Dead Friends Series (Book 2): Dead Friends Running

by Carlisle, Natalie

  Jason didn’t respond.

  “She’s right about that,” Kyle agreed, swatting a bug away from his face, seeming unoffended. He scratched at his scruff. “And Jay, I just have to say, I swear I thought he was dead. I’m not kidding. You know I wouldn’t have called you had I—” He shook his head, lowering his gaze. “Never mind,” he sighed. “I would have still called you. Either way, Buck’s still gone. This really doesn’t change that.”

  “Unless—” His head suddenly shot up, a look of hope crossing his face in his next breath. “We save him. That’s it. If he’s still alive, doesn’t that mean we can still save him?” He stared wide-eyed, and child-like toward Jason. “Doesn’t it?” A silent plea in his eyes begged Jason to tell him that it was still possible.

  My attention shifted away from Kyle, focusing back onto Jason and his stance on all this. One onceover and I could easily tell he felt caught. Jason was straightforward most of the time, but standing there now, looking at Kyle’s childish desperation, I knew he was stalling to think of a response—one that wouldn’t destroy his best friend completely.

  The chances of Buck coming back from this were slim to none. He might have still been alive, but he was far from human, and truthfully I think death might have been a better option for him.

  I could only hope Buck didn’t know he was one of them. Like, I hope there was no ounce of brain power left at all. For his sake.

  Jason surprised me though when he responded, “You’re right, Kyle. There still may be a chance.” I knew he was going to say something to make him feel better, but Jason’s words actually seemed kind of believable, and that’s what startled me.

  “Yeah?” Kyle’s eyes grew wider if possible, and a renewed sense of energy kicked in. “Then what’s the plan? What do we do? I’ll do whatever I have to.”

  He quickly peered over at me and Missy. “We’ll all do whatever it takes, right? You in?”

  Missy exchanged a look with me, one I had trouble deciphering. “Yeah, we’ll do whatever too.” I wasn’t sure if she wanted to, or if she thought I wanted to, so she was just responding that we would.

  I wasn’t even sure I wanted to. What exactly was whatever implying?

  I caught Jason staring at me from the corner of my eye, and I turned. I knew he was reading me. I knew he wouldn’t allow us to help if I didn’t agree, so I agreed, though I didn’t sound very convincing.

  Jason blew out a breath. Shaking his head, he turned away from us, staring off toward the trailer in the distance for a couple minutes.

  “Then what we need to do,” he said, finally spinning back around, “is get to a phone. We need to contact the authorities. We need to let them know what is going on, and we need to let them handle it.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good plan,” Kyle said, sounding suddenly way too chipper to call the police. “And that’s not all is it?”

  “No… no that’s not all,” Jason replied, hesitantly

  “What is it?” I pried, feeling my stomach knot uncomfortably. I knew this wasn’t something I wanted to hear.

  “Well, we can’t save Buck if he’s not here.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Missy’s own doubt was evident.

  “I mean,” Jason said, growing quite serious. “We make the call to the authorities, but in the meantime we’ve got to find Buck. And since we have no clue where Buck went, that means, we have to go on a hunt to find him.” He sent a sidelong glance to the woods to his right.

  “And what exactly do we do when we find him?” Missy remained skeptical.

  Jason brought his full attention back to her. “We do our very best not to get bitten.”

  Then, in one swift movement, he hopped back up on the quad, turning it on.

  “That’s our plan?” Missy was incredulous, raising her voice over the hum of the engine.

  “Yup.” He turned in the seat, keeping one hand on a handle and patted the empty spot behind him with his other. “You sure you girls still want to stay?”

  I gulped, but shook my head yes.

  13

  We didn’t even make it halfway back to the trailer before our quad broke down.

  It was making strange chugging sounds when I was riding it before, but I just kept pushing forward, ignoring it. I probably should have eased up a little on the gas. Of course, that would have gone against the whole saving Jason thing at the time.

