Queen of Quarantine

by Caroline Peckham

  "I'm guessing our best bet is to head inside before we try to escape," Monroe muttered, echoing my thoughts and I nodded.

  "Let's hurry up and get inside then," Saint agreed. "I'm not wasting any more time away from our girl than we have to."

  I nodded and took the lead again, carving my way through the crowd towards the front of the queue, ignoring the protests from the people who had been waiting out here for hours already as I set my sights on the head of it. Saint wasn't the only one of us who wasn't going to be forced to stand about out here. I may have been less high maintenance than my elitist friend, but I was still an entitled prick at heart, and in instances like this I gave no shits about that at all.

  We made it to the front of the queue, and I stepped in front of the guy there, giving him a hard glare that promised I'd knock his teeth out if he tried to fight me on it. He dropped his gaze to the floor as his cheeks flamed red with unspoken fury and a sense of injustice that would no doubt keep him up at night. Not me though - I'd be sleeping like a baby perfectly comfortable in my dickhead ways and not thinking about the fact that I'd ruined his already shitty day ever again.

  A soldier stepped out of the tent to call us forward, pausing as she seemed to realise we weren't the people who had been standing here thirty seconds ago before clearly deciding she didn't give a shit and beckoning me forward.

  "We stay together," I said firmly as the other Night Keepers stepped up behind me.

  "You can wait for them on the other side," she protested and I shook my head.

  "No. We're brothers. We stay together," Saint clipped. No room for negotiation.

  The soldier frowned, looking like she'd already had altogether too much shit from people today. And though I couldn't see all that much of her face behind the ventilator mask she was wearing, I could tell she was fairly young and I wondered if a different approach might work better on her.

  "Look," I said, softening my tone and stepping a little closer to her like I was all reasonable and shit. "We've been through a lot - lost people, I'm sure you understand. It's rough out there and we made a pact not to split up until this whole thing is over. Would it really be the worst thing for us to just go through this...whatever it is in there together?"

  Her gaze roamed over my face and the sincere as shit look I was giving her then she sighed as she glanced at the three men at my back. Blake stepped up and gave her his pretty boy flirtatious grin and I could see her giving in as he placed his hands together in gesture of a prayer.

  "Come on then. We allow family groups to be processed together anyway, so seeing as you're brothers..." She cut a doubtful glance over our vastly differing features and skin tones before rolling her eyes like she didn't have it in her to call us out on it. "Just don't cause any shit. If I have to, I'll haul your asses down to the detention block myself."

  I gave her my best smile while Blake tossed her a wink and I was pretty sure she swooned just a little bit. She led the way into the tent and I punched Blake's shoulder for flirting with her while he gave me a flat look which made it all too clear he had zero interest in anyone other than Tatum. Which I knew, but as her husband I felt it was my duty to keep her boyfriends in line.

  We stepped into the white tent and found another soldier waiting there to search us.

  "We need to make sure none of you are carrying any weapons," he said, beckoning for one of us to step forward. I did the honours, holding my arms out and everything as he began to run his hands over me. "And we have to confiscate cell phones for a short time too."

  My ears pricked up at that casual announcement, like taking people's phones wasn't fucked up at all.

  "Why do you want people's phones?" I asked.

  "It comes from higher up. You'd have to ask someone more important than me if you want to know that. Don't worry though, we'll bag it up for you and you'll get it back soon."

  "I don't have a phone," I replied casually, hoping he didn't wanna check inside my boots. "Broke it a few weeks back and it hasn't exactly been possible to replace it."

  "I'll just have to check you for weapons then," he replied, sounding tired. The others were clearly going to lose their phones, but we only needed mine to make sure that I could contact Niall and check up on Tatum.

  "What about if I am a weapon myself?" I asked, deciding to leave it at that. "Are you going to confiscate me?"

