The Becoming: Revelations

by Jessica Meigs

  Brandt looked at Shae, who’d finally stopped crying and simply sat against him, her face streaked with tears and the odd hiccup shivering through her body. “Well, little chickie, I guess it’s just me and you for the moment, huh?” he suggested, giving her a reassuring smile and a pat on the back before moving to follow the rest of the group.

  Chapter 62

  The six of them had made it to the sixth floor and fought their way through the straggling infected without much problem. They’d gone almost halfway across the lobby, heading for the walkway connecting the hotel to AmericasMart, when the pain in Ethan’s joints and the ache in his head became too much to bear. He stumbled and staggered sideways to one of the marble support columns littering the lobby, sagging heavily against it as he struggled to draw enough air into lungs that suddenly felt horribly compressed.

  Just ahead of him, Remy slowed and turned, her eyes full of concern as she realized he wasn’t following the rest of them. “Eth? Are you okay?” she asked nervously, taking a step toward him.

  Ethan felt like he couldn’t breathe. His chest grew tight, and his heart hammered wildly against his ribs. Despite this, despite the horrible ache settling into his joints, Ethan nodded and leaned forward to rest his hands against his knees. “Yeah,” he choked out. His voice sounded thick and heavy even to his own ears, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. He licked his lips and tried to generate enough saliva to moisten them, then looked at the others. “Anybody got any water?”

  Brandt set Shae down beside Sasha and moved forward, freeing a bottle from his pack and twisting the cap off. He shoved the bottle into the other man’s hands, and Ethan drank so deeply that the sides of the bottle caved in. When he lowered the bottle, his hands were trembling, and he nearly dropped it.

  “What’s wrong?” Cade asked worriedly, moving beside Ethan and resting a hand against his shoulder.

  “I just need a minute,” Ethan replied hoarsely. He cleared his throat and resumed the position he’d previously held, his hands gripping his knees as he bowed his head. The ache in his muscles was becoming more pronounced, more insistently painful. If he closed his eyes and tried to focus on something else, all he could feel was the pounding in his head. He groaned and slid down the column to kneel on the floor, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples and clenching his teeth.

  “Ethan?” Remy’s voice said to his right. She sounded stricken, shocked and afraid. He only shook his head at her and swallowed back the bile threatening at the back of his throat.

  “Ethan, now is not the time to be playing around,” Brandt said above him. Ethan found it in him to flash a raised middle finger in Brandt’s general direction. No one else seemed to find it amusing.

  “Come on, Eth, he’s right,” Cade said. She squeezed his shoulder again. “We’ve got to get going. We’ve got to get the girls out of here.”

  “No, you do,” Ethan managed. He was nearly panting as he spoke, and he squeezed his eyes shut even tighter. It was becoming harder and harder to draw in a breath, and his chest felt even tighter as he slunk down the rest of the way to the floor, dropping his head back against the column. “You need to get out of here. Now. No time to argue. Just go.”

  There was a sensation creeping up underneath the pain and the panic starting to envelop his mind. It was a sensation that he knew would have frightening consequences if his friends remained.

  “But Ethan—” Cade started to protest.

  “Go!” Ethan yelled, even as he felt the sensation wrap fully around his mind, even as he felt his breath slowing, his heart slowing, his mind slowing. He groaned faintly and shook his head, fighting it desperately, trying to give his friends the chance to get out of there.

  He couldn’t be responsible for their deaths. He just couldn’t.

  Despite his pleas for them to leave, no one made a move in that direction. He clenched his teeth and pushed back against the anger beginning to hammer at his brain, even as he started to feel himself fade. Remy was speaking, the low hum of her voice tickling at his brain, and Cade and Brandt’s voices joined hers. But he couldn’t make out what they were saying. The words were all a blur, all a humming drone at the back of his brain.

  Ethan dropped his head back against the column again, closing his eyes as he drew in another slow breath.

  When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer Ethan Bennett.

