Semester of the Dead 6
Chapter 6
"He's going to be OK."
The mood has gone to shit. If things could get any worse. We spend hours driving around the gas station trying to Mr. Drake and Sunday with no luck. We head to Savannah. I should say Ignacio heads to Savannah. He doesn't ask anyone. I don't understand the relationship Ignacio, Sunday and Valentina have to one another but it's clear that they all care for one another deeply. It's also clear that Ignacio will do anything to get Sunday back. I can see the tire in his eyes but he is a focused man.
Where he is focused, his sister Valentina is just...emotional to say the least.
The look on Valentina's eyes is everything. I'm trying to comfort her. She hasn't started showing yet but I can tell she's pregnant. She just seems moody. She seems changed. Maybe it's the pregnancy or maybe it's something else. Ever since everyone started leaving she's been different.
And the group was so much smaller now.
"You must not notice it's the end of the world," a voice says eavesdropping on our conversation.
I turn and notice Quest standing there. He gives me this smart ass look.
"You're not helping."
"Oh my bad," he responds.
He walks away. The guy is trouble if I've ever known it but I don't pay him any attention. I know he just made things a million times worse with Valentina.
"He doesn't know what he's talking about. Sunday is stronger. Stronger than you think."
"No he's not," Valentina responds, "He's fragile. He isn't like you. He isn't a fighter. You don't know SHIT about Sunday so stop fucking pretending like you do. AND WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALWAYS STARING AT!"
She turns clearly distracted by Luna who is in the aisle staring at us having a conversation through the bus seat. It's clear she was eavesdropping. Poor Luna is scared half to death by Valentina screaming at her.
I swear I think Valentina is going to hit the girl or something. I don't know where it comes from. I don't know if this is Valentina reacting to the pregnancy, to Sunday being kidnapped by Mr. Drake, or to the world going to shit. Maybe it's something else all together. Something I'm yet to lay my finger on. She has just been in the worst mood in the last day or so and it's showing all over her face.
I try to apologize to my girlfriend. I try to comfort her but she isn't having it. She just walks away. No. She just storms away.
Just in time for her brother to stop the bus.
"The roads blocked. We need to walk to Savannah from here."
I have to admit I'm not mad at abandoning the bus. I'm relieved actually. Maybe it was the space on the bus. Maybe it was the tension. Nothing felt right on that bus. Stretching my legs was good. The space was good.
We grab what we can off the bus. The clothing supplies that we can carry. Of course, so much is left behind but we're in Savannah now or at least on the outskirts. We're safe. Or so we want to believe. Quest gets off the bus and mutters something about the roads being shit or some negative ass thing. He's a fucking ass and honestly I have no idea why he's still around to be honest.
Ignacio is going on ahead. Ahead of the rest of us. He has the only gun but for some odd reason he doesn't use it. The zombies are slower during the day it seems like. Either that or they just don't have as much interest in us if we walk too quickly.
We keep to the sides of the road away from them...
Their heads turn. Snarling and biting but by the time they get to where we are we are long gone following Ignacio who is doing a slight jog towards the city. A part of me wants to complain about how fast he's going but to be honest I respect it. He has a drive. It reminds me of when I just got to the school. Ignacio was that guy everyone wanted to be. The Michaels kissed his ass. They did whatever he said. I wanted to be like Ignacio. When he had something on his mind he did it and right now he has on his mind to find Sunday.
"You should go talk to him," a voice says.
I turn and see the gay kid standing there. I forget his name for a second. Marlon. Miles. Something like that. I've never really talked to him. He was a skinny little white kid who knew every line from Broadway shows and made it his point to be the most flamboyant boy in school. Even now at the end of the world he has on some jeans that are too tight and he is walking through an interstate of zombies with a slight "twist".
"What Miles?"
"Actually it's Mitch."
"Damn sorry about that."
He laughs a little bit, "It's cool. Was just trying to say that you should go talk to him. Heard you two arguing. And I think it's now or never. You both want to see Sunday OK."
"I don't have that bond with Sunday like he does."
"You don't?"
Mitch looks at me and for a minute I think he knows something. My heart drops a little bit. It's enough Luna knew my little secret but what if Sunday had told this guy as well.
