It takes less than ten minutes for Lily to show up at our room, and she pulls me into a hug, but it’s less intimate than the one she shared with Donovan and more comforting.
“I am so glad he managed to find you. I knew he would!” she gushes, taking a seat on one of the beds. “We’re safe, Anna, finally safe.”
I can hardly believe it either, after everything we’ve been through, we’re back with our children, and we’re with normal people. Well, as normal as you can get in a zombie apocalypse.
“Isn’t this...isn’t this Donovan’s room?” Lily asks, with a faux innocence that makes me a little uneasy. She begins opening the locker at the foot of the bed and pulls out some men’s clothing.
“Oh, is it?” I say, looking around at the non-descript, army standard room.
“Yep, but it’s mine too!” Luke says, not registering the look she’s giving me.
I sit on the empty bed for a moment, wondering what the heck is going on here that the woman I escaped from London with is now eyeing me up like I’m trying to steal her last pound. I think she catches herself because Lily says nothing but gives my hand a squeeze before leaving.
Luke starts talking at a million miles an hour, like he’s been saving up every little detail for when we were reunited again. He’s telling me about how he helps in the kitchens and Mia has been showing a group of them, including Lily’s kids, how to shoot a bow and arrow. It makes my heart ache to think about when he was five and I dressed him as Robin Hood for Halloween, he had this crappy plastic bow with sucker darts, but now he was playing with the real thing.
“Are you okay?” a husky voice I would recognise anywhere asks. Donovan is leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed as he watches Luke chatter on. “Maybe we should give your mum a break?”
Luke nods, a sad look on his little face.
Stroking his chin, Donovan says, “I heard Galen say that there might be some cake in the mess hall if you’re lucky…”
And just like that, my baby boy is smiling again. I wish I could go back to an age where it was so easy to be happy about the small things. He looks to Donovan and me, hopeful expression as I nod, giving him permission to go and hunt down something sweet. We both chuckle as the eight-year-old tears down the corridor like his arse is on fire.
Donovan takes a seat in the only armchair in the room and tilts his head back, seemingly grateful for the silence. It doesn’t occur to me until after Luke has left that he checked with Donovan first...and then me.
“You should stay here tonight,” Donovan offers as he stands again and opens up his locker. “There are women's showers just down the hall.”
I get up, stretching, before looking at the damage. Everything I’m wearing is ruined. It’s either torn or saturated with blood and mud. I’m a mess. I step towards Donovan just as he turns, a bundle of clothes and a towel in his hands. We’re stood so close now, that I can see just how long his eyelashes are. He gives me a half-gaze, gaze locked with mine as we’re barely a foot apart. I want to kiss him. That would be reckless, not to mention inappropriate. He’s a stranger. But I want to. He makes me feel safe.
“Anna...” he whispers softly, and it pulls me out of my thoughts.
“I am so sorry, I’m a bit of a space invader,” I blurt, trying to diffuse the strange tension between us as I step back. “Are those for me?”
He offers them up, and I practically snatch them out of his hands.
“Anna, look,” he starts, and that’s when I turn and race for the showers. I think I left that tiny room even quicker than Luke did in his search for cake. I have no idea what he was going to say, but I wasn’t ready to hear it. I needed to clear my head and focus on Luke, not on romance.
It’s amazing what a hot shower can do for you, even if there’s someone yelling at you for taking too long. When I get back to the room, Donovan is gone, but Luke is showered and curled up under the blanket, snoring softly. I crawl into the bed opposite him, every part of me aching and worn down. I sigh as I close my eyes, listening to him breathing steadily. I’m okay. We’re going to be okay.
After the best sleep I’ve had in a while, I make my way over to the mess hall, Luke pulling me by my sleeve. Redemption was safe from zombies, but I never felt safe there, and I was right not to. There were still worse monsters out there, hiding amongst us.
“Come on, Mum! I want some scrambled eggs!” Luke says excitedly, and I laugh. He would never eat eggs before, I guess when the choices are limited, we eat what we’re given.
