Pathogen, Ch. 10

A set of knuckles rapping sharply on her window jolted Marnie from a deep, dreamless sleep. For a second, she forgot where she was, until she saw Julian snoozing in the passenger seat beside her. The moment she laid eyes on him, everything that had happened the night before came rushing to the front of her mind like a flash-flood. Apparently he was a pretty heavy sleeper, as he hadn't been awakened by the knocking like her.

The knuckles belonged to a burly looking guy in a trucker's cap and a flannel jacket, whose sour face was peering at Marnie through the glass. "Hey, kid!" he barked. "You can't park here! Move this bucket of bolts now, or else yer gettin' towed!"

Marnie was still pretty groggy, but it didn't take long for her to understand the problem. She was so exhausted when she pulled into the lot, she didn't notice the spot she'd chosen was the gas station's only handicap parking zone. Not wanting to attract any more unwanted attention by causing a scene, she put the car in gear with a sleepy groan.

"Okay, I'm moving," Marnie grumbled, wiping the drool off her chin with the cuff of her shirt sleeve. "Sorry..."

After backing out of the spot, she steered the car over to one of the pumps as gently as she could, trying not to wake her sleeping passengers. While the tank was filling, Marnie leaned against the car and checked the time on her phone. "Five a.m.," she groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with a sigh. No wonder she was so out of it. No one under the age of sixty should be up and on the road at this ungodly hour, unless somebody was dying or on their way to Disneyland. There were advantages to being at a gas station this early, though. For starters, they were the only customers currently in the lot, which meant fewer eyes on them. Flying under the radar was crucial when traveling with a zombie in the back seat.

Zombie Trevor rolled over with a loud grumbling snort the moment she looked at him through the window. He was starting to wake up, and he would probably be hungry again in no time flat. Not wanting to take her chances, Marnie fished out a debit card from the glove compartment and paid for her gas quickly. She didn't think much of it in the moment; the card was in her name after all, and supposed to be used for emergencies. Being on the run with a hungry zombie seemed to check all the right boxes to qualify this as an emergency.

Once she picked a new parking space - double-checking that it wasn't handicapped - she looked over at Julian again. He was still sleeping like a log; his eyes moving rapidly under their closed lids, and breathing so gently through his slack lips. Without thinking about it, Marnie reached over and carefully brushed his coal black bangs out of his eyes. He looked so peaceful when he slept... so sweet. The morning sun caught his deeply-tanned face in just the right way, too, giving it an almost angelic glow.

Marnie pulled her hand away a moment later, shaking off the thought. She was definitely more sleep-deprived than she realized, if that's where her head was. Still, she couldn't bear to wake Julian up, so she headed into the gas station by herself.

Luck seemed to finally be on her side when she walked through the door. The gas station had a full mini-mart attached to it, equipped with pretty much everything someone on a road trip might need or want. Marnie's first stop was the ladies' room - for obvious reasons - and her second was an aisle full of various dried and processed meat products. She wasn't sure what Zombie Trevor might like, or what he could eat, so she loaded up on a variety of jerky and smoked beef sticks. Upon second glance, one of the packages she'd picked up looked like dog treats, but she was willing to try anything at this point. On her way to the register, she paused at a rack of clothes, immediately thinking of Julian. With a little more care, she chose a pair of dark blue sweatpants that looked like they'd fit him, then hurried along to check out.

The man in the flannel jacket and trucker's cap was behind the counter, and giving her serious side-eye as she dumped her armload of purchases in front of him. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be the overly chatty type, ringing up every item without question. He rattled off her total when everything was scanned, but when she slid her debit card across the counter toward him, he paused.

"Ain't you a little young to be driving around all by yourself?" he grumped, not even reaching for her card.

Marnie stood up a little straighter and tossed her long, frizzy red curls over her shoulder. "I'm eighteen," she lied. "...and I'm not alone. I've got my... older brothers with me. We're heading to Martha's Vineyard to spend the weekend with our dad. Not that it's any of your business."

"Didn't ask, don't care," the clerk grumbled. He snatched her card up and swiped it through the card reader for her. Marnie felt a little stupid for not realizing the little black box was right there in front of her, but it turned out she had bigger problems.

"Huh... that's weird," the clerk mused, raising a salt and pepper brow at Marnie accusingly. "Your card got declined. My computer says it was stolen. Care to show me some I.D., miss-" he checked the name on the debit card with skeptical slowness, "-Nightingale?"

