End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle by Lara Frater

seemed steady on his feet.
                  “Mom says not to dip him in the water, but to put him on the swim deck and cool him with towels with cold water on his forehead, the back of his neck, armpits and umm-- groin. She says to do it on the swim deck. You don’t want to get the bedroom wet. Only dip him if the towels don’t help.”
                  “I’m going to need help carrying him.”
                  Dena came into my room, and motioned for Keith to follow her. They moved Henry to a seated position. He didn’t respond to their moments.
                  “Henry, wake up,” Dena said.
                  Henry opened his eyes but they looked unfocused.
                  “We have to cool you off but we can’t carry you. You have to stand. We need to talk a short walk to the swim deck.”
                  “I don’t want to go there,” he said, his voice low and slightly garbled. “They’re waiting.”
                  “Grace will be on look out,” Dena said, her voice stern. I’ve never seen her like this. “Now get up.”
                 
                  I heard the moaning as soon as we got to the deck. Henry was right. The platform had been left open and we had a visitor. I dumped Henry gently on one of the lounge chairs. I didn’t have a gun but Grace did.  I looked over the ladder to see half a bloated corpse moving around the deck like a flopping fish. Probably attracted to our shit. I tasted bile in my mouth.
                  “I’ll kill it,” Grace told me. “If you remove it.”
                  “I kind of want to stop barfing.”
                  “Just kill the stupid thing,” this came from Dena.
                  Grace looked over the edge, the thing moaned louder. A single shot and it stopped. Before anyone could volunteer, Keith climbed over the ladder and made his way down. I didn’t look but I heard the splash.
                  Keith came back up. Now we had to get Henry down.
    While leaving the platform open invited the zombie, the water had cleaned away some of the filth. This time I managed to put on my boots but I left my coat even though it was freezing. I didn’t want it to get dirty.
                  Even though Henry helped by not being such a dead weight, it was a pain in the ass to carry him when I felt like crap. Grace helped but she didn’t look happy. Keith looked 90 pounds soaking wet and Dena was petite. Being a big tall girl most of it came on me. And with every movement, my stomach made gurgling sounds.
                  I ended up being the one to strip him which I did to his underwear. Dena got towels and was standing on the swim deck soaking them. Mike should be proud to see how well she handled herself in a crisis.
                  She handed me the freezing cold towels which I put on his forehead. Keith helped me lift him to put them on the back of his neck. I put one on his groin and each armpit. Then I used another towel to sponge him down. I shivered anytime the freezing water touched me. I couldn’t imagine being what it was like being in the water now.
                  “To cold,” he said and began to shiver.
                  “Just give it five minutes.”
                  He didn’t respond. I pulled the towel off his forehead. He felt cooler.
                  “I need a dry towel.” Keith handed me one and I covered Henry with it.
                  “Annie--” he whispered. He tried to reach out to touch me. I worried he would die on this platform. Instead his teeth began to chatter. I removed all the towels, dumping them in a pile in the corner, one fell in the water, but I didn’t care.              
                  Keith and I dragged him across the deck