Deathly Contagious (19 page)

“You know,” Raeya said as she put down a card. She smiled and looked into Hayden’s eyes. “You’d make a really great dad.”

“Uh,” Hayden responded. “Thanks, I think.”

“You’re welcome. I can just see you with a baby in your arms. It would be so cute!”

“Yea, sure,” he mumbled, not knowing how to respond to that. I glared at her.

“Since you’re resistant, your children might be too. It would be silly not to pass that on. I think you should have a baby,” she told him seriously.

Padraic chuckled. “It’s not that easy, Ray. Do I need to explain how making a baby works?” he joked.

She laughed. “No, I’m aware. But don’t you agree we should think about starting a family? This world needs to be repopulated. We all should consider it, right, Rissy?”

“Maybe when things aren’t so shitty,” I said pointedly.

“What about you?” she directed to Padraic.

“I have to say I’m with Orissa on this one,” he said with a smile. He eyed Hayden and then Raeya. “I didn’t know you were so eager to have a baby.”

“Oh, no, I don’t. I think Rissy should. Out of all the females here, she’s probably in the best shape and could handle a pregnancy well. Plus she heals fast. She needs to pass on her good DNA,” she added quickly.

“You are in good shape,” Hayden added, earning an elbow to his side.

Padraic laughed again. “I think your plan needs to be put on hold for a while. Let’s let Orissa find a boyfriend first. Then you can plan her pregnancy.”

“What about you, Ray? You have good genes too. Shouldn’t you be passing on the thick hair and strong cheek bones to the future generation?” I said with an innocent smile.

She waved her hand at me. “Maybe later. Want to play Go Fish?”

We played cards for another hour before Hayden laid his on the table.

“Well, I have to go give some blood. Then we should go to bed, Riss. We’re leaving early.”

“Right,” I agreed and started to gather up the cards.

“I’ll walk with you,” Padraic said to Hayden. When I stood, he hugged me goodbye, pulling me tightly against his body. “Be safe, Riss. Come home again, alright?”

“I will,” I promised. “Trust me, I want to.” I pulled away first, making Padraic release me. He let his hands slid over my arms and down into my hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Raeya looking from Padraic to Hayden.

“Take care and don’t do anything crazy.” He half smiled. “And remember, you could stay here with us.”

“Yes, you can!” Raeya reminded me as well.

“Come on guys, don’t make this harder than it is. I don’t
want
to leave. But we have to if we want the compound to keep running as smoothly as it is.”

“I know,” she sighed. “Walk me to my room?”

“Of course.” We put the cards away and left the game room, walking slowly down the hall.

“Was it awkward to have Padraic hug you like that with Hayden watching?” she asked quietly.

“Not really. Padraic is a good friend, and it means nothing more to me, but I did wonder if Hayden felt weird.”

“He didn’t look upset,” she informed me.

“Good.” Raeya cracked the door open; Lisa was in bed sleeping already. She snuck in to grab her toothbrush and shower bag. “Ugh. What I wouldn’t give for a private shower. After so many years of living in a dorm, you have no idea how sick I am of sharing a bathroom!”

I laughed. “I understand. It does suck. Hopefully we can get a cabin together.”

“Oo! Yes! I would love that! Except…wouldn’t you want to be with Hayden?”

“Oh, well, yea. The three of us?”

She made a face. “Rissy, you know I love you, but I don’t want to hear…you know what.”

I laughed again. “Fine. You and Padraic then. Or Ivan.”

“Ivan?”

“You can’t tell? He has a huge crush on you!”

She blushed. “How do you know?”

“He’s asked me before if he should ask you out. I told him no because of Seth,” I said gently. “I didn’t think you were ready. And why else would he get you the doll?”

She pressed her lips together. “I might have had a slight idea.”

“And?”

“And, I don’t know. You’re right. I still have feelings for Seth. I’d feel guilty dating someone else.”

“You can’t feel guilty forever, Ray.”

She sighed. “I know. Ivan is pretty hot,” she added with a smile.

“You have no idea. You should see him with his shirt off!”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why have you seen him with his shirt off?”

I looked around and leaned in close. “I need to tell you what we really do on missions.” We both giggled. “In training, most of the guys go shirtless.”

