The Zombie Zovels (Book 5): Pretty Dead

by Lake, D. K.

  It still fazed me how normal it felt to jump in the shower naked with Drew. Drew had seen me at my worst and he somehow fell in love with me at the same time, so being naked and letting Drew see all of my wobbly bits didn't seem to faze me anymore.

  The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Drew continued his new task of making sure I was cleaned properly, squeezing body wash onto the shower puff and getting started on my shoulders like it was a completely normal everyday thing.

  "I love you...I have for a while I just didn't want to admit it." I said as he spun me around to wash my back.

  He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of my shoulder.

  "I love you too. Even if you decide to grow a tail I'll still love you."

  "Hey!" I laughed and turned around and playfully smacked him and he chuckled.

  I whipped the shower puff away from him and finished washing as he shampooed his hair and rinsed it off. I quickly washed out my clothes in the bucket and squeezed and wrung the water out of them.

  After Drew had finished getting washed he toweled himself off inside the cubicle and quickly got dressed while I stood in my towel, waiting to get back to the trailer to get dressed because there wasn't really enough room for me to move around and all my spare clothes were back at the trailer anyway.

  Drew picked up his crossbow and carried my bag for me and I held the towel tightly against my chest and followed him outside with my sunglasses firmly on my nose. I shoved my feet into my boots, yawning. I really wanted to find somewhere to fall asleep. I was hungry but food could wait. I just wanted to sleep. I trudged back to the trailer with Drew right by my side, my personal bodyguard.

  When we got back to Sophie and Hutch's trailer, Sophie was outside hanging up laundry to dry.

  Drew was about to walk up the steps when Sophie remembered something.

  "Oh, Alice just dropped by a moment ago. She said you could stay in the trailer on the other side, the one with the wind chimes outside. It's empty and she thought you'd like your own space while you're here."

  "Oh...that's nice." I smiled and looked at Drew and he just shrugged.

  We went inside and I went into the little bedroom to get dressed, pulling on my spare panties, a pair of black leggings, not bothering with a bra because I didn't have a spare, and a black t-shirt that I tied into a little knot around my waist, and Drew packed up all our other stuff.

  Sophie offered to carry my stuff so I didn't need to carry anything on the way over and I spent most of the walk over there running my hands through my hair and detangling the knots.

  "It's this one." Sophie said and hurried over to a white trailer with a cute little birdbath and patio set outside. I followed Sophie inside and Drew walked in behind me.

  "Um..." was the first thing I said when I saw inside the trailer.

  I lifted the sunglasses onto my head to get a proper look.

  There was red and white voile hanging from the ceiling, and there were heart pillows all over the seating area, and a banner that read 'Just Married' across the wall, and numerous little tiny bride and groom ornaments scattered everywhere.

  "It's our honeymoon suite. Hutch and I have stayed in here before, just for fun. It's nice, right?" Sophie explained with a huge smile on her face.

  "Ok. And this was the only trailer available?" I asked, looking around and noticing the confused look on Drew's face. It kinda looked like he wanted to run away.

  "No, there are a few other empty trailers, but they're boring. I convinced Alice to let you stay in here."

  "Gee thanks." I muttered.

  Sophie put my bags on the table.

  "What are you moaning about? It's lovely in here. Wait until you see the bedroom."

  My eyes shot to Drew and he just stared at Sophie like she was talking in another language.

  Well, if I wanted to scare him away I think this trailer would do it.

  "Smile for goodness sake." Sophie told Drew. "You two are so weird." She chuckled and left the trailer but stuck her head back around the door.

  "Oh, there's a portable stereo in the bedroom, and there's a CD already inside with all the romantic classics, so turn it up loud when you-"

  "Ok, thank you, Sophie." Drew closed the door on her.

  I tried not to laugh as I picked up my bag. I rubbed my tired eyes and walked towards the bedroom door. I was more interested in finding the bed so I could fall asleep. I opened the door and my mouth dropped open.

