Lisa looked down at her daughter and wiped her hair out of her eyes. “Of course, honey. We wouldn’t leave Buster behind. He goes wherever we do.”
Jade had just left Lisa’s and Chelsea’s room where they’d discussed the possibility of leaving together. They were both in agreement that the hospital just wasn’t the same and that they’d like to take a chance and find a better place to raise their children. Jade had mentioned Kansas to Lisa who just agreed that anywhere she and Mace decided to go would be fine with her. She just wanted to remain part of the team.
“Where are going to live, Mommy?” Chelsea stopped combing Buster and turned her attention back to Lisa. “Can we move to Disneyland?”
Buster realized she’d stopped combing him and nudged her arm with his nose. Chelsea giggled and ran the comb over his nose. “I think Buster would like Mickey Mouse, Mommy. They could be friends.”
Lisa stroked her hair for a second, staring at the wall as she pondered the reality of their future. “I bet they would honey. We’ll just have to see, okay?”
*****
Jade was resting in bed when Mace walked in. As she rolled over she could see the look in his eyes, so she propped herself up on one elbow. “What’s wrong?”
Mace just shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just trying to figure out what we’re going to do.”
Jade sat up in bed and stared at him. “I was talking to Lisa about possibly moving. She and Chelsea would like to go with us.”
Mace looked at her blankly before running his fingers through his hair. “Who knows what we’re going to find out there, or how long we’ll be able to travel? I don’t want to make any rash decisions. Right now this area is pretty safe and I want to keep us as safe as possible.”
Jade tucked her legs under her butt and leaned towards Mace, getting ready for the pitch she’d been rehearsing all day. “I really think we should start planning a move right away. I’d like to do it while I still can. If we moved somewhere out in the country where there weren’t too many people I bet we could be safe. It would be a better place to raise our child. We could grow our own vegetables and be pretty self sufficient.
If we could find a place with a generator and a well, we could figure out a way to make it all work. With Chelsea, the baby would have another child to grow up with, and I’ll bet we could talk a few other people into coming. We could start a new community.”
Mace thought about what she was saying and sat down on the bed next to her. “You make it sound so easy. We have no idea how many infected we’ll run into once we’re out of here or how passable the roads will be. What if we do make it out and then one of us gets infected? Are we going to end up like John and Maria? I’d rather wait to see if there is something we can do to fix what’s gone wrong here.”
He leaned forward and put his hand on her leg, staring at her intently as he thought of what he wanted to say and how he should say it. Jade’s eyebrows furrowed as he took a long pause and searched her face. “I’m not even sure we should be having a baby right now, J. This is no kind of world to raise one in, and who knows if it ever will be”
Jade felt a sting from the words and shook her head slowly, the look in her eyes reflecting her feelings. “Life has to continue on, Mace. If you are asking me to abort this baby, I’ll tell you right now that that is not an option. I’m pregnant, and despite everything that has happened, I still refuse to give up hope that tomorrow will be a better day. I’m not ready to give up and die just yet.”
She put her hand up to his face and touched it lightly. “Fight with me, Mace. Fight for a better tomorrow. Then whatever happens we’ll know we’ve given it our best shot.”
Mace took a deep breath, leaned in, and kissed her. “You know I’m a fighter. I just need to give this a little time to think through, okay? If you like, you can start planning an eventual move. I never planned to stay here forever. I’ll see if we can’t begin to organize a caravan.”
A thought crossed his mind. “You’re not still thinking of Kansas are you? Did you ever get back in touch with the woman there?”
Jade looked at the floor and shook her head. “No word. She may have given up on me. I don’t know yet.”
Mace felt his heart stir with feelings of protectiveness and love. He wanted more than anything to provide a better and safer future for Jade and this child: The child he had never realized he wanted so badly. “I’ll do everything I can for us. We’ll make it. We’ll figure out a way.”
