Dying To Live & Fighting To Live-Book One and Book Two (Zombie Overload Series) (21 page)

Jake and I walk slowly through
the hall, listening at each door, then clearing the rooms. We come to
the second hall in the squared layout of the building, and at the
first door on the right, just past the turn in the hall, we hear
noise from inside. It sounds like someone sobbing. Jake looks at me
and I look back at him. Slowly, Jake turns the knob and we enter the
room. My mouth drops as I see a woman pressed into a corner, knees up
to her chest, arms up and covering her head. Naked. She looks up and
pleads for Jake not to hurt her. I don't think she even notices me.

Jake raises his hand towards her,
but stays near the door. He tells her his name, that it's ok, he's
not going to hurt her, but she doesn't believe him. I step in front
of Jake and tell her we want to help her, we just got here, don't
know what is going on, but she won't be hurt again. I ask her if I
can go over and sit by her, and she finally nods after a few moments
of watching me. I slowly move toward her and sit about five feet from
her. Since she is sitting in the corner, and it's dark, I didn't see
the horrifying bruises covering her body and her face. I suck in a
breath from shock.

"Pretty bad, isn't it? I
can't see it, but I can damn sure feel it. You don't look so great
yourself." She says to me.

"I just didn't want Jake to
be intimidated by my natural beauty. He has this belief he's the best
looking thing around. You know how it is with men and their egos."
She gives a small, weak giggle, and then relaxes a tiny bit.

"What's your name and how
did you get here, anyway?" I ask her.

"My
name is Sara and I came here because my husband, Mike, works here. I
thought it would be safe here but they had let a couple infected guys
in, not knowing what was going on at that point. They just wanted to
help someone who was hurt." I look back at Jake and he looks at
me.
So, two we hadn't counted on we here, besides
Sara.
"When I got here,
everything was fine. Then they turned and bit the three men in the
room with them. One who was my husband. After that, the men went down
pretty quick. One of the guys from the garage building came over to
get lunch and was bit. He ran out and I assume went back to the other
building. I don't know what happened to him after that. I hid in this
room. I was so terrified. After a few hours, my husband's friend came
in. He didn't know I was here and almost shot me before he realized I
wasn't like those things. Now, I wish he had killed me." She
lets out a couple more sobs.

I ask her if I can help her get
cleaned up and dressed and she nods. I hold her hand and help her up.
Her legs are almost unable to hold her up, so I have her put an arm
around my shoulders while I support most of her weight. My own body
screams in pain from the extra weight, but I manage to get us to the
bathroom. When we walk in, I flip on the light, and am relieved to
see it has a shower. I have her sit on the toilet while I get the
shower ready. After adjusting the water temperature, I turn back to
her and all the air leaves me in one big whoosh.

She has so much trauma on her
body, but what was most horrifying, were the bite marks that covered
her body. Deep, bruised, and bloody. I back away from her, lifting my
gun and pointing it at her, and her eyes widen. She looks down at her
own body, then back to me, shaking her head furiously.

"No! No! These aren't from
those things. They're from my husband's friend. Please! I swear. And
he's not infected, either. I'm ok. Really. I'm ok!"

Hearing her raised panicked
voice, Jake runs into the bathroom. He sees me with my gun up and
whips his head toward Sara. I hear his own breath leave his lungs.
Sara is still pleading for her life and I don't know what to do. I
look at Jake and he's already looking at me. He tells her to get in
the shower and we'll be right outside the door. I watch as she tries
to stand. But her legs start shaking from the weight of her and I
know she can't do it herself. Sighing, I hand Jake my gun and start
toward her. Jake tells me 'no' but I have to.

"Just keep the gun on her,"
I tell him. He doesn't look happy, but does it anyway. I grab a thick
towel and lay it on the shower floor. Helping her in, I suggest she
sit down on the towel so she doesn't fall, and she does. I hand down
a bar of soap, some shampoo and conditioner. Then I grab her a
washcloth. She smiles up at me and tells me thank you.