  The four-poster bed was covered with clean white sheets and on top was scattered with fake rose petals. In the middle of the bed there were two swans made out of towels and they were kissing and their necks formed a heart shape when together. The four-poster had white voile curtains tied back, and there were even furry handcuffs attached to the wooden posts. The back of the bed had a mirror covering most of the wall and the walls had battery powered fairy lights that were in the shape of hearts or flowers.

  I was still staring at it all. It looked gorgeous, so nice in fact I didn't want to mess up the lovely rose petals on the bed, and there was no way I was touching the swan towels. I dropped my bag on the floor. Drew brushed past me and starting sweeping the petals off the bed and into a little red box before I got to enjoy them. He wouldn't even look at me and I quickly snatched the swans off the bed before he got the chance to unroll them. I carefully placed them on the dresser. Drew rolled the sheets back and underneath was a packet of flavored condoms. He shook his head and quickly shoved them in the bedside drawer.

  "There you go...you can sleep in it now." Drew informed me before clearing his throat.

  "Ok?" I mumbled. I think the honeymoon trailer had made him nervous, but he shouldn't be, I never said I wanted to get married and now he looked as though he was freaking out because...I dunno, he probably thought I wanted to get married and that Sophie and I had planned this or something, or who knows?

  I kicked off my boots and pushed my leggings down my legs. Drew took one look at me and walked out. I didn't go after him, he was acting a bit weird though. He had just told me he loved me so I wasn't too worried. It was probably all the honeymoon shit making him uncomfortable, he had been married once before and it didn't end well. I opened my bag and hung up my damp clothes on the edge of the window, there wasn't a trailer behind us so it didn't matter if I had my knickers and bra air-drying in the window.

  The inside of the trailer felt warm so I slid off my t-shirt and crawled into the bed in only my knickers, trying not to think about how many people had had sex on this mattress. At least the sheets smelled clean. I laid my head on the soft pillow and closed my eyes...and I was out like a light.

  Chapter 4

  I woke up to an empty trailer. Drew was gone and I was alone.

  The only reason I got out of bed was that I had to pee really badly. I used the small bathroom which was just a porta-pottie for number ones.

  I checked the time on the large clock in the dining area that had the word LOVE in big letters with a little clock face in the middle of the O. It was 10.15 pm. I had slept for roughly six hours. I walked back into the bedroom and pulled on some clothes, wondering where the hell Drew had run off to. After making such a fuss about not wanting to leave me he had now disappeared. I searched the kitchen for any food but all I found was condiments like the salt and pepper.

  The door to the trailer was unlocked and I stuck my head outside, not bothering with my sunglasses because it was dark and hopefully, no one would notice too much. I found Drew sitting at the little patio table with Hutch, playing cards.

  "Dude, c'mon!" Hutch laughed, slamming his cards on the table. "You're cheating, you gotta be." Hutch added.

  "Nah, you're just shit." Drew said and laughed.

  Drew heard me and turned to look at me but didn't say anything.

  "Hi," I smiled at Hutch.

  "Hey, how ya feeling?" Hutch asked.

  "Better after the sleep."

  "Sophie put some food together if you're hungry?" Hutch said, pointing to a plate
covered over with foil on the table.

  "Oh, great. I'm starving actually."

  I hopped down the steps and pulled out a seat next to Hutch and sat under the light. I lifted the foil off and grabbed a piece of meat. It tasted like rabbit but it was covered in some kind of herb sauce. Sophie must have picked some herbs from the gardens and made them into a sauce. It was pleasantly nice. I wondered if Drew had been out hunting, and if he'd had Hutch guard the trailer while he was gone.

  "So when are you guys leaving?" Hutch asked, looking back and forth between Drew and me waiting for an answer.

  "Um...I dunno, depends on when Nick is ready I guess." I spoke up as Drew had gone quiet. He was still acting weird but every now and then I would catch him looking at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I finished off the whole plate, not leaving a scrap of anything while Hutch and Drew played a few more games.

