Myopia (Young Adult Zombie Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria Series)

by Leyton, Bisi

  “Second floor, third window from the left,” Andrew said quietly.

  A woman was pacing around the class, back and forth.

  Wisteria froze when she saw it and she could tell from her blood red eyes, pale skin and the dark black liquid spewing from her lips that the woman was a biter. By her appearance, it was apparent that the woman hadn’t fed in a long time, perhaps for months or maybe longer.

  Dropping her arms to her side, she released a dejected sigh. “We really thought the town was biter free.”

  “There’s a biter in there?” Garfield asked. “Do we have to go in there to cure it?”

  “Yeah, we can’t risk it getting out,” Wisteria added.

  “It? Wisteria, how many did you see?” Andrew asked.

  Looking through the binoculars again, she saw another, shorter one. Maybe it was a child’s flesher. Then…three more. While she watched, over a dozen biters appeared to be moving around the room. Jumping from the roof, she got into the driver’s seat.

  “How many were there?” Garfield asked.

  “A lot—twelve…” Her voice trailed off. Seeing the terror in Garfield’s eyes, she realized she should’ve lowered the number.

  “Twenty-three,” Andrew corrected. “At least.”

  “What? So, we go in?” Garfield asked nervously.

  “No.” She shook her head. “We’ll use gas.”

  “We?” Garfield exclaimed.

  “Relax,” she tried to reassure him. “But we should leave before they catch our scent.”

  Andrew contacted the base and he radioed the nearest patrol team.

  Wisteria put the vehicle into gear to drive away and heard a crash.

  Garfield shrieked. “The bloody biters are jumping out.”

  “They must have gotten our scent.” Looking through the rearview mirror, she saw the biters from the school leap down the three stories to the ground and stagger haphazardly toward the gate.

  Reversing past the gate, she tried to put the car into gear, but it stalled.

  The undead behind the gates moaned as they neared the stationary SUV.

  “Come on, Wisteria,” Andrew pleaded. “Don’t panic.” Placing his hand on hers, he got the vehicle into gear as the swarm of over fifty biters broke through the school gate and shuffled toward the SUV.

  Wisteria sped down the street. She knew the biters wouldn’t be able to outrun the SUV, but they’d most likely follow their scent back to Smythe, unless they were stopped.

  At the end of the cul-de-sac was another worn SUV. Standing on the roof were Wisteria’s mother and a tracker called Ferris Kinsey. They were both armed with dart rifles and were firing on the approaching biters. Because of the noise of normal guns, the trackers used cyanide dart-rifles when curing the infected.

  Wisteria drove past her mother’s vehicle and parked a few feet behind it.

  “What are you doing?” Garfield asked.

  “We’ve got to help them.” Getting out, Andrew reached for his backpack.

  “I thought you said there were no biters in Norton,” Garfield said as he aimed at biters.

  “I never said that.” Andrew gave Garfield a dirty look while grabbing his gun. “And we’re not in Norton.”

  “Take your time, Andrew,” her mother called. “They won’t be here for a while.”

  Wisteria took out her rifle as well and aimed it at the street.

  The approaching biters snarled.

  “Lara, I’ve got you, just try to keep your daughter and her boyfriend from peeing in my car,” Andrew teased as he climbed on to the roof the SUV.

  “Just get to work.” Her mother took out an old soft drink can.

  Wisteria knew only one thing could be inside of it.

  A few months back, one of the town’s scientists, Mr. Silas Cheung, had figured out how to make a gas that confused the biters and caused them to suffocate. This saved on the town’s ammunition.

  Her mother flung the can into the swarm. It sailed through the air and thick smoke spread out over the biters.

  Starting the car, Wisteria called out to Andrew, who was still shooting at the approaching biters. “Andrew, get in.”

  They didn’t have gas masks, so they had to get out of the vicinity of the gas as soon as they could.

  The soldier fired a couple more shots, and then got in.

  “Mum!” Wisteria yelled at her mother, who threw another can and stood watching the infected succumb to the gas. “What are you doing? Ferris, get her down from there.”

