Flash Series (Book 2): Immune

by Gomez, Jessica

  I pat her hand, trying to reassure her. She hadn’t asked the hard question, Where had Azami come from? “When the flash happened, I had no one. You’re lucky you had a large family, even for a short while. This here is the first family I’ve ever had.” She meets my eyes, silently asking about my story. “I grew up in foster homes. I finally ran away and got a place of my own when I was thirteen. The flash happened shortly after I got my life together.” I roll my eyes and laugh. Naveen joins me, lightening the mood. “I escaped the carnage before the buildings burned, drifting on my own for a while. Then I had Azami. She turned everything around. She gave me a purpose to go on with my life. Without her, I don’t know where life would have taken me. About a year later, we met James. He invited us to live in his hollowed out tree. We were out on a raid one day and had a close encounter with the infected. They ate a dog right in front of us. We moved a few days later. James had done a school project about these cave systems, and Ian relied on that information and brought people here. Luck was finally on our side when we arrived and we found everyone. They welcomed us with open arms. We’ve been here ever since. I couldn’t be happier.”

  I think of all the things that have happened to us since we’ve arrived. Jeff attacking me, Becky attacking me, James’s attack, Azami’s kidnapping, thinking Ian was dead. Safe is only a word. “Never let your guard down. Only learn to live again.”

  “Thank you, Lillie. for all this. For everything.” Naveen whispers.

  “Welcome to the family.”

  ~~~~~~

  After almost an hour in the water, we decide to get out. Naveen and I have a closeness now. Our talk strengthened us, and we bonded.

  A shroud of sadness creeps over me. My subconscious says to back off, the more people I build a bond with is one more person I can lose. Something looms at the back of my mind, nudging and prodding, attempting to warn me. A shiver runs down my spine as I lay Azami down on her bed.

  “What’s wong, Mommy?”

  “Nothing, Angel. Go to sleep.”

  Her hand flutters against my skin. I know she’s trying to read me.

  I cup her hand against my cheek before kissing her fingers and placing them back on her now sleeping form. I watch her for a moment, studying her tranquil features. Her skin’slosing some of its summer tan. Fall crept in, taking more of its warmth at the end of each day. Her blonde hair is still damp from our swim, and her face is relaxed and calm. After I had her, my world immediately changed. I thought I couldn’t handle it, I thought I would fail us both…but she made me stronger.

  “Hey, babe. What are you doing?” Ian studies me from the door, probably picking up on the fiercely protective instincts I’m having for Azami.

  I smile at his arrival. “Nothing much. Watching our daughter sleep.”

  His smile matches mine. Fatherhood fits him well. His chest puffs out, pulling his shirt tight against his body. “I missed you,” he says.

  “Me too. I bathed her early. Naveen and Gage came with us. We had a good chat.”

  Ian moves closer to me and pulls me up from Azami’s small mattress. He stared at me for a moment before touching his lips to mine. “I’m glad they’re fitting in so well.”

  “Me too.” I kiss him again. “How’d it go with, Dane?”

  He sighs and pulls away from me. “We were right. There’s something I have to talk to you about.”

  Chapter 15

  Ian

  I found Dane in the storage tunnel, just like I knew I would. This is part of the reason I need to speak to him. He’s pacing with his clipboard in hand, more concerned with our winter supply than normal. We have extra mouths to feed this winter, but our supplies are large enough to support us all.

  “Uncle, you got a minute?”

  Dane spins and spreads his arms and legs wide, as if crouching into an attack stance. He immediately straightens when he realizes it’s me.

  “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

  He laughs. “Always on my toes.” He claps me on the back like he used to do when I was a boy. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m concerned. You’re acting out of sorts lately, making sure we know how to do the jobs you’ve done so diligently for years. Is there something we should talk about?”

