The Becoming (Book 4): Under Siege (26 page)

“I could ask you the same thing,” Ethan
replied, “because it looks like you’re planning to give up your
citizenship of Woodside too.”

“I was never a citizen of Woodside,” Dominic
replied. “Atlanta’s survivors don’t want me here. I’m making
arrangements to make that happen for them.”

“They won’t be here much longer either,”
Ethan said. “They’re evacuating the community ahead of the
infected.”

Dominic didn’t seem to hear him. “Where are
you going to go?”

“North,” Ethan replied vaguely.

“Ah.” Dominic glanced toward the kitchen
door that led into the large, open dining area. “We’re heading to
Philadelphia.”

“We?” Kimberly repeated. As far as she could
see, it was just Dominic in the kitchen.

“Yeah, me and Remy.”

Kimberly felt a sudden vibe of hostility
rolling off Ethan. She wanted to take his hand again and try to
calm him down, but she didn’t dare touch him when he was so
infuriated. At the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder
why
he was angry. A surge of jealousy welled up in her, and
she did her best to fight it back, even as Ethan snarled, “What the
hell
kind of bullshit did you tell Remy to get her to go
along with something like
that
?”

“He didn’t have to tell me anything to get
me to go along with it,” Remy said as she stepped through the
dining room door to join them. Her expression was grim, almost sad,
as she let the door swing shut behind her. “Hi, Ethan. Long time,
no speak.”

Dominic had the sensation that he was stuck between
two immovable objects as Remy and Ethan stood on opposite ends of
the room and stared at each other. With the exception of the moment
they’d faced off outside the gates, they hadn’t seen each other
since Ethan had succumbed to the Michaluk Virus. The confrontation,
when combined with their history and Dominic’s feelings for Remy,
made him uncomfortable. Judging by the look on Kimberly’s face, she
shared his discomfort.

Finally, Ethan cleared his throat, lowered
his gun, and shifted. “Remy, what are you doing here?”

“I’m going with Dominic,” she said, as if it
should have been obvious to everyone in the room.

Dominic had a feeling that he knew where
this was going, and it wasn’t anywhere pleasant. The tension was
starting to amp up, and Ethan’s next words would set the tone for
the argument to follow.

“You’re sick, Remy,” Ethan said. “You
shouldn’t be going anywhere without Derek.”

“I’m not sick,” Remy replied. “Not
anymore.”

Kimberly sputtered, her face flushed as she
tried to get the words out. “
You!
” she exclaimed, jabbing
her finger at Remy. “That’s where Derek’s sample went!
You
stole it!”

“You can’t steal what rightfully belongs to
you!” Remy bit back. She clenched both hands into fists, and
Dominic stepped closer to her so he could interfere if she tried to
do something rash.

“It didn’t belong to you!” Kimberly
retorted. “It belonged to Derek!”

“Technically, it belonged to Brandt,” Ethan
spoke up. “It was, after all, his blood.”

“Blood?” Remy repeated. She sounded
stricken, similar to how the surprise in Dominic’s gut felt. “That
was
blood
?”

“What the hell did you think it was?”
Kimberly snapped. “Cherry Kool-Aid?”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Dominic spoke up.
“What’s done is done, and there’s no sense fighting over what can’t
be changed. We’ve got more important shit to deal with.”

“He’s right,” Ethan said, surprising
Dominic. “Kim and I have samples we need to get out of here before
the infected get in. Any help you can give us would be great.”

“Where are you taking the samples?” Dominic
asked.

“Derek told us about some CDC facilities up
north,” Kimberly said. “We’re going to try to find one that’s still
operational to see if they can do anything with the samples, since
Derek can’t take his research any further.” Though Kimberly didn’t
trust Dominic, she knew that he wasn’t a bad person and would never
get in the way of a possible cure. Maybe he could even offer some
advice.

“Try USAMRIID, if you can’t get anyone at
the CDC,” Dominic suggested. He shrugged his pack off his shoulder
and started digging through it, pulling free bottles of water and
packages of food. “Here, take these,” he offered. “I can restock
later. The sooner you get out of here, the better, especially if
you’ve basically got the fate of the human race in your
backpacks.”

