Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1) (11 page)

“Jeb’s youngest threw a glass
and hit a shelf holding a lamp and oil. The whole house went up. It happened
too fast.” Tone told him.

“That was my family.” The guy
said.

“Look there’s nothing for you
that way, why don’t you join us?” Sam told him.

The guy agreed and Aaron helped
him unload the supplies he had been bringing back home with him on to the bus.
He came on looking shell-shocked and gripping a lucky rabbit’s foot in one
hand. He had brown hair and ice blue eyes that were taking in all the faces on
the bus. They landed on Hannah and he did a double take.

“You said they didn’t get out.”
He said.

“They didn’t, she was already
on the bus when the fire started.” Sam told him.

“You freed her?” he asked.

“Yes we did.” Sam said and the
guy walked over to Hannah and hugged her, lifting her off her feet.

“Well how bout we all do
introductions?” Tone said, “I’m Antonio Varqez. Call me Tone”

“I’m Hannah Collins and this is
my brother Hunter Collins.” Hannah said.

“Sam Simon.” Sam added.

“Micah Hender and she’s Sawyer
Raide.” Micah said pointing to himself and Sawyer.

“I’m Ashlyn Glass and these two
are Axel Bishop and Aaron Pierce.” I told him including Axel and Aaron.

“Sydney Tyme.” Sydney just
waved.

“I’m Daisy Duke.” Daisy said
last.

“Wait like Dukes of Hazzard’s
Daisy Duke?” Hunter asked, “Seriously?”

“Yeah my mom was a fan. My
brother’s name is Luke Duke.” Daisy responded, “My nana always said mom fell
for my dad for his last name.”

“Did you have a car named
General Lee?” Hunter asked.

“Sam, did you have to pick up
the backwoods garage boy?” Daisy asked as she gave Hunter a dirty look.

“Don’t mind Daisy, she’s a rock
star and they can be moody.” Tone laughed.

“No problem.” Hunter said, “But
Daisy, what kind of hair color is green?”

“What kind of name is Hunter?”
she shot back as she went to her room and slammed the door behind her.

“Oh yeah, they’re getting along
great.” Tone said to Sam. Sydney shot them a look that screamed ‘shut up’. It
was good to have some new faces with us again. I was glad we could get Hannah
out of that house and it seemed that she and her brother were close. He cheered
up when he saw her, I was thinking he may be sad about his family but he was
worried more about his sister.

Daisy was pacing in her room when I
went to check on her. She was staring at her feet as she took each step. I
noticed she was holding on to a see through blue glass shoe. She glanced up
when I closed the door behind me. I sat on her bed and watched her take three
steps before turning around to take three more. She sighed before she finally
sat down.

“Did Sam really have to pick
him up?” she asked me as she fiddled with the shoe.

“Hunter?” I asked her,
wondering why he had her so riled up.

“Yes Hunter.” She practically
growled, “Not only is he frustrating and annoying he had to be cute on top of
that. Why are you smiling?”

“I didn’t realize I was.” I
said as I put my hand over my mouth.

“You’re laughing at me, aren’t
you?” She asked, watching me.

“Maybe a little but mostly
cause I don’t get why he’s getting to you.” I told her and she put her head on
my shoulder.

“Well the only guys we have to
choose from at this moment are three adults. One of which is gay. The other two
are just a bit older than I like. Micah is with Sawyer. Axel is a bit young,”
She said, “Then we pick up Hunter and I don’t know, he’s good looking and he’s
picking on me.”

“Well maybe he’s picking on you
because he doesn’t know what to do about you. Maybe he thinks you’re good
looking too.” I told her. She looked like she was going to say something but
changed her mind; she was smiling now, though.

We were both thrown on to the
bed as the bus jolted and shook.

“Sorry for the rocky ride guys.
If I would have stopped, they would have swarmed us so everyone hold on and try
to keep each other from getting hurt.” Sam said as we started going faster and
there were even more bumps.

I forced myself up and out to
the main living area.

“What happened?” I asked as
Aaron kept me from flying into Hunter’s lap.

“Red Eyes. A whole horde of
them started coming at the bus. All we could do was try to go through them but
we are running a lot of them over.” Aaron told me as he grabbed Hannah before
she hit her head on the table.

“Whoa hey now.” Hunter said to
Daisy as a particularly rough bump sent her into the air.

He pulled her down on to his
lap and had his arms around her like a seat belt.

“Thanks.” She said to him and
stayed where she was.

“Do you think the fire is
attracting them?” Sawyer asked as Micah kept her from bouncing around by
keeping his legs over hers.

