My hand starts to shake. I lower it, seeing the stricken face on him. I nod at Star, "Fix yourself and her."
He nods, "Thank you."
I almost hit him with the gun, but I don’t. I turn, seeing the way everyone is looking at me.
Mitch is holding Will back. I holster my gun and look at Star, "Did they overrun everything?"
She nods, looking like she might pass out any second.
"Do you think they'll stay there?"
She nods, "Michael wanted the mansion; he knew what Bernie had there. He doesn’t care about us."
My eyes narrow. She sees the look, "Soon as I'm better." I stalk off, back to the platform. I can't look at Will and Anna. I know they're disappointed in me. I am too, but it's not for the same reason. I wish I'd killed Michael, when I had the chance. I should have known that letting him live would mean that he would find a way to still live the good life, and it would still be on the backs of the weak. I climb the tree and slump onto the platform. Jake giggles. It makes me smile.
"Did you shoot that nice doctor?"
I sigh and look down at Leo snuggling into a ball again, "Shit."
Jake nods, "That’s about it."
The sun sets and someone brings food. Jake climbs down and gets it. He passes me the fresh bread and stew when he gets back up. I moan, "The food is getting better, I swear it."
He nods, "It is. At least Nan stopped trying to make goat butter. That was nasty."
I laugh, "We need a cow or two."
I see a dark figure limping across the field and wince, "Shit."
Jake looks and laughs, "This is going to be fun."
I hear Leo growl and the doctor struggle to get in the tree with the injured legs. He winces and moans, but makes it to the platform, dragging his body across it.
Jake reaches over and pulls him to sit with us.
"Hey."
The doctor tries to catch his breath, "Hi."
He presses his back against the wood of the platform railing, "So, I want to go to the mansion and tell Michael that this camp is a bust. It's a little shit show of people barely surviving."
I laugh, "No."
"They'll come here to look for themselves, if I don’t."
I shake my heads, "I don’t trust you. Anna may be fooled by Doctor Nick, but I am not."
He sighs, "You will be bringing the small army Michael has down on these people. I can stop it."
I lean into him, "You are going to tell him exactly how to get here and exactly how to overrun us."
He looks at Jake, "Is she always like this?"
Jake grins, "Worse usually. This is her keeping her temper in check."
His eyebrows raise. His dark-blonde hair and dark-blue eyes remind me of family.
"How did you know you were a Gen baby?" I ask, ignoring their conversation.
He smiles, "I knew always. My mom died; Michael raised me at the lab and explained how much better I was than everyone else. When the world ended, Michael took us to a place to stay safe, while the city was being finished. Things happened faster than he thought they would. He wasn’t as involved in the end of the world as he liked to think he was."
"Why did he let the seed Gen babies overrun the city and terrorize people?"
He frowns, "I think he sees them as superior. He doesn't see the flaws in the system. He thinks the weaker humans should bow down to them."
"How are you so calm?"
He sighs, "I'm not. I'm just not trained for combat, the way you are."
I chuckle, "I'm not trained for combat. My dad died when I was ten. This is me surviving."
Jake points, "It's similar to combat training though. I guarantee, if there were marines left, she would be one of them."
The doctor puts his hand out, "I'm Nick."
Jake takes his hand, "Jake."
I roll my eyes, "He came here to help Michael terrorize us, and you're shaking hands?"
Nick gives me a look, "I don’t know how else to make you believe. I came here to seek you out. I was at the breeder farm where you were for a few weeks. I left about four days before you took it down. I would have helped you, if I had known that was what you were going to do."
I listen to the silence of the forest and shake my head, "I don’t want your help."
"I can birth that baby for Anna and I can stop Michael from coming here."
I narrow my gaze, "How? Go there and tell him everything is shit here and we're toothless mountain people? Then what, genius? You think he's going to miss the fact you're leaving again?"
He shrugs, "I'll go with the next scouting party and run away when we attack. They'll think I died. I'll be back before it's time to birth the baby."
Jake nods, "This is a good idea."
I shake my head, "No. He stays and keeps Anna safe. That’s the plan, or he dies. He doesn’t leave the yard."