“No pressure or anything,” Ethan muttered,
accepting the supplies. Dominic ignored his sarcasm and dug further
into his bag, searching for anything else he could offer them.
Ultimately, he gave up; everything left in his bag were the basics,
stuff Ethan and Kimberly likely already had in theirs.

“So where are you guys going to try first?”
Dominic asked, zipping his backpack closed and shouldering it. “Or
is that a classified information kind of thing?”

Ethan and Kimberly exchanged a look, and
Dominic could read the answer plainly in their eyes. Neither of
them had any intention of telling him anything. It was obvious
that, despite everything he’d done for Woodside, he still wasn’t
trusted or accepted. He’d come to expect that from almost everyone;
after all, most of the people there had no idea of the pains he’d
taken on their behalf. He expected it from Ethan, since he was
unaware of things that had happened in Woodside since he’d been
there. But from Kimberly? He expected better. She, of all people,
knew what he’d done to help Woodside, and her distrust hurt the
most.

“Never mind,” he muttered. “Not like you’re
going to tell me anyway.”

“Dominic,” Kimberly started to say, but he
put up a hand to stop her.

“We need to get you two out of here while
there’s still time,” he said. “I’m sure it won’t be long before the
infected either encircle the community or break through the gates,
and personally, I’d rather not be here when it happens.”

“How do you propose doing that?” Ethan
asked.

“I could ask you the same question,” Dominic
retorted. “You were planning to leave. Did you not consider
how
you were going to get out?”

“We were planning to climb the wall,”
Kimberly said. Even as she spoke, Dominic heard the growing doubt
in her voice.

“You two are hopeless,” Dominic muttered. He
glanced toward the door they’d entered through and then motioned to
them both. “Come on. The least I can do is help you guys get out
safely,” he offered. “Everything after that is, of course, up to
you.”

“Where are we going?” Ethan asked. “Just in
case we get separated if something happens between here and
there.”

Dominic looked at him dubiously, trying to
decide if his loss of privacy was worth the risk. “My house,” he
said. “If we get separated, head for my house. You should be able
to get inside with no problem, because I left the front door
unlocked. Worst case scenario, lock yourselves inside, and we’ll
catch up when we can.”

When they were halfway to Dominic’s house,
with Dominic and Remy leading the way, Remy spoke up. “I say we go
with them,” she said. “They’re heading somewhat north, and the
least we could do is escort them until we need to split off for
Pennsylvania.”

“And what point would that serve?” Dominic
asked. “I doubt they want us along. Besides, it’d be safer for them
if we didn’t go with them. Smaller group means less chance of
getting noticed by the infected.”

“But what if they end up needing help?” Remy
protested.

“So what if they do?” Dominic retorted.
“They’re adults who have tons of experience handling themselves
against the infected. They’ll be fine. Besides, we should help evac
the rest of the community.”

Remy made a face but didn’t respond, just
gave him a short nod and shifted the sheathed bolo knife on her
belt so it sat a few inches further back. “So when
are
we
going to split?” she asked.

“As soon as we finish getting everyone out,”
Dominic started, but his words were cut off by a sound from the
front of the community. He missed a step, staggering off the edge
of the sidewalk and into the gutter. If it weren’t for Remy’s
surprisingly strong grip on his bicep, he would have fallen onto
the hard pavement. He regained his balance and half-turned to look
in the direction the sound had come from, squinting in the darkness
as if he could make something out despite the distance.

It had been a crack, loud and sharp, like a
rifle report but without the crispness of a bullet leaving a
barrel. It echoed into the night, bouncing off buildings to reach
his ears, stopping his heart in one breath only to restart it in
the next. Then it rang out again, this time longer, more drawn-out,
groaning as if some great beast were in its death throes. Then a
crash, a rending of metal and wood, followed the groan. Dominic’s
brain snapped out of its confused haze, and realization struck.

“Oh shit,” he breathed and grabbed Remy’s
arm. He propelled her ahead of him. “The gates!” he shouted. “I
think the gates have just collapsed!” He ushered Ethan and Kimberly
out in front of him and took up the rear. He drew his pistol from
the holster.