  Smoke continued to cloud the air around us, and I wrinkled my nose against the harsh smell, staring toward the trailer in the distance with frustration. I couldn’t believe we had to walk back. It’s like we couldn’t catch a break today.

  Not to mention, it was a complete waste of the limited time we had.

  At least Jason had the common sense to instruct Kyle and Missy to hurry up ahead and make the phone call to the authorities. So that’s what they were doing—or should be doing. I wasn’t too confident in their ability to get the message across correctly. The looks on their faces before they drove off confirmed they hadn’t expected to be the ones making that call, and that concerned me.

  So did the still-smoking quad.

  I peered over my shoulder briefly. “Maybe we shouldn’t have just left it there?” I was half-afraid it was going to catch the woods on fire though I didn’t actually see a spark.

  “Well unless you want to go back and push it, there’s really no other options are there?” Jason said, continuing his pace.

  Then he grabbed my hand, pulling me toward him. “Come here.” Once up against his side, he placed his bare arm around my shoulder.

  “I love that you’re here with me, but you know with you being here it makes everything harder for me. Because not only do I have to worry about myself and Kyle, I have to worry about you and Mouth too. The odds can’t stay in our favor too long, you know.”

  And here I was thinking the odds already weren’t in our favor.

  “I can’t protect us all, and I don’t ever want to be put in the position where I have to choose who to save…and the more we expose ourselves to this, the higher the chance is that it might happen. Do you get what I’m saying? I almost lost you once already.”

  And that’s when it hit me. He was right. The odds had been in our favor—there were way too many close calls with death lately and we were dangerously testing fate again.

  I sighed, leaning a little more into his shoulder, not even caring much that he was sweaty. “You’re right.” I didn’t want him going after Buck alone either though. “Maybe we should just leave everything to the authorities. Let’s even let them find Buck, too.”

  Jason withdrew his arm. “I want to do that. That is the rational thing to do. But Kyle,” he said, staring at his feet as he scuffed his shoes across the dirt. “He’s far from rational. He’s going to go after Buck whether we are with him or not. I think if I am with him, at least then I can kind of keep tabs on him, keep him safe, you know? Stop him from doing anything really reckless. Heck, letting him drive the quad right now is reckless enough considering he’s been drinking.”

  “Ohmigod,” I blurted, realizing how right he was. “I can’t believe I didn’t even think about that.” That was so not okay.

  “Yeah…it’s not safe. Though I am pretty sure when the whole Buck attack happened, he sobered up. I mean, I think anyone would have sobered up with that.”

  Maybe. “Still it’s not safe to just assume.” I bit the inside of my cheek, considering the day’s turn of events again and before I knew it, I was apologizing. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Sorry?” He suddenly stopped walking, clearly confused. “Sorry about what? It’s not your fault he’s driving the quad.”

  “No… not about that…though I feel a little responsible for not having enough common sense to tell Missy to drive it. Everything just happened so fast and that’s how accidents can happen.”

  “Hey I didn’t say anything to him either,” Jason pointed out, brow furrowing. “I’m kind of responsible then too. But hey it’s too late for
that. He’s already driving it, and from the looks of it, they are just getting to the house. And safely. So tell me, what are you apologizing about?”

  My attention was back on my best friend and Buck’s cousin as soon as Jason said that. I stared forward, intently, waiting for the moment Kyle stopped the quad. The dirt cloud behind them started to settle.

  “Dee?” Jason urged.

  I still said nothing until I actually watched Missy and Kyle safely climb off.

  Then Jason got my attention again. “Sorry,” I mumbled, “I meant about Buck.”

  “What about him?” I could tell he had no idea where I was going with this.

  “I saw him… in the bedroom, right before he attacked you. I saw him…and I didn’t even scream.”

  “It’s okay—”

  “No, no it isn’t okay. I saw him and I should have said something… or done something. I could have prevented everything. But, I couldn’t. I saw Buck, and I just froze. What kind of person does that make me?” A few tears sprung from my eyes again. I hastily swiped them away once more with the back of my hand.