"I hardly know him."
"Oh Ok," Mitch responds shrugging a little bit, "Regardless we are all in this together and honestly whether you like it or not you two are our leaders and it would be nice if you were on the same page."
I'm not sure what he means by we are the leaders. I didn't know we were anything to lead. We were a group of kids trying to make it back home. I guess I did run out of the gas station. I guess people we all were following Ignacio like lost little puppies hoping if one of those zombies got a little wind under their wings that he had good aim with that gun.
I look at Ignacio. The guy hates me. That was clear as day.
"You two have more in common than you know," Mitch states.
At that moment I look at Mitch different. I mean I guess I don't look at him different but I look at him for the first time really. I remember all the times that I had to stop Michael Power from bashing the kid's head in for staring at him in the gym showers or the times I gave Tony Andrews hell when he got some spray paint and turned Mitch's whole locker into one gigantic rainbow with glitter sprinkles on top of it and the #BOYPUSSY written in black. He was always the victim. Right now he was in a different role though. Right now he was actually helping the situation.
And he was completely right.
~
I don't get the balls to approach Ignacio until we actually get to Savannah. Our worst fears come true. The city has been taken. Not too long ago this city thriving with people. Tourists came down all the time. The interstate was blocked now and the zombies formed in the city. They lay idle during the daytime but they are dangerous, still too dangerous for us to be roaming around without a plan. Maybe that's when Ignacio finally stops to rest for a while.
He takes out a bottle of water, probably from the gas station.
"If you need me to take the lead for a while I can..." I suggest.
"I got it."
He says it quickly, maybe taking it the wrong way what I'm offering. I swear I'm only trying to be helpful though. Ignacio is tired. I can see it all in his eyes but I can also see that determination to find Sunday and stop Valentina from worrying.
We stand in silence for a while. Luna, Mitch and Quest have gone to look around for anything we can eat. I doubt they'll bring anything back. Valentina is on the nearby curve. She hasn't said a word since the blow up she had earlier. If this isn't the best time to approach Ignacio I didn't know what was.
"We will find him," I state.
"I know."
"Good."
There is awkward silence again. That's when Ignacio turns to me.
"Is something going on between you and him?"
"Something like what."
He looks out. Valentina isn't too far from us but I don't think she's paying attention. She's out of it. Maybe that's why he feels comfortable enough to shrug.
"You know what I mean."
I think about it. It's a trap. I knew Ignacio. He cared about Valentina. Me admitting to what happened in the cave would be all bad even though he was asking in such a calm way. I knew the truth. I would be caught cheating on his sister and if he cared about anyone as much or even more than Sunday it would be his sister Valentina.
"No. No of course not."
"Good..." he states, "Didn't want to have to kill you man."
I laugh but then I realize that Ignacio isn't laughing back. I swallow a little bit wondering what the odds was that this wasn't a joke. The last cop we saw tried to kill Valentina. It didn't seem like people cared much about the laws. What if shit finally did get too tense between us. What if he did attempt to kill me? I think about putting my guard back up but then I remember what Mitch said. We had more in common than we thought.
"Where you headed now.
"Sunday's house."
"Why would Drake take him there?" I ask.
"It's the best place to start. If Sunday got away that's where he would head," Ignacio states.
"Good idea. So when do we leave?"
"Wait you're coming with us?" he asks.
"Why wouldn't I?" I ask.
"Well we are back in Savannah. Figured you were going to go do your own thing."
"Yeah I mean I'll find my family. All that. But for right now I think we need to stick together and find Sunday. You know...for Valentina's sake."
It wasn't for Valentina's sake. Not fully. I wanted to find Sunday because I wanted to know he was OK. Even if I could never be anything more than friendly with him. He was a good guy. And those moments we spent together, no matter how short, had opened my eyes to something that I could never bottle back up. So I owed it to Sunday to find him.
