“Max, are you sure you should be doing this?”
Max spun to meet her sister’s eyes. Her first instinct was to be mad at the implication that she was weak and couldn’t handle tracking down one weasel. But when she looked at Alex, she could see her sister was only concerned for her.
“I need to. We can’t have Callahan getting an update from him. Griffin will be with me. We’ll handle it,” Max replied. And then more softly she added, “Don’t worry, Alex.”
Alex stared at her for a moment before nodding her head. Max knew she didn’t need her sister’s approval to do anything. They were all trained in the same lessons, the same talents, the same knowledge. All three Duncan siblings were capable of protecting themselves as well as the family. Max knew that Alex was thinking about the different ways those tasks got completed by each of them. If she was honest with herself, Max didn’t know how she was going to deal with Smith when they found him.
Under the shadows of the trees, the silence ground on Max’s nerves. Storm stalked at her feet, his nose to the ground. Without being given direction it seemed the dog knew they were looking for something or someone. He immediately went into search mode. Griffin walked slightly in front of Max, looking for additional footprints or signs of anyone moving away from the road in the trees. The shadows of the trees provided too many places for someone to hide if they wished.
Suddenly, Storm barked and took off like a streak. Max froze for a moment, waiting to see what the dog was after. However, as he started to wind through trees, she took off at a run to follow. Griffin was close behind, both of them holding their weapons, preparing for anything. The barking of Storm pulled them closer to his location. Before they reached the dog, a human cry let out as snapping teeth could be heard.
Max came to a sliding halt in a small clearing where Storm had Smith pinned to the ground. The dog had his teeth on the soldier’s shoulder, but Max could tell he didn’t bite down enough to wound mortally. Again, Max found herself wondering where her brother had found this dog that seemed to just know what his companions wanted from him.
“Storm, off,” Max said, snapping her fingers and bringing the dog back to her. He easily obeyed, accepting that Max was now part of his pack and he was to listen to her.
When Max looked at Griffin, she knew her face was pale. She tried to control the shaking of her extremities, but it took everything she had to not just shoot Smith where he laid. Griffin stepped up to her and placed a warm hand on her shoulder. His fingers slid to her neck, where he massaged for a moment. His touch had a calming effect on Max, reminding her she wasn’t alone here. Not alone in dealing with Smith.
“Don’t let the dog hurt me,” Smith gasped out.
“Did he already?” Max bit out.
“I don’t think so.”
“Well stop your whining, you would deserve that and more if I had my say,” Max said.
Smith lifted his head and looked at Max. She could see it was then that he realized who had come after him and a new fear crossed his features. His eyes moved to Griffin as he crawled on his hands and knees to a tree to help him to his feet. Griffin stepped toward him, fury flashing in his eyes. Max knew he was seeing how he found her, hanging in that torture room. She had been delirious, injured, and broken inside. At that time Griffin had given Smith some of his own medicine, the bruises from that encounter still showing on Smith’s face.
“Are you going to kill me?” Smith stammered.
“We should,” Griffin replied simply.
“Why do you do what you do?” Max asked. It wasn’t the question she meant to ask. But once it was out of her mind, she realized she wanted to know.
“What?” Smith asked.
“Why do you do what you do? Why are you causing pain and havoc? You don’t seem to enjoy it,” Max said.
“I’m just following orders.”
“So you blindly follow orders, even those that are wrong? Like beating a woman for information she doesn’t have?” Griffin said. He continued to move closer to Smith, his rage uncontrollable.
“He...Callahan...he would have killed me, or anyone that didn’t do what we were told.”
“So it was ok to kill her?” Griffin roared.
Max flinched at the noise and looked around to ensure there are no infected. She looked down at Storm who was focused on Smith. If the dog wasn’t reacting to anything else, Max felt confident there were no other threats nearby. When she looked back to Smith, Griffin had him by the back of his uniform. He pushed the man into the clearing again, so he could no longer hide behind trees. Griffin pushed him to his knees and held a gun to his head.
It felt like an out of body experience for Max. She watched Griffin take the actions he was taking, she knew what he intended to do. Part of her was happy. She wanted Smith gone. She wanted one less threat to her family to be walking. She wanted to satisfy the hunger for vengeance in her heart. Yet, as she looked at Smith, a man that couldn’t have been in the military but a year or two before the plague, Max felt something twist. The soldier shook like a leaf and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable end to his life.
“Griffin, stop.”
Griffin looked at her in surprise. His face was hard lines and it made Max sad that something was broken inside him too. She was the one beaten, but everyone suffered from the wounds she carried.
“We can’t kill him. We aren’t cold-blooded killers, Griffin.”
“We can kill him. It’s not cold blood. It’s self-defense,” Griffin shot back.
“He’s on his knees. How is that self-defense? This is about revenge,” she said softly.
She walked to Griffin’s side. He watched her, trying to read her eyes. Storm followed, his beautiful eyes never leaving Smith’s face. When Smith looked at the dog, Storm would bare a threatening smile of sharp teeth, begging to dig into the enemy. Max gave the dog the command to watch and she almost laughed ironically at how Storm did exactly that. He was almost nose to nose with Smith by the time he settled into his watching mode. Smith couldn’t have gotten away if he was the world’s fastest track star.
