Page 15 of Creepy (The Zombiepidemic #1)

T roy brought me breakfast in bed. Oranges which he’d mentioned before and to my delight, boiled eggs. He’d caught a chicken in Florida and brought it all this way. He kept Sheena in his basement. It was a clever way to keep her away from wildlife or zombies catching her day or night.

“Why did you name her Sheena,” I asked.

“You remember the song, Funky Cold Medina?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought Sheena was really a rooster for the longest time until she finally laid an egg. See, I thought it was a hen, but then when it didn’t lay, I thought maybe I was wrong. So, I’d sing to her, Sheena was a man.”

Imagining him singing to a chicken, I laughed too hard until it hurt. I held my ribs, doubled over.

“Hey. It’s lonely out there.”

It reminded me I never got the eggs from Dillon.

I didn’t want to think about him in bed with Troy.

We’d had an amazing night. I thought about what day it was.

.. Wednesday. Dillon would be back Monday if not sooner.

I feared with three people, three men running around Creepy.

If he got wind of it, he might show up sooner.

And I didn’t know what I would do to keep him from killing Arlo, Troy, and Rowan.

Troy found me some clothes. Luckily, his mother had been close enough to my size.

He’d promised to help me keep the diner going, so our first stop was to fill the generator.

Next, I had him take me to the drugstore.

My knee felt much better this morning, but my ribs were seriously bruised and the bite on my neck would take a long time to heal.

I needed some really good prescription, antibiotic cream for my neck, and an orthopedic boot for my ankle.

Able to put a bit more weight on it, I’d decided I only sprained it.

Luck would have it, we found both the cream and a boot in my size.

With it, I could walk without help from Troy.

We collected whatever else we could find in the drugstore.

Even though I’d been there once before, I hadn’t thought I’d need a boot.

I’d already taken crutches down to the basement of Jules’ Estate.

Thanks to Troy, we picked up items I hadn’t been sure I needed before.

He seemed to know much more about injuries than I did.

He’d said he’d been hurt a lot playing ball.

“I can’t believe there’s anything left,” Troy spoke of the fact there was still stuff on the shelves.

“I can’t get it all.”

He figured it’d all been gone before the evacuation.

The folks in Creepy hadn’t been like that, I told him.

“The Stayers haven’t raided?”

“Why would they? They have Alexandria. Dillon, as bad as he can be, keeps the crazies in line. He says I can have this town...”

“If what? You said he was blackmailing you.”

“I give him a little each week,” I said. That was true if I didn’t say what the meaning of the word “bit” was. Suddenly, I felt like Bill Clinton. Troy eyed me suspiciously but didn’t say more. I hobbled out of the store with my arms full.

Helped by the boot, I made us lunch at Mrs. Deans.

I told Troy all about her. He told me he remembered the diner, Dirty Rice.

We reminisced about the town, pre-apocalypse over bunless hamburgers, fries, and some of that beer I’d taken from his place.

Today felt worlds away from yesterday. With the horror of the zombie attack fading and being able to walk, I wasn’t as receptive to Troy wanting to take care of me.

I was getting around simply fine, but he insisted he clean up the mess. He planned to stick around and help me.

I told him all I usually do in a day. “By this time, I am usually scouring a yard for what I can find. But I really need to get home.”

Troy drove me home. When we got there, Arlo sat on the front porch waiting for me. Until I saw his worried face, I’d forgotten I told him maybe we’d see each other yesterday. I told Troy as much as we parked the Camaro in the spot usually reserved for my brother’s truck.

“Is this guy sweet on you?” Troy asked about Arlo.

He looked like a lost puppy waiting on the porch. I shrugged a shoulder. “Can’t tell.” My words rang true. “He’s kind of hard for me to read. He’s real nice and all, but he’s from Seattle. Definitely not a killer or something.”

“You sure?”

“Like you said. He could have by now if he wanted to.”

Troy joked, “I don’t know. I think you could take him.”

Before Troy turned off the engine, Arlo opened my car door, inquiring about my injuries.

He’d been all over town looking for me, finding the truck abandoned.

Though I didn’t need it, I let him help me to the porch swing as I relayed the entire story.

Trailing behind, Troy piped in, telling his parts.

Arlo’s eyes widened, listening to us. When I got to the part about my foot getting caught in the zombie, he explained, he hadn’t meant for such a move to be used on the undead but on a man.

