Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1)

by Trisha Leazier

  I could feel the van stop and Aaron threw open the doors ready to be off, he seemed to need some space. I stood up and realized too late how close Drew was standing to me. His hand came around my waist to keep me from falling. I was blushing as my eyes darted away from him and instantly found Diamond’s. I could see her take in what was happening. Her jaw clenched as her attention turned to the dark-haired guy standing next to her.

  “Who’s the kid?” Aaron asked, his tone implying something.

  “My younger brother, Denver.” Drew answered as he released me and gave my hand a quick squeeze.

  “Oh, here I was thinking maybe she found someone else.” Aaron hissed at him, his vice low.

  Diamond’s eyes followed me as Drew helped me down from the van like she was sizing me up. I followed Sawyer back to the dormitory since we did still have to stay there for now. Drew looked like he wanted to come and talk to me more but Diamond had a grip on his arm and was trying to get his attention.

  “What was that about?” Sawyer finally asked me.

  “I don’t really know.” I told her and she grabbed my hand nodding for Micah to go on ahead.

  “Do you like him?” she asked me.

  “I do, he’s hot and that kiss was amazing, for a moment there everything else was gone.” I told her.

  “Maybe he’s serious; if he’s anything like Sam, then you know he’s a good guy.” Sawyer said. I knew she was trying to cheer me, and I hoped she was right.

  I wondered if Drew was really going to break up with Diamond. Or if he was just trying to make himself sound like a better person than he was.

  The dormitory looked different when we walked into it. Looked like everyone who had stayed here had been hard at work, making it look less like a room full of beds. They had arranged the beds into a closer arrangement. They had also gotten hold of a TV, a DVD player, and a whole pile of DVD’s. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by everyone in a big group hug.

  “Welcome back.” Evan was the first one to say followed by a chorus of echoes saying the same thing.

  “Hey.” Micah was the only one to respond.

  “Did you run into any Red Eyes?” Axel wanted to know.

  “Yeah we did.” Micah responded and they went off so Micah could tell him all about what had happened.

  “You guys want to relax and watch a movie with us?” Sydney asked as she pointed to the TV and the pile of DVD’s. Sawyer went over to check out what our options were. When she started laughing I had to go and see what she found so funny.

  “What’s up?” I asked her and she held up a box. It was The Walking Dead. I started laughing.

  “We have to watch this one.” She said as Sydney came over to see if we had picked anything. Sawyer held up the box and Sydney read it and looked at us.

  “Really?” she asked.

  “We can call it research.” Sawyer said as she laughed.

  “Research?” Aaron asked as he came over, Sydney handed him the box and he started to laugh, “Let’s do it.”

  Sydney sighed but she got the TV on and started playing the first DVD. Everyone gathered around and seemed like they were excited about our choice. There was a lot of laughing and joking around as Drew walked in. He watched the screen for a while.

  “You guys picked this to watch? With everything that’s happened and you have gone through?” He asked.

  “Yes, we call it research.” Sawyer responded as Aaron glared at Drew.

  “Where did you find a TV and DVDs?” I asked as I looked through the pile. There was The Princess Bride, The Lost Boys, Arrow, Doctor Who, as well as all the marvel movies.

  “One of the nurses brought them in.” Axel answered. A throat being cleared had us turning to look at Drew.

  “Well, I came to see if you guys want dinner delivered here, or if you want to join us in the dining room.” Drew said as he watched the show ignoring Aaron.

  “Delivered.” Sydney decided for all of us with no argument from anyone.

  “Okay, I’ll be back with food.” Drew said. He smiled at me as he left the room to go and get food for us.

  We were expecting Drew when Diamond walked in. She came right up to me and waited till I acknowledged her.

  “I want to talk to you.” She said.

  “Okay,” I told her and waited for her to talk.

  “Can we go in the hall or something?” she asked when I didn’t move.

  “Okay.” I said as I stood up and followed her into the hallway. Once we were there she just looked at me for a minute.

  “Why did you have to go after my boyfriend?” she asked me.

  “I didn’t.” I told her.

  “Drew comes back from a supply run with you. Next thing I know he’s telling me he thinks we should just be friends and I should move my stuff back to my own room.” Diamond said.

  “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but it is his choice and I had nothing to do with it.” I told her and turned to return to watching the show, but she grabbed my arm.

  “You haven’t won. I will find a way to win him back.” She told me and left. I was still standing in the hallway, a bit confused on what had just happened when Drew came with a huge cart of food. He smiled at me as I opened the door for him. I was surprised when he didn’t leave, but parked the cart and joined us as we continued to watch The Walking Dead. He sat down next to me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Aaron was the first one to go and investigate what food was on the cart. As soon as he lifted the coverings the scent of barbecued chicken drifted over to us. My mouth started to water and I went to grab a plate with Drew following me.

  The cart was set up with an array of barbecued chicken. There was also grilled asparagus with butter, grilled tomatoes, mashed potatoes, and Texas toast. Drew followed me all the way down the line as we both filled our plates up.

