19. Taryn
CHAPTER NINETEEN
TARYN
We jogged beside the road, sticking to the edge of the woods.
Finley was carrying Harper again, and Beck had Rory.
We’d been traveling fast for about thirty minutes when I heard a whimper.
“Stop!” Finley yelled as he slid to his knees.
He sat Harper gently on the grass.
She was panting heavily. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine!” Finley grabbed her arm and started unraveling her bandage.
I sucked in a breath.
The bite looked worse than I remembered. Swollen, rigid skin surrounded the teeth marks, an angry red fading to bruised purple. Thin veins crawled up Harper’s arm as if the infection was searching for her heart.
“It looks worse than it feels,” Harper insisted.
“I can’t imagine that’s true,” Wren mumbled, her nose wrinkled in disgust. “But it definitely smells worse than it looks.”
“Wren!” I gaped at her insensitivity.
She shrugged and pulled a piece of beef jerky from her pack, handing it to Max.
I hadn’t known Harper for long, but it was clear she was a fighter. Still, I wasn’t sure that would matter in this situation.
After inspecting the wound, Finley looked up. “We need that vet's office now!”
“The town is just around that curve.” Wren squinted in that direction.
Finley hurriedly re-wrapped Harper’s arm, then lifted her back into his arms. “Let’s get going.”
“Is my mommy going to turn into one of the monsters?” Rory asked Beck, her eyes filling with tears.
He looked at me in desperation. None of us wanted to lie to the little girl, and making any promises would be doing just that.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to help her.” I leaned down and looked her in the eye. “But no matter what happens, we’ll keep you safe.”
She wiped her nose on her sleeve, tears streaming down her face. “Okay.”
Beck picked her up. “Now let’s get your mom some help.”
After a few minutes, the town came into sight. Infected ambled around, but luckily not many. Most of them were probably back at Gideon’s, drawn by all the gunfire.
“Where’s the veterinarian’s office?” Adrian asked, walking toward the infected. He drew the knife from his waistband and stabbed each one through the head before I could blink.
Wren leaned in close to me. “I can see the attraction.” She let out a whistle.
“Enough! Where’s the office?” Finley barked.
“It’s on Elm Street, the last building on the left,” Wren said around a piece of beef jerky she’d pulled from her bag.
Lucas stared at her suspiciously. “Are you sure you didn’t just put together two horror-movie titles?”
Wren glanced back at me. “I can see why you’re not attracted to this one.”
Lucas gave her the finger. “I’m not attracted to her; she’s plenty attracted to me.”
Rolling my eyes, I moved in the same direction as everyone else. I was attracted to him, but his holier-than-thou attitude would keep him from being with someone as flawed as I was.
And I was okay with that. Beck and Adrian loved me for who I was, flaws and all.
I let out a breath. One little false claim of sexual harassment and he couldn’t get over it.
What a douche.
“What a douche,” Wren said, walking even with me.
Now we were thinking alike?
“He has his reasons.” Why was I defending the ass?
We walked a little farther in silence when I saw a small country grocery store. “I’m going to check it out.”
“You know that place has been picked clean.” Lucas looked at me like I was an idiot.
The others had walked about a hundred yards ahead of us.
“Maybe, but there might have been things that were overlooked.” I cautiously approached the building. “Tell Adrian and Beck I’ll head their way when I’m finished.”
“I’ll go with you.” Wren stuffed the chicken into her backpack and pulled out a knife.
I nodded and knocked on the door, trying to draw out any infected that might be in the building, with Max close on my heels.
“You’re such a brat.” Lucas growled, stomping up to the door. “Adrian would kill me if I let you go in alone.”
I didn’t bother to respond and carefully opened the door. The smell coming out of the building was enough to set off my gag reflex.
“Damn, that’s rank.” Wren gagged. “Smells like straight-up ass.” She turned her head and whispered over her shoulder. “Hold your nose, Mojo.”
I ignored the crazy at my back and looked around.
The little grocery store had probably been charming once.
A faded Coca-Cola sign still hung crooked above the porch, its red paint bleached pink by years of Texas sun.
One of the front windows had shattered completely, leaving jagged teeth of glass clinging to the frame.
The air inside was a stale mix of mildew, rotting wood, and something that had died long ago.
Bare metal shelves stretched toward the back of the store, stripped so clean they gleamed beneath a layer of dust. A rusted shopping cart lay on its side in the middle of the aisle, one wheel still spinning lazily when I nudged it with my boot.
Handwritten price tags dangled from empty hooks, advertising canned beans for ninety-nine cents and fresh peaches that hadn’t existed in months.
Behind the counter, an old cash register sat open, its drawer hanging crooked after someone had pried every dollar from it, as if there were anywhere to spend it now.
Idiots.
“Told you this was a lost cause.” Lucas kicked an empty can across the floor.
