Nine

     It had been 5 days, 7 hours, and 36 minutes since my last shower. To break that down into seconds, a method of counting time that most people can seem to handle when compared to longer increments, that is 459,360 seconds in between the time I have had water pouring down my body. In another comparison, that is a difference of 127.6 hours, nearly the exact same amount of time that mountain climber Aron Ralston’s arm was trapped under a boulder before he cut it off himself. I gripped my own arm and shuddered at the thought.

            When Daniel had told us that we could take showers with warm water, I had felt my limbs turn to noodles. And when I stepped into the beige marble tub to feel little beads of steaming hot water splash across my head and drip down my body, I nearly lost my breath. Dirt swirled at my feet before hitting the drain as a layer of grime was stripped off my body. I wanted so desperately to fall asleep under the water, to just let the hot liquid caress my body as the darkness of my closed lids made me forget all that I’ve seen. I knew that I would not be able to have my full half hour, or even perform my normal routine, so I did my best to enjoy what I could with the lemon bar of soap and the tiny courtesy bottles of mint shampoo and conditioner.

            It almost felt like a part of my heart died when I turned the brushed bronze shower knob and the water stopped coming down on me. There was an instant chill that filled the long bathroom as I slid open the tempest glass doors that matched the design in the beige marble which adorned both the floor and the countertops. I quickly wrapped a fluffy cream towel around my body and dried off. I bound my hair up with the towel like a turban before pulling on my panties and white skinny jeans. I had never been a fan of wearing white, but this had been in my closet and had somehow made its way into my suitcase.

            “Oh, no,” I muttered in a sudden panic.

            I flipped through the old clothes I had been wearing before, frantically searching for the clean bra and top that I had sworn I grabbed. My face was growing hot as I continued to hold my heaving chest with my right hand and throw about the clothes with my left. I let the towel fall from my head, allowing my damp and curly strands of hair to cement themselves against my skin. I let out another exasperated breath in defeat as I realized that I had not brought them with me and would have to cross the hallway with just the towel to cover my top.

            I wrapped the towel against my upper body, tucking the corner into the part pressed against my chest. I felt like I was wearing some sort of unappealing toga. I scooped up all my old clothes into a ball and held them against my stomach as I slowly opened the door. I poked my head into the hallway and looked both ways. I didn’t see anyone so I took the chance to sprint barefoot across the hall. In a somewhat aberrant way, I imagined one of those infected creatures chasing after me. Naturally that unnecessary injection of fear projected my desire to reach my room even more.

            “Brittany!” I cried upon realization that our bedroom door had been locked. I pounded my right fist against the dark wood. “Brittany, let me in!”

            I tried knocking one more time, even pressed my ear to the door. I heard the flush of a toilet and hoped that she would be finished soon so she could come out to let me in. I felt the towel loosen around my chest and quickly adjusted it. “Curse these bodacious b***s of mine,” I huffed.

            “Huh, and what type of curse are we talking about here?” a man’s deep voice suddenly spoke.

            I spun around, my back causing the door to rattle as I hastily pressed myself against it. My eyes were wide and both my hands were gripping the clothes that were balled at my stomach. A tall figure was emerging from the shadows of the corner steps. As he passed the first set of lighting by the first door, I saw the unmistakable vibrant green eyes of the man that Daniel had called James. He had been the one with the temper, the one who in such a short time had not only made me feel unimportant but also terrified in his presence. I couldn’t bring myself to look up at him as he dauntingly took one step after the other towards me.

            “Hmm? Didn’t get that far in the thought process?” he pressed.

            He was looming over me now, his shadow leaving me almost completely in darkness as I stood there, frozen. James stood a good two �" maybe three �" inches taller than Daniel, so with him just a few mere inches from my five foot five frame, I could do nothing but cower. I could feel his eyes boring into me, and when I dared to look up, he was hardcore staring at the bruise above my chest. I shifted, awkwardly, which made a small smirk spread across his very full lips.

            “Please, don’t,” I whimpered softly.

            “Don’t worry, lovely,” he snickered. “You’re not my type.”