  Chapter 63

  Remy had knelt in front of Ethan as Cade and Brandt bickered between the two of them. Brandt was all for grabbing the children and hauling ass without Ethan. They were spending too much time arguing about what to do, and he didn’t think they could risk waiting around. The longer they stayed in one place, the sooner they would be noticed by the infected. The infected weren’t stupid; eventually, the ones from the higher floors would find their way down to the sixth floor—and Brandt didn’t want to be there when that happened.

  “He’s really sick,” Cade protested as she glanced in Ethan’s direction. Brandt could see the frown that graced her features as she took in the man’s rapidly deteriorating condition. “I just don’t think he should be left alone. Not like this. What if he needs someone to … someone here with him to help him if he turns?”

  “He told us to go,” Brandt pointed out in frustration. “He doesn’t want us to loiter around here any longer than I do. Our priority isn’t Ethan. It’s the kids. We need to get them out of here and head for the fucking mall and get to Baker and Spring before Dominic and Isaac assume we’re all dead and get the hell out of there themselves.”

  “I just …” Cade looked at Brandt helplessly, and for a frightening second, Brandt thought he saw tears in her eyes. He caught her hand and gave it a squeeze before dropping it.

  “I know,” Brandt said. “It’s going to be okay. This is what he would want us to do. This is what he just told us to do. We’ve got to do what he asked and get the hell out of here before we run out of chances.”

  Cade sighed and nodded shortly, visibly burying her grief as she turned away from him and moved toward the two children to prepare them for the hopefully quick trip across the walkway to the mall. As Brandt stepped away from Ethan to join her, Remy let out an ungodly shriek that echoed off the walls and ceiling and floors and rattled its way right into his brain. Brandt froze, his back stiffening as the familiar sound of an infected person shook through the air at almost the same time as Remy’s shriek. Brandt whirled back around, pointing his gun wildly behind him.

  Remy lay on her back on the cold marble floor, her Sig Sauer in one hand, both hands braced against Ethan’s chest, struggling to hold him at bay. Ethan clawed at her arms and grasped at her face, drawing blood from her arms and carving deep, bloody furrows into her cheeks and neck. He bared his teeth and snarled at her. He looked so far from the Ethan that Brandt knew that he couldn’t help but think that Ethan was gone for good. Despite this thought, though, Brandt shoved his Beretta into its holster and ran forward to grab the man by the shoulders and haul him backward, dragging him bodily off of Remy. Remy scrambled backward on the floor without getting up, aiming her gun wildly at Ethan as Brandt wrestled with the man thrashing violently in his arms.

  Brandt hooked his hands underneath Ethan’s arms and wrenched them backward, pinning them behind him even as he struggled to keep Ethan from breaking free of his grasp. Cade stood frozen, protectively blocking the children from Ethan’s view as she aimed her rifle in his and Brandt’s direction. Remy still lay on the floor, her eyes wide and horrified, blood running in rivulets down her arms and neck and face to drip onto her chest and the floor, the trembling weapon in her hand still pointed at her former lover. Brandt gritted his teeth and twisted his body around, swinging Ethan about and throwing him to the floor. He pinned the man face-down against the marble and nearly sat on his back as he grasped his wrists and pulled them back hard, holding the other man’s arms behind him with all his strength as Ethan continued to wrestle to break free.

  “Cade!” Bran
dt barked out, fighting past the strain of maintaining his grip on Ethan as he looked to the woman. The sound of her name seemed to shake her free from her frozen state, and she nodded to Brandt to indicate for him to continue. “Get over here. Get in my backpack and get the fucking duct tape out of it.”

  Cade moved to comply, even as she asked, “What’s the duct tape for?”

  “I have an idea,” Brandt replied simply.

  “Damn you and your ideas,” Cade muttered. She unzipped the pack on Brandt’s back and pulled free the silver tape he’d requested. “Why do you have duct tape anyway?”

  “Why not have duct tape? It’s good for just about anything.” Brandt shifted his hands to Ethan’s forearms and held them tighter. “Wrap some around his wrists. Now. I can’t hold him much longer.”

  “Wait, what?” Cade sounded aghast at Brandt’s order. “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “We’re taking him with us, okay?” Brandt snapped back. “Tape him. Now.”

  “But he’s infected!” Cade protested. “He’s not … there’s nothing we can do for him! Why are you doing this?”

