Broken World (Book 6): Forgotten World (2 page)

“You’re all here?” Hadley asks, looking back at me.

“Not all of us,” I say, pulling myself to my feet while also helping her up.

“Tell me everything,” Hadley says.

“Sit down,” Jon says, waving toward the table. “I’ll make coffee and we can talk.”

Hadley starts to lead me to the table but stops and starts laughing. “Look what I did to you.” She wipes something off my shoulder, and I look down to find my jacket covered in flour.

“It’s no big deal,” I say, taking her hand. “I don’t care, I’m just glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” Hadley says, squeezing my hand. Her eyes fill with tears once gain, but she blinks them away. “Let’s sit down.”

We settle in around the table, Joshua on the other side of Ginny and Axl next to me. He sits so close that his body heat warms me. His hand finds mine, and he gives it a squeeze. When our eyes meet, he smiles. For the first time in months, I give him what can be called a
real
smile.

“I can’t believe this,” I whisper.

He nods in agreement. “Never thought it would happen.”

Me neither
is what I want to say, but my throat is too clogged with emotion to get it out, so I just squeeze his hand.

When the coffee is brewing, Jon slides into the seat across from me. “It will be a few minutes.”

“Tell us everything,” Hadley says again. “Where are you living? How did you get away from the hot springs? Is everyone okay?”

The hot springs. It’s been so long since that happened, I had totally forgotten Jon and Ginny didn’t know about the people we lost there. And since. Everything that’s happened since the last time I saw her last flips through my mind, along with dozens of questions, but it’s all overshadowed by the most recent tragedy. Sophia.

“There’s a lot to tell you.” I exhale and shake my head. “Almost too much to comprehend. But first, you should know that we brought Sophia here.”

Hadley squeezes her eyes shut and nods. “The baby. Is it done?”

I nod even though she still isn’t looking at me. “It is. We should have come sooner, but we weren’t sure about this place. Sophia went into labor and there were complications. It was an emergency that made us finally take the plunge.” I reach across the table and grab Hadley’s hand so I can give it another squeeze. Just to reassure myself this is real. “I can’t believe you’ve been here this whole time. If only we’d come months ago!”

Hadley opens her eyes, and even though they shimmer with tears, she smiles. “You’re here now, and that’s the important part. I’d almost given up hope.”

“I think I had,” I say, laughing a little.

Hadley nods. “Maybe I had, too.”

We hold each other’s gazes, all the things we’ve been through together hanging over us like a cloud of emotions and pain and fear clogging the room. But it’s better than the uncertainty I’ve lived with for the past few months. So much better.

“Now, tell me about the hot spring,” she says.

“We got overrun,” I tell her, letting out a deep sigh as I relive that horrible day. “Zombies came in the middle of the night, a whole horde of them. There were so many and we were caught off guard. Trapped. It was close, but just when things started to look bad, Darla, Angus, and Parvarti made it back.” I wince at the mention of my mom. Yet another loss. “Thanks to them, most of us made it.”

“Most?” Hadley whispers.

“Moira and Liz, Dylan and Jessica.” I shake my head and suck in a deep breath. “Jake died a couple days later.”

“We didn’t get the meds in time,” Joshua says, the pain of the loss just as raw today as it was the day Jake died.

“What about you?” I ask Hadley. “What happened to you guys?”

“We got separated in that town when someone opened fire. Jon and I hid for hours. Waiting until the coast was clear. By then Parv, Darla, and Angus had left. It’s a good thing, since they saved your asses. Jon and I headed out, too. We made it back to the hot springs, but it was too late. After that we tried to follow your trail, only the snow made it impossible and we had to give up.”

Hadley looks us all over, her gaze lingering on Axl for a second longer than the rest of us. Pink spreads across her cheeks, and she glances away, squirming as she reaches across the table to take Jon’s hand. When I turn toward Axl, he too seems to be uncomfortable. It takes me back to the day Hadley and Jon disappeared. She and Axl had been fighting that morning. I’d forgotten all about it.

“We met a teenage girl named Gretchen who told us about this place and decided to come here,” Hadley continues, keeping her gaze away from Axl. “I knew I was pregnant, and somewhere along the way I told Jon.”

