“Your kid is safe,” Chaplin said. “They’ve ripped the fence down. Some of the others are getting them out. Now give us a hand and let’s get everyone out.”
Mason nodded, ignoring the tight feeling of the bracelet on his ankle. He’d worry about that later.
He couldn’t run, but at least he could walk again. He moved through the crowd, which was beginning to thin. The smoke assaulted his eyes, forcing them to water, and he wiped at his face several times to try and clear his vision.
Then he saw her.
She was holding a gun but not properly. No, she had it up in the air like a baseball bat, which almost made him laugh out loud. Her auburn hair blew around her face, covering her eyes, and she tucked it back behind her ears as she ducked behind one of the tents. His legs instantly began to move in her direction.
“Aries!”
She came to him, throwing her arms around him, pinching the nerves in his back, but none of that mattered. He held her tight, breathing in the scent of her hair, feeling the softness of her skin.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” she said.
There was something new in her eyes. Darkness. He knew instantly that something had happened.
Anger.
At herself?
At him?
“We have to get you out of here,” he said, taking her arm and pulling her away from the fire. “Come with me.”
“The others,” Aries said. “They’re here somewhere. I can’t find them. Have you seen Graham’s daughter? They killed everyone off, but we think she might be here.”
“She is. But she’s with the others. They’ve broken down the fence on the south side. I hear they’ve taken the children there and are getting them out.”
“Good.”
They fled to the edge of the compound where the fighting was less intense. There were big gaping holes in the fence now, and people were crawling through them, heading off in all directions. He saw a man wearing nothing but boxer shorts trip over the body of someone lying facedown on the pavement.
“Listen to me,” he said. “You have to find Daniel. He’s over at the casino. You can go get him. We’ll meet back here in a bit.”
“What about you?”
Mason paused and looked back into the middle of the camp, where people were fighting for their lives. More than anything else in the world, he wanted to grab Aries by the arm and lead her to safety. They’d leave it all behind, find their island, and spend the rest of their lives in hidden peace.
Mason wanted to be left alone. That was all he’d wanted since this whole thing happened. But he was beginning to admit it just wasn’t in the cards.
He smiled to himself. The darkness wasn’t going to win tonight. Mason Dowell wasn’t a monster yet.
“I have to help the others,” he said.
ARIES
She didn’t want to leave Mason, but he waved at her to go. Already he was running into the crowd where a group of men and woman were fighting to try and keep the Baggers from opening fire on them.
“Just get Daniel and meet me back here,” Mason yelled over his shoulder. “Be quick.”
She turned and the doors of the casino beckoned. It took her a while to get there; people kept pushing into her as they raced past. She stopped to check the pulse of a woman lying on the ground by the stage, but she was gone. After that, she stepped over the bodies of both Baggers and normal people, ignoring the urge to try and help them.
Anyone on the ground was pretty much beyond help.
The casino doors were closed. In the windows, she could see the reflections of the fires that ravaged the compound. She looked up at the darkened neon sign above her head and tried to ignore the cold creeping sensation that ran up her spine.
She didn’t want to go inside.
There was something awful inside there. She couldn’t explain it, but she could feel it. Something dark. Horrible.
But Daniel was in there too.
She walked up to the doors and pushed one open. Keeping the gun raised, she stepped inside. The smell hit her face: sweat and fear. She gasped and bit down on her lip at the same time.
The place was brightly lit and she blinked several times to try and adjust to the sudden change. Moving across the foyer, she entered the main room. Inside were cages, row after row of custom-made prisons. The majority of them had people inside.
She heard a noise coming from the back and she raised the gun higher, wondering if she could even fire it. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward, moving along the sides of the cages closest to her.
Someone reached out and grabbed her sleeve. A girl, maybe a few years older than her, with greasy braids and torn jeans.
“What’s happening outside?” the girl asked.
“Prison break,” Aries said. She put her hand through the bar and their fingers touched reassuringly. “Have you seen a guy come in? Dark hair?”
“How do I know you’re not one of them?” the girl asked.
Aries let go of the gun and pushed it through the bars. “For starters, I wouldn’t do that,” she said. “Not sure what else I can do except say I’m cool. My eyes aren’t black. And I need to find my friend.”
The girl held on to the machine gun for a few seconds before handing it back to Aries. “Down at the end. He’s helping people escape,” the girl replied. “But he’s not moving fast enough. He’s trying to pick the locks but he doesn’t know how.”
Aries shook her head. It had to be Daniel, but she wasn’t about to scream out his name just in case. “Here,” Aries said. She pulled her backpack off her shoulders and dug around until she found the pair of wire cutters. “We used these to get inside the fence,” she said. “I’ve got more than one pair. Free yourself and then help the others.”
The girl grabbed the tool and silently began to cut through the metal fencing. Aries slipped past her and continued along the row. A lot of people looked up at her, eyes wide and mistrusting. She couldn’t blame them, especially when she was carrying a gun. For all they knew she might be a Bagger.
