Chasing Colorado: (The Zombie Zovels #2) (29 page)

Lane rubbed my arms up and down trying to avoid my scabs and cuts that were still healing, but he forgot about my sunburn and I had to gently remove his hands. He pulled me into a hug and I heard Evan saying bye to Josh in the background. I turned in Lane's arms to look at Evan.

“Bye, Alex, take care you guys.” Evan said, patting Lena on the ass before he walked back to the car.

“See ya, thanks for the help.” Lane said, and Evan nodded his head at us.

He climbed into the driver's seat and lit a cigarette.

Lena came over to me with her arms out to me. Lane reluctantly let go of me so Lena could hug me, and she hugged me for what felt like minutes. I was a little taken back, I didn't know her all that well.. I didn't know her full stop, I knew her name was Lena, Evan was her boyfriend, and she came from Seattle, that was it, but I hugged her back all the same. I looked over her shoulder and saw Drew was back again, leaning against the side of the car with a cigarette between his fingers, staring at the ground. 

Lena looked behind her to see what I was looking at.

“He's not good with goodbyes.” she said, before reaching up to hug Lane as well.

Ross was getting fidgety... it was time to go.

Lena waved at me before ducking into the car. Evan started the engine and I looked at Drew, waiting for him to come over and say goodbye.

He finally looked up at me and our eyes connected, and he gave me this look, I wasn't sure what it was. Thoughtful, sad, confused. I thought I saw him frown for a split second. Was he annoyed with me for something?

Then he flicked his cigarette butt into the grass and climbed back into the car without a word. Then, as if in slow motion, Evan pulled out onto the road and drove past us, Dan gave Josh a little wave goodbye, but not me. And Lena was leaning across Drew to wave at me, and Drew was looking out the opposite window over Lena's shoulder.

I stood on the spot confused, and silently stewing over Drew leaving like that. I don't know what I was expecting, he'd pull me in for a hug, I'd fall into his arms, I'd cry my eyes out, and we'd have a
moment
, and he'd tell me he loves me... okay, maybe not that
moment
, I was just letting my imagination run wild there for a second... but I at least expected a simple goodbye, one word was all I wanted. Josh and Lane were talking and looking at me, I think they had been talking to me, but I was silently sobbing on the inside, I don't know if the virus was setting my mood off again, but I actually felt crushed over the whole Drew thing. But why? We weren't that close, we hardly knew each other, and he clearly didn't give a shit about me because he couldn't even be bothered to say goodbye. I wanted to punch him, but I couldn't even do that because he was gone. Again!

I let out a breath and shook my hair from my face, trying to appear functional, brushing it under the carpet. I had gone from hardcore-couldn't-care-less about anyone, to nearly a sobbing mess in front of Lane.

“Alex, don't cry.” Lane comforted me. “You'll make me cry.” he added.

Josh shifted around uncomfortably. So did I. I didn't want to see Lane cry. That wasn't the image I wanted to take with me.

“I'm not.” I blinked away a tear.

“So let's get this show on the road.” I stood up straighter and looked at Ross, who had his hand on the door to the back of the Jeep, waiting to close it.

Lane bent over coughing all of a sudden and I rolled my eyes, those cigarettes were going to kill him before the deadbies could.

I waited for him to stop coughing and said, “You need to lay off the smokes.”

I looked at Josh, “Tell him.”

Josh patted Lane's back as he cleared his throat, you should listen to her, that cough sounds like it's getting worse.”

“I'm okay.” Lane reassured us.

“So this is goodbye.” I said, reaching for Josh, he hugged me tightly.

“Not goodbye, not yet.” he whispered close to my ear.

I squeezed him a little tighter, I was going to miss him, he had done so much for me, and along the way he had lost one of his friends. He had come here for me, if I ever made it out alive and in one piece, I owed Josh.

He slowly let go and the three of them moved aside to give Lane and me some room.

“So I'll see you on the other side.” Lane sniffed.

I wrinkled my brow.

“You know, when you come back, and you're all
you
again.” he said being more specific.

I nodded. I didn't want to fight this anymore, but I translated that as he meant he'll see me on the other side, after I've become a deadbie and been dissected for medical research purposes, and after he gets eaten by a horde of deadbies.

So yeah, I'll see you on the other side, Lane, whatever that means.