“I had to get her somewhere safe.”

“Course you did,” Axl says, his voice lower than usual.

“So you’ve been here ever since?” Joshua asks.

“Yes. Jon has helped clear the streets and I created a new identity.” Hadley looks up but keeps her eyes on me. “It’s very important to me that no one knows I’m Hadley Lucas.”

“Your secret is safe with us,” I say.

“You look good.” Hadley’s eyes move over me. “Healthy. I’m assuming you found a place.”

“Got us a gated community ‘bout twenty miles from here. It’s a good deal,” Axl says. “Thanks to you folks gettin’ the water goin’, we’re sittin’ pretty good. Electricity would be nice, but we got us some kerosene heaters and stuff. Kept us warm durin’ the winter.”

“We can get you electricity now that we know where you are,” Jon says.

“But they won’t need it.” Hadley shakes her head and focuses on me. “You’ll be coming here now, right?”

“Some of us will.” I glance toward Axl, unsure if he’s still determined to stay out there or if he’s willing to make the move now that he knows Jon and Hadley—Ginny—are here and this place is absolutely safe.

“What do you mean some of you?” Jon asks. “Ginny makes a good point. Why stay out there when we have a real working town?”

Axl sits up straighter, but he still doesn’t look at Hadley. “We got things set up real nice, and we ain’t that far.”

“Twenty miles during a zombie apocalypse is a big distance,” Jon says. “Especially now. Now that the snow is gone and those bastards have thawed out. They’re all over the woods. Not to mention the fact that there are some nasty groups out there. We don’t have to tell you that.”

“No,” Axl says stiffly. “You don’t. We had a run-in with a few assholes durin’ winter. Took care of it, though.”

“But there are bound to be more,” Jon says. “We’re working with Atlanta to establish a government. It’s nothing like the old one, unfortunately, but for the time being it will have to do. We’ve established a group of guards that will do the double task of dealing with zoms and marauders. We’ve also elected a judicial officer—kind of like a sheriff. They want one central person in charge of dealing out punishments.”

“Justice has to be swift and harsh these days,” Hadley says.

“Sounds great,” Axl replies, “but I don’t know what the group is gonna decide. Sophia and her girl are comin’ out here, but other than that I got no idea.”

“Did you lose anyone over the winter?” Hadley asks, focusing her green eyes on me.

I look away, but not before she sees the pain in my eyes. “Darla. Back when those assholes attacked. She was shot trying to save me. Angus has taken it really hard.”

“And Winston,” Joshua says. “He—he never really recovered from losing Jess. Took a handful of pills just a couple weeks ago.”

“Dear God,” Hadley gasps. “I can’t believe it.”

She shakes her head, and Jon grabs her hand, giving it a little squeeze. I slip my own hand into Axl’s.

“Everyone else is okay, then?” Jon says. “Parv and Anne? Angus?”

“Everyone is okay,” I say, nodding. “Although Angus is another story altogether.”

Hadley snorts despite the sorrow in her eyes. “He’s always been a pain in the ass, though.”

“It isn’t just that,” I tell her. “The craziest thing happened back in November, not too long after we lost you guys. We went out to gather some supplies and we were overrun, and in the middle of it all Angus was bitten. We thought it was the end, but…I don’t know. Nothing happened.”

“What do you mean nothing happened?” Jon asks, dropping Hadley’s hand and sitting up straighter.

“Just what she said.” Axl shrugs. “He’s immune. Or somethin’ like that.”

Hadley and Jon stare at us like they think we’re crazy, and I can’t say I really blame them. It feels crazy, telling someone outside the group about what happened with Angus. After all the people we’ve seen die, it’s incredible to think he’s survived all this. And it hasn’t changed him at all. No infection. No adverse effects. You’d think after the damn virus killed most of the world something would have happened to Angus, but he’s the same as he was before he was bitten.

“Immune,” Hadley says, only it doesn’t sound like a question. “And you’re sure he was bitten?”

“Ain’t easy to miss it when a zombie sinks his teeth into somebody’s shoulder,” Axl snaps, and I shoot him a look. Why’s he being such an asshole all of the sudden?

Jon and Hadley look at each other.

“We have to tell someone,” Hadley says.

