“Just upset is all,” Nolan replied. “Lost a lot of people.”
I stood in front of Sam, shielding her from the soldier’s view as I tried to talk her down from whatever ledge she was on.
“Come on, love, take a breath and calm down. It’s going to be okay. Barrett said he’d be back and he’d sort it, right?”
“And he’s so reliable?” she bit out.
“Not let us down yet though,” I replied truthfully. I didn’t like the man much and I certainly didn’t trust him; it was obvious he had an agenda, though what it was I didn’t know. And I had no doubt that he was definitely out for himself first and would no doubt take us down if he had to, but when he promised something he went through with it, and I clung to that fact like a gun to my head.
“So where is he?” she sobbed.
She looked up into my eyes and I almost fell over in relief when I saw that her eyes were now only a little bloodshot.
“That’s it, keep breathing, Sam. You’re coming back, right?”
She nodded and took a slow, shaky breath. Nolan had taken a couple of steps away from us to speak to the soldier and keep him away, but the other man was getting antsy. He started back towards us and Nolan followed, looking stressed out and anxious.
“Ma’am? You okay?”
The soldier was only young, couldn’t have been older than twenty years old, but his eyes told a different story. His uniform was splattered in dried stains that could only be blood, but given the way Sam didn’t react to him or them, I guessed it was zombie blood and not human.
“I’m fine now, thank you. It was just a little overwhelming,” she said softly as she stood back up and turned slowly to face him. I watched her, my whole body tense.
He assessed her, his suspicious gaze moving up and down her body, and then he gave a nod. “Get yourselves over to testing. Through the other side there’s medical, food, and beds. We’ve got you now, and we’re here to protect you, ma’am. Nothing to worry about now.” He gave her a smile and wandered back off.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“What now?” I asked Nolan.
“We get to testing,” he replied.
“And then what? They’ll see that I’m infected!” Sam said, starting to get upset again.
“Maybe not. Maybe it won’t show up in your blood. You’re different than those other…things,” Nolan said, sounding frustrated.
Sam looked up at me, her eyes sparking with hope. “Could he be right?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said with a futile shrug. “Maybe. I mean, you’re not like one of those things, are you? Not really.”
“No, no I’m not. I promise you, Rose, I’m not!” She started to sob again.
“Sir, ma’am, I need to ask you to get over to testing please.” The soldier was back and he did not look happy.
I nodded and started to lead Sam towards the tent. I could see Leon and Karla three or four people in front of us. They kept looking back our way. Karla looked worried, but Leon looked pissed off What was new there?
Sam clasped my hand in hers. “You really need to pick better men to be infatuated with you next time, ’kay?” She squeezed my hand and even managed a small smirk, though it did nothing to melt the anxiety in her eyes.
I snorted on a laugh. “Jesus, was that a joke?” I shook my head and tried to smile.
“Might as well joke before they put a gun to my head, right?”
I stopped and turned to her. “No, that’s not going to happen.”
She shrugged and pulled me forwards. It felt like I was walking towards our impending doom, not towards sanctuary, and I squeezed her hand tighter in mine.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Sam,” I said.
“It’s either they’ll kill me on sight or they’ll lock me up and test on me,” she said with a swallow. “I don’t want to be an experiment.”
She was right, and I couldn’t argue with her, and if it were me I’d prefer to die than be experimented on too, so I had no argument. I gave her hand a small squeeze, because no words were adequate.
The sound of a gun going off from behind us made me jump and let out a small scream, which in turn made Sam let out a small scream too. We all turned to see what had happened, watching as soldiers began running towards the entrance, guns in hands and yelling at each other.
The soldier that had been ordering us to testing turned to us. “Get behind the fence now!” He turned and started to run away, but Nolan shouted after him.
“What’s going on?”
“Breach at the gate,” he called back. “Get behind the fence, now!”
And then he was running full pelt towards the gate. We turned back around, watching as two remaining soldiers opened a gate in the fence and started ushering people inside.
