The Becoming: Redemption (The Becoming Series Book 5)

by Jessica Meigs

  Remy sighed and set the vodka bottle on the floor by her feet. She twisted in her seat, shifting to sit closer to him, so close that her shoulder rested against his. She looked at him with wide eyes shadowed in the near total darkness of the balcony. “I’m scared,” she said. “Not just of what you’d think. I’m scared about what’s going on with me physically, but honestly? I’m absolutely fucking terrified of what’s going on in my head, at least in regards to you.”

  Dominic’s heart leaped in his chest, and hope swelled. “Why are you scared of me?”

  Remy tucked a leg underneath her so she could face him. “Do you remember when we left Woodside, before we found Sadie and Jude?” He nodded. “Do you remember what you said to me in the woods, that you wanted to kiss me but you couldn’t?”

  “Yeah, I remember that,” Dominic said. He set the flashlight on the floor, the beam aiming toward the ceiling above them so it bounced off and lit the area with a faint glow.

  “Were you serious, or were you just saying that to make me feel better at the time?”

  Dominic smiled and caught a stray lock of her hair that had fallen out from behind her ear. “I don’t say things that I don’t mean,” he said, “especially when it comes to stuff like that.”

  She pressed her lips together and looked away from him, her eyes shiny. “Do you, you know, still feel like that? Because I wouldn’t mind…if it was safe.”

  Dominic traced his fingers along her jawline and leaned closer to her. “I’m willing to risk it if you are,” he murmured, remembering how Derek had told Ethan that while he was infected, he wasn’t infectious. He was banking on Remy being the same way. He tugged her closer and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

  The kiss was everything he’d hoped it would be since the moment it had occurred to him that kissing her was something he wanted to do. She let out the faintest of whimpers and returned the kiss, practically crawling over the armrest to get closer to him. He looped an arm around her waist and dragged her into his lap, holding her close, cupping her face in his hands, and kissed her again and again. When they pulled back from each other, they were breathless, and her hair was disheveled from where he’d been running his hands through it.

  “That was… awesome,” Remy said with a smile, staring down at him.

  “More than fucking awesome,” Dominic replied. He dropped another kiss on her lips, this one light and chaste, and her smile widened. He rested his forehead against hers, and her eyes slid closed as she sighed. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “This scares the hell out of me,” she admitted. “After Ethan…” She shook her head.

  Dominic smoothed his hand against her hair again. “What exactly happened in that hotel with Ethan?” he asked. “I’ve gathered a little, but you never told me the full story.”

  Remy was silent for a long moment, staring at the wall behind him, before she answered. “He tried to kill me. He saved my life, and then he tried to kill me.” She blew out a breath. “Geez, I’m not making any sense, am I?”

  “Enough sense that, considering what I’ve heard from others, I can gather what happened,” Dominic said. He brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her again, sweetly, and she returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm. Before they could consider taking it any further, a yelp of excitement sounded from the ground floor, and Cade’s voice rose in a joyous shout.

  “I found it! I think I found it!” she said, her voice echoing off the ceiling above. Dominic sat up straighter and looked past Remy, who was twisting around to follow his gaze toward the stage below. Cade held up a page torn from a binder that was open on her lap with a triumphant grin on her face. “I think I know where they might have taken Brandt!”

  “Might have,” Remy muttered, and Dominic squeezed her hand.

  “It’s better than nothing,” he told her. “Come on, let’s go check out what she’s found.”

  Remy slid off his lap, and he immediately regretted the lack of her weight on him. She leaned down to pick up the vodka bottle and held her free hand out to him. “Shall we?” she asked, and he slipped his hand into hers, pushing himself to his feet. When they walked past the bar, she set the bottle on it and walked with him to the stairs. “Can I make a confession?” she asked as they started down the first few steps.

  “Of course,” Dominic replied, a feeling of nervousness stirring in his stomach.

  “You make this whole trip a hell of a lot more tolerable,” Remy said. A warm smile spread across her face, and Dominic returned it. He caught her around the waist and backed her up against the wall, pressing another kiss to her mouth as she laughed softly against his lips.

  “Only tolerable?” he asked.

  “Yeah, only tolerable,” she said with another laugh.

  “If we had more time, I’d show you exactly why I’m more than just ‘tolerable,’” Dominic murmured in her ear, and he let go of her and tugged at her hand. “We don’t have enough time, so maybe later.”

  Remy started down the stairs, her hips swishing. Dominic had to force his eyes away as they stepped into the general admission area again. Cade had moved to the edge of the stage and sat on it, her legs hanging off.

  “What you got, Cade?” Dominic called when he got to within earshot of her.

  “I think I know where they took Brandt,” Cade said, waving the paper again. “There’s an evacuation plan here for the military personnel that were here.” When he reached her, she passed him the paper, and he started to read over it.

  “Eden, North Carolina?” he read out loud. The name tickled his brain, and he tried to dredge up why it sounded so familiar.

  “Does that mean something to you?” Cade asked.

  “It might,” Dominic said. “I’m not sure. It’s ringing some bells, but I’m not coming up with anything. It will hit me eventually.”

