Chasing Colorado: (The Zombie Zovels #2)

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright
©
2016 by D.K Lake

Six Months Ago.

Nick carefully carried the test tube across the room but just before he reached the workstation he managed to slip on the floor. The test tube flew out of his hand and landed on the floor. Nick cringed at the noise it made. He then sighed and looked down at his disposable shoe covers that had let him down again, there was no grip on the floor when he was wearing them. He sometimes wondered why he even bothered to wear them anymore as no one ever checked in on him. As he was carefully cleaning up the mess, there was a knock on the door and Donald Chenery, (a short, skinny man in his late thirties with a shaved head and glasses), popped his head around the door. He hated being called Donald so everyone called him Chen.

“Hey, Chen,” Nick greeted him.

“Damn, was it any good?” Chen asked, looking at the mess on the floor.

“Well, we won't know now.” Nick said, sweeping the area. “How's your day going?”

Chen let out a theatrical groan.

“That bad?” Nick said, going back over to his workstation to start again.

“But I hear we're having chicken and pasta for lunch, with a side salad.” Chen said, licking his lips.

“You know, if you spent more time obsessing over your work than you did fixating over what we're having for lunch and dinner you'd get more results than I do.”

“Nah,” Chen said with a smile. “They don't pay us enough to overwork ourselves.”

“They don't pay us at all.” Nick grumbled. “Any word on Clifton?”

“Nada.” Chen replied, picking up a test tube and sloshing the contents around inside.

Nick frowned and quickly snatched the tube away and placed it back on the rack.

“Don't you think it's strange how he just disappeared?”

Chen drummed his fingers on the work surface. “I don't think it matters what we think.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“I think as soon as Miriam gets what she wants, then it's...” Chen glided his finger across his throat. “Goodbye, Chen and Nick.”

“You can't be serious? You think she
offed
Clifton?”

“Well, not her personally, I can't imagine she'd get her fingernails dirty. Clifton wasn't pulling his weight, he spent more time in his lab flipping through girly magazines than he did actually doing any work. All he did was show up at meetings and say he was getting close to a cure which kept Miriam happy and kept her off his back. But I think it's obvious what really happened to Clifton. He wasn't handing in his results and Miriam got fed up with his excuses.”

Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “Where does that leave us? We're no closer than we were six months ago. So what, we don't produce anything worthwhile she's going to
off
us too?” Nick whispered the last part, afraid the walls might have ears.

Chen shrugged. “Either way, there's not much we can do about it. We can't leave this place, we can't go home, there's nothing left out there from what I hear in the staff room when the guards are having their tea break. And have you been up on the roof and looked around lately? Nothing but dead bodies beyond the walls.”

“No, I haven't been up there. So what you're saying is, we stay and pretend we're getting close even though we're nowhere near, and the real truth is there may very well not be a cure for this thing.”

“At least they feed us here.” Chen smiled.

“Yes, but how long before you get a side serving of poison?”

“Just keep doing what you've been doing, there's not really any other choice.” Chen pushed his glasses up his nose and walked around Nick. I was just going to make myself an herbal tea, want one?” Chen asked, standing in the doorway.

“Sure, why not?” Nick wiped his forehead with the back of his sleeve. “I'll just be here, doing the same thing I do every day.” he said.

“Cheer up, Nick, it may never happen.”

Nick raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder at his co-worker. “I think it already did.” Nick replied.

I closed my eyes... letting go, awaiting death, ready to take my last breath. The early morning sun warmed my face and soothed my soul, the pounding in my heart slowed down to a steady beat and I wondered what was waiting for me on the other side. I listened to the sounds all around me... a nearby bird singing... soon followed by another... oh, how lovely, an orchestra of birds. The sound of a motorcycle engine, Stacey sniveling, and Lane... “Put the fucking gun down! NOW!!!” Lane yelled.

I let out a sigh and wondered what was taking so long, where was this white light that was supposed to carry me away? Instead of a bright, white light, I opened my eyes just in time to see Lane diving towards me. He slammed into me and we both crashed into the road just as a shot fired.

A few seconds later the motorcycle whizzed past us and I heard it skidding across the road.

“Oww! Get off me!” I moaned, still under Lane's body weight.

Lane swore under his breath but didn't get off me. I craned my neck around to see what was going on. Josh had abandoned the motorcycle and was tackling Stacey to the ground.

“You okay? You didn't get shot did you?” Lane asked.

“No, I didn't get shot.”

He moved off me but stayed on the road beside me, he pulled up a leg and rested his arm on it, while we both watched Stacey trying to scratch Josh like some crazed wildcat.

Josh pulled her up by her wrists and then pushed her away, she stumbled back a few steps with a shocked expression on her face. Then he quickly picked up the gun Stacey had dropped.

“She's one of them!” Stacey shouted.

“Keep. Your. Voice. Down!” Josh ordered.

Stacey looked at me with teary eyes and pointed at me.

“She's been bitten.”