  Dane looks down in thought, then nods. “Your aunt and I haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately. She’s mad at me most days, and I haven’t the faintest idea why. I think living like this may be catching up to her.” Shaking his head slowly, he looks like a man out of options. “I’m napping more and more lately to escape. I’ve toyed with the idea of leaving, to give her the space she seems to need. That’s why I want you boys to know it all. There may come a time that I won’t be around. Each one of you must know the routine. There is no other option when it comes to survival. Prepare for the unexpected.”

  Dane leaving is not an option. He has to know this. “Is there anything I can do to help? You have to know that leaving the caves is dangerous. Not to mention, you would leave us one man down. We’re a small group already, losing you would make us even more vulnerable. Try to see all the options here.”

  “I am, son. If you and Lil separated, would you be able to handle seeing her day in and day out? I’ve thought about this for a while now. I haven’t completely made up my mind. I’d still like to talk to Rosie, get her thoughts on it.” He meets my eyes, a measure of pleading shining through. “Don’t breathe a word of this conversation to her. We’ll work out our own issues. I don’t need the entire cave in my business.”

  “Of course, not a word. But Uncle…you have to give me notice if you decide to leave. I don’t want to wake up one day and find you missing. We’ll come looking for you. You will inform me before you go, right?” When I was a boy, my uncle was larger than life, and now as I issue my first command, I stand on equal footing. I realize how much time has passed, and where we’ve ended up. Without my uncle, the caves would pale in comparison. He constructed and organized our entire setup.

  He smiles sadly. “You have my word.” He pulls me by my neck into a hug. “Your parents would be proud of you,” he whispers.

  My sins flash behind my closed lids, and I choke back a sob. If they only knew my real turpitudes, he’d think twice about making that statement.

  “Now, let me get back to my lists,” he chuckles, breaking the tension from his last comment.

  Laughing right along with him, I reply, “No problem.” Dane had shown me a long time ago how to log and monitor our supplies. Intake vs. Outtake, was the header on these lists. He’d come down every evening to see what supplies we’d used during the day, then he’d calculate how much of each item we’d picked up on our previous raid.

  Dane’s already turned back to his work, ignoring me again. Watching him for a moment, I still feel an uneasiness in my gut, the small voice in the back of my head saying, ‘don’t trust the situation.’ Trusting this sixth sense has kept me alive to this day. Placated for now, I turn back to the tunnels. Given that Dane is my uncle, he pulls me through the ringer first. He’d taught me everything he knows about cultivating and keeping the group in the cave sufficient on supplies. Mason and Luke are gone more lately than not, leaving only Michael to take the brunt of this teaching. I want to get his opinion on the matter.

  After checking in the kitchen, I head to the pool area. Michael’s main concern for our safety is making sure the pool is blocked off correctly. Since the cave opens up to the outside in an oval, it makes securing the bottom corners difficult. leaving this as our vulnerable spot. A few days ago, several of us placed large boulders in the weak areas, attempting to protect these points in the fence. Michael ran his hands over the boulders thoughtfully, wondering if their resistance was enough.

  “Hey. You talking to rocks again?”

  He turns to me, a smile plastered to his face. “He’s alive! Where you been hiding?” His sarcasm indicates he knows exactly who I’ve spent my time with lately.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I taunt him, laughing. “What’s going on over here?” I flick my chin, indicating the boulder caressing.

  Shaking his head, he turns to me. “I’m concerned the boulders are weak points.”

  I study them. They’re solid, no cracks, and extremely heavy. It took five of us to get them in place. “The fence is woven branches and stucco mud, making it as solid as some of these cave walls. The rocks are not attached to the fence, leaving them as potential weak points. But the boulders are solid and heavy. The only other thing we could do is add more ground rock to the mud to make them stronger, and attach the boulders to the fencing.”

  Michael nods along with my suggestions. “I agree. If we can attach them to the fencing, it would strengthen the entire fixture. We’ll need to do this soon, before the cold weather is permanent. The drying will take time with mud that thick, which only leaves us a couple of weeks. Winter looks like it may come early this year.” He looks to the sky, the only open area in the pool room.

  Swirling gray clouds confirm his claim. “How do you think things are going on the run?” I stuff my hands in my pockets, cautious of his reply.

