“I forget that things are different out there,” MG said as we continued down the stairs. Even though we moved slowly, our footsteps still echoed in the stairwell above us, along with our voices.
We reached the door at the bottom landing, and I pressed my hands against the cool metal of the push bar. On the other side of the door, I found another hallway and a wall of windows—it was all that separated me from the outside world. After spending so much time outdoors over the past few months, being confined within layers and layers of walls was almost abhorrent. I couldn’t escape fast enough.
Finally, I stepped out into the late winter sunshine, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath…and then I took another. The cool air tasted heavenly.
“You sure you’re okay?” MG asked.
“Yeah, breath of fresh air and all that. So”—I opened my eyes and found him standing in front of me, still looking concerned—“where to, MG?”
“Gabe. My name is Gabe.” He sounded tired.
“Okay…Gabe.” The name felt wrong on my tongue; he would always be MG to me. “Where are we headed? There?” I asked, pointing to a large, boxy concrete building across the street. I knew it wasn’t our destination—he’d already told me that was a half mile away—but I needed to get my bearings. Familiarity could breed a lot of things, including a better backup plan.
“No.” MG began walking up the right side of a mostly empty two-lane road, and I followed, staying close to his side.
“What’s there, then?”
“It’s a storage warehouse now…before, I don’t know what it was.”
“Oh?” I asked. I pointed off to our right to a row of houses at the edge of what was obviously a residential area. “Do you live in that neighborhood?”
“Yeah…along with pretty much everyone else.”
“Do all of the houses have power, too, or just the important buildings like the hospital?” Because that would be a lot of power, more than just a mini-power plant could provide. Do they have enough people to man such a thing?
“All the houses, the warehouses—everywhere has it,” he explained.
Hmmm… “So where does it come from?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see MG shake his head. “It’s…complicated. And, honestly Dani, that’s not my area of expertise.”
“Well, you must know where it comes from.” After a moment of thought, I added, “Wind? A dam? Solar?” Did they have some sort of nuclear power plant nearby? Had they come up with a new way to generate electricity? I watched his face as we walked, even though it made me feel dizzy.
“I hate to disappoint, but I really don’t know how to explain the system. I spend most of my time in my lab, not interrogating the engineers about their power sources.”
“Okay,” I said with a shrug. I squinted and resumed looking ahead. There were a couple people on the other side of the street, yelling about something, and I could hear several engines rumbling in the distance. “It’s effing loud here.”
“Is it?” MG made a show of listening, but didn’t seem impressed.
“Yep. I haven’t heard a car engine in months.” Suddenly, everything about the Colony felt very, very wrong. I stopped and grabbed his wrist, my fingers clutching at the rough sleeve of his jacket.
MG halted. When he glanced down at my hand, I released him.
“It’s great that you have a place that’s so”—I floundered, searching for the right word—“er, accommodating, but you have to understand what it’s like out there for everyone else. It’s not bad, exactly. Well, it sort of is. But this—” I waved my arms around at the buzzing power lines and parked vehicles. “It’s like you’re all living in a bubble. How could this possibly be sustained?”
Studying me, MG took a deep, contemplative breath. “I don’t know. That’s not my—”
“Area of expertise,” I finished for him with an exasperated sigh. “I know.”
MG frowned and continued walking. “As far as I’ve been told, the plan is to draw in enough survivors that we can use the infrastructure already in existence in and around Colorado Springs. We just need enough people to make it work. It’ll be a mini version of the world we knew.”
I shook my head, ignoring the pain. For such an intelligent man, I didn’t understand how MG could be so blind…unless he wanted to be. “And how many people would that take? A hundred thousand? Two? More? How would you feed them all? The stuff you scavenge is going to run out, and you can’t grow and raise food for that many people in just the area around here. Are you going to ship it in? From where? Everyone is dead. Where will you get medical supplies? Hell, where will you get the basic things that people need to stay healthy? Are you going to build factories to produce toothpaste and toilet paper? What about—”
“Okay, Dani. I get it,” MG said sharply. He caught my eye then quickly looked away. “I’ve been focused on other, more immediate things. I haven’t spent much time thinking about the future.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean…I know that none of this is your fault and that you don’t run this place. It’s just frustrating, you know, seeing all this. It feels so wrong and makes me that much more eager to get out of here.”
Turning to face me, MG leaned in, his eyes fierce. “I know you want to get back to your friends, but when we get to Colony Headquarters, please don’t behave confrontationally toward General Herodson. No matter what he says, just don’t. Please, Dani.”
I thought about arguing. I really, really wanted to argue. But he just seemed so sincere…so concerned. “Don’t worry, MG.” I shook my head. “I mean, Gabe. I’ll be the perfect little Colonist…who just happens to want to leave.”
He sighed and reached out a hand to squeeze my shoulder. “I just hope that’s good enough.”
We walked the rest of the way in silence, me looking around at everything, logging the layout and details of the Colony as best I could, and MG thinking. Eventually, we turned right at an intersection and approached three enormous, extremely modern buildings. Each looked imposing and completely unique, like the three structures didn’t really belong together. We passed the first two, aiming for the third, the darkest.
