“Fuck,” Anna hisses as she stands and brushes off the grass from her clothes. I reach out and take her hand as the kids cheer and make whistling noises in the distance.
“We weren’t doing anything wrong,” I say softly as I watch the panic wash over her face. “Calm down.”
“I get that, but I don’t even know what...this is. So, how do I explain it to him?”
I get to my feet, stretching out. “He’s a pretty smart kid, just answer his questions if he has any, and other than that—do you really need to define anything right now?”
Frowning, she looks apprehensive before taking a step towards Alex and Luke. I watch for a few minutes before she turns around and raises a brow. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this awkwardness. If you ever want anything like that to happen again, you better be up shit creek with me.”
Laughing, I jog and catch up with her. “In up to my neck. I promise.”
Because I want it to happen again. Soon. And often. I slide her hand into mine and weave my fingers through hers as Alex makes kissy faces at us.
“Is it safe now?” Luke asks quietly, and Alex chuckles as he uncovers Luke’s face.
Giving us a pointed look, he leans down and stage whispers, “Yeah, kid, but it looks like you’re going to have to share Donovan with your mum from now on.”
I look over to Anna, whose grip on my hand is tightening the closer we get to Luke. She’s nervous, the woman who risked her life to save her son, who endured God knows what at the hands of not one, but two psychopaths, was trembling like a leaf over a kiss.
“Good luck, D.” Alex winks at me before strolling off towards the bunkers in order to carry on with the preparation.
“Look, Luke…” Anna starts, but Luke turns to me, a frown that’s almost identical to the one Anna was wearing only moments ago on his young face. It was easy to see that they were related, his expressions were all her.
Crossing his arms, he asks, “Does that mean you’re like my dad now?”
Anna looks at me panic stricken, opening her mouth to answer, but I silence her with a slight shake of my head. Letting go of her hand, I crouch down a little to get on an eye level with him. “No. It doesn’t, kiddo.”
His frown gets deeper, and he almost looks...crestfallen as his shoulders drop.
“Why would you think that?” Anna asks as she places a hand on his shoulder.
His voice catches as the words tumble out of his mouth. “Because if you were my new dad, then you’d have to let me stay with you. And you’d have to come back to me, right? You could never leave me behind.”
Tears stream down his face as he begins to sniffle. Anna shrugs at me, just as surprised by the exchange as I am.
“Look, kid, I’m not going anywhere anyway. When I leave Base, you and your mum are coming too. I would never leave you behind.” At least, I hope that was the plan because I didn’t want to leave them behind with that tosser, Kelp.
He calms down a little and wipes his cheeks. “Promise?”
“I promise,” I say firmly. “I haven’t left you behind so far, have I?”
“No. You tried though…” His voice is stronger now, calmer.
Raising my eyebrow, I smile at him. “Only to keep you safe.”
He nods, he isn’t stupid. He knows what’s lurking outside these fences. He’s been face-to-face with death so many times already.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “So, you aren’t mad that I kissed your mum?”
He wrinkles his face in disgust for a moment. “It was gross, but I’m not mad. I think it’s time mum got a boyfriend, because then she can stop nagging me and nag you instead.”
Anna’s mouth falls open before she protests weakly. “I don’t nag!”
She takes a step back, her arms crossed, but it doesn’t deter Luke, who wraps his arms around her in a tight hug. “You do, but I missed your nagging.”
“Well, I’ll be sure to make up for the weeks of peace you’ve had then!”
“Come on, Mum, don’t be like that!”
She takes his face in her hands and gives him an Eskimo kiss, before running her hand through his hair. “Fine, now go and play. We have to sort some things out.”
“Okay,” he says as he starts heading over to where the kids are now playing a game of tag. He stops halfway and turns back to us, shouting, “Love you guys!”
Anna blows him a kiss before turning back to me and laughing. “Well, that was very unexpected.”
