Ira huddled around the campfire, sipping from the cup of water in her hands. She wasn’t necessarily cold, she just enjoyed the sensation of the heat burning her face. She would sit there staring into the flames until she couldn’t handle the temperature anymore. Once her face was cooled, she would turn back toward the fire and start the process over again.
Ashley sat across the fire from Ira. She roasted some strips of meat over the fire, staring at the cooking food with great intensity.
Ira hadn’t spoken to her much since her rescue. Ashley seemed to be a very determined, focused person. Ira figured they wouldn’t get the chance to talk until Ashley had done everything she needed to do. Ira began to grow anxious, as there didn’t seem to be much left for Ashley to accomplish. She knew that once dinner was ready, they would begin to discuss things.
To Ira, Ashley seemed like a good person. She’d saved her, so she owed it to her to think positively of her. However, Ira found herself nervous at the thought of Ashley not being who she seemed. What if she was an insane person who would kill her the moment she began trusting her? That seemed unlikely since Ashley wouldn’t have saved her if she was just going to kill her later. Still, Ira wouldn’t be able to rest easy until she knew exactly what was going on.
“It’s almost ready,” Ashely said.
The heat grew too much for Ira to stand, so she turned away from the fire. It took her eyes a bit to adjust to the darkness, but once they did, she studied the trees around her. They were tall, flush with leaves, and were abundant. They had set up camp in a tiny clearing. The tree line was just a few feet away in either direction; Ira was unsure how to feel about that. On one hand she enjoyed the cover the trees offered; however, they also could give cover to evil things at the same time. Ira was sure that at any moment a zombie would pop out of the trees or a Rove would come and take her back into slavery.
“It’s ready,” Ashley said.
Ira turned back to the fire and saw Ashley was handing her a plate that held three strips of meat. Ira winced at the heat on her face as she took the plate. Her face hadn’t had time to cool off, so she had to back up from the fire a bit before she began eating.
“So, Ira. Where were the Roves taking you?” Ashley asked.
Ira swallowed her delicious food before responding. “Jefferson Memorial, I think is what they called it.”
Ashley chewed her food and nodded. “That sounds right. Do you know anything about what’s going on there?”
Ira shook her head. “No idea. Other than I find it curious that the Roves are beginning to branch out so far. They’ve got pretty much all of Dallas. Don’t see the need for them to want the rest of Texas too.”
“Yes, curious indeed,” Ashley said.
Ira couldn’t quite put her finger on the tone Ashley used. It was subtle, but it made Ira feel as if Ashley was toying with her. She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t call her out. Even if she could, she knew she probably wouldn’t. She owed Ashley too much.
“Ira,” Ashley began. She set her plate to the side, having barely touched her food. “I know a lot is changing for you right now. You’re probably really scared, and everything happening is very surreal.”
Ira began to dread what Ashley was going to say.
“But, you see, I knew you were going to Jefferson Memorial. That’s why I was following your transport. I was hoping to save you all, but that didn’t happen. But I have you, and I need your help.”
Ira felt her appetite fade away. She was terrified at what Ashley would ask her to do.
“I need you to infiltrate Jefferson Memorial for me. Be my eyes on the inside. The Roves are doing something there that’s going to affect everyone. Something sinister. I need to know what that is so I can stop them, but I can’t do that from the outside.”
Ira stared at Ashley with shock in her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she was asking her to do. “So you want me to go back to being a slave?”
“In a way, yes. But not just a slave. You’ll be gathering intel on them and bringing it to me so that I can figure out a way to stop them. Maybe even stop them for good. I don’t know. But we can’t just sit around while they sit behind the Wall of Jefferson Memorial doing whatever they’re doing.”
Ira turned her eyes to the fire, watching the orange flames dance. She couldn’t tell if the heat on her face was from the fire or the anger flushing her skin. “Why don’t you just do it yourself?”
“I wish I could. You have no idea. But they’ll recognize me—both the Roves and the people of Jefferson Memorial,” Ashley said.
