End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle (31 page)

             
I was enraged so much I shook. The idea that Joel caused pain and death to my people made me pissed. I was wrong before when I told Mike I had to look out for everyone. I was upset and mad about those who died, but Dave and Jim were my family.

             
I looked at him, I looked at Eric. Jim was going to have some choices to make. I did notice something, ever since Jim started dating Manny, even though he said it wasn’t serious, he moved his wedding ring to his right ring finger. He never did that with Eric.

             
I sat next to him, took his hand, he opened his eyes, slightly but they were dilated.

             
“Manny?” Eric got up and made a loud scraping sound when he pulled his chair out. He stormed out of the room, slamming the door when he left. Not my problem. He could have fixed it with Jim when he had the chance.

             
“Nah, it’s Tanya, you’re gonna be alright. Manny’s right next to me.”

             
Jim didn’t respond. He didn’t look like he had any idea where he was. At least he asked for Manny and not Cam. Manny took his hand.

             
“Jim, I’m here—“

             
Jim didn’t respond. Instead he closed his eyes. Manny sat in Eric’s chair. I looked into his face. He cared for Jim more than Eric ever did.

             
“Let him rest,” Hannah said. “I’ll keep an eye on him. Annemarie can help.”

             
“I need Annemarie, and Mike. Ask Carol for help,” then I realized Carol was dead. “Ask Paul to help.” Hannah looked into my eyes. She was gonna say something but stopped.

             
“Mike, Manny, Annemarie, let’s go to the comm room.”

             
We left the infirmary and went to the living room. As we entered, the door opened and Lucy came in looking sweaty, pale, and out of breath.

             
“Tanya!” It took her a few moments to catch her breath. Mike and I helped her to the couch. After a few seconds she could talk. “I followed them as far as I could on Euclid. I don’t think they saw me. I lost them—I’m sorry.”

             
“Don’t worry. What can you tell me?” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.

             
“It was Joel, that SUV he always uses. They wore masks but I knew.”

             
Lucy looked around, with the exception of Grace, every single shooter was here. She looked back at me. “What’s going on?”

             
I stood up. “We’re forming a posse. We are going to get Grace back and kill those motherfuckers.”

Part 4

All Points North

Chapter 20

Grace

             
I preferred the late lunch. Sometimes I ate outside but today the brutal heat and the fans in the
cantina kept me inside. In Costking, I did not like eating with the others. A luxury I did not have here. The open space and no gates to keep the zombies out meant safety in numbers.

             
I was surprised to see him still in the room, staring at me. Usually when I come in, he would walk out. Even on KP duty such as today, he would take a break when I appeared. Go into the back and avoid me. 

I’
ve surprised he stayed when Frannie left. I thought she was over her crush on Joel after his appalling behavior in Harbor Heights. I don’t want Joel. She can have him.

             
He stared at me for a good minute until he finally left. I didn’t say a word.

             
I planned to eat quickly and take a nap. I also thought about riding to the beach and taking a quick dip. It was a good two or three miles but Euclid would be up to the challenge. I loved that horse, he was a fine animal. He reminded me of the horses I left behind at our estate. I unlocked the stables but there was nothing I could do to keep them fed. I only hoped they were smart enough to run. I think they were. Horses were smarter than people when it came to danger.

             
I ate quickly, finishing my plate of tuna salad. I put a ton of salt on to make it half-way edible. I don’t care what Eric thinks of me, I missed his mother at mealtimes and I did her a favor.

             
A few minutes after I finished, my eyes felt heavy, followed by wooziness. My head began to swim and my vision blurred. I tried to chalk it up to too much heat and work in the field until I couldn’t keep my head up. I fell forward nearly hitting the tuna salad in front of me. That would have been messy. I heard gasps, the movement of chairs, Jim was at the closest table. I heard his voice call out my name. I heard the doors open with a bang. No one came to my aid. All I heard was screaming and the sound of bullets, but it almost seemed like a dream. I wanted to reach for my rifle, but I couldn’t move my arms. I heard bodies falling. I felt no pain.  I felt arms around me when the wooziness turned to black.

