Sanctuary: Seeking Asylum Book 1

by SM Olivier

  “Trev,” Emery sharply admonished as she sidled up to his side and then in front of him. Trevor sighed, dropping his arms, and didn’t make an effort to embrace me again.

  “Hey, Twinsy,” Emery said, smiling wide at me, the welcoming emotion not reaching her eyes.

  “Hey, Em,” I said a bit stiffly.

  I didn’t know why it was harder to imagine forgiving her. Maybe it was because, unlike Trevor, she was blood. We had shared a womb for nearly nine months. Or possibly it was because I knew she had pursued Trevor all along, with the sole purpose of taking him away from me.

  Something within me had a feeling Emery hadn’t been drunk that night like she had said she was, and no matter how many explanations I heard, I still didn’t believe she accidentally stumbled into his room. She had been over to the house enough to know exactly what room he had stayed in.

  “Is that it?” She raised a perfectly arched brow at me.

  I knew that look all too well. She was itching for a fight. She needed to twist it around as if I had been at fault and she the innocent.

  It was surreal, at times, to see myself when I stared back at her. The dark hair, tanned skinned, amber eyes that tilted like a cat’s, the slightly upturned button nose, the bow-shaped lips, and heart-shaped face. Our differences were only apparent when we stood next to each other. Our hairstyles and bodies were imperceptibly different. Her hair was in layers, unnoticeable in the chic ponytail she wore. She was also ten to fifteen pounds lighter than me and didn’t have the muscle tone I had.

  I shrugged and smirked at her, knowing it would get under her skin. “Yeah.” I turned and looked at Axel. “When are we having this meeting? Aren’t we losing light?”

  ֍

  After Axel had held his meeting and laid out all his expectations, I began to go through the infected’s pockets and belongings. He wanted as many keys retrieved from the infected and their vehicles moved to the furthest point of the parking lot. The cars would act as a barrier of sorts, with mere inches separating each vehicle. He only wanted one lane open for our departure in the morning.

  He’d also expressed his wishes for each adult capable of driving to take a vehicle−if they didn’t already have one−to Sanctuary Lakes Campground. Each transport would be packed with anything we found in the mall that we wanted, as well as the items we’d need.

  Axel wasn’t too crazy that Sylvia and I had insisted on helping with clean up, but he still put us to work. He figured getting car keys from people wasn’t too hard of a task.

  “I wanna thank you for saving my life,” the blond-haired man with the riot of loose curls called out, now running up beside me. “I’m Kingston, but you can call me King.” He held his hand out to me.

  I shouldn’t have been shocked to realize the blond I found so attractive was the infamous King. I had already heard so much about him that it was slightly awkward to be meeting him when I already knew his sexual proclivity and been driving around in his Tahoe.

  Should I pretend I didn’t know who he was, I thought, or lay all my cards out on the table now?

  Not for the first time, I wondered if Axel’s assumptions about the guys’ interest in me were correct. I had yet to see him wrong, but had he read the situation correctly? How could two guys I’d never met… want me? Everything they knew about me was through Facebook videos and Wyatt and Corbin.

  I smiled in return. “It was no problem. I’m Avery, but I have a feeling you already knew that. It’s good to meet the man who wants to be an environmentalist but is unwilling to sacrifice too much and has a thing for public sex.”

  Why had I said that? I wanted to slam my hands over my mouth, but it had just slipped out as I contemplated how to interact with him.

  I suddenly needed to hide from my outspokenness, so without waiting for his response, I went back to my task at hand. I bent over and reached into the infected’s pocket, looking for his keys. I smiled in triumph as I felt the keyfob in there. I grabbed it and his wallet and took out his cash and ID, placing the cash and IDs inside the new backpack I’d found in the sporting goods store. The wallet I threw in a rolling bin behind me. Then I marked the infected with a permanent marker to let the burn team know he was ready to be carried out.

