Still… we found our first group of friends, managed to get to them without any of our horses being injured, and they’d stayed safe—well, safe-ish—during their travels. I had a hard time believing we’d be able to continue this particular streak of goodness.
“I know, Jake. Thanks,” I finally answered.
He wrapped an arm around my shoulders with a sigh. “When this is all over, we’ll settle in and make a real home, Z. One where we can be a family, and not worry about guards or zombies. Where you and Rex, and all the others can be kids again.”
“Where you and Kate can make a real attempt to get together,” I added with a smirk.
He slapped my shoulder lightly. “Brat,” he said affectionately. “But, yeah. If that’s where life goes, I wouldn’t be against it.”
Neither would I. The ability to settle and make a real life again… it was more appealing than I wanted it to be right now. Because right now it was out of reach. To focus on what could be would distract me from what I had to do now.
Because of my connection to the horde, my friends were in danger. Not my fault. I knew that now. But it was my problem. Rex and I had tried to brainstorm over the last couple days, but I wasn’t confident in any part of what we came up with.
Even the part where I would take control of the horde and turn it against the guards was a question mark for me. Our encounter with Brent had shaken my confidence. I’d told Rex I thought I could connect to Brent’s ability the way I did with the others, but I hadn’t been able to do so at our first encounter. With the others, it was instinctual. Honestly, I hadn’t even fully realized when the change happened. At first, it seemed as though my ability to connect to the zombies had simply intensified. It was only when I realized the intensity increased with new additions to the group that I’d made the connection.
Another look next to me proved Jake’s stride wasn’t as confident as normal yet. His side was still healing. As many things as I had to worry about, his health had to be at the top of the list. I couldn’t risk him getting injured again during the rescue.
He wouldn’t stay away. It was almost a certainty that he wouldn’t stay out of whatever plan we put in place. So, in addition to coming up with a workable rescue plan, I also had to make sure Jake wouldn’t end up in the line of fire. Somehow, I needed him to either stay out of the way, or make sure he had proper backup in order to protect him.
As much as I wanted to trick him into staying back, I knew he wouldn’t fall for it. I would have to be upfront about my concerns and forceful about my decision to be cautious with his health. Honesty would be the best option. Generally, Jake followed my lead, so it seemed likely he would agree. Grudgingly, but he also wouldn’t want to be a liability.
We all traveled together for a few hours before I gestured Mike, Caleb, and Alex to join me. “Did Kate let you all know exactly where you’re going?”
“Yeah,” Caleb said. “And the best place to go to get a good view. We’re good, Z. Don’t worry.”
I gave a wry grin. “I always worry when we have to separate, Caleb. Just one of the perks of being the leader.”
He patted me on the shoulder, a mock-serious expression on his face. “Hate to break it to ya, boss, but we worry about you, too. Worrying about people isn’t exclusive to the leaders.”
Caleb gestured to the people around us. “We’re family, Z. Family worries when there might be trouble.”
“There’s plenty of trouble every day, especially since the outbreak. Lots of worry to go around,” Mike added.
“True enough,” I agreed. “Guess we should just try to remember that everyone in our group is a survivor. We can handle just about anything life throws at us.”
I couldn’t speak for my friends, but I doubted I could handle losing any more people. Especially Jake or Rex. Based on my reaction when I thought Jake had been killed, I wouldn’t be able to function the same way again. They were the only reason I’d been able to continue after my parents had turned. Without them, I almost certainly wouldn’t have survived after being forced to kill my mom and dad.
Just another thing those people had to answer for. My parents had been some of the first casualties of the outbreak. They were far from being the last. On a personal level, I wanted the doctors—whoever they were—to pay for what they’d done to me and my family. Both past and present. Every one of the kids in my group had lost their parents. They were separated from family and forced to become soldiers in a war to simply survive.
“We definitely can,” Caleb agreed. “We’ll be safe, boss.”
I pulled him in for a hug. “You’d better be,” I said sternly. Pulling away gently I looked up at Alex and Mike. “All of you. I don’t want you to take any unnecessary risks. Scout and report. That’s your mission. Nothing more.”
“Got it. No problem,” Mike answered. The other two agreed.
They went to the horses, mounted, and swung the horses to face us. “We’ll see you all again soon,” Caleb said.
Alex looked at his sister, who appeared to be fighting back tears. “Remember what I told you, Lia. I’ll see you soon, sis.”
The girl nodded and blinked back her tears. She smiled and gave a slight wave to her brother. I stepped toward her as the three of them nudged their horses up to a trot. We kept walking, but they pulled away. King whined as he saw Mike leaving, but he didn’t attempt to follow.
“They really will be okay, Lia,” I assured her as I also patted the dog. “They’re just scouting, and we’ll catch up to them in less than a day.”
A day. The thought stopped me in my tracks. We were only about a day out from our destination with no set plan to rescue our friends. We were going up against the guards’ stronghold. By the time all was said and done, we’d either manage to rescue our friends, or become prisoners ourselves.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
We stopped for the night just before full dark. I stayed near Lia, since she seemed lost without her brother.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked softly, coming up next to her.