              When I woke up, I didn’t know where I was, only I lost my clothes and felt a man on top of me, raping me. Not the best way to wake up. The room, dimly lit had one light working in the massive chandelier above me. His weight was on me so it was hard to move or breath. The man didn’t notice my eyes were opened, because his were shut as he grunted. 

I knew who he was, one of Joel’s men, Bill. He came around with Joel and had gone on that hunt of Harbor Heights, but he didn’t make much of an impression
other than an ugly scar on his cheek. My suspicions were correct about how I perceived Joel. A cold hearted killer just like me. The day I met him I knew he was bad news but I kept my mouth shut for Tanya’s sake.

             
I heard the sound of the door opening, then a voice.

             
“Hey, get off of her,” the man said but he didn’t seem like he cared nor did he attempt to get Bill off me. The voice didn’t belong to Joel.

             
Bill didn’t listen. He grunted, moaned and finished. He got off me and stood up.

             
“She’s awake,” the other man said. I saw him now. Joel’s other lackeys, Chris. There was a blanket on the bed, I grabbed it to cover myself, but I noticed my capri shorts and underwear were around my ankles. Under the blanket, I pulled them back up. I had no idea where my bra and shirt were. I knew I was nowhere near a gun. Chris had one on his back. I had to figure out a way to get it.

             
Bill hadn’t shed his clothes. He pulled up his khaki shorts, which had an army fatigue pattern, and zipped them. Chris similarly wore fatigues, but I didn’t think either of them was military.

             
“Where are the rest of my clothes?”

             
Chris said nothing. I was in a bedroom, a big one, probably in some mansion. The bed was large and the rest of the room was filled with oak furniture. He walked towards the dresser and grabbed a shirt out of it and tossed it to the bed.

             
It wasn’t mine. A floral polo shirt that was too big, but I put it on anyway.

             
“Besides dull sex,” I said. I would never let these men see me upset. “Is there any reason you kidnapped me and shot up a bunch of innocent people?”

             
The men didn’t answer me. Raping Bill looked annoyed. I pulled the blanket away and sat at the edge of the bed.

             
“I asked both of you a question.”

             
“Joel will explain everything, bitch, so shut the fuck up.”

             
“See, was that so hard?” I said, unfazed. I had been called bitch so many times it didn’t matter.

             
The man looked frustrated. I knew the kind of man he was. A bully and hater of women or what he considered weak. I had a feeling my tongue might cause trouble, so I had to control it, but I didn’t want them to think I was a doormat.

             
I think they wanted to see me cry. Be upset of being raped and cursed at but I wasn’t going to let them have that luxury.

             
“I like to see Joel as soon as possible. This is unacceptable.”

             
Bill didn’t say anything, but the other guy actually grinned.

             
“Unacceptable? Why I’m sorry Madame, would you like some tea? Perhaps some crumpets?”

             
“Some tea would be nice.”

             
Chris didn’t reply because the door opened and there was the man of the hour. Joel stood there, looking me over in my capris, oversize shirt and bare feet. Unlike before where he wore jeans, tee-shirts and tried to look sexy, now he wore grey fatigues.

             
“Leave us,” he said.

             
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison as they both left.

             
“I guess you didn’t kill the rapists. Were you talking about your own men?”

             
“Did Big Bill fuck you? I hadn’t realized. He sees a pretty girl and it just takes over. I was telling the truth—somewhat. Some rapists were keeping women as chattel. I killed them and took their chattel.”

             
I pretended what he said didn’t faze me. “This is not the best way to recruit me.”

             
“This isn’t a recruitment. I’m pretty sure if I put a gun in your hands at any time, we’d all be dead in five seconds.”

             
“Less. You murdered all those people in the cantina.”

             
“That’s your fault. You should have come with me when I asked. I would’ve told Tanya you decided to stay and no one would have gotten hurt.”

             
I wasn’t buying his guilt trip. “What do you want from me?”

