by Tahnee Fritz
I keep my hand on the doorknob and listen to them speaking about me. Trevor has a way of talking sense into his followers and I am positive he can get these people to back away from the door. From the smells coming from the other side, there are too many humans to try to fight through and get myself and Jason out of here alive. I cannot risk his life for this.
“Who the fuck cares if she is the damn cure!” one of the mob members shouts back at Trevor. “She is capable of killing us and we all know she wants to. We can’t let this thing walk freely amongst us knowing at any second one of us could be next.”
“How are we supposed to sleep at night if she could be planning to snack on our children?” a frightened woman adds to the argument.
“I get it, believe me I do.” Trevor replies, “But the cure is important. If we as humans plan on having any future at all she has to stay alive.”
I wish I could see through this damn wall to get a picture of what they are doing out there. My hearing only allows me so much and right now it is not good enough. I hear them talking, arguing about my fate in this world, but it is not theirs to decide. That belongs to me only.
“You’re wrong Trevor.” The man who was kicking at the door retorts. “Humans can survive without a cure. We will find a way to take down the zombies and the vamps without adding another threat to the mix. That thing in there needs to die.”
His words are followed by some kind of commotion. Feet are scuffling against the tiled floor of the hallway. They are shoving each other about because of a ridiculous argument. I hear something metal clanking together and a gunshot erupts through the air in a split second. The crowd goes silent and a body thuds to the floor right on the other side of the door.
“Anybody else want to fuck with me today?” Trevor shouts. “Anyone else care to risk our future because one man got killed out there?”
Another gunshot echoes around us and the smell of human blood drifts up my nose, igniting my senses. My mouth is watering and my hands are shaking. I could use another helping of that magnificent taste. It would make up for being so rudely interrupted a few moments ago.
I keep my hand on the door knob and slowly turn it until the lock clicks and the door opens. I let it swing inside the room, revealing a stunned crowd standing in fear. Two bodies lie dead at my feet and the blood of the men is pooling around their heads, completely wasted on the dirty floor.
Trevor stands with a gun in his grip at his side, glaring at the people who want to kill his most prized possession. His more loyal followers stand beside him, aiming their weapons at the unruly crowd in case they get out of hand once more. Women are shaking and crying on the shoulders of the men holding onto them. I catch a snide glare from an older woman to my right and turn my eyes to hers.
Her grey hair reflects in the sunlight and her aging eyes stare daggers at mine. Her lips are pursed together and I know she would just love to see me with a bullet in my head along with the two men on the floor. I take a step through the doorway and the crowd gasps and backs away. A few of them even take off down the hallway toward the nearest exit.
I smile and return her glare. She doesn’t wince or back away at all. She keeps her position and refuses to move, even as I get even closer to her.
“You are not afraid of me?” I ask and more of them hide away in fear.
“Why on earth would I be afraid of a pathetic monster like you? You kill humans for no reason and yet you are allowed to stay alive.” She replies.
I shrug and say, “I am the one who is going to save all of you. I am allowed to do whatever the fuck I want.”
She takes a vengeful step toward me and says, “You are going to die a horrible death and when you do, not even burning in hell will grant you the torture you deserve for what you’ve done.” The old woman spits at my feet, then gets dragged away by one of Trevor’s men.
I never thought that killing one measly human would have this type of hateful effect on people. That man with the Mohawk deserved to die and I was the only one who could see it. I don’t deserve anything but praise for ending that life.
“The rest of you get the hell out of here.” Trevor orders and the crowd disperses quickly.
My hands shake at my sides as I stand frozen in the doorway. I have done nothing wrong. This is what I was created for. To be the savior of these people. To bring an end to not only the zombies and vampires, but also the lives of those that don’t deserve to walk the earth with the rest of us. These angry people are more than wrong about what they think of me.
I finally turn my eyes away from where that woman was standing and spot Trevor’s men dragging her down the hallway. They stop outside the door that is constantly guarded and stinks of blood. That door gets open for a brief moment and the woman gets thrown inside. She screams and shouts, then the door slams shut in her face.
Trevor comes to my side and places a hand on my shoulder, “Don’t listen to anything those people say. I saw what you did and I have no intention of killing you. You are much too valuable for that.”
I look up at him and can’t think of anything to say. I can only stare at the smile looming on his face. His grip on my shoulder tightens and he guides me back into the old classroom, then gently shoves me inside.
“I will, however, need to keep an extra eye on you in order to keep my people happy. You’ll understand that this door will be locked from the outside from now on.” Trevor states, then backs away from the doorway. “Just consider yourself lucky I’m not taking that boy away from you.”
As he shuts the door in my face, I feel the revenge rising in the pit of my stomach. It is a strong feeling, stronger than the hunger I have for humans that constantly burns inside of me. Stronger than the need to get the hell out of here and much stronger than the craving I feel for Jason.
This severe hatred I feel for that man has just grown from simple revenge into the need to destroy him.