  The female soldier laughed while the guy searching me just muttered something pissy before running his hands up the inside of my legs. His hand got high enough to arguably call it a cavity search and I was a second from slapping him off of me before he stood back and directed me to the other side of the tent where a nurse was waiting.

  "We need to take some blood to confirm you definitely have some active antibodies then we will test for how effective those antibodies are. Can I have your ID?" he asked as I took a seat on the little stool beside him.

  "Sure."

  I tossed him my fake passport and he quickly took a photograph with the iPad beside him and he got me to sign the bottom of the page which I did with a vague squiggle that might have been my false name or anything at all really. Then he got me to stand on a set of scales, measured my height and checked my blood pressure. When he was done with all that, he listened to my heart and lungs with a stethoscope, made more notes on the iPad and finally prepared a syringe to take my blood.

  I glanced at Saint as I rolled my sleeve back, wondering if I should be letting this guy take a sample from me now that I'd had the vaccine, but Saint just gave a faint nod, letting me know we needed to keep playing along. I guessed the main thing was that we didn’t draw any attention to ourselves for now and make it harder than it needed to be for us to escape this place.

  "Would you be willing to donate more blood in the pursuit of a vaccine if it turns out your sample indicates your suitability?" the nurse asked me and I shrugged.

  "What's in it for me?" I asked.

  "You'd be helping us bring about an end to this pandemic," he replied, clearly not liking my attitude.

  "Right. But I'm talking personally. I mean, I've already survived the Hades Virus, so I don't need a vaccine. I'm assuming you're offering some kind of financial compensation or something if you expect me to donate my blood?"

  "Well...no," the nurse said, frowning like he thought I was a total jackass and I smiled broadly at him before standing. “There is talk of a possible future tax break as an incentive but as of yet that hasn’t been officially-”

  "That'll be a no from me then," I said. "I have no interest in becoming a pin cushion for no reason."

  I didn't wait for him to argue with me on that before moving aside so that Saint could take my place. I stood and waited patiently until the others had all been through the same routine as me then the first soldier came to lead us through the back of the tent and outside again.

  "You're going to be allocated a sleeping area - for now, everything is fairly basic and we apologise for that, but it's safe, warm, dry and there will be hot meals provided in the mess tents three times a day. Over the next few days we will come around and assign work allocations to everyone which will include building better accommodations and we anticipate being able to move people out of the tents within a month at the longest." She moved over to a printer and hooked two pieces of paper out of it before handing them to us. "This is a map of the camp. The mess tents, shower rooms, bathrooms, toilets and exercise space are all clearly labelled and the four of you have been allocated bunks in tent sixteen-eighty over on the north side of the camp, which is marked with the X. There are bed rolls and basic supplies there for you so that you can go and settle in. If you are in need of anything else, you can come to one of the information points where officers will be able to answer any questions you have." She pointed those out on the map too and I took it with a nod.

  "Thanks," I replied, trying not to look at the horror on Saint's face as he gazed out across the maze of dark green tents which filled the valley ahead of us in every si
ngle direction for miles on end.

  Another soldier appeared with our bags, clearly having given them a thorough search and I slung mine over my shoulder as the others grabbed theirs too.

  The soldier left us to go call the next people inside and I clapped a hand on Saint's arm as we started walking.

  "If we don't get out of this cesspit within the next hour, I'm going to end up dead from exposure," Saint muttered, not even trying to hide the sneer on his face.

  "It's not that cold," Monroe replied, shaking his head at him.

  "He doesn't mean exposure to the cold," Blake said with a laugh. "He means exposure to the masses. Saint's snob is showing."

  "Thank you for that accurate assessment, Bowman," Saint muttered. "But I have no objections to being called a snob if it means I don't have to mingle with the likes of these...peasants." He pointed out a dude who had a finger jammed up his nose while he rooted around his nostril in hunt of something up there and I laughed.

  "That guy is a particularly bad example," Monroe huffed.

  "Regardless. We need to escape this farmyard before we catch anything worse than the Hades Virus," Saint hissed.

