The Bleeding Crowd (33 page)

He waved half-heartedly looking at the large
gun on her back.

“And who...?” Heather looked at the four
other women.

“Guards,” Dahlia said. “Well, not
guard-guards, like your kind of guards. Different guards. They’re
combat trained though.”

“We’re the personal military the higher-ups
have to makes sure that no one tries to kill them.”

“Good to know.” Heather said.

“Lucy, Joanna, Maureen, and Tracy.” Dahlia
pointed to each one.

“Nice to meet you,” Heather responded.

“Impressive machinery you have there.” Tracy
nodded at the gun on Heather’s back.

“Raiding weapon caches tends to give you some
awesome stuff, it seems.” Heather smiled briefly.

“Is everyone back then? Away from the stores
I mean,” Dahlia asked.

“Jack and some of the guys are at one of the
camps nearby since no one’s seen Ben.”

“Yeah, there’s a reason for that,” Jude
said.

Heather frowned looking at Dahlia. “What’s he
on about?”

“Ben’s been captured,” she said tersely. “If
you have a way to let Jack know to get away from the stores,
that’ll probably be smart.”

“Why?”

Dahlia didn’t seem able to answer.

“Because the other guy—Ben?—is more than
likely ratting you all out as we speak,” Joanna said.

“Ben?” Heather shook her head. “He wouldn’t
turn on us. Him of all people.”

“
He cut a deal,” Jude said. “They
offered to let Dahlia go if he told. Ben being Ben...”

Heather sighed. “Des is going to love that
one. She didn’t want Dahlia along in the first place. He sold us
out for a girl.”

“It was some misguided attempt at...” Dahlia
searched for the word.

“Chivalry?” Jude suggested.

She gave him a questioning look.

“Just go with chivalry.” Jude nodded at
her.

“What has he said?” Heather asked.

“No clue.” Jude shook his head.

“Bunch of stuff,” Lucy said. “Last I heard he
was giving a list of names.”

“I think we need to get back to camp and work
out what we’re going to do if he’s actually saying...” Heather led
off and then looked at the guards. “You better pick up your guns.
You’re probably going to need them if you’re planning on joining
us.”

Chapter Nineteen

Ben hissed, pulling the gauze away from his
shoulder. The wound was crusting with some sort of yellow puss
around the edges. He moved to the bathroom to wash it. The soap
stung as he tried to clean it, made him unwilling to do too much
with it. He rinsed it off, splashing water to clean it before
pulling the last of the gaze he had out of the pocket in the legs
of his pants. All he had left was the baggy of oleander he hadn’t
touched since he had shown it to Jude. Using that on himself was
looking more and more attractive. He was still alive, but only
because Lisa found some perverse amusement in him. Dahlia had
apparently been sent away already, so he had served his purpose.
There was no need to continue as some self-appointed oligarch’s
plaything.

The door in the main room opened, making him
tense. He didn’t stop bandaging his shoulder.

“Anyone here?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

Ben frowned and stuck his head out of the
bathroom. “Who are you?”

“Monica.” The guard smiled. “Lucy sent
me.”

“Who?”

“Lucy,” the guard repeated. “Well, Maureen,
but she’s following Lucy. They’re the ones that helped your friends
escape—Dahlia and what’s-his-name.”

“What?” Ben stared at the guard,
dumfounded.

“After they found out what you had done, they
made a run for it. Lucy and her girls helped them escape.

“But...”

“Come on.” Monica waved for him to
follow.

Ben hesitated, but followed her to another
wall. She opened it taking him down the staircase.

She watched him. “Are you alright?”

“Little dizzy.” He shook his head.

“Lisa’s probably been drugging you.” Monica
nodded.

“Of course she was.”

“It kept you alive.” Monica shrugged.

“Is Dahlia all right?”

“I haven’t actually seen her. Maureen had me
running around trying to find anyone who would be willing to help
us here.”

“Help us?”

“You guys.” Monica waved her hand
dismissively. “Yeah, as far as I know she’s fine. Think you can
move any faster? We’ve got about ten minutes of tunnels to get
through before we’re anywhere near the forest.”

