by Maira Dawn
Kelsey shook her head no, wondering if she was a child any longer.
A sad look in his eye, Paul looked around. "I can't save them if I can't find them, but I can save you, Kelsey."
Kelsey nodded but kept her head down. She didn't want to do anything that would change his mind about taking her away from here. Then hearing a meow, Kelsey peeked up to give Paul a questioning look. When he agreed, she called Ebony over, running her hand over the cat’s back as she entered the car.
"Kelsey." Paul waited for her to look at him. "Kelsey, you're not alone anymore. You'll never be alone again."
Silent tears filled Kelsey's eyes and rolled over her cheeks. These were not sad tears for the Kelsey of the diary, or even for the girl sitting on the junk pile.
These were happy tears. Joyful tears for the Kelsey right here, right now sitting in this car, driving down this street.
The street leading out of this city.
Kelsey put a hand to her necklace. You were right, Dad. I’m the one who lives.
Sanctuary’s Aggression 5: The Trial
This box set is compiled in the order in which the books were written. 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
To my Mother, who helped instill in me a love of story. And to my Father, who encourages my writing even while slightly baffled by the process.
Contents
1. Skye
2. Kelsey
3. Tom
4. Jesse’s Request
5. We Were There
6. Horde
7. Humanity
8. Grey Day
9. Face Off
10. The White Coat Question
11. Big Sister
12. Sue Ellen
13. Tension
14. Court
15. Testify
16. Attacks
17. Fight
18. Judgement
19. Nightmares
20. Barbarton
21. Storm
22. The Overlook
23. Potatoes
24. The Exchange
25. Remembering
26. Want To
27. Of Course
28. End Up
29. Praying
30. Family
31. Waiting
32. Heartbeats
33. Uncle
34. Children
35. Tears
36. Dreams
37. Baked
38. Evil
39. Disease
40. Argument
41. Tough
42. Memories
43. Every Minute
44. Mountainside
45. My Girl
46. Wrong
47. Tough
48. Hang On
One
Skye
Skye knelt on the ground, churning the dirt and shoveling some of the dark, soft soil out of her way. One by one, she set the seedlings she had started in the house into the holes she had made, patting the dirt down around them. Beside her sat the row cover Dylan had made, a lightweight plastic frame to protect the winter vegetables. With care, and if the weather held out, in a few weeks, they would have fresh kale, broccoli, carrots, and beets for the dinner table.
After finishing the row, Skye sat back on her heels, wincing as she did so. Though her body protested today's work, the gunshot wound had been healing well.
She took a breath, letting out a happy sigh at her progress, then lifted her face to let the sun warm it. The weather had been rainy and cool for a while now. The bright day was a nice change.
A smile lit upon her lips as she looked over the property. Since planning their future together, there had been some changes. She and Dylan had decided an expansion of the cabin was crucial. One bedroom for her and Dylan, one of equal size for Wade and a slightly smaller one for Jesse. The building work was progressing nicely with the help of a few neighbors. The frame was up, and now the men worked at it around their chores. It would be done in no time.
What would her life be like now if there'd been no AgFlu? She'd like to think she would've done more than just notice Dylan on the streets of Colton or that he would have approached her. That somehow, they would've been able to merge her work with his love of this mountain. But the odds of any of that working out in the old world would have been small.
In that world, they had been like two sides of the same coin, never designed to be face-to-face. But in this after-pandemic world, they complemented one another and stood together to face the challenges it brought. Even when those challenges were right down the mountain.
She glanced toward Colton. It’s where Calvin, Tony and Pete were being held until their trial. She shook her head. No need to worry about that now. The trial would come soon enough.
Skye scanned the tree line, searching for both Dylan and Jesse. Dylan, because he wouldn't be happy seeing her outside. And Jesse because he was due back from hanging out with Kelsey and Bre.
Jesse had turned thirteen this month and felt fully capable of making his way from one cabin to another on the mountain. Even though a watch had been set up for both Infected and any strangers who might roam through, her son's new-found freedom made her nervous. There were dangers on this mountain. She'd already held her breath for weeks after the battle in town, worried Jesse would come down with the AgFlu, but when he hadn't gotten so much as a sniffle, her concern lessened. He seemed to be one of those with natural immunity. Remembering her bout with the sickness, Skye's stomach turned. She was glad Jesse hadn’t gone through that.
In a hurry to be on his way this morning, Jesse had squirmed out of her goodbye hug. But not before she noticed what regular meals were doing for him. Though still short for his age, his once boney frame was finally gaining muscle.
