Dauntless

Dauntless

A Zombie-ish Apocalypse Book III

Shannon Mayer

Dauntless

Love makes everything that is heavy light.

-Thomas P Kempis, German Monk

1

Belief in that which you cannot see, touch, taste or smell is called faith by some and foolishness by others. I don’t know which I would say is more painful, to have faith and trust in an impossibility or to succumb to the reality of the world and let a dream die.

I wanted to believe that Sebastian was becoming human once more; I wanted to believe that the “cure” Donavan forced on him would do what it should and bring him back to me. But the trembling muscles under my hands and the flickering eyelids that gave me only brief glimpses into yellowed irises stole what hope I had. Three days Sebastian had lain on the gurney, his every move monitored—as was mine.

“I don’t know why you even bother to stay here,” Lucy said on one of her hourly checks on us.

“I can’t leave him, besides, it’s not like I can just walk out of the compound. I’d be shot, you know that.” I didn’t bother to look up, just sat in my chair and continued to watch Bastian for any sign of movement other than the muscle tremors. The scent of antiseptic and sickness hung heavy in the air, clinging to the back of my throat.

“Listen,” she paused and took a deep breath; I finally looked up at her. She gave me a weak smile. “You aren’t safe here. Donavan’s losing his mind and it’s going faster every day.”

Lucy bent down to me, her face full of concern. “The rest of us are going to make a run for it and if you’re still here, you’ll take the brunt of his anger.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. Lucy was one of Donavan’s supporters; she believed in him and his work.

The door creaked and Donavan strode in. “Lucy. Out,” he snapped.

Lucy left the room, her face pale and her eyes wide. Behind Donavan’s back she mouthed something to me. I couldn’t be sure, but I think it was Vancouver. My eyebrows crunched up. Why would she mouth the name of a city to me?

“I see Sebastian is still unconscious,” Donavan said.

“Well done Captain Obvious,” I said. “Perhaps you’d like to point out that I’m awake?”

Donavan stared at me, his eyes empty of emotion. That blank expression was almost worse than if he had gotten angry. I swallowed hard but refused to lower my eyes.

“Sebastian doesn’t seem to be improving. It looks as if I will be back to the drawing board tomorrow.” He flicked his finger against Sebastian’s cheek. “By tonight I’ll have to have him removed,” Donavan said.

“What do you mean remove him? He’s sick, it’s your fault. You can’t move him right now,” I said, standing up and putting myself between Donavan and Bastian.

“I didn’t say I’d move him somewhere else. I said I’d have him removed. Those are two very different statements,” Donavan said.

My skin twitched over my back as what Donavan was saying sunk in. He didn’t believe that Sebastian was improving. I struggled for my next breath of air as the muscles in my body constricted, my hope shrivelling up. Where would that leave him—a vegetable? Or would he just go back to being a Nevermore? If I had to choose, I’d take him being a Nevermore, but it wouldn’t be my choice. Sebastian gave a shudder, his body trembling with the “cure” that coursed through his veins. I placed my hand over his, gripping his fingers.

The rest of Donavan’s words sunk into my mind. Donavan had every intention of having Sebastian removed tonight. Killed. Eliminated.

No, I couldn’t let that happen. Sebastian and I’d come too far, worked too hard to have this maniacal, twisted individual end our journey together. Without thinking I swung my fist at Donavan, catching him by surprise. His head snapped back in a perfect arc and his teeth gave a loud crack as they snapped together.

Those unblinking eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the floor, his head hitting a side cart on the way down. Blood burst out of the wound, just above his right temple, and quickly covered the floor.

I stared at the unconscious man at my feet and then rubbed the knuckles of the hand I’d hit him with. I really hadn’t expected that to go as well as it had. Now what? I rubbed my knuckle again, and then rubbed at my eyes. I was exhausted and wasn’t thinking straight.

The door opened and Lucy stepped in. “Donavan, I was . . .” She trailed off at the sight of the body and blood on the floor.

“I hit him harder than I thought and he hit his head on the table on his way down…” I rushed the words out.

“Either way, let’s get him secured,” she said, bending down and picking Donavan up by the arms. “Help me get him on to the other gurney.”

I stood there just looking at her until she snapped at me. “He’s going to wake up soon, help me Mara.”

I made myself move and did as she asked, picking up Donavan’s feet. We hauled him to the second gurney, breathing hard as we lifted him onto it awkwardly. He let out a low groan and lifted his hand to his face as we plunked him onto the table.

With a speed that surprised me, Lucy went to work securing Donavan to the gurney using the crazy straps. By the time he started to fully come around he was completely secured to the flat, steel gurney.

“Just lay there Donavan and everything will be fine,” Lucy said, her voice the perfect, calm voice you’d expect out of a nurse.

I stepped away, putting distance between myself and the crazy man I’d just laid out. I didn’t think he was going to be that happy with me and Lucy. I was right.

As he came to scream after scream ripped out of his mouth. We focused on the noise, trying to get a gag into his mouth. What we should have been noticing was how he worked his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small remote. But like any good magician, he distracted us with his theatrics, leaving us gasping when the first boom sounded outside the theatre walls. The world swayed, the structure above us groaned and I crouched beside Sebastian’s gurney. I stared at Lucy over Donavan’s body and she pointed to the remote in his hand. I made a grab for it, snatching it just as his finger depressed another button.