  “Relax, Wisteria, she’s done this a thousand times,” Andrew whispered. “Focus on getting us out of here.” Andrew was right, but it was still her mother.

  “Let’s go.” Garfield banged on the back of her seat.

  As she drove, Wisteria saw her mother jump off the roof of the SUV and get in.

  “What is your mother’s deal?” Garfield wondered as they drove away and Ferris’s SUV followed them. “What do you think happened to those people? Why were they locked in there?”

  They were driving on the side roads back to Smythe as Wisteria replied, “If I had to guess? Someone thought it was safer to lock them away.”

  “The fool was trying to be humane,” Andrew muttered.

  “How long were they in there?” Garfield asked.

  “We didn’t take any pictures, did we?” Wisteria realized aloud while ignoring his question.

  The scientists who lived on the Isle of Smythe used the pictures of the infected to help them understand the severity of the disease. At least that was what Wisteria had guessed. She’d no clue what those guys were actually doing. No one did, not even Coles. Their last experiments resulted in about forty biters almost breaking out of the mulberry orchard and infecting the whole island.

  “Ha!” Andrew laughed. “If the doctors want those photos, they are going to have come out here and get them.”

  “Yeah, right,” she replied. “They are even more sheltered than the children are.”

  “Yes, they are.” Andrew’s tone became serious.

  Garfield exhaled loudly in relief, as they entered Norton.

  “At least those Einsteins aren’t putting the island in danger anymore,” Andrew remarked. “Unlike you kids. Go down that street.” Andrew pointed as Wisteria drove.

  “Where are we going?” She pulled onto Norton High Street.

  “You can stop here,” Andrew ordered without answering her pointed question.

  Breaking in the middle of the road, she saw they were only a few feet away from the pub the kids had been to the night before.

  “What are we doing here?” Garfield tried to ask innocently.

  “Come on.” Andrew got out of the car. “Both of you.”

  “We can’t leave the vehicle,” Wisteria pointed out. “Someone has to stay in case we need to leave quickly.”

  “Yeah, we just saw fifty biters at Woolmer, Lieutenant. We should get inside and regroup,” Garfield added. “Coles won’t be happy to hear you’re breaking the rules.”

  “You seem preoccupied with the rules and regulations now,” Andrew replied. “Interesting, because there’s one that says no one leaves the island without a gate pass.”

  She inferred he was talking about last night’s party. If Andrew knew, no doubt her mother knew, too. Wonderful. But to be frank, if Coles knew? Her mother knowing was a given. Wisteria wondered now about what she would be walking into when she got home.

  “What are you talking about?” Garfield feigned ignorance.

  “Now!” Andrew called out. “I need to show you something.”

  Wisteria paused for a moment before getting out of SUV. She trusted him; with the exception of Garfield, he was her only other friend.

  The two kids followed Andrew as he headed to the main entrance of the pub.

  Picking up an empty glass jar, he sniffed it. “Do you know how Coles found out you guys were sneaking out?”

  “David told Coles,” Garfield replied.

  “Smell this.”
Andrew tossed her the jar.

  Catching it, she sniffed and noticed a very particular scent that reminded her of Garfield’s house. She passed the jar to Garfield.

  He didn’t take it. “I know what that is,” he said.

  “That’s Thomas Clarkson’s moonshine,” Andrew revealed.

  Garfield had been placed with Thomas Clarkson. Thomas supplied most of the town with two things—moonshine that didn’t kill people and smoked rats.

  At one point, she’d suggested Garfield stay with her, but he wasn’t too keen about living with Coles. She suspected that since everyone in town ate rats to supplement their rations, Garfield always had something to trade.

  “First patrol found it,” Andrew explained.

  “So?” Garfield shrugged. “Anyone could’ve brought it. Thomas doesn’t give me his booze.”

  “So, if you guys are going to sneak out and party, you don’t do it in a way that gets Coles mad,” Andrew instructed.

  “What? You’re okay with this?” Garfield gasped.