  “A normal one,” Jason mumbled, shaking his head. “You thought he was dead and he was suddenly standing there, completely awake. That’s a pretty big thing to process in less than ten seconds. Don’t hold yourself responsible for that.”

  “I just feel really guilty.”

  “Don’t. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You could have been bitten though,” I prompted.

  “And as much as that idea terrifies you,” he responded, “It terrifies me just as much when I think it could have been you.”

  “You stand there apologizing to me for something out of your control, and yet, still stay here when leaving is completely in your control,” he continued. “You want to help me, you know what I want you to do.”

  I did know what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to go home. From here I could see my license plate. My New Jersey license plate.

  And suddenly I woke up. Well, that’s how it felt. What the heck was I doing back here again? Did I have no self-worth? Did my life mean nothing? Did I think I was that disposable?

  Yes, I was here for Spencer—to see if Buck’s death was related to the virus, but like Missy said, what could we do about it if it was?

  Being here might have been a poor attempt to save a friend, but at the risk now of losing my other best friend, and possibly my own life.

  It was something we already did once for Spencer, and almost didn’t survive that time.

  The moment I found out about Buck, I should have gotten back in my car and sped off as fast as the engine would let me. At least, that’s what any normal person would have done. But in my defense, I’m still a teenager. I even want to go to college, surprisingly.

  But, what about Jason? The naïve in love girl inside me retorted. You can’t just leave him to die. You’d really just desert him here? He just admitted he’s not leaving, he’s got to stay and protect Kyle. Who’s going to protect him? You should stay.

  I crossed my arms, sighing. Stay for Jason? Or leave for Missy and myself?

  Jason wants you to go back to New Jersey, the more mature version of myself pointed out again. If you die you won’t have a relationship anyway. Yeah, but if he dies, the naïve girl said, it’s the same result.

  You love him, so stay.

  Mentally shaking my head, I turned my chin up to see Jason’s face. Bruising colored his skin, and the bandage on his forehead was now soiled with blood and sweat. My gazed lowered down his neck, across his shoulder, and onto his arm that was bleeding through the shirt that was tied around it. That wound, it’s your fault too. You saw Buck and you didn’t say anything. It all could have been prevented if you just said something. Don’t you get it? Wait, you aren’t helping him. If you really love him, you’ll get away from him before you actually do kill him.

  Shit. In that second, I instantly realized I was doing more harm than good. There was no argument left. I was dangerous to Jason and if I wanted him to survive, chances were better if I wasn’t around. Guess love really is blind; otherwise I should have realized this sooner.

  It was time to go home. I made a face. Going home meant facing my parents though. I wasn’t looking forward to that at all. I was so grounded for life. But hey, on the bright side, at least while I’m grounded no virus exposed maniacs will try to eat my head off in my bedroom.

  I voiced my decision to Jason. And he hugged me in relief. I just didn’t tell him why I changed my mind just that once we got back to the trailer Melissa and I were going home.

  Jason convinced me we should leave before the authorities came. It didn’t take much to convince me. He made a good point. If we wait for them to come, we might end up in quarantine again and this time the hospital might even keep us locked up longer. And I sure the hell didn’t want that to happen.

  That was even worse than being grounded for life. I wanted to be a college student. Not a test rat.

  14

  Missy and Kyle were pacing in front of the trailer when we got there.

  “Well, what’s the update?” Jason immediately said, once we were within normal hearing range.

  They both kind of cringed. Not a good sign. “Well…we did make a phone call,” Missy began hesitantly.

  “And?”

  “And Trooper Wesson wasn’t in his hospital room.”

  “So, that’s it?” I was in disbelief. “You just left it at that? You didn’t call anyone else?”

  “Kyle did.” She sent him a sidelong glance. “But getting an order of pizza fries and a frankfooter to go probably isn’t the call you wanted us to make, eh?”