Jade leaned in and kissed him, a tear gently touching his cheek as they embraced. “Thank you, Mace. I know we can still make this work. I have to believe that.”
Chapter 53
Gilbert woke up feeling disoriented. In complete darkness, he tried to raise his head but found that he couldn’t. Something was restraining him at his neck. He could feel something heavy on his face and body and he was having trouble breathing. He tried to take in a deep breath but whatever was on top of him was constricting his airflow. He went to move his arms but something was holding them down as well.
Panic and claustrophobia began to race through his veins and he jerked around violently as he discovered that his legs too were being restrained. He could hear his quick and shallow breathing in the tomb of his surroundings and he screamed, “Help! Help me!” as he jerked around in the darkness. He was sweating profusely by the weight and heat of whatever was on top of him and he struggled to take a breath.
The last thing he remembered was being pushed towards that thing in the middle of the pond, and as his memory clamped on that, he realized that his pants were still wet with pond water and urine. He stopped thrashing around, wide-eyed in the darkness, and listened for any sound of life. The heat was growing unbearable and he couldn’t breathe. He could hear his heart pounding in his head and as it grew in volume, he screamed again in panic. “Oh my God, Help me!”
Chapter 54
In Overland Park, Kansas, Sarah Thompson stared at her blank computer screen, feeling dejected. “I don’t understand what could have happened. It’s been three days. I hope they’re okay.”
Bo, her husband, was half asleep in the bed next to the computer table, exhausted from a day of provision runs and guard duty. He moved his head from the pillow to face her. “From what you said, they have everything under control. Maybe they just had a problem with the power. I’ll bet she comes back on. Just give it some time.” He moved his head back to stare at the ceiling and closed his eyes. “Come to bed Sarah. There will be enough problems tomorrow to deal with.”
Sarah reluctantly shut down the computer and climbed into bed next to Bo, pulling the covers up around her shoulders. She stared at the ceiling for a moment before rolling over and putting her arm around him. She closed her eyes. “We’re going to be okay, aren’t we?”
Bo’s eyes remained closed but he gave a slight grunt, “uh huh.” He stayed that way for a second before they opened back up. He tilted his head towards her. “We’re going to be fine. I promise.” He stared at her for a second more. “How are you feeling?”
A small smile crossed her face as she kept her eyes closed. “I’m not horny if that’s what you mean.”
A grin turned at the corner of his mouth and he blew air at her closed eyes. She smiled harder and opened her eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to talk to you. I wasn’t asking cause I’m horny, I was asking because you’re pregnant.”
Chapter 55
After Gilbert had fainted, all the fun had gone out of the initial idea to feed him to Butters. Kevin had decided it would be more fun to tie him to one of the beds and cover him with a blanket. Outside the room, the teenage guard Kevin had posted could hear the muffled cries inside and clicked on his Walkie-Talkie, turning it to the proper channel. “We have lift off, I repeat, we have lift off.”
He released the button on the Walkie Talkie and waited, smiling at the intensity of the cries coming from inside the room. A half a dozen boys had gathered around by the time Kevin showe
d up. “Let’s have some fun,” he said as he arrived.
They opened the door and turned on the light, but the thickness of the blanket prevented Gilbert from seeing anything except total blackness. Kevin held his finger up to his mouth as he entered, signaling for everyone to remain silent. A few snickers could be heard from the boys as Gilbert continued to thrash about and scream under the blanket.
Kevin carefully walked around to the head of the bed and grabbed a corner of the blanket, whipping it off with one swift move, releasing a blood curdling scream as Gilbert was caught unaware of the act and was blinded by the brightness in the room. As his eyes focused to his surroundings they darted about in terror, staring at the boy’s around him.
“Please don’t kill me,” Gilbert pleaded, now frozen in terror at the glazed and reddened eyes of Kevin. “Please, I didn’t do anything. If I could just speak to Rob.”
Kevin started laughing. “You’ve already seen Rob. You tripped over his leg a little while ago. I don’t think he’s up for much conversation, though.”
