“You don’t have to.” Jim reached for the credits but she pulled her hand away and slapped the paper on the counter.
The guy at the register swiped them up so fast there was no chance for Jim to grab them, and the way he narrowed his eyes felt like a dare. “Transaction’s done.”
Amira grabbed the pack and walked out of the store.
Jim found her waiting in the street for him. The pack was already open and she held it out, lifting her eyebrows expectantly like she was daring him to turn her down.
He snorted and pulled one out. “You are sneaky.”
“I just knew you wanted them and I knew you’d never spend the credits. You’re too selfless.”
Selfless? Jim stuck the cigarette between his lips and lit it while he thought that one through. The first inhale was like a soothing balm on a burn, and the moment the chemicals reached his lungs he felt like he was home after a long walk through the desert. He held the smoke in and then let it out in one long sigh.
“No one’s ever accused me of being selfless before.”
“Maybe you weren’t, but you are now.” She turned and headed down the street.
He slipped the pack into his back pocket and jogged after her. “Where are we going now?”
“I want to check out the entertainment district.”
She didn’t turn to face him, so he had to walk faster and get in front of her.
“Why? It’s ten o’clock in the morning. Do you need a drink that bad?”
“I want to get a job.”
She tried to walk past him, but he blocked her.
“Tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m not.” Amira let out long sigh and looked down, which he knew was her way of making it so he couldn’t interrupt her. “I was talking to Vivian and Lila last night, asking about the jobs, and this is one of the best paying jobs you can get. There are tips.”
Jim grabbed her chin and lifted her face. “We don’t need to be rich, we just need enough credits to live on.”
“But I want a family eventually. Don’t you?”
Jim swallowed. They hadn’t talked about this before, but that didn’t mean the thought hadn’t been in the back of his mind. Lila was pregnant, and Axl and Vivian had Megan. People were starting families all around them and it was only natural that Amira would want the same thing one day. But could he handle being a dad? It seemed like a big leap from where he’d been when all this started.
“If you don’t, just tell me,” she said when he didn’t respond, but she didn’t seem hurt or angry about it. More like she wanted to know where they stood. “I’m young, so I’m not talking about having a baby next week—”
“You know it takes nine months, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. I just know that one day, a couple years from now, I’m going to want a baby. I think you will too even if the thought scares you right now, and I want to be ready, which means saving money—credits—so we’re prepared.”
Shit. She had a point.
“You’re right.” He finally let her chin go and took another drag off the cigarette. “And just so you know, it doesn’t scare me to think about having a baby. Not like that. It shocks me more than anything, I guess. I never thought I’d be this guy.”
“People change.” Amira took a deep breath. “I’m not going to strip or anything, but serving drinks in a bar wouldn’t be that bad. Right?”
“I guess not.” Jim threw his arm around her shoulders and started walking.
They visited five bars. Why the hell a post-apocalyptic settlement needed any bars was a question Jim couldn’t answer, but five was just the tip of the iceberg since they avoided all the ones that had strippers. He and Amira shared a beer—five credits—at the first one while checking the place out. It wasn’t busy, which was to be expected since it was still so early in the day, but it wasn’t empty either. The lone waitress wore a skimpy dress that barely covered her ass and made her look like she’d missed the last twenty meals. When she didn’t even bother going to the back room before shooting up—the bartender joining her—they decided to try another place.
The next bar was a shithole with glasses so filmy Jim wouldn’t even touch them, let alone drink out of one, but the third and fourth bars were slightly better. The waitresses were friendly and the place semi-clean, but when they asked about a job neither place was hiring at the moment.
So they left and headed to the last bar on the street: Dragon’s Lair.
The freshly painted dragon above the door was mid-flight and breathing fire, but when they went inside the place was empty. It was cleaner than the others, although it smelled of death, and Jim only had to take one look at the ring in the center of the room to know why.
“They do fights here,” he said, grabbing Amira’s arm. “No way.”
He’d heard all about the fights the night before from Axl and Parvarti, who had been discussing the possible problems the fights might bring to the settlement—namely someone getting bitten. The idea of anyone bringing zombies into the settlement just so some asshole could beat the shit out of them in the ring turned Jim’s stomach. No one would have ever accused him of being a prince before the apocalypse, but he liked to think that even he wouldn’t have been that reckless. Although there was a very good chance he was lying to himself on that point.
Amira pulled her arm out of his grasp and kept walking. “Hello?”
Her already loud voice boomed through the empty room, bouncing off the cement walls and coming back to them. The echo of footsteps came only seconds later and hearing them made Jim tense, although he wasn’t sure why. Maybe because he felt like anyone who would be okay with zombie fights had to be sick in the head.
“We’re closed,” a man said when he shoved the door to a back room open.
“I know.” Amira headed his way, her head held high in a way that told Jim she wasn’t going to back down and leave without talking to this man first.
