Break Free The Night (Book 2): Loss of Light (21 page)

              "And let you take my plant?" Marsden asked, one eyebrow raised. "No, I think not."

              "You can't kill us all," Quinton said. "There's no fight here for you."

              Marsden smiled. There was no joy in the way his lips curled, but there was a gleam of triumph. The door nearest to Andrew kicked open and Danny burst through, a small revolver gripped in his fist. He was as bloody as Kaylee was, smears running down his cheek and matted into his hair and clothing. But, unlike Kaylee, none of this blood was his own. He lunged towards Andrew and then seemed to think better of it, slinking back and closer to Marsden, his aim trained on the group. Marsden laughed.

              "We're better matched now," he said. "You alright?'

              "They knocked me out, I'm fine," Danny said. "Better than Cynthia anyway."

              Kaylee chanced a look at Quinton; his jaw muscle was working in anger or frustration. They should have tied Danny up in the very least. Or locked him in there. They had taken his rifle.

              Kaylee could have smacked herself in the head. Cynthia's gun. She had completely forgotten to take Cynthia's gun. And now it was trained on her once again, only not just her, her family as well.

              "What's going on? What's wrong with Cynthia?"

              Kaylee felt her stomach drop as a group of footsteps sounded behind Marsden. Rose, Maggie, Mario, and Paul strode into the room from behind Marsden. They were coming from their sheds, in from the yard through the kitchen. They were probably wondering why they had slept so soundly all night, maybe not even realizing they were drugged with dinner.

              Or maybe they weren't. Maybe they were all in on Marsden's plan, maybe they were fine with locking Emma in chains next to those infected men and testing her, draining her blood, cutting her up like an experiment. It could go either way, Kaylee thought. Their arrival could be a blessing or a curse, a way out or a death sentence. But even if they were a blessing, facing Rose now was the last thing Kaylee ever wanted to do, covered in her daughter's blood.

              "Demasiado ruido," Mario muttered.

              "Why's all the volume up?" Paul asked, his expression confused. Mario was already leaning over one of the main plugs and yanking it from the wall. Half the televisions cut off, the noise reducing to a lower buzz. Both men stopped dead when they took in the standoff in front of them, when they saw both Kaylee and Danny filthy with blood.

              "What the hell is going on?"

              Marsden ignored Paul's question, his eyes locked on Kaylee instead. She couldn't bring herself to stare back at him.

              "Kaylee, what's wrong with Cynthia?"

              "Rose, I-"

              How did Marsden know? Had he doubled back without any of them knowing it? Seen the mess Kaylee had made through a window using binoculars? Or was this a blind guess, just him knowing that if Kaylee and Emma were standing in front of him, but Cynthia was not, that it meant one of them attacked her. None of that really mattered. Rose was staring at her, making her own conclusions from the blood that was smeared all over Kaylee. She didn't know what to say, or how to say it, so maybe it was better that Danny cut her off.

              "She chopped her up!" he screamed, thrusting his gun in Kaylee's direction. Paul and Maggie froze, staring. With the amount of blood congealing on her clothes, there could be no doubt which of them Danny meant. "With a freaking axe, nearly took her head off."

              The color leached from Rose's face, drained from her wrinkled skin as though an axe had been swung through her. "No," she whispered, staring at Kaylee. This was a face Kaylee couldn't look away from, it was disbelief and desperation in a glance.

              "She was trying to kill me!" Emma shouted. Kaylee could hear her, could register the words, but she couldn't look away from the pain spasming across Rose's face. Emma's words drove acceptance home, made Danny's wild accusations solid truth. "She had me chained up, draining my blood!"

              "Yeah, 'cause you're one of them," Danny sneered. "Infected, rotting! I don't know why you're still walking around or why no one's killed you yet. You're bitten!"

              The shock from the Marsden's group was palpable. Jaws dropped and they gasped as one, stepping back and away from Emma as though she could infect them through the air.

              "She's not infected! She's immune!" Nick roared, stepping forward. Quinton put an arm out and Nick stepped back again, seething. The line held, each individual shifting, but keeping their space, forcing Marsden and Danny to target only one of them at a time. Quinton's aim remained unyielding, as did Andrew's.

              "No one's ever been immune," Maggie whispered, she was clutching on to Rose's hand now, keeping her upright as quiet tears slid down her face. "It's not possible."

              "She's probably just slow to develop it," Paul added, looking wary. "Where's the bite mark?"

              "Your people took Emma," Quinton said, ignoring their statements. "They took her and chained her in a shed. There are others chained there, other people who are infected. They've been doing experiments."

              "No!" Rose said, her jaw set. "Cynthia wouldn't-"

              "She did," Emma said, rolling the sleeve of her jacket up to show a deep bruise in the crook of her elbow. "They took a whole bag of blood from me. I heard her and Marsden talking about what they thought would happen if they drained me dry. They've tried with the things they have chained up but apparently they clot too fast, they were wondering if I'd survive without any blood."

              "She wouldn't," Anna interjected in a low voice. Kaylee glanced over quickly enough to see the shock and outrage on her face, the grief and fear lancing through Nick who was beside her. "Just in case any of you are wondering. She wouldn't. That would have killed her."

