The Survival Games (Book 2): Hide & Seek

by Everheart, AJ

  I bite my tongue to stop myself from screaming. That man was a cunt, and I was going to kill him. Maybe not today, or anytime soon, but he would get his. I was going to make sure of it.

  “He gets to play God,” I snarl.

  Avery nods, tugging at a stand of blonde hair.

  “How many?” Why? Why Do I always ask questions that will make my heart hurt?

  She twirls the hair around her finger, avoiding my gaze once again. “How many what?”

  My fingers dig into the mud as I say the words no one wants to. “How many dead, Avery? How many were kids?”

  “Eight infants. Four elderly. One disabled. One homosexual. Six travellers, and two rebels.” She lists them off, her breath hitching with every number.

  “Shit.” I hiss.

  “I told you there were worse punishments than the Hanging Tree.”

  I think back to the girl hanging by her wrists from a branch, just a little further down the river than we are now. How had we come to all of this?

  “That’s twenty-two lives, extinguished, just ended, so you can keep running your baby farm and living in denial,” I voice slowly. Avery is a big ball of guilt, and every time I speak, it gets worse, I’m just waiting for her to crack. I want her to. I want her to realise that this isn’t a life she should be living.

  “I know. I remember every face, every name. I hear their screams.” There are tears streaming down her cheeks now. The pixie-looking doctor, barely old enough to deal with all of this, is crying, and I can’t make myself comfort her.

  “So, you watch? You witness their deaths?” I push softly, while inside screaming, Crack, Avery. Please, crack and help me end this.

  “He makes me.”

  “Last time I checked, this was 2019, and a man couldn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to. We aren’t chattel to be branded and kept for breeding. We’re women. We have rights.”

  “Anna…” she snorts, wiping away the tears.

  “I know,” I smile weakly, “but sometimes we need reminding of our former feminist selves.”

  She looks away again. “He got you too.”

  “What?” My back straightens.

  She reaches across and pulls the neck of my T-shirt down. “Between your shoulder blades. While you were unconscious.”

  Further down than I could reach, her fingers gently touch sensitive skin, tracing the same moon shape that’s on her arm. I’ve been so battered and bruised lately, I hadn’t even noticed. This time, my anger seeps out, I can’t hold it back.

  I grab her hand. “Come with me. I’m leaving.”

  Her sad blue eyes burn into mine. “Where will you go? There’s nowhere left unless you want to join Invictus.”

  “Litchfield, it’s an army base.” I sound determined, brave, and I’m hoping it's enough to convince her.

  She inhales before blowing out a breath. “It was overrun, there is no army base now.”

  I shake my head, my grip on her tightening. “No, my son is there.”

  She places her other hand over mine, trying to comfort me. “Anna, it’s been gone a long time.”

  “Who told you that?” I frown, no. No. It can’t be. Not after everything I’d been through. I was so close.

  The tilt of her head tells me what I need to know. More poisonous shit from Kaleb’s mouth. “Why would you trust anything that comes out of that twat’s mouth?”

  She pauses, and thinks it over. There is no reason to trust that child-killing cult wanker and she knows it. She gives my hand a gentle squeeze.

  Our heads are almost touching as I whisper, “So, are you coming or not? Because I don’t know how much longer you can keep playing doctor while feeding your pet monster and hoping that it doesn’t bite.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Donovan

  We are screwed. I could barely convince Galen to come this far, to observe the petrol garage, just how am I supposed to get him to invade some sort of cult town hidden in the woods? He would drag me back to base before he even let me get within a stone’s throw of the place. Lily has given me an abridged version of Redemption and their relationship with Invictus, the gang that runs the services.

  How had Anna ended up there? Not that Lily was even certain that’s where she was, she was just going off the rumours she’d heard from Invictus scouts. How did an entire village survive in the woods? What were they doing that kept back the zombie horde?