             
“Grace,” he paused and sat at the edge of the bed. “Grace Hamilton Sinclair, of the Hampton bay Hamiltons, has a nice ring to it. Father was Timothy Sinclair, father of you and Joe, who was a doctor. Kind of low on the totem pole for a Hamilton, don’t you think? But not so much since Joseph ran your father’s pharmaceuticals company and was his personal physician.”

             
“You know who I am and you should know my name no longer matters.”

             
“The Hamilton’s were the old money, weren’t they? The Sinclairs? Your father didn’t inherit all his money. He actually earned some of it. New money right? The Hamilton’s weren’t pleased your mother married new money? Am I right?”

             
“What are you getting at?” I ignored what he said, but he was true. My grandparents breathed a sigh of relief when my mother divorced my father. To them my father was trash because his parents were middle class.

             
“About six months after the world ended, I found a lab, part of SL Pharmaceutical Company. They have labs all over the world. You know what the S stands for.”

             
“Yes, it’s one of my father’s companies.”

             
“That he owned with his best friend and run by your brother.”

             
“What are you getting at? So you know about me. Yes, my father was venture capitalists. He had his hand in a dozen companies. He always voted Republican and he hated paying taxes. Is some kind of weird vendetta against me because I was part of the one percent and must be punished? My father’s wealth didn’t protect anyone.”

             
“This has nothing to do with your wealth and everything to do with SL. Tell me about it.”

             
“I knew nothing about my father’s business. Half the time I didn’t know what companies he owned. I was a 19 year old idiot college student when the end came.”

             
Joel didn’t say anything. It almost looked like I threw him off script.

             
But he recovered.

             
“SL made vaccines and drugs. Their biggest seller was H2N2 flu vaccine. Panicked a lot people into buying it when H2 came out. You know, the Rat Flu.”

             
“So, the lab wanted to make money.” I didn’t know what Joel was getting at but I started to suspect.

             
“They took a big hit on their diet drug LaLose. It’s amazing how many libraries still use microfiche or have paper copies of the Wall Street Journal.”

             
“A drop in the bucket for my father, but surely you didn’t murder people and let someone rape me to discuss that.”

             
“I came across some papers. About how the next flu vaccination needed to make a shit load of money in order for the company to remain profitable, but who knows when the next terrible flu would come along. Do you know what happened next?”

             
“No, but I was sure you’re going to tell me.”

             
“Make the flu,” he said. “They made the Hell virus that killed billions of people. Your family did it. I’m here to decide if you need to be punished for it.”

             
I didn’t believe him. “You actually have documents that say my father, my brother, or I released the virus?”

             
“No,” he said but he didn’t look fazed. I didn’t like that and I figured he was looking for someone to blame. “They didn’t call it H311. They wrote a report about wanting to release a virus instead of waiting for the next epidemic.”

             
“That’s still not any proof my father was responsible or that this virus was H311 or if they actually released it. SL had many labs.”

             
This was the problem and I saw it in his eyes. He didn’t care. He was looking for someone to blame.

             
“In the lab, I found a fax. They said that some people wouldn’t get the flu. Instead they were carriers of the zombie virus.”

             
I didn’t say anything.

             
“You knew a carrier, right?” I didn’t respond. “Right? Rachel, your former leader? And some of your people have big mouths. I knew Rachel gave the virus to Dan by fucking him.”

             
“I don’t know what you’re getting at.” He didn’t know about Keith.

             
“I’m sure your father didn’t want billions of people killed or the survivors being attacked by zombies. He wanted a panic so they would buy more vaccinations. They made money off the last one.”

             
I didn’t believe him. I knew daddy. He wanted to make money, and SL probably lobbied highly for drugs and vaccinations but he wasn’t a monster.

             
“You’re thinking about it.”

             
“I know my father, you don’t. He liked making money but he didn’t release the virus. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt me or Joe. And I don’t think he wanted to kill himself.”

             
“As I said before, he probably didn’t want to kill billions of people, enough so the company could make money, but something went wrong, didn’t it?”

             
“You’re a liar. My father wasn’t responsible and no matter what, neither was I. I didn’t know anything about his companies or what they did.”

             
“Ignorance won’t save you.”

             
“So you’re going to kill me? Is that it? Kill me and the world magically resets.”