Survival (6 page)

"We'll figure out something better later.
For now, the electricity is still on here and the backup generators
are in good order. We can see anything coming at us. And we can
heat this area a lot more efficiently than the whole courthouse.
There are beds in the cells here, too. I always wondered why they
bothered to put in beds when no one stayed overnight, but I'm
glad—" Eric dropped the bag he carried and grabbed Meredith as she
swayed. Picking her up, he started down the hall to one of the
cells.

"I can walk, Eric. Put me down." Her weak
voice didn't carry far.

He ignored her protests, carrying her into a
small cell. He sat her on the bed. "You don't have any blood on
you, so I'm assuming you haven't been bitten. Is that right?"

She sighed. "No. I haven't been bitten.
Chemo's kicking my ass. I just need to rest."

He nodded and looked her over. "Okay. We'll
get you some food soon. Just relax."

"Where can I . . . ." Sarah indicated the
child in her arms.

"Over here." He showed her into another
cell.

Sarah laid Maggie down. "I really need to
clean her up a little bit. I don't suppose you'd have anything I
could put on her?" She brushed the hair away from the child's
face.

"We raided the sheriff's office a little
earlier. We have tees and sweats. Even the women's small will
swallow her."

"It'll do for now." She looked around. "I've
only been down here once before, but I seem to recall it has a
shower area. I can get some water to clean her up."

He pulled her against him, just holding her
for a minute. "She can wait a while. She's sleeping and I have a
feeling when she wakes up, she's going to need to see a familiar
face." He pressed against her, leaned back and looked her up and
down. Pulling her back against him, he laughed. "Is that a
flashlight in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Sarah snorted and pressed her hand against
his chest, pushing away from him. "You're a nut. But I am
very
happy to see you." She brushed her hand down his
sweatshirt. "I got your shirt all dirty though."

Eric took her by the hand and led her to a
supply cabinet where he pulled out sweats for her and Dana as well
as a couple of towels. "You two look like you've been through hell.
So go get showered and changed. If you're up to it, rinse your
clothes while you're in the shower, so you'll have your own stuff
tomorrow. Or I'll do it a little later. We've had time to rest
some. When you're out, we'll see to your injuries and I'll get
Robert to make some sandwiches. "

"Great! I'm starved." Sarah whirled around
to see Dex behind her.

"Hey, Dex. This is Lieutenant Alvarez. Why
don't you hang with him a minute while we go grab showers, then you
can take one and we'll all eat then. Okay?"

"Okay, but hurry. Don't be taking one of
those hour-long girl showers." He rolled his eyes.

Laughing, she hurried back to her sister.
Her laughter ceased when she found Dana curled on the floor against
one of the corners of a cell. She rushed to her, taking her in her
arms. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Dana continued to sob, her words barely
understandable. "I k-killed him."

Not understanding at first Sarah asked,
"Who? Who did you kill?" Then she knew. "You mean Ron? Back at that
building?"

Dana nodded.

"Oh, honey, you didn't kill him. I checked.
He was still alive when we left. I tried to finish him off, but
just couldn't." She pushed her sister back and looked into her
eyes. "You did not kill him."

Dana gulped back sobs and rubbed her face.
"I'm sorry. After everything you've gone through—"

"Hush. We've all been through terrible
things today. We've all had to do things we wish we hadn't and this
is just the beginning. I'm afraid there's a lot more we're going to
face than we ever thought possible." She hugged her and then pulled
her up, handing her a towel and sweats. "I've already had a couple
of meltdowns today. We're definitely entitled, but a hot shower is
going to make us both feel better."

A short time later, clean and in comfy
sweats, Sarah did feel better. Sore, but better. She sat on a chair
facing Eric as he disinfected the cuts to her forehead and
cheek.

"Ouch!" She jerked her head back.

"Don't be a baby." Eric put some antibiotic
ointment on the cuts and then covered both with bandages. A few
other scrapes and scratches were taken care of before he ran his
finger along her cheekbone. "I'm afraid this one's gonna leave a
scar, but it won't be bad."

She smiled, turning so her lips brushed his
palm. "Thanks for taking care of me."

He drew her into his lap and against his
chest. "I'm so glad you thought to come here. We're planning to go
look for a few family members as soon as it's light out and you
were at the top of my list to find."

She hugged him, grateful to have someone
care that much about her and to know her feelings were returned.
Only two dates, but they had known each other a little over a
year—ever since he transferred as head ranking personnel from the
sheriff's department at the courthouse.

"You have absolutely no idea how glad I am
to see you here. I didn't think you were supposed to work
today."

"I wasn't. But Malone called in with a
family emergency." They both sat in silence as they thought about
what the emergency may have been in light of recent events.

"Meredith told us she saw you doing some
kind of ninja stuff tonight. Where'd you learn that?"

She snickered. "Not quite ninja. Just some
basic stuff and a little martial arts. Mostly just plain dumb luck
for the most part. Brian, our cousin, taught self-defense to us
both as well as making sure we knew how to handle all kinds of
firearms. He encouraged us to keep training over the years."

"Your folks didn't mind him teaching you
girls all that?"

