“Were?” Rose said softly.
Andy forced a sad smile. “We were at a homeless shelter volunteering. Got attacked there, and then caught up in a huge horde on the way here. Some of the kids cut and run, some of them died. The nuns saved as many as they could. Sister Mary’s gone though.” He shrugged. “I just had to get out of that big-ass tent they put us in though—couldn’t stand it. Managed to find this tent abandoned.”
“Thought you said you were with a bunch of ‘grandma types,’” Nolan said, raising an eyebrow at the possible lie.
Andy chortled. “Yeah. Nuns. The worst kind of grandma type. You’ve seriously got no idea.”
“Grandmas are supposed to be fun. Baking biscuits and no bedtime rules, right?” Rose said with a smile.
“Oh yeah?” Andy said, his voice now turning bitter. “I wouldn’t know.”
“We all come from different situations, kid.” Nolan got up, brushing off his pants legs. “Any chance you can lead us to the food? We’re all half-starved.”
That wasn’t exactly the truth, though food was always welcome. We had eaten at Karla’s sister’s house. I was guessing that Nolan wanted to check out the area with someone who knew what they were doing. A teenage escort was a good disguise.
“Yeah, yeah. Just come from there, actually. They weren’t handing anything out because of the breach, but I bet that’s all done now. It’s not great stuff, mind you. Lots of MRE deals and dehydrated stuff.” Andy stood up and started heading for the tent flap.
Rose and I got up, slow to follow. I was wondering if leaving the tent so soon was a good idea. By the look on her face, she was wondering the same thing.
“MREs and dehydrated shit,” Barrett bellowed happily. “You’re speaking my language, kid.”
“It’s Andy.” The teen didn’t seem impressed by the huge, overbearing, twangy Barrett at all.
“All right, kid. Whatever you say.” Barrett clapped him on the shoulder and smiled. “Whatever you say.”
Andy walked out into the sunshine and Nolan followed casually. Rose went after him, her arms still crossed and looking totally ill-at-ease with what was happening. For my part? Well, I walked to Barrett and shoved my hand between his side and thick arm. If I was going back out, into my potential doom, I was going to use him as a shield every step of the damn way.
He didn’t seem to mind one bit.
After a very short while of walking, somewhat grouped together but all managing to act like we belonged, we sort of merged into a larger group of people straying slowly toward some central area in the near distance.
The first thing I saw as we approached were tents that seemed distressingly similar to the testing ones. But then my nose noticed something else: food. And my stomach grumbled, like I hadn’t eaten in forever, though we’d all just had something recently. We stuck with Andy, who said “hi” to a couple kids sitting at folding tables eating. He turned around at one point and said something unintelligible to us, and we smiled and nodded.
Conversation was thick as honey, reaching up to the sky and making everything feel decidedly…normal, and human. It could have been some sort of rally or festival.
Of course it wasn’t.
Andy pushed into one of the tents. We followed. My throat tightened as we entered. I still didn’t know what to expect. Andy could be leading us somewhere we shouldn’t have been going. Intentionally. Unintentionally. But he had no reason to turn us in. For all he knew, we were tested and safe survivors.
“It looks like everything’s back to normal,” Andy commented, picking up a plate of premade food—what looked like lo mein and hot dogs. MRE special, maybe.
“That was quick,” Nolan muttered to Rose, looking around suspiciously.
At his observation, I squeezed Barrett’s arm and jerked my head a little, motioning him to come a bit closer to me. “Hey, how big of a breach did you cause? I mean”—I paused, sort of using my head to motion around at everything—“doesn’t seem like a zombie army’s knocking at the door.”
He grinned. “Just a little bitty one, darlin’. Didn’t want something so overwhelming we’d have to fight again ourselves.”
“How?” My eyes were wide. I mean, how the fuck did he manage to make a “little bitty” breach?
“Secrets of the trade, baby.” I felt his arm move behind me and then jumped a little when he pinched my ass.
“Hey!” I whisper-shouted. He winked.
We lined up for our food. When it was my turn, I gladly accepted a sachet of MRE and a bottle of water from the serving counter. The men handing them out gave us wary looks and my breath hitched in worry, but it seemed they did that with everyone, thankfully.
When we got our food, Andy started for a table.
“I’d rather go back to the tent,” I said quickly. I was more than ready to get the hell out of there. Being around so many innocent people, not to mention soldiers that would happily blow my head off if they knew what I was, made me feel queasy.
“That’s not really something they encourage,” he responded, looking back at me, his forehead wrinkling a little. I didn’t want him questioning why I didn’t want to stay in the crowd.
But I could feel it. I could feel the pulse of all the people, thick and throbbing in my mouth. It wasn’t possible for me to stay there. Not then, when I’d been so recently close to the edge.
“Rose.” I waited for her to look at me. When she did, I widened my gaze a little. “I’m not sure this food is coconut-free. I really don’t want to deal with a freaking allergic reaction in the middle of all this. Last thing we need.”
She understood quickly. “Yeah. I wonder if anyone can tell us the ingredients. I mean, the hot dogs should be safe.”
