“I needed some air,” I said leaning back against the SUV. “What are you doing?”
“Getting some water,” Jay said. “There’s a well out back.”
Jay set the bucket down and walked over to me. He leaned back. “Want some company?”
“No, that’s not necessary. I’m fine,” I said with a forced smile. Maybe if I said it enough, it would suddenly become true.
“It kind of looks like you could use some,” Jay said. “How’s Maddie doing?”
“About the same,” I said.
Jay frowned. “Sorry to hear that. It must be so hard for you.”
“Yeah,” I said pushing myself away from the SUV. I had to turn away, so the tears didn’t start falling again. I started walking toward the back of the farm.
“Shit,” Jay muttered as he stepped up beside me. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I opened my mouth to tell him I was fine but the words didn’t come out. The back of my throat was impossibly dry.
“I’m sorry,” Jay said walking along with me. “She’s tough. She’ll get through this.”
“You don’t know her,” I said sourly.
“You’re right, I don’t but she’s made it this far, so yeah, she has to be tough,” Jay said. “I’m terrible at this kind of thing. I always say the wrong thing. It’s probably one of the reasons my ex married my twin instead of me.”
I stopped walking when I got to the barn. The large barn doors were locked with a chain but there was a smaller door that looked like it led to a small office.
Jay reached out and wiped the window with the back of his hand. He leaned forward to peer inside.
“Holy macaroni,” Jay said stepping to the side and opening the door. I followed him inside the room that was stacked from floor to ceiling with various large white buckets. “Look at this.”
Jay was pointing at a bucket that claimed to have lasagna, potato soup, and macaroni and cheese. There were at least twenty buckets stuffed into the small room.
“My brother was crazy,” Jay said picking up one of the buckets. “I’m taking this. He owes me this. Joey owed me way more than this but I’m at least taking this.”
“Is the whole barn packed with this kind of stuff?” I asked.
“Let’s check it out,” Jay said raising a brow as he reached out to open the connecting door.
Jay pulled open the door and stepped inside the barn. The strong scent of manure made me wince.
“Ugh,” I said bringing the back of my hand up to my nose.
“Guess it’s just a regular barn,” Jay said placing his hands on his hips. “It would have been really weird if this whole place would have been filled with those buckets.”
I laughed. It was the first laugh in days.
“Yeah, that would have been weird,” I said.
“I bet there is still more than what he has in the office,” Jay said cheerfully. “The whole basement is probably packed with goods. Maybe the Overton’s don’t even know this is out here. They probably didn’t come to the barn. Why would they? We should take them all.”
“It wouldn’t all fit in the SUV,” I said clearly less excited about the buckets of food than Jay was.
We both stopped talking when we heard something move at the back of the barn.
“What was that?” Jay asked.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.” I looked around, biting my lip as I took a step back toward the office. “A cow?”
Jay took a step toward the noise. “It didn’t sound like a cow.”
“We should leave,” I said reaching forward to grab Jay. He took another step away and out of my reach.
“Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” Jay called.
Suddenly Jay stopped moving. His fists relaxed and his fingers uncoiled.
“Jay?”
He didn’t respond.
The dried hay on the ground crunched and I saw her step into view. Her hands were clasped together. “Help me! Please!”
Chapter Sixteen
Jay wasn’t moving. He must have been under her spell.
“Jay,” I said taking several quick steps forward. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back as hard as I could. “Please.”
“Help me,” the woman said.
There were red tinted tears streaming down her cheeks. Her steps were small and careful as if she was afraid of scaring us away.
“Jay,” I begged. “We have to go.”
“That’s her,” he said looking down toward his feet. He wasn’t in a trance. “My ex.”
I pulled on his arm. “Can we talk about it in the other room?”
Jay looked into my eyes. It took a second for him to realize our situation wasn’t good.
“Right,” Jay said pushing me into the other room. He slammed the door closed behind us. He was staring at my face. “I’m so sorry. If I would have known.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
He looked at me as if I wasn’t understanding something. His eyes were on my mouth.
My fingers were trembling as I brought them to my face. We hadn’t been wearing our masks.
“Oh my God,” I said.
“Don’t freak out,” Jay said. “We’re probably okay.”
“How did I let this happen?” I said pounding my fist against the side of my leg.
Jay held up his hands. “We weren’t that close. I’m sure we’re okay.”
“We can’t be sure,” I said frantically. My whole body started to shake.
The woman started pounding on the door. Her voice begging for help sent a chill down my spine. I wanted to cover my ears so I couldn’t hear her words.
Jay wrapped his arms around me. “We’re okay!”
“You don’t know that!” I shouted at him.
He held me tighter and I buried my face in his neck. Jay stroked my hair as the woman on the other side of the door pounded and begged for our help.
“We’ll just hang out in here for a bit,” Jay said. “Just to be sure.”
“They’ll wonder where we are,” I said. “They’ll come looking.”
