Four (Their Dead Lives,1) (20 page)

“I acted like I didn’t believe you at first. Truth is, I didn’t, but after a while things started to happen that changed my mind.”

“Like what?”
 

Alec clenched his teeth and released Kale. “It doesn’t matter. I wanted to have a normal life with Nicole and still try to use my,” he cleared his throat, “you know, I just wanted to keep some of it. Not let it all go like Scot. I wanted to feel some—”
 

“Power,” Kale supplied, his face hard.
 

“Whatever you want to call it. The fact is, I don’t have any gifts or powers. I get people hurt.” Now his fist clenched. “I couldn’t even save my own brother.”
 

“Alec, buddy, look—”
 

“No. I’ve said what I needed to say. All that matters is that Homer gets well and we hope for the safety of Scot and our families. I just want you to know I don’t hate you, Kale. I never did. I want you to understand that.”
 

Alec pulled away but Kale grabbed his arm. “Have you talked to your parents?”
 

“No, cell reception was gone last night and it’s still not back.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t get through to them either. Do you think we made the right choice going with these guys? I mean, I was arrested so I didn’t really have one.”
 

“Running off to my parents’ house with Nicole would’ve been too dangerous. Keeping her safe is what’s most important to me. Being with the guns seemed like the safer route. I think we made the only good choice available.”
 

Kale allowed himself to be mollified and leaned back on the bench, his gaze still holding Alec’s eyes. “Let me know if Homer wakes up.”
 

Alec nodded and disappeared into the interior of the yacht.
 

The ocean was calmer than before, still as beautiful. And although Kale appreciated Alec’s words, and although the day was still bright, he couldn’t help but curse under his breath.
Something must open his eyes.

ALEC

Flames forever burn.
 

Although he lay with Nicole on a berth inside the yacht by the captain’s cabin, his mind traveled back to Lake Terrace, a city neighboring Green Hills. He was a firefighter rookie — a ‘probie’ to his fellow firefighters. He had always wanted to fight fires.
A fireman?
Kale would mock him
. Sure, and I want to be an astronaut.
Although it sounded like a childish dream, Alec took great pride in the profession, and ever since that day at the well, he’d felt change he needed to unleash. Of course, he would’ve never admitted this to either Kale or Jeff. They would’ve barraged him incessantly to do silly things that would cost him time with Nicole. But he wanted to do well in the world. He wanted to save people. So he chose the path of the firefighter.
 

And failed abysmally.
 

Back in Lake Terrace, an apartment complex was ablaze as Alec stood outside in his yellow bunker gear. Trucks, squad cars, and ambulances surrounded the area. People were screaming, crying, searching for loved ones. He was wearing his helmet and face mask, unlike the man he was to follow in, Cecil ‘Clutch’ Hutchenson. Clutch was braver than the other firefighters in Alec’s house. A little too brave, perhaps. Sometimes reckless and constantly on the Chief’s radar, Clutch was a renegade. Many aspired to be him.
 

“You ready, kid?” Clutch asked Alec.
 

Alec nodded behind his mask. They were the first in, joined by four others. Clutch took to a stairwell immediately and Alec followed, one other firefighter behind him. Clutch charged with his axe in hand. The higher they went, the thicker the smoke. The stairwell was dark, cloudy, burning and tight. They all wore their breathing apparatuses, even Clutch.
 

Behind Alec came Archer ‘Archie’ Crane. He had worked at the Lake Terrace house for a couple of years before Alec joined. He never talked much, except during fantasy football season. He ran the whole thing for the house.
 

Clutch slammed his shoulder into an apartment door that refused to open. They could hear a girl screaming on the other side. Archie told Alec to stay low, and he got on his knees, axe in hand. Archie and Clutch swung their axes at the door, alternating blows.
 

The entire complex shook with the violent force of an explosion.
The floor at the end of the hall they were in buckled, and flames ripped through the air.
 

“We need to go!” Archie grabbed Clutch’s shoulder.
 

“Keep hacking!”
 

