It wasn’t like she was going anywhere any time soon.
*
There was pain, at first. Everywhere. Not just her thigh, though that felt like it was on fire and broken in a thousand places. Her head hurt, too, though she couldn’t remember why that would be. It couldn’t have been a gunshot, or she would be dead. She tried to move, but a lightning bolt of pain wracked through her body and she gasped.
Gina felt Petey licking her face, heard something – someone – speaking nearby, and then Petey’s tongue was gone. She opened her eyes, but everything was blurry. She could make out a light above her, but she couldn’t focus on anything. Then, a shadow loomed over her, blotting out the light. It was definitely another person, but if she knew them she couldn’t tell.
Slowly, hey came into focus. It was a man. He had a ragged beard, long, unkempt hair, and golden eyes. Golden eyes? That couldn’t be. She must be seeing things. But as her sight started to return, she saw she wasn’t mistaken.
Shifter.
She’d met some Shifters over her medical career, though not often. They were famously brutish, crass, and dangerous, but she’d never seen that kind of thing up close. Then again, she’d never been this close to a Shifter.
“Be still,” he ordered. His voice was rough and his speech was clipped – like he hadn’t talked to anyone in a long time. Where was she?
She tried to ask, but she couldn’t form any words.
The man leaned down, and a cup of water pressed against her dry and cracked lips. She sipped gratefully. The water helped, but her mouth still felt dry and the words wouldn’t come out.
“You crashed your vehicle. Came down the mountain. You’re lucky to be alive.”
That explained the pounding pain in her head. She knew the man was right, though. Before she’d lost consciousness, she was bleeding out, badly. She knew it was bad. How was she alive? She turned her head, ignoring the pain, and saw that her right arm was hooked up to an IV. Carefully observing it showed it to be from Grady.
So this man had raided her car. For a second, she felt a flash of anger. He’d looted her stuff? Then, as quickly as it had come on, it faded. After all, he had used her supplies to save her life. She couldn’t be mad at that.
“Petey,” she breathed. Talking hurt. Instantly he was next to her, lying down underneath her left arm. She felt his warmth, his chin resting on her arm.
“He’s fine. Got a mean bite, too,” the man said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him holding up a bandaged hand. It was stained with blood.
“Good boy.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“He wouldn’t leave your side the entire time.”
The entire time? Gina reached her hand down, feeling along her thigh. The first thing she noticed was that her scrub bottoms were gone. Then she realized her shirt was gone, too. She lay there, clad only in her bra and her underwear, under a sheer sheet. What had this man seen? Then she felt the stitching where the bullet had gone into her leg. The wound was warm, but the pain had faded into a dull throb.
“What did you do?” she managed.
“Got you hooked up to the IV. Checked you for wounds. Extracted the bullet. Sewed you shut.”
“I need...” she said, pausing and catching her breath, “some antibiotics to fight off the infection. They’re in...”
“This bag here?” the man asked, lifting one up. “I’ve already administered them to you. I even read the label.”
“Thanks.”
Gina took another deep breath. How did this man know to do all that? Was he a doctor? Where were they? None of this looked familiar.
“Where?”
The man hesitated. “It’s not important.”
Gina could tell that there was something this man didn’t want to tell her. What could it be? Why did it matter?
“Please.”
“You’re safe, and that’s all that matters. Now, you need to get some rest.”
With that, the man walked away from her and flipped the light off. She was bathed in darkness. Then she heard the sound of a door closing and she was alone with Petey, who snuggled up even closer. He was still here, and that was the important thing.
“It’s going to be okay, Petey,” she told him, even though she knew that might not be true. It was as much to reassure herself as it was to reassure her dog. Of course, he didn’t answer her, but he listened, and that was enough. Slowly, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep, thankful to be alive but afraid of what was to come next.
*
Dean shut the door behind him and made it only two steps before he nearly collapsed. He held his hand out in front of him, watching it shake. What had he done?
Undeniably, he’d done what was right. But one of the things he’d always had drilled into his head by his grandfather was not getting involved with other people in these situations. Especially in these situations. People, no matter who they are, were dangerous. That was something that, since birth, he had been told never to forget.
And he’d broken that code on just the second day of the apocalypse. He retreated to the kitchen, intent on finishing his meal pack.
