A headache had started at the base of my skull, a dull thud that was slowly reaching its icy fingers up to caress my skull. I blinked to clear my vision, wishing I had a chair to sit down on. My breathing was getting faster, the room pulsing, and I forced myself to calm down.
“And the offer of trading humans didn’t give it away?” Aimee laughed bitterly, her face pinched in a grimace.
“They said they had a herbalist, among other things, but the thing that got them was the offer of water. They said they had lots of water. Now the Highwaymen have gone to the city to retrieve the city maps, hoping something on there is going to explain where all the water is coming from.” Aiken pulled out a cigarette and lit it as he leaned back in his chair, his expression serious. “Both times they bumped into them, they said they had water.”
“Their camp is near a water source,” O’Donnell mumbled.
“But there’s no big water source around here,” SJ said. “A couple of streams, wells, and the lake, but no big fresh water source that would explain it.”
“There was no explanation for the farmhouse we found today either,” I said, my voice thick and gravelly like the words didn’t want to leave my mouth. “Yet we found it. If they have water to trade, then they have a fresh water source. We find that and we find them.”
“Exactly,” Aiken agreed. “The Highwaymen are going to the meet tomorrow. The two they met won’t know that the Highwaymen are on to them and they’re going to capture them and do what they need to do to find out where their base is.”
“They won’t tell them,” I said.
“Shooter said they had men who could extract the information. He’s not too concerned. Besides, on the flipside of that, he’s hoping that the maps will show the water source.” Aiken looked around at the group.
“Who’s Shooter?” I asked, wondering why no one else had asked that question, and then realizing that they obviously all knew who he was.
“He’s their president,” Aiken replied, and I snorted on a laugh.
“Their president? Like he runs the goddamned country?” I was smirking, but inside I was feeling bitter and angry, and unnecessarily angry at this man I’d never met before.
“Something like that.” Aiken shrugged, and I stopped smirking and scowled.
“What an asshole,” I scoffed. “Can we trust him?”
“I believe so. We’ve had trades with them for a while now and they’ve always come through.” He sighed. “They’re a strong group, many more people than us. They have weapons, lots of skilled bodies. Teaming up with them to take on the Savages is our best bet, but I won’t say yes without you all agreeing. This affects us all and it’s not something I’m willing to agree to without total agreement, but we’ve searched for the Savages for a year and had no luck. Now there’s been three sightings in as many days and I’m thinking that wherever they scuttled off to, they’re out of there now and they’re looking for something. They’re building something. And I’d like Haven to be a part of decimating every last goddamn one of them.”
“I’m all in,” Aimee said immediately. “Whatever it takes.”
And I had a feeling that even if Haven didn’t come to an agreement about this, she’d be going along anyway. Phil was still missing, and until she’d seen his body, in her eyes there was still hope that he was alive. And while there was still hope, she wasn’t going to give up on him.
I couldn’t blame her. I would do the same. But she didn’t know.
She hadn’t seen the things I’d seen.
A sick feeling squirmed in my stomach, my palms turning sweaty.
“I’m in,” Kelli said with a nod.
“Me too,” Freddy said, looking terrified but firm in his decision.
The sickness in me grew as more and more people agreed to go. To help the Highwaymen. To find the Savages. To hunt them, for a change, and to end them.
“I need to speak to Moo,” SJ said firmly. “I don’t want her going, no matter what she says. Understood?”
Aiken nodded. “Understood.”
SJ turned to Alfie. “That means you have to stay here too. Stay with her.” She looked back to Aiken. “I’ll be going.”
“No,” Alfie replied quickly. “If anything happens to you, she won’t be able to cope. She needs you.”
SJ reached over and placed her hand on top of Alfie’s. “She’s got you now. You’ll take care of her for me.”
Silence enclosed the room as she patted his hand, and I pinched the bridge of my nose, my headache worsening.
