“Okay…” Hannah said slowly, trying to process it all. “The Cliff’s Notes version is pretty confusing.”
He chuckled at her statement. “There’s a lot to unpack in there.” He shifted and grabbed her hand. It felt natural and right to her. The old feelings she’d had for him rekindled inside her. “How did you end up here?”
She relayed her story to him. It wasn’t nearly as convoluted or interesting as his story would likely be when she heard the entire tale. Hers was mostly days, weeks, and months of wandering steadily northward. When she got to the part about getting bitten, he stopped her.
“You’re immune?”
She eyed him warily. Was he one of the anti-immune activists? Would he think of her as a freak if she said yes? She’d only just reconnected with him, but she didn’t know if her heart could take that kind of rejection right now.
“Yes,” she sighed. “I test positive for the virus, but I don’t have any of the effects. Grady, I’m still me. I just—”
“That’s crazy. What are the odds?”
“Huh?”
“I’m immune too—actually, I’m a little more than immune.” He put his index finger to his lips. “Don’t tell them that.”
A flood of emotions welled up inside of her. They’d both been immune the whole time. If she hadn’t abandoned him in Brazil, they could have been together without fear of the infected and she wouldn’t have had to have been alone for so long.
“You’re immune, too?”
He nodded, then stood quickly. He went to the door and peeked into the hallway before returning to the bed. “Promise me you won’t think I’m crazy?”
“Who isn’t these days?” she asked.
“True. So, ah, they experimented on me down in Brazil.”
The emotions that had welled up inside of her burst out and her tears flowed heavily. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I didn’t know. I didn’t… I thought you were dead.”
He shushed her again. “It’s okay. I’m okay. It’s actually a good thing, well, sort of.”
“What?”
“Since I have a natural immunity to the virus, the Iranians experimented on me to try to develop a vaccine for their troops, something that would make their men invulnerable to the infected. They ended up doing something to me. I don’t know how, but the infected are afraid of me or something.”
“What?” she repeated.
“It sounds crazy. It is crazy,” he amended. “But I’ve been out there with them, killed them by the hundreds. They won’t get within five feet of me if they can help it.”
“That’s…umm…”
“Weird, right?” he suggested.
“Uh… Yeah?” A feeling like she’d just said something terrible hit her hard. “I mean, you’re not weird, it’s just—”
“No, I get it,” Grady said. “But I don’t want that knowledge getting out, only a couple of people at the division headquarters know about it. You might not have heard about it yet since you’re living over here at the airfield, but there’s some big movement among the refugee population. People are actually beating up and killing the immune. It’s completely—”
“Insane,” she interrupted. “I know. I was attacked.” She pointed to the stiches on her face. “It isn’t only in the camps. Soldiers have bought into the anti-immune bullshit too.”
“Fuck,” he grumbled. “I knew it was time to leave when I heard that. I’m glad I stuck around for a few more days, though. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known about you.”
“What do you mean by leave? You want to go out there like those other groups?”
“I decided to come down here to Texas with the platoon on a whim. I didn’t have a plan as to what I was going to do after my little trip to New York, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to settle down on that farm with Jake and Vern.”
“Who?”
He smiled, his lips were almost completely hidden by the unruly mass of hair on his face. “They’re part of the longer version of the story. I’ll tell you about them later. I’m not a farmer, but I’m not going to take orders from the Army. I had some douchebag major trying to tell me that I was a national asset and needed to be under guard at all time. Can you believe that shit?”
She nodded. “I’ve met a few of those types around here.”
“Anyways, when I gave him the slip to come over here, I decided that being cooped up behind the walls here at Bliss isn’t for me.”
Hannah wiped at her cheeks. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I’m ready to leave and I know that we barely knew each other before all of this, and that you’ve suffered a terrible amount just to make it here, but—”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, practically shouting. “I’ll go with you!”
“You will?”
She nodded. “Anything is better than being trapped behind these walls, waiting for the next attack, or until some anti-immune protestors get up the courage to attack me again.” She pointed at her wall locker. “I’m already packed and ready to go.”
He nodded appreciatively. “Nice. I like it.”
“I didn’t finish my story about how I ended up here, but I have a helicopter—a Blackhawk. We could take that and—”
He shook his head. “There’s a lot of the story that we need to fill each other in on, but I do know that we can’t take equipment from them. That’s how the platoon ended up in Kansas. The Army guards its equipment jealously and they’ll come after us if we take something like a helicopter.”
Hannah wondered just what the hell Grady’s story was. There were a lot of details that continued to sprinkle out that she’d need to hear over time. For now, she was just content to be with him. Grady Harper. How the hell had the man survived? He was a freaking legend.
“Okay. I’m fine with walking. I did it for a year,” she said. “When do you want to leave?”
“Now,” he replied. “Well, I mean, after we get some food. I’m starving.”
