“Are you all right? Let me take a look at it.”
Reluctantly, I lifted my pant leg. I didn’t look, I was too afraid.
Quinn stood and placed a hand on his hip, staring at me. “We need to get that cleaned out. You don’t want it to get infected.”
The blood rushed out of my head, but I kept my face hard. I didn’t want him to think I was a weenie. I lowered my pant leg.
“I assume you have a first-aid kit in the truck?”
He nodded.
“Let’s finish this, then I’ll worry about it on the road. It’s going to get covered in more crap. No sense cleaning it out twice.”
It took us another ten minutes to get the truck washed off. Blood dripped down my leg and I had to limp, but we finished. Even though my sweats covered the wound, they were still soaking wet and smeared with blood—mine and the zombies’. After we climbed into the truck, Quinn handed me the first-aid kit from under his seat. I pulled up my pant leg. I winced as the material stuck and then narrowed my eyes. I didn’t have a choice, I had to look at it. Four crescent moon-shaped holes penetrated my leg right above the ankle. I took the plastic tweezers from the kit and pulled a black nail from one of the wounds. I reminded myself to breath as I threw it out the window. I poured the entire bottle of alcohol onto the wound and held my breath as it stung the area clean. The thought that in twenty-four hours I was going to be a slow-moving craver of flesh crossed my mind, but I told myself I had to get bit. I coated the punctures with some ointment, then wrapped gauze around my leg. I crawled into the back and found a pair of dirty jeans to put on, throwing my sweat pants out the window. Quinn stared at me from the corner of his eye.
“From what I could see, it looks like you’ll be all right.”
I tried to find that reassuring, but it was difficult. I rested my head on the back of the seat and closed my eyes. Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm my shaking and force the bad thoughts out of my mind.
By the time we reached the gate at North Platte, I felt better. My leg didn’t hurt quite as much, and I didn’t crave human flesh. The guard stopped us, and Quinn rolled down his window.
“What business do you have in North Platte?”
“We’re delivering supplies.”
The guard looked at me. He smiled when he recognized me. “Found some stuff, did ya?”
I nodded.
“Good. Things were getting a bit slim. I’ll need you to step out of the truck and head to the inspection area.”
Again, the color drained out of my face and my stomach fluttered. “What? Why?” When Pam and I went out, we didn’t have to be inspected. I guess they assumed nothing was going to attack us in the East.
“You know the rules, Krista. No one gets into the city without being inspected.”
Quinn and I looked at each other for a minute before pushing open our doors. Kyle and Bill joined us as we headed to the inspection area. I glanced over my shoulder and watched the guards pull the trucks through the gate toward the storage yard.
The inspection area was between two guard towers next to the trench. There were two lines, one for men and one for women, and they were separated by solid green plastic fencing. It was pretty difficult to see through when you were in there, but if the sun hit it just right, you could see the silhouettes of the men on the other side. Not that I looked. I happened to notice.
The fences were about twenty-five feet long, and the workers were lined against the wall and hosed down while another guard inspected every inch of them. Right before the fence were outfitters tents where we were expected to strip down. A shift just finished, so we took our places at the backs of our respected lines.
As I got closer to the tent, my skin felt hot and prickly and the voice at the back of my head told me to run. I knew, of course, that if I did, they’d shoot me on sight. It’s going to be all right. You’re going to be fine.
Once I stepped under the tarp, I followed the lead of all the other women and took my shoes off, then stripped down to my underwear. I visibly shook at this point, both from the cold and fear, and I folded my arms across my chest to keep my appendages under control. The group in front of me was sprayed with the hose. Reflexively, they tried to block it. The guard then made her rounds. After a few minutes, they came back into the tent and pulled their clothes on. Another set went in. Two more and it would be my turn. I glanced down at the bandage on my leg. It was like a flashing beacon.
Finally, it was my turn to step in front of the wall. I was about to take my place when the inspecting guard stopped me.
