“Okay, ready… set… Go!”
He lunged forward and I yanked at the door. I was expecting to hear the screeching growl from Randy, but I instead heard nothing. Zilch. Nada. Only silence and the soft hum of the lamp still sitting on the Jeep. Randy was passed out on the ground, face down, as if he’d fallen and refused to move. Okay, so the sun still had quite the effect on him, and it was startling to see him vulnerable when just a few hours before he had been so incredibly frightening.
“Well, that was easy.” Elijah poked at him with his boot, but he didn’t respond, so he reached down and flipped him over with a good, hard shove. He waved me over and pointed toward Randy. “He’s all yours!” He cracked a smile while I frowned and rushed over, whipping out the rope to tie his wrists and ankles together. He was going to hate this when he came to, but it was for the good of everyone involved.
“Okay, done,” I said.
Elijah opened the back door of the Jeep and heaved Randy’s slack body into it like a rag doll, not caring if Randy’s head thumped against the other side. This just made me frown deeply, and I avoided his happy smirk as I made my way back inside to grab a couple of bags of supplies to toss into the back of the Jeep. By then, Sarah already had the garage opened along with propping the door into the house wide open. She was tossing bags of supplies out to put into the Jeep.
“How do you put up with him?” I asked her, shoving a trash bag of food into the cargo area. I decided to keep my own bag with me in the cabin so I wouldn’t have to dig for my weapons when needed. We always had to be ready to jump, grab stuff and run.
“You get used to him.”
I wrinkled my nose as Elijah, who was chewing on a bag of mixed nuts with his shades on, studied the road down and back into the hills on the horizon. “I don’t see how.”
Sarah laughed and slammed the hatch closed. “It’s an acquired taste.”
“Yeah, like shitty, cheap beer?”
“Be nice.”
I stuck my tongue out and went around to the empty side of the back seat where I plopped my bag in between me and Randy before I slid into the cool comfort of the seat.
“Sorry about the rough ride, Randy, but it’s just going to have to suffice for now,” I muttered as I slammed my door shut. He moaned slightly as he turned to adjust his body, blissfully unaware of anything that was going on. How lucky he was to not notice much right now.
“All right,” Elijah said, “did everyone hit the loo? ’Cause I’m not stopping, just so you know.” We all mumbled, and he turned the engine over. After pulling the Jeep into the driveway, he jumping back out to close the garage door, leaving the house as we had found it. I looked at him questioningly as he hopped back into the vehicle. “Hey, can’t leave a messy trail for people to find us.”
He had a point.
We got back onto the highway and traveled down the pass, which was excruciatingly slow due to the increasing number of abandoned vehicles. We were getting close to the city, and I knew we’d eventually have to abandon the freeway and use the side roads to get to the coast, but I didn’t mind.
It was the start of a new phase of my life, and I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Twenty-One
Breath of Life
The ride down the pass was slow and tedious, with cars blocking the road everywhere. My stomach was already feeling twisted, and the constant turning and curves made me even queasier. I remembered my parents speeding down the hills in this area when we’d traveled through it on several occasions. Now it was a mess, strewn with debris from crashes, twisted metal and just… stuff. Lots of it. People’s luggage, furniture and various other items they’d thrown out of their cars in a hurry to get the heck out of the horror engulfing the world. I wondered why some were heading toward the city. Would it not be the dumbest decision to head toward the chaos? The other side of the road was also an almost impossible trek. There’d been more people leaving than staying. We’d have to remember to take this side of the road on the way back to Vegas.
Were we ever going to go back? I rubbed my eyes as I glanced at Elijah and Sarah. What had they thought about all this? There’d been few words between us, and I knew they meant well, but I really didn’t know what they expected to get out of this adventure. Maybe there were no expectations. Maybe they would do anything I asked, even if it meant never returning to Vegas again.
I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on them, not yet. If they were to decide to return before I was ready then I would let them go, of course. I wasn’t their keeper. We were all free souls here.
