When Night Falls (Regeneration Series Book 1)

by Airicka Phoenix

  “God, Red!” he breathed into her shoulder. “I’ve been worried sick.”

  Sniffling back tears she had no memory of shedding, Scarlett nodded. “Me too!” She raised her head to search his face. “Are you okay?”

  He tightened his hold around her. “Fine now. I am so sorry—”

  She shook her head. “Not your fault.”

  “I tried so hard not to let you go.”

  “I know.”

  “The crowd just kept pushing and I couldn’t—”

  She pulled back and took his face into her hands. She wiped away the tears and smiled up at him. “It’s not your fault. Everything’s fine now.”

  “Not to interrupt, but nothing’s fine.” They turned to the sound of Silos’ curt voice. “Or have you forgotten the horde of flesh eating monsters outside the door?”

  Scarlett lowered her arms and took Hunter’s hand, unwilling to let him go now that she’d found him.

  “Are they still out there?” a woman asked, clutching a small boy to her skirt.

  Scarlett hesitated, but slowly nodded. “They seem to be coming from the boiler room. They’ve taken over deck ten as far as we know and both emergency stairways.”

  “Then we’re trapped,” a man panted, his voice bordering on hysterical. “We’re going to die in here!”

  His exclamation had the others stirring. A child cried. People shouted profanities and prayers. Scarlett tightened her grip on Hunter, fully expecting a riot.

  “People!” Silos put his hands up and the room instantly hushed. “So long as we are breathing, there is always hope! We will survive this.”

  Scarlett had no idea how he could be sure of this, but he sounded confident and his confidence seemed to smother the low flame that had begun to rise.

  He turned to her small group. “You look like you could use a place to rest. Why don’t we get you some food and water? Then we can talk.”

  “We have friends out there,” Scarlett interrupted. “We need to go back—”

  “That isn’t an option.” His gaze shifted to the door behind them before returning to them. “If the stairwell is as overflowed as you say, then we cannot risk the lives of all these people. We can only hope that they will find their way to us.” He made a waving motion with his hand and a pretty girl of about fifteen slipped out of the crowd to stand at his side. “This is Tamiya. She will show you were to clean.”

  Tamiya smiled at them and waved with her hand for them to follow. Scarlett glanced at Hunter, silently questioning him with her eyes. At his nod, she followed the girl with Mac and Kiera at her heels.

  “What happened?” she asked Hunter as they passed the dispersing crowd towards the chambers beyond the doorway. It was a series of more lounges that had been converted into sleeping quarters.

  “That whole night is just one messed up blur,” Hunter muttered, shaking his head. “I saw you slip and go down. I tried like crazy to get to you, but it was like trying to fight a stormy ocean. People were shoving and then we were in the stairway. Next thing I knew, people were screaming and those things were everywhere, eating people!” His jaw muscles bunched. His nostrils flared as he sucked in a breath. “Someone opened the door to deck seven and I followed. Several of us tried to go back out for supplies and to search for more survivors, but those things always knew. It’s like as soon as you leave that door, they can smell you.”

  “They can.” She told him about the ones they’d faced in the vendor level and how they had sniffed the air like animals on the hunt.

  Hunter shook his head. “What the hell is going on, Red?”

  “I don’t know, but Rolf’s out there. I have to find him.”

  A frown creased his brow as he looked down at her. “What?”

  “He saved my life, Hunter. He risked his to find you. He’s not a bad guy.”

  “I never said he was,” Hunter replied, turning his face forward. “What he is, is an asshole.”

  Scarlett scowled at him. “Why would you say that?”

  Annoyance flickered behind his eyes as they dropped down to her. He darted a glance to the two walking quietly behind them before lowering his head and hissing quietly into her ear, “I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

  She blinked in surprise. “What? How does he look at me?”

  “Like a guy with a girlfriend shouldn’t look at another girl!” he bit through his teeth. He straightened. “I have no love for guys like that.”

