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Chapter 74


I wonder if the others are okay.

I think about them a lot. Really, there’s not a lot of options of stuff to do. It’s like the early days of the church, only worse. We got hella spoiled by the luxuries of the base. I didn’t realize that till we moved into this freaking golf course. Riley was right about the zombie count being lower, though; we’re lucky. We’re alive. So I think about the others, what they’re doing. I bet the fence will be done soon. Knowing AJ, he’ll paint it. I hope Howie’s alright; he seemed to be getting better before we left. I wonder if Gabby’s okay, now that Kevin’s gone. He seemed to be like a surrogate father to the kid. Is Brian okay? After Riley, I’d probably say I was closest to him. I miss him a lot; we did plenty of goofy shit that helped keep his mind off his family.

Do they think we’re dead?

They probably do. I would. We’ve been gone for almost two weeks now, far beyond the three days we promised. We have no way of contacting them, no way of telling them how wrong everything’s gone.

I hate this.

I hate being stuck here.

I hate feeling so damned helpless. So fucking idle.

That’s how we feel, all three of us. Especially Kevin. I’ve never seen him like this. He seems so damn lost, like he doesn’t have a real plan now. He’s second guessing, because of what happened here, and before that, Kayleigh… It’s not his fault; sometimes things happen. But it’s killing him, I think. Also, I think his injuries are hurting more than he’s willing to admit to me or Rye. I don’t know for sure; he won’t let me check. He says he’s fine, and he’s handling it. Something’s off.

All we have now is each other.

If that changes, I don’t know if we can survive.


Song Quote of the Entry… Nirvana, one of my favorite bands of all time. It’s…man, it’s so hard to explain if you weren’t here in the world before. But they were fucking epic.

“I thought you died alone
A long long time ago

Oh no, not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World

I laughed and shook his hand
And made my way back home
I searched for form and land
For years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazely stare
We walked a million years
I must have died alone
A long long time ago…”

- Nirvana, “The Man Who Sold The World”



Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Week Twenty-Four

The sun was only beginning to give out the smallest rays of light to pierce the otherwise velvet black sky, as Nick glanced out the windows by the double door entrance. He was sitting up against one of the walls, his guns resting at his side. Riley lay against him; her head was in his lap as she was lost within a peaceful slumber. A small smile was etched on her face, a look of peacefulness he’d never seen on her awake. His hand ran through her hair ever so gently, his eyes gazing at her tenderly while he let her sleep.

Nick had promised to wake her up, so he could let her take her turn for zombie watch, but he didn’t have the heart to disturb her. She bottled so much inside, never let him see her fear. She was so determined to prove to Kevin that she was strong, able to handle this mission, despite all the problems that had come their way thus far. He felt the least he could do was let her rest for as long as possible. He was sure she’d chew him out for it later, but he didn’t care much; it was worth it.

His eyes scanned the area, seeing no potential threats at the moment. They landed on Kevin, who was sleeping on the other side of the main lounge. He’d made sure Kevin had the couch, as he was still hurting, no matter how hard he tried to convince them otherwise. He’d been so distracted lately, as well, a fact that deeply unsettled the two blondes. Still, neither of them said much to him about it. What could they say? They seemed to have reached an impasse, and neither of them was sure of how to get out of it.

A moan reached his ears. Without thinking, Nick grabbed the shotgun, spotted the zombie, and fired a shot that soared through the one open window. The shot hit directly in the skull, and the body crumpled almost silently to the ground, where a pile of them now lay from a week-and-a-half’s worth of sniping. Nick smiled at his shooting. It always felt good when he was able to get one down with the first shot.

He felt Riley stir, and he stayed almost perfectly still, knowing the noise from the blast might have disturbed her. She was an incredibly sound sleeper, sounder than Nick could ever be these days. He often got jealous of that. She shifted against him, turning a bit and mumbling. He sighed.

“I love you…”

Nick blinked, staring down. Did I hear what I think I did?

“What did you say?” he asked, forgetting, for an instant, that she was, in fact, still asleep.

