Hollowland Read online

  As the day progressed, the sun burned off the fog, revealing scenery lush with grass and trees. It reminded me of back home in Iowa, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it living in the desert for so long.

  The sun also warmed the car, and I cracked the window, relishing the green scent of the earth around us. Everything smelled so sweet, but that might’ve just been because I knew this might be the last time I ever got to breathe it in.

  Not that much longer, we came into another small town. This one looked like most of the other towns we’d seen, evidence of havoc and death, but not quite as devastated and volatile as the town with the marauders.

  After our experience in the last one, Blue meant to just drive on through it, avoiding trouble as much as possible. But Harlow said she needed to go to the bathroom, so Blue looked for the nicest, least destroyed house he could find, and pulled in for a pit stop.

  Butter yellow with shutters and a white picket fence, the house looked quaintly picturesque. The lawn and flower gardens had become overgrown from lack of tending, and some of the siding and shutters had splatters of dirt and blood on them.

  Despite all that, it had something sweet about it, and that made it a little depressing. It stood as a sad reminder of what we had once been, what the American dream had strived to be, and now would never be again.

  Ripley didn’t feel like getting out of the car, so I cracked the window for her before we went inside. Blue and I led the search, conducting a quick once over to make sure that nothing dangerous was hiding out.

  The décor inside the house matched perfectly with the outside. Warm, homey furniture, books, and knick knacks, even a fireplace. Things had been disrupted, with shattered figurines on the floor and torn throw pillows, but in general, it didn’t look that bad. A layer of dust covered everything, and I suspected that the place had been abandoned for a while.

  Once we determined that it was safe, Blue called in Harlow and Lazlo. Harlow went to the bathroom, and Blue went upstairs to see if they had anything of value that we could use, like weapons or medicine. I went to the kitchen to raid it for food.

  Ever since the zombie attack, I had felt too nauseated to be hungry, and I hoped that was from nerves, and not a symptom. Either way, Harlow would complain of hunger pains as soon as she finished going to the bathroom, and it would be nice if they had some food here.

  I didn’t even bother opening the fridge because it would just let out the awful stench of rotten meat and milk. I climbed up on the counter to rummage through the cupboards and happened upon a gold mine: graham crackers.

  I turned around so I could sit down on the kitchen counter, my legs dangling over the edge. Determined to override any nausea, I opened the box of crackers and bit into them. Stale and sweet, I relished it more than I normally would have.

  I did love graham crackers and always had, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this might be my last meal. At least, my last real meal that didn’t involve biting and eating anything I could get my mouth on.

  “Hungry?” Lazlo leaned on the doorway to kitchen.

  I noticed that he’d changed into a different slim fitting tee shirt and jeans. This one had a panda holding a rainbow-colored umbrella, and I’m sure it cost a pretty penny at some fancy retailer. He and Harlow somehow managed to make the end times look fashionable.

  “Not really.” I held out a cracker to him. “Want one?”

  “Sure.” He walked over and took it from me, then leaned on the counter next to me.

  “You changed,” I commented, setting aside the box of crackers. As much as I wanted to enjoy them, my anxiety finally got the best of me, and I gave up on the idea.

  “Yeah, I didn’t really like the whole ‘covered in zombie blood’ look,” Lazlo said, and we both glanced down at my stained apparel. I’d wiped off what had gotten on my skin, but the bottom of my jeans had taken the brunt of the splatter. “But you totally rock that whole look.”

  “Well, my clothes weren’t as nice as yours to begin with,” I shrugged. It’s weird how accustomed I had become to having zombie blood on my clothes. “Are all of your outfits designer?”

  “Not designer. This isn’t an Armani suit or something.” He shifted uncomfortably, as if I had been saying something negative about him. “These are just my regular clothes.”

  “I know. But you used to be pretty rich, right?” I realized I knew very little about his life, other than what I had seen on TV before all this. He’d said very little, and I never bothered to ask. “You used to be a rock star.”

