Writing on the Wall (Survival Series)

by Ward, Tracey

  I want to ask Nats what she is. If she’s a dime as well, though I can’t believe she would be, not as smart as she is. But I’m worried it’d be offensive to ask. I’m also blown away by the fact that Vin labeled me a hundred dollar bill. What is it about me that sets me so high?

  I look up to find him watching me, his eyes amused. He knows exactly what I’m thinking.

  “You flattered yet, Kitten?”

  I can feel myself starting to blush so I change the subject. “Who’s Marlow?”

  The amusement in Vin’s eyes vanishes. “Marlow is the King of The Hive.”

  “He’s basically Vin’s boss’s boss’s boss.”

  “Wait,” I say, looking to Vin. “You’re that high up in The Hive?”

  “You’re surprised?”

  “I thought you were a Stable Boy.”

  “I told you, I’m The Stable Boy.”

  “I don’t know what the difference is? Is there one?”

  “It means he’s a big deal.” Nats explains. “He’s kind of like the gang’s banker. So going back without Breanne is going to be like losing money. It doesn’t look good.”

  “What will happen to you?” I ask him quietly.

  He smirks. “You worried about me?”

  “Maybe a little. What will happen?”

  “Nothing.” he says coolly, looking at Nats. “Cause we’re gonna tell them she’s dead.”

  Nats nods solemnly in agreement.

  “That seems extreme.” I tell him. “Can’t you tell him she doesn’t want to come back?”

  “No. She belongs to the gang. Time, effort and resources have gone into her.”

  “What? Like food and water? She owes her life for that?”

  “Food, water, shelter, soap, clothing and medicine. The women in the stables are the healthiest people in The Hive and these days that doesn’t come cheap.”

  “If you’re so high ranking how are you okay with losing her?”

  “Because I’m the one who would have to deal with her if we took her back. It’s fine for the King to want to keep all of his women at any cost, but the reality falls on me. I’d have to work with a woman who’s been to the other side and loved it. Can you imagine what a nightmare it would be to get her working again after she’s lived like this?”

  I look at Nats. “But you’re okay with it? You’ll go back?”

  She grins. “I don’t like cages any more than you do. But Breanne is good with them. Especially gilded ones.”

  “But aren’t you owned by The Hive? Isn’t that a cage?”

  “Nats has paid her debts in full and she keeps it that way.” Vin tells me. “She can walk at any time. She’s free.”

  “And you choose to stay?”

  “Where else would I go?” she asks softly, yawning. “Alright, kids, I’m going to work. Find a way to get us out of here, would you?”

  “You got it, Nats.”

  “Later.” I call, watching her walk away.

  “You’re already healthy.” Vin says, watching me with a sly smile. “You’d be out of debt and free in no time.”

  I groan. “Give it a rest. What are we gonna do about getting out of here? You got a plan yet?”

  “You need to keep sewing or join the laundry crew.” he says, turning serious. “We need more clothes than they’ll ever give us at one time. It doesn’t have to be sweaters and jackets, but we need layers at least.”

  I glance at the balled up material of my almost child’s shirt and shake my head. “I think I’d better switch to laundry.”

  “I think you should stay where you are.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of the girl.”

  “I don’t know what her deal is, though. I seem to know more than she does and that’s assuming she’s not a spy. What if she’s working for Caroline and her crew? What if everything she says and does is a test?”

  “Then you better not fail.”

  I glower at him. “That’s not helpful at all. What does that even mean?”

  “Look, you’re smart, Kitten.” he says, scratching his head lazily. “You’ll figure it out. I have faith in you.”

  “Alright, fine, I’ll make friends with her.”

  “Good. You need to start playing in all their reindeer games or you’re going to end up an outcast. That looks more suspicious than anything.”

  I scowl at him. “Are you quoting Christmas songs at me?”

  “It’s that time of year.” he says with a smile.

  “Ugh, don’t remind me.”

  He chuckles. “Not a fan of Christmas?”

  “No. I hate it.”

  “What if I promise to get you something pretty this year? Something shiny? Will that get you in the holiday spirit?”

  “Just don’t get me a Cabbage Patch doll and we’re all good.”

  “Deal.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next day I take one for the team; I tell Melissa I’ve found my calling in the sewing room. She’s genuinely excited, smiling at me like I just told her I found Jesus when what I’ve actually committed to is learning to make socks. Have you ever made a sock? From scratch? Don’t, it sucks. But it guarantees me time with my future best friend, Lexy, so I do it.

  “You have to pull the thread through tightly but not so tightly that it snaps or bunches the material.” Lexy drones.

  “We think a Pod was overrun with Risen because the population exploded over night.” I tell her quietly, touching the sock as though I’m examining it. As though I give a crap about it. “One day there was barely a zombie in sight, the next it was like the old days. A fallen Pod is the only thing that makes sense.”

  I listen to the sound of her breathing evenly but I watch as her hands stumble with her work. “It could have been one of your gangs.”

  “Not possible. There’s only one gang in the area big enough and it’s still intact. Also, there were children.”

