Thicker than Blood (21 page)

“Oh!” she exclaimed, taking a step backward.
“Never mind.”

Grunting in irritation, Alex stepped between
us and shook his head. He pulled open the half door to the
backseat, then grabbed the feet of the skeleton and dragged it out.
There was a loud sucking sound and then an audible crack, and
suddenly Alex went staggering backward, tripping over the body
still lying on the ground, and promptly landed flat on his
backside.

Leisel clapped a hand over her mouth, while I
burst out laughing at the sight of him flat on his ass, holding a
skeletal foot in each hand. Raising his eyes toward us, he scowled,
which only made me laugh harder.

“Oh my God!” Leisel exclaimed, wiping away
tears from underneath her eyes. “Do you need a hand up?” she asked,
offering him her hand.

“Are you being funny, Leisel?” Alex retorted,
one eyebrow raised. Before she could answer, Alex had tossed away
the feet and grabbed hold of her hand, yanking her down. Pulling
her over top of him, he rolled them, reversing their positions and
covering Leisel’s body with his. And then he kissed her.

Left standing there, entirely forgotten, I
stared openmouthed at them as my face grew warm. This was so unlike
Leisel, the way she kissed him with such wild abandon, full of
passion, and right beside the body of a recently deceased infected,
no less. Even with Thomas, a man she’d been so very much in love
with, she’d never been one for public displays of affection, and
this…

Feeling awkward, I coughed and backed away
just as they pulled apart. Alex jumped to his feet, pulling Leisel
up with him. Although her cheeks were red and flushed with
embarrassment, she smiled at him, a genuinely happy smile, the kind
I hadn’t seen grace her pretty face in far too long. Alex wasn’t
smiling—not that he ever did—though he was staring down at her, his
usually hard features relaxed with a sort of contentment I found
myself jealous of.

I’d known how Alex felt about her, but
Leisel, despite her proximity to him all these years, barely knew
him. And yet, here she was, allowing herself to live in the moment
for the first time in her life. Which left me feeling confused, my
thoughts and emotions running amok, but worst of all, feeling alone
and entirely without the luxury to live in the moment with
anyone.

I should have been happy for her, and for the
most part I was glad for her. Glad that she was finally
experiencing the sort of freedom she’d been long deprived of, but
at the same time I was left wondering where I fit in. Who I had
become in this equation, and was I even needed any longer?

“If you two are done playing footsie,” I
said, attempting to keep my tone light, “we need to see if this
thing still runs.”

They both looked up and over at me. Alex
looked surprised and Leisel somewhat embarrassed, as if they only
now remembered that I was still there. Jerking my thumb toward the
truck, I quirked a brow.

With his hard exterior back in place, Alex
rubbed a hand across the back of his neck while sighing heavily,
then headed for the truck. Ignoring the gore covering the seat, he
slid inside. His first attempt at starting it produced nothing,
only a desperate-sounding whirring noise on the truck’s part as it
attempted to turn over. He tried again, pumping the gas pedal
several times until eventually the truck roared to life, an
expulsion of black smoke pouring from the exhaust.

Cutting his eyes toward us, he jerked his
chin. “Get in.”

Leisel and I exchanged a look, neither of us
wanting to make a move toward the truck. Pointing to the body still
in the backseat, I shook my head. “No way, not until that’s
gone.”

“What?” he asked. “You expect me to clean it?
Take it to a car wash? Maybe get it detailed while I’m at it?”

“Maybe just take the body out of the back?”
Leisel suggested softly, her nose wrinkled with disgust.

Sighing angrily, Alex jumped out of the cab
and flipped forward the front seat. Leaning into the back,
showcasing the fact that the bottom and back of his pants were
smeared with gore, he forcefully pried the remaining skeleton off
the seat and swung it out of the truck. It broke apart in midair,
bones scattering about as it came crashing to the ground.

“All good now?” he asked, rolling his
eyes.

• • •

The roads were bumpy and uncomfortable, and
obviously hadn’t been driven on for some time. Debris covered
them—everything from trees to broken-down cars. As we passed
through the outskirts of another town, a trail of dust flew up in
our wake, the only movement we’d seen for hours.