I hugged him once more around the waist, and then gently pushed him back a step, otherwise he was never going to let me go.

I don't know how we had gone from me telling him we would never be friends to being inseparable most of the time, I'm not sure where it all changed, maybe it was the day by the river when he saw my tits. Who knew. But I considered us more than friends. He was me best friend, my protector, my family, and my sanity. Somewhere along the way he had grown up and turned into a man, and learned how to kill a deadbie with a fork... he was sort of my hero, and I was going to miss him.

“Okay let's do this shit.” I said.

Lane grinned, it was a grin I wasn't going to forget, one of his playful smiles.

“You gonna be okay, babe?” Ross asked Zoe.

“We'll make sure she gets back safely.” Josh said, reaching back into the Jeep to collect a baseball bat and a piece of wood with nails sticking out of it.

“We got creative.” Josh said, looking at the weapon in his hand, and passing the bat to Lane.

“I'll be fine, and it's the dead ones that should worry when I'm outside.” Zoe said, reaching up and kissing Ross on the lips, but it turned into more than a quick peck on the lips and all three of us suddenly found something else interesting to look at. I found my eyes glued to a stone at the side of the road.

“Right, ready?” Ross asked, after they came up for air.

Lane helped me climb into the back of the Jeep, where Ross gave me a blanket and rearranged the empty boxes around me.

“Just stay down and we should be okay, they never check the back, and I know the two on the gate.”

I nodded, and he slowly closed the door to the back of the Jeep. I peeked around a box and saw Lane's sad face looking at me through the window. I heard the door at the front slam shut and the engine started... and we were off. After a few skips of the CD, Ross settled on the track he wanted to listen to, and turned the volume up full blast, The Offspring, Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), blasted out the speakers.

I shook my head, almost laughing. What the hell? One minute I was nearly bawling my eyes out, the next I'm nearly in hysterics. I think it was my emotions going into overdrive. I watched as Lane, Josh and Zoe became small little dots in the distance, standing side by side with their weapons in hand.

Ross turned a corner and they were gone from view.

Gone forever.
I thought.

That was the last time I ever thought I would see Lane Walker and it hurt like hell.

I felt the Jeep slowing down and I quickly ducked back down, and pulled the blanket over my head. I couldn't hear anything over the music and stayed in my curled up position in the dark. It was like I had suddenly come down from a major high, and was left feeling like crap. All I could think about was Drew. I was so angry with him, I still wanted to punch something, preferably Drew, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon as I would never see the guy again.

One minute he was being friendly, the next he was giving me the cold shoulder, it reminded me of that song by Katy Perry,
Hot N Cold
, that Pip used to play on repeat, (she loved Katy Perry), then I wondered why on earth I was even thinking about such random shit.

I was confused as to why I was so cut up over Drew not saying goodbye to me more than I was over saying goodbye to Lane. I thought I would have felt more emotional about leaving Lane, but I felt numb. I was upset, of course, but not enough to make me cry.

My tear ducts must be broken.

The Jeep surged forward and bumped over what felt like road bumps in the road. Then the Jeep went into hyper-mode, swerving, speeding up, slowing down. I assumed we were driving around the university grounds. I heard the horn a few times. Then Ross hit the brakes and a heavy box toppled on top of me.

“Uh!!” I grunted.

What's in that box? Bricks?

The music suddenly stopped and the engine cut out. I heard the Jeep door slam, and within seconds the trunk door opened and the weight of the box was lifted off me.

“Sorry, 'bout that.” Ross said.

“Are we safe here, from deadbies?”

“Yes, there's a high brick wall surrounding the grounds, and the whole place is guarded. So we have to be quick, the guards will be walking this way any minute. I drove around trying to spot them, but I think they popped into the cafeteria. Come on, we need to hurry.”

He offered me his hand and I let him help me out of the Jeep. I jumped down to the ground and my legs gave out under me. I fell to the ground and swore under my breath.

Ross grabbed my waist and picked me back up, and reached back into the Jeep to get my rucksack. I took a moment to look around. We were parked up outside what looked like a large, metal garage, behind me I could see a road that led off toward a large historical building, with lots of smaller buildings. There was a wall dividing us from the buildings in the distance, and on this side of the wall, I could see large tents set up for the Army.

“Is that the university?” I asked.

