by Angel Lawson
“And a touch paranoid. It’s understandable under the circumstances.” He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. He studies the bruises on my face and he’s already commented that I’m walking with a limp. “You took quite the beating.”
“Yeah, the Hybrids weren’t gentle. I have no idea how I got out of there alive.”
Paul picks up the salt shaker and taps it on the table. “Tell me about Alex.”
“Chloe took her. I don’t think she killed her, not yet. She seems to have some ulterior motive with her. She certainly doesn’t want to give her the EVI-2.”
“No, not now that she knows the dual vaccinations result in a bad-ass super soldier like me.”
I roll my eyes. “Then what?”
“To torture her? To use as bait? Or even leverage?”
“Any idea what happened to Cole?” I ask. “Things must have gotten pretty bad when she realized he wasn’t a Hybrid under her control.”
Paul eyes shift to the side and he rolls the shaker across the table, spilling salt. He says, “We’ll figure out a way to get Alex out. Erwin has been plotting a course of action since we got here.”
“Where is her new headquarters?”
“Asbury College in Lexington. It’s a small campus. Lots of land. Easily defensible with the number of soldiers she has.”
“When do you think you’ll attack?”
“Soon,” he replies, but I hear the hesitation in his voice, fully, and I’m sure it’s not the first time since we’ve been talking. I catch his dark eyes and he attempts to move from the table. I grab his arm, sloshing the stew to the table and pin him to his spot. His bicep bulges, fighting against me.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask, ignoring the searing pain at the back of my head.
He pulls back but I hold tight, and we’re at a standoff even though I’m not sure how much longer I can do it. Paul flicks his eyes between my face and our hands and he says, “There are wheels in motion. We’re not going to let her get away this time, but that also means we aren’t rushing. We have Chloe exactly where we want her—she knows we’re here but she doesn’t know how big we are, and what our assets look like. That’s the real reason she took Alex. She’s desperate.”
I release my grip. “Then let’s go get her and the others.”
“I told you,” he says slowly. “The wheels are in motion. Everything is clicking into place and although it may not happen right away, it’s going to happen. Our way, risking as few of our men as possible. We’re going to end this once and for all.”
I lean back in my seat and run my hands through my hair. “What if she dies before we get there?”
“Tell me, Wyatt, do you think Alex would rather us save her before we’re ready or would she want us to destroy Chloe and the Hybrids? We’re only going to get one shot. Once we storm the gates, the final battle of the Hybrid-Human-Mutt war will begin.”
“How long?”
“It may be a few weeks. Or months.”
“Months?” I barely contain my rage. “Do you know what they could do to her? To all of them before then?”
“It’s a risk we’re willing to take.”
It’s a risk the Mutts are willing to take. But I’m still human and so are Jude and Green. But I’m aware that three recently injured men do not make an army, particularly up against genetically-modified super soldiers. “Tell me why? What does Erwin have that he’s so sure he can beat Chloe?”
He gives me a funny look, eyes narrowed in semi-amusement. “How do you think you survived that attack the other night?”
I thought it was a fluke or at best dumb luck. I suspected I had an angel or maybe even the devil sitting on my shoulder, unwilling to let me escape this hell in exchange for one last shot at taking the bitch down.
The look on Paul’s face tells me it wasn’t luck at all.
“How?” I ask, accepting the odds of me, Green, and Jude all surviving was impossible.
“We’ve infiltrated her army.”
Chapter Twelve
I sleep like the dead, literally crashing onto the twin bed, asleep before I can fully process the information Paul gave me. I wake with a knife still clutched I my hand—my brain may not be ready to accept that I’m safe behind walls, but my body had endured enough.
No one comes to get me and the silence of the apartment makes me nervous. Not the dreaded apocalypse quiet Alex refers to, but the calm of not having to be anywhere. No fights, no sharing beds, no emergency busting down the door. From my bed I see the food Paul or someone left in the small kitchen. A small loaf of bread and thick butter with a hint of honey. A small container holds boiled eggs and within minutes of getting up I eat everything, making my stomach ache. I haven’t had anything unprocessed in weeks.
