Love & Decay
A Novella Series
Episode Ten
By Rachel Higginson
[email protected] Rachel Higginson 2013
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To Zach,
This would not exist without you.
Just like so many other things.
Chapter One
705 Days after initial infection
“We need to talk about this,” Vaughan told Gage.
Gage looked at him like he had lost his mind. His short blonde hair was without his signature bandana today and his face cleanly shaven. He was dressed in black, as usual, and his body screamed something like marine or army ranger- only instead of the military, he simply belonged to a Zombie-infested Apocalypse. “What exactly is your plan if you don’t stay with us?”
Vaughan’s eyes slid to mine. Traitor.
I glanced around the lobby of the storage facility; Gage and his people used this as a meeting room because it let in the most light. Although, the natural lighting was limited to the two glass doors that led to the outside. During the day, the whole lobby would be hazy with soft daylight, and during the night, black curtains would be let down to cover the candlelight that would replace the sun.
This was also the most collectively furnished room in the facility. There were random kitchen chairs, a few worn out couches and an old school desk that was not at all comfortable but still served a purpose. This was one of the only rooms where the majority of tenants could gather in a large group.
The rest of the complex was cast in flickering candlelight that gave the hallways and units-turned-apartments romantic tones and made me feel like I was living in a medieval castle. There were no windows and the walls were made of cold, concrete bricks. Other than the glass doors that led into the building, the only other entrance was a back garage door big enough for semi beds that was made out of thick metal and locked with a series of functioning levers. The solid stone wall surrounding the large property finalized this as the perfect outpost to survive the Apocalypse.
Gage and his people had seriously hit the jackpot of end of the world survivals outposts.
And maybe us too.
If we decided to stay.
“We’re headed south,” I shrugged casually.
Gage’s eyes widened in surprise. “How far south?”
“Um, pretty far,” I said vaguely.
“Peru far,” King groaned. Ok, so maybe my original Peruvian-mountain-haven idea wasn’t exactly popular amongst the gang these days.
“You will never make it that far,” Gage declared. His shock morphed into grave somberness. “Trust me when I say you won’t even make it out of Oklahoma. Did y’all see what they did to the highway? Did you notice how they are organizing themselves? It just gets worse the further south you go!” Gage looked to his right for some support.
“He’s right,” Clara- Gage’s right hand woman agreed. “There is no going south. Feeders have taken over most of the Border States and from what we’ve heard, all of Mexico. There’s no telling what is beyond that because no one has lived to talk about it. What in the hell would make you want to travel that direction?” Clara always got straight to the point. She was a hard woman- severe and dominating by birth not just circumstance. She was a fiery red head, with chin-length frizzy hair she’d chopped with a machete from the looks of it and startling green eyes that saw more than most were willing to reveal. She was muscular, lithe and cold. If I had to guess, I’d say she was in her mid-thirties, but life was tough these days and tended to age us well-past our years. Still, she’d been kind to us and her devotion to Gage and this complex was obvious.
I thought about my answer to her question; an explanation staring with “a phone-call from an estranged aunt over two years ago” just didn’t seem like a valid enough reason to share anymore. “A hunch?” I offered instead.
Hendrix snorted a laugh, no doubt following my train of thought and Vaughan just smirked at me. They were fully on board with my plan if I still wanted to keep traveling- at least I thought they were- but I was starting to doubt my own intuition. Had I really been interested in making it south of the border? Or was that just something for Haley and I to work for in a world where there was no future or solid objective to search for, other than just don’t die? It was hard to say at this point. But a desperate grab for distraction didn’t feel that far out of the realm of possibility.
It was especially hard to tell after we spent a few days here, in Gage’s compound. There were private rooms in the form of cleared out storage units, there were woods beyond the property that had a clean, fresh creek flowing through them so we could bathe and plenty of food and water to nourish us all. This was a community of people who valued each other and human life, treated women as equals and didn’t Zombify those individuals with differing opinions.
It wasn’t perfect. And I needed to come to the final conclusion that going to the bathroom would never be easy or private ever again. But I respected these people and the laid-back community they’d built and kept. I didn’t trust them yet, but if I stuck around I could see myself learning to rely on them. And other than the times it was my turn to run patrol, I finally slept the entire night through.
This had been the most peaceful few days of the last two years.
“I see your point,” I finally sighed. “But really it’s not up to me.” I looked back at Vaughan and Hendrix and shrugged. If they wanted to stay, I would stay.
Leaving them behind to conquer my own, personal crusade was no longer an option. These people were family now, embedded in my soul, there was no way I was leaving them. And if they ever tried to leave me, I would read the Kane Allen handbook on how to stalk and possess. They were so not getting away from me.