  King threw his head back and laughed, causing me to look at him. His eyes danced with mischief. “The first one is something I don’t flaunt around, and I’m curious how you knew that. The second one is no secret, but I wonder… who told you that? Were you asking about me?”

  It was my turn to laugh out loud as I arched my brow at him, moving on to the next body. “You have canvas grocery bags in a vehicle that guzzles gas, and a girl has to have some secrets, so I’m not telling you who or how I found out that you’re an exhibitionist.”

  He smirked at me before watching as I picked up a woman's purse. It was leather, pink, with gold “C” designs on it. It was very feminine. When I opened it, I realized it was more like a diaper bag. There was a hand pump, nipple pads, nipple creams, diapers, and various other baby needs, as well as three wristbands dated thirteen days ago. I frowned when I realized one of the wrist bands matched the name of the man’s wallet I had just rifled through.

  “I thought you were supposed to be getting keys,” he stated as he held out his hands for the keys attached to one of my belt loops with a carabiner. King was one of the people moving the vehicles. He playfully placed his head on my shoulder, peering over it, thankfully pulling me from thoughts that could spiral me into a deep depression. “What are you doing with the cash and wallets?”

  I sighed. Sylvia and I had decided to deviate from the directive given to us. Through my musings, I wanted to retain some of my compassion. We agreed that there was no humanity left in the infected, but maybe someone, somewhere would be looking for these people, wanting answers about their whereabouts. We figured they should at least know if they needed to stop searching, and they’d never be able to identify anyone from ashes after the bodies were burned.

  We were going to try and collect any identifiers of each infected. Afterward, we would cover the advertisement marquees at the entrance of the mall and affix their identifications to them. Sylvia was artistic and creative, and she was already thinking about the words she was going to paint above the boards, words that we hoped would bring some closure to their loved ones, if they were still out there.

  We were going to put their personal effects near the boards, too, just in case their loved ones wanted them.

  “They don’t need their money anymore,” I explained first. Might as well let him laugh at me now, I thought. “When I go shopping, later on, I’m going to pay for my stuff with the cash I find.”

  He started to laugh, and I shrugged.

  “Wait,” he said after several seconds. “You’re serious.”

  I nodded, rolling my eyes. “As a heart attack.”

  He began to laugh once more. Every time he went to open his mouth to speak again, a fresh round of laughter emerged from his mouth.

  “I wanna know the joke,” a smooth baritone voice said from behind us.

  I turned around and noticed Axel, then my gaze went to the owner of the voice standing beside him. I didn’t school my face fast enough to hide my surprise.

  I’ve heard of fraternal twins, but I never thought I would ever meet a set like the two in question.

  Kingston Rains was almost identical to his brother in every way except for his coloring. Looking at King, I would never think he was of mixed race, what with his light-blond hair and light skin tone—not fair, per se, but he was lighter than me, and I was Caucasian and Polynesian.

  Easton, on the other hand, was distinctly mixed. If I had to guess, he was a mixture of African American and Caucasian, but I wasn’t sure. Guessing ethnicities could be so tricky. His warm-brown skin was maybe a shade or two darker than my bronzed shade. And unlike his brother, his soft, loose curls were black. However, on closer inspection, I could see the blondish highlights streaked in his hair, and they, to
o, looked natural.

  I suddenly had a flashback and realized he was the one who had been kneeling over his wounded brother. At the time, I had almost mistaken them for lovers. His body language had been so protective and gentle. Now I realized that he just had an intense bond with his brother, and seeing his brother in that condition must have frightened him.

  “I’m white chocolate, he’s the milk chocolate,” Kingston husked in my ear.

  I blushed. “Sorry for staring,” I finally stammered. “I know what it’s like to have people stare, and I hate it.”

  “You’re beautiful. Of course you’re going to get stares,” Kingston quipped with a wink.

  I rolled my eyes at his attempt at flirting. He was cute, and he knew it. I had a feeling he was used to charming people to get his way. It was working, but I wasn’t going to let him know it.