The older girl shrugged, a frown on her face. She opened her mouth as if to speak, closed it, and shook her head.
Still not ready to talk to me, apparently. “Not so much, huh?” I asked sympathetically. “Yeah. Me too. This situation has been tough. I know you’re not ready to talk, and that’s okay. I just want you to know you can talk to me if you want.”
Lia glanced down at the ground before facing me with a smile. She nodded. Despite the smile, her face still seemed shadowed with concern.
I got it. For me, at least I had the rest of my friends here. For her, Alex was the only one she truly trusted.
“Thank you,” Lia said, her voice hoarse from disuse.
“You’re welcome,” I said, swallowing my surprise that she had spoken to me. “I’ll be on watch first tonight, if you need anything.”
I moved away to help prepare our rough camp for the night. After a few minutes, Lia joined me in smoothing blankets over the ground.
We worked in silence until all the sleeping areas were set. By the time we were done, our meal was ready. Once I had my food, Siren ran up to me and sat. Her eyes shifted from my food to my face, and back again. “Hungry, huh girl?” I said, rubbing her ears. “Guys? Do we have dog food anymore?”
Jake shook his head. “We’ve got some canned meat we’ve been mixing with some of the expired cans of stew. They seem to be doing okay with that so far.”
“Any available? Siren seems hungry,” I said.
Jake dug through one of the bags and answered. “Uh… yeah. Got some right here. You wanna feed her? I think she’s been missing you.”
“Sure. Come on, Siren, let’s get you and King fed.”
Both dogs followed me to the edge of our camp. I had no desire to have dogs slopping food on our bedding. I opened the cans and poured them into two small, collapsible bowls. The food was inhaled almost as soon as I put it in.
“Yikes, you guys are hungry, huh?” I sa
id with a laugh.
Jake chuckled from his place by the small fire. “Nah. They’re always like that. They’ve been getting fed regularly.”
I nodded and watched the dogs lick at the empty bowls. Maybe, when all of this was over, we could find a better source of food for them. For us too. I would love to live on something better than old canned food and whatever else we could scrounge up. To find a place we could grow our own crops and raise our own animals. Jake, Rex, me, and anyone else who wanted to stay could work on upkeep, and we would no longer have to worry about the guards destroying everything, or the zombies attacking.
I was getting ahead of myself. Again. Picturing all of us peaceful back at the farm was too easy. Much easier than figuring out a way we could accomplish our goal. Rescuing our friends from the guards’ secret headquarters? Yeah, definitely not going to be easy. High risk for everyone involved.
“Z?”
I jumped and spun, my hand on my sword. “Jeez, Rex. A little warning next time, would ya?”
He chuckled. “You were so deep in thought, I’m not sure I could have done anything that wouldn’t have startled you.”
I glared at him for a moment longer, then gave a nod. “Probably true. What’s up?”
“Just letting you know, we have the food packed up again, and are going to sleep.” He eyed me critically. “You sure you’re up to taking first watch? You seem a bit… out of it, I guess.”
Shaking off my thoughts, I nodded. “Yeah. I’m good, Rex. Thanks. I’ll make sure to pay better attention now. Get some sleep. Who’s on watch after me?”
“Shanti.”
“All right. I’ll wake her in a few hours, and then I get to sleep solidly until morning. I’ll be fine.”
He studied my face for a few seconds before he nodded. “Okay. Good night, Z. See you in the morning.”
“Bright and early,” I said with a smile.
Behind me I could hear the others saying good night and rustling the blankets as they settled in. King went to sleep next to Jake, and Siren yawned and settled next to me. I remained sitting against a tree on the outer edge of our camp site.
“Going to keep me company during watch tonight, girl?” I asked. Her big brown eyes blinked slowly as she laid her head on my lap.
She settled in even further as I stroked her head, and her eyes drifted closed. “Guess not. Just a pillow for you tonight, huh?”
I stared into the darkness, happy to see stars instead of the solid dark of a cloud-covered sky as we’d had the last few nights. The light of the moon was bright enough to allow me to see if anything moved. Shadows shifted with the breeze, but where I sat remained dark enough that I should be hidden from anyone—or anything—that might approach.
As Rex feared, my mind drifted back to my thoughts from earlier. Although, I did try to make certain to pay attention to my surroundings this time. I still had a hard time keeping my mind off our captive friends. Especially Prati. The youngest of our group was as innocent as we could let her be in this zombie-infested world, and I hoped the guards didn’t do anything to hurt her.
If they’d played things right, the guards could have done enough to convince Prati that they were trying to help. That she would be safe with them until the rest of us could get there. She might even believe them… as long as they didn’t harm anyone else either.
The wind shifted, and I shivered at the sudden bite of cold air. By the end of the next day, we should be at our destination. We would learn whatever our scouts had figured out, and would need to set up an actual plan to rescue our friends.
If they didn’t have Brent, I would feel more confident in our chances. With him there? He’d taken away my control once already. What would prevent him from doing it again?
