V-Day: (M-Day #4) (10 page)

“
What the fuck is going on here?
”
Evo demanded.
“
I can
’
t be hearing this right. My ears have to be playing fucking tricks on me.
”

“
Where are they? Where are the uninfected men that you captured?
”
Max hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits.

Tasha and Emily turned their heads, and Tams crossed her arms over her chest, the three of them silent. It was obvious that no answers were forthcoming from them.

“
Well, they aren
’
t in any of the upstairs rooms, so they have to be down here somewhere, unless they have some kind of structure out back or something,
”
I mused out loud.

“
Don
’
t ruin our gardens too!
”
Tasha snapped.

“
Yeah, because we just go around burning crops n
’
shit,
”
Evo growled.
“
We
’
re not the monsters here. We don
’
t turn uninfected into the infected on purpose.
”

Ignoring Evo
’
s comment Tasha continued on,
“
You always were a fucking bitch, you and Max and Izzy, thinking you knew what
’
s best for everyone. Now you
’
ve ruined everything!
”

Emily pulled Tasha into her arms.
“
Shhh
…
baby, everything
’
s not ruined. We
’
ll get it back the way it was. It
’
ll be okay.
”

Tired of standing amidst the gore-fest, I moved around the edges of the room, stepping over women who glared at me with hatred, as if it was my fault Evo and Max had showed up to slaughter their I-Men. I spotted a wooden door behind a stack of cement blocks.
“
Hey,
”
I called.
“
There
’
s a door back here.
”
I pushed through it, clutching my handgun tightly.

Everything was suddenly illuminated, and I blinked at the spots dancing in front of my eyes.
“
Light might help a bit,
”
Evo said.
”

I shouldn
’
t have been surprised by what I saw, but I was. Having a general idea about something and seeing it with your own eyes is completely different. There, before us was a massive
—
cage. It was the only word that came to mind to describe it. It was something one might find a wild animal in back in the day, maybe at a circus or something. But instead of wild animals, four men were sitting along the back wall of the cage.

“
X!
”
Evo exclaimed, her face scrunching up into an inscrutable mask.
“
How the hell did you end up in there? I leave you unsupervised for one night
—”
She rushed forward, one of the men standing and meeting her at edge of the cage, his muscular arms pushing through the bars to embrace Evo. He was covered in tattoos, just like her, but he didn
’
t seem as intimidating. His face was more open
—
jovial even, as opposed to Evo
’
s
‘
don
’
t fuck with me
’
visage and attitude.

After a moment, Evo pushed away from him and scowled. X smirked at her.
“
Hey, I didn
’
t want to hurt them. Plus, I knew you
’
d come for me, baby.
”

“
Don
’
t fucking call me baby, ass. I
’
m tired of saving you. Do you know what they do to the men here?
”

“
I
’
ve got a pretty good idea, but no worries for me. You know that.
”
He winked.
“
And I could maybe have helped out these poor bastards.
”
He motioned to the three other men in the cage, all who were looking pretty straggly and pathetic.

Evo pulled at her hair.
“
I
’
m just
—
I
’
m not even
—
sometimes I fucking hate you! You know that?
”

“
And you hate me so fucking good
…
baaaby.
”

“
Ass.
”

“
You gonna get us out of here or not?
”

Evo snorted.
“
I
’
m thinking about leaving you in there.
”

Max sighed heavily, flipping her braids over her shoulders.
“
For fucks sake. Save the banter for your foreplay later, guys. I
’
m sick of hearing it all the time.
”

Tams stalked into the room, her face a mask of rage.
“
Those are our men, you can
’
t have them.
”

“
Your men?
”
Max
’
s voice rose.
“
You can
’
t own them.
”

Evo smirked and motioned at X.
“
Besides, this big dumb one already belongs to me.
”

“
No,
”
Tams spat.
“
They
’
re all ours.
”

“
Are you insane? Is that what your problem is? I
’
ve been here, what
—
a day
—
two? And the things I
’
ve seen
—”
I shuddered, swallowing hard trying not to picture the naked I-Men I
’
d seen.
“
This isn
’
t right. None of it.
”

“
Vi? Is that
—”
I whirled around at his voice.
“—
you? I can
’
t believe it
’
s you.
”

Before I could process any of it, I found myself wrapped in my twin
’
s arms. Sobs wracked my body as relief like I
’
d never felt before constricted my chest.
“
I can
’
t believe you
’
re alive. Oh my God, Ty, I
’
ve been looking everywhere for you and Zee
…
and Riley. Please tell me you
’
re all okay.
”
I knew I was beyond lucky to find Ty in one piece, but I was greedy, I wanted Zee
…
and Riley to be okay too. I wanted what was left of my family back.