            James chortled as he continued past me. He stopped at the door right past mine. With his hand on the knob, he sent me a quick wink before stepping inside. I closed my eyes and found myself releasing a breath that I hadn’t realized I was holding. I spun around and knocked again. Brittany opened the door and I quickly stepped inside. Brittany stood there with a peculiar look across her face.

            “Are you alright, Audrey?” she questioned.

            “Yes,” I said, spinning around to face her with faux confidence. “Forgot my top.”

            The nude colored bra and maroon v-neck t-shirt were sitting there all innocently on the corner of the bed. I scowled at them. My best friend didn’t seem to notice as she grabbed a towel of her own. “I’m going to take my shower, now.”

            “Sounds good,” I barely muttered as she left the room.

            I caught a quick glimpse of myself in the oval mirror by the vanity. No matter how many showers I could have continued to take, there was no special soap or washcloth to wipe away the nasty bruises that trespassed against my body. I threw the towel to the floor and finished getting dressed. I didn’t know what to expect for the rest of the night, other than a nice dinner, so I settled on a classic look with my make up and just let my hair air dry into loose curls.

            I was standing by the window in between the bed and the door to the half-bath when I heard a light knock at the door. I was startled at first, my attention slightly drifting from where it had been focused on the lively fountain in the courtyard. I cautiously crossed the room and opened the door just a crack. Although the knock had not been invasive, I feared another encounter with James.

            “Audrey? Is now a good time?” the familiar voice of Daniel drifted into the room.

            Relief washed over me and I opened the door all the way. “Yes, now is fine,” I said. “What did you need?”

            “I was wondering if before dinner I could take you over to meet Kora. She has some stuff that might help with the…” his voice drifted off as he used his hand to motion towards his own neck.

            I instinctively looked down at the bruise that was poking through the collar of the v-neck. Feeling self-conscious and embarrassed, I shifted me feet and brought my hand up. “Um, yeah…”

            “She is a bit unconventional, but really kind. Actually reminds me of my mother,” Daniel concluded with his darling crooked smile.

            I couldn’t help but grin back at him when he did that. “Okay,” I nodded. I closed the door behind me and stepped into the hallway with Daniel. “Where is your mother?” I asked.

            Surprisingly, Daniel’s smile didn’t seem to falter. He held a confidence and positivism to him that was extremely alluring. As he led me across the hall and towards the door hidden in the shadows to the right of the bathroom, he answered my question.

            “Last I saw her was about two weeks ago, just before James, my younger brother, and I headed cross-country back to college. She and my father were getting on a plane to Israel. They always go somewhere special for the whole month of September. It’s just kind of their thing. So wherever she is, hopefully it’s not here,” he finished with yet another grin.

            As we stopped in front of the door, Daniel balled his fingers into a loose fist before knocking against the door. Before his fist could come down a second time, a petite woman was standing there staring back at us. I was a bit taken back by her at first, feeling somewhat transported back to the nineteenth century with the way her mousy brown hair was pulled up into a bun and how high of a collar her floral print dress was. Lace adorned the neckline and the ends of the sleeves. Tiny silver streaks of hair ran across her scalp and swirled into the bun that sat at the nap of her neck. Her nose was pointed and her lips were thin, her skin aged with a few wrinkles. And yet she looked so beautiful.

            “Hello, dear,” the woman said. Her voice was soft and gentle, as though she was incapable of screaming or yelling. “Please, come in. Both of you.”

            Kora ushered Daniel and me in before gently closing the door. Everything about this woman seemed dated. She looked to be in her late forties, but the décor of her room seemed to reflect an older soul. I felt like I was standing in the library of the old Clue games. There were shelves of books and glass cabinets of what looked like science experiments. The only light that was on in the room was an old desk lamp on the desk along the wall by the door.

            “I am not sure how much Daniel has filled you in on, but let me begin by saying, my name is Kora Siegfried. My father owns the Bed & Breakfast. Unfortunately, we never got to officially open it before the attacks began. We had plans to renovate the courtyard and turn half of it into a parking lot,” Kora was saying. The longer she spoke, the more I picked up on the New England accent that she carried. It made her appear even more regal that I had already pegged her to be.

            “Perhaps that is a good thing. The courtyard looks absolutely lovely the way that it is,” I said.

