“Ashley, take your ma and the other girls inside,” he told them. “They’re waiting to see you.”
The women headed inside while Sam turned back to them and gave them a pained smile. “Sorry that you’re being shunned but there is still a lot of healing going on in that house.”
“It’s fine,” Malcolm said, eyeing Jackson who was pacing around the barn. “Emotions are just running high. Jackson and Veronica are together.”
“Yeah, figured that,” Sam said. “She’ll be safe. Those women would never hurt her and we’re safe here at the farm. We haven’t seen a single person out this way since we got here. Nobody at the Complex knows it’s here.”
“How did you find it?”
“An old family friend owned this place,” Sam said. “Used to be a dairy farm. It was the only place I could think to come to. I had hoped he was alive but the infected got to him first. We found his body out in one of the pastures with a herd of dead cows. It had been a buffet out here for them. He was probably trying to save his herd when it happened.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sam shrugged off the sympathy. It was just another part of the new world they had to accept. Most of the people they had known were gone now.
“There’s the van. Runs good and she’s got a full tank of gas. She should get you where you need to go. Where’s your camp?”
“On an island out in the lake,” Malcolm said. “We usually cast off in Alpena.”
Sam squinted. “You’re looking at five hours back there since you’ll want to take the long way around town. It’ll be dark by then and that’s if you leave now. Why don’t you guys stay the night and head out at dawn? It will do everyone good to rest up and get some food, especially your injured friend.”
Malcolm was going to reject the offer, wanting to get them back to the safety of the island, but he considered Sam’s point. They would have to skirt around Midland to avoid Jacob’s group. There was every chance they had been forced to flee the Complex if they didn’t get that fire under control. They could very well be out there on the highways, looking for a new place to call home. Malcolm didn’t want them out there on unfamiliar roads in the dark with the possibility of running into someone around every turn in the road.
“You’re right,” Malcolm said, “And I appreciate the hospitality.”
“You kept your word and helped me get those other women out. I owe you more than just a place to sleep for the night.”
He held out his hand and Malcolm shook it.
The only good thing to come out of this whole thing was meeting Sam. They’d forged a friendship with this man and that could benefit them in the future.
“I better call back in, let our people know the plan.”
Sam left him to make his call, climbing up the porch to pop his head inside the house.
Malcolm put in his call to the island and it had barely rang before Elaine’s voice came over the speaker.
“Are you okay?”
“We’re fine,” Malcolm said. “We made it back to the camp. We’re going to stay the night here and head back in the morning. How are the kids and Craig doing?”
“Good. The meds are working. Wait...what? Okay, hold on...”
The phone was silent for a moment before a familiar voice came over the speaker.
“Where the hell are you?”
“I’m fine, honey,” he replied, smiling at the exasperated sound Kim let out.
“And you’re planning on spending another night out there? After you just disappeared? What the hell happened to you?”
“It’s a long, complicated story. I’ll tell you when I get back tomorrow. All you need to know is that we have a safe place to spend the night.”
“Whatever happened, it’s bad, that’s why you won’t tell me right now.”
She was right, this wasn’t something he wanted to do over the phone.
“I love you, baby. Do me a favour and tell Janet and the kids that I love them too,” he replied, ignoring the truth of her comment.
“Elaine has your coordinates on GPS now,” she said. “I want you to call in every hour and if you miss one check in, I am coming there to get you.”
He knew she would be true to her word and that was the last thing he wanted.
“I will, I promise.”
“I love you too. Take care of yourself.”
“I will, talk to you soon.”
He had thought he’d feel better after hearing Kim’s voice but all he felt was even more lost.
He had wanted to tell her everything so he could have some support but it was a story that had to be told face to face. He needed her there to hold him when he told her of how he had failed their family. He had led them into a trap and let them get hurt. Every harsh word that Jackson had hurled at him was true and he had no way to make up for any of it. He’d failed them all.
He walked back over to the truck where Banks had his first aid kit out and was helping Travis patch up the cuts on his face. The bruises on his face were already turning a shade of purple, his left eye swollen completely closed.
Malcolm took off his pack and pulled out one of the ice packs, squishing it to activate the chemicals inside the plastic bag. He offered it to Travis.
“It won’t do much for that bruising but it should help the swelling a bit.” Travis nodded his thanks as he pressed the pack against his eye. “So, you okay to tell me exactly what happened to you two?”
Travis recounted the events and Malcolm felt his heart stop as he detailed the attack and being brought out to the gallows. He looked back to the house, his thoughts on Veronica inside, getting her physical wounds treated. But what would happen to the mental wounds that these past two days had inflicted on her? She’d literally been hanged. If Jackson hadn’t been there, she might have died. Malcolm hadn’t shown up until after they had cut her down.
“I don’t know how she’s going to be,” Travis said. “What they did to her...”
“Are you okay?” Banks asked.
“They didn’t do half of the shit to me that they did to her.”
“They still strung you up,” Banks said. “I saw you up there. That’s not something you can just shake off.”
“Right now, I’m just so damn happy to be alive, it doesn’t bother me a bit,” Travis said, a rueful smile on his face. “Ask me about it in a couple days when the euphoria wears off.”
