by Lake, D. K.
"Put him down!" one of them yelled and a second later one of them had a needle in their hand and stuck it in Drew's neck. I screamed bloody murder as he went limp in their arms. I kicked and screamed, and bit anyone that came near me to help the soldier that was trying to restrain me the best he could but I was resisting. And in a very unladylike fashion, I spat at another one of them but it was to no avail. I had lost the fight. I was still screaming when I felt a prick in the side on my own neck.
"Motherfu-" Everything went black.
Chapter 21
I opened my eyes, feeling groggy. I was laying on something soft. I looked around to find I was laying on a flowery embroidered couch in an unfamiliar room. The walls were beige and boring with period artwork hanging on them. The tall gold drapes were wide open and letting in the sunlight. I could see a bookcase, a leather recliner, and a glass coffee table with a bouquet of bright yellow flowers sitting on top. I sat up and groaned, rubbing my head. Everything was a blur. The last I remembered was being surrounded and then my neck hurt. I touched my neck and felt a sore spot from where I'm guessing someone had stuck a needle into me.
I looked over the back of the couch, searching for the exit and saw Drew sitting in a chair with his head slumped forward and his chin resting on his chest as though he was asleep.
"Drew!" I hissed, jumping over the back of the couch.
"Wh-what?" Drew grunted, slowly lifting his head to look at me and then quickly realizing his hands were tied to the chair.
"What the fuck? Where are we?" he asked, scanning the room.
"No idea, I just woke up too."
"Were you tied up?" he asked.
"No, just you for some reason."
"Are you ok?" Drew asked as I hurried to untie his wrists.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a sore head." I said, dragging the rope away from his hands.
Drew stood up and checked his pockets and then searched the room, most likely looking for his crossbow.
"Where do you think everyone is?" I asked, hurrying over to the window.
Drew didn't respond and was on the other side of the room, searching the desk for anything useful, probably a weapon.
"Uhh...Drew?" I whispered.
"What?"
"Come here!" I waved him over and he hurried over to my side and looked out the window.
"Um...are we where I think we are?" I asked.
"It does look vaguely familiar." Drew said, scanning the gardens outside for any movement.
"We're inside the White House?" I said, not believing it.
"We were just tied up inside the White House, don't forget?"
"Just you." I reminded, and looked around, wondering where the others were.
"You don't think they hurt the others, do you?"
"No idea. C'mon, let's get out of here."
"And go where?" I asked, following him across the room where he picked up a chair and smashed it on the floor, he then stomped on a piece of wood to snap it some more until he had a piece that looked like a stake.
"I really don't think we need to worry about vampires." I teased.
"I don't plan on using it on any vampires. If only that was the case, I think things would be easier." Drew said before sticking his thumb at me to stay behind him as we approached the door.
He carefully leaned against the door and listened for any movement on the other side and we both heard two men outside.
"So was that one sweet tea with honey, and seven teas, three with two scoops of sugar, two black, two with cream no sweetener, and one coffee with milk and one sugar?" said a young voice that belonged to a teenager.
"I thought it was eight teas and only one black with sugar and one black coffee?" said a deeper voice.
"Crap. We should have really written it down." the younger one laughed.
"It's ok, we won't add the milk we'll just fill a jug and they can add their own sugar, cream or whatnot, that way we won't get it wrong."
"Good idea. Let me just check on these two and see if they're awake. Mom will have a shitfit if we don't offer them something to drink." the younger one said.
Drew and I froze, our eyes connecting for a split second before we jumped away from the door.
"Hide!" Drew said.
"Where?!" I whisper-shouted and he grabbed my arm and hauled me across the room and we just had time to hide behind the drapes.
We both stood still, playing a dangerous game of hide and seek. I heard the door open and it didn't sound as though it had even been locked.
"Err...where are they?" the younger one asked, and I heard the other one barge into the room. "They were just here five minutes ago and they were both still out cold. Oh, crap. Mom gave me one job to do and I screwed up already." the younger one fretted.
"It's ok, we'll find them. They couldn't have gone too far." the older one said and they quickly left the room.
Drew and I shared a look and he held his finger to his lips to tell me to keep quiet and I just nodded. We crept toward the door and Drew peered outside and looked back at me with a slight nod of his head. I had no idea what the plan was so I just followed him, hoping we'd come across the others soon.
We hurried along a long hallway which had high ceilings, expensive rugs covering the floor, a number of tables all with flowers or expensive vases, and drapes hanging in all the windows. I'd never been anywhere so posh in all my life. Everything looked expensive and there wasn't a speck of dust on anything. We found a stairwell and I followed Drew downstairs and we came out into a large foyer area and took off running down another long hallway.
"Check down there! I'll meet you around the other side." the older man yelled just as he stepped out in front of us.
We both skidded to a halt and hurried back the way we had come. We had nearly made it back to the stairway when the younger one came running out from an archway and we found ourselves in a corner.
"Stay behind me!" Drew ordered and I took a step backward and bumped into a wall.
Drew held the wooden stick weapon in front of him, daring either of them to come closer, but they both appeared unarmed.