  “As soon as it does, I want to know what you know,” Cade said. She slid off the edge of the stage, her boots thudding as she landed on the hardwood floor below. “In the meantime, we now know where we’re going, at least to start with. Let’s get some rest, because as soon as the sun comes up, I want to get on the road to Eden.”

  Chapter 28

  The rumble of the diesel engine of the truck Kimberly and her companions had commandeered was loud enough that she was worried it would attract unwanted attention. Ethan seemed unconcerned; he was to her left, his head resting against the passenger window, asleep. Chris drove the truck at a glacial pace, swerving around debris in the street, muttering swears under his breath, his knuckles white as he hung onto the steering wheel. He looked tired, and Kimberly could sympathize. She had a burning need to crawl into a soft bed somewhere and pass out for at least twelve hours.

  That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, though, not if the backpack of research and samples had anything to say about it. She couldn’t risk wasting time with sleep and increasing the chance of the samples going bad before they found the right hands to put them into. She bit back a yawn and rubbed at her face as she tried to stay awake.

  “Sleepy?” Chris asked, and Kimberly glanced at him. He still had his eyes locked onto the view beyond the windshield.

  “You have no idea,” she said. “This trip hasn’t been easy so far. Not that I expected it to be.”

  Chris nodded and slowed as they approached a particularly busted-up stretch of road. He eased the truck over the crumbled asphalt, the chunks of rock and pavement crunching under the truck’s tires. He waited until the truck finished crossing the worst of it before he asked, “Do you actually have a cure?”

  “It’s not a cure,” Kimberly said. “It’s more of a…a vaccine.”

  “How does it work?”

  “As far as I gather, anyone who is injected with it would be infected with a stronger, non-contagious version of the virus,” Kimberly said, trying to figure out a way to explain what she and Derek had figured out. “So if, say, you’ve been injected with the vaccine and then later get bitten by someone who’
s infected, the vaccine will eliminate the newer, weaker version of the virus that was just introduced into your system.”

  “Sounds… fascinating,” Chris said. “I don’t know much about that sort of thing. How do you know it works?”

  “Because they tested it on me,” Ethan spoke up. His voice sounded tired and hollow, and he didn’t lift his head from the window as he spoke. Kimberly tensed, waiting for Chris to go off the handle over the revelation, but surprisingly, he didn’t.

  “I was infected,” Ethan went on, “and when Kimberly and Derek gave me their vaccine, it killed off the virus that was trying to make me attack people. I don’t have that urge anymore.”

  “You’re only one person,” Chris pointed out. “That’s not much of an indicator of its effectiveness. Maybe you got lucky.”

  “Maybe,” Kimberly admitted. “There was someone else. I haven’t been able to monitor her. She’s with the other doctor.”

  “What about side effects?” Chris asked.

  “We don’t know,” Kimberly answered. “We haven’t had the opportunity to study that yet, either. We’re hoping the researchers we find can help us. Considering the alternative, I think this is infinitely preferable in these circumstances.”

  “Some people would argue that death is preferable to either of those options,” Chris replied.

  “True, but I think given the option, most people would choose life,” Kimberly said. “Even if it’s life that’s a little different than what they’re used to.”

  “Stop the truck,” Ethan said.

  “Are you okay?” Kimberly asked, turning her gaze from Chris to Ethan.

  “I said stop the truck,” Ethan repeated, more emphatically this time. Chris pressed hard on the brakes, and the truck ground to a halt. The engine idled loudly on the otherwise silent road, the sound echoing off the trees lining the road. Ethan threw open the passenger door and tumbled out to his feet. He’d barely landed before he’d started for the trees, his stride purposeful.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Chris asked as the man disappeared into the shadow of the trees.

  “I have no idea,” Kimberly said. She unfastened her lap belt and scooted along the bench seat, then clambered out of the truck with every intention of following Ethan. Not knowing what to expect, she slid her machete out of its sheath and said to Chris, “Stay with the truck, okay?” She started after Ethan.

  “Ethan?” she called. She stopped at the edge of the road where the grass was overgrown and squinted into the shadows, trying to locate her friend. When she couldn’t find him immediately, she ventured a few steps into the grass, which soaked her pants legs and socks completely through. She trudged onward, slogging through the knee-high grass until she was halfway between the edge of the roadway and the tree line. “Ethan!”

  “I’m fine, I’m fine,” Ethan said from the trees. “Keep your voice down.”

  Kimberly obediently lowered her voice. “Do you mind telling me why you made Chris stop the truck and bolted?” she asked. “Did you get sick or something?”

  “Or something,” Ethan replied, and his voice sounded suspicious enough that Kimberly started down the embankment again. She nearly slipped on the slick grass twice but caught herself both times, and when she reached the trees, she saw Ethan’s silhouette in the shadows. “Stop right there,” he said as she started to cross the tree line, and something in his tone made her freeze in mid-step.

  “What’s wrong?” Kimberly asked, the medical professional in her welling up and demanding answers.

