Sunkissed: A Zombie Novel

Chapter Seven

"Hayden. Hayden. Are you okay?" Her voice is filled with panic; I instinctively hide my wounded hand from her, dropping my axe down between my feet and onto the floor of the car.

"U-uh," I try to respond, searching for something to stifle the blood that gushes out of my wrist. "Uh..."

We reach the highway in less than a minute, but Danny continues to drive at an insanely fast speed. I don't even bother asking where we're headed—she probably doesn't know, anyway. I reach into the backseat and fumble with a backpack zipper until it opens. Finding the first aid kit, I quickly unlatch it and search through the small box single-handedly until I find gauze.

"Shit!" I hear Danny say. "My phone's still at my house!" She glances at me; I check the speedometer. 90 and increasing. "Why do you need gauze?"

Her voice is distant; my hands begin trembling from the shock of the bite, making it hard to wrap around the curve of my wrist. Hysteria bubbles in my chest and a nervous laugh escapes my lips involuntarily, followed by a sob. I hastily try to cover the semi-circle of teeth marks.

"Hayden? You got bit!"

"I'm gonna need you to not freak out right now." My voice trembles as I wrap the wound more hastily, blood already dotting through the first few layers of gauze. After encircling it several more times, I tie it off and raise my arm above my head to slow the bleeding, my heart fluttering inconsistently. "Danny, don't worry about it."

"Hayden..."

"I'll be fine."

"We have to get you to a hospital —there has to be something I can do—"

"There isn't anything you can do." My voice comes out in a whisper. The last time I saw someone get bit by an undead, that person died. And then they came back. Danny slows the car to a stop at the side of the highway—habit, I think—and I examine her now. Hers will probably be the last human face I'll see in my living life.

Panic works its way slowly onto Danny's face and fear swarms like angry bees in my chest. She's remembering the undead man in the courtyard, too, she must be. "Here—lie down in the back," Danny insists, and she hops out of the car to clear off the backseat. "You'll take a nap, and then—"

My eyes follow her. I can feel my heartbeat beginning to slow. "Danny..."

"Get back here!"

I obey, leaving the front passenger seat and moving to the back of the car. Before opening the back door, I inhale deeply, closing my eyes. I feel the warmth of the sun against my skin, the breeze that plays with my hair. I pay attention to all of the little details that prove I'm alive; the pain in my wrist, the tiredness of my muscles, and then the memories start coming back.

After one more glance at the endless blue sky, I reluctantly climb into the backseat while Danny bustles about with the bags.

"Do you think that Kylie remembers us?" I ask her.

"N-No, I don't think so. I don't think..."

"It's ironic, isn't it? The first thing they do is return to their homes after they've just been bitten. Even though you and I were still healthy, we, too, returned to our houses...It's ironic...Or is that not irony...?"

"Shh, Hayden. Shh." I feel her hands on my arm, gripping my good hand. Part of me wants to scream at her to get away; tell her that staying with me is dangerous and stupid. But the other part of me, the selfish part of me, doesn't want to die alone.

Will it be death, though? Or some sort of purgatory? I've tried to imagine what it would be like to be dead before, but these circumstances are far different. What will it be like to become one of them?

I lie against the backseat, my arm lounging across the top of my head, turning my attention back on Danny. For some reason, I don't want to stop talking. I don't want to accept that this is the end. It's too soon. "I think she does remember. I think there's something in her that remembers who she was; who we are."

"Shh, Hayden..." Tears fill and fall from Danny's eyes. My own face remains dry.

"Do you remember last summer when we went to the docks and laid out next to the lake? Remember how warm the sun was?" My eyelids are growing heavy, but I fight to stay alert. The warmth from the sun outside warms me; I suddenly become very aware of how hot it is in the car. I realize I'm sweating. "That was so nice."

Danny doesn't respond this time, only squeezes my hand harder. The sunlight catches her silver cross necklace and I nod a little.

I smile at the memory, smile at Danny. "I loved those days. Like the time I flew my kite, and it went so high up that I almost ran out of string...I had forgotten the middle rod and used a stick I had found on the ground instead...You two were so impressed for some reason..."

Danny was nodding fervently now as the memories seem to replay in the chocolate brown of her eyes. My heartbeat slows even further, and I have a strange sensation that a ticking clock lies in my chest instead of a heart. The seconds stretch on, and each heartbeat takes more time than the last.

Shadows creep into the edges of my vision. I've experienced this once before, about two years ago when I got the flu, just before I passed out. I know I'll faint in a matter of seconds.

"You shouldn't stay," I manage to say, right as the blackness takes over.

Her face is the last thing I see.