Walking back to Jake, I take my
gun back and we exit the bathroom. We leave the door open a crack so
we can hear her.

"What the hell are we going
to do, now? We can't take her back to the others. What if he was
infected when he did this shit to her?" I ask Jake.

"What are we supposed to do
with her then? We can't leave her here alone. But you're right, I
don't want her attacking any of us." We become quiet as we think
about what we should do. I snap my eyes up to Jake's and tell him my
idea.

"How about we tie her hands
and put something over her mouth?" He thinks about it for a
moment then shakes his head.

"After everything I imagine
she's gone through, that may be too much for her. But, I can't think
of anything better if she really wants out of here, and wants the
safety we can provide, I guess that's her only choice, besides trying
to survive on her own."

Decision
made. We lean against the wall on either side of the door, Jake's
eyes on the main door into the room, and mine on the bathroom door.
Eventually, we hear the shower turn off and I go inside. Sara is now
standing fairly well and drying off. She notices me and tells me she
feels a lot better, cleaner, anyway. She says her legs work now and
is relieved about that.
Yeah, Honey, My bruised and beaten
body is, too.
She finishes
drying off and wraps the towel around her, tucking it in at the top.
I tell her we will find her some clothes soon, but first, we have to
find the others before
they
find
us
.

She
swallows hard and nods. We exit the bathroom and prepare to leave the
room. I go to the door and look down the hall. Seeing and hearing
nothing, I turn back to the room and listen as Jake tells Sara what
we had decided she has to do if she wanted to stay with us, at least
until we know she won't turn. Jake's facing my direction and Sara has
her back to me. I see Jake look my way, his eyes widen, and just as
he says, "Look out!" I feel a boot in my already tender
back, kicking me hard inside the room. I go flying and crash to the
floor in front of Sara, who is whimpering in fear. I hear the door
slam and Jake is running to it. He twists and pulls the knob but it
doesn't open. He kicks it, punches it, but it does no good. The door
is too strong, and the fact it opens
inside
the
room, means we can't bust it
out
.
I just lay on the floor on my side, unable to move. I think my back
just told me "screw you!"

Sara
drops to the floor beside me, asking me if I'm ok. I can't answer
her, for the intense pain that is shooting through my body. Jake
hears her and looks back. Seeing me on the floor, practically
paralyzed, hell, I may very well
be
paralyzed,
he runs over and kneels down on the other side of me. He asks me
what's wrong, what's hurting and I want so badly to give a smart ass
remark, but I just can't talk. He wipes my hair out of my face, and
just sits beside me, holding my hand and telling me I'm gonna be ok.
I might have believed him if he didn't look as if I was dying. He
asks Sara if there is any bottled water in here and she says no but
she can get some out of the faucet. She stands and grabs a paper cup
from a stack sitting on a shelf and fills it with cold tap water. She
hands it to Jake and he digs out some more pain pills from his
pocket. Holding my head up a little, he places the pills in my mouth
and tips some water in. I swallow the pills and water.
I
wonder how many pain pills within such a short time my body can
handle before I can't move.....well, guess I can't move now anyway,
huh?

I hear voices. They sound so far
away. A man and a woman. The woman sounds like she's in front of me.
The man sounds as if he's behind me, close. I can't move or open my
eyes. I feel a hand, calloused and large, gently rubbing the side of
my face as he's talking to the woman.
What are they saying?
I
can't understand them. It sounds like when a radio station is out of
tune.
What's wrong wi....

I feel like I'm under a lot of
water and trying to swim back to the top. Eventually, I make it
enough to hear what's going on around me. Same woman I heard before,
same man. This time I can understand what's being said. I open my
eyes, then slam them back together. I open them just enough that a
small sliver of light comes in.
Ok.
That's not so bad.
Very
slowly, I open them just a tiny bit at a time. Finally I have them
half opened.
Good enough.

