I sighed. Of course he was right. I forgot about warning the people in Casper. We needed to get to them as soon as possible. We had no idea when Florida would do their patrols. The sooner we got to them, the better.
“You’re right. Let’s head back.” I headed toward the cave. I stopped right before stepping into the darkness and stared at Quinn. “You know this isn’t going to sit well with them. You know they’re going to freak.”
Quinn took a deep breath and spit. “Yeah, I know. But they knew the risks coming out here.”
I clicked my tongue. “Like they had a choice.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “They always had a choice. Unfortunately, it was between being killed by people from Florida or zombies. The best thing we can do is try to keep this as quiet as possible. We’ll tell a few people, those we can trust. We don’t need to cause a panic.”
Again, he was right. We were in a tough spot. At least this way they had a fighting chance. At least out here they could see the threat coming at them and have a chance to defend themselves. I moved so I was next to Quinn, resting my head on his shoulder.
“I guess we better stop wasting time.”
He kissed the top of my head before we hurried back through the tunnel.
CHAPTER 5
Two hours after sunset, Quinn and the others came back. He made it a point to speak to Lydia, Chester, and Pam, and they were more than willing to help block the cave entrance. They kept it quiet so it wouldn’t scare anyone. If anyone asked, we told them the tunnel wasn’t safe, that rocks were falling, so we closed it off so no one would get hurt. It was sufficient.
The other groups who ventured into the cave with us were waiting outside when we walked out. Luckily, none of them ran into any trouble. Once Quinn gave the okay, several families and individuals moved their stuff into the mountain. Others stayed outside. The wind died down once the sun set, and even though the air was cool, it was pleasant. We had to keep the prisoners in the back of the truck. There was nowhere else to place them. They grumbled and were upset about it, but what did we care? They made their choice. At least they were dry and protected. We made them dinner and gave them blankets. It was more than they could expect in a third-world country.
We had to cuff Liet to a handle in the semi. Again, there was nothing to do with him. There weren’t any cells to put him in, and he couldn’t be around the general population. We were afraid of what he’d do and what others would do to him. We gave him more sleeping pills, too, just to keep him under control. I felt a little bad about doing it, wondering if we were doing some long-term damage, but then my shoulder started aching again, and I wanted to shove the whole bottle down his throat. I refrained, of course.
I sat next to the fire, lounging on a blanket and staring into the flames. After whacking my arm on the rocks in the cave, my shoulder throbbed, so I took some pain pills. They numbed me out, not just my shoulder, my entire body. It was divine. I didn’t worry about zombies or helicopters or Liet. I just watched the blues, whites, and oranges dance in the fire.
Quinn sat next to me and kissed my cheek. I turned my head to look at him, smiling. Concern covered his face.
“You all right?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
He pointed to my face. “Your eyes look a little glazed. Did you take something?”
I nodded and focused my gaze back on the flames. “Yeah. My shoulder was killing me. I took a pain pill.”
“What did you take?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Something out of the First Aid kit Bill carried around.”
Quinn placed his hand on my leg and sighed. “We’ve got to figure out how to get the brothers out of there.”
I placed my head on his shoulder, suddenly overcome by intense sadness. “I know. Do you think they’re all right? Do you think The Families did anything to them? Like tortured them?”
Visions of Bill and Kyle tied to a table ran through my head. I saw Mrs. Johnson hooking up electrodes to their chests and heads, plugging it into a battery, and laughing manically as she flipped the switch. I squeezed my eyes shut, attempting to get rid of the image.
Quinn picked up a stick and poked at the logs in the fire. “Nah. I’m sure they’re fine. Why would they need to torture them? They have no idea we were planning an attack. They don’t even know who they are. For all they know, Bill and Kyle are just two drifters who snuck into their state.”