She simply snuggled against him more, giving her own sigh of contentment. Maybe he’d heard her wrong. But what if he hadn’t? Was he even ready to hear those words? Nick shook his head, stroking her hair again. He had no idea. Nick didn’t think about being with her; he just was. It felt right. They just fit, somehow, and there was no logic, no reason to it.

At least she was asleep; she wouldn’t know what she’d said. Only Nick would. So he wouldn’t have to worry about it, not really. Riley wasn’t the type to really outright say anything personal. She could be blunt as hell when she wanted to be, but when it came to being truly emotionally vulnerable, that was something she couldn’t handle very well. Right then, he was thankful for that little fact. As long as he was able to act like it never happened, at least.

He glanced outside again.

Killing zombies is way less complicated.

***

SMACK!

A hand slammed into the back of his head – playfully, of course, but it still smarted a bit. Nick rubbed the back of his head, wincing as if the smack had inflicted more pain than it actually had. He held back the laughter that wanted to surface. He’d never tell Riley, but she got cute when she was angry.

“I can’t believe you stayed up all night instead of waking me up for my shift!” Riley cried, giving him an irritated look.

Nick smiled, looking sheepish. “I didn’t wanna wake you. You looked so…” He struggled for a word. “… so happy. It’s okay; I handled it.”

Her expression softened. “Oh. Well, then, thanks. I just, don’t want you always covering my slack. I told Kevin I could handle coming, and I can, you know?”

Their gazes shifted over to Kevin, where he still lay resting upon the couch. They had no way to tell, but the sun was high in the sky, so Nick guessed it to be maybe around noon. It wasn’t like Kevin to sleep in so late. Their eyes met, and he knew they were both thinking the same thing. He was just the one who vocalized it first.

“We should wake him. You think he’s alright?”

“Honestly? I think something’s up, beyond the fact that we’re trapped in the middle of the country with no plans of how to get home.”

He had been like this for the past few days: lethargic, pensive, and isolated. They’d both tried to piece the new shell that Kevin had built around himself, but he refused to let them in. Nick set his jaw as he walked over. That ended now; they didn’t have room for that sort of behavior anymore. Too many things rested upon it. They had to get back to Florida, and they had to figure out just how they were going to do it. Brian and Gretchen had said they’d almost been killed just going down there from Atlanta. Their odds were going to be far slimmer traveling from Colorado.

Still, they had to try.

“I think you’re right. Fuck, how did everything go so bad, so fast?”

She shrugged. “We didn’t think about the rest of the country; we assumed it would be okay. We didn’t think that maybe the rest of America was just as bad. Why else would we assume we could refuel?” Riley shot him an ironic smile. “We were optimistic.”

Nick smiled back, making his way towards Kevin. The truth was, they had been thinking it hadn’t spread. Maybe not consciously, but their actions had said otherwise. He shook Kevin a bit, ever so gently, in hopes of rousing him. Kevin shifted, but didn’t wake. Nick frowned when he shook him again. Kevin moaned, in a weak echo of a zombie, but still didn’t rise.

“Rye? C’mere.”

“What’s up?” She stood beside him, watching Kevin. The man’s brow was glistening with beaded diamonds of sweat; his black hair was pasted to skull. He mumbled something, tossing a bit on the couch before lying still once more, looking far paler than normal. Her brow furrowed. “He’s not looking too good.”

“It can’t be the Osiris Virus; we’d have caught it by now.”

“Just because we can’t get that, doesn’t mean other shit can’t touch us,” she remarked darkly. Her hand touched Kevin’s forehead. “He’s warm, really warm.”

“Shit.” Nick paced, trying to think of how Kevin could have caught a virus, when it occurred to him: the injuries from back at the base. The fact that Kevin wouldn’t let him check him out after that night. Even if Nick had, it wasn’t like he could just run out and get medical supplies. It was far more complicated than that now. They had been living off of the dry supplies they had been able to find at the clubhouse so far. Venturing out to get food, or anything, was a dangerous task.