I focused on Randy, who muttered in his sleep on and off and cringed away from the window when the light would shift and hit him right on. He was the least free of us all. He was trapped inside his own body which didn’t want to expel the virus it so desperately held onto. Did he need another dose of the antidote? Would it kill him?
I wiped my hands on my pants. It made me nervous to think of such things. If I gave him another hit of the antidote, would we be ready to accept what could happen? I’d have to ask Randy, when he was more lucid and communicative, if he ever would be again, before the night hours sucked his humanity away.
He shifted in his seat again, the ropes still snug against his wrists. He never fought it, accepting his fate to be tied up instead of free. How it saddened me. It put me in a somber mood as I turned back and stared wearily out the window. We passed San Bernardino more quickly than I thought we would. The neglect was apparent there, just like in Vegas. I’d hoped to find a better place, anywhere, where the devastation had not been as widespread as it had been back home.
“There it is!” Sarah yelled and bounced on her chair, pointing toward the horizon. The ocean finally came into view in all its glittery, blue majesty. I had to admit, it was stunning, and I hadn’t felt so excited in a long while. I cracked the window open and let the rush of ocean air tumble in, sniffing it like it was a drug. Sarah was doing the same, hanging out her window, letting the sea breeze tangle her hair and squealing with exhilaration.
“Ocean, baby!”
How do you stay in a bad mood with the ocean nearby? The smile on my face made my cheeks hurt as the breeze whipped my hair into a disheveled mess, but I didn’t care. It was amazing, even when the Jeep jerked to avoid yet another abandoned vehicle. Once we were on the beach, I was going to shed my boots and dig my toes into the warm sand and hit the waves running. There was no doubt about it. One thing I’d missed from my younger years was the feel of the grainy sand underfoot, digging for shells as the cold ocean water rushed over me, sucking my feet down as it retreated but begging me to tread farther in. I never swam out too far. My fear of the unknown had somehow anchored me to the shore where my feet could always graze the sand so that the ocean could never truly claim me. It was tragic, I knew that. Still, I’d enjoyed the water until the sun had burnt me to a crisp and my skin was raw from the constant rubbing of sand against it.
There was no beach in Vegas. Here was my only reprieve, where I could jump into memory and forget what was really going on around us, even for just a moment.
And so, as we reached the shores of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach, I was eager enough to jump out of the Jeep as it slowed to a stop and run the rest of the way toward the froth of waves and roar of the water. Once at the shoreline, I barely remember ripping my boots and socks off my pale feet and jetting into the water, up to my thighs and farther in until I floated chest deep and the waves attempted to knock me over.
The water was freezing, and I gasped as each wave pelted my head and my temperature dropped enough to send my lips quivering. Still, I splashed the water about, watching the drops gleam as they turned into faceted rainbows. It made me laugh, and I didn’t stop until I saw Sarah jumping in, clothes and all, joining me in the exhilaration of it all.
“Elijah! Get in here, you big ogre!” she called out, waving him over as he approached the waterline. He didn’t jump in right away. In fact, the way he stood there with his arm
s crossed and a frown creasing his face, I was sure that underneath his sunglasses and hardened exterior, his eyes were disapproving our enjoyment. Whatever. He could be such a party pooper.
“Someone needs to keep watch while you have your little fun.”
Sarah stuck out her lip and pouted then glanced over at me and winked before she dove under the surf and disappeared. What was that woman up to?
Minutes passed, and I was getting nervous as I spun around, eyeing the waves for Sarah’s bright head of red hair. I saw nothing, but Elijah dropped his arms and looked about as spooked as I was, having chucked his sunglasses down. He yanked off his boots, barely hopping out of them before running into the water and diving in yelling for Sarah.
I had to get a better view of the water, so I swam closer to the shore to look around. Where the hell had she gone? I knew better than anyone else that she knew how to swim. Why was she doing this? Whatever her reason was, it wasn’t funny, and I was going to ring her neck the moment we dragged her out of the water.
