“But—”
“If you’ve found something—or someone—that makes you happy, you should go for it. No ifs ands or buts about it. If you and Levi are interested in dating, don’t let anything hold you back. Think about it this way. You’ve already got feelings for him, and that isn’t going to change just because you choose to ignore them.”
“But what if Levi and I do end up being something and he gets taken from me?”
I sigh and put my hand on Felicia’s shoulder. “There’s a good chance you’ll lose him no matter what you choose to do. If that happens, you’ll either be able to look back on your time together with fondness, or with regret for what could have been. Don’t rush into something if you’re not sure, but don’t take forever deciding, or Levi might not be here anymore.”
She goes silent while she chews on her lip, and I don’t rush her. “I don’t know, Madison. I need to think about it some more. But thanks for listening, and thanks for the advice.” She gives my hand a brief squeeze before walking back up beside Levi. He looks at her and says something I can’t hear, and Felicia shifts away a bit. The two of them engage in a very quiet conversation with one another, and I try to look at anything other than the two of them.
Todd sidles up next to me. “Ah, young love,” he says sweetly. “There’s nothing better than that, is there?”
I glance over at him. “How much of that did you hear? I was hoping you were paying attention to our surroundings and not to us.”
He shrugs his thin shoulders. “I heard enough. I heard that part about just going for it if you’ve found someone that makes you happy. I also heard you scare the shit out of that girl in order to make your point.”
I’m not sure, but I think I detect a bit of disapproval in his voice. “You think I should have sugarcoated it and not told her the truth? We could be dead in the next hour. There’s no denying that, Todd. Felicia’s not stupid. After Rachel dying yesterday, she’ll know her life is constantly in danger and there’s nothing wrong with pointing it out to her.”
Todd shakes his head. “Just because things are a little dangerous right now doesn’t mean you have to scare her even more than she already is. She could probably use a bit of hope right now.”
“Levi could probably give her hope,” I say quietly. Todd and I watch the two young lovebirds in front of us as they whisper back and forth. Felicia giggles at something Levi said, and I sigh. “If she takes too long to make up her mind, he might not be around when she finally realizes what she wants. That’s the way this world works…”
“I know,” Todd says. “If you find something you should go for it, but Felicia’s just a kid. She’s only what, like fourteen? She has a lot on her plate right now, and the last thing she needs is to add romance to it.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what she needs,” I say, surprising him. “Love is a wonderful thing, Todd. I know it, and I’m sure you know it, too. But Felicia doesn’t. She may have had a crush or two before, but I’ll bet she doesn’t know the first thing about love. Not like we do. And this may be the only chance she gets to experience it.”
He nods. “I get what you’re saying, and you’re right. Everyone should know what it feels like to love someone, and to be loved in return. I hope they get that chance.”
The two of us fall silent as we continue to walk. It was smart for our group to camp on the outskirts of the city—close enough to walk back in the morning, but far enough away that we were safe from hordes of the undead. Normally, I could walk a distance like this in no time, but with Levi, Felicia, and Daisy all slowing us down, it takes far longer. Even though Daisy and I may have reached an understanding the morning after the school burned to the ground, she doesn’t show any signs of improving.
At least she’s not still trying to kill herself…
I glance over at Daisy out of the corner of my eye. She’s walking farther from the group than the others, and she’s kept her head down since packing up this morning. She hasn’t eaten much since she lost Rose, and it’s a miracle she’s still keeping up with us. I should talk to her and make sure she’s okay. Our group is already too small—we can’t afford to lose anyone else.
Before I can head over, Aaron stops us, and I realize we’ve managed to finally make it back into the city.
“If I remember correctly, the dealership is nearby. Just around this corner, down the street, and on the left. But I don’t know what kind of condition the streets are in. We may have to fight our way to the lot. I need two volunteers to scout ahead while I stay here with the group. Anyone?”