Yeah, Malcolm could get that. Life and death situations had that effect sometimes. The high of making it out and knowing you were still among the living could last a long damn time.
The sound of the screen door snapping closed caught Malcolm’s attention and Sam came down from the porch carrying a tray with bowls on it.
“The girls dished up some soup for you,” Sam said as he set the tray down on the truck’s tailgate. “Cream of mushroom, nothing fancy, but they wanted you to have something.”
It looked good, steam rising off the bowls as Sam passed them out. Malcolm’s stomach growled as he took the bowl, realizing that he’d been starving. He took up a spoonful and let out a groan when it touched his tongue. The soup was delicious and it wasn’t just because he was starving. He hadn’t tasted anything this good in years.
“This tastes better than the canned stuff we’ve been eating,” Banks said before he shovelled another spoonful in his mouth.
“It’s homemade,” Sam said. “There’s a mushroom farm down the road. They don’t need much tending to keep growing and we’ve got plenty of fresh cream.”
“How the hell do you have fresh cream?”
“The infected didn’t get the whole herd,” Sam said. “We found six healthy cows and their calves out in the back pasture. The mothers have been happy to spare a little milk when we need it.”
“God bless Bessie,” Banks said around his spoon.
“Now, I explained to the ladies who you guys were and what went on but they’re still nervous. I hope you can understand that they aren’t comfortable with you stayin
g in the house. We’ve got a camper behind the house. It’s not much but it sleeps four.”
“We’ve slept in worse places,” Malcolm told him. “It won’t be a problem.”
Jackson had finished his circuit of the barn, his stride shorter now, anger no longer driving him. Still, he didn’t look happy and he turned away from the barn and headed out along the fence.
Malcolm set down his bowl and headed out to meet Jackson, knowing that they need to settle this. Besides, he was missing out on dinner.
Jackson had made it to the halfway point of the fence when Malcolm caught up to him. He could see the cows that Sam had talked about out in the far back corner of the pasture, heads down in the grass as they grazed for their own dinner.
“She alright?” Jackson asked when Malcolm met him.
“She’s still being checked out,” Malcolm said. “I just wanted to let you know we’re gonna stay the night here.”
“Veronica needs a doctor,” Jackson said. “We gotta get her back to Quinton.”
“It’s gonna take us hours to get back to the lake. You saw what the run here took out of her,” Malcolm said. “It’s better she rests here for the night. We’ll head out at first light.”
Jackson gnawed on his bottom lip, glancing out at the pasture before looking back at Malcolm. “Ya sure they can handle takin’ care of her?”
“From what I gather, this isn’t the first time the women here have dealt with wounds like Veronica’s. They’re probably more capable than Quinton to deal with them.”
“They whipped her. They fuckin’ whipped her.” His words cut off and Jackson brought a clenched fist to his mouth, shaking his head as tears gathered in the corner of his eyes. “Like she was less than nothin’. Ya ain’t even supposed to treat an animal like that.”
“I’m sorry,” Malcolm said. “I should have done something.”
Jackson shook his head. “Nah, I was wrong to say that. I was pissed, that’s all. It ain’t yer fault. It ain’t her fault. It’s those fuckers back at that place. I hope every single one of them burns for it.”
If there was a God, they would.
“I do have some good news,” Malcolm said. “I checked in with Elaine. She told me the medicine is working. Hannah’s feeling a lot better.”
“Good,” Jackson said, some of the worry lines on his face fading. “I gotta let Veronica know. Don’t matter how much pain she’s in, she’s still gonna be worryin’ ‘bout the girl.”
Malcolm nodded. “I’ll let Sam know to tell her. They still don’t want us in the house.”
He could see that didn’t sit well with Jackson but there was nothing they could do. They were here on Sam and the women’s good graces and he didn’t want to push his luck.
“Come on, they brought us dinner and it’s good,” Malcolm said. “We need to keep our energy up. We’ve got to plan out a route around that hell hole. We’re not going to let them find us again.”
Subject #750
Administrator: “I’m glad you’ve decided to talk to me again. I hope we can start building the trust between us again.”
Subject: “It’s not about trust. I want what happened to me recorded. I won’t let what they did be forgotten.
Violets.
That was all she could see when she opened her eyes. Lines of violets spread out on a cream coloured backdrop, as if the world was nothing but a wall of violets. Her eyes drifted to one of the violets that had a line going through the centre, splitting the flower and the stem, the edges of the line curling up.
Wallpaper. Wallpaper printed with violets.
She was staring at a wall. At least she thought so. Everything had a fuzzy edge to it, even the violets, and she wasn’t sure if things were firing right in her brain. She couldn’t really feel anything, like her body had gone numb and the only part that worked were her eyes.
“The bleeding has stopped. We don’t have any sutures here and I don’t want to use thread and put her at a higher risk of infection.”
Oh, apparently her ears still worked. So that was two senses that were back online. Good.
Her mouth felt like cotton, her tongue twice its normal size. So much for taste. She tried to swallow, forgetting for a moment how to do such an automatic reaction and it felt clumsy.
