Chasing Colorado: (The Zombie Zovels #2) (26 page)

“I was just wondering... I'm gonna miss everyone.”

“You'll be dead so how will you miss everyone?”

I grunted a laugh, of course, he was right.

“Well wherever you go save me a seat, I'm sure I won't be far behind you.”

“That's not true, you're a survivor.”

“Everyone's luck runs out eventually.”

“It's not luck, you're smart and you know how to look after yourself.”

He didn't reply to my comment, instead, he leaned down closer to me and changed the subject.

“Evan and me got so drunk one time, we stole a shopping cart and wheeled each other through town... let's just say there were quite a few people wondering why they had dents in their cars the next morning.”

“I bet they were well pleased.”

“It would have been fine if we hadn't left the shopping cart in Dan's drive... and his mom hadn't reported us.”

“What happened?”

“Evan had to get a job to repay the damage and I had to dip into my savings.”

“Wow, you're such a
bad
boy.”

He laughed, hanging onto the shopping cart as we rolled around the corner, but neither one of us realized there was a slope around the bend.

The shopping cart whizzed down the slope, with me half-squealing from excitement, and half out of fright we were going to crash or tip over. I gripped the sides and cringed, looking through squinted eyes. When we reached the bottom in one piece, Drew hollered.

“Just like Jackass.” he laughed.

But the shopping cart was in no hurry to slow down or stop... and two deadbies walked out into the road in front of us.

“Drew!!!” I shrieked.

“Hold on!” he yelled.

The cart surged forward and barreled into the first deadbie, like a bowling ball. The deadbie spun around and toppled over, and the second one tried to grab us as we rolled by.

But then the cart unexpectedly hit a pothole in the road and chucked me out and I skidded across the road, followed by my tote bag and all its contents. I whipped my head around to see Drew was on the ground as well, rolling over and moaning.

One of the deadbies went straight for Drew, but he shuffled back along the road and grabbed his crossbow.

The other one had spotted me and was limping toward me. I stood up, rubbing my hands off, they were still healing from all the glass cuts, now I had managed to take off half my skin on my fingers on my right hand from where I had been holding onto the cart. I grabbed the cart and kept it in front of me and used it to hold off the deadbie. 

Out of nowhere another three appeared on the road behind Drew, I think all the noise from the cart had lured them out of the woodwork. The first deadbie was already lying in a dead heap on the ground and Drew was back on his feet.

While I was busy playing dodge the deadbie with the shopping cart, Drew tried to shoot it but missed.

“Dammit!” he growled.

“It's okay, I can hold this one off, take care of the others first.” I said, walking backwards with the deadbie following me.

The other three were far enough away for Drew to shoot them before they got too close.

I was so preoccupied looking around the deadbie, trying to see how Drew was doing, that I had walked too close to the edge of the road and realized I had backed myself into the grass ditch. I rammed the deadbie in the belly, trying to push it back, but it was stronger than most, and it pushed the cart and I lost my footing and tumbled down the ditch backwards.

I landed on my back with a
thud
, and it took my breath away. I watched the deadbie at the top go limp as it now had an arrow in its head... and it was heading my way.

“Oh, crap!” I groaned.

I just managed to roll out of the way before it came tumbling down beside me in a crumpled mess of arms and legs.

“Alex?” Drew called.

“I'm okay,” I called back.

He appeared at the top of the ditch, and he looked relieved to see me still in one piece. I was still trying to untangle myself from a thorn bush when I saw another figure appear behind him.

“Drew, behind you!” I screamed.

He spun around and used his crossbow to whack the next one on the side of the head, and it fell forward and tumbled straight down the ditch... toward me.

I really need to get out of this fucking ditch!!!

It was becoming a deadbie pile up down here.

I scrambled away, and tugged my leg free from the thorns, it ripped my leggings in the process. I quickly got to my feet and was about to climb back up the grassy ditch when something grabbed my ankle.

I looked over my shoulder to see the deadbie clinging onto me as it dragged itself closer to me. I tried to shake it off, but it wasn't letting go. Drew was gone from the last spot I had seen him.

I grabbed onto a tree root and tried to pull myself up, but my arms felt like jelly, and my fingers slipped and I slid backwards.