“Yeah. They probably are. But can’t be too careful and I don’t want to be sick in front of everyone.”
Nolan understood too. “Let’s head back to the tent. I doubt anyone’s going to give us shit—not with what just happened.”
“Well, we might get pulled, but suit yourself,” Andy said, shrugging. “I’ll stay here and eat then come—” Andy stopped speaking, looking at something behind Nolan’s shoulder. “On second thought, I’ll come back with you guys.” Like a bullet, he pushed past all of us and beelined back the way we’d come. I almost laughed when I saw what had made Andy race away.
A very severe-looking woman wearing a habit, looking hot as Hades and completely out of sorts, was walking swiftly toward where we were. “Excuse me, but was that boy with you?” Her voice was high and nasal, nails-on-chalkboard nauseating.
“Boy?” Rose asked, feigning ignorance.
“Yes, that boy. The one with the ginger hair and freckles.” She pointed the way Andy had run off.
“No, I’m sorry. I mean, he said something to us. What did he say, you guys?” Rose turned to the rest of us.
“I have no idea. Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” I offered, looking at the nun with as apologetic a face as I could manage.
“That boy. He’s going to be the death of me!” she exclaimed, and then walked off toward a table where a different bunch of boys were carrying on loudly.
We moved quickly after Andy, listening to the nun rant and rave behind us—the end of the world was, apparently, no time to lose our minds and act like hooligans.
Lord help us for lying. But we were heroes. After all, we’d covered for Andy instead of feeding him to the wolves. Um…er…nuns.
When we were almost out of sight of the eating area, something made me turn to look back. I don’t know what it was. Instinct maybe. That feeling on the back of your neck when you know, just know, that someone is staring at you.
Karla and Leon were huddled together, staring in our direction. I had no idea what they were saying, but I knew it couldn’t be good.
And I also knew in my gut that they were no longer part of our group. Whatever they thought was wrong with me had severed the cord of survival that had tethered us together.
Chapter Three
I sniffed at the MRE pack and scrunched up my nose. The pack said it was a tasty stew packed with vitamins and minerals. The pack was lying to me because there was no way this was stew, or tasty. It looked more like dog food! And good God, the smell! I retched as I squeezed a little of the gloop upwards.
I stuck my tongue out to taste a little, but I couldn’t do it. The smell and sight were enough to make my stomach heave.
Nolan snickered next to me and I turned to glare. He offered me his pack, which looked substantially better, and I gladly swapped with him, giving him a grateful smile.
“I should have grabbed a hot dog,” I grumbled.
“Can’t eat those things,” he retorted, eating some of the supposed stew.
I couldn’t help but smile again. “Me neither.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He held my gaze for a long second and then we both looked away.
“My friend was eating one once and saw an eyelash in it. I’ve never been able to eat them since. I mean, I know that they’re made up of…everything left over, but…” I shuddered and shook my head. “It was just too real, if you get me.”
He chuckled. “I hear that.”
“Life or death, what are you gonna eat?” Andy interrupted. “Dog food or hot dog?”
“Dog food!” Nolan and I chimed in unison. I laughed lightly, like I didn’t have a care in the world—at least until Barrett rumbled out a low laugh.
“Well look at you two, all cozy-like.” He winked at us. “Looks like there’ll be wedding bells in no time.”
Sam gave him a dig in the side, but he didn’t so much as flinch.
“Shut up, Barrett,” I bit out, glaring at him, and he laughed again.
We’d headed straight back to our tent with our food—though using the word food to describe these things was debatable. Apparently MREs had come a long way and we should all have been grateful, Nolan said, but my stomach still grumbled in protest.
Andy had told us they gave out packs daily to the newcomers. They held important supplies for people like water purifiers and torches, flints and foil blankets, and we were waiting out our time when we could all go and get one.
Since none of us had any supplies, these packs were going to be our lucky breaks. I couldn’t see that we would be able to stay there for very long—not if Sam kept on zomming out on us—so we needed to eat, gather supplies, and plan where to head to next.
It seemed ironic that we were in probably one of the safest spots in America right then, with armed guards at every turn, food, supplies, and yet we were already planning on leaving. I didn’t want to. None of us did. But every time I looked at Sam, I knew we had to. There was no question about it.
Andy had been stuck to us like glue since we’d met him, and despite the fact that he seemed like a good kid, I really wanted him to piss off so we could all talk freely instead of in code.
“How’s the food?” I asked Sam, and she looked up mid-slurp of whatever was in her ration pack.
She shrugged. “Not too bad, actually. But I’m starving and could eat anything right now, if I’m honest.”
The word anything hung heavily between us all, and I watched the last mouthful of food lodge in her throat, her eyes wide as she forced it down.
“Not…anything, obviously,” she mumbled.
“Nothing coconutty then?” I asked.
She shook her head and I breathed a small sigh of relief.
“How long till they give out those packs, kid?” Barrett asked.