“Can I come?” she joked. We stopped walking and stood outside the bathroom. “Be safe, alright?” she said again, emotion obvious on her voice. “I can’t handle losing you—again.”

“You won’t.” I hugged her. “See you later, ok?”

“Yes. Later. Bye, Rissy.”

“Bye, Ray.”

She took one last look at me and turned stiffly into the bathroom. I let out a deep breath and walked back down the hall, pausing when I got to the stairs. Instead of going up, I went down another flight to find Hayden. I stepped lightly in the quiet hall, not wanting to wake anyone up.

Light spilled from Padraic’s room, casting a triangle of glowing yellow into the dark hall. I was about to walk past when I heard a familiar voice.

“…no, she can make up her own mind,” Hayden stated, sounding slightly irritated.

“Trust me, I know she can,” Padraic told him. “I just think you should talk to her, let her know her options.”

“She knows them. And look, I understand your concerns. But know that she’ll be safe with us. I will take care of her.”

“But you can’t, not really.”

“Yes, I can. I won’t let anything happen to her,” Hayden said sternly.

“It’s nothing against you,” Padraic assured him. “But you of all people know how unpredictable it is out there. You can’t keep every bad thing away from her.”

“Yes I can,” Hayden said stubbornly.

I heard Padraic sigh. “We care about her. You should have seen Ray when she thought Orissa died. She was a wreck. I think if anyone could convince her to stay—just a little while longer—it would be you.”

“Orissa knows she doesn’t have to go out.”

“Does she? I don’t see why else she would, unless she didn’t think she had a choice. And she didn’t, really. You made her an A1. It wasn’t her decision.”

“She could have said no,” Hayden said, his voice rising. “If she didn’t want to go out, she wouldn’t. You don’t know Orissa. She’s not a caged bird. She can’t stay where it’s safe and warm while someone else does the dirty work. She’s not the kind of person that can live a life locked up.”

“And how do you know that?” Padraic retorted.

“Because I’m the same way.”

My heart was beating fast. I edged away from the door, afraid of being seen.

“It’s not her job—” Padraic started.

“It’s
mine
?” Hayden interrupted.

“Well, yea. You’re the one that joined the military.”

“Right. I did. I signed up for
war
. Against people. Real live people, not the living dead. To protect your ass and ensure your freedom. I gave up my life, my time, watched my friends die for this country. And are you even an American citizen? Don’t tell me what is and isn’t
my
job. Do you want to go out there? I’ll give you my gun right now. Have fun fighting off the zombies and seeing the rotting corpses. I brought more than half of these people here. Not because it’s my
job
but because it was the right thing to do. And Orissa feels the same.”

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure if I should step in or not. I put one foot forward and stopped, too curious to hear what the guys had to say about me.

“I didn’t mean to insult you,” Padraic told Hayden, though he didn’t sound too sorry. “Yes, you go out there, but don’t forget what I do too. How many people—yourself included—wouldn’t be alive if I hadn’t been here?”

“You wouldn’t have any lives to save if I didn’t bring them back!” Hayden countered and I rolled my eyes. Were they seriously arguing over who was more important?

“Orissa knows how important it is to keep the compound safe. She would be perfect for guarding the walls,” Padraic said with slight bitterness. “You might think you know her, but don’t forget I do too. She was tired of fighting them off long before we came here. Don’t you think she might want a break?”

“Then she would fucking take one! No one is forcing her to go out.”

“I spoke with Fuller,” Padraic butted in. “I know you requested her as an A1 because you were impressed with her abilities. I know your last partner didn’t die at the hands of zombies. He took his own life because he couldn’t handle what it was like out there. And you wanted someone strong. You didn’t stop and think what she wanted. All you thought about was yourself.”

“Bullshit!” Hayden yelled. I was a bit afraid he might go after Padraic. “Yes, Orissa is one of the best soldiers I’ve ever seen and yea, it would be a waste for her not to use it. As soon as I got to know her, I knew she was more than that. It was her choice to be an A1 and it still is. That’s what she wants!”

There was a moment of silence before Padraic said, “Agree to disagree?”

