Part 3 (1/2)
”No.”
”Who's Cath?” Theo asked, maneuvering Vonnie out of the way so he could examine the wound. He'd seen and treated more than a few ganga ganga marks in the last fifty years-and those people were the lucky ones. marks in the last fifty years-and those people were the lucky ones.
These gashes were deep but not life threatening, that he could tell-unless they got infected, which was a real possibility, considering where those filthy, flesh-tearing hands had been. She'd need st.i.tches probably. ”What do you have to put on them?” he asked, taking the warm cloth from Vonnie's hand. ”Any alcohol?”
”Cath's the closest thing we have to a doctor,” Vonnie told him, coming back to life as Theo began to gently dab at the gashes. ”Here. We have this balm to put on it. I'll get bandages.” She set a lidless jar on the counter next to them and bustled away.
”Yeah,” Selena said, her voice tight, her face raised back to the ceiling after her emphatic negation a moment earlier. Other than that, she seemed unmoved as Theo s.h.i.+fted a pink bra strap out of the way. ”Cath gets to save the ones who can be saved. I get to watch the rest die.”
The bra strap hung, useless, halfway down a toned arm that curved with sleek, feminine muscle. Theo noticed ... then moved on from the fact, and also noticed that one of the lacy pink sh.e.l.ls now gapped away from a nice handful of breast. ”Ganga nails are probably going to cause an infection,” he said, wis.h.i.+ng that Elliott could be here. ”You need to be st.i.tched up. Have you got anything to clean it with, Vonnie?” nails are probably going to cause an infection,” he said, wis.h.i.+ng that Elliott could be here. ”You need to be st.i.tched up. Have you got anything to clean it with, Vonnie?”
His voice was calm, if not peremptory, but the thing that scared the s.h.i.+t out of him was the fact that she'd been that close to a ganga ganga. Close enough that she could have just as easily been torn to shreds and devoured. ”What the h.e.l.l h.e.l.l were you doing out there?” were you doing out there?”
Selena pressed her lips together, but if she meant to glare at him, she didn't succeed. Her face, grimy and blood-streaked, seemed to have gray undertones, although it was hard to tell for certain in the faulty light. She had long thick lashes that fanned over her cheeks; and her straight hair was plastered to her chin and temples. As he brushed it out of the way, exposing slender shoulders and an elegant neck, he noticed a long thin cord around her throat disappearing in a deep vee beneath her arm, as if something weighting it down had fallen to the side.
She must have realized he noticed it-maybe his fingers had pulled on the lanyard, tightening it against her skin-and she sat upright suddenly, clapping one hand over her half-bared b.r.e.a.s.t.s as the other gripped and slid down along the cord. ”You should be in bed,” Selena told him.
A fierceness blazed in her eyes as she stared him down. Ferocity and determination.
”I'm in a lot better shape than you are,” he said. Much as he wanted to, he didn't allow his gaze to travel along that cord to see what she was trying to hide. That would give her too much satisfaction.
”I wasn't dead three days ago.” wasn't dead three days ago.”
”No, but you could have been tonight. How the h.e.l.l did you get away from them?” He looked at her. The peace and serenity he'd admired earlier was gone. She was bedraggled and clearly exhausted; in pain and yet in control-and for a minute, her look reminded him of Sarah Mich.e.l.le Gellar in Buffy Buffy: defiant, and yet weary. World World-weary.
But Selena wasn't a vampire slayer. Or a zombie slayer, for that matter.
Yet, the fact remained ... she had obviously been in close proximity to one. And had escaped with little more than a few scratches. How? How?
Just then, Vonnie bustled back into the room (he hadn't even noticed she'd left). ”Here,” she said, setting a heavy bottle on the counter. ”Vodka.”
Before Theo could s.n.a.t.c.h it up and pour the antiseptic over the seeping gashes, Selena said, ”Can you take over here now, Vonnie? He needs to get back in bed.” She steadied her breathing and continued. ”I'm not sure what he was doing out of it in the first place.”
”Looking for the john,” he said flatly. Pain had tightened her features once again and the faint little grunt at the end of her sentence told him she wasn't feeling any better.
It wasn't worth arguing any longer. Clearly Vonnie had regained her competence, and Theo saw no reason to waste any more time here. The sooner he left, the sooner Selena would get cleaned up and taken care of.
He wasn't needed, nor should it be his concern. In a day or two, maybe sooner, he'd be leaving this place.
”St.i.tches,” he suggested firmly, turning away and realizing that his knees had strengthened considerably during the last thirty minutes. At the same time, however, that shadowy warning hovered at the edge of his vision. Bed might not be a bad idea.
