CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The boy stared at her with obvious unease before agreeing that he wouldn't scream. She imagined that was because he didn't really have a choice. She opened the door and entered the house. As usual Hayley was there to greet her within moments. She heard the boy inhale sharply, but he obeyed their agreement and didn't scream. He did, however, cower behind her and begin to breathe rapidly. She reached out a hand to comfort him and he clutched it desperately. He was terrified.

The human was home and had brought a stranger! Her nose was overwhelmed with all the new smells and her ears were ringing with the new noises the stranger made. It breathed heavily, appeared to be human and she could smell the fear coming off it in waves. Perhaps it was scared of the human, she had a weapon and it had none. She knew her mate would smell the stranger soon. She hoped he wouldn't get up to investigate. He needed to rest. She approached the stranger happily and was surprised to see him flinch away. She was not threatening him. She was being very nice. She snorted irritably. Odd humans. She stalked away grumbling irritably.

Violet led the boy to the living room and sat him on the couch. His eyes darted around wildly, obviously trying to gauge if she was going to feed him to her pet hunters. She decided perhaps now was the time to explain. She got him a bottle of water and calmly explained that Hayley and Vincent were both hunters that were cognitive and very passive. She told him about Vincent being hurt and about the house having been Hayley's home pre infection. He didn't say anything throughout her entire explanation but he did seem to relax, just a tiny bit.

She decided she wanted to know more about this boy. She started firing questions at him until he held up his hand to stop her.

"My name is Liam. I'm seventeen and I have traveled all the way from Tampa Florida. I'm on my way to Canada, where they say there's no infection. I'm pretty sure I'm immune since, I was bitten two weeks ago and nothing happened. I was in the hardware store looking for supplies, just passing through when three guys jumped me, hit me in the head with my own gun and stole all my supplies. They left me for dead. Without food water and a weapon I wouldn't last long. I'm lucky you found me when you did. You know they took my money? Those assholes emptied my wallet like they thought that shit was going to matter anymore. They even took my debit card. Who do they think money is going to matter to? We are all getting attacked by freakin zombies. Nobody gives a shit."

Violet assessed this kid. He was tall, maybe six foot, thin, with hair she thought might be dirty blond underneath the grime. His cheeks were hallowed out and he looked pretty bad. He needed a shower and a meal. She suggested he go take a shower, then she would look at the wound on his head. It looked pretty nasty. She told him she would find him some clean clothes. He thanked her and headed to the upstairs bathroom.

She went to the master bedroom and dug around for clothes that would fit Liam. She found a pair of black and white plaid pajama pants that had a drawstring in the front, so he would be able to wear them without them falling off his skinny frame. She also found a plain black t shirt that would be a little big on him but guys liked that right? She also found a plain pair of socks and a pair of boxers. When she heard the shower go off she waited a few minutes before rapping on the door.

"Liam give me your dirty clothes, I will wash them out in the sink and see if we can salvage them for later."

He cracked the door and thrust out the pile of dirty clothes. She wrinkled her nose at the smell. She instructed him to wrap himself up so she could come in. she set his dirty clothes down and walked in. a less disciplined person would have openly cringed. This kid looked like he had been hit by a bus. He was covered in welts, scratches and bruises. He was way too thin to be healthy and she saw the bite he had referred to earlier. It looked infected, inflamed on his shoulder, near his neck. She knew it was going to need to be be drained. She couldn't believe she would have to do that again.

She told him she was going to drain his bite and he cringed. She assured him she wasn't really looking forward to it either. To his credit, during the process of drainage, he didn't complain at all. She put some antiseptic on the wound on his head. It wasn't so bad as to require stitches or anything, for which he was grateful. She had a feeling that it may be out of her medical abilities to sew somebody up. She gave him a once over and caught herself smiling. With some meat on his bones he would be a pretty good looking kid. His brown eyes must have captivated the girls in his school.

She left him to get dressed so she could change Estelle, who had been tormenting a sore Vincent. Once Estelle was changed Violet started to get dinner around. She heated up a family size can of beef stew for her and Liam, and got out three cans of spam for the hunters. Estelle was having some yummy mashed carrots and a bottle of formula with cereal in it. She felt strange moving around the kitchen. She had never been very domestic. She generally went out to eat or grabbed a muffin from a local coffee shop. But here she was, acting like a housewife, mom to a kid that wasn't hers, two zombies and a random teenager. Life was strange.

Liam entered the roomed and sighed happily when he saw she had warm food. He told her he hadn't had a hot meal since the infection had broken out. He ate stew with gusto, and ended up finishing off the rest of the can and half of Violets bowl. She smiled as he thanked her with such enthusiasm that he made Estelle laugh as she ate. She laughed outright when carrots shot out the amused infants nose and the hunter who had been begging at her feet jumped back in disgust as she was splattered with mashed orange goop.

She cleaned up the kitchen and told Liam she and Estelle were headed to bed. She was asleep for about two hours before Liam shook her awake gently. She sat up quickly and asked what was wrong. He assured her everything was okay and she glowered out at him from under the covers. He looked sheepish and stooped over. He avoided her gaze before looking up quickly and making eye contact.

"Violet Im scared, im sorry. Im not a pussy or anything Im just really freaked out. Can I sleep on your floor?"

Violet sighed and shook her head no.

"Look kid, Im warning you now, if you get touchy feely I will break your neck. But Im sure as hell not letting you sleep on the floor. Just stay on your side of the bed."

She moved over and he crawled in with her. Now her crazy circus was complete. A baby, a con artist, a teenager, a zombie cheerleader, and a zombie teacher all in one king size bed, living through the apocalypse. She had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but it was sure to be interesting.