BOOK ONE: INFECTED

CHAPTER TEN

Ok. . . So now it's May fifth. Yeah, I shirked my writing for a few days. Sorry about that. I just had some better things to do.

Anyway, I never did find out what happened with John and the others. Did I feel bad about leaving them alone to handle the scary monsters all by themselves? For about three days. Then I got over it. I liked living free without having to guard a house. Life was just much better.

It was better, but it wasn't much easier.

This was a short little diary entry thingy, but I've said all I've needed to say. It's time to move on.

Several times that day we stopped while Bobby got out to look at something, grab a few supplies or something. I was asleep most of those times, so I wasn't particularly sure why he had stopped. House shopping, perhaps? Once he gave me a hamburger from McDonald's, so I figured someone else was out there. Why they would be in a McDonald's flipping patties, I had no idea.

"No, no one was in there. I had worked at Burger King for a while. It's pretty much the same thing," he had explained while he drove on.

"Ah," I said around a bite of cheeseburger.

When I had finished my much-needed meal, I snuggled back into the blanket in the back and fell back into a dreamless sleep, only awakened to Bobby shaking me gently several hours later.

"Lex! Come on; I found us a place to stay," he said.

Yawning widely, I propped my body up on an arm, the blanket falling around the small of my back. I squealed with pain and receded back into the blanket after feeling the sun hot on face.

"Oh, damn! Sorry I forgot!" he apologized quickly, helping me out of the car. I could hear Cassie barking at a window inside whatever house it was he taking me too.

"It's ok, don't worry about it. I did, too. Did you get everything?" I asked, pausing when Bobby stopped me to open the door. "Are you sure no one lives here?"

Once inside, I dropped the blanket and headed for the couch, still exhausted. Bobby was right behind me. "Yeah, I got everything inside before I woke you. Stay here while I get you a room and pin this blanket against the window."

I smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks, Bobby. I'm gonna get a drink of water real quick and let Cassie outside. Unless she's already been out?"

He stopped to address me. "She hasn't been out since the stop at McDonald's. I gave her some water, then, too. She probably does need to get outside. Just be careful of the sun."

"Duh," I yawned, getting off the couch. "C'mon, Cass. Wanna go outside?"

Cassie was in front of me, headed toward the back door. I followed her, assuming she already had the whole house mapped out, and came to find she actually did. I let her outside quickly, only causing minimal damage to my face, then searched for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

I had to look through three cupboards before I found the glasses, but I found them, and I took a good, long drink of water.

"Lex?"

I snarled and dropped the glass out of surprise, crouching a little bit. Bobby backed up a few paces, his hands lifting defensively in front of him. I sighed and straightened up, smiling apologetically at my friend. "Sorry. . . I'm very jumpy now. . . "

Chuckling, Bobby shook his head. "No, I shouldn't sneak up on you like that. I just wanted to tell you that your bedroom is ready. I've been watching this house for a few hours, and no one has come home. Both cars are still in the driveway, and several of the dressers were empty. These people aren't coming home."

I nodded. "That's great. We've got a nice little house all to ourselves. How many floors does it have?"

"It's a ranch. The basement isn't even finished yet. The sun'll set in a few hours. You should get a little more sleep. I'll have dinner ready when you wake up. Or breakfast for you, I guess," he chuckled.

Smiling, I allowed Bobby to lead me to my room. It was at the far end of the hallway, and the darkest room. He had nailed the giant blanket to the wall in front of the window for me. All of my bags were already lying in wait for me. I unpacked my pillow and blanket and stuffed puppy and crawled into bed.

"Sleep well," Bobby bade as he started to walk off.

"Wait. . . What's the outside world like?" I asked.

Bobby walked back into the room and sat at the foot of my bed. "Well, chaotic. Cops are keeping people from leaving via the Lincoln Tunnel or any other street that might leave Manhattan. People are wandering the streets aimlessly in groups or alone. Warehouses are off-limits as well as windowless buildings. I drove past some guys looting a store. Otherwise, it was pretty much business as usual."

I giggled. "Right. Sounds like it. Nobody dropping dead, though, I hope?"

He paused and glanced around. "Well, there were a few. And only like two turned that I saw. They slipped into somewhere safe for them. One guy was stupid enough to follow one in there, thinking. . . Well, I don't know what he was thinking. He never came back out, though."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "That sucks."

When I yawned, Bobby got up. "I'll let you sleep. You had a rough night last night."

"One more. . . Just one more thing," I argued, sitting up. This question had been burning inside me since Bobby and I had first met. "Why did you help me? I'm pretty certain we've never met before. I'm normally good with faces."

Bobby hesitated before he turned around to face me. "No, we haven't met before. I don't even think we go to the same school."

I knew it! I thought.

"I guess, when I saw that monster attacking you I wanted to help you. Jump in the way or something. But I just froze even though I knew it was the best thing to do. After I had failed to act, I just wanted to make sure I didn't make that mistake again," he explained after a lot of pauses.

