“Again, she’s right,” Jason replied, placing his hand on the door knob and turning it. He stared back at us, a half-honest, half-fake smirk appearing on his face. “That’s annoying you know.”
“What is?” she countered.
“You being right.”
“Ohmigod, Hallmark, grow up.”
He swung the door open, still messing with her, and my eyes followed the movement, on their own accord.
The room was cast in shadows, but still bright enough to see inside. And even from the other side of the trailer, even with half of Jason’s body blocking the view, I could still see Buck.
I instantly cringed.
I didn’t want to see him.
I hadn’t meant to look at him.
But sure enough even from where I was I saw him.
Eyes open, lifelessly staring, crouched down in the silence of the room, like a predator ready to attack.
He lunged for Jason before I could even muster scream.
Buck was not dead.
11
Jason’s legs buckled as Buck leapt onto his back, latching onto him. He teetered toward the right, to the left, stumbling forward, back, trying to regain balance as the shock wore off and desperation kicked in.
His hands fought to pry away Buck’s grip, to loosen his hold on him, but Buck only continued to clasp on, hungrily attacking him. His animalistic snarls echoed toward us.
My scream finally surfaced as pieces of cotton from Jason’s t-shirt fell, like confetti floating through the air.
Jason grunted and turned lopsidedly, throwing his back into the wall, slamming Buck up against it. His teeth pulled away from his sleeve upon impact.
Only Jason didn’t stop there. He found his footing, stepped forward, spinning again up against the bead board on the other side of the hall.
I rushed toward him. Before I made it four steps, he saw me. “No! Stay there!” he yelled, clenching his jaw as he pushed up against Buck’s grip.
Kyle jumped out of the chair, pushing past me, shoving me into the corner of the kitchen counter. I bit my tongue against the flash of pain in my hip. His hand reached for a gun off the rack behind me to my right. “Get out of the trailer,” he warned, “now.”
“But—” I started to object.
“I’ll help him,” Kyle promised, yanking me by the arm, urging me toward Missy. She grabbed my hand, pulling me the rest of the way. Her blue eyes were wide, filled with fear beckoning me to go with her, to listen to them.
I glanced once more back at Jason, at the tear in his shirt sleeve, at the blood dripping down the back of his arm and felt torn.
And terrified.
It was too late.
There was nothing Kyle or I could do to help him now.
We needed to contact the health officials. Only a cure would save him.
My cell was in my car, I kept my fingers crossed in hopes I’d have reception, and made for the door.
“I don’t get it. I don’t understand,” Missy huffed as we ran down the steps. “How is Buck alive? And how come we didn’t hear him in the bedroom?”
I am assuming she didn’t see Jason get bit. It’s the only reason I allowed her not to be more concerned about that.
“Dee, answer me,” she pleaded, as I continued to run toward my Toyota. “And where are you going? Are we leaving? Your car keys are on the coffee table inside.”
“What?” I stopped, breathless. “No they aren’t. They are in my back pocket.” I reached for them, reflexively.
“No,” she said, jogging up next to me. “Remember you took them out when you sat down on the couch.”
A string of curses left me. I forgot.
I hurried for my car door again anyway, frantically trying the handle. It was locked. I moved quickly to the back door, then bolted to the trunk and to the other side.
I tried every single handle, cursing more with every attempt.
“Dee, stop! It’s locked. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
I glanced over the hood of the car at her, ready to snap back a comment, when I spotted the axe resting up against the house.
The axe, of course.
“I can break a window,” I mumbled, rushing past the bumper to the front of the house again.
“What?” she blurted as I ran past her. “What did you say? Now where are you going? Do not go back inside! Damn it, Dee!” I heard her feet pounding after me.
“I’m not, I’m just grabbing the axe,” I yelled, skidding to a stop beside it moments later. I hauled it up, struggling at first to lift it. It was heavier than I thought it would be.
Missy stopped, bending over, hands on legs, breathing heavy. She peered up at me. “The axe? What the hell do you need an axe for?”
