“Come on. Let’s see what they have upstairs. ” I put my hand on Harlow’s shoulder.
“But-”
“Come on. ” I pushed her harder, and she stared back at Lazlo.
When we left the living room, he was still standing there, and he hissed at Ripley.
“There’s nothing that great up here,” Harlow muttered as I forced her up the stairs. “I don’t know why you need me to come with you. ”
“Don’t argue with me,” I sighed.
“It’s just clothes,” she said.
I didn’t want Blue or Lazlo to overhear so I didn’t say anything until we got into the massive master suite. It had tall double doors, with ridiculous gold inlays. Once we were inside, I shut the doors behind me, and Harlow walked over to the king sized bed and flopped down.
She had been going through the closet when Lazlo and Blue arrived, and clothes were strewn about the room. It sort of looked like a zombie had done it, but none of them were torn or covered in blood.
“I didn’t want to leave you down there with them. ” I picked up some of the discarded clothes off the floor.
“Why not?” Harlow crossed her arms over her chest.
“Those are two guys with guns who we just met and you’re a thirteen-year-old girl!”
“Lazlo Durante would never do anything!” Harlow insisted, almost swooning at his name.
“Whatever,” I scoffed. “Don’t do that. ”
“What?”
“That. ” I waved vaguely to her with an argyle sweater. “Be all… like that. It’s the end of the world. You can’t have school girl crushes during the end of the world. ”
“Why not?” Harlow sounded offended. “You got to have a boyfriend. ”
“He wasn’t my boyfriend,” I said under my breath.
I went into the walk-in closet so I wouldn’t have to talk about Beck. The sun had almost completely gone down, so I could barely see anything. I pulled at the clothes, hoping to get something I needed. Jeans and underwear were my top priorities.
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When I came out of the closet, Harlow had found a box of matches. The room was lined with thick white pillar candles, and she began to light them.
“There’s a pool out back,” she said as she lit the last candle. “It’s a little skuzzy, but maybe tomorrow we could clean it and go swimming. It might be the closest thing we have to a shower for a while. ”
“Maybe. ”
I still had my messenger bag looped over my shoulder. I pulled it up over my head, along with the gun and set them on the bed. My tennis shoes had been very nice Converse before I wore them all to hell, and I slipped them off. When I sat down on the bed, my feet throbbed painfully.
“I don’t wanna walk tomorrow,” Harlow said. “I don’t think I can do that much again. ”
She sat on the bed next to me, and I looked over at her feet for the first time. They were covered in bloody, swollen blisters.
“Holy hell!” I gaped at her wounds.
“I know. When I pulled off my socks, they were full of blood. ” She stared down at her feet wearily for a second, and then looked sharply at me. “Don’t worry. It was all my blood. Those are army grade boots, and they don’t have any holes. I double checked. ”
“Those boots are killing your feet, though. They’re way too big!” I wanted to get up off the bed and take them from her, so she couldn’t let them mutilate her feet anymore, but I wasn’t ready to move just yet.
“But they’re great for kicking in zombie’s heads. ”
“Yeah, but I haven’t seen you kick any zombie’s heads since I met you. ” I shook my head. “You can get gangrene and lose your feet. And there’s no way you can go swimming like that. ”
“What? Why not?”
“The water is probably contaminated with the virus, and you have open wounds,” I said. “Even if it’s not full of the zombie virus, it’s probably has something that would cause a major infection. In fact, come here. ”
“I am here. ”
“Come closer. I don’t know why you argue so much. Have I led you wrong yet?”
She sighed and scooted over to me. I put her feet on the bed, setting the argyle sweater underneath them. I reached in my bag and dug out a bottle of alcohol. Beck had told me to always be sure to pack plenty of bandages for wrapping wounds and lots of alcohol. It might not stop the zombie virus, but it would suck to die from tetanus.
“This might sting,” I warned her, and before she could protest, I poured it on her feet. She let out such a shrill scream, I would’ve thought someone cut her leg off. “Harlow! Shh! It’s okay!”
Within a minute, I heard feet pounding up the stairs, and Blue threw open the bedroom door, gun in his hand. I reached for my gun, but I only put my hand on it.
