Part 22 (2/2)

Trey pursed his lips. ”Yeah,” he said. ”I just hope it's not false hope.” He got up and paced the stage. ”I mean, we have no way of knowing if the mountains are really any safer than here, right?”

”It makes sense though,” Peyton argued. ”There are fewer people to begin with, and probably even fewer who went through with their AIDS vaccines. Not to mention, I doubt the monsters here are really taking many road trips, so it'll be safer on that end as well.”

”True,” Trey said. He shrugged. ”Well, I guess we'll see soon enough. You guys going to be ready?”

Peyton and Chris nodded in sync. Chris reached over and squeezed her hand. Trey rolled his eyes.

”Freaking lovebirds,” he muttered. ”Y'all don't even care about the end of the world, do you? Not as long as you can sit there and make googly eyes at one another.”

Chris turned tomato red, and Peyton could feel her face flush as well. ”Yeah, yeah,” Chris said at last, waving his brother off. ”You're just jealous 'cause I got the hot chick.” He winked at Peyton then leaned over to give her a kiss.

”Argh! My eyes! Warn a guy before you do that,” Trey cried.

Peyton and Chris pulled apart, smiling at each other. In a weird way, Trey was right. It was a little easier to deal with all that was going on when they had each other. And it was good to know they always would.

”Anyway, I got some c.r.a.p to take care of,” Trey continued. ”You mind taking Tara home?”

Chris shook his head. ”No problem.”

Trey grabbed his bag, said goodbye to his adopted sister, and vacated the stage. Peyton glanced at her watch. ”I'd better get home, too,” she said. ”Before someone notices I'm gone.”

Chris made a mock-pouting face. ”Boo,” he said. ”I want you to stay and make out with me.”

She laughed and kissed him on the nose. ”Believe me, I'd much rather do that,” she a.s.sured him. ”But if my dad kills me then I won't be able to meet you guys for our mountain adventure.” She smiled at him. ”Just think, soon we won't ever have to say goodbye. We'll see each other every hour of every day.”

”I can't wait,” Chris whispered, leaning in to kiss her neck. His mouth tickled and she laughed, pulling away.

”Me neither. Now let's get out of here.”

”Hang on a sec.” Chris squinted. ”Where's Tara?” In their canoodling, they hadn't noticed the little girl slip away. ”Tara?” he called. ”Where did you go?”

There was no answer.

Peyton scrambled to her feet and scanned the darkened auditorium. She looked over at Chris, worried. ”You go down each aisle,” she suggested. ”I'll check backstage.”

They split up, Chris going down the main steps and Peyton stepping into the darkness behind the curtain. ”Tara?” she cried. ”Sweetie, you can come out now! It's time to leave.”

No answer. Peyton scratched her head. Where did the kid go? The place wasn't that big.

Suddenly she heard a crash, stage right. Then she smelled something awful. She ran over to the area of the noise and flipped on a light. The first thing she saw was Tara, playing in a wooden box used for a stage set.

Then she saw the monster.

Where it had come from was anyone's guess, but no matter what, it was here now. And it was staggering toward Tara, moaning, its arms outstretched.

Peyton remembered what her dad had said: one bite and you could become infected, too. Still, what could she do? She couldn't let it take Tara! She dove for the box.

But she was too late. The zombie got there first, hovering over the girl, gnas.h.i.+ng its teeth. Tara whirled, saw the creature. Her little mouth opened up in a scream.

”No!” Peyton cried. Drawing on all her martial arts skills, she roundhouse kicked, slamming her foot into the monster's side. The foot connected, making a horrible squis.h.i.+ng sound as it caved into seemingly rotten flesh. The creature bellowed in rage, then reached out and knocked her away. She was no match for its strength and crashed to the floor.

”Come get me!” she cried, trying to scramble up. ”Fight me, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

But the monster wasn't interested. It already had Tara. And it wasn't going to stop.

Without meaning to, she averted her eyes. There were noises she knew she'd never forget for the rest of her life. Then a gunshot. And a scream. She turned back. The monster had fallen to the ground, its eyes bloodshot and its head blown off. It was dead.

”Tara!” Pistol still in hand, Chris ran to his little sister, throwing himself on the ground to check her.

Peyton swallowed hard, unsure what to do. What to say. ”Is she...?”

”Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d, no!”

It was a definitive answer if she'd ever heard one. ”Oh, Chris,” she cried. ”I tried. I really tried.”

Her father's words came cras.h.i.+ng back to her. If only she'd accepted his offer of cybernetics. She would have been stronger. Faster. Better. She would have been able to overpower the thing before it stole the life of a little girl.

Chris cradled the broken body of his sister, sobbing. He looked at Peyton. ”I promised to protect her,” he whispered, his eyes wild with grief. ”And I failed. I failed her.”

Peyton ran to his side, putting her arms around him, holding him tight. ”You did what you could,” she told him. ”And you saved my life. I would have been next.” But she knew her words could only comfort so much. They couldn't bring Tara back.

Another senseless death. And this one was a little child. It couldn't go on. Peyton couldn't let it. She thought of her father again and knew what she had to do.

Chapter Thirty-eight.

”And then Sprinkles rolled onto her back. And then she swatted at the string with her paw and...”

Peyton tried to pay attention as Darla excitedly recounted in excruciating detail the further adventures of the amazing glow cat she used to own. But the day's journey had really tired her out and it was admittedly a bit hard to follow Darla's chatter at the best of times.

They'd entered Florida that day and celebrated that night with candy and wine found in a local gas station. The kids were ecstatic about their journey finally nearing its end. Peyton was pretty psyched, too. Only a few more days and they'd reach the Magic Kingdom's front gates, where she could be reunited with her father and do what she needed to help restore the world.

But her excitement was tempered by her diminis.h.i.+ng physical well-being. Each day she felt a little weaker. A little more cloudy. The nanos were breaking down, eating her up inside like a sort of high-tech cancer. If she didn't get to her dad and the other scientists soon, she might not make it at all.

At least she had Chase. He had promised no matter what that he would get her down to Disney World, even if he had to carry her on his back. And she believed him. Even if he had been acting a little weird and stand-offish earlier today. He was just tired from being on watch all night, she was certain, not to mention battling the zombies. Because, besides that, everything between them was great. Beautiful, amazing, loving. She'd never been happier.

He was so good to her-he had been, even when she'd refused to appreciate it. And now that they were together? It was a feeling she'd never experienced in her life, that she'd never thought it would be possible to experience. Love. Overwhelming, all-consuming, burning love. Sometimes it was desperate and pa.s.sionate as they clung to one another, fighting against the hards.h.i.+ps of the world. Sometimes it was soft and sweet, two people becoming one mind and body. Caressing, feeling, losing yourself in one another. But it was always beautiful and magical and unbearably wonderful, and she knew it would last forever.

”And then my kitty took a ball of string and...”

<script>