            Kora gave me a small smile before grabbing a wooden bowl and grinder. “This is a homemade remedy that I have concocted for helping with bruises. It is a Chinese mixture of one part cayenne and five parts melted Vaseline. If you could just show me where your bruises are,” she said, patiently.

            I hesitated, my skin growing red once more. I slowly pulled at the collar of my v-neck so that Kora could get to the most obvious one. She dabbed a little of the mixture across my skin, using her middle finger to massage it into my skin. Most of the pain was gone from the bruising, and they were also more of a green and yellow coloring. Once she was done, Kora stepped back and waited for me to show her the others.

            I kept my eyes down, too embarrassed to look up at either figure that was in the room with me. Kora seemed to pick up on that, and was willing to give me the time I needed to lift my shirt up. I held the fabric right under my chest so that the bruises on my hips, stomach, and the most recent �" still throbbing �" one on my ribs could be seen. Kora moved forward again with applying the hot remedy.

            “This one looks unlike the others, recent and centralized,” noted the woman.

            “I just got it today,” I answered.

            “How?” she inquired.

            Now I began to grow embarrassed for another reason. I knew that Daniel was staring at me. He had been leaning against the door with his arms folded the whole time, a slight scowl planted across his face. I knew he would figure me a fool, a useless little child.

            “Recoil from a shotgun,” I muttered.

            I heard a light laugh from Daniel as the corners of his lips turned upwards. I wanted to just disappear.

            “So, did you study medicine?” I asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

            “Not professionally,” Kora said as she went for the bruises along my ribcage. “I have read a lot of books; mixed a lot of my own tonics. Every once in a while, the boys will bring me back a book or two on medicine during one of their raids. We have yet to find a pharmacy that has not been picked clean, which means there is a lot of mixing for me to do.”

            “That’s nice of them,” I said, finally looking up to give Daniel a small smile, which he instantly returned.

            “Now, dear, anymore?” Kora said, once more stepping back.

            I gulped. There were more, in a very uncomfortable place. My facial expression once more read one of humiliation and sadness as I dropped my eyes down to look at my inner thighs. Kora titled her head before looking over at Daniel. “Give us a moment, please, Daniel.”

            Daniel pushed up from against the wall, his arms dropping as he caught on to where the other bruises were. His face paled a bit. “Right, yes, um, I will go outside. I will just be in the hall, yes, uh, right. You two take your time,” he stammered as he escorted himself out.

            I sniffled as I unbuttoned my pants. The white zipper sounded like nails on a chalkboard. I didn’t want to look between my legs to see how much the bruises had spread. I jumped almost when Kora began applying the cream to my inner thighs. She rubbed it in until I was able to pull my pants up without the mixture coming off as the fabric brushed against the greenish patches of skin.

            “I will bottle the rest of this up for you. You should apply it once every day,” the woman instructed. “Now, how about you go join Daniel and get something to eat. You must be famished.”

            “Very,” I responded. “Thank you, Kora.”

            “My pleasure, dear.”

            I left the woman by her desk as I opened the door. Daniel was pacing in the hallway, his left arm folded under his right one as his right hand played with his rounded chin. I let out a little snicker, which caused him to break free of the trance he had been so heavily swallowed in.

            “You look like an expecting father,” I mused.

            “Ha!” he laughed. “I’m sure that when that day comes I will be equally as concerned.”

            My smile faltered a bit, as did his. The silence swelled up between us. There were many things about Daniel that I found myself attracted to. In just a few short hours, he had made me feel safe and like an actual person. Perhaps he was just being nice. Perhaps he did this with every survivor who passed through. I had to push those thoughts away. I had to push many thoughts away.

            “We should head downstairs,” he said. “The Quills girls are excited to meet you.”

            Nothing more was shared between us as we walked down the stairs to the second floor. The others were just beginning to come from their rooms and pooled around the middle of the second floor hallway. They all looked so clean, a few even had smiles across their faces. It was somewhat amazing to see how just one shower could change a person’s appearance.

            “Why are you all just standing around?” I asked. “Food is waiting for you.”

            “And we were waiting for you,” Harry said.

            “Why?” I questioned with a scrunched nose.

            “We go nowhere without you,” stated Toner, his hair shaggy once more in his eyes. “And you are our designated taste tester.”

