Age of Z: A Tale of Survival (32 page)

That was good, because they would have had a very hard time attempting to move him when he didn't want to go anywhere, and he point blank refused to leave that room until this entire mess was over and done with, one way or another.

For a while it had looked like it was going to go the route of 'another'. Alexa had been so close to dying, and the medical staff had been gentle but realistic when they explained her chances were very low at this point.

Casey had sat next to the bed and glared at Alexa's closed eyes, as if he could will his friend to open them if he just tried hard enough. He monitored his friend's each and every shallow breath and weak heartbeat, more than a little afraid each time he heard the silences in between and wondering if they would just keep going.

They didn't. Alexa's eyes stayed closed, but she kept breathing, and her heart kept beating. By nightfall one of the nurses checked in on her and told Casey with a little more optimism than before that Alexa was responding positively to the medication.

She wasn't out of the dark yet, the nurse warned, but she was doing better, and her chances had improved considerably.

“She's definitely a fighter,” the woman finished, offering Casey a quiet smile, before departing the room.

Casey smirked just slightly to himself, and glanced at Alexa's blank face. “Did you hear that? She called you a fighter. You better prove her right.”

Casey suspected the leader of the Base had been keeping tabs on him after his entrance with Alexa–probably the guards had reported the anomaly, which was irritating, but not surprising–because not an hour after the nurse's announcement that Alexa could pull through, a small entourage of guards escorting a tired-looking but intelligent man came calling.

Casey put himself between all of them and Alexa's bed, shoulders squared and muscles tense, but willed himself not to make the first move–just to make it clear that if they acted, he would react, and they would not like it.

They clearly had no intentions of starting a fight, though, and the man they were escorting stepped forward to speak. He had a military bearing to his posture and sized up Casey with an efficiency that spoke of years of combat experience, but there was no aggression in his stance as he nodded once to Casey and said curtly, “I am the commander of this colony. You caused that disturbance at the east gate, earlier?”

“I wouldn't call it a disturbance,” Casey said flatly. “Your guards jumped to conclusions. They would have killed an innocent person if I hadn't acted.”

“Yes,” the man answered. “I... heard something to that effect. I apologize for their behavior. Things have been difficult here of late.” His eyes narrowed, and he went straight for the throat a moment later. “I understand you have some relation to the late Liberty Project.”

Casey's own eyes narrowed at the words, and he wasn't sure what ticked him off more: the blatant reminder that what he was created for no longer existed, or the fact that this man knew he was related to it in some way. “Maybe,” he growled back. “Maybe not.” His eyes flicked to the guards standing behind the commander.

The man raised a cool eyebrow and waved one hand dismissively. “My personal guard. They are all trustworthy. You may speak your mind in front of them.”

“I don't like talking.”

“You are really going to deny your connection to that project?” The commander looked slightly incredulous. “You have some unusual talents.”

“Lots of people are talented.”

“You punched my wall hard enough to crack it and weakened the structure. It will take my men days to repair it.”

“Lots of people are strong.”

“You showed up out of nowhere.”

“I ran.” Not even a lie.

The commander sighed. “Very well. I don't really care about that.” He fixed Casey with a cold look, and said flatly, “I do not believe in beating around the bush. What are your intentions here?”

Casey's eyes widened a fraction. The man was putting on a good poker face, but Casey could hear his heart beating faster than usual. The man was nervous. And considering the first thing he'd done was bring up the 'disturbance' at the gate...

Great,
Casey realized.
He probably thinks I'm here to take over or destroy the place or something, after that stunt at the entrance...

Fixing the commander with a grim look, Casey said flatly, “I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm just looking out for family.”

The commander looked more genuinely surprised this time, and glanced around Casey at Alexa's prone form in the hospital bed–or more specifically at her shock of red hair and smattering of freckles–before looking back to Casey's black hair and slightly paler skin. “Family.”

“Yes.” Casey's glare dared him to argue.

The commander watched him for a moment, but then nodded as if in understanding. “Then you have no interest in continuing to wreck my walls?”

“Or anything else,” Casey agreed, “as long as you don't pull any funny business on your end, against me or her.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Alexa. “You hurt my friend in any way, though, and there'll be problems.”

The commander nodded slightly, just once, and then said delicately, “We cannot give you special treatment because of your... status.”

“I don't want it,” Casey said flatly. “I'll pay in trade or labor for anything I need for me or my sister. Fair prices. Don't think you can jack them up or try to cheat us out of the things we need because of my
status
, either.”

The commander's brows rose again at this, and Casey couldn't tell because he didn't exactly have a lot of experience with people, but he thought he saw a glimmer of genuine respect in the man's eyes.

“I take my duties here extremely seriously,” the man said after a moment. “The mishap at the gate was a mistake, but I do not deny my citizens necessary health care, food and shelter, no matter who they were before the apocalypse came.”

There were no hidden tremors in the man's voice or heartbeat or breath, and Casey was inclined to believe him–the man was wary of the unknown element in his colony, but he had honor, and would live by it.

After a moment, the commander added seriously, “I suggest we agree to a truce, then. You abide by the rules here, do not cause unnecessary trouble, and earn your keep fair and square like everyone else. In return I will ensure that you are not denied or cheated treatment or supplies and are otherwise given free reign to act as you please until you wish to leave.”

At Casey's narrowed glare he added. “Your friend is also under these terms and protections. I am perfectly aware of your over-protectiveness of her and have no wish to trigger your wrath again by harming her in any way. Does this seem fair?”

“I'll leave you alone if you leave us alone,” Casey summed up, and nodded.

