Save Me (25 page)

I laid there for awhile just watching Dan sleep soundly next to me. Nikki had rolled over and snuggled up against his arm. I would imagine Mike wouldn't be happy to walk in and see us like this. I nudged Dan a few times to wake him. I wanted to get a few minutes with him before we joined the group to set out on the road. I could already hear Janet and Mike talking down the hall, so I knew it wouldn't be long before they gathered everyone together and got going.

"Hey sweetheart," Dan smiled, opening his eyes just enough to get a look at me.

Dan really was amazing. I melted every time he said 'sweetheart' with that damn sexy Irish accent. I wasn't into Dan or anything. I mean, I was crazy about Will, but Dan was just so damn sweet, you couldn't help but enjoy his attention. Dan gently pushed Nikki over, and pulled me down to him, wrapping both arms around me.

"I'm gonna miss waking up to your beautiful face, love."

"Are you sure you have to go?"

Part of me hoped he would say no, that he would come back with Will and me.

"I do. I'm sorry baby. I have to give it another try. Dean would have done the same for me."

Dean was his cousin, I learned. They had found each other by some miracle but then became split up after running into some trouble. He was searching for some sign of him when we met. Now, he wanted to go back to looking. Who knew if Dean was even still alive or if he had moved on, but I could understand him wanting to feel like he did everything he could before giving up.

"Hey, don't be sad. I'll find you again. I promise."

We both knew that wasn't a promise he had any right to make. I wanted to believe him though. Dan was the first friend I'd made in a long time that I really felt like I'd miss. Besides Will of course, but I didn't count him in the friend category. Losing Will was something I didn't even want to think about anymore.

"I know," I lied.

He kissed my forehead through my hair and squeezed me tighter against him.

Will walked in, briefly glancing over Dan and me with one eyebrow up, before shaking it off.

"Time to get up. Breakfast is ready. We need to get going soon."

I wanted to tell them we should stay one more day. I wasn't ready to leave my friends behind just yet. I was sure I could convince Will. He did say yesterday that he would do anything for me. Janet and Mike however, didn't give a crap what I thought. There was no way I would be able to change their minds about leaving this morning.

Rose lent me some clothes to wear. There was no way I'd fit in Nikki's anymore. I'm pretty sure the girl needed a children's size with how thin she had gotten. For early June, it was somewhat chilly. The jeans and t-shirt I borrowed from Rose weren't quite enough. Since I spilled last night's dinner on my hoodie, Dan insisted I take one of his sweatshirts to keep warm. It was entirely too big of course and I had to fold up the sleeves several times just to see my hands, but I was glad to have something of his, just in case this was the last we would see of each other. Will gave me a funny look when he saw me in the oversized shirt, but he didn't say anything about it.

Everyone piled into the SUV, taking only the bare necessities with them to make room for all of us. Dan turned down the offer to come and let us drop him off on the way back. I was disappointed that I couldn't have just one more day with him. He held his arms out wide for me. I practically flung myself into him, nuzzling my face into his massive chest. He pulled me back, looking at me, just in time to see a tear escape down my cheek. Damn, I was turning into such a crybaby.

"I always keep my promises, sweetheart," Dan whispered, wiping the tear with his thumb.

He picked me up off the ground and kissed me smack on the lips and winked before placing me back on the ground.

"He'll be fine," Will tried to reassure me, putting his arm around me as we watched Dan set off on foot alone.

I could tell he wasn't any more sure of that than I was.

The drive would have taken us about six hours if we could hop on the highway and drive straight there. Unfortunately, we all knew that wasn't going to happen. The roads were a mess these days. Abandoned cars, fallen trees, just about anything you could imagine, was in the roads. Some were clear enough to get through but others were pretty bad. We were able to make it around some of the debris, and when we couldn't, sometimes we could get out and move the junk out of the way. When we weren't so lucky, we had to find another route. It ended up taking us most of the day to get just over half way there. Janet and Mike alternated driving, which was probably a good idea. I wasn't exactly the best driver. I wasn't awful or anything. I had my license from before the outbreak, but I had just barely passed. I wasn't exactly prepared to maneuver around everything in the road without hitting anything, not that anyone asked me to drive. It probably never even occurred to Janet since she still saw me as a helpless child.

It was probably about two or three in the morning when we stopped to stretch and take a break. We stopped briefly a few times through the day but never for more than a few minutes at a time. We were all sick of being cooped up in that car and needed to move around.

"We are about two or three hours out," Janet assured us, but at this point, I doubt if anyone really believed her.

"I don't know if I can take much more than that. I'm going to lose my mind if we don't get there soon!" Nikki was being dramatic again.

Mike draped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close against him. She didn't protest, but she didn't seem to particularly enjoy it either. Janet pulled out the map, going over it with Will. Rose leaned in, trying to be useful, taking in every word. I wasn't that interested in the map or the route or any of it. I just wanted to get this over with so Will and I could get back home. I should have paid attention since we would have to go back on our own but I just couldn't bring myself to give a shit.

The sky was clear. A billion tiny stars shown down on us, lighting the sky with their brilliance. I laid down in the grass to enjoy the view about ten feet from the SUV. Sometimes it was easy to lose yourself for a few minutes when you had something so beautiful to distract you. It was those few moments of distraction that helped you keep your sanity in this screwed up world. Nikki came over to join me in the grass.

"It really is beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, looking up into the sky with me.

"It's the one thing that's never changed. When everything is different and the whole world sucks, you look up and it's the same. The same stars I looked at with my dad in the back yard when I was little, the same ones above the lake on Saturday nights when everyone hung out having a great time, without having a care in the world. It's the only thing, ya know?"

Nikki didn't say anything. She didn't have to. She just sighed. She understood.