Something about the expression on her face tells me we are missing something. Something big.

“What’s going on?” I ask, sitting up straighter. Squeezing Axl’s hand until the bones in our fingers grind together and he’s forced to wiggle his hand free.

Hadley tears her gaze away from Jon and turns my way. “When we first got in touch with Atlanta, they told us someone down in the Keys had claimed to have been bitten and didn’t turn,” she says, and suddenly all the air is sucked out of the room and replaced with something that makes my head feel lighter. “They were going down to extract the girl, but before they could get to her she was killed. It seemed crazy, but when we got in touch with the Florida group, they confirmed it.”

Holy shit. Angus isn’t the only one who’s immune. It makes sense, but I didn’t think we’d ever hear about someone who had the same gift. The world is too spread out. It seemed impossible. Nothing is impossible anymore, though.

“Since then we’ve been looking for someone else who might be immune,” Jon says.

“Why you lookin’ for somebody immune?” Axl asks, eyeing Jon like he’s sure the other man is about to jump him.

“The CDC is still working in Atlanta,” Ginny says. “If they’re able to find someone who is immune, they think they’ll be able to create a vaccine.”

“Oh my God.” I can’t believe it, because it doesn’t make sense. How can we have discovered so much hope after so many months?

“Holy shit,” Joshua says.

Ginny and Jon nod, and the five of us just sit there, staring at each other. All of us thinking about what this might mean. If we can get Angus to Atlanta and they can create a vaccine, then none of this other stuff will matter. Any baby born will have a chance of survival. If we inoculate everyone, getting bitten won’t be a death sentence. We’ll be able to go out and kill these dead bastards off and rebuild even faster. The future will be more certain.

And Angus James could be the key to it all. The savior of the human race.

2

EVERYONE IS TALKING at once, and not only is it impossible to focus on what they’re saying but impossible to think. The hall stretches at least twenty feet in both directions, but everyone is crammed into a ball as they fight to be near the office door. It’s so loud their voices feel like they’re bouncing off the inside of my head. Plus, none of this really makes sense. Angus was bitten and he lived, that we’ve come to accept. But other people are out there, not just starting over but working to create a vaccine? At the CDC in Atlanta? I just can’t wrap my brain around it, not after all the time we’ve spent thinking society has come to an end.

“We got them!” someone yells over the crowd, and I look up just as a pudgy, bald man sticks his head out of the office.

The leader of Hope Springs, Corinne, pushes her way through the crowd toward the door. She’s tall enough that she towers over every woman around and most of the men, so it’s easy to follow her progress. Everyone watches as she disappears into the room, but the talking doesn’t stop. If anything, it seems to grow louder, and I have to fight the urge to scream at everyone to shut up. I don’t know who’s on the other end of the radio—someone important down in Atlanta, I’m sure—but if these people don’t shut up, Corinne won’t be able to hear them.

“Who did they get?” Joshua asks, raising himself up on the tips of his toes so he can see over the crowd. With his tall frame, I don’t know why he needs to do it. Maybe it’s just an automatic reaction.

“The CDC,” Hadley—Ginny—says.

She’s right at my side, standing so close her arm is pressed up against mine. In front of us, Axl and Jon and Joshua stand. Even though everyone around us has been talking a million miles a minute, the five of us have barely spoken. I’m not sure what’s going on in Jon’s and Hadley’s heads, but I’m pretty sure Axl, Joshua, and I are in shock. It’s been a while since we saw this many people together or were surrounded by this much noise and chaos. It’s a lot to take in.

“They’re going to want to take him there,” Jon says.

Axl draws his lips into a purse, but he doesn’t say anything right away. I meet his gaze, trying to focus while also resisting the urge to cover my ears. Around us, the voices seem to grow louder, but there’s a good possibility the noise has more to do with the questions circling through my head than the people in the hall. There are a million of them—questions, I mean—so it takes me a few seconds to sort through. Something about Jon’s statement has my stomach buzzing uncomfortably.

“Who’s
they
?” I ask, still not totally sure what part of all this is bugging me.

“Us. Hope Springs. Atlanta. We’ll put a group together so Angus has plenty of protection out there, so I’m not sure who will go or how many men there will be, but I know they’re going to want to get Angus to Atlanta as soon as possible,” Jon replies.

