The Dead Saga (Book 3): Odium III Page 5

  “Our truck,” I sniped, raising my gun also—not that I could hit anyone from this distance, but they didn’t know that. The person inside froze, their face looking at us through the dirty windshield.

  “Well, it’s more mine than yours, Nina,” Nova said, her eyes never leaving the sight of her gun.

  “Well not really,” I said in annoyance. “It’s ours, since you wouldn’t be even doing this on your own, and since it was me that spoke to Zee and James and got them to agree to let us take it.”

  The person inside slowly backed out of the truck. Though we were close to whoever it was, it was too hard to make them out. The fine rain was coming down harder, creating a light mist between us. I thought it was a woman, and when she cackled like a real live Wicked Witch of the West, I knew it was a damn woman.

  “She just cackled at us!” Nova snapped in annoyance. “Like a witch!” she said incredulously. “I hate witches.”

  “Well she is old,” I offered to Nova.

  And she was. Long, dark gray and white hair was held up high on her head in the form of a knotty bun, and her face held more wrinkles than a rumpled old blouse, yet I bet she was attractive once upon a time.

  “That’s kinda creepy!” I yelled to the woman, whose only response was to cackle again. I looked across at Nova and saw her grimace.

  “If you do that again, I’m going to shoot you in the forehead!” Nova yelled to the woman. “And Nina?”

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s totally my truck.” She laughed and took off after the crazy, cackling woman who had just turned tail in the opposite direction.

  I stared after Nova in annoyance before chasing after both her and the woman. My feet splashed through the mud, the dirty, freezing cold water soaking through to my socks.

  “Goddamn it,” I muttered to myself as I ran, feeling the water squelch between my toes. “Goddamn it!” I said louder as I slipped and almost fell on my ass. I realized I couldn’t see Nova anymore and I slowed to a jog, looking around me at all the tents for movements or noise. We still hadn’t checked out all of these, so for all we knew there could be deaders inside. I stopped running and turned in a full circle to check my surroundings fully.

  “Nina, up here!”

  I looked up, the rain pelting my face and dripping into my eyes, and I saw Nova climbing the steps to the top of the outer perimeter of the city. “Get your ass up here!” she yelled down to me with a gleeful whoop and carried on running.

  This was Nova at her best—free and chasing some bad guy (or woman) down. This was what she lived for now.

  I ran around the back of some of the old makeshift homes and found the steps before following her up the side. The steps were slippy from the rain and moss, which had started to cover them, and my own words came back to haunt me as I almost twisted my ankle and fell off the edge. I swear I heard Nova laugh at me and I cursed at her and everything else in this godforsaken world under my breath.

  I reached the top and was grateful that the platform had a handrail going around the entire perimeter—not that it looked even vaguely sturdy, but it was safer than it not being there. Nova was off to my left, still following after the crazy cackler, who—lo and behold—was still cackling, like we were playing tag and it was all fun and games. I grumbled and followed them both.

  I finally caught up to Nova, noticing that she wasn’t even a little bit out of breath, where I was panting like I had been running for miles. She paid me no mind as her eyes stayed focused on the woman, but I heard the low chuckle in her throat.

  “Fuck off,” I sniped back. “I’m just a little out of shape is all.”

  “How is that even possible?” she murmured to me, her eyes staying focused down the barrel of her gun that she had aimed at the woman. “In these times, I mean. It’s not like we don’t have to run for our lives every single day, Nina.”

  “Blah blah, can you just shush your damn face and focus on the matter at hand, please.”

  “Someone’s a little touchy today.”

  “I’m sick, okay?” I turned and glared at Nova, watching as her cheeks rose in a grin.

  “What did you take from our truck, crazy pants?” Nova yelled to the old lady.

  The old lady backed up until her feet found a gap in the fencing near the edge of the ledge. “I’m not crazy!” she said, actually sounding hugely offended. She burst out into her now-infamous cackle—well, infamous to us three, but whatever. I wasn’t sure if her cackling outburst meant that she was agreeing with us on the crazy front or if she was even offended anymore. This chick was screwing with my head.