Alec stayed, crouched under the smoke, not knowing what to do. All his training and preparation had suddenly vanished. The apartment door crashed down and Clutch charged in first. Flames tore through the carpet at the end of the hall and spread onto the walls, forming a fireball that shot down the hall straight for Alec.
 

“Get in!” Archie screamed from the doorway.
 

Alec pushed off his knees as the flames licked at him, only to be tugged in the apartment by Archie. They both tumbled in and watched as the fireball shot across the hall.
 

“Is that normal?” Alec grabbed Archie’s arm.
 

“No. I’ve never seen something like that!”
 

“Will you two Chatty Cathys get up and find us a way out of here?” Clutch held the now unconscious girl over his shoulder. At least her screaming had stopped.
 

Archie rose first and tugged Alec to his feet. The hall outside was being devoured by flames and clogged by smoke. Archie leaned out the apartment and tapped the hall floor with his axe. One hard tap caused the floor to cave in, revealing the burning inferno below them.
 

“Obviously not that way!” Clutch turned back.
 

Alec rushed to a window overlooking the complex’s courtyard. There was a pool, but it wasn’t nearly close enough for them to make the jump.
No safe way down.
 

“Hack through the walls until we get to the last apartment and pray we get a ladder, boys!”
 

Alec heaved and hacked and heaved and hacked. Archie did the same, and even Clutch put the girl down to help. They ripped through the first apartment and rushed to the farthest wall from them. If Alec remembered correctly, they had three or four more apartments to bash through until they reached the end.

Alec beat the other two firefighters to the wall and began to hack at it. Archie yelled for him to wait. He turned and as he did he saw the floor ignite.
From below!
 

“
Run!” Archie yelled and Alec leapt on a bed as the floor was burnt to a crisp. He scrambled across the sheets as the bed tipped back, sliding into the furnace beneath him. He reached the end of the bed but began to slip.
 

Archie grabbed his hand and tugged him forward to safety. They stumbled out of the room but the floor kept burning in their direction.
 

The room spun. Alec froze.
How? Why? Already?
 

“Back! Back!” Archie waved frantically to Clutch. They crawled and scrambled to their feet and rushed into the first apartment they’d entered.
 

“Bash through until we reach the staircase and hope it’s still there, boys!”
 

On the walkie, Chief yelled the fifth and sixth floors were gone.
No shit.
They hacked and heaved and hacked and heaved again in a last ditch effort to get out safely. The next apartment was finally revealed, but the hole in the wall needed to be bigger.
Keep hacking!
 

“
Pull it open!” Clutch commanded.
 

Archie neither hacked nor pulled, simply plowed straight through the hole, smashing the sides down with his flying body. He sprawled out across the ground and lost his helmet in the process. “Alec,” he coughed, a line of blood snaking down his forehead. “Alec, help me up.”
 

But Alec froze. The floor underneath Archie was engulfed in flames like it’d been beneath Alec minutes before. Archie writhed on the burning carpet. Eyes wide, he reached for Alec. “Grab my hand! Quick!”
 

The heat brought Alec back to focus. “Archie!” The floor vanished in a flash of heat and Archie fell, but Alec dove and managed to grab his hand. He slid forward, tugged to the flaming pit by the weight of his fellow firefighter.
 

Nicole.
He saw the beauty in her eyes as he slid right to hell, leaving the heaven of her touch.
 

Clutch grabbed Alec’s legs, refusing to let him and Archie burn.
 

His fingers wrapped around Archie’s wrist, Alec watched as the man dangled above a jungle of flames.
 

Fire and smoke. Burning and death.
 

“Hang on!” Alec’s teeth clenched.
 

“I’m losing you!” Clutch yelled from behind.
 

Archie’s glove slipped up his wrist.
No!
 

The floor cracked beneath Alec and he knew they’d all fall and burn.
Just heave up, lift him, use the strength Kale knows you have. Just be the hero. Save them!
 

The floor broke, and their fall became ashes in Alec’s stomach.
 

