Breathless City Page 8

  The smells came in a rush. At first, she couldn’t sort out what was what. First the smell of the decaying bodies overpowered everything else. Stella stepped away from the van inconspicuously, controlling and smoothing out her features. She stopped the gag, which would have given her away. When the smell of decomposing flesh faded, Stella picked up the scents of the city, like urine, asphalt, and the rot of thousands of ransacked buildings and apartments that had been exposed to the elements.

  Then there was that lingering smell that coated everything, that chemical smell that was almost sweet and reminded Stella of Fantastik Citrus spray. It was the smell of the infection in the open air, and the infected reeked of it.

  After checking to see that Gavin was still busy, Stella inhaled a deep breath. She concentrated as if she had gone days without eating and had to smell out a source of food. She could smell where that chemical lemon scent was the most concentrated. Her eyes trailed to the spot where her nose told her that the infected hid, and she found herself looking upon a broken window in the lower level of the school. So the infected hadn’t left. They would just have to be careful, then, not to attract their attention.

  “I think it should work now.” Gavin closed the hood.

  Stella winced when she heard the sharp click as the rusted metal latched back into place.

  “It’s a hybrid engine with an internal combustion chamber. The spark plug wasn’t igniting,” Gavin said.

  “All right, start her up,” Stella motioned for Gavin to get moving, trying to get him back into safety, as she glanced at the broken school window. She wasn’t about to give up now, not when the two of them were so close to escape. Not when the infected had already destroyed that last photo, all she had left of fading memories.

  She ignored the gust of concentrated rotten air as Gavin re-entered the van. She was sure that if the infected were awake, that smell alone would seize their attention. The keys clinked as Gavin fumbled to start the ignition. Without taking her eyes off the infected’s hideaway, she listened. The engine churned with a loud rickety clacking, followed by a deep, throaty rumble as it started up.

  Stella was glad that she was facing the brick building and that Gavin couldn’t see the amused smirk on her face. The part of her that wondered just how good of a mechanic Gavin was just got an answer. The two of them had accomplished what they set off to do somehow. Though things weren't over yet.

  A pale human outline emerged from the darkness of the window. The infected human made subtle movements as it tested the air outside.

  She had time to walk back to the van and start driving away, but opening the van would flood the air with the pungent odor of rotting meat. It could drive the infected into a frenzy. Stella imagined the infected chasing them down the street, breaking through the windshield and clawing at them.

  She wasn’t going to take any chances.

  She reached into the leather sheath at her side, pulling out her dagger. Pressing her thumb against the sharpened steel edge, she moved. Her worn leather shoes eased soundlessly against the asphalt as she crept up to the brick building.

  The infected’s sunburned face pointed toward the van, wide nostrils flaring. A four-fingered hand clenched onto the cement of the windowsill. From her angle, she could only see the one infected as it focused on the running engine. She angled herself carefully, waiting.

  When the infected sprung out from the windowsill, Stella sprung too. She kicked the legs out from under it and leaped on its back, slamming it against the sidewalk with their combined weight. Before the creature could right itself and retaliate, Stella sunk her dagger into its neck and twisted it.

  With her swift attack, Stella wasn’t expecting the infected to buck her off, but after one powerful jolt, she was knocked off sideways. She pushed herself up and leaped away, putting as much space in between the two of them as she could. The creature righted itself, getting back to its feet. The blood dripping from its neck didn’t slow it down at all.

  She cursed inwardly as the creature stared straight through the space between them to where she stood, tracing the soft sounds she made as she caught her breath. Without her pill, she was a lot more aware of where the infected hid, but they were also more aware of her.

  There was nowhere for her to hide, and she had already used up her chance to surprise it. This infected was stronger than average, perhaps even stronger than her. Stella’s hand itched as she stared at her weapon, still lodged in the creature’s neck. That weapon was her best chance of taking the infected out quietly. She cast her eyes about, looking for an alternative.

  In an instant, her gaze swept across the dusty cracked pavement, past rusted down cars, past downed traffic lights, settling on a signpost with an arrow indicating that the electric vehicle charging station was to the right. She stamped her feet loud against the asphalt to draw attention to the sound and ran hard. She sprinted without restraint, drawing on the open air in deep breaths, letting it fill her lungs, letting her heart pound without fear.

  Stella aimed straight for the signpost, leaping out of the way of the steel metal when she was just an inch away. She heard the thud behind her as the infected charged into the post. Stella spun around to look at the creature.

  The metal had pierced straight into rotten skin at the junction of its neck and shoulder. The creature howled, clawing at the air until its hands landed on the steel frame of the sign. It pressed against the steel, pushing its body out until it was completely free. The creature was breathing heavily as it stepped around the post, and its head snapped in the direction Stella was standing.

  Stella didn’t care if she woke up every infected in the city. She plunged her hand into her holster and got a firm grip on her Glock. Something in her gut told her that if she wanted to stay alive, this creature would soon have to die.

  Stella fired. Her fingers were still clenched against the trigger when the bullet soared harmlessly over the infected as it ducked and charged at her. It was too close—close enough to see a web of blackened veins twisted under the rotted skin. She took careful aim, knowing she wouldn’t miss again.

