“A few hours?” My skin started itching abruptly. There was a feeling under it, just under the surface. Maybe more of an instinct. Maybe, a doomsday inclination. “What do you mean, a few hours?”
“Kane left them alive,” she said simply. “Your father didn’t plan to.” Her chin jerked toward the area of the store where Vaughan and his brothers kept vigil over Page.
“What?” I whispered, afraid to draw their attention.
Her malicious glare came back to me and her eyes narrowed in that disappointed way she liked to use when she wanted to inflict special damage. I could tell by her expression she believed I was exceedingly dim at this moment. And she wouldn’t have been wrong. I felt stupid- really, really, really stupid.
“Kidnapping Page and Reagan wasn’t our only goal, baby girl. Your father’s aspirations were much larger than simply finding your brother a wife.”
I shook my head. “What did he do?” She didn’t answer immediately and panic seized my chest and took hold. “What did he do, Mama?”
“What he had to do. What he’s wanted to do for a long time now. They might not have been there when he moved in, but I have no doubt your daddy will get them in the end. It’s time to choose, Tyler. Us or them.”
“Them,” I answered immediately. My head started to spin and the room tilted dangerously sideways. Spots danced in front of my eyes and that instinctive feeling inflated in my chest to a suffocating degree. Fighting it, fighting the fear and the uncertainty and the overwhelming unease that I was late for something very important, I said, “I’ll always choose them. They’re my family now. And I’ll gladly fight alongside them to keep Daddy out of our world.”
When I thought she would spit in my face for disregarding the family she had carefully built and raised, she surprised me by letting out a good-natured laugh. “Oh Darlin’,” she said. “It’s too late for that. Much too late for that. He’s already in your world. He’s already made your world his world. If you do any fighting, it will be to get back in that building. He planned to move in as soon as you and your friends left on your pointless crusade. You gained two, but what have you lost in the meantime?”
As the conviction of her words set in, I realized exactly what we’d lost.
The storage facility.
Chapter Four
I tried not to stare at her. I tried not to show her how deeply affected I was.
I mentally tabulated everyone that had joined the free-Reagan campaign. We were all here. Everyone important and of true leadership quality had decided to come.
In a way, that was a blessing. Nobody that I cared about was left behind to fight my father by themselves or attempt to lead a big group of people that were largely untrained. However, in every other way, the consequences of our actions left that same group of people without protection and without a vetted leader to tell them what to do.
The Parkers, Reagan and Haley were anomalies even by today’s standards. The majority of civilians out there had stayed civilians. Most had bunkered down in a settlement as quickly as possible and found safety in numbers.
My daddy’s Colony wasn’t the only place where people flocked in droves with hopes of safety and a Zombie-free existence. Matthias had successfully given it to those that trusted him and Gage had done the same.
Hidden behind tall, stone walls and in a building that was nearly impenetrable, Gage had managed to shut his people away without the necessity of teaching them to use weapons or protect themselves.
Vaughan and Hendrix had actively fought against that ideal and begun the arduous task to train everyone at the compound. The guys had done a phenomenal job in the short time they’d devoted to it.
But it had not been enough.
And left to their own devices, there was no way those people could keep my father and his army of trained militia out.
We’d left them as sitting ducks.
Sure, Vaughan and Hendrix had gone back to the Colony and seriously crippled whatever they could. But it wouldn’t have been enough. And in their desperation to get to Page and Reagan, they’d fled before permanent damage could be inflicted.
We had only waited another day at the compound while I came fully to my senses and Miller became well enough to travel. Gage had been hurt too, but in his recovery he’d demanded to accompany us and give us more manpower.
At the time, I hadn’t thought anything of it. He and I had just been through a very specific gate of hell when we dealt with my family to rescue Miller. And the explosion from the dynamite Gage used had seriously roughened us up.
I knew he felt extra protective of me after all of that and I’d actually encouraged him to tag along; I knew it would be a relatively short trip and I hadn’t known what to expect once we got to the cabin.
I supposed I was looking for moral support. I had been selfish.
But now… Now I realized that I’d helped lure him out of his compound, out of the one place that belonged to him. And I’d left all those people- the people that trusted him with their lives and livelihood- sitting ducks.
“Choose, Tyler,” my mother interrupted my thoughts with controlled rage. “He’s waiting for you. If you’re not with us, then you’re against us, baby girl, and you know exactly what he does to his enemies.”
I swallowed against the iceberg sized lump in my throat. “Did you know about this?” I demanded from my older brother. “Did you know he planned to attack the compound?”
Kane shook his head. “I just learned.”
“Bullshit.”
Kane’s head snapped my direction and his eyes blazed with fury. “Whatever you want to believe about me, don’t think for a second that I’d ask him to kill hundreds of people so I could have one girl. I may be a monster, but that’s… that’s just…”
When he struggled to finish his sentence, I offered, “Convenient?” His face flashed into a violent glare. “You take your bride away to a secret hideout, keep her safe from the fallout while you let your father clean up the mess you made? It’s genius really. Reagan’s safe while the man she loves and the family she adores are slaughtered back at the compound. It’s practically poetic.”
