The Survival Games (Book 2): Hide & Seek

by Everheart, AJ

  Copyright Notice

  Copyright © 2020 Alice La Roux/AJ Everheart

  Formatting: The Graphics Shed

  Proofreading: Dom’s Proofreading

  Cover Design: Pink Elephant Designs

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact the author: alicelaroux@outlook.com.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Authors Note

  Playlist

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Books by AJ Everheart

  Authors Note

  While some of the places mentioned are real, artistic licence has been taken.

  Like, a fuckload of it.

  For Ashleigh, Sarah, Riah, Annamarie and Danielle – you don’t realise how close I was to not finishing this book. Your excitement kept me going, so it’s only right that it’s dedicated to you.

  I am shooketh by your support.

  Playlist

  twenty one pilots - My Blood

  Lacey Sturm – Rot

  Point North - Into The Dark (feat. Kellin Quinn)

  Trivium - Until The World Goes Cold

  Halestorm – I Am The Fire

  Written By Wolves - To Tell You The Truth

  The Rigs - The Hunted

  Flyleaf - All Around Me

  Billie Eilish – hostage

  Nothing More - Go To War

  Chapter One

  Anna

  I buy them time, because that’s all I can do. Waiting patiently in the control room, I’m trying to hold out for as long as I can before flipping switches left, right, and centre until the water plant whirs into life. I don’t know why, but I cross my fingers and pray that the water is pumped through London quick enough to make a difference. Something has to give; we can’t live like this anymore.

  Leo always used to barter with the other settlements in London and further afield in exchange for clean water. He’d tell them when they’d be able to fill up their bottles and canisters, and they’d be waiting. I hope to all that is holy that someone realizes that there’s water coming through the pipes and tells others. I don’t even know how far this water goes; how many people might be saved by the vaccine. It isn’t something I ever thought about...before—and now, I wish I had. I was a receptionist in a hotel before the outbreak, I didn’t have a clue about how the water system worked—I just paid my bill every month.

  The loud humming of machinery fills the control room, and I barricade the door the best I can, pushing a filing cabinet and some chairs in the way. It isn’t much, but it’s all I’ve got. As soon as Leo and his cronies figure out what I’ve done, I’m dead. They won’t forgive me for helping the others escape or for helping get the vaccine out there, setting aside the fact that I've just given out our biggest asset for nothing. Clean water is money these days, and I’m handing it out like I’m a billionaire.

  I wait as the minutes tick by; I know Leo left the encampment with some of the fighters to go after the prisoners and our escapees. I wonder how far he’ll get before he turns back in order to protect his precious commodity.

  “Open up!” a voice booms.

  I’d know that voice anywhere, it’s the one I hear in my nightmares. It’s Sam. Or Sammy, as Leo calls him, as if he’s friendly and welcoming, but I know better. Sam’s a crook through and through. He’s always looking for a way to gain more power, more influence, and he sucks everyone in by pretending to care. He challenges Leo on his use of torture and death, but I see the gleam in his eyes. Nothing will stop him from rising to the top.

  “If you open up now, I’ll make sure Leo is lenient!”

  What a fucking joke. Lenient? I’ve seen him disembowel people for stealing food when they were starving, he’s cut off thumbs and tongues for anyone who speaks against him, and as for the women...let’s just say no one refused Leo in the end. Lenient isn’t a word he understands.

  “Break it down,” I hear him command, and panic goes through me.

  I chose this. I wanted to stay behind, give Luke a chance at surviving, but that doesn’t stop me from being petrified. My heart hammers loudly as I pray for a few more minutes, just a little longer to get the water pumping out to any other settlements. Loud shouts and crashes tell me they’re trying to kick the door down, but the lock and filing cabinet are holding out for a moment.

  Fuck. Fuck. I take a deep breath; it was too late now, and I’d done the right thing. The only thing that would give Luke a shot. As I exhale, I hear a crack and know that the door has given in. I stand my ground as two of the men I recognize as part of Sammy’s raider group clamber into the room over the debris of the destroyed door and the filing cabinet they’ve knocked over.

  “Hands up!” Sammy screams as he follows them.

  Why is he telling me to put my hands up? I haven’t got a pen to my name, let alone a weapon. They made sure of that in here. One of the men kicks the back of my leg, forcing me down onto my knees.

  Sam grabs my hair, yanking it back. Leaning his face close into mine, he laughs. “I should thank you for helping Alex get out alive. It puts a dent in Leo’s plans.”

  I don’t like the way he says ‘should.’