  “Yeah, I did.” Lazlo looked almost wistful for a moment, then shook it off and lowered his eyes. Something he had been proud of now made him look ashamed, and he let his hair partially cover his face.

  “That’s pretty awesome,” I said honestly.

  In another life, hanging out with Lazlo Durante would’ve been a high point. It still was, except now it had nothing to do with the infamy of it.

  “I used to think so.” Lazlo stared at the floor. “That’s all I ever wanted to do, and it started happening. The music videos and the money and the fans and the fame. And I was so wrapped up in it all, but even when I had a chance to think, I still thought, ‘This is it. I’ve really made it.’ But now… it’s all so fucking useless.” His forehead scrunched up, and he shook his head. “It didn’t mean anything, and I don’t have any skills to do anything.”

  “Nobody’s life really prepared them for this,” I said. “And at least you got to do stuff with your life before this happened. I grew up in Iowa, and I’ve traveled more in the past year than I ever did before. I haven’t seen or done anything. You got to see the world.”

  “I got to see airports and hotels when we were on tour,” Lazlo smiled sardonically. “That’s not really seeing or living. I had a normal life, and then it was all just constantly touring, recording, and selling myself. And then zombies took over the world, and I lived underground for nearly a year.”

  “That doesn’t sound so bad. I mean, until the zombies part,” I said.

  “You know something?” He lifted his head, and when he turned to me, he had this strange look in his eyes. Almost as if he was really seeing me for the first time. “I don’t think I ever really lived until this. I’ve never done anything that mattered before, but now I’m fighting to save my life, and yours. And I know it sounds really cheesy and lame, but I don’t think I ever really felt alive. Not until I met you.”

  “You were in a hole for nine months. Your definition of ‘feeling alive’ has got to be a little skewed right now.” I rolled my eyes to keep from blushing.

  “I don’t think so.” Lazlo moved so he was in front of me, and he chewed his lip. “You’re pretty much the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

  “I’m really not that amazing,” I shook my head.

  My heart thumped in my chest, and my mouth felt dry. His dark eyes latched onto mine, and I wanted to look away, but something compelled me to stay.

  The butterfly way he made me feel reminded me of who I used to be before. I’d been trying to push him away, but I always gave in because the only time I really felt like a normal teenage girl was when I was with him.

  “There’s something I have to do, that I’ve wanted to do since I met you, and I have to do it before it’s too late.” He put his hand on my cheek, so his thumb rested on my cheek and his fingers nestled in my hair.

  “No, I can’t,” I said, my voice barely audible over the pounding of my heart. “I might be infected.”

  “Do you feel sick? Headache? Fever?” he asked, rubbing his thumb gently on my skin.

  “No, but-”

  “Then I don’t care.”

  Before I could protest further, he leaned in, and his lips pressed firmly against mine. There was something unexpectedly hungry in the way he kissed me. His mouth searched mine, and I found myself returning it with equal fervor. He knotted his fingers in my hair, pulling me closer to him, and I wrapped my arms around him.


  – 14 –

  Harlow’s gasp broke the spell. I pulled away from Lazlo, and I had to put my hands on his chest to keep him from coming with me. His eyes were fixed on me, and I don’t think he’d heard her.

  Harlow stood in the kitchen doorway, her jaw slacked. Guilt washed over me when I saw her.

  At thirteen, she was too young to be a real love interest for Lazlo, but that hadn’t stopped her from nursing a pretty major crush on him. I hadn’t exactly stolen him from her, since he’d never been hers, but I had betrayed her trust.

  “Harlow,” I pushed Lazlo back further, and he realized we had an audience.

  I slid off the counter, so he took a step back, but he still looked confused by her stricken expression. In true Lazlo fashion, he had been oblivious to her feelings for him.

  “You’re such a liar!” Harlow was nearly shrieking. “I can’t believe you!”

  “Harlow, I know you’re upset, but I didn’t lie about anything,” I said and held my hand palm out. I wanted to reason with her before she got hysterical.