“Is everything okay?” Blue scanned the room.
“Yeah, I was just cleaning her feet. ” I pointed to Harlow’s damaged appendages.
“Are there zombies in there?” Lazlo shouted from somewhere down the hall.
“No, it’s all clear,” Blue yelled back at him and lowered his gun.
“You used to be a doctor, right?” Harlow asked him. “She’s killing my feet. ”
“Do you want me to check them out?” Blue offered, stepping closer to where we sat. “I mean, I wasn’t board certified, but I can clean a few cuts. ”
“Yes, please. ” Harlow nodded and glared distrustfully at me.
“Alright, whatever. ” I threw my hands up and stood, wincing at the pain in my own feet. “She’s all yours, Doc. ”
Blue took my spot on the bed and talked to Harlow, reassuring her that everything would be all right, and examined her feet. After a few minutes of listening to him soothe her, I was convinced that he didn’t have plans to rape and murder us.
I excused myself to get some food. Since I was hydrated and a little rested, my stomach remembered that it was starving.
The downstairs was lit with lots of candles, too. Thank god for Crate & Barrel. Lazlo stood by the patio doors in the living room, but I went into the kitchen without saying anything to him.
He left a can opener out on the counter, and I used it to open a can of salmon. I grabbed a fork, eating it right of the can, and I made my way back to the living room.
“The cat is swimming,” Lazlo nodded to the pool out back. That’s what he’d been staring at. Ripley freaked him out.
“I think lions like water. ” I swallowed down the salmon and walked over to watch her. The pool had an algae film to it, but she dog paddled through it.
“So where do you come from that they have lions?” Lazlo gave me a sidelong glance.
“We found her on the way here,” I shrugged and took another bite. I didn’t want to talk about where I came from, or remember the quarantine or Beck or Sommer.
“I was in L. A. ,” Lazlo explained, as if I asked. “I lived in a bunker under a house after the virus really started spreading. Then three weeks ago, we ran out of food. ”
“So you’ve been living in a bunker throughout this whole thing?” I glared at him, but he was too busy watching Ripley to notice.
“Through most of it,” he said, oblivious to my icy tone. “When shit started hitting the fan, I bought this house in the hills with a bunker underneath. It was me, my bassist, his girlfriend, and a friend of mine from high school.
“I asked my mom to stay with us. ” His voice got lower as he went on. “But she was at home in Toledo and didn’t want to fly out. And at first, I think we went in the bunker almost as a joke. We didn’t think it was really as bad as they were saying. We didn’t think …” He trailed off.
“What happened after you left the bunker?” I asked.
“They all died. ” Lazlo shook his head, trying to shake it off, but his voice was thick. “Within a week. The only good thing is that they were all killed. None of them ever got infected. ”
“Ho
w did you survive?” I asked. To be honest, I was a little shocked that he had been the brains of the operation.
“Don’t know,” Lazlo shrugged. “Luck. I hid out in an old recording studio for a while. I left to scavenge, and I found Blue last week. Without him, I wouldn’t have made it this far. ” When I didn’t say anything, he smirked at me. “He’s Canadian, you know. ”
“I did not know that,” I said, but I wasn’t sure why it mattered either.
“Listen for when he says ‘about. ’ It’s a hoot,” Lazlo grinned. His abrupt shift in emotions bugged me, so I turned back to the kitchen. “Where are you going?”
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“The kitchen. I was gonna throw this away and get some water. ” I held up my empty can.
“No, I meant, where are you headed in life?” There was something sad in his eyes when he looked at me. His happiness might be more of an act than he let on.
“North,” I said, wishing I had a better answer. “My brother is in a government quarantine, and I have to find him. ”
“We’re looking for a quarantine. ” Lazlo brightened. “Maybe we should go with you. ” I didn’t answer right away, so he added, “There’s safety in numbers. ”
“Yeah,” I nodded, and I wasn’t sure if I’d live to regret my decision. “We’re gonna rest here for the night and go in the morning. ”
“That sounds good,” Lazlo said and went back to staring outside.
