Deathly Contagious (28 page)

“Oh. Sorry,” he repeated, gave me a hug and let me go to focus on the movie. I rolled my eyes.
Men
, I mentally scoffed and sighed. Not wanting to start anything, I let it go and watched the rest of the movie with Hayden.

The following day we were back on our normal schedule. After breakfast and working out, Fuller wanted us to teach the A3’s more hand to hand combat skills.

He told us that we needed to start being more conservative with bullets; my new go-to weapon was the bow and arrows. While on the topic of commodities, he also told us that we weren’t to use the air conditioners in our cars while out on missions. The gas tanks in the barn were running low.

Gabby, Jessica, Noah, Jose, Alex, Mac, Wade, and Rider left that morning to bring back the supplies we gathered. They met with Sam, a pleasant middle aged man who used to be a truck driver, for a demonstration on how to drive a big rig. Wade and Rider took the only semi truck we had in our possession; the large horse trailer it pulled would be great for filling with the stuff we’d need.

They were supposed to come back that night. The store was only an hour away. The moon replaced the sun and there was no sign of our missing friends. Ivan was sure that with eight of them, they’d be fine. They most likely took a wrong turn and wasted their daylight driving around on the hilly, windy roads. Hayden blankly looked ahead, nodding in agreement to what Ivan said.

It was a horrible feeling, one that dug and tunneled its way not only through my heart but also my stomach, making me sick with worry. I had let go of being pissed at Alex; he wasn’t worth it anymore. And along with the six others were two of my friends. I hoped Wade and Rider really were just lost.

Hayden and I both had a hard time falling asleep that night. He tossed and turned, pulling the covers off of me more than once. I was about to suggest he get into his own bed when he finally fell asleep. Only a few hours later, he started thrashing again.

“Hayden,” I said, sleepily sitting up. “Wake up, it’s ok. You’re here with me; you’re safe.” His body jerked violently. Thinking he might fall off the bed, I put my hands on his shoulders and gave them a gently shake.

Hayden sat up so fast his head hit mine. I coiled back in pain, my hands flying to my nose, expecting it to start gushing blood. I could feel Hayden shaking. I didn’t think he was fully awake up.

“Hayden,” I said right as blood poured down my face. I hurried out of bed so I wouldn’t get blood all over. My foot caught on the blankets and I fell, no doubt splattering blood all over the floor.

“Riss?” Hayden asked, sounding utterly confused.

“Yea,” I mumbled, spitting out blood.

“What’s going on?”

“You hit me.”

“I…what?”

I stood, tipping my head up. I instantly coughed on the blood. “Later,” I mumbled again, my bloody hand slipping off the door knob. After a third try, I opened the door and ran into the bathroom. I gagged into the sink, the taste of blood making my stomach churn. I turned on the water and leaned close to the faucet, rinsing the blood down the drain.

“Fuck,” Hayden’s voice came from behind me. “I really did hit you.” He rushed forward, not knowing what to do. He put one hand on my back then removed it, he then extended a towel to me, dropped it and finally pulled my hair back and out of my face. I took a washcloth and painfully pinched the bridge of my nose.

“You didn’t mean to,” I said, my voice coming out nasally. Though I was in pain, I laughed at the sound. Hayden looked at me like I was a crazy person for finding it amusing.

“I feel horrible. I-I don’t even know what happened.”

His eyes were wide, his face was pale and I bet his skin was clammy. He looked like hell from dragging himself out of his nightmare. And I felt bad for him having to go through it alone.

“It’s ok,” I told him, wincing as I pressed the towel a little firmer onto my face. “I guess I shouldn’t have shaken you. I think it startled you.” I wasn’t mad at him. It was an accident and I was sure Hayden really did feel more than horrible about it.

“No, it’s not ok. You’re fucking bleeding. I broke your nose!” He looked at his hands, expecting to see blood on his knuckles.

I pointed to his head. “You head butted me.” I sat on the toilet and tipped my head up. I could taste the blood that ran down my throat. I spat it out into the garbage.

“I am so sorry, Orissa,” he said, his hazel eyes clouded with guilt.

“It’s ok,” I told him again. “I’m not upset, Hayden.”

“You should be! I fucking made your nose bleed!” He knelt down in front of me. I made sure my hand wasn’t bloody before I held it out for him to take.