“We’ll all be coming back alive,” O’Donnell said. “Between me, Aimee, Kelli, SJ, Freddy, Aiken?” She looked at him and he nodded, and then she continued to scan the room. “We’ll be absolutely fine. I mean, there’s always EJ, Jaxen—”
“And me,” I said, the words sounding strangled as they left my throat. All eyes turned to me, and I guessed that I must have been pale as a ghost and sick as a dog because none of them looked convinced. “I’m going.”
“We can talk about it later,” O’Donnell replied, turning back to the group. “I can speak to Carl and see if he’s okay to come along. I’m pretty sure he will, since Ricky and Phil were good friends of his.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I interrupted, my delirium clearing. “I’m going.”
O’Donnell let out a heavy sigh and glanced at Aiken. I frowned, wondering what the hell was going on. Did they really believe that I would stay behind? Did they really believe that I’d stay behind while O’Donnell went off and risked her life?
“Mikey—”
“Enough!” I yelled, cutting off O’Donnell as she tried to say something else. “I’m going.”
She glanced at Aiken again, her eyes practically pleading with him to intervene and do something.
He nodded and sat back in his chair. “All right, all right, I get why you’d want to go and I don’t blame you. We’re all just thinking of you, Mikey. O’Donnell and I know how hard it might be to come face to face with them again, but if you’re insistent, then so be it.” Aiken’s jaw was ticking and it was obvious that he wasn’t happy about the situation, but there was also no way he was keeping me from that place and this fight.
I looked around the room with uncertainty, feeling embarrassed, like perhaps everyone could see my weaknesses. Perhaps I hadn’t been so good at hiding my breakdown after all, and they’d all seen what a mess I was.
“We’ll be breaking into two teams so we can cover both bases,” he continued. “One group is going to go with the Highwaymen to where they think the Savages’ base is—that is if they get those maps and find that water source—and the other is going to the meet with the two women for the fake trade. Both groups are going to get plenty of action. The trade is obviously just a ploy from the Savages to capture more people, so no doubt they’ll be coming with more than anyone is expecting, but they won’t be expecting an ambush when they get there. They’ll be broken and then they’ll give up the location.”
“Why bother to meet for the trade? Why not just all head to their base?” SJ asked, frowning.
“Because if one group fails, hopefully the other will succeed,” Aiken replied.
“Besides, even if those two bitches don’t give up the location, they’ll be intending to capture and kill whoever turns up to that trade. At least this way we can make sure we kill all of the Savages,” Aimee said. She was on board with anything and everything. Her only goals were to kill as many Savages as possible and find Phil. The latter was unlikely to happen.
Aiken stood up and walked to the window, his features tight with worry, and I didn’t blame him. There were going to be casualties. That was if we really did find the Savages base this time. We’d been there before. Yet I knew this was it. This was the moment I’d waited a year for.
Drag’s face flittered behind my eyes, blood trailing down the side of his face, his arms wrapped around his middle where he’d been stabbed. And his words to me before I ended his life.
“We’re a family, a team, and the thought of losing any of my family cuts me deep, yet no matter how much it hurts, it’s a possibility, and one you have to consider before you agree fully to this.” Aiken was staring out the window as he spoke. “I want to see every one of you returning home. We’re creating a new world here, many strong groups coming together to creating a strong society. One that’s safe for all.” He turned to face us. “The Highwaymen have a new baby in their group, and it got me thinking about this world and how, if we can all get through this final battle, how the world we create afterwards might be one that would be safe for our people here to create their own families. To have their own babies.”
People were nodding in agreement, worry and anxiety on everyone’s faces at the prospect of a future with babies and children. Could we actually have that again? I wondered. It wasn’t something that I’d actually considered since Nina had run back into that warehouse. Each day had just been about survival. About getting through the next twenty-four hours in one piece. Keeping people safe. Surviving. But not about a society where there were babies and families. Not like Aiken was talking about.