* * *
The day goes on as it would normally do. I can smell the men standing on the other side of the door with their guns as they keep guard. We are trapped in here. Jason can try prying the wood away from the windows as long as he wants but it will never break free. His fingers are bleeding with splinters from trying and he has gotten nowhere.
I stare at the door, my feet are planted to the floor in front of it. Jason sits on the bed tending to the splinters on his hands and wincing every few seconds from the pain of pulling them out of his skin. His blood might smell enticing, but I would much rather taste that of the men outside of this room. It would be more satisfying to end their lives than just get a taste from someone I plan on keeping around for a while.
“Bridget, you can’t stand there all day. They aren’t going to let us out.” Jason calls from across the room.
“You should never doubt things when anything could happen.” I reply.
He scoffs and says, “Well, that anything could happen right about now. They could come through the door and say screw it to the cure and kill both of us.”
I ignore him and keep my gaze on the door. My hands are tucked into the pockets of my leather jacket and my shades hang over the low-cut collar of my shirt. Of all the gifts that I have, there is nothing for me to do from inside this room that will be of an advantage. They have that door locked up tighter and stronger than I can get through. There is no way out through the ceiling for me to jump through and the heating vents have all been sealed off. I feel like a worthless human trapped in here.
It is not a good feeling for me to have.
“Will you please just come sit with me?” Jason asks.
I slowly nod my head. There is no reason for me to stare at a door I cannot get through. I turn on my heels and saunter across the room to the bed. I sit on the mattress beside him and watch the blood dripping from his fingertips as he picks another splinter from his skin. There are tiny scratches all over his hands from prying at the wood over the windows.
The longer I stare at the blood on his hands, the more I
think of that room down the hall. There are people in there, no doubt they are being tortured and beaten. The scent of blood is far too strong to assume otherwise.
“Where did they keep you before you were brought to this room?” I ask.
His hands stop moving and he stares at the floor. His lips are quivering when he opens them, but he takes a moment to think before he speaks.
“Umm,” he begins, “they had me locked in a room not far from this one.”
“The one down the hall with the two guards?” I ask.
He nods, “Yeah, that one.”
“What did they do to you in there?”
He swallows hard and says, “I, umm, I don’t want to talk about it.”
I take one of his hands and hold it tightly in mine, “Please,” I say and he slowly turns his eyes to mine, “tell me what happened.”
He lowers his eyes and nods, “That room used be a large storage room for the science department or something. They had a huge refrigerator for the animals they would dissect and other things.” He explains. “There were three other guys still alive in when they took me there. They were hanging upside down from the ceiling with chains around their ankles. All of them were naked while a man stood behind them with a chain in his hands and a whip hanging from his waist.”
I knew it was a torturing room. Trevor never struck me as the type of man to not have something like that here.
“They forced me to take my shirt off, then tied my wrists to a hook hanging from the ceiling. They hit me a few times with a whip, trying to get me to blab about you, but I always kept my mouth shut. So they forced me to watch the other people get beaten and there was so much blood on the floor. They brought in a zombie on a leash and let it feed on one the prisoners and they laughed about it as we screamed.” He holds my hand tighter, reliving the nightmare that happened only a few days ago. “They would let the zombie get so close to me that it almost scratched me, but they never hurt me like they did the others.
“Trevor would come in sometimes and try to get me to tell him things about you, but I never did. I planned on dying with the secrets about you, because they don’t deserve them. But when he brought me here and told me how things have changed, I knew that you gave him what he wanted. Part of me was grateful to be out of that room, but you weren’t supposed to give up and let him take the cure like that.”
“That was the old me. She was the one who gave up, not me.” I say.
“But why? That was never part of the plan.” He says.
I shrug and feel some sympathy for the person I used to be, “She wasn’t strong enough to face the pain in her mind. It was too much for her. I don’t have the same memories she tried to deal with. She wanted them gone and allowing me to take over was her only option.”
He nods and says, “Bad memories do suck, I have plenty of them. But you can’t go through life without them. It’s what makes us stronger.”
I take my hand away from his and say, “You want her to come back?”
He hesitates for a moment before saying, “I don’t know. I liked who she was, but her heart belonged to Ryder and I knew I never stood a chance with that. You want me now and I can still see the part of the girl I met that I really like. Call me selfish, but I wouldn’t want to give that up.”
“Then I am not going anywhere. And as far as I can tell, that Ryder doesn’t stand a chance against you.” I reply.
He passes me a smile and reaches for my hand again. He holds onto it while planting a soft kiss against my lips. It turns into something more than just a tiny kiss and our lips stay connected for a long moment.
I close my eyes and let the warmth of his body take the cold away from mine. He places a hand on the back of my neck and I feel something flowing through me that doesn’t feel quite right. A strange pinching sensation is roaming in my mind and it’s making me very uncomfortable. A face flashes in the darkness behind my eyes and the horrible feeling is too much for me to handle.
