by Cameo Renae
Pike took hold of Tina’s hand. “Tina, I do…I mean… I really like you. But, your dad…if he found out, he would probably send me on a secret mission far, far away.”
“He wouldn’t do that, Pike,” she giggled. “But I - I really like you too. I’ve had a crush on you since the first day you walked into class.”
“Really? Me too. I remember you were wearing a pink ribbon in your hair that day, and you were very shy.”
“You remember that?” she squeaked.
“I do. When we were walking out of class, I accidentally dropped my pencil, and you picked it up and handed it to me. Then you smiled. And your smile made me warm inside. It made me happy, and I looked forward to seeing it from that day on,” he replied, softly brushing the side of her face.
Tina stepped closer to him and he hugged her. She wrapped her arms around him, and at that moment, they looked like the happiest people on the planet. Their mutual affections, which had been hidden all these years, were finally released.
I heard a faint voice echo down the hallway.
“Well, this was awesome you guys. You like him, he likes you, and the world is a much happier place. But, we better get going. Someone’s coming and we don’t want the General to send Pike on any secret missions.”
They both smiled, but their eyes never left each other. Then Pike leaned over and gave Tina a light kiss. Even after his lips left hers, her eyes remained closed. She was love drunk.
“Come on, Juliet,” I giggled, grabbing her arm and leading her away. Pike followed a few steps behind.
When we stepped back into the hall, I couldn’t help but glance down the hall opposite us. The two guards were still standing on either side of the biohazard door like statues. Then, all of a sudden, loud horrifying screams blasted from behind the door. Screams that sounded like someone was in great pain.
“Someone is hurt or…or being hurt in there!” I yelled, pointing to the biohazard door.
“Move on,” one of the guards said sternly, stepping forward and shifting his gun.
Then another painful scream filled the hallway, piercing my ears and heart.
“Don’t you hear that? Someone needs help!” I yelled.
“I said, move on,” the soldier said again, stepping forward, raising his gun.
“Abi, let’s go,” Pike urged, gripping my arm.
“What the hell?” Was that guard seriously going to shoot me for asking a question?
“Come, Abi,” Tina said, taking hold of my hand. “We need to go.”
“Didn’t you hear that?” I asked her, but she didn’t answer.
Pike turned toward the soldiers, “It’s alright guys. She’s a survivor, recently brought in. I’m escorting them back to their room.”
“Make sure the newbie reads the rules,” the guard growled.
“She will.”
I wanted to say something, but I bit my tongue when Tina squeezed my arm and discreetly shook her head at me.
This was un-freaking-believable. They must have known something I didn’t.
All I knew was that someone behind those doors was in obvious pain, and no one responded. It confirmed for me that this place wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Safe zone? Obviously not. There were some secrets in this place, and it seemed the leaders were forcing its citizens to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear.
Heat of anger rushed through my body, and it took everything within me to stay composed. We had been taught to help those who were in need, and protect ourselves against those who would take advantage of us.
I was beginning to understand who I would need protecting against.
As we headed down the halls, I glanced at Tina. My blood was still boiling, knowing that they heard, but didn’t care about the person who was screaming in pain.
When we were out of the guards hearing range, Tina turned to me. “We’ll talk when we get back to the room. I promise,” she whispered.
We came down the hall and exited the door from the new wing. Just as we took a turn, we bumped into Lily and her friends. They were all giggling and had towels around their necks.
“Hey, Abi,” Lily waved. “We’re going to the pool! They’re going to teach me how to swim. You should come.” Her face was bright with excitement, and I managed to squeeze a smile for her.
“That’s awesome, Lily, but not today. You have fun,” I said, as they passed.
“We will. Bye,” she said, skipping off.
I needed to talk to my dad. I wanted him to hear what happened, and also know what he thought about it. I doubted he was aware of anything in this new hive, yet. His main connection, Dr. Harvey, was at the South Dakota bunker, and I doubted he had anyway of contacting him. I wonder if Dr. Banks knew anything about what was behind that biohazard door? He had joined their medical team, but I doubted he would have anything to do with biohazard stuff. That was more scientific.
As we passed the training facility, a bunch of boys pushed out.
“Abi?” The voice sent a surge electricity and emotion through my veins. My head snapped up, and Finn was just stepping out of the gym.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.
There he went again, reading my emotions, knowing something was wrong. The tug-of-war going on inside, killed me.
Then I heard Ava’s voice. “Finn, are you coming? We have kitchen duty, and we can’t be late again.”
The sound of her voice made me want to vomit. Why had they been late together? I knew she said that on purpose.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute,” he said, keeping his eyes steeled on me.
I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“You’re lying,” he said, stepping closer. His fingers grazed my chin and raised them meet his eyes. “I can tell.”
“Finn!” Ava called.
“Just go without me. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he replied to her, with a little agitation in his voice.
“It’s funny how you can read my every emotion, except one,” I said, pulling away from him.
