Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1)

by Trisha Leazier

  “What would you say if I asked you to be my girlfriend?” Drew asked me as he looked into my eyes.

  “I…I…” I stuttered as he kissed me again.

  “You should say yes.” He told me.

  “Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I asked him as I considered what he was asking me.

  “Then I won’t be wondering if someone else is stealing kisses from you.” He answered.

  “Why are you asking me this now?” I asked him.

  “The world is all chaos now, and we have to hold on to what we care about. We need to take the risks we may have thought through more a few weeks ago. I don’t want to pass up the chance to be with you.” He told me and I could feel myself smiling.

  “You make a good point.” I told him and he searched my face.

  “Well?” He asked and I laughed.

  “Yes.” I told him and he kissed me. Then dragged me off the couch to dance around the living room. Dancing to the music playing in the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Drew was smiling as he held my hand and led me to the front of the resort. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going, and only that he had to show me something I would love. At the front desk an older man was waiting for Drew.

  “Ross, what can I help you with?” Drew asked him as we approached.

  “I was out doing all the normal maintenance. When I noticed that by the front entrance there’s a few of those…things.” Ross told Drew as he played with his hat in his hands. “I wasn’t sure what to do about them so I came to find you.”

  “You did right Ross. I’ll get some people together and we’ll take care of it.” Drew said and Ross nodded and walked out the door to return to work.

  “Looks like we are going to have to put that surprise on hold for a few.” Drew told me and I caught the look in his eyes.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked him.

  “You’re going to think I am crazy, but I think I have an idea.” Drew responded as he led me in a new direction.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “Under the hospital there’s a basement with big cages that are very secure. We used them for animals when they got sick or new animals as they came in. We wanted to make sure they were healthy before adding them to the farm.” Drew started saying.

  “Okay, what does this have to do with anything?” I asked him not quite following where he was going with this.

  “We should try to catch the Red Eyes outside and lock them down there.” Drew answered and I got why he was thinking I would say this was crazy.

  “Why would we do that?” I asked him as we kept walking.

  “It’s a giant store room down there. The shelves and everything could almost be similar to what we will find in stores for supply runs. There’s even an observation room we used to watch the animals that can see the whole basement.” Drew was almost running; he was so excited. “We could use the Red Eyes to practice. Hannah can take notes about what everyone does from the observation room.”

  “Okay, I’m getting how this could work. Where are we going?” I asked as we rounded another corner almost running into Evan and Aaron.

  “We need your help.” Drew told them. “There are Red Eyes by the entrance. I want to catch them and put them in cages in the basement under the hospital. We can use them to practice with.”

  “You sure you want to do that?” Aaron asked him.

  “Yes, can you think of a more realistic way to practice together and learn how the Red Eyes hunt?” Drew asked and Aaron looked at him for a minute.

  “If we are going to do this, we are going to muzzle them so no one gets bit in this practice.” Aaron said and Drew looked like a kid on Christmas morning. I wondered if he got this look every time an idea he had started to fall into place.

  “Where do you want us to practice with them?” Evan asked.

  “The basement, it was set up to be a store room. It has an observation room that we used to watch animals we had in the cages. Now we can use it as a way to practice what we may face in a real store on a supply run.” Drew told him and Evan nodded.

  “Okay, do you think we can do this, or do we need the others?” He asked and Drew looked at the three of us.

  “I think the four of us can do this, we just have to be careful.” He answered and we were off again.

  Drew led us to where there was a truck parked that had a trailer on it, that looked like a giant cage. It was obvious this is what they used to cart the sick animals to the hospital. Drew hopped into the front and I followed him, both Aaron and Evan climbed into the bed of the truck.

  Aaron hit the roof a couple of times when they were settled and we made our way to the front entrance. We could see the three Red Eyes as we got closer; they were right in front of the entrance. Drew pulled the truck over. He started to back up maneuvering the trailer to be as close to the entrance as he could get it.

  “Now what?” Evan asked.

  “That’s easy. One of us stands on the back of the truck and gets the Red Eyes to come at them through the cage. Someone else will close the cage once they’re in. The others watch and make sure those bastards go where they are supposed to.” Aaron explained and Drew nodded.

  “I think Ashlyn should be the bait to draw them in and Drew should close the cage.” Evan added in. Aaron nodded his agreement and we got to work getting the gate of the cage open. We also had to pull out the ramp that was stored underneath.

  Once we were all set for operation Red Eye capture, Drew used the call box to tell the entrance control person to open it up. As soon as there was a crack I started banging the cage and screaming as loud as I could. The Red Eyes didn’t pay much attention to the guys who were all standing still and not making a sound.

  They definitely smelled them. I could see their heads twitch towards the guys, but were distracted by me making noise. They stumbled over each other as they climbed the ramp to get to me. As soon as the third one made it all the way in Drew slammed the gate shut and locked it. He returned to the call box to tell them to shut the gate and all four of us loaded back into the truck. When the gate closed Drew put the truck in gear and headed towards the hospital.

  Sam was outside and waiting for us. Along with Micah, Sawyer, Sydney, Tone, Hunter, and Hannah. They were all standing near where Drew was driving to. So I assumed they knew what we had done and where we were putting what we had captured.