Max turned back to Griffin. He still held his gun point blank at Smith’s head. Her unbroken hand circled his wrist and pulled the gun away from Smith’s head. She looked up into his face, the face she had loved all those years they were apart. His hazel eyes, the exact shade of their daughter’s, were full of anguish and anger.
“I know. I feel it too. I hate what they have done. But what does it say about us if they can strip us of our humanity? We aren’t natural killers, Griffin. We do what we have to, to protect our family, our people. This isn’t that.”
Griffin seemed to want to speak, but he made a choking sound instead. He pulled Max to him and crushed her against his body. Max let him do what he needed, as he buried his face in her neck and breathed deeply. She patted his back, trying to soothe his pain. He carried guilt that she had tried to take from him, but he refused to let it go.
“Nothing that happened to me is your fault, Griffin. It was Callahan. What we do going forward, those are our choices,” she whispered against his cheek.
Griffin finally nodded his head and pulled back. His eyes were red from unshed tears. It made Max even more angry at the situation, but she couldn’t bring herself to kill the man at their feet. She moved to be in front of Smith’s eyesight again. The man looked at her and back to Storm in a comical fashion. He couldn’t decide which was a bigger threat and his fear was too physical at the moment.
“Storm, heel,” Max said, to ease the man’s panic a bit. Griffin stayed behind him, so he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Here’s how this is going to go, Smith. Listen carefully. You are going to be our prisoner. We aren’t killers. But we also can’t have you running back and telling Callahan what you know.”
“I wouldn’t...” Smith started.
“Don’t interrupt her,” Griffin growled from behind him, causing Smith to flinch forward.
“Yes, you would
. So, lying about it isn’t going to change anything. You’ve already proven you will do what you need to, to survive, to save your own ass,” Max continued.
“Where are you going to take me?”
“That I haven’t figured out yet. But I’m sure we can find something secure between the truck you were driving and the supplies we have at our home. Understand you aren’t a welcome guest and your life is only being spared at my kindness. Even after what you did to me, I’m sparing your life,” Max said. She leaned close to him, making sure her point was being taken clearly.
“I...I understand,” Smith said quietly, his eyes down in surrender.
Griffin continued to keep his gun pointed at Smith as they wound their way back to the road. Storm stayed at Max’s side, prepared to fight or defend however he needed to. Max took a mental note to talk to her brother about the dog. There was something comforting having the beautiful creature watching your back. And it felt odd to give an animal such trust.
Despite her decision to keep Smith alive, Max kept her distance from the man. His face was a painful reminder of what tortures had happened to her at the orders of Callahan. The scared part of her believed this man was going to turn and hurt her again. She had to grit her teeth against changing her mind and letting Griffin bury the man in the forest.
When they arrived back at the vehicles, Charlie and Alex waited. Their reactions to Smith were vastly different. Charlie’s face colored red, while Alex nodded her head in understanding. Max knew without saying anything that Alex would agree with the decision made. But Charlie seemed of a different mind.
“Why is he here?” Charlie asked.
“He’s our prisoner,” Max replied.
“Prisoner? Why aren’t we just leaving him for the infected or killing him ourselves?”
“Because if he somehow makes it back to the save zone, he can tell Callahan everything. And we aren’t killers, Charlie,” Max explained.
“Rafe isn’t going to like this,” Charlie replied, crossing her arms in front of her. Max realized she had a stubborn streak. She wanted to laugh about it, but she decided to save it for another time.
“Maybe he won’t. But this was my decision to make. And it’s the one I’m going with,” Max said.
“I’m proud of you, Max,” Alex said, breaking the tension. Charlie looked at her wildly but didn’t speak. She smartly realized she wasn’t going to win the argument, especially when the sisters agreed on something.
“We aren’t killers,” Max repeated.
On advice from Charlie, they decided they couldn’t drive all the way home that day. Rafe needed to be stable with his head injury and she doubted the drive would be smooth enough. Max and Alex agreed, and they pulled the vehicles off the road a mile down from the infected carnage. Rafe slept through the movement of the vehicles and the noise they made as they prepared a small camp.
Dinner time came, and Max worked on MREs for everyone. The routine tasks helped clear her mind of the cloudy chaos. Griffin had insisted that Smith didn’t leave the military truck. He was secured with each arm separately attached to the truck bench with zip ties. Though it was extremely unlikely he would get out of the ties, Griffin stood guard at the truck with his rifle at the ready.
Max didn’t doubt that given a reason Griffin would kill Smith. And she wanted to save Griffin from that. Smith’s life meant nothing to Max. Her hate for him was real and radiated throughout her body. Yet, she believed their humanity, how they were going to live from now on was important. If they gunned down every person that crossed them, bodies would stack up. And so would the guilt of actions being taken.
Meals prepared, Max took one to Griffin. He began to eat standing up. Without saying anything, she started to open the truck door.
“Max, what are you doing?” Griffin asked.
“We aren’t going to starve him to death either,” Max replied.
“Do you think this is safe?”