  “Wow.” I blinked at him with great exaggeration. “I bet that works with the girls all the time. If you’re charming and act oblivious, they underestimate you and lower all expectations, never suspecting your calculating nature at all, unless you choose to reveal it to them. You knew I was talking about the whole twin thing. How people stare at you, dissect you, and try to figure out ways to tell you apart. In your case, though, you guys look identical, just different color palettes.”

  Both men chuckled, and I saw even Axel’s lips lift into a grin.

  “I shouldn’t be surprised,” Kingston said with a rueful smile. “Wyatt did warn me her astuteness rivaled Easton’s.”

  Easton held out his hand and smiled gently. “I’m Easton. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Avery, finally. We’ve heard so much about you over the last few years. I feel as if we already know you.”

  I noticed that Easton had the same unique seafoam eyes his brother had, but his eyes held a more reserved look…a certain intelligence. Not to say Kingston didn’t have a look of cleverness, but Easton had the eyes of an old soul.

  “I hope it was all good things,” I gave the clichéd response.

  Easton’s mouth twitched with another smile. “So, what was the joke?”

  Kingston looked at me once more and started laughing. I rolled my eyes and knelt next to the bodies, repeating what I’d been doing since I began stripping them about half an hour ago.

  Kingston laughed. “She’s removing their cash, identifications, and putting their wallets and purses in that bin. She wants to pay for everything she takes, but Avery has yet to tell me why she’s holding onto their identifications and belongings.”

  I looked up to see Axel and Easton regarding me with curious eyes. I sighed.

  “Someone out there might come looking for their loved ones,” I explained tentatively. “We need to burn the bodies, to stop the spread of infection, but what happens if people are out there looking for them? They’ll never be able to identify them through ashes. We’re giving some of their families closure. They can stop wondering what if. Sylvia and I are going to put their ID’s or anything uniquely theirs up by the bulletin boards, along with their belongings.”

  “I think that’s a brilliant idea,” Easton said decisively. “I’ll go tell the rest of the cleanup crew the same information.”

  “Thanks, Easton.” I smiled at him.

  “See you later, Avery.” Easton walked off with a nod and smiled.

  Josh called out for Kingston’s help then, and King told him to hold on, giving me a wink and a mischievous smile. “So, if I were to pick something out for you, would you accept it, or would it go against your moral dilemma?”

  I shook my head at him. “Make fun all you want.” I rolled my eyes. “You have to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything.”

  He gave me a slow once-over. “I stand for a lot of things, goddess, and I think I’m gonna have so much fun showing you that.” He licked his bottom lip and headed Josh’s way.

  I wasn’t sure how to take his words, but I had a feeling he was letting me know he was interested—more than responsive, in fact. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts before I turned to look at Axel.

  He was now standing at the railing, looking down to watch the clean up below. I could see the tension radiating off him and paused what I was doing to walk over to him. I removed the rubber gloves I’d found and reached out to him. When I laid my hand on his shoulders, he tensed at first. I began to massage his shoulders and felt him relax against my hands.

  I noticed Jade’s−the Asian girl− gaze on us from below, and she was sneering at me. No surprise there. She eyed my hands on him, and I thought I saw her snarl.

  Without me asking, Corbin and Wyatt had filled me in on their past relationship with her. They seemed quick to reassure me during our meeting, after she had tried to drape herself across Axel and he had commanded her away from him. I had to hide my smile when he’d shot me a look as if to reassure me.

  “We’re almost there,” I whispered now in his ear. “We’ll get there soon enough. You’re doing a great job protecting us all. You were born to be a leader, Axel.”

  Somehow, I had a feeling that his tension was based on the fact that we weren’t close to being safe yet. Sure, we had taken care of a hoard of infected in the mall, but what was tonight going to bring? We still had no clue what our position was going to be at Sanctuary Lakes, but at least we knew nature would protect us or, at least, shield us from most threats.