“It’s Andy,” he snapped, “and usually around two-ish, so like, anytime now, I think.” He didn’t like Barrett at all. I completely understood that, because Barrett was completely unlikeable. Useful as shit, but unlikeable. I had no idea what Sam saw in him, but I was putting it down to the zombie virus messing with her brain. Still, I was glad she had him all the same. He seemed to give her comfort, and she could do with all the comfort she could get.
“Maybe we can head on over there so we’re not lining up for too long when they start to give them out,” Nolan said. “No doubt we’d all like to get some rest as soon as we get out packs.”
“Sure,” Andy said, standing up. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself—the line is always really long.”
I internally groaned, but somehow refrained from expressing it. I was the most impatient woman ever. I hated waiting for anything. In fact, I’d rather be late for my dentist appointment than be early and have to wait.
“God, there’s no dentists anymore,” I suddenly said.
We pushed out of the tent and Andy looked at me with a grimace. “Good, I hate the dentist. All they ever do is drill and fill, or yank ’em out.”
“You need to take better care of your teeth,” Sam replied, sounding every bit the part of his mother—so much so that Andy stopped and looked at her with surprise. “Sorry.” She stumbled over her words. “It’s important though, right?”
“Right,” Andy replied with a roll of his eyes, but I didn’t miss the blush to his cheeks.
He led us through the camp, towards the North side and away from the main entrance. I’ve no idea why, but I felt better, like maybe I was further away from being kicked out of there. Or further away from where the zombies could get in. Although that was stupid, really, because we were traveling with a damned zombie…
I cursed my own thoughts. No, Sam wasn’t a zombie; she was something else. She could control it, whatever it was. It was like she’d taken on some of the traits of those monsters, but not all of them. I’d say it was the best of both worlds, but both worlds pretty much sucked right then.
“Earth to Rose,” Nolan said from in front of me.
I’d slowed right down, my thoughts taking over as we’d walked, and he’d hung back.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and shook my head.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Not really. None of this is okay, but I’m coping, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“It was,” he grunted, his warm eyes on mine.
“We should catch up to the others.” I started to walk again since everyone had continued on, and that time Nolan fell into step with me.
We walked in silence, ignoring the hustle and bustle around us. Camp was busy. There were a lot of people there, I started to realize. A lot of people in one place couldn’t be a good thing—not when one bite or scratch from those monsters could turn you into one of them.
I stared at the people; they’d already survived so much. Death and destruction were evident on their clothes and their horror-filled gazes, but people were resilient, and none of us there were ready to give up just yet. Perhaps that was exactly why we were still there.
Army personnel seemed to be posted every couple of steps as we threaded through the mass of tents. People were talking or crying, but mostly they were holding each other, staring into space as they struggled to come to terms with the events of the past couple of days. Maybe that’s what we all needed to do—reflect on it all. But then again, what good would that do? It wouldn’t bring back Jamie and Alexa. And it wouldn’t get me back home.
Nolan reached for my arm and pulled me to a stop and I followed his gaze automatically. It was Leon and Karla. They were both in line for the survival packs, and they were both looking our way.
“What should we do?” I asked, feeling uneasy—especially with the way Leon was looking at me and the fact that Nolan had his hand on my arm.
“Nothing. Just act normal.” Nolan started walking again
“But what if they say something?” I said, staring after him.
He slowed and turned to look at me. “I think they already would have if they were going to. The fact is, we’re in here, which means they think we’ve all been tested and we’re all okay. They might not like it, or understand how we did it, but they can’t argue with science. Besides, it’s only your little stalker that we have to worry about.”
His voi
ce was tinged with unspent anger and something else. Bitterness? Jealousy? I wasn’t sure.
We finally made it to the line and I looked away from Leon, focusing my attention on our surroundings again. I’d felt secure and maybe even a little safe not so long ago, but now that I’d been reminded of Leon I felt anything but.
“Twelve o’clock,” Nolan said to Barrett, who followed his gaze.
“That problem needs fixing,” Barrett replied, sounding angry. “Before he drops us all in the shit. I ain’t got no problem dealing with him.” He looked down at Sam for confirmation, and she looked startled.
“God, no, will you stop it!” she hissed quietly.
“Stop what?” He shrugged.
“Talking about taking people out so easily. These are people, and you can’t just go around killing indiscriminately! It’s not the…the…” She paused and we all knew why.
It was the end of the world, and a lot of people had gone savage.
This world was no longer for the living, but for the dead.
Barrett chuckled and ruffled the top of her head like he hadn’t been listening to a word she’d said, and Sam seemed too in shock to say anything else. The queue moved slowly, until we finally got to the front.
“Here’s your bag. You’ve got a map, water-purifying tablets, flint, foil blanket, mini medical kit, and a compass,” the man said. He looked through the list and reeled off some more items, and with every item I breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
“My name?”
“Yeah. I need to check it against the list. Everyone needs one of these packs and we need to make sure that everyone gets one. The fate of humanity rests on people surviving.”
I was shocked into silence at his bluntness and he looked to Nolan for help.
“Her name’s Rose,” Nolan said. “Rose—”
I looked up at him, the words of the other man ringing in my ears.
Red Eye | Season 2 | Episode 1 Page 3
