Twenty-Five Percent (Book 3): Vengeance

by Nerys Wheatley

  Her grip was a little too tight and Alex grunted.

  Hannah gasped, loosening her hold on him. “I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?”

  Despite the pain, he couldn’t help but smile. “Little bit.”

  “I’m still getting used to my strength. It’s a big adjustment, but I suppose you know that. I’ve broken some stuff. A lot of stuff.” She smiled. “But at least none of it was mine.”

  She was so cute. For a few seconds Alex couldn’t tear his eyes from her, until her cheeks coloured and she looked away.

  He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um, shall we go in?”

  He didn’t really need her support as they walked into the building and down the staircase to the lab, but as he was thoroughly enjoying having her pressed against him he decided not to mention it.

  They found Micah, Pat, Emma and Katie in the employee’s lounge with Sam, Claire and Ben. Micah was speaking on the radio and Emma and Katie were both eating chocolate digestives, sitting either side of Pat on the sofa.

  “Hannah?” Sam rushed over to them, his look of surprise changing to concern when he saw Alex’s face. “Are you all right? What happened? Are you all right?”

  “I had a small altercation with fifteen of Boot’s guards,” Alex said.

  “They did this to you?” Ben said. He ran one hand over his hair and shook his head. “They aren’t all bad guys. Boot just has this way of making people...” He sighed. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Not your fault,” Alex said. “You left him. And I get it.” He kind of got it. Kind of. “How’s Leon?”

  “Pauline came out to give us an update ten minutes ago,” Claire said. “They’re still operating, but she said it didn’t look like the bullet hit anything major and he should be fine.”

  Alex nodded, letting out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. Leon was going to be fine. They were all going to be fine.

  “None of the spotters have seen any of Boot’s helicopters,” Micah said, clipping the radio back onto his waistband. “I wonder why he hasn’t come after us. Knowing him as we do, he must be pretty annoyed right now.”

  “How?” Sam said, staring at Hannah.

  She smiled. “I’ll tell you once I’ve got what I need to patch Alex up and get him out of these cuffs.” To Alex’s disappointment, she let him go. “Watch him,” she said to Micah, “he may have a concussion.”

  Alex sank onto a chair at one of the round tables in the room. Now the car ride was over, he realised how bad it had been for his bruised ribs. He hoped Hannah brought painkillers when she came back.

  Micah sat opposite him. “You look like hell.”

  Pat cleared her throat, glancing at Emma and Katie.

  “Sorry,” Micah said, smiling apologetically. He looked back at Alex. “You look really, really horrible. Like, hideously awful.”

  “Thanks. You’re a real comfort.” Alex drew in a deep breath and regretted it immediately. He winced, wishing his arms were free to wrap around his ribs. “Is it really that bad?”

  Sam found a mirror in a drawer and held it so Alex could see his reflection. Alex grimaced at the sight. One eye was swelling, the left side of his jaw was going purple, and there was a one inch long cut crusted with congealed blood on his left cheek. His face was more bruise than healthy flesh. He looked like hell.

  At least his nose had escaped damage, for a change.

  Katie climbed off the sofa where she had been sitting next to her mother and walked over to him, putting a plate on the table in front of him with two chocolate biscuits. “Thank you for coming to get us.”

  And Alex knew every bruise was worth it. “I’ll always come and get you, whenever you need me.”

  She reached up to hug him before returning to the sofa and more biscuits. Pat wiped away a tear and smiled at him.

  Hannah returned a minute later with an armful of medical supplies, dropped them onto the table, and sat next to Alex. She produced a key from a pocket and he shuffled round so she could reach his hands.

  “We have eater cuffs here,” she said, “so I’m hoping the key will work...”

  To Alex’s relief, there was a click and Hannah pulled the handcuffs away. He rubbed at his wrists and rolled his aching shoulders. “Thank you.”

  She looked into his eyes and smiled. He still really wanted to hug her, possibly even more now. If they’d been alone, he would have. Instead he grabbed the boxes of paracetamol and ibuprofen she’d brought. Sam fetched him a glass of water.

