“I heard you were knocked out for the past few days,” Keanu said.
“Yeah, I had no idea what was going on. But I feel a lot better.”
Finn’s hand ran down my back, sending shivers through me. “Anne said she gave you everything you needed to get better. I told her about your wounds and the bleeding, and she assured me that she would take care of you.”
“She did.” I knew I shouldn’t tell them about being bound and blindfolded. It would make Finn upset, and having to meet with the leaders soon, I didn’t want his anger to carry out on them. So, I kept quiet on the subject.
“How have they been treating you two?”
“They’ve been kind, but I know they also had a hidden agenda,” Finn said.
“What?” I asked, curious to see what he thought.
He took hold of my hand. “It’s obvious they heard all the warnings from the government. They know you are a huge asset, but don’t know the full extent. If they ever find out the real power you possess,” he paused and turned to me. “I won’t ever let them make you a pawn, Abi. I will die before anyone mistreats you.”
Midas barked once in agreement.
“Hell, I guess I’m on board too,” Keanu added. “You guys have grown on me, and Abi, he’s right. You don’t deserve the shit they’ve thrown at you.”
Earlier than expected, Anne came to the door with two bags. She handed one to Finn and one to Keanu. Keanu immediately peeked inside and found his boots and clothes, clean and pressed.
“Ahhh, equality,” He breathed and I laughed.
“Come, dear,” Anna said. “Let’s let them change, while I take you back to the room. I’d like to give you another dose of iron before we head to the meeting.”
“All right,” I said. “Is it okay if my dog comes along?”
Her eyes narrowed on Midas as he walked to my side and sat, his head twisting to the side as if awaiting an answer. “Yes, of course.”
I turned to Finn and gave him a quick kiss. “See you soon,” I whispered.
“See you soon.”
MIDAS SAT QUIETLY AT MY feet while Anne made me swallow an iron pill, checked my injuries and took my vitals. “Looks like you’re healing nicely,” she said.
“Thanks to you,” I replied. “You’ve taken such good care of us.”
Her eyes lifted to mine. “We’re all in this together, and the only way we’re going to continue to survive is by taking care of each other.”
“I wish everyone shared your sentiments.”
She gave a sad sigh. “Human hearts and minds can be complicated when they shouldn’t be.”
She had no idea how complicated my mind was. If she did, I would probably still be tied to the bed.
“Knock-knock,” Finn’s sexy voice spoke.
I soaked him in as he stood in the doorway—tight, black T-shirt, and kick-ass boots. I had to remind myself to breathe as my eyes reversed, scanning back up to his molten chocolate eyes.
He knew I was checking him out, and the dimpled smile on his cheek gave it away. If Anne wasn’t in the room, he would have said something, but he bit his tongue on her behalf.
Keanu came up behind him, looking handsome in his camouflage soldier uniform.
“You two clean up nice,” I said.
“Is she all right?” Finn stepped forward, looking to Anne.
“She’s fine. Very healthy.” She gave me a small bottle. “Take one of these every day with food. It’s an iron supplement.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“My pleasure,” she replied, walking toward the doorway. “It’s time. Follow me.”
Finn walked to me and took hold of my hand, which instantly gave me comfort. He kissed my forehead, “Everything will be all right.”
I nodded, but the thought of being scrutinized by a bunch of bunker leaders had me on edge. The last time I had a meeting with leaders, they all ended up dead. I didn’t want a repeat.
“Come, Midas,” I called as we walked out the door. He fell into step right behind Keanu.
Anne walked us out of the medical wing and into another hallway, which led to another and then another. After a few turns right and left, she finally stopped.
“They are already inside,” she smiled, gesturing to the door and stepping to the side. As I walked past, she touched my arm. “Don’t be afraid, Abi. Just be yourself. These are good men. Once they see you for who you really are, they will understand why Mr. Murdock and I have your best interests at heart.”
Her words offered some comfort, and I thanked her before walking in.
Finn held onto my trembling hand as we made our way in.