Ross slammed the door.

“Yes, the research center shares a road with the university back to the main road, but the university is divided by the wall, there are patrols all over.”

“Do they still have teachers and classes over there?”

“I don't really know, I don't go over there, but I see people wandering around at lunchtime. I think they're all researching the virus, but the experimenting goes on over here.”

He led me to a side door beside the large garage door. He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and opened the door.

I looked up at the tall windowless building and spotted a camera on the wall.

“Um... Ross, is that thing working?”

“No, I ruined a few cables before I left, so it looks like the rats have done it.”

“Rats?”

“Yeah, can't get rid of the buggers.”

“Why are you doing this, helping me?”

“'Cause Nick's my friend, and... I have nothing better to do with my time.” He shrugged.

“He's not going to put me in a cage is he?”

“I dunno, do you bite?” Ross smirked.

“Funny.” I muttered, walking into the darkness.

Ross flicked the lights on, we were inside a large warehouse-type garage with fluorescent lights that made me squint like mad.

Ross strolled across the garage to a trolley.

“So that was the easy part, now we need to get you down to the Lab without getting seen. Once you're down there no one will find you, no one bothers the nerds.”

“Nerds?”

“You know, the science geeks...or should I say, geek, as we only have one now.”

He wheeled the trolley across the room, it kind of looked like a tea trolley. A noise from outside the garage door caught our attention, outside two men were laughing and joking.

“Quick, get under the trolley,” Ross said, ripping a box open and tugging out white sheets.

I climbed under the trolley and hugged my rucksack while Ross chucked an armful of sheets on the trolley, making sure they hung down and concealed me from view.

I heard the side door open, the same one we had walked through.

“Ross,” someone greeted him. “You just got back?”

“Uh, yeah,” Ross replied.

“Been to see your little slut?” said a gravelly voice.

“Enough of the
slut
talk, please.” Ross said, standing in front of the trolley to cover me.

“Is she even legal?” asked another, younger, voice.

“Like it matters anymore.” said the gravelly one. “So come on, this slut of yours, she got any friends?”

“A: She has a name, Zoe, and B: Even if she does have friends, I'm not about to introduce them to you. No girl wants to look at your wrinkly old cock, Dave.” Ross said, and the younger guy laughed.

“Whatever, tell your little slut to come and see me if she wants a real man.” said the gravelly one, walking past the trolley.

I froze, afraid to move, afraid to breathe, afraid to blink, my heartbeat was going a million miles a minute...I could hear it loudly, thudding in my ears, what if they could hear it as well?

No that's insane, now I'm just being crazy.

“What's with all the sheets? Those asshole nerds been re-enacting Brokeback Mountain again?”

Ew...Really?!
I couldn't see this guy but I wanted to knee him in the balls for being such a dick.

Ross wheeled the trolley away and over to a bench. Good thing I wasn't that heavy.

“Actually there's only one of them left down there now.” Ross said quietly.

One of them left?
What happened to the rest of them?

“Oh, I'm sure you keep him company at night, which one's left? Chenny, boy? Or the Chinese one?”

Ross ignored him.

Chenny?
The Chinese one?

Hang on a minute, I thought I was going to see Nick Walker? What the hell was going on? Who was Ross taking me to see?

“Whatever! I need a drink. Come on, Ed, let's leave this piece of shit to clean up everyone else's shit.” Dave laughed and I heard them leave through a different door.

A moment later Ross crouched down and lifted one of the sheets aside.

“Just ignore what Dave said, he's a right dickhead.”

“Yeah, I got that. Um, who's Chenny and the Chinese one?”

Ross frowned like he didn't understand what I was talking about.

“I thought I was going to see Nick?”

“You are,” he said, reaching past me and pointing. “Hey, just lift that sheet up.”

I twisted around and lifted the sheet aside, and my eyes widened at all the different boxes of chips and chocolate bars.

“Oh my, I think I already died and went to heaven, you guys have chocolate here? Snickers, Mars bars, num-num-num-num.”

I got sidetracked.

“Yeah, the guys cleared the supermarket out, you know, the one opposite the shopping center.”

I nodded, licking my lips, picking up a Mars bar and practically drooling.

“Are you okay?” Ross asked, slightly amused.

“Yeah, as long as I've got chocolate everything's fine.”