*
Gina awoke slowly. Petey was still curled up by her arm. She had no idea how long she’d been asleep. There were no windows, wherever she was. She did feel noticeably better, though. There was a dull throb in her leg, but the pain wasn’t anything but an annoyance at this point. Her head hurt, but a few aspirin should clear that up.
She sat up, noticing that sometime while she was asleep, the Shifter had changed her IV out to a new one. She disconnected it and peeled the sheet off of her body. Petey jumped down to the floor and ran to his bowl, lapping up some water. Whoever this man was, he had enough sense to feed and water Petey. She found herself with a slight smile on her face, despite the situation.
Gina found she was no longer on the table. Instead, she had been lying on a cot. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed she’d been on, but it was better than the table.
Carefully, fighting off a flash of pain, she swung her legs over the edge of the cot. Her vision went fuzzy for a few moments, but she took a few deep breaths, and slowly, everything cleared up again. She looked down at her body: her leg was wrapped tightly in gauze. There was still some dried blood on her, but whoever the man was, he’d taken the time to clean her up as best he could. She was still in her bra and panties. She may have known why he had done it, but it still made her blush.
And from what she had seen – despite him being a Shifter – he was actually quite handsome, in a rugged, unkempt way. But no. That wasn’t something she could afford to think about right now. She had to figure out what was going on.
With great care, Gina lowered herself onto the floor. Her first step was wobbly; painful. Laid out on the table was a set of her clothes. She pulled the shirt over her head and grabbed the pair of sleep pants he had set out for her. She made her way back to the cot and sat down, putting one foot in at a time. It was slow going, but she finally managed to pull them up over her wound and get them on completely.
Dressed, she felt like a new person. The pain was still there, but it was distant. The unease of unknowing was still there, and it was oppressive, but for now, she thought she was safe. Whoever this man was, he’d saved her life. There was no denying that.
Petey was at her feet as she stood up and went towards the door. She opened it carefully, struggling against the heavy weight before peeking out, unsure of what she would find. Petey, on the other hand, just rushed out into the hallway and trotted off to the right.
“Petey!” she hissed, but he paid her no mind. He went into a room at the far end of the hallway. To her left, she noticed, was a long staircase leading upwards. To the surface? Were they underground? It would make sense: it looked like some type of bunker.
She started down the hallway, following Petey, and as she reached the room he’d disappeared into, a massive shape came out of the shadows. Gina barely stifled a scream, but relaxed when she saw i
t was only the Shifter. Clearly she was jumpy, but that was to be expected.
“Sorry,” was all he said.
Petey was happily running around the man’s ankles. She narrowed her eyes at him. Traitor. He was supposed to be on her side. Instead, this man had fed and watered him, and he was his new best friend.
“Where are we?” she asked.
The man grunted, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned and walked back into the room he had come from. Gina followed him, limping. The room was massive, much larger than the one she had been in. On one side, closest to the entrance, was a small kitchenette and a table. Boxes of food, stacks of cans, and all sorts of other food supplies were stacked in every free place.
The back of the room was completely different. It looked to be some sort of gym. In the dim light, she could see she was partially right. There was a squat rack and a bench press, stacks of plates next to each one of them. Massive dumbbells littered the floor in varying locations. But there were other things that caught her eyes: there was a huge upright log, like a tree without any branches that reached the ceiling. There were scratch marks in it. There was also some sort of wooden climbing apparatus. It reminded her of something she would see on an obstacle course – but much, much larger.
By her quick estimation, this room was easily as long as the hallway had been. It made sense, though. This man would have to have some way to stay in shape if he kept to this bunker.
“What’s your name?” she asked, sitting down at the table. He was rummaging through a box. Gina watched as he pulled out some kind of foil packet and ripped into it. He tossed it into a microwave without a word.
Gina sat in silence, just watching. After about a minute, the microwave beeped and he pulled the pack out. He dropped it in front of her on the table and sat a fork down. Then he sat down across from her, but still he didn’t say anything.
The meal didn’t look appetizing, but she knew she had to eat. It was some type of meat, maybe a chicken fried steak, covered in gravy with a side of fake mashed potatoes. Not her favorite, even in the best of times, but she dug in all the same. It was gross, but what could she do?
“I’m Gina,” she told him after she had swallowed a large mouthful of food. In answer, he got up and grabbed a glass from a cupboard, filled it up from the faucet and handed it to her. Gina took it and drank gratefully. She had been parched.
“What’s your name?” she asked again. When he didn’t answer, she nodded. “Okay, then. Thank you for saving my life.”