              Marsden's group paused collectively. Paul and Mario eyeing each other, Maggie and Rose gripping hands tightly. But Kaylee could see the direction of their thoughts. They must not have known about this. Danny knew, Marsden and Cynthia orchestrated it, but the rest had remained in the dark, content with the food and the electricity and the safety of The Mill and never wondering about the outer sheds that Marsden warned them away from.

              "We could go now," Quinton spoke into the silence, not looking at Marsden but at the faces that surrounded him. "We mean no one any harm."

              "No one except Cynthia, right?" Danny asked maliciously. "Seems to me you meant her plenty of harm."

              Kaylee clenched her teeth as a searing hatred towards Danny burned through her. She did not mean Cynthia harm, did not want to kill her or anyone. She was shot at, Cynthia was trying to kill her, would have killed her little sister without Kaylee's intervention. She was left with very little choice. She hated him for making her seem like the monster.

              "She shot me," Kaylee spoke through clenched teeth. "I found Emma and someone knocked me out. When I woke up, Cynthia shot at me." She reflexively clutched her shoulder, wincing as her fingers found the grazing wound from the bullet. "I didn't want to... I never wanted to hurt-"

              "But she's dead," Marsden sneered quietly. "She's dead and you're alive. You did kill her."

              "I did," Kaylee said, nodding. Her vision was blurring with the spark of tears. "I did, I killed her. Rose, I'm so-"

              "Don't," Rose murmured, her features hard. Kaylee clenched her teeth and lowered her gaze.

              "We can leave, right now," Andrew said, nodding towards the still open door.

              "And come back to attack us in our sleep?" Marsden insinuated.

              "We would never!" Anna hissed. "We're not like-"

              "So, a working power plant, electricity and safety, they all mean so little to you? Your morals are so strong that you could give this up? You could just walk away?" Marsden asked, eyeing their group like he had won.

              Kaylee watched as the group behind visibly tensed. The meaning behind Marsden's words was clear. He wouldn't let them leave and he couldn't let them stay. He wanted to kill them. He wanted his group's approval, their agreement that Kaylee and her friends should be shot.

              "They killed your girl, Rose. This one here," he gestured towards Kaylee with his barrel, "what she'd do exactly, Danny?"

              "Butchered her with an axe, there's blood everywhere, you should see-"

              "Enough." Quinton's voice rang quietly through the room. Every eye turned to him. "Stop torturing your own people, Marsden. The woman is dead. Kaylee killed her. No one here is arguing it. Don't make it more gruesome than it already is."

              "We just want to go," Anna added. Kaylee nodded and saw her sister and Bill do the same.

              "You killed one of ours," Marsden hissed. "The rest can go. Kaylee will stay. You took one of ours, we'll take one of yours."

              Kaylee froze, her limbs locking in terror. There was an outburst of argument, every one of the group that stretched in a line around Kaylee yelling, the words mixing together in an angry cacophony. All except Quinton. He gestured for them to stop, to quiet down.

              "You're more transparent than you think," he said to Marsden conversationally. "You know we would never allow that. You are right about one thing though. This plant is a very nice set up. Electricity, food, good people, safety. I've been watching from the woods, keeping an eye on my friends here, because there's one thing that's not quite right in this set up, one element of danger."

              Marsden sneered. But his eyes showed fear, Kaylee could read it from where she stood, all the way across the room.

              "What?" Danny asked stupidly. It was the opening Quinton was looking for.

              "Him," he answered softly, pointing his gun at Marsden. The leader of The Mill stiffened. No one spoke for him, in fact the room had gone shockingly quiet. "Jack and I have survived, roaming around, for quite some time. Nick and Bill and their group were stationed in the middle of a city, surviving. They can preserve food, hunt, fish. Anna is a registered nurse. We have a motor home that's stocked better than any pharmacy ever was and a person who knows how to use it all. We could keep this place going for a long, long time. Andrew knows power plants very well, he knows the intricacies of running a place like this and he would teach you. Am I wrong in assuming that Marsden has kept this information from the rest of you? Are you worried that without him this place would fall? It wouldn't."

              Quinton fell silent, his eyes past Marsden and focusing on the confused faces of the people behind him. Paul, no longer fearful, looked pensive, thoughtful. Maggie looked confused, looking from Marsden to Quinton. Rose was despondent, leaning against Maggie and unable to absorb the rest of what was going on.

              "Don't get suckered by-" Marsden began but Paul quickly cut him off.

              "Why did you have this girl chained up?" he asked, pointing to Emma. "If she's infected, how come she doesn't act like they do?"

              "She has a bite mark!" Danny shouted.

              "From an infected person?" Paul hedged, looking from Emma to Danny. Kaylee looked to Emma who's mouth had opened. Quinton was shaking his head ever so slightly, just a small inclination of his head, and Emma shut her mouth.

              "Did you ask her?" Maggie asked, looking from Paul to Danny. "What did she say?"

              "I didn't ask," Danny spluttered. "Since when do we ask people with bites where they got them?"