“Which bit? The kiss or your son wanting me to be his new step-dad?” I snake my arm around her waist and pull her into my side as we head back to the mess hall.
“All of it!” She smiles. “God, I need a drink.”
“Hmmm, I’m afraid the choices are coffee or tea right now.”
“I’m British, a good cuppa fixes everything.”
As we approach the bunker, I can feel eyes on us, and over near the kitchen, I spot Lily watching us closely. Her face is blank, but I know that she seemed to think there was something between us.
“Not everything,” I murmur, and Anna follows my gaze over to where Lily is mashing potatoes for lunch with enthusiastic vigour. Shrugging off my hold, she tucks her hair behind her ear.
“That’s all on you, big guy. If you didn’t go around seducing all the mums, you wouldn’t have this problem.” Anna scoffs as she waves at Mia, who’s busy making plans for Rosehill.
“I didn’t seduce anyone!” I protest as I try to pull her back in, but she elbows me in the ribs. “There’s only been you! Also, one kiss is not a seduction.”
She gives me a pointed look. “It is when my last kiss was almost a rotting zombie.”
She has a point there.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Anna
I kissed Donovan. I kissed Donovan. Why the hell did I do that? And why was it so good? Fuck. It almost melted me the way Luke asked if Donovan was going to be his step-dad, I mean, it was one kiss. One kiss didn’t mean marriage and kids. I needed to get some space and clear my head because my hormones went wild whenever I was near him, which was unexpected given how I’d been treated at Leo’s camp.
I leave him to deal with Lily and the murderous glares she’s giving us because I had nothing to do with the mess he’s made there. Lily was my friend, but she was also intense and possessive. We were friends because we had children around the same age, and back at the Wharf and when we escaped, we needed each other. If we’d met in another life, in another world, we would probably just have passed each other on the street. I didn’t want to fight over a man, but I also didn’t want to push Donovan away if he had no interest in Lily to begin with. I inhale and hold my breath for a minute. As I exhale, I spot Avery in talks with Fischer, and I make my way over to them.
“Is everything okay?” I ask casually as Avery looks at me panicked.
“I told her,” she blurts out. I look around and decide that there are too many people around. I take Avery’s sleeve and half-drag her outside to the yard.
When the three of us are tucked around the corner by some of the vehicles, I hiss, “I thought we were going to wait?”
Avery’s bottom lip trembles as she rocks the baby in her sling. “Anna, I’m worried. I need to run some tests. I need to work out what’s going on, but I can’t do that unless someone knows.”
I sigh and run a hand through my hair, I’m a mum. I understand that she’s petrified, especially since she’d decided that Abi was hers, but we needed to trust each other and work together.
Fischer interjects, “Look, I know you’re both worried about Abi. But this is risky, and you should have told us.”
Avery looks guiltily up at me through wet eyelashes. We were risking everyone at the Basecamp, and we knew it. We knew it before we’d even stepped foot over the threshold, but there was no other way to find out if Abigail really was a risk.
“What’s going on?” Mia asks as she approaches and joins us all in looking at the baby sleeping soundly against Aver
y’s chest.
Clicking her tongue, Fischer reluctantly says, “Avery is a doctor. And she’s noticed some...anomalies in the babies being born since the virus broke out.”
“Anomalies? Like what?” Frowning, Mia looks closer at the child, but she’s careful not to touch.
Avery struggles to get her words out as she tries to explain. “I don’t know for sure, I didn’t have the right equipment in Redemption. I need to look into it, but…”
“You don’t trust Kelp,” Mia murmurs as the Lieutenant saunters by as he heads towards the Mess. Rubbing Avery’s arm, Mia leans in and whispers, “That’s okay, no one does.”
“Did you notice it in all the babies?” Fischer enquires once we’re certain that there’s no one else around to listen in to our conversation.
“Yes, every single one of them,” Avery replies as she nods.
Biting her lip, Fischer speculates, “So, it could possibly be a mutation of the virus?”