Ben nodded, fighting off the odd feeling of
lightheadedness that the physical exertion of their near jogging
pace caused. They soon reached the end of the tunnels.

Heather waited near the exit, her machine gun
in her hands, but not ready to shoot. “Monica?”

“That’s me.” Monica smiled helping Ben out of
the tunnel. “I managed to pick up the guy Maureen talked
about.”

Heather looked at him for a long moment, her
hands twitching slightly around the gun before she slung it around
to her back and turned. “Come on.”

The smiles at the camp dropped as they saw
Ben. No one spoke.

“Yeah, I deserve it.” Ben stuck his hands in
his pockets. He spotted Dahlia kneeling next to a man he didn’t
recognize, wrapping his knee. She froze, then stood, and walked
away with her bag before finishing whatever she had been doing.

“Dah...” he started. He looked at the faces
staring at him with looks that ranged from curious to openly
hostile. He started off all the same. “Dahlia! Slow down.”

“No,” she called without turning.

“Lia.”

“You don’t want me to slow down, because if I
do, I’m going to hurt you.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you tried.”

She spun. “What the hell did you think you
were accomplishing?”

“I didn’t actually say anything useful,” he
said. “You’re all right, aren’t you?”

“No thanks to you,” she spat.

“I did what I thought was best,” he said.

“Well, next time do what you think is
slightly less good.” She crossed her arms.

He just looked at her.

She frowned, assessing him. “You’re
pale.”

“Monica said they were probably drugging me.”
He shrugged with his good shoulder.

She let out a tense breath, some conflict
playing out on her face. “What did you try to do to your
shoulder?”

“I just rewrapped it,” he said.

“Let me see.” She motioned him closer.

“Are you done yelling at me already?”

“Hardly.” She moved a little closer. “Just
fulfilling my professional duty for the time being. Let me
see.”

He let her pull the gauze away.

“My... What have you been doing, Ben? They
don’t know basic medicine over there?”

“I don’t think they cared.”

“It’s infected.” She placed a hand on his
forehead. “Have you had a fever?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Sit,” she ordered.

“Why?”

“Sit down,” she snapped.

He didn’t argue.

She opened the bag and sought through its
contents.

“I’m fine,” he insisted.

“No, you aren’t. Stop trying to be so damn
noble.”

He smiled and pushed her hair back from her
face.

“Stop it,” she groused. “I’m still debating
whether or not I’m sane enough to not hurt you right now.”

“Ow!” He jumped as she wiped the site.

“Rubbing alcohol,” she said, “It’s necessary
pain.”

“Right.” He frowned. “Thanks for the
warning.”

“It doesn’t look that bad.” She ignored him
and focused on the wound. “Bad, but not awful.”

He waited for her to finish redressing the
injury before touching her face again.

“Stop it.” She pulled away.

“I can’t.”

“I’m sure you can.” She repacked the bag.

“You mess with my head, Dahlia. I’m stupid
around you.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be around me until we
finish this then,” she said. “We can’t have stupid right now.”

“I just want you to be all right.”

“Stop trying to save me, okay?” She looked at
his face at last. “I can take care of myself.”

“Not in a fight.”

“Lucy’s taught me some of the basics,” Dahlia
said. “I can shoot a gun now. Not with any sort of aim, but...”

“She didn’t teach you how to aim?”

“Heather made her stop,” Dahlia said.

“Why?”

“Because if I knew how to shoot properly,
she’d have to let me fight,” Dahlia said. “You aren’t the only one
who’s overly protective of me around here.”

“Well you have plenty of people who care
about you.”

“I have a lot of people who think I’m
completely incapable of keeping myself alive,” she responded.

“Well, no offense, Lia, but compared to the
rest of us...”

She frowned. “That’s only because you’ve all
been trained. Nobody’s been willing to train me.”

“I’ve been trained since I was six, Lia. Even
if we gave you all the basics, you’re a little behind the
curve.”

“In a life and death situation I think I’d
pick it up,” she said. “I’m the one who got Jude and me out of that
room, you know. I’m not an idiot.”

“I don’t think anyone ever said you were.” He
touched her hand, playing with her fingers.

“I’m still pissed at you,” she said, but
didn’t pull away.

