Find Me (Life After the Outbreak, Book 2)

by Baker, LJ

  I smiled and knew no matter what she said, things were getting better between us.

  There was almost an hour left before dinner, and I had nothing to do with the time. Nurse Sue sent word that I wasn't needed and not to come in, and soon my punishment would be over so I wouldn't even have that.

  A regular job would have been good to keep busy, but it wasn't allowed during training. You had to commit one hundred percent until you finished advanced training. You basically ate, slept, and breathed weapons, combat, and self-defense for up to twelve weeks.

  After twelve weeks, if you weren't cut, you made the decision to commit to military service or you found another job. Or you left. I never saw myself as the kind of person who wore camouflage and carried a gun over my shoulder. In fact, if you told me even a month or two before that I would to beg to be in the program, I would have peed myself laughing.

  It wasn't like I was all that interested when I joined, either. I only did it to stay with Will. I would have rather gotten a food prep job or worked in the library. I used to spend summers shelving books at the local library before the outbreak. It wasn't an exciting job, but it was quiet, and I always knew where the good books were.

  I thought Will would be against me entering the training program, but surprisingly he was all for it. My guess was that he wanted to keep me close so he could make sure I didn't get into trouble. I couldn't blame him, though. I made some stupid decisions before we got there. I was lucky I didn't get myself killed.

  I found myself walking to kill the time. Before I realized where I was going, I was halfway across the compound. There wasn't much down that way except for storage and research. I knew the research lab was down that way that Rose was taken to. I also knew I wasn't supposed to be down there.

  Normally, there were guards stationed at the doors to each of the storage buildings as well as at the entrance to the research building. I looked around, but not one guard was anywhere to be found. It was strange to find no one in the whole area.

  Out of nowhere, I heard screams. Blood curdling, female screams. The only weapon I had with me was the knife Janet insisted I carry in my boot at all times, so I pulled it out to be ready. I heard male voices through the screaming and could tell it wasn't too far. I followed the sound and made my way quietly around the side of one of the storage buildings.

  The screams continued as I peered around the corner to find the source. A young woman in a white lab coat was standing in front of a large cage being held in place by dead gray hands that stuck out through the chain link. Her face was pure white, and her clothes were soaked in blood. He was gnawing on her shoulder, and she continued to scream, loud, high-pitched screeching mixed with gurgling as blood ran down her front.

  Around the cage stood three men, military, guns drawn and holding ground, not helping her. One was an older guy with snow white hair who looked like he was in charge. He held up both hands at the other men, keeping them from helping the woman. The one furthest away from me was arguing. He wanted to shoot the thing in the cage.

  I was able to make out their voices from my hiding spot.

  "Captain, I don't care. We have to stop this."

  The old man's voice softened a bit but stayed serious, in control. "You know we can't, son. There's nothing we can do for her now anyway."

  "Yes, we can! We can stop her from suffering." His finger flexed, and I thought he was going to release the trigger.

  The whole scene played out like some slow-motion nightmare. A few other soldiers came out of the research building and stood horrified. One raised his gun and looked ready to fire when the older man yelled for him to lower the weapon.

  At that point, the screaming stopped, and the woman slumped forward. The caged freak ripped out a chunk of her neck, and she bled out. Her lifeless body was still being held in place so the flesh eater could continue its meal. The two original soldiers with guns lowered their weapons. The one who argued with the older man dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands.

  My brain tried to find some logic in what I saw, but none of it made any sense. Why didn't they just shoot the thing and stop her suffering? Why was it even out there in that cage? Thoughts swirled around in my head as I watched on in confusion.

  Two men, dressed in what looked like space suits, came out and pried the woman from the flesh-eater. Her arm ripped from her body, and the thing pulled it into the cage. They placed her on a stretcher and took her inside the lab.

  The older man, Captain they called him, knelt down by the man on the ground. "Listen Jones, I know Barbara meant a great deal to you, but there was nothing we could do for her. You know that." He put his arm around Jones and lifted him from the ground.

  Tears spilled down the younger man's face, and his eyes looked blank. The Captain took his weapon and walked him inside. The other men went about cleaning up the mess and dragged the cage into one of the storage buildings.

  The dinner bell rang out, startling me, and I nearly fell over. The last thing I needed was to have someone see me there watching what was going on. I had no idea what would happen to me, but I didn't guess it would be good. I turned and walked as quickly as I could until I was a safe enough distance away to run without being heard.

  By the time I made it to the dining hall, I was out of breath. My heart thumped loudly against my chest, and I felt like it would explode if it didn't quiet down soon. I scanned the crowd for Will, wanting the safety of his strong arms. I saw him at the far end of the room, sitting with Hadley.

  Before I could get to him, Janet stopped me. "What's wrong? You're white as a ghost."

  I looked at her, blank. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure if I should tell her, or if maybe she knew that sort of thing went on.

  "Hey, what happened?" She checked me over for injuries. "Are you hurt?"

  "N...no. I'm fine."

  "You're not fine. You're shaking. Tell me what happened."