  “Duct tape his fucking hands together and I’ll give you a fucking good reason why,” Brandt said, trying to keep his voice steady. Ethan thrashed violently underneath Brandt, and Brandt was nearly thrown off him. He dug his knee more firmly into Ethan’s back and barked, “Do it, Cade!”

  Cade hesitated again, then swore and obediently moved forward, planted her boot gently but firmly against Ethan’s back between his shoulder blades, and started to wrap the tape around his wrists. “I hope whatever the fuck you have planned, you know what you’re doing,” she bit out as she looped the tape securely around the man’s wrists several times. “And I hope it’s something good, for that matter.”

  “It is,” Brandt assured her, letting go of the man’s wrists and taking the tape from her. She continued to hold Ethan down while Brandt moved to the man’s ankles and mimicked Cade’s actions, taping his legs together to restrict the man’s mobility. “Derek’s going to come up with the cure, right?” he said. He grabbed the back of Ethan’s head by his hair and pulled his head off the floor, holding his jaw shut as Cade slapped a piece of tape over his mouth. Brandt then took the tape from her and wrapped it securely around Ethan’s head several times to make sure he couldn’t get his teeth into any of them.

  “We hope,” Cade grumbled. “Who’s to say he’ll ever be successful?”

  “My point exactly,” Brandt replied. Once Ethan had been reasonably secured, Brandt stood and grabbed the man by his belt, lifting him off the floor and slinging him over his shoulder. The action seemed to be enough to set Remy off; she darted off the floor and grabbed at Ethan’s leg. As she met Brandt’s eyes, he couldn’t help but think she looked like a victim in a horror movie, what with the blood still trickling down her cheeks and neck.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded. “You can’t possibly be planning to let him stay like this!”

  “Yes the hell I am,” Brandt replied, pushing her aside and striding toward the walkway. He motioned for the other four to follow him. “Derek is going to develop a cure. How the fuck are we supposed to know if the cure works unless we have someone to test it on?”

  “You told me to put him down if he turned! And now you want to turn him into a guinea pig?” Remy protested. She darted after Brandt and punched him in the shoulder. A sharp stab of pain rocked through his shoulder and upper arm, and he nearly dropped Ethan. He gritted his teeth and pushed past the pain, stepping into the shadowy walkway attached to the mall beyond.

  “Yeah, Remy. That’s exactly what I want to do,” Brandt said. “You think I want to do this? You think I want him like this? No the fuck I don’t. But if Derek comes up with a cure, there is no one else on this planet that I’d rather have cured than Ethan. After everything he’s done for us, it’s the least I can do for him.”

  Brandt didn’t bother to wait for any response Remy could muster. Nothing she said would change his mind. He refused to entertain the idea of killing Ethan, not without at least making an honest attempt to save his life. Cade seemed to agree with Brandt’s thought process, because she snapped at Remy, “Take the girls. I’ll take the lead.” She brushed past Brandt to lead the way down the walkway without another word.

  The walkway was still secure and uninhabited, despite the fact that they’d left the doors on either end open while inside the hotel. Regardless of the apparent security of their surroundings, Brandt was far from at ease as he followed Cade, his grip on Ethan tight to keep him from thrashing off his shoulder. The infected had an uncanny ability to pop out of the woodwork the moment a person let his guard down, and Brandt hated being caught unawares.

  Cade paused at the end of the walkway as a flash of lightning lit up the walkway’s interior. Brandt glanced at the ceiling instinctively; he’d almost forgotten that a thunderstorm was rolling in—he hadn’t even heard the thunder or seen the lightning while inside the Westin, with more pressing problems in his face. Even Cade’s eyes flickered momentarily skyward as thunder rumbled, low and loud, throughout the structure. Brandt glanced at Remy; she seemed totally unperturbed by the coming storm or the possibility of infected attacking. She had eyes only for Ethan.

  Brandt didn’t want to imagine what sort of look Ethan gave her in return.

  “What’s the story, Cade?” Brandt prompted, taking a few steps in the woman’s direction and shifting Ethan against his shoulder.