“General Herodson is expecting her,” MG told the two men posted on either side of the building’s reinforced glass door. Both were dressed in green and tan fatigues with yellow armbands, and both carried assault rifles.
The man on the left nodded, and the one on the right opened the door for us.
I started to follow MG into the building, but I was halted by the guard on the left. His hand gripped my upper arm, his hold firm and unwelcome. “Why don’t you come find me after your meeting with General Herodson. I’ll help you settle in.” The way he emphasized the last two words left no question as to his meaning. I was so shocked I could only gape at him.
MG clenched his jaw and stepped closer, looking like he wanted to attack my detainer.
I finally shook off my astonishment and rolled my eyes. Placing my free hand on MG’s chest, I said, “Hold on, cowboy,” before turning my attention to the man who was still holding my arm. I took my time looking the stranger up and down, then curled my lip. “Not interested.”
Apparently it was the wrong response, because his grip tightened. Damn. “We’ll see if you feel the same way after your meeting.”
I scoffed and checked him out again, noting the name stitched onto his breast pocket. “Trust me, Grant. I will. And don’t ever touch me again.”
He stiffened, and a glint of challenge flashed in his eye, but he also released me. It took a conscious effort not to shake out my arm, but I refused to give him the satisfaction. What an asshole, I thought as MG and I continued into the building. At least I’ll be gone by morning.
As we neared a stairwell door, MG eyed me sideways. “You’ve changed.”
I shrugged. “Had to.”
He didn’t say anything else as we ascended two flights of stairs and emerged into another bland, beige and gray hallway. Evident
ly the military hadn’t been big on creative interior decorating.
MG stopped before a reinforced door. Its gold placard read, General Herodson, President of the New United States.
“I guess I missed the vote,” I said.
Without warning, the door opened.
“Welcome. You must be the young woman my people rescued last night,” a man said from inside the room. He hadn’t been the one to open the door—that was another camouflaged soldier reminiscent of the two guarding the entrance downstairs. No, the owner of the voice was seated behind a wide, metal desk that was equally cluttered and organized. Piles of papers, file folders, and notebooks were neatly stacked along the desk’s surface, as well as on the bookshelves and tables arranged around the periphery of the office. It was very Spartan—all function, no fluff.
The speaker tapped a few final keys on the laptop he was using, then gently shut it and handed it to the woman standing behind him, who exchanged it for a sleek tablet. She, too, was wearing camouflage fatigues. Shocking, I know.
The seated man, however, was decked out in a far more intimidating uniform. Made from a blue fabric so dark it was nearly black, his jacket was decorated with a rainbow of badges and medals over the left side of his chest, and it had garish bronze buttons. A stripe emblazoned with four gold stars and outlined in even more gold was tacked to the edge of either shoulder.
The appearance of the man himself was unremarkable, though his intense presence was undisputable. He was trim, his face narrow, and though it was etched with lines that had likely come from a life of stress and frowns, it was not unpleasant. I guessed he was in his late fifties or early sixties, though his hair showed no signs of his late-middle-aged status; it was brown and short, and only a little lighter than his neatly trimmed mustache. Overall, he was quite average. But then there were his eyes. Cold and gray, they seemed to see inside me, measure the essence of my being, and refuse to divulge their findings. Even with the smile spreading his thin lips, his stare made me want to shiver. There was no doubt in my mind that I was staring at General Herodson, supposed President of the New United States, leader of the Colony, and the one man who controlled whether I stayed or left. Delightful.
“Please, come in. It’s Danielle, isn’t it?” he asked. His voice was soft and calm in a way that made my skin crawl. MG’s hushed warning to hold my temper was suddenly making a lot more sense. The General was dangerous—like swimming-in-a-shark-tank-while-bleeding dangerous.
Hesitantly, I stepped into the office, and MG followed. Or at least, he tried to follow.
“Thank you, Gabriel, but I’d like you to wait outside while I meet with the newest addition to our little settlement.”
MG looked like he wanted to argue, but with great effort, he held it in.
“You may leave,” the General said, and though the tone of his voice hadn’t changed, irritation was evident in the tension around his eyes.
I glanced back at MG, trying to imbue my face with reassurance. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure it came across more like constipation. I was feeling neither reassured nor reassuring. When I turned back to the General, I relaxed my features; my blank face could have easily rivaled Jason’s usual stony expression.
“Thank you for seeing me,” I said, stepping further into the room. “I’m sure you’re really busy with running this place and everything.” I heard the soft click of the door shutting behind me and sat down in the empty chair in front of the desk. The General’s right eye twitched minutely when I sat, making me wonder if he’d expected me to wait for his permission. So he’s a control freak. I scoffed inwardly. Figures.
General Herodson rested his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers under his chin, unabashedly studying me. “I make it a priority to meet with every person who enters the Colony or plans to leave indefinitely.”
The woman to whom he’d handed the laptop closed a file cabinet behind the General and walked around the desk to stand behind me, presumably next to the man at the door. It bothered me that the two armed soldiers were behind me—a lot—and I itched to turn and see what they were doing. With a herculean effort, I managed to restrain myself.
