Dead in Bed by Bailey Simms, The Complete First Book (20 page)

“They’re in the silo
with the others,” Ian said.

He stepped behind me
and put his hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

“Ashley,” he
whispered, “Lindsay agreed with Chris about giving him the gun. We put her and
the kid in the silo before he did it. Mrs. Thomas is taking care of her.
Lindsay seems pretty tough. She’s handling it. The kid’s too young to know what
happened.”

I turned from Bryce’s
corpse and pulled away from Ian.

“Just sit down for a
minute,” Ian said, pulling back the chair at Chris’s desk.

I sat, but I was
afraid Ian wasn’t acting with enough urgency. It was only a matter of time
before the Home Guard discovered the granary, especially if other people
already knew about it. They even had a name for the meager resistance movement;
they’d called it the
Underground, as
if everyone already knew exactly what that meant. Somehow word was getting out
that we were sheltering positives here.

“We can’t stay here,”
I said. “They’ll find us. They’re going to search the whole ranch.”

“No, we can’t stay
here. You’re right.” Ian looked totally at a loss. “But where else can we go? I
didn’t count on having this many people. I was going to drive around looking
for an empty house—maybe someplace the Home Guard has registered as
unoccupied—but finding something like that could take days.” He glanced
at me, chagrinned. “I know we don’t have days, Ash. I’m trying to figure
something out. I just need a little time to fucking think about the right place
to hide. Because, I’m sorry, but I haven’t come up with anything.”

An idea that had been
floating around my consciousness since last evening suddenly surfaced.

I knew of a place
where we could hide—maybe.

The place I had in
mind would take the Home Guard months to find, if they ever found it at all. And
it was a place where we could take all of the refugees who were in the silo.
Maybe even more.

The problem was, I
didn’t know
where
it was.
Not exactly.

I would have to ask my
dad.

But most importantly,
wherever we went, we would need a supply of antibiotics. Even the most secure
refugee hideout in the world would be mostly useless if we didn’t have a way to
keep positives from progressing to the disease’s later stages.

I stood up and faced
Ian squarely.

“I need to borrow your
gun.”

“Wait, what?” He was
confused. “Why?”

“I’m going back to the
house,” I said firmly. “I’m going to get the pharmacy access card from Jason.”

“You can’t be serious.”
Ian looked more frustrated now than I’d ever seen him. He was so upset it
looked like he thought I’d betrayed him. “You’re out of your fucking mind! That
plan’s over now, Ashley! Forget it! They’ll have warrants for our arrest. Shawn
wasn’t bluffing about that. They’ll arrest you on the spot. They might even
shoot
you on the spot. There’s no way
you or I can go back to the house now. You’re being reckless! We have to be
realistic.”

“Ian, listen to me.” I
did my best to keep my cool and speak as reasonably and forcefully as possible.
“You want me to be realistic? Here’s realistic. There’s
no
other way. If we need more antibiotics, we need that access
card. And I’m the only one who has a chance of getting it from Jason.”

Ian looked at me
pleadingly. “I’m not letting you do this. Ashley, listen to me.” He whispered,
“I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. Do you understand? I can’t lose
you.”

Ian put his arms
around my shoulders and drew me close, pressing my head against his chest. I
felt like I might cry, but I forced myself not to.

I slipped my hands
around his waist.

Then I grabbed his gun
from his belt and pulled away from him.

“You’re not going to
lose me,” I said. “Ian, that’s
why
I
have to do this.”

I ran out the door
before he could stop me, then sprinted up the riverbank, clutching Ian’s gun, careful
to keep under the cover of the trees.

* * *

The
Home Guard was already at the house when I got there. From the riverbank, I
could see Jason’s military vehicle parked in the driveway.

I snuck toward the
back of the house. On the way up the river, I’d hastily constructed a plan for
getting Jason alone. I couldn’t go inside without anyone else seeing me. My only
chance was to wait outside the bathroom window and hope I could catch him using
it. It was risky, I knew. But there wasn’t any other way.