  “You don’t have children on the outside?”

  “Some of the gangs do, the ones who keep women, but not this many. Why aren’t there children here?”

  “This Pod was abandoned for a while. We just reclaimed it. They selected groups of us from other Pods to come and build this new one up again. It was a lot of hard work with long hours and tough labor. And there are so many Risen here. It’s too dangerous for children.”

  “Why was it abandoned?”

  “They said there was a plumbing problem.”

  I stare at her in amazement. “A plumbing problem.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you believed that?”

  Lexy looks at me, her face offended. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because it’s dumb. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “Thanks a lot.” she grumbles, playing with her sock.

  “Look, just think about that. They cleared out this entire place over a plumbing issue? Who even has plumbing to have an issue with anymore? It’s ridiculous.”

  “If this entire place was flooding with sewage, you would stay?” she asks sharply. “With children and everything. You would tell everyone to stick it out?”

  “Not the children, no, but someone would have stayed with the animals and the farming and greenhouse. All of that is way too precious to bail on over a little bit of shit.”

  “I don’t think it was just a little bit.”

  “Whatever, it’s too much to lose.” I insist. “The whole place couldn’t have been abandoned over that.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe some people stuck around to keep it functioning while it was cleaned up. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Can we make this sock now?”

  I look at the directions and shake my head. “You probably can, but I can’t. Wait, so if you’re all from different Pods how do you not know how many there are? Can’t you get together and say ‘Hi, my name is Lexy and I’ve been held prisoner in Safeco.’ Then somebody else does the same and eventually you find out how many there are. Easy.”

>   She looks up at me, her eyes annoyed. Still, she hands me a roll of thread and glances behind me at the other women in the room.

  “Some of us have talked.” she whispers. “We’ve tried to get an idea of how many there are but it’s tough. They name the Pods with numbers and letters, nothing sequential.”

  “What’s this one?”

  “Pod A-63. I came from Pod C-92 which is the football stadium, some others are from G-11, Safeco, and G-35 is farther south on the eastern shore. So far we’ve counted groups from 4 different Pods but the names are all over the place. They can’t be sequential because even if each letter stopped at 100 Pods, that would mean there are at least 700 of them out there each with over 200 people inside almost every one.”

  I frown. “There aren’t 200 people here.”

  “186.” Lexy says without hesitation. “I’ve counted. Think of the rotations. We’re never all in the same place at the same time so of course it doesn’t feel like that many.”

  “If there were that many Pods with 200 people each, you’d be looking at a population of 140,000 people in this area. That’s impossible.”

  She shakes her head firmly. “I don’t think there are that many. I think they label them like that to throw us off. If they called them Pods 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then we’d all know how many there were or at least have an idea. This way, we have no clue. Maybe there are only 4. Maybe there are 15. We can’t know.”

  “Shady. But what does any of this have to do with me? You wanted information from the outside world but what exactly are you looking for?”

  Her eyes dart around the room and I imagine she’s taking in every face before speaking. She’s quick, I’ll give her that. It keeps me wondering if I should even be talking to her.

  “You know about the gangs, right?”

  “Some things, yeah. Not their secret handshakes or anything, but I’ve picked up some stuff.”

  “Is it true about The Hive? Is it the largest gang?”

  “By far, yeah.”

  “Can the hornet be trusted?” she whispers.

  “Vin?” I chuckle. “No.”

  She frowns. “He’s your friend, though, right? You trust him.”

  “Yes and no. It depends what you’re trusting him with.”

  She squares her shoulders and sits back from me. “That’s between him and I.”

  I laugh. I don’t mean to laugh in her face, but it’s funny to me somehow. This mild mannered girl trying to teach me how to sew is playing tough guy and demanding a private audience with my buddy the pimp. Vin will eat her alive and spit her back out.

  “Why are you laughing?” she asks indignantly.

  I put my hand over my eyes briefly, shaking my head. “I don’t know. It’s not particularly funny. It’s also not going to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  I lower my hand and look her in the eyes. “I’ll ask you again; what do you want to talk to Vin about?”

  She doesn’t answer.

  “That right there is why.” I tell her. “I’m not going to take you to him. What if you say something ridiculous and he never lets me hear the end of it? I can’t live with that, Lexy.”

  “It’s not ridiculous.” she says hotly. “It’s actually very important.”

  I shake my head. “I have zero faith in humanity. You need to prove it or go to him yourself. Or are you scared to do that?”

  When she looks away I know that’s what it is. All of the rumors they tell these people about the gangs has her terrified to speak to him alone. She won’t go near him without me and that’s a huge problem for her because I don’t trust her enough to take her anywhere near him with ‘very important’ topics.

  ***

  “You cock blocking me, Kitten?”

  I sigh. “Given the chance, yes I would. But I don’t think she wants that kind of conversation with you.”

  “One never knows what lies in the interiors of a woman’s heart.” he muses, swirling his hand elegantly through the air, looking at me with half-lidded eyes. “What desires reside within.”

  I look at Nats. She’s smiling and shaking her head over her eggs.

  “What is this?” I ask her. “What is he doing?”