  What could she say to that? How could she explain to him that she’d probably encouraged those looks and liked them? He’d be so disappointed in her. Hell, she was disappointed in herself.

  “It’s complicated, Hunter,” she grumbled and winced when she realized how much she sounded like Rolf.

  “Whatever,” he muttered. “He just better get his shit together. That’s all I’m saying.”

  The corridor went on for a while before they finally stopped at a makeshift kitchen and eating area. There was a second chamber off to the left, separated by a door that led into a marble bathroom. Tamiya told them to take as long as they needed then walked away.

  Kiera darted in first and shut the door behind her. Mac leaned into the wall next to the door and waited as Hunter pulled Scarlett aside.

  “Tell me what happened after we got separated.”

  With a heavy sigh, she did, reliving every gruesome moment of her time without him, although she left out the part where she slept on Rolf’s lap. When she got to the end, Hunter whistled through his teeth.

  “Wow!” He rolled his tongue over his lip, a gesture she knew well when he was hesitating on something.

  “What?” she prompted.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Nothing.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and threw a glance towards Mac. “So, Jack made it, huh?”

  Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, and he’s an asshole, by the way.”

  The moment she said it, she felt horrible. The guy could be dead and he had saved her life.

  Hunter’s eyebrows winged up. “Jack? No way. He’s a total sweetheart.”

  She had to bite her lip to keep from grinning. “Says you. He was a jerk to me.”

  He grinned a little, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “Guess he might need a spanking.”

  “Ugh, ew!” She turned away from him and slammed her hands down over her ears. “Don’t need to hear that.”

  She heard his snicker just as the bathroom door opened and Kiera strolled out. Mac offered her a small grin before glancing at Scarlett and gesturing for her to take the washroom next.

  Unwilling to give up the opportunity to scrub off the infected blood caking her, Scarlett took the opening given to her. She slipped past the two and closed herself into the small room. She stripped off her bag and clothes and tossed them into the corner as she stepped into the cylinder chamber. She didn’t even bother assessing the damage in the mirror. The shower struck her instantly as the sensors located her weight. She adjusted the temperature and scrubbed every inch of herself until her skin glowed. She dried off quickly and redressed in a fresh pair of clothes from her bag. Her old things hit the disposal and vanished from sight.

  Mac and Kiera stood where she’d left them when she exited the washroom. Both glanced up when she walked out. Mac inclined his head before ducking into the room and shutting the door behind him. Ignoring the blonde, Scarlett went to Hunter.

  “God, that felt good.”

  “Yeah, you looked crazy scary when you first arrived. Kind of like that weird movie you like on the holo discs. The one with that girl and the school…”

  “Carrie,” she supplied. “And it’s not weird. It was written by one of the greatest literary authors of that era, Stephen King.”

  Hunter rolled his eyes. “Only you would know that.”

  “Well, you would too if you would bother opening a history—”

  “Pass.”

  Scarlett kicked him playfully, then dropped into the seat next to him. “So tell me abou
t this Silos guy. What’s his story?”

  Hunter shrugged. “You know about as much as I do. The guy’s okay. He calmed everyone down that first night. It was total chaos here. I mean, people were freaking out everywhere. But he just walked right in, told everyone what needed to be done and that was it. They listen to him.”

  She’d already guessed as much from the little she’d seen of their host.

  “Did he say how we’re able to be here? In an abandoned red zone?”

  “Only that the chemicals must have cleared.” He jerked his shoulders again. “No reason not to believe him. I mean, we’re all here.”

  “Yeah,” she mumbled

  “What?” He shouldered her lightly. “I know that tone.”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

  Silos appeared in the opening between the bathroom and the doorway. “You will be given time to rest, but first, we must talk.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  They were taken to the kitchen area and told to sit around a long, wooden table. A woman of about thirty with round hips and a kind smile set bowls of stew in front of them from the food dispenser built into the corner wall. The tantalizing scent of meat, carrots, and potatoes nearly had Scarlett drooling into her soup. She had to restrain herself into taking human-sized bites and not dive face first into the bowl while Silos spoke.