“Go to hell, Tyler,” he snarled. “I didn’t know he was going there. I didn’t know he was going to assume rule while I was… away. I would have talked him out of it. Or tried to.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t believe you. And you know what? She’s not going to either.” We both looked for Reagan. “After all that progress you made… Such a shame.”
“Quiet,” my mother snapped. “Kane didn’t know anything about it, Tyler, so shut your mouth. Your daddy made this choice on his own, without Kane’s input. He knew how… Invested Kane was. He couldn’t risk anyone finding out, or alerting them.”
I stared hard at Kane and wondered if Linley was just covering for him or if that was true. Would it matter if it were true or not? Would it matter if Kane had knowingly taken Reagan out of the picture so the compound could fall? Or was he guilty by association no matter what?
Probably the latter.
I wanted to believe that the people of the compound had used whatever knowledge of self-defense Vaughan had imparted in them and put it to good use, but I was having a very hard time finding that kind of optimism.
My only consolation was that there would be no way Kane could get back from this with Reagan. She would never be able to forgive him for this. Her good heart would forever be shut off from whatever charm she originally saw in him.
And not only that, but his death warrant had just been officially signed.
My daddy might have gotten the compound, but he had no idea what it would cost him. Just like we couldn’t be certain that he’d already conquered the storage facility and set up shop; he couldn’t have any idea that the Parkers had managed to capture his wife and heir.
Our circumstances weren’t exactly even, but we weren’t behind the game.
I needed to talk to Vaughan. Immediately.
“Thanks f
or the heads up, Mama.” I stood up. “You’ve been helpful.”
She gasped in that shocked way only she managed to pull off. It sounded two-parts wounded, one-part truly aghast. It was a special talent of hers to make it seem like I was the one betraying her perfect trust after a lifetime of emotional abuse. Not only that, she added unwanted guilt just for the fun of it.
“Tyler, I told you that so you could make the right decision! Not so that you’d run off and tell those hooligans on your daddy! Not that it will do them any good. You get your brother over here right now. We’ve had enough of this. It’s time to join your family and show your mother some support.”
I actually smiled- a real, genuine smile. “Not a chance in hell.”
“Young lady, I am your mother.”
That wiped the smile right off my face. “You are my mother,” I agreed. “But you’re not my family. Not anymore.”
I walked away feeling the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. My feet felt faster, my body felt lighter. I couldn’t believe the freedom that descended on me the moment I’d stood up to that horrible woman!
It was one thing to sneak away in the middle of the night and think that I’d turned my back on that town and that family forever.
It was another thing entirely to have told that family to their faces that I was through with them.
I felt liberated. There was no other way to say it.
Unfortunately, I felt a lot of other things too. Such as guilt, fear and urgency.
I might be free, but the people at the compound could be in serious trouble. Knowing my father, they could very well be dead.
I walked over to Vaughan as he reclined on a couch with Page. He was careful not to touch her and raise her fever with his body temperature, but they still sat close.
Hendrix huddled nearby too, along with all the other brothers. Bobbi Jo, the lead scientist, the pretty scientist, wasn’t far from Vaughan. Haley sat nestled in Nelson’s arms. Miller had rejoined the circle to keep watch over Page. Reagan sat next to Gage and him.
Gage stood up once he saw me approach. He caught my eye and gave me a nod before immediately marching back to keep guard over the prisoners.
I didn’t want to draw attention to myself in the middle of this crowd. My previous conversation had been positioned far enough away that I doubted anyone over here had heard. And even though they really did need to hear the details of my father’s near-brilliant plan, I didn’t want to be the one to break it to them.
I knelt in front of Page so I could look at her wound and check her temperature. Yesterday, we’d managed to get some water into her. I hadn’t been successful yet today, but I hadn’t given up hope.
I felt her head and breathed a little easier that the fever hadn’t spiked further. Her wound looked almost… better. Although, I wasn’t ready to admit that out loud.
The edges of the gruesome circle had hardened and weren’t so wet and sticky. A thick layer of puss still oozed out of the center of the bite, but it had turned to a clear white instead of the putrid green that had been seeping out lately. I took that to be a good sign.
But only because the alternate was unthinkable.
The skin around the outside of the wound didn’t look as inflamed or angry either. Of course, I was forced to examine all of this with only a bank of lanterns and candles, so it could very well be nothing more than the lighting.
“How’s she doing?” Vaughan asked in a low voice.
The conversation stopped as soon as I walked over. At first my cheeks flamed as I thought they were all silently judging me for my dual make-out sessions with Vaughan earlier. But then I realized they were just anxious about Page and waiting for my diagnosis.
“I think she’s a little better today,” I told him in an equally careful voice. “I mean, it’s hard to say for sure, but she’s not… worse.”
Vaughan breathed out an extraordinary breath of relief and I felt the tension behind me leak out slowly. “I thought so too,” he admitted. “But I wanted to hear you say it.”