I hoped he was right. It was impossible to know what Tanya told them. She said she didn’t mention anything about the invasion, but maybe she said that for her own safety. She didn’t know what we would do to her. She didn’t know if we would get angry and kill her. But then again, maybe she didn’t care. Maybe she was hoping we would kill her. She just lost her dad, her last living relative. What else did she have to lose?
I glanced across the fire to where she sat. She was staring into the flames just like me. It reminded me of that night my mom and I spent in the lookout tower, the night after the explosion at the base. I remembered wishing and hoping Dad was going to come back. I remembered needing Mom to say something, to comfort me, but it didn’t happen. She was lost in her sorrow, tormented by the thought that Dad was gone.
I wondered what Tanya thought. She hadn’t said much since we left North Platte. In fact, I almost forgot she was there. She drifted around the camp, lost in her own mind, her head down while she chewed on her nail. If anyone asked her anything, she would respond with a short answer, sometimes the reply bordered on incoherent. It was sad. I knew she was depressed, trying to figure out what to do next, and I hoped she figured it out soon. She was strong and another human, we needed her help.
“There’s something down there.” Quinn’s voice was soft, whispered close to my ear.
I tore my gaze from Tanya and turned to look at him. “Where?”
“Down the hill from where we killed the zombies. I did a quick reconnaissance, and I saw a chain link fence and some buildings. They’re hidden in the trees. I think after we warn the people in Casper, before we head to Florida, we need to check it out.”
“What are we going to do about Florida?”
“I don’t know, Krista. I just don’t know. We need to give it a little time, though. Let things settle down. They’re expecting an attack now, some type of retaliation. We need to draw it out, let things calm down, then we’ll make our move.”
I was so glad he didn’t say anything about attacking Florida at the same time as North Platte. That drove me crazy. We both knew that was the best plan, but it wouldn’t have worked. First of all, we didn’t have enough people. Secondly, the workers in Nebraska wouldn’t have been able to hold out long enough. If we hadn’t done something, they might have taken Liet out on their own. Where would that have left us? I wasn’t looking for glory or recognition, but there was a personal vendetta against Liet I needed to fulfill. I knew the workers were more than capable of fending for themselves, but Quinn and I knew the West. However, they might have made it without us.
Maybe I looked at it from the wrong perspective. Maybe we should have let them stage their own coup. I’m sure they would have eventually. They were being pushed to the breaking point. Then, I wouldn’t have gotten shot, and Quinn and I could’ve disappeared at his ranch. We would be worry and stress free. But no one else would. I mentally shrugged. What did it matter? Things had already happened, and I couldn’t change the situation.
A pounding resounded in the distance. I lifted my head slightly and glanced over the fire toward the semis. It sounded like someone slammed a door. Someone probably forgot something in the truck, so I laid my head back down and attempted to get comfortable. Then, it happened again. A little louder.
“Is someone playing in the trucks?” I asked Quinn. I looked at him.
He stared toward the trucks, too, squinting into the darkness. The pounding sounded twice more, followed by a metal on metal scrape. Quinn jumped from his seat, dropping me onto my side.
&n
bsp; “Oh, crap! I think that’s the truck Liet is in.”
I scrambled to my feet as Quinn ran ahead. As I came around the front of the semi, the driver’s side door was open. Quinn was inside, glancing into the sleeper cabin. He pulled his gun out of the holster and jumped from the cab.
“I need backup!” he yelled.
My heart skipped a beat, my throat tightened. This couldn’t be happening. How would he have gotten out? He was drugged with sleeping pills. He was cuffed to a bar on the inside. The door was locked. I willed myself to fly, hoping I was in a pain-pill-induced dream.
Nothing. My feet remained planted on the ground. I wasn’t dreaming.
Several others surrounded us, their hands on their hips, wondering what was going on. Quinn grabbed his flashlight off his belt. He clicked it on and illuminated the ground. Footprints led away from the truck, into the trees, and Quinn followed after them.
“What’s going on?” Pam wondered. She stood right next to me.