  Will stood up and noticed our exchange. He started to take a step, but Hadley put her hand on his and said something I couldn't possibly hear. He sat back down, but kept his eyes on us.

  Janet looked over at Will, then back at me. "He's going to want to know too, you know. You might as well tell me. If somebody did something to you …” Janet bunched her hands into fists and narrowed her eyes.

  "No, really, no one did anything to me. I'm fine. It's just, I saw …”

  She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "You saw what?"

  There was no way she was letting me off the hook.

  "I was out walking down by the lab."

  Janet took my arm and pulled me into a corner, out of earshot of anyone nearby. "You aren't supposed to be down there."

  "Yeah, I know. I didn't mean to be. I was just walking, not paying attention."

  "Okay, and what happened?"

  “They had a flesh eater … in a cage, Janet. Like some sort of zoo animal. And it got hold of some woman and was eating her through the bars … while soldiers watched. They just watched. No one helped her. The one guy in charge, he actually stopped anyone from helping her.”

  Her eyes went wide, and her lips pressed tightly together. "Are you sure no one saw you?"

  Panic washed over me once again. "I … I … don't think so."

  She grabbed me by the shoulders and looked directly in my eyes. "Look, you need to keep this to yourself and you need to stay the hell away from there. I'm serious. Do not go back down there. Do you understand?"

  I was so not about to go anywhere near that place anyway. I nodded silently. She released her death grip on my arms and took a deep breath.

  "Janet, what's going on down there?" Part of me just wanted to forget what I saw, but I knew that was never going to happen.

  "I honestly don't know. I've heard things, but I thought they were rumors." She took my wrist and pulled me in Will's direction. "Look, I know you are going to tell Will what happened, but please wait until you are alone. There are too many people around."
<
br />   Of course she still thought I was kind of an idiot, but that was okay. At least I knew she just wanted me to be safe.

  By the time we reached Will, he was standing again. Hadley remained seated, but had a very serious look on her face.

  "What's going on?" Will looked from me to Janet and back to me.

  I had no intention of keeping it from him, but Janet was right. That wasn't the place to talk about it. "We can talk about it after dinner."

  His eyes narrowed, and he looked at Janet.

  She sat down, took a roll from his tray, and broke off a piece to pop in her mouth. "Have a seat Will."

  He sat without a word, but kept his eyes glued on Janet. I took the seat next to her and tried not to look like I was on the verge of freaking out.

  Hadley reached across the table and placed both of her hands over mine. Her mouth was curved down and her eyes stared straight into mine. "We must talk soon, Andi." She blinked several times, then smiled. "I will get you some food." She jumped up, skipped over to the food line and began putting items on a tray.

  "Is it just me, or is that girl about one fry short of a happy meal?" Janet asked, tossing her head in Hadley's direction.

  Will looked over and raised an eyebrow. "She kind of creeps me out."

  I shrugged. "She's not so bad."

  Janet and Will both looked at me like I had a second head.

  "What? She's a little different, sure, and I wouldn't exactly want to piss her off, but I don't know, I kind of like her."

  The door to the dining hall flung open with a bang. We all turned to see six soldiers, including the Captain from the incident a little while before. They scanned the room as if they were looking for someone specific. Or maybe I was just being paranoid.

  Without thinking about it, I reached under the table and took Janet's hand. A month before, she probably would have pulled her hand back and punched me in the arm with it. Instead, she moved her chair closer, blocking me protectively.

  Hadley returned and placed the tray of food in front of me. "I know this is not as good as our lunches, but we will have to make do tonight."

  Hadley sat down, unaffected by the soldiers who moved on to walking up and down the aisles of tables looking over each person. I was frozen in place and thought for sure they caught me spying on them. Whatever it was they were doing down there, I was pretty sure they didn't want witnesses.

  Will nudged me under the table with his boot. "What’s going on?"

  Janet slowly turned her head to face him and spoke in a low tone. "Not. Now."

  The soldier walking up our aisle reached our table and stopped to look over us. "Everything okay over here, folks?"

  Janet squeezed my hand tightly, and I knew not to speak. “Wonderful, Ken. Something going on?"

  He looked at me with narrow eyes, then returned his gaze to Janet. "Just looking for someone."

  Janet forced a laugh and raised an eyebrow. "For a good time?"

  Ken let down his guard briefly and laughed back. "Don't you know it, sweet thing."

  Hadley waved her hand at him. "Better get to it, then. We are trying to enjoy our dinner here."

  He eyed Hadley with suspicion and something that looked like fear, before nodding his head and moving along. I finally let out a breath, and Janet released my hand so blood could circulate once again.

  "We should go." I tried to stand, not wanting to push my luck and give them a chance to come back.

  Janet pulled me back down. "No. That will look suspicious. Just eat your dinner."

  I looked over the food and my stomach twisted. Anxiety didn't make a good appetizer.

  Will opened his mouth to speak, but Janet glared at him, stopping him in his tracks. "Right now, we are all going to eat and try to act as normal as possible." She looked at Hadley, who was staring right at her with her hands folded in front of her.

  "I very much agree with Miss Janet. Nothing bad will happen right now." She reached her hand across the table for mine, which I gave her without even thinking about it. "I promise."