"His father abandoned him and his mother when he was a kid," Ignacio states, "His mother was always away. Had this important job. Was always working. So she would drop Sunday off five or six times a week. Sometimes she'd be gone months at a time. He never understood. He always felt abandoned. But I used to be there to explain to him that sometimes adults had to do what they had to do to provide. And I found myself having to give him all that attention. He's so fuckin needy. Sunday, I mean. Good god. Leave the kid for a few minutes and as soon as you enter he runs to you like a lap dog. All love in his eyes. All love and loyalty. No matter how many mistakes I made or how many times I fucked up, when I got home it was Sunday. All love and loyalty. Never judging me. Never leaving my side. And that's how things were between us. He is like my brother."
I wonder if he ever had a conversation with Sunday about wanting to sleep with him. I didn't know people wanted to sleep with their brothers. Right now wasn't the time for calling Ignacio out though. He was opening up or at least he was trying to.
I pause and nod.
"Listen we have our issues," I state, "But let's put them aside. We need to find Sunday and then we need to find out what's going on with this world and where we can go. There has to be a plan somewhere. We need to get help."
Ignacio turns to me.
He studies my face like as though wondering whether I can be trusted or not. Then slowly but confidently he stretches his hand out and offers it to me.
"If you can help me find Sunday...me and you are good man. We can be cordial."
Cordial. That's what Ignacio was offering me. I shake his hand though realizing that at this moment I wasn't going to get anything less from him. Truth is though he was dependable. Quest was a wild card, Valentina was getting emotional, Luna was a little unbalanced and Mitch was a whimp. If we were going to survive we needed strong stable men to lead us through this.
So keep moving and we manage to get to Sunday's house by night.
"We can rest here," Ignacio tells everyone.
He's definitely taking this leadership thing serious.
There is no power in Sunday's house but there were also no dead so I was not complaining. It was cool in here.
"This place looks ransacked," I state.
"One of the dead ones probably got in this bitch," Quest responds looking around.
"Last time I checked those dead weren't looking through file cabinets," I state, "Someone was looking for something. Someone was searching through this house."
"Scavengers?" Quest asks.
I'm pretty annoyed at the guy. He wasn't the smartest in the world.
"Maybe," I shrug, "Or maybe they were looking for information on Sunday."
"I mean the dude had a nice ass. That's the only thing special I saw about him," Quest states.
Ignacio gives Quest a hard look, "Disrespect him again..."
"I don't want no beef man," Quest states.
I walk away towards the cabinets trying to see what all is missing. Sunday supposedly had a mother but I'm not really sure what that had to do with it. We stay there well into the night lighting candles. The whole house kind of feels like Sunday. That is if Sunday had a feeling attached to him. I remember what Ignacio stated earlier in the day. He had stated that Sunday was always loyal and always loving. He compared him to a dedicated dog. I didn't know how Sunday would feel about the comparison but I think I know what Ignacio was trying to say. Maybe that's why Ignacio leaves in the night. He refuses to get any sleep.
"The water is still running," I tell Valentina, dripping wet, "It's cold but it relieves the stress. I was going to head out and look for Ignacio. Maybe he needs a bath to cool off a little..."
I laugh.
"I don't see what's so funny about Sunday missing."
I don't know why I laughed. It was just a laugh to break the tension. I didn't find it funny that Sunday was missing. I also didn't find it funny that Ignacio was going all through the night trying to make sure he was OK.
"Your brother isn't going to find him tonight. He should come back shower and rest," I tell Valentina.
It's almost 1 am. At least that's what my watch says. My mother gave me this watch and it's the only thing that is tying me back to reality at the moment. The others are mostly asleep by now but Valentina is still up just like Sunday. She is still going through stuff at the house. Papers. She's reading through everything over and over. I'm not sure why. It's just weird to say the least.
"You wouldn't understand," Valentina responds.
"Why are you being so shitty to me. I'm up too aren't I? It's not just you and your brother that want to find Sunday."
The Serrannos had a way of claiming Sunday as their own. As if no one else could possibly understand him or no one else could possibly even want to have him back. It's kind of offensive. Not just to me. Mitch hung out with Sunday way more than I've ever seen either Valentina or Ignacio hang out with him. Neither of the Serannos have even asked Mitch how he was doing or checked up on him. It's almost as though they feel like they are the only ones who can have a connection to him.