Ripley climbed out of the pool and shook the water off, her chain crashing loudly against the stone patio. I went into the kitchen to get water, and then went upstairs to the master bedroom. Blue had cleaned Harlow’s feet and wrapped them up. With new socks, hopefully they would hold up better tomorrow.
I stole silk pajamas from the dresser drawers, knowing that I would have to leave them here to conserve space in my messenger bag. Grabbing a candle, I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Once I took off my clothes, I inspected my entire body for scratches, and I only found a bruise. When I turned on the faucet, dirty water sputtered out, but it was better than no water at all. Using a washcloth, I did the best I could to clean myself up.
When I came out, Blue had gone, and Harlow had changed and crawled into bed, but she wasn’t asleep yet. I called Ripley, and once she finally came in, I locked the door behind her. Ripley lay on the bedroom floor, licking herself clean from her swim, and Harlow was asleep within minutes.
Sleep didn’t come that easy for me, though. After tossing and turning for a while, I gave up, snuck into the bathroom, and shut the door. I sat on the floor, burying my face in my arms, and sobbed harder than I had in months. My whole body shook.
I cried for Beck, who I had cared for way more than I should have. He deserved so much more than this, and I had just turned and ran away, leaving him to die. Leaving them all to die.
I hadn’t wanted to leave Sommer alone and terrified like that, but I didn’t know what choice I had. Letting her follow me had been a mistake, but it wasn’t worse than staying in the quarantine. Everyone had died. All the soldiers who stayed behind to try to save them, and all the people trapped in small rooms as the monsters broke in.
And I cried for Max. I didn’t know where he was or if he was all right. It was my job to protect him, and I hadn’t been there. Maybe he’d made it to a new quarantine. Or maybe he had never even made it out at all.
But I couldn’t think that. I had to believe that Max was still out there and that I would find him. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to him.
But right now, in the bathroom, it was all I could do to keep from screaming.
When I had myself under control, I went back out and climbed into the huge bed, lying on the far side from Harlow. I was too exhausted to lay awake any longer.
I woke up because I couldn’t breathe. I was suffocating, and Ripley growled. I opened my eyes to see her face right in front of mine.
– 5 –
Over two-hundred pounds of jungle cat sat on my chest, crushing me. Someone knocked at the bedroom door, and Ripley growled again. Using all my strength, I pushed her off me and gasped for breath. She leapt onto the floor and did another low growl/roar at the door.
“Hey, are you guys awake?” Blue asked when he stopped knocking.
“Yeah!” Harlow shouted and came out of the bathroom. She glanced over at me, still catching my breath. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing,” I shook my head, refusing to tell her that Ripley almost killed me in attempt to wake me up.
“So, are we all going together then?” Blue asked through the closed bedroom door. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and my feet groaned when I stood on them.
“Going where?” Harlow looked at me.
“North,” I replied vaguely and hobbled to the bathroom.
“What? Why? Why can’t we just stay here?” Harlow asked.
“I have to find my brother,” I told her.
“Okay, well, I’m making breakfast,” Blue said, when neither of us really answered him. “So you guys should come downstairs, and we can all talk about this. ”
When I went into the bathroom, I slammed the door behind me. I’d been plagued by horrible nightmares all night long, and then the lion nearly suffocated me. I did not want to fight with Harlow.
“I don’t want to find your brother!” Harlow shouted from the other side of the door.
“Okay! Stay here!” I groaned. I couldn’t even pee in peace.
“We slept in a real bed last night, not just a stupid cot!” Harlow continued. “And I wore real pajamas! The closets are full of clean clothes!”
When I finished going to the bathroom, I washed my hands with water and lots of soap. I opened the door to Harlow standing right outside, her arms crossed firmly over her chest. Ripley, for her part, was sprawled out on the bed, fast asleep.
“The food and water are gonna run out in a few days. ” I brushed past Harlow on my way to get clothes to change into. “The zombies will come here, and we’ll run out of bullets. ”
“How is that any different from anywhere else?” Harlow asked. “We’re gonna run out of food and ammunition, since there aren’t any more factories, and zombies are always gonna find us. At least here we have a place to sleep. ”
I hated that she had a point, but things weren’t like that in the quarantine. I’m not entirely sure where they got food, except Beck once said something about a major government stockpile of dehydrated meals. Plus they had a garden, a water purifying system, electricity, and fences.