“Whoa,” she said and placed a hand on my shoulder. “What’s up with your calf?” She pointed at my leg.
“Nothing,” I squeaked. “Just a little scratch.”
She pursed her lips and bent down. With one quick motion, she ripped the gauze off.
I sucked in a deep breath and almost fell over backward.
“You get grabbed by something?”
Tears stung my eyes. This was the end. I knew it. I was going to be led from the hose line to the firing line. I nodded slowly.
“Did it bite you?”
I shook my head.
“Okay,” the guard said, surprisingly compassionate. “After I check the rest of you, this girl here will take you to the hospital.”
It wasn’t until the cold water hit my body that her words registered in my brain. She said hospital, not firing line. As I stood there, dripping wet and shivering, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. After we got the okay, we went back to the tent and pulled on our clothes. A different soldier escorted me to the hospital.
We went directly to the emergency room and immediately saw a doctor. He told me to sit on the gurney while he examined my leg. Without saying a word, he pulled out a needle and jammed it into my shoulder. The actual needle didn’t hurt, but when he pumped the liquid in, I thought my arm would catch fire.
“What is that?” I yelped.
“Tetanus and an antibiotic.” He pulled out the needle and patted me. “You’re good to go.”
“That’s it?”
He smiled. “Yep. That’s it. Try to be more careful next time.”
I hopped off the gurney and walked to the courthouse where Quinn and the guys waited for me. The worry was apparent on all of their faces, but they tried to cover it up with fake smiles.
“Did they say anything?” Quinn asked.
I shook my head. “Nope. Just gave me a shot and sent me on my way.”
They all seemed to relax at the same time. We headed up the stairs. I wasn’t even nervous about seeing Liet. After what I went through, talking to him was going to be a breeze.
He sat behind his desk, conversing with a soldier I recognized from the gate. I assumed he’d informed the general of what we brought back.
Liet glanced at us as we approached. “Sounds like you had a fruitful trip.”
“Everything went as we promised,” Quinn said.
“Fabulous. I assume you’ll want to freshen up before you head out on your next adventure. Krista, show them upstairs.”
I turned to them and pointed to the door near the back of the room. They headed toward it, and I followed them. We got upstairs and I showed them into the apartment. The first thing we all wanted to do was shower. I was lucky, I had my own, and I left Quinn, Bill, and Kyle in the living room, arguing over which one was going to go first.
CHAPTER 12
I was called into Liet’s office seconds after getting out of the shower. I stood before his desk with my arms folded over my chest. I still felt dirty and violated. Even though I knew the process was for everyone’s safety, it was still humiliating. I wondered if there was a better way.
“I see you were quite successful in the West.”
“Yeah. You’d be amazed how much stuff is out there.”
He smiled. “Would I?” He swung his feet onto his desk. “Well, it seems to me since there is such a plethora of goods to be had, we might as well stock our shelves. Besi
des, it’s only a matter of time before Florida comes to us begging for supplies.”
I tried to keep my excitement to a minimum. “You want me to go out again?”
“I’m still very short handed.”
“How much do you want me to get?”
Liet shrugged one shoulder. “As much as you can. I’ll send two more trucks. One for fuel and one for anything else you think we need. When you fill those, I’ll send more.” He pulled his feet from the desk and leaned on his elbows. “You’ll leave in two days.”
I nodded, trying to suppress a smile. Despite the danger and the vast hordes of zombies, I was excited I could go back out to the West. Life was so much simpler out there. All I had to worry about was zombies. I didn’t have to worry about random girls in my room or Liet being overprotective. I just had to keep an eye on the horizon.
Quinn was incentive to go out too. He was caring and kind and really cute. He knew his way around the West. I felt safe with him. The other two weren’t bad either. They were quiet, but knew what they were doing. Unlike Liet, I didn’t have to worry about what I said or if the evil twin would show up. Quinn and the guys were always nice.
