I hadn’t seen her all week. I knew she was avoiding going home—avoiding all of us, probably—and I couldn’t blame her. She was trying to move on and we were all reminders of what she’d lost.
The darkness didn’t ease when I reached the top, so I paused to allow my eyes to adjust. Someone turned my way, cloaked in the shadows of the guard tower, and I blinked. Parv’s small frame came into view after only a second, no more than a black outline against the dark sky.
“Megan?” Her voice was a total contrast of the person I’d known all these years. She was small and soft-spoken, but to me she had always seemed larger than life. Tough as nails and ready to take on anything. She’d had to be to rise to the rank of Judicial Officer of New Atlanta.
“It’s me,” I said, a sudden feeling of déjà vu coming over me. Hadn’t I said those exact same words to Mom last night when I got home?
I pulled myself forward, keeping my body low so I didn’t topple over the side and fall into the zombie world that existed beyond the wall. It was so dark that even though I was familiar with the area, I had to feel my way. Most people turned on a lantern up here. Maybe the darkness was comforting for Parv.
“What are you doing up here?” she asked as I settled in next to her.
She moved a few things around and a second later a match flared, the small spark turning into a tiny flame that lit the space just enough to allow me to make out my aunt’s face. Shadows, long and black, played across her features, making her cheeks appear sunken and her eyes nothing more than dark pits. It sent a shiver down my spine that I couldn’t shrug off until after the lantern had flared to life between us. Only then could I see my aunt clearly, and only then were her gentle brown eyes a comfort.
“I wanted to talk to you,” I said, shifting so I had my legs pulled up against my chest. “You haven’t been around much.”
Parv exhaled as she nodded. “I know, I’m sorry. It’s been hard pulling myself out of this. I’ve had to do it before, but this time…”
She swallowed and looked away, and I found myself wondering if she was talking about her family or someone else. I knew that everyone in her life had died from the initial outbreak, and that she never got to say goodbye to them, but something about the expression on her face told me that the loss she was referring to was something else altogether. Someone she had loved before Joshua, maybe?
“How’s your mom?” Parv asked, her gaze focused on the dark city in front of us.
“She was better last night. A little more together. Even though she was out of it again this morning, I can’t help hoping it’s a good sign.” Parv nodded in understanding. “She had this crazy dream that Angus came into her room. That he told her to get her shit together or something like that.”
I chuckled, but it was cut short when Parv turned her whole body to face me.
“Angus came to her room?”
“In a dream,” I said, wondering if I’d forgotten to mention that part.
“Right. Of course.” Parv shook her head. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Um…”
For a second I couldn’t think, too caught up in conspiracy theories that were as old as I was. Then the reason I was here came screaming back and I almost burst into tears. The last thing I wanted to do was kick someone when they were down, but that was exactly what I was about to do and I hated myself a little for it. Not that I had a choice.
“It’s about Joshua,” I finally said. “Something happened today.”
Parv closed her eyes and nodded. “What is it? Just tell me.”
I took a deep breath, and when I blew it out, the words came with it. Everything that had happened. Me getting a job, the note given to me by the stranger, the warnings I’d been given, how I was sent outside the fence, and finally seeing my uncle as a zombie this evening. The whole time I talked, Parv kept her eyes shut. They were clenched tight, but the emotions that played across her face were so raw and painful that I physically hurt for her.
When I was done, I slipped the ring off my thumb and held it out to her. The light from the lantern highlighted the design etched into the silver metal.
Parv opened her eyes, which were shimmering with tears, and took the ring from my hand, rubbing it between her fingers like just having it made her stronger.
“Thank you.” She slipped it on her thumb, just like I had earlier, then took a deep breath. “I think I always suspected they hadn’t taken care of him the way they said they would. Just like I always knew it was no accident. Maybe that’s why it was so hard to deal with it.” A tear slid down her cheek and she swiped it away almost violently. “You know, we resisted falling in love for a long time. We’d both been stung before and I guess we didn’t think the pain was worth it. When we first got here, we were only living together out of convenience. We’d been together for months, on the road and in Colorado, but Joshua and I were both naturally quiet people, and we really hadn’t taken the time to get to know each other.
“Time moved on and we became…comfortable. It was two years after we got to Atlanta before we admitted to one another how we felt. By then Luke and Charlie had already been born, and your mom was pregnant with Margot. I was in my mid-twenties and Joshua was pushing thirty, and we figured it would be a good time to start a family.”
Parv stopped like the words were too hard to get out, and I held my breath. I’d never heard most of this stuff before. There wasn’t a time that I could think back on and remember Parv and Joshua not being together, and I’d had no idea that they’d ever wanted children. They’d always been an odd couple. Joshua, taller than anyone I’d ever known and so pale that he looked like he spent his life in the lab, hidden away from the sun. Parv had barely come up to his chest, and next to him her dark skin had washed him out even more. But as far as I knew, they’d always been happy.
“You couldn’t have kids?” I asked when she didn’t say anything else.
Parv tore her gaze off the ring circling her thumb and focused on me. “It never happened for us.”