  “Luke and Mason know what they’re doing. James will help them get in and out cleanly with his sight. This will probably be the quickest run Luke and Mason will have gone on.”

  I nod. “What about Dane? Have you noticed anything odd about him?”

  Michael scrunches his brows down. “Something’s bothering him. He’s different. He’s desperate when he teaches me his trades. He’s distant, spacing off more days now than not.”

  His words confirm my suspicions. He will eventually leave us. “Anything else?”

  Michael stares at me, questioning my inquiry. “Nothing stands out. I’ll let you know though. What’s this about?”

  I’d promised my uncle I wouldn’t say anything. Spreading their personal drama all over the caves is definitely not the answer. “Nothing worth mentioning now. Just let me know if there’s anything else you notice.”

  “Sure,” Michael replies, but uncertainty coats his words.

  “How’s everyone adapting? I know I haven’t been around much.” I rub the back of my neck.

  Michael laughs and slaps my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I’d be MIA too. Everyone’s getting along great. Deagon and Quinn are quite the hunters. Quinn’s great with cars too, as you well know.”

  “The girls and the baby?”

  “Gage is in heaven with all the attention he’s getting. Naveen is getting more rest now that there are more people to help her with him. Sophie is still quiet, but I don’t know if that will change. It seems to be who she is.”

  I nod. “Yeah, she’s always quiet. Sweet, but quiet.”

  “Everyone’s good. They’re a great addition to our group. Azami sure loves to play with Gage. It’s quite fun watching them interact, reminds me of times before the flash.”

  “All right. I gotta go check in with Lil. I haven’t seen her since breakfast.” My heart flutters at the thought of seeing her again.

  Michael laughs. “Go on, I’ll get this going.” He points at the boulders.

  “Thanks.”

  On my way back, I hear voices coming out of one of the side tunnels, one we never use. The room itself is too small for much, other than storage, and we prefer to keep all our items in the one large storage room. Deagon and Quinn’s excited voices drift into the hall to latch onto me. I decide to see what they’re up to.

  The smell of blood assaults me first. The small room forces the smell out into the hall like a brick wall. I can’t fit in the room with them, but I can see a shadow hanging from the ceiling.

  “What’re you two shouting about?”

  Startling them, they spin on me, knives in hand. I hold my hands up in surrender as they laugh. “Sorry, dude. We didn’t hear you. Look what we bagged.” Deagon takes a step to the right and exposes a large five-point buck.

  My mouth waters. This was the second deer they’d gotten since arriving. “Nice.” This will feed us for at least a week. “You two keep hunting like this, we won’t have to store much meat for winter. You’ll keep us in fresh supplies.”

  Both of them beam at me. “Where do you store the meat? We had to cook all of ours at once and eat as much as possible. What we couldn’t finish, we dried. That doesn’t hold more than a couple of weeks, though.”

  “We do all of the same things. We dry after we gorge too. But living in the mountains gives us an advantage. The snow will accumulate over the winter months, and doesn’t defrost until spring comes around. We transport snow into one of the darker, cooler caves, and build a sort of cooler. We freeze the meat in the snow and replenish it daily.”

  Deagon’s smiling. “Our own indoor freezer.”

  “Exactly,” I confirm.

  “What about when the snow melts?”

  “We get to eat a bunch again.”

  Deagon’s features still for a moment, before changing to something sad. “Thanks for coming back for us, Ian. I don’t know if we’d still be alive if you hadn’t.”

  I don’t want him to know, but I agree with him. With the location of their last hideout and the infected, their chances were slim. “You’re more than welcome. Every one of you add strength to our group in one way or another. We’re better off with you here too.”

  He swallows hard and nods. I pat his shoulder, much like my uncle had done to me only an hour earlier in reassurance. We’re a decently strong group. The caves provide most of our defense against renegades. Plus, the location itself shields us from prying eyes. The infected are another story. They don’t care the distance, heat, or cold. If they think there’s a food source, they’ll come. Now Jeff is out there among them, in whatever form he mutated to, holding intimate knowledge of our home. With winter creeping up on our heels, we have little time to hunt him down and do away with our greatest threat.