The guys were seated at the kitchen table, and smiled as I entered the apartment. I walked up to them, barely able to contain my excitement.
“Liet would like us to leave in two days and fill up two more trucks.” My voice was slightly higher pitched than normal. I hoped it didn’t annoy them. It kind of annoyed me. I felt my face turn red.
Quinn nodded. “Sure. What do we do until then?”
I shrugged. “There’s not much to do. I usually bide my time by taking a shift in the guard towers or sitting in my room listening to music. I’ve found both are very relaxing.”
Quinn smiled. “Well, I’m pretty sure Liet wouldn’t want me hanging out in your room, so if you go to the guard tower, I’ll join you. If you don’t mind.”
I felt my face turn even redder, and I let out a nervous chuckle. I glanced at the other two.
Bill held up his hands. “Not me. I’m going to see what I can find in town. Kyle, you comin’ with me?”
“Yep. Beats sittin’ around here!”
I nodded and headed to my room to get boxes of ammunition for my gun. I wasn’t surprised Bill and Kyle didn’t want to come with us. They seemed to like to do their own thing. I hoped they didn’t get bored.
Quinn and I took the late shift since that was my normal schedule. We had dinner with Liet, which was very uncomfortable. Liet asked Quinn about the West and supplies, but there was something about the way he looked at him that made my skin crawl. It was kind of a sideways glance, and his lips would curl into a snarl when Quinn wasn’t looking. When Quinn looked up, though, a smile was always on Liet’s face. I ushered him out the door as quickly as I could.
We climbed to the top of the tower and then took a seat. I placed my hands on the rail and stared at the horizon. The funeral fire had been stoked since I’d been gone, and greasy black smoke billowed through the sky. Quinn coughed and rubbed his eyes.
“You get used to it after a while,” I explained.
Quinn spit over the side of the tower. “Why would you want to?”
“It’s better than it was when I first got here. They were letting the bodies rot in the field.”
Quinn wrinkled his nose. “Still, nothing beats the fresh air where I live.”
I sighed. He was right. There wasn’t anything better than the fresh air in the West. I could actually breathe out there, my clothes weren’t covered in a thin layer of ash, and I didn’t reek of smoke.
Everything seemed clean.
I heard shuffling to my left, so I grabbed the searchlight and swung it in that direction. The beam landed on a zombie, and I raised the rifle to my shoulder. I fired one shot, and the creature fell. I panned the light around to make sure there weren’t any others. Quinn stood next to me, his gun cradled in his arms.
“Did you ever in your wildest imagination believe you would be here?”
I huffed. “Sometimes I still don’t believe it. It started two years ago. Just two years.” I angled the light into the field and sat. “It all seems so long ago. Like it was a different life.”
Quinn turned to face me and leaned against the rail. “Yeah.”
I stared at him for a moment, then turned in my seat so my back was to him. The heat rose in my face. It drove me insane that he made me blush and my stomach flutter. It wasn’t as if we talked about anything embarrassing. I hoped he didn’t notice. It really bothered me that he affected me like that. I wondered if Mom went through the same thing when she’d met Dad. My mind drifted to the day Mom was killed. I would have assumed that after so long I could forgive them, or at least understand why they did what they did. As I stared out into the black field, I hated them more. If they were still alive, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I’d be someplace safe without a crazy second cousin trying to control my life. I lowered my head.
I thought about Pearl and wondered how she was doing. I thought about Tanya. I was actually surprised that Tanya even entered my musings. I hadn’t given her a second thought since she’d quit talking to me in Florida. I remembered how much it angered me that she didn’t want to talk about the zombies. How could someone ignore the apocalyptic nature of the situation? Life could get better, it could change, but we had to change it. If they wanted to live in their bubble, what did I care? I was doing what I wanted. I didn’t need to concern myself with them.