“Or possibly a reaction to try and defend against it,” Mia points out with a look. “But you don’t know?”
Avery shakes her head, eyes filled with tears.
“And you’re afraid they’ll hurt baby Abi?” Mia asks as she wraps an arm around Avery’s shoulder.
Fisher stands on her other side and places a hand on Avery’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, Avery.”
The look they share doesn't escape me, the intensity between them is almost sweet, but it does make me glad we came. These are the people who are going to help us. They’re the ones we can trust.
“I guess the first port of call is to get into the lab,” Mia says with a determined edge to her voice. This girl wasn’t even in her twenties, and yet here she was, leading people a lot older than her with a confidence that left me feeling safe in her hands.
Avery sobs, “I’ve already been to the Medical Bay, they wouldn’t let me touch anything.”
“There’s another lab that will be better suited to this kind of thing beneath the bunkers. It’s where they helped develop the virus to begin with.” Mia explains, her voice is serious and low. She’s angry, and I admit that I am too. They really did create this mess. Now Alex’s comments earlier make more sense.
“How do we get in?” I ask as the baby stirs.
Mia and Fischer look at each other, as Fischer raises a brow.
Mumbling, Mia says, “I can get us in, my father is—was—the Lieutenant in charge here before Kelp. That affords me some privileges…”
I can practically feel my eyebrows shoot up into my hairline. Her father came to London, he died at the Wharf at Leo’s hands, but I hadn’t realised he’d been in charge of the entire base. Why did he risk everything to come to London?
I look at Mia’s face, and I can see it written clearly there: guilt.
He came to redeem himself.
Mia avoids my gaze. His death was recent and raw. Christ, I’d watched as she tried to hold him together, his innards spilling out into her hands. “We’ll go tonight, but you’ll only have a few hours. Will that be enough?”
Avery dries her eyes. “No, but it'll be enough to take the samples and start mapping it out.”
“Everything needs to start somewhere,” I remind her, and she gives me a small smile.
Like the night before, I tuck Luke in and watch as he falls asleep. My baby is safe, but Avery’s isn’t; none of the future generation is, and we need to figure out why. I lay in the dark, waiting for Mia to come and get me so that we could sneak down into the lab.
A soft knock has me slipping from beneath the covers and pulling my shoes on quietly. I almost have a heart attack as Luke rolls over and groans in his sleep. Carefully tiptoeing over to the door, I slip through it, only to find myself pressed up against someone’s chest.
“Donovan?” I ask quietly, inhaling the masculine scent that already lingers in my room and on my clothes. I place my hand out, the darkness disorienting me.
“Were you expecting someone else?” He chuckles, his body moving beneath my fingers.
I hiss into the blackness, “What’re you doing here?”
I can feel as he leans down, his lips brushing against my neck. “I came to see you, we have unfinished seduction business, but why are you dressed already?”
“She was waiting for me,” Mia’s hushed whisper comes down the hall. “And keep your filthy talk for when you guys are alone. Eww.”
“I thought we were alone.” Donovan straightens up, but he doesn't move away. The suspicion in his voice is clear as he asks, “What’re you up to, Mia?”
“Nothing,” she almost hums as she gets closer.
“Does Alex know you’re out here, creeping around?” He sounds bored, almost like he’s used to her antics, and I wonder how long they’d all been together.
Silence.
“No. He’s out on patrol,” she finally admits, and even though I can’t see her, I can imagine her sheepish face. Alex was protective over his partner in crime, even though the woman could more than handle herself.
“Sneaky, sneaky,” Donovan chides softly. “What are you doing?”
“We’re going into the lab,” I offer as we start to walk down the corridor, careful not to wake anyone else up as we sneak out.
Threading his hand through mine, Donovan sounds worried as he asks, “Why?”
“We’ll explain it when we get there.” Mia brushes him off, and for the rest of the way, we’re silent.
