“Sergeant,” A young man said popping his head around the corner. “A quick word.”
“I’ll be right back,” She said and headed out of the room.
“I’m going to kill you, you bitch,” Jessica stated after Tracy had left. “Knocking me out with a damn sucker punch…”
“Oh give it a rest would you?” I said. “There wasn’t enough time for your bullshit. You may have gotten away with your crap before but life is on the line now, you need to get over yourself. Also sweetie I hate to tell you this, but I took you down with one punch, you really think you could kill me?”
Jessica opened her mouth to speak but shut it. She opened it again and said, “Just keep your ass away from me.”
“Gladly, you ungrateful pain in the ass.”
“Ungrateful?” Jessica asked.
Before I could answer, Natalie snapped “Yeah, pretty damn ungrateful. We gave you a ride. We didn’t have to but we did. You could be nicer.”
“Jessica, you really could be,” Joey agreed.
Jessica made a face at him and stormed out of the room saying nothing else. I really hoped that from now on I could avoid her.
Tracy came back in the room, passing Jessica. She looked like she was about to try and stop her but decided against it I guess.
“Where was I?” She asked.
“Talking to Japan,” Pierce said.
“Oh, right. The little we got from them, they sounded like that they might be on to something,” She said.
“On to something?” Cindy asked voicing all of our confusion.
“Yes. They said cure several times in short conversations. We’re not getting our hopes too high about it but there is a real possibility we could be on to stopping this thing.”
I felt a lump in my throat. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But I didn’t understand why she was telling us. I was about to ask when Natalie did for me.
“Why are you telling us? Isn’t it classified?” She asked.
Tracy laughed. “A cure? Classified? No, and I’m not saying that tomorrow or even any time in the very near future this will be over. I just think you have a right to know as people who have been out there and seen it. There may be a light at the end of this tunnel. After this entire struggle, we all need that hope. Maybe with it, you all will be able to get some sleep tonight.”
I could feel us all nod in unison with understanding.
“Come on, let’s get you all settled,” She said.
Chapter 10
Tracy mentioned that we would possibly get our guns back soon as she showed us all to our rooms but they would wait a few days. It was part of their screening process which she wouldn’t tell us what that process involved exactly.
We were shown to our rooms which were in the dorms near the white Chapel. Natalie and I were roomed together. I fed Milo and sat on the bed.
“I was thinking we can stay here a couple nights before heading on,” I said.
Natalie looked at me, “Can’t we stay?” She asked.
“Do you want to?” I asked.
She shrugged, “At least give it a try. I mean, I’m tired of being out there. I’ve been out there a long time and I just want to stay someplace where I can feel safe.”
I nodded but didn’t say anything.
“You don’t want to stay?”
“It’s not that,” I began. “It’s I’m just not sure I trust people anymore.”
Natalie giggled at me, “You’re talking to the queen of not trusting people. But we have to learn. You heard the Sargent, someday life is going to go back to normal and we have to live in civilization again.”
I gave her a weak smile, “Yeah, I’ll believe that when the cure actually happens.”
We took Milo for a walk around the grounds.
I plugged in my cell phone since there were generators. I hadn’t charged it in a few days so it had died. Normally I would’ve freaked out about that but the likelihood that I missed a call was slim to none.
After plugging in the phone, I wasted no time and went straight to bed. I was exhausted and my rear still hurt from falling on top of the van.
I was able to get some sleep though was woken up a few times by Natalie talking in her sleep. She obviously was having weird dreams. I tried to wake her up by calling her name but it didn’t work.
I woke up to the sun shining in the window. Out of habit I lifted the phone and checked it. Of course there was nothing there. The phone didn’t even tell me the time anymore because the towers didn’t give off a signal.
After I got dressed, I took Milo for a quick walk. Natalie was still asleep. She seemed to finally be resting well so I didn’t want to bother her.
As I was walking the grounds, I saw Tracy. She was leading a group of people to the dorms where we were staying. Obviously more people had come by this morning. It was a family of 5 and a blonde woman. From the distance I didn’t realize who it was until one of the little girls screamed “Milo,” and I realized it was Jerry and Maria’s oldest Abigail. She broke out into a run to meet us in the field where I was walking Milo.