Seeing her like that was sexy as hell, but something about it also made Jim uneasy. As if he had a sudden a glimpse into the future and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the best way to survive this world was to stay under the radar. After everything they’d discussed last night in Axl and Vivian’s apartment, Jim wasn’t taking anything in this place at face value.
“Sorry,” she said when she stopped in front of the man. “I was just wondering if you were hiring. We just got here and I’m looking for work.”
The man, a large guy with dark skin and a smooth head, narrowed his brown eyes on her. “You’re deaf?”
She nodded.
“How do you expect to take drink orders if you can’t hear?”
Amira’s back straightened even more. “I read lips.”
“I fight when the bar is open—” The man nodded toward the ring. “—and I can’t afford to hire someone who needs their hand held. Can you handle it?”
She lifted her chin the way she always did when she got her feathers ruffled, and despite his uneasiness about this place, Jim felt himself smile.
“If I can survive a zombie apocalypse on my own,” she said, “I think I can handle pouring a few drinks.”
The man pressed his lips together like he, too, was holding in a grin, but he kept his expression neutral. “You’re good-looking. Nice body.”
“Watch it,” Jim growled, taking a step forward.
“I won’t hire someone ugly. It would be bad for business.” The man waved him off without so much as a glance in his direction. “Turn around. Let me get a good look at you.”
Jim’s face grew hot as Amira slowly spun in a circle. He wanted to grab her and pull her out of there, but she’d already pushed him away once and he didn’t want to overstep. She was an adult, and even though he didn’t like the idea of her working among a bunch of parasites, she could make up her own mind.
“You’re going to need to get a dress. Something tight.” The man rubbed his chin as he thought it through. “I guess I
can give it a shot. I’m going to warn you, though, I don’t have a problem firing you just because you’re deaf.”
“It won’t matter, but just so you know, I won’t put up with shit just because I’m deaf.”
The man pressed his lips together for a brief second before belting out a laugh. “Call me an idiot, but I think this just might work.”
Amira smiled too and that feeling came back to Jim, this time stronger. It was a shudder that shook his body, as well a feeling a dread that started deep inside him. As if someone had just walked over his grave. No. Not his grave, hers. He didn’t know why, the man actually seemed like a decent guy, as much as Jim didn’t want to admit it, but something about this felt like it would be the end of Amira, only he didn’t know why.
“I’m Dragon,” the man said, sticking his hand out.
Amira took it and the two of them shook hands. “Amira.”
She looked almost pale next to Dragon’s dark skin and she was tiny compared to the giant of a man. He was all muscle, like a Mac truck on steroids, but his brown eyes were friendly when he looked her over.
“You can start tonight if you’re serious,” Dragon said when he dropped her hand. “Ursula, my other waitress, will be happy to have the help.”
She nodded once. “I’ll be here.”
Dr. Helton
She watched the man through the window, the empty syringe still in her hand. She’d injected him only a few minutes ago and the virus hadn’t yet taken hold of him. She knew it would soon, though.
He was the second person to receive this strain, a mutation of the original that Star hoped would create the mindless killing machine he wanted. There was no prison in the settlement, something no one had quite caught onto yet, and this was where people who didn’t obey the rules set forth by Star typically found themselves. This particular man had been caught stealing on multiple occasions, an offense that seemed minor but still violated Star’s generosity in allowing any of these people to live. If he wanted to, he could kill them all with one virus, and anyone who chose to defy him over and over the way this man had didn’t deserve the privilege of living in the settlement.
Plus, they needed subjects for their tests.
Dr. Helton turned away from the man and moved to the cell next to him. The man she’d injected the day before was burning with fever—103 according to Helen—and delirious. It had only been twenty-four hours since the injection, so they were keeping a close eye on him. Hopefully, they’d see a change soon.
“Doctor?” someone behind her said.
She turned to find a guard standing five feet away, acting as if he was too afraid to come any closer to her.
“What can I do for you?”
“Star was asking for you.”
Dr. Helton lifted her eyebrows. “Now?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
She nodded and headed past the guard, down the hall. “Thank you.” As she passed a sharps container, she tossed the empty syringe in and called back to Helen, “Keep a close eye on him. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Dr. Helton stopped just outside the open door of Star’s office, unwilling to walk any closer once he came into view. Being summoned here wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but the expression on his face was different than usual. She’d never seen him looking as angry as he did right now. He was so mad that he was practically shaking as he read the paper in his hand, his eyes scanning the words over and over again like if he read them enough they would say something different. She had no clue what had happened, but it couldn’t have been anything good.
“You wanted to see me,” she said when he didn’t look up.
Star lowered the paper and turned his eyes on her. The expression in them was so intense that she could practically feel the burn from them and she had to stop herself from taking a step back. Dr. Helton knew that Star trusted her more than anyone else on his team. They were colleagues, partners in crime when it came to this virus and the decision to wipe out most of the human race. Still, even she had moments when she felt herself shrink away from him. Star, despite his small stature, was a man who could intimidate with just one look.