An old, overgrown
lilac bush stood just outside the house’s downstairs bathroom window. Luckily,
it still had most of its leaves. I crawled between it and the house, crouching
just below the windowsill. I was pretty sure no one would see me hiding there.

My mom had cooked
lunch again for the Home Guard. I could smell her beef stew.

The rangers’ voices
droned on while they ate in the kitchen. Occasionally, I heard my mom’s voice
pipe up, and I could hear Jason’s voice, too, along with Shawn’s, but I
couldn’t make out anything that anyone was saying.

So far, my plan was on
track because Jason’s squad had actually stopped for lunch, as I’d hoped they
would. They had to know we were missing by now, but luckily they weren’t
rushing off to find us, like I’d worried they might do. The squad was taking
its time eating. But for everything to work like I’d planned, a lot more still
had to go my way. First of all, Jason had to use the bathroom before he left, and
I had no idea how likely it was that he actually would.

I don’t know how long
I waited until someone finally came to use the bathroom. Whoever it was opened
the window right away. The sash slid up right above my head. I held my breath.
I didn’t move.

I heard someone
peeing. By the sound of the urine hitting the bowl, I could tell it was a guy.

I couldn’t show myself
unless I knew for sure it was Jason. But that was the problem. To look through
the window I would have to expose myself for a moment, showing my face before
ducking back down. If it was Shawn who was peeing right now, or anyone but
Jason who saw me through the window, I’d be arrested. Maybe shot.

I took a deep, quiet
breath. I didn’t have much time. I would have to look quickly, before
whoever
it was finished peeing and while he still had his
back to me.

I started counting
down, poised to raise my head and duck as quickly as possible.

Three… Two…

Suddenly, whoever was
in the bathroom coughed and spit through the
window.
A
mass of saliva and phlegm shot into the lilac bush, attached itself to a
branch, and dripped down the bark.

Just from the sound of
the cough alone, I knew it was Shawn, not Jason. I’d lived with him for a long
time. I was sure it was
him
. If I’d raised my head a
moment earlier, he would have seen me.

I held my breath.

I heard him grumbling
and gasping as he struggled to wash his shot and bandaged hand.

Then he left.

Another fifteen
minutes passed, and I heard the rangers saying good-bye to my mom.

Shit.

Jason hadn’t gone to
the bathroom. Fuck him and his fucking big-ass bladder.

But just when I
started to crawl from beneath the window, someone hurried into the bathroom.
Instantly I heard a heavy stream of piss churning into the toilet bowl.

I didn’t waste any
time. I peeked quickly through the window and ducked back down.

It was Jason. I could
only see the back of his head, but I was sure it was
him
.

I stood quietly,
raised the gun, and pointed it through the window directly at him.

As soon as he was done
peeing, just as he was zipping up, I whispered, “Those pills you gave me were
fucking incredible.”

His head snapped
around. His eyes met mine, startled.

I said, “You draw your
gun, I’ll shoot you.”

He smiled coolly. “Well,
well, well. There you are. Ashley, if you shoot me, my whole
squad’ll
be on you in seconds flat. But I won’t draw. Not
just yet. I like you.” He turned and approached the window, stepping
confidently toward my gun’s barrel. He planted his hands on the sill. “You
liked those pills? Fucking good, aren’t they? And now you want more.”

“You got any?”

“Not on me right now.”
He laughed softly. “Jesus. What makes you think I’d give any more to you,
anyway? You’re a wanted fugitive. I have the go-ahead to shoot you on sight.
Did you know that? Your husband’s ready to skin your hide. He wouldn’t fuck you
with a rubber on a ten-foot pole.”

“And what about you?”
I asked. “How do you feel about this whole situation? You haven’t shot me yet.”

“No,” he said,
smiling. “No, I haven’t, have I?” He spoke softly, bringing his face closer to
mine. “I don’t like to be rash. After all, there’s such a thing as protection.
Besides, you came to say hello to me, didn’t you? That was a very friendly
thing to do. You must like me after all.”

“Well,” I said,
forcing myself to smile coyly while keeping my gun raised. “You’re the sergeant,”
I leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “Out of all these privates, I hear
you have the biggest gun. And you like to party. What’s not to like?”