"Whoa, ok, take it easy! We don't want to hurt you." the older one said, edging closer. I picked up the vase on the table next to us and held it above my head.
"Shit...Please don't break that, my mom will have a freak attack if anything gets broken." the younger one said, holding his hands up to us and I could have sworn I recognized him from outside Green Banner. Yes, that's him. He was the boy that was sat around the table next to us looking at comic books.
I knew he was trouble. Was he the reason we had been kidnapped?
"You don't want to hurt us? Why was my friend tied up?!" I demanded, keeping an eye on the older one in case he got any ideas.
Neither one of them got the chance to answer because something caught my attention above our heads.
"Alex! Drew! What are you doing? Put that down!" Nick scolded.
My eyes flickered to Drew but neither one of us moved. I looked up at Nick, he looked like he'd had a wash and he was wearing clean clothes.
"I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you causing trouble," Nick muttered, jogging down the stairs and pushing the younger boy out of the way to get to us.
"Alex! Put it down. It probably costs a fortune!" Nick warned, eyeing the vase in my hands.
I huffed and lowered the thing and put it back on the table.
"And what is that?" Nick asked, looking at Drew's makeshift weapon. "You two are like animals. Already destroying the furniture. Please tell me you didn't hurt anyone? I already heard you shot a soldier in the leg and Pope turned into Rambo throwing knives and trashcans." Nick said, rubbing his head as though talking about it gave him a headache.
"I would have killed them but it was her idea to only wound them." Drew said casually.
"Yes, well it's a good job you didn't. It wouldn't have looked too good when they were given orders not to harm any of you." Nick said.
"Where
's Pope?" I asked.
Nick sighed. "He's down the hallway."
"Being tortured?" I queried.
"Tortured? Alex, where do you think you are? This is the White House. You're not in hostile territory in some war zone. Pope is perfectly fine, but he's eating them out of house and home."
"Could have fooled me. We just escaped. They had Drew tied up!" I waved my arm in the direction of the two strangers that had huddled together and were watching us.
"Yes, I told them to leave you in there. I thought if you woke up together you wouldn't panic as much."
"They had Drew tied up." I felt the need to repeat this.
"I asked them to tie him up. I knew you'd try to escape. But I didn't think you'd appreciate waking up tied to a bed so I asked them to leave you in there, untied."
Damn right, I would have freaked out more if I'd woken up in a bedroom tied up.
"Gee thanks, Nick." I muttered.
"Give me that thing." Nick snatched the stake from Drew and he let him have it. "No one is going to hurt you here."
"What is this place?" Drew asked, keeping one eye on the two strangers.
"You're in the White House! Did you grow up in the swamp? You must know what this place is, so treat it with some respect, and try not to break anything. And don't touch anything, you two are filthy. Maybe don't sit down either." Nick added.
"What the fuck are we doing here?!" Drew demanded.
"There's this woman, her name is Mary. She's very nice and she's extremely well educated-"
"Ohmigawd, Nick! We don't need her whole backstory. What has this got to do with anything?" I asked impatiently.
"She's the one currently in charge." Nick said.
"President?" I queried.
"No, there is no president, not after the last one got infected."
"So when Miriam told Robin she was going to meet the president that was all lies?" I asked.
"Yes, it would appear so." Nick replied.
"So this Mary woman?" I asked.
"She's friendly, you can trust her."
"Really? A pretty lady bats her eyelashes at you and you fall for her charms and instantly trust her." Drew spat.
"Hey! That's my mom you're talking about." the teenager with curly brown hair spoke up.
"Ah, yes this is Jonah. Mary's son."
Jonah smiled at us. He looked younger, maybe fourteen or fifteen.
"And this is Phil, he works security." Nick explained.
Everyone had already been introduced and Nick had even had time to get cleaned up. I wondered how long I had been asleep for. I must have been really tied, Drew too.
"And I work the tea trolley. Would either of you like a cup of tea, coffee?" the older man asked. Drew and I didn't respond. "Is that a no?" he asked, unsure.
"It's ok, just get them some water." Nick said and they both shuffled off together.
"Come with me, Mary is really excited to meet you." Nick told me.
I didn't move.
"Why?" I asked, my feet still firmly rooted beside Drew.
"Because she wants to meet the girl that is going to save the world."
"Whoa...what?!" I said and Drew reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me from going anywhere.
"You told them?" I whispered, looking down the long hallway and back up the stairwell, looking for any sign of anyone else.
"It's not what you think. You can trust them." Nick assured me.
"Says who? You've only been here all of ten minutes." I said annoyed we had been left out of all this.
"I want that back." Drew said, snatching the broken chair leg away from Nick.
"Now just slow down. No one wants to hurt you here. Just come and listen to what Mary has to say."
"Say about what?" Drew asked gruffly.
"About staying here. We've already talked about it, they're not going to do anything you're not comfortable with, they just want you to stay for a little while, run some tests and I get to supervise everything."
"Run tests?" Drew said.
"What do you mean run tests, Nick?" I demanded.