“Remy!” Dominic shouted, and she glanced
over her shoulder at him. “Get them to the wall! I’ll be there in a
minute!” She acknowledged his orders with a nod, and he veered off
toward his house, bounding up the porch steps and throwing open the
front door. His rifle was propped against the wall just inside. He
grabbed it, scooped up the few remaining magazines of ammunition
from the narrow table by the door, and stuffed them into his bag.
He ran to join the others.

Remy, Ethan, and Kimberly were gathered at
the door he’d cut into the wall; Ethan had the padlock in his grasp
and was pulling at it, wrenching it on its hasp, trying to rip it
free from its lock. “Move!” he barked, raising his rifle in a
two-handed grasp. Ethan barely made it out of the way before
Dominic brought the butt of the rifle down onto the padlock. It
took three strikes, but the lock snapped on the final blow. He tore
the padlock free and tossed it into the grass before ripping the
panel from the wall, swinging it aside and holding it out of the
way. Ethan stepped through the open gap in the fencing. He lifted
his Glock and a flashlight, sweeping the immediate surroundings
outside the wall. Once he was satisfied the way was clear, he
motioned to Kimberly. She slipped out, and before Ethan could move
away, Dominic reached through the gap and caught him by the
bicep.

“Look, you two take care of each other and
be careful,” he said. He dug a half dried-out pen and a scrap of
paper from his backpack and scribbled an address on it before
pressing the paper into Ethan’s hand. “This is the last address
that I know of to a USAMRIID facility,” he explained. “If the CDC
doesn’t pan out, try them. Considering they were probably involved
in the virus’s creation, they’ll be equipped to deal with the
samples.”

Ethan stuffed it into his pocket. “Will do,”
he agreed. “Take care of Cade for me, okay? Promise me you won’t
let anything happen to her or the baby.”

“I swear on my life,” Dominic promised.
Ethan stared at him for a moment and then nodded like he was
satisfied.

“We’ll be back,” Ethan said, clapping
Dominic’s shoulder before turning to join Kimberly.

Dominic swung the door shut again, scooped
up the padlock, and slipped it through the hasp, leaving it
unlocked like he’d done on the supply room’s door in the rec center
earlier.

Remy stood beside him, looking like she was
ready to come unglued. Her eyes flickered between the wall where
Ethan and Kimberly had just exited, his face, and the area beyond
where the front gates were. She looked like she was itching for a
fight. Dominic was going to give her one. He hefted his rifle and
motioned to her.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go slaughter our
way to the main house.”

Brandt waited until ten minutes after Ethan and
Kimberly had left before he moved into action. He wanted there to
be less people on their tails so as to not draw the attention of
the infected. Then he’d gathered Keith and the few men he had left
and gave them instructions about dividing the survivors into
groups. He told them to gather at the back of the community until
he arrived to show them how to get out.

Brandt ran his options through his head
again, inventorying where everyone was at. He didn’t know where
Remy or Dominic were, but it was number one on his list to at least
find Dominic; he had to ask him exactly how he was getting in and
out of the community. He needed to know, and he needed to know
now
. Sadie and Jude were upstairs resting, and Cade was
upstairs with them.

When the infected managed to break past the
walls and gates, there would no longer be any safe places in
Woodside, but at least
upstairs
would be some semblance of
safer than
downstairs
. Brandt had spent his first week in
Woodside rigging up every house’s staircases to blow and collapse,
just like he’d done to the group’s safe house in Maplesville. It
was a last resort measure, but the infected wouldn’t get them
immediately.

Starvation might, though,
a nasty
voice in the back of his mind muttered darkly. He shook his head,
trying to dislodge the thoughts, and refocused on the task at
hand.

Derek was, last he knew of, downstairs
packing up his basement lab. Brandt intended to send him upstairs
to shelter with Cade once he finished packing; the doctor was
important to Cade, since he was the one who was supposed to help
her birth Brandt’s child. He had zero desire to leave
that
to chance.