V-Day: (M-Day #4) (22 page)

“
Hey.
”
I peeled my eyelids open with difficulty, to see Max appear in front of me, a kind expression on her face.
“
Let
’
s get you untied and dressed. Okay?
”

I nodded, hoping she could see in my eyes that yeah, I was upset, but I wasn
’
t about to lose my shit. At least not until I was in private.
“
Riley, please help him. Please, you need to know that even though he is infected, he didn
’
t hurt me, I swear. I think he might be like Zee, Ty and X,
“
the words spewed from my mouth as soon as the gag was removed.

“
I need to take care of you first, he doesn
’
t even know what
’
s going on.
”

“
Just untie me and I
’
ll be fine.
”
Max eyed me skeptically.
“
I wasn
’
t raped again. I mean, if Nyx would have been a millisecond later
…”
My voice trailed off, the rest unnecessary.

“
Okay,
”
Max said, quickly untying my wrists and moving over to Riley without another word. I pulled up my pants and stood on shaky legs. As soon as they would listen, I forced them to carry me directly to Riley where I dropped down beside him and Max.

Max had already managed to get Riley
’
s pants back up and secured, and rolled onto his back. She was currently examining the bullet wounds in his forehead.
“
He should be waking up soon,
”
she murmured.
“
Do you think we should tie him up to be on the safe side?
”

I bit my lip, tasting blood that wasn
’
t mine. I spit several times before looking back at Max.
“
Yeah, we should. Just
—
please don
’
t hurt him.
”
I hated that it had to be this way with Riley, but I honestly didn
’
t know how he
’
d be when he woke up. I had a suspicion that he
’
d be full-blown I-Man. Even if he hadn
’
t been before, the virus had to have advanced throughout his system, completely taking over or he wouldn
’
t ever wake up again. The virus was what was going to make it possible for him to survive several headshots. Men-V was a blessing and a curse in this situation.

Max reached over and touched my arm.
“
Don
’
t worry, I understand how important he is to you, and I made sure Zee gets it now too.
”
It boggled my mind that Max would have been the one that had to make Zee understand. My brother was utterly clueless about relationships sometimes.

“
Thank you.
”
I stood, scanning the area for signs of Ty and Nyx.

“
They
’
ll find us when they
’
re ready. Trust me, they need a bit of alone time.
”

“
Where
’
s everybody else?
”

“
They
’
ll meet up with us soon. Zee is scouting ahead with Evo and X. Nyx was helping Ty track you, and when she saw her father
—
well
…”
Max quirked an eyebrow and looked over to the pulpy mess that once was Bill.

Her father? No wonder.
I had a feeling there was more to it than what had just been happening with me. Much more, but there wasn
’
t time for talk of any of that at the moment. So much time had been wasted already, and I finally was about to have everyone together.
Maybe I still have a shot at getting everyone out of this alive after all.

“
Okay. Good. Because there
’
s some important things I need to talk to all of you about.
”

Max grunted in response as she set to work tying up Riley.

Tick tock
…
tick tock
…
tick tock
…
The clock started ticking in my mind again, letting me know that we still had hope.

The seven of us, not counting Riley, who was just beginning to stir, sat around a dimly lit living room in an old farmhouse.

I
’
d managed to convince everyone that I had something important to tell them that couldn
’
t wait, not even long enough for me to fill them in on what happened to me since the last time I
’
d seen them. They were all staring at me expectantly, and with varying degrees of wariness.

“
We need to get to either California, San Francisco to be exact, or New York City. Those are the two rendezvous points that we have to choose from. I honestly don
’
t know how much time we have left anymore. Right before Tasha and her gang found me, I know we had about a week
—
week and a half tops. Now
…
fuck.
”

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of my nose. I had to make sure I told them everything
—
made them understand.
“
I told you about how Men-V started but I didn
’
t tell you what happened after that. I don
’
t have the time or patience to explain every little detail so I
’
m going to give you the Cliff Notes version: There are boats, warships, submarines
—
a big group of them all harboring the last of the uninfected. Other S-Op agents along with other countries
’
equivalents are there, also with any government officials and family that could be saved. Me, Tony, and Emilio were only one of half a dozen teams sent out in the US to scout for survivors. We
—”

“
Why didn
’
t my base or Ty
’
s hear anything about any of this?
”
Zee interjected.
“
Why
—”

“
I don
’
t know. There was a breakdown in communication. I
’
m not sure why some could be reached and others couldn
’
t. There honestly is so much that isn
’
t known about what happened after M-Day.
”

“
So there
’
s a cure?
”
Ty asked, hope dancing in his eyes.