Ira looked up at her and saw the sadness in her eyes, just for a moment. Ashley looked away and composed herself. “What do you mean they’ll recognize you?”
Ashley took a few more moments before meeting Ira’s gaze. “I was one of the founders of Jefferson Memorial. I helped build it up to what it was before the Roves came and took over. All my friends lived there. It was our home.
“I was captured by the Roves while on a scouting mission with my squad. I was being stupid and got separated. They took me and made me one of their slaves. Eventually, I escaped on my own. I’m well known among the Roves. I’ve been a bit of a nuisance to them at times,” Ashley said with a smirk. “Long story short, I can’t go in. But if you could get in there and tell me what’s going on, how many of them there are, and all the details like that, I could hopefully come up with a plan to take them down.”
Ira was bewildered at what Ashley was telling her. She almost had to stop listening because it was all just so much to take in. “How long would I have to be in there?” Ira couldn’t believe she was actually considering it.
“Only for a couple of days. A week, tops. I know it’s a lot to ask,” Ashley said as she moved closer to Ira. “Trust me. I was a slave once too. But if we could pull this off, we would not only be freeing slaves, but we’d be freeing my family. Plus, think of how hard of a blow that would be to the Roves! The first time they venture out of Dallas, they’re crushed. It would be quite humiliating and humbling, that’s for sure.”
Ira had to admit, humiliating the Roves did sound nice. She looked into Ashley’s pleading brown eyes. She had a gut feeling that she had to help her. She wasn’t sure why, but she wasn’t sure of a lot of things at the moment. Helping Ashley just felt like the right thing to do. She owed her one, and if it meant freeing more slaves just as she herself had been freed, she would do it. She didn’t even feel as if she’d deserved to be freed, much less be the only person to survive an attack like that. Her mind flashed back to her only friends being devoured by the zombies. Especially Isabel. Sweet Isabel. She felt her eyes fill with tears. She pictured her insides being torn out and the immeasurable pain she must’ve felt.
In that moment, Ira had never felt more undeserving.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll help you. I’ll do whatever needs to be done to stop those Roves and save your family.”
Now Ashley’s eyes welled with tears. “Thank you,” she said, her voice cracking. She sat back and picked up her plate of food. She began to nibble at the strips of meat as she stared into the fire. A smile formed on her face.
Ira felt a smile of her own struggling to emerge. She was going to make a difference, and that was more than she could have asked for.
Chapter Nineteen
Miles
I looked through the peephole of our room and saw Trevor standing there with Mila right behind. “Hey,” I said as I opened the door.
“Hi, Miles,” Trevor said with a smile. “I’ve come to take you three to dinner,” he said, making eye contact with John over my shoulder and then gesturing over his own to let me know Mila was the third. “I’ve also been instructed to answer any questions you may have the best that I can.”
Now that really piqued my interest. “Okay,” I said with a nod. “Let me grab my shoes.”
After putting them on, I met everybody outside the door.
“This way,” Trevor said as he walked down the
hallway. He turned right at the end and began toward one of the large main hallways.
“Where are we eating?” John asked.
“In the main hub,” Trevor answered. “There’s a dining area there.”
We entered the large hallway, and there were a lot more people in it than usual. Most of them were walking toward the hub, although there were a few who were walking back toward the living area, wearing sweaty clothes like they’d just worked out.
“How many people live here?” I asked Trevor.
He thought about it for a moment. “I’m not sure the exact number. Probably somewhere around ten thousand. There were eight thousand to begin with a few years ago. It doesn’t fluctuate that much.”
“Do people not have children?” Mila asked. I looked over at her, and she seemed to have relaxed a bit, which relieved me.
“Oh yeah, they do,” Trevor said with a laugh. “You have to get permission first, though. We have to keep the population under control.”
I thought about our own population control at Jefferson Memorial and smiled at the thought of Kit, the baby who was a surprise to everybody. Just when we thought we had everything under control, Kit came along, breaking all the rules.