“Quick! Come on before it’s too late,” Nolan barked, and we all started to run towards the fence.
The soldiers there didn’t check anyone unless there was blood or a visible wound, and so we were through and into our sanctuary within seconds. I turned to Sam and Nolan, breathing hard and thanking our stroke of luck for getting us through that, when Barrett came running through.
“Sir, no guns are allowed past this point,” said the female soldier checking everyone in, ordering Barrett to surrender his weapon to her immediately.
He glanced at Sam and then back to the soldier before handing over his handgun. The woman gave him a quick once-over and nodded for him to enter. He moved straight over to Sam, taking her other hand, and then we all started to walk into the army base.
“You good?” Barrett asked Sam.
“I’m allergic to coconuts,” she replied seriously.
“Good thing I fucking hate coconuts then,” he said, barking out a laugh.
He pushed in front of the small crowd of people that had just entered and were looking lost as to where to go, and started marching us through the field of tents and tables.
“Where are we going?” I asked, struggling to keep up with his large strides. Nolan was right behind me, breathing a little heavily.
“We need to blend in before they get that shit under control,” Barrett said over his shoulder. He pulled Sam a little faster, and I let loose her hand so I could concentrate on keeping my own footing.
When he thought we were far enough away, he pulled up a flap on one of the tents and dragged Sam inside. The tent housed a single sleeping bag, a backpack, and a dirty pillow. Nolan opened up the backpack and started checking out the contents while Barrett pulled down the flap of the tent and turned to Sam.
“Seriously, you good?” Barrett asked her again, his hands running over her shoulders and arms like he was checking for cuts and bruises. “They test you?”
She shook her head.
“Good. Wasn’t sure I’d make it in time.”
My eyes narrowed and I looked at Nolan, who had also stopped what he was doing. “That was you?” I asked. “The breach?”
Barrett nodded and smiled. “Sure was. You think that was luck on your side?”
“Well, yeah.” I shrugged.
“Darlin,’ we make our own luck in this world.” Barrett let out a deep laugh. “So I guess you can call me your lucky rabbit’s foot then.”
Chapter Two
~ Sam ~
If we hadn’t been in a tent, in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, just following a brush with death, I might have jumped Barrett’s bones.
I was still shaking inside, still brittle as ancient glass, but I was alive. I hadn’t been tested. Only a few people knew or suspected my secret, and it was going to stay that way. At least for the time being.
“Barrett, thank you.” I stared him down, gazes locked. He hadn’t let go of me since he’d pulled me into the tent. It felt like he’d checked and studied every inch of me. For a moment there, I hadn’t thought he was going to come back, that maybe he’d left me there to suffer whatever fate a positive test might bring.
“It was noth�
�”
“Don’t say it was nothing.” I pressed a finger to his mouth; his lips were slightly parted in mid-speech. They were butter soft. I wanted to kiss him again. I resisted. “It wasn’t nothing. You saved me. And not for the first damn time. I don’t get you,” I admitted. I took a deep breath, needing to pause after the confession. “One minute I feel like you’re in this for yourself. For your drugs. For the people you call your family. I don’t understand why you’d sacrifice and risk shit for me. I’m a stranger. Not only a stranger…” I paused again, biting my bottom lip. “I’m a sick stranger. Seriously, seriously sick.”
My face got hot, like someone had turned on a switch. The tent was stifling. I needed to focus on something else, not on the fact that I was definitely, obviously, infected.
Barrett, looking kinder than he ever had, put his right hand on my cheek. “Don’t ask me to explain shit I don’t understand, gal.” He drawled out the words, sounding like the best kind of country western song. He leaned in, mouth close to my ear. “It’s something I can’t fucking explain—not one damn bit. But I ain’t leaving you. Least not yet.” When he pulled back, he pecked me lightly on the forehead and winked. It somehow made the uncomfortable heat flood away and a welcome, toe-curling warmth replace it.
It also made tears well in my eyes.
“None of that,” Barrett admonished gently, using his large, rough thumb to wipe away a tear that escaped my right eye.