“I gathered that by the way you were just trying to kill her.” Josh snapped.

“It's okay, you might as well get it out of the way now.” I said, standing up.

I held out my hands and faced the pair of them. “Just shoot me.” I said deadpan.

“See, she wants me to shoot her.” Stacey said, making a mad dash toward Josh, trying to reach the gun. Josh moved the gun out of her reach but she still tried to reach for it, wide-eyed, like frickin' Gollum and that ring. Josh held her arms down and knocked her on the back of the head with the gun. She suddenly went limp like a rag doll and collapsed into his arms.

“Now that's out of the way, you wanna tell me what the fuck happened?” Josh asked, lifting Stacey over his shoulder like a fireman.

I had never seen Josh do anything so aggressive. Stacey's arms dangled down like spaghetti noodles, swaying from side to side. She was gonna be so pissed when she woke up.

“Alex?” Josh stared at me still waiting for an answer.

I lifted up my top and showed him the bite mark. Lane was still sitting on the road with another cigarette in his mouth.

“Everything went to shit last night.” I said.

“What happened? Why didn't you come back before sundown... and where's Jasper?”

“Jasper hurt his ankle, he and Lane were... we... then Jasper and Stacey let
them
in.” I said, speaking a million miles a minute, even I didn't know what I was saying.

“Alex, stop, you're not making any sense.”

“He's gone.” I whispered.

Josh frowned and looked in the direction of the town.

My eyes drifted in the same direction and I quietly said, “We just buried him.”

“And the bite,” Josh said.

“Happened last night, I only just realized.”

“I told you not to go out with them, what did I say?!” Josh yelled, getting angry.

I stepped back and his gaze shifted to Lane. “This is your fault,” he said, pointing the gun at Lane. “She only went with you to keep you safe, now look what's happened.”

I was pretty sure if Josh didn't have Stacey flung over his shoulder he would be throwing punches into Lane right about now.

“My fault!” Lane snapped, standing up. “I didn't cause this, I was trying to protect her.”

“Protect her? You dragged her out with you and look what happened. This is all your fault, she's gonna die and it's
your
fault.”

Lane practically growled and stepped in front of Josh, they were staring each other down.

In the distance, I could see a lone zombie heading our way, dragging one leg behind it. It was still too far away to worry about, and its leg was slowing it down.

“This should have been you, not her.” Josh spat.

Lane scowled and I stuck my arm between them.

“Stop! Stop talking about me like I'm not here.”

They both tore their eyes away from each other to look at me.

“It's done now, there's no changing it. I'm infected.”

“Fuck!” Lane groaned, and ran his hands down his face, moving away from us.

He spotted the approaching zombie and within seconds, he had grabbed his bat which he had discarded when he crashed into me, and was running toward the zombie.

I let out a sigh and watched as he turned into the Flash, he reached the zombie in seconds and started bashing its head in with the bat. I watched as he continued hitting the thing over and over, he was angry and it was as clear as day.

“Should we stop him?” Josh said.

“No, not unless you want him to smash
your
face in.” I turned to Josh. “You should of let her shoot me.”

“No.” Josh said, shaking his head. “Just 'cause you got bitten doesn't mean you're infected.”

“Well, I'm not a scientist or anything but if Mr. Zombie drew blood, which he did by the looks of it, and got any of his saliva in the wound, which I'm ninety percent sure he did, then I'm already one of them.”

“No, you don't know-”

“Josh, my limbs ache and I have a headache... it's already starting.”

“That's probably just exhaustion.”

I shook my head. “No, it's not, this is it.”

I went to reach for my gun which was now tucked into Josh's belt.

He grabbed it and pushed my hand away.

“Alex, no! You don't just get to leave like this.”

“It's not your decision. I don't wanna be like them. This is my choice.” I said, reaching for the gun again.

But this time, Lane grabbed my arm and pulled me back a step. He was covered in blood splashes and looked worse than I did.

I looked up at his hazel eyes, they glistened with tears he was trying to hold back. He blinked and rubbed the tears away. Josh stepped back to give us a minute.

“You're not killing yourself.” Lane said.

“Fine, then you do it. Just pop me in the head.”

“Alex, you don't know what you're saying.”

“Shut up, you dumb idiot, and just shoot me!”

“I love you, Alex. You're my life. You can't just ask me to shoot you.”

“You have to. I can't be a part of your life now. It's over!”

“What other life is there? I have nothing else to live for if I don't have you.”

Okay, so not what I expected him to say... and in front of other people.

“Lane, it's over.”

“No, it's not.”

He dropped the blood-soaked bat and grabbed the sides of my face and, of all things, he tried to kiss me. I turned my face away, grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands away from my face.

“Don't do that! I'm a carrier now.” I let out a breath, trying to think of what I wanted to say. “Don't you think I haven't thought about this before? We even agreed to shoot each other if this happened, remember? This is my choice.”