My stomach turned over and my knees felt week the more I thought about Kit. What was his fate? The Roves couldn’t turn him into a slave, of course, so what did they do with him? Surely they let him stay with his mother. They couldn’t have done anything else. They weren’t total monsters…at least that’s what I told myself. Truth was, they were total monsters, and I didn’t want to think what could have actually happened to Kit. Although I needed to find out, and sitting around in this Bunker wasn’t going to help me get answers. I had to get back to Jefferson Memorial. I had to save Kit.
The sounds of people talking and moving around came from up ahead. I looked and saw that we were coming up on the main hub. There were no doors at the end of the hallway, just a large opening. People spilled from the hallway and into what looked like a large circular room.
We reached the hallway and entered the main hub, and I was taken aback by it all for a few moments. It was massive—probably a few football fields across. The ceiling was twice as tall as the large hallway we were just in. It went up seventy or eighty feet. At the top, it looked as if I was looking up at the sky. It was the sky. It was a mixture of pinks and purples, as the sunset was off to the side where I couldn’t see.
“Is that actually glass?” John asked as he stared up at the ceiling and into the sky.
Trevor was looking up at the sky as well, taking in the beautiful sight that was the Texas sky at sunset. “Not quite. It’s six screens put together to make one giant one. If you look close enough, you can see the lines where the screens intersect.”
As soon as he said that, I could see the lines. I hated that he told me that, as it broke the illusion. Now I couldn’t unsee it. Now every time I looked up at the sky, I would know that it wasn’t real.
“It is a live feed of the outside, though. It helps people avoid cabin fever. Keeps morale up,” Trevor said as he turned his attention away from the screen.
“You ever have any animals come by and mess with the cameras?” John asked with a sly smile on his face.
“Nope. The cameras emit sounds that keep animals away. Or something like that. I’m not a scientist,” Trevor said.
“That seems like a lot of trouble to go through for just a couple of cameras,” Mila said.
“Maybe,” Trevor said. “But don’t go telling someone who never gets to go outside the bunker that.”
With that, Trevor turned to where a line was forming at a booth nearby. “Let’s stop standing here and get some food. Then I’ll answer more of your questions. I have a few of my own too.”
I followed him to where the food was being served, and I just knew that this was going to be one interesting dinner.
Chapter Twenty
Miles
We walked into a room that was built onto the side of the main hub. The room had a couple of booths and tables inside where people were sitting and eating. We walked to a table at the end and sat down. John and Mila sat on either side of me, while Trevor sat across from us.
The walls of the room were a dark wood and the floors cement. The room wasn’t dark per se, but the lights weren’t exactly bright either.
I grabbed a fork and began eating some of the mac and cheese on my plate.
“So here’s how this is going to go,” Trevor said. “You can ask me a question, then I’ll ask you one. Sound good to you?”
John nodded, his mouth full of food.
“Yeah,” I said as I reached for my water.
“Okay,” Mila said.
“Miles, why don’t you start us off?” Trevor said.
Suddenly put on the spot, it took me a moment to think of a question. When one came to me, I felt stupid for not thinking of it immediately. “What’s with all the aliens around here? I thought they were all Xenomortises.”
“Well, we like to call them Genari, not aliens. And never call them Xeno’s. But, the Genari made a deal with the government so some of them could stay in the bunkers. The Xenomortises are just the ones who weren’t as lucky.”
“But why would the government just let them in here? They’re the ones who brought the virus in the first place,” Mila said.
“I think it was my turn to ask you a question,” Trevor said, eyeing Mila playfully. “But I’ll answer that one anyway since it ties in. They didn’t bring the virus; theirs mixed with ours. And before you waste any more of your questions, the virus and the viruses that caused the virus aren’t in any of the bunkers. Plus, everybody here is immune to them.”
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but Trevor stopped me before I could.
“And before you ask, no. I have no idea how or why we have an immunity. They just told me I had it so I could stay in the bunker. I didn’t argue with them. I’m not a scientist.”
