Kick at the Darkness (4 page)

“Oh thank fuck. Parkster, are you okay? Are you safe?”

“Yeah. I’m hiding in the woods. What the hell is this? Are you okay over there?”

“No. It’s crazy here too. They’re saying it’s biological terrorism, but I don’t know who the hell would want to spread this. I’m going into a bunker beneath the office. Guess it’s a good thing that the president of the firm is a paranoid nut with too much money—apparently he’s got some bomb shelter thing.”

“Good.” He managed a long breath. Eric was okay. “Just stay safe until this blows over. It will, right?” He paused. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah. I’m going to lose you soon, though. Did Mom reach you?”

“She left a message. They’re going to the Cape house.”

“Right. I told her you’d be okay. Stay out of sight. Are you alone?”

“No. I’m with…a guy from school. We’re in the preserve near campus.”

“Good. Stay there. Parker, I’m going underground now.” His voice got distant. “I’m coming!” Then he was back. “If I don’t—if we…I love you, little brother.”

Parker’s sore throat was unbearably thick, and his eyes stung. “Me too. Eric—”

Then there was silence, and the call disconnected. He gripped his phone, willing it to ring again. He tried his parents again, pacing and blinking back his tears. Eric was okay. His parents would be too.

“I’m glad your brother’s all right,” Adam said.

“Yeah.” Parker’s voice was hoarse, and he coughed. “Thanks.” A half-moon shone through the trees, and Parker met Adam’s gaze. “What the hell do we do?”

Adam looked around. “I guess we stay here tonight. Hope that by tomorrow it’ll be under control. Whatever
it
is.”

“That’s the plan?”

“You have a better one?”

“We should…we could…” His shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I have no idea.” He stared at Adam sitting against the tree. “Jesus, how can you be so calm? Throw down a red checkered cloth and you could be on a freaking picnic!”

“I’m thinking. This is how I think. I wouldn’t call myself calm, but what good will panicking do?”

“No good at all, but
oh my God we just escaped from zombies
. At the risk of repeating myself, what the fuck?” He paced. “Who would do this on purpose?” He tapped on Google and did another search, scanning through the headlines, which all said basically the same thing: take immediate cover. Stay indoors.

“Unless you can find something online, we have no way of knowing, Parker. Not yet, at least.”

He clenched his teeth. “I realize that, but it makes me feel better to talk about it instead of sitting there like some, some…Buddha with chiseled abs!”

Adam raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Parker tried calling nine-one-one, but he only got an old-fashioned busy signal. “Okay, so Eric said he heard it was bioterrorism, which makes sense if it’s happening in England too. I wouldn’t put it past the Russians at this point. Maybe that crackpot thinks we’re all gay and wants to wipe us out. Or it could be terrorists from anywhere. Or hell, maybe it’s just some freak strain of rabies. Maybe we all need to get a bunch of shots and we’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. It has to be, right?”

“Why don’t you sit down? It’ll be okay.”

Parker tapped each finger against his thumbs in a repeating pattern. “You really think so?”

Adam’s gaze skittered away, and there was only the sound of the leaves. Finally he just said, “We should rest.”

The ground was a little damp, but his legs were shaky and it felt good to sit. Parker leaned back against the thick trunk, his shoulder close to Adam’s. “The police and the army will take care of it, right?”

“I hope so.” Adam seemed to be breathing deeply, inhaling and exhaling evenly.

“They have to. I mean, this is insane. I’m sure I’m going to wake up on my lumpy mattress in my room with annoying house music vibrating through the wall. And this will all be a dream.”

Adam only blew out a long breath.

The frantic energy drained away, and Parker suddenly felt utterly exhausted. “I can’t believe this is happening. I thought I was going to die. When you left, I just…I thought that was it.”

“I knew I could get to the bike. I wasn’t going to leave you.”

“Were you a track star or something? Because you totally disappeared. And it’s not like you owed me anything. So, you know. Thanks. For coming back and saving my life.”