“What are you doing?”

Nick ripped open Kevin’s shirt and nodded, confirming his suspicions. “It’s from back at Buckley. He wouldn’t tell us he was still hurting.” There, angry red lines spider-webbed along his chest. Just above his navel was a raw, angry wound with a thick grey-white fluid seeping from it.

“Mom? Mom, it’s okay; we’re going to be okay… I’ll take care of you now…” Kevin murmured.

“I think he’s delirious.”

“I really wish Jo was with us right now. That’s gotta be a pretty bad infection.”

Nick ran for their pitiful first aid kit, while Riley went to grab a towel from the kitchenette. They came back at the same time, and Riley set to cleaning the wound. Nick handed her Neosporin and bandaging; all the sanitized wipes had been used the day at the base. Neither said anything, but they shared the same thought; one look at each other said enough. Both were worried; neither had a clue of what to do. He saw the faces she made while draining the pus, but didn’t laugh, for once.

“I hope I’m doing this right. I’m no nurse. Whenever my brothers got hurt… well, I screamed till Dad came.”

“We need Jo.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“So what do we do now?” he asked, as she bandaged up the wound so it wouldn’t get infected further.

“What can we do? We wait and pray like hell that will work.”

***

If I didn’t fucking hate hospitals before… I sure as hell do now.


Thursday, October 4, 2012
Week Twenty-Four

“I have to go to the hospital.”

“No, hell no. No way. No. I’ll shoot you before I let you walk out of here.”

Nick was staring down Riley, as they stood hovering over Kevin. His condition hadn’t improved; in fact, Nick was worried it had actually worsened. Kevin still slept in a feverous delirium. And although he didn’t like it, Nick knew this was beyond the meager supplies they had at their disposal. He was going to have to risk a trip to the local hospital and see what he could find.

He’d known this the night before, that this would be an eventuality if nothing changed. He’d spent the night flipping through the map at the back of the phone book to try and find the nearest hospital. He’d thought over and over again about how he could get in and out the quickest, what way to get in. Despite all that, he didn’t feel even the slightest bit prepared.

It was a suicide mission, and he knew it.

The simple truth was, Kevin didn’t have a prayer if he didn’t try. Riley knew it, too, and that was why she stood in his way, her rifle in hand, threatening to shoot him before letting him go kill himself instead. He’d never seen her like this; her face was pale, her blue eyes pleading, begging him not to go. The gun itself shook with nerves in her hands. The expression on her face was one of anxiety, her lips set in a firm line. It felt like she was saying those three terrifying words all over again, just as unconsciously as before.

“He needs more than what we’ve got here.” He watched as she took that in and could see she knew he was right.

“You can’t go alone.”

“You can’t come with me! What if those things get in here? Kev would be an all-you-can-eat buffet to those fuckers!”

“It’s a death trap if you go alone. Hell, it may even be a death trap if I go with you, but you won’t make it alone.”

“We can’t leave him here to die.”

“Then no, no way, you’re not going.”

“He’s gonna die if I don’t get something! You were even saying so last night, weren’t you? He needs some antibiotics.” Nick was trying to sound calm, rational, and logical – three things that he never quite accomplished properly. Still, someone had to stand strong; someone had to keep from breaking down.

“And you’re going to fucking die trying to go get them! It’s a goddamn hospital, you barely made it out alive from one before, and that was before all the goddamn corpses even managed to rise! If there’s a mass zombie party, the hospital is where it’d be. We’ll figure something out, but you are NOT going to a hospital.”

“What if there’s no other option? You’re just going to let Kevin die?!”

“Of course not! But what if you don’t make it back!?” she countered. He could see her fighting back the stream of tears that threatened to fall. There was so much left unsaid in that statement.

He approached her cautiously, wrapping his arms around her, pushing the gun aside. “I’m going to make it back.”

“No… no, you won’t.”

He buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. “Yes, I will. I swear. I’m going to come back just fine.”