  This is the one issue that constantly bothers me. With all the other issues we’ve had since my return, Jeff has fallen to the wayside. Our priorities are in alignment now, and he’s been placed back at the top of our list. Hunting him during winter is not an option. Even though we have winter supplies, they’re still not adequate enough to send a search party out for days. Once spring comes back around, we’ll search these woods until he’s found. Hopefully, Mother Nature has taken care of him already.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to it.” I turn to leave them, when Deagon hollers after me.

  “Hey, tell Lil I said hi. I’ll see her in my dreams.” He’s fucking with me, but jealousy still rears its ugly head.

  They both cackle at my silence as I leave the room.

  An evil smile spreads across my face. I’ll have to pay Deagon back the next time I’m in a crowd with Sarah. He’ll turn red the moment I open my mouth. Laughing at my revenge, I finally face my curtain, where I can sense her inside. The same troubled emotions she’s been carrying with her lately drift through the shade. Her emotions have been all over the place. Her day continues as if nothing is bothering her, but underneath the surface, turmoil churns in the pit of her.

  I pull the blind sideways, moving undetected, watching as she stares at our daughter’s sleeping form. Her golden hair flows over her shoulders and down her back.

  “Hey, babe. What’re you doing?” Stealth or not, she knows I’ve been standing here all along.

  She smiles over her shoulder, lighting up the room. “Nothing much. Watching our daughter sleep.” Her words draw a smile to my lips. I love it when she refers to Azami as our daughter.

  “I missed you.”

  She squirms where she’s perched on the corner of Azmai’s mattress. “Me too. I bathed her early. Naveen and Gage came with us. We had a good chat.”

  I can’t take my eyes off her. Compelled, I move over and pull her up to me, touching our lips. “I’m glad they’re fitting in so well.”

  “Me too.” She kisses me again. “How’d it go with, Dane?”

  I sigh and pull away. Spreading gossip�
�s one thing, but Lillie’s a part of me. “We were right. There’s something I have to talk to you about.”

  Her eyes grow stormy, worried about the direction of this conversation. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing serious at the moment. I spoke with Dane about the troubles we’ve noticed.” She nods, silently asking me to continue. “He and Rosie are having troubles. He said they’re barely speaking, she’s upset with him most days, and he doesn’t know why. He thinks this lifestyle is catching up to her. She may be at her breaking point. I’m not sure if we’re getting the entire story. I didn’t expect him to spill his guts. He thinks it’s too much for them to live in the same place if they split. He’s thinking about leaving, to give her space.”

  Lillie’s eyes widen in horror. “He can’t go out there, not with the infected mutating again. They’re out for blood, and smarter than ever.”

  I sit us on our mattress and pull her onto my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck, shaking. “I’m going to do my best to change his mind if it comes to that, but it’s his decision. We can’t stop him from leaving if he decides to.”

  “I know. That’s what makes this situation so much harder. We really need him here. He does so much for us, and he’s family. I can’t imagine him not being here, with us.”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll all work out.”

  When all our lives went to shit, Lillie’s had a different ending. She survived,looking out for herself. She suffered the loss of humanity, but she didn’t have a family or any friends to worry about. Now that she’s lived in the tree and the caves, she’s come to understand what the rest of us went through after the flash. If she loses any of us, devastation will take its toll on her. She’s pure, the light in all this fucking darkness, and I will fight like hell to make sure she stays that way.

  Chapter 16

  Lillie

  Sitting in Ian’s lap provides the sanctuary I require at the moment. I want to believe him when he says everything will work out, but that little voice in the back of my head keeps repeating a silent warning. Sensing the danger, but not knowing what it was, when it will strike, or the why is driving me absolutely batty. So much so, that I haven’t had much of a chance to worry about James, Mason, and Luke. The only good part about my forgetfulness is that it’s unlikely that the premonition involves any of them.