“You have every right to be,” he admitted. “I
really was just trying to do what I thought was best.”

“For me, maybe,” Dahlia said. “What about
everyone else that’s depending on you?”

“I told you, I didn’t say anything important.
I barely even said anything that was true. I’m a great liar. You
should know that of all people.”

“Except when you end up tripping all over
yourself in your stories.”

“I only do that when I’m around you.” He
shook his head. “I had been spying for years before I ended up with
you. You were the only one I managed to fuck up a story and get
called out on it. Then again, part of that was you were smart
enough to pick up on some things I didn’t even think about.”

“If you’re trying to flatter me into not
being mad at you—”

“I’m really not,” he said. “It’s just you put
things together that very few other people see. Quite frankly,
you’re brilliant.”

“While that might be true, you need to stop
this. We need you to be rational right now.”

“Dahlia...”

“I’m serious, Ben.”

“So am I. I never seem to be rational when
you’re involved.”

“You’re no fun when you’re all gooey.” She
got to her feet.

He followed suit, drawing her against him
with his good arm and kissing her.

She pulled back. “I’m serious—”

“Just shut up, Lia.”

“Excuse me?”

“We can finish this later.”

“What makes you think I’m even in the mood to
kiss you?”

“We fight or we have sex, remember?”

“Well, I’m more geared up for the fighting
right n—”

He kissed her again.

“You’re an ass.” She pushed back more.

“Part of what you love about me.”

“You think so, huh?”

Someone cleared their throat making Ben and
Dahlia jump.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Jude looked at Ben
coolly. “They wanted to make sure you hadn’t killed each other.
Personally, I predicted something more along the lines of this
scenario.”

“Great, now go away,” Ben said.

“You’ve forgiven him that easily?” Jude
looked at Dahlia.

“Oh, I’m still trying to explain that I sort
of want to hurt him.”

Jude sighed, “Pete is still half wrapped
up.”

“Heather couldn’t have taken care of it?” Ben
frowned.

Jude just looked at him.

Dahlia slipped away from him and picked up
her bag.

“Dahlia...” Ben sighed.

“If you hit him, Jude, don’t hit the
shoulder.” She moved past him. “I’m not redoing the bandage. We
don’t have the supplies for it.”

Ben sighed, watching her leave before looking
at Jude. “You did that on purpose.”

“Maybe,” he said.

“Any reason?”

“Other than the fact that you sold us
out?”

“I didn’t tell them anything important.”

Jude just looked at him.

“I didn’t.”

Jude shook his head and turned back to
camp.

* * * *

“We don’t have anything better than that?”
Maureen frowned.

“With what we have to go on?” Des looked at
her.

“I think it’s better than a lot of what we
could be planning,” Heather said. “Sometimes simple is better.”

“Not to be a nag...” Dahlia looked around the
circle. “What am I going to be doing, while you’re all trying to
take over the government?”

“You’ll be here, helping the wounded,”
Heather said.

“The wounded aren’t going to be here.” Dahlia
frowned. “They’re going to be where the fighting is.”

“Yes,” Des said, “but you getting shot isn’t
going to help us heal anyone.”

“Trying to march the wounded out here is just
going to let them bleed out before I can help.”

“You can’t fight, Lia.” Heather shook her
head. “I’m not going to send you in there with just your medical
bag. It isn’t bulletproof.”

“Lucy taught me how to shoot. It’s not that
hard,” Dahlia said. “You point and pull the trigger.”

“And you try to kill someone,” Heather said.
“You aren’t a murderer.”

“Neither are you.”

“I’ve shot people before, Lia,” her sister
said. “I’m not putting a gun in your hand and forcing you to kill
people. I think most people here would agree with me. I know Ben
would.”

“Oh no.” Dahlia held her hand up, glancing to
where Ben sat a little ways off. “You’re the ones who banished him
from the war council. You can’t suddenly use him as a vote.”

“We could stick her in the tunnels,” Lucy
suggested. “She’d be close to the action if we need a doctor, but
would have at least a stone wall if not feet of dirt in between her
and the closest bullet.”

“We’ll need the tunnels open in case we have
to retreat.” Des shook her head.