On the counter I find small strips of paper that look like hand-printed tickets. I pick one up, it’s purple and in thick handwriting says “Voucher.” There’s one for food, another for clothing, and another for miscellaneous to be used at one of the shops we passed the night before on Main Street. I discover another sheet tacked to the back of the apartment door with a list of services and facilities in the town. Library, school information, church services. It all seems like a little much, but that’s probably just my skepticism. It’s nice here, and now that I’ve arrived, it’ll most likely be blown to hell.
Voices sound in the street and I grab my gun off the table and move quickly to the window. Down below, are people walking and laughing. Two more are across the street and one of the shop keepers sweeps the sidewalk. I spot one of Paul’s resistance Mutts patrolling near the theater. I press my forehead against the window and feel strangling anxiety tighten across my body and my palms sweat.
Behind these walls I’m safer than I’ve been in months, but for some reason I feel nothing but trapped.
*
“You’re most likely suffering from PTSD,” Dr. Ramsey says. We’re in his laboratory office in the bunker-like area under city hall. Avi apparently had the foresight to prepare such a facility despite his reservations about Jane’s work. Or possibly because of his reservations. In any case, Dr. Ramsey has made himself at home.
I’d come to tell him what I knew about Alex and Jane. He has a small report on his desk, apparently from one of the spies in Chloe’s army, but the details are vague other than, they’re alive. Paul had explained further, that like Cole, it’s possible to hide a Mutt inside the Hybrid army and Erwin had done just that. I don’t know how many or in what capacity but it seems to be working so far. Somehow I ended up telling Dr. Ramsey about the panic attacks I’d been experiencing since arriving in Catlettsburg.
I shake my head at his PTSD comment. Not because it isn’t possible but I say, “I don’t think I’m necessarily past the trauma stage of the apocalypse.”
He sighs and rubs his gray beard. “No, I’m not sure we ever will be but once we settle into a new environment, usually a safer one, that’s when the anxiety occurs. Your body and mind just don’t know how to rest.”
I consider that he may be right but I’m not sure how that’s going to work when we still have a major battle ahead. I say as much.
“The General needs time to prepare his attack on the Hybrids. You should take the opportunity to rest and repair your body. You’re going to need to be at your best.”
I laugh. “Do you think they even need me? They’ve got an entire army of super soldiers and a bunch of civilians wanting to join in.”
“True,” he agrees. “You’re not a match to some of their more enhanced qualities but trust me, son, you’re going to play a role in this fight.”
“You think?”
“I know. Someone is going to have to go in there and get my daughters. You’re one of the few I trust can do it.” I nod, understanding more about my role in this situation. I’m not used to not being in charge. “They may not make it out, and if they do, they may not make it out in one piece—at least mentally. I’ve seen what Chloe can do. The reports we’r
e getting back, particularly on her treatment of her brother, are disturbing. Alexandra is going to need you strong and healthy.”
The idea of Alex being tortured by Chloe not only makes me rage with anger, it makes me physically ill.
“I don’t understand what’s happening to me. It’s not like I haven’t had friends in battle before. Friends captured and even killed. Some missing that never returned.” I look up him, guilty for expressing this aloud. “But it’s part of my job. It always has been. I’ve been desensitized to situations like this for a long time before the Crisis.”
Dr. Ramsey leans over his desk, notes pressed under his elbows. I can see that Alex has her father’s nose and the same worry lines by her eyes. “What’s happening to you is that back then you had nothing to lose. You had a mission and a fight and you did it, regardless of the casualties. That changed with Alexandra.”
My heart thrums and my palms sweat again and this is not a conversation I want to have with her father. Or with anyone else. I’m not one to discuss feelings.
