Contents
THOSE WHO REMAIN: BOOK THREE
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Previously...
PROLOGUE
The Watcher
ACT III
The Huntress XI
The Doctor XI
The Girl in the Forest VIII
The Traveler I
The Huntress XII
The Rotting Zombie I
The Huntress XIII
The Doctor XII
The Girl in the Forest IX
The Huntress XIV
The Traveler II
The Doctor XIII
The Huntress XV
The Girl in the Car X
The Doctor XIV
The Rotting Zombie II
The Doctor XV
The Traveler III
The Girl in the Bushes XI
The Huntress XVI
The Rotting Zombie III
The Doctor XVI
The Sheriff I
The Girl in the Middle XII
The Huntress XVII
The Doctor XVII
The Girl in the Cabin XIII
The Huntress XVIII
The Traveler IV
The Huntress XIX
EPILOGUE
The Sisters
THANK YOU FOR READING
BOOK THREE
Priscila Santa Rosa
Other books by Priscila Santa Rosa:
Those Who Remain: Book One - Available now
Those Who Remain: Book Two - Available now
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Copyright © 2015 by Priscila Santa Rosa.
All rights reserved.
Written by: Priscila Santa Rosa
Cover Art by: Tatiana (Alteya) Medvedeva
Edited by: Dennis Chekalov and Elizabeth Sultzer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
www.priscilarosa.com
Kindle Edition
1st Edition
Acknowledgments
I want to thank my editor, Elizabeth Sultzer, for not just catching my mistakes and working with me since the beginning, but for understanding these characters and making them shine. I also would like to thank Dennis Chekalov for helping me save a manuscript that just wasn’t working, and encouraging me to keep writing until it did. A big thanks also to my betas: Jamie, Candace, and Brian! Your thoughts and comments helped me immensely.
(SPOILER WARNING)
After withstanding an attack from Red Star and his mercenaries, Redwood receives three more unexpected guests: Doctor Maria Paz, Sergeant Tigh, and Laurie. With Danny still grieving after his mother’s death, it’s on Lily’s shoulders to help Sheriff Roger to keep the town safe.
Away from Jacob, her father, Lily finds a delirious Laurie in the woods and brings her back to Redwood. Meanwhile, Dr. Paz and Tigh tell Roger what’s inside the briefcase: the formula for a cure.
Hoping for a better future, Dr. Paz asks for their help in taking the briefcase to a secret CDC base in Canada, possibly untouched by the chaos. While they discuss the trip, Laurie accidentally shoots Danny in the chest, and then escapes town, only to bump into Jacob.
In order to save Danny, Maria suggests an extreme idea: infect him to prevent his death from collapsed lungs.
A desperate Lily captures an infected man, and Danny’s fate is sealed…
THE WATCHER
When black spots appear on one of my many screens, my first instinct is to try cleaning them off. Maybe I spit coffee on the screen without noticing because the thought of living creatures crossing the frozen wasteland around the island is surely too crazy. But no. Cleaning doesn’t help. In fact, the spots turn into silhouettes, then into human shapes.
I press the comm button immediately. “I see movement on camera sixteen, just outside our perimeter. Seems to be a group of people, but I can’t be sure. Do you copy?”
No response. My superior is probably sleeping. The figures move from one camera to the other. They’re getting closer. What do I do? What’s going on? Nobody knows about this base. Nobody should, anyway. I’m sweating buckets just from watching these strangers approaching. Months of isolation and bad news do that to me.
“Can you repeat that, Lancaster?” My supervisor’s voice is as shaky as my hand. I finally allow myself to blink.
“People are approaching. I got eyes on real, normal people,” I say, lips glued to the radio, sweat flowing freely. “Should we... I don’t know... check them out?”
“Don’t take your eyes off them, we’re sending a team. Over and out.”
I watch the screens intently as our guards run and cross hallways in synchronized steps toward the garage. They gear up as the mysterious group advances through the white nothingness outside our base. The garage doors open and my heart beats so fast my chest hurts and my heart feels like it’s being squeezed by an invisible hand. This is the most exciting thing that has happened in months. For me, anyway. I’m sure the virus spreading around the world is bigger news for people not living safely inside a secret CDC base on a tiny, isolated island.
Our SUV reaches the group. Weapons are drawn. Then lowered. This is it. The Army finally got here, right? It has to be. The group climbs into the back of the truck. I crack my knuckles, the adrenaline rush sweeping over my whole body.
After what feels like ages, the truck enters the garage. A woman steps out of the vehicle. Others come out too, but she’s the only one that catches my eyes. I can’t stop staring. With her sleek black hair pulled back in a ponytail and her mean scowl, she is by far the most intimidating person from the group. Her confident steps and hawkish glare creep me out. It’s like she knows without a doubt that she could take us all out in a second if needed.