She thought she saw the slightest sign of a nod, but she couldn’t be sure. The minutes passed in silence, with the exception of her scraping the last of the food out of the pack. She hadn’t realized just how hungry she had been. When was the last time she had had any food? She thought back to two days ago, before she had gone in for her shift.
Two days ago. She did the math in her head: she had gone in on the 4th for her shift in the hospital and left when things went bad. She’d spent the night in Grady, then left in the morning, fleeing her attacker. She’d crashed her car and spent the night in this bunker, with the man who had taken care of her.
Only two days. Already, the memory of her life seemed so far away. What had happened? She still had no idea.
“What’s going on out there?” she asked the Shifter. He didn’t look up from staring at the table. “Do you even know?”
Still no response. Was it possible that he didn’t know either? He had to know what was going on, didn’t he? She’d heard of people like this. Survivalists. They had hidden bunkers, packed to the gills with food, water, and supplies, ready in case of an emergency.
But had this man been staying in the bunker before everything had happened?
That was preposterous, but…
His hair and beard were out of control. He was washed, but his demeanor left much to be desired. She’d barely gotten so much as a grunt out of him. What was his deal?
On the counter behind him, she noticed a radio. She was still weak, but she had to know what was going on. She simply couldn’t go on with not knowing what was happening to the world outside. She got up, slowly, and made her way to the radio. If the man gave any indication that he even cared, he didn’t show it.
Her vision went blurry when she reached the radio, but she steadied herself on the counter. When she thought she was okay, she flipped the power knob on. There was a brutally loud burst of static – her mind flashed back to the siren in the basement of Grady – and then she heard movement behind her.
There was a roar of fury, and Gina turned back to see the man getting out of his chair. No, getting out wasn’t the right way to describe it. The chair had been flung halfway across the room, loud metal clanging against the concrete floor. He pushed away from the table, which instead pushed the table across the floor – her glass of water fell to the floor, shattering.
Then he was on her, pushing her back against the counter, rage burning in his eyes. She could smell him this close. He had a primal smell, something that was both dangerous and intriguing. Something about his scent fought through the terror she felt from his sudden outburst.
She could practically see his body bristling; his hackles rising. He closed his blazing golden eyes, a look of pain crossing his face. He put out his hands to either side of her, gripping the countertop, and she saw that he didn’t have hands any longer; not exactly. They were claws. Horror started to take over her as she realized what was happening. He was shifting.
He tilted his head back and roared, echoing painfully in the room. Petey was at his ankle, growling and tearing at the man’s flesh.
“No! Petey, no!”
But the dog didn’t listen. The Shifter looked down, saw Petey on his leg, and Gina’s blood ran cold. She’d been afraid for herself, but now that Petey was involved, she could hardly breathe.
Thankfully, though, the man seemed to relax, his whole body going limp, and he took a few steps back and collapsed onto the cold floor. Gina’s breaths came in short, ragged bursts. Petey was standing between the two of them, growling softly, ready to attack at any second.
“Don’t...” the man began. His head was down, buried in his hands – no longer claws. “Don’t touch my stuff.”
“Sorry,” Gina said. All of that because she had turned the radio on?
Now that the danger had passed, Gina felt anger boiling up inside of her. All she had done was turn on his radio, just hoping to figure out what was going on, and he had exploded. What was wrong with this man?
“If you would have just told me what was going on…”
He growled, getting back to his feet. “Don’t touch my stuff,” he repeated.
“Then tell me what’s going on!”
He slammed his hands on the table flat, an explosively loud sound in the bunker. Petey was growling again.
“Just tell me!”
“The government. Dropped bombs on its own cities,” he said, as if each word hurt coming out.
“What? That’s ridiculous. You have to be wrong.”
He growled again. She could tell that she was pushing him, and she decided it would be best to lay off. “Don’t touch my stuff,” he said. Then he walked out of the kitchen, leaving her and Petey alone in the silence.
“The hell with that,” Gina muttered to Petey. The radio was still on behind her, blaring static. She turned back towards it, lowered the volume, and started tuning through channels. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Could he be telling the truth? Could the government really have dropped bombs on itself? She almost couldn’t believe it. How could they be so inept? And how would this man know, anyway? He lived in a bunker. He had to be lying.
MUNDO (BBW Bear Shifter MC Romance) (MC Bear Mates Book 2) Page 59