  Something about her calmed me. I wasn't sure what it was, but it felt like she was draping a peacefulness over me somehow.

  Janet glared at Hadley and kicked me under the table. "Eat."

  We all ate quicker than usual and in silence. Well, all except for Hadley. She chattered on about her teacups, the dress she was sewing, and just about any other meaningless thing she could think of to break the awkward quiet. I was grateful for something, anything, to distract me from what I had seen. Janet continued to glare at her, probably preferring the silence, but Hadley seemed unaware.

  A soldier at the far end of the room grabbed a teenage girl, about my size and build, up from her seat and pointed his rifle at her. Quiet fell over the room, the only sounds were hushed whispers from the other residents trying to figure out what was going on. I had a sick feeling in my stomach as I watched the soldiers converge and march the girl out of the building.

  No one even attempted to stop what was going on or even speak out against them. Everyone in the place took for granted that whatever the soldiers said was law and unquestionable. I wanted to stand up, demand to know what they wanted with her, and normally I might have done just that, but after what I’d just been through, I couldn't bring myself to even move.

  Chapter Seven

  Will grabbed my arm and nearly yelled. "Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on."

  Janet stepped between us. "Calm down. There was an incident, but we need to play it cool. People can see us."

  We went up on the hill where I trained with Janet each day. It was out of the way enough to talk, but it was in no way isolated.

  Will stepped back and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. You two are scaring me." He motioned to Hadley. "Should she even be here?"

  She smiled and sat down on the ground. Her head tilted up toward Will, and she patted the grass next to her for him to sit. He scrunched his eyebrows together and stared at her for a long moment before relenting and taking the seat. Janet and I joined them and tried to look casual to anyone who might be looking in our direction.

  Janet looked at me as if to say ‘Go ahead and tell him’, but flashes of what I saw went through my mind, and I could no longer bring myself to say the words.

  “Someone better say something.” Will’s last shred of patience was fading fast.

  “Okay, fine.” Janet shook her head. “Andi decided she couldn’t follow the rules, a real shocker, and she was down on the north end of the compound, by the lab.”

  “She went down by the lab. Okay, so what’s that, a crime punishable by death?” Will was clearly confused and becoming increasingly irritated.

  Janet kicked Will’s boot. “Stop being an idiot. While she was down there, she saw something going on.”

  The look of horror on that woman’s face hung in my mind. I blinked hard a few times to try to erase the scene, but it refused to leave me. “Her face …” I leaned my head against Will’s arm and let his scent fill my awareness. The smell of him always calmed me.

  Will brought his arm around me and pulled me closer. “Janet …” Will’s eyes were desperate. He needed to know what happened.

  “They had a flesh eater in a cage for some reason, and he attacked someone. Tore her apart while people watched. While Andi watched.” Janet’s eyes dropped, as if she felt guilty for something that was in no way in her control.

  Will’s grip on me tightened. “Did they say why?”

  “They didn’t see her, thankfully. I have no idea why something like that would be going on, but since we really have no idea, it’s best they don’t know there was a witness.”

  Will shook his head. “Why would they just let it attack someone?”

  “I don’t think they were letting it, they just didn’t stop it from happening. Like … it was an accident, but they didn’t stop it … or help her. She was just screaming … and they did nothing.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and closed my eyes.

/>   Will tried to make sense of the story. "It just doesn't make sense. Why didn't they shoot the thing? And what was it doing in a cage to begin with?"

  "Maybe they are using it for their experiments. There could be a perfectly logical explanation," Janet said.

  I knew she didn't really believe that. "If that's the case, why did you insist I not say anything?"

  Janet's eyes dropped down to her lap. "There's no way to know for sure. I want to believe there's nothing crazy going on down there, but in truth, we don't know that."

  "Janet, you promised me this place was different. I trusted you when I brought Andi here, and now you're saying you don't know for sure what's going on down there?" Will closed his eyes and shook his head. "I should have known better."

  "Will, stop it. We don't know there is anything going on. You don't need to jump to conclusions."

  "You're right, Janet, but the fact that there is doubt should be enough. And, after the other stuff Andi told me …” Will scrubbed his hands over his face.

  Janet narrowed her eyes at me then looked back to Will. "What other stuff Andi told you?"

  “My friend at the infirmary says that they are covering up information … like how to survive a bite.”

  Janet’s eyes opened wide. “What are you talking about? No one survives.”

  “Jack did. He cut off his leg where it was bitten, and it stopped the virus from traveling. He says they know it can sometimes work, but they aren’t telling people.”

  Janet narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure he wasn't making the whole thing up?"

  They were so much alike sometimes it was scary. "Well he didn't hack off his leg for the hell of it."

  Janet glared at me, still not developing an appreciation for my attitude.

  I sighed. "I believed him, Janet. I don't see why he would make that up."

  "I have to admit, when Andi first told me all this, I was skeptical," Will said.

  "Skeptical." I snorted. He downright didn't believe a word I said.

  "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. But now, with caged zombies eating researchers and the strange behavior in the dining hall, it's all just seems like a little too much to be nothing."