Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
LUCAS
The back room was barely big enough for the three of us.
Shelves of boxed supplies lined the walls, and the overturned metal rack Adrian had dragged against the door groaned every time someone shifted their weight. All of us were cursing the car wedged against the door.
I had no idea how we were going to get out of here, and I was pretty sure Ben and Adrian didn’t either.
Everything that had happened so far still felt so surreal. How could this be possible? It was like something straight out of a horror novel. Things had fallen apart so quickly. Society had been building and evolving for thousands of years, and now it was all coming to an end in just a few days.
I refused to believe it. This couldn’t be the end.
I sat on a plastic crate with the pistol Adrian had given me resting across my knees. My hands still smelled like gunpowder and blood.
Ben leaned against the wall across from me, his side wrapped tight where Adrian had stitched him up. He looked pale, but I knew he’d never let a complaint cross his lips.
Not even a grunt.
Adrian crouched by the door, listening, his knuckles bloodied from his earlier breakdown. If he didn’t reach Taryn soon, my best friend would lose his mind. I’d known he had strong feelings for her, but what I’d witnessed earlier proved I’d underestimated the extent of them.
That last interaction I’d shared with her kept coming back to me. No matter how much I disliked her, I couldn’t deny even to myself the attraction I felt. But none of that mattered. Adrian had more claim to her than I did.
The pharmacy had gone quiet.
Not a normal quiet.
Dead quiet.
The kind that makes your skin itch because you know something is out there.
“You hear anything?” I asked.
Adrian shook his head. “Not yet.”
Ben exhaled slowly. “The infected are still out there.”
I didn’t need him to tell me that.
I could feel it.
The building felt different now. Like the air itself was polluted by the dead.
I rubbed my face and tried to push everything I’d seen out of my mind. Of course, it didn’t work. I’d never forget the look on Grace’s face as she was devoured by the infected. Losing a student in my care was something I’d probably never get over.
Then, out of nowhere, the world outside exploded with sound.
A car alarm shrieked to life somewhere in the parking lot.
The sudden wail made me jerk upright. “What the hell—”
The alarm continued to scream, echoing through the empty store.
Ben pushed himself away from the wall. “That’s close.”
Adrian was already moving. He stepped onto the crate beside the door and leaned toward the narrow window above it.
For a few seconds, he didn’t say anything. None of us did.
Then he stepped down. “That’s going to be a problem.”
“No shit.” Ben took his turn peering out the window.
“Every infected person in the area is going to head in this direction.” Adrian rubbed his forehead.
My stomach dropped.
The sound kept blaring.
Loud.
Endless.
Then something slammed into the other side of the door.
Hard.
The metal rattled.
There must have been a horde of them, because the car wedged against the door began to shift.
Ben stepped down, “They’re pushing against it.”
Another body hit the door, and the metal groaned.
“The alarm’s ringing the dinner bell.” I tightened my grip on the pistol.
Adrian grabbed the shelf beside him as he swayed slightly.
“You good?” I asked in concern.
He didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he pressed two fingers to his forehead as if trying to relieve the pressure.
“Headache,” he said finally. “Nothing significant.”
I wasn’t buying it. “You look like hell.”
He ignored that and climbed back onto the crate to check the window again.
When he stepped down this time, he staggered.
Just the slightest bit.
But I saw it.
“Okay,” I narrowed my eyes, “That’s not nothing.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted. “I’ve just gone too long without eating.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
The kind of calm someone uses when they’re forcing themselves to stay in control.
Ben raised a brow. “Are you running a fever?”
Adrian hesitated.
It was the first time I’d seen him do that since this whole nightmare started.
“Possibly,” he admitted.
Fuck.
Another impact shook the door, but for once, we had bigger problems.
I wiped my hand across the back of my neck and froze.
My skin felt hot.
“Shit,” I muttered. Did I have a fucking fever, too?
Ben looked at me. “What?”
I rubbed my face again, suddenly aware of the heat building under my skin. No way this was happening.
Adrian cocked his head and studied me for a moment. “You’re flushed.”
Ben looked at both of us in concern.
None of us wanted to say what we were beginning to suspect.
The alarm outside kept screaming, as the infected could be heard surrounding the building. And now it seemed like we might become one of them.
Another scraping noise came from below the door.
I looked down and saw gray, rotted fingers forcing their way beneath the gap at the bottom, clawing blindly across the concrete.
“Oh, hell no.” I stepped forward and stomped down hard.
Bones crunched under my boot, even as the pounding in my head grew stronger.
Ben nodded with approval. “Good job, boy.”
“Should I roll over and show my belly?” He was annoying the hell out of me.
My skin felt like it was burning, and the room suddenly felt ten degrees hotter.
“Always the smartass,” Ben growled in annoyance.
I ignored him as my mind started to drift, and Grace’s face flashed through my thoughts again.
