Virus 2 - A Zombie Novel

September 23rd 2014 (Same Day)

I reached the front steps and turned to see she hadn't followed us; she was nowhere in sight. We walk in to see everyone running around; packing bags. I looked around for Hudson; and was relieved when he came running down the stairs.

"Hudson - I need to talk to you." I said over the yelling.

"I can't right now - have you seen Ruby?" he answered, not looking up from the bag of can goods that he was packing.

"Ruby; that's - that's what I wanted to talk about." I said. He looked up; worried. "No - she's alive."

"Then what?" he sighed.

"It's kind of - personal." I whispered.

"Then it'll have to wait." He said. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his arm; pulling him into the sunroom. "We don't have time."

"She disabled the steering gage the day Wren and I went looting. She broke the airbag so it wouldn't deploy." I mumbled avoiding his eye contact.

"And why would she do that?" he scoffed.

"Because she thought I was driving." I blurted. He looked at me, his eyebrows knitted, his mouth slightly ajar, like he wanted to say something. "She wanted to kill me."

"Why? Why - why?" he repeated.

"She knew I would never leave you alone - nor you leave me alone unless I was definitely out of the picture." I mumbled. He stared at me.

"I can't believe this." He whispered.

"I couldn't either -"

"I don't believe this." He interrupted running his fingers through his hair. "It's Ruby."

"I know," I sighed. "Wait? You think I'm lying?"

"It's my sister Em." He mumbled.

"It's me Hudson." I shouted as he looked away.

"I'm sorry - but I refuse to believe my sister would try to kill you."

"What happened to the last girl you started to fall for?" I interrupted remembering the story about how Ruby had told a different girl to stay away.

"I don't know - she disappeared."

"Exactly." I yelled.

"That doesn't mean anything!" he shouted in my face.

"Just stop; and take a step back and look at the big picture." I closed my eyes. "The last girl your sister threatened disappeared. The day after we broke things off; I was in a car crash. It was a jeep Hud, they can't just break." Everything was making sense now.

"You're crazy."

"I'm logical." I shouted over him.

"No - you're an orphan." He interrupted. "You have no family so you're trying to destroy mine. Just because your sister is dead doesn't mean mine deserves to be!" I stood there staring at him. I couldn't move; I couldn't talk. I can't believe the boy I might love just said that. He knew what he said was wrong. "I didn't mean -"

"That's - that's fine Hudson." I whispered looking at the ground. "I get the message."

+++

"Everybody pack into the cars." We all stood. Or normal group of 13 was now a group of 9. I don't know what happened to Ruby. I don't know why she isn't here. We opened the door, guns blazing. There were no Walkers around; but the fence Joe and I left open had been torn down, and we didn't have the supplies to mend it. We couldn't stay here anymore - which meant leaving behind a living Ruby. Well, I think she's alive. I get into the car Joe came here in, avoiding the other one which Hudson went into. I'm squished between Luis and Freya, Joe driving and an injured Wren in the passenger seat. I leant my head back as he started the car.

"Are you okay?" Freya asked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"It's just - you have a bleeding head wound." She mumbled. My hand flew up and onto the place I hit my head on the rock. I had forgotten.

"It's okay. It doesn't hurt." I lied. It did hurt; but now that Oliver's gone we don't have anyone with medical experience; so there's no point whinging. I want to mourn about the 3 - possibly 4 lost ones, but I didn't know them well; not including Ruby. Ruby had gotten what she wanted; Hudson now hates me.

"So, who knows where we are going?" Luis asked.

"Just follow Hudson." Freya told Joe. "He has another house a few miles away." We drove for about an hour in silence, before Hudson's car slowly came to a stop. I look out the window to see there was a car on the side of the road. Joe got out and I intended to follow him; I just had to get over Freya. I opened the door and slid past her until I was out. She closed the door behind me; obviously not interested in getting out. A man stood there with the bonnet of his car up, talking to Hudson.

"It broke down; you don't think you could give me a jump start?" he asked. He was tall and had brown hair that must naturally spike up, with greyish blue eyes and long eyelashes. Next to him was a tall, red head girl. She was really pretty.

"Sure, what's your name?" Hudson asked, back to his sweet state.

"I'm Grayson, and this is Abby." He said shaking Hudson's hand.

"I'm Hudson; this is Joe, Grace, Winter and Emmeline." He said pointing to each of us that got out of the car.

"Nice to meet you." He cooed. "So where are you guys off to?" he handed the cords to Hudson to hook up to our car.

"Maybe up to Houston." Hudson said. "You?"

"Well I was separated from my group about a month ago, so I'm just trying to find them." he smiled. "They left me an address but who know whether they are still there."

"Where's the place?" I asked.

"Up in West Virginia." He said.

"I used to live there." Luis said getting out of the car.

"Do you know the way?" Grayson asked.

"Yeah, just go through Arkansas, then Tennessee, and up through Kentucky. That's the quicker route. And stick to highway 45, it'll get you straight there." Luis said.

"Thanks man." Grayson smiled just as his car started up. "Well, thanks for your help."

"Good luck." I said turning and walking back to our car.