I just look around with my eyes,
not even attempting to move my head, and try to remember what the
hell is going on, where I am,
who
I am, and who the hell these
people are. I'm sitting and leaning against someone. Muscular, hairy
arms are crossed across my chest. Black fatigued legs are raised on
each side of me. I notice I have the same kind of black fatigues on
my own legs, as well. And then something catches my attention. The
man's voice.
Jake!

I open my mouth, but I can't get
any words out. I try to raise my arm but all I can do is slide it. So
I slide it into the inside of his thigh, the only place I could. I
hear him stop talking and his body tightens behind my head as he
leans forward to look at my face. Seeing my eyes are open, he grins
at me and asks if I'm thirsty. I nod my head. He lifts a cup to my
mouth and I drink until he takes it away. I let the water slip down
my throat, soothing and delicious. Finally, I can at least get a
whisper out.

"Thank you," I half
whisper, half croak at him. I hear him ask Sara if she would go in
the bathroom so we could talk.

"Alright." Not sounding
very happy. As she walks by us, I notice a quick dirty look being
shot my way.
What the hell was that all about?

"Hey, we missed you."
Jake's says in a low voice.
Um, not so sure everyone did.
But
I just smile at him, my throat killing me to much to talk.

"You've been out for three
hours."
What the...?
Really?
"I know who her
husband's "friend" is. He's the same guy I always had
problems with every time I had to come here. I always felt something
wasn't right about him. He hated me. He felt like I didn't deserve to
be in the position of Sergeant Major, but he did, though he never
made any effort to do more than he was told to do. He's lazy and
doesn't take commands well. His name is Tony and I thought more than
once that he would kill me if he got the chance. I guess he's got his
chance." My eyes widen in fear and I croak out, "NO!"
He just gives me a slight smile.

"He hasn’t come back
in but he has come to taunt and threaten us from outside the door.
Sara told me what he did to her. Rape. Torture. You name it, he did
it. Sick son-of-a-bitch." He's quiet for a minute and I just
look up at him, waiting.

Jake looks down at me and rubs my
cheek, lightly. "So, all together, we've been in the armory
about four to four and a half hours. And you've been sleeping like a
baby for most of that time." I grin and shrug my shoulders. He
gives me another drink of water and I test my throat out, again.

"Thank you, Jake, for taking
care of me." Still hurts, still croaking, still more of a
whisper, but not as bad as before. Jake leans down closer to me, and
asks me to repeat what I said, he couldn't hear me. Just as I start
to repeat it, the room's door explodes open. Jake lifts his head and
mine raises, and we see Will standing in the hall. Looking hard at
us. PISSED OFF!

Jake
says he's glad to see him but Will gives him a look of pure hatred. I
try to tell him what was going on because, apparently, he has a very
wrong idea, but I still haven’t much of a voice.
Wow!
My hubby is so hot when he's mad!
Sexy hot!
Maybe
that's why I always pissed him off so much.
But,
this isn't the best time for him to be pissed, because he marches
over to us and makes a grab for my arms, obviously about to yank me
up. Jake yells "NO!" And Will gives him a 'who the hell do
you think
you
are'
look. Will grabs at me again and I shake my head and wave my hands,
trying to tell him why but nothing comes out. Jake wraps his arms
around me and leans over me.

I know Will doesn't understand,
he doesn't know. And it's killing me to see the pain on his face and
what he is surely feeling inside, but he could seriously hurt me if
he just yanks me up like that. We have no idea just how bad my
injuries are.

I jerk my head to the side of
Jake's to see Will and my heart stops. Terror fills my entire body.
The barrel pointed at Jake looks much bigger than it should. I bring
my arms up over Jake's head and pull him closer to me, trying not to
give Will anywhere to shoot. It does cross my mind that he could
possibly be intending to shoot us both. And if that's the case, then
there's nothing I can do anyway.