Not a bad way to go, all things considered, but Marty chose to shoot a round into his head.
Jocelyn sat down, dizzy and on the verge of passing out. The pain of being shot was like nothing like she’d ever experienced. It felt like her whole body was on fire on the inside but mere seconds later, that fire was out.
Instinctively, she could feel where every bullet was. There was one in her heart, one in her lung, one in her left calf, one in her right kidney, and two in her colon. Astonishingly, they were moving—moving toward her skin.
She saw a lot of drying blood on her clothes, but she knew she had no wounds now, as they had all sealed up. Likewise, she sensed no internal hemorrhaging.
And she felt a gentle hand on her shoulders. Marty.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
She groaned. “Other than a splitting headache and a little dizziness, I think I’m fine.”
He grunted. “I reckon your healing power can’t cure headaches.”
She thought about this and realized it was ironic. She laughed.
“Oh, wait, this isn’t funny . . . Let me laugh even louder!” And then she did laugh louder. Marty joined in. Jocelyn supposed they both needed a good laugh in the face of their dire predicament. When the laughter died down, Jocelyn told him about the bullets moving.
“Do you believe they’re worming their way out?” Marty asked.
She pursed her lips and nodded.
“Then we better wait till that’s done before we introduce you to the others.”
“Why? Wouldn’t it be better if the others know the truth about my ability?”
“I’m afraid of how Vin will react to something as unexpected as this. Better to ease him into it. When the time comes, you’ll show them like you showed me. Then we can tell them about this attack.”
“All right, you know Vin, and I don’t. We’ll wait. But aren’t they expecting you back soon?”
He grunted once again and nodded. “Yep. They probably expected me back a few hours ago. They must be fearing the worst. I’ll bet Vin is taking it out on Alexander for letting me go.”
“Okay, but let’s move up the road past these dead bodies . . . although I want to say a prayer over one.”
“I’m not sure that’s wise. That guy told me they are survivalists on a scouting mission. The ones who got away may bring some more soon. The quicker we get out of here, the better.”
Up the road, they stopped to eat more energy bars. By then, all the bullets protruded out of her body. Each one stung as the skin surrounding each bullet broke open. Five minutes later—approximately a half hour after being shot—the last bullet fell out, and the surrounding skin closed up.
When Jocelyn and Marty arrived at the parking lot of the strip mall in front of Beaver Park Market, a tall man with straight brown hair down to his shoulders greeted them. He had the beginnings of a beard and was wearing the same sweats as Marty was, but blue instead of orange—Jocelyn guessed Marty had drawn the short straw when choosing colors. He had a shotgun pointed toward Jocelyn; Marty gestured for the man to lower his shotgun, and he complied but scowled and kept it at the ready as they approached him.
“What the hell were you thinking?” the man asked evenly.
“That was the first zombie we’d seen in a while. He was alone, and Alexander and I wanted to investigate.”
“Dammit sheriff, you put us all at risk.”
Marty shrugged. “Given the odds we face, we have to take chances if we are to survive.”
The man scowled and raised his voice. “You stupid idiot. Gathering information is less important than establishing a base of operations.”
Marty grunted, raising his voice to the scowling man’s level. “Oh bullshit, Vin, we’ve been sitting around playing with our dicks for a week now. It’s about time we did things my way.”
“Your way? We saved your life, you ungrateful asshole.”
“Bullshit again, Vin. Janice said I was fine but for a slight concussion and some bruises. I’d have recovered, though I admit you made it a lot easier to survive.”
“You’re damned right.”
“We’re not getting anywhere with this. If I’m right, we need to act fast.”
Vin scowled again. Jocelyn wasn’t sure she liked Vin much, especially hearing of his conspiracy theories about the president. As if he had inside knowledge of what went down with this pathogen. “This had better be good.” Vin’s tone had softened a little. It occurred to Jocelyn that the two of them should just conclude their dick contest and get on with business, but both appeared to have simmered down a little.
“Vin, this is Jocelyn. Jocelyn, this is Vin.”
Vin looked her up and down, as if sizing her up. “You have a shotgun. Do you know how to use it?”
“Yes.”
“Good, though I don’t see that sword as being very useful.”
Just then a man came up to them. He had straight, parted brown hair and a cute face, his glasses very becoming. He was wearing green sweats, with the same silly white stripe down his right leg as the other two had. Her immediate attraction to him was palpable, but she suppressed it and kept it hidden, as nothing good could come from it, at least in this moment.
“Marty! I’m glad to see you back. I see you brought back someone.” The man eyed Jocelyn suspiciously.
Jocelyn decided to defuse things by being friendly, even though she was apprehensive about them, too. She needed to make friends. She had to get to that pharmacy. “You must be Alexander.” He raised his eyebrows in mild surprise as she extended her hand. “I’m Jocelyn.”
The man shook her hand with his