“Abi, what the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Tina said, grabbing my arm and tugging me away.
He glanced over to Pike. “Hey man, what’s going on?”
Pike shrugged his shoulders. He was smart not to get involved.
“Let’s go, Abi,” Tina said.
“We need to talk, Abi,” Finn said, holding my arm.
“We will. Just not now. Looks like all your time is taken anyway,” I said, moving away from him. His strength held me in place.
“Abi. Please. Do you think something’s going on with me and Ava? Because, there isn’t. She’s just a friend.”
“I don’t want to do this now,” I said. There were dozens of eager ears and eyes steeled on us, and I didn’t want anyone involved in my private affairs.
“Fine, but we will talk later,” he said. He picked up his duffle bag, and then headed out with the rest of the boys.
I suddenly felt alone with so many questions swirling like a tornado in my mind.
“Come on ladies. I’ll escort you back to your room,” Pike said.
Tina was happy because she knew he didn’t have to. He wanted to. The both of them made small talk as we neared section G.
“Thanks, Pike,” Tina said as we stopped at the door.
“Yeah, thanks,” I added. He didn’t do anything wrong.
“You’re welcome,” he smiled. “I’ll see you both at lunch.”
“See ya,” Tina chimed.
Chapter 18
Back in the room, Tina plopped on her bed.
“First of all…I don’t know how you can remain so calm around Finn and Ava. I wanted to go over and punch her in the face. I was so tempted. But if I did, she would run and tell her dad, who would tell my dad, and I’d be in a world of trouble. She’s just not worth it.”
“Second, I know you probably think we’re completely insensitive, hearing those screams, and doing nothing abo
ut it. People are supposed to feel safe here, and know that the leaders are doing everything they can to keep them safe. Once we heard about those creatures, the Arvies, the scientists were given the room behind that door. They were told to find a cure, or a vaccine that would keep us from turning if any of us were ever bitten.”
“Were those screams from someone they were testing? Are they using humans?”
“I don’t know what they’re doing, Abi, but I do have a way that we can find out.”
“How?” I asked.
“I could get into a whole lot of trouble for this,” she sighed.
“Tina?”
“If I tell you a secret, you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. And, I mean anyone, including your parents or Finn.”
“I’ve never kept secrets from any of them, and if I do see Finn, he will know I’m hiding something from him.”
“Then I can’t tell you,” she said flatly.
I sighed.
“Fine. I promise. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Not a soul?”
“None. My lips are zipped.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “I know of a secret room that has access to the ventilation shafts running all through this place, even to the room behind the biohazard door. But if we ever got caught, we would be severely punished, and I mean ‘put-in-a-cell-for-a-long-time’ type of punishment.”
“So, why are you telling me this?”
“Because we have a way to find out who was screaming behind those doors today, and why. We will be able to see who they are using for testing. You want to know, don’t you?”
“Yes, but is it safe?”
“Yes and no. We should be safe once we make it past the guards.”
“And you can get us through?”
“I can, if you trust me,” she said with a glint in her eye.
Tina hadn’t shown me any reason not to trust her, and I was a pretty good judge of character.
“I trust you,” I said. “My life and limbs will be completely in your hands.”
“Okay then. Give me a few days to put this together. I know the guards change shifts at ten o’clock, and around midnight they start getting tired and start to drop their guard. I have a few friends I can call in favors for. They owe me,” she said wiggling her eyebrows.
“So you are the Queen around here.”
“Let’s just say I have real friends who won’t stab me in the back.”
I nodded. She was the General’s daughter. I assumed she had some kind of clout here.
At lunch Finn showed up with Grant, his roommate, and came over to sit at our table. Pike, who was in his civvies, sat next to Tina. Lily was sitting opposite of me, and she kept glancing at Grant; so I introduced them. I could see Lily was infatuated because her face flushed red when he smiled at her.
Finn and I didn’t talk directly, but were involved in everyone else’s conversations around us. There was a lot of laughter at our table, and talk of training, and all the bloopers they’d made. It felt nice to have him around again. My heart would never allow myself to hate him.
Suddenly he scooted closer to me, and my stomach twisted.
“Now, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” he asked softly. Suddenly our table became silent. I glanced around, and noticed Tina. Her eyes steeled on mine, making sure I wouldn’t talk.
I looked into Finn’s eyes. It had been a few weeks since I last did. “I was just having a really rough day.”
“Rough day? I heard you went to the Garden of Eden.”
“Yes,” I nodded, “And that reminds me, I actually brought you something.” I figured it would be a peace gift. I had wrapped the strawberry in a napkin and placed it in my pocket, but didn’t want anyone else to know that I had it.
“What?” he asked.
“On our way out,” I said quietly.
“Okay,” he said, confused. “I was worried about you earlier. And I’m serious, there is nothing between me and Ava. If that’s what you were thinking.”
“No,” I lied. I was torn. Torn because I trusted his words, but they contradicted what I saw.