I felt its teeth scraping my leg. I had to do something or it was going to take a chunk of my leg. I felt down my side and grabbed the knife, took a deep breath, twisted around, but the thing still had a firm grip on my ankle and I lost my balance and toppled over. Within seconds it clambered over me and I was having to hold it off me. Its breath smelled of rotten fish, and I gagged, which didn't help and I could feel I was gonna upchuck again. I wasn't in the right position to try and stab it in the head, it was practically pinning me down, trying to turn me into a human buffet. It gnashed at my face and then bit down on my shoulder. I screamed as it sunk its teeth in, and I stuck the knife in anywhere I could, aiming for the head but instead I stabbed it in the neck and I felt the liquid trickle all over me. Then all of a sudden it stopped chomping down on me and went limp on top of me.

I looked over its shoulder and saw two arrows sticking out of it, one in the head, and one in its back.

I shoved it off me just enough so I could lean over to one side, where I could throw up. It hurt so bad, my throat was sore and throwing up wasn't helping, I heaved into the dirt, it was so painful I thought my insides might actually rip. I cleared my throat and spat the remaining saliva on the ground and spotted blood in it.

Ugh. Not great.
I thought.

“Alex!! Fuck! I'm sorry!” Drew said, dragging the deadbie the rest of the way off me. Then he kneeled either side of my legs to pull me up and look at me.

“All my arrows were in the other three dudes. This is all my fault, I'm so sorry! I suggested the shopping cart and then I sent a deadbie tumbling after you.”

He tried to grab my hand but I didn't want to get any of my blood on him so I pulled my hand away from him.

I shook my head, this wasn't Drew's fault, this was just the way things were... shitty.

“It just kept moving, and I didn't want to shoot you.” he said, pulling his arrows out of it.

“Don't they always,” I muttered, looking at my fingers that were already grazed and raw, and I now had deadbie blood in the gashes.

“The fucker even nipped my leg... If I didn't have the virus before I have it twice as bad now.”

“Fuck,” he said, moving a piece of loose fabric aside to look at my shoulder where the deadbie had bitten me and eaten some of the T-shirt in the process.

“Don't touch it,” I said, smacking is hand away. “I might infect you.”

His eyes drifted to the front of me. I was completely soaked in deadbie blood from where I had stabbed the deadbie in the neck and it had bled all over me. I looked a bloody mess.

“Just get me out of this ditch.”

He grabbed my elbow and pulled me up, then climbed up the verge, pulling me with him.

“We need to clean you up and cover this,” He looked down at my hand.

“Clean it with what? We have no clean water, no bandages, nothing to dress a wound.”

He searched the ground and found one of the spare T-shirts I had taken from the Lost Property box back at the Hot Springs Motel. He walked back to me and started lifting my own bloodstained T-shirt before I could protest, so I quickly lifted up my arms for him to get it over my head, then he pulled the clean one over my head. I snatched the dirty T-shirt away from him and used it to clean up my arms and neck.

After I had wiped most of the deadbie's blood off, I wrapped my hand and just held a wad of fabric against my shoulder.

Drew looked me up and down.

I smiled at him and he smiled back, even though I was aching, in pain, my hand was bleeding, and my shoulder hurt like a bitch, I still felt like smiling, maybe I was finally losing my mind.

“No more joyriding, agreed?” I said.

He nodded, and we quickly gathered what we could find on the ground, shoved it in my tote bag and started moving before any more deadbies showed up.

“Did you hurt yourself when we tipped over?” I asked, noticing his arm was grazed.

“Just a grazed elbow, no biggie.”

With every step, I realized Drew was slowing down.

“What's wrong now?” I asked.

“What are we doing here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you really think they're just gonna let you in and fix you?”

“What? We've come all this way and now you're voicing your opinion.”

I turned away from him and stared at the buildings.

“No, I don't think they're going to let me in, they'll probably shoot me before I set foot on the grounds.”

I turned back to look at him and he was staring in the direction of the buildings as well, but his eyes looked vacant as though he wasn't really looking at anything. He was somewhere else inside that head of his.

“Just go, Drew. You got me here, now you can leave me.”