My hand goes up along with Janelle’s. He looks at the two of us, and for a second, I’m worried he’ll refuse to send us off on our own. Finally, he nods his head, though he doesn’t look happy about it. “Alright, I want the two of you to be careful, and make sure you watch out for each other. If anything happens to either of you, come straight back. No dillydallying. Got it?”
“You got it, Boss.” Aaron gives me a tight smile, and I try not to let his unease worry me. I turn to Janelle and find her looking at me. “You ready for this?”
“Let’s go.”
The two of us double check our weapons, and Janelle takes an extra handful of shells from Todd. I can feel everyone’s eyes on our backs as we walk away, and I hope Janelle and I don’t have to bring back bad news. Please, let the streets be clear…
It takes us only a matter of minutes to cautiously round the corner and the group disappears from view. The street we turn onto is empty except for a handful of abandoned cars, empty stores, broken glass, and puddles of blood pooling up by the once white curb. The bottom half of a body lies unmoving in a parking lot to our left, and I quickly look away.
Janelle moves half a step closer to me, but she doesn’t show any signs of wanting to turn back. She just raises her shotgun a little higher and her pace quickens, forcing me to move faster as well. We jog down the empty street, making sure to keep on the lookout for anything that moves. Out of the corner of my eye, a small figure dart across the lawn, coming right at us.
Janelle and I spin around, swinging our guns up as the scream builds in my throat. Instead of a zombie intent on tearing us apart, it’s a golden retriever with dingy, matted fur. It runs past, nearly brushing against us in the process. It crosses a neighboring lawn before disappearing from sight. The two of us stare after it, while I calm my racing heart. The unexpected sight of the dog has the hair on the back of my neck standing up and my hands trembling.
“It was a dog,” Janelle says breathlessly. “It was just a stray dog.” She looks over at me and the two of us begin to giggle helplessly. Our laughter sounds more panicked than joyful, and we quickly try to regain control of ourselves. When the street is silent once more, the two of us start moving again, making sure to leave the street behind us just in case anything was attracted by our laughter.
The dealership is one of the most intact buildings I’ve seen since the creation of the first zombie. There are no bodies in sight, the glass windows are all intact, and the vehicles in the parking lot are all in pristine shape. It makes sense that at the end of the world, a car dealership would be one of the places least likely to be looted. There is no food, no weapons, and no supplies other than vehicles that won’t do anyone in the city much good.
“The coast is clear. Let’s go back and get the others,” Janelle says.
Chapter Eleven
Aaron and Michael look over the vehicles in the parking lot while the rest of us sit on the sidewalk and take turns sipping from our water bottles. I pass one of the bottles over to Daisy, and she takes it without a word. I nudge her with my elbow, and she looks over at me.
“How are you feeling?”
She shrugs. “Better, I guess. I’m a little hungry.”
“I’m not surprised. You haven’t eaten anything in a while. It’s a miracle you’re still going. We still have one bag of trail mix left. If you want, we can divide it up and you can get something to eat.”
&n
bsp; She looks wistfully at the red backpack slung over my shoulders. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole cow.”
I slide the backpack off my shoulders with a laugh, and I start to dig through the contents. The thing of trail mix is near the bottom, and I barely have it out of the bag when Daisy snatches it from me, tears it open, and shoves a handful into her mouth. She slowly chews the mixture of nuts, raisins, and candy. When Felicia scoots closer, Daisy offers her the bag. I let the two girls share the rest of the trail mix, ignoring their offers when they ask, even though my stomach growls loudly in complaint.
I wander over to where Todd and Janelle are talking with one another, and she gives me a smile. “Daisy looks better now that she’s got some food in her hands.”
“Yeah, she does. I think she just needs some time to get used to being without her sister.”
“Wasn’t her sister that girl who was trading sex for extra food?”
“Yep. That would be her.”
“Were the two of you friends?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Not really. Daisy and I were friends while at the school, and since she never really went anywhere without Rose, I kind of got to know Rose as well. We didn’t really like each other, though. We were both pretty pessimistic about our chances of survival, but she was far more vocal about it, and I think part of her liked to scare Felicia. But even though I didn’t like her, I am sorry she’s gone. I should have been able to get her to safety like I did the others.”