I roll my sleeves up so he can’t pull me along anymore and wave him on ahead of me. I’m wearing one of Donovan’s shirts, a red checked flannel one, with a pair of black joggers. They’ve seen better days and swamp me, but it’s better than being naked or caked in blood. Plus, I secretly like wearing his clothes. The masculine scent that lingers on the fabric comforts me as I walk around, not recognising anyone. I don’t want anything to eat, so I find a space at an empty table, nursing a mug of hot coffee. They didn’t have coffee at Redemption, anything that wasn’t healthy or necessary wasn’t ‘indulged in.’ Avery said that Kaleb was obsessed with making sure everyone was as healthy and clean as possible so they could conceive easier. I watch Luke chat to some of the people making and serving food, he’d obviously settled in here while I was gone, and I’m glad. I didn’t want him to be miserable just in case the worst had happened.
“He’s a good kid,” Mia observes as she sits down opposite me with a food tray. Her bow is slung on her back, and that’s when I notice that almost everyone walks around here with some sort of weapon. It’s supposed to be safe, but I guess nowhere really is these days.
“Thanks.” I blush and look away, only to lock eyes with Donovan, who takes the seat beside me.
“You feeling better?” he asks as he begins to tuck into his breakfast.
“Huh?” Was he asking because I ran away from him last night?
He raises a brow, a smile ghosting on his lips. “Now that you’ve slept and showered?”
“Yeah,” I laugh awkwardly. “Much better now I’ve washed all the blood off from the guy who was holding me hostage to impregnate me with sacrificial babies. Not to mention I almost got snogged by a zombie who was clearly horny and crazier than the others.”
Mia snorts laughing. “I like you, Anna.”
“Well, I’m here for the foreseeable future. If you want sarcasm on the daily, I’m your gal.” I give her an exaggerated wink, and I can feel Donovan’s shoulders move against mine as he laughs along with us. Luke wolfs down his food and then asks if he can go and play with some of the other kids. My heart melts that he finally gets to be a child, even if it’s only for a little while.
“I think Alex is talking to Kelp about the zombie, something was definitely up with that. And it’s not the first strange one we’ve come across.” Mia pushes her eggs around on the tray, a frown appearing on her pretty young face.
“Us too, that one outside London in that big posh house was weird too, wasn’t it, Anna?” Lily chimes in as she sits opposite Donovan and gives him a sweet smile.
I nod slowly. The teenager in the red hoodie, like I could forget. I’d smashed his head in with a bat, his face would be permanently etched on my brain. The look he gave me was in my nightmares every time I shut my eyes.
Two men I don’t know join us, but they seem friendly enough, and Mia and Donovan seem to like them as they crack jokes and swap stories. Avery takes a seat near the end of the table, Abigail strapped to her chest in a sling she’s fashioned out of a sheet of sorts. The soldier from the woods, Fischer, joins us, sitting close to Avery and checking on the baby every now and again. If I didn’t know better, I would say the way Avery smiles at her is not the same way she smiles at me. She looks up at the woman through her eye lashes, and when she catches me watching, she blushes. It was nice seeing her relax here in a way she never could back at Redemption, but we couldn’t sit around. We needed to talk to someone about Abigail and the mutate
d blood. Avery wanted access to some scientific gizmos to take a better look, but to do that, we had to admit that there was something different about the baby. Given the protective way Avery refuses to hand her to anyone else, I think that there may be a problem on the horizon.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think, civilian!” a voice thunders through the mess hall. Seconds later, a man in uniform that I recognize as the one they call Kelp strides in, an angry-looking Alex following closely behind.
“Oh shit,” Mia mumbles. “Here we go.”
She pushes her tray away and gets to her feet, as do Donovan, Fischer, and the two men who I learned are called Lee and Jenkins. I stay where I am, watching, waiting, unsure of what the hell is going on.
