I spent my days healing, getting to know the A1s, walking around being bored out of my mind with Raeya, exploring the fenced in parts of the shelter, which weren’t much, and playing with Argos. I ate breakfast and lunch with Hayden and the other Marines and dinner with my old group. Some days Hayden had a new puncture in his arm, cotton, and a bandage. I was curious but didn’t ask about it again.
Not all of the A1s were welcoming. The five guys who saw me in action were thankful to have another on their team. Others didn’t find it fair since I hadn’t gone through boot camp like they had. Brock said they weren’t convinced I was good enough but they’d get over it once they saw me in training.
When my first day of training arrived, Hayden assured me that it was nothing more than working out, mock zombie situations, and learning new fighting techniques. And, since I was the only A1 who knew how to use a bow and arrow, Fuller wanted me to teach the others. I used to work out regularly. Then I couldn’t afford my gym membership so I cut my routine down to running, yoga, and exercising in my room. I was looking forward to getting back on a treadmill as I followed Hayden down the basement stairs.
We entered a rather extensive workout room. I was to do a cardio routine and then go through a list of strength training exercises. I would be assessed by Hayden on where I needed improvement. After a short break, we moved outside for target practice. Though the shelter had plenty of ammo, we didn’t want to be wasteful.
There were a handful of new, modern weapons that I hadn’t used before. It didn’t take long before I was hitting the bull’s-eye. When we finished, Hayden took me around the quarantine barn to his truck. He retrieved the bow and arrows.
“Can you show me how to use it? I want to know what I’m doing before you play teacher,” he said with a cheeky grin.
“Yeah,” I told him, knowing I would want the same. He looked around, set the arrows back down and pulled his keys from his pocket.
“Want to go for a drive?” he asked.
“We can just leave?”
“Orissa, this isn’t prison.”
“I know; it’s just…” I thought about the bandages, about them taking his blood—his and no one else’s. Was he sick? “If we leave, do we have to be quarantined again?”
“No. Not if we go to the fields. You haven’t been there yet, have you?” When I shook my head he smiled. “Perfect. It’s patrolled so it’s relatively safe.” Because I’d been so hurt and groggy last time I’d been in his truck, I hadn’t noticed the details—there were roll bars on the back, USMC emblems on the dash, and a leather steering wheel. Someone had put a lot of money into this truck. Hayden pressed play on his iPod.
“Spice Girls?” I asked, trying not to laugh when Say You’ll be There rang from the speakers.
“Oh, I’m a huge fan,” he said with a flick of his hand.
I laughed.
“Not really. I, uh, started collecting iPods since I can’t download new music anymore. I got sick of what was on mine.” He went to change it to the next song but I stopped him.
“I like this song.”
“You do?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes. Don’t tell me you don’t at least think it’s catchy?” I turned the volume up so I could sing along. “I went through a short dress and platform sneakers phase,” I told him.
“You did?”
“My stepdad hated it.”
“Which made you want to do it more,” he guessed.
“Of course, now shut up and let me sing,” I said with a smile. When Wannabe came on next, Hayden sang the refrain along with me. We were both laughing when the song finished. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done that,” I admitted.
“Done what?”
“Sang. For fun, not to distract zombies.”
“That was a genius idea, by the way.” He glanced at me with a wry smile.
I sang a few more songs before we parked near a large barn. Hayden waved to the patrolling A2s and got out of the truck. I carried the bow and he carried the arrows. I walked ahead of him, curiously surveying my surroundings. I could see the herds of cows and could smell the chickens. At one time this must have been a real working farm. About two feet away from the wooden fence that corralled the cows was a single wire, electric fence.
“This is supposed to keep the zombies out?” I asked, reaching for it. Hayden dropped the arrows and pulled me back. My foot caught on the uneven ground, causing me to stumble. He caught me with ease.
Still holding onto me he said, “Not the zombies. But the S1s. It has enough juice to stop a human heart.”
“Oh,” I said, straightening. “Thanks for, uh, saving me then.”
“No problem.” He looked behind him. “Let’s go over here. I don’t want to accidentally kill something.”
We rigged up targets using hay bales and empty feed bags that I turned inside out and drew circles on.