“You care for my daughter,” Dr. Ramsey continues, “and it changes the game. It’s not just a mission—it’s personal.”
“How do you know this?” I ask.
“Because I’ve been in love before, Wyatt, and that’s what it feels like, although in your case, magnified by one million due to the circumstances.”
I stare at the man across from me. The father of the woman I love. Yeah, love. He said it and I can accept it, but that doesn’t mean I have any freaking clue how to proceed. I’m in uncharted territory here—the end of the world, in love with a woman who has been captured by the enemy. There’s only one thing I can do.
Suck it up and get ready.
Chapter Thirteen
Four Months Later
“Who taught you how to run? An Eater? Because that’s what you look like! A fumbling, brain-dead, skin falling off, piece of crap! Get those knees up! Straighten your back! Run! Run! Run!”
I glance at Jude, who seems to be having way too much fun training the recruits. He grins, knowing he’s being a dick, but I’m also the one that taught him how to do it so there’s nothing I can do but shrug. Boot camp sucks, but it will turn these men and women into soldiers and that’s what I’m here to do. That’s how we’ll get Alexandra back.
Days after arriving, Erwin asked me personally to lead the recruits and train the civilians for the upcoming battle. From my talk with Dr. Ramsey I knew I needed to keep busy and focused but also stay away from any actual fights outside the walls. It was a good fit and I brought Jude and Green in to assist since they both had training under Jane’s regime as Fighters.
We worked the recruits hard, pushing them through the humid summer days. At night as they slept, we met in the gym Jackson and Green used to train Alex and Walker in ju-jitsu and blew off our own steam, staying fit and fighting in the ring. Paul found out about our sessions and joined in, bringing some of the Mutts with him. Individually, the hybrid-Hybrids are okay to be around. They communicate and don’t have that blank-eyed stare the regular Hybrids do, but as a group they’re a little intimidating, and the gang-style attitude and clothing they’ve adopted is a little unnerving.
“You think they’re ready?” Green asks as we watch the recruits work their way through an elaborate obstacle course. We set it up in the old soccer field behind the church. We’re observing from a small balcony near the sanctuary.
“I think they look better than they did three weeks ago,” I reply.
“I wonder how many will take the EVI-2?”
I shake my head. “Most.”
“Yeah, I guess it makes sense to have some extra juice running through you.” Green gives me a look and runs his hands over his bright red hair, now cut close to his scalp. “Would you ever do it?”
“Take the EVI-2?” I don’t hesitate. “No.”
He fidgets with the button on his sleeve and he chews on something unspoken. Finally, I ask, “You want to take it?”
“I’m going to. I already talked to Erwin about it.”
“You’re serious.” I can’t deny I’m stunned. I didn’t see this coming.
Jude explodes into a string of curses across the field and one of the recruits falls to their hands and knees and begins a series of push-ups.
“Yeah, I’m serious,” Green says. “Once the Crisis spread and my family fell apart and my little town got overrun with the infected, I decided I would do whatever I had to in order to stop it. It’s how I ended up at the evacuation center and later with Jane. Despite Jane’s motives, my intention all along has been to eradicate the world from monsters. That includes Eaters and the Hybrids.”
“You can’t come back, you know. Paul and Cole aren’t the same as they were before the inoculation.”
“I know, and that’s okay. I’m probably going to die out there anyway, Wyatt. This just gives me a chance of fixing some shit before I do. I promised the Director—Jane—that I would keep her safe. I’m going to fulfill that promise.”
I lean over the railing and look out at the field. Jude helps the solider off the ground and the recruits all run toward the parking lot—training over for the day. “I won’t judge you for your decision. I can only wish you luck.” I offer him my hand and he shakes it. “Promises are hard to keep in this day and age, remember that.”
“They may be hard to keep,” he replies, “but they’re also pretty much all we have left.”
I can’t argue that. I’ve got my own to keep but I’m not going to turn into a filthy animal to make it happen. No, I got into this fight as a human and I’ll go out the same way.