  "Well, I'm off to bed. I think there is only so many times I can lose before I start crying like a baby." Hutch joked. "Night guys."

  "Night." I smiled and waved goodbye to him and turned around to find Drew staring at me but his eyes moved past my face and landed on something else. I turned around and saw Lane walking this way.

  Just great. I quickly picked up a serviette and wiped my mouth and pushed my chair out. Lane cautiously approached the table. Drew glared at him but didn't make a move.

  "Lane, hey." I smiled and stepped away from the table.

  I was pleased to see him. After what we went through seeing him alive made me happy. We could have all died. Lane studied my eyes for a moment but didn't make a big thing out of them.

  "Nick told me you had left the infirmary." Lane said, ignoring Drew.

  "They didn't really have a reason to keep me in there."

  "I started to panic you were infected again."

  "No." I shook my head and glanced back at Drew.

  "Can we talk? Alone." Lane asked.

  "Uh...sure." I looked sideways at Drew and he tilted his head in my direction but didn't show any sign he didn't want me to talk to Lane.

  "Let's talk inside." I suggested and climbed up the steps and Lane followed me inside.

  "So um, what did you want to talk about?" I asked but Lane was gawking at the inside of the trailer.

  "Oh, it was Sophie's idea. I'm not really sure why she wanted me to stay in here."

  Lane frowned and cleared his throat.

  "So Nick said something about you being a hybrid or something like that, I dunno he lost me when he started talking about combining elements." Lane said.

  "Yes, he doesn't know why else my eyes would change."

  "Did they hurt or anything when they changed?"

  "No, I didn't know until everyone started panicking."

  "Yeah." Lane grunted. "You'd think they'd be grateful for us helping them to get out of there but instead they turned on us. They knocked you out, Drew and I got into a fight with them, and they had to tie Drew up to bring him back."

  "Really? He never told me that. So why didn't they tie you up?"

  "I stopped fighting."

  "Right. So is that the real reason why you're here, just to check on me?"

  "I wanted to um..." He walked to the couch and peeked out the nets to spy on Drew. "I wanted to talk about us."

  "Us?"

  I already didn't like the direction of this conversation.

  "I think you've been a bit hasty throwing away what we have." he said, turning to look at me, hands in pockets.

  "Ok. I think that you sleeping with all those girls made me rethink our relationship."

  "But you cheated too!" Lane interjected.

  "Yes, but with one person! You cheated with more!"

  Lane sighed. "Alex, it doesn't matter how many there were, I love you."

  "It does matter. It matters because you cheated months before I even met Drew and you kept it from me. All those lies. I even asked you if you had slept with Carmen at the Lab and you laughed it off, telling me she had a thing for Scottie. You outright lied to me!"

  "Me, lying to you? What about him?! He's lied to you too. You can't even believe anything he says."

  "That's different, Lane."

  "How so? He's still a liar." he said, referring to Drew.

  "He had his reasons for lying, he was trying to protect me. He wasn't doing anything to purposely hurt me."

  "He drugged you! Have you forgotten that he set fire to the fields and could have killed all of us."

  "No, but no one died. Maybe if they had things would be different but everyone is ok, and no one died."

  "He'll do it again. You can't trust him. He doesn't want you to go to Washington, D.C. he'll only cause trouble if you let him come."

  "Well, Drew's coming with us, you don't get a say in it." I crossed my arms.

  "I'm just asking if you'll think about giving us another go?"

  "Lane," I groaned. "I don't want to be with you anymore. I know you don't want to hear it but it's the truth. We were good together when we needed each other, but now we've outgrown each other. You don't need me anymore, and I think I'll be ok without you. I can't be with someone I don't trust-"

  "But you trust him?"

  "Yes. I do. He wouldn't randomly go off and sleep with half the community!" I yelled.

  I dragged my hands through my hair, trying to calm down.

  Lane shook his head. "He's a psycho, Alex."

  "So you keep saying, but that doesn't change the fact that I love him. I love him, Lane."