  “Listen, Norton is safe. You should let your hair down once in a while, but tell your friends they’ve got to be smarter, otherwise Town Hall could kick them out,” Andrew smirked.

  “Really?” Garfield exclaimed.

  Wisteria folded her arms. “We should get back to the car—”

  A huge growl sounded from behind them and three mangy figures burst through the door of the pub.

  “No!” Garfield screamed and rushed through the side exit.

  Instinctively, Wisteria cocked the dart gun she was carrying.

  “Stupid kids!” Rebecca O’Leary called out as she stood in the doorway. She laughed loudly while her tracking team stood behind her. “You should’ve seen your faces.” She pointed at them.

  “Andrew, are you out of your mind?” Wisteria fumed as she turned to face the four adults. “You’re doing this now after what just happened at Woolmer?”

  “There are biters out here and you guys are playing around? I could have shot you,” Garfield called as he stormed back to the SUV.

  “Yeah, but you left your weapon in the car,” Andrew pointed out.

  “Well, I didn’t.” Checking the dart gun, she saw the darts had been removed. “Very funny.”

  “I definitely thought so,” Andrew teased. “The most fun I’ve had all day.”

  “Do you both know how stupid you were being? Even if Norton’s safer, it will never be totally safe,” Wisteria exclaimed.

  “Really?” Rebecca chuckled.

  “You should’ve thought about that when you crawled through that hole and came into town, Wisteria. Instead of coming to us,” Andrew replied coldly.

  “I was looking for David. I wasn’t going to leave him here,” Wisteria defended.

  “What do think would’ve happened if even one biter got into the party?” Andrew sounded hurt.

  “That’s why I had to get him,” Wisteria maintained.

  “Leave her.” Rebecca laughed. “We scared her good, and her little boyfriend is going to wet himself.”

  “No, Wisteria,” Andrew shouted. This was unusual for him. He never lost his temper, at least never with her. “You were stupid. Any one of those children could’ve been bitten unless you checked them all for bites.”

  She hadn’t

  “What if one got back to the island? What if one bit David?”

  “So, what was I supposed to do? Leave him there? You know if I told my mother she’d overreact.” If Bach had been in Smythe, she could’ve gone to him, but he wasn’t, so she took care of it on her own.

  “You could’ve come to me or Rebecca. You still could’ve told Coles. Anything except what you did,” Andrew suggested with a disapproving glare.

  Although he was right, she couldn’t imagine a world where she’d leave David to die. “So, if I came to you, you would’ve come out and gotten David?”

  He nodded. “I’d also break both of his legs so he wouldn’t sneak out again.” His stern face broke into the more familiar smile.

  She shook her head.

  “Even if that boy was with you, you shouldn’t have gone,” Andrew said in a low tone, so only Wisteria could hear.

  “How could Garfield help her? By cowering behind the smallest little girl he can find?” Rebecca jeered as she headed back to the High Street. “Oh, you mean the immune boy would help you. What was his name? Bart?”

  Wisteria knew Rebecca was referring to Bach, but like many people on the island, she didn’t know him that well.

  “We should get back.” Andrew gestured for her to return to vehicle.

  “This prank of yours was dangerous, too.” She turned to leave. “What if there were biters in there?”

  “There weren’t any,” he replied. “Unlike you, we secured this building before going inside.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The school day flew by and Wisteria didn’t remember most of her lessons. Not that she hated class; she found school a welcoming distraction from how dire things had become in her world. What she hated were the other students. Aside from Garfield, and on some days Amanda, she had no friends in school. A lot of the other kids tormented her, but today she was too tired to care.

  All the children under eighteen on the Isle of Smythe had to earn their keep and part of earning that was attending school as required. The last time she was late, several sliders, guards and even someone from Town Hall stopped her to take down her name. She was reported to Sir Charles Davenport, the head of the Town Hall and Mayor of Smythe, then lost some of her rations.

  With the school day finally over, and with no tracker shifts this afternoon, she headed home. Since she was no longer on the same tracker team as her mother, who was working this afternoon, she had a few hours to herself.