“I’m going to—” The front door suddenly swung open loudly, slamming into the siding. Jason and Kyle came bolting out, literally jumping down the steps. Something loud banged and crashed somewhere inside behind them.
“Run!” Kyle shouted, as his feet hit the ground.
Jason dashed right to me, grabbing my hand. I struggled to run and hold the axe at the same time. “Drop it,” he urged, pulling me forward. “On second thought,” he reached across me, holding out his open palm. “Give me it, we might need it.”
Blood ran down his hand, but I didn’t hesitate to listen to him.
He took it from me, just as Buck blasted out of the trailer, a ravished hungry beast chasing his meal.
I tried to peek back, but Jason was pulling me along so fast that it took most my concentration just not to fall. I could hear Buck running after us.
“Behind the house, go!” he said, pushing me in front of him, letting go of my fingers, as we reached the edge of the house. He had stopped running.
I could see Missy and Kyle, up ahead, still moving.
“Go!” he urged, when I went to pull him with me. “I mean it, Dee, move!”
“Not without you,” I huffed back at him, my brown eyes pleading with him to come with me. The serious expression on his face momentarily softened.
“I promise I will be okay.” His hazel eyes bored into mine as if trying to convince me he meant it. “Just go.” His expression grew serious again. “Please.”
“Jason—”
“For me, Dee.”
I sighed, fighting every emotion inside of me, but I finally turned away from him--because I knew he wouldn’t stop asking me to.
“I’m doing this to save you,” he hollered, as he took off running in the opposite direction.
From over my shoulder I watched as he taunted Buck and redirected him away.
Buck chased after him, untiring.
I continued to run toward the back of the house, unnoticed and forgotten.
Missy and Kyle were hopping onto quads.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Kyle waved me on, unaware Jason wasn’t with me, and refocused on starting the black one.
Missy however, asked, “Where’s Jason?” The fact she didn’t call him Hallmark, meant she was seriously worried.
A thought suddenly popped into my head as I looked at them. “And I’m doing this to save you,” I mumbled out loud, picking up my pace.
I was out of breath when I reached them, but mustered what remained of my energy and shoved Kyle off the quad.
“What the—”
“Gotta get Jason! Move your feet!” I revved the engine and peeled away, kicking up dirt. A tilted U-turn headed me back toward Jason. Buck might be able to outrun Jason, but he’d have a hell of a time trying to outrun the quad.
The wind whipped my hair, flipping my bangs in and out of my eyes. My butt bounced up and down off the seat as I drove over divots and bumps. The evening air was cooler the quicker I rode, actually offering some reprieve from the sticky summer heat. Twisters of gnats littered the air, however, and once or twice I drove through them, squinting and spitting.
I saw him! The sound of the quad snagged Jason’s attention. He glanced back, annoyance quickly
visible on his face. I saw relief too, despite himself.
He should have known I wouldn’t just bail on him. I should have known too.
I needed a plan though. Buck was so close to him, there wouldn’t be enough time to stop and have him jump on before Buck reached him again.
I quickly surveyed the area, but only saw trees and open land.
Jason must have noticed the dilemma too. “To the l-left,” he shouted through his uneven breath “By the oak—meet me t-there.”
I nodded, turning the handles slightly in that direction and kept riding.
It was only a short distance away.
As I got near I slowed down and Jason sped up, coming toward me.
Then suddenly he just stopped short, turning around, closing the gap he just created between him and Buck. I started to yell—I mean seriously, what the hell is he doing? He unexpectedly swung the axe in one swift movement, lodging it in Buck’s leg, knocking him over. Buck crashed hard. The blade was stuck in his thigh. The handle broke off in Jason’s hand. He peered at if for a second, at Buck, then sprinted toward me, tossing the splintered wood.
Buck rose awkwardly, the blade protruding from his leg. He had multiple bullet holes in his chest. Even one on his forehead. The blood there was dried, almost black.
No person could survive that many shots.