“And then we’ll tell them,” Jay said. “I really think we’re okay. I was closer to my wife and I didn’t get sick.”
I’d been closer to Freddie when he’d been sick too. It was just with Maddie already battling her own illness it made me extra nervous to have been exposed.
Whatever Maddie had probably wasn’t as deadly as the virus that had destroyed humanity. I took a step back, putting space between Jay and me.
“I need to tell Blake what happened,” I said crossing my arms.
Jay’s ex was still pounding on the door, asking us to help her. But with each passing minute, I was finding it easier to ignore her.
“We need to leave this place,” Jay said grabbing one of the pails of food. “And not because the Overton’s want us to. We don’t want to be in a place like this. This is a messed-up situation here.”
I pulled the mask out of my back pocket and yanked it down over my face. Jay shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
“It’s to protect others,” I explained. “Where’s yours?”
“In the house,” Jay said.
“Don’t worry, there are more in the car,” I said. “Let’s get you one.”
Jay lifted the pail, releasing a grunt from deep within. “We’re taking some of this with us.”
It was heavy but I was able to carry one of the pails to the SUV. I reached down to open the back only to find that it was locked.
“Dammit,” I muttered.
Of course, it was locked.
Jay and I set down the pails of food behind the SUV. I placed my hands on my hips and spun in a quick circle. It was like I expected more of the sick to be hidden around the farm.
“What are you looking for?” Jay asked.
“Who knows? Maybe your brother is here somewhere too.”
“They wouldn’t have kept my brother around,” Jay said with a serious look. “They didn’
t like him that much more than me.”
I shook my head as I stared at the house. “Why would they do that?”
“I guess they just couldn’t say good bye to their daughter,” Jay said.
“So, they just lock her up in the barn?” I gestured toward his hip. “You should have put her out of her misery.”
“Right,” Jay said. “Why didn’t you do it?”
I chewed on my cheek. “I hadn’t thought of it at the time. Plus, what was I going to do? Reach down your pants and take it from you? I thought you were in a trance.”
“It’s not like they would have let us do what’s necessary to finish the job anyway,” Jay said jerking his chin toward the house.
As if he’d been summoned, the front door opened and Blake stepped out. He walked toward us with his eyebrows squeezed together.
He blew out a breath of air as if he were exasperated with us. “What are you two doing out here?” Blake asked. His eyes met mine. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“We were in the barn,” Jay said kicking one of the buckets by his feet. “We found a few things.”
Blake unlocked the SUV. “That’s good. They’re letting us take that?”
“Yeah,” Jay said. “They’re letting us take it because Joey was my brother. He owed me this.”
“Whatever.” Blake shrugged ignoring Jay’s tone.
“That isn’t the only thing we found in the barn,” I said pointing to my mask.
Blake shook his head.
“One of the sick was in there,” I said. “We were exposed.”
Blake blinked slowly as he stared at us. “You’re serious?”
“Dead serious,” I said wishing I could take back the words. “I can’t go back inside until I’m sure I’m not going to turn into one of those things and infect everyone.”
“How long will that take?” Blake asked as he made room in the back of the SUV for the pails of food.
“I don’t know,” I said kicking the pail.
Blake crossed his arms and gazed into my eyes. “How close did you get?”
“Not that close,” I said.
“How about him,” Blake asked tilting his head toward Jay.
“Neither of us were that close,” I said. “Ten feet away.”
Jay huffed. “More than that.”
“You probably don’t need to worry,” Blake said.
“Well, I am,” I said.
Blake lifted the bucket and set it down inside the SUV. He brushed his hands off on his pants and crossed his arms.
“I was looking for you because Maddie’s doing a bit better,” Blake said.
“She is?” I asked excitedly.
“She was awake for ten, maybe fifteen minutes talking with Whitney while I tried to hunt you down,” Blake said. “She took some medicine and is resting now.”
I smiled. “That’s good, right? Did Whitney say that was good?”
“Yeah, that’s good.” Blake narrowed his eyes toward the house. “Kid needs more time to rest, though.”
Jay lifted the second pail of food into the back of the SUV, struggling a bit more than Blake had. He reached up and slammed the hatch closed.
“We should take more,” Jay said shaking his head as he stared at the barn. “I still can’t believe they have her locked up in there. Are they hoping there will be a cure?”
“Have who locked up in where?” Blake asked.
“The sick person,” Jay said. “It’s my brother’s wife. The Overton’s daughter.”
Blake stared at him for a long moment. “They have their sick daughter locked up in the barn?”
“Yes!” Jay said with wide eyes.
“I think it’s about time you folks leave.” The old man’s voice made my body shudder. “You’re not welcome here any longer.”
“Shit,” Blake muttered.
Jay started pointing at the barn. “Why are you doing that to her? That’s like torture.”
“Get your things and leave,” Mr. Overton said.
I swallowed hard. “My daughter—”
“Get your things and get off my property,” Mr. Overton repeated.
“Your property?” Jay huffed.