She shakes her head, "It's not personal."
"Have you found something?"
"No."
I watch at that moment as Valentina shuffles papers around. It's weird how she does it. I have always paid really close attention to the girl. Sure when I first got with her I didn't think anything would come of it. I was intrigued with Sunday and I was intrigued at the only girl that he seemed to be close with. I felt like maybe if I hung around Sunday I could sing like him. I could act like him. I could make my family proud. I remember Sunday calling me a leach. I wonder if it was true.
I hung around Ignacio because he was popular and athletic. I became popular and athletic.
I used Valentina hoping to get some insight into the life of Sunday so I could sing. My singing did end up improving.
Was I leach?
"I want to know that you still care about me," I tell Valentina, "I want you to stop treating me so...different."
It hasn't just happened since this whole zombie apocalypse. Valentina has been treating me odd throughout the summer. She keeps her distance at times and at times she's close. Not too close though. She never lets me all the way in. I remember those moments I spent with Sunday in that cave. I never would have gotten that close to him if Valentina hadn't been bitching to me. I lied about her sending me up there to check on him. I went by myself because she had an attitude about something. Truth is, I did like Valentina even if that isn't how it started.
And at the end of the day she was carrying my child.
So I lean over her, running my hair through her long hair. I want to fix what we have. If there is anything left to fix.
And most of all I want to get my mind off of Sunday: a man I couldn't have.
"You're so handsome," she tells me in the darkness.
The others are asleep but we are all in the living room. They start a fire in the Sunday's fireplace. It's warm for the cold Georgia night.
I don't know how it happens first, but I realize Valentina slipping my pants off. She leans me up against the wall. My dick is hard and erect. My back is pressed hard against the wall. She runs her hands up and down my washboard abs. She's staring at my body in the moonlight sneaking through Sunday's window. I can tell she's impressed. She licks her lips when she goes down on me engulfing my dick with her mouth. I squirm a little feeling my entire body tense up. I almost orgasm. It's not that it feels that good. I mean it does feel good. It's just so much tension is on me. From the beef with Ignacio, to my own sexuality, to the stress about Valentina being pregnant and let's not forget the fact that the dead were walking the Earth.
I was stressed and I needed to relieve myself.
I squeeze my palms together to stop me from cumming.
My dick is big. This isn't the first time that Valentina has struggled with it. Seeing her small lips and small fingers hold onto my dick for dear life as she chokes and spits on it makes me feel good. It makes me feel like a man. It's times like this that I think maybe what happened with Sunday just had to be a fluke. A phase. But damn. It felt so good. I wonder how Sunday's lips would feel at a moment like this instead of Valentina's.
WHY THE FUCK AM I THINKING ABOUT SUNDAY!
I snap out of it.
"Come on baby, ride it," I say.
I hope this feels better. She slips her panties to the side in her shorts and manages to squeeze right on my dick. I feel her pussy lips warming the tip of my dick. I don't know why I feel weird. As soon as she does it. I feel even worse than I did when I was making love to Sunday. No---no not making love. Just being intimate with Sunday. I have to get him out of my mind.
I throw Valentina to the ground. I start pounding her pussy in. My dick is so deep in her that I can feel every part of her walls. She crawls my back with my finger.
"Oh baby, fuck me," she is squirming underneath me.
She's loud. Real loud. I swear I hear Quest or Mitch turn over in their sleep. I cover her mouth and that seems to turn her on even more. She is scratching up my back. She's clawing at me enjoying every moment of me fucking her into submission.
It feels good.
But it feels different. The image of Sunday comes into my head for some reason. The idea of his body. His face. His scent. Everything.
My dick is softening while still in her.
"What's wrong?"
"I..."
I'm struggling. I pull out of her. My dick is still semi hard. This wasn't fair to Valentina. I had to tell her. I had to be honest about what happened in that cave. It's killing me but Valentina is a good girl.
"I need to talk to you about Sunday."
"That's what you want to talk about right now? Right now in the middle of us having sex?" she asks, "You want to fucking talk about Sunday? Really."
"Shh..."
She's loud. She's heavily annoyed.
"What the hell do you got to say, Alaric?" she asks me, "Spit it out."