“There’s been a leak and I want to know where it came from,” he said, balling his hands into fists on the desk.
She almost shook her head. That’s how shocked she was. They’d been so careful, so selective in their screening process that she couldn’t figure out what had been leaked and where it could have come from. Even more perplexing was the question of who had been dumb enough to run their mouth off. Everyone was scared of Star—no, terrified—and it would have to take a very, very stupid or reckless individual to break the oath of silence they’d all taken.
“What do you mean?” she asked, finally stepping into the office so she could shut the door.
“We’ve never had a breach like this before. After everything we pulled off to get here, all the secrets we kept in the early days of developing this plan, and not a single violation of trust. I thought we were past having to worry about something like this.” Star swiped the paper up and waved it at her. “Have you read this? Someone who came through quarantine overheard the guards talking about the test subject. Someone who knew his family!” He slapped the report on the desk. “I want to know who it was and I want them taught a lesson. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Dr. Helton did her best to hang onto her professionalism, but she found her legs shaking under Star’s fury. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Good. Take this, although I doubt you’ll need it to find her. The woman is deaf, after all, and I can’t imagine we have many of those around here.” Star shook his head.
Star was right. In fact, there was only one deaf person in the entire settlement and Dr. Helton remembered Amira very well. She also recalled exactly which guards had been on duty the day the girl was brought in. She’d known that they’d run their mouths off in front of Amira, too stupid to realize that she might be able to read lips, but it had never occurred to the doctor that they might have leaked sensitive information. It was unheard of. Too foolish for her to have even considered.
“What kind of fallout can we expect from this?” she asked as she took the piece of paper Star had just slammed down.
He shook his head again, this time letting out a huff of impatience. “I don’t know how much the family believes, but I do know that Joshua is going to be accepting your offer of an apprenticeship soon. The family thinks it will give him an opportunity to poke around.”
She pressed her lips together when heat and anger flared through her. Dr. Helton had offered the position to Joshua weeks ago, knowing that they would eventually need new blood in the labs. He’d told her that he had no interest in research, though, and the idea that he was planning to use her offer in such a deceitful way made her seethe.
“I’ll tell him I already filled the position,” she said, not even bothering to contain her annoyance.
“No, let him have the job. I don’t want to raise any more red flags. Just keep an eye on him.” Star drummed his fingers against the desk. “There’s something else too, only I’m not sure where it came from. A rumor that James is alive.”
Dr. Helton blinked. That was a surprise. “How do you know?”
Star tapped the report with his index finger. “Lila heard a rumor at work. Remind me again what she does.”
Dr. Helton racked her brain. She was not only in charge of the observation wing and keeping tabs on their test subject, but all matters dealing with his family as well, which was turning out to be a bigger job than any of them had expected.
“I believe she works at the food center.”
“So someone there is whispering about James. Who, though? Who is foolish enough to spread rumors?” Star frowned. “Do we have any overlap between the CDC and the food center? Maybe someone with top secret access is sleeping with someone working there?”
“I’ll have to look into it.”
Dr. Helton could feel her day of resea
rch slipping away, and even though she knew that being annoyed with Star would do her no good, she couldn’t help it. She was a scientist, not a babysitter, but no matter how many times she asked that the responsibility for the family be pushed onto someone else, it didn’t happen. Star couldn’t trust anyone but her. Or so he said.
“Do it,” Star said. “And take care of the guards who ran their mouths off. I want to discourage anyone working in my inner circle from ever making the mistake again.”
“I’ll take care of it,” she said for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Good, then.” Star waved her off as he went back to his microscope, but before she’d even had a chance to leave the room he called out, “Jane.” When she looked back, he gave her a nod. “Thank you. I know I can trust you to do what needs to be done.”
“We’re on the same side,” she said, allowing her annoyance to melt away.
“I know, but I want you to know how much I appreciate it.”
Dr. Helton left the office feeling like a child whose father had just said he was proud of her, and something about it made the task ahead of her easier to visualize. She was on damage control today, which shouldn’t be too hard since the people involved were all relatively close.
Finding the guards was an easy task, but once their tongues had been removed from their mouths and the men had been deposited into holding cells, Dr. Helton was faced with the problem of Amira. The deaf girl shouldn’t have been a problem, and maybe she wouldn’t be, but the doctor knew that underestimating her would be foolish. They’d have to keep close tabs on her. Find out what she was doing and who she was talking to and make sure that she didn’t continue to raise suspicion about what was going on at the CDC.
“I want to know everything this girl does,” she told the men in the surveillance room. “Where she’s working and who she spends her time with, and I want you to make sure her apartment gets bugged tonight. Now if no one’s home.”
Twisted World Series Box Set | Books 1-3 & Novella Page 48