  "Like poverty?" I teased.

  "Heaven forbid," he agreed.

  Nash rolled his eyes and I laughed as I tried to scope out the best way for us to escape this place, striding down muddy walkways and glancing about before taking my cell phone from my boot.

  The others all clustered around me as I sent a message to Niall, but the signal was fucking non-existent and the damn thing wouldn't even send.

  “Shit,” I cursed, wondering if there were messages I hadn’t been able to receive too. But I had faith in Niall and I just had to hold onto that. If I could just trust in him to keep Tatum safe then all I had to do was focus on getting us the hell out of here to meet her.

  "Take some footage of this place," Saint said, his lip still curled in disgust. "There's no way they only just opened it today. And the conditions are barely humane. We should leak the images to the press - really fuck with my father’s plans by showing everyone the shit show they can look forward to if they go along with this division bullshit."

  "Yes sir," I agreed, hiding my phone in my hand and casually filming shots of the place, making sure I showed the mud and the insane queue for the bathroom. If I saw a video like this, I sure as fuck wouldn't wanna leave my cosy house to come stay here.

  We walked right out to the edge of the camp where we found a freshly erected metal fence ringing it, manned by armed officers and lit up with huge flood lights.

  "How the fuck are we supposed to get out of here?" Monroe asked and I bit my tongue against the curses which begged to spill from my lips.

  "We're gonna need a distraction," I said, glancing down at my phone and smiling as I found a bar of signal on it. "Cover me while I make a call."

  I turned away from the fence ringing the camp and ducked down like I was going to retie my shoe while calling my uncle instead. Thankfully I had a bar of signal again so it rang as I held it to my ear.

  "Hello?" he answered, the sound of a large bang in the background making my heart lurch.

  "What the fuck is going on?" I snapped as my heart leapt with fear for my girl.

  "Nothing, nothing. I just knocked something over. We’re hiding out until nightfall then I’ll get your pretty wife out of the city. Besides, you know there’s nothing I can't handle," Niall replied excitedly, his Irish accent coupled with the thought of violence raising memories of my childhood to the surface of my mind. "What's up?"

  "We're trapped in this camp. Gonna need a distraction to keep the guards' eyes off of us while we escape. Do you think you can help us out?" I asked just as Tatum laughed breathlessly in the background and the vice around my heart loosened a little. She was alright. Having fun too by the sounds of it and I had to admit Niall could be a lot of fun – assuming he didn’t flip the fuck out. But I trusted him not to harm her anyway so the worst that would happen in that case was that she might end up witnessing a murder or two which wasn’t anything new to her these days.

  "I'm on it. I've already got your location and we're practically on route. Just a little issue to finish up with first. Then I'll let you know when I'm ready with that distraction,” Niall confirmed.

  "What’s going-" I began but the line went dead and when I tried to call back, I just got his fucking voicemail.

  I cursed as I stood, leaving the phone in my boot once more and the others all looked at me in concern.

  "What did he say?" Blake demanded and I shook my head, glancing towards the closest group of soldiers and leading them back into the maze of green tents.

  "He's coming. And Tatum’s fine," I replied, deciding not to worry them with any more details about my crazy ass uncle. "Maybe we should just get some rest until then."

  "I hardly think I'm going to sleep in some heap of canvas," Saint muttered, but he didn't complain as I took the map from my pocket and we headed back into the camp in search of our tent.

  I cast one look back over my shoulder at the perimeter the army had erected around us and I just had to hope that whatever Niall came up with as a distraction was enough to get us out of here. Because if it wasn't, then I was beginning to think we might be in more trouble here than we'd expected. And it was looking like we should have run before walking into this place. But now that we were inside it, we were going to have to break out. Because there wasn't a force on earth that could keep the Night Keepers away from Tatum Roscoe. So even if it came down to a fight with an entire army, we'd do whatever it took.

