Lost World (31 page)

I rush forward, drawing my knife as I do. Angus is closer, and there’s no good way for me to get to Axl without dealing with the zombie on his brother first. I skid to a stop as Angus pushes the zombie up, grunting while the thing chomps at his face. My blade comes down, slicing into the monster’s skull and releasing black goo all over the place.

The zombie collapses, and I yank my knife free. Angus tries to roll out from under the body while Axl curses at his side. The zombie on top of him snaps his teeth less than an inch from Axl’s face. I can’t reach him, though. Angus and the other zombie are sprawled across the aisle, blocking my way. Angus finally manages to throw the unmoving zombie to the side, glancing toward his brother, and it hits me like a punch in the gut that neither one of the men are holding weapons.

I dive over Angus, throwing my whole body against the zombie and knocking him to the floor. We tumble over each other like we’re falling down a hill, and the thing scratches and chomps at me the whole time. Once we stop rolling, I kick him in the face as hard as I can, sending him flying back. Before I can even move forward to stab him, a gunshot echoes through the air, ringing in my ears. The zombie’s head explodes, and he falls back but doesn’t move.

I get to my feet and brush myself off, looking the brothers over. They’re both panting and covered in sweat, but no bites. If they had been bitten, the terror on their faces would be a whole hell of a lot worse.

“You’re okay,” I say anyway, still panting.

Darla throws herself into Angus’s arms, but Axl just nods. His eyes hold mine for a second, and everything in me squeezes tight when I think about how close he just came to death.

“Let’s get the shit we need and get out of here,” I say, turning away from the others so I can look for my gun. I’m tired of this town, and I want to look for winter gear so we can get home where I can pretend that fence will keep us safe from here on out.

21

WE SALVAGE OUR SUPPLIES AND DONOVAN siphons the tiny bit of gas from the car, but we leave it on the side of the road. They don’t need it and we have no attachment to it. I barely even glance at it as we drive away.

Jon, Gretchen, and I end up in the front of the last truck, mashed up against Richard. It’s a tight fit, but we didn’t want them to separate us. They seemed to understand that. Richard doesn’t complain. If anything, he seems happy at the prospect of meeting new people.

“So these friends of yours, how long ago did you get separated from them?” he asks as he drives down the road, one eye on the snowy landscape and the other on an iPod.

“Going on five days,” Jon says, patting my leg like he thinks I’ll fall apart at any moment. “We were following their trail until the snow got in the way. Not sure we’re going to be able to find them now, though.”

We bump down the road, following the other two trucks, and I let out a deep breath. I don’t feel like I’m going to fall apart, but just thinking about the days that have passed and what could have happened to our friends since the last time we saw them has me anxious.

Richard glances our way, frowning when his eyes meet mine. As if he can read my mind and knows how affected I am by the loss. “Well, if they’re in the area, they may hear about Hope and show up. Don’t lose heart yet.”

He selects a song and sets the iPod down, grinning to himself as he finally puts both hands on the steering wheel. Miley Cyrus blasts through the speakers, whining about how her relationship didn’t work out because she was too needy.

“I never thought I’d see an iPod again,” Gretchen says, a small smile turning up her full lips.

Richard lets out a little chuckle. “Not exactly my type of music, but these days you gotta be thankful for the small things. Right?”

“No kidding,” Gretchen mutters.

We listen to Miley in silence for a few minutes. For me, it’s another one of those surreal moments that takes me back to my former life. I met her once, just a few months before all this started. She was in the middle of giving the air a tongue bath, posing for the cameras with her butt sticking out like she was something shocking and new and original. The thing I remember most about it was thinking how she had her whole life ahead of her to realize how stupid she was acting. How one day when she was older and more mature, she’d look back at the pictures of herself licking random items and realize she was just a kid.

How wrong I’d been.

“Sometimes,” Richard says, breaking through the depressing silence, “I listen to these songs and can’t help but wonder what happened to all of them.”

“All of who?” Gretchen asks, leaning forward so she can see him.

Richard smiles and shrugs at the same time like it’s silly to talk about. “Celebrities. Famous people.”

Jon glances my way, and I can feel Gretchen’s eyes on me too. I don’t know if they’re waiting for me to admit who I am, but that’s not going to happen. Hadley Lucas is someone I wish had died with the virus.

“They’re dead,” I say flatly, surprised by the lack of emotion in my own voice. “They were rich and spoiled, there’s no way they would have been able to survive this.”

Richard presses his lips together and nods slowly like he’s thinking it through. “It’s weird to imagine them doing all this, isn’t it? Trying to get through by the skin of their teeth like us normal folk. But I suppose some of them could be doing just that.”

Jon’s hand gives my knee a small squeeze. A gesture of support, which I love. “I doubt it.”

I’m done thinking about the past. I want to look forward now.

“Tell us about Hope,” I say, staring at the truck in front of us as I try to picture what the future holds for us. What the world will look like two years from now. If we can possibly start something new. It’s hard to imagine.

“Well,” Richard says, “we started off slow, but things are progressing. We have a couple dorms at the college we’re using to live in. We built a barricade around part of the campus. We use the cafeteria for meals and bring any food we find there. A couple other places hold supplies and a headquarters. Then there’s the school. We don’t have a lot of kids, but there are a handful. We even got a hospital set up.”

“You have doctors?” My hand unconsciously goes to my stomach.

“Sure do.” He grins and his shoulders straighten like he’s proud to be a part of it all. “Four of them, if you can believe it.”

“Four?” Jon says with a note of disbelief in his voice. “How many people are there in Hope Springs?”

“I don’t have the exact numbers, but more than a hundred.”