“So, um, thanks for rescuing me and for the medical care,” I said, breaking the protracted, very uncomfortable silence. I was fairly certain my discomfort was the whole point of the silence, that and the soldiers standing behind me. I think I’m ready to go now…
“Of course,” General Herodson said. “I like to make sure all of my Colonists are well cared for.” He graced me with another of his eerie smiles. Ugh…instant heebie-jeebies. “Well, now that you’re safely within my grasp, I’d like to offer you permanent residency here in the Colony. It’s the heart—the Capital—around which the New United States will be built.”
“Oh…um, thanks. But I already have somewhere I belong outside of here.”
General Herodson put on a tolerant expression, his voice dripping with condescension. “Please don’t make any permanent decisions until you hear everything I have to offer you.”
“Listen, I really appreciate—”
“I have a house already set aside for you—it’s quite comfortable, and I’m sure far better than whatever your accommodations have been over the past few months. I also have a position as a communications specialist denoted just for you. I know it would utilize your Ability perfectly.”
Um, okay…how does he know about my Ability? Has MG been blabbing about me? I felt a sudden, sickening pang of betrayal in my chest.
“Also, we have the technology and personnel to help you increase the strength of your telepathy,” he continued. “You’re a very special woman, Danielle—your Ability is exceptional and very unique. It could greatly increase our numbers here.”
That he knew so much about me, about my telepathy, was just another notch on the General’s creepy belt. I felt like I’d been stalked. I made a mental note to interrogate MG about everything he’d told General Herodson.
Plastering on my friendliest smile, I said, “I really do appreciate the offer and everything the Colony has done for me so far, but I already have a place I belong. I’m happy there.” It was hard to find a way to say what needed to be said without sounding like an ungrateful brat. His people had saved my life, after all. “So, if it’s not too much trouble, I’d prefer to leave as soon as possible…or whenever’s convenient.” And if you say no, I’m outta here tonight, you creepy, creepy man.
He sighed, and his chilling, almost dead eyes latched on to mine. “I’m very sorry to hear that, Danielle. I had really hoped you would feel more at home here and that I wouldn’t have to bend your mind like all the others. My most loyal are those who choose to follow me of their own accord. Oh well. You will do exactly as I say…”
As he spoke, a fog seeped into my brain, coating my senses and thoughts, dulling them… numbing them. His voice droned on, but I was having a hard time focusing on the sounds, comprehending the meanings. They jumbled together, turning into a mind-numbing hum. My vision slowly unfocused, becoming a blur of colorful, unidentifiable shapes.
Suddenly, my brain fog evaporated and the General asked, “Does that sound acceptable?”
I shook my head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. “Um…yeah,” I heard myself say as my lips stretched into a grateful smile. I’m so happy to be here. “I think that sounds perfect.”
General Herodson’s answering grin was radiant, washing away a strange sense of anxiety.
“I’m very glad to hear it,” he said. “Now, I’m sure you’d like to see your new home and settle in.”
I nodded. My new home. “Yes, that would be great. But I don’t know where it is.”
“Not to worry.” He stood and rounded the desk, then reached for my hand, pulled me up from the chair, and draped his arm over my shoulders. Compared to me, he was tall, though he was probably still a little under six feet. “I’m sure Gabriel will help get you settled. I’ll be sure he knows to introduce you to the other communica
tions specialists as soon as you’ve recovered.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling absolutely content with my new situation. I’d felt so lost and alone for so long, it was nice to finally belong somewhere…to be around other people.
When the female guard opened the door, Gabe came into view. He’d been leaning his back against the opposite hallway wall, but he straightened as soon as he saw me. His handsome face lost all expression, going completely and utterly blank. “Are you finished, Sir? Can I take her back to the hospital?”
“Actually, Danielle has decided to stay. I believe you know the house we prepared for her. Please take her there and help her settle in.” General Herodson removed his arm from my shoulders and nudged me through the doorway. “And make sure she wears these at all times,” he said, handing Gabe a pair of yellow armbands that matched those I’d seen on pretty much everyone.
Gabe’s expression remained blank as I neared him, which irritated me. Shouldn’t he have been happy that I was staying in the Colony, that he’d get to spend more time with me? I was certainly looking forward to getting to know him better…a lot better. But his eyes held a hint of something resembling unhappiness. He doesn’t want me to stay?
“Yes, of course, Sir.” Gabe accepted the yellow fabric, then reached out and placed his arm around my shoulders much like General Herodson had done. Except Gabe’s embrace felt different—more protective, possessive, even. I figured it was just because he was noticeably taller and stronger than the older man.
As Gabe started to guide me down the hallway, I looked back at the General and smiled. “Thanks again,” I told him.
5
ZOE
MARCH 15, 1AE
Walking closer to the fire pit, I could distinctly hear the shock in Jake’s voice as he confronted our mysterious visitor, his sister.
“I—I thought you…” He stared into Becca’s eyes. I could feel the concern and guilt washing over him in waves, and I hesitated, not wanting to intrude. “You were dead.” He reached for her, but she raised a hand to block him. He froze, clearly distraught. “Where the hell’ve you been?”
Into The Fire (The Ending Series) Page 6