The hallway.
The blood.
The way her hand slipped from mine.
I tried to force the memory to the back of my mind, but it didn’t work.
“I should’ve gotten them out sooner,” I muttered.
“Who?” Ben asked, confused.
“The kids.” I winced when another sharp pain rattled through my brain. “Grace.”
Ben shook his head. “You make the best call you can and live with it. I taught Taryn that when she was ten.”
Another slam against the door.
The car shifted again.
Adrian glanced at the door, then his brow furrowed. “The timeline is wrong.”
Ben frowned. “What timeline?”
“The infection.” Adrian began speaking as if he were lecturing a classroom. “The fact that we are just now getting symptoms is not congruent with the things I’ve experienced.”
I stared at him. “So?”
“So,” he continued calmly, “it needs further study.”
“No shit,” I said sarcastically. “Maybe we can visit the CDC in Houston. I’m sure they’ll have some insight.”
I thought Adrian was supposed to be the smart one. We couldn’t get out of this damn building. Much less to try and figure out what was different about our symptoms. I expected us both to be executed by Ben at any moment.
I stared at him in suspicion, but his attention was centered on the door.
“Not a bad idea. UTMB has a BSL-4 containment facility. If any lab in Texas could study this pathogen, it’s there.”
“Galveston’s… what, four hours from here?”
“Closer to five,” Adrian blinked.
Ben shook his head slowly. “You’re assuming somebody’s still running the place.”
Adrian didn’t argue.
He stared at the floor for a moment, thinking. “The building probably went on shutdown, so most of the staff should be there.”
I laughed, “Yeah. Well. Half the population of Houston and the surrounding towns probably headed there when this first hit. I can’t imagine how many infected are surrounding the place.”
Another scraping noise dragged along the door.
But then—
The pounding stopped suddenly.
Just stopped and the silence hit like a punch to the gut.
I straightened slowly. “Why is that worse?”
Something moved outside the door.
Not banging but scratching lightly.
Cocking my head to listen, I heard it. A strange clicking sound.
Soft. Way softer than what I’d heard at school.
“Do you hear that?”
Ben shook his head. “Hear what?”
Adrian tilted his head slightly. “I hear it.”
The clicking came again. More than one. Like several of them were making the sound.
Talking.
My stomach clenched. “What the hell are they doing out there?”
The alarm outside shrieked again.
Then suddenly—it cut off.
Mid-wail.
Silence crashed over the building, and I turned to Adrian. “Why did it stop?”
He looked at the door, his expression completely calm. “Because something broke it.”
From outside, something grabbed the door handle.
And tried to turn it.
“What the fuck?” I stared at the handle in disbelief.
Luckily, the deadbolt was still strong even after the car crashed into it, with the building absorbing most of the impact.
“It’s almost like some of them are gaining the ability for critical thinking.” Adrian suddenly had an intense coughing fit.
Ben narrowed his eyes. “I’m thinking that I need to take my chances going back the way we came. You boys are a ticking time bomb.”
“You’ll die.” I covered my mouth when a wet cough erupted soon after I spoke.
“Maybe. But I prefer that to being eaten by you two.” He tilted his head, “Unless you want me to end it for you now?”
I gripped the pistol tightly, “No. I’m not giving up that easily.”
“Neither am I. This is different from what I’ve seen.” Adrian insisted.
“It looks the same to me," Ben said as he began to walk down the hallway back to the main part of the store.
“The building is surrounded. How do you plan on getting out?” My throat felt scratchy.
This guy was crazy.
“I’ll figure that out. You two need to decide what you’re going to do next.” He opened the door and closed it softly behind him.
I turned to Adrian. “Do you really think this is different?”
“I do. But that’s just an educated guess. Nothing more.” He rubbed his eyes as another cough erupted from his throat.
I lowered myself to the floor and leaned against the wall. “I guess all we can do is wait.”
My head felt like it was about to explode, and my vision was blurry. Maybe this was the way it all ended?
Adrian plopped down beside me and leaned his head back. “I’m completely obsessed with Taryn.”
I raised my head and looked at him in astonishment. “No shit. Did you really think I wasn’t aware of that?”
He turned to look at me. “No, but I think it’s time you admitted the same.”
I gave him a withering stare. “I’ll admit no such thing. The little bitch cost me my job if not my whole career.”
I wouldn't admit anything to him, both because she was my student and because I was afraid he might kill me if I did.
Adrian gave a short laugh, “Who the fuck are you going to teach now? All your students and coworkers are either infected or soon to be eaten by infected.”
“Fuck you.” I let my head drop back and sighed. “I’ll admit that she has a nice ass, but that’s it.”
“We’ll see,” he closed his eyes.
I looked at my friend; his cheeks were flushed, and there was a bead of sweat trailing down his forehead.
“I hope so, I truly hope so.” I closed my eyes and succumbed to the fever.