“Fine,” Hayden spat. I pushed off from the wall and quickly padded back to my room before either guys caught me eavesdropping. I brushed my teeth and was in the process of changing when Hayden burst through the door. He rushed over to me, picked me up and kissed me. I felt his muscles relax instantly at my touch. He set me back down, ran his hands over my face and smiled.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too.”

“Good.” He gave me another kiss and got ready for bed. He held me tightly against him.  “So, I’m a bit confused,” Hayden started. “Does Raeya want me to father her children?”

I laughed. “No, mine.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is this something we need to talk about?”

“No, don’t worry. I don’t have baby fever or anything. When I was sick, Ray hoped I was really pregnant because that would mean I’d be stuck here and not leave on missions.”

“Oh.” He smiled at me. “Good, because I’m not…maybe someday, but not now.”

“I totally agree.” I let out a sigh of relief over him not mentioning what I had unfortunately over heard. It was flattering that they both cared about me enough to fight about it, but I didn’t want to have to pick sides. Padraic was a friend, a good friend, and we’d been through hell and high water together. He’d always have a place in my heart. And Hayden…I was completely in love with him.

I pushed the conflicting thoughts out of my head and wrapped my arms around my Marine, wanting to enjoy our last night together before we set out.

We loaded everything into the truck bright and early the next morning. Hayden was still horrified at the blood stains on the passenger seat.

“You should have put me in the back,” he said as he ran his finger over the material. “That’s what I would have done to you,” he told me with a grin.

“I tried to get it out,” Ivan said. “You should have seen it before.”

“Thanks, man.” Hayden let out a deep breath and threw his bag in the back and inspected the rest of the truck, equally unhappy about the bullet marks on the back. For the first few miles, he grumbled about finding parts to replace and fix the damage. Then he and Ivan bickered over what kind of music to listen to and the guys spoke of things that happened during the war. It felt just like old times.

Brock swore he remembered passing a Home Depot before, he just couldn’t remember where. We spent the morning driving around Arkansas.

“I think it was north of the compound,” he told us. “And not that far north. I know I saw it.”

“I remember it too,” Hayden confirmed. The first thing the guys did when they got the compound up and running was canvass the state, looking for supplies and survivors. Around noon we stopped for a lunch break in an abandoned town.

Litter and the occasional body lined the streets. The terrain was rather uneven and hilly and we were surrounded by trees. Even though we had plenty of fuel, we used this prime opportunity to fill up an extra gas can from one of the many parked cars.

The sun was bright today; sending its warm rays down on us. I looked up and blinked, wishing I had sunglasses. There was sure to be some in one of the cars. I walked down the street, trying the handles on every door I passed. Most were locked and parked neatly on the side of the road, perfectly situated between the white, painted parking spots, leaving me to believe that the virus had snuck up on the people of this town without a warning.

The downtown area of this place looked like it could be a set for a Lifetime movie, I thought as I eyed the brick front of a mom and pop run drug store. Well, it could if you removed the rotting corpses and washed away the blood stains. I removed the machine gun from over my shoulder, and stretched, blinking as I turned my face up toward the sun.

A breeze blew through the trees, ridding the area of the stench of death and bringing the sweet smell of a promise of spring. Birds chipped loudly, ignorant to the horrors around them. If I kept my eyes closed, I could pretend I was somewhere beautiful.

Someone grabbed my waist. I flung around and almost punched Hayden in the face; he blocked me just in time.

“Jerk,” I spat, trying to look pissed. He looked behind him and quickly kissed me.

“I made you lunch.”

“How sweet,” I said with a smile. “What did you make me?”

“I opened a can of tuna. Yum.”

“I am so utterly sick of tuna.”

“Aren’t we all?” His hand fell into mine, letting go when we neared the truck. The four of us sat in the bed, eating and chatting.

“I haven’t seen a day like this in what feels like a lifetime,” Brock said with his mouthful.

“I know,” I agreed, taking a deep breath. “It feels good.”

“It just makes me want to get my ass to Mexico even more,” Hayden said with a sigh. We all agreed and planned a hypothetical vacation. We ate slowly, enjoying the nice, early spring day. Suddenly, Brock quieted us.

“Do you hear that?”