Sanctuary's Aggression Complete Collection Box Set: A Post-apocalyptic Survival Thriller Series

by Maira Dawn

  There had been no dressing up, no dating, just a quiet merge of two lives. A look between the two of them, a step toward each other, a matching of strides and there it was.

  The beginning of them.

  Sanctuary’s Aggression 4: The Girl

  This box set is compiled in the order in which the books were written.

  The Girl is a short backstory about Kelsey, who will continue to appear in the series.

  The prequel books, The Beginning and The Atlantis Cure, can be read first or where they are located in the box set.

  The prequels are important to the conclusion of the series.

  Thank you for reading the series. :)

  Copyright © 2019 Maira Dawn

  All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and a resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Cover Art by Maira Dawn

  Contents

  1. Fenton

  2. The Diary

  3. Another World

  4. Boyfriends

  5. Dirt

  6. Under Normal Circumstances

  7. Sirens

  8. Jason

  9. Only Dad and Me

  10. Breathing

  11. Endings

  12. Never Be Alone

  One

  Fenton

  No one walking the streets of Fenton, West Virginia in July would have recognized it come September. Known as number five on Best Living's Top Ten Most Beautiful Cities of the South, it was a jewel set among the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains.

  Since the outbreak, it was something else altogether.

  Abandoned vehicles littered the street. Some parked, one or more doors ajar, along sidewalks as if the drivers stopped, hopped out for an errand and never came back. Most vehicles, though, offered no rhyme or reason to the way they were left.

  Cars and trucks crossed lines, lanes, and even walkways. Windshields and windows were cracked. Sometimes doors were completely missing.

  The intersection of Fifth and Elm held the sight of an accident that would stay forever memorialized on this street. Below an unlit traffic light, a smashed smart car was under a crushed SUV that was under a semi, the remains of the drivers still in their seats.

  If a person could pull away and view the streets from above, they would find the once bustling city almost empty of any healthy humans. A few huddled in what they hoped would be safe places.

  Others preyed on them.

  Through this chaos, one lonely girl picked her way through the ruined road, forlorn and despondent. Her hodgepodge of stained clothes too large for the small frame she inherited from her Asian grandmother. Her brown curly hair, once her pride, scraped back off her face, unwashed and limp.

  Not long ago, a walk down this fashionable street would have been a pleasant and eagerly anticipated outing for her but not today. Now, she walked with slow, careful steps, her eyes alert and her body tense for the dangers awaiting her.

  Death couldn’t come quick enough. It happened to everyone. Why couldn’t it just do it and be done with her. She cursed her instincts, the ones that took hold when danger wrapped its long arms around her. They had her fighting running, trying to save her pitiful life.

  She wished they would stop.

  At the infamous intersection, she peeked around the stack of cars. She was alone.

  Always make certain you’re safe, Kelsey. Check as many times as you need to.

  It was his voice she heard when she struggled to live — her dad’s. He had taught her safety before all this started, and continued to instruct her after.

  Kelsey did as he advised and checked again before continuing down the deserted road. She peeked into the wrecked vehicles as she did each time she walked this road. Where were all the drivers? Did they get sick and just walk away? It was a mystery she would never solve.

  A few of the vehicles still carried their decayed, stinking passengers. For these, Kelsey held her nose and stepped a bit faster.

  Reaching the end she slowed, dragging one foot in front of the other. Her boot disturbed the dust on the road. She let out a deep sigh.

  Every day she walked a few blocks around the city and made sure her little nest was safe while looking for some way out of this place. But each lap left her with less and less hope.

  I was done with all this long ago.

  An eerie wind whistled through the open doors and windows of the downtown buildings, pulling curtains from their window casements. The tattered cloth waved at Kelsey in the same way a shredded flag waves surrender on a battlefield.

  I’m not the one to surrender to, I’ve already given up.

  Kelsey's over-large cowboy boots scuffed along the road. Little puffs of dust scattered into the wind behind her. Though the sound seemed insignificant, there was a slight echo from the silent city walls.

  It’s so noisy. I can’t hear anything she’s saying.

  For a moment, her friends walked beside her. She shook her head. This happened too often lately.

  No. They’re not here. No one is here with you. Don’t think of that, think of the shoes.

  Kelsey glanced down at the red leather boots she had taken from the looted store. The already smashed window lured her with its easy pickings. Still, she felt guilty about taking them, regardless of her need.

  She’d grabbed the first pair she saw and ran as if there were someone still around who cared, and now she paid for it. They were too big for her small feet, so she scuffed.

  Better than stepping barefoot on all the glass. At least my feet are healing now.