"But I– You didn't have to. Everyone else just froze, too. You didn't need to put your neck on the line for me, someone you didn't even know," I faltered, confused.

"No, but I just felt like I needed to. I kinda thought you were pretty, too," he said sheepishly. "And the way you came out of your house when everyone started screaming, even though most people would have just stood in their lawns, I admired that. I admired the way you came headfirst into something just to see if everyone was alright."

Ok, things were making a little more sense. That sounded more like guy reasoning to me. I smiled at him and rolled over. "Well, thank you. You've been a real life saver. I mean that."

I heard Bobby sigh. "It's no problem. You've saved me more than I've saved you. I'll talk to you when you wake up."

"Don't let me sleep all night," I muttered, already half asleep.

"I won't," Bobby promised before he shut the door behind him. I pulled the blanket under my chin and hugged my stuffed dog close, and was asleep in a matter of minutes.

The smell of spaghetti sauce woke me up. I propped myself up on both of my hands, my legs curling under me, and looked around, trying to decipher what room I was in before I remembered what had happened that morning.

Yawning, I got off the bed and made my way out of the room toward the kitchen. The sun wasn't quite all the way behind the horizon yet. Bobby was in the kitchen at the stove, stirring the noodles.

"Evening," he greeted me, setting down the wooden spoon. "This was the only thing I found in here to eat. Looks to me like the previous owners took most of the other food or just hadn't bought food in ages.

"Well, that sucks. Maybe I'll do a little shopping tonight while I'm busy not doing anything."

"Wow. . . ," Bobby said suddenly, tilting his head while he stared me down. "Your face is, like, really sunburned. We should find something to put on that. . . "

I shrugged. "It's fine."

He shook his head. "No, come on. We'll find something. I know you heal fast, but I have to do something to feel important."

I rolled my eyes as he led me to the linen closet. "You're cooking for me, and you helped me escape the evil John and his minions. You drove me half way across the world and befriended me when no one else did. You've done more than enough."

"Uh huh."

Smiling, I rolled my eyes again, but stayed silent. If this was what he wanted to do, fine. I didn't feel like arguing with him.

He started to look through the linen closet at the end of the hall, shoving stuff out of his way and rummaging through everything. I stood a ways behind him, my arms crossed casually, as I waited.

"What exactly are you looking for?" I asked after a few seconds.

Bobby backed out of the closet and held up a bottle with green, bubbly liquid in it. "Aloe!"

"Oh. . . That makes sense."

He smiled. "Doesn't it? Let's go sit down."

Sighing, I followed him to the couch where I sat down next to him. "I can put it on myself, you know. . . ," I pointed out as he squeezed a little aloe on his palm. I wasn't sure I was comfortable with him touching me, yet.

"I know."

I rolled my eyes. Fine. So he was going to be that way. I put on an annoyed face and crossed my arms. He just smiled at me and started to rub the aloe on my forehead and cheeks.

Suddenly, he pulled his hands away, looking surprised. "You're burning up!"

My annoyed face didn't go away. "Am I? I feel fine. Don't all sunburns feel hot to the touch?" I asked, feeling my own forehead. Maybe I blushed and hadn't realized it in my irritability?

"Well, yeah, but not like this! You feel feverish! I'm going to go get a thermometer. You finish rubbing in this aloe," he commanded. I glared at him as he walked by, feeling the most irate with him than I had since I had first met him. He was acting like my father, not my friend!

Still irritated, I finished rubbing in the aloe, then got up to stir the spaghetti while he rummaged through the house and all of its crap. I was coming back out of the kitchen when he returned.

"Found one. I sterilized it, so it should be ok."

"Great. If I had a fever though, wouldn't I be acting sick? I feel just fine. It's probably just the sunburn!" I argued. "You don't have to treat me like I'm a little kid. We're the same age! I need a friend, not a parent."

Bobby's gaze hardened and he looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry. . . I'm not used to talking or interacting with people my age. I was home schooled and I volunteered at the preschool for most of my high school life. I'm used to talking to four-year-olds. I'll try to stop."

"Thank you," I muttered. Home schooled? That had to suck.

He handed my the thermometer and I stuck it under my tongue and waited for the device to come to it's conclusion. It took a few minutes, but at last it started to beep, alerting both of us that it had finished. I took it from under my tongue and read the blank LED numbers.

"What the hell?" I gasped, violently shoving the thermometer toward Bobby.

"What?" he asked, taking it from me. He read the numbers and his eyes widened. "One hundred and ten? According to this you should be dead."

My mouth fell open. "Funny. I don't feel dead. I feel quite alive, actually."

"Maybe it's just symptoms of being an Infected. You've also been breathing very heavily since last night, and even now while you just sit here," Bobby said, still looking at the thermometer.

