Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1) (20 page)

“I’m going to get your mind off
it.” He said and kissed me. His lips were gentle on mine at first, searching
and waiting for a response. When I kissed him back he brought his hand up to
the side of my face, his thumb was slowly moving back and forth. He didn’t
deepen the kiss but stayed gentle. When he pulled away he rested his head on my
forehead and looked into my eyes.

“What would you say if I asked
you to be my girlfriend?” Drew asked me as he looked into my eyes.

“I…I…” I stuttered as he kissed
me again.

“You should say yes.” He told
me.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” I asked
him as I considered what he was asking me.

“Then I won’t be wondering if
someone else is stealing kisses from you.” He answered.

“Why are you asking me this
now?” I asked him.

“The world is all chaos now,
and we have to hold on to what we care about. We need to take the risks we may
have thought through more a few weeks ago. I don’t want to pass up the chance
to be with you.” He told me and I could feel myself smiling.

“You make a good point.” I told
him and he searched my face.

“Well?” He asked and I laughed.

“Yes.” I told him and he kissed
me. Then dragged me off the couch to dance around the living room. Dancing to
the music playing in the episode of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Drew was smiling as he held my hand
and led me to the front of the resort. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going,
and only that he had to show me something I would love. At the front desk an
older man was waiting for Drew.

“Ross, what can I help you
with?” Drew asked him as we approached.

“I was out doing all the normal
maintenance. When I noticed that by the front entrance there’s a few of
those…things.” Ross told Drew as he played with his hat in his hands. “I wasn’t
sure what to do about them so I came to find you.”

“You did right Ross. I’ll get
some people together and we’ll take care of it.” Drew said and Ross nodded and
walked out the door to return to work.

“Looks like we are going to
have to put that surprise on hold for a few.” Drew told me and I caught the
look in his eyes.

“What are you thinking?” I
asked him.

“You’re going to think I am
crazy, but I think I have an idea.” Drew responded as he led me in a new
direction.

“What?” I asked him.

“Under the hospital there’s a
basement with big cages that are very secure. We used them for animals when
they got sick or new animals as they came in. We wanted to make sure they were
healthy before adding them to the farm.” Drew started saying.

“Okay, what does this have to
do with anything?” I asked him not quite following where he was going with
this.

“We should try to catch the Red
Eyes outside and lock them down there.” Drew answered and I got why he was
thinking I would say this was crazy.

“Why would we do that?” I asked
him as we kept walking.

“It’s a giant store room down
there. The shelves and everything could almost be similar to what we will find
in stores for supply runs. There’s even an observation room we used to watch
the animals that can see the whole basement.” Drew was almost running; he was
so excited. “We could use the Red Eyes to practice. Hannah can take notes about
what everyone does from the observation room.”

“Okay, I’m getting how this
could work. Where are we going?” I asked as we rounded another corner almost
running into Evan and Aaron.

“We need your help.” Drew told
them. “There are Red Eyes by the entrance. I want to catch them and put them in
cages in the basement under the hospital. We can use them to practice with.”

“You sure you want to do that?”
Aaron asked him.

“Yes, can you think of a more
realistic way to practice together and learn how the Red Eyes hunt?” Drew asked
and Aaron looked at him for a minute.

“If we are going to do this, we
are going to muzzle them so no one gets bit in this practice.” Aaron said and
Drew looked like a kid on Christmas morning. I wondered if he got this look
every time an idea he had started to fall into place.

“Where do you want us to
practice with them?” Evan asked.

“The basement, it was set up to
be a store room. It has an observation room that we used to watch animals we
had in the cages. Now we can use it as a way to practice what we may face in a
real store on a supply run.” Drew told him and Evan nodded.

“Okay, do you think we can do this,
or do we need the others?” He asked and Drew looked at the three of us.

“I think the four of us can do
this, we just have to be careful.” He answered and we were off again.

Drew led us to where there was
a truck parked that had a trailer on it, that looked like a giant cage. It was
obvious this is what they used to cart the sick animals to the hospital. Drew
hopped into the front and I followed him, both Aaron and Evan climbed into the
bed of the truck.