“
Not yet. But we have several top scientists working on it.
”

Nyx snorted.
“
Good luck with that.
”

“
Okay, listen,
”
I snapped.
“
If we don
’
t get to either San Francisco or New York City before the last check for pickup happens then we
’
re all going to die.
”

Everyone quieted, which was what I was going for.
“
The Prime Minister is the one running the show now, and she has set the protocol for all of this. Stage one is the massive sweep for uninfected survivors, stage two is the cleansing of the infected.
”
I darted my gaze around the room.

“
And what exactly does that mean?
”
Zee growled.

“
Well, duh,
”
Evo finally spoke.
“
It means exactly what it sounds like, if we don
’
t get out of the blast zones we
’
re all toast.
”

“
Basically.
”
I stood, pacing.
“
But it
’
s a bit more complicated than that.
”

“
Oh, do explain,
”
Evo said, her voice glacial.

Riley picked that moment to come to, the bullets making dull metallic thuds on the hardwood floor as they pushed out of his skull just before he roared furiously.
“
VIV!
”
He thumped against the floor, trying to break free from his binding, his eyes locked onto me.
“
VIV!
”
he roared again.

I started towards him, but was abruptly stopped when Ty grabbed my arm. I looked up to meet my twin
’
s dark gaze.
“
Let me deal with him.
”

“
No, I
—”

“
Trust me, okay?
”

I swallowed around the lump in my throat and turned away from Riley.
“
I
’
ll finish telling everyone else what
’
s going on then.
”

“
VIV! No! No! Viv! You
’
re mine! You
’
re not getting away from me again! Do you hear me?
”

I cupped my hands over my ears, not wanting to listen anymore. Nyx and Max steered me out of the room, their faces grim.

Evo dashed into the room a second behind us.
“
Those relentless I-Monster fucks have found us again. We need to make a run for it before they get up our asses again.
”

Nyx
’
s eyes widened with fear.
“
How do you know they
’
re close if they
’
re
—
?
”

“
I
’
m starting to get a sixth sense about it, okay? You do not want to question me on this.
”
She spun on her heel and stalked out of the room.

“
What about Riley?
”

Max patted me on the back.
“
I guess he
’
s coming with us.
”
Her tone was light but her expression was stark.

“
We need to start heading towards either New York City or San Francisco,
”
I called loudly, hoping everyone heard me.
“
Whichever is closer.
”
I stopped where I was, realizing something very important.
“
Does anyone know where we actually are right now?
”

Evo
’
s raucous laughter met my ears.

“
We
’
ll figure it out,
”
Nyx said with a wan smile.

“
I
’
m not disputing that you know which one is the North Star,
”
Evo grated, her index finger poking into X
’
s chest.
“
But that doesn
’
t mean we should go north east.
”
The group of us stood in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, staring up at the sky. We
’
d hauled ass for a few hours to put some distance between us and the I-Monsters, although I wasn
’
t all that convinced that Evo wasn
’
t full of shit. Everyone else seemed to trust her so I had little choice but to go along.

“
Sure it does. We
’
ll hit New York City in no time if we go north east.
”

“
But we don
’
t know where we are now,
”
Evo hissed, looking like she was about to hit him.
“
Someone tell him that he doesn
’
t know what he
’
s talking about.
”

“
Actually,
”
Zee chimed in.
“
We haven
’
t gotten that turned around in the last few weeks
…
plus from the looks of the land, I
’
d guess we
’
re definitely still somewhere on the East Coast. I
’
m going to have to agree with X on this one. We didn
’
t travel back across the country and not notice the distance. That
’
s just stupid.
”
A smile curled up his lips, making me think he was enjoying getting to tell Evo she was wrong.