I shrugged. "Maybe. I don't feel sick, and I feel like I'm breathing normally. Either that means I'm just fine, or I'm completely nerve dead. I think I'm fine, though."

Bobby laughed and put the thermometer to the side. "Yeah. . . Well, the spaghetti is almost ready. You might want to let Cassie inside. I just let her out like ten minutes ago. I wanted her to be able to get in some running and playing and stuff before she was cooped up inside all night long."

"She's outside?" I cried, looking out the window. It was still light outside, so I calmed down. "Sorry. . . I'll go let her in."

"I wouldn't let anything happen to her," Bobby said defensively. I followed him out to the kitchen and passed him to get to the back door. I slid the door open and whistled, then called Cassie's name. It took a few seconds, but she came running.

"I just overreacted," I apologized once Cassie was inside. "Where did you put her food?"

Bobby pointed with the spoon. "In that closet. Her water dish is already filled with water, and her food dish is next to her food."

"Thank you."

By the time I had Cassie all fed, the food was ready. Bobby and I set the table, then we served ourselves and ate in silence. Bobby had made just enough for the both of us to have seconds, but only I did.

"I didn't know you could cook," I commented at one point.

"Yeah, I don't look like that type, do I? After working at Burger King, I took up an interest in good food."

I giggled. "Well, the dinner is very nice. Thank you."

He nodded. "Not a problem."

When I was finished, I rinsed my plate and put it in the like-new dishwasher. It was then that I realized that all of my clothes, even my jacket, were full of holes and had blood everywhere.

"Crap. I'm going to get in the shower. I'm all bloody, still. . . Dammit. . . Now I have to throw these away. . . Guess I'm going more than grocery shopping tonight," I muttered, walking toward the bathroom closest to my room.

"Don't take too long! We don't want those Infected hearing the running water."

"Right!" I said over my shoulder. I was already in the bathroom, checking out the shower. It was just a shower, no tub. There was shampoo and conditioner on the soap stand, so that was good. I hadn't brought any. It was old people hair products, but it would do until I could get more.

I walked into my room and picked out the outfit I wanted to wear that night and brought it in the bathroom with me, then went and sought out a towel. I found one in the closet the aloe had been in.

When everything was in order, I stripped of my bloody and ripped clothes and got in the warm water.

True to my word, I only took as much time as I possibly could need to wash my hair and scrub my body clean of the blood for the second time that week. The water stung my burned face and ruined the bandages on my hands, but I didn't care. I was getting clean.

Regretfully, I got out of the warm shower and towel-dried off. Once dressed in my outfit, I left the steamy bathroom and went into the kitchen to find some plastic bags to put my bloody clothes and ruined bandages in. I couldn't find any, so I sufficed to find a garbage bag instead.

"You heading out?" Bobby asked long before he had reached the kitchen so as not to frighten me for the third time.

"Soon. I'm going to dump these somewhere else so the blood doesn't attract those stupid creatures," I explained, tying off the bag. "You'd do well to turn off all the lights and close all of the blinds."

He nodded. "I'll do that."

I turned to Bobby. He was in a pair of pajamas that looked two sizes too big. "Where'd you find that? I didn't see you bring any of your own clothes."

"They're courtesy of the previous owner. I'll just get some new clothes tomorrow. They'll due for now. I'll wash the clothes I was wearing tonight while you're out."

"What if they hear the washer?"

Bobby paused. "I didn't think about that. . . I'll just wash them in the morning, then. You better get going. What should I do about Cassie?"

I threw the bag over my shoulder and walked to the front door. "She likes to sleep in the bed. Just tell her to stay quiet, and she will. Make her feel safe. That's all. I'm taking the car. Where are the keys?"

He disappeared back into the kitchen and came back with the keys to the Commander. "Be careful," Bobby bade.

I nodded. "I will. Stay safe, and lock all the doors. I'll be back by morning. Just unlock the doors when you wake up."

"Oh, wait!" he said suddenly, running toward the room he had taken.

While I waited for him to do whatever it was he doing, I glanced at the clock. It read seven-twenty-two. He came running back a few minutes later with a giant red hooded sweatshirt in his arms.

"You might get cold, even with a deadly fever. And it'll help for when the sun comes out. I'll try to get up early enough to unlock the doors for you so you aren't stuck out there for very long."

I took the sweatshirt gratefully and set the bag down so I could pull it over my head, then picked the bag up again. "Thanks. Just do your best," I bade before walking out of the door.

I found my way to the car and threw the bag in the passenger's seat and started up the car, turning on the lights. I couldn't hear any screeches close by, just distant noises. At least they weren't anywhere near Bobby and my dog. I felt uneasy leaving them alone, but things had to be done.

So, I put the Commander into drive and slowly pulled away from the now-dark house that was going to be my home for the next God knew how long.

I had errands to run.

Man, it's been a while, hasn't it? That's my bad. Well, here's three chapters for you guys! Have fun.