“Grab what you want.” he said, straightening up and letting the sheet drop down.

I didn't waste any time and grabbed a nearly empty box and filled it with junk food treats. At present, I couldn't keep anything down but I wasn't going to let that stop me munching on chocolate.

I heard Ross piling boxes onto the trolley and after a few minutes, he lifted the sheet again.

“So you're, like, their lackey?” I said.

Ross shrugged.

“It's not that bad, as soon as I've done my chores I can leave and do whatever I want, no one keeps tabs on me, so I can come and go when I please, and I can see Zoe whenever I want. At least being the lackey means I don't have a time schedule and can do what I like most of the time. And luckily for me, the nerds always keep a tidy room, well... one nerd, Chen's missing at present.”

“Who's Chen?”

“Another one of the scientists here. They say he's over at the University, but I dunno, I asked around and no one has heard of him over there.”

“So where is he?”

“Dunno, like I said, he's missing, people tend to go missing around this place... Right, you ready?”

I wanted to ask more questions but I didn't get the chance. He let the sheet fall back down.

“Stay quiet, and no peeking.”

The trolley started to wobble and we soon picked up speed, but Ross slowed down for the door. He moved around the trolley to open the door, then I was rolled through into a corridor. I couldn't see much, except for the speckled white floor. I kept my legs tucked up, holding my rucksack.

The trolley creaked, squeaked, and rattled. We stopped at numerous doors, where Ross said 'hi' to people and handed them boxes of supplies, and made general chit chat, most of them were interested to know what it was like outside the grounds. I got the picture these people never left this place. He wheeled me along one, very long, straight corridor, and into an elevator. The doors slid shut.

“You okay under there?”

“Um, yeah, where are we going now?”

“Nick lives underground in the Lab.”

“Underground?”

“Don't worry, it's not dark down there or anything like that, it's actually a lot nicer than up here.”

“Who were all those different people you were talking to?”

“Different scientists, they all specialize in different areas. Some test the blood, others dissect bats, and whatever scientist like to do.”

“And what does Nick do?”

“Nick's been working on the cure. There were more of them down there testing the vaccines and shit, but...” he trailed off.

“There
were
?”

“Let's just say if they don't produce results they disappear. And then there's the boss.”

“The boss?”

“Her name's, Miriam, she runs things around here. She's a real bitch, though... And here we go.” Ross said, and the elevator came to a clunking stop.

I wanted to ask a million more questions, like, was I in danger of bumping into this Miriam character?

He wheeled me along a hallway with a dark, red carpet. The lights weren't as bright down here which was nicer on the eyes. We turned a corner and I could hear music playing from somewhere in the distance, some kind of Opera music.

Not too far down the corridor, Ross started making vehicle noises, pretending the tires were screeching when we turned the corner, then he revved the engine and raced down the corridor. I held onto the trolley for dear life, I think Ross had temporarily forgotten I was underneath.

The trolley came to a sudden halt, and if I hadn't been holding on I would have fallen out.

“Special delivery!” Ross called.

He lifted the sheets aside and held out his hand to me. He pulled me to my feet and I looked up and down the corridor, it looked like the inside of someone's elegant home, with cream colored walls and sconce lighting, and expensive paintings hanging on the wall.

I stood up straighter and tried to steady myself. My stomach felt like a tsunami was going on inside it, I don't think Ross's driving helped the situation, it was probably what started it off again, that and the smell... what was that... cinnamon?

“Where are we?” I whispered.

“The Nerds' living quarters.” Ross replied, guiding me toward an open door where the Opera music was playing from.

“Oi! Special delivery!” Ross said again, knocking on the door.

I tried to take a step forward to look inside the room, but my vision started to blur and I covered my mouth not sure if I was going to throw up or pass out. Maybe both.

“You don't look so good,” Ross said, taking my arm to steady me.

Then the projectile vomit shot out of my mouth and all over the posh carpet. Then I fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

“Ah, fuck!” I heard Ross say.

“What happened?” asked another voice.

“She just threw up on me and then she collapsed.”

I was exhausted and pretty sure I was lying in my own vomit but I didn't have the energy to move, I couldn't even wiggle my fingers.

“This is Alex?” asked the other voice.

“Uh, yeah, who else were you expecting?” Ross said.