I can't help myself in my mind he'll always be Carter. He's not Derek to me, so I don't even want to call him that. His hand sits gently in mine and memories flood back as we fly towards his home. He glances over at me and I turn to face him.
"You remember writing those poems?" he asks.
"Yeah, I think so," I say.
"Where have you been all of these years?" he asks.
"My mind is still fuzzy on that, but I did end up in New York for college, NYU like we said..."
"Me too," he whispers.
"Wait what?"
"Mostly online classes, but yeah," he says.
"I..."
I start to say something but the helicopter dips. The wind is pretty wicked from the storm and I'm pretty sure we are going down. My grasp tightens around his hand and he squeezes back comforting me.
"Everything okay Ralph?" he questions.
"Ralph?" he questions when there is no answer.
"Stay here," he whispers.
He stands trying to keep balance and ducks his head as he makes his way to the front.
"Who the hell are you?" I hear him say.
I look down as the house comes into view and I can't help but have a sinking feeling. There are strange black cars parked all out front and the iron gate is wide open allowing zombie's free range. I hear a scuffle and turn my attention towards the front. The helicopter drops again and I scream.
"Hold on Alice," he says fighting for control.
If we were in one of those action movies we would crash, but somehow survive. Only this isn't a dream, it isn't an action movie and I'm scared shitless. I hold on my stomach feeling sick from all of the twists and turns. A loud thump startles me as a body lays on the floor. Where the hell did he learn all of this stuff?
The chopper lands, but it's a rough landing and shakes me up a bit. Okay not just a bit, I rush out of it and start vomiting all over the grass. Screw having a weak stomach. As I'm vomiting I hear a grunting noise. Feeling around my pocket I feel the knife and pull it out. He stumbles close and I strike, the smell causing another round of puke.
"We've got to get inside," he tells me hoping down.
"No shit," I choke.
He grabs onto the infected arm and I scream from the pain. He stops tugging and looks down. Lifting his hand he notices some blood.
"You're bleeding," he says.
"I'm fine," I say tugging my arm back.
I know there are other zombie's around and we probably shouldn't be out here doing this right now. He doesn't seem to care, he takes my arm and pushes the sleeve of my jacket up.
"You were bit," he says looking at me. His eyes glass over and for the first time since coming here I finally see the boy I once loved.
"I'm fine," I tell him.
"My dad will help you, but first I need you to help me. You think you're up for it?" he questions.
"Yeah definitely," I tell him.
"Okay, so there's an entrance through the green house on the west side," he says. "My dad had it added just in case we had to escape," he tells me. "You go in through there, I'm going to head through the front," he says.
"Stop trying to be the hero," I tell him.
"I'm not," he says.
"Bullshit Carter. I know you, although memories are slipping fast again. I do know that you always try to do everything on your own, let me help you." I say.
"You're injured," he reminds me.
"Thank you captain obvious, but really I'm fine. Let me help," I say.
"Fine," he says protesting.
We fight through a small group of three zombie's before making it to the back door. Luckily the zombies are more in the front than the back. The backdoor has a small window that's not covered. He peers into it pressing his hands against the glass to look in.
"All clear," he says.
"Do we have a plan?" I question.
"They most likely have him in the basement. That room you were in contains a lot of vital information regarding the pill," he says.
"And they want it?" I question. "Why not just take it and leave your dad alone?" I ask.
"They want it destroyed. Funny enough the program that was used to make this drug was government funded," he tells me.
"For real? So basically they are just covering up their mess?" I question.
"Pretty much," he says.
"Okay, so we can hear everything going on in that room but we have to get to the closet in the living room," he says.
"Okay, so what we just run?" I question.
"I've been hiding out for a long time, but this kind of thing never comes easy to me," he says.
"Like in the movies?" I ask.
"Exactly," he says.
"Let's just go for it then," I say.
"You sure you're up for it? How's your arm?" he asks.
"It burns, and I'm starting to feel sick again just like the feeling I had when I took the pill but a lot less," I say.
"What did you feel?"
"Disoriented, and everything kind of looked like it does when your high... like really high," I say.
He laughs and just like that I feel just slightly better. It's nice to hear it with all the shit going down right now. I smile back.