“You can make it up to me in sexual favors,” I joked. Hayden wasn’t amused.

“Here,” he said, gently taking the washcloth. He cleaned up my face and went downstairs to get me a bag of ice. “You’re gonna have a bruise,” he told me grimly. He looked absolutely sick about it. I wasn’t happy about that, but I shrugged it off.

I had a lovely blue bruise over my nose when I woke up. Hayden kept apologizing over and over, to the point where it got annoying.

“I’m not mad!” I snapped and then regretted it when I saw the hurt look on his face. “Really, Hayden, please. Let it go. I’m fine, it was an accident. I won’t tell anyone you beat me,” I joked. He kissed my forehead and agreed.

“What happened to you?” Lauren asked as soon as I stepped behind her in line for a tray.

“Got hit while training the A3’s,” I said without missing a beat.

She snorted a laugh. “Maybe you shouldn’t train them. Obviously you don’t know how to defend yourself.”

“And you would do a much better job?” I retorted.

She flipped her hair. “I’m not cut for such…such
brutality
,” she
sneered.

“Oh yea, so brutal, teaching them how to fend off zombies.” I grabbed a tray and moved a foot down the line. “How dare I do such a thing?”

Claudia, one of the older ladies in charge of coming up with our meal plans, put a bowl of oatmeal on Lauren’s tray. Lauren wrinkled her nose and grumbled out having oatmeal—again. I was sick of it too, but I thanked Claudia for the food nonetheless. I stepped out of line, waiting for Hayden.

“You never got that hair dye did you?” Lauren asked, slowing as she walked past me to her table.

“No,” I scoffed.

“Of course you didn’t.” She pressed a small smile and narrowed her eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, my temper rising.

“Oh, nothing, It’s just that I shouldn’t have expected it. All you care about is yourself.”

I imagined myself dropping my tray and jumping on her. Resisting that urge, I took a deep breath. “That’s bullshit,” I loudly told her, causing several people to turn and look at me. “I care about a lot of people.”

“Mh-hm,” she said and sat down. “That’s why you couldn’t pick up one little thing for me.”

“It wasn’t on our list.” I leaned forward. “Because it’s not important!”

“I’ll have it put on a list,” she jeered.

“And I’ll have Raeya take it off.”

She set her tray down on her table, stabbed her spoon into the oatmeal, and spun around. “You know what?” she questioned, her voice high pitched. “I’m getting really tired of you thinking you’re better than everyone. You think that just because you’re an A1 you get special privileges! It’s not fair. And, I think I speak for more than just myself when I say it needs to stop.”

I gripped my tray. “I do not think I’m better than everyone. But I am better than you, you ungrateful bitch! And special privileges—name them!”

“You get to leave here. We are stuck!” she said, looking at the residents crowded around her table. “Do you know what it’s like? It’s like a prison. You know how that feels, don’t you? What would everyone say if they knew their beloved, brave Orissa was a felon?” she asked smugly. “Oh, you didn’t tell them? Wonder why? And why are you the only ones who get to work out? And have rooms—real rooms—upstairs?”

“You want to leave? You want to go out there and see zombies and crazies and rotten bodies and burned down cities? Do you want to almost die every fucking time you leave the safety of this place?
You
remember what it was like out there—newsflash, bitch, things aren’t any better! And the A’s use the gym to
stay in shape
because we have to run all the damn time. Run away from zombies who want to rip our organs out and have a feast!

“And our rooms are the
least
safe place to sleep in the whole compound. Hmm, what’s more important, being safe at night or having curtains? And the bathrooms—we share! And our water doesn’t stay hot like it does down here. So instead of whining how it’s not fair, shut up or do something. We don’t owe it to you to keep you safe. God knows I don’t owe it to you to go out and gather food and supplies for
you
.”

Lauren glared at me. “You better be careful, Orissa. Don’t forget who you’re messing with!”

“Oohh, I’m so scared of you,” I huffed. Hayden set his tray down and stood behind me, prepared to break up the argument.

“It wasn’t that long ago I was the one on top,” she reminded me. “Pathetic really, how in the real world you were nothing but a drunken loser from a broken home. Who knew the zombie apocalypse would be so good for you.” She smiled triumphantly and clapped her hands. “Congratulations, Orissa. I’m sure your mother would be so proud of you. Oh, that’s right. She was never around. How could I forget, she preferred the company of starving, disease ridden children thousands of miles away than to that of her own daughter.”