“They’re inside. I want you to inform me of anything unusual, Lancaster. Do you read?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” I answer my boss’s firm tone but, to be honest, I’m too mesmerized to even fully grasp what was said.
The woman closes her slim fingers into a fist as she marches further and further into the base along with the rest of the group. And when she finally looks up, it doesn’t take long until she finds me. Okay, not me. My camera. I almost buckle in shame at her piercing stare. I feel like she knows I’m here and knows I’m afraid of her. I let out a sigh of relief when she finally moves on to something else like a lazy lion would after seeing a small bug in its path.
This woman will kill us all.
THE HUNTRESS XI
January 9th, Saturday, 5 am
“Are you seriously going on this crazy trip, Roger? What’s the matter with you? You’re this town’s sheriff. You have a job to do. You can’t just up and leave like that!”
If I had a choice, I would block Linda’s voice from my brain using a permanent mute button. Until that’s invented, I have no choice but to listen as she argues with Roger in the living room a few steps away. We’re at Roger’s house, packing supplies for our trip in a hurry. Of course, it didn’t take lo
ng before Fords knocked on our door, pointing fingers and demanding explanations, even after Roger asked her not to call attention to our departure. If it were up to me, we would’ve slipped away during the night after Dr. Paz closed Danny’s chest. Roger’s sense of responsibility had other ideas. He informed the council we planned on leaving town to help Danny but didn’t mention the cure. Hence, why Linda Fords is pestering him now.
“Linda, this is important to me.”
My head is down, eyes focused on arranging my socks to make space for another pair of pants, yet I can almost hear Fords rolling her eyes.
“Oh, please! You and Danny kept insisting we give up on people. He’s dead already. You need to accept that like you two forced everyone else to do when it was their loved ones dying.”
I tighten my grip around the jeans and take a deep breath. I promised Roger I wouldn’t get involved in this conversation. Sometimes I wonder whether Fords even knows how insensitive and rude she is. Most of the time I’m sure she’s aware but doesn’t care, which is why I want to punch her in the face pretty much all the time too.
Promise or not, I glance back at them. Linda sits with her arms and legs crossed on the very same couch Danny used to waste his days on. Frank’s not with her, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s waiting for her outside. From what Roger tells me, since his son’s death, both ex-enemies found common ground — and maybe more — in their mutual dislike of Roger and Danny.
“He’s not dead, Linda.” Roger stands near the front door, away from the sofa and obviously anxious for Fords to leave. Even Roger’s patience has limits. Especially since we’re both exhausted from Danny’s long surgery and our attempts at keeping him safely under control. “Not yet. He still has a chance of surviving. We didn’t have a doctor before. Now we don’t need to give up on people. If it were anybody else, I would be doing the same.”
“Come on, Roger. Finding a hospital to keep him alive? I’m not buying it! Do you think I’m stupid? Something else is going on, something fishy, and I don’t like it. Even if you are planning to look for a hospital, he won’t last the trip. It’s a waste of time and resources. Let Hunter risk her life, but you need to stay. The town needs you here.”
It’s my turn to roll my eyes. Sure, she’ll let me go, since having me out of the picture would be a nice bonus to getting rid of Danny.
“Danny’s family. I’m going, and that’s final, Linda.” As always, Roger’s voice is quiet. I envy how calm he can sound even when someone like Fords shouts in his ear. “I’m sorry, but I made my decision. Hector’s more than capable of protecting the town and Billy will recover in a few days. Everything’ll be fine.”
“This is ridiculous. We both know those bumbling idiots are nothing without your leadership.”
“And without Danny, I’m nothing!”
His shout has me wincing. I look at them again. The lawyer opens her mouth, eyes wide, but says nothing. Roger never raises his voice. He’s at breaking point and even she knows it.
Roger swings the front door open, then recomposes himself with a sigh. “We’re done here. Please leave, because I have a lot of packing to do and not much time to do it.”
Linda stands and walks toward the door. She stops in front of Roger, gives me a look of utter contempt, then faces him. “I didn’t vote for you, you know. Too young and nice. I knew people would walk all over you. But for all your faults, I never thought you were selfish. Seems I can be wrong sometimes. Who knew?”
I let go of the jeans, dropping them into the bag, and march in her direction with clenched fists. Linda scurries back, almost hitting the wall in her hurry to stay away from me.
We’re almost nose to nose. I raise my hand and point to the door. “He said the conversation was over. So stop talking and leave.”
Noticing my lack of punching her in the face, Fords recovers a little, clearing her throat and standing straight again. “Calm down, attack dog.” She adjusts her hair bun with one hand. “I’m leaving.”
Roger places a hand on my shoulder. I unclench my fist. Someday I’m going to punch her. Just not today. We follow Linda as she leaves. I slam the door closed the instant her ass is out of view. With a sigh, Roger sits on the sofa. I do the same, nudging myself to his side and placing a hand on his slumped shoulders.
“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t listen to her. Even if she knew about the cure, she would still find something to complain about. You aren’t selfish for doing this.”