“Don’t let go,” I breathed. His touch gave me strength and support.
His eyes met mine. “Never.”
God, I loved him.
Inside the room sat a large table with nineteen men on one side. We were led to the opposite side, and sat facing them. Midas settled in behind us.
I could feel their eyes analyzing us as we took our seats. Damn interrogation. When I looked up, every man I glanced at turned or shifted away from me. It took a lot to hold back the smile fighting to lift my lips. They were afraid of me.
“Why isn’t she blindfolded?” one of them asked at the end of the table.
Finn’s thumb ran slow circles over my hand, keeping me calm.
Mr. Murdock stood, his eyes narrowing on the man. “My wife and I have examined her, and she is no threat.”
A murmur overtook the room as all the men started talking between themselves. Finn squeezed my hand by impulse, and I wondered if he knew he was doing it. I squeezed back, and he released. He must have been just as tense as I was.
“Stop,” Mr. Murdock said with a voice of authority, making the room fall silent. He turned to me and nodded. “Go ahead, Abi. Tell them.”
I stood and told them everything I’d shared with the Murdock’s, and by the time I was done, they were all looking at me with wide expressions of disbelief.
The door opened, and a younger man came running in. He bent over and whispered into Mr. Murdock’s ear. Mr. Murdock’s expression changed, and he spoke back in a regular voice.
“Give an alert, code red. Tell all the men to prepare.”
“Yes, sir,” the man said, and left the room quickly.
The other men started panicking when Mr. Murdock spoke. “Our radios caught a transmission from the government. They’ve sent out three teams in choppers, filled with soldiers, to collect you, Abi. They are headed directly, toward our location.”
I shook my head, completely dumbfounded. Finn’s hand tightened around mine, and I couldn’t tell if he was pissed off or just as shocked as I was.
“How? How could they know?” I asked. I was positive I didn’t have conversations with Dr. Simon or Chase, unless someone in their bunker ratted us out.
Mr. Murdock turned to me, as if he could read my mind. “We had no contact with them. It appears, the last place they saw you, at a bunker up north, they found over six hundred dead Arvies and tracks of one vehicle leaving the scene.”
“Six hundred?” the number exited the lips of all the men. Their gazes on me.
Mr. Murdock held up his arms. “And word is, there are thousands of mutants gathering from all over, who are also heading this way. The government has been tracking them, hopeful it will lead them to you.”
Shit! My freaking mind was a beacon for the mutants. There was no place safe anymore. I stood and headed toward Mr. Murdock. “Let us leave. We can take the buggy and get far away from here.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late to run,” he said. “They will be here in under ten minutes, and the Arvies are only a few hours behind them.” The alarm blared “Get your weapons and families and head into the safe room,” Mr. Murdock ordered.
The men dashed out of the room without so much as a glance toward me, but Mr. Murdock stayed. “I’m not sure what I can do for you at this point. I’ll return your vehicle and your weapons, however, I don't kn
ow how far you can get. Not with the amount of time we have left. I can try and hide you—”
“No,” I said, cutting him off. “I don’t want to put your hive in danger. We’ll leave. We’ll find a way.” I turned to Finn and squeezed his hand. “We always do.”
“Most of our residents have moved topside, and have started building homes and planting gardens—”
“Mr. Murdock, I won’t let them harm your people. Give us the keys to the buggy, and we’ll leave and try and draw them away from here.”
“What about the soldiers?” he asked.
“We’ll deal with them.” I turned to Finn and Keanu. “I think I have a plan, but we need to leave ASAP. We have to at least draw them away from here.” I looked down at Midas. “Mr. Murdock, can I ask one huge favor of you?”
“What is it?” he asked.
“Will you look after our dog? I want him to be safe, and if we can, we’ll return for him after this is all done.”
“Of course,” he said with a nod.
I knelt down and looked Midas directly in his eyes. “Hey, boy.” I scratched his head. “You’re going to stay here, okay? But we’ll come back for you,” I promised, believing it was true.