Quinn shifted behind me and pulled me out of my thoughts. He shone the spotlight on a few more zombie intruders. He dispatched the menace, then turned back to stare into darkness. I would’ve liked to talk to him, to get to know him better, but I didn’t know what to say. I was curious about his family, but I’d learned in Florida that you don’t ask about anyone’s parents. If they didn’t bring them up, they were probably dead, and they more than likely didn’t want to relive that day. I knew I didn’t want to talk about mine. We occasionally glanced at each other and smiled, but otherwise it was a quiet night.
The next morning we met up with Bill and Kyle. After a quick breakfast and shower, I headed to bed. I wasn’t sure how long I slept, but when I awoke, I heard the guys talking softly in the living room.
“It’s tragic,” I heard Bill saying. “There is no reason for people to live like this.”
“It’s like a concentration camp,” Kyle chimed in.
“Oh, I doubt it’s that bad,” Quinn said.
“Okay, that’s exaggerating, but it’s not good. A lot of these people are starving. Last night alone we saw three people beaten in the street by the soldiers for god knows what reason.”
“The wall has barely extended outside the city limits,” Bill exclaimed. “And I know all those bodies on the fire are not zombies.”
“What are they even doing about the zombies?” Kyle asked.
There was a long period of silence.
“We knew it was going to be bad when we came here,” Quinn spoke, but then his voice trailed off, and I couldn’t hear what he was saying.
I climbed out of bed and walked to the door. Cautiously, I opened it and peered out.
“We need a contact. Someone on the inside who’ll distribute the guns. Was there anyone in the town who could possibly fit that profile?”
Bill shook his head. “They’re all so afraid of the soldiers they barely wipe their noses without getting permission first.”
“What about Krista?” Kyle asked.
“I wouldn’t count on her. She’s related to Liet,” Quinn explained.
“So? How exactly are they related? Not everyone enjoys their relatives.”
“Keep looking. Someone has to turn up.”
I closed the door and then leaned against the wall. What were they planning on doing? Surely they weren’t going to destroy the wall. That was the only thing protecting us from the undead. Just because they were suited to living in the West that didn’t mean everyone was. And why did they n
eed to distribute guns? The soldiers had them, and they protected the workers, wasn’t that enough?
Life in North Platte wasn’t ideal, but it was necessary. If they wanted to repopulate the East, they had to wall off the West. Things were bad, yeah, but they didn’t have the supplies. Liet was doing the best he could. I shivered. Did I just defend him?
Good thing no one could read my thoughts. I didn’t agree with everything Liet did, but we all had to make sacrifices. I believed that when all was said and done, the people who’d built the wall would be honored as heroes. After all, it was their hard work and dedication that would make life in the East possible.
I took a deep breath and changed into some clothes. I headed into the living room. The guys smiled at me, and I nodded in their direction. I went into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. The guys went back to what they were doing—Kyle read a magazine, Bill cleaned his gun, and Quinn patched a hole in his shirt. I leaned against the counter and watched. They looked so normal. For a brief moment, I wondered if I’d dreamed the whole conversation.
I finished my cup of coffee. “I have some things I need to do to get ready to leave.”
“Okay.” Quinn smiled.
I paused with my hand on the doorknob and stared at him for a second. The corners of my mouth twitched into a small smile. I headed out the door.
It was late afternoon as I walked through the streets of North Platte. The morning shift had finished and headed to their homes. Their clothes were covered in mud or soot from the fire, but their skin was clean. They’d just endured the showers, and I pitied them. They looked utterly exhausted. They dragged their feet over the broken asphalt. Soldiers lined the streets and watched the procession go by. One of the men from the crowd stopped to ask a question, and the soldier told him to keep moving. When he refused, the soldier drove the butt of his gun into the worker’s stomach. He doubled over, but before he could hit the ground, two more soldiers grabbed him by the arms and ushered him to the courthouse. I watched for a few seconds before stepping into the female soldiers’ house.
Life After The Undead Omnibus [Books 1-2] Page 12
