Lost World (10 page)

I duck into the tent and dig through the blankets and pillows until I find some clothes. We don’t have a lot clean at this point, but somehow I manage to find things that will work for the kids and Sophia and Anne. Then I head to the other tent so I can get Lila and Al something.

Al’s stuff is easy to find. He has about five boxes of condoms sitting on top of his bag. Unfortunately, the rest of the clothes are all pretty spread out. So many people have been using this tent that it’s hard to know what belongs to who. I pick up a purple shirt I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Lila wear, then sift around until I find some jeans. When I pick them up a box falls to the ground, and the second I see what it is, my legs give out and I collapse on the floor of the tent.

Holy shit.

“Vivian!” Axl’s footsteps pound across the ground, right outside the tent.

My heart jumps to my throat. I scoop up the box and stuff it in the middle of the clothes I’m holding. My body is shaking so badly I don’t dare stand up, though. I’ll fall on my ass for sure.

The tent door moves aside, and Axl sticks his head in. “What’re you doin’?”

“Um…just getting some clothes. For the kids. And Sophia and Anne and Lila. And Al!” Holy shit! What’s wrong with me? You’d think I was the one who’d hidden a pregnancy test in the tent, not Lila. “They’re going to need something to wear when they’re done getting cleaned up. What’s the plan?”

Axl’s eyebrows shoot up and he purses his lips. He looks around the tent, then back to my face. But he doesn’t ask what’s wrong. Thank God. I don’t even know what I’m going to do about it yet. Now isn’t the time to talk to him or anyone else about the possibility of a teen pregnancy. During a zombie apocalypse. Shit. I suddenly feel like I’m on a very twisted episode of
Sixteen and Pregnant
.

“We’re gonna bury Jessica, Moira, Liz, and Dylan, then get our shit together.”

I pull myself up and almost let out a sigh of relief when my legs don’t give out. “Good. I’ll help. Let me get these clothes to everyone first.”

I push past him and head toward the hot spring, holding the clothes close to my body. I can feel Axl’s eyes on me every step of the way. There’s no way in hell he doesn’t suspect something is up.

Anne, Sophia, and the kids are already clean when I reach the top. Al and Lila are in the water washing themselves off while the two women dry the kids. I hand Sophia the clothes, but keep the stuff I have for Al and Lila pressed close to my body. The test included.

“Thanks,” Sophia says.

Anne works fast to get Jake dressed, but it doesn’t help. He’s shivering, and by the time she’d done, his teeth are chattering together.

“We need to get you some medicine,” she says.

The two women usher the kids down the stairs, but I stay where I am. I want to have a moment alone with the two teens, although I have no idea why. Maybe to let them know we’ll be here for them? Things are bad enough without them thinking they have to face this thing alone.

Once the women and kids are gone, I turn toward the hot spring. “I brought you two clothes.”

“Thanks,” Al says, giving me a grateful smile. Even some of his humor has melted away.

“I think we’re about done here.” Lila pulls herself out, and the water runs over her body. She’s wearing nothing but her bra and underwear, and she has the figure of a swimsuit model. I can’t help staring at her flat stomach. Imaging what it will look like in a few months.

How the hell are we going to be able to sustain two pregnant women in the middle of all this?

“Vivian, are you okay?” Lila asks.

She’s wrapped in a towel, and Al stands behind her. I didn’t even notice him get out. He looks too young to have to face this. They both do. I’ve been in their shoes, so I know how scary and horrible it is. And that was when the world was still whole.

“We need to talk,” I say. “Get dressed.”

I hold the clothes out to them, but keep the box. Neither one seems to notice it.

While they dress, I look over my shoulder to make sure no one’s coming. Only Axl, Joshua, Winston, and I still need to clean off. The men are too busy with other things right now, so we should have at least a few minutes to ourselves.

“Can you just tell me what’s going on?” Al says. “Because I’m not going to lie, you’re really freaking me out.”

“Is there anything going on with you that you want to tell me?” I ask, staring at Lila, who squirms as she twists her hair back into a ponytail.

“No?”

I don’t really feel like playing guessing games, so I pull out the box and hold it in front of them. “I found this in your tent.”

Al’s mouth drops open, and he looks at Lila like she’s betrayed him. “Shit. Are you serious, Lila? Did you take it yet? Was it positive?”

Lila stands there shaking her head for a few seconds before she says, “That’s not mine.”

I blink, feeling suddenly like God is trying to punish us. If it isn’t hers…

“What?” I say, hoping I hadn’t heard her right.

Lila shakes her head again and turns to Al. “It’s not mine. I swear. I just had my period, remember?”

Al’s shoulders slump and he exhales. “Shit. Yeah. You did. Oh man. Oh shit. You really scared me. I thought—” He laughs and runs his hand down his face. “Shit.”

“It’s not yours…” I stare at the box for a few seconds, hating the possibilities presented to me right now. “Who else used that tent?”

“Pretty much everyone but Sophia, Anne, and the kids,” Al says.

“Parvarti, Hadley, or Darla,” I mutter, still shaking my head.

“And Moira,” Lila says. Then her face falls. “But I guess it wouldn’t matter if it had been hers, would it?”