  “Lady, there aren’t enough cats in the world for your level of crazy!” I yelled back to her before sneezing into my hand.

  Crazy Pants held up the key of the truck, dangling it in the air between us with a gleeful smile.

  “Shit,” I cursed, giving Nova a sidelong glance of annoyance. “You left the key in the ignition?”

  I knew she felt my death stare but she didn’t say anything about it. Instead she chose to cock her gun as a warning to the woman. I didn’t need to look at her to know that she was pointing it straight at the face of the crazy bitch.

  “Give us the damn truck key,” I snarled, “or she will shoot you.”

  The old lady cackled loudly again, baring her gummy mouth to me, and I couldn’t contain the grimace from my face.

  “Dude, that’s just gross.” Nova elbowed me in the rib and I nodded my agreement.

  There were many downsides to the end of the world—obviously the whole life-and-death and constant perilous situations were always at the top of that list—but there were other things that I had never really considered before. One of them being dental care. Sure, we brushed our teeth as best we could—hell, I even carried my toothbrush and toothpaste tube around with me wherever I went like a damn health commercial. Boys and girls, always brush twice a day, and in the event of an apocalypse remember to pack your essentials—gun, knife, tooth brush. Safety first kids, safety first. However, I was way overdue for my six-month checkup at the dentist.

  I looked at the woman’s rotten, gummy mouth and felt a little nauseous. And a little sorry for her, truth be told. I was never a fan of the dentist, but if I would have known then what I knew now, I would never have eaten all that candy growing up. Or at least I like to believe that I would have been a touch more consistent on flossing. I had at least two fillings in my teeth, and I didn’t know what I’d do if I ever needed any more. I’d met many people in the past four years, but never a dentist.

  “Please,” I said sincerely to the old lady.

  She was clearly off her freaking rocker, but wouldn’t anyone be if they were there all alone? After seeing what she’d most likely seen?

  “Please give us the keys. You can come with us.”

  “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” She cackled again, her eyes wild.

  I sighed heavily, not wanting to hurt this woman, but it was getting to the point that we had little choice in the matter. We needed that key, regardless of what the consequences were to her, and Nova was quickly losing her patience. I sneezed again, pain shooting behind my eyes as I did.

  “Actually, that’s not how the saying goes,” Nova offered.

  The old lady looked confused for a minute, staring into space, and then put one of her bony fingers into her mouth as if chewing on a nail while she thought about it. She eventually called bullshit on Nova, and I couldn’t blame her since that was definitely how the saying went.

  “I’m serious,” Nova continued. “The saying is, ‘finders keepers, when I get my hands on you, I’m going to snap your scrawny neck!’” she growled out.

  The rain was pouring down now and we were all getting completely soaked through, not to mention it was freezing. I was more than over the whole stupid conversation. My backpack was pressing into my back uncomfortably, my soaking wet clothes offering no padding against the weapons within it, so I could totally understand Nova’s aggressiveness, yet
I was still a little shocked by her lack of compassion. It was normally me that was the miserable bitch, and her the fun-loving one that enjoyed dancing in the rain and long walks on the beach. Could it be that my bad attitude was rubbing off on her?

  The old lady backed up another step, dangling the keys in front of her some more. “Thanks for the vehicle, ladies.” She took another step forward, until she was teetering on the edge.

  The ruined city was decimated beyond repair, and I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she was crazy long before whatever went down at that place. That sort of crazy didn’t happen overnight, no matter what you lived through. It was the sort of crazy that was born from seeing too much and living through too much. That sort of crazy came with years of practice.

  She glanced over her shoulder and back to us, her eyes glinting with maniacal glee.

  “Where are you going to go, Crazy Pants? There’s only two ways out of here: down and to your death. Just give us the keys as you walk by,” Nova said, and even without looking I could hear the smirk to her tone. “I won’t even shoot you if you give up them up now.”