“Okay. The dining facility is serving right now.”
“I know,” he said. “I saw the line outside the door.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet along with him. “After we eat, there are two pretty special people that I need to say goodbye to. They helped me out in New York and I promised them that I’d keep them safe. They’re in the refugee camp now, so I fulfilled my promise to them.”
“Okay,” Hannah replied, not entirely sure of what to say or do next.
Grady pulled her close to him and bent down to kiss her on the lips. His beard tickled. It was wonderful. She hadn’t had any type of intimate contact with anyone in a very long time, but as their kiss deepened, Hannah was convinced that she hadn’t forgotten how to.
Finally, they pulled apart and she took a deep breath. Her cheeks were burning. “So, what are we going to do out in the wild?” she asked, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the base walls.
“Whatever we want,” he replied with a goofy grin. “Seriously, though, I’d like to do as much good in the world as I can, so I’d thought about sort of wandering for a while on the wide open road. I have these skills, so, I don’t know, maybe help people clear out the infected in their area and then move on to the next settlement. Kind of like the Wild West or something.”
“A modern day Robin Hood?” she laughed.
“That does sound dumb, doesn’t it?”
“No, totally normal,” she quipped. “And something I’d expect from you.”
He shrugged. “I’m making this all up as I go and I don’t think very well on an empty stomach.”
“Then we better feed you before I end up liking your idea to see the country while we help strangers in need.”
“You like the idea?”
She nodded. “I do. We both signed up to do something good for our country. Cleaning up the infected so people who want to rebuild sounds like a damn good way to contribute to the cause.”
He pulled her close again. “I knew you and I
were a match. Remember that cold-assed truck ride in North Korea when we told each other that we’d get together after the mission was over?”
“How could I forget?”
“The mission isn’t over—I don’t think it ever will be—but I’m ready to be with you now.”
“Slow down, Robin Hood,” she laughed. “Food first. Escape next. Then we can talk about our next steps.”
Grady’s eyes flickered to the cot.
“Oh, fine,” she relented, closing and locking the door. “We won’t likely be cleaner than we are right now for a long time.”
Hannah allowed herself to be led to the small cot. It would be uncomfortable as hell with the two of them on there, but she was sure she could make do. They wouldn’t get a better chance than now to be together.
After today, they’d be alone in the wilderness. That crazy idea hadn’t even been on her radar when she’d woken up this morning, but it sounded perfect to her now. They’d make a difference in the world together. She just knew it.
THE END
SIXTH CYCLE
Nuclear war has destroyed human civilization.
Captain Jake Phillips wakes into a dangerous new world, where he finds the remaining fragments of the population living in a series of strongholds, connected across the country. Uneasy alliances have maintained their safety, but things are about to change. -- Discovery leads to danger. -- Skye Reed, a tracker from the Omega stronghold, uncovers a threat that could spell the end for their fragile society. With friends and enemies revealing truths about the past, she will need to decide who to trust. -- Sixth Cycle is a gritty post-apocalyptic story of survival and adventure.
Darren Wearmouth ~ Carl Sinclair
The Invasion Trilogy
Aliens have planned against us for centuries... And now the attack is ready.
Charlie Jackson's archaeological team find advanced technology in an undisturbed 16th Century graves. While investigating the discovery, giant sinkholes appear across planet, marking the start of Earth's colonization and the descent of civilization.
Charlie and the rest of humanity will have to fight for survival, sacrificing the life they’ve known to protect themselves from an ancient and previously dormant enemy. Even that might not be enough as aliens exact a plan that will change the course of history.
Darren Wearmouth
DEAD ISLAND: Operation Zulu
Ten years after the world was nearly brought to its knees by a zombie Armageddon, there is a race for the antidote! On a remote Caribbean island, surrounded by a horde of hungry living dead, a team of American and Australian commandos must rescue the Antidotes' scientist. Filled with zombies, guns, Russian bad guys, shady government types, serial killers and elevator muzak. Dead Island is an action packed blood soaked horror adventure.
Dead Island: Dos and Dead Island: Ravenous are available now!
Allen Gamboa
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Alone in a foreign land. The radio goes quiet while on convoy in Afghanistan, a lost patrol alone in the desert. With his unit and his home base destroyed, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson suddenly finds himself isolated and in command of a small group of men trying to survive in the Afghan wasteland. Every turn leads to danger.
The local population has been afflicted with an illness that turns them into rabid animals. They pursue him and his men at every corner and stop. Struggling to hold his team together and unite survivors, he must fight and evade his way to safety. A fast paced zombie war story like no other.