  “So what’s your mother going to do to you?” Garfield asked as they cycled home.

  “Honestly, I’ve tried not to think about it.” She found her mother’s punishments to be psychologically exhausting. “Sometimes, I think it would be better if she just shouted or beat me.”

  At that moment, they saw Amanda and David arguing at the end of the street. He seemed to be pleading with her.

  Turning away from him, she strode away.

  “Amanda, Amanda,” David yelled after her, but the girl rushed toward her and Garfield.

  “Go to hell, David,” she called back to him through her tears.

  “Come on, Amanda, stop being a baby,” David yelled after her. “There was nothing going on between me and that girl.”

  “What’s wrong?” Garfield stopped in front Amanda.

  Covering her mouth with her hands, she cried.

  “Mandy.” David reached for her.

  “Don’t touch me,” Amanda screamed, pushing him away. “Go back to Poppy. I hope you enjoyed her. I hope she was good to you.”

  “Mandy, come on,” David cajoled.

  “I said—don’t touch me!” she screamed.

  “David, maybe you should leave her alone,” Wisteria suggested.

  “Wisty, this isn’t any of your business.” David reached out to Amanda, but Garfield blocked him.

  “Seriously, just leave her alone,” Garfield said.

  “What? Get out of my face, idiot,” David said in a low voice. “You think you have a chance in hell with Amanda? It’s never happening. Never—ever.”

  “Garfield.” Wrapping her arm around his, Amanda glared angrily at David. “Do you mind walking me home?”

  “You’re joking, right?” David mocked in disbelief. “You’re not leaving with rat boy. Wisteria, tell your friend to stay out of this.”

  Garfield used to be a rat catcher when he first came to Smythe and many of the kids on the island were still calling him rat boy. Even though he was a tracker now, the name stuck.

  “Like you said David, I’m not a part of this.” Wisteria raised her hands.

  “You’re the joker,” Amanda fumed. “And as I said before, you’re the rat.”

  “Let’s go,
Amanda.” Garfield grinned broadly. He walked his bicycle and the girl of his dreams away from David, leaving Wisteria standing with her brother.

  “David.” She attempted to comfort him.

  “I’m not interested.” David stormed off, almost knocking over another student.

  She wanted to ride after her brother, but she decided to let him cool off when something caught her eye over where the island’s clock tower stood. With a strange urge coming over her, she wanted to be there right now.

  Like always, the streets of Smythe were a dreary shade of gray, damp and deserted. Passing through, she counted less than ten people outside and that was from a town of 1,300. Generally, people preferred to stay indoors.

  She figured it was also because everyone was so tired from the amount of work they all had to do, as well as the biters outside the walls. Aside from going to school, she had to work at least thirty hours a week as a tracker. All the children had worked on the farms during the harvest. Coles and her mother always seemed to be working.

  A short bike ride later, she realized how tired she was as she stopped her bike at the rear entrance of the granite clock tower building. The giant clock face read 9:33, as it had for the last three years. Knocking on the large iron door, she waited. After a few minutes, there was no answer and she banged again.

  Still no response. Good, that meant Jason wasn’t here. Aside from looking after the hall, he also lived in one of the apartments in the tower.

  Pulling the door open, she unlocked the cast iron cage that was behind it. The added security was necessary should biters ever overrun the island. She walked through the dark atrium into the main hall. In the center hall was a man with thick, spiky green hair, oversized blue-rimmed glasses, and a bright blue turtleneck. While he appeared young enough to be in college, she knew he was only a few years younger than her mother. He was Jason Webb.

  Jason’s ancient dog, James, scampered toward her. “Hello, James.” She stroked the mongrel uncomfortably because she was afraid of dogs.

  Normally, Jason wasn’t here this time of the day. Aside from taking care of St Luke’s, he was the island’s only veterinarian. Lately, he spent a lot of time helping Thomas Clarkson set up a rat farm.

  “Yvette and Hailey are starring in the one act version of As You Like It,” Jason replied as he arranged chairs around a short stage. “She says it’s going to be epic.”