Aaron hit the roof a couple of
times when they were settled and we made our way to the front entrance. We
could see the three Red Eyes as we got closer; they were right in front of the
entrance. Drew pulled the truck over. He started to back up maneuvering the
trailer to be as close to the entrance as he could get it.

“Now what?” Evan asked.

“That’s easy. One of us stands
on the back of the truck and gets the Red Eyes to come at them through the
cage. Someone else will close the cage once they’re in. The others watch and
make sure those bastards go where they are supposed to.” Aaron explained and
Drew nodded.

“I think Ashlyn should be the
bait to draw them in and Drew should close the cage.” Evan added in. Aaron
nodded his agreement and we got to work getting the gate of the cage open. We
also had to pull out the ramp that was stored underneath.

Once we were all set for
operation Red Eye capture, Drew used the call box to tell the entrance control
person to open it up. As soon as there was a crack I started banging the cage
and screaming as loud as I could. The Red Eyes didn’t pay much attention to the
guys who were all standing still and not making a sound.

They definitely smelled them. I
could see their heads twitch towards the guys, but were distracted by me making
noise. They stumbled over each other as they climbed the ramp to get to me. As
soon as the third one made it all the way in Drew slammed the gate shut and
locked it. He returned to the call box to tell them to shut the gate and all
four of us loaded back into the truck. When the gate closed Drew put the truck
in gear and headed towards the hospital.

Sam was outside and waiting for
us. Along with Micah, Sawyer, Sydney, Tone, Hunter, and Hannah. They were all
standing near where Drew was driving to. So I assumed they knew what we had
done and where we were putting what we had captured.

Sam directed Drew while he
backed the trailer up to a door that looked like it was built to fit the
trailer in it. As soon as Sam had him stop, Drew got out of the truck and Sam
walked up to him.

“What the hell were you
thinking?” Sam asked him, sounding more like a father than an uncle.

“We were perfectly safe.
Between Evan and Aaron, we got all three Red Eyes captured in one try and how
did you even know what we were doing?” Drew responded.

“Diamond overheard you talking
to Aaron and Evan in the hallway. She came to find me and filled me in on what
you were doing.” Sam told him, “You should have gotten a few more people, that
move could have gone horribly wrong.”

“You know what, you’re right. I
got caught up in my excitement and I should have thought that through more, but
it is over and done with now. So how about we figure out how we get the Red
Eyes off the trailer and into the cage?” Drew asked and Sam rolled his eyes as
he hugged him.

“We could try it the same way
we did with the animals.” Sam suggested.

“What did you do with the
animals?” Hannah asked as she eyed the Red Eyes.

“Someone would have to go into
the cage on the inside and open the door. Inside there’s a fenced path that
leads from this door to the big cage. Once the Red Eyes are in there we lock
them in and shut the rest of the doors, then remove the trailer.” Sam said to
all of us.

“I volunteer to go open the
door.” Hunter said as he raised his hand. “I’ve already been bit, so if it
happens again, I may already be in danger of turning as is.” Hannah looked like
she wanted to say something but she kept her mouth shut.

Sam agreed to let Hunter be the
one to open the door and lead the Red Eyes into their new home. He wanted the
rest of us to stay outside by the truck till Drew, Hunter, and he came back
out. Aaron looked at me and laughed as Evan sat down on the ground, his red
hair looked like copper in the sun.

I heard the door open and saw
Hunter pull down the ramp before swinging open the gate of the trailer. The Red
Eyes watched him and went after him as soon as he started moving away from the
door. Drew was the next one we saw as he closed the trailer gate and returned
the ramp to its place before he shut the door. Not long after that Sam came walking
out followed by Drew and Hunter.

“They’re caged. Let’s head in
and take a look at our new practice area.” Drew said, sounding giddy. We all
followed them as they turned around and headed back into the basement. The
basement was set up the way Drew had said it was. It looked like the aisles of
a store, complete with the same halogen lights you’d see hanging in most
stores.

“This is cool.” Micah said as
he looked around.

“It looks just like a small
store.” Sawyer added.

“This is perfect for what we
were talking about. Now with having the Red Eyes we can get a real feel for
what situations may be like out there on our runs.” Evan said as he walked
around checking out the space we had available to us.