He frowned. “I'm not just gonna leave you for the deadbies to get you.”

“You did your job, you got me here, you don't have to stay.”

“I'm not leaving you.”

I took a deep, frustrating breath, I really had no idea what I was going to do now I was here, and neither did he.

“That guy with the weird hairdo-”

“Danny Zuko.” I interrupted him.

He paused but had no idea who I was referring to.

“Never mind.” I said.

“He said there was a place that took refugees in. It must be the same place we keep seeing on all these signs. If we can find that place just for tonight, then we'll figure out what we're going to do in the morning.”

Drew looked me up and down again.

“Stop doing that! I know I look a mess.”

I had dried blood crusting on my arms and neck and it wasn't even my blood.

He walked over to me and lifted the tote bag off my shoulder and pulled out my hoodie.

“Put this on, it will cover all
this
...” He pointed at my blood smeared arms.

I so needed a wash.

“Like one bite mark wasn't enough, now I have three to hide. I'm afraid to look under the other bandage, it wreaks, I can smell it even through the dressing. Again!”

“Nah, people will just think that's me that smells gross.” he said, helping me get the hoodie over my head.

“Yeah, you do look pretty gross, complete with a helping of dirt on your forehead.”

“Oh, that,” He smiled, “that's just my mud mask I forgot to wipe off.”

“You better hope it's just mud.” I said, and we both laughed.

Then he randomly brushed a strand of hair away from my face.

He realized what he'd done and that I had watched him do it, like he had forgotten I was here as well. He stepped back and looked down at my hand.

“It's just your hand they'll see, we'll just say you fell out the shopping cart.”

“You really think they'll believe you? What sane person rides around in rattly shopping carts?”

Drew smiled and handed the tote bag back to me.

“Let's start moving before any more turn up.” I said.

We passed factories and other industrial buildings, following the signs to the shopping center.

The shopping center had a large, open parking lot with a few cars, motorcycles, and trucks parked close to the entrance. But around the entrance was a built up wall of stacked crates, TVs, chairs, and tables, and behind all of that, there were tall shelving displays, preventing us from seeing the main doors. There was even a large wardrobe leaning against the main wall.

A wardrobe?

On the wall was a large banner that read,
Welcome Survivors.

“Wow, they did a good job.. it almost looks artistic.” I said, studying the barrier. “How do we get in?”

Drew didn't hear me and was walking off in the other direction around the barrier.

I walked around the wall, wondering if we were supposed to squeeze through somewhere... but there were no gaps, and whoever had made this had done a good job. It would definitely hold off a deadbie or two, if a group turned up they might be able to break it down with force but that would have to be a large group. Not unless they figured out how to climb, which they couldn't at present. I looked at the tables and TVs, maybe I could climb up if Drew gave me a boost.

Through the gaps, I could see the glass doors, but I couldn't see anyone or any kind of patrol.

I realized Drew had disappeared again.

“Drew?”

“'Round here.”

I walked around the barrier which was in the shape of a semi-circle.

I found him stood in front of the tall wardrobe with the doors open.

“What are doing?”

He peered at me from behind the door.

“What is it?”

“Fucking Narnia,” Drew replied.

“What?” I said, walking around the door to see what he was looking at.

“Really? I said, looking at the back of the wardrobe that had been cut out so you could just walk straight through to the other side. “That's the way in?”

“The deadbies wouldn't know to open the door, possibly only a few would figure it out.” Drew said.

“So do we just go in?”

Drew scratched the back of his neck, still deciding.

“If you have any doubts maybe now would be a good time to speak up.” I said.

Drew looked at me then pointed at a trash can near the entrance, it was full of gardening tools, rakes, pitchforks, and spades.

“Is that a help-yourself-bucket-bin?”

“Makes sense to keep a few weapons outside, so you can grab one on the way out.” Drew said, looking past me at the vehicles.

While Drew and I were still deciding whether to go through the wardrobe or not, someone whistled at us from above.

We both looked up, squinting and shielding our eyes.

“Hellooo!” said a teenage boy standing on the roof, holding a rifle over his shoulder.

“Err... Hi,” I said.

“I'm Sam,” he said in a friendly voice.