  The bullet hit the creature square in the jaw, blasting away flesh and teeth. The impact didn’t slow it down. Stella had just one moment free to stare at the creature in disbelief, and then its teeth were on her.

  A flash of decayed enamel clenched down on her upper arm, impossibly strong. Stella felt the bite all the way down to her bone as the teeth tore into skin and muscle. The sludge-like blood dripped from the infected’s bullet wound in fat globs down to her arm, where it could mix with her own blood. The infected’s dank yellow eyes widened at the thrill of her taste.

  Stella was shaking, barely in control, as her skin turned clammy and her pulse raced. She eased her good arm close to the Glock and, moving it as little as possible, switched the weapon into her free arm. She had to pull herself together before the infected could saw through her flesh and take a chunk out of her.

  Large tanned hands appeared at its forehead and chin, straining to wrench the infected off her. Stella’s body was numb, and it took her a moment to realize that the hands belonged to Gavin. She struggled through the pain, needing to warn Gavin not to do what he was trying to do. She had to tell him that it was too dangerous, that after the infected bit their teeth into something, they didn’t let go. That was before she felt the pressure on her arm ease off.

  A little at a time, the teeth loosened, until Gavin completely pried the infected off her. Gavin shoved it hard to the ground a few feet away. Before the infected could scramble back to its feet, Gavin had pulled out his handgun and shot it right in the forehead. Brown sludge trickled from the wound and fell across the infected’s dead eyes like tears as the creature moved no more.

  Stella stared at Gavin, who still held the gun in his hand. Quietly, she asked him, “Are you going to finish me off?”

  “Not if I don’t have to,” Gavin replied without missing a beat. His answer was too confident, without even a trace of h
esitation.

  Stella waited for Gavin to break the façade and turn on her, finishing what the infected had started.

  Instead, he slipped his drawstring bag down his shoulder and pulled out a bottle of iodine. Stella watched warily as Gavin poured iodine over her forearm. His reaction to her bite was… unexpected. Everyone knew what happened to people who were bitten by the infected, but he didn’t even seem nervous.

  As Gavin coiled gauze from the medical kit around her injury, Stella relaxed. She leaned her head into his solid presence, allowing him to help her, confident that Gavin wasn’t acting or plotting anything against her.

  “How did you know?” Stella asked. It wasn’t surprising that Gavin had managed to see through her secret, just that it had only taken him three days. Others could spend years around her and never find out.

  “It’s the best explanation why you survived so long out here,” Gavin replied. “You’re immune to the infection.”

  8

  Gavin didn’t want to tell her about the experiments, or about the hours he had logged in searching for the cure. He had worked with immune animals of all different species, but Stella was the first immune human he had ever seen.

  He had known that Stella was immune from the first moment he saw her and was surprised when he realized the others had no idea what she was. Gavin had even questioned himself, after seeing that she was on the oxygen pill. It was, after all, the first time he had ever been out of the factory. Perhaps he was jumping to conclusions, his curious mind seeing more than what was really there.

  He had said nothing about it, merely watching her instead. Then he noticed that though she was on the oxygen pill, she never seemed to be keeping track of the hours like anyone else who depended on them. Then she had mentioned that she had a stash of oxygen pills saved up, with no explanation of where they came from. Lastly, Gavin noticed the fact that Stella didn’t follow the routines and rules of the rest of her gang. If none of the others in the gang knew that Stella was immune, at least Xander did. He knew that Stella didn’t need to follow the same precautions, and he left her to do as she pleased.

  Instead of mentioning all of this, Gavin stated a simple truth. “It’s the best explanation why you survived so long out here. You’re immune to the infection.”

  Stella looked directly at him, violet eyes still hazy with pain. “Don’t tell anyone.”

  Gavin didn’t ask why; he just nodded in agreement.

  Stella closed her eyes as Gavin tied off the end of his makeshift bandage. As she leaned her slight weight against his chest, he tried not to let himself get distracted by the warmth of her skin or the soft intake of air as she caught her breath. He wrapped one of his arms against her back, steadying her. Gavin held her for a few long moments before she whispered, “You ready to get out of here?”

  They went back to the van, which Gavin had left running in his haste to get at the infected that had nearly bit its way through Stella’s arm. She opened the door wide, letting the corpses fall out and hit the asphalt. Gavin felt the first stirring of exhilaration as Stella changed gear and began to drive down the street. They were getting out of the city, away from this infestation. Gavin supposed that now he could get initiated into their gang, whatever that meant.

  The sight of everything blurring past them as the van drove was new and unsettling. He hadn’t ever been in a fast-moving machine before, and seeing the rush of motion while he was sitting still was strange.

  Stella drove down the clear main street, passing by their Dunkin’ Donuts, before abruptly stopping the van and jumping out without a word.

  Gavin pressed against the window as Stella ran into a tourist shop. He hesitated, holding on to the car door, trying to see whether she needed his help. Before he could make up his mind, Stella was already running back to the van, wearing a hooded sweatshirt with “I heart New York” emblazoned in neon colors. She stepped back into the van, holding out a shirt and hat bearing the same logos for Gavin, along with a pair of plain jeans.