“Don’t be an idiot, Kelp. You have to do something!” Alex pleads, but Kelp tries to turn his back and walk away. Alex runs in front, stopping Kelp as he attempts to walk around him. It’s like watching them do a weird dance, and it would be funny, if everyone watching didn’t look so serious.
Throwing up his hands, an exasperated Kelp screams in Alex’s face. “I don’t give a shit if you think they’re mutating. They are monsters, we kill them. It’s that fucking simple.”
“Except it isn’t anymore!”
Kelp jabs a finger into Alex’s shoulder, and I hear Mia suck in a sharp breath before moving closer. “I am in charge here, and you forget yourself.”
“You fuckers caused this, and if only they knew what you kept in the tunnels beneath their feet, Kelp,” Alex goads, standing chest to chest with the man who looks like he’s ready to kill. “You think they would trust you then?”
Titters and murmurs breakout around us. What was the army hiding at the base? What was Alex talking about? What did Litchfield have to do with the outbreak?
“You need to back down, civilian.” His voice issues a clear warning, and it sends a shiver down my spine. Have I traded one power struggle at the Wharf for another?
“No,” Alex spits. “You need to stand up, Lieutenant. Stand up and do something.”
Alex gets shoved back before Kelp swings his fist, and it seems almost slow motion as we watch it connect with Alex’s jaw. Staggering back, Alex swipes away the blood from his split lip with his thumb, grinning like a mad man. He takes another step towards Kelp, but the man kicks him down onto his knees. Alex still grins, is he crazy?
“I have warned you time and time again.” Kelp signals, and five soldiers surround Alex with their guns trained securely on him. There’s a look of sick enjoyment on Kelp’s face that reminds me of Kaleb. He is loving the pain he’s just inflicted, it’s clear that he’s been itching to put Alex in his ‘place’ for a while.
“Oi, and I have warned you. More than once.” Mia growls as she draws her bow and aims it at Kelp, and a genuine flash of fear crosses Kelp’s face. Donovan has her back with his massive knife, Lee and Jenkins are also armed, one with a bat and the other a steel pipe, while Fischer aims her gun at the man she introduced as Galen last night. The rest of the people in the room either take a step back, or step forward, their fingers reaching for whatever weapons they’re hiding on their bodies. Alex isn’t crazy, I realise, he just needed a reason to strike back. He was trying to show the others how unstable Kelp was, and it was working, given how many people seemed to be siding with him, facing Kelp instead of Alex.
“This is getting out of hand,” Kelp bellows, finally reading the situation. Yes, he could punish Alex, but whatever tenuous hold he had over the army base would be shattered, judging by the way everyone was looking at him, including a few of his own people.
“You need to leave, look at the trouble you’re causing,” he hisses, leaning in so that he’s stood over Alex.
“Give us what we want then,” Alex says, voice calm.
Kelp’s fists ball, and he raises his arm again, and the whole room seems to surge forward, prepared to intervene.
“Kelp…” Mia warns. Surprisingly, the older man lets his arm drop back down to his side. Was Mia his soft spot or was he just that scared of her?
He steps back. “Fine. Take a truck and whatever supplies you need...within reason.”
Alex nods, and I see Donovan relax his stance a little.
Pointing a finger at Mia, Kelp grunts, “You will be expected to pay us back with food and assistance when we require it. Now, get out of my sight.”
He waves his hand dismissively as Alex gets to his feet, and Mia leads him out of the mess hall. I look over and see Luke still playing outside, oblivious to what’s just happened. Avery flashes me a frightened look, and rocks Abigail, holding her a little tighter against her chest. I give her a reassuring smile and raise my finger to my lips, we needed to make sure we spoke to the right person about this, and that wasn’t Kelp.