  He personally felt responsible, not only for his “boys” but all of us. He might have known war, but this war was new to him. I had seen him in edgy-alert mode ever since he rescued us on that access road, but since we had arrived here, his rigidity had risen. I’d only heard snippets of his meeting with a handful of the JOpS, and I was sure that what I hadn’t heard had bothered him, putting him the most on edge.

  The moment the duties had been doled out, he’d called the JOpS meeting. He had taken Joe, Corbin, Kingston, Natalie, Jade, and another JOpS by the name of Garth into one of the offices reserved for mall management and had laid into them. Whatever was said, I knew Kingston had no qualms informing Axel what had happened earlier in his absence.

  Apparently, Garth, Natalie, and Jade had decided to take it upon themselves to ignore Joe’s direct orders of bypassing the mall. Joe hadn’t thought it wise to stop there since they were so close to their destination. Natalie, Garth, and Jade, however, had turned off and entered the mall before they could be stopped.

  Joe had no other choice but to go in to assist them. Even if it had been a suicide mission, the JOpS had an unspoken rule of never leaving one of their own to fight alone. They would all rather go down together than return from a mission with a possibility that “their man” could have been saved otherwise.

  Joe could have technically wiped his hands of Jade and Natalie. As it was, they had been at a meeting yesterday morning with their commanders about removing both grils from the team—which they had approved—right when we had received the call to evacuate to Sanctuary.

  Rumor had it, Jade and Natalie overheard some of the conversation Joe had with Chad on the phone. The girls followed Joe. They hadn’t made their presence known until last night. If Joe didn’t have such a bleeding heart, he would have told them they weren’t welcomed to follow them.

  Garth was technically Team Charlie, but, again, he was a JOpS. He had been hanging out with the group when the call came through, so Cal had invited him along, not realizing to what extent things would escalate.

  Axel had ripped the culprits a new one− like the gossip went− warning them that it was their first and last warning. If they stepped out of line one more time, he’d said, the promise of safety would be taken from them. He told them he couldn’t afford to have people on his team that he didn’t trust and that couldn’t obey orders.

  He drew a line in the sand. JOpS or not, his priority was his direct family, then the civilians. He felt their primary duty was always the civilians at home. Now that the battlefield was here, their duties shifted to the homefront.

  After several moments, Axel fin
ally turned in my arms, shaking me from my thoughts. He pulled me in tight. “I needed that, thanks,” he murmured in my neck.

  I didn’t know if it was from my ministrations or my words, but he didn’t look as stressed anymore, and I was glad I was able to help him, even if it was for a little while.

  Chapter 13

  I didn’t think I’d ever felt so exhausted in my entire life. My head was starting to throb, my limbs felt heavy, and I was pretty sure I was laughing and giggling more out of pure exhaustion than humor. My body was trying to tell me I was tired, but I couldn’t listen to it yet.

  My usual mixture of adrenaline, serotonin, epinephrine, endorphins, and dopamine in my brain was thrown out of whack, so I was laughing at nearly everything. Luckily, Sylvia was on the same sleep deprivation high, because she was laughing just as much as I was.

  As we worked alongside each other, we talked, joked around, and found laughter in almost everything. It must have been our coping mechanism in this new world we’d found ourselves in, on top of sheer exhaustion.

  We managed to clear out all the infected by sundown, dumping them into empty dumpsters before setting them on fire. While the bodies burned, the food court area and the center of the mall were cleaned and sterilized to the best of our ability. The smell of bleach had been so strong that we had to air out the rooms by opening up all the nearby doors. We also lit many scented candles, placing them throughout the area.

  Most of the food court tables had been pushed up against the entrance doors, save the two that we’d use in the morning. All the windows had been covered just in case, too. The now empty court held our air mattresses and bedding, nicely placed in the middle for an operative defensive position.

  Teams of four would be taking shifts patrolling the mall for any potential outside threats. Two snipers were stationed up on top of the roof as our ultimate lookouts and first line of defense. After everyone went “shopping,” the metal accordion gates had been located and erected.