“Maybe, all I know is that
there is a bunch of them.” Tone answered, “Sam do we have a plan if we can’t
get through?”

“The plan is to get through.”
Sam answered.

Everyone got quiet and was
holding on to each other. With every bump there was more banging noises around
the bus.

“Don’t worry we are also on a
dirt road so not every bump is a Red Eye.” Aaron told me as if he had read my
mind.

“What?” I asked him.

“Sorry was thinking out loud.”
He responded as the bumps were becoming fewer and farther between each one.

“We’re through.” Sam said and
everyone cheered, Daisy kissed Hunter. She pulled away and he looked like he
was lost in her eyes before she got up and went to her room. She winked at me
as she walked by.

“Whoa.” Was all Hunter managed
to say. Micah looked between him and Daisy’s closed door and started laughing.
Hunter looked at him and I noticed he was blushing a bit, guess he did think
Daisy was good looking after all.

It started to storm outside. A
few fat raindrops hitting the windshield hard as the wind kicked up rocking the
whole bus. Sam kept driving, determined to get us to someplace safer than this.
Tone was watching out the window, as it felt like the bus tilted off the ground
on one side.

“Sam we have to find shelter to
park in or this wind will tip the bus.” Tone told him as he held the dash for
dear life.

“Where Tone? Do you see any
place?” Sam yelled at him.

“There’s a hotel up ahead.”
Tone told him, “Could just drive straight into the lobby, park as close to the
back as we can. Looks like one has a glass wall to show off how nice it is.”

“What if there are people in
there?” Sam asked, reluctant to stop.

“Well without the bus we’re up
shit creek with no damn paddle.” Tone told him.

“Tone’s right Sam, we have to
take the chance of dealing with people. We can’t stay in this storm it’s only
going to get worse.” Sydney said as she held on to the dining room table.

Sam didn’t argue he just
changed the direction the bus was going and aimed for the huge glass windows.
We crashed through and could see pieces of glittery glass raining down all
around us. Sam kept going till he got to an area big enough to turn the bus around.

“Anyone hurt?” Sam said.

“Think everyone is good.”
Sydney answered.

“We may have another problem.”
Aaron said.

I looked over to where he was
standing. He was holding one of the open cabinet doors.

“What?” Tone asked.

“We’ve been cleared out.” Aaron
answered.

“What do you mean?” Sydney
asked.

“Food is gone.” Aaron
responded.

Sam and Tone joined Aaron in
the kitchen.

“That bastard.” Tone said.

“What?” Sydney asked.

“Jeb. Him and his sons were
alone with the bus.” Tone answered.

“Shit. Search the bus and take
inventory of what else is missing.” Sam directed.

Sawyer and I went to check our
room.

Nothing looked out of place at
first. Sawyer discovered that our panties were missing.

Disturbed we headed back to see
what Sam wanted us to do now.

“Inventory?” Sam asked once
everyone was gathered together again.

“They hit our medical supplies
hard, we’re down to three first aid kits.” Tone answered.

“They didn’t find the ammo but
they did take the guns we weren’t carrying.” Sydney said.

“The pervs took my panties.”
Daisy said.

“Ours too.” Sawyer added. The
thought felt a lot like spiders running over my body.

“Gross.” Axel said.

“This is bull shit.” Aaron
said, his fists clenching at his sides.

“Yes, it is but we’re here now
and from the looks of it no one else is here.” Sam said, “So what do we do
now?”

“Search the hotel for food.”
Aaron suggested, “Send people out to hunt.”

“How would we hunt; all we have
are a couple hand guns?” Sydney asked.

“There has to be a sporting
goods store somewhere, maybe we’ll find something there.” Aaron said.

“You all heard him, let’s see
what we can find here.” Sam said and led the way off the bus.

“How do they have light here?”
Sawyer asked and I realized she was right, there shouldn’t be any light.

“Generators probably, kicked on
whenever the power went.” Sydney answered.

“If there was light why isn’t
anyone here?” Daisy asked.

“Lights might scare people now.
Not knowing who controls them. They’re better avoided.” Sam answered.

“Break into pairs and see what
you can find.” Tone said, “Axel and Sydney, you okay to stay with the bus?”

“You got it.” Sydney answered.

“Ash you’re with me.” Aaron
said, “We’re heading upstairs.”

I was looking up the thirteen stories
worth of stairs contained in the stairwell.

“Why can’t we take the
elevator?” I asked.

“Don’t trust the generator and
may miss someone hiding.” Aaron answered.

He started up the stairs. I
watched him go up the first five steps before I groaned and followed him.

“I hate stairs.” I said.

