Hunter Of The Dead (13 page)

Chapter Nineteen

They staggered out of the tent—or, rather, Eden staggered and Kaede strolled—to find the camp in chaos. Near the gate, Taro and Alejandro fought the remaining guards while people ran to and fro, screaming.
Idiots
.

She shook her head and let Kaede help her towards the dais. Someone needed to get these people’s attention, and she hoped to God they would take charge before she got there; neither she nor Kaede were cut out to being a leader.

God must have been listening.

Jordan stepped onto the dais looking regal despite being covered in bruises and blood. Eden’s heart caught in her throat, making it impossible to breathe. Jordan was alive. She was really all right.

No one else seemed inclined to pay attention to her sister...until she cocked the shotgun in her hands and fired it into the night. The sound was enough to get people to look up and realize they weren’t under attack.

“Harlot!”

Eden barely had time to process the word before a rock flew at her sister. She spun around, searching the crowd for the assailant, but it was no use. Almost every face was twisted with some degree of rage and hate. They just saved these people from certain death and now Jordan was about to be killed for it. It made Eden want to walk away and let them deal with the zombie threat alone. Not the children, no, but everyone else.

As calm as ever, Jordan leveled the shotgun at the crowd, her Spanish low and clear in the sudden silence of the night. “The next one gets a bullet to the face. Since this is buckshot, their neighbors will get some as well. Try me.”

Utter silence descended. It was one thing to have the threat of a mob behind your actions. It was totally another to have to take responsibility for yourself and your neighbors.

Jordan nodded. “I didn’t think so. Are you ready to listen?” She continued without waiting for an answer. “Good. You’ve been misled. The man who claimed to be a priest wanted you dead. The responsibility for that—” She motioned to the fence where the moans of the infected hadn’t abated. “—lies not with God, but with man. It is an infection that kills whoever is bitten and raises them from the dead. If you walk out those gates, you will die. And then you will rise again to hunt your family and friends.”

Eden couldn’t tell if Jordan was getting through to these people. They all wore mulish expressions, no doubt straining against the belief that the priest lied to them. Her hand flexed on her knife, waiting to see what would happen next. From her angle, she might be able to hold off the crowd if they rushed Jordan—for a few seconds. It was the kids that gave her pause. In the chaos, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t hit one. It made her sick to even think about. Eden desperately hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Jordan was speaking again. “My team and I have been sent to eliminate the infected and deliver you to safety. I can only do that with your cooperation. If you fight me, we all die. We must work together to clear a path in order to get out of the valley. Do you agree?”

Here was the moment of truth, when these people would fall in line like good little sheep or create a mob and rush her sister. Eden’s whole body tensed, waiting to see what the reaction was. Hopefully she was wrong and these people weren’t stupid enough to hurt their only chance out of this mess. On the other hand, they had been ready to commit mass suicide. That didn’t bode well for their decision.

A man stepped forward, limping a little. He made a show of looking around before meeting Jordan’s eyes. “You would see us to safety?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

The silence stretched between them until Eden wanted to scream. Finally the man said, “Then we will follow you. For now.” The threat lay implicit behind his words. If they didn’t like what Jordan told them to do, they would rebel—and probably get everyone killed in the process.

Eden never liked working with survivors, especially on this level. Not that they’d ever had so many survivors to deal with before, not like this, but the point remained. They always caused problems, questioning the team’s decisions and thinking they knew the first thing about the infected or how to deal with them. And now Eden had to deal with fifty of them. Fantastic.

She frowned. That put the total of people in the valley at nearly three hundred. Surely their employer hadn’t been so off in their estimates. Which made her wonder why their employer lied. Had the team been sent into certain death? Or was there another, deeper, motive that she couldn’t see yet? Even after interrogating the priest, she still had more questions than answers. Eden didn’t like where her suspicions led her.

All the unanswered questions left her feeling twitchy and wanting to shoot something. If she hadn’t panicked and stabbed the priest so many times...No, there was no use thinking about it and wishing things were different. They weren’t. The priest died before he could tell them who he worked for. It didn’t matter, not right now. Now they had to focus on surviving.