"You girls ready?" Will called over.

"Nooo," Nikki whined. "Not yet. Can't we have just a little longer?"

Janet crossed her arms over her chest and walked around the SUV, irritated. She had even less patience with Nikki than she did with me. My moment away from reality was over though. I jumped up, leaving Nikki there in the grass, and hopped back in the SUV. Nikki let out a groan in protest, then got up, following me, hopping up on the seat beside me where Will had been before.

We only made it a few miles before Janet slammed on the brakes, stopping the SUV in the middle of what I thought was a clear road. I looked around confused. My eyes tried to adjust to the darkness and see what was going on. There weren't any vehicles blocking the way. In fact, it looked mostly empty, which was quite uncommon for a main highway like this one.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked from behind Janet, looking around nervously.

Mike pulled out his gun and Will got his bow from his pack, ready for whatever spooked Janet.

Even in the dark, I could tell Janet was freaked out. If Janet was worried, it had to be bad. Will jumped up between the front seats to get a better look since Janet still hadn't opened her mouth to tell us what was wrong.

"Shit!"

Okay. Janet and Will were freaked out. This had to be bad.

"Oh my God!" Nikki started screaming, looking out the back window.

"Now what?" Mike practically whispered.

Janet flipped on the high beams, lighting the roadway enough to see what the hell was going on, making Nikki scream louder. I was about ready to slap her when I realized what was happening. Flesh eaters were everywhere. Up ahead, a massive horde packed together like sardines, a giant undead army. To the left, they came out from the trees, spilling onto the roadway, filling the space behind us as well. The only way to avoid them was to go right, but to the right was a large factory that we weren't able to drive through.

"What are our options, Janet?" Mike nearly screamed.

Janet stared straight ahead, ignoring him. Get a grip, Janet.

"Janet," Will shook her, trying to get her back to reality.

She didn't budge.

"Okay look, we have two options. One, we drive through them and hope to hell there isn't as many as it looks. Two, we get out and make a run for it and hope to hell they aren't in that factory," Will was pulling weapons from a duffle back and sticking them in his pockets and waistband as he spoke.

I guess that means he thinks we should run. I've seen what driving through a horde can do. It's not pretty. With that many of them, I doubt we'd make it through before they smashed through the windows and got to us. There was no way to know if our chances were better running either, but it looked like it was our only choice.

Will handed out the rest of the weapons and tried once more to get Janet's attention.

"Listen honey, I know where your head's at right now, but you gotta push it aside. We gotta make it out of this and we need you to do it. Please, Janet," Will said to her in a gentle voice, holding her face in his hands across the seat.

The flesh eaters hobbled closer. We could hear them moaning and growling now.

"Janet," he yelled this time, inches from her face. "Joe and Eli would want you to fight!"

That seemed to do the trick. Janet snapped out of it and took the gun Will was shoving at her. Janet turned around to look at each of us and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Everyone stays close to at least one other person if the group needs to get separated. Will, you're with Andi, Mike with Nikki, and Rose you're with me."

"We're actually gonna make a run for it?" The panic was clear in Nikki's voice.

"Why don't we just drive through them? Maybe there's not as many as it looks?" Rose was not quite to the level of panic as Nikki, but she didn't like this plan one bit.

"Have you ever tried to drive though a massive horde Rose?" Janet looked like she was going to jump across the seat and strangle the girl.

"No." Rose practically whispered, more afraid of Janet than the undead outside.

"Then shut the hell up!"

"We have to move!" Will flung open the side door, motioning for Mike to do the same and we all ran from the SUV toward the factory.

Will held on to my hand tightly, not looking back. I could hear Nikki screaming, but in the dark I couldn't see what was happening. Will pulled me harder and yelled at me to keep going.

Our hope was that the factory would be clear but once again, our hopes were crushed. The factory was crawling with them. Not nearly as many as back on the road, but still enough so that we had to take a lot out or we'd never get by. Will and I took out as many as we could, clearing the area quite a bit before Rose and Janet made their way to where we were, helping us take out more. Rose wasn't the best shot, but she did well enough. Janet started motioning for us to move ahead.

"What about Nikki and Mike?" I asked, pulling back on Will's arm to stop him from going.

Janet shook her head at Will and a tear escaped down Rose's face. I knew that couldn't be good.

"They're dead? Is that what you're saying?"

Janet looked at the ground, but no one spoke.

"Did you see it? Are you sure?"

Again no one spoke. I tried to pull away from Will. I was going to go back. What if they were trapped and needed our help? We can't just leave them there alone!

"Andi, please baby. It's too late," Will wrapped his arms around me, holding on tight.

I fought against him, trying to get away, hitting his chest with my fists.

"You don't know that!" I yelled at him. "Let me go!"

Janet came up behind me and pulled me away from Will, holding me by the arms. I could hear Rose sobbing behind her now.

"Andi, I'm so sorry but it's too late. We have to go." She looked into my eyes in an almost motherly way before pulling me against her and stroking her hand through my hair.

She kissed my cheek, then took my hand, pulling me along.

I don't even know how many we killed. I fired round after round with my handgun until I was out of ammo. I wasn't a good enough shot with the bow in the dark, but I did my best with that too. Will and Janet did most of the work until we were separated again. By the time we made it past the factory and over a tall fence, the sun was coming up over the horizon. Exhausted, we both collapsed into the grass. Will took my hand and pulled me closer to him. I rolled over, resting my head on his chest, listening to his heart beating hard. He wrapped his other arm around me, holding me so tightly it was hard to breathe and kissed the top of my head. I wanted to just fall asleep there in his arms. The stress, coupled with the physical exhaustion, totally drained me. I wasn't even sure I would be able to get myself off the ground at this point.