“Saw us?” Whitney asked. If it would have been bright, I would have seen a smile… I was almost sure of it.
“Kissing.”
She hesitated. “What were you doing up? We thought everyone was asleep.”
“Maddie needed water,” I said. “I didn’t mean to see anything.”
“Well, that’s all it was anyway,” Whitney said. I could tell she was still smiling. “Just a kiss.”
I waved my hand in the cold air. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s none of my business. The silence was getting to me.”
It was several minutes before she spoke.
“Blake and I have always been… I don’t know,” Whitney said. “Let’s talk about something else.”
I had no idea what else to talk about. In fact, I hadn’t even wanted to talk about her and Blake.
There were sounds in the distance. At first, I thought they were wolves but the longer we sat there, the more I thought the sounds were the wails of the sick.
If they came closer, Whitney and I wouldn’t be able to stay in the trees. Taking our chances with the people in the house would give us better odds.
“You heard that, didn’t you?” Whitney said.
I chewed my lip for a long moment. “Wolves.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
I’d drifted on and off throughout the night but I could tell by the dark circles under Whitney’s eyes that she hadn’t gotten any sleep. It also appeared as though she hadn’t sat down, not even for a bit.
“I’m not going to be able to do this another night,” Whitney said.
“You don’t look good,” I said. “Please, sit down.”
“No,” she said. Her legs were shaking.
I could have pushed her with my index finger and she would have dropped to the ground. “Please. You need to regain your energy for whatever we’re going to have to do.”
“And you have energy?” she asked her voice hoarse. “Neither of us have any energy and if we don’t get food and water, we’re not going to get more. We’re going to have to do something and soon.”
“I’m not taking you with me when you can barely stand,” I said.
“You’re not leaving me here alone,” Whitney said. “Oh, dear God.”
I shook my head as I stretched out my legs. “What is it?”
“I have to freaking pee,” she said.
“Pick a spot,” I said stretching out my arms to both sides.
“Dammit,” Whitney said.
She wasn’t gone long. When she came back, her eyes were wide and she was out of breath.
“You really had to go bad, huh?” I asked with a half-smile.
“Not… funny…,” she said her hands running up and down her body as if she were looking for something. “What did I do with that knife?”
I grabbed mine from off of the ground next to me and stood. My legs were a bit weak at first but the adrenaline going through my veins straightened them quickly. A strength I didn’t know I had steadied my hand.
“It’s right there,” I said pointing at the ground next to the tree she’d been leaning on half of the night.
Whitney bent down and grabbed it. Her hand was shaking. The adrenaline hadn’t affected her the way it had me.
My eyes were narrowed. “Why do we need our—”
I heard them before I finished my sentence. Perhaps the sounds we’d heard last night hadn’t been wolves and had really been the sick wandering around the darkness.
“Stay back,” I said pushing Whitney behind me. It took me a few seconds to locate exactly where the sounds were coming from.
There was a small group of sick wandering in a nearby field. They were much closer than I would have liked.
“Maybe they won’t find us,” I said pulling down my mask.
“It looks like they are coming this way,” Whitney said. “Like they know we’re here. Maybe they can smell us.”
“Don’t look at them,” I said. “Never at their eyes.”
Whitney sucked in a breath. “I don’t want to look at them at all.”
“Four of them,” I said softly. “Two of us.”
“No,” Whitney said shaking her head. “We should run.”
“Where are we going to run to?” I asked. “Maybe we could go ask the people who took my daughter for help.”
Whitney shrugged. “Is that a terrible idea?”
“Yes,” I replied. “I’d rather take my chances with the sick.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure. The sick I can do. Non-sick, I’m not so sure,” I said.
The sick were walking toward us. Either they knew we were there or they’d seen Whitney when she’d gone to take a pee.
“Dammit,” I muttered.
“What do we do? How do we, like, get rid of them?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I used a gun when I did it.” I looked around, making sure there weren’t others coming. “Stab them in the heart… or the head. Don’t touch them. Don’t let them touch you.”
Whitney whimpered. “How can I do that without touching them? What if they reach out and grab my arm? I can’t do this.”
“Be quick,” I said as if I were suddenly an expert on the subject. Of course, we both knew I wasn’t. “They’re slow. If things go bad, just run.”
“Where?” Whitney asked frantically.
“Anywhere but the house.”
“I’m not leaving you. I don’t want to be alone out here.”
I gave her a quick nod. “Good. Neither do I.”
I adjusted my mask to make sure I was protected even though I knew I was. At least as best as I could be. Ideally, I would have liked a wall between the sick and us but that didn’t seem like it was going to happen.
“Hello,” one of the sick said ducking their head slightly. There was no mistake that the person looking in at us was sick. “Please, we need your help.”
I hated how they were still so… human. Their blood-filled eyes made it just a bit easier but really, what made it do-able was just how badly I didn’t want to become one of them.