"Just a few blood samples, nothing that will kill you. Alex, you're the key to saving the world, the least you can do is stay for a little bit while I take some blood samples. Your gorilla friend can even come if he puts on the proper lab clothes."
"All I'm hearing is you want her blood. They're probably planning to drain you." Drew said, looking at me with a serious look.
"No! No one wants to drain anyone. Don't listen to him." Nick said, glaring at Drew. "Alex, please come upstairs and meet Mary."
"But what if this is a trap?" I asked.
"If it was a trap you would already be inside some science laboratory and they wouldn't be offering you cups of tea and coffee." Nick said, hands on his hips.
"But what about the sweeps? Robin said they collect people off the streets to infect, remember?"
"Yes, I remember very well, and we've already discussed that and Mary had no clue about how they were handling things. She had someone named Officer Timms in charge of it all, but she said he would be released from his duties immediately and she's now issuing a new person to oversee the whole thing. She was as shocked as you when she found out. Trust me, she wasn't putting it on."
I looked at Drew and shrugged. I didn't know what to do.
"If anyone so much as touches her without asking I will hurt them. A lot. I'm talking broken bones." Drew said seriously.
"All right, caveman. Look but don't touch, we get it. Come on, they're all upstairs." Nick ushered us to the stairwell.
"Is Lane ok? Where is he?" I panicked.
"He's ok. Everyone's ok. Lane is resting, and he's got Margo waiting on him hand and foot." Of course.
"And Sophie and Hutch?"
"Upstairs, making good use of the showers, I hope. Hutch was starting to smell again."
"What about everyone else?"
"Everyone is here somewhere. All the others were given a choice whether they wanted to get in the van or not and everyone all agreed to stick together."
"How trusting, they could all be dead by now." I said.
"So are you coming or not?" Nick asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.
I looked at Drew.
"We'll just hear them out and see what they have to say." Drew said, placing his arm around me protectively.
We followed Nick back up the stairwell, walking down another long hallway that seemed to go on forever.
"This place is soo..." I searched for the right word.
"Clean." Drew muttered.
"Yeah, that too. I think I was going for lavish."
"Hmm, I'm surprised you know what the word means, and just remember that before you touch anything." Nick reminded us.
As we rounded the next corner we came across a random suit of armor equipped with a sword and shield. Drew stopped and pulled me back to him. He stepped up closer to the suit of armor and handed me his wooden stake.
"Uh...what are you doing?!" Nick asked in a frenzy as Drew disarmed the suit of armor and took the sword from it.
"Put it back!" Nick squawked.
"Nah...I'll put it back when I know no one is going to cut Alex up for science." Drew said, holding the sword in two hands and showing it to me.
"You can't be serious? Put it back before you break it!" Nick looked so embarrassed, acting like we were a pair of naughty kids that he couldn't control.
"Hey, if they just wanna talk than it won't be a problem, right?" Drew said casually waving the sword around and Nick took a step back.
"You two are unbelievable. You're both as mad as each other."
I waved Nick away and he started walking.
"Don't chip anything." Nick threw over his shoulder.
I tried not to laugh. Drew wasn't so relaxed and was on high alert, ready to spring into action and drag me to the nearest exit at any second.
Nick stopped at a set of double doors and looked over his shoulder to check we were still followin
g him.
"Can't you leave that thing outside?" Nick asked, eyeing the sword.
"The sword stays." Drew responded.
"Well, try to behave, and just listen to what Mary has to say. Ready?" Nick said.
"If anyone tries to tie me up again we're seriously having words, do you understand?" I said.
"Yes, yes..." Nick brushed me off and opened the doors and walked inside.
Chapter 22
We walked into an office type room. There were people everywhere I didn't recognize. Everyone looked excited and I could feel the electric buzz in the air. They all looked important, wearing smart clothes and there was a woman at the back standing behind a desk and I got the feeling she was in charge. The woman looked up mid-conversation and her eyes lit up when she saw Nick had returned and brought us along. She was a rather tall woman and had a large frame, towering above the short man beside her that was holding some paperwork and talking nonstop even though she was no longer listening. She looked to be in her forties and had a round face with a large nose but it somehow suited her, a pair of hazel eyes, and a big mouth with full lips that were currently smiling at us. Her natural dark blond hair was voluptuous with only a headband holding it back, and she had a pair of large gold hoop earrings in her ears. Everyone else in the room was dressed in white shirts, pale blouses, navy suit pants or dark pencil skirts, but this woman was wearing a leopard-print skintight dress that came just above the knees and a pair of black wedge sandals that added to her already tall frame.
She held up her hand to silence the small man next to her and the whole room quietened down as heads turned my way and eyes studied me. They were all staring at my eyes, some amazed, others slightly wary.
Mary moved around the desk and Nick abandoned me and darted off to a tea trolley where Jonah and the other man were standing handing out cups of tea.
Mary walked over to us and Drew lowered the sword.
"Ok...I feel like an idiot with this thing now." Drew muttered.
"It was still very chivalrous of you to want to protect me."
"I thought there were going to be guards and men in white coats." he said with a smile, looking sideways at me before focusing back on Mary.