  Sam directed Drew while he backed the trailer up to a door that looked like it was built to fit the trailer in it. As soon as Sam had him stop, Drew got out of the truck and Sam walked up to him.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Sam asked him, sounding more like a father than an uncle.

  “We were perfectly safe. Between Evan and Aaron, we got all three Red Eyes captured in one try and how did you even know what we were doing?” Drew responded.

  “Diamond overheard you talking to Aaron and Evan in the hallway. She came to find me and filled me in on what you were doing.” Sam told him, “You should have gotten a few more people, that move could have gone horribly wrong.”

  “You know what, you’re right. I got caught up in my excitement and I should have thought that through more, but it is over and done with now. So how about we figure out how we get the Red Eyes off the trailer and into the cage?” Drew asked and Sam rolled his eyes as he hugged him.

  “We could try it the same way we did with the animals.” Sam suggested.

  “What did you do with the animals?” Hannah asked as she eyed the Red Eyes.

  “Someone would have to go into the cage on the inside and open the door. Inside there’s a fenced path that leads from this door to the big cage. Once the Red Eyes are in there we lock them in and shut the rest of the doors, then remove the trailer.” Sam said to all of us.

  “I volunteer to go open the door.” Hunter said as he raised his hand. “I’ve already been bit, so if it happens again, I may already be in danger of turning as is.” Hannah lo
oked like she wanted to say something but she kept her mouth shut.

  Sam agreed to let Hunter be the one to open the door and lead the Red Eyes into their new home. He wanted the rest of us to stay outside by the truck till Drew, Hunter, and he came back out. Aaron looked at me and laughed as Evan sat down on the ground, his red hair looked like copper in the sun.

  I heard the door open and saw Hunter pull down the ramp before swinging open the gate of the trailer. The Red Eyes watched him and went after him as soon as he started moving away from the door. Drew was the next one we saw as he closed the trailer gate and returned the ramp to its place before he shut the door. Not long after that Sam came walking out followed by Drew and Hunter.

  “They’re caged. Let’s head in and take a look at our new practice area.” Drew said, sounding giddy. We all followed them as they turned around and headed back into the basement. The basement was set up the way Drew had said it was. It looked like the aisles of a store, complete with the same halogen lights you’d see hanging in most stores.

  “This is cool.” Micah said as he looked around.

  “It looks just like a small store.” Sawyer added.

  “This is perfect for what we were talking about. Now with having the Red Eyes we can get a real feel for what situations may be like out there on our runs.” Evan said as he walked around checking out the space we had available to us.

  “I just have to get muzzles on them and we are good to go.” Aaron said.

  “There’s a box over in the corner that has a bunch of odds and ends in it, see what you can make out of them.” Drew told him and Aaron headed towards the box.

  “Once he rigs up muzzles we are going to practice. Hannah you are going to watch everything up there in the observation room. You can see the whole basement from up there. I want you to take notes on how everyone works and where any weak spots are.” Sam said as he took charge.

  “Those stairs there lead to that room?” Hannah asked and when Drew nodded she started off to get to her perch.

  Aaron came back with muzzles that looked like they were used for the sick animals. He was smirking as he held them up to Drew.

  “Those are some heavy duty muzzles for the animals deemed dangerous. Do you think they’ll work for the Red Eyes?” Drew asked as he took one of them and examined it.

  “Yes, my brother used ones like these on a couple of Red Eyes. They worked and kept us from being bit; these should be perfect for our group.” Aaron answered. I noticed that he wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes when he mentioned his brother.

  “Let’s get them on the Red Eyes. Hunter, Evan, and Aaron do you want to help me?” Drew asked. The four of them headed to the cage.

  Sam had all three of the Red Eyes where they couldn’t move. He had gotten their arms through the cage bars and tied them up. Drew and Evan started with one of the Red Eyes getting the muzzle on as Hunter and Aaron did the same with the next one. Once all three of them were muzzled, Sam gathered us together. Hannah was already up in the observation room.

  “I want Evan, Aaron, Drew, Ashlyn, Sawyer, and Micah to go through the basement like you were in a store. Tone, Hunter, and Sydney. You three will be with me opening the cage to release the Red Eyes, we are going to be back up if they need it.” Sam directed everyone and we split to do as he said.

  Chapter Thirty

  Aaron split off taking Sawyer with him, Drew ended up with Micah, and Evan took my arm and led me down one of the aisles. Sam whistled twice signaling, and then we could hear the cage door sliding open.

  “When they start coming we keep within talking distance. No wondering away from each other.” Evan told me, and it reminded me that at one point Evan had a family he tried to keep safe.

  “Okay.” I agreed as we started glancing at shelves. We were pretending we were pulling things off without actually touching anything. Before long one of the Red Eyes came down the aisle we were in. Evan quickly threw things in its path and the Red Eye tripped, sprawling onto the floor. I stayed close to Evan as we made our way to the end of the aisle and started back towards the cage. We heard Sawyer scream a couple aisles over, Evan changed direction as we went towards the sound. Aaron had the Red Eye pinned and Sawyer was on the ground.