“The first thing we need to do,” Jordan said, “is tend to the injured.”

The crowd grumbled a little bit, but they separated, heading back to their tents and taking any injured with them. Once the space around the fire was mostly clear, Eden ran up to the dais.

Jordan turned towards her, a beautiful smile on her face. “You’re okay.”

Eden hugged her sister hard. “And you’re alive.”

“We need to search the camp and see what we have to work with.” That ability to focus on business, on survival, in the midst of this mess was something Jordan inherited from Dad. Not that Eden would ever point that out. She wanted to keep her head attached to her shoulders.

Neither of them was prone to emotional break-downs, although Eden felt deliriously close to one right then as she held her sister. Instead of freaking out or, worse, crying, she stepped back and nodded. “I’ll check it out.”

Jordan squeezed Eden’s shoulders before she let go. “Be careful. These people aren’t very happy with us right now.”

She didn’t need to be told
that
. “Do you have a plan?”

“Always.” Which didn’t actually mean anything. Jordan was a good leader, which meant she didn’t show weakness. If she didn’t have a plan now, she would before the night was out. Eden chose not to comment as she headed towards the priest’s tent. Before she went looking for whatever it was Jordan thought they would find, she needed to hide the bodies. No point in traumatizing the children further. They were going to need a lifetime of therapy as it was.

The guards at the front of the tent were gone—courtesy of Kaede, no doubt. Eden circled around and found the other two exactly where she’d left them, except the one she’d knocked out now had his throat slit. Kaede’s work. Eden shivered. She’d always known Kaede was a killer, but this was a little extreme. As she bent down to grab the first’s ankles, the woman in question melted out of the darkness near the cliff.

Kaede strode over, giving the body of the guard Eden killed a cursory glance. “Not too shabby.”

The praise was rare enough Eden almost dropped the guard’s feet. She blinked, but chose to keep her comments to herself. Sometimes it was just better to be silent. Instead she nodded at the other guard. “You want to get his feet?”

They dragged their respective guards into the priest’s tent. Unsurprisingly, Kaede had a much easier time with her body, but that was probably just her ninja skills at work. The thought didn’t comfort Eden as she struggled with her guard’s body.

Once they had searched the bodies, finding three knives and two pistols. Kaede knelt next to the priest. “You’re getting better with a blade. I’m going to have to watch my back.”

Eden looked at the macabre scene. Three dead men—two she killed—lying haphazardly in the middle of the tent floor. Humans. She’d killed a human. Her stomach twisted alarmingly, but she refused to give into the urge to gag. There was nothing left in her stomach anyways.

Uncomfortable with her thoughts, she walked to the boxes the priest had piled against the corner of his tent and pried off the top one’s lid. “Jackpot.”

“Found something?” Kaede walked over to stand at her shoulder.

“Three rifles and some ammo.” There wasn’t much, only three thirty-round magazines, but it was better than nothing. At least now they had something to work with. Eden moved quickly to the other boxes, but she only found more of those blasted protein bars and a few medical kits.

“Grab the guns and the ammo. Let’s see what Jordan has planned.”

Eden handed the rifles to Kaede, grabbed the magazines, and pulled the lid shut. She glanced at the clear sky, wishing for rain to come and clean the blood from her body. If only the water would wash away the evidence marking her soul as well. Too bad nothing was so easy. She had a feeling those scars were here to stay.

Chapter Twenty

The team, Alejandro, and two representatives from the survivors gathered in one of the empty tents. Eden had no idea who used to sleep here, but it showed no signs of use. At best guess, she’d say it was the guards’ since there were eight sleeping bags and she could do basic math. If the thought of using a dead man’s things had bothered her when she started going on assignments, it didn’t now. Dad had made sure to drive out that guilt year ago. They had to use the resources available to them, no matter how distasteful it was.