Gilbert stared at him in horror and began to scream again as he pulled against the restraints. “Oh my God, please help me!” He started crying as the boy’s stood over him, laughing at him. Kevin leaned in and whispered in his ear, and Gilbert’s eyes almost bugged out of his head as he listened.
“We’ve got a surprise for you. We were going to feed you to Butters, but I think we could make better use of you now. We’ve been taking the antidote so we can infect ourselves. The rush is incredible. We’re going to conduct some experiments on you. I know you haven’t received the antidote yet.”
Gilbert didn’t need to ask to know who Butter’s was. He pulled at his restraints harder as he wailed out in fear. “Please. I beg of you, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone what you’re doing, I swear.”
Kevin started laughing. “Who’s there to tell? We run the show, Mr. Principal, don’t you get it?” He stared at Gilbert and he stopped laughing, causing Gilbert to quiet down and wait for what was to come next. His breathing was shallow and hard and he thought he might faint again.
Kevin leaned in again. “You can keep yelling if you want to but it’s going to get old really soon, so if you keep it up I’ll have to get out the blow torch.” His smile returned briefly and he winked, causing Gilbert’s eye to start twitching. “Get him ready boys.”
A few of the boys grabbed Gilbert’s arms even though he was tied down. Kevin produced a needle, and Gilbert’s eyes rolled in the back of his head and he began to hyperventilate. “I hope you’re the right blood type. Mario died when he got the wrong one. It was actually kind of cool. It looked like he was going to explode.”
The boys around him laughed and nodded their heads in agreement while Gilbert screamed again, unable to keep it in. Kevin pressed the needle against his arm and it pierced the skin, releasing a quarter dose of antidote into his bloodstream. Gilbert felt the needle and passed out again, breaking wind at the same time and sending the boys around him running for air.
Chapter 56
Yvette was nodding her head in agreement as Jade spoke to her of moving on. “I’m ready anytime. I’d just like to talk to Rob one more time, though, and see if I can talk any sense into him.”
Jade was sitting across from her at a table in the childcare center, and they were mostly alone. Lisa and Chelsea were giving Buster a walk around the hospital, and there was a single child busy coloring in a coloring book at the crafts table. Jade smiled at her nervously. “Okay. It’s not like we’ll be leaving tomorrow. I’ll give you a better idea when it will be when we get everything figured out.”
She got up to leave and Yvette grabbed her wrist, stopping her. She looked a little frantic in the eyes. “Do you think there’s any chance that Rob can straighten himself out? He’s the only family I have left.”
Jade smiled weakly and put her free hand over Yvette’s, squeezing it slightly. “There’s always a chance. But if you do go to see him, let me know and we’ll get a small party together. We have no idea what he’s been up to, and we know that the boys he’s with have all been doing drugs.”
Yvette just nodded blankly, her thoughts elsewhere. Jade studied her face and prodded her for confirmation. “You won’t just go alone, alright? I don’t want to see you getting hurt.”
Yvette’s eyes became clearer and she focused on Jade, repeating her words. “I won’t go alone.”
Jade studied her again. “You’re sure?”
Yvette gave her a quick nod. “Yes.”
Chapter 57
Gilbert woke up in a start, feeling a slight headache coming on. He was still tied down and his abrupt return to consciousness caused him to strain against his straps. Within a split second, his terror had returned, and he tried to gasp for air, his confinement at being tied down sending claustrophobic waves throughout his body.
“Please, let me go!” he began to cry again as the straps began to chafe his wrists. “I can’t stand being tied up! Please just let me move around!” He began to scream louder for help until the door to the room opened again and he froze in fear as the boys returned.
He stared from one to the other with silent, pleading eyes, afraid to say anything more that might set Kevin or one of them off. He made eye contact with Kevin, and the freakish smile on Kevin’s face made him feel like he probably shouldn’t have screamed.