“My daughter’s property,” Mr. Overton replied sharply. He set his gaze on me. “You’re welcome to leave your daughter here. She’s too young to be on the road.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s not happening. I’ll go get her.”
Maddie was not going to be the replacement for the daughter they lost. Not even over my dead body.
Chapter Seventeen
We made sure Maddie was comfortable in the backseat before leaving the house. If she needed to stay, we would have had to do something rash. Something that would not have made me feel good about myself.
Whitney packed all of the medications Blake and I had gotten from the clinic. Maddie was doing better. She talked when she could but she also still slept a lot. Whitney said it was partly due to the medicine.
Mr. and Mrs. Overton stood on the porch with their shotguns in hand, watching us as we sat in the driveway. They looked like angry statues.
“You have as much right to this place as they do,” Whitney muttered.
“We can always come back,” Jay replied. “The place won’t move and they won’t use all those supplies. And I won’t be afraid to put my ex out of her misery.”
It was around dinner time when we stopped for gas at an abandoned car in a parking lot next to an old rusted, double-wide trailer. Jay got out to stretch and keep watch at the front of the SUV.
I stood next to Blake as he siphoned the gas because I needed the air. Sitting inside the SUV hadn’t gotten easier after our little break at the farmhouse. In fact, each time we stopped, it got harder to get back inside.
Hard to sit down.
Hard to watch the same scenery go by the window.
“She seems to be doing better,” Blake said breaking the silence.
“Yeah,” I said my voice low and scratchy.
He flashed me a half-smile. “And you didn’t get sick.”
“And least not yet, I haven’t.”
“You can take the mask off now,” Blake said. “And Jay too.” Blake leaned closer. “He kind of freaks me out with that thing on.”
“What? Why?” I asked but I didn’t wait for a response. “Maybe in a few days. I want to be sure.”
Blake laughed. “You know he’s not going to stop wearing his mask until you say it’s okay.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want anyone to get sick because of us.”
“We’re not going to get sick. It would have happened by now.”
“You don’t know that.”
Blake took a step closer… he was only inches away from me. “You’re not going to get sick. We were closer to the sick at the clinic than you were to the woman in the barn.”
“You weren’t there,” I said looking away from his intense eyes.
“You said it was at least ten feet away,” Blake said his hand moved up to the side of my face. His eyes darted over in the direction of Jay before he started to slide his finger under the mask. “Take the mask off.”
I reached up to push his hand away but he took my hand into his. He held it firmly at first but soon, it relaxed into something different. Something almost… sensual. Or maybe it had more to do with the way he was looking at me.
“Do you feel sick?” he asked softly.
“No,” I said taking a second to find my voice.
Why was he affecting me in this way? All the time he’d spent with Whitney… with his shirt off but still, somehow, this moment felt awfully… intimate.
I stepped to the side. “I’ll take it off when I feel confident I’m not going to get anyone sick.”
“How long will that be?” Blake asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t given it a lot of thought. Whenever I’m ready.”
Blake threw his hands in the air. “Fine. Whatever. Take as long as you need to.” He leaned c
loser. “But it must be getting awfully stuffy inside that little mask.”
It was dreadfully stuffy inside the mask but I wasn’t about to admit that to him. Especially not at that moment.
“Going to come with me to check out the trailer?” Blake asked.
“What do we need? We have tons of stuff, thanks to the pails of food.”
“We don’t have pails of water,” Blake responded as he rolled up the tubing and stuffed it into the back of the SUV. “Come on.”
He called out to Jay to tell him what we were doing. Jay nodded and got back inside the SUV. I could hear the car lock even though we were several feet away.
I followed Blake inside the trailer. There wasn’t anything inside… no food, no water, not even any furniture. The place had been abandoned and probably long before the virus had spread.
“Well, nothing here,” Blake said slamming the last kitchen cupboard closed. “I wish we had more water.”
“How much do we have left?”
“Some bottles and a couple gallons, I think,” Blake said. “Enough to get us to Maine but still, I’d like more.”
I shifted my weight, not even wanting to lean back against the wall in the icky trailer. The wallpaper was moldy and the ceiling had orange water stains. I wasn’t even sure if it was safe for us to be inside.
“Dax was better at keeping track of the water and supplies,” Blake said.
“Oh,” I said chewing the inside of my cheek. “I didn’t know he did that.”
“Yeah,” Blake said looking down. “We may not have always gotten along but he helped. He was good at making sure we were okay. Now, that’s all on my plate.”
I frowned. “I’m so sorry. I can do more to help out.”
“No, no, no.” Blake walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You have enough on your plate. I didn’t mean that at all. I was just feeling bad. We hadn’t seen each other that much before everything happened and I guess, well, I miss him.”
“I miss him too,” I said quickly holding up my palm. “I know it’s not the same.”
“He really liked you,” Blake said.
I swallowed hard. I couldn’t stop the tear that leaked out of the corner of my eye.
What Remains Series (Book 3): Infected Page 8