The man who’d spoken for the survivors earlier was there, taking up too much space. From the way he glared at them, he wasn’t convinced they were worthy of being followed. Maybe because Jordan actually spoke sense and didn’t throw Bible verses around. There was no telling. Next to him, the woman looked even smaller. She was barely five feet tall and was small enough Eden could snap her in half without trying. But whatever she lacked in stature, she made up in sheer personality. When her wide brown eyes hit Eden, there was no doubt the woman was a power to be reckoned with.

“So tell us,” the woman said, carefully kneeling on the floor next to the man. “What do you have planned?”

This was the moment of truth. When Jordan would either screw them royally or pass with flying colors. Eden had never seen her sister falter and she doubted Jordan would start now.

Jordan smiled at the woman. “Now we’re going to get you out of here.” She held up a hand to stall their protests. “Yes, I know you want more information than that. We intend on eliminating as many of the infected at our gates as we can. Once we have cleared a path, a small team will go out and retrieve our ammo before returning to finish off the infected.”

The man puffed up. “Why not leave while the way is open?”

“Because I refuse to lose anyone.” Jordan gave him the look she’d inherited from their father, the one that quelled even the most headstrong person—like Eden. “Are you prepared to sacrifice yourself or someone you love in a panicked race across this valley?”

“No.” A muscle in his jaw jumped. “Who will be on this team of yours?”

Without looking Jordan pointed, naming them as she did. “Eden, Alejandro, and Taro.”

“Three? Is that wise? You will be sending them to die.”

Eden laughed before she could stop herself. When his dark gaze narrowed on her, she said, “With all due respect,
señor
, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Eden.” The reprimand silenced her. Jordan’s tone softened as she spoke to the survivors. “My team is trained specifically for this. While there is still some danger, it is significantly less for them than it would be for anyone else.”

In the end, there was no arguing with Jordan. Eden could have told them so, but no one asked her. When the two finally cleared out, she fell back on her newly acquired sleeping bag with a sigh. “Idiots.”

“Eden.” Jordan’s reprimand was less sharp this time, but it didn’t dampen the effect whatsoever. “Don’t call them idiots.”

“Why not? They were going to walk into a crowd of infected, dragging their kids behind them.” Eden stared at the top of the tent. “I just call them like I see them. Idiots.”

Jordan sighed softly, and Eden regretted her sharp words. It wasn’t her sister’s fault these people were lacking in the brain department, but she wouldn’t take back her words. She was right and they all knew it.

“Kaede, I want you to take fence duty tonight. No shooting unless absolutely necessary.”

Kaede rose to her feet and grabbed one of the rifles. “How long?”

“Just for a few hours. I’ll join you shortly.”

Kaede nodded and left the tent, barely disturbing the fabric as she did. Sometimes Eden wondered if she wasn’t half ghost; she certainly never left any evidence of her passing.

Laughing at her fanciful thoughts, Eden rolled onto her stomach, the sound dying when her armor squished under her. Gross. She grabbed her bag and rifled through it, coming up with the clothes she’d borrowed from Kaede earlier. They would do.

Jordan saw what she intended and smiled wanly. “Get changed and get some sleep. I’m going to patrol the camp. Taro, I need to talk to you for a moment.”

As Taro followed her sister out of the tent, Eden frowned. She wanted a moment to talk to Jordan, but it didn’t look like she was going to get it. Trust life to get in the way of her celebrating her sister being alive. She shook her head. “Figures.”

“Is having time alone with me such a burden?” Alejandro moved to stand in front of her and helped her to her feet. “How is your arm?”

The stitches were long gone and it ached, but she was more worried about her jaw. Still, Eden wasn’t going to catalogue her injuries to him. “I’m fine.”

“
Querida
, you are lucky I am a patient man.”

“I bet.” She wriggled out of the shirt, trying not to wince when it got caught on her chin.

“Do you need assistance?”

“No.” She finally got the shirt off her head and dropped it on the floor.