  He grabbed two bottles of water and followed me back to where we were sitting. Aaron was still glaring at Drew as he sat next to me and handed me one of the bottles he had grabbed. Sawyer winked at me while everyone just seemed curious.

  “All the food is farmed here.” Drew said, getting my attention as I took a bite of the chicken.

  “That’s cool and it makes keeping everyone fed a bit easier.” I said as soon as I swallowed.

  “Definitely, plus it keeps people busy. Gives everyone jobs to do and helps keep their minds off what’s going on beyond the dome. I’ll have to show you the farms.” Drew responded.

  “Diamond came to see me.” I told him as the door opened and Denver walked in.

  “What did she have to say?” Drew asked, sounding like he was walking on eggshells. Drew nodded to his brother as Denver went and sat next to Sam. I saw that Denver was looking at Daisy; he looked away when Hunter sat down next to her.

  “Told me that you two broke up and that she was going to find a way to win you back.” I told him as I tried the asparagus.

  “And that would be because last time we broke up that’s what happened. She kept coming around and she eventually convinced me that she had changed and we should try again.” Drew responded.

  “So she thinks if she just repeats what she did before, you’ll want her back and go crawling to her?” I asked. A little amused that she hadn’t thought of something else.

  “Yeah but she never changes. She’s your typical spoiled rich bitch who was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth.” Drew said with venom in his voice.

  “Aren’t you rich?” I asked him.

  “Yes I am, but it was important to my parents to raise us to work for what we had. We had money but I still had to get a job to buy my first car.” Drew answered.

  “Where are your parents?” I asked.

  “They died in a car accident a couple of years ago; they got hit head-on by a guy who got on the freeway going the wrong way.” Drew responded.

  “I’m sorry.” I told him, “I don’t know if my parents are alive or dead right now.”

  �
�We’ll find a way to find out what happened to them.” Drew told me and put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a half-hug.

  “So where did the idea for Paradis Roulette come from?” I asked him, wanting to talk about anything but my parents.

  “I did a bunch of research for a bio dome project in school, so much so that my dad thought it would be a great idea for a resort. So we bought this place and built it from the ground up using my project as our model.” He answered, sounding very proud.

  “So what’s so special about this place?” I asked him.

  “Well the bio dome part means we get to schedule different weather and events for those seasons. Like right now we have summer weather but soon we will have monsoons.” Drew answered. “We keep the farms in a separate little dome, like the hospital is. It helps keep the animals happy and the crops thriving.”

  “Sounds like it would cost a lot just to keep up with. Did you pay for everything by the room rates being high?” I asked.

  “No we decided to go with the solar powering to keep the room rates down to the same as any other resort.” Drew answered. “Lucky we decided that solar power was the right way to go. Now it means we have power without having to worry about generators. Or fuel to keep everything running.”

  “True.” I agreed with him.

  “So, now you know a little bit more about me, how about you tell me more about you?” Drew said. “How’d you grow up?”

  “Never really paid attention to that, both my parents worked. They always made sure my sister and I had everything we could want. My sister was fifteen years older than me; my parents had her while they were still in high school. I was another surprise.” I told him.

  “Your sister died?” he asked me

  “Yeah she did. She had a heart transplant and went crazed, Sam saved Sawyer and me. He had to kill her.” I answered, “How were you able to stay with Denver and keep this place?”

  “I was seventeen when my parents died, Denver was fourteen and I decided that I wanted to get emancipated and take care of him myself.” Drew answered.

  “That sounds hard.” I said.

  “Yeah Sam was granted guardianship over us but he supported my decision. He helped whenever things got tough.” Drew responded. “Denver was difficult and we had to find our groove together over the bumps.”

  “I don’t think I could have done it.” I said.

  “I almost called it quits a couple of times. Almost called social services to see if foster care would be better for him, but I couldn’t do it.” Drew said.

  “Why couldn’t you?” I asked, looking in his eyes.

  “He was all I had left besides Sam. Dad raised us to stick together and I couldn’t just send him away, I couldn’t give up on him.” Drew said as he watched Denver explaining something to Sam with a lot of hand gestures. Sam was smiling at him and paying close attention.

  “You’re a good brother.” I told him and earned a smile.

  “Why thank you.” He laughed and grabbed both our empty plates and brought them back to the cart.

  When he returned to his spot he automatically put his arm back over my shoulders. I decided not to fight it and just leaned into him. It felt good to be sitting with someone as hot as him and know he was interested. It was also hard not to laugh at the expression on Aaron’s face as he watched us. He had really stepped into that big brother role.

  “Are you giggling?” Drew whispered to me.

  “Yeah, look at Aaron’s face.” I told him and felt him fight back laughter.

  “I noticed you didn’t mention having a brother, so what is his deal?” Drew asked me.

  “I was friends with his baby sister, Emily, before the world went bat shit. We found Aaron with his brother Wayne, who shot Tone, then Sydney shot him, and he died.” I answered.

  “Oh?” He asked.

  “Not a real loss, his brother was a creep. He had two female Red Eyes all tied up so they couldn’t bite or attack. He was planning to rape them, because one had turned him down while she was alive.” I told him.