Riley shoved him away, her expression stony and cold. “You’re a dead man walking. You already decided. Just go.”

“Rye, come on.”

“No, you’re practically dead; just go make it official already.”

“Just have a little faith. I’ll be okay.”

“Like Howie when he almost died? Or how about Kayleigh when she did? Just fucking go already!”

“Rye-”

“Get out!” she yelled, looking like she wanted to do nothing more than curl up with a teddy bear and cry. The gun fell to the floor; the safety must have been on, as it didn’t go off. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if to make up for the embrace Nick wanted to give. But he couldn’t try to find another way. He couldn’t just waste time when he knew this was the only answer. So instead, he gave one last look at the girl who held his heart, grabbed his weapons, and walked out the door.

***

Nick sat in the Hummer for awhile outside the hospital, unsure of his next move. When he’d thought this over, it had seemed simpler than it actually was, once he arrived. He drove carefully around the building, hunting for the pharmaceutical entrance. He figured that would be his safest route, less bodies there, hopefully, and then he wouldn’t be forced to make some roundabout journey in search of medication.

That was the other hole in his operation. What medicine should he get? He knew antibiotics would be his best bet, but that was as far as his knowledge went. They’d always relied on Jo for any medical incidents, big and small alike. Sitting there in the Hummer, he realized they probably should have had her teach them what she could, just in case.

He cut the engine, hearing the moans from outside the vehicle. It was harder to tell now how many were close than it had been back in Tampa. On the base, once they’d cleared it out, they had learned how to determine how far off a ghoul was from the decibel and distance of the moans. Now, there were so many, it was just a neverending chorus.

Nick grabbed his axe and doubled-checked to make sure he had his handguns and ammo tucked away. He swallowed back any fear bubbling up from within his stomach and opened the door. The smell, once again, slammed his senses, and he wondered if those zombies would ever just finally decompose completely and fall apart, thus doing them all a favor. The zombies wandering amongst the cars detected him immediately. His feet slammed against the pavement as he raced indoors.

He kicked through the small door, coming up to the desk of the pharmacy. Hearing the zombies behind him, he looked around before grabbing a nearby mop and jamming it through the door handle to keep the door shut for now. He just prayed the shatterproof glass of the door would stay true to its name.

Nick glanced around, reacting just in time to a uniformed, undead nurse lunging at him. They fell to the ground, her jaws snapping at him eagerly for her next meal as the axe slipped from his grasp. The hands wrapped around his neck, and he struggled for air, as he fought to get free. His hand struggled to reach his weapon, as spots began to appear before his eyes. Nick struggled with every ounce of strength he had, his other hand keeping her just out of biting reach. Finally, he was able to grab the axe and slam it clumsily into her skull as hard as he could. He felt the skull shatter beneath the force, and the reanimated corpse slumped on top of him. Nick gasped for air, enjoying the feeling once he was able to breathe normally again. He shoved the body off of him, getting up slowly.

“I’m never going into a hospital again after this,” he muttered, putting the axe back into the strap along his belt. “Only for Kevin would I do something this damn crazy.”

Another zombie rose from behind the counter, and this time, his guns came out swiftly. The first shot slammed into the zombie’s shoulder, causing it to stumble, and Nick cursed his own bad aim. The next shot connected with the skull, and he watched it fall quickly to the floor. He heard another set of moans, sounding like they were coming from the other side of the door at the end of the room, leading to the rest of the hospital.

I really don’t want to know how many heard me just now, he thought to himself with trepidation. He put his hands on the counter, hopping over it with ease, due to his height. He walked into the back room, where another zombie was there to greet him. He stumbled back, almost tripping. A shot fired off wildly, as a result, bouncing off the metal lamp hanging from the ceiling and firing through the top of the zombie’s skull. Nick, once again, was thankful for his incredible luck. He ran into the stock room, leaping over the newly-fallen body, and started sifting through the medical prescriptions.