  She reached down and pulled on the top of the boots, running her hand down the smooth leather. Since her family had moved here, she'd harped on them to buy her a pair of boots. Nothing even as grand as these. To have the shoes now and not them made her stomach hurt.

  Maybe I’ll look for something else today.

  She wouldn't. Every day she thought it, and instead each day she wandered through the empty streets picking at garbage and scavenging food whenever she could, her emotionless face showing little connection with this world.

  The scrape of metal on metal echoed down the road. Trembling, Kelsey ducked behind a car waiting for the next sound. How close were they? Did she have time to run? She couldn’t let them catch her again.

  Crouching behind a Chevy, she peeked up through the bottom edge of a cracked window. Her gaze darted left to right and back again.

  No one. Maybe.

  Kelsey scrambled onto the hood of the car and scanned the area. When she was satisfied, she continued her journey.

  An unfamiliar garbage pile caught her eye. Perhaps there was something good in it. Leisurely, she picked through the trash, tossing aside what she didn't want and putting what she considered valuable in a small shopping tote she carried with her. A can of green beans went into the bag. Old rotting vegetable peels tossed to the ground. Thank goodness, she could still be picky, but how long would that last?

  Kelsey hardly remembered the last time she saw a garbage truck driving through the city. It hadn't taken long for the outbreak to take hold here. A city had too many people in too small of a place, and sicknesses spread quick. After that last green garbage truck, everyone had piled trash in the streets.

  It wasn’t all that bad
. It helped her scavenge easier. Breaking into homes would be so much harder. Of course, sometimes she came across a body in the piles. Kelsey shuddered.

  She picked at something in the garbage heap. Halfway through the stack was the sharp corner of what seemed like a book. She put her thin fingers around it and pulled.

  Nope. Not a book. A diary.

  Two

  The Diary

  The diary’s front pages were torn away. It had no cover and no name. A sadness came over Kelsey, an emotion she hadn't known she was capable of any longer. Surely all her sadness had been used up long ago, but no, here it was playing with her again.

  She skimmed over the words of what was now the top page, reading around the stains.

  Normal. I’d almost forgotten that.

  Kelsey raised her head and squinted at the tall smoke-damaged city building closest to her. Not what it was now.

  She tightened her grip on the book, looking up and down the street to make sure it was safe. Then she smoothed out a neighboring pile of junk, pulling an old, thick blanket that rested on the top over it and sat down. She wiggled into it creating a little nest of sorts. Doing this made her seem more garbage than human, it was how she had hidden in plain sight many times before.

  Kelsey laid the book on her lap. Don’t do this. No good will come of it. Ignoring her own advice, she began to read.

  Three

  Another World

  July 15

  Mall Day with Anna!!! If there is anything that makes a regular day a better day, it's got to be the mall! Because, for the most part, it's the only place I'm allowed to go with my friends.

  I bought an eyeliner. Not normal eyeliner, amazing eyeliner! The kind you can never find, that glides right on, no problem, and stays on too, no smudges, mudges or mess.

  Oh man, I can't stop giggling. I sound like a make-up commercial.

  Anna found a pair of jeans. She thought they were great. I thought they were meh. But it's her butt, and she was stuck on those jeans, So, I thought I should, you know, support my friend, bad butt or no.

  Kelsey raised her head and closed her eyes, letting the slight wind lift her hair. How childish the words seem, how innocent.

  To care about such silly things as malls, shopping, and all that punctuation seemed overwhelmingly stupid now that living was a struggle. It was as if those small concerns belonged to another world. Kelsey heaved a deep sigh. They had.

  Put the book down. Walk away. But she gripped the diary tighter.

  The story means nothing anymore. Kelsey shook her head. No, that wasn’t true. It is important, all stories are. And if some part of her had forgotten that, by the end of the diary it would all come back.

  Four

  Boyfriends

  July 16

  I saw Jason! I swear a bright, shiny light surrounds that guy.

  I was coming from the JCPenny's end of the mall with my friends, and he was coming from Macey's end of the mall with his friends. And we just sorta -- met up.

  So, we headed to, yep, the food court. Where else? Anna was all for it, she likes one of Jason’s friends. It went great until we got kicked out cause a couple of Jason's stupid friends decided to have a food fight.

  Anyway, I couldn't stop looking at him!

  I caught him looking at me a couple of times. So maybe...

  Great night, wonderful night, fantastic night until I got home and saw my parents watching a crazy video they found on YouTube. They were so serious about it too. The guy was shot by the cops a whole bunch of times and wouldn't go down. Creepy!

  See, this is what happens when old people get hold of tech.

  July 17

  Can't go out. The parentals think the world is too dangerous. Pfft, where have they lived, like, all of my life!