Dripping with sweat, he came back to Nicole, who touched his cheek gently as they lay together on a berth in the yacht.
 

“Same nightmare?”
 

Yes.
Although he couldn’t remember the details of how he managed to survive while Archie hadn’t, he knew why. Unlike Archie’s body which had ignited in mere moments, Alec broke through the fifth floor, and then to the fourth, in time for a rescue before the apartment was lost.
 

After his recovery, he chose to quit his dream; he’d not get another person killed. However, sometime later, his desire to return grew so strongly, he made another attempt. Word got around he was unstable and unreliable, which was why he couldn’t get hired at the Green Hills department. He didn’t blame them. He wasn’t cut out for it and deep down he believed he should’ve been the one that burned instead of poor Archie.
 

Clutch and the girl had somehow made it out. But that was who Clutch was —
Clutch
.
 

Two heroes in Alec’s life had died while he survived. Archie was the first, with his brother, Brian, being the tragic second.
I should’ve been the one to hold the dead off last night, not Brian. I could’ve survived. Not him. I let him die.
 

“Alec.” Nicole’s touch was as soft as her whisper. Her brown eyes were shining and inviting. Her firm lips opened and he could see some saliva stuck between them. He grabbed her head, pulled her to his face, and kissed her with more force than he intended. Her tongue slipped wetly in his mouth. He flipped her on her back and hit his head on the ceiling. She laughed as she wrapped her legs around him, pulling tight. He stared into her eyes and the world was never deathly or dark when he slid inside her.
 

They were quick to finish, forgetting that Jeff was in the alcove next to them. Nicole blushed but Alec was quick to dismiss her worries, although he was just as embarrassed. He wasn’t sure why, exactly. Jeff had been in and out of his coma and even when he was conscious, his words were slurred and his eyes confused. His moments of consciousness lasted only seconds.
 

Alec knelt by the berth his friend rested on. Jeff's face was stained with dirt and blood, his soft blond hair was a mass of knots and mud, and his black uniform was shredded and torn all over, but under the fabric, his skin was whole. All his cuts had healed, some had even turned into scars. On his thigh was a leg holster.
Empty.
Alec wanted the gun, or anything to help protect Nicole. She was the only person,
the only thing,
worth living for. So he returned to the berth where she lay, covered only by a thin blanket. He snuck under the covers, pulled her close and kissed her hair. His world went dark but fire crossed his memory.
 

Flames forever burn.

SCOT

How I love her emerald eyes.
 

They sat, forming a sloppy circle in the back of the food mart. Scot was across from Kelsey, Sadie next to him, and the newest member to the group, CJ, a tall, lanky teen, who wore a dirty baseball uniform, black and gold, the colors of the Green Hills Panthers. His once-white pants were stained with grass, blood, and brains.
 

CJ had arrived at the food mart while Scot was out cold. Apparently, CJ had been with his teammates celebrating a victorious practice (celebrating like Scot and his friends had tried to do that same night) when the undead attacked them. CJ was the only survivor and claimed to have killed at least three zombies with his metal alloy bat. Bashing Betty, he called it. He held the bat close as they sat around talking, passing the time, waiting for the old man, Nasir, to tell them their next move.
 

Scot found it funny they had stayed at the food mart. They didn’t know this man Nasir. Yes, he saved them, but that shouldn’t earn trust
right
away. Then again, what else were they to do? It was dangerous outside, Scot’s parents were out of town, and his ‘friends’ could be anywhere. So he really had no reason to leave. Here they had food, drinks, and contact solution for his poor dry eyes. He knew they couldn’t stay for too long, though, because the mart wasn’t exactly the safest place to take refuge given its glass doors, small and cramped space. The survivors could easily be overwhelmed, trapped, and messily devoured.
 

But they sat around, talking quietly and snacking. Scot munched on a bag of cheese nachos, peanut butter cups, and he downed a Vitamin Water for good measure.
I’m just asking for the diabetes.
His eyes would every so often latch to beer in the fridge behind Kelsey. How he wanted to take one.
There will be time for that, I’m sure.