  “Someone is coming, quick, hide your face.” Lily hisses as she wraps a scarf around the lower half of my face and pulls up the hood on my jacket. We wait as a group of women stroll past our tent, their laughing and joking sounds familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it. I can feel Lily trembling beside me, so I wrap my arms around her and try to offer her some comfort. It works as she relaxes slightly, her breathing slower as she tries to calm down. It’s crazy, if I had done that before the outbreak, she would have pushed me away, accused me of being inappropriate, but now, now we were all just desperate for human connection in a world that didn’t make any sense.

  When the voices have passed by, we step back from each other. She blushes, and I make a mental note to clear the air when we get out of here. I don’t need her to read more into my actions, she needed someone to hold her, so I did. That’s all there is to it. Besides...Anna. Anna and Luke were my priority, I needed to make sure they were safe and reunited. That’s my only goal right now.

  Taking my hand, Lily leads me out of the tent and towards the petrol station, avoiding people as we walk. There seems to be a system in place here, where everyone has a role and they just go about doing the tasks they’re given. I see a group of older women stitching fabrics together, while a group of children seem to be organising scraps of metal and a few people cook in huge pots over an open fire. It may not be much, but this is their home now, and they’re safe here—that’s all anyone wants these days.

  We keep walking, a few people nodding in greeting to Lily as we go.

  “Just how long have you been here?” I ask as she leads me around like she knows where she’s going. Her bruises and cuts are also faded, not fresh, which means that they were either done before she arrived here or when she first got here. Given how none of the other women here appear to be beaten to a pulp, I’m more inclined to think it’s the first option.

  “Almost a month? I can’t remember, the days blur, but it’s something like that,” she whispers as we weave between some more patched together tents. “Five weeks, maybe?”

  “Do they hurt you here?”

  “Invictus?” She stops as if she has to think about it. “No. But that doesn't mean this is a good place to be.”

  Dragging me behind one of the larger tents, she motions for me to be silent. There’s an old Starbucks building and an eating area with a sign marked McDonald’s not far from where we wait. Lily appears to be counting in her head as a gong sounds from somewhere, and bodies begin to trickle inside. Not everyone goes, but activity out on the forecourt and the grassy areas die down considerably.

  “Now.” Lily’s voice is firm as we start moving again.

  We hear a scream from inside one of the buildings behind us and a cheer swiftly follows. What the hell was happening?

  Lily makes a face as she avoids my eye. “You don’t have to beat someone to force compliance. There are...other ways.”

  “What just happened?”

  Haunted. That’s how I would describe the look in Lily’s eyes as she pleads with me not to go there. “I don’t want to talk about it. Not now. We need to leave.”

  We walk on, trying to be inconspicuous, but there are so many damn people here. I mean, I’m glad they survived the zombie apocalypse, but it just makes trying to escape harder as there are bodies everywhere, just milling around, going on with their lives.

  Something catches the corner of my eye as a group of four or five people walk by, and I turn, only to be standing face-to-face with someone I thought I’d never see again. Gemma’s eyes widen as she rec
ognises me beneath the hood and the scarf. She frowns, unsure as she softly calls out my name. The others in her group stop and wait for her, but she waves them on.

  Covering her mouth, she swallows back a gasp. “It is you. How? Why?”

  She moves closer and stands within touching distance. Her hand reaches out for my face, and she gently touches my cheek through the fabric of the scarf. Gemma was a woman I’d saved back last year when I found her on a raid with Alex. She’d been trapped in a stairwell at a supermarket, when she’d come out of hiding to try and find food for her and her sick mother, Agnes.

  Ethan hadn't wanted to follow the sound of screaming, but then he was always a spineless, selfish motherfucker. Alex, ever the hero, couldn’t ignore the noise. Neither could I. And that’s how we found Gemma, backed up against a wall with an axe and three zombies trying to get closer to her. We managed to save her and escape, but when we’d gone back to the flat she’d been hiding out in, unfortunately her mother hadn’t been so lucky. We’d brought her back to Basecamp with us. She was family. And I thought she was dead.