Sniffing, I agreed. “None of that.”
“Not much in the backpack.” Nolan broke into the little bubble Barrett and I had created around us. It saddened me that the safety and seclusion of it should have to pop.
Barrett stood to his full height and turned around. “And a single backpack. My guess is we’ve got a loner; otherwise there’d be other belongings—something to indicate he or she isn’t alone. That’s a good thing. One person going missing is less noticeable.”
“Missing?” Rose asked.
“We need this tent and we don’t want people asking questions,” Barrett replied bluntly.
I watched the realization cross Rose’s face at the same time Nolan and I got his understanding.
“Are you insane?” Rose snapped. “You want to kill them? Whoever lives here?!”
“No,” Nolan interjected. “That’s not fucking happening.”
Barrett sighed and rolled his eyes, a smile on his face. “Your funeral.” He glanced across at me. “Or rather hers.”
Rose shook her head. “Nothing is going to happen to Sam. Nothing!”
I realized I was shaking, trembling at the thought that Barrett was willing to kill an innocent person to protect me. I couldn’t—and wouldn’t—let that happen.
“No, Barrett,” I said softly.
He turned to look at me, still with the same cocky look on his face.
“No.”
Silence fell over us for a moment until Nolan broke it.
“It’s easier to convince one person that we mean no harm, that we’ve been checked and are supposed to be here. At least until we figure out our next move.”
“What about Karla and Leon?” Rose had her arms crossed, looking less settled than everyone else over pitching camp in this tent, with its few belongings. “They don’t know anything for sure, but they were damned suspicious. I wouldn’t put it past either of them to blow the whistle on Sam just to gain some advantage or something.”
“We don’t even know where the hell they are, so we can’t talk any damn sense into them,” Nolan added, his eyes slightly wider, like he hadn’t really thought about the duo we’d lost track of in the frenzy of the orchestrated breach.
“We’ll find them,” Barrett spoke menacingly, “and I’ll talk some sense into them.” He flexed his fingers at his side, cracking each knuckle individually.
“Calm down, Captain America,” Rose said, rolling her eyes.
Barrett looked affronted. “I’m more a Hulk type, UK.”
“What, you grow big and green when you’re angry?” she snarked.
“Well, I grow big,” he snapped right back, looking self-satisfied and a bit suggestive.
“Wanker,” Rose spat out.
Barrett held up his hands, sort of turning and indicating the room at large. “Was I not clear enough? Yes, I grow down there.” He waggled his eyebrows.
And Rose looked like she was about to waltz over and try to kick his ass. I was fairly sure she wouldn’t be successful. Like at all. But I loved her spunk regardless.
“Am I going to have to spend the rest of my life breaking up pissing contests between you two?” I stamped my foot for emphasis, though I’m pretty sure it just made me seem even less imposing. “I could die at any moment, you know. I deserve better quality of life than this.”
“All of you shut up,” Nolan barked. “Someone’s coming.”
At that, we all clammed up. Nolan was standing at the tent flap, holding it slightly open.
“Yeah, they’re definitely coming this way,” he qualified, his voice low and harsh.
“Shit,” Rose breathed out. “What do they look like? Soldiers?”
My blood went cold at that. We’d just escaped danger—or so we’d thought. We needed a reprieve. We didn’t need to flee or fight again; not right now.
“No. Teenager. Can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen.” Nolan dropped the tent flap. “Look casual.”
Nolan walked quickly to the back of the tent and sank down; he stretched one leg out, cocked the other up, and rested his arms against his raised knee. Rose followed suit, going to sit next to him, but criss-cross applesaucing. Barrett and I stayed where we were, standing next to one another, facing Nolan and Rose like we were all in conversation.
A few moments later, the tent flap lifted and the newcomer made short work of rolling it and tying it into an open position. He didn’t see us at first, his eyes adjusting to the dimness. When he did, he froze in surprise. “Um…hi.” His voice sounded even younger than he looked. He forcibly, and visually, regained his composure. “Sorry, didn’t know they’d placed anyone else in this tent yet. I mean, not that they actually placed me here. Stuck me with some old grandma types a few tents over.”