He’d glanced over at Troy when he’d said, “man”.

Troy bit back with how he saved me. “With this.” He gestured to the rifle strapped on his back.

We ended our story at the part about the diner last night.

“Where’ve you been?” Arlo asked.

He meant all night, but I told him about finding a boot and cleaning out the drugstore. I left it at that. Where I spent the night was none of his business. Keeping his word, Troy kept quiet about where I spent the night too.

Arlo claimed to have found blood and guts, but no corpse at the scene. Troy and I hadn’t disposed of the zombie. We hadn’t been back to the truck at all. To be honest, I hadn’t even worried about Rowan or zombies since Troy rescued me last night.

“When did you find the truck?” I asked Arlo.

He tapped his watch, reminding me it wasn’t working.

“It got ruined in the pool,” I explained to Troy.

“The pool?” Troy sounded as surprised as I’d been when I first heard. Waving off the topic, I mentioned Rowan could have buried the zombie, but we were all thinking the same thing, that Rowan had let enough zombies loose to eat the dead one in a few hours.

Troy spoke up, “We are going to have to find Rowan, put an end to this releasing zombies bullshit.”

Arlo and I agreed, but none of us discussed how to go about it. Troy went to unload his car.

“I’m sorry about making you worry,” I said to Arlo once Troy was out of earshot.

“Don’t be sorry. I’m stoked you’re okay,” Arlo replied, as if me apologizing was the silliest thing ever. “About this dude, do you trust him?”

“So far.”

Arlo, flattening his lips, nodded. That seemed good enough for him.

Troy returned to the porch with an armful. “Where do you want this?” His words hard, he appeared to be in a hurry.

“Come see.”

I put my arm around Arlo, and he hugged me sideways as he helped me into the house and onto the couch.

I took off the boot. Propping up my leg, I felt at ease.

I was in my own home and well protected.

I pointed out where Troy could put the supplies.

Arlo, having been here before, left me to go show him.

Then he helped Troy carry in the rest of the boxes and bags.

Once everything was out of the car, things got awkward real fast. Arlo sat with me on the couch, under the pillow and my hurt ankle. Troy paced by the door, talking about how we needed to look for Rowan.

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Arlo asked him.

“Tomorrow, we could be crawling with zombies,” Troy retorted.

It was true. I’d been careful not to open places without killing the zombies inside. If Rowan was running around opening doors, all the ones I left shut, without killing the undead inside, we’d have a problem soon.

“Rowan used to live off Pig’s Pike,” I said. “We could look there.”

Troy nodded. He knew where I was talking about.

I’d said we, but it was obvious we all couldn’t go. I was out of commission and if both men left, I’d be all alone.

“You should go. I’ll stay with Sissy,” Arlo told him the obvious.

“I think I’ll be okay tonight,” I added.

Troy looked confused, his brow pinching together. “I promised I’d help you while you’re healing.”

“I have my boot, my gun, and Arlo will be here.”

Troy’s was one foot out the door. “See you in the morning then,” he said too quickly.

Morning? I hadn’t meant I’d be okay all night but rolled with it. “Pick me up tomorrow around ten?”

“You don’t have to go with me to fill the generator,” he replied, and it was clear he felt slighted somehow.

Maybe it was the fact Arlo sat with me acting so familiar.

However, Troy had been the one to say we had to look for Rowan.

And he said he wouldn’t get all caveman on me.

My brow pinched together now. “Then when will you be back?”

“Don’t know.”

“Okay then.” What could I say?

Without another word, Troy left. The door shut behind him, and I felt like screaming or crying.

Thankfully, Arlo was there to distract me.

And although I had the boot, he made sure I stayed off my foot all night, taking care of me.

Although I worried about Troy, it’s not like I could call him or go after him in my car with my right foot hurt.

Driving in the boot wasn’t something I wanted to attempt.

I let Arlo distract me with a game of UNO.

I won, then suggested chess. Amazingly, he beat me in five moves.

I remembered all the ways Arlo had astounded me.

Before I’d become frustrated with how frustrated he’d left me, I’d been falling for the guy, more than just physically.

Wanting to get up and move around, I offered to make him some dinner.

He insisted I rest. We wouldn’t tell Troy how he left to go next door to get the ingredients and came back with some more chocolate for me.

Arlo trusted I could take care of intruders by myself for thirty minutes. That was refreshing.