V-Day: (M-Day #4) (27 page)

I rolled my eyes. Once Ty got going he
’
d keep on rolling for as long as anyone let him. Sometimes I wondered how we were related. I still had a ton of questions about Riley, and about everyone else
’
s virus symptoms, but I didn
’
t want to stand around in the middle of the street discussing theories. There
’
d be time for that later
…
hopefully.

“
We need to get to Staten Island, or as close to it as we can. How long until everyone else is back from scouting?
”
I looked around at street signs, trying to get my bearings. New York City was a big place, and we weren
’
t quite out of the fire yet.

“
They should be back soon,
”
Ty said, frowning at me for interrupting him.

“
It
’
s kind of spooky being in such a big city and it being like a ghost town.
“
Nyx wrapped her arms around her middle as she turned in a small circle, her red frizzy hair swirling around her face.

Ty tucked her hair behind her ears.
“
We
’
ve been to cities before.
”

“
None as big as New York City.
”

“
True.
”
He snaked his arm around her waist and tugged her into his front, bending down to rest his chin on the top of her head.
“
It
’
ll be fine, little Pix. You
’
ll see.
”

“
We
’
re back, bitches!
”
Evo exclaimed with a huge grin on her face.

There was a spattering of dried blood on one side of her face, clearly not hers.
“
We came, we saw, and we kicked some I-Man ass!
”
She flounced over to us and sat down on the ground, blowing on her nails dramatically.
“
Although after dealing with those I-Monsters I think I could take out an entire army of I-Men
…
in my sleep. In my sleep with one hand tied be behind my back. I might miss doing this one day.
”
She sighed, leaning back to stare up at the sky as if lost in thought.

X strolled up nonchalantly carrying a gun, if you wanted to call it that, about the size of
…
me. He set the butt on the ground and leaned on it. Evo
’
s eyes widened when she got a look at it.
“
Like my new toy?
”
he asked, feigning indifference.

“
Where the hell did you get that?
”
Evo jumped up, her body trembling with
…
desire?
She is so odd.

“
Found it in one of the dead I-Men
’
s stash. Think he was some kind of special ops or military before he turned.
”

Evo crouched down beside the gun, running her hands with affection over the weapon.
“
Did you find ammo for it? Because if you didn
’
t it won
’
t do us any good.
”

X tossed a huge box onto the ground, metal pinging inside.
“
Of course, baby.
”

“
I fucking love you,
”
she murmured.
“
You
’
re so getting an extra thank you later.
”

X grinned, watching Evo with unadulterated love. There was no mistaking how gone for her he was. It kind of surprised me. I mean, I knew they were a couple, but I was realizing that probably a lot more went on behind closed doors than I wanted to know about. I saw them in a whole new light. Maybe their bickering and bantering was about some kind of weird foreplay.

“
I found this too.
”
X threw a black vest on the ground and my breathing stopped.
“
There
’
s all kinds of stuff in there. I didn
’
t go through every pocket but I bet
—”

I broke away from Riley, who I
’
d been leaning on while we sat and waited, and lurched to my feet.
“
Where did you find that?
”
Ice moved through my veins. I snatched up the vest and shook it at X.
“
I asked you where you found this?
”

Evo caught on quickly.
“
You recognize it? X found it in an I-Man
’
s stash. Does that
—”

“
Fuck!
”
I rifled through the pockets to make sure I wasn
’
t imagining it.
“
Not good. Not good. Not good.
”
I dropped to my knees.
“
This is just like the one I was given before I left on my mission with Emilio and Tony. In fact, all the teams had similar vests. Were there any others? Or how many I-Men did you see?
”

“
Awe
…
shit.
”
Evo scowled.
“
Please don
’
t tell me our way out of this hell hole just got cut off. Are you suggesting that those I-Men were the guys you were supposed to meet up with?
”

“
That
’
s what I
’
m trying to find out.
”
I threw the vest on the ground.
“
How many of them were there and did you see any other vests or clues?
”

“
Like this?
”
X lifted the massive gun and quirked an eyebrow.

“
Nope. Nope. Nuh-uh. A few infected doesn
’
t mean anything. It just means
—”

“
It means exactly what your instincts are telling you,
”
Zee growled, dragging a tied up I-Man behind him, Max following up the rear with her gun trained on their prisoner. Zee tossed it at my feet. I peered down at him without recognition.
“
Well, tell her.
”

“
We overtook the uninfected men that were waiting here. We stole their things in hopes to gain access to the boats.
”

I grabbed him by his hair.
“
And did you? Did you get access?
”
I hadn
’
t considered the possibility of I-Men figuring out how to get to the boats before we had a chance to fry them off the face of the planet. Maybe I just wanted to keep some kind of hope intact. Who wants to fight tooth and nail for something that might not be waiting for them after the battle is over? I
’
d only managed to not give up because of Riley and my brothers
…
for the hope of love and an end to the constant barrage of horrors. Without hope the human spirit dies.