“Sarah! Sarah!” Elijah’s head emerged, water droplets flying from his locks as he yelled out, scanning the waves before diving back under. The wait to see him resurface had me on edge as I stood on my toes, still not seeing Sarah return from the depths. A sudden flash of orange caught the corner of my eye, but it disappeared before I could confirm it.
“Elijah! Over there!” I hollered, pointing madly as he resurfaced, spit out a mouthful of water and turned in the direction I was pointing. That was all he needed to redirect himself and dive under the froth of waves once more. The moment he went under was the moment Sarah popped up, not far from where I’d last seen her. She treaded back in, laughing hysterically and turning a bright red as she pulled her sopping wet tail of hair back to squeeze the excess water out. She marched toward me, still laughing when Elijah popped back up, focused on her and dove in her direction, raging mad.
“What the hell, Sarah!” He started high-stepping through the water as it hit him hard on the back and shoved him forward, causing him to stumble before he caught his balance. “I swear I’m going to make that death wish you’re aching to fulfil come true!” He spat out a mouthful of water as he pushed forward and stomped through the knee deep surf toward her. She tried to run but couldn’t outpace him in time. She laughed as he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder before heading back into the water, cradling her only to swing her body out into the coming crash of waves.
I shook my head, glad I was finally enjoying a bit of the fun I’d intended to have. After rinsing the sand from my arms and pants, I squeezed the water out of my pony tail and waited for them on the shore. The waves lapped weakly at my ankles as I sank into the sand. Tiny holes bubbled up through the sand as the water retreated, and I watched the earth slowly suck me down until my ankles were covered in the stuff. Seaweed and debris littered the shoreline, looking much like it had before the vampiric virus had hit, except maybe it was a tad bit worse. There were no people on the beach to gather up and dispose of the trash floating ashore. No one barbequing at the fire pits lining the beach barrier to the parking lot. No beach towels lined up against the glittering sand. No oiled-up bodies or canopies to block the view. No screams of squealing kids or laughing bunches of teens drinking their illegally obtained beer and playing beach volleyball until they were as tanned as leather.
It was eerily quiet. Even the cars in the parking lot sat under a layer of sand that caked their windows and piled up around the tires, aching to overtake the beach once more. It’d been left alone too long. The asphalt had disappeared under the shifting sands. It was all over the place, even up the steps of the lifeguard towers, laying in drifts that hadn’t been there the last time I’d visited.
The land was still very much alive and taking back the earth from the long dead humans.
Studying the skyline, I spotted the pier down a ways and wondered if it had suffered much from over a year left to the elements. It appeared intact, but there were piles of seaweed tangled on its legs and barnacles clinging to the wood where the water periodically receded before filling up the shoreline once more. The stores and shops atop it were still there, but many windows were obviously smashed while others were boarded up, as if someone could be living in there, watching us.
The feeling of eyes peering back at me crept up my spine and down my arms, making the chill of the water as it dried off my clothes in the warm Californian sun feel even colder. So we were not alone, but who knew what was up there looking at us across the seashore? It was at least a mile or two down the beach, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go there. To find others was one thing, but I needed to find those who could help us replicate the antidote and perfect it, not those who would find sanctuary on a long forgotten, rotting pier. Still, it would be a good hiding place if the ferals were afraid of water, which they might very well be. It was hard to know if they were because there were no bodies of water in Vegas where I could have tested such a theory. Lake Mead was miles away and too far from anywhere to appeal to them.
If only there was an island out there free of infection. That would be something to look into. Maybe, if somehow we did get to Hawaii, they would be Zompire free. Wouldn’t that be nice?