Rage flooded my veins. “You never knew who Roger cheated on you with,” I jeered. “Now you do.”

Lauren jumped up. I set my tray down on the table next to me, slamming it and accidentally knocking my watered downed juice over.

“You bitch!” she screamed and pounced, attacking me from behind. Her hands grabbed a handful of my hair. Fighting her off was a joke. In one easy move, I flipped her over my head. She dug her nails into my skin and I brought my foot back to kick her in the side when someone’s arms wrapped around me.

Hayden lifted me up, pulling me back. Lauren wasn’t letting go and got dragged a few feet before Ivan rushed over and pulled her off. She thrashed against him, screaming to be let go.

“Calm down,” Hayden whispered in my ear. “She’s not worth it.”

I was shaking with anger. It took everything to listen to Hayden, but I did.

“You ok?” he asked.

“Fine,” I spat, panting. I marched over to the sink and got a towel. I mopped up my spilled juice, apologizing to the people who were sitting at that table. Lauren was still fighting against Ivan.

“I’ll let go when you calm down,” he told her.

“I hate you, Orissa!” she screamed. “And if everyone knew who you really were, they’d hate you too!”

“Ignore her,” Hayden suggested. “She’s trying to get to you.”

I focused on cleaning up the rest of the mess I made. Forcing myself to move in a way that made me appear calm, I filled my cup up with water, took my tray and sat in the back, in between Hayden and Raeya.

“She’s a bitch,” Sonja immediately said, like a good girlfriend was supposed to. “I can’t believe she said those horrible things about you. And we like you,” she promised, looking at Jason and Olivia. They nodded.

“You’re awesome,” Jason said with a smile.

“Thanks,” I breathed.

Ray put her hand on my shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze. “I should have pushed her out of the attic when I had the chance,” she joked and I laughed. “Did you really sleep with Roger?”

“Eww no. I made that up.” Even if Lauren’s ex wasn’t repulsive, I would never be the other woman. I saw how devastating being cheated on was for my mother. I would never stoop so low.

“That’s what I thought.” She smiled. “And you know nothing she said was true, right?”

“Right,” I agreed. Hayden rested his hand on my thigh, slowly moving his fingers in little circles. I didn’t want to admit it, not to Hayden, Raeya and especially myself, but Lauren’s words cut into me, searing with the pain of truth.

“Did she hit you?” Olivia shyly asked me.

“No,” I told her, knowing she was confused by the bruise on my face. “I got hit during training yesterday, that’s all.” I cast my eyes to Jason, who knew that wasn’t true. He pressed his lips together and slightly nodded, taking my hint that I didn’t want to be questioned. “But I’m fine. Sorry I interrupted breakfast.”

“Now you’ve both caused a scene in the cafeteria,” Brock teased, looking from me to Hayden. The chatter amongst the residents started back up again, building back to its normal volume. When I walked to the front of the cafeteria to dump my tray, I caught Jenna, Char and Owen staring at me. Add my squabble with Lauren to me shooting their companion a few days ago, and I’m sure they thought I was fifty shades of crazy.

No one else questioned me about my nose. Ivan, Brock, Hayden and I worked out, trained the A3’s and then impatiently waited for the others to arrive home. We were all upstairs in Ivan and Brock’s room playing video games. I couldn’t get my virtual solider to walk straight. It was frustrating that I repeatedly got shot and died.

I was about to give up when someone knocked on the door. Fuller stood there, looking pissed as usual. I set the controller down and stuffed Hayden’s dog tags down my shirt. Expecting him to say something about the other A1’s returning, I was a little taken off guard when he asked me to follow him into the hall.

We went several doors down from the room. He took a deep breath and looked down at me.

“I understand there was an issue at breakfast today,” he said.

“Yea,” I simply responded.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

I smiled innocently. “Bitch got owned?”

“Orissa,” Fuller bellowed. “You cannot act this way.”

“Why not?” I retorted. “She deserved to get her ass beat after what she said. And
she
attacked
me
.”

“I don’t care what she said! And we both know she poses no threat to you; you could have avoided a physical confrontation. You have to set an example. We’ve already discussed this.”