The door behind us swings open and Paul emerges, eyes wide. “Erwin needs to see you—all of us.”
“What’s going on?” I ask, already walking away from the rail.
“It’s time,” he says. “We’re going to get Alex. Tomorrow.”
Part Three
Alexandra
Asbury College
(Present Day)
Chapter Fourteen
Wyatt stares at me from the doorway, his eyes hard and unyielding, although they do take in every inch of my body. I am seconds—heartbeats—from falling apart. My heart is in my throat and I blink back tears because I refuse to give Chloe a peek into my emotions. Not these. These feelings belong to me—and him.
“You’re alive.”
We both shift our gaze to the corner of the room. Cole assesses my new sparring partner. Well, new is relative. Wyatt trained me from the start.
Wyatt gives Cole a slight, weird nod. He doesn’t react to Cole’s terrible condition. “We all are, it seems.”
“Although I’m aware reunions of this sort are a bit of a novelty during times like this, you haven’t been brought together to socialize,” Chloe’s voice comes over the intercom, hollow and loud. “We caught this little solider lurking around the perimeter the other day. Saved him for just the right moment.”
“Get to the point!” Wyatt roars. I get the feeling he’s had to listen to her yammering on for days. That alone is enough to put a person on edge.
“The point is, I gave Alex an order. Kill my traitor brother and I spare her life. So far, she’s refused to cooperate.”
“So what?” I ask, voice shaking with rage. “You want me to kill Wyatt instead? You know I won’t do it. I’m not your puppet.”
“I don’t care who dies today—take care of it yourself or my Hybrids will do it for me.”
The intercom snaps off and I look at the two men. “I’ve just come out of the infirmary. Even if I wanted to kill you both, I don’t have the strength or energy.”
“What happened?” Wyatt asks. He’s acting aloof and quiet—a show for whoever is behind that window. All I want is to wrap my arms around him but weakness isn’t allowed in this room.
“Cole beat the crap out of me.” I hold up my hands. “It’s no big. It’s just sort of what we’ve been doing for the last six months. Beating the snot out of each other is sort of our
thing.”
Cole looks up at me and smiles and I can’t help but grin back. God, things are twisted between us. Add in a dash of back-from-the-dead Wyatt and everything just got crazier.
Cole’s chains slide and clink against the floor as he struggles to his feet. He looks rough, but that’s nothing new. Wyatt’s arrival has put a new glint in his dark eyes. Something I can’t quite place. The three of us stand in a triangle in the middle of the room.
“Add a campfire and it’s like the day we met,” Wyatt says.
I snort. “We’d need a few Eaters on our tail.”
“I’m sure my sister can arrange that.”
There’s a brief lull, a hesitation where we look one another in the eye. Three old friends who’ve loved, lost, and fought our way to this very day—this very moment. I feel an anticipation, something charged flowing between us, but when I hear the chains slither to the ground, coiling like a metal snake, and see Cole lunging at Wyatt, who is already crouched defensively, I’m stunned.
“How?” I ask, looking at the chains. How long had he been unbound? Who released him? Cole’s head snaps back from a hard punch to the jaw from Wyatt. And I recoil involuntarily.
I don’t know where Wyatt has been all these months but he’s strong and agile. I recognize some moves, quick legwork and solid punches that remind me of Jackson’s handiwork, creating an even more lethal fighter. A piece of the puzzle clicks together.
Cole picks up the chains and swings them menacingly.
The problem becomes clear as I watch the steel chains flash between them. I don’t want either to lose—or either to win. I need them both alive to get out of here. It’s the only way we can get away from Chloe.
“Stop!” I scream, rushing between them. Wyatt’s fist comes inches from my face as he course corrects, making him vulnerable to a kick in the thigh from Cole. I spin and shove Cole backwards but his eyes light up with glee and he wraps the chain around my waist. There’s a fight around me, punches are thrown, and I try to release myself from the twisted metal.