  “Tell me what’s out there? Is there anything left?”

  It took Scarlett a moment to realize she was the only one who could answer. Mac couldn’t and Kiera didn’t seem interested as she asked the woman serving them if the meat was soy.

  Grudgingly, she set her spoon down and forced herself not to growl her answers. “There’s nothing out there,” she said. “Most of the decks, as far as I know, are clear, except for deck ten. There was a couple with us, but they lost their lives when the vendor level was overtaken and we were forced to flee into the stairways. Aside from our group, they were the only other survivors we’d seen since this started.”

  Silos nodded slowly. “And your group. How many were there?”

  Scarlett frowned. “There are seven, including Hunter. We lost one the first night. Wheat.”

  The man’s head tipped ever so slightly to the side. “You speak as though you believe your friends to still be alive.”

  Across from Scarlett, Mac dropped his spoon with a resounding clang into his bowl. Soup splashed over the rim, creating puddles on the table. His narrowed brown eyes fixed hard on Silos.

  “They are alive,” Scarlett said for them both. “You don’t know Rolf. He’d never let those things stop him from coming back.”

  “To you?” Silos questioned, eyebrow raised.

  Realizing her mistake, Scarlett dropped her gaze to her bowl, but she could feel the eyes on her, burning into her.

  “If your friends are as fierce as you claim, then I have no doubt they will be joining us soon, but in the meantime, it’s usually best to prepare for the worst.” He folded his hands on the table. “What were your plans? The pods, I presume?”

  Collecting herself and being very careful not to look at anyone but Silos, Scarlett replied, “Yes.”

  Silos nodded. “That was our plan as well. Unfortunately, our fearless captain miscalculated the wisdom of her decision to contain the infected in the boiler room.”

  “The boiler room is the only place to contain—”

  “There were other methods she could have used. She chose to be noble.”

  Scarlett narrowed her eyes. “You mean shoot them into space.”

  Silos splayed his hands open, palms up. “Is that so wrong?”

  “The captain was hoping to find a cure!” she argued. “Those things were once people.”

  “Once, but no longer.” He said it with such ease. “Now look at where we are. I doubt this was the type of future your parents were hoping for you.”

  Scarlett stiffened.

  “Hey, that’s low!” Hunter snapped.

  Silos put his hands up. “You’re right. I overstepped. I apologize.”

  Appetite gone, Scarlett nudged back her bowl, noticing that Mac had done the same. Kiera was the only one who seemed oblivious to the discussion and the tense turn it had taken.

  “I think it’s time for us to go,” Scarlett said. “We need to find our friends—”

  “You cannot leave,” Silos said calmly, but it sent a chill down Scarlett’s spine.

  She exchanged a glance with Mac, relieved to see the wary glint in his eyes mirroring hers.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, what do you think?” Silos rose from his chair at the head of the table and stood before them. “Those things are still out there. You won’t make it out alive. This is the only safe place left on the ship.”

  “But we can’t stay here forever,” she argued. “Eventually the food dispenser will run dry and—”

  “I am not saying forever. I am saying there is a certain safety in numbers.”

  Scarlett got to her feet. Across from her, Mac did the same.

  “As I said, our friends are out there.”

  “And what if they’re dead? What good will leaving do you?”

  Mac rapped on the table with his knuckles to get everyone’s attention. In a handful of harsh gestures, he signed something. Scarlett had no idea what, but from the venomous glower on his face, she could only guess.

  When finished, he kicked back his chair and stalked to where he’d dumped his pack. He swung it on.

  Scarlett gave Silos’s confused features one final glance before following Mac. Kiera, finally noticing that something was happening, glanced up.

  “What’s going on? Are we leaving?”

