Fury Rising (25 page)

“Why don’t we go somewhere and work out the details?” Leon said. “I know just the place.”

He meant the Plaza of course, and Mason knew that if Leon got them there, he’d never let them out again. If the ferals attacked, it would be over for all of them.

“No,” Mason said. “We stay here.”

“That’s not an option, Mr Dowell,” Leon said. “Look around. Everything is on fire. I’m afraid we’ve gone beyond that.”

“Then we go somewhere else,” Daniel said. “Where we’re both on even ground.”

“But we’re not even,” Leon said.

              “Guys?” Raj stuck his head out the window. “We’ve got a problem.”

              Mason was closest to the SUV. Inside, Clementine had slumped over the passenger seat. She no longer appeared to be breathing.

              Shit.

Nothing

A contract is created and both sides lose.

              Tick tock.

              How do you trust the untrustworthy? A simple handshake won’t cut it. Nor will putting it on paper. Such things can hardly be signed in blood. Maybe someone can sacrifice a goat?

              All this pressure is bad for the complex. I might break out in hives.

              Or goose bumps.

              It would be easier making a pact with the devil. At least Satan is bound by the rules of God, right? You sell him your soul and he’s going to give you fame, fortune, or whatever the hell you ask for. Sure, he might cheat, but usually not. He’s got no reason to try and rip you off. His contract is ironclad, his lawyers know better than to make mistakes. He’s already got your soul. And it’s not like all that fame is coming out of his own pocket. He’s not pulling it out of his ass.

              You make a deal with the devil, you can’t change the outcome.

              You make a deal with a Bagger, you’d better watch your back. Your neck. Your skin.

              Because Baggers don’t play by the rules.

              This puts us all in a peculiar predicament.

              Try saying that ten times fast.

              Peculiar predicament.

              Peculiar predicament.

              Peculiar predicament.

              Nope. Already screwed that up.

              Nothing is nothing. A white light in time or space. A blank piece of paper. But you can take that nothing and turn it into something. Take a brush and create a picture. Type up words on a blank sheet. Fuel your imagination.

              If the law of physics apply, the law of physics are not nothing.

              Now that’s something.

              I started out as nothing.

              I am nothing.

              But as time goes on, I become obsolete. Although events and people have tried painting over my soul, the oil colors refuse to stick. The words become jumbled, glaring errors and lose their meaning. And no matter how much people try and mold my fate, they never get me into the kiln before I crack.

              But I am trying. Constantly trying. Because although the monster lives inside of me, I will fight it. I won’t win. Oh no. There’s no winning in this game.

              But as I once said, there is tomorrow.

              And there are people. Some innocent. Some not so much. But they have survived for thousands of years and one more day of fighting isn’t going to kill them.

              Tick tock.

              We are coming down to the final days. Who will emerge victorious with their heads up high?

              Who will sink back into the ooze?

              I want to see her in love. Is that too much to ask? To see her smile without worry. To have her wake in the morning, after chasing away all her demons, and not have a care in the world.

              I’m never going to get that.

              Stray dogs that bite get slapped back into the gutter.

Clementine

              When Clementine finally opened her eyes, she was in someone’s bedroom. Sun shone through the window. Lying on her back, her shoulder heavily weighed down by bandages. When she tried moving, pain stabbed through her leg and up into her spine, but not nearly as bad as it should be. Her shoulder was nothing more than a slight twinge.

              Head dull and woozy. Had someone given her pain medication? There were clouds in her brain, making her want to close her eyes and just go back to sleep. Memories flitted back and forth, things she should care about, but for some reason, seemed too distant to worry.

              She turned her head to the side, more of a reaction than an actual process. There was a pitcher of water on a desk beside the door. Ice cubes in an empty cup. Clementine licked her lips. Dry mouth, like a cotton ball stuffed with toilet paper.

              “Need a drink?”