Which is why I knew Buck was no longer human.
I knew firsthand that the infected were impervious to pain. However, a shot to the head usually took them down. So why the hell was Buck still moving?
I had a horrifying thought that perhaps the shots didn’t kill them. What if it only stunned them? That would explain how Kyle assumed Buck was dead, but he wasn’t.
It made me think of the boy I shot in the woods last time I was here. Of the others we shot and killed. What if they weren’t dead? What if somewhere out there in the woods we were heading toward now, all of them were still alive?
I mentally shook my head. No. We would have heard about that on the news. There would have been more killings.
People wouldn’t have been allowed back in town.
So then how
Jason hopping onto the quad, wrapping his arms around my waist and hollering at me to move. It brought me back to what was most important.
Getting away alive.
I could worry about other trouble once we got out of this. Burning rubber, I took off again, heading into the woods.
“You’re crazy,” Jason gasped, his breath blowing against my neck. “You shouldn’t have come back.”
“I couldn’t leave you,” I mumbled, to avoid bugs in my mouth. “Now hold on.” I turned the quad sharply toward the left again, maneuvering between a couple trees. I spotted Missy and Kyle a little way off, headed toward us. They saw me, too, and turned around, now that I had Jason safely. They had obviously followed me once they realized what the heck I was doing.
I didn’t glance back to check on Buck.
From behind me, in my ear, I heard Jason whisper he loved me--or it just sounded like a whisper because the quad was making so much noise.
12
He loved me.
My heart expanded twice its size inside my chest, but split in half in the same beat. He’d never told me he loved me before. It felt too soon to admit it out loud, even if I felt the same way. The way he said it now, after everything that just happened, hurt more than anything. I didn’t want him to love me.
I couldn’t lose Spencer and him.
I didn’t think I would be able to handle that.
As his arms tightened around me, I thought of his brother and sister again. Of Duke. I didn’t think they’d be able to handle losing him either. They’ve already lost too much, and all from this stupid virus. This god awful virus that nobody ever heard of before. Life was so freaking unfair. And to think we all assumed they found the cure.
“He’s gone,” Jason said a few breaking heartbeats later. “You can slow it up. He went the other way.”
I eased up on the gas, listening robotically to him. Tears stung my eyes again, but I knew I had to hold it together or I wouldn’t be able to see.
The moment I sniffled, keeping it together was a lost cause. The tears just started to pour down my cheeks after that.
He must have heard me crying because he told me to hit the brakes. I once again listened. We ricocheted forward and back, but he held on to me steadily with both hands. I let go of the handles and swiped my hand across my eyes, pushing my dampened bangs away with the tears as soon as we were at a complete stop.
His grip around me loosened, and though his hands left my waist as he slipped off the seat behind me, a quick glimpse down showed one bloody handprint remained in their place.
The stain only made me cry harder.
“Hey—hey it’s okay,” he said, spinning me toward him. He lifted my leg over the center of the quad, so that my knees were bumping into him, then pulled me into his chest. “Everything’s fine now. Don’t cry. You know I hate when you cry.”
It didn’t really matter at this point what he said. Nothing could make me feel better. And the fact he was acting like everything was actually fine pissed me off. And concerned me. Did he not put two and two together yet? Had his adrenaline and shock not worn off? Was he just in denial that he was infected now too?
Behind me I could hear the other quad still going, but it was getting closer to us. Kyle and Missy must have been curious as to why we suddenly stopped and what our next plan of action was. I couldn’t help but start to wonder if they even realized what was going to happen next for Jason.
I was almost positive Missy didn’t even know he was bit, unless Kyle told her.
As I sat there, falling to pieces in Jason’s arms, my mind drifted back to New Jersey. I also couldn’t help but wonder if Spencer had already turned back home.