The day was scorching. Sweat trickled down
between my breasts, making me even more uncomfortable in my pink
nightshirt, leaving me hot and sticky, hungry and thirsty, and with
the urge to pee all at the same time.

Seated behind me, Leisel had taken to staring
out of her open window in a daze. She’d wound up her long brown
hair into somewhat of a ponytail, reminding me of the time she’d
cut it all off into a sharp chin-length bob and had cried for
weeks. It had grown out since then, taking the four long years
since the start of this nightmare to get back to the length she’d
always loved.

Four long years…

I sighed noisily, drawing Alex’s attention.
Ignoring him, I closed my eyes, my thoughts drifting away with me.
By talking about the past, Leisel had opened a wound inside of me
that had yet to truly heal, forcing me to remember things I
couldn’t afford to remember, happier times that were of no use to
me now.

Yet I couldn’t stop the flood of memories,
the image of Shawn lying in bed beside me, snoring softly, a silly
smile on his lax features after a full night of lovemaking. And of
Leisel, the way her nose had always wrinkled in disgust when I’d
attempted cooking, and of how she’d eaten it regardless of the
taste. Every last bit of it.

I thought of my mother, my father, my
juvenile delinquent of a little brother, the smell of pine and
cookies at Christmastime, the warm sand beneath my fingers during
summers spent lounging at the beach, of Leisel’s horrible fashion
sense, and the way Thomas had never once looked at her with
anything but utter adoration.

How much simpler things had been, and how
naive we’d all been because of it, complaining about mundane things
like bills and dentist appointments.

What I wouldn’t give to have all that back,
where my only real concern was making sure I paid my mortgage on
time.

Leisel

We drove endlessly, only stopping to eat, sleep,
or when Alex would hunt for food and fresh water. We drove down sad
and desolate highways and back roads, too many to count, always
careful to avoid towns, no matter how empty or debilitated they
seemed from afar. No, we’d learned our lesson and would not be
making the same mistake twice.

We continued to drive, stopping at night to
sleep, and only sleeping in shifts. Either Alex or Evelyn would
remain awake, keeping guard outside the truck, while I was always
allowed a good night’s sleep. When morning came, either Alex or
Evelyn would drive while the other slept. And there I would be,
feeling more and more useless with each passing day.

For the most part, the states we passed
through seemed to be in a stasis of sorts, not a sign of life to be
seen or heard. Occasionally, we’d pass small, sleepy groups of
infected who, as soon as we drove on, became quickly disinterested
in us. We searched abandoned vehicles, taking anything that could
be of use to us—clothing, tools, anything that could be used as
weapon, and then we’d move on, avoiding neighborhoods or
once-populated areas at all costs.

Through a long stretch of land, where the
patches of forest were few and far between and small game was
scarce, we’d been forced to stop twice in search of food. Once at a
rest area just off the interstate, and again at a gas station on
the outskirts of a large city.

Both places had been overrun with
infected, something we hadn’t realized beforehand. And both times
Alex and Evelyn had come running out of the buildings, shouting and
screaming for me to “DRIVE!”

With barely enough time as groups of infected
chased behind them, I’d hopped into the driver’s seat. Just as Alex
yanked closed the passenger door behind Evelyn and him, and the
infected were throwing their mangled bodies into the side of the
truck, I’d slammed down on the gas pedal and peeled away in a cloud
of smoke. All of that, and only for a meager bag of sugar-coated
candy that hadn’t spoiled, and a lone bag of beef jerky so rock
hard I could hardly manage to sink my teeth into it.

After that I demanded to be allowed to drive,
allowing either Alex or Evelyn to sleep while I took my turn. I
even went as far as to offer to take guard during the night, but
was quickly shot down by both my best friend and my…my boyfriend?
Was that what Alex was, or was becoming?

To date, there hadn’t been much time for
conversation, at least nothing of the personal variety, so I’d kept
my questions and my musings to myself. The nights Alex wasn’t on
guard, I’d slept in his arms, and the nights he was, I missed his
warmth. We snuck kisses here and there, gentle touches and sweet
embraces, but only when Evelyn was asleep or off relieving herself
in private.