The I-Man smirked.
“
Guess you
’
ll just have to find out for yourselves.
”

I let go of his hair and his head thumped on the asphalt.
“
You know, at any minute this entire continent is going to be cleansed. If you tell me the truth I
’
ll think about taking you with us, maybe they can help you when the cure is found.
”

“
I don
’
t wanna be cured,
”
he spat.
“
I like being like this. Stronger, faster, and I don
’
t care about things the way I used to. My conscience has never been so clear.
”

Evo stalked over and shot him three times in the head.
“
Well, I feel better. Anyone else feel better?
”
She glanced around, her gaze skimming across all of ours.
“
What? He wasn
’
t going to tell us anything.
”

“
She
’
s right,
”
I said, staring down at the black vest on the ground.
“
And he
’
s right for that matter too. We
’
re going to have to find out for ourselves.
”

“
I
’
ll take care of this one,
”
X muttered, already dragging him off.

“
And how are we supposed to signal or make contact
…
or get over to these boats? Do you even know where they might be? They
’
re boats. They move.
”
I stared at my twin
’
s outburst of negativity. If even
he
was getting bogged down then we were all in trouble.

I started pacing back and forth across the small patch of sidewalk.
“
I don
’
t know. Shit. I don
’
t know.
”

“
I
’
m not waiting here to see if I get burned alive. If I have to jump in the water and start swimming I will,
”
Evo grated.

“
You probably wouldn
’
t feel anything,
”
Max offered.
“
You
’
d be here one minute and the next
…”
she snapped her fingers.

“
That
’
s not depressing or anything,
”
Nyx muttered, threading her fingers with Ty
’
s.

The vein in Zee
’
s forehead was working overtime as he tried to figure out the answer to our little dilemma.
“
What was the protocol for when you arrived, Vi? There had to have been some kind of backup plan that could be set into motion if something like this happened.
”

“
If there was, I wasn
’
t made privy to it.
”

Evo sat on the ground and started pulling guns and knives out of a large black bag, like she was doing inventory.
“
So we find a boat and we start paddling or some shit.
”
She caressed a large knife and set it aside.
“
Some of you are going to be left behind, and I
’
m sorry. And some of you will hopefully go on to more glorious things. I want you all to know that I would take every last one of you with me if I could.
”

Max rolled her eyes.
“
Stop being so dramatic, Evo. Yes, we all know how tore up you
’
re going to be to have to leave some of your babies behind.
”

Evo glared up at Max, her eyes almost white.
“
Hey, don
’
t mock them. Some of these have saved your life.
”

“
A flair maybe. Or what about old school ham radios, if we could find one of those maybe we could make contact,
”
Zee muttered, staring off at nothing.

Riley wrapped his arms around me, whispering in my ear,
“
It
’
s been a long hard road since the advent of M-Day for all of us. But for you especially, with all the guilt you
’
ve been carrying. You probably know something and are too tired and stressed out to remember.
”
He spun me in his arms, and gently pressed his lips to mine. My eyes fluttered shut. He pulled away before the kiss really had a chance to get started. Our breaths intermingled and I reached up to wind my hands around the back of his neck.
“
Think, Viv. How do we get out of here?
”

I breathed in Riley, his intoxicating scent, letting it calm me. With my eyes still closed I tugged him back down to me, parting his mouth with my tongue. My mind slid into the past, even as I fell deeper into the kiss with Riley in the present.

“
Remember the coordinates, Vi, because you know I
’
m shit at that kind of stuff. Hopefully we won
’
t need them, but if we do
…”
Emilio grinned at me as he handed me the piece of paper. I stared down at it, the numbers scratched hastily in black ink. Two sets, one for each possible pickup point.

I stumbled back from Riley.
“
Coordinates! I remember the coordinates for where we need to go!
”

Riley
’
s dark eyes met mine as he grinned.
“
Glad to know that my kiss still does magic.
”

“
My sister,
”
Ty grated.

“
Oh, shut up.
”
Nyx playfully elbowed him in the gut.
“
Just be happy for her
—
for them.
”

“
I would be if she didn
’
t decide that PDAs were her and Riley
’
s new thing. I mean
…
my best friend and my sister. Before when they were together they kept it on the DL for the longest time. I never even saw them hold hands.
”