“Well, one of these days when we have private time, I’ll squeeze it out of you,” he said. “Or I’ll wrestle it out of you.”
“You can try.”
“So are we okay?” he asked. “Friends?”
Friends. The word cut me because he was the one who wanted more. But I answered, “Yes.”
After dinner most of the room cleared out, and Finn and I walked out with Tina and Pike. I put my hand in my pocket and carefully unwrapped the strawberry. He turned to me.
“Close your eyes,” I told him. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t you trust me?”
His eyes narrowed, “You know I do.”
“Then close your eyes and open your mouth.”
He leaned forward, closed his eyes and opened his mouth. I took the strawberry and popped it into his mouth. As soon as it hit his mouth he tried to spit it out. The texture must have thrown him off.
“Bite!” I laughed, covering his mouth with my hand. He bit down, and then his eyes popped open wide.
“Mmmmm,” he hummed, savoring the sweetness.
“It’s a strawberry. A real one,” I said.
“Oh my God. This tastes...unbelievable. It’s so sweet. Thanks, Abi,” he said. “It was almost as sweet as you.”
“I really wanted to share the experience with you, but this place has too many damn rules.”
“Tell me about it. But thanks for thinking of me,” he grinned. Damn, he was making it hard for me.
Pike and Tina smiled and parted.
“Well ladies, we will see you in the morning,” Pike said backing up, still holding onto Tina’s hand.
“Bye,” she whispered.
Finn started to walk away, and without turning back he yelled, “You still have my heart, Abi Park. Keep it safe.”
Tina nudged me, forcing me to answer. “I will,” I returned.
“Longer than forever,” he added.
My heart began aching. Finn was mine. I wasn’t going to sit by and let the bitch play her games with either of us anymore.
“Longer than forever,” Tina whispered, repeating Finn’s words. “Oh my God! That is so romantic.”
“Come on,” I said, dragging her away.
That night, as I slept, I dreamt.
I was walking down a dark, damp hallway. My feet were bare, and my clothes were torn and filthy. I glanced down at my fingers and they were covered in mud.
Then, painful screams shot down the hall. I took off, running toward the screams, and couldn’t seem to run fast enough. When I reached the end of the hall I noticed the neon green biohazard sign on the door. There were no guards, so I put my hand up and pushed the door open. It was a laboratory, but everything inside was trashed. The lights were dangling, pulsating on and off. There were papers and broken vials strewn all over the floor.
It looked as if a tornado hit…and then I heard a sound. The same deep guttural growl I’d recently heard. Growls which came from the terror we were fighting against.
My pulse started to race.
I stepped closer, and then froze dead in my tracks. Wicked white eyes glared at me from the darkness.
The creature stepped out into the flickering light. Its eyes were dead set on me, its teeth bared, ready to sink into my flesh. Suddenly it charged, pushing me backward across the room, jumping on me. Terror and pain shot through every cell in my being. It came inches from my face, and I couldn’t do a thing. Then it spoke in a wicked whisper.
“You killed me, Abi. You killed me, and now you will die!”
“Dr. Lisa,” I sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! I tried to save you!”
She lunged forward and sank her teeth into my shoulder.
I jolted awake, covered in sweat, my pulse racing.
Tina clicked her side lamp on.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
&n
bsp; I looked at the clock. It was 3:13 am.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a bad dream.”
“Was it about the lady in your group who was bitten?”
I nodded. “How did you know?” I asked, giving her a puzzled look.
“You were yelling in your sleep.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Wanna talk about it?” she asked.
“Not tonight. But thanks.” I pulled the blanket up to my neck and turned toward the wall. A few seconds later she clicked off her light, but I tossed and turned until the music started to play over the speakers, waking us for the start of a new day.
Tina walked over to my bed waving a piece of paper.
“We start real training today,” she said excitedly. We’d been training but not with weapons.
“Yaaaay,” I sang a bit sarcastically, still exhausted, but actually a little glad. The thought of training again was a great thing, and I knew it would keep my mind occupied for at least an hour a day. I wondered who would be there, and who would be training us.
They still hadn’t returned Hellfire, and Tina hadn’t received any word back from her contact. I was pretty pissed about it, and had a sinking feeling I wouldn’t see my trusted weapon again.
At breakfast, Finn didn’t show again, and I knew he was training. Again. Damn Arvies. They really screwed everything up.
After breakfast, we made our way into their training facility and I was shocked to see how huge it was. It had different stations set up all around. It had a firing range, archery, knives, swords, a huge mat for hand-to-hand training, exercise equipment…it was first class. Not what I expected. No wonder Finn enjoyed being here.
“Abi!” a familiar voice called.
“Uncle Frank?” I was shocked to see him here, in a sea of young women. He looked like he was happy and relieved to see me.
“Yep. I’m filling in for the hand-to-hand instructor. She was sent to the medical facility with a broken arm.”
“Yikes,” I said, walking up to him and giving him a hug. “I’m glad you’re here.”