She looked up to find him watching her. Eden tried to calm her beating heart and act like being half naked with Alejandro was no big deal. She didn’t bother to cover herself. He’d already seen the goods and a perverse side of her wanted to see the way she affected him. The perverse side wasn’t disappointed.

He grinned. After the night she’d had, the expression hit her like a warm summer day, nearly taking her breath away. “
Querida
, you are most difficult.”

She took a step towards him, answering the unspoken demand in his eyes. “Now is not the time,” he said. They were the right words, but the tone was all wrong. It welcomed her, coaxed her closer.

“I don’t care.” She seemed to be throwing herself at him a lot lately, but Eden couldn’t help it. Whenever they were close, she wanted to touch him, was consumed with trying to recapture their single night together. And he’d told her he loved her. She might not believe him, not after all he’d done, but would be so easy to pretend he spoke the truth. At least for a little while.

He closed his eyes. “Eden.”

“Alejandro.” She moved until their chests pressed together, running one hand over his shoulder and up to cup his face. He was so beautiful, far more so than any man had right to be. She leaned in, her body already humming with anticipation for when their lips would touch.

“Get the fuck away from my sister, or I’m going to shoot you somewhere vital.”

Eden and Alejandro sprang apart like they’d had a bucket of icy water thrown on them. It would have been better than finding Jordan, rifle in hand, standing in the entrance of the tent. “Alejandro, I respect the skills you bring to this team, but if you don’t get the hell away from my sister right now, I’m going to kill you.”

He started to argue, but Jordan leveled the rifle at him. “Go.” Despite her disappointment, Eden almost laughed when his mouth snapped shut with an audible click. He gave her one last look before he turned and slid through the opening in the tent, disappearing into the rainy night.

“And you.” Jordan stepped into the tent and let the flap swing shut. “What the hell am I supposed to say to you?”

Eden shrugged, trying to look nonchalant when she was dying of embarrassment. “I don’t know.”

“You’re eighteen. Technically you can do what you want.”

She shimmied out of her armor and grabbed her borrowed clothes. “I know.”

“You were together before, back on the last job before he took off, weren’t you?”

Eden considered lying for half a second before she discarded the notion. They might have nasty fights, might not talk about their feelings or their parents, but she and Jordan never lied to each other. “Yeah.”

“Shit,” Jordan breathed. She walked over and dropped onto the sleeping bag across from Eden’s. “I knew you were torn up after that assignment, but I thought it was just because you had a thing for him.”

Damn it, she thought she’d hidden her attraction to Alejandro better than that. But she should have known better. Jordan knew everything.

“It was just once.”

“Eden, you were seventeen. He was twenty-one. That’s statutory rape in most states.”

“Are you going to lecture me about something that happened a year ago? Or are we going to let this shit go and deal with getting the hell out of this valley?”

“It’s not the same thing and you know it. Obviously whatever’s between you two isn’t over.”

“No, I guess it’s not.” Eden sat down and pulled her knees to her chest, linking her arms around them. “So what’s the plan?”

Jordan frowned. “You’re changing the subject.”

“I know. If it makes you feel better, we can get back to it in a minute.” She really hoped they wouldn’t. “But I want to know how you’re going to get us out of here.”

“Like I said earlier, you’re going to the Humvee to retrieve the rest of the ammo and some supplies.”

Eden laughed. “Don’t dick me around, Jordan. I’m not some stupid survivor who can’t see past the end of my nose. That’s only half the plan.”

“Yes, well, I do have an exit strategy. I suppose you’ve seen the condition of the road out.”

“Yeah.” The pain she’d felt when she’d thought Jordan and the twins were under all that rock slammed through Eden, making her breath hiss out. “Someone blew it.”

“I—” Jordan hesitated. “I think it was our employer.”

“What?” Even though Eden had been circling the same conclusion, she couldn’t seem to wrap her head around it. “Why? They send us out to eliminate zombies. Why trap us in here?”

“I think they are the ones causing the infection in the first place.” Jordan held up her hand when Eden started to protest. “Just hear me out. Haven’t you ever thought it was weird that they always knew when an infection was breaking out, and the infections were never in heavily populated areas?”

