Page 23 of Outbreak

“Why not?” I ask confused, holding up a box of whatever the fuck ‘super’ tampons are.

“Well, I haven’t had a period since I got my IUD put in four years ago.”

“What the fuck is an IUD? And where do youputit?” My eyes squint as I scan her body, like I’ll find the answer somewhere on her.

“Birth control,” she sighs, rolling her eyes as she grabs the boxes and tosses them back on the shelf. “And they insert it… you know, inside you.”

“Actually, I don’t know. Insert it where?” I ask, turning towards her and pinning her with my stare. Judging by the pink tinting her cheeks, I know what she’s going to say before she says it.

Her embarrassment quickly morphs into irritation to cover herself, and she cranes her neck to meet my stare head on, like a small creature staring into the eyes of a predator. “No place that concerns you, asshole.”

Snatching her leash and jerking her to close the distance between us, I hold her to my body as I walk her backwards, her body hitting the shelf behind her roughly. “I’d say it concerns me a great deal, baby girl.”

Whatever snarky come back dies on her tongue as something crashes to the floor a few aisles over, pulling us out of our little moment. “Wh-what was that?”

“Shhhh,” I whisper, grabbing her and putting her behind me as I spin in a slow circle, surveying the ends of the aisles for whatever—or whoever—made that noise. Ice slides over my skin when I hear it. Low, raspy growling gets louder, closer to us, but we can’t see them. “We need to get the fuck back to the truck before they see us.”

“Grab the buggy’s and let’s go.” She whispers back, panic evident in her voice and the way she grips onto my shirt like a lifeline.

“Oh my fuck! This is really fucking happening, isn’t it?” Rue says, panicked and breathless, as she throws the looted supplies into the truck bed.

We can sort it later. We gotta get the hell out of here now. “Yep.”

I wish I had some words of wisdom for us both right now, but I have no fucking idea how any of this is possible or how to explain it either. All I know is some really dead fuckers are walking around aisle six like it’s a normal shopping day.

I don’t trust anything anymore. Next thing I know, someone’ll tell me vampires and unicorns are fucking taking over the world.

The truck doors slam just as the walking corpses spill out into the parking lot. “Go, go, go!”

I don't waste time firing the engine up and gunning it out of there, the wheels spinning in place a second before we shoot off like a rocket, drifting sideways onto the main road that leads us out of town.

“How is the fucking grocery store crawling with the dead, but the diner was business as usual? Nothing makes sense!” Rue yells, gripping the back of her seat to see what I can see through the rearview mirror. More dead are coming from the woods as we speed down the road.

“Put your fucking seatbelt on,” I growl, my own voice laced in a panic I don’t recognize. “I’m getting us out of here.”

CHAPTER 19

Rue

Suddenly, getting kidnapped and taken on a fucking road trip against my will is the least interesting thing to happen to me this week.

Ghost is rattled, panicked almost. His tone kills the snappy comeback I’d normally throw at him as I listen to him and turn around, jerking the seat belt around my body and clicking it into place. My heart pounds in my chest as I see more dead people flooding into the road that’s fading behind us in the side mirror. I want to panic. Curl into a little ball on the floor and cover my eyes. But I can’t. I need to keep myself aware and alert.

Closing my eyes, I take a steady breath.Pull it together, bitch! You’re safe.Yeah. Right. Safety is just a pretty illusion people trick themselves into believing is real. No one is ever safe from the realities of life.

Life is a cunt who gets their rocks off from kicking you in the balls for shits and giggles. Pretty white fences and a lifetime of debt don’t make a home. Home is finding someone who makes going through this shitshow just a little easier because they are with you through it all. I thought I’d found that—once in a lifetime kind—neighbor boy who made the bad times just a little easier to get through. But he left, like everyone else in my life.Left me to fend for myself and figure out how to do this on my own.

I don’t know if I’ll ever find someone like that again, but Ghost, he’s not terrible in a crisis. He calms me when the panic closes in and protects me, even if he doesn’t realize it. He might have kidnapped me, but I know, without question, he wants me safe.

The shrill beep sounds from the radio, cutting through my thoughts, and I peel my eyes open to see Ghost turning it up. The emergency broadcast signal fills the truck as I wait with bated breath to see what it says.

Emergency Broadcast Message:

Local authorities in your area have reported that bodies of the infected are reviving after death and attacking the living. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies, as they are considered extremely dangerous and highly contagious. The CDC has advised the following: Stay indoors. Do not interact with others who may have come in contact with the virus. If you have been exposed or infected, please isolate yourself. Transmission of the virus has been determined to be via saliva or blood contact with open wounds. Symptoms of the virus include persistent fever, bleeding from eyes, ears, and mouth, and behavioral changes. This warning applies to all areas receiving this broadcast. It is expected that all broadcasting, cellular service, and electrical service will be interrupted. Please use your battery-powered radio. Tune into Emergency Broadcast Channel, 777 AM, to get updated information.

The broadcast ends with the beeping tone once again before repeating itself on a loop. Ghost leans forward, turning the radio off.

“Well. I’m not crazy then. This is actually happening,” he states absentmindedly, his gaze distant as he white-knuckles the steering wheel.

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