He walked over to his backpack and sleeping bag. He sort of stared at it, a funny expression on his face, like he could tell someone had messed with things. He sat down on the sleeping bag and pulled his pack to him, going through it slowly and checking everything. I liked that he did it in front of us, with no disguise. He wanted us to know that he realized it had been touched.
To me, that marked him as someone who was savvy, someone who could survive, which was a good thing in these dark times. It also meant we needed to be wary of him too though.
“Where’s your family?” Nolan asked, still acting like we all belonged there, even though none of us did—not even the boy.
The boy shrugged but didn’t answer. I glanced at Rose and found she was looking at me. There was pain in her face. I knew, if I could see myself, I’d mirror her look. We both knew what it was like to feel alone. Maybe he’d just been separated from his family, maybe he didn’t have any at all…maybe he’d watched them die.
“Do you have anyone?” Rose asked gently, moving a little across the ground toward the kid, and away from Nolan.
He shrugged again, but his face scrunched up like he was fighting tears. Teenage boys weren’t prone to letting strangers see them cry—at least none of the ones I’d met in my life had been—so I was afraid I knew the answer.
“It’s okay,” I said, leaving Barrett and going to the kid. I sat down next to him and waited for him to look up at me. Not long after, Rose moved the rest of the way over to join us.
“Seriously, we’re all alone here.” She tried to keep her voice calm, but I could hear how it vibrated around the edges, threatening to crumble.
“You guys aren’t alone.” He finally spoke again, eyeing Barrett and Nolan.
“We just met them,” I spoke quickly. “We just met each othe
r.” I pointed at Rose. “Honestly, we’re as alone as you. It sucks. You don’t have to be scared.”
“I’m not scared,” he argued.
“Course you’re not, kid,” Barrett’s twang sounded, and I wondered if I was going to want to elbow him in the gut after he said something dickish. “But it doesn’t hurt to make friends in a shitty situation like this. And we’re not going to do a damn thing to hurt you.”
I looked at Barrett, surprised at his words. Then I remembered his past, what he’d said about his ‘adoptive” family. Maybe he related to the kid even more than Rose and I did.
The teen pulled on his long sleeve to cover his left hand and he swiped at his eyes, cleaning away some of the dampness there and some of the dirt.
“All right,” he spoke quietly. The tent went silent for a moment. Then he talked again. “So, did you guys make it through the test? Painful as hell, wasn’t it? Whole right forearm feels like it’s going to freaking fall off. Look.” He pushed back his right sleeve then. There was a perfect circle of damaged flesh. What looked like a hundred pin pricks filled the shape. It was fresh enough that when he poked at it, a little bit of blood welled up.
“Yeah, hurt like a mother,” Nolan said quickly. And then his gaze quickly skimmed over all of us, making sure we had on clothing that covered our arms. Luckily, we did.
“Almost as bad as when I got the smallpox vaccine,” Barrett added. “Put a waterproof bandage on that fucker, and two days later all the skin fell off.”
“Gross,” the boy said quickly, pulling down his sleeve and seeming to be satisfied with what the men had said. He rifled through his backpack and pulled out a beat-up metal water bottle. “So what are your names, anyways?”
Rose answered first. “I’m Rose and this is Sam. The big guy with the accent over there is Barrett. And that’s Nolan.”
“Cool. I’m Andy.” He took a long drink of water. “It’s not like I’m…you know, not used to being alone. My mom was in jail and my dad left a long time ago. The nuns took pity on me, you know? They take some of the kids from the system. Better than shitty foster families, I guess. They tried to get all the survivors from the convent group home here. They were all a bunch of punks though. Seriously. Every freaking one of them.” Despite his words, Andy swiped at his damp eyes. I had a feeling they weren’t just a bunch of punks to him.
Red Eye | Season 2 | Episode 1 Page 2