“Hate them as you climb.” Aaron
said.

I groaned.

One hundred and fifty something
steps later we were standing in the deserted hallway of the thirteenth floor.
It was labeled fourteenth floor due to some superstition, as the number
thirteen was deemed bad luck.

Aaron was a staying only a few
steps ahead of me. He was tense as he stopped at the first door and knocked.
After listening for a minute, he stepped back and kicked the door in.

The room was empty.

“Little dramatic don’t you
think?” I asked.

“How?” Aaron responded as he
opened the bathroom door.

“Kicking in the door. What was
with the knocking anyway?” I asked.

“Seeing if anyone was in here.”
He answered.

“Like someone would open the
door for you?” I responded.

“No.” He said, “More a check
for Red Eyes.”

“Ah, they would have reacted to
the knocking.” I said.

“There’s nothing useful in
here.’ Aaron said.

I followed him out of the room
and to the next door.

Aaron knocked.

A loud thump shook the door
causing me to scream and jump away.

“That’s why I knock.” Aaron
said.

“I said I got that.” I told
him.

“Just checking.”

“How do we do this?” I asked.

“I kick in the door; you stab the
dead thing.” Aaron said.

“Okay.” I said, “Do you have something
for me to stab with?”

“Yeah.” He said and handed over
his blade from its sheath on his belt.

The wood handle fit my hand
well. The blade had ‘Winchester Limited Edition 2006’ inscribed on it. The tip
of the blade was chipped.

“Ready?” Aaron asked.

I nodded and took a deep breath
as he kicked the door in.

The door swung in slamming into
the Red Eye’s face knocking him to the floor.

I threw myself on top of him
and aimed to bring the blade down into his eye.

As I brought the blade down, I
noticed his green eyes.

I was already screaming as the
blade slid into his left green eye.

The man was limp when the hilt
was stopped by his socket.

I couldn’t stop screaming.

“Ashlyn look at me.” Aaron
said.

His hands were on my shoulders
as he shook me. His blue-green eyes came into focus. His lips were moving but I
couldn’t hear him.

His lips kept moving.

“I killed him.” I said.

“Ashlyn, stop.” Aaron said.

“I killed him.” I was stuck on
repeat.

“Look at his arms.” Aaron said
as he shook me again, “Ashlyn, look at his arms.”

I looked away from Aaron and to
the man’s arms.

There were bites. Red and raw.

“He was already dead.” Aaron
said.

“His eyes—”

“Don’t think that.” Aaron said.

He pulled me away and forced me
to look at him.

“You know what bites mean.” He
told me.

I nodded and let Aaron lead me
out of the room.

I noticed the door number
fourteen-thirteen.

Whoever designed the hotel
missed a thirteen.

I started laughing while I was
crying.

I put my back against a wall
and slid down to the ground till I could wrap my arms around my knees. Aaron
squatted down in front of me.

“Breathe.” He said.

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can. We still have
work to do.” Aaron told me, “Focus on that.”

I wiped my eyes. The laughing
caused hiccups.

I forced myself to stand up as
I held my breath and counted to thirty.

Aaron waited until I got the
hiccups to stop before leading to next door.

He knocked.

There was nothing from inside.
He continued on.

“Are we not going in?” I asked.

“Maybe on the way back.” He
answered, “You need time to calm down and I want to see what I can see from the
windows up here.”

The closer we got to the window
at the end of the hallway, the more blood was becoming visible. The window was
broken, but there was no glass on the floor. The wind from the storm was
whipping the tattered curtains in at us.

“Something went out.” Aaron
said.

“Looks like.” I agreed.

The cool storm air helped clear
my head. I could see green eyes but I could also see bites.

“How are you holding up?” Aaron
asked.

I shrugged and looked out the
broken glass, anywhere to avoid looking at Aaron’s eyes.

“Ash you’ll be fine.” Aaron
said, “You have me.”

“I know I just keep seeing
green eyes.” I said.

“I know, and I keep seeing
bites.” He responded.

“What did you want to see from
up here?” I asked.

“Was hoping to see if I can see
shops around, this storm isn’t going to let me.” Aaron answered.

“Sporting goods store?” I
asked.

“That was the hope.” He said.

“Now what?” I asked, “Are we
going to go regroup?”

“Yeah I want to see who can
hunt.” Aaron answered.

“I’ve never hunted.” I said.

“I know.” He said.

“Don’t leave me.” I said.

“You know I wouldn’t.” he
reassured.

“Thank you.”

“You’ll still have to learn to
hunt.” He said.

He turned away from the window
and started leading the way back to the stairwell.