“This salve will prevent infection and help with the pain.”
“We already gave her morphine so she should be good.”
Morphine. Ah, now it all made sense. This floaty world was still the real world, just one enhanced by the drugs. Nice. But why had they given her drugs?
She tried to think back, grasping at the memories floating around in her head, trying to find the last thing she remembered. Concrete stairs that led up to a forest. Jackson’s voice in her ear telling her to just keep going.
We’re out but we gotta keep goin’.
They’d gotten out.
She turned her head, a monumental task that seemed to take a year to complete and exhausted her as she dropped her head back down on the pillow.
“Veronica?” Her sister’s familiar face filled her field of vision. “It’s Claudia, I’m here with you.”
She tried to say something but her tongue didn’t seem to work and all she heard was a wheeze.
“Don’t speak.”
The face of a strange woman came into view. Veronica was almost positive she hadn’t seen her before. She had brown hair that was threaded with silver at the roots. Veronica stared at those shiny strands, following them over her head into the braid that hung over her shoulder. The plait was wound together tightly and it reminded her of rope. Hemp rope tied in a noose. Where had she seen that before?
It came flooding back to her in a rush. Crawley attacking her. Fighting back. The belt coming down across her back. The feel of his hot blood spraying her. Being led to the gallows. Standing on the edge of the trailer. The endless fall when she was pushed off.
She started to tremble and a sob bubbled up but she couldn’t get it past her swollen throat. She couldn’t breathe just like before. The rope tight around her neck, her lungs begging for air but nothing coming through.
She gasped and this time she was able to draw in air, filling her lungs and fighting through the pain that came with it.
“Your throat is swollen and bruised,” the woman was telling her. “It will heal but you can’t talk right now. Just focus on taking small easy breaths, okay?”
“Veronica, this is Jackie,” Claudia told her. “She lives here in this house. She’s been taking care of you. You listen to her, okay?”
“We’ve cleaned up your back and dressed the wounds,” Jackie recited. “You need to stay on your stomach for now and not move too much so you don’t start bleeding again. It’s going to be a painful healing process but you will get better.”
“Is there anything we can do about her throat?” Claudia asked.
“Maria,” Jackie called out behind her. “We got an ETA on that tea?”
“Right here,” answered a female voice. Jackie moved away, the floorboards creaking under her feet. “Lots of milk and sugar.”
Jackie returned with a mug cupped in her hands, a straw poking out of it to make it easier. She held the straw for her and Veronica wrapped her lips around it, struggling to suck on it. The tea was warm and sweet, exactly what her dry mouth needed. It hurt at first to swallow but the heat was soothing as it went down and made the next sip easier.
She took a few more sips but then her stomach started to feel queasy. She dropped back to the pillow, her head feeling like it weighed a hundred pounds. Even just drinking had exhausted her.
Jackie set the mug on the bedside table and looked down at her. “We’ll stick to the tea for now. When you feel up to it, we’ve got some soup.”
The tea seemed to be settling in her belly but she wasn’t sure how food would work. The last thing she wanted to do with her throat was throw up.
Besides, she was too tired to try and eat. It was hard enough to keep her eyes open no
w but she forced them open. She had questions she needed answered.
She put her index finger on Claudia’s thigh and wrote out a question. Meds?
“Another shot of morphine? Sure, I can get it,” Claudia said, misunderstanding but Veronica gave a tiny shake of her head.
Hannah?
“Oh, yeah we got the meds back over to the island yesterday.” Claudia smiled. “We called in on our way here. They’re all going to be okay.”
She’d been carrying that weight of worry with her long enough that she had forgotten what it was like to have it gone. Hannah would be okay. She might have failed to get the meds back but Jackson had succeeded.
She remembered seeing him as she stood on the gallows. She had thought it was some hallucination, created by pain and fear, but he had been real. He’d cut her down and carried her out of there.
Jackson?
“He’s outside with the others,” Claudia said, glancing over at Jackie. “Mendez went out to tell him that you’re doing okay.”
Need him.
Claudia gave Jackie another look before she answered. “The women who escaped that place are living here. They aren’t comfortable with strange men in their home. You understand, right? How about I give you more morphine and you sleep for a bit? By the time you wake up, we’ll be ready to go.”
She shook her head. She didn’t want any more drugs. Her brain was foggy and she knew it wasn’t just from the knocks she’d taken. She didn’t like the cotton head routine. This place might be safe for now but that could change at any moment and she wanted to be clear headed.
She also wanted to see Jackson. She needed to see him. She couldn’t explain why but the need for his presence was overwhelming. If she saw him then she would know she’d really be okay. There had never been anyone, aside from her family, that had made her feel that way before. Jackson was home for her.
Tears sprung to her eyes, dripping down onto the pillow. Claudia reached out and dabbed at them with a cloth before looking up at Jackie.
“Please,” she said. “Can’t you just make one exception for Jackson? We all vouch for him. He’ll even volunteer to wear handcuffs and you can have Sam stand guard. Jackson is her...well, he’s her person, you know? She needs him.”
The Complex (The Omega Protocol Chronicles Book 3) Page 43