White Trash Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter 16

To my relief, my dad’s truck wasn’t in the driveway when Brian dropped me off. He waited politely until I unlocked my front door and gave him a wave before he pulled away and drove off.

As soon as I was inside, I pulled my phone out of my purse and called Marcus, excitement about the lab visit and relief about Heather’s fate still shimmering through me.

“Hey, you,” he answered, a smile in his voice.

“Oh my god, Marcus!” I said as I plopped onto the couch. “I got to see Kang’s head! It was so…eeew!” I laughed.

“Really? That’s…” He paused. “Wait. How did you see Kang’s head?”

“I called Pietro this morning to ask him what was going on with the heads, and he said I could go see for myself, so he sent Brian to pick me up and so I went! So cool!”

“Brian picked you up, huh?” There was a strange catch in his voice, but I was too excited to want to stop and figure out why.

“Yeah, and damn, I’ve never ridden in an Escalade before,” I continued to babble. “Sweet ride!”

“I’ve never been in Brian’s Escalade,” he said. “I imagine it is.” He paused. “And he took you to the lab?”

“Sure did. Way out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.” I laughed. “I couldn’t find it again if my life depended on it.”

“I have no idea where it is either,” Marcus said. “So, it was interesting?”

“It really was,” I said. “I mean, I didn’t understand half of what Dr. Nikas was saying, but he was really awesome and didn’t talk down to me at all.” I grinned. “Maybe after I get my GED I can go take some college classes. I mean I really love the Biology stuff.”

“That’s not a bad idea at all.”

“And maybe I can even do some work with Dr. Nikas, help out at the lab or something. Marcus, he was sooo nice.”

“Um, yeah. Sure,” he said. “That would be great.” Except that it didn’t sound like he thought it would be great at all.

My smile slipped a bit. “Marcus? Is something wrong?”

He was silent for a few seconds—long enough for me to wonder if he had horrible news to share and was working up the courage to tell me—then said, “Angel, you can’t do that.”

“Do what?” I asked, baffled.

“You can’t call up Pietro with stuff like that,” he said to my utter shock. “I’m only telling you for your own good,” he continued while I listened in numb silence. “Pietro said he’d let you know about the heads, and he would have. Annoying him isn’t a good idea. And, well, taking up Dr. Nikas’s time for nothing…hell, I’ve never even been to the lab.”

Every speck of elation fled, and now I simply felt cold and a little sick. Had I misread everything about my conversation with Pietro and my talk with Dr. Nikas?

“I…but Pietro didn’t sound annoyed, Marcus,” I managed. “And he’s the one who suggested I come see the heads. I didn’t ask for that.”

“Look, babe, you could have called me first, talked about it,” he said in a conciliatory tone. “Then I could have helped you with how to approach, or not approach it. I’ve known him a lot longer than you have.”

The cold feeling tightened into a knot in my gut. “Oh. I see,” I replied stiffly. “I obviously fucked it up even though Pietro seemed perfectly happy to talk to me and was the one to suggest that I come see the lab. But, y’know, this is me. So, yeah. I should check with you before I make a phone call.” I sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, wait, honey, I need to go take a shit. Should I wipe my ass or not? One ply or two ply? I know I desperately need your advice and guidance.”

“Damn it, Angel!” he retorted, raising his voice slightly. “You’re blowing this all out of proportion. We’re talking about my uncle, not your normal everyday life crap.”

“And you’re the one telling me I need to check with you before making a goddamn phone call,” I said, raising my voice right back at him. “I mean, Jesus Christ, Marcus. You’re jumping my ass for fucking something up that wasn’t fucked up!” At least I hoped it wasn’t fucked up. A sharp barb of worry went through me. “Did Pietro say something to you? Is that what this is all about?”

He hesitated. “No,” he finally said, exhaling. “I haven’t talked to him since I called him last night after your attack.”

“Uh huh. So once again this is you not trusting me to be able to handle myself.” My jaw tightened. “Marcus, this is bullshit.”

“You always jump to that conclusion, Angel!” he said, frustration and annoyance thick in his voice. “I’m giving you advice—damn good advice—on one thing I know a helluva lot more about than you do and suddenly I’m the bad guy. That’s bullshit.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” I insisted, fighting back tears. “He wasn’t annoyed or mad or anything, and he wouldn’t have invited me to the lab if I was wasting his time, would he?” I took a deep breath as the old buried anger returned. “And, goddammit, even if I did annoy him it’s the least he could put up with after everything I went through.”

He fell quiet. “All right, Angel,” he said after a moment. “What’s done is done. You’ve seen the heads and satisfied that curiosity, so we can just move on from here. I can’t imagine that you’d have anything else to call him about, so it really is a moot point now.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Marcus, I’ve been really nice and respectful to your uncle, even after everything that happened.” I tried to keep my voice even and calm, but it still shook a bit despite my best efforts. “Pietro told me I could call him anytime I needed something, and y’know what? If I have another reason to call him, I fucking will.” My hand tightened on the phone. “I was locked in an animal cage because of him. Strip searched by McKinney while four men stood and watched. So if I want to call him for the goddamn time and weather, I fucking will, and I’m not gonna worry about annoying him.”

I heard him exhale. “I know,” he said. “You had a horrible experience, and a lot of it was Uncle Pietro’s fault. It’s still crazy to push it. But never mind, you don’t want my opinion, and this isn’t getting us anywhere.”

I was crying now. How could he still not understand? “No, it’s not getting us anywhere. And you don’t want to hear how bad it was. So forget it. I’ll talk to you later.”

I hung up before he could say anything else then buried my face in the couch pillow and gave in to a sob fest. For the first time I realized that I really didn’t have anyone I could talk to about what happened to me. I sure as hell couldn’t tell any non-zombie. Marcus had held me and listened to the whole story after my escape, but after that one time it was clear the subject upset him, and so I’d stopped saying anything about it.

My phone rang. It was Marcus, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. After a moment the ringing stopped and it dinged with the missed call alert. But he didn’t leave a voicemail, and I didn’t call him back.