I pause. I didn't know this was going to be this hard. I thought I could get him out of my head. I thought I could get over him. I was wrong. The thoughts just keep getting stronger and stronger. I can't even have sex with my girlfriend without wondering about this guy.
"A lot of things have changed. For me. And I'm not talking about this epidemic. No. It's something...else about me that changed. And with the epidemic I don't think it's worth hiding anymore. I don't think there is any reason to hide it anymore. Well it started with Sunday. Sunday...is special."
I start off but I'm interrupted. It's Luna.
She's standing there in the darkness.
"Special."
How do I tell her that I'm questioning my sexuality and that I was having sexual thoughts for her childhood friend? How do I tell her we already acted on those sexual thoughts? I guess the only way to do it would just be to spit it all out.
And right when I'm about to.
Right when I'm about to spill my guts.
I see eyes in the darkness.
"Luna?"
This weird BITCH was watching us. She walks over to us in the darkness. I struggle to conceal myself. My dick was still out for godsakes! It was still just out when she walked over. How long had she been awake!
I notice she has papers in her hands.
"What the fuck!" Valentina states.
Valentina is over it. She goes over to Luna and pushes her hard. She pushes her so hard that Valentina falls to the ground and squirms in pain. I want to feel bad for Luna but I have to admit the girl was so fucking weird. Had she been watching Valentina and I making love this whole time.
"I just wanted to help," she states.
"You're a FUCKING pervert!" Valentina responds.
"Valentina wait," I state, helping Luna up, "Luna, listen. Me and Valentina were having a private discussion. You understand that right, Luna? You understand privacy? Right?"
I'm talking to Luna like she's a child. Maybe it's the big innocent eyes. I don't know what it is. I want to make her understand. Ever since I flirted with her a little bit to get info on Mr. Drake she hasn't let up. It was getting real bad. I also don't think Valentina being aggressive with her was really going to make it stop.
"I know Alaric," she states, "I didn't want to interrupt. Promise. I was just helping. You know? I heard you saying something about Sunday being special and I found these."
She hands me papers.
They look like medical records. All these medical records with Sunday listed on them. I look down on the papers. A lot of the terminology doesn't make sense.
Something about Patient 0.
What the fuck is Patient 0?
"What is that?" Valentina asks, "Where'd you find that?"
"Hidden away," Luna states, "I think someone was looking for that. Luckily I'm good at hiding. I've always been good at hiding things. I hide my diary all the time so my little sister won't find it. I know where to look. I know how to hide."
"Good shit Luna."
I guess it pays to have a weirdo on your side.
Valentina shakes her head, "It's probably nothing."
"Or it's probably everything. It might explain why Mr. Drake was after him. It says here: This is case 001. The Beginning of it all. The index case, primary case or patient zero shows progress of being the initial carrier of the virus in the population of this epidemiological investigation. He goes by the name of Sunday. Oh shit. They are talking about Sunday..."
Valentina walks over, "Let me see that."
I hold the papers for a second, "Gimme a minute. Earlier this year a patient zero transmission scenario was compiled by Dr. Maria Serrano who identified the patients blood as having the ability to be manipulated into a genetic weapon. Maria Serrano. Valentina isn't that your mother?"
"Give me those papers Alaric."
"Valentina what's going on?"
"Give her the papers."
I turn at that moment and see Ignacio. He has a gun in his hand. He isn't pointing it at me but he's holding it real tight.
That's when I realize that whatever this Patient Zero thing is. There is a reason Ignacio wanted to come back to this place. There is a reason he wanted to come back to this fucking house. Whatever is in these papers is something that he is willing to kill for.
But I knew what I saw.
His mother's name. They were childhood friends. He never mentioned that Sunday was his mother's patient.
"He'll shoot you if he has to. Please hand the papers over," Valentina states.
I'm shocked.
This was my girlfriend. The girl who was carrying my child.
"What the fuck Valentina?"
The gun is raised at me. It's raised right at my dome. They aren't playing any games.
I hand the papers over.
Quickly Valentina yanks them out of my hand and tosses them in the fire. Burning away any evidence of what it might hold.
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