  I feel like I should be running around the house in a kilt and a blue face shouting, "You can take away my... um, something, but you can never take away my freedom!" But I don't have a kilt or any blue face paint. And I can't leave the house, so...

  This is what I get for watching Braveheart three times in the last twenty-four hours. Hey, there's nothing else to do!

  All of this because of some rumor circulated among the parents about the creepy, weird dude on YouTube.

  I told them it was a hoax, and they happens all the time. But what do I know, I'm only fourteen?

  I guess they don't believe in hoaxes...

  July 20

  After three very boring days at home with my actual family, ugh, the twins drive me crazy, I made it to the movies today.

  That's right, the Real Teens of Fenton City are out and about again. Look out, people!

  Before I left the house, the parentals had a long talk with me about self-defense. And they gave me a lot of ideas on what to do that boils down to this -- if I try to shoot someone and they don't die, I need to run. What?

  Well, I don’t have a gun, and I wasn't planning on shooting anyone so...

  July 22

  Jason asked me on a date!!! I’m screaming, literally screaming!

  I’m writing this down, so I never forget it. When I’m an old, gray biddy of a woman, I want to remember how it felt when Jason, the most wonderful guy I've ever met, asked me out.

  I was sitting on my bed binging Netflix when I got a text that said, "Hi, this is Jason."

  Shocked, I stared at the phone for ten minutes before moving. Actually didn’t move. Only stared at the phone.

  We started texting a bit. My hands shook so bad! He said he and his friends were going to go to the movies tomorrow night and would me and my friends like to go.

  So of course, I text a short, little "yes" while yelling, "Of course, you idiot, of course," so loud my mom came into the room. So, then I realized I needed to ask her if I could go, to which she, thank goodness, laughed with me and said I could go.

  Now I need to figure out my outfit, hair, and makeup! Oh, boy.

  July 23

  It was perfect, no, not only perfect, perfectly perfect!

  I will admit, it was a little awkward at first. It is very different meeting up by arrangement rather than by accident. You know what I mean?

  You have to converse and keep the other person, you know, entertained. You're checking them out, and they're checking you out, and you both know it. To see if there is something there, something that could become, I don't know, more. Yeah, something more.

  After the movie, Jason gestured me over to the side of the lobby, then he lightly touched the back of my hand. He said he had a great time and wanted to go out again.

  I almost swooned right there on the lobby carpet, like swooned with a capital S, it was so perfect. Of course, I said yes, right then and there.

  July 26

  Three days I waited for a text from Jason, and can you believe he was waiting for me to text him? All this time, he was worried I didn't have a good time on the date, and I was worried he didn't!

  I told him straight up that I had a great time, and I couldn't wait till our next one. He seemed so happy to hear that.

  We sent texts for like an hour before his mother needed him for something.

  Do you know how happy I am? I can't even tell you, that's how happy I am!

  July 27

  Okay, weird…

  The parents had the news on during dinner. I don't know why they do that. Between Baby Mariah crying and Frick and Frack, Mick and Mack or whatever and their crazy behavior, we can't hear a thing.

  But they all shut up for this. Well, Dad yelled, "Shut up!" super loud, and then they shut up. Some freaky girl in Ohio bit her mom all up. You should have seen the marks. They were... they were horrible. She literally took her mom's skin off.

  The girl was all strapped down to a gurney, and she was still trying to bite the paramedics. She was rocking the gurney back and forth trying to get at them, and they are all trying to jump out of the way of her chomping face.

  It was disgusting and real creepy. But the worst part is that this is an illness. Wh
at kinda flu makes you want to rip the flesh off of someone else?

  And then at the end of the segment, the news lady says that there are others with this disease.

  What?

  I am so freaked out right now...

  Five

  Dirt

  Kelsey raised her head and carefully smoothed the page of the diary.

  That's when everything changed, with the girl.

  Kelsey remembered the news report about that sick, and it seemed, crazy girl. She leaned against the wall of junk. Who would've guessed it was the beginning of the end? But looking back she could see it now.

  She let out a long, slow sigh and picked at the dirty, brown hair clumped over her shoulder. When was the last time she’d washed it? It was hard to remember what clean hair felt like. Did it even matter anymore?

  She rubbed her rough hand over a grimy cheek. She’d always been so strict about her facial regimes. Now she was fortunate to find enough water to wash off the worst of the dirt.

  Kelsey shot a glance downtown. The last time she tried showering had been a horrifying disaster. After the electric was out, most showers no longer worked. She tried a few of the empty houses she came across with no success. She needed a place with a generator. Picking out the city building closest to her, she started the five-block trek.