“No, it's not.” he said, placing his hands on my shoulders. “For once I'm making the decisions, and I'm not letting you kill yourself, and I'm not shooting you.” Lane said, frowning.

I think he was in shock, he couldn't grasp the fact I was basically dead now.

“We need to think about this.” he said, rubbing his forehead.

“Think about this? There's nothing to think about!”

I groaned and turned to look at Josh. “Josh, back me up here, I'm a risk now... to everyone, you need to do this.”

“No, not like this, I agree with Lane.”

“What!”

“I think we should all go back to the prison, clean up, and then go over our options.” Josh said, eyeing me up and down.

“Options? There are no options. We are all out of options. This is the end of the road for me.”

“Right, we need to get back.” Josh said, completely ignoring me.

“I can't go back, not like this.” I said, putting my foot down.

“Well, I'm not leaving you out here. You're coming back with us and that's an order!”

“What! You can't order me around? Your military authority doesn't mean anything here, you can't pull that shit on me.”

“Lane, grab her!”

Before I knew what was happening, Lane had a firm hold on my upper arms.

“You have got to be kidding.” I muttered.

“Alex, you may be ready to die but we're not ready to let you go, you don't just get to give up so easily.”

Lane held onto me as he picked up my bag, I snatched it from him and lifted it over my head.

“Get off me! Where do you think I'm gonna go? It's not like I can run away from you, you're too damn fast.” I said, pulling away from his grasp.

Stacey started moaning and wriggling around like a fish on board. Josh lowered her to the ground and steadied her.

“Oww!!! What did you do to me?” she asked, glaring at Josh.

She rubbed the back of her head, still giving Josh the evil eye. Josh waved the gun at Stacey to get her to walk.

“And I'll do it again if you don't cooperate. Start walking.”

She shuffled past him but kept her distance from me as she walked past. I was basically a leper in her eyes now.

Lane tried to reach for me but I shrugged him off and started walking. Stacey kept her distance from me, and every few steps she would glance back at me. I wasn't sure what she thought I was going to do. Run at her and bite her? I had no idea, but she was looking at me like I was a wild dog that was about to attack her. When we were near the gates, Stacey sped up and started marching ahead of us, as though she was off on her own mission.

“Oh no you don't, you need to cool your shit, I can't have you mouthing off to everyone and starting a mass panic.” Josh said, grabbing her by the arm.

“She's one of them.” Stacey hissed through gritted teeth.

“Not yet she's not, and if I hear you calling her one of
them
again I will lock you in one of the cells. You did just try to kill someone after all.”

“This is ridiculous, they're not going to let me back in, especially looking like this, I look like I just stepped out of a horror movie. There's no way Danny's going to let me back in.” I said, looking at all the bloodstains down my jeans.

“Danny will do as I say.” Josh replied.

“This is such a stupid idea.” I said, pulling my hood over my head.

I had already come to the conclusion that there was no hope for me now. As soon as I got my hands on a gun I was going to take care of the situation.

Josh saw me eyeing my gun in his belt.

“Don't get any ideas.”

Danny hopped out of the Jeep that was parked on the other side of the chain-link fence.

“You found them!” Danny said, opening the gates.

“Most of them.” Josh replied.

“Where's Jas...” Danny trailed off looking at our sullen faces.

No one answered him, I think our faces said it all.

We quietly walked through the grounds heading for the main entrance.

But just before we reached the doors, Josh grabbed Stacey and spun her around to face him.

“Now, when we get inside you make yourself scarce, if I hear you blabbing to everyone I'm gonna lock you up, do you understand?”

Stacey didn't say anything, and Josh roughly grabbed her chin and turned her head toward him so she had no choice but to look at him.

“I mean it, Stacey. I will let certain ones know what's happened, we don't need everyone freaking out like last time.”

She nodded and he shoved her through the door. I followed Josh into the foyer, Stacey ran ahead of us and out through another door and into the corridor.

“Alex,” Josh turned to me. “Go and get cleaned up.”

“Why? What's the point?”

“Don't ask questions, just do it, or do you want me to come with you?” he said, and I could see a hint of a smile on his face.

Lane had left us and walked over to a table to dump his stuff.

“This isn't really the best time for jokes.”

“I wasn't joking, and the offer still stands.”

“Thanks, but I think I can manage on my own.”

I was about to leave when Tammy came through the door with Ozma in her arms. Ozma's face lit up, her big, brown eyes twinkling, and a huge smile on her face. She already had her arms in the air, reaching for me and Lane. But Tammy frowned when she saw the state we were in. She was about to walk toward us but I shook my head and Lane walked over to her, and she took a step back before he reached her, understandable as he was covered in blood. He leaned toward her and whispered something to her. She gave me a concerned look and a sad smile before hurrying back out the door with Ozma whining in her arms. The only thing I wanted to do at that moment was chase Tammy down the corridor and pull Ozma from her arms, and hold her tightly in my arms and never let go of her. But I couldn't, I didn't want to risk it, as much as I wanted to have one last cuddle, I couldn't.