  “We don’t have much of the really strong stuff here,” Hannah said, arranging the supplies she’d brought on the table. “There’s some morphine, but they’ll want that for Leon when he comes round. You can take the paracetamol and ibuprofen together. They give patients that in hospital, it’s very effective. I wish we had more morphine though. They didn’t need painkillers for the eaters they had here, for obvious reasons.”

  Alex waved a hand as he gulped down the pills. The important thing was he appeared brave and manly in front of her. “These will help. I’ll be fine. It’s really not so bad.”

  As if she could read his thoughts, Hannah rolled her eyes. “Men.”

  “Just wait, they’re not nearly as stoic once they’re married,” Pat said.

  Hannah glanced at Alex then dropped her gaze to the gauze she was unwrapping, her cheeks colouring. “They must have the x-ray machine in the lab for the operation,” she said. “I didn’t want to go in there to get it and give them a shock while they’re operating. I can bandage you up now then we can get the x-rays afterwards.” She soaked a piece of gauze in antiseptic fluid. “I’ll say sorry now because this is going to hurt.”

  She touched the gauze to the cut on Alex’s face. He drew in a sharp breath and tried not to flinch. Gritting his teeth wasn’t an option with his jaw hurting, so he attempted to relax and think happy, pain-free thoughts.

  “So what happened to you?” he said, as much for something to distract him as anything else.

  “I don’t know what happened after I passed out in the laboratory,” she said as she worked, “but I woke up in Omnav, must have been three days later. Boot told me you’d abandoned me to turn.”

  Alex pulled away from her, horrified. “We didn’t... I would never...”

  She smiled. “I know. I didn’t believe him for one second. Now sit still so I can do this.”

  He smiled at her bossy tone, but he couldn’t help feeling responsible, the guilt he’d been feeling since Hannah was bitten ramping it up to new heights. He had abandoned her, not like Boot meant, but it was still what he’d done. He’d left her for dead.

  Resuming her work, Hannah continued. “It turns out the doctors he had working for him before us had developed an experimental cure for those fully turned, although it hadn’t been tested yet. I’m guessing he didn’t tell us before because he knew we’d try to use it to help people. There are a limited number of doses, from what he said. I think he only gave one up for me because he needs us to keep working on the virus.”

  “So you were his guinea pig?” Alex said.

  “Actually, I was the second one to be cured. He tested it first on one of his guards, a man called Jessup. From what I heard, when it worked on him, they used it on me. Not the most fun I’ve ever had. I felt terrible for the first couple of days, and it’s true that doctors are the worst patients. Better than the alternative though.”

  “Where are the rest of the doses?” Micah said. “Does Boot have them with him?”

  Hannah nodded. “He does. I would have taken them for your sister, but they kept me locked up. But he has them and he’ll keep them safe. He wants them for himself, I think, in case something goes wrong. He also infected and cured a few of his bodyguards, with the regular cure. He called it a ‘reward’ for their loyal service, but I have my suspicions he was just using them to make completely sure it works properly, for when he uses it on himself.”

  “So he has Survivor guards now?” Alex said, not liking the thought o
f going up against giant, super-strong Boot goons.

  “Five of them, apart from Jessup.”

  Micah sat back, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the table. “There’s a cure. Lucy can be cured.”

  “We’ll get it,” Alex said. “She’s going to be okay.”

  Micah looked at him and grinned. “Yeah.”

  Alex suddenly felt like laughing, but didn’t because he was pretty sure it would hurt.

  “Why did Mr Boot bring you with him?” Sam said.

  “Well, he didn’t say as much, but I think he’s scared he’s losing control. He wants me and the other doctors where he can see us. And he wants this lab.” She finished taping a sterile dressing over Alex’s wound and sat back. “Shirt off.”

  Alex’s stomach did a small somersault. “I’m sorry, what?”

  The corners of Hannah’s lips twitched. “You need to take your shirt off so I can see how badly you’ve been injured.”

  “Oh. Right. Yes.”