  “Donovan, we don’t have time for this,” Lily warns, tugging my hand. Her voice brings me out of my memories, and I take a deep breath.

  “Wait, just give me two minutes,” I lean in and murmur, just in case anyone overhears us. “Make your way over to the fence behind that building, there’s a hole I cut in the mesh earlier.”

  Lily hesitates and doesn’t let go of my hand. I can see her mind racing as she thinks about whether she can trust me.

  “I’ll be there now,” I say gently, as I pull myself away carefully.

  Wearily, she gives Gemma a once-over. It’s like I can see the cogs in her brain as she weighs up her options. After a few minutes, she bites down on her lip and takes a hesitant step back. “Fine, but if you’re not, I’m going to find Anna without you.”

  I nod, I know that finding Anna is important, but doesn't she realize that’s what I want too? We’re on the same team.

  I turn back to Gemma, and we move under a nearby tree, hidden in the shadows.

  “Basecamp? What happened?”

  She shrugs. “We were attacked, so we ran.”

  “How? What about Dan and Liza, they were meant to be protecting you all.”

  She plays with the sleeve of her cardigan as she talks. “I don’t know, all I know is that we went to bed and everything was fine. Then we were woken with screams and shouting, and suddenly, there were just so many of them, surrounding us. Surrounding the farmhouse and barn.”

  A tear runs down her cheek, and I wipe it away with my thumb. I should have been there. We all should have been there, Alex, Ethan, Karen, Dai, and Lee. We shouldn’t have left. If we’d waited just a little longer, maybe things would have been different.

  “How many got out?” I’m not sure I’m ready for the answer, there were nineteen of us when we left to find supplies, ready for the coming winter.

  “Eight of us.”

  “Fuck.” Five dead, and for some reason, my first thought is, That’s not too bad, before realising what a cold thing that is. “Who? Are they all here?”

  “Caitlyn, Matthew, Jeremy, Eva, and Steve. Harry and Liam got out, but I don’t know where they are. They could be dead by now.” Gemma’s voice is level, like she’s talking about the weather, and I know that’s her coping mechanism, but it makes my chest hurt, just a little.

  At least Eva made it, I tell myself. Eva is Dai’s nine-year-old daughter, and I feel a sense of relief that her name is amongst those who made it out.

  “Dan and Liza?” I ask it, even though I already know. If the zombies got past them, then they likely didn’t make it.

  “They died protecting us, like you asked them to.”

  This time it’s me who looks away. I knew we shouldn’t have left. Fuck.

  Her cold hand takes mine, fingers intertwining before she holds my hand against her cheek. “I’m not putting their deaths on you, Donovan. I didn’t mean to make it sound like that.”

  I know she didn’t, she didn’t have to. She was trying to explain that it wasn’t anything they did, they gave everything to protect Basecamp.

  “Come with us?” I ask, as I see a shadowy figure waiting by the fence and remember Lily.

  “Now? You sound like Alex.” Gemma smiles at his name. She’d had a crush on him ever since the supermarket, but Alex hadn't felt the same way. “That boy never has a plan, but you’re usually more cautious. Is he still alive?”

  “Yes,” I say quietly. “Dai didn’t make it.”

  Gemma lets go of my hand and crosses her arms as the cool night air gets to her. “But of course Ethan and Karen did, right?”

  I give her a look and roll my eyes.

  She chuckles. “Well, they do say that cockroaches always survive.”

  Shrugging, I give her a grin. “So, will you come?”

  Gemma shakes her head. “I can’t just leave, Donovan. What about the others?”

  “Bring them, if they want to come. Hell, bring anyone.” Kelp wouldn’t be happy about the extra bodies at Litchfield, but we weren’t planning on being there for too much longer anyway, so he could go and get stuffed.

  Tilting her head, she watches me with big brown eyes that always looked sad. “And where am I asking them to follow me to?”

  “Litchfield is an army base, that’s where we are now. But we’re securing Rosehill Academy, we’re making it a permanent refuge.”

  “The posh boarding school?” She frowns. “How long do I have to decide?”