“I just have to get muzzles on
them and we are good to go.” Aaron said.

“There’s a box over in the
corner that has a bunch of odds and ends in it, see what you can make out of
them.” Drew told him and Aaron headed towards the box.

“Once he rigs up muzzles we are
going to practice. Hannah you are going to watch everything up there in the
observation room. You can see the whole basement from up there. I want you to
take notes on how everyone works and where any weak spots are.” Sam said as he
took charge.

“Those stairs there lead to
that room?” Hannah asked and when Drew nodded she started off to get to her
perch.

Aaron came back with muzzles
that looked like they were used for the sick animals. He was smirking as he
held them up to Drew.

“Those are some heavy duty
muzzles for the animals deemed dangerous. Do you think they’ll work for the Red
Eyes?” Drew asked as he took one of them and examined it.

“Yes, my brother used ones like
these on a couple of Red Eyes. They worked and kept us from being bit; these
should be perfect for our group.” Aaron answered. I noticed that he wouldn’t
meet anyone’s eyes when he mentioned his brother.

“Let’s get them on the Red
Eyes. Hunter, Evan, and Aaron do you want to help me?” Drew asked. The four of
them headed to the cage.

Sam had all three of the Red
Eyes where they couldn’t move. He had gotten their arms through the cage bars
and tied them up. Drew and Evan started with one of the Red Eyes getting the
muzzle on as Hunter and Aaron did the same with the next one. Once all three of
them were muzzled, Sam gathered us together. Hannah was already up in the
observation room.

“I want Evan, Aaron, Drew,
Ashlyn, Sawyer, and Micah to go through the basement like you were in a store.
Tone, Hunter, and Sydney. You three will be with me opening the cage to release
the Red Eyes, we are going to be back up if they need it.” Sam directed
everyone and we split to do as he said.

Aaron split off taking Sawyer with
him, Drew ended up with Micah, and Evan took my arm and led me down one of the
aisles. Sam whistled twice signaling, and then we could hear the cage door
sliding open.

“When they start coming we keep
within talking distance. No wondering away from each other.” Evan told me, and
it reminded me that at one point Evan had a family he tried to keep safe.

“Okay.” I agreed as we started
glancing at shelves. We were pretending we were pulling things off without
actually touching anything. Before long one of the Red Eyes came down the aisle
we were in. Evan quickly threw things in its path and the Red Eye tripped,
sprawling onto the floor. I stayed close to Evan as we made our way to the end
of the aisle and started back towards the cage. We heard Sawyer scream a couple
aisles over, Evan changed direction as we went towards the sound. Aaron had the
Red Eye pinned and Sawyer was on the ground.

“It came around the corner; she
panicked and ended up tripping.” Aaron said as he kept the Red Eye pinned. I
helped Sawyer up and Evan went to help Aaron.

“Girls head down the aisle,
Aaron shove the Red Eye backwards and we’ll catch up to the girls.” Evan said
and Aaron nodded. I had to help Sawyer; she hurt her ankle when she tripped so
her arm was around my shoulders as I helped her walk. We heard the Red Eye fall
behind us and Evan came up beside us and swept Sawyer up into his arms as we
kept going. We met with Micah and Drew joined us as we got to the end of the
aisle the Red Eyes were following us. We led them back to the cage. As soon as
we got them locked away Micah took Sawyer up to the hospital to have her ankle
looked at by Scott. Sam waved Hannah down to see what notes she had taken.

“What did you see?” Sam asked
her as soon as she had joined us.

“Sawyer is our weak link right
now; she panicked and ended up hurt.” Hannah said.

“Yeah, girl needs some work.
She let her fear take control and if we would have been in a real situation we
could have both been killed.” Aaron said, he didn’t sound angry at all.

“So we have a starting point
for where we need to put some work in.” Sam said, “How about the others
Hannah?”

“Evan and Ashlyn stayed close
together, looked like they were communicating. They wouldn’t move on without
the other. When the Red Eye came they acted swiftly and moved on. They
responded to the scream they heard, they moved almost as one.” Hannah read out
of a note book, “Drew and Micah stayed where they could see each other. They
used a lot of hand signals and also moved quickly when Sawyer screamed. The way
they started to go ended up blocked by a Red Eye and they dealt with it by
using what was available to them. They used noise to attract the Red Eye’s
attention elsewhere. They threw screws behind it.”