  D arkness had fallen and there were no more shouts coming from the soldiers back on the street or even the sound of the helicopter circling. Niall had told me far more murder stories than I’d ever planned on hearing, but he somehow managed to tell them in a way that made them kinda funny. I didn’t know if that made me a sick person for laughing, but maybe it was just that his stories didn’t even sound true with how ludicrous they were. Knowing what I did about Niall though, they probably were.

  He was examining a map on his phone as he plotted out a route to the barricades surrounding the city. Apparently there were weak spots that weren’t manned too heavily and he’d gotten through one of them earlier. I just hoped that would still be the case by the time we got there because we’d certainly caused a stir earlier on. And those soldiers weren’t going to stop looking for a guy who’d opened fire on them. The only chance we had was getting out now, and I for one was going to make damn sure we pulled it off.

  “Okay, lass, time to go,” Niall said, pushing to his feet. The thick coats we’d taken from the woman’s apartment had turned out to be a godsend against the cold, but I was still a little numb as I got up.

  I flexed my frozen fingers, checking my phone for messages from the guys for the millionth time.

  We headed to the door as I put my bag on my back with Kyan’s bat. Niall tossed away the oar which had been holding the door shut before slipping outside. I followed him, the night air weirdly still as we slipped quickly back into the trees and followed the path towards the opposite side of the park to where we’d entered. The city was freakishly quiet and goosebumps prickled along the back of my neck as we made it to the exit and Niall opened the gate with a groaning of hinges.

  I headed along after him on the dark street beyond it, pressing a bottle of hand sanitiser into his hand. I’d given him the vaccine while we waited in the boathouse and he’d mentioned wanting another two doses for his friends when he went home. I didn’t mind. There were still plenty left to be given to Dr De La Cost, but I was kinda curious about who Niall gave enough of a shit about to give a vaccine to. He struck me as more of a loner type. But it was good to know he wasn’t totally isolated in the world.

  We crept through the silent streets, avoiding any patrols we saw or could hear close by as we continued on toward the edge of the city.

  I focused on returning to my Night Keepers, trying not to worry about the camp they were in o
r how they were going to get out of it. If anyone could do it, it was them. And it wasn’t like they were prisoners there. They’d be able to slip out somehow. I just hoped Niall and I could do the same.

  We reached the end of a long road and pressed back into the shadows as we gazed down the adjoining street to where a metal barricade had been erected. There was one truck in front of it and a soldier was leaning against it, talking to another guy a few feet away.

  “The third one’s our problem,” Niall said quietly.

  “I can only see two,” I breathed.

  He took hold of my chin, tilting my head up and pointing to the roof of the building in front of us. “There’s a little birdie in his nest up there.”

  “Shit,” I cursed. “How’d you get past them the first time?”

  “I didn’t come in this way,” he said. “They’ll have put a fuck load of soldiers on guard where I did come in because I caused one hell of a fucking stir.” He chuckled, but as curious as I was to hear more, there wasn’t time for that story. We needed to move.

  “Well how do you know there’s someone up there?” I asked as I knocked his hand away from my chin.

  “There’s always an asshole on a roof.” He shrugged.

  “But how can you be sure?” I hissed.

  “I’ll be sure when I’m choking him out and he’s begging for his mammy,” he said with a smirk. “I’m gonna head up there. When I give you the signal, run for the barricade. There’s a gap in it where the truck is parked. Oh, and throw this if things get ugly.” He placed a grenade in my hand and my throat tightened.

  “Is it smoke or a bomb?” I asked.

  “Guess you’ll find out if you have to use it.” He dropped a car key into my hand too. “My truck’s parked on Opal Street. Just in case I don’t make it.” He winked and darted across the road, leaving me behind before I got a choice in the matter.

  “Wait, what’s the signal?” I whisper shouted after him, but he ignored me, using his screwdriver to jimmy the door open and slip inside. Crazy bastard.