterior walls had a window with rolling darkening shades pulled down. A dresser, a night stand, a small closet, and a bed. Unless the work crew from the camp had organized the place, whoever had lived there was neat and tidy. I shuffled through the first dresser drawer and found a large t-shirt and a pair of men’s boxers. Trusting them to be clean, I slid them on, figuring they’d be suitable for bedtime. I set the flashlight on the bed, aimed at a corner away from the windows, and pulled the covers back. I picked up the flashlight and turned it off, setting it on the nightstand before climbing onto the mattress and pulling the covers over myself. I nestled into the comfortable bed, lying on my side to keep my wounded ear from touching the linens. As I drifted off to sleep, I made a mental note to look at it in the bathroom mirror once daylight hit.
***
I woke confused when someone climbed into the bed beside me.
“It’s just me,” whispered Ellis.
I took a deep breath as memories from the previous day flooded back into my mind.
“I was sleeping really deeply. For just a moment I forgot about it all,” I said.
“Sorry I woke you.”
“It’s okay.”
“You were actually asleep for a couple of hours. Linus came back over and showed me and Matt around after all and then we sat in the dining area and had a beer.”
“They have beer?” I asked.
“They do. Want me to grab you one?”
“Nah. Maybe tomorrow. Speaking of the others, how’s Agnes doing?”
“I didn’t see her, but I guess Barbara’s dad gave her a sleeping pill. Hopefully she’ll feel better tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I hope so too.”
“Have you forgiven me yet?” he asked, finding one of my hands beneath the blankets.
I allowed him to hold onto it. “There’s nothing to forgive. Just…don’t be too hard on yourself.”
I squeezed his hand gently and scooted closer until I could feel the warmth of his skin along the length of my body. He rolled toward me and I could feel his breath against my cheek.
“Is it okay if I hold you?” he asked.
His voice was breathy and full of longing. Before I had a chance to answer his lips touched mine; the feeling was electric. He kissed me with such intensity that I feared he might be saying goodbye. I reached up and cupped his cheek in my hand, surprised to feel tears on my palm. I backed away, breaking the kiss.
“Hey…what’s wrong?” I asked.
“Just everything. The whole damned situation, and worrying I’ll lose you.”
“That’s not happening.”
I snuggled in next to him and let him wrap an arm around me.
“How’s your back?” I asked.
“It’s alright. Starting to scab over and heal.”
“Does it still hurt?”
“Not much.”
“You sound tired. We should sleep,” I suggested.
“Or we could fool around.”
“I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”
He sighed heavily. “Just a little?”
I bit my lower lip when he ducked under the covers and found my shirt with his teeth, pulling it up just enough for him to gently kiss near my belly button. I gently ran my fingers though his hair, meaning to stop him. Instead, though, I let him trail kisses slowly up toward my chest.
“We can’t do more than a little,” I whispered. “Not without protection.”
“Buzz kill,” he moaned into the flesh beneath my breast.
He positioned himself on top of me and used his knees to part my legs. As he drew one of my breasts into his mouth, his hands expertly worked my shirt up and over my arms and head. I felt physical longing that I hadn’t known in many months and eagerly returned his affection. As I ran a hand down the small of his back, he groaned against me and became more eager with his mouth. His mouth trailed back toward my belly button as his hands began to slide my shorts down my waist.
“Ellis, stop,” I said quietly, despite my desperately wanting him to continue. I placed my hands over his to still them.
The noise he made as he let go of me was pathetic.
“I want to. I really do…but we need to be smart about it.”
“I know,” he said as he flopped on the bed beside me.
“I’m sorry. I really am.”
“Don’t be. I know you’re right.” He kissed me deeply one more time before whispering, “good night.”