Janelle puts her hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure you did all you could to save her, and I’m sure Daisy knows that, too.”
I know that Janelle is right, but knowing how depressed Daisy is over the loss of her sister makes me feel like I should have been able to do more for Rose. I wonder if part of Daisy blames me for the death of her sister, but I don’t want to bring it up and risk hurting her even more.
“Hey Madison, what do you think will happen when we get to Colorado?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, scanning the parking lot for any signs of movement.
“Well, what will we do with our lives? It’s not like we can go back to school, or have a career, or get married, or have a family, right? That kind of stuff will never be safe to have again. Are we just gonna spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders and spending every minute like it might be our last?”
“I’m not sure, Janelle. Maybe they develop a cure. Maybe these things will die out eventually. There’s always a chance the world could get rebuilt, so don’t give up hope of your life ever being worth living again. It might happen.”
“And it might not,” she says. “What if we’re stuck like this forever? Do we just slowly die out and let the zombies inherit the world?”
“We’ll bounce back. The human race always does. We’re resilient. Until we get things back under our control, we’ll just have to be careful, and we’ll have to be willing to make some sacrifices. Eventually, I think we’ll come out on top.” Looking over my shoulder, I spot Aaron and Michael peering into the window of a large, dark SUV. “Do you think they’ll find one that can fit us all? Or will we end up walking to Colorado?”
“I think they’re just being picky at this point,” Janelle says, frowning as Aaron and Michael move onto another vehicle. This one looks incredibly similar to the dark SUV they just looked at, and I can’t help but wonder if there is any difference at all, or if Janelle is right and they’re just being picky.
“They’re thinking of gas mileage, storage space, and if we’ll be able to defend it,” Todd says. “They want something easy to maneuver through the wreckage of the city and they want something that can easily mow down a horde of zombies in the street without getting totaled or stuck.”
“If we want to mow down a horde of zombies, I think a tank would be a better vehicle to drive. But since I don’t see any tanks around here, I think that huge SUV will have to do,” I say, eyeing the same vehicle Aaron and Michael are looking at. Michael heads into the dealership, presumably to look for the keys that go to the SUV, and Aaron makes his way back over to us.
“Did you find one that will work?” Todd asks.
Aaron nods. “Yes, I think we did. Hopefully it will start and we can get out of here. It’ll be a little cramped with eight of us squeezed together, but someone can always stretch out in the back—it’s not like need that space for supplies.”
“Where are we gonna get more supplies?” I ask. “We’re running extremely low on food, and we’ve been rationing too much as it is. A handful of food here and there can’t keep all of us going much longer, Aaron. We need food and we need it soon, or else someone is going to pass out in the middle of a fight.”
Aaron sighs. “I know we need food, Maddy. We’re slowly starving to death, and pretty soon we’ll be too weak to survive. But I don’t know where we can get the food we need. Feeding eight people is harder than you think!”
“Aaron, I understand how hard it is, and I know you’re doing your best. Nobody here is going to deny that. I’m just trying to help.”
He sighs. “I’m sorry, Maddy. I feel like no matter how hard I try to keep things in order, they just keep falling apart. But I’ll worry about that later. Now, the most important thing is food.” He looks at Todd and Janelle, who are busy watching the two of us. “Todd, I want you to help me search the nearby stores for any supplies. We need to restock before we leave.”
“What about the others?” Todd asks, looking at Daisy, Felicia, and Levi. “They can’t defend themselves if something happens.”
“They’ll be fine here while we’re gone. Michael, Maddy, and Janelle all have weapons and they know how to use them fairly well. We’re not going far, and we’ll be back before you know it.”
“Alright,” Todd says. “Let’s go.”