“
Vi.
”
I peeled myself out of Ty
’
s arms to meet my older brother
’
s dark gaze. Zee was always the stoic one
—
the one that took care of Ty and me when our dad was working
—
always working. And yet in that moment, I finally saw him crack, just a bit. His eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he took a tentative step towards me.
“
You
’
re here,
”
he rumbled, stating the obvious.

I threw myself at him, hugging him just as tightly as I had Ty, who wrapped his arms around both of us. I felt so small between them, their massive frames dwarfing me, just like they always have.
“
I knew you
’
d make it. I fucking knew it.
”
I could hear the smile in Ty
’
s voice and I couldn
’
t help but laugh.

“
Well, I wouldn
’
t want to shatter your optimist delusions of grandeur.
”
I slid out from in between my brothers, a wide smile stretching my cheeks to the point of pain. It
’
d been so long since I
’
d smiled genuinely, and my muscles were out of practice.

“
We have a lot of catching up to do.
”
I bit my lip and tried not to immediately demand info about Riley. The fact that he wasn
’
t there immediately threatened to steal the happiness I
’
d just been reveling in.

“
Yeah, we do.
”
Ty shifted so he could get a good look in the cage, his gaze moving over Tams and then to Evo and Max, before having some kind of silent conversion with Zee who nodded once then left the room.
“
But first we need to get this in order.
”

I nodded.
“
Agreed.
”

“
We don
’
t have any
more vaccine left,
”
Max muttered to Zee, eyeing the three uninfected men with meaning. He leaned down to whisper something in her ear, and she swayed into him. I knew in that moment that my big brother had finally settled down.
Figures it would take the end of the world as we know it to motivate him.

I rolled my eyes, swiveling on my heel, and came face to face with a tiny red head with blonde roots. My inner hair diva cringed. She grinned up at me just before pulling me down into a too tight bear hug.
“
You have no idea how glad I am that we found you!
”
She bounced up on the balls of her feet with excitement.
“
Ty has been going out of his mind not knowing where you are
—
and Zee too,
”
she quickly tacked on.
“
I
’
m just so happy for him
—
both of them.
”

I narrowed my eyes, studying her. While Zee just never found anyone that kept his interest longer than five minutes, Ty had always been a bit of a player. He
’
d been the source of many fights between some of my female friends and me, which is what ultimately had swayed him to lay off me about Riley. Ty used his dimples, combined with his knowledge of the way women
’
s brains worked, thanks to yours truly, to reel the fairer sex in by the boat load. And yet
—
I hit my hand against my forehead.
“
You
’
ve got to be shittin
’
me.
”
Call it twin sense or whatever, but I knew my brother was involved with the little faux redhead.
“
You and Ty?
”

Her smile slipped a bit with obvious nerves.
“
Umm
…
yeah. I
’
m Nyx, by the way.
”

“
I hope you
’
re not giving my woman a hard time, Vi,
”
Ty stepped in behind Nyx and pulled her into his side possessively. He grinned at me, his eyes twinkling.
“
Fast and hard, just like you said.
”

I grinned back. I
’
d always told him that
’
s how it would be. He
’
d fall fast and hard eventually, not knowing what hit him. He
’
d told me it would never happen. I
’
d known better.
“
I knew it!
”
I laughed, relishing the happy mood surrounding me, even though I knew it couldn
’
t and wouldn
’
t last long. I couldn
’
t believe Ty had actually fallen in love with someone. Of course his lucky ass ended up wanting someone that wanted him back. If there was any karma out there he
’
d have gotten his heart broken, after all, he
’
d left a trail of them in his wake. Not that I wanted him to hurt, it was just sometimes he seemed to live a charmed life.
Obviously not even the apocalypse can keep Ty down.

“
Riley?
”
His name spilled from my mouth. I just couldn
’
t keep it in anymore. I needed to know.
“
You guys were stationed together
—
you know where he is.
”
I
’
d kept tabs on where my brothers and Riley were stationed. I knew Riley was with Ty, and if Ty had survived then
…

Ty
’
s face fell into hard lines, and my stomach dropped into my feet. My vision swam and I clutched at the wall.
“
Oh God,
”
I rasped.
“
Not Riley.
”
Images of the last time I saw him slammed into me, threatening to steal all the air from my lungs. Those same images morphed into waking nightmares, Riley
’
s ice eyes blazing like an I-Man.

Ty pulled me into his arms, but I found no comfort there, not really.
“
I don
’
t know, Vi
—
I don
’
t know, and as far as I can tell that
’
s good news. The last time I saw him, which was well after M-Day, he was uninfected. He was fine. But then he got impatient. He
…
well
…
he went looking for you.
”