Shattered World (Broken World Book 2) (17 page)

Brad stops in front of us and straightens his shoulders. Trying to look important, probably. I know his type. “We had a trucking yard in Boulder City, and usually had a tanker or two sitting around. I was there the day before everybody started getting sick. There were two trucks parked in the yard, if I recall correctly.”

Everyone leans forward in anticipation.

“Full?” I ask, my heart pounding a million miles a minute.

Brad nods. “Sure.”

“Where’s Boulder City?” Angus asks.

“It’s about thirty miles south of Vegas.”

We’re about an hour north of Vegas.

Winston studies Brad carefully before responding. “Okay, then,” he says slowly, like he’s choosing his words carefully. “You can go in Nathan’s place. You can show the group how to get to the trucking yard and drive the tanker back.”

Brad’s eyes grow wide and his mouth drops open. He wasn’t volunteering to go, and right now he looks like he’s about ready to pee his pants. The look on his face reminds me of how he wouldn’t give his seat up for Jhett and how he popped up out of nowhere, all ready to decide James’s fate. He doesn’t want to risk his own neck, and Winston knows it.

“Sounds good,” Axl says, standing to his feet.

When I look up he, and Winston are staring at each other. They both know Brad will try to weasel his way out of this if he can, and they’re not giving him the chance.

“What time are we headin’ out?” Angus asks.

“Let’s shoot for five. That’ll give everybody time to get some rest before we go,” Axl replies.

Angus nods and turns to Hadley. “Let’s go out and use them bastards outside the fence for shootin’ practice. You ever shot a gun, doc?” He turns and looks around, but Victor is already gone.

Axl purses his lips. “I’ll go down and talk to him. I wanna make sure we can trust that guy before we head out.” He turns to Joshua. “You make a list of the shit we need so we got it in case. And where to find it.”

“Axl.” Winston jerks his head to the right, and Axl follows him to the side of the room.

I stay where I am. I’m not sure if they want me to overhear whatever they’re cooking up, but I want to wait for Axl.

Someone giggles, but it sounds too old to be one of the kids. I turn to find Lila on the other side of the room, leaning against the bar. Al sits in a chair less than a foot away from her. She’s all dolled up like she’s getting ready to hit a club. Perfect makeup and a short, little black dress that probably cost a couple grand. Her heels are candy apple red. I don’t know where she thought she was going when she packed those clothes, but with the way she’s batting her eyes at Al, I know where she’s hoping they’ll take her.

Unlike the way he acted at the pool, he seems to be playing it cool. He has a drink in front of him—I’m not sure if I should put a stop to that or not—and he barely looks at her. I’m sure it isn’t easy for him to ignore her. Not with those teenage hormones swirling around in his body. Plus, Lila’s gorgeous. I’m actually proud of the kid. Hadley’s little talk must have hit the mark.

Axl comes back over and looks toward them, then back at me. “What?”

“Nothing.” I turn away from the teens and grin at Axl. “Just people watching.”

He blinks like he has no clue what I’m talking about, then heads toward the elevator. I hurry after him, jumping in the second the door opens. It slides shut, leaving us alone.

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t turn. The smile melts off my lips when the uncertainty from earlier returns full force. I want to pull him against me and ask what he’s thinking. I want him to tell me he loves me and reassure me we’ll come out of this okay. But Axl is such a hard person. I need to wait until he’s ready. I can’t push him.

“You didn’t get much sleep last night,” I finally say.

He shrugs like sleep is nothing. “Don’t sleep much.”

“I’ve noticed. Why?” Is he going to share? I want him to. I want to know everything about him.

He purses his lips and leans against the wall. “No reason.”

He doesn’t want to talk to me about it. It stings, but I let it go. He’ll tell me in his own time. I know he will. This is just Axl. Trust isn’t an easy thing, and it’s something I get because it’s the same for me.

“I was sad when I woke up alone,” I say instead. I can’t stay away from him any longer, so I grab his hips and pull him against me.

He bites his bottom lip, and one corner of his mouth turns up. “You miss me?”