A loud explosion from outside shook the walls, and from about fifty feet away she heard someone swear.
“Daniel?”
A pause.
“Aries?”
Suddenly he was right in front of her. He looked terrible, swollen and beaten, not at all like the healthy boy she’d seen just a few days ago.
“What happened to you?” She reached up to touch his face, but he brushed her away.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said. “But you can help me. I’m trying to open the cages but I’m kind of crappy at it.” He held up his hand and she saw blood trickling down his fingers. “Cut myself trying to pick a lock.”
“Here,” she said, handing him the second pair of wire cutters.
“Perfect!”
Daniel turned and disappeared down another row. She went back and checked on the girl, who had not only freed herself but was in the process of cutting through the cage of the person beside her.
She turned the corner again just as Daniel managed to free an older man. Climbing out of the small prison, the man turned and smiled at Aries.
“They caught me a few days ago trying to get into the city. I traveled all the way up from Edmonton. A bunch of us came in as a group.”
“Why?” Aries asked. “What’s happening there?”
“Nothing. Just a big old ghost world. Most of the prairies are dead or heading west or south. The snow came in hard this year. Lots of people came here to keep from freezing to death. I heard out in Ontario some communities have managed to get the electricity running again, but that makes them easy targets. I thought it might be easier here.”
“Why were they keeping you in here? Why in the casino?”
“I’m a doctor,” the man said. “And I refused to help one of them. I guess they didn’t like my negative attitude.”
They worked hard for the next quarter of an hour. The girl at the front moved the quickest, an
d within minutes she had nearly all the people in her row freed. There were no more explosions from outside, and Aries began to get antsy. If things were winding down, it was only a matter of time before the Baggers came into the casino to check on their key victims.
They didn’t bother opening the cages of the people who were unconscious or nonresponsive. It killed her that they were going to leave them behind, but Aries knew there was no point.
They couldn’t save them all.
“We’ve cut open a hole in the south fence,” Aries said once they were ready to make their exit. “But you’ve got the wire cutters, so look for another route if you can’t get through that way.”
“Thanks,” the girl said.
“When you get outside,” Aries said, “run. Look for shelter. Anything. Just get away.”
A loud crash boomed through the casino. Several people screamed in surprise.
“They’re here,” Daniel said.
Aries turned around, raising her gun up toward the front doors. She hoped she looked tougher than she felt. “Let’s fight.”
CLEMENTINE
There was fire everywhere.
She ducked behind a tent and then raced straight out across the grounds toward the cooking area. There a group of people were actually managing to fight by throwing pots and pans at the Baggers. When they ran out of supplies, they started tossing vegetables. A tomato hit a Bagger right in the eye and he fell backward, tripping over his own feet and smashing his head against one of the tables.
“Brilliant,” Joy shouted at her as she came running around the corner. She was breathing heavily, her face flushed, but other than that, she seemed unhurt. Raj came up behind her, his nose dripping blood.
“Have you found the bloke you’re looking for yet?” Raj asked. Using his sleeve, he tried to wipe some of the blood off his face.
“Not yet,” Clementine said. “But maybe Aries had better luck.” She looked at her watch. “Either way, we have to abandon fort in the next ten minutes.”
“I tried looking for Graham’s girl,” Joy said. “No luck. I heard a bunch of kids got through the fence, though. No idea where the Baggers are taking the ones they’ve managed to round back up. I can’t see a damn thing anymore. Too much smoke.”
“Yeah,” Raj said. “I’ve got to agree, babes. Can’t see a bloody thing. Some idiot keeps setting things on fire.”
Clementine snorted and started coughing at the same time.
“This is good, though,” Joy said. “We’ve done well, right? All these people. We’ve managed to save at least some of them. And look at the way they’re fighting back. We should have been doing this from the beginning.”
“Ryder used to talk about this all the time,” Raj said. “How we were supposed to stand up and take back our city. But we never did anything. I have to admit it; it feels great. Scary as hell, but good nonetheless.”
Gunshots echoed through the camp, and Clementine felt something whiz by her ear. Ducking, she turned to see Joy yelp and drop to the ground. Screaming out her friend’s name, she crawled along in the dirt until she reached her.
“I’m fine. Just grazed my arm.” Joy wrapped her good arm protectively around her stomach. “Don’t mind me if I barf, though. Bit queasy. Must be the smoke.”
“It’s time to go,” Raj said. “While we still can. What’s the saying? Those who run live to fight another day?”
“Works for me,” Clementine said. “Let’s go.”
Raj helped Joy up to her feet and they half dragged, half carried her over behind the closest tent.
Carefully, under the camouflage of smoke, they started making their way toward the fence.
Dear Heath, we’re onto something here. A war is starting and somehow I’ve managed to get right in the middle of it. And you know what? It feels good. We do need to fight and join together as a group. And there will be more deaths, but I think we’re ready for that. Either way, I think we’ve just declared war on the Baggers and we’ve won the first round. Now if only we can stay alive long enough to celebrate it.