I shook the thought from my head and turned back to watch Elijah and Sarah toying with each other, splashing water and repeatedly shoving each other into the waves. Their laughs clashed with my darkened mood, and I tried to push the gloom away, but it always managed strangled me somehow. Why couldn’t I just enjoy myself? I had to try to make an effort to feel alive again, especially since there was so much I still had to do. Feeling dead inside wasn’t conducive to do the task I’d set out to accomplish. It wouldn’t help me any. I had to bring myself back to life, not just for me but for Jeremy.
If I’d ever see Jeremy again.
I gulped down the bittersweet longing suddenly surrounding me. I missed him already, and though I knew he was safe, having fun where he belonged, I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing something so dear to me, something so vital it was ripping my heart out, and I was left but a shell walking around, empty and worse than any Zompire. If I was going to be any good for my baby brother, I had to fix this broken soul first, before I could ever love anyone else, before I could again find some semblance of a normal life.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Soot and Sand
“Hey, space cadet!” Elijah slapped a cold, wet hand on my back and brought me out of my reverie. I was still sitting on the sand, almost dried off from the warm sun hovering above. “Where’d you go?”
I smiled as he sat down next to me, dripping and messy. “Just thinking.” I had to admit, at least it didn’t bother him to be all wet and caked with sand. He made things look so easy. Sarah was out of the water, too, but had run back to the jeep and was now bringing back three towels and some water bottles. She dropped one of the soft towels on me and handed me some of the water, winking as she plopped down next to Elijah. I hadn’t even noticed how thirsty I was until the first gulp passed my lips, and I downed half the bottle in just a few swallows.
“Thanks.”
“Anytime. Isn’t this awesome?” She hugged the towel around herself, her lips a pale tint of purple as the cold sucked her heat away.
“Yeah, it’s really great.”
“Almost makes you feel normal, doesn’t it?”
I nodded, sadly peering across the shore and into the blue horizon. “Yeah.”
“Did you feel them, too, April?”
“The pier?” I asked.
Sarah nodded, taking another sip of water. “Yes. There’s someone in the shops up there. Want to check it out?”
I shook my head. Wisps of my dark hair slapped my face. “I don’t think the ones we need would be holed up on a beach pier.”
“You never know.”
I turned toward her, giving her a stern stare. “I know. I need people who’d find a more secure location. They won’t be easy to find.”
Sarah
didn’t look convinced. “You don’t know that. One thing about an apocalypse, people don’t think clearly. But when it the world has fallen apart, where would you want to really be in the end? I’d choose paradise over a hole in the ground and surviving in the dark. Wouldn’t the beach sound better than the bloody hills?”
“That’s ridiculous.” I sighed. Leaning forward, I pressed on my thighs and traced a swirl into the fine sand with a finger. Dusting off my hands when I was done, I looked up to find Elijah and Sarah watching me.
“What?”
“When did you get to be such a downer?” Sarah toweled her hair and looked away, disappointment written all over her features.
“I’m a downer? Being logical isn’t a downer. It’s called thinking with my head on straight and not in the fucking clouds like some people are all the time.” I stood abruptly, threw the towel over the crook of my arm and stormed off toward the Jeep. Her words made me furious. Who did she think she was? She never had any concerns or worried about anything. She’d lived above ground only briefly. I’d lived over a year in the elements. The only thing she’d ever worried about down in the City of Vida, the lap of luxury, was whether she’d break a nail practicing with her swords. It irritated me to no end, and I ignored her calling me back as I made my way to the Jeep.
I yanked the backseat door open and jumped back as Randy’s body half fell out. He didn’t awaken, but his skin began to smoke and sizzle under the intense afternoon sun reflecting off the white sand. I tossed the towel onto his face, grabbed him and started to shove him back into the Jeep. Finally, huffing under his weight, I managed to shove him back to the other side of the seat where the sun didn’t shine into the window. I peeled the towel off to find him flushed red from the exposure to the sun. His skin had tiny darkened lines on it that made me wonder what was going on. Something was definitely wrong, and I didn’t know what to do about it.