***
When someone is being eaten alive, the screams are distinct. It’s a sound that once you hear, you never forget. It doesn’t matter if the person is male or female, skinny or fat, black or white, young or old…they all scream the same. The sound is h
igh-pitched and full of despair. It’s usually impossible to tell their gender based on the shrieks. It’s not unusual to hear them begging for their mother to help them. The cries - I imagine they’re the same as souls in Hell make as flames lap at them for eternity. The only saving grace? When a human is being consumed alive the pain eventually stops when they die.
Our first night in the trailer park might have been close to perfect, but in the wee hours of the morning, just before dawn, Ellis and I woke to the tell-tale sounds of someone being eaten by the dead. I sat bolt upright in bed, as did he.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Fuck. It sounds close.”
Something within the trailer crashed to the floor.
“Goddamn it,” we heard Matt curse loudly.
It didn’t take long for us to both jump out of bed and rush to the bedroom door. With no light, I accidentally stubbed a toe on the dresser, which led to backing into Ellis’ still-healing back. He grunted in pain just before opening the door.
“Matt,” he called out. “You okay?”
“Hell no…I fell over a goddamn end table.”
The screaming continued, pained and hellish. It made my blood run cold.
“Who is it?” I asked.
The screams were soon joined by someone shouting unintelligible words. Several gunshots rang out, followed by sobbing.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” said Ellis.
“Should we head out?” I asked.
“No. Linus told us if anything happens, to stay indoors and lock down. The perimeter guards will deal with it and if they need help they’ll fire three sets of two shots,” said Matt. “Even then, there’s already people designated to help out.”
“The doors are all locked, right Matt?” asked Ellis.
“Yeah. I double checked before we turned in for the night.”
“What about the windows?” I asked.
“Yeah those too,” he assured me.
“We’ll know it’s clear if we hear a car horn do two taps. If we need to evacuate, a single long air horn blast.”
“Crap,” was all I managed to say.
“We’ll wait a few more minutes. Poppy, if you want you can head back to bed,” said Ellis.
“I don’t think I can sleep after that.”
“I know what you mean,” he said just before kissing the top of my head.
“Do either of you have a flashlight?” I asked. “I left mine in the bedroom.”
“Yeah, but do you really need light?” asked Matt.
“Maybe not. I just need some water.”
“I’ll grab it. Go ahead back to bed and I’ll be right there. We can sit up and talk for a while. Matt is that okay with you?”
“No problem. I’ll catch up with you two in the morning.”
Two brief car honks sounded, followed by silence.
“Guess we’ll find out who it was in the morning,” said Matt.
The three of us went our separate ways in the dark. I felt the wall with my hand to help guide me. Even though the walk to the back bedroom was short, it felt like an eternity before I got there. When Ellis returned with a bottle of drinking water, we laid in bed together until morning light began to peek in from the cracks at the sides of the room-darkening shades.
***
“Do we have to go out?” I asked.
“Eventually.”
“It feels wrong. I mean, we’re not really a part of the community yet. I feel like we’ll be in the way.”
“Maybe, but we have to join in at some point. We need to find out what happened, offer our condolences, and figure out our next steps.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, are we staying or moving on, I guess.”
“I think for right now we should stay. We both need to heal,” I said.
“Yeah I’ve thought about that too. How’s your ear feeling?”
“A little sore, but it feels like it’s scabbed over.”
“That’s good.”
Ellis sounded off. Distant. Or maybe preoccupied.
“Penny for your thoughts,” I said.
He sighed. “It’s nothing.”
“I can tell you have something on your mind,” I said, hoping to coax it out of him.
“It’s really probably nothing.”
“Then tell me.”
“The guy we first met. Ben?”
“Yeah?”
“Something seems off about him. I can’t really pinpoint it, but something just seemed off.”
“Like what?” I pressed.
“He was at the perimeter last night. The guy seems nice enough, but I just get a weird vibe from him. I can’t really explain it. It’s…I dunno…almost like my head hurts when I’m near him.”
“You’re probably just tired.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he said. “Let’s get up and see what Matt’s up to. I should look at your ear, too.”
I sighed, dreading looking at it myself. “And your back.”