“Babe, please stop crying,” Jason sighed, rubbing his hands comfortingly against my back. “You’re okay. Mouth’s okay, I’m ok—”
“No you aren’t okay,” I cried, pushing him off me, cutting him off. “Do you hear me? You are not okay. Stop it. Stop pretending. Or denying. Or whatever it is you’re doing.” I peered up at him, snot probably running down my face for all I knew, and glared at him, totally heartbroken. He just stood there, a crinkle beginning in his forehead. “You’ve been bitten,” I cried. “You’re infected. You know what that means.”
An odd expression flashed across his face, before he snatched me back into his arms. “Oh, babe, is that what you thought all this time? That I was bit?” His head was resting on top of mine. “Oh, Dee, no, I wasn’t. I’m fine. Buck didn’t get me.”
“Yes, he—”
“No, he didn’t.” He squeezed me tighter before letting go of me, his way of shutting me up no doubt. I was dubious.
“I saw it—and the blood, your shirt—”
He turned his arm, so that his elbow was facing me. “It’s my elbow. I cut it on a nail in the wall.”
“No, no that’s not what happened.” I started shaking my head, my heart leaping to my throat and pounding there making it hard to speak. “He bit you.”
“He bit my shirt, yeah,” Jason agreed. “But his teeth never broke my skin.” He grabbed a fist full of his sleeve where it was ripped and shredded it more, yanking off the whole cuff. “See, nothing. I’m fine.”
I saw nothing. No teeth marks. No scratches. He must have only got a mouth full of material before Jason knocked his mouth away. All the blood seriously was coming from a tiny gash right at the top of his elbow.
“Not convinced…” Jason lifted his entire shirt over his head, taking it off. His sweat-soaked skin glistened in front of me. He turned slowly around in a circle. “Check for yourself.”
Naturally I stared at him. My eyes surveyed his entire torso, his back, his shoulders, his neck—only his elbow bled. There were all kinds of bruises, but they were there from his accident earlier.
He seriously was not bitten.
A loud
sob choked out of me, followed by a new set of tears.
This time Jason chuckled. “Oh, come here.”
“You’re seriously okay?” I mumbled, stopping him with my palm. I didn’t want his sweaty chest on my face.
He nodded, wrapping his shirt around his elbow. “Well, actually, I could use a Band-Aid and a really good massage.”
A sad laugh escaped me. “Stop. I’m serious.”
His look was tender, but he raised his eyebrow. “So am I. Now that my adrenaline’s crashing, I’m almost positive every single muscle in my body hurts. And I am kind of bleeding here.”
I looked at him with concern, before peering over my shoulder. Kyle was riding up beside us. “I think you may need more than a Band-Aid for that arm.”
“Nah, just need a Band-Aid,” he said, walking slowly around the front of the quad I was still sitting on. I shifted in my seat, following his movement, until I was spun around facing the opposite side.”
Kyle cut the engine of his quad. “Hey, everything okay? Shit, is she crying?”
I sniffled, and rubbed my sleeve into my eyes, my tears drying up. “Misunderstanding.”
“You two fighting?” Missy looked confused, and annoyed at me.
Didn’t blame her, I did just bail on her.
“She thought I was bitten,” Jason told them. “Which I wasn’t, so clearing that up now in case either of you thought so too.”
Understanding softened Missy’s angered expression. “Oh. Now it makes sense. Well, I’m glad that you weren’t anyway. Not that I thought you were.”
“Thanks.” He sent me a sidelong glance. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get you girls back to Jersey before any more crap happens today.”
Missy laughed sarcastically. “The fact you think we’re going to head back to New Jersey is really funny. She’s never going to go now.”
Jason opened his mouth to say something.
“Save your breath, Hallmark. It’s really not that surprising, is it?”
“We just can’t,” I said, defensively, cutting in. “We came out here for a reason, to see if Buck’s death was related to the illness or not, for Spencer’s sake.” I snuck a discreet peek at Kyle, biting my lip. I hope he didn’t take offense to that. “But Buck is still alive…well, not really alive, but obviously still infected. This changes everything now. Can’t you see that?”
Dead Friends Series (Book 2): Dead Friends Running Page 6