I made my way to meet her halfway. She dropped to her knees and began to pet Milo. He was licking her face and she was giggling.
“Cate, I can’t believe it,” Maria said as she gave me a hug.
“You know each other?” Tracy asked confused.
“We were staying at the same complex together,” I said.
I noticed that Jerry’s face was badly bruised. He had a fat lip and a black eye. His cheek was also badly swollen.
He gave me a hug, “Good to see you Cate,” He said.
“What happened? How’d you get away?” I asked.
Emma spoke up. I didn’t even realize she was the blonde at first. I had mixed emotions upon realizing it was her. Her face looked strained. “Aaron wanted Jerry to go after you since he let you go and I caught Aaron beating Jerry up,” She said and stopped.
“This girl,” Jerry began, “She got my gun that I dropped and pointed it at Aaron. He stopped punching me and was trying to sweet talk Emma but she asked why you were gone…”
Emma interrupted Jerry, “I had no idea, Cate, that Aaron had that planned.” There were tears in her eyes as she spoke.
“I know,” I said and gave her a hug.
I thought there was a possibility Emma was in on it until that moment.
“Long story short, she blasted that asshole in the head,” Jerry said, “It was great.”
Emma pulled away from me laughing.
Tracy had been listening intently as we caught up but then she said, “I’ll show you to your rooms.”
I walked with them back to the dorms. Emma stated that she would stop by after she got settled.
I subconsciously looked at my phone before heading in to the dorm. The face of the phone told me the time was a little after 10. I put the phone back in my pocket only to take it out again. The time was reading on my phone. I couldn’t believe it but there were still no bars.
I figured it was a fluke and headed in to the dorm. Natalie was sitting up on the bed when I walked in.
“Hey, sleepy head. Guess who just showed up at the base?”
I told Natalie that The Martinez’s and Emma were here and that Emma killed Aaron.
“Wow, good. That asshole needed to die,” She said.
I laughed at her response.
We sat and discussed the possibility of the cure being within reach. Natalie seemed very excited the more she talked about it. I was less excited. I had my doubts about it after all I had seen but a part of me was hopeful.
There was a knock at the door. I answered it and Emma was there. Natalie gave her a hug and we got ready to take Milo for a walk.
Natalie walked Milo a little ways ahead of Emma and me.
“I’m sorry Cate,” She began after we got out into the field.
“For?” I asked.
“Being an idiot when it came to Aaron. If it wasn’t for my fascination with him
we would have left a long time ago and Ian would probably still be alive.”
I stopped walking and looked at her, “Emma, it seemed like a safe place for a long time. None of this is your fault.”
“If I had known what he was planning, I would’ve killed him a long time ago.”
I nodded, “Well, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure how much you knew and didn’t know when we took off.”
She gave a weak laugh, “I probably would’ve been the same way if roles were reversed. I wasn’t acting in a way that promoted anyone to have a lot of confidence in me.”
“No you really weren’t,” I said.
She punched me in the shoulder.
“So what made you guys decide to come to the base?”
“Seemed like the safest thing. We had to deal with some zombie attacks which I’m amazed we made it through. I don’t know how you’ve done it so many times; I mean you’re tough as hell Cate. I never gave you enough credit for that.”
I smiled at her compliment.
Emma walked up to where Natalie was with Milo a little ways ahead of me. I looked out at the sky. It was a beautiful day. It was easy to be hopeful on a day like this, even if I could hear the faint sound of the zombie’s growls on the wind.
I closed my eyes and breathed in deep, feeling peaceful for the first time in a long time.
It didn’t last long. I was startled by the sound of the theme of Star Trek.
“What is that?” Natalie asked. Both she and Emma looking back at me confused.
It took me a moment to realize where the song was playing from. At first I thought someone must have had a TV on or something. In six months, I had forgotten what my ringtone was because Justin kept messing with my phone and changed it as he was trying to get me into Star Trek. When it dawned on me, I reached for my phone and saw that I had an incoming call. I felt my heart stop as I read the name on the screen. It said Shelly.
Plague of the Dead (Book 2): Plague of the Desert Page 11
