Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) (11 page)

I claimed Brian’s seat and Heather scooted as far from him as she could, up against the door. James avoided my gaze. I stared out the front windshield and watched the miles fly by. The wheels rolled us closer and closer to who the hell knew what? There was nothing worth more to me than two of the people in the car. Nothing.

~~~

We parked in the empty lot, dead center between the street and the building. I asked Brian, without turning to him or moving much at all, “Now what?”

He repositioned the gun, the metal parts of the action tinkling on each other in the nervous silence. “He said he’d be watching and would retrieve us when he was ready.”

My palms moistened. Beside me, James’s tics had increased to where his hands had a palsy-attitude as they shook on his legs. Shadows covered him in darkness. Dominic would never be able to see him clearly. Exactly when Dominic would be ready was anyone’s guess. The man had a bipolar perception of life and I had no idea how to read him at any given time – try as I might.

We watched. Waited. Tried to breathe normally.

I rubbed the upper portion of my arms. “Is anyone else freezing?” My fingers were graying again. I pointed at James’s forearms. “You don’t have to say anything. Your goose bumps are almost as bad as mine.”

Brian sh’d me, kicking the seat. I swiveled my head. Dominic walked our way, surrounded by five boys roughly my age or a little older obviously placed for protection. Oh, Dominic hadn’t changed, his oily car salesman brand stringently enforced by his gray polyester suit, black silk shirt open to mid-chest, and what could only be alligator boots. He raised his hand in hello, as if greeting an old friend. The rock on his hand, banded by bright yellow gold, reflected the white light from the parking lot lamps.

Holy shit.
I had time to notice Dominic’s bling. The moment dragged on forever. He seemed to move slowly but too fast at the same time – the rustle of his soles through stray rocks on pavement echoed through the air, through the glass. I couldn’t focus. I glanced at James, startled by the droopy slant to his eyes and passive gaping mouth. I pinched the inside of my hand, where the nerves were most sensitive – not yet gray but close – and snapped my mind back to myself. Dominic didn’t have complete hold of me, he’d released me at the warehouse compound, but he had some kind of connection to me that I’d let my guard down against. Or maybe my open connection with Travis had increased my vulnerability to Dominic’s mind control.

No matter. I controlled it and Dominic was no longer in my head. I wished I could say the same about James.

I grabbed my brother’s hand and squeezed. But he’d never been released. He didn’t have enough time to practice or even enough exposure to Dominic’s ways to know what to expect.

Heather shrank further into her seat. The slight movement caught my eye in the mirror. Her eyes had trained on Dominic, true fear ruling her reaction.

Pure anger at the power Dominic had over James and Heather shot through me. Anger and I didn’t mix well and my reactions weren’t always smart. But whatever. I slid out of that SUV so fast no one knew what to do. Not the people still inside that I cared about and not Dominic or his minions.

I was down on the ground, clicking the door shut before Dominic’s guard could slide into a defensive stance. I pointed over my shoulder toward the SUV and called across three car lengths to the frozen group. “You can stop the charge. You’re not coming any closer.”

Dominic clapped his hands. “Dear Paul, I said I wouldn’t hurt you. Don’t you trust me?” He peered past me into the dark vehicle. “Is
she
with you? Where’s Brian?”

Just the idea that Dominic thought about Heather made my organs want to switch places with each other. I lifted my chin, the challenge difficult to remove from my voice. “They both are. Brian has a gun on Heather. I’d suggest you release his mother so he doesn’t harm Heather.”

Dominic inclined his head. Without another word, he twirled his finger over his shoulder. A door popped open from the side of the YMCA building, spewing two more young zombies and an older woman, about Connie’s age, dressed in jeans and a paisley shirt. They handled her roughly, growling deep in their throats. Discoloration on her cheeks and neck suggested torture and I hoped Brian couldn’t make out the details on her skin. Mascara streaked her cheeks, evidence she’d cried – but no indicator on length of time or how hard.

