The Zombie Chronicles - Book 4 - Poisonous Serum (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (9 page)

“
I guess all we can do is hope for the best.”

“
I vow to find them,” I stated emphatically, and it was a vow I intended to keep. I had no doubt that we would eventually make it back to the island and that I’d find my family alive somewhere.

“
Shift’s over, you two,” Howard said, as others came up on the roof.

Jackie leaned against the wall, holding the umbrella, and tears welled up in her eyes.

“
Don’t worry. We’ll find your family too,” I said.

“
How?” she asked. “Going back to New York City would be beyond dangerous. Besides, my family could be hiding anywhere, and I’ve got no way to get in touch with them. They probably think I’m dead and gone.”

“
I heard some of the big cities are putting together lists of who’s there. Maybe we can find them that way.”

“
Taking attendance, huh?”

I smiled. “Something like that.”

She touched my face, and I slowly kissed her lips as we wrapped ourselves closer. We just stood there in the rain as I placed gentle, emotional kisses on her lips. We were both in pain, our hearts breaking with homesickness and missing our families. With my thumb, I wiped a tear away.

“
I know I’ve gotta stay strong, Dean. I’m trying. I really am. It’s just—”

“
Jackie, you’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met. Look at what we’ve survived.”

“
No!” she said out of the blue. “I absolutely will not break down in front of you like this. I refuse to let you see me this way.”

“
It’s okay,” I whispered, staring into her tear-filled eyes. “Just let it out. I’m here for you.”

She hugged me tightly. “Just hold me, Dean.”

Her deeply pained voice jarred me to the core. I held her, and we embraced the pain together. I hoped we’d find a way to help her reunite with her family, but in the meantime, I was there to take care of her, and I was glad she had Claire, her cousin. “Wherever our relatives are, I’m sure they’d want us to live for them,” I whispered.

“
I know,” she said, meeting my gaze.

“
May we have our umbrella and rifles back?” a woman asked.

I handed them to her, and she thanked me.

Howard walked up to us but kept his distance a bit. “Hey, send your sister up.”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “She’s not my sister…and I want Claire assigned to a different post than you. If I find out that’s not the case, there’s gonna be trouble, Howard.”

I gripped Jackie’s hand, and we headed down the stairs. When I reached the bottom, I ran into Nick, who was pacing the facility and keeping an eye out on everything.

“
How’d it go?” he asked.

“
So far, so good,” Jackie answered.

“
Good,” Nick said. “I think this will be a good place to stay until the roads are clear again.”

Jackie kissed me on the cheek. “Go ahead and talk to your brother. I’m gonna go catch some Zs. I’m beat.”

I hugged her, then gave her a small kiss goodnight, and she walked down the corridor to her room. Nick and I talked for a few minutes, but I was far too exhausted to be much of a conversationalist. “It’s almost morning. I gotta hit the hay, Nick. You should get some sleep too.”

“
I will. I’ve just got a plan in my head and I’m trying to work it out. I’ll talk to you about it when you wake up.”

I shook my head. “Semper paratus, huh?”

“
Well, you know I’m the proverbial Boy Scout.”

“
Right,” I said, then shook my head.

“
I gotta go wake up Lucas, Claire, and Val, since it’s their turn to take over,” Nick said, “and then I’ll be in.”

“
I’ll probably be off to Dreamland as soon as my head hits the pillow, so goodnight big brother.”

“’
Night Dean. Sweet dreams.”

I tromped to my room as quick as my sore, tired legs would carry me, climbed into bed, and was out like a light.

Chapter 7

I woke up to the sound of laughing. Blinking my eyes open, I sat up. Nick had Claire pinned up against the wall, kissing her neck. She was dressed in black jeans and a glittery black top. I coughed to clear my throat and get their attention.

“
You’re awake…finally,” Claire said. “I just came to get you and Nick for your surprise dinner, but your brother…well, he kind of distracted me.”

Nick couldn’t take his eyes off Claire. “Does she look hot or what?”

Claire did look hot, and she also smelled fantastic. For the first time in a while, her hair wasn’t greasy, and she had it pulled back in some kind of antique-looking hairclip that she’d clearly borrowed from some old lady’s jewelry box. She’d also found some cosmetics, and I couldn’t help but notice how her blue eyes popped with an expert makeup job.

“
You look nice,” I said.

“
Thanks. Can you believe this place has a beauty parlor in it? We also found a storage room with nothing but gallons of water, so we borrowed some.”

“
Maybe survivors were storing water,” I said.

“
There’s plenty left. Are you ready for dinner?”

“
Wait…don’t you mean breakfast? What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

Claire laughed. “It’s almost five o’clock. You slept all day.”

My gaze shot to Nick. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“
You needed the sleep, and so did I. I just woke up an hour ago myself.”

“
How’s everything going? Where are the others?”

“
Everything and everyone are fine.”

“
Great. Has anyone decided if we’re leaving or staying?”

“
We couldn’t leave yet even if we wanted to. It’s still pouring buckets out there,” Claire said.

“
We’ve all decided to stay at least another night,” Nick said. “The roads are completely flooded. No use going out in the pouring rain with poor visibility. Besides, we’re safe here for now. There are no hordes, and we’ve only seen a few stray zombies here and there. We have comfortable places to sleep and a good stock of supplies, at least for a little while.”

