Learning To Live (Zombie Overload Series) (12 page)

While
waiting, we shoot down more of the undead that show up. The two guys
pull up in my and Will's truck and Will and I go over to help bring
the chains and rope to the gate. Ryder and Ricky, being the most
athletic, climb the fence next to the gate, chaining and roping the
top. While some of us hold the gate up, the rest secure the middle
and bottom on the sides.

Finally
finished, we step back and I suggest letting some of the zombies that
are coming up the road try to get in so we know if it will hold. We
do and it does-against the half-dozen here, anyway. How much more it
can hold, I don't know. We shoot these and head back to the house.

We
all reload and then climb into the three Hummers and Kurt's truck,
and head to the back of the house. Getting out of the vehicles, we
check and clear the areas we couldn't get to earlier and then make
our way to the back woods. Spreading out, we search and, again,
scattered shots ring out. I take down two of my own. Making it to the
very back, I'm impressed by the new fencing-actually it's more a wall
than fence.

I
walk the wall until the end and follow the it back up in the
direction of the house. I'm shocked at how much they had gotten
finished while we were gone. The entire back and one side down to the
barn has been done.

I
see the others pull up into the yard near the front of the house and
I walk toward them. None of them even knew I had walked up here.
Nice
to freaking know they would have just left me behind.
Asses!

Will
meets me halfway, puts his arm across my shoulders, and walks back
toward the house with me.

"Hey,
Babe. How you doing?" he asks me.

"Well,
I'm tired as hell, dirty, had a frikken maggot on my face, and now
I'm pissed off."

"Why?
Wait, a maggot? Huh?" He stops and forces me to face him.

"Yes,
a maggot. And I'm pissed off because none of you jerks even noticed I
wasn't with you. You morons would have just left me back there!"

Will
looks at me for a moment, then grins. Putting his arm back across my
shoulders, he turns us and we continue walking.

"I
saw you walk back. I see more than you think I do," he says the
last part with a warning in his voice.

I
look over and up at him with a worried expression.
What the hell
is that supposed to mean?
Later.
I
j
ust can't
deal with much more right now.

We
enter the house and are immediately blasted by noise of raised voices
from everyone trying to talk at once. Kids screaming in fun and
running around, footsteps, and chairs moving.
My head is about to
explode!

I
throw my hands up over my ears and Will grabs my raised arm, pulling
me to the stairs. Mom calls out asking him "what's wrong"
and he tells her I have a headache and just need to rest. Mom and
some of my sisters start hushing everyone and the volume lowers for a
couple seconds. I roll my eyes and grin at Will as we make our way up
the stairs.

First
I insist on a shower.
I mean, really? Who can sleep when
they are filthy and can still feel a maggot plopping on their face?
Don't lie! You couldn't either!

Will
runs out to grab some more clothes, and I'm pretty sure I'm almost
out of clean fatigues. I strip and get in the shower while I wait for
him. As he comes in, I ask him to take my clothes to Mom and ask her
if she will wash my fatigues. He says he will and tells me he also
brought my toothbrush and paste.
Ah, bless him!

I
use Rose's shampoo, conditioner, and soap. Here I am, enjoying a
shower once again, long after I thought showers would be a thing of
the past.

I
hear the door open and ask Will for a towel. Holding out one arm, I
shut the shower off. Feeling the soft cotton in my hand, I open the
shower curtain and start to step over the side of the tub, when I
look up. Startled, I trip and fall straight into the arms of...
Jake
!

Jake
catches me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight. Of
course-at that very moment-I hear a throat clear and look up to see
Will at the door, arms crossed.

Oh, wow!
This looks pretty damn bad-Jake with his arms around my waist and my
arms around his neck-me naked and him in the room in the first place.
How the hell can I explain
this
so Will believes me? Well, I guess I'd better at least try.

"Will!
This really isn't what it looks like, I swear!" Boy if that
isn't a line from half-a-million movies-but it's the
truth
!

Seething
with rage and hands now clenched tightly at his side, he snarls out,
"Well if that's true, then why the hell are you still hanging
all over him?" I jerk my head back and look at my arms still
tight around Jake's neck.

Flinging
them down and scooping up my towel, I back away, pressing against the
far wall. I wrap the towel around myself and anxiously watch both
men.

Jake,
with his cocky grin, has no idea what I know. Will takes a few steps
toward Jake. Jake straightens, his grin spreading wider. Just as Jake
opens his mouth to say something to enrage Will further-
I'm
sure
-Will's arm is a blur as it comes up and connects with
Jake's face.

Jake
flies into the tub, his feet never touching the ground. Will stalks
over and grabs Jake by his shirt front, raising him up. Another punch
to Jake's face, and Jake's body relaxes as he loses consciousness.

I
know Will hasn't let out all of his anger and I don't really know
what to do. I want to go to him, but he's scary as hell when he's
pissed.
Sexy, too!
His body looks bigger, bulging with
muscles. What people see when he's dressed is an illusion to what's
underneath, but when he gets pissed off, clothes or not, you get to
see how powerful he really is.

"Will,
stop. You'll kill him!"

He
turns to me and I flinch at the wild anger in his eyes. He thrusts
his hand out to me and I just look at it, not stupid enough to move
toward it. My eyes flick back to his and chills shoot through my
body.
Yep,
those
kind of chills!
I love it when he's
mad-that's why I make him that way so much.
Again, so sexy!
But
this is a little more than just mad.
This
is pure rage.

He
growls at me, his hand still out. I hesitantly put my hand in his and
he pulls me out of the room. Pulling me roughly down the hall, he
kicks a slightly open door and it slams against the wall.