“That’s gonna be up to Angus,” Axl says, breaking his silence. “He’s gonna have a say in this. It’s his life.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Ginny asks, looking directly at Axl for the first time in a while. Only the expression on her face isn’t friendly.

Axl’s gray eyes hold hers, and they’re stormier than I’ve seen them since our first few days together. “Angus don’t gotta go if he don’t want to.”

“We’re talking about helping the human race.” Hadley shakes her head. “You can’t leave it up to a selfish prick like Angus. You need to
tell
him to go.”

Axl doesn’t blink. “Selfish prick or not, he’s gonna have a say in it.”

Hadley glares at Axl and Jon shakes his head, but before either one of them can say anything, Joshua lifts his hand. “I agree with Axl. You’re talking about asking someone to become a science experiment. To sacrifice his freedom. It’s only fair that he should have a say.”

My stomach flips, and that’s when it hits me: if Angus goes to the CDC, he isn’t going to have a say in anything that happens to him. They’re going to use him as a way to produce a vaccine, which means he’ll be giving up everything. It wouldn’t surprise me if they locked him in a cell and had armed guards watching him at all times. His life would be over, and just when he’d reached a point where it actually had some meaning.

“So you’d just let humanity disappear rather than sacrifice one person?” Hadley spits as a little bit of the Hadley I knew sneaks her way to the surface. Even though she was a tortured person, I can’t help being glad to see her.

“And you’d force him to give up his life?” Joshua asks, holding her gaze. “Is that what we’ve come to? This is still America, even if it looks different than it did a year ago. Angus deserves to know the facts.”

Hadley scowls, but Jon stays silent. His eyes move across us, seeming to stop on Axl and Hadley longer than Joshua or me, and I can’t help wondering what’s going on. There’s so much intensity in his gaze and so much tension between Hadley and Axl.

What the hell is going on with everyone?

Corinne comes back out of the room, followed by Dax, who keeps right at her side. His chest is puffed out like someone who’s trying to make himself look bigger. Maybe even more important. He looks the group over, and when his eyes stop on me, he smiles. Something about it sends a shiver shooting through my body, and even though I think it’s stupid and I might be overreacting, I find myself moving closer to Axl.

Corinne stops, and around us, the talking eases to a quiet hush. “We managed to get in touch with the CDC in Atlanta, and they’re quite eager to have your brother arrive. Would you like an escort to go with you and retrieve him?”

Dax steps forward—almost in front of her—like he’s ready to volunteer.

Before he can say anything, Axl shakes his head. “We’ll head on back to our place, but we’d like for you all to keep your distance. Give us a chance to talk all this over and decide what we’re gonna do.”

Corinne blinks. “Excuse me?”

“There are things to take into consideration,” Joshua says, stepping forward to stand on the other side of Axl. “Angus is the one who is going to be poked and prodded, and it’s only fair that he knows what he’s in for. It’s his life.”

Corinne presses her lips together as she glances around, and Dax takes another step toward our group like he thinks he’s going to strong-arm us into doing what he wants. Axl meets his gaze, not the least bit intimidated by the larger man, and Dax frowns.

“He has to say yes.” Corinne shakes her head. “We have so much riding on this.”

“We’ll talk it over,” Axl says firmly.

The people standing around us start murmuring again, and the mood changes from excited and hopeful to slightly hostile. For a second, I worry a fight’s going to break out. Maybe we shouldn’t have told these people where we live. What if they follow us? What if there’s a fight or they kidnap Angus in the middle of the night and drag him to Atlanta? We can’t fight all these people off. There’s no way.

“We just need some time to prepare,” I say, flashing Dax a smile. I don’t know him, but I don’t want to risk him running off and doing something we’re all going to regret. “This has all been such a big shock, but I’m sure Angus will understand how serious the situation is.”

Axl shoots me a look, but I force the smile to stay on my face.

“Yeah,” he says, slowly. “We gotta get movin’ so we can talk this through. Our people are gonna be wonderin’ where we’re at. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

Corinne nods, but with the way her eyes narrow on Axl, I don’t think she totally buys it. I’m starting to get really concerned that these people will resort to force if they have to.