A man popped his head in our room. “Nick, I need you and Lucas on the roof.”

He kissed Claire. “I’ll catch up with you later, sweetie.”

She grabbed his hand. “Wait! What about dinner?”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Can Lucas and I and take a rain-check?”

She laughed. “A
rain
check? Ha-ha. Very funny.” Glancing up at him, she batted her eyelashes. “But, Nick, we worked so hard to make it special, and I know you’ll love the—”

“
Nick?” the man coaxed. “You comin’ or what? We need you now.”

I heard Howard’s voice in the group of men standing outside the door, and I had to wonder if the jerk was just trying to sabotage Claire’s plans for a nice dinner. “Forget them, Nick,” I said. “I think Howard’s just trying to screw things up.”

He ignored me and looked at Claire. “It sounds lovely, but duty calls,” he said, placing a kiss on her lips. As he walked out, he glanced over his shoulder. “I’ll be there if I can. Just let me just see what’s going on, okay?”

“
Sure,” Claire said, disappointment etched on her face. She let out a huff.

I knew Howard might have been up to no good, but there was a chance that he wasn’t and that something was genuinely wrong up top. If Claire had known anything about my brother, she’d have realized that, for him, duty was always a top priority; it even took precedence over love. If we made it back to the island alive, he’d rejoin the Army in a heartbeat and go back to fighting again. Back on the island, I rarely saw him because he was always out on missions and fighting the undead. Claire wasn’t about to change him, no matter how hard she tried. In fact, no one could. Fighting zombies was in his blood, maybe even bred into his DNA.

She grabbed a flashlight from the dresser. “Well, Dean, I guess it’s just you. Follow me for your surprise.”

I followed her down the long corridor as she flashed the light beam ahead of us.

“
I don’t get your brother,” she said.

“
Welcome to the club. I don’t think anybody does. Nick’s just…well, he’s Nick. I know you like him,” I said, “but you really shouldn’t fall so hard for him, Claire. He’ll do nothing but break your heart. He’s all about the Army and fighting zombies, and nothing takes priority over that for him—nothing and no one.”

“
There’s more to it than that. I just haven’t figured it out yet.”

“
He hasn’t been the same lately. He’s nothing like the Nick I knew before all of this happened, and things just got worse because of the incident with Darla.”

“
Yeah, he’s talked about losing her and told me he was forced to shoot her, but he won’t go into too much detail about it.”

“
She turned into a zombie and devoured two of his buddies. When Nick walked in, she came right at him, and he had no choice but to defend himself. Plus, he knew Darla would never want to be like that. It destroyed Nick. It made him cold, bitter, and heartless.”

“
I’m so sorry to hear that,” she said. “I know Nick is still hurting, even if he tries to hide it.”

“
Nick’s broken, and you can’t fix him. Even more than that, I don’t want to see him hurt you, and he will. Trust me on that. It’s probably best to just leave him alone before you get any more attached.”

She opened a door and smiled. “Did I mention we’re making a pit stop?”

I walked into the beauty parlor and shined my flashlight around. “Um, I don’t really do makeovers, Claire.”

She turned on the large lantern that was hanging on the wall, then placed fresh clothes on the counter. “Yes you do.”

“
I think I’m just fine the way—”

“
No offense, Dean, but you smell like rotten eggs and spoiled milk and zombie guts. It’s nothing personal. We all smelled like that when we got here.” She reached over and handed me a washcloth, towel, and a bar of soap. “You gotta wash up for dinner anyway. I’ll be back in a few minutes, and you best be glistening from head to toe.”

I bit my lip. Getting cleaned up didn’t seem like such a bad thing. Nothing major was happening, and the building was all secure. I stunk to high heaven, and my hair looked like road kill, dirty and caked in grease. There were a few gallon jugs of water, and shampoo by the sink. No hot water, but we weren’t too choosy about the luxuries anymore. I cleaned up, washed my hair, and put on a pair of jeans that were a tad too tight and a black and blue button-up shirt that someone’s granddad probably got for Christmas.

I dried my hair with the towel and looked into the mirror. I couldn’t even believe the reflection.
Am I even the same person? I’ve changed so much since I left the island.
I wasn’t the same naïve kid who’d crashed in the forest. It had only been a short time since then, but I felt I’d grown in leaps and bounds. I’d become something else altogether: a tough guy, a survivor, a fighter. I hadn’t seen half the things Nick had, but I already understood why it had all made him so cold. I worried that I might be starting to sway that way. I didn’t want to become jaded and hardened like my big brother. Scenes of our zombie battles popped into my head, from walking across the plank with zombies below to hand-to-hand combat when I was trapped in that hole. My hands shook with the memories, and I had to struggle to keep it together.
Maybe I’m suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Maybe that’s what happens when fate throws a normal kid directly into the pits of hell. Maybe we’re all going crazy without even realizing it.

I thought about Jackie and how drawn I was to her. Her beautiful face flashed in my head. I was falling hard for the girl. We were both just trying to survive in the cold, cruel, dilapidated world, yet we shared an amazing connection like none I’d ever felt with anyone—especially not with any of the other girls I’d dated.