I ignored him, determined to find something useful.
Just when I thought I’d have to listen to his shit until the end of time, I noticed a rack of seed packets knocked onto the floor. Most had been stepped on or soaked by rain blowing through the broken window, but a few remained sealed. I stuffed them into my pack.
Six months ago, they would’ve been worthless. Now they might feed someone.
Lucas snorted when he saw the seeds, but didn’t comment.
I looked around for a few more moments, but I saw nothing else of use.
“Where did your crazy-ass sister go?” Lucas smirked and headed toward the back of the store.
“Hilarious, dickhole.” I paused and listened.
“What?” Lucas stopped too.
I didn’t know what to tell him. The silence felt…wrong.
When I looked at Max, I saw the hair on his back had bristled.
“Robin?” Wren called in a quiet voice.
“She probably found another stuffed pet,” Lucas muttered under his breath. “Maybe this one can lead us to a safe place to sleep tonight.”
I almost smiled at the son of a bitch before I could help myself.
Almost.
But something still made the hair on my arms stand on end as we moved toward Wren’s voice.
She stood in a small office that looked as if someone had looted it months earlier. The desk lay overturned, and all the cabinets were ripped open. Dust coated everything in a fine layer, even the safe, which had been torn open.
“Nothing here is worth scavenging.” Lucas gazed around the small room.
I agreed with him, and at this point I was ready to leave.
“Somebody’s been sleeping here.” Wren pointed to a mattress hidden behind the overturned desk.
Max sniffed around the room, and a low, continuous rumble came from his throat.
Lucas frowned at him. “They’re probably long gone now.”
“Maybe.” I stared at a candle on the floor that was almost burned to the bottom. “Or maybe they left when they heard us coming.”
Lucas paused, hearing the same thing I did.
Not footsteps, but a faint rustling.
Max raised his head and looked at the ceiling, his teeth showing now.
Lucas raised his hand. “Wait.”
I tilted my head back and sniffed.
Fresh decay.
Different from the stale rot filling the store.
“It’s coming from up there.” I stared at the ceiling.
“What?” Lucas whispered while sniffing the air himself.
At that moment, the ceiling above the office groaned.
“What the fuck?” Wren jerked her head up.
Suddenly, an infected crashed through the rotten drywall, heading straight for Lucas. He barely had time to grunt before I moved in and slammed both hands into his chest. The force sent him back into the hallway, and the infected landed exactly where he’d been standing.
Its teeth snapped inches from my face.
I caught a shelf falling beside me, one-handed, and shoved it sideways. It crashed into the infected, pinning it for a split second.
Long enough for Lucas to recover, draw his knife from his waist, and stab the corpse through the temple.
Lucas stood there, staring at me in shock. “You shoved me out of the way.”
I blinked. “So?”
“Why would you do that?” He narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah. Why would you do that?” Wren slapped my arm. “I just got you back.”
A long breath escaped me. “I don’t want to see you hurt, you big dumbass.” I faced Wren. “And once again, I’m not your sister.”
Wren gave me a droll look. “I’ve been reading books on short-term amnesia.”
“Come on. There’s nothing useful here.” Lucas grabbed my arm. “I’m not waiting around for more infected to fall from the ceiling.”
“Shows what you know.” Wren dropped and grabbed a set of walkie-talkies stashed under an old newspaper on a bottom shelf. “I even have batteries in my bag.”
“Damn. Those will come in handy.” Her find impressed me.
She turned her head and spoke to her backpack. “Mojo, hand me the batteries.”
This woman.
One minute she’s brilliant and the next she’s one step away from licking windows.
“It’s raining men," Wren started singing. “Hallelujah, it’s raining rotted men.”
When my eyes met Lucas’s, neither of us could hold in our laughter.
Wren smiled and kept singing.
As we approached Elm Street, Beck met us. “Adrian is about to shit himself because you disappeared.” He grabbed me and squeezed me tight. “I told him you probably stopped to check out the store.”
This man always had the utmost confidence in my ability to navigate this new world, and I loved him for it.
I tilted my head back to kiss his beautiful mouth. “You were right, but we didn’t find much.”
“Speak for yourself, wench. I found something amazing.” Wren pulled the walkie-talkies out of her bag.
“Damn, Wren. Cool find. Good job,” Beck said, congratulating her.
“I’m amazing,” Wren smirked, brushing her hair back under her cap. “It’s about time someone realized it.”
“You’re something, all right,” Lucas snorted as he walked by. “Now let’s get to the others in case Finley needs us.”
Beck kissed me once more, grabbed my hand, and we set off for the clinic.
I finally admitted to myself why I’d wanted to go into the store. I was terrified that Harper’s fate was sealed, and I didn’t want to be there when Finley and Rory realized it.
But I’d forgotten… that in this world… we rarely got what we wanted.