Michael Ford - Z

Charlie opened her eyes and lifted one eyebrow. “I think that was worth one,” she said. She opened her fist and handed Josh one pill. “How many more do you want?”

Josh kissed her again. This time he lingered longer. He felt her arms go around him, the fist holding the Z pressing against his back.

When he finally pulled away, Josh felt himself blushing. Charlie smiled. “Okay,” she said. “I think that one is good for the rest of these.” She tucked the Z into his hand and closed his fingers over the pills.

“Um, I don’t want you to think that these are the only reason I did that,” Josh told her as he put them in his pocket.

“Oh, I know,” Charlie said. “I figured you just needed a little incentive.”

Josh looked down. “Okay, then,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

“Besides, now Bess owes me twenty bucks,” Charlie said.

Josh looked up. “She bet you I wouldn’t kiss you?” he said.

“It was a sucker bet,” said Charlie. “I knew you’d do it.”

Josh didn’t know whether to laugh or be offended. “I can’t believe you bet on me!” he said.

“I said I knew you would do it,” Charlie reminded him. “It wasn’t much of a bet. Come on. Let’s get something to eat.”

They went down the stairs. But as they entered the second-floor workspace, Charlie suddenly stopped. A man was standing in the middle of the room, a welding torch in his hand. He turned and looked at them, and Josh saw that one half of his face was badly burned. The skin there was thickly scarred, and his eye was missing.

“Dad,” Charlie said.

The man’s eye moved to Josh, then back to his daughter. “Who’s he?” he asked.

Charlie didn’t answer. She seemed to be frozen.

“Josh,” Josh said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

The man grunted in reply.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” Charlie said quietly.

“Is he one of your Torcher friends?” her father asked.

Charlie shook her head. “We have a class together,” she said. “We were just doing homework.”

Her father looked at Josh again but didn’t say anything. He turned back to the sculpture he was working on and began welding a piece of metal to one of the outstretched arms. A hand had formed, and he was adding a finger to it.

“Let’s go,” Charlie whispered to Josh. They skirted the room, avoiding her father, and went downstairs.

“I’m sorry about that,” Charlie said when they were out on the street. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, and they walked through the puddles left behind.

“It’s okay,” Josh assured her. “He seems…” He looked for a word to finish his sentence.

“You don’t have to say anything,” said Charlie.

Josh reached out and took her hand, and she let him. “What happened to him?” he asked.

He felt Charlie stiffen.

“He got bit,” she said.

“By a z?” Josh asked, shocked.

“Yeah,” Charlie replied.

“Then shouldn’t he be—”

“Dead,” Charlie said. “Yeah. He should be. But when he was bit, he torched himself. He burned the bite.”

Josh couldn’t believe it. “He burned his own face?” he asked.

“It killed the virus before it could infect him,” Charlie said. “They weren’t sure that it had really worked, so they kept him in quarantine for six months. When he didn’t show any signs of turning, they let him out.”

Josh tried to imagine what it would be like to torch his own face. There was no way he could do it.

“That’s why he doesn’t want me playing the game,” said Charlie.

“He knows about—” Josh began.

“No,” Charlie interrupted him. “Not about the real game. He thinks I only play the hologame. If he knew about the real game, I don’t know what he would do.”

“Well, I think I can handle being your study buddy,” Josh joked.

They walked in silence for a minute. Then Charlie spoke. “I told you my mother was dead,” Charlie said. “That’s not true. She couldn’t handle it when my father came home. They fought all the time and finally she left. I don’t know where she is.”

“But how could she leave you behind?” Josh asked before he could stop himself. “I mean… sorry.”

“It wasn’t all her fault,” Charlie said. “My dad was really angry. Violent. But he was never bad to me,” she added. “Never. My mother said I was the only one who could take care of him.”

“And you don’t know where she is?”

“No. It’s better this way,” Charlie answered.

Josh wanted to ask her how it could possibly be better, but he didn’t.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Charlie said. “About my family being normal. Remember, I told you we were the only ones on the team with boring stories.”

Josh chuckled. “Oh yeah,” he said.

He saw a tear slip from Charlie’s eye.

“Don’t start crying on me,” he said.

“I’m not crying,” Charlie objected. “It’s the rain.”

“Okay, then,” said Josh. “Because I’m pretty sure that’s the Seventh Rule of Torching: No crying.”

Charlie laughed as she wiped her eye. “That must be in the revised edition,” she said. “I’ll try to remember that.”

“You’d better,” said Josh as they continued to walk. “You never know when there will be a pop quiz.”

On Monday Josh was at his locker, hanging up his coat, when Firecracker appeared. “Where were you yesterday?” he asked.

Josh shut his locker. “Why?” he said. He hadn’t spoken to Firecracker since the incident with their report, and things were still a little weird between them. In addition, he had a headache. He’d taken a Z the night before and spent almost all night playing the hologame with Charlie.

“I called,” Firecracker said. “Your dad said you were out taking pictures.”

“So?” said Josh.

Firecracker snorted. “Come on,” he said. “What do you think I am, stupid?”

“You said it, not me,” Josh snapped. He started to walk away.

“Hey!” Firecracker called after him. “What’s your problem?”

Josh ignored him. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to Firecracker. Last night he’d played a zombie for the first time in the hologame. Now he understood why Charlie liked it. The Z had really helped him get into the zombie mood. He’d seen things differently, felt things differently. Everything had been more intense—primal. He’d hunted the Torchers like they were animals, smelling them out and following the sound of their hearts beating. He’d killed four of them and gained sixteen experience levels.

But the Z had also kept him up all night, and now he was exhausted. He thought about taking half a Z this morning, but he didn’t want to waste it. They had practice that afternoon, and he wanted to save it for that.

Josh managed to avoid Firecracker the rest of day, though it meant skipping lunch and hiding out in the bathroom. But that was okay—it gave him some time to rest. He’d actually fallen asleep in the bathroom stall, waking up only when some seniors dragged a freshman into the bathroom and threatened to dunk his head in the toilet if he didn’t pay them off. The kid had screamed bloody murder, and Josh jolted awake thinking he was in the middle of a game.

Now the day was over and he was on the train heading to the Docklands. He couldn’t wait to see Charlie and to play with the rest of the team. He also wanted to find out if Stash was okay. He didn’t like the guy, but he was still a Torcher, and they had to look out for one another.

When he reached his stop, he got off and walked toward the wharf. He was thinking about the Z in his pocket, and not really watching where he was going. So when someone came up from behind and grabbed his arm, he yelled in surprise.