There was so much space between those words that I couldn’t help trying to search the gaps for some hidden meaning. I couldn’t find one, of course. Maybe Parv had a baby when I was too young to remember and it had died. It happened so much in the early days that it seemed like a logical conclusion to jump to.
My aunt let out a deep breath, and when she inhaled she looked like a stronger person. Like her old self. “Tell me more about this note and the man who gave it to you.”
“Okay…” I hadn’t come here to burden my aunt, but if she could figure some of this out, it might help all of us. “He was older. Sixty, maybe. Thin. Gray hair that was wild and a beard that was just as crazy. And he had these gray eyes that—” I broke off short of telling her that they had reminded me of Dad. I didn’t want to sound like Mom. Crazy and out-of-touch with reality.
“That’s it?” Parv asked. “Nothing else really stood out?”
“Other than the fact that he popped up again tonight in Dragon’s? No.”
“Did you tell anyone else about all this?”
“I talked to Al when I first got the note, but he freaked out. He tried to act like it was no big deal, but I could tell he was nervous.”
“If you were in the apartment,” Parv said. “It’s understand-able. We never know when they’re listening.”
They? Now who sounded like Mom?
“Who exactly are you talking about when you say they?”
“We aren’t sure exactly. It could be just the government—Jackson’s dad—or it could run deeper. The CDC. For all we know, it’s all connected. We can’t ignore the rumors that have surrounded Angus for years. That’s why Joshua originally agreed to be Dr. Helton’s apprentice. Before the virus hit, he’d worked as an ER doctor, and he was better suited for trauma than research. But they were low on doctors and needed help creating a vaccine, and we’d only been here for a few months when Dr. Helton approached him about it. The timing was good.”
“Why?”
“There was this man named Jim who left Colorado with us.” Parv paused and patted my leg. “He was a good friend of your biological father’s, actually.”
Jim? Hadn’t that been the name of the zombie slayer Luke introduced me to? The one who’d said he knew my parents? No. It couldn’t be. Could it? Everything else seemed to be connected these days, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but how did Luke know him?
Parv sighed like the memories made it difficult for her to breathe. When she continued, her voice was quieter. “Anyway, we got separated from Jim on the way here, and when he finally arrived, he had a woman with him. Amira was deaf, but she could read lips, and while in quarantine a couple guards said some things in front of her about a cabbage and a vegetable. She’d gotten the impression that they were talking about a person. Since we’d already heard rumors that Angus was alive and being kept under lock and key, it seemed like a good idea to check it out. So, Joshua went to work with Dr. Helton at the CDC.”
“He never found anything?”
“No,” Parv said firmly. “But there were areas he was never allowed access to. Even after almost twenty years. Top secret sections that were off limits. Guarded.”
What the hell was at the CDC that they didn’t want people to see? Especially other doctors.
“Parv,” I said, choosing my words carefully while inside me, something that felt an awful lot like hope tried to force itself to the surface. “Do you think my dad is still alive?”
My aunt held my gaze, her dark eyes boring into mine while my heart beat faster and faster with each passing second.
“I do.” When she finally said it, the words were so soft that they almost got caught on the breeze. “After Jim got back and the rumors grew worse, Joshua tested Axl’s blood. He was immune.”
I squeezed my eyes shut when they filled with tears. All the horror of what Dad could be going through hit me with so much force that it felt like the wall under me had collapsed and I was being crushed under the rubble. If Parv was right, then Dad was being used as an experiment. Poked, prodded, possibly injected with things. He was probably in horrible pain.
“So the CDC knew Dad couldn’t be infected?” I asked, my eyes still closed.
“They did.”
“Why didn’t they tell him?”
“Only they can answer that question for sure.”
“Why now?” I whispered. “Why take him now? If he was immune, why didn’t they take him back then?”
Parv’s hand covered mine and I opened my eyes. “I think they didn’t need him yet because they had Angus. Plus, the city was still new, so they were probably short on resources. I don’t think Angus died the way the claimed, but instead they kept him as a prisoner for years. Used his blood to create new vaccines as the virus mutated. I think two prisoners would have been too hard for them to control, so they kept your father’s immunity a secret instead. Either Angus has recently died for real—” Parv paused to take a deep breath. “—or the virus has finally mutated in a way that doesn’t respond to Angus’s blood. This is just a theory, but one Joshua and Al happened to agree with.”
Al. So my uncle knew all this. No wonder he was terrified when I brought him that note.
“I can’t believe this,” I said, allowing the tears to stream down my cheeks. “Why did we stay if you guys thought this might happen?”
“Because we didn’t know anything for sure, and even with the risk of something like this happening, this city was better than anything out there. You have no idea what we went through before we made it here, and we had to believe that we could have a real life inside the wall. Plus, by the time we formed these theories, Al and Lila already had two kids, and your parents had you and Margot to worry about. Leaving the city meant putting all your lives at risk. There were unsanctioned towns, but they got raided and overrun all the time. Plus, they didn’t get help from the little bit of government that we did have. We briefly talked about going back to Colorado, but before we could figure out a way to make it happen, the town was breached. Everyone we knew there was killed.” Parv squeezed my hand. “We did the best we could with the information we had.”