As we made our way farther south,
the leaves on the trees grew
greener, the foliage fuller, the cold nights and dropping
temperatures receded into warm nights and even hotter days. In
addition to feeling disgusting and dirty, I was restless, both
physically and mentally. I wanted to have the privacy with Alex to
take our blossoming relationship to the next level of intimacy. I
was tired of just kissing, sick of being handled so carefully by
him.

In fact, I was sick of the both of them, Alex
and Evelyn, never allowing me to do much of anything. One or both
of them always seemed to be glued to my side, never allowing me a
moment to myself.

Only three days after breaching a warmer
climate, we ended up running out of gas, and some small part of me,
agitated and only worsening with each passing day, raw from
overthinking and needing more of…anything, was glad for it. We were
all hungry, we were warm and uncomfortable, and strung out from
having spent far too long living basically on top of one another.
None of us were in a particularly pleasant mood, but Alex and
Evelyn seemed hell-bent on taking their frustrations out on each
other, leaving me stuck in the middle.

“We should have stopped at that barn,” Evelyn
grumbled as she wiped the gathering sweat from her brow. I climbed
out of the truck after her, taking in our new surroundings.

It was warm here, much warmer than up north,
the temperature rising with every mile we traveled. Three days ago
I’d rid myself of my long-sleeved shirt, trading it for one of the
summer dresses we’d found back at the cabin. It was a thin, gauzy
sort of linen, an olive-green color with spaghetti straps, and a
hemline that ended just above my knee. I’d completed the look with
Alex’s duty belt, the same one he’d been given in Fredericksville.
On it, Alex had replaced his gun holster with a knife sheath from
his boot, and now my small blade rested securely at my hip.

My hair was filthy and greasy, because
washing it without shampoo just wasn’t cutting it, so I piled it on
top of my head in a messy partially braided bun. But even so, I
still felt awful, itchy from dried sweat and the healthy coating of
dirt that covered us all. I was in desperate need of a good, long
soak with at least a sliver of soap. We all were.

“There were infected all over the place!”
Alex shouted, slamming the driver’s side door shut. “Who knows how
many more were inside.”

“That’s just great,” Evelyn snapped, her
hands on her hips. “And now we’re who knows how many miles away
from anywhere else! With nothing but…but…” She spun around,
gesturing to the endless stretch of golden wheat surrounding us on
both sides. “But grass!”

“Wheat,” I corrected her tersely, annoyed
with both her and Alex, and their nonstop bickering.

“What?” she demanded. “Who cares what it is.
Jesus, Lei!”

I shrugged. “You should care.”

“Why?” she demanded, practically shouting the
word at me.

“
Because,” I shouted back, feeling my
temper rising. “We can eat it,
Eve
!”

This seemed to give her pause, and slowly the
anger drained from her features. “We can?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. We can eat the
berries. We need to soak them first, but after that they’ll be
edible.”

“How do you know that?” Evelyn asked. She
narrowed her eyes suspiciously at me, as if I’d purposely kept this
wheat-berry secret from her for our entire friendship for some
nefarious purpose, and my just now revealing this wicked knowledge
meant I must have more secrets, maybe bigger, badder ones, secrets
that could possibly change the course of the entire world.

I snarled my answer. “I used to read,
remember? Books? You remember them?”

“FUCK!” Alex suddenly bellowed, startling me.
Silent now, Evelyn and I watched as his fist took a nosedive onto
the hood of the truck. “Fuck!” he shouted again, and again went his
fist.

“Fucking great,” Evelyn spat. Spinning
around, she gave us her back.

I glanced between them both. At Evelyn, who
was basically pouting in a metaphorical corner, and Alex who was
throwing an adult-sized temper tantrum, taking it out on our only
means of transportation. Out of gas or not, the thing still
ran.

I took a deep, not-so-calming breath, full of
hot air and truck fumes, which only served to further agitate me.
Turning, I squinted down the highway, looking for anything at all,
some form of shelter where we could rest and regain our bearings,
maybe have some blessed privacy from one another. Yet, there was
nothing. An endless stretch of nothing.