Midas barked once and licked my face. Wrapping my arms around him, my heart ached.
Right before we exited, Anne came into the room and Mr. Murdock gave her quick instructions to take Midas and get to safety.
Anne hugged me tight one last time. “Good luck and God speed,” she said, before taking Midas out of the room.
“Follow me,” Mr. Murdock said, leading us down the hall at a jog. We climbed up a ladder, out of their bunker into a shed. It reminded me a little of Kurt and Megan’s bunker, and it was a smart way to cover it up.
We continued to follow Mr. Murdock out of the shed and into a home just across from it. I noticed they had put up a temporary fence, made of metal. It wasn’t tall, or very secure. It told me they really hadn’t prepared to return topside and weren’t expecting the Arvies. Still, they did have men and firepower, but not nearly enough to keep the impending Arvies out.
“The buggy is out back.” He paused briefly. “Could I ask how you came to possess such a vehicle?”
“It was a project from a bunch of bored scientists stuck in a bunker for thirteen years,” Keanu answered. “We sort of borrowed it.”
Mr. Murdock’s brow cocked. “Ahhh, okay. Well, it should be fully charged. It was sitting in the sun all day yesterday, and last night, I threw a tarp over it.” He proceeded to a corner of a finished room, where a huge wall-safe was built into the wall. He entered a code, then pulled the handle to unlock and open it.
“Here are your weapons.” He handed Finn the duffle, then turned back to me. “Please be safe.” His eyes softened as he looked at me. “I would have loved to have seen you take out six-hundred mutants.” He shook his head in disbelief. “It was a pleasure meeting all of you, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck.”
“Thank you.” My arms, on autopilot, wrapped him in a hug.
“Oh.” He exhaled a bit shocked. But a few seconds later, he hugged me back. “You remind me so much of my daughter.” When he stepped back, his eyes welled with tears. “She had the same brown hair, green eyes, and wild spirit.” He paused, getting choked up. “She died in a car crash, fifteen years ago. She was almost the same age as you were now. She would have been thirty-one this year.”
My heart ached for him, and couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to go underground without her. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.” He shook Finn and Keanu’s hands.
The three of us ran to the back. While Finn and Keanu took the tarp off the buggy, I pulled Hellfire from my pack and slid a loaded magazine into her, then loaded a round into her chamber.
“How are you feeling, Abi?” Keanu asked, unloading the dog food and placing it in a pile on the ground.
I knew what he was really asking was if I was well enough to release Venge, if need be I wasn’t. Although I did feel much better than the days before, my body was still mending. I was sore and had a lot of healing to do.
“I’m still on the mend, so drive like hell.”
We all jumped in the buggy and Keanu started it up. I turned back, and in the distance, I could faintly see three dots in the sky, and a wall of dust rising high into the heavens, miles back.
Anyone seeing it would have thought it was a dust storm. But it wasn’t. It was the Arvies, pissed and coming for me. We just had to steer them away from Mr. Murdock’s bunker.
“Buckle up, bitches,” Keanu hollered, stomping on the gas. We flew back as we sped away, past the open gate, and into the desert. He had his foot pressed to the floor. “Where the hell are we going?” he hollered back.
“As far away from the bunker as we can. But keep south.”
“You know the choppers will catch up to us pretty quickly,” Finn noted
I grinned. “I’m counting on it.”
“Counting on it?” Keanu snapped. “What the hell is your plan?”
Finn’s eyes narrowed on me. “It better have the least danger involved.”
“Of course,” I said, keeping my smile. If he saw I was stressed, or thought there was any real danger, he’d call it off. So I had to be totally confident…even though I wasn’t entirely.
I shared my plan as we sped away. Both Keanu and Finn didn’t like it at first. Actually, Finn outright refused, but after I pleaded my case, they finally agreed, knowing it could be our ticket out. I hoped it would work. It was our only option.