“Okay… antibiotics, antibiotics. Fucking doctor handwriting; how the hell do they expect anyone to read this shit?” He fumbled his way through the little bags of medication, reading the labels and tossing them aside as the moans grew louder.

“Fuck, fuckety fuck fuck!” Nick yelled, forgetting himself as shoved a bunch onto the ground. “I don’t got time for this…” Finally, he saw the labels he’d been looking for. “Penicillin… okay. Amoxicillin…” His eyes skimmed the label. “Okay, that too…” He saw several bags, but the one word he read was “antibiotic.”

Not caring about much else, he grabbed as many of them as he could, stuffing them into a larger bag he found stashed under the shelves. He thrust himself back over the counter, pulling the mop free from the door handle. Before the ghouls could shove their way in, he forced his way out, axe once again in hand. Many fell to the ground, and using that window of opportunity, he ran through the small gap, using the blade of his weapon to decapitate only those that got truly in his way.

He ran for the Hummer. He didn’t think about it till later, but he felt more in shape than he used to be. Once past the horde, he felt his speed pick up without as much effort as it used to take before the dead had risen. Nick raced quickly into his ride, tossing the bag of medications into the passenger seat, started the engine, and floored it.

“Cause this is Thriller! Thriller night…” he sang happily, a song of victory. The moment deserved one, because Nick recognized the fact that he had been incredibly lucky, once again.

***

“Honey, I’m home!” he called, as he came through the doors of the golf course clubhouse. The ride had been uneventful, compared to the hospital trip. All the drive had taken was some careful maneuvering around the wreckage of cars, and keeping his lunch, as he ran down zombies again and again. It wasn’t hitting them that unnerved him; it was feeling the bumps as he drove over them that did it.

Riley kept her back to him. She was standing by Kevin’s bedside – or couch-side, if Nick decided he wanted to be accurate. He could see her shoulders jerk just a bit, so it wasn’t like she hadn’t heard him. Nick strolled towards her, shaking the bag. “I’ve got goodies.”

She didn’t respond.

He sighed. “We can try the penicillin first, see if that works.” He knelt down beside Kevin, who groaned tiredly in his sleep. Nick grabbed the cup of water Riley had been using to try and keep him hydrated, after taking out two tablets. Opening Kevin’s mouth, he laid them on his tongue, following it up with some water. Once he was sure Kevin swallowed them, he stood back up, turning back to Riley, who was watching sullenly. She turned away before Nick could get a good look at her face, not letting their eyes meet.

“If they don’t work, I brought some others.”

“Good.” It was one word, short and harsh.

“You’re not even going to talk to me?” he said, feeling hurt. He hadn’t had a choice; why couldn’t she understand that?

“I can’t…”

“Can’t what? Can’t talk to me? Why?”

“No, that’s not it, Nick! God!” Her voice shook.

He grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to turn back towards him. That was when he saw. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face splotchy from tears shed while he’d been away for the past couple of hours. It hurt his heart, seeing her so broken like that, knowing he was the one who had caused it. “Hey, I’m here; I’m okay. Kevin’ll be okay.” His hands rested on her shoulders, one coming up to stroke her cheek affectionately.

“I can’t take this. I can’t… I can’t lose Kevin. We’re so far from the others; we’ll probably never see them again. Kevin might die from this infection, zombies are roaming the world, and he might die from an infection, Nick!” Her eyes watered again, and Nick wondered when was the last time she had let herself break down like this. “And… losing him would be bad enough. But when you left… I thought…”

He pulled her close, and he held her tight. Her body shook, as he wrapped his arms around her, her face buried into his chest. He understood the fear she had; he had felt that very same feeling that day at Buckley, when he’d seen her just before the blasts. For an instant, he had thought she was going to die, and the fear of losing her had been all-consuming and more powerful than anything he’d felt before. There were no more words spoken between them.

There didn’t need to be.

***
Chapter End Notes:
"Song For The Undead" along with other stories the two of us write on our own, have been nominated over at the Felix Awards! If you haven't already, please check them out HERE and vote! :)