  I looked from Crazy Pants to Nova and back again, cogs turning as I pieced together a story of pain and desperation, and I gasped. Despite the cold rain beating on me, despite the chill that I felt all the way to my bones and the weariness I felt with life, I gasped, because some things just aren’t right. And if my train of thought was accurate, then this was just plain wrong.

  “What? That sounded like an important kinda gasp, Nina.” Nova glanced at me with a fierce scowl.

  “Do you think she was one of the people that were experimented on?” I asked darkly.

  “Shit,” Nova said immediately, lowering her gun, guilt washing over her features. “How long have you been here?” she asked.

  Crazy pants scratched at an invisible beard on her chin while she thought. “Sixty-three years, three months, two weeks, one day, fifty-nine minutes, and six seconds, seven, eight,” she cackled back.

  “Well, I’m assuming that’s her age.” Nova rolled her eyes. “But I think we can assume that she was definitely here when the experimentations were happening, but I honestly don’t remember her.” She sighed.

  “Eleven, twelve, thirteen.” Crazy Pants kept on counting and Nova gave out a huff of annoyance.

  “Christ, how do we make her stop counting?” I said with a grumble. “And give back our damn truck keys?”

  “My aunt used to have the cutest kid,” Nova said, and I frowned at her like ‘seriously? It’s story time now? “Bear with me,” she continued. “She used to have the cutest kid. But that little shit was so naughty, and she would run everywhere just so that you would chase her.” She looked at me seriously. “The only way to make that little kid stop running was to walk away from her.”

  I grumbled. “And that’s why I never wanted kids. Kids are irritating.”

  “…Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen…”

  “Really? Never?” Nova asked in all seriousness, to which I raised a sardonic eyebrow at her. She ignored me and continued. “I always wanted lots of kids. We came from a big family. I mean, I was one of three and we were the smallest. My dad had six brothers and two sisters, and they all had kids. Anyway, it seemed the obvious way to go. But life is what life is, and Mother Nature decided—”

  “To start a damn apocalypse,” I finished for her with a frown.

  “No, she decided not to give me a womb that worked,” Nova replied sadly.

  I stared at her in both sadness and confusion. Crazy Pants’s voice rang out behind us as she continued to count off the seconds. I couldn’t imagine how horrible that must have been for Nova, but that moment was a completely inappropriate time to bring something like that up, plus I wasn’t not emotionally capable of dealing with heavy news like that. I just wasn’t made that way. I stared at her, my mouth opening and closing as I stumbled to find the right words and not come off as callous.

  Nova shrugged and lowered her gun. “Fine, keep the damn keys. We have a spare anyway.”

  I looked back at Crazy Pants, seeing the light go out of her eyes, and I took that as my cue to take a step backwards. Her smile dropped just as I started to turn my back on her. Both Nova and I kept on walking until we were back at the steps, and we started to make our way down cautiously.

  “We do?” I asked, genuinely surprised. “Have a spare key, I mean.”

  “No,” Nova said flatly, looking sideways at me as we carefully went down the slippery steps and making me feel like a dumbass for asking. As we reached the bottom step we heard the woman yell to us.

  “Don’t leave me.” She sounded so sad and broken—defeated, almost—and I felt bad for a split second. Until I sneezed again.

  I turned around, seeing her dejected face looking truly every one of her sixty-three years, three months, two weeks, one day, fifty-nine minutes, and however many seconds old she was now. Her eyes were miserable and lost, her mouth wrinkled and downturned, and she came down the stairs slowly, her arm outstretched with the keys clutched tightly in her palm. Her hair was plastered to her face, like long gray cattails, but she did nothing to brush it out of the way. Close up I could see how her body trembled, and I hoped that it was from the cold and not anything age-related.

  “Please, don’t leave me here,” she pleaded sadly.

  EIGHT.

  The tent was toasty warm, and the strong smell of damp and mildew hung thickly in the air. But that was a much better smell than the stench of death and festering bodies that had greeted on our arrival, so I wasn’t complaining too much.