  “Pressing your buttons.” she chuckles. “Give her a break, Vin.”

  “Fine.” he groans, sitting forward. “What do you think she wants?”

  “I don’t know yet, but whatever it is, she wants it from you and only you.”

  “Gotta be something to do with The Hive. We’re all from the outside but if she’s looking for me specifically, it’s the only thing that sets me apart.”

  “Is there anything she could want that they’d actually be willing to give her?”

  “Not likely.” he laughs. “And it doesn’t matter. Once I’m outta here, I’m never coming back so whatever she wants, I’m not the guy to deliver.”

  “We’re never coming back.” Nats corrects, glaring at him.

  “Right, yeah. Sorry. Once we’re out, we’re never coming back.”

  I look to Nats. “Is he going to…”

  “Double cross us? Probably.”

  I shake my head at him. “Nice.”

  “Nothing’s been decided yet.” he says dismissively.

  “That’s your defense?”

  Nats shrugs. “At least he’s honest.”

  “Don’t give him points for that.” I jab my finger in his grinning face. “No points!”

  “Is there a problem here?”

  Caroline. That woman’s voice could give me a cavity. She’s standing directly behind me and tell me that’s not intentional on her part. She knows about my issues with personal space and right now she’s crowding it hard, her hands taking hold of the back of my chair and brushing my back. I suppress a shiver.

  “We’re fine, Caroline.” Vin says, looking at her hard.

  “Are you sure?” She leans her weight on her hands on the back of my chair. I can feel her body closing in on mine. I have to grit my teeth to keep from screaming. “It was getting awful loud over here.”

  “It was a lively discussion.” Vin stands and comes around the table to face her. He pushes into her space, forcing her off my back. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

  Caroline laughs falsely. “I never worry about you.”

  “Good. I think your girls are looking for you.”

  “Hmm. Will you be looking for me later?”

  “Ugh.” I groan.

  Vin puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes hard. I shut my trap.

  “No.” he says firmly.

  The silence coming from behind me is deafening. I look to Nats but she’s carefully pretending she doesn’t hear or see any of this so I try to do the same. It’s hard though with Vin’s Kung Fu grip on my shoulder.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Vin doesn’t answer.

  “Interesting choice.” Caroline whispers.

  I feel fingers thread through my hair, pulling it gently. Vin’s hand tightens on my shoulder. It would probably hurt if I weren’t a statue made of solid stone, frozen in place. Seconds pass and I feel it when Caroline leaves, even before Vin loosens his hold on me. I take a deep breath. Some of the tension leaves me but there’s so much, too much, and I don’t know how long it will be until I come down entirely.

  “Vin.” Nats says softly.

  “I know.” He puts his free hand on my other shoulder so he’s holding both of them. He rubs them gently like a massage but I don’t even think he knows he’s doing it. “I made a mistake.”

  “Sleeping with Satan?” I mumble.

  “For starters.” Nats answers. “You should probably take your hands off her. You’ll only make it worse.”

  Vin jerks his hands off my shoulders as though I’d burned him. “You’re right. Hell. Sorry, Kitten.”

  “It’s alright.” I turn around to look up at him. His face is dark, troubled. “What mistake did you make?”

  “I touched you to shut you up but she
took it wrong.”

  “She thinks you’re the reason she won’t be seeing him tonight. You’re back on her radar.”

  “Oh come on.” I moan.

  “I said I was sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Fat lot of good that will do me when there’s a knife in my neck.”

  His troubled expression shifts to angry. “If you’d kept your mouth shut it wouldn’t have happened.”

  “That chick makes me ill, okay? I couldn’t keep quiet. You’re lucky I didn’t lose my dinner all over the table. And don’t blame me. If you’d keep it in your pants this wouldn’t be a problem in the first place.”

  “She’s right, Vin.”

  “Shut up, both of you.” he barks. “I apologized twice already, what do you want?”

  “No,” I correct him. “You said you were sorry and you referenced the sorry, but you did not apologize twice. I’ll take extra groveling. Let’s have it.”

  “Not gonna happen.” he says dryly, walking away. “You only get one.”

  “No points!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  A week goes by and I have no problems with Caroline. That actually bothers me. She’s sitting back, waiting for something, but for what I’m not sure. If she’s waiting for me to drop my guard, she’s testing the wrong girl. I’ve lived the majority of my life on the outside where everyone and everything is trying to kill me all day every day. My guard doesn’t know how to drop.

  Lexy starts avoiding me so I work with some of the other women in the sewing room. They’re alright, but Lexy bothers me. I guess whatever she wanted wasn’t so important or she’d be pushing the issue. I’m left feeling kind of disappointed and very annoyed. I’m locked in here now because of her and she doesn’t even want to play ball anymore.

  “Joss.”

  I hear my name whispered as I’m leaving the cafeteria to start my work shift. When I glance around, I find Amber in a dark doorway to the kitchen waving me to her.

  “Hey, what’s up?” I say, walking over.

  “Shh.” she whispers, glancing around. “Come on, hurry. Before someone sees.”