“It’s not that. I don’t care about her.” He swallows. “You saw Danny. He... I knew what to expect, but actually seeing him acting like that... I can’t get it out of my head. I don’t know if he can come back from this. I don’t know anything anymore. I’m afraid, Lily.”
Danny’s surgery was a mess. He woke up during it, full-on zombie mode, and it took all of us to hold him down long enough for Dr. Paz to work. He screamed, growled, and laughed like a deranged animal. Roger’s arm is purple from the bruises. I guess mine is too. After she finished, we had to rope him like cattle and restrain him in chains with the Red Star’s mercenary in Roger’s basement. Part of me wanted to shoot the mercenary for our safety, but things have changed. He’s a person too in the eyes of Roger and the others. If Danny has a chance, so does he.
Now that Fords left, we can hear them moving downstairs.
I spent months killing the infected, treating them as empty shells, bags of moving meat, but now it’s impossible not to see how human they are. Or used to be. Even harder to imagine someone coming back from the disease.
I turn to him. “He’ll come back. I’m sure he will.” If we hurry, if we survive the journey to the base. If the base even exists...
“Yeah.” He barely nods, then sighs. Silence lingers for maybe too long.
“Are you really okay with leaving Redwood like this? This trip isn’t going to be short. Danny will stay this way for who knows how long.”
“I know. But I made a promise. We made a promise. I need to see it done with my own eyes. Besides, what else can we do, Lily?”
I want to tell him we can steal the cure, force them to use it on Danny, and to hell with everyone else. Father would do it and call it survival, but I realize what it really is: selfishness mixed with grim pessimism. For once, I wish I was like Roger, able to hope for better. Be better. But if he asked me to help steal the cure, I would do it in a heartbeat. I’d feel guilty after, yeah, but I’d do it anyway.
He would never ask, of course.
“Anyway, thanks for not punching Linda.”
“Ah, the things I do for this relationship,” I say with a smile. “You better have something in mind to make up for my sacrifice.”
He places a hand over mine, but his smile doesn’t reach his tired eyes. “I’ll think of something. Did you finish packing?”
“I did.”
“We should load the car, then.” He moves to get up, but I stop him with a gentle palm on his chest.
“You stay here and rest. I’ll do it.” Roger tries to stand again, so I push him down a little. “Don’t worry. It won’t take long, just... You need to relax before the trip. We can’t have the designated driver falling unconscious.”
He shakes his head but stays down. “I’ll try. What about you? Are you okay?”
“Tired, that’s all,” I answer with a forced smile. I don’t want him worrying about me on top of everything else.
While he takes his boots off and lies down on the sofa, I grab our bags and throw them over my good shoulder. Between taking care of two zombies and a surgery from hell, I decided not to bother the Doctor with my injuries. We were all so tired nobody even noticed. The thick material of my jacket protected me from the bite, but the wolf’s teeth still drew blood. I cleaned the bite, patched it up quickly, and that was it. It hurts like hell, but I’ll live, and that’s what matters.
My truck’s parked in Roger’s driveway. I open its trunk and toss the luggage inside beside Father’s hunting rifle case. We aren’t taking many g
uns, only Tigh’s and mine rifles and Roger’s own handgun. Technically the weapons I brought in still belong to me, but we can’t leave Redwood without protection. Both Roger and Danny wouldn’t want that.
I turn to go back inside the house to bring the camping equipment out.
“Well, that didn’t last long. You’re really leaving, then.”
Mom’s voice freezes me on the spot. I wait until she reaches me, face to face. Under her winter coat, I can see her flowery pajamas. Her hair is disheveled, and each foot has a different boot. How did she know?
“Don’t look so surprised. I’m on the council. Linda told me on the radio.”
She pointedly stares at me, waiting. I’m not sure what she’s waiting for. Will she try to stop me? Appeal for my safety? Just nod and move on? All options make me cringe. I really hoped to avoid this conversation.
“Yeah. I’m leaving.” No matter how much I try to stop, the bitter tone slips into my voice anyway. At least I only implied the why-do-you-care part.
Mom rubs between her eyes, then sighs. “Why? Why risk your life for this? The boy’s dead. Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be.”
Too late. “There’s nothing complicated about it. Danny’s still alive. We find the help he needs, he stays that way. No matter the cost. It’s that simple.”
I’m taller than her now, yet she doesn’t flinch. “You should help Roger accept his friend’s death. You can move on together. Risking your lives for this is a waste.”
I roll my eyes. “This is none of your business.” I walk around her, moving toward the house again. I hear her boots crunching the snow as she follows me.
She grabs me by the right arm. It’s like a splash of cold water. I spin around to free myself. “It is my business. You’re my daughter, like it or not. And now that Jacob’s out of the picture, we can finally try to be a family again. But you need to stay for that.”
Those Who Remain (Book 3) Page 1