Janelle and I watch the two of them dart down the street and duck into one of the empty stores. She elbows me gently. “Don’t worry about Aaron. I’m sure he’ll be fine. He is a soldier after all.”
“I’m not worried about him,” I lie. “Aaron’s a big boy and he can take care of himself.” I glance over at her. “Are you worried about Todd?”
She shrugs. “Not really. I know he doesn’t really look it, but he’s pretty good at surviving, and I’d be dead if it weren’t for him. I’m grateful that he decided to save my life—I just with he didn’t have to mouth off while he does it.”
That startles a laugh out of me, and Janelle joins in. I can’t remember the last time I really laughed, and it feels so nice that I wish I didn’t have to stop. But quickly enough, the reality of our situation sinks in, and Janelle and I both cast nervous glances around the parking lot. We don’t have the luxury of forgetting the world we live in now, even if it’s just for a minute or two.
Movement out of the corner of my eye catches my eye, and I turn my head to see a dark figure dart behind a nearby car. My finger wraps around the trigger of my gun and I take a step forward. For a second, I wonder if I just imagined it, until Janelle steps up beside me. “I saw it, too,” she murmurs.
“Felicia!” Levi shouts, startling me.
I look over my shoulder and see a large, bearded man run across the parking lot. He picks Felicia up and throws her over his shoulder while his friend punches Levi in the face, sending him crashing to the ground. Felicia kicks and screams, but he ignores her and takes off at a run. She sees me as I start to run after her, and she screams my name. “Madison!”
Before I get more than two steps toward saving her, the back of my head explodes in pain and everything goes black.
*****
When I open my eyes, the first thing I notice is Aaron’s worried face as he leans over to touch my cheek. His fingertips are gentle as they brush back my hair, but I still wince in pain as he pulls the matted hair away from my skin. When he sits back, I notice his fingertips are stained red with blood that is most likely mine.
“What happened?” I ask, trying to sit forward.
Aaron’s hand on my sho
ulder stops me, and he forces me to lie back down. “The group was attacked,” he says.
“I know that,” I say impatiently. “But where’s Felicia?” When Aaron doesn’t answer right away, it dawns on me. “You didn’t go after her? Aaron!”
“I’m so sorry, Maddy. I couldn’t risk the lives of the rest of our group to go after her. Our group is too small to engage in a fight with thieves. Especially now.”
I sit up, ignoring Aaron’s disapproving look. “We have to go after her. She’s probably scared and lonely and she might even be hurt. I won’t let those people get away with this.”
“Maddy—”
“No!” I shout, startling him and the others. They’re all hanging back a bit, but they’re listening in on our conversation. “She’s my sister, Aaron. She trusts me and I won’t let her down. Not now.”
He sighs. “This is a mistake. With only six of us to go after her—”
“Seven,” I say, interrupting him. “There are seven of us here.” I look around at the others and quickly realize who else is missing. “Levi?”
“He took Janelle’s shotgun and ran after them,” Michael says, hanging his head in shame. “He was determined to go; we couldn’t stop him. I’m so sorry, Madison. I should have taken better care of the group. It’s my fault they’re both gone, and it’s my fault you got hurt.”
“Michael, this isn’t your fault,” I say, getting to my feet. Aaron reaches out to steady me, but I slap his hand away. “But if you feel like making this right, you can come with me. Help me get the two of them back before either of them gets hurt.”
“Madison, it’s suicide to go after them,” Janelle says quietly. “I know you and Felicia were close, but the odds of her still being alive…”
“I think the odds are pretty good. She’s a fighter, and she knows that if I’m alive I’m coming for her. She’ll hold on until I get there.”
Aaron grips my arm tightly as I walk by and he leans his face close to mine, ensuring that nobody else hears what he’s about to say. “I wish I could help you, but I have to think about the safety of the rest of this group. I have to think about Daisy and Janelle, and Todd and Michael. I’m sorry, Maddy. I think you know how sorry I am.”
Zombie Country (Zombie Apocalypse #2) Page 14