  His hand smashes into my face, knocking me down. I close my fist and breathe slowly. Inhale. Exhale. I knew this was coming. Just wait. Just hold on, I tell myself as he kicks me hard in the ribs.

  “You still broke the rules, Anna.” Another kick. “Always testing the boundaries, aren’t you?”

  Wanting autonomy over my body and freedom for my son never used to be against the rules, it’s funny how quickly that changed with the spread of the virus. I wasn’t testing boundaries, I was taking back what they stole from me. Maybe that’s another reason why I did this, I get to die on my own terms. I get to end my suffering my way, protecting my son.

  After a few more blows that are nothing more than Sam taking his anger out on me, he finally switches off the power to the water pumps. He bought the vaccine extra minutes to spread, and I don’t know if that’s deliberate, nor do I care. I can barely breathe, there’s blood pouring from my nose and a gash on my head, and I know for a fact that at least one of my ribs is broken. I refuse to cry, instead I try using the stupid breathing th
ey taught me when I was pregnant with Luke all those years ago. I try to push through the pain. Try being the optimistic word. In reality, everything is on fire, it feels like my body is nothing but broken shards of glass, slicing against each other inside a fragile meat sack.

  “Bring her to Leo’s tent. He should be back by now,” Sam growls as he pushes me onto my back with his foot.

  His men drag me out of the pump house, through the walkways of our little settlement. People stare but no one says anything, they don’t try to help because they know the punishment: death or banishment. It was like some fucked-up fantasy film. I never thought, almost two years ago, that I would one day live in a world where death or banishment were commonplace. I also never thought I was the type to break rules either, and yet, here we are.

  They shove me into one of the holding pens, or cages, as I called them. I’m struggling to hold on, worried about passing out at any second, when I see the others in my cage. Lily and Jenny, the women who seduced the guards are huddled together, their faces and bodies appear just as battered and broken as mine. I drag myself nearer to them and hold their hands, squeezing gently.

  “Anna, my children?” Lily whispers, each word laboured.

  “I don’t know…” I answer honestly. I helped them meet up with the others, I gave them a guide and bought them time, but I don’t know if it was enough. I hope so.

  We don’t have to wait long as a ruckus stirs up near the gates. Shouts, screams, and gunfire tell me that the zombies are hot on Leo’s heels as he comes back into the camp.

  The panic dies down a little as the men filter in. Leo is covered in blood as he limps to his stupid throne. His men look worse for wear as they begin stripping down to check injuries. It’s a practise Leo introduced to make sure no one was hiding a secret zombie bite that could risk the entire settlement. They called it a ‘Zombie check,’ like the situation was completely normal, almost like the bag check I would do for Luke every Wednesday and Friday when he had PE in school.

  There’s a hustle and bustle as everyone starts moving, trying to get organised. Leo doesn’t move to take his own clothes off, instead he summons wine as he struggles to catch his breath. But no one is paying attention to him right now, they’re all too worried about themselves as they patch up wounds and count ammo. I’m watching though. He winces ever so slightly when he moves, and his hands tremble as he takes a bottle of wine. He catches my eye, and his face twists, his anger clear.

  “Bring me the traitors!” He spits, glaring at us.

  We’re dragged before him and pushed to our knees, which suits me fine as I don’t think I can stand for very long right now.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?” he demands, gaining the attention of everyone in the tent as they look down on us in judgement. They know the rules. They know that we broke them, and right now, they’re too twisted in this sick society Leo has built to comprehend why.

  They’re focusing on us, just like he wants them to.

  I catch Sam’s attention before I tilt my chin at Leo and ask, “What's wrong with your left side?”

  Silence fills the tent as all eyes land on him.

  Face heated, he stammers, “Nothing. Scratch. Caught it on the fence.”

  But the damage is already done.

  “Zombie check,” Sam says firmly as he approaches his precious king. There’s that gleam in his eyes again, the power hungry one. The one I usually see right before he strikes. I hold my breath. Sam isn’t a better option than Leo, they’re both twats. However, this settlement needs to be shaken, it needs to come unstuck somehow. First the strangers with the vaccine, people escaping the camp, and now a threat to the reigning power? It doesn’t get more unstable than that.

  “How dare you suggest…” Leo growls, snarling like a cornered wolf.

  “Zombie check,” Sam repeats, calmly this time, squaring his shoulders as he nods to two of his men. Leo really should have thought about putting Sam in charge of the raiding groups a little harder, because the men trust him and not Leo. Sam was the one scavenging beside them, saving their arses in the field. Not the pretend king.

  Leo shakes off the two men who try to grab him by the arms, but he’s injured. It only takes a minute for them to drag him off that stupid throne of his and force him to his knees in front of everyone.