The thought was terrifying.
27.
Mikey
“I want to be at the base camp,” I said, slamming my hand down on the desk. I was being an asshole again and I knew it. Yet Aiken didn’t call me out on it or give me any shit. He didn’t even bother to bring up my outburst from earlier. That was the kind of man—and leader—he was. He moved on from all the unnecessary bullshit and got down to what was really important.
“That ain’t up for debate, Mikey,” Aiken drolled in his usual laid-back manner, even though I knew he had to be feeling anything but laid back. His people were on the line, and his people—Haven, was everything to him, and he’d do anything to protect them. “You’re going to the trade, and that’s the end of it.”
A sharp knock came on the door and Aiken turned from the map on the table to glare at the door. “Come in!”
The door opened and Carl, one of the few members of Haven I really liked and considered a friend, came in, his hazel-green eyes taking in the tension in the room easily. He gave an awkward smile.
“SJ said you wanted to speak to me,” he asked hesitantly.
“Come in and shut the door,” Aiken said.
Carl clicked the door closed and turned back to us. Aiken, O’Donnell, and I had been arguing for the past fifteen minutes about where we thought it was best for everyone to go. Neither of them wanted me at the Savages’ base, which only made me want to go there more. I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t want me to go there—I knew those people, I knew what they were capable of. Not having me there made no sense, yet around and around we went, arguing about it. I felt like there was something they were keeping from me, yet they insisted there was nothing.
Aiken walked toward Carl, obviously glad to get out of the thick of the argument for a moment. That was the one thing with Aiken; he hated arguing. It was, in his words, the most primitive and pointless form of communication. I couldn’t disagree with that.
“I know you haven’t gone out there for a few months. After what happened the last time I can’t really blame you, but I have to ask for your help, Carl. Haven needs your help. I need your help. We need a strong team to go out there and we’re a couple of men down. We’re going up against the Savages and I know that you’re a goddamn good marksman, and I need that.”
A few months back, Carl had gone out on a mission and had blown a tire. The truck had crashed, and he’d hit his head before falling unconscious. When he’d woken up, the truck had been surrounded by the dead and he almost died getting back here. He hadn’t been out of the walls since.
Carl nodded and gave a small smile, though I could see the nervousness there too, and who could blame him? After coming back from the Savages’ camp, I hadn’t left Haven for six months.
“And you know I can handle myself,” Carl said.
“I’ve heard you can throw a punch or two,” Aiken agreed readily.
“Used to be a concierge before all of this, and you’d be surprised how often you needed to be able to handle yourself working in snooty hotels.” Carl chuckled briefly before sighing. “All right, I guess it’s about time I got back out there. I feel ready.”
“Really?” Aiken asked, and I watched as Carl laughed, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans.
“No, not really, but it is what it is, and it’s time.” He shrugged. “We all need to pull our weight and I want to help.”
O’Donnell and I drew closer, and I held out a hand to him and he took it, giving it a brief shake. “Thank you,” I said, and he nodded.
I didn’t know much about Carl, other than he was a nice guy who was a good shot with a bow and arrow. We had somehow always been on separate scouting teams, despite the fact that I’d been living in Haven for a year.
“He can be on my team,” I said, recognizing something in him that I saw in myself. Neither of us were the biggest men there, both medium build and height with nothing particularly frightening about us, but that didn’t make us any less dangerous. We had other skills and we both knew how to take care of ourselves. But mostly, there was just something about Carl that made me trust him. I knew that no matter what happened while we were out there, he would do everything he could to protect people, and that was the sort of person I wanted on my team.
“There’s too many on our team now,” O’Donnell said, and I turned and frowned.
“I think we should separate for this,” I said, knowing she was going to refuse but also knowing that I wasn’t going to back down on it. I needed some space from O’Donnell, especially while this was happening. I couldn’t be the sort of man she wanted me to be while fighting the Savages.