  No one bothered answering her question.

  “Thank you for allowing us to use your washroom,” Scarlett said, manners her parents had drummed into her surfacing despite her desire to flip the guy off. She threw the straps of her bag over her shoulders. A movement from the corner of her eye had her glancing in the direction of the doorway. A pair of blue eyes blinked back at her from a small, round face. She inwardly cursed before turning back to Silos. “We’ll come back for you if we’re able to find a way out.”

  Mac made a snorting sound, then caught sight of the boy peeking at them from the doorway and groaned. He grumbled and nodded.

  “But I don’t want to go!” Kiera whined. “It’s safe here.”

  “We have to go,” Scarlett growled at her. “We have to find the others and regroup.”

  Kiera glowered at her. “Who died and made you in charge?”

  Scarlett yanked on the adjusters on her bag, shortening the straps. “Fine, you stay. We’re going.”

  Hunter leapt out of his chair and scrambled around the table. “Wait for me!” he shouted as he jogged past them and disappeared through the doorway.

  “I’m asking you to reconsider,” Silos said calmly. “There is nothing out there for you but a very painful death.”

  Mac signed something that involved a lot of loud slapping sounds.

  Scarlett nodded as though she’d understood and agreed with whatever he was saying. She glanced at the woman who had served them and inclined her head in thanks before snapping on her heels and marching out. There was no need to glance back to see if Mac was following. She could hear the hard thumps of his boots.

  People glanced up as they passed. There were so many, she thought, thinking back to her promise. How were they going to get that many people out? First things first, she told herself. They needed to find Rolf and the others. Then they would think of a plan.

  Near the stairway doors, Hunter caught up to them. His hands were empty so Scarlett wasn’t sure what he’d gone to get. She opened her mouth to ask when something thumped against the door only a stone throw away from them. The room behind them gasped. A child wailed and was quickly shushed.

  Another thump, louder and with more force. Scarlett fell a step back. Mac unholstered his weapon and trained it on the door. Scuffles from behi
nd them had her glancing back and she watched as no less than six men, marshals judging from their brown uniforms, formed a half circle with their weapons drawn.

  Scarlett had but a half second to wonder where they’d come from when the thumps grew into bangs. It sounded like there was a war going on, on the other side.

  “Keep watch.” Silos marched into their midst. “I want all exits guarded at all times.” Cool, brown eyes met Scarlett’s as the marshals hurried to follow his orders. “It doesn’t look like you’ll be going anywhere for a while.”

  They were given three cots in the corner with a lumpy pillow and a thin blanket. Hunter dragged his bedding over to join them, but no one else seemed enthused to meet the newcomers. Most, she noticed, didn’t even have cots, but makeshift beds on the floor. Several feet away from her, a woman, heavily pregnant from the looks of her, was sitting cross legged on a mound of blankets next to a toddler of about three. Scarlett couldn’t fathom how she’d managed to make the rush, but there she was. Scarlett offered up her cot in exchange for the blankets. The woman had smiled and told her she didn’t mind the floor. Scarlett insisted until the woman succumbed and took the cot.

  Scarlett dragged her pile of blankets over to her corner and laid them out. It wasn’t much, but it kept the cold of the floor from seeping into her while she slept. Hunter tried to give her his cot, but she turned him down.

  “You’re not getting my blankets,” she teased him.

  He rolled his eyes, grinning. “You’re such a loser.”

  That night, after the lights had been switched off and the chamber was filled with the soft sound of breathing and the occasional snore, Scarlett stayed awake, staring into the darkness in the direction of the door. Every second that passed, she prayed it would fly open and Rolf would come charging through, but every second passed and nothing happened. It remained firmly shut. Her heart ached until all she could do was curl up onto her side and press her knees into her chest. Horrific images of him lying torn and bloody at the bottom of those stairs chased her every time she closed her eyes and they would fly open, a sob perched on her lips.