“Thank you for the offer, Gage,” Vaughan took over again. He smiled genuinely and then dealt his blow carefully. “You have a very nice set up here. Best we’ve seen yet. We’ll talk it over and let you know.”
Gage still looked perplexed, but he nodded his consent. “Take all the time you need. If you decide to stay, we’ll move you into more permanent residences.” He stood up to leave and Clara followed him. He moved toward the staircase, calling over his shoulder before he left, “Tyler, come find me later.”
“Where will you be?” she asked sounding a little reluctant.
“Around,” he answered vaguely.
I did not envy Gage’s attention for Tyler. He seemed to make her about as uncomfortable as Kane made me; only she wasn’t as creeped out as I was. She shifted in her seat and avoided eye contact with the rest of us in favor of scowling at her feet.
“Alright, thoughts?” Vaughan called our focus back to him. “I’d li
ke to hear everyone’s opinions on what we should do and what you would like to do. Ready, go.”
I expected everyone to start talking at once, for there to be as many ideas as there were people, for yelling, shouting, arguing and name-calling to ensue. Instead, Vaughan’s question met silence and a lot of guarded glances my way.
“Hello,” I bit out defensively. “It’s not like I’m the only one here with an opinion!”
“But we’re on your journey of self-discovery, Reagan.” Harrison stood across the room; legs spread wide, arms crossed against his chest. His eyebrows were lifted in challenge and his voice held an equal amount of bitterness and macabre amusement.
“You guys followed us!” I countered. “Haley and I had a plan. We didn’t ask you to come along!”
Haley gasped and then spit out, “Reagan!”
“What?”
“So it’s our fault we have almost died every single day since we met you?” Harrison took a step toward me only to meet Hendrix who stepped between us.
“Harrison,” I groaned. “I want to stay here. Will you stop trying to talk me out of it?”
“No, I’m sick and tired….” He peeked around Hendrix’s broad shoulders. “Wait, what?”
“I’m tired of hitchhiking our way across Zombie-fest. I’ve actually gotten three nights sleep in a row! I’m as clean as I have been in a very long time. I’m all for staying here.” I smiled up at him, since he was now towering over me from where I sat on the arm of a couch. “Plus, these people hate Kane. What more could I ask for?”
“Running water?” Haley threw out.
“Indoor plumbing?” Tyler added.
“No Zombies?” Page smiled sweetly.
“Windows,” Nelson said seriously.
“Electricity,” King grunted.
“Privacy?” Hendrix was the last to throw in his two cents. “Flowers. Candy. Need I go on?”
He remembered? “Ok, stop!” I laughed. “I get it. I could ask for more. But I don’t need to ask for more. I’ve got everything I need right here.”
That sentimental thought met a room full of cheesy and sarcastic “aw’s” and an empty water bottle thrown at my head. The affection from this group was almost overwhelming. No, stop guys, really. You’re embarrassing me.
“The real question is, are there any objections to staying here?” Vaughan cut in- truly acting like the only responsible person here. “And it doesn’t have to be forever. But at least for a while. We could get our feet under us again- start stocking up for the future. This might be good for us.”
“We’re still pretty close to The Colony,” Haley pointed out. “I know there are more important things to worry about than that. But Kane is still with us. And Tyler’s dad might still be looking for her and Miller.”
“He is definitely still looking for us,” Tyler declared in an accent that screamed Southern Belle circa Gone with the Wind. “You can bet on it. And he’s not likely to quit. But y’all do what you need to. Don’t change your plans on account of Miller and me. We’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves.”
“Tyler…” Vaughan sounded livid, but Tyler didn’t let him get very far.
“Vaughan, don’t even start with me. I have no patience for your condescending thoughts today.” Tyler hopped to her feet and made a beeline for the door.
Vaughan caught her wrist easily in his fast-as-lightening hand and pulled her to a stop. “We’re not making this decision without you, Ty. You can separate us in your pretty head all you want, but you need to know that we take care of our own. You and Miller are part of us now, and we’re going to do what’s best for this group as a whole. If you say go, we’ll go. If you’re fine with staying, even if it’s just a week or two, we’ll stay. This isn’t a majority rules situation, yeah? We do what’s best for everybody. Even if that ‘everybody’ includes a stubborn control-freak that won’t last three seconds out there on her own before she becomes Feeder food.”
“Lord, Vaughan, you are just full of compliments today.” Her voice was deceptively sweet before she slapped him across the chest. “What if I don’t want to be part of your little family?”
Vaughan just grinned at her. “It’s too late to pull out now.”
Vaughan and Tyler stared each other down. Vaughan with a devilish smile twisting his lips and his dark blue eyes sparkling with cockiness and Tyler, the Ice Queen, giving him her best laser-beam eyes. Either she was about to kiss him or punch him in the nose.