Skye chuckled as she remembered his reaction when she asked when Jesse would be home from playing. He had almost choked on his breakfast.
"Mom! We ain’t children. We don't play. We hang out," he said as he laid his head in his hand. Apparently, she had made one of the greatest social blunders a parent could make.
Her heart warmed. She loved these little interplays, part of a normal life, with healthy interactions. It meant the world she was able to give it to him.
A rustling in the brush caught Skye's attention. The tall grasses parted, and Dylan stepped through. Across his broad shoulders, he carried a good-sized deer. Wade appeared, seemingly out of thin air, from behind the house and congratulated his brother. Dylan said something and nodded Skye's way. Wade turned and shrugged.
"Oh man," Skye mumbled to herself. "I'm caught." She sometimes thought that if Dylan had his way, she wouldn't be allowed outside the house.
Wade took the deer from his brother and walked toward the gambrel to hang it up. Dylan headed straight toward her.
He planted his feet and towered over her as she crouched by the garden. "I remember tellin’ you to stay in the house."
"Umm, I believe I heard, and I quote, 'I reckon you might wanna stay in the house today.' And well, I didn't want to."
Dylan scoffed, "Woman, I swear."
"Pfft. Stop trying to intimidate me. Come here and help me. I only have a couple more then I'll go in."
"You're the bossiest woman I know." Dylan crouched beside her.
"Well, we're a good match then because you are the bossiest man I know." Skye smiled sweetly at him and kissed him on the cheek.
"Ain't none of my tricks work on you. How am I supposed to get you to listen?" He ran his hand over her hair.
"Your intimidation tricks? They actually work better than you think, especially when you are worked up. When you’re angry, you are one scary-looking dude. But you don't need that with me. You just need to love me, that's all." Skye placed one of the delicate plants in his large, callused hands.
Dylan chuckled. "Just love ya, uh? You gonna heal on love?"
"I'm fine. I needed some air and don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing. And before you say I couldn't have defended myself—Wade was out here. So, see? Protected."
Dylan barely contained his laughter. "You didn’t even know he was out here. You think I didn't see your surprised face when he came walking around the corner?"
"Just set the baby plant." Skye waved her hand from him to the hole in the ground and rolled her eyes. How did he manage to see literally everything? She ignored his knowing look as he gently laid the seedling in its new place.
After layering the dirt on it, Dylan stood and put the row cover over the new plants, then he held a hand out to Skye. "Come on, darlin'."
Skye brushed her hands together, knocking off the dirt clinging to them. Grasping Dylan's fingers, she stood on shaky legs. She was happy for his assistance. Once standing, she put an arm around Dylan. He returned the embrace, being careful of her wound.
The two slowly made their way toward the cabin just as Jesse emerged from the woods. The boy ran to them, eager to discuss his day.
When they reached the front door, they waved Wade over. It was evening now. Time for the family to come together and grow tighter bonds. Struggles awaited them, and they needed to be ready.
Two
Kelsey
Earlier that day, Kelsey had settled with Jesse and Bre on the hard ground in front of the cabin she shared with Doctor Paul Kinder and his daughter. The house sat in a little clearing with three other log homes, each with cherry red or sunny yellow curtains peeking through the kitchen windows. Dylan had mentioned that before the AgFlu, a large, extended family had lived in the cabins. None of them had survived.
He didn't like to talk about it. Kelsey understood that. If she could erase her time in the city before Paul had rescued her, she would in a heartbeat. Before she could stop it, pictures of her lost family and friends shuffled across her mind. She pulled in a quick breath and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
Kelsey ran her hand over the back of her once scrawny black cat. Now the animal's fur was sleek, shiny even, and she purred in contentment. As one of the few pets among the mountaintop's inhabitants, Ebony received a lot of treats.
She looked from her own large cabin to the other three smaller ones. Aaron occupied the house across from hers, and his brother Curt lived with his family in the one to Kelsey's right. The one to her left housed an older couple, and she didn't know them very well.
Cabins in the new community on Cole's Mountain had been carefully divided so each area would have enough strong people to defend it. Kelsey believed her group was one of the most powerful, and that calmed her fears a bit. The horrors of the past few months still haunted her.
Jesse reached over and ran a hand down Ebony’s spine. The cat pushed her head against his palm, wanting more petting and loving every minute of attention.
The sharp twang of a hammer strike came from inside the doctor's house. Paul had been banging away at something all day. They had all been working for weeks to fix the cabins up. What more could possibly be left?