I push Jason away from me and scrunch my eyebrows, angry at the pinching still lingering in my mind. My hands are shaking and I stand from the bed and move away from him. I run my fingers through my hair, shaking my head from side to side and I know something is not right. That face in my head was only there for a second, but those hazel orbs burn through me like the sun when it hits my unshielded eyes.
Jason stands from the bed and moves toward me, “Are you okay?” he asks, with concern in his voice.
I grit my teeth and shake my head again and try to get my hands to stop shaking, “I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel right.”
He stares at me with confusion in his eyes. He tries taking another step closer and I quickly take one backwards. My feet move without my command as though my body wants to be far away from the man I am attracted to. If this is some sign that the old me is trying to fight her way back into the world, then she needs to step off. That is a war she does not want to begin because I will win. She knows I am stronger and that she cannot see past the sad memories clouding her vision.
I stand still for a moment, letting Jason’s eyes stare at me as he keeps his distance. I take a few calming breaths and soon that pinching feeling in my brain starts to fade into nothing. My hands stop shaking and I finally bring myself to look at him once more.
“What the hell was that about?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I reply and take another deep breath, “just nothing.”
“It didn’t seem like nothing. Once we brought up Ryder, it’s like you changed for a second.” Jason says, taking a small step closer.
“Trust me, I’m fine. Just a slight headache.” I say and force my lips to smile at him.
He nods and slowly closes the gap between us. Gradually, he lifts his hands to my shoulders and calmness instantly takes over me. The longer I stare into his deep brown eyes, the more I feel like myself again and the attraction toward him builds. Now isn’t the time to act upon that attraction, but as soon as we get away from this shithole, there will be nothing to stop us.
Not Trevor or his goons and especially not my mind.
* * *
Jason’s stomach growls as he lays in the bed beside me. He hasn’t eaten anything since some time yesterday and I doubt Trevor will be kind enough to grant him a meal today. It is still very early in the morning and things could always change, but my mind is telling me that it won’t happen.
Rain drops hit against the windows of the building and I hear thunder erupting in the sky. The hallway outside the room has been silent most of the night with the occasional cough or small conversation between the two men standing guard.
I sit up and put my feet on the floor. I smooth the hair out of my face and take a look around the dark room. There is nothing in here that would aide with an escape. No pry bar to remove the wood from the door or a gun to kill those men easily. It is going to take a lot more than my bare hands to get us out of here in one piece. I don’t doubt that Jason can fight, but with their guns, he’d be dead in seconds.
He stirs on the bed beside me and I glance over my shoulder. He stares up at me with a smile across his lips, then slowly sits up. He stretches his arms over his head and yawns. Our eyes quickly turn to the door when we hear the footsteps stomping through hallway toward it.
“It is too early for this bullshit.” Jason says.
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” I reply, then stand from the bed with him by my side.
The locks on the door are being undone and soon the rusty hinges squeak until the door hits against the wall and Trevor storms inside. Three others are right on his tail and each one has a large rifle aimed for us. I can see that my freedom here has been short lived.
“My people are very upset with what happened yesterday, Bridget.” Trevor speaks calmly as he stands in the middle of the room. “They are demanding justice for what you’ve done or my plans for the future will be nothing more than a failed attempt. Because of what you did, those people would not let me sleep until I agreed
to give them what they want.”
“So you’re going to kill me?” I ask.
He shakes his head, “No, it hasn’t come down to that just yet. I promised my people that you will pay for the life you took from them, but I can’t give up the cure.”
“Then what is it going to be? Are you going to throw me back in the cage outside? Or perhaps it would be more suiting to torture me like you do with the others that don’t quite agree with you?” I ask.
“Those few thoughts had crossed my mind, but I like it better with you in here.” He replies with a smile. “I know that you are enjoying your time with your little friend, but if my people aren’t happy, then you shouldn’t be happy either.”
Trevor motions for his men to move and two of them quickly advance toward Jason. Their guns are aimed for his forehead and he raises his arms in surrender so they do not shoot. I try moving to stand in front of him, blocking their aim, but Trevor has already seen that move. He pulls a gun out from behind his back and points the barrel at my head, not afraid to pull the trigger.
“I’m a pretty good shot and my men will kill him if you do anything stupid.” He threatens.
I grit my teeth and stand still for the time being. The two large men latch their meaty hands on Jason’s arms and pull him away from me. He digs his feet into the floor and they stop with him at the doorway before leaving the room.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing to this boy?” Trevor asks, “That room down the hall is my special little torture chamber, but I’m sure he already told you that. Because of you, he is going back in there and will never be coming out.”
“No, please.” Jason pleads and the men only hold onto his stronger.
I keep my fists tightly clenched and my lips sealed together.
Trevor keeps his gun pointed at me as he walks the short distance toward me, “Was it worth it, killing Randall yesterday?” he asks.