“It’d be nice to have an arm guard,” I mumbled.
“Why is that?”
“It’s helpful. Sometimes the string hits your arm when you release it. And it keeps loose clothes out of the way.”
“Oh,” he said and held up the bow.
I laughed. “Sorry.” I covered my mouth.
“What?”
“You’re doing it all wrong. Watch. Pay attention to how my body moves.”
“I think I can do that,” Hayden joked.
I rolled my eyes, pulled an arrow, aimed, and released.
“You’re good,” he told me. “And you make it look easy.”
“I’ve been doing this for a while,” I said honestly. “I sucked at first.”
We spent the next hour going over parts of the bow, what they did and finally how to shoot. Hayden paid attention and caught on quickly.
The next day we had one-on-one combat training. Ivan was my partner. I hadn’t mentioned my years of martial arts lessons.
I kicked his ass.
Hayden didn’t go to training the following day. He seemed to have disappeared. We woke up at the same time, ate breakfast with the other Marines, and walked down the hall together. But when I got into the workout room, he simply wasn’t there. I gave my compound bow shooting demonstration that day; I didn’t think Hayden would want to miss it.
That night, I sat on my bed brushing my wet hair, having just showered. Finally, Hayden came in and looked alarmed to see me. I knew something was up by the way he pressed his left arm to his side and tried to weasel in unnoticed.
“Are you sneaking off to see a vampire?” I asked.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been donating a lot of blood,” I said seriously. This was the fourth time I’d noticed the cotton ball and Band-Aid on his arm.
“Oh, uh, no.”
I got up and closed the door. “Hayden, I know you’re lying.”
He sighed, ran his hand over his head and sat on his bed. “I am.”
“Why?”
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”
“Tell anyone what? And where were you today?” I knelt on the bed next to him. I grabbed his left hand and extended his arm. “And what is this all about? Are you sick?” Suddenly, I was scared. I didn’t want anything to be wrong with Hayden.
“No, I’m not sick.”
I raised my eyebrows, wanting an explanation.
He twisted his arm so his hand was resting in mine. “You can’t tell anyone, ok?”
“Promise.”
“Remember how I told you that I got bitten?”
“Yeah?”
“That crazy doctor I also told you about is trying to make a vaccine.”
“A vaccine?” I echoed incredulously.
“Yeah.”
“Can she do it?”
“I don’t know.” Hayden took his hand away. “We don’t know anyone else who has been bitten and not infected so it’s not easy. She told me she needs to test it on people but there’s no way we can do that.”
“But why does she keep taking your blood?”
“She—and your friend Patrick now—are trying to figure out what’s different about my blood.”
“Have they found anything?” I asked. Hayden was still referring to Padraic as Patrick, but this wasn’t the time to correct him. Again.
“Nothing substantial. I guess I have more white blood cells. But not too many, like in cancer patients. I’ve always had a good immune system. Patrick thinks we need more than blood samples.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t speak doctor, but he said something about needing to do neurological testing. Obviously, we can’t do that here.”
“Or ever,” I spat, surprised at the emotion it sparked in me. “What if they fuck up your brain?”
“It’s already pretty fucked up,” he said dryly. “You can’t tell anyone though, alright? Only Cara, your friend Patrick, and Fuller know about this.”
“I won’t tell,” I promised. “And his name is Padraic!”
Hayden shrugged. “We don’t want anyone knowing because it will be disappointing if it doesn’t work,” he explained.
“I understand.”
He leaned in close. Gently, he touched a scar on my forehead. “How did you get this?” he asked quietly, his face only inches from mine.
“Car accident. Well, kind of. I stole a truck from a crazy and there was a zombie in the backseat.”
“Now that’s an interesting story.”
“Sadly, it’s true.”
He smiled and pushed a loose strand of hair out of my eyes. A knock at our door made him jerk away. It was Fuller. With a grave look on his face, he pulled Hayden out of the room. I did my best to eavesdrop. From the bits and pieces I was able to gather, the group of A1s that were on the mission hadn’t come back that morning as scheduled.
One more day and they’d be here, Hayden was sure. But I could tell by the worry in his voice that Hayden didn’t believe a word of what he was saying.