Another round of pounding ended in an exclamation of pain and a wild string of odd curses. The young people exploded into a fit of giggling.
"Dad should really watch those fingers of his, he's the only surgeon we know of," Bre said as soon as she could catch some air.
Footsteps thumped their way toward the front door, and Paul pushed open the screen, quickly saying, "Bre, get some more nails from Aaron."
"Oh, boy!" Bre said under her breath as she rose to do as he asked. "He's on a roll with something now."
Kelsey and Jesse smothered more laughter as she walked away.
"And you two!" Paul said. "When I'm done here, we'll have another first aid class."
The doctor had said that being the only person with medical training didn't sit well with him, so he had begun giving medical education to all interested. Not only would the training be useful to everyone, but it also helped discern who had enough skill and interest to move to more advanced areas.
Bre was a no-brainer. One of the first things she'd told Kelsey was that she dreamed of becoming a doctor from the time she could crawl. But Paul also encouraged Kelsey and Jesse to take the first-aid classes. The more people who knew medicine, the better.
Jesse and Kelsey nodded at his hurried instructions. They still had a little more time. Jesse pulled a cd player out of his backpack and turned it on. He was so proud of the thing. Dylan had picked it up for him on one of his scavenging trips. Kelsey didn't really know what Jesse's life had been like before all this, but she did know that Skye and Dylan weren't Jesse's real parents. She eyed the care he took with the little machine. He acted as though he hadn't had much in the way of possessions before the AgFlu the way he treasured the music player.
He looked at her, excitement twinkling in his eyes. "This is a good one, Kels."
Kelsey agreed as she listened to the song, tipping her head toward the breeze blowing across the little glen and letting it pull her curly, brown hair across her face.
Here is so much better than there. If only her parents and three siblings had made it. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine them sitting beside her. The baby would either be sleeping, crying, or eating as all babies did. Her twin brothers pushing and jostling in some kind of rough play. Her mother—Kelsey stopped and quickly shoved the memory of her family away when a thin knife seemed to pierce her heart. It didn't happen. Pretend your life started the day they found you on that trash heap in Fenton.
Soft footfalls and the faint clank of weapons hitting one another caught Kelsey's attention. She opened her eyes.
Dylan and Wade strolled toward her and Jesse. Big, muscular men decked out with weapons, as always. It was too reminiscent of her time alone. Her eyes grew as they got closer, and she contemplated fleeing until they nodded a greeting at her. Too late.
They squatted beside Jesse, speaking to him in low tones. Kelsey slowly let out the breath she'd been holding. She reminded herself for the hundredth time they were on her side. They had started this community, for heaven's sake.
Jesse talked easily with the two tough men. He often reminded her that they were protectors and he would know, so she needed to stop being afraid of them. Instead, she must trust him and them.
She was trying, but after coming from a place where she couldn't trust anyone, it was hard to do. And honestly, her dad would've given these guys a wide berth even before Fenton went down. Of course, that's what probably made them perfect protectors.
Wade pounded Jesse's back and laughed. Kelsey winced. Why did men do that? She hoped he never did that to her. She'd be flat on the ground with the first thump.
When Dylan ruffled Jessie's hair, the boy ducked his head and quickly fixed it, giving Kelsey a quick look out of the corner of his eye.
Dylan looked from the boy to Kelsey to Jesse again. He softened his usually gruff voice. "Hey, Kelsey."
The quiet voice. He rarely used that. She must look like a scared little rabbit. The gi
rl tried to shake off her nerves, but her voice still cracked when she said, "Hey."
In her defense, she didn't talk much anymore, so her speech was often rusty.
"Look what they brought us." Jesse leaned toward her and fanned out some new CDs. "Lynyrd Skynyrd. Have you heard of them?"
Kelsey shook her head and started picking at the seam of her jeans.
"Me either," Jesse said. "But I'm sure they're good if Dylan and Wade like 'em." He put one of the CDs in the player. She nodded her agreement, wishing that talking didn't seem so hard for her now.
Before, words flowed effortlessly and in vast quantities. Yet now, it was as if any speech had to be pushed out of her, if it came at all. Skye said it would get better, Kelsey just needed to give it time.
"You'll like 'em, girlie," Wade said as Kelsey peeked up at him. "All the best southerners do, and I'm sure you’re one of the best."
Kelsey smiled and uttered a quick laugh as Wade's laughter bellowed through the clearing. He was teasing her. He knew she was from Ohio.
"She'll like it anyway," Jesse said. "Won't you, Kelsey?"