“I couldn’t exactly leave you there. I’m not a sociopath.”

Irritation flared. “Did I say you were? Geez, whatever. Forget it.” He checked his phone again and made sure the ringer was on before resolutely slipping it into his hoodie pocket. He’d drain the battery if he kept turning it on.

Now that the adrenaline had worn off, he started to shiver. It was past midnight, and the temperature had dipped uncomfortably. Clouds rolled in overhead, and he hoped it wouldn’t rain. He drew his knees to his chest.

“Here.” Adam fidgeted beside him.

Then there was warm leather over his shoulders. “Oh. No, it’s fine. Dude, I can’t take your jacket.” Parker tried to pass it back.

Adam pressed his hand on Parker’s shoulder. “Keep it. I’m not cold.”

Parker swore he could feel heat from Adam’s palm, even through the leather. “You sure?”

He nodded, his hazel eyes that strange golden even in the darkness.

“Um, okay. Thanks. Again.”

After a pause, Adam said, “You’re welcome.”

The jacket was too big for him, and when he pressed his knees to his chest, he could almost wrap it around himself. He was in good enough shape, but he didn’t have Adam’s bulk. The jacket carried a faint scent of pine and something earthy he couldn’t identify. But it smelled nice, and he was grateful for it.

“Go to sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

He snorted. “There’s no way I can sleep. But thanks. If you want to sleep, go for it.”

“I don’t think so.”

Parker checked his dark phone again. He sent texts to his parents, Jason and Jessica, and then clutched the phone in his hand, willing it to vibrate as the night crawled by. Adam closed his eyes again, but wasn’t sleeping. Parker wanted to ask him if he actually was meditating, but didn’t want to interrupt.

In the darkness, they waited.

“See anyone?”

Adam shook his head.

Parker couldn’t decide if the eerie stillness was a good or bad thing. He leaned out from the tree they were crouched behind at the edge of campus. It was misty in the cool, predawn light, but the clouds had rolled out and it would be a sunny day. He tried to focus on breathing steadily, but his lungs and sinuses were getting increasingly congested. His head was like a brick, and his throat was officially sore. Because he totally needed the flu on top of worldwide catastrophe.

“I don’t hear that noise they were making either. It sounded like this creepy…chattering or something. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“You think they’re gone? Maybe we should go help those people. They might just be unconscious.” Bodies dotted the grass in the distance.

“They’re dead.”

“But we can’t be sure, can we? Although…it’s weird. I expected more. Dead people, I mean. Did they all become zombies? Or infected or whatever those people are?”

“I don’t know. Maybe if a person gets injured too badly, they’ll still die. We have no idea how it’s transmitted or what it is.”

“I saw them biting. Eating, really.” Parker shuddered. “We need to find someone who knows what’s going on. The police must be patrolling. Or the army or someone in charge.” He glanced at his phone again, hoping to see a notification from his friends or parents. He still had four dots, but he hadn’t been able to get online again. The little circle at the top of the browser just spun endlessly.

“I’m going to check the area. Stay here.”

“No way!” Parker grabbed Adam’s sleeve. He’d given him back the jacket, and his fingers curled into the leather. “You can’t leave me.”

Adam shook him off impatiently. “I’m coming back. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? Right, sure, I’ll just kick it here and clip my nails or something. No big.”

“It’s safer for you to stay here.”

“And what if you find some rescue squad, and they scoop you up and I’m left out here holding my dick? Uh-uh.”

“Parker, I wouldn’t leave you.” Adam’s gaze was direct and his voice steady.

“Why not? We don’t even like each other. Why would you come back?”

“I came back last night. I won’t leave you. Whether we like each other or not is irrelevant. Right now we have to stick together.”