  We all undressed once we double-and triple-checked the entire compound and secured the main entrance as best we could. There was no way, without lots of help, that we could get the gate back up and running, but there were plenty of trucks that we could park in front of the gate to stop any deaders from getting in. If other people stumbled upon this place, well…so be it, because there was no way to keep them out.

  We had only found one stray deader trapped inside a laboratory, its arms pinned to an examination table by several knives, as if someone had turned it into their own tortured experiment. The deader growled up at me, its dull gray eyes following me as best they could. It wore a lab coat, and I couldn’t help but think of the justification and badass karma that had come to seek its own revenge on this person. I had stabbed a knife through the back of its skull, putting it out of its eventual misery without hesitation or guilt.

  We hung our older rain-soaked clothes over some string that we hung from one end of the room to the other, and dressed in some old combat gear that had been left behind: green camo pants, matching jacket with a long-sleeved tan T-shirt underneath, and of course my big black boots. I looked like I should have been in the army or something, and felt completely uncomfortable wearing the uniform, like an imposter of some kind. But I was hugely grateful for clean, dry clothes—especially since my cold now had me in its death grip. I coughed and sneezed, feeling like total shit as my eyes streamed.

  Nova looked right at home—happy, even—despite the current circumstances. She tucked into one of the ration packs, a meat and potato concoction of some sort. I had eaten these cold previously, and they were vile, though of course I was always happy to have food in my stomach. This time, though, the food was warm—hot, even—and it tasted like a mouthful of heaven. Seriously. Like if heaven were something you could eat, it wouldn’t be chocolate and marshmallows; it would be meat, potatoes, and thick, gloopy gravy. I slurped another mouthful in, knowing without even thinking about it that I would definitely be having another after I was done. It was the type of food I used to make whenever my husband was sick: meat and potatoes, to warm the soul and fight a cold. Okay, so soup was actually better at fighting colds, but meat and potato stew was a good second.

  Crazy pants had fallen asleep right after changing into some dry clothes. She was barely coherent enough to tell us what the hell had happened. What little teeth she had left chattered so painfully th
at I wondered if they would smash.

  Nova leaned back in her chair and lit a cigarette, slowly blowing smoke rings up toward the ceiling and humming something unfamiliar. I was tired, and felt nowhere closer to finding this Hilary woman and her husband or discovering their fate. It bothered me, the not knowing. This world was full of so many uncertainties, so many undiscovered evils that I needed to know the answer—for both my own sanity and to hopefully save Jessica.

  It was hard to trust in anything or anyone when all you saw was the bad in the world. And right then all I saw was bad. I really needed a win for my team soon.

  I threw my second empty packet to the side and leaned back in my own chair, closing my eyes and trying to let my body relax for five minutes. I wanted to sleep. Scratch that, I needed to sleep. It had been a stressful couple of days—hell, it had been a stressful couple of years. My thoughts felt wild, whirring around in my head and making my headache even worse. What I wouldn’t do for some painkillers right now, I thought miserably. There were so many things to think about, so many possibilities and outcomes for Hilary, for the people back at the base like Jessica, and Nova and me.

  Nova was humming louder, and I wondered if at any moment she’d break out into song. It wouldn’t surprise me; nothing surprised me about that woman. She was entirely unpredictable, and most of the time amazingly uncomplicated—just the sort of person I needed in my life. Since what had happened with Rachael she had been different—more melancholy than was usual for her—but the further away from base we got, the more of herself I could see coming back. As if putting distance between herself and the place she’d killed Rachael was bringing her back to life. I had also noticed how much she clung to me now, seeing me as some sort of anchor for her, and I wondered if that was what Rachael had been to her…before she had to kill her, anyway.

  Almost as predicted, Nova started to sing—quietly at first, eventually building into a full crescendo of out-of-tune warbling.

  “Kill me now!” I yelled, covering my ears.