Chapter Thirty
Donovan
“So, you’re telling me that the baby was born infected?” I say, my voice coming out harsher than I intended as I try to wrap my head around what Mia has just told me. They brought a sick baby to a camp full of survivors? And they didn’t feel the need to tell anyone? Fucking hell.
“No, I’m telling you that I don’t know what it is,” Avery says firmly, crossing her arms and getting angry at me. “That’s why I need to do these tests and why you need to move out of my way.”
I’m leaning against the workstation as she’s turned on various machines, pulled out needles, vials, glass pods, and beakers. She bustles around like a madwoman, trying to work while avoiding the elephant in the room.
“Come on, let’s move over here,” Anna says softly as she guides me over to a table and chairs in the corner, where I sit while she rocks the baby.
I watch as Mia switches on the computer, there’s no way they’re not going to know we were here. The army knew that this might happen once the virus was unleashed, they needed the lab to be able to work if everything went tits up so everything was run off generators and solar panels. However, they were economical with their use, trying to preserve the machines and the stored power. Kelp was going to have a shit fit when he found out, especially when he learned that it was all for a mutant baby. One we’d welcomed into the camp without a second thought.
“Mia…” I warn her, but she raises a hand and silences me.
“No. We don’t know anything yet, Donovan, and I’m not condemning anyone until we have more facts.” She runs a hand through her long hair, looking tired before preparing more slides for Avery to use under the microscope.
Without me even saying it, she knew I wanted her to go to Kelp and put the kid in isolation. It was the safest option. I mean, if it was somehow evolving to create a cure for the virus—great. But it didn’t need to risk the other survivors if it wasn’t, and instead it was just another, more advanced strain. We were barely surviving as a race, how could they risk everything?
Anna settles the baby, who starts whining, by making cooing noises as she rocks back and forth. Her face is soft as she looks at the small bundle in her arms, making me think back to the sleepless nights Elise and I spent trying to settle Layla in the same way.
Catching my eye, she murmurs, “I know what you’re thinking. How could we be so stupid?”
“It’s not...that’s not…” I stammer as she gives me a look that says she sees right through me.
“It is. Bu
t we can’t live with our heads in the sand, Donovan. If this baby holds a cure or even if it’s a dangerous mutation—she’s the future. There’s no escaping it. No preventing it, not without us dying off anyway. We lose either way.”
“So, it’s best to be prepared,” Fischer concludes as she approaches and takes another vial of blood from the infant, who starts crying.
“I know. I understand that, but—”
Mia interrupts me again, “No. No buts, we’re running out of time and options. We do what we have to in order to survive. And not just tomorrow, but for generations.”
The mewling cries fill the room, and it wouldn’t be long before someone heard us. I sit back and watch Anna play nanny while the doctor, the soldier, and the sixth former move around the lab like they were trying to save the world—which they were. “Well, I’m glad to see you all working together to find the answers. But did any of you think to tell some of us mere menfolk? Or is it just a female thing?”
Mia scoffs, “Look how you reacted, Donovan, you were the perfect soldier: logical. Too logical. This decision needed a little more emotion.”
I’m aware that they’re all watching me now. Crossing my arms, I pull a face. “And what, men aren’t capable of that?”
Anna keeps moving behind me, rocking the child who doesn’t want to sleep.
Mia stops what she’s doing and sighs. “I didn’t say that. I’m saying Kelp and Alex aren't going to listen until we have more information. They will want to do what’s best for us now, and I need to start thinking a bit further forward.”
“Fine.” I raise my hands in defeat before taking the baby from Anna and settling her. “I’ll help, but you need to tell Alex in the morning. No more of this sneaky, sneaky shit.”
Mia had a point. We were trying to get through the month, and the future to us meant making it to next year. But as I looked down at Abi, her eyes rolling around as she drifted off to sleep finally, I realised we needed to have a bigger plan.
The Survival Games (Book 2): Hide & Seek Page 17