“Liet got out.” The words caught in my throat. I had to choke them out, unable and unwilling to believe I had to say them.
Without a word, Pam disappeared behind me. She re-emerged a few seconds later with a rifle and another flashlight. She took off after Quinn. I didn’t know what to do. I stood next to the truck, my mouth hanging open. The pills dulled my senses, made it hard to think, so my reactions were slow. I couldn’t just stand there. I had to help. I moved to take off after them, but someone grabbed my arm. I turned to see Tanya.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I...I have to find him. We can’t let him go.”
She released her grip and nodded toward my sling. “You can’t go into the woods with your arm like that. The ground is uneven, what happens if you trip?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“No, you won’t. You need to leave it to them.”
Lydia and Chester approached at that moment, wondering what happened. Tanya explained the situation, and they turned to the others. They organized a group and headed into the woods after Pam and Quinn. Tanya led me back to the fire and sat me down. If I had full control of my senses, I would have protested. I would have jerked out her grasp and headed into the trees. I knew it wasn’t a good idea. I would be useless, but I loathed not being able to help. I hated waiting for news. But she was right. I wouldn’t be any help. If Liet sensed my weakness, he could use me against the others. What if he took me hostage? What if he took the opportunity to kill me? Quinn, Pam, and the others were more than capable, they could handle it. They had to.
I didn’t sleep. I was tired, but I had to know what happened to Liet. I sat by the fire, staring into the darkness, waiting for them to come back. It was going to be at any moment. He didn’t get far, he couldn’t. The sleeping pills slowed him down.
The group didn’t return until day break. I stood and waited for Quinn to approach. His face was gray, his eyes pink from lack of sleep. His mouth turned down in a frown, his shoulders slumped forward. Pam walked behind him. She didn’t look much better. They plopped on the ground in front of me. Tanya threw some more logs onto the fire. I moved in front of Quinn. Kneeling in front of him, I placed my hand on his knee.
“What happened? Did you get him?”
He clenched his jaw. “No. He’s gone.”
I swallowed thickly. It felt like someone punched me in the stomach. I couldn’t catch my breath. I fell onto my butt and placed a hand on my forehead. How could he have gotten away? We took so many precautions. It was my worst nightmare. The only thing I could hope for was that the zombies would take care of him. He was unarmed, and we were a long way from civilization. I knew it was desperate, I knew Liet was a survivor and would probably make it through, but I had to tell myself something.
“We’ve posted guards,” Pam explained. “And we’ll fortify the camp while you’re gone. He won’t be able to come back around here without someone knowing.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Just so you know, if he does come back around here, I’m not taking him alive. And I doubt anyone else is going to either.”
I nodded. It had to be done. No one could fault them for thinking like that. Or blame them if they went through with it. We kept him alive as a prisoner so the history books would portray us as being fair and perfect role models for democracy. All bets went out the window after his escape. He was dangerous, and no one knew what he was going to do. I glanced at Quinn. If anyone was going to have any issues, it was him. He just looked at Pam, quickly nodded his head, then went back to staring at the fire.
“Do you think he’ll come back?” Tanya asked.
We all looked at her.
“It’s hard to say,” Pam answered. “If Liet thinks he can benefit in some way by coming back, he will. It’s also possible he’ll try to make it to Florida. Inform them of our plans and get back up to wipe us off the planet. He knows where we are.”
Tanya’s face paled. “But that will take him a while, right? I mean, he doesn’t have a car. And there are zombies out there. He could get killed.”
Quinn sighed, drawing our attention to him. “He could die and he could make it to Florida.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Liet’s smart enough to know how to avoid danger. He’s also smart enough to know he needs weapons, so he’ll find the closest town he can. We have to assume the worst.”
Tanya pointed toward the woods. “Then, you have to find him. You have to hunt him down like a dog and kill him.”
“That’s what he’s counting on,” I spoke softly.