I lean forward and press my lips against his. He kisses me back and wraps his arms around me. Being near him is like standing in a furnace.

But he turns it off like a switch the second the door opens. He steps out of the elevator and nods toward the apartment in front of him. “We got stuff to do.”

He’s right. I exhale slowly as I follow him to Victor’s door, trying my best not to feel disappointed. It would be dumb to feel that way. We have more important things going on.

19

AXL KNOCKS ON THE DOCTOR’S DOOR and steps back. Then we stand awkwardly in the hall as we wait for him to answer. I shove my hands in my pockets while Axl pulls out his gun and double checks that it’s loaded. A few minutes pass and the doctor still doesn’t come to the door, so Axl knocks again.

“Maybe he didn’t come back down here?”

Axl shakes his head. “Where else would he go?”

There’s no way for me to answer that, so I shrug. I can’t think of a single place the doctor would have gone off to. I haven’t seen him once before today, so I doubt he’s been out wandering the shelter or anything. Axl knocks a third time, and I hold my breath. Nothing.

“Shit,” he mutters.

Something that feels similar to a bowling ball lodges itself in my throat. There’s something about this whole thing that doesn’t seem right. Why isn’t he answering?

“Try the door?” I say uncertainly.

Axl nods and turns the handle. The latch clicks and the door cracks just a bit, so he pushes it open a little more. The smell hits us before we even step inside.

I cover my nose with my arm and try not to breathe it in. “Oh my God, what is that?”

“One guess.” Axl doesn’t cover his nose, but he breathes very deliberately through his mouth.

I look at him with wide eyes and shake my head. “How is there a zombie in here?” I whisper.

“It’s just a guess, but I’m assumin’ it’s his wife.”

As soon as the words are out of Axl’s mouth, I know he’s right. My stomach twists painfully. It’s classic horror movie shit but completely believable. There always has to be one person who just can’t stand to let their loved one go, and with the way the doctor’s been acting, he seems like the obvious suspect. We should have guessed. He’s been holed up in his place since we got here, and he smelled so bad in the common area. Like death. It makes perfect sense. His zombie wife is here.

We haven’t set foot inside the condo yet, and I’m not in a hurry to rush in. I know what we’re going to find and how we’re going to deal with it, but I have no idea how the good doctor is going to react. I’m not sure if he’ll let us take care of her or try to kill us to protect her. He’s obviously unstable, so we need to be prepared for anything.

Axl pulls out his gun. His lips are pursed and his weapon is up, but he still hasn’t moved.

“What should we do?” I whisper.

“I think we just go ‘head an’ take care of it ourselves. If we bring more people in, things could get outta hand. We don’t gotta worry people for no reason.”

I nod and pull out my own gun. I almost left the condo without it, but I’m trying hard to remember to carry it everywhere I go. I want to be prepared from now on.

It’s a good thing, too.

“Ready?” he asks, taking a small step forward with his gun held up.

I follow him wordlessly. Tensing up more and more with each step I take. The condo reeks so much I have to stop to catch my breath. The quick breakfast of prepackaged muffins I ate this morning threatens to make a reappearance.

“You alright?” Axl asks.

I nod and take a deep breath through my mouth, trying to ease the nausea. It only works a little, though. I can’t smell the rot this way, but every time I inhale a mouthful of air, the coating on the inside of my mouth thickens. My tongue feels heavy like it’s covered in layers of decay. And I can taste it. Like rotten meat.

My stomach spasms, but I fight it. I can’t get sick. Not now.

We head through the condo to the bedrooms. Both doors are closed, but now that we’re closer, I can hear movement behind the first one. That must be where he’s holding her. We stop outside the door, and a couple of erratic thumps come from behind it. My stomach tenses even more.

“You think he has her tied up?”

Axl shakes his head as he reaches for the doorknob. “Be ready for anything. She probably is tied up, but just in case…”

I swallow around the lump in my throat as he slowly turns the knob. He manages to get it turned and pushes the door open without making a sound. The first thing to hit me is how bad the room smells. It’s the sickening mixture of death, along with the stench of the black ooze that fills the zombies. I gag and turn away, swallowing against the bile rising in my throat.