Axl is practically running when we step out of the building, and even though I have to jog to catch up, I don’t blame him. I can’t wait to get back home. So much has happened. Sophia’s baby, Hadley and Jon, Atlanta and the CDC, and now a possible vaccine. We need to talk about it all, but I also want some time to absorb it with people I know and trust. Away from all the chaos.

I only hope no one tries to follow us.

“What are you thinking?” Joshua asks, keeping pace with Axl and me.

Axl doesn’t slow. “They ain’t gonna let Angus say no.”

“I agree,” Joshua says.

“Will he say yes?” I ask.

Saying no would be selfish, which has been one of his defining characteristics since he first picked me up on Route 66. Only, for some crazy reason, I think Angus will be okay with doing this. That giving up his life won’t matter as much now as it would have. Which is crazy, because I’m pretty sure he hated everything about himself before all this. Now, though, he has a purpose and a reason for living. Which is exactly why I think he just might be okay with making such a huge sacrifice.

But it
should
be up to him. It’s his life, and if he wants to say no, it’s his right.

“Not sure,” Axl says.

“Vivian!” Hadley yells from behind me.

Axl swears and doesn’t slow, but I do. He’s not going to leave without me.

Hadley and Jon hurry our way, and I let out a deep breath. They’re part of our group, but they’re also part of Hope Springs, and I’m not sure if bringing them back with us is a good idea. Then again, it’s not like they have the ability to force Angus to do something he doesn’t want to do. None of us have succeeded in that, except maybe my mom.

“We want to come,” Hadley says when she catches up with me. “I want to see everyone, but I also want to be there to talk some sense into Angus if he needs it.”

“You can’t force him,” I say. “You know that, right? This is his life.”

Hadley narrows her eyes, and I brace myself for some sort of verbal attack, but instead she says, “They’ve already started planning. They’re going to want to head out as soon as possible. This is important.”

“I understand, but so is Angus’s life.”

I end the discussion by turning to head after Axl and Joshua. Hadley and I can go back and forth about this for hours, but it’s obvious neither one of us is going to back down. The best thing we can do right now is head home and let Angus make the decision.

Hadley and Jon follow me, but neither one talks. I can only hope they’re thinking this through and that they’ll decide to stand by us if Angus says no. After all this time praying and hoping we’d find them, I hate the thought of this coming between us.

We make it back to where our SUV is parked and pile inside, missing Sophia but feeling snug thanks to the two extra people we’re bringing back with us. Even though I’m still reeling from what just happened and wondering who’s side Jon and Hadley will take, I can’t deny that I’m thrilled to have them back. To know that they made it after all, and that Hadley—Ginny—is healing. The determination that I admired in Hadley Lucas has returned, but the woman next to me is softer, too. Like someone who finally understand the beauty of life.

“When are you due?” I ask as Axl drives through the streets of Hope Springs. “So much happened that I didn’t get a chance to ask before.”

“June sixth,” Ginny says, running her hand over her growing stomach.

“Boy or girl?” I ask.

“We didn’t find out. We still don’t know what’s going to happen and I felt like finding out the sex would make it all too hard if…” She shrugs and looks away, but her hands don’t stop moving across her stomach. “You know.”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “I understand.”

“We gonna talk ‘bout this Atlanta thing or not?” Axl snaps.

“What else can we say?” Jon replies. “We’ve told you how important this is. The thing is, we shouldn’t have to. You know how big it would be if they created a vaccine for this thing.”

Axl nods. “I do.”

“Then you understand why everyone is concerned. Angus
has
to say yes.” Hadley lifts her head stubbornly.

Axl’s hands tighten on the steering wheel even more with every word out of her mouth. Something big happened between the two of them, but now isn’t the time to ask about it. There are too many other things going on, and whatever it was can wait.

“Is that why you’re here?” I ask, turning my body so I’m facing Hadley. “Did they send you to make sure Angus does what he’s told? You of all people know that’s not how he works. Sure, he’s changed and grown. Matured even. But you’re still talking about asking him to sacrifice himself. He could be giving up everything for this, and I think it’s only fair that he gets at least a couple hours to consider what that means.”