He rolled over and kissed the tip of my nose. “And maybe later we can go back to bed?” he teased.
“Don’t tempt me.”
“You know I want to do bad things to you, right?” he asked with a fake evil laugh.
“I know. In time…maybe.”
I rolled out of bed and stretched.
“Maybe?” he asked.
I walked to one of the two windows and pulled down on the shade, engaging the mechanism that wound it back upward. Sunlight streamed in, and we squinted our eyes at the bright light.
I looked at Ellis as he sat in the bed. His left eye looked different.
“Hey…” I said.
“Huh?”
“Can you see okay?”
He blinked. “Not really. The sun’s bright as shit. Why?”
I walked closer to him and sat beside him on the bed.
“Look to your right.”
He moved his entire head to the right.
“No. Keep our head still and just move your eyeballs.”
He did as I instructed.
“Ellis, the left side of your eyeball has green streaks and the pupil isn’t completely round.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking. Go look in the bathroom mirror. I’ll wake Matt up.”
***
Days passed somewhat uneventfully, and we settled into a routine. Breakfast, followed by a walk around the grounds, Ellis would help with trailer clean-out duty while I helped in the garden, and a late evening meal. We’d stay up talking and playing cards while most of the rest of the community sat around a bonfire until it got too dark to risk firelight attracting the dead. Most people seemed uneasy around Ellis since his eye had changed, which bothered me to no end.
The death during our first night in camp was a man in his forties. He had gone outside to smoke and had no way of knowing that another member of the group had died of what we assumed was a heart attack. It was a random death that led to an internal attack, which thankfully was contained by the perimeter guards. The death of both men took its toll on the group. Not only were the men’s families and friends devastated, but it was a reminder that nowhere was truly safe.
We weren’t sure what to make of Ellis’ eye. His daytime vision was unchanged as far as he could tell; his pupil was no longer round, but rather jagged and didn’t dilate as the other eye did. That led to blurry vision in the dark. Talk spread through camp about the possibility that Ellis was infected. Matt seemed hesitant to remain in the house with us, and within a few days moved in with Linus and Agnes. He urged me to come with him, but I refused. Ellis had quickly become one of the most important people in my life, and I refused to leave him over a “what if” scenario.
My ear took on an unusual shape as it healed; a good portion of the top of my outer ear, the helix, was missing. Ellis made me feel better by telling me it just made me unique, but in truth I hated the look. I began to wear my hair in a side braid to cover it. Every now and then I’d he
ar a crackling in that eardrum, which was terribly unsettling.
About a week after joining the community, Ellis and I settled in on a sofa he’d salvaged from a unit clean-out.
“Did you hear there’s a new woman in camp?” I asked.
“I did. Celia-or-Celine-or-something.”
“Have you met her yet?”
“Nope. I hear she’s a doctor, though.”
“Yeah I heard that too. Barb told me she’s setting up an office in a shed. Maybe we should go see her.”
“I think we’re doing okay,” he replied.
“I’m worried about your eye, and maybe she has birth control pills.”
He smiled when I mentioned that.
“Let’s go now.”
I chuckled. “It’s late. Let’s introduce ourselves at breakfast tomorrow.”
He set his bottle of water down on a folding TV tray we’d set up as a coffee table and turned to face me.
“There’s something I want to talk to you about,” he said.
“That sounds ominous.”
He grabbed my legs and pulled them onto his lap, leaving me partially laying against the arm rest. “No, no, it’s nothing bad. I want to leave for a while is all.”
“Leave? Why?”
“I still want to get to my family’s stronghold. Make sure it’s safe and sound. Make sure it’s a place we can go if we need to. Maybe get away from everyone for a while.”
I frowned.
“Why the frown?”
“I don’t like how people are treating you.”
“I can handle it. Really.”
“But you shouldn’t have to. When will we leave?” I asked, changing the topic.
The Rotten Series (Book 1): Infection Page 23