”I'll take care of it,” Vonnie said, her voice just as firm as Selena's. ”Now back to your bed. The bathroom is on the way. The hall on the right.”
Theo cast one more glance at Selena. Her gaze met his-that determination and defiance sitting there, thicker than a brick wall.
The thing that niggled at him, though, was what the h.e.l.l was she hiding behind that wall?
When Theo opened his eyes again, sunlight blazed through the window. He sat up without difficulty this time, shaking off the remnants of dreams with his copper-haired Sage, some orange-eyed gangas gangas ... and the curve of a blood-slashed shoulder. ... and the curve of a blood-slashed shoulder.
He wasn't certain which image left him the most unsettled.
A crash in the distance, followed by an annoyed bellow, drew Theo's attention to the area beyond what he'd come to think of as his own hospital room.
”G.o.dd.a.m.n zombies!” came a gruff exclamation. Whomever it was slammed a door and stomped across a nearby floor in what sounded like heavy boots. ”Don't know what the h.e.l.l I have to do ...” His voice trailed off into something unintelligible, but clearly annoyed as he clanged and banged and thudded. ”d.a.m.n things!”
Fascinated, the way he might have been by a mountain lion toying with its prey, Theo slid his feet to the floor, c.o.c.king his ear to listen. Then he was off the bed and out of the room, following the sounds and padding on bare feet back to the kitchen to find an elderly man sorting energetically through the contents of a pantry.
Elderly he might be, the man appeared to have excellent hearing-or maybe just a sixth sense for being crept up on-for he turned just as Theo walked in on what he'd thought were silent feet.
”Who the h.e.l.l are you?” the man asked, turning from the pantry and skewering Theo with sharp gray eyes. He wore olive green workpants and a matching s.h.i.+rt that strained over a rounded tummy, although he wasn't by any means fat. Short white hair bristled all over his head as if to match his personality, and rolled-up sleeves exposed surprisingly muscular forearms. ”You one of Selena's friends?”
”I'm Theo,” he replied, and realized with a start that this man was probably at least a decade or even two older than he and Lou. There weren't many people who could claim that.
The man had already dismissed him, turning back to the pantry and muttering in a gruff, nasally tone, ”n.o.body tells me any d.a.m.n thing around here. d.a.m.n good thing I don't care.”
Something bounced out of the closet and tumbled to the floor, eliciting another round of cursing from the man. Before Theo could move to offer a.s.sistance, Vonnie stalked into the room.
”What are you looking for, Frank?” she asked, standing there with her hands on her hips in that age-old way of feminine annoyance.
”Eh?”
”What are you looking for?” Vonnie repeated in a louder voice.
”A G.o.dd.a.m.n pair of pliers,” he replied. ”Don't need to shout, dammit. Have to fix the d.a.m.ned fence around the-”
”They're right here,” Vonnie said, interrupting him as she yanked a drawer open.
Theo didn't miss the meaningful look she gave Frank-a tight-lipped glare that meant for him to shut up.
He either didn't notice or didn't care, for he continued his tirade. ”G.o.dd.a.m.n zombies always have to tramp through my ca-”
The pair of pliers clattered onto the counter. ”Frank,” Vonnie said loudly, ”did you eat breakfast?”
”I didn't have no breakfast but my d.a.m.ned coffee, as usual,” he growled, s.n.a.t.c.hing up the tool. ”n.o.body around here to cook when I got up. Everyone sleeping the d.a.m.n morning away. d.a.m.n day's half over already.”
Theo had edged farther into the kitchen by now, at once fascinated by the bundle of energy in drab olive and curious about what Vonnie was trying to hide from him. She glanced at him warily, but before she could speak, Theo asked, ”How's Selena?”
”What the h.e.l.l's wrong with Selena?” Frank demanded, pausing for the first time. Was the guy deaf or not? Theo couldn't figure it out.
”She's fine,” Vonnie replied, looking as if she were walking a tightrope.
”I don't know why the h.e.l.l she's got to mess with those G.o.dd.a.m.n zombies,” the old man said. But instead of a complaint it sounded more like worried affection. ”Leave them be.”
Theo tried not to look interested, certain that the moment he did, Vonnie would put the kibosh on any further information from Frank. And he realized suddenly that he was more than a little interested in what the h.e.l.l was going on here.
He watched as Frank jammed an old baseball cap on his head and s.n.a.t.c.hed up a rifle that had been leaning in the corner. Pliers in hand, he stalked out of the kitchen with the faintest hitch in his step, but at a pace that would leave most people half his age in the dust. Theo had to squelch the urge to follow him.
”So you got her st.i.tched up?” Theo asked, sliding onto a stool at the kitchen counter as Vonnie busied herself at the sink.