Nick smiles, "You really are a hard ass. You remind me of Michael."
I growl. Jake slides along the boards between us, "Whoa, let's not start name calling."
Nick's eyes burn, "I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I meant it as a compliment. He had the potential to be someone amazing once. He let his God complex get to him. I don’t think you have that flaw."
I grin at him, "I have others."
He laughs bitterly, "I am betting I haven’t even seen half of them."
I stand up, "We haven’t even scratched the surface." I toss Jake the rifle, "Don’t shoot yourself." I climb down, trying to hide the fact I am a seething mess.
I want to go to my meeting tree but I don’t. I decide to face the music. I walk up to the door of the house as someone clears their throat.
I glance behind my shoulder at Mitch standing in a shadow. His right eye is swollen shut. He points from the dark doorway of the barn, "You gonna kiss this better?"
I snort and press my back against the door, "Is Star okay?"
He nods, "She's fine. She's like you, heals quick."
"Aren't we the lucky ones?"
He shakes his head, "I don’t think so. That irrational temper of yours isn’t worth the fast healing."
I swallow, "Is Will okay?"
He laughs, "No. That’s where I got this little gift. He's pissed. He sent Jake out to the tree; he knew he'd toss you over the edge."
I shrug, "I might win that fight."
He scoffs, "Not likely." He waves me off, "You better go face the music again." He slips back into the shadows, no doubt going to the loft to do his turn at the watch.
My stomach aches and burns, but I open the door, ignoring the look I get from the cook pit ladies. I give a simple nod and walk down the hall.
"We don’t blame you."
I look back at them. The Jake dog gives me a happy look.
"We don’t blame you. God knows what has become of our friends at the mansion. God knows what that monster is capable of."
I nod again, "Thanks."
I turn and walk down the hallway. I go face the really mean one first. She glares at me as I open the door. Leo jumps on her bed, trying to soften her for me.
She rubs his fur, glaring at me. I put my hands in the air, "I told him he can stay."
"After you shot him twice—how generous."
I sigh, "Anna, he's one of them. He's one of them, whether we see it or not."
She points at me, "You're one of them too!"
I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, "I'm worse. Night." I step out and close the door, leaving Leo in there to try to make her feel better.
I put my hand on the knob but the door flies open. Star stares at me from the doorway. I don’t know what to say or think, so I go for the obvious, "You alright?"
She looks back at Will who is sitting on the bed with no shirt on in a pair of shorts.
His eyes are wide, guilty. It makes me sick, but I have to assume it's nothing. The fire burning inside of me is trying to explode, but I fold my arms over my chest, holding myself together.
She nods, "I will be. I'm healing quickly. You okay?"
I nod, "How bad is the village?"
Her eyes water, "Sully, uhm…" She starts to cry, "Sully is gone. He fought a lot of them and most of our people got away—they ran. They knew the trail through the bomb woods so when they got chased Michael's men got blown up. A lot of them are dead." A sickening grin crosses her lips, "It's probably only twenty men."
I laugh, "We can take twenty men."
She wipes her tears and shakes her head, "We gotta kill him. He's already planning shit. He's been taking the infected and releasing them on towns. Hordes of infected."
That was why he was caging them. I shake my head, "That doesn’t even make sense. He's just making more of them."
She shrugs, "I don’t think he cares. I think he just wants the borderlands cleansed of people like them."
Will looks at us, "Night, Star."
She nods and gives me a sorry look, "Night."
She walks past me down the hall. I enter the room and close the door. Will gives me a hard look, "You want them to stay here, and then you scare the shit out of them when a single guys shows up. You know how many people wanted to leave today, terrified of when the crazy girl was going to snap and kill everyone?"
I swallow my defense and let him get pissed off. He's sweating again.
"You can't go around shooting people and acting nuts. You have to learn to use your words and not your hands." He coughs and I see something red fly from his lips. I look down at the blankets, "How long has that been going on?"
He shakes his head, "It's nothing. Just the old wound acting up."
I walk to him and press my hand against his face. He's hot like Jake was that one time. I close my eyes.