  “It came around the corner; she panicked and ended up tripping.” Aaron said as he kept the Red Eye pinned. I helped Sawyer up and Evan went to help Aaron.

  “Girls head down the aisle, Aaron shove the Red Eye backwards and we’ll catch up to the girls.” Evan said and Aaron nodded. I had to help Sawyer; she hurt her ankle when she tripped so her arm was around my shoulders as I helped her walk. We heard the Red Eye fall behind us and Evan came up beside us and swept Sawyer up into his arms as we kept going. We met with Micah and Drew joined us as we got to the end of the aisle the Red Eyes were following us. We led them back to the cage. As soon as we got them locked away Micah took Sawyer up to the hospital to have her ankle looked at by Scott. Sam waved Hannah down to see what notes she had taken.

  “What did you see?” Sam asked her as soon as she had joined us.

  “Sawyer is our weak link right now; she panicked and ended up hurt.” Hannah said.

  “Yeah, girl needs some work. She let her fear take control and if we would have been in a real situation we could have both been killed.” Aaron said, he didn’t sound angry at all.

  “So we have a starting point for where we need to put some work in.” Sam said, “How about the others Hannah?”

  “Evan and Ashlyn stayed close together, looked like they were communicating. They wouldn’t move on without the other. When the Red Eye came they acted swiftly and moved on. They responded to the scream they heard, they moved almost as one.” Hannah read out of a note book, “Drew and Micah stayed where they could see each other. They used a lot of hand signals and also moved quickly when Sawyer screamed. The way they started to go ended up blocked by a Red Eye and they dealt with it by using what was available to them. They used noise to attract the Red Eye’s attention elsewhere. They threw screws behind it.”

  “Well so far we have a real team starting to come together.” Sam said.

  “Do you think Sawyer is going to be able to handle situations like this? Real situations where people are depending on her.” Hannah asked, “Panicking out there could put people in real danger.”

  “She can learn; this is just the first practice. We’ll see how bad her ankle is and we will work with her and help her control her fear.” Aaron responded standing up for Sawyer, “She’s never faced the Red Eyes before and it just got in her head.”

  “I’m going to go check on Sawyer and see what Scott says about her ankle.” Sam said and walked away.

  “When you know, bring her and Micah and meet us at the edgeless pool.” Drew told him and the rest of us just looked at him.

  “Where are we going?” Evan asked him.

  “There’s an edgeless pool set up on the roof of the spa. It has amazing views and I think we should celebrate being alive there.” Drew answered.

  “I like this plan.” Aaron said.

  About an hour later I was walking to the spa where we decided to meet. Drew joined us a couple of minutes after I had; he had Diamond and Denver with him. Diamond looked defeated as she followed Drew.

  “Hope you don’t mind, but I didn’t want her just moping in her room.” Drew whispered in my ear and kissed me. I saw Diamond flinch when my eyes caught her watching us. Denver was standing as close to her as she would allow.

  “I understand.” I whispered back to Drew.

  “Let’s head up and enjoy being alive and together!” Drew called out so everyone could hear him. I noticed there were other faces mixed in with all of us from the bus. They must have been here in the dome before we arrived, because I didn’t recognize them. We all followed Drew up the stairs that led to a beautifully set up pool. The water went all the way up to the edge of the roof. There was some sort of clear Plexiglas material, so it looked like the pool had no edges on three sides. Th
ere was a grill set up on a wooden deck with a few tables set up as well as lounge chairs.

  “This is perfect.” I told Drew.

  “Yeah and we’ll be up here when the sun sets. Wait till you see what that does to the water and how it looks with the edges the way they are.” Drew said and kissed my hand. He headed over to the grill and lit it. He was throwing steaks on it as I turned to take in everyone around us that were here, alive, and safe. Denver looked like he was trying to talk to Diamond, but she wasn’t listening to him, she was staring at Drew.

  Micah joined us helping Sawyer who had her ankle wrapped. She was smiling as he put her down on one of the lounge chairs. He sat near her and they both waved at me. Aaron came over to me and watched them for a minute.

  “Seems like we stumbled into paradise.” Aaron told me.

  “It would appear so.” I told him. Aaron swept me up in his arms and spun a couple of times before throwing me into the pool. I screamed as I went airborne and came out of the water sputtering and coughing. Aaron jumped in after me, I saw Sam was laughing. Sydney and Tone were both sitting on the only edge the pool had with their feet in the water. I didn’t even see Drew jump into the water till he emerged, as water from the splash was still falling around us. One of the people who must work for Drew was manning the grill and cooking something that smelled amazing.

  “Look there.” Drew said pointing to where the sky was starting to turn pink. The water at the edgeless sides was also turning pink. As the sky changed colors the pool water changed with it. Soon we were sitting in water dyed pinks, reds, and oranges. Off in the distance we saw a flare flying up into the sky.

  “Do you see that?” I asked Drew as he was already moving to get out of the pool.

  “Yeah, I need a map.” He said. He went over to what at first glance looked like a little table but he opened it and pulled out a folded paper.