  Ignoring Micah, who was quietly sniggering across the table from him, Alex shrugged off his jacket and pulled his t-shirt over his head. Micah hissed in a breath through his teeth. Alex looked down at himself and realised why. His torso was covered in bruises. As he’d been curled up when the guards had been kicking him, he imagined his back was probably worse.

  “Oh, Alex,” Pat gasped, her hand going to her mouth.

  “It’s all right,” he said, “I’ll be fine.” He looked at Emma and Katie who had moved to another table with Claire and were absorbed in drawing. “It was totally worth it.”

  “We’ve finished operating on Leon and it’s looking very good. He should...”

  Alex looked at the door to see Pauline frozen in mid-sentence, staring at Hannah as if she’d seen a ghost. Or a friend back from the dead. Hannah leaped up and rushed to her, flinging her arms around her shoulders. Dave arrived as the two embraced and, appearing as shocked as Pauline, quickly joined in the hug.

  “I... when... how?” Pauline managed.

  “Short version,” Hannah said, “Boot lied, there is a cure for people who are fully turned, and Alex and Micah rescued me. I’ll tell you the long version later.”

  Pat was gathering Emma and Katie. “Can we see my husband?”

  “Oh, of course,” Dave said. “He’s not awake yet, but you can wait with him.” He looked at Alex for the first time and winced in sympathy. “Ouch.”

  “Are you done with the x-ray yet?” Hannah said. “I want to make sure Alex doesn’t have any fractures.”

  “It’s still in the lab we used for the op,” Pauline said. “We used one of the ones they were using for eater experiments since it had all the equipment we needed. We’ve moved Leon to the infirmary so it’s all yours.”

  While Pauline and Dave took Pat, Emma and Katie to see Leon and Micah, Sam and Claire stayed in the lounge, Alex and Hannah went to find the x-ray machine. The room hadn’t been cleaned up yet and the table where they’d worked on Leon was stained red, the surrounding floor covered with discarded, bloody swabs.

  “Larry is an amazing surgeon,” Hannah said, seeing Alex staring at the aftermath of the operation. “I’m sure Leon will be fine.”

  Alex nodded, but he couldn’t help feeling scared at the sight of all the blood.

  Hannah wheeled the portable x-ray machine to the other end of the room, away from the mess.

  “What happened at Omnav after I passed out?” she said as she began the process of x-raying Alex’s face and torso from every possible angle. “How did you get away?”

  Alex recounted the events of nine days previously, from how he and Micah had tried to get to Boot as he escaped in the helicopter, to having to leave her after she turned, to their narrow escape from the hundreds of eaters inside and outside the building. Reliving the whole episode was less difficult than he thought it would be, now he knew Hannah was alive.

  With the x-rays completed, she uploaded the images to a laptop, studying them as Alex pulled his t-shirt back on. “I can’t see any breaks.”

  “Let’s hear it for my tough Survivor bones,” he said, relieved.

  She began to shut everything down, not speaking again until she’d finished.

  “You were upset when you thought I was as much as dead?” she said finally, not looking at him.

  He felt as if he should say something that encompassed how devastated he’d been, but all he came up with was, “Yeah.”

  “I saw you at the hotel in Cambridge,” she said. “You were at the foot of the fire escape. I was in cuffs and three of the guards were taking me to the helicopters. I wanted to call out to you, but Simmons told me he’d shoot you if I did. I didn’t want to risk you being hurt.”

  Alex remembered hearing something that night and wished he’d gone to check when he’d had the chance. He took a few steps towards her.

  She didn’t seem to notice his approach. “And when we got to Sarcester, they didn’t have time to drop me off before coming after you when you lured the horde away from those soldiers. When you shot the pilot of the other helicopter...”

  “That was you,” he said, realisation dawning. “The helicopter that did all that weird stuff, that was you.”

  She grinned, shrugging. “I may have gone a bit crazy when I thought they were going to shoot you. I have to admit, I’m loving how strong I am now. By the time they managed to stop me, all they could do was fly to the hotel for repairs.”