“Well, you can stay here as long as you want. ” I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt. “But Blue and Lazlo are going with me. So…” I shrugged and went into the closet to change.
Harlow didn’t say anything after that, and for the first time since I’d met Lazlo, I was glad that we’d run into him. He could at least be useful for getting Harlow to do stuff.
I changed and got ready, but Harlow took her sweet time. She searched through all of the former inhabitant’s makeup, and spent way too long getting gussied up for a vacuous rock star who was way too old for her. He had to be at least twenty.
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I gave up on waiting for her and went downstairs. Blue made a fire in the sink and held a skillet over it, cooking meat-type patties. It was the first almost cooked food I’d had in ages, so I ate happily.
Harlow came downstairs wearing another skirt and strappy tank top, pairing it with her usual combat boots. Her hair was pulled back nicely, accented with some diamond clips she’d found in the jewelry box.
“I have fantastic news,” Blue grinned. “I poked around the house this morning, and I found an SUV in the garage. The keys were on the key rack, it’s gassed up, and ready to go. ”
“You mean we don’t have to walk?” Harlow’s eyes sparkled. “And we can actually take stuff with us?”
“Honest?” I asked,
fighting to contain my happiness. I thought I was going to spend the next month walking to Wyoming. “Did you test drive it and everything?”
“Well, I started it to make sure it ran,” Blue said.
“It purred like a kitten,” Lazlo added.
“It’s in the garage?” I asked, already backing away.
Before Blue could say anything more, I rushed out to the garage. It was dark, but I could still see the bulky shape of a massive gas-guzzling SUV.
I hit my hand against the garage door opener, which naturally didn’t work since there wasn’t any power. But I didn’t care. I was too excited. I had to pry the garage door open myself, but my happiness empowered me.
With the sunlight shining in, I got my first good look at it. It was black and damn near brand new. Cupping my hands, I peered in and admired how spacious the interior was. There was even plenty of room in the back for Ripley.
“It is pretty exciting,” Lazlo smiled, coming out to the garage to inspect it with me.
“No, it’s more than exciting. This is life changing. This…” I was on the verge of tears I was so happy. In the months before Max and I had gone to quarantine, we had found exactly two running vehicles with keys, and they both sustained traumatic injury. “When are we leaving?”
“As soon as we’re ready, I guess,” Lazlo shrugged.
“If I had known about this, I wouldn’t have slept last night. ”
“Wow. ” He looked at me with awe. “I don’t think you’re kidding. ”
“I’m really not,” I admitted.
I ran back into the house, hurrying to gather up all my stuff so we could get out of here. I even packed Harlow’s stuff to speed the process along. Our messenger bags were filled with essentials. If we had to leave things behind, we’d still have everything in a carry-on size.
We loaded up the SUV, and I felt almost optimistic. Sure, I still didn’t know where my little brother was, or even if he was alive, and man-eating zombies still roamed the hollow shell of the earth, but god dammit, we had a car!
It took some cajoling to get Ripley into the back, but I did not want to leave her behind. She’d be an invaluable resource against the infected, but more than that, I kind of liked her.
Thanks to a can of tuna, she eventually got in, and once she settled in amongst the bags and realized she was free to sleep, she seemed okay with it.
I called shotgun, and Lazlo scowled. Blue got to drive because he found it, but he promised me that I’d drive the next leg.
When he started the SUV, and I heard the rumble of the engine, my heart soared. We backed out of the driveway, turned on the road, and drove away from the abandoned house.
“How about some driving tunes?” Lazlo suggested.
“There aren’t radio stations anymore,” Blue said, but he fiddled with the radio.
Static blared out. The GPS kicked in and told us it couldn’t locate the satellite, but Blue hit another button and shut it off. He hit something else and smiled.
“Eureka! A CD player!”
Bon Jovi wafted out of the speakers, and we all exchanged a look.
“I don’t know. That’s kind of really unexpected,” I said.
“Not bad, but really unexpected,” Blue agreed.