  “Wow.” Drew said.

  “Yeah, so with Wayne dead Aaron had no intention of hurting us and helped with Tone’s wound. We bonded over the loss of family and the fact that we had found a new one.”

  “You knew him through his sister, which makes sense. His brother sounds like he was a piece of work. I like that you guys are all so close, probably helped keep you all alive while you drove here.” Drew said.

  “Yeah for the most part we did lose a few people and gained some more as we went.” I responded, “The hardest loss was this six-year-old boy who got bit.”

  “What happened there?” He asked.

  “His sister Angela thought we were going to kill him and took off with him to save him. By the time we found them he had turned and he had killed her, there was so much blood.” I told him and he wiped away a tear I hadn’t realized was rolling down my cheek.

  “You saw them?” Drew asked, he sounded shocked.

  “Yeah, I went with Aaron to try and find them. We found an RV and when we opened the door there they were.” I told him, “It was one of the worst things I have ever seen.”

  “He was six? How did he get bit?” Drew questioned.

  “Yeah, we stopped by Ashurst Lake, and had lunch outside. He wandered away like kids do. We just didn’t make it to him in time. Sam and Aaron did everything they could think of to stop the infection.” I told him.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Although I’m not sorry that it all meant you ended up here.” Drew said as he kissed my head.

  “Can’t say I would complain about being here.” I agreed.

  “Hey Drew, you going to head back with me?” Denver asked as he stood up and stretched.

  “Yeah probably should.” Drew agreed, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Well you know where to find me.” I told him as he kissed my hand.

  Denver was saying something to Drew as they walked out the door together. Aaron came and sat by me. He didn’t say anything for a while, just sat there watching the TV. After a while, I noticed he was watching me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Do you really like him?” He asked me and looked like he was trying to read my expression.

  “Yes I do. I know I need to get to know him but we’re staying here. I think the fact that we are in a bio dome is going to make it hard to not run into him.” I said and Aaron shrugged.

  “I guess that’s true, but if he hurts you I will show him it was a mistake.” Aaron said as he patted my head and got up.

  “Okay, we all had a long day let’s get some sleep.” Sam called out so everyone in the room could hear him. There was a chorus of yawns and agreement as we all found a bed to crawl into.

  In the morning, the sunlight pouring into the window woke me. I lay in my bed for a while enjoying the way the light looked on the ceiling. Sitting up and looking around, I saw that Daisy was missing from her bed.

  I decided to see if I could find her, so I got up and threw on my new shoes and a hoodie that was lying near Aaron’s stuff. I headed out the door and was about to head to the nurses station when I heard Daisy yelling down the hall. I hurried and caught sight of her yelling at a nurse.

  “Daisy, hey what’s up?” I asked as I grabbed her arm.

  “He won’t let me go get my shoe.” Daisy said and she was practically in tears.

  “We can wait, it’ll be fine, and it’s just on the bus.” I told her, “Let’s go back to the room and we can call Drew.” Daisy wasn’t moving and before I could say anything else to her Diamond walked up looking mad.

  “You really think you can win this?” She snapped at me.

  “You know what, I can only deal with one crazy person at a time, and right now it is not your turn, Red.” I snapped back as I tried to pull Daisy’s arm again.

  “What did you just call me?” Diamond almost screamed at me.

  “One at a time… Not your turn.” I
repeated as I got Daisy to follow me.

  “Wait, did you just call me crazy?” Daisy asked and I saw a smile crawling across her face.

  “Yes, yes I did.” I told her as we tried to escape Diamond by quickly entering our dormitory. We had no luck getting away from Diamond; she followed us right into the dormitory.

  “Look bitch, when I talk to you, you better pay attention.” Diamond said as she grabbed my arm hard enough for me to feel her nails.

  “I am not one of your servants. I do not have to listen to you, and right now I am helping someone else. So the line you are calling is currently busy, please place your call again later.” I snapped at her.

  “He is not yours!” Diamond screamed at me and brought her hand up like she was going to slap me.

  “It doesn’t sound like he’s yours either.” I snapped back. She didn’t realize Aaron was standing behind her and he grabbed her hand as soon as it was up. She spun around like she was going to scream at him but was caught off-guard by the look in Aaron’s blue-green eyes.

  “You’re here why?” Aaron asked her.

  “I was trying to talk to Ashlyn.” Diamond answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Didn’t sound like talking to me, and she is helping Daisy right now.” Aaron told her, “So why don’t you leave and try again later.”

  Diamond turned and walked out of the room, like a dog with her tail between her legs. Aaron had scared her and she didn’t know how to deal with someone like him. He was more of an alpha then she was and she was used to people doing whatever she said to them.

  I couldn’t help but laugh when the door closed behind her. Daisy joined me and we both ended up on the floor looking up at Aaron who was shaking his head.

  “You are really making some friends here, Ash.” Aaron said to me.

  “You should have seen her in the hallway, she called me crazy but she completely shot the princess down.” Daisy told him.

  Aaron smiled as the rest of our group looked at us like we had lost our minds. Drew came in as we were still on the floor; he gave us a weird look.