THE RIDE WAS BUMPY AS hell, and the choppers were gaining. I knew they would threaten us with gunfire. I also knew they wouldn’t hurt us, because I was too valuable. According to Mr. Murdock, they’d seen the dead Arvies at the previous bunker. I’d had no idea how many Venge killed, but shit, that was a record. They were witnessing my power. My devastation.
What they didn’t see, was how much Venge was taking a toll on my physical body. I’d unleashed her twice, and had been lucky to survive either time.
Finn turned around and grabbed my hand as the choppers got closer.
“You ready?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“For you, yes.”
“Ever the romantic,” I said, batting my eyes.
His eyes narrowed. “Please be safe.”
“You’re the one I’m worried about. Don’t do anything that would separate us. Like I said before…I need you.”
He lifted the back of my hand to his lips and kissed it. “I need you too.”
“Choppers are coming fast,” Keanu hollered.
“Wait until they give us warning shots, then stop.”
“Got it,” he said, shooting a thumbs-up. “Those bastards better use warning shots and not kill shots.”
“We’re all assets. They won’t fire on us.”
The first chopper flew overhead, then the second and third. “Stop the vehicle!” A voice on a loudspeaker yelled.
Keanu kept going.
“Stop the vehicle, or we’ll fire!”
We kept going, and bullets fired warning shots about fifty feet away.
“Stop!” I shouted.
Keanu threw on the brakes, and we spun out, doing a three-sixty. The three choppers surrounded our vehicle, and Keanu and Finn turned back to me and looked into my eyes. In a split second their eyes went blank. Stay still until I tell you. They turned around slowly, obeying my orders.
I jumped out of the buggy with my hands up, and walked about five yards away.
“Drop to your knees, face down, and put your hands behind your head.”
I did as he said and one of the choppers landed. Six soldiers jumped out, moving toward us with their weapons aimed at me. Keanu and Finn remained in the buggy, frozen and under my control.
I could hear the footsteps getting closer, before I was yanked up, and a black sack was pushed over my head. Assholes. Then, the soldiers yelled for Finn and Keanu to get out of the
buggy and get down.
“Don’t hurt them!” I shouted. “They’re under my control.”
“Don’t shoot!” a soldier near me yelled. “They’re under her control.”
I used my thoughts to pull them out of their trances, not knowing if it would work.
“Holy shit,” Keanu swore. “Where am I? Why the hell are you guys here?”
“Dude, the chick blanked your mind. She’s been using you.”
“What are you talking about? Give me a damn gun.”
“No, man. General Drake’s orders are to bring her back unharmed.”
Finn remained quiet, and I was glad.
“Load them in the chopper and get restraints for the girl,” another voice yelled.
“Yes, sir.”
I was yanked to my feet and dragged through the sand, before being lifted into the chopper. Several hands exchanged me, until I was finally seated on the floor. I didn’t move. I didn’t speak. I had to make them believe I wasn’t a threat.
At this point, I wondered if I would ever make it to Grammy’s.
Hell, no. What was I thinking? I shouldn’t even ponder going to her place. I had to stay away from Colorado until I was certain I wasn’t a risk.
The heat under the hood was starting to become unbearable. My breath was labored, and my pulse was racing. I needed to get myself under control and slow it all down, or I’d pass out.
What I really needed to do was find a way out.
Then, it was as if a light clicked on and I had an idea. Taking a deep breath, I blew it out, and slowly relaxed, letting my head fall back onto the wall. Closing my eyes, I focused on the outside.
Pulling myself from my physical body, I was standing inside the chopper, hovering a foot away from my sleeping body. I was ghost walking...which I considered to be a much cooler name than astral projection.
Walking outside of my body helped lessen the anxiety. It let me see what was around me, and gave me a chance to assess the situation. I was temporarily numb to the heat and the being bound, so that was an added plus.
Looking around, I saw that my body laid at the back of the chopper, and as I scanned around me, I counted seven soldiers, including the pilot and the sergeant, who were both in the front. Finn, Keanu, and I made ten total.