“We see you,” another sick said. She was an elderly woman with a torn plaid skirt. Her voice had sounded like she’d smoked cigarettes for most of her life. “You would want help, wouldn’t you?”
“Help us, please,” the third said. He was still dressed in his business suit but it was covered in dirt, dried blood and what appeared to be crusty vomit.
Whitney was dancing from side to side nervously. It was like she was trying to decide between staying and running away.
“I can’t do this, Kit. I can’t,” Whitney repeated over and over.
The first sick stepped into the trees. She stretched out her hands toward us.
“Help! Look at me,” she said.
“What do you want us to do for you?” Whitney squeaked.
The woman stared at her but I stepped in front of Whitney to make sure she wasn’t staring back.
“Help us,” the sick woman repeated just as the second stepped into the area after her.
“Look at us,” the second sick said. “Just look!”
“Not going to happen,” I said. “We don’t have help for you.”
“Help us,” the first sick repeated.
I was almost certain they couldn’t understand us. They just repeated themselves. They would do anything to spread the virus.
“Get ready,” I said to Whitney as I took a step forward.
“I’m so not ready,” she muttered in a voice drenched in sadness.
I lunged forward and jerked the knife toward the woman’s throat. Her mouth dropped in shock.
“Help!” she said as she tried to grab my arm.
“Don’t touch me,” I said grabbing her shirt and turning her around. It was easier to jam the knife into her when she was facing away.
It hadn’t taken much to drop her but it was harder to drive the blade into her than I thought it would be.
“Oh
, my God!” Whitney cried out. “You did it! You actually stabbed that woman.”
“What else was I supposed to do?” I said trying not to let my panic boil over. “She wasn’t a woman. She’s sick! We have to do what we have to do.”
I lunged forward and plunged the blade into the second sick. They dropped as if their power had been turned off.
The next two came toward us but what happened was a blur. I was standing there with my hands held out to the side, staring at the pile of sick bodies on the ground.
“Holy shit,” Whitney said letting her blade fall to the ground several feet away from her. “I’m going to die out here, aren’t I.”
I shook my head. “Let’s hope not.” I jerked my thumb at one of the bodies. “Practice.”
“Sorry?” she said with narrowed eyes.
“They’re already dead. Maybe if you practice, you’ll gain some confidence,” I said.
“I still don’t want to do it,” Whitney said.
I snorted. “It wasn’t that long ago you said you could go into the house and do what needed to be done. And those people in there aren’t sick.”
“Okay, okay, so I guess I can’t,” Whitney said quickly wiping away a tear. “We’re never going to get them back.”
I hesitated for a long moment. Perhaps she was right but we couldn’t give up without a fight.
I knelt down by one of the sick. “We’re not done here, you know that, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“They’ll just pop up again if we don’t finish the job.”
Whitney groaned. “Oh, God.”
“Pick your poison. Decapitation or cutting out their hearts? Burning them isn’t an option considering our circumstances.”
“Eww,” Whitney said taking a step back.
I swallowed hard and bit the inside of my cheek. It was a good thing my stomach was empty.
I raised the blade over the sick’s chest and thrust it down into their chest. “I pick heart. You can do the next one.”
Whitney didn’t stop her tears. And her legs couldn’t hold her up any longer. She dropped to her knees and vomited bile.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Whitney managed to help me with one of the sick. But not without a lot of struggling and taking a lot of breaks for dry heaving. The other three, I had to take care of myself.
It wasn’t easy for me either but what choice did I have? I didn’t want to have to stab them over and over again each time they popped up again. Or worse, I wouldn’t have wanted them to get us if we fell asleep.
Whitney’s hands were shaking ninety percent of the time but what I didn’t know was if it was because she was hungry, cold, or scared. Of course, it could have been all three reasons.
“This is so disgusting,” Whitney said turning away from their bodies on the ground. “We just have to stay here with those things? Won’t they make us sick?”
“I’d love to upgrade to something more luxurious but I’m afraid that just isn’t an option.”
“Do you ever get tired of being sarcastic,” Whitney said.
I sighed. “I’m sorry. This is all so stressful. Sarcasm is how I deal with things sometimes. Freddie hated it.”
“Freddie, as in your husband?”
“Dead husband, yeah, him.” I gave her a strange smile. “You may or may not have heard he was an alcoholic, abusive, asshole.”
Whitney nodded. “May have heard a thing or two.” She waved her hand. “Shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“It’s fine. There just isn’t much to say about it,” I said shrugging.
I sat down on the ground and wrapped my arms around my knees. Dealing with the sick had taken almost the entire day.
I was beyond tired and if we hadn’t done so many disgusting tasks, I would have been starving. My throat, however, felt like it was coated in dry beach sand.
“I’d kill for a drink of water,” I said.
“Good,” Whitney said. “Then you’re ready. Let’s go get them.”
“I didn’t say what I’d kill. Maybe I meant like a mouse or a spider or something,” I said pointing at the ground next to Whitney.