“It’s like putting a Band-Aid on an amputation,” I muttered, repeating one of Al’s favorite sayings.
Despite the sadness surrounding us, Parv let out a little laugh. “Al never has lost his sense of humor.”
“I hope he never does,” I said, wiping the tears from my face. “What about Mom? Did she know all this?”
“Yes and no.” Parv sighed. “She would be furious if she knew your dad kept all this from her, but when we found out he was immune she was pregnant and he didn’t want to scare her. Or dampen her good mood. Then she was happy for a long time, and after everything, I think he just didn’t want that to change. Then Margot died…” I swallowed and Parv patted my hand again. “She heard the rumors about Angus and we all talked about it, but we kept the majority of what was going on a secret from her. It’s how your dad wanted it.”
“What now? What do we do about Dad? We can’t just leave him in there, but how the hell are we going to get into the CDC?”
“I’m open for suggestions.” Parv pulled her hand off mine and stared at the ring on her right thumb, putting it next to the matching one on her left ring finger. “We need someone on the inside. Problem is, there isn’t anyone. Not anymore.”
I started to nod, but stopped when I realized she was wrong. There was Jackson.
If anyone knew what was going on inside the CDC, it would be him. His father was in charge of the entire country, plus Jackson had been doing an apprenticeship at the CDC for years. Since he was fifteen. He had to know something, and if he didn’t, he could get information easily enough.
Only I hadn’t spoken to him in days and after what Ticker told me the other night, I wasn’t planning to. Ever again if I could help it.
It couldn’t be too late to smooth this whole thing out, though.
“I could talk to Jackson.”
Parv put her hand on my leg again, only this time it was more forceful. As if she was trying to stop me from running off. “That’s a big risk, Megan. I know you two have been close for a long time, but he’s the Regulator’s son and you know your dad never trusted him. We have no way of knowing how much Jackson knows or how deep into all this he really is. He could be innocent, or he could know every single dark secret his father has.”
I thought about all the stuff Matt and Ticker told me, comparing it with the Jackson I always thought I knew. The one who’d been sweet and caring with me. The one who acted understanding. Matt had called him a sociopath. Could he be? If so, I would be taking a big risk.
But it could be my only chance…
“I’ll be subtle,” I said almost to myself, then turned to face my aunt. “I’ll just feel him out.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Megan.” Parv squeezed my knee before letting out a sigh. “But I have a feeling I won’t be able to talk you out of this. You’re too stubborn. Just like your mom. Both of them.”
Her smile was small in the dim light of the lantern, and I mimicked it.
“What next?” I asked after a few seconds of silence. “Are you going to talk to Al about all this?”
“I need to,” she said, “but finding privacy is going to be tough. We need a place away from the prying eyes of the government, but with our jobs, that isn’t going to be easy.”
She had a point. Even up here we were taking a risk, and the apartment was totally out of the question. The streets would be too out in the open as well. Anyone could watch us or eavesdrop on our conversation. We needed a place that was either outside the reach of the government, or so insignificant that they would never even consider bugging it.
“What about Dragon’s Lair?” I asked, an idea forming in my head. “There’s no way anyone would care what goes on inside the bar.”
Parv nodded slowly. “That could work, but I’d still need to get a mes
sage to Al. If we’re on the right track, then there’s no doubt in my mind that we’re being watched, and you are for sure. We’d need it to be subtle. ”
“Charlie can do it.” It was the perfect solution. “She just started an apprenticeship with Al anyway, so no one would suspect that she’s passing him a message. She already told me she’s going to stop by the bar tomorrow for the fight. When she does, I’ll give her a note to take to her dad.”
“It could work,” Parv said. “We’ll shoot for eleven. Al will still be working, so no one will be suspicious if he heads to the entertainment district.”
I got to my feet and stretched. Sharing my worries with my aunt had helped ease the heaviness in me some, and knowing that Parv, Al, and I were going to meet tomorrow gave me hope that we might be able to figure this whole thing out. But it was late and I had an early shift, followed by a few hours on my feet in Dragon’s Lair. Plus, somewhere in the middle of all that, I needed to get in touch with Jackson and try to make up with him.
“I need to get some sleep,” I said through a yawn.
My aunt stayed where she was as I made my way across the wall toward the ladder, keeping my body low so I didn’t fall. My feet were still on the top rung when she called out to me.
I looked her way and she held the ring up. “Thanks for this. It hurts, but I’m glad that I finally know what happened to him. It’s nice to have some closure. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get it.”
“I know the feeling,” I said, letting out a deep sigh.
“We’ll find him,” Parv said firmly. “I promise.”
I nodded as I headed down the ladder, hoping that she was right, but unable to ignore the doubt inside me. All we had were theories right now, and no real plan to speak of. Hopefully, we could come up with something and fast.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Donaghy
The sound of one of my guards trying to cough up a lung woke me at the ass crack of dawn. I threw my arm over my head, hoping to drown out the noise, and squeezed my eyes shut tighter, but it only made his coughs echo through my brain. The cement walls of the back room magnified the sound, and every time he hacked it vibrated through the air, bouncing off the stone until it slammed into me.
Twisted World Series Box Set | Books 1-3 & Novella Page 22