W.J. Lundy
ZOMBIE RUSH
New to the Hot Springs PD Lisa Reynolds was not all that welcomed by her coworkers especially those who were passed over for the position. It didn’t matter, her thirty days probation ended on the same day of the Z-poc’s arrival. Overnight the world goes from bad to worse as thousands die in the initial onslaught. National Guard and regular military unit deployed the day before to the north leaves the city in mayhem. All directions lead to death until one unlikely candidate steps forward with a plan. A plan that became an avalanche raging down the mountain culminating in the salvation or destruction of them all.
Joseph Hansen
ZED’S WORLD
BOOK ONE: THE GATHERING HORDE
The most ambitious terrorist plot ever undertaken is about to be put into motion, releasing an unstoppable force against humanity. Ordinary people – A group of students celebrating the end of the semester, suburban and rural families – are about to themselves in the center of something that threatens the survival of the human species. As they battle the dead – and the living – it’s going to take every bit of skill, knowledge and luck for them to survive in Zed’s World.
BOOK TWO: ROADS LESS TRAVELED
A terrible plague has been loosed upon the earth. In the course of one night, mankind teeters on the brink of extinction. Fighting through gathering hordes of undead, a group of friends brave military checkpoints, armed civilians, and forced allegiances in an attempt to reach loved ones. Thwarted at every turn, they press forward. But taking roads less traveled, could cost them everything.
BOOK THREE: NO WAY OUT
For Kyle Puckett, Earth has become a savage place. As the world continues to decay, the survivors of the viral plague have started choosing sides. With each encounter the stakes - and the body count - continue to rise. With the skies growing darker and the dead pressing in, both sides may soon find out that there is No Way Out.
Rich Baker
Grudge
The United States Navy led an expedition to Antarctica in December 1946, called Operation Highjump. Officially, the men were tasked with evaluating the effect of cold weather on US equipment; secretly their mission was to investigate reports of a hidden Nazi base buried beneath the ice. After engaging unknown forces in aerial combat, weather forced the Navy to abandon operations. Undeterred, the US returned every Antarctic summer until finally the government detonated three nuclear missiles over the atmosphere in 1958. Unfortunately, the desperate gamble to rid the world of the Nazi scourge failed. The enemy burrowed deeper into the ice, using alien technologies for cryogenic freezing to amass a genetically superior army, indoctrinated from birth to hate Americans. Now they’ve returned, intent on exacting revenge for the destruction of their homeland and banishment to the icy wastes.
The Path of Ashes
Evil doesn’t become extinct, it evolves. Our world is a violent place. Murder, terrorism, racism and social inequality, these are some of the forces that attempt to destroy our society while the State is forced to increase its response to these actions. Our own annihilation is barely held at bay by the belief that we’ve somehow evolved beyond our ancestors’ base desires.
From this cesspool of emotions emerges a madman, intent on leading the world into anarchy. When his group of computer hackers infiltrate the Department of Defense network, they initiate a nuclear war that will irrevocably alter our world.
Aeric Gaines and his roommate, Tyler, survive the devastation of the war, only to find that the politically correct world where they’d been raised was a lie. All humans have basic needs such as food, water and shelter…but we will fight for what we desire.
A Path of Ashes is a three-book series about life in post-apocalyptic America, a nation devoid of leadership, electricity and human rights. The world as we know it may have burned, but humanity found a way to survive and this is their story.
Brian Parker
Human Element
The Neuroweb began as the greatest invention since written language. A simple brain implant that allowed the user to access information, entertainment, and even pain relief. The Neuroweb was the beginning of a golden age for mankind...
Until it was compromised.
Everyone with the implant lost their most important commodity: their free will. The collective human consciousness was hacked, and now directed by artificial intelligence. Only those without the Neuroweb have a chance of resisting...If they dare.
Aaran has
legitimate reason to believe he's the last free-thinking human alive. After his family was killed in the purge, he fled for his life. Now, he aimlessly wanders through the suburbs of Cincinnati alone, desperate to find a reason to live.
When he meets a girl like him - another free thinker - they search together for a cause worth fighting for. Worth dying for.
As the Ash Fell
Life in the frozen wastelands of Texas is anything but easy, but for Clay Whitaker there is always more at stake than mere survival.
It's been seven years since the ash billowed into the atmosphere, triggering some of the harshest winters in recorded history. Populations are thinning. Food is scarce. Despair overwhelming. With no way to sustain order, societies collapsed, leaving people to fend for themselves.
Clay and his sister Megan have taken a handful of orphaned children into their home--a home soaring sixteen stories into the sky. With roughly six short months a year to gather enough food and supplies to last the long, brutal winter, Clay must spend most of his time away from his family to scavenge, hunt, and barter.
When Clay rescues a young woman named Kelsey from a group of Screamers, his life is catapulted into a new direction, forcing him to make decisions he never thought he would have to make.
Now, with winter rolling in earlier than ever, Clay's divided attention is putting him, and his family, at risk.
AJ Powers
Five Roads To Texas | Book 11 | Reciprocity [Sidney's Way 3] Page 25