Whitney sighed. “I’m too tired to care. Let them crawl all over me.” She swiped her hands quickly over her arms. “Kidding. Still, I don’t want those things on me.”
There hadn’t been much time to watch the house over the course of the day but when I had been able to take a look, there hadn’t been anyone outside. No one coming or going.
I’d also tried to come up with a plan while slicing and dicing up the sick but my mind was blank. I couldn’t think of how Whitney and I could get inside the house and rescue the others.
If we couldn’t get to them within the next day or so, I was almost certain we wouldn’t get to them at all. Our time was running out.
When nighttime swallowed us, I stood.
“What are you doing?” Whitney asked looking up at me with wide eyes that glowed. The moon reflected hauntingly but it provided us with some light.
“If we don’t do something now, we’re not going to be able to do anything at all,” I said noticing the shaking in my hands as I gripped my blade.
Whitney stood next to me and we both stared at the house. “You came up with a plan?”
“No, did you?”
“No.”
“Should I sit back down?” Whitney asked.
I shook my head. “I wasn’t joking. We have to do something.”
“What can we do? If we walk in there will either get tied up or killed,” Whitney said.
“Or we’ll rescue them,” I said. “I guess we’ll find out which one it’ll be.”
We stood there, taking in breaths at almost the same time. The air that came into my lungs was icy and it made my stomach feel even more empty.
“You’re sure about this?” Whitney asked.
I chuckled. “No. But I am sure that if we wait any longer, it’s just going to make things harder.”
Whitney nodded but she didn’t follow me when I took a step. I reached back and grabbed her arm.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” she said pulling herself free.
I exhaled a cloud. “We’ll stop at the SUV.”
That wasn’t a long time to come up with a plan. I looked up at the stars and walked, hoping the answer would hit me.
It was a slow walk to the SUV. We ducked down and listened. The only sounds were those from the crickets and the critters in the wild. Thankfully, there were no sounds of wolves or sick in the distance.
We only had one enemy to worry about. But they had the upper hand and I didn’t know how we were going to manage to tip the scales.
The candlelight in the windows flickered. I didn’t see a shadow inside.
“Maybe we should just stay in the SUV until morning,” Whitney suggested.
I shook my head. “But you did just give me an idea.”
“I did?” Whitney asked brightly.
“Oh, it’s not that good, but I think we should practice using our knives a bit more,” I said.
Whitney cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s get warmed up by sticking these things in their tires,” I said.
Whitney smiled. “That’s a start.”
We stayed low to the ground as we crept around their vehicle. Whitney did the side away from the house and I took care of the tires that were closer.
Since no one came running out trying to kill me, I figured we hadn’t been seen. I stayed behind the front of the SUV as I stared at the house.
Still no movement and no sound. I shook my head.
“Maybe they’re sleeping,” Whitney said. “They aren’t expecting company and I’m sure Blake didn’t tell them about us.”
“They’re going to hear us breaking in,” I said. “Even if we get inside and take out one of them, it’s not going to matter. They’re armed. We’re outnumbered.”
I blinked several times, noticing the small wind
ows at the bottom. There was a basement. I’d managed to get out of a basement but now here I was wondering if I could get inside.
I chewed my lip for a long moment before turning to Whitney. “This probably isn’t going to work. Follow me.”
We stayed low to the ground and as silent as possible as we approached the house. I lowered myself to the ground and peered into the window.
My eyes instantly connected with Blake’s blue eyes. They were like little stars blinking at me in the night.
He smiled. And I smiled back.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Blake came to the window and stood on an old wooden chair. Neither of us could talk for fear of being heard but still, it was good to see his face. I could barely hold in my emotions.
“Are you okay?” I mouthed.
Blake nodded. Through the dirt coated window, I could see Maddie was behind him with Jay at her side. She was looking up at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. Jay’s eyes were filled with concern.
“Are you okay?” he asked looking back and forth between Whitney and me.
Whitney placed her hand on the glass like a prisoner visiting with a loved one after months of not seeing each other. She bit her lip as she nodded wildly at him.
“We’re alive. Hungry. Thirsty,” I said. “I assume you’re locked in down there?”
Blake’s head bobbed slowly. The windows looked large enough for them to wiggle out of but there was probably a reason they were still down there. Blake would have obviously tried the windows.
“Window?” I mouthed.
“Stuck,” Blake replied silently. “All of them.”
Whitney and I looked at one another. She exhaled her hopefulness. “How fast do you think they’ll be out here if we’d break the window?”
“Probably fast enough or they would have tried that by now,” I said.
Blake looked confused as he watched us talk. If we didn’t speak slow and mouth our words in his direction, he had no idea what we were saying.
I turned back toward Blake. “What should we do?”
He looked down and shook his head. I hit the ground with my palm. Thankfully, the dirt and grasses muffled the sound.
What Remains Series (Book 3): Infected Page 11