“I
knew
you liked to party!” Jason slapped
his hand on the sill like he’d just won the lottery. “I
knew
it. I saw you that night at the fair, and I
knew
you liked getting fucked up. Why’ve
you been holding out on me, Ashley?”

I pouted. “Well, my
marriage isn’t exactly working out, is it?” I tried not to ham it up too much.
I was pretty sure I had him, and I didn’t want to ruin it now. “It’s just
getting kind of boring out here on the run,” I said carefully. “And I’m getting
lonely. How soon can you get some more of those pills? I thought maybe we could
hook up later tonight. They give you time off, don’t they?”

“Ashley, I’m the sergeant.”
Jason’s tone was brimming with smug confidence. “I can take time off whenever
the fuck I want.”

“And you can get more
of those pills whenever the fuck you want, too?”

“I can get them. You
fucking bet I can get them. I’ll get you some that are even better than those
last ones.” He smiled. “As long as you share.”

I smiled back at him.
“If you can get them,” I whispered, “oh, I’ll share all right. I’ll be at your
house at eleven tonight then? You’ll be there? You better be there.”

“Whoa, whoa, Ash,”
Jason said. “No.
Not
there. If you
want me to keep all this on the down low and not arrest or shoot your tight
little ass, you can’t be anywhere near my house. If anyone found out about
this, I’d be fucked. Got that? If I’m doing you a favor by not turning you in
and
hooking you up, then we
gotta
do this how I say.”

“Where then?” I braced
myself. I thought I’d had him, but now I wasn’t so sure.

What was I getting
myself into?

“That bend in the
highway,” he said, gesturing out beyond the barn. “Just past this place. Do you
know where I mean? Where that little gully is? You just hang tight there
tonight, and I’ll pick you up. Got it?”

I knew the place he
meant. I also knew that getting into any kind of vehicle with Jason was a bad
idea. I’d imagined dropping in on his shitty little house and finding him
already halfway wasted by the time I got there. I’d even planned on asking Ian
to hide outside in the dark in case anything went wrong. Driving around alone
with Jason was completely different. He could take me anywhere he wanted, and
nobody would be there to back me up.

But what else could I
do? It was this or nothing.

I grabbed his collar
and whispered, “I’ll be there at eleven. Don’t be late.”

As soon as Jason’s
military vehicle drove away and I was sure all the rangers in his squad were
gone, I slipped out to the feed shed.

I couldn’t risk going
inside the house. I had no idea what my mom or Danielle would do if they saw
me. After this morning, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they turned me in. And
I didn’t even know if Shawn was still there or not, nursing his wound.

But I knew my dad would
help me if he could. He always fed his cattle before sundown; he did the same
thing without fail every day of his life. If I waited for him at the feed shed
long enough, I was sure he’d show up eventually.

I also knew that I’d
bought us all some time at the granary. As long as Jason was planning on
partying with me, he wasn’t going to look very hard for anybody on my parents’
property. No matter how hard Shawn pushed him to find us, Jason was the boss.
And I knew he’d much rather sleep with me than shoot me, given the options.

I lay down in the hay
scattered all over the feed shed. The cattle were already milling around,
waiting for my dad to feed them.

It was quiet here, and
peaceful. It reminded me of when I was a kid and I used to help my dad feed his
cattle. The scent of the fresh hay was sweet and rich, and it filled my lungs
as I breathed in the air. It almost felt like nothing had changed. No pathogen,
no quarantine. Just my dad’s feed shed filled with hay, like always.

I must have fallen asleep,
because when I woke up, the sun was setting.

My dad was tossing
loose hay into the troughs, and the cattle were chewing lazily. He hadn’t even
seen me asleep in the dark corner of the shed.

“Dad,” I whispered.

He turned around,
startled.

“It’s me,” I said.
“It’s okay.”

I stepped from the
shadows. When my dad set eyes on me, he looked incredibly relieved. He gave me
a long, tight hug. He even lifted me from the ground a little, like he used to
do when I was little.