She paused at the edge of the fence and turned back to look at the compound. It was almost empty now; the majority of people were either gone or dead. Outside the fence, she could still hear the sounds of people fighting for their lives.
She spotted Mason over by the casino but he didn’t see her. He wasn’t moving. Just standing there as if he was waiting for someone.
He looked so lost.
“You guys go on ahead,” Clementine said. “There’s Mason. I’m going to go get him.”
“Are you sure?” Joy asked. She was holding on to her arm, trying to stop the bleeding. Her skin looked pale under the flickering of the fire.
“Yeah.”
Turning, Clementine headed back into the camp.
ARIES
The Baggers piled into the room. There were at least five of them and they looked haphazard and angry. Behind the first few, she recognized the female from Graham’s house, the one who’d started crying and babbling for no reason. She must have made a full recovery because she was carrying a machete dripping in blood.
Someone behind Aries began sobbing heavily. Another person, an older man with fine wisps of white hair on his chin, dropped to his knees and started praying. Aries looked at them all, the hope and light disappearing from their faces.
So unfair.
No one deserved to be treated this way.
She didn’t think. Raising the machine gun, she pointed it in the direction of the Baggers and pulled the trigger.
The recoil of the gun immediately sent her backward. Bullets sprayed across the room and up into the ceiling as she fell hard on her back, making her tailbone scream in agony. One of the Baggers dropped to the floor; the others scattered, ducking behind the rows of cages and out of reach of her crappy aim.
“Nice job, sharpshooter,” Daniel said, reaching down and offering her his hand.
A loud noise came from the main entrance. Suddenly more people started filing into the casino, prisoners armed with weapons. Some of them had guns, others had taken the more primitive route, arming themselves with frying pans, knives, and whatever else they’d managed to find that was blunt or sharp.
The outside group turned on the Baggers, attacking them at full force. Beside her, the girl with the wire cutters gave out a long primal screech and ran straight toward the commotion. Another person followed. And another. Slowly, steadily, some limping, others wincing in pain, the group of people too important to be allowed outside, joined the scrimmage.
The screams of terror that followed were not from any of the prisoners.
Aries watched in horror until Daniel tugged on her shoulder. “Come with me. There are rooms in the back. We should check them quickly.”
Daniel didn’t even give her the chance to argue. His fingers tightened around hers and together they ran toward an exit sign that glowed brightly above a heavy black door.
Behind the exit was a long hallway with lots of closed doors. As they moved along, Daniel turned the handles, but the majority of them were locked. A few opened and he checked each one but there didn’t seem to be anyone there. The area was abandoned.
“There’s another exit at the end,” Daniel said. “It’ll take us outside.”
“How do you know this?” she asked.
“I spent some time here. This is where they tortured me,” he said, and he banged on one of the doors as they passed.
She looked at his face, repressing the urge to reach out and tenderly touch his bruises.
Daniel smiled at her as if reading her thoughts. “Really, I’m okay. There are far worse things than getting a few smacks to the head.”
She wondered if the Baggers had done those “worse things” too and if Daniel would ever admit to any of it.
As they rounded the first corner, they realized they weren’t alone. Someone had found them.
A hand reached out and shoved her hard. Aries hit the wall, knocking the air right ou
t of her lungs, and she dropped to the ground. Daniel was there in a second, arms reaching around her, pulling her back up.
She couldn’t breathe. Her feet wouldn’t support her. The gun in her hand was suddenly too heavy and it slipped past her fingers and onto the floor.
Daniel didn’t hesitate. He turned and stabbed the attacker with the wire cutters. The Bagger screamed and went down. Opening the door closest to them, Daniel shoved Aries inside. Then he grabbed the gun off the floor and dived into the room behind her. Turning the handle, he pushed down on the button, locking the door and sealing them inside.
“We’re in luck,” he said as he surveyed the room. “Look, a window. We can climb out.”
Someone slammed against the door from the outside. Again. It was only a matter of time till they got in.
Aries looked around the room. There wasn’t any furniture except for a single chair in the middle of the floor. Chains were attached to the chair. Although it was dark, she was positive the stains beneath it were blood.
“Come on,” Daniel said, grabbing her arm. “You don’t want to think about this. It’ll just drive you crazy.”
The window was small but not tiny enough that the two of them couldn’t squeeze through. Outside, the camp was clouded in smoke, and they made their way back to where Mason said he’d be waiting for them.
He was there by the fence, just like he promised.
Daniel stopped about fifty feet before they reached Mason. “Hurry up,” he said. “I think he wants to talk to you alone.”
“We don’t have time for this.”
Daniel shrugged. “Yeah, you do. Now go.”
MASON
When he saw Aries, he couldn’t tell if he was happy or sad. Yes, he was relieved that she was okay; he’d been worried when time moved on and they hadn’t returned from the casino. What if she’d found Daniel and run off with him, leaving Mason behind?
No, wait. That’s what he wanted.
Then why did it hurt so much?
“I can’t go.” The words escaped his lips the moment she stopped in front of him.