“Right, exactly. Stick together. Which means, you know,
sticking together
.” Parker fiddled with the zip on his hoodie. “I can’t just sit here waiting. We waited all night. We need to find the police. We need help. Besides, what if you get hurt? What if you get your face eaten? I’m coming with you.”

After a moment, Adam nodded and led the way back to his motorcycle parked between the trees. In the light of day, Parker could see that the bike had dark red trim, and was a Harley. And thank God for it, because it had saved their bacon. Parker climbed on, breathing in Adam’s earthy pine scent and wrapping his arms around him. The guy may not be his favorite person, but the thought of being alone churned his stomach and made his pulse race. He tightened his grip.

“What’s wrong?”

“Aside from the zombie apocalypse?”

Adam huffed out a sound that might have been a laugh, and then they were off.

The bike’s engine seemed unbearably loud as they passed by eviscerated bodies. Parker tried not to look, but they were everywhere—practically in pieces. He saw no signs of life. Or the undead either, or whatever the fuck they were.

The school’s buildings appeared deserted. Parker was about to uselessly ask where everyone had gone when he glimpsed a spinning red light beyond the humanities block. “There, there! Did you see it? Go toward the Oval. The police are here.” Relief soared through him.
We’re going to be okay
.

Adam gunned the engine and sped along the sidewalk. Parker’s breath caught in his throat as the grassy expanse of the Oval came into view.

The police were there all right.

Lights flashed on squad cars all around the rim of the Oval, stopped haphazardly. And clustered around the police vehicles, dozens deep, were chattering zombie people.

Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands.

He didn’t have to tell Adam to turn around. He simply hung on as they raced back the way they’d come. Parker watched over his shoulder, his pulse pounding, but none of the infected followed.

When they reached the dorms, Adam slowed and said, “We need to find a TV.”

The doors of one of the dorms stood open, one hanging at an angle and almost ripped off its hinges. Adam drove right up the few steps and into the building before cutting the engine. Silence greeted them, along with several glistening bodies. Parker looked away from the gore and opened his mouth to say something, but Adam held up his hand. His eyes were shut, and he didn’t move. Parker could only see the side of his face, and the sweep of his dark eyelashes against his skin.

Then Adam opened his eyes. “We’re alone.”

“How can you be sure?” Parker hissed.

“I can’t hear anyone.”

“Neither can I, but it’s a big building,” he whispered.

Adam stood and put down the kickstand. “We’ll be careful. Come on, let’s find a TV.”

Parker didn’t really have a choice, and followed. Adam seemed to be right—the place was deserted. Chairs were knocked over, and blood sprayed the tiles. At least there weren’t that many bodies, and it was utterly terrifying how “only” two dead students splattered across the hallway was somehow already a relief.

He stuck close to Adam as they picked their way down the hall. In the common room, there was more blood.

A lot more.

Blood soaked the couches, but there were no bodies here. The thought that they might have been completely consumed crossed Parker’s mind, and he shuddered.

The TV was on, the volume apparently muted. Snow flickered on the screen. The remote was nowhere to be found, so Parker went to the unit while Adam hung back by the door, checking both ways down the hall every few seconds.

Parker skimmed his fingers over the black plastic casing. “Come on, come on. When I was little they still made TVs with buttons.
Shit
.” He hauled the overturned coffee table away from the TV stand. On shelves below the TV sat a DVD player and the cable box. “Can’t change the channels on the TV anyway,” he mumbled to himself. He glanced back at where Adam stood, his head turning side to side every few seconds, checking both directions since the common room was in the middle of the building. “We still good?”

“Yes.”

“You remind me of the Terminator or something. But it’s cool. I’m not complaining.”

Adam’s lips quirked. “Glad to hear it.”

Parker found the channel button on the top of the cable box and pressed it, keeping one eye on the screen above. “Okay, let’s see what we have. Snow, snow, snow. Black screen. Black screen. Sn—oh! Here we go.” He fumbled with the TV again, finally finding the controls on the side panel. “Volume up…” he muttered to himself.