Marnie swallowed dryly, trying not to show her fear. Of course she didn't have her permit on her. Even if she did, she couldn't show it to the clerk. It would prove she'd lied about her age, and that it wasn't legal for her to drive anywhere without an adult in the car. Marnie wasn't a betting person, but she wouldn't put it past the clerk to call the cops without hesitation the moment he suspected her of lying. She just had to get out of there before things got any hairier.

"Sure," she said, trying to appear calm and casual. "I left it in the car, in my purse. Just gimme a minute." She turned to leave, keeping her shoulders back and her head high, but the clerk's hand was on her arm before she could take a single step.

"What, you think I'm some kinda moron?" he said stonily. After a second or two, the clerk glanced up at the security camera over the door and pushed a button on his computer keyboard. When Marnie followed his gaze to the camera, she saw the little red light on it suddenly go dark.

"I might be able to look the other way, just this once," he said, lifting up the hinged counter and stepping a little closer. A second later, his hand was on her lower back, pulling her tight to him. "...but you don't get squat for free in this world, Sweetheart."

Marnie's heart shot up into her throat when she realized what this creep was suggesting. "Get off me!" she shrieked, driving her knee into his gut on instinct. The clerk's whole body jolted at the blow, but instead of loosening his grip, he let out a wheezy chuckle. Before she could try again, the back of his hand cracked against her cheek so hard she spun around. When her brains stopped rattling around in her head like bb-gun pellets, Marnie realized he'd pinned her to the wall.

"I like 'em fiery," he said, grinning wickedly. "If you wanna fight, I'm all for it. When the cops show up, I'll just tell 'em you tried to rob the joint... or you could behave - like a good girl - and we'll both get what we want."

Marnie had had about all she could take, but she sure as hell wasn't going down without a fight. Falling back on her instincts and the self-defense maneuvers her mom taught her, she twisted her right hand free and slammed the heel of it into the clerk's nose. His howl of pain covered up the satisfying crack of his snapping cartilage, which he clapped both hands over on instinct. Marnie took advantage of his temporary disorientation the second he let go, kicking him in the stomach and groin twice. When he hit the floor, whimpering and moaning, she scooped up her debit card and armload of purchases. With her heart still hammering behind her voice box, she sprinted to the car and dove into the driver's seat.

Julian woke up with a startled yelp when she dropped everything in his lap, blinking his bleary eyes at her. "Hell of a wake-up call, Pistol," he grumbled, frowning at all the snacks. "What's this? Breakfast? Is it too late to say I'd rather have coffee and a McMuffin?"

Marnie didn't say a word. Even if she could, she was shaking too much to utter a syllable. Her only thought was to get as far away from the gas station as quickly as humanly possible. While she stabbed the key at the ignition switch, trying to find it in her blind panic, a bloody palm slammed against her window.

"You think you can get away with this, bitch?!" the clerk snarled, banging his hand against the glass with all his might. Blood still poured from his swollen, purple nose as he glared at her through the window. His other hand yanked her door handle hard enough to tear it off, but thankfully she'd been smart enough to engage the power locks. "Open this goddamn door!! You hear me?!"

"What the hell is your problem, Man?!" Julian shouted. "We haven't done anything to you! Tell him, Pistol!"

Marnie was too busy trying to start the car to pay much attention to Julian. When she finally found the switch, the keys slipped from her sweaty, trembling fingers. Swearing, she bent down to pick them up, just as her window shattered. She covered her head with both arms to shield them from the raining glass, screaming when she felt the clerk's hands on her arm. Before he could drag her out of the car, though, the back seat door swung open.

The clerk probably didn't even know what hit him, as he was tackled to the ground within an instant. Marnie kept her head down and her eyes squeezed shut, trying to block out the nauseating sounds of teeth tearing through human flesh. When the creepy clerk's screams finally silenced, she found the strength to peer over the bottom rim of her broken window.

Zombie Trevor was on the ground outside the car, sitting on what was left of the clerk. There was blood everywhere: pooling on the concrete; splattered against the side of her car and the newspaper stand on the sidewalk; dripping from Zombie Trevor's face and clothes. She tried not to look at the clerk's body. Even if he was a creep and a predator, he didn't deserve to go out like that. Her only hope was that he wouldn't rise again from the dead. As many pieces as he was in, that seemed highly unlikely to happen.

Zombie Trevor looked up at her with puppy-like innocence, licking his lips with a quiet burp. If he had a tail, she was sure he'd be wagging it now. "Mar...nee... oh-kay?" he gurgled.

"Y-Yeah," Marnie panted, swallowing back her nausea and combing bits of broken glass out of her hair. "I'm... I'm okay, Trev. Thanks."