“Um... Hi, Sam. Is this the place that takes in survivors?” I asked.

“Yep, you can go straight in, and ask for Dawn once you're inside.” he said, then he pointed at the glass doors on the other side.

“Right, Dawn,” I looked sideways at Drew.

Drew hopped through the wardrobe, and I climbed through making sure I pulled the doors shut behind me. We crept closer to the glass doors and peeked inside, but we set the sensors off and the doors automatically opened.

“They have electric here.” I said surprised.

Drew was already in front of me with his crossbow pointing at the ground, creeping closer.

I looked back up at the roof, trying to spot Sam, but he was gone.

We hesitantly walked into the foyer of the shopping center. It was larger than I thought it would be, I could see escalators in front and to the right there was an elevator and public toilets. I looked around, taking it all in, and saw people wandering all over the place, a group of girls sat in the chairs outside what was once a coffee shop, having a giggle over something. And over by the fountain, I could see a little girl sitting on the side playing with a small kitten. Drew lowered his crossbow, obvious not sensing any danger, and a little boy cycled over to us on a pink girls bike which had streamers hanging from the handlebars.

He stopped in front of us. His face was full of freckles and when he smiled I noticed he was missing his two front teeth.

“Hi! I'm Sid, what's your names?”

We both looked at each other and I looked back at the boy and smiled.

“Hi, Sid, my name's Alex and this is my friend, Drew.”

An older lady with short blonde hair walked out from the female toilets, pushing a mop and bucket. She left her mop and quickly approached us.

I think she was a little wary of us, I would be, too.

“Hello,” she greeted us.

“Hello,” I replied. “There was this boy outside, he said his name was Sam,”

She nodded like she knew who Sam was. “Um, he told us to ask for Dawn.”

The lady turned to Sid. “Sid would you go and fetch Dawn so she can come and meet our new guests.”

Sid turned around on his bike and said, “Bye!” before peddling off as fast as his little legs would go.

“
I'm Annie.”

“Alex, and Drew,” I said, gesturing to us both.

“You two look worse for wear.” she said, looking at my wrapped hand.

I was about to open my mouth and say I tripped and grazed it, “She fell out a shoppin' cart.” Drew blurted before I got the chance.

The woman looked at us like we were a pair of troublesome teenagers, it reminded me of my high school Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Burns, every time she turned her back on the class Eric or one of his friends would flick little bits of paper at her, and she'd turn around and give us all this look, it was the same look Annie was giving us right now... a suspicious, not impressed, scowl.

“Right, well... if you just wait here Dawn will be along in a minute.” she said, walking back to the toilets and pushing the mop into the male toilets.

We stood there awkwardly. I suddenly felt like a new kid at school on their first day. People walked past, staring at us, others whispered from behind the glass windows of the coffee shop, and a few peered over the balcony up above.

“I feel like a circus freak.” I muttered.

“I can't wait until you show them your encore.”

“Which is?”

“The part where you eat em'”

I glared at him and he shrugged at me.

“As soon as they know, they're probably going to take me outside and beat me with those garden tools.”

“Death by hoe.” Drew joked.

“Drew, it's not funny, if it all goes south, promise me you'll just stick an arrow in my head.”

I turned to him waiting for him to say something but he was distracted looking over my head at something. I turned around and saw a short, curvy woman, with a bobbed haircut and red, chunky glasses on her nose. She was dressed in clean khakis, wearing pink sandals, and a floral tank top.

“
Hello
, new people! Welcome to Argon! My name's Dawn.” she said cheerily.

We both smiled grimly at her. I was having second thoughts about staying, I didn't want to infect anyone, then I looked sideways at Drew wondering how I had managed to keep my deadbie germs away from him?

“I'm Alex and this is Drew.”

“You two traveled far?”

“From Utah.” Drew answered.

“You don't sound like you're from Utah?”

Drew smiled. “Dodge Lake, Louisiana.”

“Hmm, I thought you were a southern boy.” she said with a flirty smile. She tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear and I raised an eyebrow at her.

I coughed, (louder than necessary).

“How many of you are there here?” I asked.

“Sixty-three at present, including myself.”

“Wow, you've helped a lot of people.”

