CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
He awoke to a terrible pain in his head, and a rather tender nose. Had the other male been chased away? Had the other male attacked him? Why did his head hurt so badly? Then he remembered. His human had come to the aid of her mate and hit him with her weapon. He groaned. He had clearly misjudged her feelings. He made his way downstairs and was immediately hit by the stench of sadness. He wasn't sure why he hadn't smelled it before. He could even smell the salty tears. The human was sitting on the floor cradling her cub as she fed it, looking forlorn. His mate lay in the corner and watched him silently from under her coverings. She seemed blank, maybe a little uneasy. He made a low grumble to draw attention to himself.
Violet looked up as she heard Vincent. He was surveying the scene in front of him with an uneasy stance. She greeted him sadly and he approached her, lying docilely next to her. She wasn't that good with zombie body language but he seemed contrite. She couldn't blame him. As intelligent as he was for a zombie, he was still pretty limited. She knew she was really the one to blame. Why hadn't she said anything? What was the matter with her? She wasn't some love-struck twit. She had a tongue of silver. Right?
She knew it wasn't true. She was definitely a love struck twit and now she was a heartbroken twit. She had to go find him! She needed him! And she wasn't going to rest until she told him! He may not care, but she at least wanted him safe. She started to gather weapons and supplies and stared sadly at Estelle's sleeping form. She knew she was risking a lot but the nagging voice in her head wouldn't let this go. So she strapped the baby onto her back and headed out into the night, looking for a guy, not really knowing where she was headed. She was mildly amused. If the world hadn't gone to hell she would probably get a hallmark channel special about her epic journey to find true love.
She didn't encounter any infected as she made her way through the empty streets, save for the two hunters running amuck, sniffing every damn thing they came across, including dismantled corpses, making Violet curl her nose up in disgust. Then she heard a strange noise, it sounded like footsteps. Fast footsteps, running behind her. She whipped around and her heart dropped as she saw eleven or twelve infected running at her full speed. She got ready to bash the hell out of them with her sledgehammer when every single one of them made and abrupt turn down a side street. They hadn't even bothered with her, and that scared Violet all the more.
The hunters had both frozen, crouched in the middle of the street, obviously scenting the air. Hayley grumbled and snarled before racing after the hoard at an alarming speed. Vincent hesitated for a brief moment before following suit. Violet didn't even have to think. She followed his long strides, worried but not allowing herself to think of why a hoard and specials alike could be running to the same place. Because if she started to think about it, her mind always came to the same conclusion. Someone was going to get eaten, and that someone was likely Liam.
She had almost caught up to a few of the hoard members when a small explosion rocked the street, blood and zombie parts were thrown everywhere, along with a strange, disgusting smelling green liquid. A few commons were thrown back from the explosion and she saw a severed lower half of a very bloated infected. She had never seen anything like it, nor had she smelled anything like it. The smell seemed to be driving the infected, including Hayley and Vincent, absolutely wild. As she smashed her way through the infected, her fears were confirmed. Liam was on the ground, getting torn up by the infected. Violet swung her sledgehammer wildly, fighting like mad to get the infected away from him. The hunters seemed to snap out of the stupor and started dispatching the infected around them, tearing through the hoard easily.
Violet screamed in pain as a common infected bit down on her wrist, tearing through her skin. Hayley ripped it off of her and slashed its throat. Violet didn't concern herself with that as she fought to get Liam up. He was pretty tore up, but he was alive, and once she got him home she knew she could patch him back up. She all but carried him home, and dragged him up the stairs to the bed. She noticed he was covered in the unpleasant smelling green liquid; these clothes would have to be thrown out. She carefully removed all his clothing, and pulled a blanket up to cover his lower body, trying to protect his modesty. She set to work cleaning him up, and putting some antiseptic on the wounds before she bandaged them up. He was pretty torn up but he would heal. He was asleep, and she watched him with a ridiculous amount of relief.
She would have liked to stay by his side but she had Estelle who desperately needed a bath. She bathed Estelle, fed her and headed upstairs. She felt awfully tired, and the bite on her wrist was throbbing. It seemed so warm. Was it always this hot? It seemed very hot. She curled up in the bed, careful to lie on top of the covers, so Liam wouldn't think she was some sort of a pervert when he woke up. Estelle was asleep almost immediately, and she gratefully followed soon after, wishing it weren't so hot, wishing her wrist didn't hurt so much and wishing her head didn't feel so heavy. She struggled to roll over to speak to Liam but her body was too close to sleep. She slipped into sleep, her body grateful for the relief.