My money was on Tyler turning into Mike Tyson. She wasn’t exactly the sexual-tension kind of girl.
The strain on the room was finally broken when Harrison coughed, “That’s what she said.”
“Oh, my gosh,” Haley groaned.
“I just don’t understand why you don’t want to be a part of this?” I choked on my laugh. I couldn’t let Harrison think I thought that juvenile joke was hilarious or that I was about ready to dissolve into laughter, or that I had the humor of a thirteen year old boy! Must. Stay. Strong.
But then Haley ruined my resolve when she about swallowed her tongue trying not to laugh. Harrison’s brothers just stared at him with a mixture of awe and repulsion plastered on their handsome faces. And Page and Miller didn’t even pretend to get the joke.
“I’m struggling to find my reasons, too,” Tyler drawled shooting Harrison a slightly less scary version of her scowl.
“What?” Harrison shrugged. He over-pronounced each of his words when he explained, “It’s like you all really expect me to be mature. Haven’t we learned our lesson by now?”
“He makes a good point,” Hendrix sighed.
“Can we move back to the point?” Nelson stepped in, gaining some composure. “Tyler, what are you thinking? Really? Do you think your dad will track you here and if so, what do you think he will do? Can he make you go back there?”
“He can’t make us do anything,” Miller put in stubbornly.
Tyler winced. She knew better.
“What do you want to do, Ty?” I pressured.
She looked around at us with cool, calculating eyes. I could tell how uncomfortable she was with the attention, how unnerving our affection for her felt. She jumped on the Parker train-to-safety thinking we would be a quick fix to an ugly problem. She had no idea what she signed up for and no intentions to stick around.
To be fair, Haley and I hadn’t really known what we were getting into either. But we understood we were better off with these boys and their beautiful little sister than without. Tyler still teetered on the fence, not quite ready to commit to a Parker-family life sentence, not quite ready to face a Zombie-infested world all by her pretty self.
Kane was right. This girl was a runner.
Her gaze fell to Vaughan and stayed there. I watched a hailstorm of emotion pass between the two. It was hard to say what was going on between them. But it was also impossible to deny there wasn’t something there.
Vaughan had been interested in me not that long ago. I watched him have feelings for me. With me, he was sweet, assertive, but reserved. He gave me space at the same time he made his objectives clear. I could read Vaughan with his sincere looks, a tilt of his full lips or the amusement that often danced in his eyes.
He was almost the exact opposite with Tyler. But for some reason, I didn’t feel convinced that meant he didn’t want anything to do with her. Actually, it seemed more like the opposite.
And Tyler was something else entirely. She still loved her dead boyfriend. Vaughan lived in completely untouchable territory. And I didn’t really believe she had feelings for him. But I knew she respected him. And they were kind of thrown together just because Hendrix and Nelson were already taken.
Right now, as Tyler held Vaughan’s gaze a hundred different emotions flickered across her face. From uncertainty, to fear, to horror to something like determination and then finally settled on trust. Her grayish silver eyes hardened until her entire body radiated with challenge.
“Fine,” she eventu
ally agreed out loud. “We can stay. I’m not going to put a time limit on how long or how permanent this is. But you have my permission to set up house.”
Vaughan visibly relaxed back into his chair and smiled. “Thank you, your Grace.”
“Knock it off,” she hissed back.
Vaughan chuckled and then turned to the rest of us. “We’ll stay until we’re all ready to go. Gage said this could be as permanent as we’d like and that he will assign us rooms. I will hammer out the details with him and let him know what we’ve decided.” Remembering something important, Vaughan turned to the youngest Allen. “Miller, are you alright with this? You get a say, too.”
Miller looked from Vaughan to Tyler and then back to Vaughan. He nodded with the gravity of a man trapped in Justin Beiber’s body- young, scared, unpredictable and more than a little bit angry. “I trust my sister. If she wants to stay here, then she knows best.”
Vaughan nodded and the rest of us smiled at Miller encouragingly.
“Alright, then it’s settled,” Hendrix clapped his hands together and then stretched them over his head revealing a delicious line of taut stomach. “We’re staying.”
“We’re staying,” I echoed in a soft voice. I stared at my hands for a few moments, trying to make sense of this. I hadn’t “stayed” anywhere in the past two years. Every night, or every few nights had been a one night stand with whatever semi-secured place Haley and I could find. And now we had a permanent-ish residence?
Maybe all my mail would catch up to me.
“I’ll go talk to Gage.” Vaughan stood up and grinned at us. I think the idea of setting up house appealed to Vaughan’s weighty sense of responsibility. It was easier to protect his tribe if there were solid walls surrounding us and most of our needs were taken care of. “He should have room assignments for us soon, and he’ll put us into a permanent guard rotation.”