  "Why?" He frowned.

  "Why? Because it's different with him. I didn't have a choice with you, you were there and we just sort of ended up together and I started to care for you, but with Drew, I got to fall in love, I'm sorry it happened but it did."

  "So that's it? You've given up on us just like that?" he exclaimed.

  "You gave up on us the minute you cheated on me the first time, and I'm guessing it was with Carmen because we never saw anyone else before we found the Lab. So who was it, who came onto who?" I demanded.

  "Why does it matter?"

  "Because I want to know."

  "I don't remember."

  "Hmm. So you then? How did it happen, she flirted with you a little to make her step-dad jealous and you took the bait, wasting no time to jump into bed with some girl you hardly know. You're lucky Dom never found out about it or you'd be dead right now."

  "He doesn't really care about you. He's just using you." he said changing the topic so I would stop talking about his bedroom escapades.

  "Using me for what? What could he possibly gain from wanting to be with me?"

  "He's just using you to get to me."

  I laughed out loud.

  "Really, Lane, you're making this about you? Not everything is about you! He's not doing anything to get to you. I doubt he even gives two shits about you. Why do you make everything about you?" I shook my head. "You want to know why I really love Drew? Well, I'll tell you, it's because he never stops fighting for me. He never stops fighting to protect me, unlike you, you give up after a few punches." I said, thinking back to the night we escaped the Blood Gang and the group turned on me.

  "Alex, that's not fair. We were surrounded and it made no sense to keep fighting them."

  "But that's the difference, I know whatever happens to me or wherever I end up Drew will always fight for me, fight to protect me, fight to get to me. I really believe you'd give up after a few tries. I thought you had my back at one time, but not so much anymore, not after everything I've found out. If you had my back you wouldn't have cheated on me behind my back, and then you did the cowardly thing and didn't tell me."

  I moved to the other side of the trailer to get away from him. I was so mad at him still.

  "Yes, because I knew you'd react like this." He threw his arms up in the air.

  "Oh my days, you're incredible. See, you didn't want to tell me because you knew I'd be upset, well I've got some news for you, Lane, I think anyone would be upset. It's not normal
for someone to sleep with everyone they meet and then move on just like that, especially if they're already in a relationship." I scrubbed my hands through my hair and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry that things ended the way they did between us but even if Drew hadn't have shown up I don't think I would have been able to forgive you for what you did. I'm sorry, but it's over, Lane." I walked over to him and placed my hand on his arm. "You're still my friend and I still care about you, and I don't want to lose that but there is no us anymore."

  Lane just stared at me with a set jaw and didn't say anything. What else was I supposed to say? Nothing I say would change the fact that I didn't want to be with him anymore. I wasn't going to lie to him and tell him there was a chance for us because there wasn't. It was over. There was no going back now.

  "I've made my decision, and I'm sorry if you don't agree with it, but this is what I want."

  Lane brushed past me and walked to the door, but stopped and looked back at me with his hand still on the door handle.

  "Just wait, you'll see what he's really like, he'll leave you and I'm going to be the one you turn to." he said and left the trailer.

  I let out a sigh and walked to the door and saw Lane stalking away.

  "So uh...I'm guessing you heard most of that," I said, noticing the kitchen window was cracked open.

  "He'll get over it eventually." Drew grunted as he stood up from the table.

  Drew cleared the table and carried the plate inside and I moved aside for him to walk inside and I locked the door behind him.

  Drew rinsed off the plate and left it to dry. I walked around the trailer, looking at the ornaments, waiting for him to say something. I thought he would say something other than he'll get over it eventually. Why was he being so weird? What had I done wrong, or was it just me being paranoid? Maybe it was my eyes, the light was probably reflecting off them and making them glow or some shit like that. I shook my head and let my hair fall in my face. Talking to Lane had left me feeling pretty crappy, and not knowing what was going on in Drew's head had my own head spinning.

  I yawned out loud, feeling somewhat sleepy again.