            “Since when?” I snorted.

            “Since we unanimously decided it to be that way,” nodded Brandon.

            “I wasn’t there for that meeting,” I rolled my eyes.

            “All in favor of Audrey tasting every piece of food before us, raise your hand,” urged Brandon.

            Seven hands were immediately shot into the air, leaving Brittany and Daniel looking on amused. I folded my arms and raised a brow. “Seriously?”

            “See! You were here for it! It has been decided,” grinned Toner. “Damn, we should all join the government. We agreed so well on that.”

            “You guys are ridiculous,” I concluded as I walked past them.

            A herd of footsteps ensued as we all walked down the grand staircase. Hector, Cory, and Edvard were all by the front door, putting their guns away in the closet and setting down a few bags of stuff that they had grabbed on their run.

            “All of those bags are for you girls. I didn’t really know what to get, so, yeah,” Hector managed to get out as he rubbed the back of us head.

            I looked down at the white plastic bags and saw blue and pink packages staring back at me. I grinned at how awkward that must have been for them, grabbing tampons, panty liners, and pads for all of us women. Hector’s feet shuffled as he continued.

            “Gracie said that with eight women in the house instead of three needing that s**t that we would have to get more of it,” Hector muttered.

            “Oh thank god! I’ve been wading toilet paper all day!” cried Destiny before she grabbed a bag and went to the bathroom that was under the staircase.

            I shared an amused expression with Brittany before Daniel led us all through the rounded archway into the dining hall. The room was exquisite, briefly reminding me of a condensed version of the dinning hall from the Harry Potter franchise. I immediately felt transported back to the medieval days, living in the pages of the fairytale stories that my father used to read to me as a young girl. The walls were imposing, gray stone jutting out as the round rocks scaled the walls. Four grand stained glass windows allowed colorful glimmers of light to run across the long wooden table. Each window seemed to depict a different Biblical event. The legs of the table were thick, the ends rounding like paws of a lion. The two chairs on each end held tall backs with large armrests. There were fifteen chairs on either side of the table. Some already had people occupying them.

            Daniel took a seat at the head of the table closest to the archway. James was seated at his left. There was another man seated to Daniel’s right, but I couldn’t see his face. Hector, Cory, and Edvard walked past us and sat around the other men. Kora gave me a smile as she walked down to the far end nearest a wooden door. She sat at the other head of the table. The brown door swung open to reveal a petite blonde. She stood several inches shorter than me, and had thick wavy blonde hair that I new my sister would die for. Her eyes were large and brown. Under her blue and white striped apron was a yellow jumper. Her lips turned upwards in a smile to reveal a row of large white teeth.

            “Hello!” she said just before setting a large bowl of red potatoes down on the table. “I’m Gracie! My sisters and I do all the cooking around here. So glad you are able to join us. We made a lot tonight!”

            Her voice was so chipper. It reminded me of the fake cheerleaders in high school, but unlike them, Gracie seemed genuinely happy and concerning for our wellbeing. She removed her apron and hung it on the back of one of the chairs before sitting down. Two more girls emerged from the door. A raven-haired girl with pointed features and a brunette with flour splashed across her cheek. They took a seat next to Gracie.

            “These are my sisters, Ramona and Becky. We’re triplets, but you can’t tell,” laughed Gracie. I pegged her as the type to chatter in about pretty much anything, the type where I would probably never have to ask questions because she would always just give me the facts.

            To the right of Kora sat a man dressed in a gray suit and a white color. His face didn’t seem to move much as he spoke with the woman. He closed his eyes for a moment. He lips moved in a silent prayer as he blessed the food.

            “Well?” chucked Gracie. “Are you going to sit?”

            “There’s a lot of empty seats,” I stated. “This doesn’t look like thirty.”

            “We have some younger ones with us, first and second graders, I think. Miss Frizzle has been keeping them upstairs. With all of the changes going on, she thought it was best not to overwhelm them suddenly with new faces,” Daniel explained.

            “Miss Frizzle?” I wondered.

            “You’ll see when you meet her. It’s not her real name, but you’ll agree with us. Looks and acts just like her. Has the frizzy orange hair and everything,” said Daniel. He looked to the man on his right. “Didn’t she even show up in a chalkboard dress?”