Gretchen leans forward again, her eyes big and round as she stares at Richard. Jon’s mouth drops open. I stare straight ahead, feeling oddly numb. I never thought I’d see that many living people in one place again. Not counting the casino, which I’m working on forgetting altogether, our group was the largest one we’d come across. But Hope has over a hundred people? Working together?

It sounds too good to be true.

“How?” I whisper. “How did you get all these people?”

“Don’t know exactly. It started off small, a group of people from the area working together. Determined to take it back and make something. More people wandered in and stayed to help. Then we started sending groups out to find supplies in other towns. We’d pick people up or at least tell them, then others would come in saying they’d heard about us.”

“So everyone lives in the dorms?” Gretchen asks.

“Yup. For now, anyway. We’re hoping to get more of the city cleared out over the winter months. It’s going to be hard work, but with as slow as the zoms are right now, it’s our best shot.”

Jon rubs the back of his neck, and I can see the wheels turning as he thinks it all through. Trying to figure it out or picture it, I’m not sure. “How are you doing it without getting overrun?”

“We do a street at a time. Move in reinforced buses and block off the area. Then clean out whatever’s there. Then we move our fences up so no new zoms can get in and go on to the next street. We keep archers and sharpshooters on roofs, and the buses are always there for us to make a quick getaway if we get swarmed. It’s not foolproof, and we’ve lost people, but overall it’s worked out well. We have a plan set up for winter, and if the weather cooperates, we should be able to take the whole town back before the zoms thaw out in spring. Then people can start moving out of the dorms and into houses. That’s the hope, anyway.”

The truck thumps down the road as the three of us chew on this new information. A town. A real town that isn’t overrun by zombies where we can live and have a house and a family and be human again. It feels like dream.

When the town comes into view, all three of us lean forward to get a better look. From a distance it doesn’t really seem like anything special. Still, I feel kind of like Dorothy finally reaching the Emerald City.

We pass houses and gas stations and convenience stores. All the normal things found in a town. When we close in on the center of the town, a barricade comes into view, and the trucks slow to a stop. The fence is made of chain link and wood and barbed wire and stone and pretty much anything else they could get their hands on. There are men guarding it, armed mostly with bows, and a few more sitting in lookout towers on each side. Just like Richard said, there are a couple buses sitting not too far from the gate. They’re decked out in steel and guns and spikes, reminding me of something out of
Mad Max
.

In front of us the gates open, and the trucks drive through. Jon, Gretchen, and I are silent, each of us taking things in as Richard follows the other two trucks. I’m focused mainly on the armed men we pass. They wear serious expressions, but they don’t seem dangerous. If anything, they look more like lawyers and teachers and dads standing guard. Ready to protect their city.

It’s kind of reassuring.

We don’t have far to drive since the part of the city that has already been cleaned out is small. Richard drives down the street, then turns right. The college comes into view. There’s a second fence around some of the buildings that’s taller than the first—and sturdier. Even if the zombies weren’t frozen right now, this place looks fairly safe.

Richard parks the truck next to the others and climbs out, flashing us a grin. “Well, come on. We’re not gonna bite. I promise.”

He chuckles as he hops down, but for a second the three of us don’t move. Gretchen is by the door, and her eyes are wide. I’m not sure if it’s from fear or amazement, though. Even from my seat in the truck this place feels…good.

“Well,” Jon says, taking a deep breath. “I guess we should go.”

Gretchen nods and pushes the door open, but I stay silent. A spark of hope has started to burn inside me, but I hate to feed it too much. And I need to stay alert.

I slide out after Gretchen, grabbing my pack as I do it, and Jon follows. We leave the food for the men to deal with. It will go to the community now, which is fine with me. As long as we all get equal shares, I don’t care where they store it.

Richard is waiting at the front of the truck, but all the other people who were out on the run seem to have wandered off already. He smiles when we move forward to meet him. “No need to be worried.”

I hope he’s right.

Jon takes my hand as we follow Richard, and Gretchen sticks close to my side. The gate on the second fence is closed, but as we head toward it, two men jog over. They’re smiling. Happy to see new faces.

“Find some people, Richard?” one calls out. He’s young and cute, and Gretchen blushes when he looks her up and down.

“Sure did. Rescued these folks from becoming human popsicles.”

The guy smiles as he pulls the gate open. He looks right at Gretchen. “Welcome to Hope.”

Gretchen giggles and Richard chuckles, and Jon squeezes my hand. Despite the fences and the weapons and how filthy I am, it all feels so normal that I have a hard time believing I’m awake. Richard walks through the gate, then Gretchen. Jon and I follow, then we’re through the gates. When they’re shut behind us I feel like I’m home. Safe.

“Let’s get you folks a room!” Richard calls, heading toward a dorm.

My heart has begun to thump harder, but in a good way. A way that reminds me I’m alive. We follow Richard into the dorm, and he holds the front door open for us. I step through, and warm air sweeps over me. The overhead lights are on, and the unmistakable sound of a television floats through the air. My heart gives off a little pitter pat that reminds me of a horse galloping.

I freeze just inside the door and stare up at the lights until my eyes start to water. “You have electricity.”

“Sure do,” Richard says. “Got the plant up and running about two weeks ago, and the water on about a week back. Took some work since we weren’t quite sure what to do, but it’s been worth it. Far as we can tell the water is on everywhere, but we only have power for the campus at the moment. As we clean out the town, we’re going to turn more on.”

“This is amazing!” Gretchen gushes, her blue eyes sparkling. “We can take hot showers and watch TV!”

Richard chuckles. “Movies, anyway. There aren’t any networks still working, so I’m afraid regularly scheduled programs are out of the question.”

Gretchen’s whole face falls when she sighs. “I guess I’ll never find out what happened on
Vampire Diaries
.”

Richard laughs like she’s the most amusing thing he’s ever seen. I’m starting to suspect he had a granddaughter Gretchen’s age or something.