Taking my coffee, I head outside for some fresh air, away from the whispers and gossiping. I sit on a grassy area near the perimeter fence and look out across the fields and trees surrounding us. It was like the place I’d grown up as a child, but nothing like London. Toto, we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Donovan
After the whole ruckus calms down, I head out to find Anna. Alex and Mia are loading up a truck ready for Rosehill, and it looks like it was all a ploy to push things along with Kelp since he’d been dragging his feet about helping us. Fucking Alex. He wasn’t usually so reckless, but he did have a point, things were changing, and we needed to be ready.
I find her sitting on the grass near the fence, just looking out across the fields like Mia was a few weeks ago. She looks better today, less tired and more relaxed as she inhales and exhales slowly.
Finally, breaking the silence, she says, “I’m so sick of running. Of giving up every inch of myself just to live through one more miserable day. I want more.” Her voice is laced with sadness and anger as I sit down beside her. “I want my son to grow up smiling. Playing with kids his own age, not weapons.”
I place my hand on her leg gently, as I try to reassure her. I’m not usually one for human contact, but with her, it's automatic. Just like with Luke, it’s inescapable. I feel connected to the two of them, they’re grounding me in a way I never would have imagined. They were the first thing on my mind last night, how they were both tucked up safe in my rooms. Then when I woke this morning, I had to force myself not to look for them and go about my normal routine.
“I know, but this is our life now. The world we made. And Luke does smile,” I explain softly. “He appreciates every second of peace and safety because he knows what the alternative is. In fact, I’d say he’s happier than any of us. We were too complacent in our lives before, we took everything for granted.”
She pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on them. “That’s true.”
I can see that my words aren’t really sinking in. She’s too lost in her own thoughts, so I do the only thing I can think of. I take a deep breath and open up. “My wife...I wish I had told her I loved her more often. As for Layla, my daughter, I wish I’d taken her teddy tea parties more seriously and enjoyed every moment instead of worrying about the mess she was making.”
Looking at me, her eyes are wide, filled with sorrow as she seems to examine every line on my face. I had tried pushing away the memories of Elise and Layla away, shutting them up in a box in the back of my mind, but the more I was around Anna and Luke, the harder that was becoming.
“If they were here now...I wouldn’t complain. I wouldn’t moan. I’d just enjoy it,” I admit quietly. Anna and Luke weren’t a replacement. They never would be. But the feelings I was starting to experience, I never thought I’d have that with anyone else.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Donovan…” Her voice is tender, which does nothing to calm the tightening in my chest that I feel when I look at her.
I cough awkwardly, trying not to get bogged down in the emotions swirling around us. Keeping my voice light, I fake a smile and start reeling out some motivational one-liners I used to see a
ll over Twitter and Facebook before the outbreak. “We have to keep moving on. Living in the moment. Enjoying what we have.”
Anna snorts and places her hand over mine. “Yeah, I get it. Please, no more inspirational cheesy lines.”
Turning to her, my face is serious as I say, “No, I’ve still got a few more. We need to seize the day and live the life we want.”
“Donovan!” She laughs, nudging me with her shoulder. “Pack it in.”
I like hearing her laugh, it’s contagious, and I can feel my face cracking into a grin.
“The only way is up. So, keep calm and—”
She silences me with a kiss, and it’s like my brain stops as her lips are pressed gently against mine briefly before she pulls away.
Touching her fingers against her lips, she apologises. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that. Seize that day and all that crap…”
Grabbing her wrist, I pull her into me so I can kiss her properly. Anna has consumed my thoughts since she laid her palm against my cheek at the Wharf. I have been waiting for her. Hunting her. Dreaming of her. Luke only fed the fire that she had already lit with the human compassion and faith she had shown us. If she wanted to seize the day with me, I wouldn’t mind.
My hands thread into her hair, and I can feel her moan against my mouth as I savour the taste of her, the feel of her body beneath mine, burning it into my memory for when the days are dark.
“Oi! Lovebirds, I think this one is yours!” Alex’s voice calls across, and we turn to see him standing with a huge grin, covering Luke’s eyes as some of the other kids giggle and point at us.
The Survival Games (Book 2): Hide & Seek Page 16