  “You know those side effects we were just discussing?” Ethan asked, and Kimberly’s heart skipped a beat. Despite his warning to stay right where she was, she ducked into the shadow of the trees to find him. He was sitting on the ground against a tree, his head bowed, and when he spoke, his voice was a mixture of caution and fear. “I had to get out of that truck,” he said. “I just… I couldn’t be in it anymore. I needed a break. I… I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kimberly asked. “I know you’d never hurt me. What makes you think you would?”

  “It’s still there, Kim,” Ethan said. “Giving me the vaccine, it didn’t get rid of it completely. I guess once you’re like that, there’s a part of you that stays that way.”

  Kimberly knelt in front of him in the soft undergrowth and touched his leg to get him to look at her. “Ethan, whatever is going on, I can help you with this, okay? Talk to me.”

  “I almost took a bite out of you, okay?” Ethan said. He had a frightened look in his eyes. “All that talk about the infected and the vaccine and shit stirred something up in me, and I just… I felt like I was about to go on the attack. I had to get out of there.”

  Kimberly caught his hand in her grasp and squeezed it. When he tried to pull it away, she tightened her grip. “Do you feel like you’re about to turn?” she asked, looking at him with a clinical, detached eye. She was largely unsuccessful. She’d simply gotten too close to him to look at him in a doctor-patient manner. “Does anything feel off?”

  “More so than usual?” Ethan asked. “No. It comes and goes. It’s like… urges.” He looked past her, back toward the road. “Maybe I don’t need to go with you if it’s going to be like this.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Kimberly said. She let go of his hand and grabbed his face in both hands, forcing him to look at her. “You are not staying behind. You’re going with me. If you think I’m going to waltz off with some random guy I barely know and not have you at my back, then I’m going to have to wonder what drugs you’ve been taking when I haven’t been looking.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “What the hell, Eth?” Kimberly said. She pushed to her feet, shaking her head as she paced away from him. “Of course I’m sure! If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have said it!”

  Ethan stood, dusting his pants off and walking toward her. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “We’re all entitled to a momentary breakdown on occasion, right? It’s been a couple of years since I’ve had one, so I figure I’m overdue.”

  “Well, can you save the next one for later, like, maybe after we get this mission over and done with?” Kimberly asked. When he nodded, she added, “If you do have more… issues with side effects, I need you to tell me first thing instead of running off on me, okay?”

  “Fine, I will,” Ethan said. He ran his hand through his hair, shoving it back from his forehead, and stepped closer to her. Kimberly’s heart sped up as he moved nearer to her, close enough that she could conceivably touch him by barely lifting her arm. He brushed his hand along her forearm, moving even closer to her. “I’m sorry if I scared you,” he said, and Kimberly’s heart leaped when he leaned toward her. She tilted her head back to meet the kiss he was about to place on her lips.

  “Hey, guys?” Chris called from the road, and Ethan pulled back, much to Kimberly’s disappointment. “We’ve got a problem up here!”

  “Better be a good one, or I’m going to kick some serious ass,” Ethan grumbled. He started back toward the road, and she followed, unable to help the disappointment that stirred in her over their interrupted moment. It had been too long since that intense, hungry kiss they’d shared on the main house’s porch in Woodside, a gesture that she was still feeling uncertain over. She stumbled through the underbrush to the tall grass on the embankment and scrambled up the slope behind Ethan, accepting his hand when he reached back to help her up.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “That,” Chris said, pointing down the road in the direction they’d been originally heading. Kimberly and Ethan looked, and where it’d been leaping in excitement before, Kimberly’s heart now felt like it stuttered to a stop.

  Her eyes took in the sight of the road before them. “Oh my God. What is that?”

  “That would be the U.S. military,” Chris said.

  Humvees had gathered in the road one hundred yards ahead of them, two of them parked side by side to block the road
, several more Humvees and a few canvas-covered cargo trucks beyond them, and around the vehicles were soldiers, swathed in BDUs and MOPP4 outfits, all with rifles pointed in their general direction.

  “Ethan?” Kimberly asked warily. She glanced at the man standing beside her with uncertainty, waiting to take her cue from his response.

  Ethan let out a slow breath and lifted his arms, putting his hands up above his head.

  Chapter 29

  Cade barely suppressed the excitement that stirred in her stomach over the prospect of getting on the road. She couldn’t believe she’d found it, the paper that was labeled, “Evacuation Plan A,” that detailed the military’s plans to take their personnel to Eden, North Carolina. It was clear instructions on how to get one step closer to finding her husband.

  She was scared of what she’d find when she located Brandt. For all she knew, the military had spent the past several days torturing him in an attempt to get information out of him. Considering he was probably the only person in the world that was immune to the Michaluk Virus, it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility that they’d figure that out—or he’d be forced to tell them—and they’d want to know how and why he wasn’t affected. The thought of him being forced to talk, of what they might have done to him already, made her heart hurt, and she struggled to shove those thoughts aside and think positively.

  Before they could leave, they needed a means of transportation, since they’d been forced to abandon their vehicles on the way into Atlanta. That was why they were outside in the Tabernacle’s parking lot, most of them standing guard while Remy and Dominic went from vehicle to vehicle, searching for one that had diesel fuel in it and that they could easily get out of the lot. The rest of them kept an eye on everything in the vicinity in case something crawled out of the shadows to attack any of them.