  “You lied about everything!”

  I’d never seen her this upset, but she’d finally reached her breaking point. With everything that happened the last few days, it was amazing that she’d held up this long.

  “What’s going on?” Blue rushed to the kitchen in a mild panic.

  “You can’t trust Remy!” Harlow took a step back, as if I was chasing her.

  “I think we all need to calm down,” Lazlo said, still bewildered by her reaction.

  “You said you wanted to leave me behind to protect me, but you just wanted me out of the way!” Harlow yelled at me, and Lazlo made a sound as it finally dawned on him why she was so upset.

  “Harlow, no, I can promise that’s not true,” I shook my head.

  “What happened?” Blue turned to me for answers.

  “You keep saying that we can’t slow down because we have to find your stupid little brother,” Harlow said, ignoring Blue. “But you have time to stop and make out with Lazlo?”

  “We weren’t making out,” I said, realizing too late that that did nothing to help my argument. In fact, it only pissed her off more.

  “I bet you don’t even have a little brother, do you?” Harlow narrowed her eyes.

  “You know I do. You were at the quarantine with us.”

  “But I never saw him!” Feeling emboldened, she took a step towards me. “We were there for over two months, and I never once saw your supposed kid brother.”

  “He was in the sick ward,” I said, but her line of questioning made me nervous.

  “With what? What was he sick with?” Harlow asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “What does it matter? He was sick.” I tried to play off my vague answers as exasperation, but Blue looked at me with a new scrutiny.

  “So you say!” She rolled her eyes. “But that doesn’t even make any sense, Remy! In a quarantined building full of healthy people, why would they even waste energy treating a sick kid when they’re struggling to keep everyone else alive?”

  “He’s not a waste of energy,” I said without conviction.

  “They evacuated him first, and as far as I could tell, he is the only non-army person who got evacuated.” Her anger was replaced by an honest accusation. “Why would they do that? I don’t know of any other person who was ever even in the sick ward.” She paused. “I don’t think he’s real.”

  I felt the shift in the room. Everyone had been looking at Harlow like she was the crazy person when she started yelling, but now they all stared expectantly at me.

  Panic rolled over me. Even though I knew I could trust them, I didn’t want to tell them the truth. I was afraid of what it could mean for my brother and me. But it didn’t look like I had a choice anymore.

  “He’s real,” I said quietly. “He’s just… he’s not sick. He’s the opposite of sick.”

  “What does that mean?” Lazlo asked, and at least he didn’t sound angry. Just confused.

  “It means…” I took a deep breath. “He’s immune.”

  “What?” Lazlo asked.

  “Immune? To the virus?” Blue looked dubious. I bit my lip and nodded.

  “Wait. Does that mean you’re immune?” Lazlo asked hopefully.

  “No. I don’t know.” I leaned back against the counter.

  “But how do you know he is?” Blue asked.

  “He was bitten.”

  “He was bitten?” Blue raised an eyebrow, still uncertain about my story. “Are you sure it was by a zombie?”

  “Yeah, I know a zombie when I see one.” I met his skeptical gaze evenly. “We were in Des Moines looking for food or survivors. Five zombies ambushed us. One of them got Max really good in the leg. It was so bad that I wasn’t sure he’d live long enough for the virus to take effect.”

  Max had been behind me when the zombies attacked. I told him to go hide, but he grabbed a stick and beat on one that came at my back. I heard Max scream, and when I turned around, the zombie was gnawing on his leg.

  “Then what happened?” Lazlo prompted me when I lapsed into a silence.

  “I, uh, bandaged his leg. I knew what it meant, but I had to do something. I knew that he had to be infected, but he didn’t know. He was just a little kid, and we’d been through so much. I wasn’t gonna give up on him.”

  “And he didn’t turn? He never got sick? At all?” Blue asked.

  “No. The leg hurt like hell. I broke into a pharmacy and stole antibiotics and First Aid. I got food, and we had a gun,” I said. “I found an abandoned house and locked us in the attic, and I waited for him to show any signs.”