  “Looks clear,” Cade said. “But we are a few floors up. It’d probably be pretty damn wise to keep the noise to a minimum once we get in there, just in case.”

  “Agreed.” Brandt looked at Remy again and ordered, “Pick up Shae and carry her. She can’t run like the rest of us.” He moved to the side of the walkway and peered down. He could see the infected below, those who hadn’t flooded through the Westin’s now-opened doors. The exit from AmericasMart was behind the infected. Brandt didn’t want to think about the risk they’d be taking just by stepping through those doors.

  Cade joined him a moment later. “We’re going to have to move fast,” she murmured.

  “Very fast,” Brandt added. “Fuck, we could use at least one more person to keep an eye on the kids.”

  “Do I need to remind you that that was your job?” Cade said, keeping her voice low. “Now you’ve taken it upon yourself to do this,” she emphasized the word with a firm pat on Ethan’s leg, “and now we’ve got our hands fuller than full.”

  “If it comes to it, I can carry Shae on my right,” Brandt offered. “I don’t think she’ll be too happy about being so close to Ethan, but at this point, he can’t hurt her, so she’s just going to have to deal with it.”

  “You know what, I think I’m going to take you up on that offer,” Cade said. She whistled sharply between her teeth and beckoned to Remy. “Give Shae to Brandt,” she instructed. “You’re going to lead with me. We’ve got to make sure we clear out anything in our paths and keep the kids safe.”

  Remy passed Shae to Brandt, and as he looked at the young woman, Brandt saw the familiar fire that seemed to invade her gaze whenever she faced the prospect of going into a fight. It was always the same: a dose of anger, hatred, and ferocity that was downright frightening, especially when coupled with the blood on her face that she hadn’t bothered to clean off. Once she’d offloaded the little girl, she drew her bolo knife from the sheath on her belt and wielded it before her with no small amount of determination. Brandt almost felt sorry for whatever crossed her path.

  Almost.

  Then they all stepped forward, and the darkness of the mall pressed close around them. Brandt’s back and shoulder muscles stiffened instinctively. He was all for racing through the mall as quickly as they could. Cade and Remy seemed to share his sentiments, because they moved at a pace so quick that, loaded down as he was with Ethan and Shae, Brandt could barely keep up with them.

  The mall was darker than Brandt liked. Not that there wa
s anything he could do about it. The darkness unsettled him, and he couldn’t hear past Shae’s sniffles or the low grunts Ethan let out as he struggled against Brandt’s grip on him. His best senses had been temporarily robbed from him in the darkness, and he felt nervousness stirring in his gut. This wasn’t his idea of a good time.

  They were in the stairwell on the second floor, racing as rapidly and silently as they could for the street level, when Brandt caught a flutter of movement in the corner of his eye. He stiffened and grabbed Sasha by the wrist, swinging her around him to the side closest to the railing and twisting to protect Shae as a man lurched out of the shadows and tackled him. Overbalanced with the impact, Brandt went down, falling on top of Ethan with a grunt. He flailed, trying to push himself up enough to get to his gun, still holstered at his hip and now pinned beneath him.

  The infected man that had tackled him threw himself on top of the pile. Brandt swore and slung Shae out of the way, sliding the toddler across the tiled landing in Remy’s direction. At the same time, he braced a hand against the man’s chest and pushed up, trying to get the man off him. “Cade! Give me a hand here!” he yelled.

  Before Cade could start in his direction, Sasha ran toward him and swung the flashlight she held with all the strength she had in her seven-year-old arms. The metal flashlight struck the side of the man’s head, and though it didn’t do much to injure him, it threw him off balance enough that Brandt was able to get his foot underneath the man and push up, shoving him off and to the floor beside him. Then Brandt rolled, took a knee, and lifted his rifle from its tactical carry against his chest.

  Three shots echoed through the stairwell, two from Brandt’s rifle and one from Cade’s. The infected man twitched once and then was still.

  “You okay?” Cade asked in the ringing silence that followed. She dropped to a knee beside Brandt and looked into his face. Her blue eyes were hard with worry, and she reached out as if to take his face in her hands. He leaned back and caught her wrists to stop her.