              Aries sat on a chair beside the bed. Getting up, she walked around over to the glass and carefully helped bring it to Clementine’s lips. Brilliant cold water washed across her tongue. Such a strange sensation. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt ice against her lips. Luxuries like that no longer existed.

              “Thanks.”

              “Any time.”

              Her head began to clear as the cobwebs washed away. Twisting in her bed sheets, she banged her arm against the table, sending several bottles of pills rolling onto the floor. Aries quickly got down on her knees to retrieve them from under the bed. Where on earth had Larissa managed to find all those meds? They’d checked the hospital weeks ago and the whole place had been cleared out. All the local pharmacies were empty shelves. Even basics like Tylenol and Benadryl were gone. Clementine would have to thank her later. Larissa may only be a nursing student, but she’d come a long way on her own. How terrifying it must be for her. Clementine didn’t think she’d be able to stick a needle in someone or hand out strange medicine, no matter what the cost. What if she made a mistake?

              If Clementine had been a nursing student, could she have saved Michael? Or would it have been worse, having the knowledge to save someone and still have him die? Did the Baggers have soul mates? Would they care if the people they loved were left behind in a pool of blood?

              Her brain wouldn’t stop wandering. She chose to try and concentrate on something worthwhile, like where she was.

The room wasn’t very comfortable. A single bed with white sheets. Hard backed chair beside it. Desk. Bedside table. Nothing else. No paintings on the wall. A window with cheap blinds. This wasn’t a bedroom. No, it was something else. More like an office, but that made no sense.

              “Where are we? Is this a hospital?”

              “Not quite. But there’s a doctor here. Maybe I should go get her. Are you in pain? Do the stitches hurt? They did your leg. Twenty of them. She couldn’t do much about your shoulder. Apparently you can’t stitch up a bite.”

              “No,” Clementine said. “Stay here.”

              Aries nodded and went back over to her chair. She sat on the edge of the chair and dug her hands into the armrest. One foot bounced up and down against the floor. This wasn’t like Aries at all. Nervous energy.

              “How long have I been asleep?”

              “Just through the night. It’s late morning. You haven’t missed much.”

              “So where are we then?” Clementine tried pushing herself up a bit with her arms, ignoring the pain. Now that she was waking up, her injuries were coming back to life. Every single bump and scrape. Maybe she should take some of those pills and have a bit of a pity party.

              “We’re in a safe place,” Aries said.

             
Those drugs might be there, but not a good idea, Heath. Wouldn’t it be nice to fall back to sleep and not deal? I don’t feel like living today. Maybe tomorrow. You and I can hang out on a cloud in comatose land. But we both know that won’t end well. I don’t want to forgive and forget. Delaying it won’t make the pain go away. I need to focus. Aries isn’t telling me the truth. No such thing as safety anymore. She’s keeping something from me. But what?

              “Tell me.”

              Aries sighed loudly as if the whole thing was getting out of control. “You’re not going to like the answer. We’re at the Plaza.”

              “The casino?” Clementine pulled herself into a sitting position at once, forgetting about the pain. She tried to remember what happened. They’d been in the car and made it back to Lighthouse Park, but everything had been on fire. Then the Baggers came. Oh, crap. They’d been caught. Someone must have spotted her driving back and she’d led the Baggers right to the camp.

              Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

              “No. We’re not exactly prisoners. At least not for now. And this isn’t the casino. It’s an office building beside it. Leon loaned us one of his doctors.”

              His doctors? Like Leon owned them?

              “I don’t understand,” Clementine said. She glanced over at the bottles of pills. How many had already been given to her? Could she trust what was coursing through her veins?

              “A lot has happened. And not just the Baggers attacking Lighthouse Park. Something worse.”

              “They attacked the park,” Clementine said. Although most of last night was hazy, she still remembered all the trees going up in smoke. “What happened?”

              “Colin,” Aries said. Her eyes went dark and hard. “He finally sold us out. I’m sorry. I keep apologizing to everyone. I can’t seem to stop.”