“You’re thinking too hard,” a soft female voice interrupted my thoughts.
I just managed to stop myself from jumping at her approach. “Lia. What’s got you up so late?”
She took a hesitant step forward, then settled next to me under the tree. “You do,” she answered.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just… with everything you’ve been through, you didn’t turn into a shell of yourself.”
She paused, and I waited patiently for her to come to whatever point she wanted to make. I knew how hard it must have been for her to come to me at all. Especially now that her brother wasn’t around.
“You let your experiences turn you into a leader. I let them turn me into a victim. I just… I admire you for that.”
I narrowed my eyes at the self-deprecating tone. “You shouldn’t judge yourself too harshly, Lia. You were a captive. Everything was out of your control. It was a very different experience than I went through. You have every right to react in whatever way you need to.”
Judging that the time was right for a decent bonding experience, I rested a hand on her knee. “You pulled into yourself as a defense mechanism. There’s nothing wrong with your reaction.”
She frowned uncertainly. “You really think so? You don’t think I’m weak?”
I shook my head and grinned. “On the contrary, Ali. I think you’re probably one of the strongest people I know. And believe me, that is saying something.”
She shook her head, a small frown still marring her features. “No. Not yet. I’m not feeling strong yet.” She looked up at me, a tentative smile forming. “But I think I can get there.”
I nodded. “You definitely can. Your experiences shape you, but as long as they don’t break you, they can’t win. You’re stronger than you know. And we’re all here for you if you need anything. Trust me, I’m not as strong as you think I am either.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she huffed. “You’re, what? Fourteen?” I nodded and she continued, “You’re fourteen, were made into one of the causes of the outbreak, lost your family, and have been fighting for your made family ever since. If you’re going to tell me I’m strong despite hiding from everyone and everything, you have to believe you’re a superhero.”
I snorted. “Superhero might be pushing it a bit.”
“You’re worried, and putting too much pressure on yourself,” she told me. “Believe me when I say that if something does go wrong with the rescue tomorrow, none of these people will hold you accountable. They know how much they mean to you, and you to them. You’re doing your best.”
She wasn’t wrong. I knew it, and so did she. For the short time she’d been part of our group, she had apparently observed enough to know how much we meant to each other.
“Thanks, Lia. You’re right. It wouldn’t be my fault,” I admitted. My tone darkened. “But it doesn’t stop the consequences if we fail tomorrow. We’d be prisoners, and our friends will be turned or killed. Maybe both.”
She shuddered, and didn’t refute my declaration. I knew she wouldn’t. It was a statement of fact. A fact that—after her experiences as a prisoner—she knew better than anyone else.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
One more day. It was the first thought on my mind when I woke the next morning. One more day of travel before we faced what would likely be one of our toughest altercations yet. A fight we never asked for, but had no choice but to participate in if we wanted to survive.
Who knew that when the zombie apocalypse hit we would learn to fear other people more than the monsters? I hardly shuddered at the thought of a zombie attack. The thought of facing the guards? That had me shaking in my boots.
Humans had become enemy number one. It used to be that we never called the creatures zombies. We would simply call them the enemy. Now, we would use them as one of our main allies in the fight against our true enemy: the people who started the outbreak. The monsters who’d kidnapped me and all the other experiment kids, and turned us into the cause of the deadliest outbreak in history.
Zombies were the victims; in my mind, at least. They hadn’t asked to be turned. They didn’t have a choice. Just as they didn’t have a choice in how they behaved once they turned.
Considering the decay that happened once they turned, I figured the people they used to be were dead for good. It fell to us to allow their bodies to rest. The best I could hope for was to prevent more people from turning.
The sun had just started peeking over the horizon when the others woke and started to pack everything back into their bags. We ate a quick breakfast. No one spoke unless absolutely necessary.
As soon as everyone finished eating, we got back on the road. It was a nice, sunny morning with just a hint of chill in the air. We’d want to go south after this, given the opportunity. Without proper heat, the winter here would be miserable. We didn’t have to worry too much yet, but going back to our little farm would be nice. Not far enough south to avoid winter altogether, but enough that it shouldn’t be as bad as here.
“Last day,” Jake said. “We’re definitely cutting it close.”
I gave a sharp nod, but didn’t speak.
“Z, we’ll be okay,” he continued. “Everyone will work together, and you know our friends will be ready for a rescue attempt. They’ll step up as soon as they know we’re there.”
Probably true. After spending about two weeks as prisoners, our friends would be ready to fight their way out. I smiled at Jake. “You’re right. Once we create a diversion, we’ll have to get someone inside to find them. Kate should go in.”
“Yeah. She’ll know where they keep prisoners. And she probably would be the easiest for Scout to recognize,” Jake agreed.
I doubted Scout would have trouble recognizing any of us. The man we’d met and befriended seemed to have a good memory. Even treated rough, as we assumed he’d be, his memory should still be sharp.
Countdown to Zero (Patient Zero Book 2) Page 19