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” They were both idiots.

  Kyle shrugged. “I’m pretty hungry, and I’m out of bread. So a PB and J is out of the question. Figured we’d wait to ask you guys what you wanted to do before making any more calls. I mean it took two calls for us to find the hospital Trooper Wesson was even at.”

  “You are such a moron sometimes,” Jason said, shaking his head. At least he agreed with me. He pushed past his friend and headed up the front steps of the trailer. “I’ll be inside calling the police.” His tone made it very clear that it was what we wanted them to do from the start. Yeah, calling Trooper Wesson was a good idea, but when they couldn’t get ahold of him at the hospital they should have immediately gone to plan b: call the troopers that are working right now.

  “Wait,” Kyle blurted, turning around. “Does this mean I have to cancel my order?”

  Jason mumbled something before slamming the door behind him. It wasn’t anything pleasant.

  “Great, Lew’s going to kill me.” Kyle headed indoors too. “I hope he doesn’t still charge me for the food.”

  “Lew?” I cocked an eyebrow. Who the heck was Lew?

  “Diner guy,” Melissa replied beside me. “Pretty sure he runs the joint. Could be mistaken though, but I really don’t care either way. Though fries do sound pretty good.”

  I spun in a half circle to face her, just as Kyle walked inside. “Really Miss? I don’t get you.” The door wasn’t slammed so loudly this time, but I still heard it shut.

  I must have been glaring at her pretty severely, because my best friend put her palms up in defense. “Hey, wasn’t my idea to call for food.”

  I didn’t blink.

  “Okay. Okay, I know,” she sighed. “We should have called. I get we had one job. But really, and I am totally not being sarcastic right now when I say this, but I honestly think it’s best to wait to talk to Trooper Wesson first. Figured we could try him again in a half hour. Think about it. Would waiting that much longer really matter?”

  I clenched my jaw from saying a few choice words, but remained blunt. “I don’t know, Miss. You tell me, how many people do you think Buck can eat in thirty minutes? One… two… twelve…”

  Cringing, she turned away from me. “Well, when you put it that way.”

  Now I was the one shaking my
head. “Never mind, let’s go.” I started toward the trailer door.

  She saw me pass her and began to follow. “You are mad at me, aren’t you?”

  Mostly baffled, I thought to myself, baffled that my best friend lacks common sense.

  “I’m just going to get my keys and say goodbye to Jason. That’s all.”

  “Goodbye?” She seemed unconvinced, and confused.

  Pausing, I peered over my shoulder. “Yes. Goodbye. I decided we aren’t staying. Jason will handle everything from here. We are going home.” I went to take another step. “Unless you want to stay?”

  “What? Me?” A crease started between her eyebrows. “I thought you wanted to stay? Heck, it was your idea to come here in the first place.”

  “Yeah, I did, but…” I shrugged. “It’s smarter to leave now while we still have the option to, unless you want to stay. It’s your call.”

  “And become zombie bait again? No thank you. Let’s go home.”

  Okay, at least my best friend still had some common sense. I refrained from saying this time that Buck wasn’t actually a zombie. No point getting into another useless debate about this illness.

  was on the last step, my hand seconds from touching the door handle when Missy suddenly said, “What was that?”

  My hand lingered, mid-air. “What was what?” I hadn’t heard anything, but just the fact that she might have made my heart jump up to my throat. My first thoughts were Buck. He was back.

  “I don’t know.” She didn’t sound freaked out though. She obviously hadn’t thought the same thing.

  I lowered my hand to my side, glancing at her. She wasn’t facing me, but had hesitated just a few inches away from the bottom step, looking behind us.

  My eyes scanned above her head, trying to see if I saw Buck running toward us.

  My car partially blocked my view, but I was pretty confident he wasn’t there.

  “I don’t hear anything, or see anything.” My nerves were grateful for that.