  For seven days, I sat up in the attic with my little brother. I fed him, took care of his leg, talked to him, played games with him. And I never slept. I couldn’t.

  I kept the loaded gun in the back of my pants, and I never let him find out. My plan was to kill him as soon as he started turning into a zombie, and then kill myself. For seven excruciating days, I waited for us both to die.

  “But he never did.” I shook my head. “I was too afraid to leave. I might have stayed up there forever with Max, but soldiers came in, looking for survivors to quarantine.”

  Beck had been the one to find us, and at the thought of him, I felt fresh guilt. We had never really been together, not in any sense of the word, but he hadn’t been gone for very long. Kissing Lazlo felt like a betrayal to Beck’s memory, and I moved farther away from Lazlo.

  Beck was the first person I had told about Max possibly being infected. Other soldiers would’ve left us to die or killed us themselves, but Beck believed me.

  At the quarantine, he took Max to the doctors and scientists, who were trying to find a cure or a vaccine for the virus. Beck looked out for both of us, making sure that the doctors didn’t reduce Max to a glorified lab rat, and training me so I would be able to defend us.

  “So they know?” Blue asked, drawing me back from my thoughts. “The doctors, they know he’s immune and that’s why they’re keeping him safe?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded.

  “Why are you so worried?” Harlow asked. “Max is obviously a top priority for them. That’s why they evacuated him first. Why do you need to get him so badly?”

  “He almost died on my watch, and I swore that if he lived, I would do everything to protect him,” I said fiercely. “And I can’t live up to that if I’m not with him. I need to be there, and I need to be sure.”

  “I can buy all that but… why did you keep this a secret?” Lazlo asked, sounding almost hurt.

  “Because. Telling people your brother might be the cure to the worst epidemic known to humanity sounds insane. Or worse. The wrong kind of people would do anything to get their hands on somebody like Max.” I looked up at them. “I’m trusting you that this won’t go any further.”

  “Who are we gonna tell?” Harlow rolled her eyes.

  “Come on,” Blue said, apparently done with the conversation. “We should get
back on the road. London made the quarantine sound like it wasn’t too far from here, and I’d like to make it there by tomorrow.”

  Lazlo tried to walk with me out to the car, but I made a point of keeping a step ahead of him. I sat in the front seat next to Blue, and Harlow sat in back with Lazlo.

  A definite tension was in the car when we started on the road, and that didn’t help the situation any. This is why I always tried to travel alone. Getting involved with other people never helped anything.

  I offered to take over driving as the sun started set, but Blue gave one derisive look at my arm and said no. It hurt, but it was the smart thing to do. If I ended up going rabid, it would be better if I weren’t behind the wheel when it happened.

  I still didn’t have any symptoms, but that didn’t mean anything. I had seen enough infected people to know that sometimes, it just happened. They were fine, then they’d start vomiting, and then they were crazed monsters trying to tear out my throat.

  Lazlo ended up driving, and I moved to the backseat so Blue could have shotgun. I thought it would be better to give Lazlo some space. I had no idea how I felt about the kiss earlier, but I knew that I didn’t want to complicate things any more than I already had. And I didn’t want to hurt Harlow anymore, either.

  By the time nightfall settled in, Blue attempted a nap, resting his head against the window of the car door, and Harlow chatted with Lazlo about anything.

  Her main interest seemed to be Lazlo’s music career, which he seemed uncomfortable talking about. When we had first met, he been nearly bragging about it, but now he didn’t even want to mention it.

  “So you had your own signature bass?” She leaned forward, resting her arms on the back of the seat so she could talk to him. “What does that mean?”

  “It just means that I designed a line of basses for a company.” Lazlo shifted, and he looked at me in the rearview mirror. “What about you, Remy? Did you ever play an instrument?”

  “I’m sure she did,” Harlow replied dryly, sitting back in the seat. “She can do anything.”