"How disoriented are you now?" he asks.
"It's not bad. My vision keeps blurring, but I don't see weird ass things popping out at me," I say.
"Good. Let's do it," he says.
Slowly he twists the knob and we step into the house. We literally tip toe like we are trying not to wake a sleeping baby. I can hear muffled voices downstairs and a set of footsteps running up the stairs. We both start to pick up pace and reach the closet door just as someone comes barreling up the stairs.
Leaning against the door we both suck in a breath and hold it. I can hear the footsteps right outside. They know someone is here and they are looking. When the footsteps cease I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. My vision shakes a bit, but once he clicks on the light I feel better. He walks over to a vent in the floor and I start to hear the sound of muffled voices.
Laying down on the floor next to him we listen in on what's going on downstairs. He pulls the piece of and we can just barely see a little. I don't see Tanya... I mean Kate and I definitely don't see Annmarie; I wonder if she changed her name.
My mind starts going on a tangent as tunnel vision takes over. I feel like I'm spinning through space and time and probably will puke again, because as we all know it's my thing. I close my eyes trying to calm my beating heart. It's skipped so many beats that I'm pretty sure I'm going to pass out again. I don't want to forget him again, but slowly everything seems to be slipping. Maybe it's finally time for me to turn into one of those things. My bodies been fighting it for so long that now I think it's given up the fight. Maybe I've given up the fight.
"Did you hear what I said?"
"Alice?"
"Alice?"
A muffled voice startles me. I look around and everything just feels weird.
"Alice," his voice breaks. "C'mon Alice I can't lose you again," he whimpers quietly.
I can feel strong arms wrapping around my body holding me. I'm zoning in and out in and out. C'mon Alice concentrate. I squeeze my eyes shut so tight it almost hurts. I breathe in and out. Try to concentrate Alice, I keep telling myself. Your name is Alice Cunningham you grew up in California and came to New York to go to college. You went to NYU not only to peruse your dreams but in hopes that you'd see him. C'mon Alice don't lose it. Keep going. Your moms name is Mary and she's hopefully still alive three thousand miles away.
Blank. Everything is blank. All I can hear is the sound of voices and I'm not sure if I'm dreaming it or if they really are here.
"I won't tell you where the information is," a male voice says.
"You will tell us or we'll kill you and your entire family. No one would notice or care since the worlds gone to shit," another male voice.
"My family isn't here anymore they left," the first voice says.
I hear the sound of a gun clicking.
"We'll kill you first then search the place."
"You'll never find it."
"Get away from him," a familiar voice yells.
I hear it echoing through my body shaking me awake. My eyes open and I look around. I'm all alone in a closet. It takes me a minute, but the memories of that past few days' shoots back through me.
"Families gone huh?"
"Leave him be he had nothing to do with this!"
The voices are coming from below me. A small opening in the floor shows me a man tied up in a chair, Mr. Erickson now known as Sam. I watch in horror as Carter now Derek walks forward. I want to scream at him to get out of there, but what would I do then?
"Why do you need it anyway?" Mr. Erickson says.
"That's none of your concern," the other man says.
"Actually it is. I'm the person who created it," he says.
"There's talks of a cure," a new female voice says.
"Julie!" I hear the man say.
"What?" she asks.
"I won't hesitate to kill you too," he says.
She's quiet. A cure.
"We tried to cure the ones that were first turned," Mr. Erickson reveals. "There is no cure," he says.
"We don't give a shit what you have to say, where are the documents?" he questions pushing the gun into his head.
I roll up sleeve and check the bite, and somehow it doesn't look that bad. The blood is dried around the wound but it looks almost... gone. I've got a plan, but it involves me and those guys. I have to save his family. His mom did a brave thing and allowed me to survive while she suffered death by zombies. It's my turn to give back to them.
I gather all of my strength to stand up. It takes me a minute to adjust as my head spins and my eyes throb. I push out of the small closet and start heading downstairs. I'm doing this for them and whatever happens to me doesn't even matter. I can still hear the voices in the room as I get downstairs. The door is open, but they don't see me just yet.
Without hesitation I barrel into the room, "Leave them and take me!" I announce.