Tanya stared at me, wide eyed. “What do you mean?”
“He wants us to go after him. That gives him time to head to Florida, and it takes us away from planning the attack. If we’re busy looking for him, we can’t cause any more damage.”
She scrunched up her nose, stood up, and paced. “You should have killed him when you had the chance. Then, none of this would have happened.”
“Is that what you would have done?” Quinn’s voice was low, almost inaudible.
Tanya stopped moving and stared at him over the flames. “That is exactly what I would have done.” She threw her arms out to the side, gesturing to the camp. “Look how many people you just put in danger.”
“And what if we needed information from him? What if he had some great secret that would help us take The Families down?”
She huffed. “Like he’d give it to you.”
Quinn stared at her for a moment. A hard stare. His jaw muscles tightened. “He definitely wouldn’t be able to tell us if he were dead.”
She huffed again. “If he were dead, your problem would be solved. All of these people would be safe.”
“What problem is that, Tanya? Would the zombies be taken care of? Would we have freed the people in Florida? If you ask me, you’re prone to snap decisions. You don’t think about the consequences. That’s why you were so quick to blame us for the zombies in the back of the truck and to let Bill and Kyle get arrested. You couldn’t think up a lie to protect the brothers? Did you ever think maybe they had some answers?”
Her eyes grew wide and she stopped pacing. “To what? They weren’t there when the truck came. How would they know if you placed the zombies or not?”
Quinn shook his head. “They know us better than that. They would have vouched for us. The world doesn’t revolve around you and your pain, Tanya. There are bigger things out there, more people who counted on them. You jumped to a conclusion, and out of anger and spite, you did what you thought was right. We could’ve done the same thing. We could’ve killed Liet out of anger, but where would that leave us? With blood on our hands. With the guilt of knowing we killed a human being. He might have had a change of heart, he might have decided he wanted to help us, but we’d never know if we killed him. Just like you’ll never know what Bill and Kyle could have done for the revolution because you let them get captured.”
He continued to stare at her, his face turned red. Her anger softened, and her eyes became glassy. She
plopped onto the ground, her chin quivered. I thought at any moment the tears would fall. I wanted to say something, I wanted to break the tension, but I didn’t know how.
Tanya did what she thought was right. Yes, it was out of anger, but how was she supposed to know? Did she jeopardize the mission and the lives of our friends? Yes, but it was done. We couldn’t change it. I was shocked by Quinn’s reaction to it. He’d been so cool before, so calm. The hate seared in his tone. He did his best to keep it under control, but we all heard it. It was a little scary.
Tanya took a deep breath and turned away. Quinn lowered his gaze to the fire. He poked at it with his stick. I glanced at Pam. She shrugged, then turned away. What could anyone say? The stress was getting out of hand. It was one thing to plan an invasion. It was another to figure out how to free our friends. It was a completely different ball game when our arch enemy escaped. We didn’t know what he planned. We could only hope he would try to make it to Florida and die in the process.
Was it the nicest thing to hope for? Of course not. But it would be a lot more merciful than what would happen if he came back to the camp.
Abruptly, Quinn stood from the fire. “We need to head to Casper. We need to warn those people.”
I wasn’t going to argue. Anything was better than sitting in that tension. I stood, and so did Pam.
“You want a lookout?” she asked.
Quinn faced her. The anger melted from his face. His jaw muscles loosened. “I do, but someone needs to stay here in case Liet comes back. You have the respect of the people, you can keep them together. Krista and I can handle it.”
She nodded.
We headed to the semi Liet escaped from. After detaching the trailer, we drove down the mountain. I stared out the window, still searching for something to say to Quinn. Nothing came to mind. It had been a long night, and we were both tired. It would have been best to get some sleep, but we didn’t have time. We wasted enough of it looking for Liet, we had to make sure those people in Casper were going to be safe.
Life After The Undead Omnibus [Books 1-2] Page 29