“What? Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. She turned to glare at Aiken. “Tell him that’s ridiculous.”
Aiken sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “Really don’t want to be getting involved in a domestic, O’Donnell.”
“So just tell him we’re going together then,” she bit out angrily.
“Well this is awkward.” Carl laughed awkwardly.
O’Donnell glared at him and he held up his hands in mock defense. “You’re on the other team, Carl. Mikey doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“I think,” Aiken said, interrupting her tirade as he looked between us, “Mikey and you should split up.”
“What!” she yelled, her voice so high-pitched that I worried the windows might break.
He put a hand up to silence her. “Mikey, O’Donnell is going to the Savage base camp. That means you, Carl, Freddy, and Kelli are going to the meet up at the gas station. The Highwaymen are sending some of their guys, you’re going to meet them about a quarter mile northwest from the location. It’s been drawn on the map. You follow their instructions to the letter.”
I glared at him, O’Donnell glared at him, and Carl stood looking uncomfortable. But Aiken wasn’t changing his mind. Perhaps I could have fought harder to go to the Savage base camp, but I couldn’t deny that part of me was relieved.
I’d been there before.
I knew what to expect
And I was still haunted by it.
I wanted to exact my revenge on them and make them pay for not just what they did to Ricky and Phil, or Drag, or anyone else. But I wanted to make them pay for the nightmares, the panic attacks, the fear that was lodged in my heart and refused to leave me.
The world had ended and the zombies had risen, but I had gotten up and dealt with life the best way I knew how. None of that had ever scared me as much as the Savages did.
O’Donnell opened her mouth to argue but I placed a hand on her arm and she turned to me. Her expression was fierce, and for a moment she reminded me of Nina, her defiance and fear all rolled into one to make her an unstoppable force.
“I can’t lose you,” she said, her tone soft.
“This is going to work. We’ve
got them at every turn.”
She nodded, still looking uncertain. Maybe I should have put her mind at ease that I would be okay and we’d be together at the end of this, but I never made promises that I couldn’t keep, and after the last time I’d gone up against the Savages, I wasn’t about to promise anything.
“Tomorrow then,” Carl said. He gave me a brief nod of his head and turned to leave.
Aiken excused himself too, leaving me and O’Donnell alone. I needed to comfort her. I needed to wrap my arms around her and pull her in close and tell her that I would be back. That everything really was going to be okay. But I couldn’t. Fear snaked down my spine and my heart thudded heavily in my chest.
I knew that no matter what, I wasn’t coming back until I had Aife’s head on a spike. But going up against her and the rest of the Savages was terrifying. It was the thing that had haunted me for the past year. The thing that woke me when I finally did manage to sleep. Coming toe to toe was the thing that I had been dreading for the past year, and now it was finally here.
*
We pulled away from Haven in two different vehicles: O’Donnell, Aiken, Aimee, and SJ were in one of the big trucks, and me, Carl, Freddy, and Kelli were on horseback. We’d been trading pretty steadily with the Highwaymen for fuel—something they apparently didn’t do with anyone else—but since we were trying to sneak up on the Savages at the gas station, a motor vehicle seemed too noisy. Besides, I’d gotten pretty good on horseback.
O’Donnell watched me as their truck veered left and our convoy continued straight on, and I tried my best to give her my most reassuring smile, but I wasn’t convincing anyone. Not even myself.
Two hours later, after stopping to give the horses a quick break and some water, I pulled out the map to double-check the meet point with the Highwaymen. I knew it should have been nearby somewhere, so I wasn’t overly surprised when a biker stepped out of the woods that lined the road and gestured for us to follow him.
We jumped down and followed him into the tree line, only needing to walk a hundred meters or so before meeting up with the rest of his crew. A tall man stepped forward, his thick beard speckled with gray and light brown. His eyes were dark, and deep frown lines were etched into his skin.
The Dead Saga | Book 7 | Odium 7 Page 20