            The man nodded before spinning in his chair and looking at me over his shoulder. He looked like a younger version of Daniel, but with brown specks mixed into his blue eyes. I assumed that it must have been his brother. “Yes,” the man said. “It was really weird, but she’s nice.”

            I nodded before fully entering the room. There were a few seats open on either side of the table. I immediately thought back to the scenes in movies where the therapist instructs the patient to pick a seat and then hums at whichever one they decide on, as though the distance one traveled per seat reflected something about their mental state. I took the closest seat to me, the one to the right of Cory. He looked over at me, coyly. “Knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away,” he mused.

            I rolled my eyes, but sat down anyway. Brittany took the seat to my right, and Hannah and Harry sat down next. Lainey, Destiny, Andrew, Brandon, and Toner walked around to fill some of the empty seats on the other side of the table. The food looked glorious. I didn’t even get the chance to perform my new duties as taste tester before the others were digging into the fresh steamed vegetables and slabs of roasted pork. Charred pineapple and cinnamon adorned the meat. It was almost too beautiful to eat after a week of just chips, candy bars, and sodas. My mouth watered, my eyes stared, but my stomach already started to churn with the possibility of becoming sick from so much rich food after eating trash for a week.

            “Wasn’t I supposed to try it first?” I looked across the table with a raised brow.

            Andrew, Brandon, and Toner already had their cheeks full. “F**k that!” Toner cried. I saw him cower as he daintily looked to his left at the Reverend. “Sorry.”

            “How did this happen?” Hannah’s soft voice suddenly rang out. The clinks and clatter of utensils against porcelain plates quickly dulled as everyone focused their attention on the small girl that sat staring down at her empty plate.

            “You know when you go outside on a breezy fall day and within a few hours your ears get cold and your nose starts to drip? It’s like that. The infection spread just that fast,” Daniel’s younger brother began. “Any doctor or scientist who would have started investigating the cause will surely be gone by now.”

            “That’s not true,” Becky responded. “We are all here, alive, aren’t we? There could be a whole group of people working on the “why” and “how” of this.”

            “What’s the difference?” I then asked. “Between the fast ones and the slow ones?”

            “The fast ones are the ones that have just fed, the ones with energy to run and attack at a more intense pace. The slow ones are the ones who haven’t fed in a while. They have no energy to fuel their corpses, but that doesn’t mean they won’t stop moving. Once they find someone, they’ll follow them for as long as it takes to catch them,” Hector stated.

            “And how do they find you? Smell? Sight? Sound?” I continued.

            “We haven’t quite figured that one out yet. We take it all into consideration when we are out there. But I don’t think we’ll have to wait for much longer before we find out,” answered Hector. I didn’t like the tone he had used when he had finished his thought. It created an uneasy feeling in the room. I could tell that Hector was a very good man, but he was so regimented that he reminded me of my father.

            “You said you’re a Cadet?” I said.

            “Yes,” the man nodded. “Edvard, Cory, and I. We were the old farts of the academy, joined at the oldest possible cut off age. We were about to enter our last year. Firsties.”

            I grinned at the expression. Instead of the United States Military Academy using common terms such as freshman, sophomore, junior, and seniors, they used Plebes, Yearlings, Cows, and Firsties to designate their ranking on the base. Plebes were a Greek term used to describe the lowest of the low. Yearlings came from after the Cadets finishing their first year at the academy. The third years were called Cows because it used to be that it wasn’t until that year that the Cadets were allowed off base, which is why the phrase “the cows come home” applied so heavily to them. And Firstie was the last year, as they were finally recognized as upper classman, the first in line.

            “You might not have, but did you know my father? Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Hamilton?” I asked.

            Cory’s eyes immediately lit up. “Yes!” he cried. “He was awesome! He used to give us exams where you had to match the answers to the questions. He once had the letters lined up to spell James Bond. Had everyone geeking ‘cause they weren’t sure if it was legit or not, haha!”

            I smiled. “Yeah, that’s my dad.”

            “I have a question,” my sister piped up. “How come those things didn’t seem to pay us much attention when we were inside of the bus, but as soon as we would get out they would go crazy after us?”