“It's in my nature, I used to do free work for the community, and would go wherever I was needed. I spent a lot of time helping troubled teens find something productive to do.”

Dawn was pointing and talking, I had no idea what she was saying, I completely spaced out for a minute. Drew looked at me then started trying to make conversation with the woman while he kept one eye on me. My tummy was doing somersaults again, maybe I could make it to the bathroom in time. The last thing I needed was for these people to see me puking my guts up on their shiny, clean floor. The floor started to move and I thought I saw spots.

Oh, crap!

I could feel an attack of dizziness overcoming me.

She waved at us to follow her, but I took one step and my head started to spin like a yo-yo. I reached out to grab anything I could, and found Drew's arm, and he held onto me.

“Are you okay?” he whispered.

Dawn had already stopped walking having noticed the holdup, and she walked back to us.

“She's probably dehydrated.” Dawn said, trying to diagnose me.

“Have you been walking for a long time?” she asked.

I started coughing, and soon knew I wouldn't be able to hold it in... and I threw up on the floor.

It was mainly bile, I hadn't eaten anything all day because my stomach had been too queasy to keep anything down, even water had been coming back up today.

Dawn went to reach for me but Drew put his hand up to stop her from coming any closer.

“We're just on our way to the research center.” he said. “Have you heard of it?”

It finally dawned on Dawn why.

I felt Drew's grip tighten on me, like he was about to throw me over his shoulder any moment and make a run for it.

“It's okay we have a quarantine area. This way,” Dawn said, hurrying us and directing us to a different area in the shopping center.

“Karen, the floor needs cleaning. You'll need the protective clothes and gloves. I'll get the bleach in a minute.” Dawn said to a woman that was walking toward us.

The woman looked at me and realized I was sick, she just nodded and rushed off.

“I'm a big believer that bleach kills everything. This way, she'll be safe over here.”

Drew gave me a sidelong glance, and I shrugged, not knowing whether Dawn was telling the truth or whether she was leading us into a room full of weapons, and she was about to shoot me. I think she liked Drew, I don't think she'd shoot him. But I think he'd be pissed if she did shoot me, he had just spent the last two weeks
keeping m
e safe and caring for me.

Drew slipped the tote bag off my shoulder.

“Here, I can carry that,” Dawn said, lifting it out of his hand.

He hung his crossbow over his shoulder and scooped me up into his arms. I know I was a tiny thing, and I had lost a lot of weight, but Drew wasn't that big himself, but he somehow managed to pick me up and carry me about as though I weighed nothing. Dawn walked past several stores that would have previously been clothes stores, the funny thing was they still had all the clothes hanging on the rails, this place must have been forgotten about when the virus started to break, nothing looked damaged, no store windows had been smashed, no one looted the place. She led us into a store that was previously a beauty salon, with seats all around the side where people could get their nails done.

“There are beds set up at the back, I think they were used for waxing the clients. It's where we keep anyone that comes in infected. It's actually really nice, Karen and another girl set candles up to make it cozy, you know, for those final days before...”

“Before I croak.” I finished for her.

She pretended she hadn't heard me and carried on walking.

The place looked empty when we went in and I didn't hear anyone else.

“It's just you, we lost our last one three weeks ago. Her name was Susie,” she said, opening a door for us.

Drew carried me into a white room with a plush, pale blue carpet. Against the wall, there was a long bench which had been turned into a bed with a pillow, and a blanket neatly folded on top. On the other side of the room, there was a tall cabinet full of candles, and a chair next to it. For a second it brought back memories of the spa,
Serene Oaks Spa
, Lane and I had found.

There was a small table beside the bed with even more candles, a box of tissues, and a Sci-Fi novel.

Drew hesitated by the door with me still in his arms.

“Don't worry, I've disinfected it since the last one.” Dawn said, placing my tote bag on the chair, then she walked across the room and picked up a bucket and brought it over to the bed.

Drew walked into the room and carried me over to the bench-turned-death bed, and gently set me down. It was comfier than I thought it would be.

I started tugging at my hoodie, wanting to take it off, I was starting to cook inside it.

“Uh...” Drew grunted, not wanting me to take my hoodie off, probably because I looked like I'd just been rolling in a deadbie bloodbath.