A glint in Dominic’s eyes promised something I didn’t want to admit recognizing. His own blood lust wouldn’t let her go. Brian wouldn’t make it out of there as a human or alive, either. But the mother would be destroyed. Dominic didn’t tolerate female zombies around him for anything. And for the first time, I wondered what his aversion to the opposite sex meant.

Brian burst from the SUV, his hands empty of his weapon. “Mom!” His cry echoed around the parking lot. His mother raised her eyes, lifting her hands toward him for help. He ran toward her. “Mom. Are you okay?”

Before Brian could reach her, the boy on her right reached up and ripped her throat out, silencing her mid-scream. Brian cried out, falling to the ground as she slumped before him. He crawled the last few feet to her body, pulling her jerking form into his arms. Sobs rumbled through him. Part of him would never forget this moment, but in the next, Dominic wouldn’t let him avenge it, his plan plain as day… at least to me.

Heather’s cries from inside the car added more pain to an already torturous moment.

I clenched my fingers, even as the two zombies who had dropped Brian’s mother lifted him to his feet, kicking the now-dead body to the side. They dragged Brian to Dominic, suspending him between them with little effort. His crying hadn’t stopped.

As moved as I was by his remorse and circumstance, I couldn’t help but wonder if he would have been able to avoid the next move, had he been less emotionally reactive and more instinctually in tune.

Dominic embraced Brian and slid his teeth into his skin. I turned my head. If I was completely honest with myself, for only a moment, I’d understand that part of my revulsion arose from my desire to be the one biting into the flesh. It was the same part that sought out the discarded body laying mere yards from my feet.

Abandoned flesh. But human flesh. For all intents and purposes, I was a vegetarian – only ate herbivores – ish. We didn’t need to discuss the mountain lion I’d enjoyed not that long ago.

Heather’s cries turned to screams, distracting me.
What the hell?

I swung open the door and froze. Dominic knew about James’s presence. It’s the only explanation for what I saw. Now I had to decide between attacking my brother or letting him devour the girl I was falling for.

How many nights would I have left to regret my actions? I jumped into the SUV and wrapped my arms around James’s torso, including his arms that stretched and reached for Heather. “Damn it, James. What’s wrong with you?”

I yanked and pulled and finally wrestled him across the front seat and onto the pavement. He snarled and nipped at me, his teeth millimeters from my skin. I jerked back from him, yelling over my shoulder to Heather. “Lock the damn doors!” A well-placed kick shut the front door and I pivoted between James and the car as Heather shut the back door and I waited for the mechanical click.

My brother’s face had twisted into a parody of itself – angry and consumed with hatred. If I believed in demons, I’d suggest he was possessed, but I don’t. Hell, I just discovered zombies are real – do I
have
to believe in more? I held up my hands to shoulder level. “James… buddy, what’s the matter?”

He laughed, low, cackly, not like him in the least.

Adjusting my gaze past his face, I set my jaw. Dominic had turned and folded his arms across his chest, the slightest smile graced his puffy lips. For some reason, Botox came to mind. He reminded me of the chicks on the strip. The lazy glint in his eye matched that in James’s.

The anger washed from me. I wanted to be angry – I really did. But James was my brother. I
think
I was falling for Heather, but I
know
I loved James. I was so damned tired. “Okay, Dominic. What do you want?”

Brian moved on the ground beyond Dominic’s feet, his jerky motions drawing my attention. James didn’t move as Dominic turned to see what distracted me. He waved his hand and faced me again. “Don’t worry about him. He’s one of mine now.”

“One of yours? Like I was?” I bit my cheek. I wanted James back to normal. But I’d brought him and Heather into this and it was my job to get them out. But I had no allies, no way to win, and Dominic’s army seemed to be without any mental control in their grasp.

He laughed – a habit in the most inappropriate circumstances. “No. That’s just dumb. Look what happened with you? You’re a deserter. I can’t have that, you know?” Dominic bent down and grabbed the struggling Brian’s shoulder and jerked him to his feet. Hands entangled in the material at the back of Brian’s shirt, Dominic shook Brian. “Pathetic. You know, you guys are worthless until you get meat in you? Not just any meat – has to be human meat. If you have human meat, you’re much easier to control and the muscles don’t atrophy or go gray – even after a day or two without food.”