  “Here, put this on,” Stella instructed as Gavin picked up the clothes awkwardly. “When we get back, you need to blend in.” Stella changed gears and got the van moving again. “Just take out the things you need from the factory and find a place to keep them safe.”

  Gavin began to pull his tools out of the pockets: vials, syringes, forceps, oxygen pills, and other small machines. For lack of a better place to put them, he started to line up his things in the cup holder of the van. It wasn’t until his pockets were empty that Gavin began to feel uncomfortable.

  “There’s nowhere to get changed,” Gavin stated as the van was driving onto a ramp that led back to the George Washington Bridge.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t look.” Stella kept her eyes on the road. She waited about ten seconds before glancing at the mortified expression on Gavin’s face and grinning. “I was just kidding. I’ll stop somewhere and get out when we’re away from New York.”

  Just as Gavin found his emotions settling down, a flash of movement in the street caught his attention. A young infected with stringy hair and greasy, thin limbs was walking toward the van. Stella’s eyes were on the infected, and she didn’t make any move at all to change her hands on the steering wheel. The crunch of metal reverberated throughout the van, followed by a tilting sensation as the passenger side tires lifted over a bump, one after the other.

  Gavin braced his arms, holding himself in place against the jerking motion, until the tires hit flat pavement once more. He looked in the rear window to see the infected lying motionless in the road behind them. Stella had dispatched the creature without saying a word.

  How many times had she had to kill the infected before it became a common part of her life? How long had it taken before she didn’t even need to mention the deaths at all? How many of those kills had been close calls, like it had been today, back in the city? Gavin thought back to the fact that she was immune. She had to put herself at risk every day out here, but her life didn’t have to be that way.

  Gavin struggled against his curiosity until he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He had to ask her. “Why haven’t you told anyone?”

  “It’s not safe.” An amused grin, left over from teasing him, slipped away from her face. She focused on the clear roads ahead.

  Gavin was still trying to think of a way to ask her another question when Stella spoke again. “There’s a group of men underground that run the city called the administrators. Many of them are old, older than the rest of the survivors, and in different stages of infection.” As Stella spoke, her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “They organized construction underground, but they built in doors with locks, too. To keep out the infected, they said. That’s what gave them control, what lets them decide who can get food and pills and who can die. Some of them are half-crazed with infection, with bodies holding together, but their minds starting to go. They’ll do anything for a cure.”

  Gavin listened to the soft sounds of her breathing, which came in short, little gasps of air. It was the only sound of her agitation, the sign that showed him how much the conversation bothered her.

  “You think they would hurt you if they knew?” he asked.

  There was a pause, as if Stella was trying to decide whether she wanted to tell him. She was quiet for long enough that Gavin worried that he had pushed the conversation too far.

  “My father didn’t just die. He was murdered,” Stella said, breaking the silence. Her voice was tense, as if she had to force each word out.

  “I saw it,” Stella added so quietly that Gavin could barely hear her. She leaned in closer to the steering wheel and stared blankly at the road. Her eyes glazed over as she thought of things that were far away, reliving memories. “I saw it and I couldn’t…” Stella’s voice broke, and she had to take a deep, steadying breath. She forced herself to continue. “There were too many. They just killed him, and it happened so fast. I wasn’t there to save him, or even help him. I watched it all through the windo
w. Even took his body away, so there was nothing left.”

  A tear trickled down her cheek, and without thinking about it, Gavin reached over and brushed it away. She reached her hand to her cheek and wrapped it over his, interlacing their fingers. Neither of them said another word as Stella drove them across the George Washington Bridge and away from New York City. She didn’t let go of Gavin’s hand.

  They must have been quite the sight, driving back to the base with a van stocked with supplies and wearing New York memorabilia. Stella drove the van straight to the entrance before braking abruptly, right in front of a group assembled outside. There was Xander, Sam, and five other gang members whom Gavin hadn’t yet had a chance to meet. All of them carried weapons: machetes, crowbars, and bats, along with the firearms holstered at their sides. They broke off their meeting and turned to stare at Stella and Gavin through the windshield.

  Stella ducked her head low as she turned off the ignition. Without looking in Gavin’s direction, she whispered, “There’s something going on. Stick close.” She opened the vehicle door and stepped out.

  Walking to the side of the van, Stella wrenched the doors open and exposed the boxes stacked within. She had wasted no time in showing off their haul. As Gavin stepped out to help her, he realized that even the shirts from New York were part of the show, proof that they had done what they had set out to do. Xander approached the van, a grim look on his face.

  Ignoring the cans, Xander pulled Stella close to him and hugged her. Gavin stiffened, completely thrown off. He froze, unsure of what to do with himself.

  Xander whispered, “I was worried about you.”

  Stella laughed, slipping out of his grasp. “I told you I’d be all right.”

  She turned her back to Xander, taking hold of one of the boxes without looking at him.

  Xander signaled for the rest of the group to help before grabbing a box and heading after Stella. Gavin lifted a box and trailed after them, watching the pair closely.