Sarah lowered her eyes and her voice
softened. "Brian was only 7 years older than us when he took us in.
Our parents were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver when we
were sixteen. He was our only family and he fought like hell to
keep us out of the system. He wanted to make sure we could protect
ourselves, plus it was his way of spending time with us—doing what
he enjoyed. I really hope he's okay."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know about your
parents." His finger lifted her chin and he placed a gentle kiss on
her lips.

"It was a long time ago." She stood up.
"Thanks for fixing me up. I need to go take some food to Meredith
and see if she needs anything. I'll be back in a bit." She kissed
his cheek and left him to ponder his thoughts.

Meredith sat up and leaned against the wall
next to the bed, making room for Sarah.

"Here." She handed her a wet cloth. "I
thought you might want to freshen up a little. And I brought you
some soup. There are ham sandwiches, too. I just didn't know what
you felt like you could eat." She sat, holding the bowl while
Meredith ran the cloth over her face and hands

"Thanks. Soup sounds good." She took the
bowl, sipping a little from the spoon. After a few bites, she put
the bowl in her lap and leaned her head against the wall.
"Actually, I've been waiting to talk to you."

Meredith said nothing for a moment. Sarah
waited, giving her time to collect her thoughts.

"I want to thank you for helping me out
today. I wouldn't have made it without you."

"No thanks necessary. I'm just glad we all
got here safely. And we wouldn't have if you hadn't been able to
drive us here. And get us inside. I'm afraid we would have lost the
kids. So thank you for getting us through that horde."

Meredith waved her off. "No. I know you
didn't have to bring me along. I wouldn't blame you for not wanting
to. I've been a real bitch to you since you started working here."
Sarah started to speak, but Meredith continued. "Seriously. I know
I have. And I want to apologize. There was never any reason for it.
Other than my jealousy."

"Jealous? Of me? Why on earth . . . ."

"I worked hard to get to the point I was
everyone's go to person for investigations. Then you came along and
with all your passion — well, everyone was so impressed right off
the bat. It didn't matter if it was a client, an attorney or even a
judge. If you felt something deeply enough, you just didn't quit."
Meredith raised her gaze to Sarah's. "I used to have that . . .
that intensity. But I was just burned out. Oh I still did my job
and did it well, but the fire wasn't there and everyone knew it.
Especially when you showed up."

"I just wanted what was best. I did the
custody investigations and tried to make sure that—"

"That the kids came first. I know." Meredith
leaned forward and grabbed her hand, squeezing gently. "There
really was no excuse for the way I treated you and I am very
sorry."

Sarah scooted closer and hugged the woman.
"I didn't make it easy either. I certainly could have been less
defensive and made more of an effort."

They sat silently for a moment. "Yeah. You
could have," Meredith said matter-of-factly, lifting the spoon to
her lips. Looking at Sarah's shocked face, she started laughing and
before long Sarah joined in.

"Okay. Finish up your dinner and get some
rest. We've got a lot of planning to do and who knows what will
happen tomorrow." Sarah reached over and gave Meredith's shoulder a
squeeze.

She walked between the cells, checking on
the kids — both already asleep. The building was quiet except for
the low murmur of voices in the control room. Calm had settled over
the group for the moment. But how long would it last?

~~~~

Award-winning author,
Rhonda Hopkins
,
has learned firsthand that truth is stranger than fiction. Her two
decades of experience as an investigator provide her characters
with a depth and realism that gives truth a run for its money.
Having come in contact with the best and the worst that society has
to offer, Rhonda's imagination is filled with story ideas. She
writes Horror, Suspense, Paranormal, YA Urban Fantasy, and Romantic
Suspense.

Rhonda is working hard on future episodes in
the
SURVIVAL series
as well as other books. If you enjoyed
this one, sign up for her Newsletter (
http://rhondahopkins.com/newsletter
)
so you'll get first notice of new releases. You can also find other
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Don't forget that reviews are very important
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they enjoy. If you liked SURVIVAL, please leave a review where you
bought it and/or at Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22083259-survival

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank several people for their
assistance and support. First of all, thank you to TW Brown, author
of the DEAD series. TW put together the anthology, LET'S SCARE
CANCER TO DEATH (all proceeds go to The V Foundation for Cancer
Research), and invited me to write a story for it. That story is
SURVIVAL. Without him, this story (and future stories in the
series) would not have been written. Thank you for believing in me.
(The anthology is for such a great cause. Please consider
purchasing a copy. There are 15 other talented authors with great
stories to enjoy.)

Ricardo Saenz helped me out with rankings
within the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office. Thank you, Ricardo!

I also need to thank those who read an early
version of SURVIVAL and offered awesome suggestions: Cheri Yori,
Richard Weatherly, Mary Bollman, Claire C. Riley, Liz Matis,
Natalie G. Owens, Gregory Carrico, Stacey Joy Netzel, Jarold
Williams, and Dale Amidei. I appreciate the invaluable feedback you
all gave me.

And my writing life would suffer greatly
without the WANAs (We Are Not Alone) and the ADDICTIVE READS
groups. The knowledge you share, and the assistance you provide are
immeasurable. Plus - you just make it fun!

Of course, as always, I have my family to
thank for their love and support. You all make my world a brighter
place. I love you!

Any mistakes are mine. And anyone familiar
with courthouses in Fort Worth will know that I took a great deal
of liberty in describing the one in SURVIVAL. I used what worked
for the story and made up the rest.