  “You weren’t hurt, were you?” he said, suddenly concerned.

  “No. To be honest, they’re all kind of scared of me.” She laughed. “It’s so cool. Every time any of them have to come near me they look terrified. Maybe I shouldn’t be proud of that.”

  Alex grinned. “Oh, you should.”

  Her smile disappeared. “I’ve been trying to get away from Boot since I was well enough to fight back. That little bastard, pardon my language, makes me want to slap him. And not a normal girly slap; a Survivor slap that can break things.”

  A wave of guilt tightened Alex’s chest again. “I didn’t want to leave you there. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done...” He trailed off, looking away in embarrassment as his eyes unexpectedly burned.

  A soft touch on his face turned him back to her. “Leaving me there saved my life,” she said, her fingertips still resting lightly on his cheek. “You would have died if you’d stayed and I would have died if you’d taken me, and I might have hurt someone. Leaving me there was the only thing you could have done and it was the best thing. Please don’t feel guilty. You saved me.”

  “By accident.”

  She huffed out a breath, planting her fists on her hips. “You’re determined to keep beating yourself up about this, aren’t you?”

  The expression of frustration on her face made him want to smile. “Well...”

  She poked his chest gently with one finger. “Stop it. You need to let it go. Repeat after me, I will let my misplaced guilt go.”

  Alex chuckled then winced. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”

  She flattened her hand onto him, the warmth of her palm radiating through his t-shirt. “You had to leave me there, you had no choice. None of it was your fault.”

  He was having trouble concentrating on anything other than her touch. “Actually it was Micah who made me leave. I would have stayed if he hadn’t.”

  She laughed softly, the light sparkling in her pale eyes. “Then I really ought to thank him.”

  Alex’s heart stuttered in his chest as she gazed up at him. He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “It tore me apart when I thought you were gone.”

  She tilted her head up, her eyes dropping to his mouth. “I would have felt the same about you.”

  He drew in a breath. “Hannah, I...”

  The rest of his words vanished as she pushed onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. For a moment he was too stunned to move.

  Kiss her back, you idiot.

  His brain only halfway in gear, he closed his eyes
and slid his fingers into her hair. She wound her arms around his waist, pressing against him.

  And when she held him a little too tight, he didn’t notice the pain at all.

  29

  “I still think a full assault is the best move, now, before Boot has a chance to regroup.”

  Alex and Hannah walked into the lounge to find their own little slice of the military had arrived. It was Dent who was speaking. She sat at a table with Ben, Ridgewell and Collins, taking sips from a steaming coffee mug. Porter and Hudson were at another of the tables with Sam and Claire. Rick and Ben, along with Micah, occupied a third. Alex’s stomach grumbled at the sight of the plates of sandwiches they all had in front of them. He tried to remember when he’d eaten last. Breakfast? What time was it now?

  He could have checked his watch, but that would have required him to let go of Hannah’s hand and he didn’t want to do that until it became absolutely necessary.

  “He doesn’t need to regroup,” Micah said. “He has three heavily armed helicopters and close to twenty men guarding him. Unless every one of us went, including Bates’ people, we’d be outgunned, and even then I’m not sure. And everyone back here would be left vulnerable.”

  Larry was at the kitchenette counter. “Hannah!”

  She let go of Alex’s hand and ran over, laughing as she threw her arms around him.

  “I almost didn’t believe it when Dave told me,” he said, drawing back to look at her. “How do you feel? Have there been any side-effects from the cure? We’ll need to do some tests, get blood, tissue and urine samples. Maybe we can use your anti-bodies to synthesize more of the eater cure.”

  “Good to see you too, Larry,” she said, smiling.

  He chuckled. “Sorry, you know what I’m like. I am glad you’re back. Very glad. We all missed you around here.”

  “Leon’s awake,” Micah said to Alex, “if you want to go in and see him.”

  Alex looked towards Hannah, his stomach performing a shimmy around his abdominal cavity when she smiled at him. It was a few seconds before he realised he had a huge grin plastered across his face. Wrestling it into submission, he headed for the door.