I gave him a curious look because I wasn’t exactly the qualified nurse everyone gave me credit for. He reached out and put his hand over mine. His fingers slid over the tops of mine before slipping between them and making the hold more intimate.
My stomach flipped and I very nearly forgot the crisis I was trying to lure him away from. I looked up at him and gave him the full force of what I hoped was a very serious expression. “Can we talk?”
He spared his sister one glance before nodding quickly. “Yes.”
I stood up and led him to a secluded corner of the antique shop. I avoided everyone’s prying eyes on the way and for the first time ever, hoped they assumed the wrong thing between the two of us.
Once tucked away in a dark corner with only one lantern to sit between the two of us, I sat down on a vintage couch with a silky yellow slipcover. Vaughan sat down next to me- directly next to me.
He took my hand immediately in his and linked our fingers again. With a gentle kiss, he pressed his lips to my knuckles and let out a heavy sigh.
“I’m sorry I was so forward earlier,” he confessed before I could explain why I’d brought him back here. “I was just so worried you wouldn’t recognize your feelings for me. I was afraid you were going to keep your head in the past and miss what could be between us.”
Okay, if there was ever a way to derail a girl’s thoughts…
“What?” I asked dumbly.
“You and me,” he said patiently. “And all these feelings that are between us. I don’t ever want to be insensitive with what you went through before, but you can’t live back there forever, Tyler. You deserve happiness even if you don’t want it. You deserve to be with someone again. Logan wouldn’t have wanted you to be lonely.”
I hit him as hard as I could in the chest with the back of my hand. “You idiot! You self-centered, egomaniac! What the hell are you talking about?”
He turned to face me properly. “What?”
What? What???
I dropped my head into my hands and groaned. “I did not ask you back here so you could tell me what I was doing wrong! Or that I had feelings for you! I know how I feel about you. I know exactly where my head is at and what it is thinking. You are the one that’s confused, not me!”
“You’re mad,” he sighed. “Okay, I can see that what I said might rub you the wrong way, it’s just that-”
I growled to get him to stop. “Enough. Listen, you’re really good at understanding other people, but frankly, you suck at saying things I like to hear.”
He let out reluctant chuckle. “You might be right about that.”
I extracted my hand from his and rubbed it along my clean jeans. After the battle with Vaughan earlier today, I had done my best with a sponge bath and dug my last clean pair of pants out of my pack. It wasn’t a big deal then because I had thought we’d be going home soon. I had imagined piles of clothes and clean underwear and hair product waiting for me.
Now, it was just me and these jeans and a whole lot of despair.
Oh, and one obstinate boy, who was having trouble thinking with anything other than his testosterone and other decidedly male parts.
“Can you, please just… Listen to me? For as long as it takes for me to say what I need to say?”
He nodded slowly. “That’s probably best.”
“I know it’s best. But I’m going to say everything that needs to be said and I will give you time to say your piece too, okay? I won’t just walk away or hit you or anything. I promise to listen.”
A completely melty smile spread across his face in a dragging way that reminded me of pure sex and hot summer days in the Deep South. How did he manage to do that? How did just the pull of his lips scream sex in a way that I’d never dreamed of and make my knees tremble with equal parts fear and excitement?
“Alright, Ty. I’ll listen to you, as long as you listen to me.”
“That’s all I ask.” I launched into eve
rything my mother told me. I told him about Matthias’s plan to take over the compound and how he’d hoped that at least some of the Parkers were staying behind so he could take care of them once and for all. I told him everything she’d said to me and watched his face as he sat with calm consideration and a collected cool that drove me a little bit crazy.
When I finished, he sat in silence for a few minutes as he absorbed everything in its entirety.
At last, he said, “Well, you’ve confirmed everything we thought might be a possibility once we’d left.”
“You thought Matthias might attack the compound but you left anyway? And with everyone decent that could have helped the rest of the civilians take care of themselves? And possibly kept my father out completely?”
His response was immediate. “Those capable people you’re talking about? They’re all my brothers. I would never leave without them.”
“And Gage,” I reminded him. “You left with Gage.”
“We left with Gage and your brother, Tyler. I thought those people were important to you.”
He brought Gage for me?
I… I couldn’t think about that right now.
“So, if you knew this was a possibility, why are we heading back to the compound? Shouldn’t we be getting out of here as fast as we can?”
He shrugged. “This is all hypothetical. I have to find out for sure or I’ll never forgive myself. I have to see if there are still people to be saved back there or if they’ve all sold their souls to Matthias Allen. We could only bring so many supplies. It would be nice to restock if he’s not there. It would be nice not to have to leave another place again.”
“What about the people that are there? What about all those lives if my mother is right?”
He leaned forward so that our faces were only a few inches apart and leveled me with his sincerity. “We gave them all the weapons we could, Ty. But honestly, before we left, Gage asked the heads of the families to surrender to Matthias if he came. At least until we got there. We didn’t want massive bloodshed, so we asked them to wait.” After a long pause, he looked down at our entwined hands and said, “I don’t know if they did.”