Another boom and Lucy gripped the edge of the gurney. “He just unlocked the cells.”

“What?” I was afraid I knew the answer, but I needed to be sure.

“Where he kept all the test subjects, all the Nevermores. He threatened us with releasing them all the time.”

A piece of the puzzle slipped into place. Crap. That was why they all stayed. Fear of having a horde of Nevermores unleashed on them.

Equipment beeped and buzzed, flickered and went out, plunging us into complete darkness. I gripped Sebastian’s hand and was surprised when he squeezed back.

“Sebastian?” I whispered. He let out a groan, and Lucy let out a squeak.

“The sedative wears off quick. We need to get out of here,” Lucy said, and her fingers found my arm and started to pull.

“No!” I snapped as another boom sounded and the world around us swayed once more.

“You don’t know that he’ll recognize you, the cure could have wiped his memory or even made him more aggressive!” Apparently, I hadn’t been informed of all the possible side effects. Great, just freaking great. What was going to happen to him? Would this “cure” allow him any of himself back or would he . . . I shook off the negative thoughts. I didn’t have time to dwell on them; I had to get us out of here.

The only sound for a brief moment was tinkling glass and equipment tumbling to the floor; then the squeak of the gurney as Sebastian shifted his weight.

“Fine, stay here with your monster then,” Lucy yelled, as she let go of my arm and shuffled her way to the door. I held perfectly still, the darkness covering Sebastian’s every move though his breathing was loud and laboured. A rumble of falling cement echoed through the basement and something smashed against the door. That did not bode well for us.

A more distant boom and I put my hand out to steady myself. My fingertips brushed against a hard belly and smooth skin. He grunted and his hand covered mine, squeezing it painfully.

“Sebastian, not so hard,” I said.

The squeezing intensified and I yelped; tried to pull my hand out of his, fear escalating quickly. He was huge, way stronger than me, and full of a drug that made him animalistic at best. Did it matter that I loved him if he tried to hurt me? I yanked my hand hard and he followed, not letting go; he stumbled on something and crashed into me. Unable to see or even begin to brace our fall, we rolled in midair and I ended up on top of him.

He let out a moan and released my hand. I slid off him and felt my way to the door, hoping to get us both out of here in one piece—though our odds weren’t looking good at the moment. The handle turned easily but the door was stuck on something. I put my shoulder against it and shoved hard, opening the door a very small fraction. I let out a breath and the world shook around us again. We had to get out of here. We were on the bottom floor of a very large building. There would be no rescue crew if the place collapsed on top of us.

Again, I put my shoulder to the door and threw my weight against it. The door creaked, the wood giving before whatever it was stuck on would move. The darkness was starting to feel claustrophobic, the idea of being buried alive singing through my brain like an unwanted theme as I struggled to keep myself under control.

Slowing my breathing down, I leaned my head against the door. There had to be a better way; I couldn’t keep throwing my body against the door.

“Mara?”

My head snapped up at the sound of Marks’ voice. He hadn’t been killed!

“Here!” I yelled, “We’re here!”

More voices and now the shuffling of feet and large objects were right outside the door. A beam of light filtered through the crack and Sebastian grumbled something unintelligible.

“Mara, we have to move some debris, but we’ll have you out of there in no time,” Marks said through the doorway.

“Okay.” I paused, feeling the need to say something more, but somehow feeling disloyal to Sebastian if I voiced the words. I swallowed hard.

“Marks.”

“Here, I’m here,” he said, his voice muffled.

I put my hand on the door, my heart breaking a little. “Thank you, for coming to find me.”

He chuckled. “You didn’t think I’d leave you in the compound did you?”

I shook my head, forgetting for a moment that he couldn’t see me. The fact of the matter was, I didn’t think any of the boys were alive. I’d believed that Sebastian and I were on our own again.

Thank God I was wrong.

2

The boom of explosions continued the entire time that Marks and his boys extricated me and Sebastian from the lower level of the compound. I managed to get Sebastian out the door without the men having to come in, then turned my back, shut the door and walked away, knowing that I was sentencing Donavan to death. But I couldn’t find it in me to care, not when he’d been ready to kill Sebastian with far too little reason. I didn’t tell them that Donavan was still inside the medical room.

Sunlight streamed in through the frames where windows had once circled the theatre-turned-compound. Shattered glass lay strewn everywhere and the smell of sulphur and burning wood filled the air.

“A transmission came through on the radio,” Marks said. “The government has set up rendezvous points to fly out survivors. The Vancouver Airport is a sanctioned area that is set up for testing people as they come through. We just have to get there.” I stumbled to a stop, disbelief making my feet clumsy and my already pounding heart stutter. I grabbed Marks’ arm. He glanced down at me and nodded. I couldn’t even pull the words out of my mind. There was a place that we could go . . . that we could be safe. My mind tried to wrap itself around the concept of safety, but it was a hard task; I quickly gave up and focused back on the here and now.

He paused and checked around a corner before waving the rest of us forward. I glanced back to see Sebastian unmoving on the gurney, a man on either side pushing it along. It hadn’t been much of a fight to convince the boys he had to come; they’d seen me fight for Sebastian already and knew I wouldn’t be dissuaded.