Damn. I’d rather Lila be pregnant than any of the three suspects I have now.

I shove the box under my shirt and narrow my eyes on the teens in front of me. “Don’t tell anyone. Understand? This is between us for now.”

“Who do you think it is?” Lila asks.

“I don’t have a freaking clue.”

Winston is sweating by the time the final stone is placed.

When he steps back and stares down at the mound of rocks in front of him, I slip my hand into Axl’s and take a deep breath. She’s the last one. We laid Liz and Moira together, then took care of little Dylan. When that was done, Winston started covering his daughter. He wouldn’t let anyone help.

“I’m sorry I let you down,” Winston says, “I should have been there.”

He closes his eyes, and no one else speaks. After a minute or so, he turns and walks away.

Axl sighs. “We should get a move on.”

“What’s the plan?” I ask. “What are we going to do about Hadley and Jon?”

“We can’t go back there,” Parvarti says. “We don’t have anything but the truck now. If we roll in there with the Sam’s Club truck, they’ll slaughter us.”

I squeeze my free hand into a fist. “Dammit, she’s right.”

“If we leave here, they won’t be able to find us,” Darla says.

Angus spits into the fire, and it sizzles across the silence. “Gonna hafta. Can’t stay with all these bodies, and we can’t just hang out on the road. Sittin’ in the truck.”

“We leave them a message,” I say. “They’ll head back this way, so we need to let them know where we’re headed.”

“Where is that exactly?” Al asks, hugging Lila to him. Her face is streaked with tears. “Because as far as I can tell, we don’t have a plan.”

“We’re low on gas,” Axl says. “So we’re gonna hafta hit the closest town. Try and find us some fuel.”

“The first place we went was pretty dead,” Parvarti replies, “and it’s only about thirty miles away.”

“Then that’s what we gotta do. We pack up, load up, and head out.” Axl turns and looks toward Winston, who is just standing there. Staring out over the polluted hot spring like he wishes it would suck him under. “Fifteen minutes.”

He gives me a kiss on the side of my head, then slips his hand out of mine. Heading toward Winston.

Everyone gets busy packing up, and when Parvarti starts up to the truck with an armload of supplies, I head after her. I have three suspects on my list, and even though it’s going to suck big time to bring pregnancy up to her, Parvarti is the only one I can deal with right now. Hadley’s missing, and I don’t even want to think about the possibility of Darla being pregnant.

I scoop some stuff up and jog to catch up with Parvarti. She doesn’t even look back at me, and we’re more than halfway up the trail before I work up the nerve to talk.

“How you been doing, Parvarti?”

“Fine.”

She may be short, but she walks fast. I have to trot to keep up with her.

“You seem like you’ve been adjusting pretty well the last few weeks.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t think life is shit,” she says. “Just means I’m not ready to give up yet.”

“That’s good.”

We reach the truck and slide the boxes in. Sophia and Anne have the kids already set up inside. It’s going to really suck to have everyone crowded into the back like this. We’re going to have to find a car to replace the Nissan. And fast.

Parvarti heads back toward the trail, but before she can get far I grab her arm. “Wait. I need to talk to you.”

When she turns around to face me, her brown eyes are wide. Full of worry and hurt and pain. She may have toughened up, but that doesn’t mean she’s heartless. We lost Jessica today, and I know they were close. Jessica lost her fiancé back when the virus hit, and when Trey died, she helped Parvarti get through it. Now there’s this situation with Jon and Hadley…. Parvarti’s right, life is shit.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I hate to do this, but I can’t let it go.” I pull the box out of my pocket and hold it out to her. “I found this in the tent, and I just wanted to know if it was yours.”

Parvarti barely glances toward the box before she shakes her head. “No. If I were pregnant, you’d know about it. I’ve lost enough people, and there’s no way I’d risk Trey’s baby.” Her shoulders slump, and she looks away. “I miss him. He was there for me when everything was falling apart, and it made me feel like things might not be bad forever. That there could be a future. When he died, I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me and I was falling. I’m still not sure when I’m going to hit bottom.”

The more she talks, the more my stomach knots. Trey died trying to save Hadley and me, but I’ve never really spoken to Parvarti about the whole thing. So much happened so fast. Angus beating Mitchell, him and that asshole Brad running off. The shelter falling. Taking out the casino and losing Nathan. Then we were on the road. It never seemed like the right time.

“I’m sorry Trey put his life on the line to get me out. It shouldn’t have happened.”

“None of it should have,” Parvarti says, then turns and heads down the trail.

I take off after her. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“Don’t be,” she says. “I get it. I’m not sure whose test that is, and I’m not sure I want to know. Losing people is tough enough without knowing shit like that.” She shakes her head, and walks faster. “Don’t tell me. Whoever it is, don’t tell me about it.”

I kind of hate that she assumes we’re going to lose more people.

The ball clangs against the inside of the can when Axl shakes it. Somewhere nearby, a bird screeches and takes off. Leaves rustle as another animal mistakes the sound for trouble and scurries away. I can’t really blame them. The sound is so loud it has my heart beating harder than a stampede.