            “It’s like when a cop slowly walks up to your car and doesn’t smell the weed, but when you roll down the window he instantly gets a strong whiff of it,” Cory stated matter-of-factly. “Yeah, it’s like that.”

            “Are you speaking from experience?” I smirked.

            “I always do,” Cory said before taking a big bite of potatoes and giving me a toothy grin.

            “Are they like pack animals? Traveling in groups? Because we rarely saw one or two alone,” Harry wondered.

            “It’s more like a snowball effect,” Daniel answered. “It starts with just a few and as they travel they pick up stragglers here and there until suddenly they’ve formed a herd big enough to take out a whole town.”

            The conversation continued as we all scarfed our food down. My tongue seemed to savor each flavor that brushed across my tongue. Even the ice cold water was alluring. It was a feast that satisfied all of the senses. As I looked around the table, calmness settled in my stomach as I caught a glimpse of smiles here and there. I felt relaxed, happy almost. The lanterns flickering on the wall and the light from the setting sun coming through the stained glass pacified my breath. But, of course, I should have known better to count on this moment as being forever peaceful.

            “So, Audrey, how many have you killed?” the dark voice of James broke through the chatter. Even the way his lips drawled out my name sent shivers down my spine.

            “I’m not sure,” I answered, narrowing my eyes at him. “I didn’t know I was supposed to be keeping count.”

            James scoffed, a smirk forming at his lips. “So are you just assuming that you’ve bested others that you’ve traveled with? That seems a bit unfair.”

            “I am assuming nothing; other than that maybe you have some unresolved issues,” I muttered, my own eyes starting to darken.

            James didn’t seem to like my retort. I swear I saw his upper lip curl. “You think you’re better than me?” he snapped.

            “I never said that,” I stated.

            He snarled. “You didn’t have to.”

            “James,” Daniel whispered, hastily.

            James’ knuckles were white from how tight he had his fists balled. His thick lips were pulled tight as he pursed them. His nostrils flared as he tried to control his breathing. A mutual hate was beginning to brew between us, made from ingredients that I had no understanding of. He made me feel small, fearful even. I hated what he was doing to me, causing an unnecessary anger.

            “We should head to bed, soon. It’s dark out,” Daniel stated, his voice not as soft as it had once been. He was sending his friend a harsh gaze.

            The next few minutes were full of chairs moving across the stone floor and forks being sucked clean. Edvard and Hector stayed with the Quills triplets as they cleared the table. Kora and the Reverend excused themselves to say their nighttime prayers. The rest of us made our way up the grand staircase, exhaustion quickly overwhelming us. I made sure that all of the younger teenagers made it to their rooms before I followed everyone else upstairs. Cory sent me a playing grin before stepping into his room. I watched as James and Daniel’s brother disappeared into the room that I had thought only belonged to Daniel.

            “We were the first ones here,” Daniel explained as he took a look at my expression. “We rearranged some of the rooms. James and I each have a bed in there, and then Aaron sleeps on a cot.”

            My face fell even more.

            “What? What’s wrong?” Daniel said in a somewhat panicked tone, the tone that most men get when a girl is crying and they don’t know what to do.

            “I have a little brother named Aaron, too,” I murmured, my voice low.

            “I’m sure you will meet up someday,” encouraged the man. “We get new people here all the time.”

            I tried giving him a reassuring smile, but it felt awkward. “Thank you, Daniel. For everything.”

            Daniel grinned. “Of course. Goodnight, Audrey.”

            “Goodnight, Daniel.”

            I waited until Daniel stepped into his own room before walking into mine. Brittany was already changed and laying in bed. She sent me a devilish grin. “Somebody has a cruuuuuuush!” she sang.

            “Oh, hush.” I buried my blushing face into the comforter as I fell into the bed. “I don’t even know what a crush is!”

            I could hear the smile in Brittany’s voice as she spoke. “It’s what you and Daniel have going on. He’s cute. I approve.”

            “Well, thank you. Now I can move forward with no guilt,” I teased.

            Brittany and I were lying on our sides, facing each other with the moonlight streaking across our faces. “Are you happy?” she suddenly asked.

            I could feel my mood changing. I let out a deep breath. “Happier,” I said. “But not happy.”

            “Yeah…me, too.”