This Would Be Paradise (Book 1)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 23

The drive back to the cabin was fraught with tension, much more so than when we left. Taylor had resorted to shivers and more sickly coughs. His skin had paled, even more than my own skin color, so John used his hand to feel for Taylor's temperature.

"You're burnin' up. Got any Tylenol back there?"

I rooted through the meager pharmacy supplies and produced the extra strength version. I passed two tablets and a bottle of water to Taylor, who regarded my outstretched hand with glassy eyes. He was starting to zone out. Weakly, he took my offerings, struggling with swallowing the pills.

"We're almost to the cabin, so just hold out a little longer." John pushed harder on the gas pedal, adding an extra twenty miles an hour to our speed.

The others must have heard us pull up the gravel road because they were lying in wait out front. It felt like we had been gone for weeks, when in reality it had only been two days. I felt both physically and mentally drained, struggling with processing all that had happened to us. And it looked like I had guessed wrong; Taylor was getting worse at an alarming rate.

Chloe ran up to the truck as we opened our doors.

"Ethan!"

She slammed into him, like a little midget linebacker. Ethan grunted with the force, but squeezed her back. Zoe wrapped me in a giant bear hug.

"You asshole, you were supposed to be back yesterday!"

"Something came up." She let me go.

"Ah, what's wrong with him?" Darren asked, stepping away from Taylor.

Taylor had slunk out of the passenger's door, and was now bent forward. John rushed from the driver's side to him.

"Stay away," Taylor hissed, as he weakly tried to push his father away.

"Let me see," John pleaded.

Taylor collapsed to his knees, coughing blood profusely. The grass around him was sprayed in little red droplets. I heard Zoe gasp as she grabbed my elbow. Everyone backed away, except for John. Ethan clutched Chloe tightly and tried to steer her towards the cabin.

"Taylor." I shook off Zoe's grasp and tentatively walked over to him.

"All of you-," he gave a bloody cough, "-need to stay away."

His eyes rolled back in his head and Taylor fell to the ground, his body going into convulsions. Darren's hand moved to rest on the gun holster on his hip.

"He's infected, isn't he?"

The look on my face answered his question and he glared at Taylor. I held my hand up, telling Darren to stay back. John was hovering over Taylor's jerking form, his hands waving over his son uselessly.

None of us knew what to do; there was nothing we could do. I knew Taylor would turn and then we would have a big choice make. After a few moments of spewing blood and spit, Taylor lay still on his side. He didn't appear to be breathing.

"Taylor?" John said weakly was he crouched over Taylor.

"John, don't get too close," I warned as I moved closer.

"Taylor!" John started to shake his motionless body.

"John!" I yelled in warning, knowing full well how a turned person could react.

I ran over to try to pry John off of Taylor's corpse before he attacked. A raspy growl escaped Taylor's lips and he reached out to grab John's arm.

"Taylor?" John asked hopeful, but Taylor just let out a low, raspy moan.

I grabbed Johns arm and yanked it free from his grasp on Taylor and tried to steer him backwards. Taylor rose in jerky movements, his eyelids opened to reveal a set of blood-shot eyes. All the blood vessels must have burst in his eyes, creating a sinister set of red orbs. He snarled and lunged for us from his half-sitting position. John was still lying on the ground, so I kicked out with my right foot as hard as I could, hitting Taylor's corpse under the jaw. He flew backwards, but got up fast.

The brief question of why some infected moved faster than others, crossed my mind in the confusion. Taylor spotted Zoe and decided to make a dash for her instead; his arms rose in her direction, snapping his teeth. She let out a scream and backed up, tripping over her own feet. Without fanfare, Darren whipped out his handgun and shot Taylor in the head. His body crashed to the side, discolored blood leaking from the wound. Then he laid still, for good this time.

We all just stood still, too afraid to even breathe. A distressed cry came from John and I let go of the tight grasp I had on the collar of his shirt. He ran to Taylor's corpse, tears streaming down his face. I could barely make out him saying "no, no, no," over and over again. I heard Chloe sobbing into Ethan's shirt as he took into the cabin, not wanting her to see anymore. Zoe just stayed fallen on the ground, transfixed with Taylor. Darren put his weapon away and helped Zoe to her feet.

Darren hadn't hesitated to lay waste to Taylor; infected or not, we had lived with the guy for the past two months. When it came down to it, I wouldn't have been able to do it. That put me even more on edge.

I don't know what affected me more, the sight of Taylor dead on the ground or John weeping over his body. The sensation of liquid running down my face took me off guard. I wiped at my cheek, realizing I was crying. This was just too much to take and the tears wouldn't stop. Taylor and I butted heads constantly, but I didn't want him dead. And I certainly didn't wish this on John.

I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. When it came down to it, I was just an ill-equipped twenty-two year-old with no comparable life experience. Not wanting to deal with this, I took off to the back of the cabin. Zoe looked like she wanted to follow, but I shot her a look that made her stop in her tracks.

Tears were making it hard to see, so I plunked myself down on the tree stump out back and let them flow. My mom always made remarks on how I wasn't very girly, never crying much as I grew up. The only person I have ever known to die was my grandmother, but I was seven when it happened and wasn't old enough to understand. Now I realized why I never cried a whole lot growing up, I had nothing to cry about; until now.

We had become our own little dysfunctional family. Taylor was like that brother you fought with, but at the end of the day still cared for. The tears had stopped now, leaving my eyes feeling swollen and my nose had become stuffed up. I felt gross. This is why I didn't like crying, you felt worse afterwards than you did before.

"Hey," Zoe asked, hesitantly.

I wiped at my face, trying to clear the streaks left behind by the tears.

"Hey." My voice was nasally from the stuffed up nose.

"So that was rough."

"Just a little," I muttered.

"Darren thinks we should deal with the body soon."

"Fuck Darren." Zoe seemed taken aback by my reaction.

"You know, someone would have had to shoot Taylor," she said quietly.

"That's not the issue. We will give John as much time as he needs."

Zoe was right. If Darren hadn't shot Taylor, someone else would have had to. It did however, bother me how little it seemed to affect him and that he didn't use a silencer. That shot was loud.

I got up and we walked back to the cabin. John was still beside Taylor's body, but Darren had disappeared. When I opened the door Chloe was chattering away nervously and Ethan was trying to calm her down. He stood up off of the dusty couch when we entered.

"He still out there?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah."

"What do we do?"

"I don't have a clue."