  I look up at the sky, it’s still pitch black, but God knows how long that would last. Once Galen saw the guest I was bringing with me, and Invictus learned that Lily was missing, we were going to have issues. We needed to get away from here as soon as possible, which meant first light.

  “We’re in the woods, and we’ll be there until dawn breaks, so that gives you a couple of hours,” I explain, showing her the hole in the fence. “We won’t wait. We can’t.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Anna

  We haven’t spoken about anything other than the weather, our patients, and the food since we returned to the school building yesterday. I know Avery is worried that someone will overhear us, but she’s protected whether she realises it or not—she’s the only doctor Redemption has, and even Kaleb isn’t stupid enough to get rid of her. Kaleb nodded to us as we returned from our walk, and we nodded in return, I even smiled a little. It was all for Avery’s benefit since she wants to lie low until we have a plan to escape. We can’t let Brother Haines and his cronies know that we’re planning a jailbreak.

  After lunch, we go on another walk, this time to the edge of the woods to collect some wild herbs. Avery tells me that she’s tried to grow them in the school gardens, but they haven’t successfully sprouted yet. One of the men accompanies us, a large axe in his hands as a precaution against zombies, even though in my head I imagine him butchering us in the woods Huntsman style and taking back my heart for Kaleb to eat. He warns us to stay in his eyeline as he leans against a tree and sharpens his weapon.

  Once we’re out of earshot, I begin questioning Avery again. “How does Kaleb decide which children to sacrifice?”

  She picks some nettles and places them in the bag she’s brought with us. “It’s random selection, especially since all of them are tainted.”

  “Tainted?”

  “Can you get that peppermint, please?” She points to a small plant by my foot. “I noticed an anomaly in the newborns, there’s something wrong with their blood.”

  “What?” What the heck did that mean?

  She plucks a handful of wild dandelions and shoves them in the bag, “Yeah, he’s been trying to get me some more equipment to examine it properly, but Invictus aren’t the easiest to deal with. Plus, they wouldn’t know a micro centrifuge if it bit them on the arse.”

  I’m frowning now. “Are they sick?”

  Avery stretches out her back before bending back down and
picking green weed-looking stuff. “They seem fine for now. But the blood, it seems to be mutating, and if I had to guess, I would say it’s because of the virus.”

  I find some wild garlic and add that to our haul. “So, what, like a second wave for the next generation?”

  “Possibly, or maybe they’ve got some sort of immunity, and it could be harnessed for a cure. Without the right lab equipment, I couldn’t really tell you.”

  They could be the cure? Not just a vaccine, but a cure. A way forward? No wonder Kaleb was desperate to keep control over his fantasy world. “Either way, Kaleb wins though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If he’s killing infected babies, he’s a hero saving the town. And if he’s killing the cure, he gets to keep his sick little village exactly as he likes it.”

  Avery nods, her mouth drawn into a tight line. Her hands tremble as she grabs more nettles, her guilt washing over her again.

  “When is the next ceremony?” We need a plan. We can’t stay here.

  Her eyes lock with mine. “Tonight, it’s a full moon.”

  “Is that a requirement?”

  She gives me a sarcastic laugh. “No, it’s just another one of Kaleb’s theatrical touches.”

  Of course, it is. I swear, working in a hotel in London I had met men who believed the very ground they walked on should be worshiped. They acted like gods, gifting me with their presence as they called me ‘sweetie’ or ‘babe’ but never had I met a man who went to the lengths Kaleb did. The man should work in theatre, he was such an over-the-top drama queen.

  “So, what’s the plan?”

  Giving me a wry smile, Avery whispers, “How do you feel about a little seduction?”

  I shudder.

  Avery digs out a hairbrush and some perfume from the back of a drawer in a bid to help me ‘doll’ myself up a little. It’s laughable, because at the end of the day I still look like a malnourished, frazzled mother. But our plan was dependent upon Kaleb letting me join them tonight in the woods. I needed him to trust me.