“Good. I'm guessing I don't need to ask you to be discreet with your... heritage?”

“No.”

“Excellent. Then we have a truce.” The man offered his hand. Casey shook it and was a little surprised at the firmness of the man's grip. He responded accordingly and couldn't resist adding just a little extra pressure, until he felt the man's knuckles grind just slightly, a warning for him not to mess around with them.

He had to hand it to the man–if the commander felt any pain from the shake, he concealed it remarkably well, and refrained from flexing his fingers or showing any expression on his face. They departed quickly, and Casey spent a long time going over the conversation as he sat next to Alexa's bed again and waited. Had he made the right choice?

But it seemed he had, and the commander, was as honorable as Casey had guessed and true to his word. Other than the assistance of the medical staff, neither he nor Alexa were harassed by anyone in the colony.

Casey had not been approached by anyone inquiring into his possible connection to the Liberty Project, either, meaning the commander had acted quickly to curb the rumors and had no intention of drawing attention to the clone in their midst. Casey was fine with that.

In return he remained in the medical facility and ignored everything else around him, silent and placid. The only times he ever bothered to move from Alexa's bedside were to use the facilities or curl up on one of the empty beds for a few hours of rest, and the nurses were kind enough to fetch something to eat in exchange for some of his trade goods, so he kept his promises there too.

With that potential wrinkle smoothed over, all that was left to do was wait on Alexa. Which brought Casey full-circle as he realized more and more just how much he hated doing so.

That first day and night was uneventful, other than the nurse's announcement that Alexa was responding to the antibiotics. She remained steadfastly unconscious and did not so much as twitch, mutter, or even seem to have bad dreams.

The second day had been better, in Casey's opinion, if admittedly disturbing. Alexa had woken for brief periods of time then, which the nurses said was a good sign, but she'd been delirious and completely unaware of her surroundings.

Mostly in had been harmless, and occasionally depressing when Alexa had woken and apparently been convinced she was surrounded by zoms, prompting her to thrash and scream in panic; Casey had been forced to hold her down until one of the nurses could administer some sort of sedative to knock her out.

Casey had barely needed a fraction of his strength to keep Alexa pinned to the bed, but he had been startled at how hard Alexa had managed to fight against him while sick, and had been legitimately concerned that his friend was going to wrench or break something with her struggling.

By day three the nurses announced with much more optimism than before that Alexa's fever had reduced significantly. It was the best thing Casey'd heard since he arrived at the Base, because it meant Alexa was essentially in the clear. But it also made him more impatient than ever for his friend to finally wake up for real, so Casey could yell at her for being so stupid.

It was late afternoon on the third day since he'd shown up at the Base's gate when Casey finally caught the first traces of Alexa's breath altering as she shifted slowly out of sleep, and heard the patter of her heartbeat as it sped up just slightly.

Her eyes flickered beneath their lids, and just when Casey was about to complain loudly that Alexa was doing it on purpose, the teenager's eyes cracked open slowly. She blinked several times, looking dazed, and her expression drew down into a slow frown of confusion. Then her eyes flickered to her right, and her gaze fell on Casey, still sitting next to her.

They locked eyes for a moment, silent, and there was recognition in Alexa's eyes. Then Casey smirked, just a little, and said, “Welcome back.”

Alexa looked deeply confused. “Did I leave?” she asked after a moment. Her voice sounded hoarse.

“Near enough.” Casey gave her a flat look, and then retrieved his water bottle from a second chair he'd been using as a table. He twisted the cap off, slid a hand behind Alexa's head and shoulders carefully to lift her, and helped her drink.

Alexa gulped at the water greedily, and Casey scowled at her. “Hey, take it easy! Small sips. You've been out for days.”

Alexa gave him a weak but all too familiar cheeky smile, and said with a voice that was far less hoarse than previously, “This from the guy that gulped down my entire water bottle after sleeping for three years?” But she did slow down, taking smaller sips as ordered until she signaled she was fine for the moment.

Casey helped her lay back down and took his own seat again, watching as Alexa looked around the room. The teenager looked exhausted, still, but much more alert than before, and frowned at the unfamiliar surroundings. She coughed once, and then asked, “Where... are we?”

“The Base,” Casey answered. “Their medical ward.”

Alexa's eyes widened in shock. “The Base... as in,
the
Base? The one we were aiming for?” Casey nodded, and Alexa stared at him in disbelief. “But... but we were so... how many days have I been out?”

“It's been three days since we got here and you started getting treatment,” Casey supplied. “About five and a half since the factory. Maybe closer to six.”

Alexa gaped at him. “You... you covered over a hundred miles through zom-infested territory in two and a half days?” she said incredulously. Pitching her voice high started her coughing again, although they weren't as bad as they had been, but it still took her a moment to stop.

Casey scoffed at that. “Please. I'm stubborn. Told you we'd make it.”

Alexa shook his head, still looking disbelieving. “I'll never doubt you again, LS–” she froze, looking alarmed, and glanced around.

“It's safe,” Casey assured her, and then added a scowl, “You doubted me before?”

“I... well, I mean, it seemed kind of... impossible...” She winced apologetically. “Sorry. I just... I mean, I really don't remember much, but... I mean, I knew I was doing bad, I really didn't think I was gonna last long enough to make it here...”

Truthfully Casey wasn't innocent there either; he'd been sure all his efforts were going to be for nothing more than once. But he'd never admit to it, and said instead, “Yeah, well, have a little more faith in me next time, got it? I'm not just any old human, impossible is what I was built to do.”