“You’ll be standing outside, right? I’ll scream if there’s even the smallest hint of danger,” Max said. She flashed him a small smile and stepped into the truck.
It was dark inside. The front of the truck was pointed toward the trees and the shade blocked any sun from seeping through the windows. Smith looked at her warily when she sat across from him. She sat and studied him for a minute.
“When did you eat last?” Max asked.
“Yesterday, I think.”
Max mixed the beef stew she had in front of her and watched as Smith’s eyes went to the bag. She pulled the spoon out with a bit of stew on it. Holding it across the gap between them she waited for Smith to lean forward to take the bite.
“You’re feeding me?” Smith said after swallowing his food.
“If we weren’t going to shoot you, why would we starve you. Plus, I thought we could have a tit for tat here,” Max said. Smith’s regarded her warily.
“How old are you?” She asked.
“Nineteen.”
“That’s younger than I had guessed. So, did you even finish boot camp?”
Smith shook his head no, as Max held out another bite to him. He quickly took it and swallowed. Max guessed he wanted to take the food while it was being offered since he couldn’t be sure they would always feed him.
“So you were immediately brought to the safe zone, to report to Callahan?”
He looked at her for a moment and Max just sat stirring the stew. Seeing his hesitation, Max pulled out some of the other foods that came in the MRE. She put a bottle of water down next to her. Then she pulled out a brownie, pretzels, and bread. Smith stared at the items and then back to Max again.
“I’m sure you’re thirsty,” Max said. When Smith didn’t answer she continued, “This is how tit for tat works, Smith. I ask questions. You give me answers. You get food and water.”
“I...I can’t betray my government,” Smith stammered. Max could see the war between his need for loyalty and his need for food.
“Callahan isn’t the government. The things he’s doing, they aren’t for the betterment of the country. They are to take over what’s left.”
“That’s not true. Callahan is getting his orders from somewhere. I’ve heard him on a satellite phone.”
Max raised an eyebrow at the offered information. Smith seemed to realize suddenly that he had said too much before he clamped his lips together.
“So back to my question. Were you just swooped in and brought to Callahan?”
“Callahan sent men to get us. He took us. Brought us to his safe zone,” Smith replied.
Max nodded, forming a picture in her head. She unscrewed the cap of the water and held the bottle to Smith’s lips. Giving him just a sip, she sat back again. Callahan was taking orders from someone. Max could guess that was 'The Suit' Charlie had told them about. And he wasn’t following any sort of procedures. Just grabbing soldiers wherever he could. Callahan had to know that taking barely adults from boot camp would give him an army of malleable people to follow his every order.
“What did Callahan tell you about my family? About why you were torturing me?” Max asked.
Smith seemed to think about answering. So as an incentive, Max opened the snack bread, taking a piece from the package. She held it in Smith’s direction, letting him know an answer meant a piece of bread.
“He told us you were keeping the cure from the government,” Smith said.
“Well that’s ridiculous,” Max replied. She leaned over and put the bread in Smith’s mouth. The man chewed and swallowed quickly, waiting.
“How would we know that it was ridiculous?” Smith asked.
“By using your brain? Why would anyone keep a cure to themselves and just let everyone die horrible deaths like this? My family, we aren’t political. We aren’t military. We aren’t associated with the government in any way. What would we gain from keeping the cure?”
Smith seemed to mull this over. Max wondered if a part of him felt ashamed of what he did. She fed him a few more bites of
the stew and another piece of bread before asking another question.
“So what will Callahan do if none of you return?”
“I guess the same thing he always does. Send more men. Larger groups each time,” Smith answered easily this time. He was rewarded with a large gulp of water.
“Since I escaped, what have you heard about my family?”
“He was so angry when you escaped. The men that were on the watch that night...well...” Smith stammered.
“Well, what?”
“They disappeared. Just gone.”
“What do you think happened to them?” Max asked.
“There were rumors of course. We don’t have people go AWOL often, you know absence without leave,” Smith explained.
“I’m aware of what AWOL means,” Max said sarcastically.
“Right. So there were rumors. I never saw anything myself. But the rumor was Callahan took them off post himself and shot them,” Smith finished.
Max wasn’t surprised at that information. Callahan was cold blooded. He would do anything he wanted in the running of his post. And as it seemed he wasn’t reporting to any official government entity, he could get away with it. Max fed Smith the last few spoonfuls of the stew.
“So what else did he say or do after I escaped?”
“I’m not sure...”
“Don’t clam up on me now, Smith. You won’t be going back there, so Callahan will assume you’re dead. The information you’re giving me will never be routed back to you,” Max said. She wasn’t positive any of that was true. Protecting Smith from Callahan was the least of her concerns. Smith sighed and pointed to the water. Max gave him another sip before placing the cap back on.
“He told us that you escaping and working against us was a sign that you knew where your brother was and what information he had. You were added to the wanted list, along with Rafe and Charlotte Brewer. He put a bounty on you and the men you were with.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why he was so quick to kill those that apparently had information about the cure? Wouldn’t he need what we knew?” Max asked.
Alive (Sundown Series Book 3) Page 29