  I gently tug on Lily’s skirt and nod. We need to start moving. Carefully, we stand, but no one notices, they’re all fixated on Leo as Sam cuts his clothes away. His body is a patchwork of cuts, grazes, blood, and mud. But clearly, on his left side, there are teeth marks. I knew it. We slowly sink back into the crowd that seems to be growing, even though I would have thought everyone was already here.

  “Infected!” Sam shouts, loud enough for all to hear.

  I watch as he pulls his gun out of his belt and holds it against Leo’s head.

  “We do this to survive, Leo, I’m sorry.”

  He’s not. His words sound sincere, but I can see the corners of his mouth twitch as he struggles to conceal a smile.

  “The vaccine! Give me the vaccine!”

  Blake, one of the guards from the gate, steps forward. “You said that was all bollocks. That they were lying.”

  Murmurs spread and swirl around us, the volume creeping higher and higher.

  “I didn’t trust them,” he admits, “I thought they were going to poison us, but I’ll drink the water and test it.”

  “Of course, you’re saying that now,” Blake screams before backhanding Leo.

  I’ve never seen him so riled up, but as I look around, I realise that Aaron is missing. Blake’s husband was part of Leo’s personal guard, and he was nowhere to be seen. I guess that explained his rage.

  “Blake, calm down,” Sam soothes. “It’s too late, Leo, you’re already infected.”

  “No...no…” Leo begins to cry and beg.

  I look away after a moment because I know what’s coming and I don’t need to witness it. I push Lily and Jenny further into the crowd until we’re at the back, and that’s when the crack of the gunshot rings in the air.

  Chapter Two

  Donovan

  I don't know how we made it out of there alive. I have no idea how we got back to the airport, how we managed to find fuel in nearby tankers, or how we got the army vehicles running. It’s like we were on autopilot as we limped back, only one goal in mind: survive. I guess that's the beauty of the human race, we persevere. We don't have a fucking clue what we’re doing, and yet, we find a way. Alex somehow got us back to Lichfield without losing anyone else. The army base was exactly how we left it, minus a few military personnel. The sadness that haunts Mia's face breaks my heart every time I look at her, and I never even liked her father. We were all suffering. We thought the vaccine would magically make everything better, we thought it was a step in the right direction to wiping out the virus and claiming back the bodies of the people we once knew so we could lay them to rest. We were wrong. It’s going to take a lot more than some magic medicine. We need to start rebuilding. Seeing the people in the Wharf made me realise we can’t keep living in this little bubble. We need to help others. Getting the vaccine out is even more important if we want to save what little we have left. But even that isn’t enough.

  It gnaws at me that we never found out what happened at Basecamp—did anyone survive? Are they hiding, hoping to find somewhere safe? Those kinds of thoughts take me straight back to Anna, and I look over at the boy sleeping in the bed next to mine, and I know that he is counting the days just as much as I am. He never left my side during the entire journey back to the army base. It was like he was taking his mother’s orders to stay with me literally, and I won’t pretend that bothered me because it didn’t. She saved us, keeping her son alive is the least I can do.

  Luke makes a soft groaning noise, and I know that he is having another nightmare. He has them frequently. He tosses and turns, sometimes he even screams, and on those nights, I sit next to him and talk to him until he sett
les once again. I debate waking him up, is that fair when the reality is just as bleak as his dreams? His mother is still missing. Except she isn't. We know where she is—exactly where we left her. She said she would come and find him but it's been days. We left Anna alone with a madman, with swarming zombies, and that eats at me. I didn't even know the woman, but she risked her life to save us, to save her child, to save our future. That kind of selflessness is something I admire, and when she laid her hand on my cheek and she promised to find us, I believed her.

  I stretch across the small gap between us and nudge Luke with my foot. He wakes up startled and stares at me with big sad brown eyes that remind me of a Jack Russell I once had named Dougal.

  "What's the matter?" he asks, voice thick with sleep as he looks around us wearily, anticipating a zombie threat.

  "Another nightmare, bud? Are you okay?"

  I don't know why I ask him, he's definitely not okay, none of us are. I'm a fully grown adult, and I'm barely holding my shit together. Luke is eight, and he's already seen and done things that no child should have to do. That psychopath Leo used children on raids as bait for the zombies and to squeeze in small spaces to find supplies.

  Finding supplies doesn't sound all that bad, but when you've climbed in through a second floor broken window and dropped down into a shop that can't be accessed any other way only to find the owner zombified, hungry, and waiting for you, you realise it's no walk in the park.