“Yes,” Eden said slowly. She’d been thinking the same damn thing at the beginning of this assignment. Still, it felt odd to suspect the company who had been their livelihood ever since she could remember.

“And I think—” Jordan paused and cleared her throat, her eyes seeming to look everywhere but at Eden. “I think they killed Dad.”

Eden froze, her fingernails digging into her forearms. “What?” She was surprised her voice sounded almost normal.

“Before he died, he was asking a lot of questions, like what they knew about the infection and how they always were able to send us in before it got out of control.”

She made an effort to loosen her grip as she straightened her legs. What Jordan was saying changed everything. Eden didn’t know her dad was asking questions, but she hadn’t been an official part of the team then, so she got left out of the loop more often than not. “Killing him seems awful extreme for asking a few questions.”

“I thought so too. But you know Dad. I doubt it ended with a few questions.”

No, it never had. If their employer had been cagey about giving out answers, Dad would have eventually tracked them down and, if he didn’t like their answers then, started shooting. And he was mugged in a nice part of town where people tended to leave their doors unlocked, in a part of town with no crime whatsoever.

Jordan kept going, almost babbling. Eden forced herself to keep her mouth shut; it must have killed her sister to keep these suspicions to herself all this time. Why hadn’t she said something before now?

“But, a few months ago, I started asking some of the same questions.” When she finally met Eden’s gaze, her eyes were haunted. “I got a call that told me to shut up or deal with the consequences.”

Eden laughed, the sound coming out a little hysterical. “That’s a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t risk it.” She ran her hands through her short hair, making it spike haphazardly. “I couldn’t risk something happening to me and you being left alone.”

She started to say that she was eighteen and a freaking adult, but the words wouldn’t make it past the panic closing her throat. Her sister had been threatened because of questions, had almost been killed because she didn’t have the stupidity to keep her head down and her mouth shut. Would Eden have even questioned it if it looked like an accident? She didn’t know. And that scared her more than anything. “Why are they doing this?”

“Money, power, just for kicks.” Jordan shrugged, the ragged tone in her voice smoothing out. “There are a million reasons. It doesn’t really matter right now though. We have to get these people out safely.”

They weren’t done with this topic, but Eden was willing to let it go for now. Until they were safe behind the high walls of the mini-fortress they called home. “Which brings us to your brilliant plan.”

Her sister smiled wanly. “Brilliant? Nice to know you think so highly of me. But, yes, I have a plan.”

Eden waited but Jordan merely sat there, staring off into space. “Well?”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Don’t think you’ve distracted me. Back to Alejandro...”

Eden sighed. She wouldn’t get any more out of her sister tonight. “If you really want to talk about him, fine. I get you don’t approve, but it doesn’t change that I want to see where this goes. So what happens now?”

“I don’t know.” Jordan rubbed her hands over her face, looking more tired than Eden had ever seen her. “I’m just trying to look out for you. Like Mom and Dad wanted. But you’re an adult now and I can’t hold your hand forever.”

There hadn’t been much hand-holding to begin with. Not that Eden was complaining; they weren’t the touchy-feely type of family. “I really care about him, Jordan,” she said softly.

“I know. And I think he cares about you.” Jordan stood up abruptly, snatching her rifle off the floor. “Be careful with him, Eden. I don’t want to see you hurt like the last time he took off. If you are, I’m going to have to hang him up by his ankles and skin him.” She turned on her heel and stalked out of the tent.

Eden smiled as she climbed into her sleeping bag. Jordan wasn’t kidding with her threat and it warmed Eden’s heart. Whatever their faults, she loved Jordan and Jordan loved her. Eden would make the world burn if it hurt her sister, had been prepared to do it when she thought Jordan was lost. Apparently vengeance was yet another thing they’d both gotten from their father. After Mom was killed, he’d gone after the infected with a singular devotion. He was only at peace when killing. Some people might consider it on the far side of psychotic, but Eden called it what it was. Love.