Finding
the room empty, he pulls me through and kicks the door closed. He
jerks me to him and with a face hard as granite, brings his lips down
hard, covering my own. I allow my towel to fall and our hands are all
over each others bodies. The bed too far away at three feet-we sink
to the floor.

We
lay in the bed, finally, and Will holds me in his arms.
What? Did
you really think I was going to tell you all the details? Perverts!

I'm
lightly rubbing my hand over his chest, barely able to keep my eyes
open. I'm not even sure I can open my mouth to respond when Will asks
if I'm ok, so I just nod.

He
pulls his arm out from under me and raises his upper body. Turning
slightly, he looms over me and cradles my face with both hands. He
looks deeply into my eyes.

"I
know what happened. I was outside in the hall when I heard you ask me
for the towel. I looked around the door frame and saw it all. It's
ok-I'm not mad at you-but I am going to kill that son-of-a-bitch,"
Will says with pure venom in his voice. I put my own hands on the
back of his head and pull him down to me, and give him a deep kiss.

"No,
Will. We aren't murderers. These zombies don't count, but living
people do. That's not you. That's not who you are."

He
pulls back slightly, breaking my hold on him. He gives me a look
clearly telling me he feels otherwise.

"Quit
protecting his ass!"
God, he's so pissed.

"Will―"

"If
you're going to protect his stupid ass again, don't bother."

I
sigh and close my eyes-too tired to argue. I feel the bed sink as he
lies back down and his arm settles over my stomach. The last thing I
remember is his lips feather-soft on my temple and his voice telling
me he loves me.

Much
later, with the sun bursting into the room, I wake up alone. I
stretch and lie there a few more minutes, wondering if I really want
to get up or not. Groaning, I sit up, figuring I've probably slept
long enough and knowing we have so much to do. I see clean fatigues
folded neatly at the bottom of the bed.
Thank you, Mom.

Standing
and wrapping the sheet around me, I pick the clothes up and make my
way back to the bathroom. I jump in the shower for a quick clean,
then dress, and brush my teeth. Seeing my sisters hairbrush, I run it
through my hair, working on the mess of tangles.

My
hair finally silky smooth again, I leave the bathroom and return to
the bedroom. I put on the clean socks
someone
-Mom
-
left
for me with the clothes, and then my boots. I find a ponytail holder
and put my hair up, hoping to eliminate any new tangles, and I'm
ready to go.

Stopping
on the last step of the stairs, I look around at all the people, some
I love, some I like, and one I
really
hate. My boys and their
cousins are sitting on the floor watching a kids DVD movie. Andy,
Ricky, and Ryder are again arguing about how the zombies came to be.

Sara
is sitting on the couch, looking very uncomfortable and a complete
mess. Her hair is tangled and her makeup a smeared disaster. I know
she's been allowed bathroom trips, but I also know the trips didn't
include showers.
Damn, I bet she's pissed! And damn if that
doesn't make me frikken deliriously happy!

Mom
and Dad are sitting at the table with Kurt, Rose, Kally, Coco, Ma,
and Lindey, talking. I don't see Will, Jake, Greg, Bianca, the boy,
or Sam. I ask the group at the table where Will is, and they tell me
the last time they saw him, he was heading outside.

I
grab a coat and go out to the porch. Walking down one side and then
the other, I find him on the barn side of the porch, sitting in the
swing. I sit next to him and he puts his arm across my shoulders,
pulling me against him. I lay my head on his shoulder, and without
saying a word, we just sit and rock.

After
awhile, Will clears his throat and says, "Jake, his brother,
Max, and Sam have gone to the Nebraska armory. Not sure if they will
actually come back. Not sure I actually care."

Well,
I care! If at least long enough to drop off some ammo.
Then
they
can go.
I'm disgusted with myself when a twinge of fear that Jake
will
go shoots through me. I turn to Will, forcing a change to
the direction my thoughts and feelings want to go.

"Who's
Max?"
Did I miss something?

"That's
the boy we found with Bianca."
Oh, so that's his name.

"Speaking
of Bianca, where is she?" I ask him.

"Oh,
yeah. With Jake-seems he's trying to get into her pants now. Better
hers than yours, though. Just hope that jackass doesn't hurt her."

I feel bile
rise up at the thought of those two together. Damn it all to hell!
Why can't I just stop feeling things for Jake? This is ridiculous!

"Bianca's
a smart woman. If anything does happen between them, I'm sure she'll
use her head, or at least use him if he's planning to use her.
Besides, maybe it will work out between them," I tell him but my
stomach twists in knots and my mind screams "
No"
!

"Won't
change how I feel about him even if they do get together. I'd still
like to shove a sword through his head. I'm a jealous man, Canada.
And I've never really been that way with anyone before, but I love
you and you're worth fighting for-unless
you
instigate
something with him, then what's the point? Obviously you don't really
love me if you would do that."

"Oh,
just stop it! I do love you and I don't want anyone but you. And I'm
sorry I didn't tell you about Jake kissing me in the truck at the
armory. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the way he'd been acting
toward me. I had just really hoped Jake and I could be friends.
Apparently, that's not something he seems capable of doing."

Oh,
come on, people!
What am I supposed to say?
"I
love you, but when Jake touches me or grins that oh-so-sexy smile at
me, I forget everything-including
you
?" Are you freakin'
nuts
?

"I'd
rather you
not
be friends with him." Will looks down at
the floor of the porch, anguish written all over his face, and my
heart skips a few beats. "Anyway-Dad, me, and the rest of the
guys went and loaded up some more panels to fence off the property
and brought them back while you were snoring all day―"