“I’m sorry,” he whimpered, as Kevin’s eyes glistened with manic joy. From behind his back, he slowly produced a small blowtorch, and Gilbert began to scream, pulling at the restraints harder.
“No! No! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to yell! Please don’t hurt me!”
Kevin smiled with obvious pleasure. “It’s too late, Mr. Principal. It’s time to pay.”
With a snap, Kevin flicked on the blowtorch and a small blue flame appeared at the end. Gilbert stared at it and his eyes watered as he pictured what was to come.
“You’re not going to pass out on us again, ya fucking coward.” Kevin moved the flame towards Gilbert’s leg and Gilbert pulled away in terror as he felt the heat against him a full six inches away. His eyes were locked on the blue flame as he tried to squirm out of the way. Kevin looked at one of the boys near Gilbert.
“Give him the blood when he screams. I want to see what happens.”
The boy nodded and Gilbert jerked his head towards him. “No, please! Oh my God! Please don’t hurt me!”
Kevin chuckled and moved the blowtorch up to Gilbert’s skin, watching as Gilbert’s face exploded in a twisted mask of pain. A long, sustained wail filled the room as the torch burned his flesh. Gilbert jerked around violently and Kevin yelled at the boy by Gilbert’s head. “Give it to him now!”
The boy had been watching the torture and forgot his job. He quickly put a syringe over Gilbert’s mouth, squirting a trail of red blood down his throat. They had extracted the blood from Butters, and within seconds, everyone watched in fascination as Gilbert began to convulse on the bed.
As the smell of burning hair and flesh filled the room, Kevin moved the blowtorch slowly up Gilbert’s body, Gilbert’s voice growing deeper as the toxin raced through his bloodstream, searing into his brain. Kevin was mesmerized by Gilbert’s eyes, which had turned pink and were now staring at him intently.
Inside Gilbert’s brain, horrible images flashed and a surge of rage exploded within. As he felt the burning pain in his leg, he felt a mad compulsion to slaughter everyone in the room. Kevin was briefly shocked as Gilbert started yelling profanities at him in a torrent of outrage.
“I am going to fucking kill you! You’re fucking dead!”
Gilbert tugged ferociously at his restraints, never taking his eyes of Kevin. Kevin looked slightly shaken as he moved the torch up and over Gilbert’s nipple. Gilbert stopped moving and bared his teeth at Kevin as the flesh around his nipple turned black and the crackle and smell of burning flesh filled the room.
He took a few deep breaths and focused on Kevin’s face, which had grown startled
by the lack of response, before whispering in a low voice in deep restraint, “I am going to pluck your eyeballs from your head. You are going to wish that I had fucking killed you.”
Kevin felt a brief sensation of fear before moving the flame away, and recognizing that all eyes were upon him, he smiled uneasily and slowly moved the torch towards Gilbert’s face. His own face became a mask of deadly seriousness.
“I could burn out your eyeball right now.” He held the flame a few inches away and felt the excitement begin to build again as the reflection of the flame filled Gilbert’s retina and the heat began to cause the eye to water. Gilbert only smiled back devilishly.
“You’ve taken all my fear away. It doesn’t matter what you do. You’ll get no more reaction out of me. I can see what it is that drives you.”
Kevin kept the blowtorch hovering over Gilbert’s face for a few seconds before moving it away and flicking it off. He looked back in contempt. “We’ll see about that. You’re not going anywhere soon.”
Gilbert could feel the pulsing in his brain as visions of torture and murder flashed through his head. It had taken everything he had to keep himself under control and he felt ready to explode and rip apart anyone he could get his hands on. It was like he was a different creature all together.
The sexual feelings that had dominated his existence for so long were gone, replaced by feelings of rage and hatred that coursed through his veins like bolts of electricity. He felt radioactive and alive, and all feelings of fear or uncertainty had morphed into feelings of power and dominance. As the boy’s left the room, he let go with a horrific shriek of madness and twisted joy that echoed throughout the hotel lobby.
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