Dominic looked over his shoulder and spoke to the boy next to him. My excellent hearing strained, but I heard him. “Get him the body. He needs to eat.”

What body? Not his own mother’s. Dominic wasn’t that sick, was he? He couldn’t be. My mouth dried up. I suddenly wasn’t as hungry as I’d been.

And why the hell couldn’t he be? He’d invented this damn virus that took away people’s lives on the pretense of superiority – mirrored after Lou Gehrig’s disease.

James didn’t move his focus from me, but I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t. Nothing on earth could make me walk away from the scene playing out before me. I didn’t dare blink.

Dominic’s boy dragged Brian’s mother in front of him with one foot. The leg landed on the ground, the thud solid and lifeless. I could smell her. And I didn’t want to. Brian’s face was blank. His eyes had a glazed, vacant light – like James’s. But deep inside, he had to be warring with the control Dominic had over him. I remembered the slight power he’d held over me and the difference when he’d broken the connection. Brian was tied more completely to Dominic.

The other boy grabbed Brian’s arm and pushed him down toward the body. Brian resisted, fighting against the inhumane act he was being forced to perform. Dominic didn’t need to speak. He watched, his shoulders tense until Brian caved under the mental pressure, moving mechanically as he tore into his mother’s body, eating the flesh and major organs as multiple zombies drooled around him.

Muffled sounds of retching came from the SUV. How would Heather survive this?

James still hadn’t moved. My brother didn’t have to eat me at least. I won the war and looked away from the nightmare before me. Hell, I’d thought I had it bad.

Dominic spun on one heel and faced me. The move startlingly similar to a Fred Astaire turn I’d seen in a movie long ago. My palms were sweating and I’d give anything to pause that moment, freeze it so I could grab Heather and James and get the hell out of there. I’d never wanted to see my mom as bad as I did in that second.

James’s mouth moved, but Dominic’s voice came out, an odd phenomenon with Dominic feet away, his mouth closed. “Oh, Paul. How I wish you’d rejoin me. I could use someone with some brains and not just a pushover.” He chuckled. James’s jaw moved but his face was caught in anger. “I’m surrounded by idiots. But I think you’ll rethink your position once you see how I’ve extended the lifecycle of our kind, at least the breakdown process.”

“I don’t trust you.” Speaking the obvious, true, but I spoke it to Dominic and didn’t pretend to address the charade James was trapped in. I refused to let the temperature affect me. It’d dropped sometime after we’d arrived.
Hell, no, don’t shiver, Paul.

“Funny you thought I wouldn’t know James was with you.” This time Dominic’s words came from his own lips.

James growled. Released from Dominic’s voice but not his control. He dropped his leg back into a fighting stance.

“I’m not fighting you, James.” I lowered my hands until they were palms down, parallel to the ground. “You can fight him, I know you can.”

Dominic sauntered closer and placed his hand on James’s shoulder. “I hope he fights me. It’s more fun when they do. It hurts them, but I’m not so bored.” He nodded his head toward the vehicle. “When do I get her?”

I dropped into my own stance. “You don’t. Your boys aren’t getting their hands on her and neither are you.” James and I faced off. I choked on a sob in the back of my throat. Dominic would make me fight James. I knew it. He couldn’t get in my head, but he’d rip out my heart.

The bastard smirked. “If you say so, Paul.” He patted James’s upper arm. “I’ll watch from over here.”

James crouched, ready to spring, his face tight but the light in his eyes more focused. Three of the other zombies rounded behind us and approached the vehicle from the opposite side. Heather yelled for me from inside, pounding on the glass as one of them punched the back window – once, twice, three times and the glass shattered.

Heather unlocked the back door and sprang to my side. I held my arms out like on a basketball court, ready for anything. James screeched and screamed, his fists tight. My stomach clenched. Shit. I didn’t want to fight my brother.