Page 27 of Resurrection
I turn my gaze back to what I can see of Aly. “Sweetheart, listen to me. Alright? Just listen. We’re gonna be ok. Do you hear me? We’re just gonna ride this out and be on our way before you even know it,alright?” But it’s not alright. She doesn’t seem to even hear me. Or if she did, she isn’t reacting to my encouragement as I intended. Instead, I can hear her hyperventilating, and,with the tiny amount of her I can see, her shaking intensifies. “Shit. Cole. Talk to me, man.”
“Aly, baby, look at me,” Cole says quietly, pulling away and angling her body slightly so she’s lying more on her back. He turns her face to look at his, his hand under her chin, forcing her to remain still and focus on him. Only, she’s not paying any attention to him. Hell, I’m not sure she’s even aware of anything but what’s outside this vehicle. “Fuck, she’s having an anxiety attack.” His eyes dart to Jax, and then in my direction between the seat and the door, before returning to her. “We need to get her attention on us or, shit, anything other than what’s happening outside. I know how I’ve been able to pull her out of this state in the past but there’s no way I can do any of that right now.” He looks around for a second before his eyes go wide. “Rule of Three. That’s what we’ll do.”
Jax tilts his head backwards in order to look at Cole. “Rule of Three...,” he says, his words huffed and agitated, as if he can’t breathe due to the restricted space. “Ok... Great.... What the fuck is that?”
“The Rule of Three. It’s what medical professionals sometimes use to snap people out of attacks like these. To disrupt the patient’s brain enough to refocus their attention on something that isn’t a trigger. In other words, we need to get her to respond to us with three things she sees, three sounds she hears and then get her to name three parts of her body.” Cole answers as he adjusts his position in the tight space.
Fuck this. I can’t see shit up here.
As slowly as I possibly can without turning into a sloth, I lift myself out of the footwell and slink onto the center console. Keeping part of the blanket covering me, I lift theirs and drape it over my head, facing them while lying flat on my chest. “Ok, so how do we do this, Doc? She’s fucking catatonic right now,” I ask as I snap my fingers in front of her face, her eyelids barely flinching in response.
“Aly… gorgeous… look at me. Can you see me?” Cole brings his gaze back to her, licking his lips and waiting for her response. She doesn’t speak, but her eyes zero-in on the movement of his tongue, so he does it again. Her sharp inhale indicates she’s at least with us in some capacity. Better than nothing.
We can work with that.
“Aly, what do you see? What’s got your attention right now?” He licks his lips again, slower, closer to her face, drawing her undivided attention to the movement.
“To…tongue,” she says, so quietly I almost miss it, but she doesn’t take her eyes off his mouth, mesmerized by the sight.
“That’s right, beautiful. Good girl. Stay with us. What else do you see? Look around. Find Hawk and Jax. What’re they doing? Talk to us. Remember to use your words.”
She turns her head, ever so slightly, until Jax comes into her field of view, now on his hands and knees. He looks a little confused as to what to do next, but with a tiny push of reassurance from Cole, Jax leans forwardand cradles her face, ghosting a kiss over her forehead before slightly moving back again. It captures her attention, just as Cole’s tongue did.
“What do you see now? What did you feel, baby?” Jax asks.
She responds quicker this time, looking at Jax’s mouth and refusing to look away, “Lips….”
“That’s our girl. Keep on going. What else?”
I don’t wait for her to turn my way. Leaning directly over her—my hips still on the center console while my head perches on the back seat—I rip my shirt off, but in the least conspicuous way possible. We still have to take into account that we’re surrounded by the night of the living fucktards. The sudden movement, as well as my torso being directly over the top of her in prime viewing mode, pulls her eyes to me like tractor beams. The instant reaction boosts my ego so I flex a little just to add fuel to the fire.
“Really?” Jax says under his breath, his eyebrows hiking a little.
“Yum…,” she breathes out on a shaky exhale.
Yes, really…
I have to stop myself from laughing in relief at her response. It seems Cole and Jax are having to restrain themselves just as much as I am. Needless to say, her reactionwas unexpected, but welcome, nonetheless. It’s a sign that she’s coming back to us. Slowly but surely.
Another cast member from Resident Evil knocks into the car, jostling each of us, but shocking Aly, forcing her to tighten up once again.
“Hold on, Aly. Back to me. Back to us.Onlyus.” Cole gets her to fixate on him again, licking his lips and, somehow, slowly returning her to her progress. Cole’s method is working; we just need to continue doing what we’re doing.
“Ok, sounds she hears… Sounds… Fuck… What sou—” Cole shakes his head but gets cut off by a deep growling outside the car. We all freeze, hoping the scraping sounds will just... go away. But after a few, long and agonizing minutes of that wish not coming true, I cave and lift the blanket to see a lone zombie staring directly at us all through the back passenger side window. His snarling, decrepit face, dripping blood and pus and—oh God, what is that?!—presses against the glass. No one moves. No one speaks. We barely breathe. It’s like that scene in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex is about to tear apart the touring car.
Chaos theory… Fuck you, Dr. Malcom.
The zombie huffs, blowing hot air onto the window, and fogging it up before doing it again, and again. It’s agitated. Pissed. The fuck. Off. A World War Z version of those stupid fucking velociraptors and I can almost guarantee it senses us hiding in here. And if one of them senses us, it’s only a matter of time before they all do. The groans and growls outside the vehicle continue to get louder, but luckily, it’s still the only one whose attention is captured.
For now....
No, fuck that noise. Not today, Rexy.
We need to get rid of it before it draws over more. We can handle one, but wecan’thandle the entire fucking horde. At least not with the limited resources we currently have in the granny mobile.
I mull over our options. We can’t use a gun; that much is obvious. Due to the current dense configuration of the horde, even with a silencer, it could draw the others right to us. And, since we’re not throwing anend-of-the-worldparty, that wouldn’t be good, now, would it?
We can’t ignore the snarling, drooling—fuck he needs some dental work—Thriller extra, either. It’s seen us. End of story. And we’re the perfectly packaged buffet at the end of the rainbow that’s more appetizing than a giant chocolate cake to a fat kid on day fifteen of his diet.