Movement catches my eye and distracts me from the queasiness. I turn to see what used to be a woman tied to a chair on the other side of the room. Her mouth is covered in a gag that’s coated with thick black goo. The same goo seeps from her eyes and ears, out of her nostrils. Her skin is a sickly gray color and hangs loosely on her body. Her dark hair has fallen out in clumps that lie in piles on the floor. She struggles against the ropes when she sees us, moaning against the gag in her mouth. Victor isn’t in the room.

“Shit.” Axl lowers his gun and shakes his head. He looks away like he can’t stomach seeing the woman.

“What are you doing?” I ask. “Shoot her!” I can’t figure out why the hell his gun is down. She’s right there, and the sooner we take care of her the sooner we can get this mess sorted out.

“Not ‘til we talk to the doc. He deserves to tell her goodbye.”

I turn to face him and blink probably ten times. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “He’s had a lot of time to say goodbye and he hasn’t been able to. You need to take care of it.”

Axl shakes his head again, but before he can say anything there are footsteps in the hall behind us. We spin around and come face to face with Dr. Gates. His face is red and angry. He’s holding a gun in his shaky hands. It’s pointed at me.

“What are you doing here?” he yells.

Axl steps in front of me, putting himself between me and the gun. “We came to talk ‘bout the run. Didn’t know ‘bout all this ‘til we opened the door. Looks like we got some other things to talk ‘bout.”

“There’s nothing to say!” he growls. “She’s my wife and I want you to leave. Now!”

“Can’t,” Axl says, taking a step closer.

He’s only about a foot away from Victor, and my heart pounds when I see the barrel of the gun so close to him. I grab Axl’s arm, trying to pull him back. But he won’t budge.

“You want me to kill her. Just like you killed James. But I won’t do it,” Victor says. Tears stream down his cheeks, and he shakes even more.

“We gotta do it,” Axl says.

His voice is soft and kind, understanding. I don’t get it because I don’t understand. No matter how much I loved a person, I couldn’t keep them like this. It would be torture to see them every day, to think they might be stuck inside the head of zombie for all of eternity. Suffering and trying to get out. I couldn’t do it.

“I can’t,” Victor says. “I can’t let her go.”

“She’s sufferin’. Just look at her,” Axl says.

Victor looks at his wife, and his whole body seems to crumple. He releases the gun, and it drops to the floor as his shoulders go slack and his body slumps. He’s still standing, but he seems to have shrunk a foot in that instant.

Axl picks up the gun even though he has his own. “I can do it for you, if you want.”

Victor doesn’t look at Axl, but he does look at his wife. The despair in his eyes is overwhelming. I can’t understand his actions, but I can understand his pain. I think of Emily and the hole in my heart expands, making an ache shoot through my entire body. I press my hand to my chest, trying to hold myself together. To keep myself from shattering into a million pieces. I don’t think it works, because I still feel broken.

“I can’t kill her,” Victor whispers. His body is wracked with sobs, and he shakes his head. “Please, do it for me.”

Axl nods and turns toward the zombie woman. He tosses Victor’s gun on the bed as he walks forward, and every muscle in his body gets tighter as he goes. The thing that used to be Dr. Gate’s wife thrashes in the chair, growing more and more frantic the closer Axl gets. She screams behind her gag, and more of the black ooze seeps out of her nose, coating the cloth even more. By the time Axl is standing right in front of her, she’s so frenzied that the gag has ripped into her skin. It tears the decomposing flesh from her mouth, revealing her rotting teeth and black gums.

Axl stops in front of her and raises his gun. He glances back toward the doctor. “You have anythin’ to say before I put her out of her misery?” The doctor shakes his head, and Axl turns back. “I’m gonna do it on three. If you don’t wanna watch, you have ‘til then to leave.”

I turn away from the pitiful creature and face Victor. He shakes and sobs, wringing his hands.

“One.”

Victor whimpers and takes a small step back, toward the door.

“Two.”

Victor shakes his head and shuffles forward before backing away even further.