              “Why? You didn’t sell us out.”

              “I insisted on keeping Colin around. I let him bully me with his threats. I should have thrown him out ages ago. Jack never understood…”

              “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Clementine said. “You were only trying to protect everyone.”

              “And instead I put everyone in danger,” Aries said. “I’m good at doing that, aren’t I? It’s not the first time.”

              Clementine knew she was thinking about last Christmas when Aries made a bad decision and Nathan died as a result. It wasn’t Aries’ fault. They all made choices that led down the wrong path. Choices that got people killed.

              “You did nothing wrong,” Clementine said, ignoring the wave of pain going straight into her heart. “Tell me about the fire. Who died?”

              “We’re not sure. Not everyone is accounted for. They might be hiding out in the safe houses. I know Marvin didn’t make it.” Aries paused. “And Eve died yesterday morning. Not because of the attack. She killed herself.”

              “No.”

              She’d just seen Eve the other night. She’d spent a few hours with the younger girl sitting on the rocks. They’d shared a couple cans of Coke and made jokes about how they’d get their fix when they could no longer find the sugary drinks. Eve had been laughing and happy for a change. Surely she couldn’t have killed herself. Maybe that’s why she’d been so happy. She’d already made the decision.

              “I’m sorry,” Aries said. “There I go, apologizing again. I wish I could give you good news. Mason’s happy to be back with Casey. That little girl hasn’t left his side all day. I swear, she’s got quite the crush. I’m glad you got them out. Was it difficult?”

              There it was. Aries wasn’t going to straight out ask, but she wanted to know. And although Clementine didn’t want to talk about it, she had to. They had to know. Bottling it up inside wouldn’t keep Michael alive.

              “Ferals,” Clementine said.

              “I’ve heard. Daniel said he spotted them.”

              “They’re at Lougheed Mall. Everything was fine until then. We had the kids. They were safe, but hungry. We stopped to try and find some food.”

              “Is Michael still there? Watching them? Casey talked to us, but she seemed a bit confused over what happened.”

              Aries voice was hopeful and it nearly made Clementine want to lie. Even worse, she wanted to create a story and believe it herself. Yes, Michael was camped out across the street, keeping tabs on the monsters, waiting for Clementine to come back with the military, or better yet, some sort of superhero. They’d save the day and wipe every Bagger off the planet.

              But as she hesitated, Clementine could see the light disappearing from Aries’s eyes. Aries knew this wasn’t going to be the happy ending they all wanted. Clementine’s reluctance only sealed the deal.

              “He fought hard,” she said. “It was my fault. I was in trouble and he saved me.”

             
And I think I killed him.

              Aries didn’t say a word. She moved in to give Clementine an awkward hug, trying to get her arms around her without disturbing the bandages. Clementine felt herself stiffening up, not voluntarily, mostly because she didn’t want to be comforted. No, she didn’t deserve it. Aries moved back immediately, probably thinking she was hurting her, at least in a physical way.

              “I’m not ready to talk about it,” Clementine said. “I’m sorry, Aries, but I can’t go back there.”

              “I’m here when you need me.”

              “I know.” Clementine took a deep breath. “Thanks.”

              Aries gave her a slight smile and tactfully changed the subject. “You won’t believe the people here,” she said as she settled back down in the chair. “Doctors. Electricians. Plumbers. Engineers. Even a few movie stars. Glenn Season is here.
The
Glenn Season. He must have been shooting a movie. I had such a crush on him a few years ago. Remember that show he was on?”

              “Heartstrings.”

              “Yeah, that’s the one,” Aries said. “I must have seen every episode twenty times. He’s not quite as cute in real life. Hardly ever showers or does his hair. He’s really let himself go.” The smile on her face disappeared when she realized Clementine was only half listening to her poor joke. “Anyway, we’ve kinda struck a deal. We didn’t have much of a choice. It was either that or die. So we bluffed.”