“Well so far we have a real
team starting to come together.” Sam said.

“Do you think Sawyer is going
to be able to handle situations like this? Real situations where people are
depending on her.” Hannah asked, “Panicking out there could put people in real
danger.”

“She can learn; this is just
the first practice. We’ll see how bad her ankle is and we will work with her
and help her control her fear.” Aaron responded standing up for Sawyer, “She’s
never faced the Red Eyes before and it just got in her head.”

“I’m going to go check on
Sawyer and see what Scott says about her ankle.” Sam said and walked away.

“When you know, bring her and
Micah and meet us at the edgeless pool.” Drew told him and the rest of us just
looked at him.

“Where are we going?” Evan
asked him.

“There’s an edgeless pool set
up on the roof of the spa. It has amazing views and I think we should celebrate
being alive there.” Drew answered.

“I like this plan.” Aaron said.

About an hour later I was walking to
the spa where we decided to meet. Drew joined us a couple of minutes after I
had; he had Diamond and Denver with him. Diamond looked defeated as she
followed Drew.

“Hope you don’t mind, but I
didn’t want her just moping in her room.” Drew whispered in my ear and kissed
me. I saw Diamond flinch when my eyes caught her watching us. Denver was
standing as close to her as she would allow.

“I understand.” I whispered
back to Drew.

“Let’s head up and enjoy being
alive and together!” Drew called out so everyone could hear him. I noticed
there were other faces mixed in with all of us from the bus. They must have
been here in the dome before we arrived, because I didn’t recognize them. We
all followed Drew up the stairs that led to a beautifully set up pool. The
water went all the way up to the edge of the roof. There was some sort of clear
Plexiglas material, so it looked like the pool had no edges on three sides.
There was a grill set up on a wooden deck with a few tables set up as well as
lounge chairs.

“This is perfect.” I told Drew.

“Yeah and we’ll be up here when
the sun sets. Wait till you see what that does to the water and how it looks
with the edges the way they are.” Drew said and kissed my hand. He headed over
to the grill and lit it. He was throwing steaks on it as I turned to take in
everyone around us that were here, alive, and safe. Denver looked like he was
trying to talk to Diamond, but she wasn’t listening to him, she was staring at
Drew.

Micah joined us helping Sawyer
who had her ankle wrapped. She was smiling as he put her down on one of the
lounge chairs. He sat near her and they both waved at me. Aaron came over to me
and watched them for a minute.

“Seems like we stumbled into
paradise.” Aaron told me.

“It would appear so.” I told
him. Aaron swept me up in his arms and spun a couple of times before throwing
me into the pool. I screamed as I went airborne and came out of the water
sputtering and coughing. Aaron jumped in after me, I saw Sam was laughing.
Sydney and Tone were both sitting on the only edge the pool had with their feet
in the water. I didn’t even see Drew jump into the water till he emerged, as
water from the splash was still falling around us. One of the people who must
work for Drew was manning the grill and cooking something that smelled amazing.

“Look there.” Drew said
pointing to where the sky was starting to turn pink. The water at the edgeless
sides was also turning pink. As the sky changed colors the pool water changed
with it. Soon we were sitting in water dyed pinks, reds, and oranges. Off in
the distance we saw a flare flying up into the sky.

“Do you see that?” I asked Drew
as he was already moving to get out of the pool.

“Yeah, I need a map.” He said.
He went over to what at first glance looked like a little table but he opened
it and pulled out a folded paper.

“What is this?” I asked him as
he smoothed out the paper in front of us.

“A map of the area.” He told me
as he glanced to where we could still see the tail of the flare.

“What are you doing?” Aaron
asked as he joined us.

“That flare came from around
this area.” Drew said pointing down to a spot on the map. Aaron, Drew, and I
looked down at the map and back to where the light from the flare was
disappearing.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“We’re going to go and find out
who shot it off and see if we can help.” Drew answered as a second flare went
up into the air in the same spot.