“Three.”

Victor turns and rushes from the room just as the gunshot fills the air.

Axl walks over to stand next to me, holding both his and Victor’s guns in his hands.

“What are we going to do? Can we trust him to come with us?”

Axl shakes his head and walks into the hall. “Let’s go talk to him and find out.”

I follow him, shutting the door behind me. I don’t think it will really help contain the smell, but it’s worth a shot. It’s going to take a long time for this condo to air out. Maybe never. It’s not like we can open a window or anything.

Victor’s in the living room, sitting on the couch. His elbows are on his knees, and his face is in his hands. He’s sobbing. I can’t imagine the kind of pain he’s going through. The hurt from Emily is so intense it almost cripples me at times, and I only had her for a few days. But this man, he and his wife were together, side by side for years. It must feel like a mountain is crushing him.

“I’m sorry,” Axl says, sitting down in one of the chairs. “But we gotta talk ‘bout this.”

Victor nods and looks up. He doesn’t bother to wipe his nose or his eyes, and his face is covered in tears and snot. Streaked with dirt. He looks awful.

“We gotta ask if you’re gonna be able to handle this trip,” Axl says.

Victor sniffs. “I can do it,” he says in a shaky voice. “I know it’s important. That people need the medicine. You can trust me.”

I don’t know if we can, but Axl seems convinced. He stands up and pats Victor on the back. “Get cleaned up and we’ll see you in the mornin’.”

He turns toward the door, grabbing my hand as he goes.

“Do you trust him?” I ask once the door’s shut and we’re alone in the hall.

              “We got no other choice. I think he really wants to try, but we won’t know for sure ‘til we’re out there.”

“What are we going to do about the body?”

Axl purses his lips and glances back toward the door. “I’ll go talk to Winston and we’ll get it worked out. Why don’t you go pack your shit so you’re ready to go?”

I don’t want to leave him, but I need to do laundry anyway, so I nod in agreement. “Okay. You going to come to my place when you’re done?”

He nods and gives me a half smile. “‘Course.”

***

I get started on the laundry so I’ll have clean clothes to wear. And get disgustingly filthy all over again.

What a waste of time.

Hadley isn’t back from target practice yet, so I find myself alone. I don’t like it. It’s much too quiet. I pace the room for a few minutes, waiting for Axl or Hadley to show up. When neither one does, I decide to take a shower. I feel dirty after my encounter with Victor’s wife. Like I’m covered once again in the black goo that flows through their lifeless bodies.

I turn the water up as hot as I can stand it and hop in, letting the scalding heat of the shower flow over my body. I try desperately to keep the memories from coming, to stop myself from thinking about Victor’s wife and his misery. To keep Emily’s innocent face from my mind.

I can’t.

Before long, it’s all I can think about. How would I have reacted if no one else had been there to take care of Emily when she turned? Could I have shot her in the head to put her out of misery? Could I do it for Axl if the time comes? Thinking about it makes my body shake. What will I do if something happens to Axl? How will I be able to stand it?

My eyes sting, but I don’t even try to hold back the tears. I lean against the wall as they fall from my eyes, mixing with the hot water. Getting lost on the way down my cheeks. This new reality of zombies and the constant threat of death is so scary and overwhelming it makes all those years I suffered with my father seem insignificant in comparison. Who would have ever imagined that I would be able to look back on those days and think of them as being anything but miserable?

After a few minutes of sobbing, I sink to the bottom of the shower and pull my legs up against my chest, wrapping my arms around them. I tuck my face down so the water hits the back of my head, then try to pretend everything is normal. It’s impossible. The pain in my chest won’t let me forget.

“Vivian?” Axl’s voice is suddenly there. A rush of cool air hits me as he opens the glass door and steps in. He’s still dressed when he helps me to my feet. “You okay?”

I shake my head and start to cry again. Axl pulls me out of the shower and wraps me in a towel before lifting me off the ground. He carries me to the bedroom like I’m a small child. He pulls the covers down and lays me in the bed. Then he strips out of his wet clothes and climbs in with me.