I wasn’t satisfied with Trevor’s answer, but it was clear it was the answer I was going to get. I wanted to know more about the Genari, the deal they made with the government, and about the immunity. How could the aliens get spaces inside the Bunker, when, I assume, space was limited in the first place? What kind of deal did the government make that would presumably bump their own people so they could let some Genari in? Those were the things I really wanted to know, but it was clear to me that I was going to have to ask someone else besides Trevor if I wanted to get answers that would satisfy me.
“Who would I go to if I wanted to know the answers to those questions?” I asked.
Trevor sighed. “You really don’t know how this ‘I ask a question, you ask a question’ thing works, do you? You’d go to Dr. Wes, the guy with the white hair you spoke with when all that stuff with those atra creatures was going on.” Trevor took a sip of his water, and when he placed it down, let out a sigh of satisfaction. “Now, my turn. My question is this: which one of you wants to join my squad and get out of this bunker?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Daniel
Three Rove soldiers approached the alley—Daniel could only guess that they were securing the perimeter. He didn’t stay around to find out, however, as he turned and ran back down the alley. His feet carried him fast, but he wasn’t going to reach the other end of the alley in time.
He reached the dumpster that blocked the back door to the newspaper. He lifted the lid, climbed inside as quietly as he could, and slowly let the lid down above him. He forced himself to breathe as quietly and slowly as he could, ignoring his lungs screaming for air. This meant breathing through his nose, which he immediately regretted. The stench was almost unbearable. Daniel fought back gags, as the sounds of retching would no doubt give up his location.
Three sets of footsteps echoed down the alley, reaching Daniel’s ears. His mind raced, trying to figure out what he would do. He pulled his assault rifle close, making sure the safety was off. His heartbeat raced in his ears.
He wasn’t ready to fight the Roves. He wasn’t ready to fight anybody. He highly doubted he could negotiate his way with the Roves. If push came to shove, he was going to have to fight. Fight for his life. Not just for that, but for the vials of atra liquid he held in his backpack. He had to get those back to Peter.
Even if he got out of this mess though, he would have to figure out how to get back to Riven. By now, he knew that Jorge and the other guys were long gone, especially with the Roves around. Daniel tried to tell himself that not leaving with them was a mistake, but he wouldn’t allow it. The atra liquid was important enough to stay behind for.
All thoughts left his mind when he heard the footsteps right outside the dumpster. He held his breath and glued his eyes to the lid of the dumpster. He wanted to swing his gun into position, but he couldn’t afford the noise it would make. He tightened his grip on it, though, ready to swing it into action if need be.
The footsteps passed by unceremoniously, and Daniel allowed himself to breathe slowly. Now that the Roves would have their backs to him, he wanted to poke his head out and get a peek at their location. It was too risky, though, so he just continued to lay in the dumpster, trying not to throw up from the smell.
“Alley clear,” he heard a Rove say from a bit further down the alley.
Okay, we’re getting readings now. Return to the truck and stand guard. There’s a lot of activity in the area, a voice said from the other end of a walkie-talkie.
The footsteps once again passed by the dumpster; this time they were leaving the alley.
After a minute passed and he was sure they were gone, Daniel poked his head out of the dumpster. There was no Rove to be seen, so he climbed out as quietly as he could. Once out, he didn’t even go get a second glimpse of the Roves. He turned and ran to the other side of the alley.
To his left was a fence that marked the boundary of Brinn. Daniel looked past it and saw that the zombies were continuing to crowd around something, but he couldn’t see exactly what it was. He had a sick feeling that it was the reason the Roves were here doing whatever they were doing. Daniel couldn’t help but think that were some sort of Rove scientists. That was something he never thought about with the Roves. They seemed like they were just a savage gang, not people who were interested in science. That is, unless whatever they were researching would help them conquer more land and expand their territory.
Retaliation: The Mortis Desolation, Book Two Page 6
