Breach (The Blood Bargain) (2 page)

“As you are well aware, Dr.
Tommen’s seat on the council has been vacant for some time.”  I nodded, wondering why he was stating the obvious.

Doctor Albert
Tommen had been a very bad man and despite his vital role as our physician, no one really missed him.

Far as Dad could make out from the good doctor’s notes, he had been taking survivors and infecting them so he could study the plague.  Getting his victims from Antonia, one of the resident vampires who had apparently not been happy with our arrangement.  She gorged herself on scavengers, the living who rejected our settlement and decided to fend for themselves in the wilds. When they ran low in number she went after the convoys from the other colonies who came our way for supply trade.  After everything came to light,
Tommen was executed.  Antonia shared a similar fate according to her own kind. There had been no public trial for the good doctor, no sentencing.

He was just gone.  A first for Junction.

I had mixed feelings about that.  While I fully understood the desire to keep the five hundred plus people in our community blissfully unaware of the dead being dissected within our walls, secret murders and cover stories-most believed the good doctor suffered a heart attack were a thing of the world we left behind.  A very dangerous line for us to walk if we as a species wanted to move forward.

“Can’t find someone to replace doctor
freak pants?”  Cutting up my egg I mumbled more to the plate than my Dad.

“Actually, I would like you to take his seat.”  I about spit out the bite I had just taken.

“You want me.  On the council.  Next to Shive and Ellis and ZACK?”  Aside from Ellis and Shive’s mutual hatred of me, the thought of sitting by Zack for more than a fraction of a second made my skin crawl.

After my first major bad decision, my Dad got me out of it by pledging me to the brain dead son of the elder Councilman Graham.  A situation that was a direct cause of me moving out of this house to begin with.

Since Dad and I had patched things up, I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the big lug.  Just the way I liked it.  Although I had a feeling should I run into him, his delusions on us being ‘the perfect couple’ might surface and I’d be tempted to punch him in the face...a lot.  Daily.  Hourly.

Who knew?

“You’re my progeny Evelyn, I can’t leave you a legacy or even life insurance anymore. What I can leave you a say in this home we’ve built.”

“I don’t think I’m going to fit in with your boys club.  How’s that going to work with your other master plan of me doing ‘real’ women’s work. You know the whole popping out babies and cooking routine?”

“I heard that!”  Zoe teased from over the wall.

“No offense!”  I shouted back.  I knew she was joking, Zoe knew how much I appreciated what she did.  How she managed to pick up my words over all the clanging of pans was beyond me.  Super hearing must be a motherly power after all.

“Look, if I don’t put you in that seat, Ellis and Shive are going to press on Graham to nominate one of their cronies.  Richard and I can only do so much.”  Richard Mineral was an old family friend and one of the other heads of the colony.  It was his farm and the surrounding town that became the refuge for so many when the world went to shit a decade ago.

“But I like working with the kids...” Teaching was rewarding, not just survival skills but math, science, art, music and reading.  All the basics that tended to go by the wayside when safety, food and shelter became primary concerns.  There were so many things I wanted to cram
into their little minds before the first snowfall and we became more homebound.  Which according to local farming mouths, would be any day.

Dad’s face softened, his voice settling into pleading.  “I know, but this is about Junction
as a whole, your little ones included.  We both know when you put my generation in the ground that Zack will not be able to fill his father’s shoes.  Someone is going to have to keep that board level, keep our community thriving.  A good heart and a critical mind are the kind of attributes we need in leadership.  The kind of person that everyone in this community can look toward for strength when all seems lost.  The colony needs you Evelyn.  I need you.” 

I wanted to scream that I’d done enough for Junction.  Life was finally settling into a semi boring routine, the pain in my legs was becoming a distant memory.  The future offered only more of the same repeatable pattern of survival, no undetermined variables of drama or wait of the world decisions.  Still, with all the no’s running through my head.  My mouth opened and didn’t listen to me.

“Fine.”  His aged face spread into a wide smile, pride resonating off of him in waves.

“Thank you Evelyn.  You won’t regret it.”  I smirked.  Funny, I was pretty sure that I already did.

The trek to the wall was all too familiar.  I had held the very post Cole was now on since the wall was completed when I was sixteen.  That would have made eight years I walked this way to ‘work’.  Eight years I held the line against the wandering dead.  My weapon of choice had always been the crossbow, when I was just learning defense my father didn’t want me getting close to any of them, his usual over protective self in overdrive.  As I trained with the thing though I discovered I liked it for more than just the range.  I didn’t have the upper body strength for prolonged hand to hand.  It fit me well.

I felt surprisingly naked walking out here without my bow.  Not that I was en route for anything that would put me in harm’s way, just a delivery to the inside.  Parents of my class had declared the children were all needed at home to help prep for the pending winter so I found myself with surprise free time.  Free time which I had decided was best spent delivering Cole some lunch.  It wasn’t much, just some carrots, cooked corn and a hunk of potato bread.  I don’t know what possessed me to come visit him out here, I had held no desire to get within five hundred feet of the wall since I woke up in my room after jumping off that
roof.  Maybe I was just using lunch as an excuse to see him or maybe I was using him as an excuse to test my nerve on seeing the wall.

Maybe
maybe maybe.

Crossing off the last of the sidewalks into open field I saw it in the distance.  The thing was not aesthetically pleasing in anyway.  A hodgepodge of wood, metal and anything else we could get our hands on as a resource.  It was tall and it was ugly, but most importantly it was solid.  It was the structure that allowed the people who were still alive to have any sort of peace in their lives.  The barrier between us and those of us who had departed in spirit over a decade ago.

Since it was finished, the number of deaths due to deadhead infection had been limited to careless guards.  The vampires did their sweep when the sun went down so the number of ghouls that actually shambled past our markers these days were few and far between.  That is, aside from the small massive influx we went through when a stream of the things followed Cole back from the city.  An onslaught that could be blamed on an incredibly stupid me. One hundred percent. Most days however the job was observing and waiting.

We had placed lookout towers every few miles along the wall, from these lofty positions someone was stationed, through wind rain and snow, to keep watch when the sun was up. Markers placed on the other side of our barrier gave us call out points.  Nothing was important till they crossed the first marker.  After that we had plenty of time to ensure they were dead and dormant before they made it to the second.

I’d like to think it was a science we had perfected.  Still to this day, nothing has made it to the wall.  The dead can have the wilds, here inside Junction safety was ensured.

Closing in on the watch tower, I saw the thin silhouette of a young man, his arms raised and moving.

For a moment I saw Adam King, smiling down at me and waving hello.  As he had thousands of times before over the years.  That boyish friendly face and lanky frame that was almost breakable.  Had been breakable.

Blackened teeth pulling back, revealing dark red muscle and bits of white bone underneath. There was blood everywhere.  Someone was screaming.  I was screaming. “I’m done....just leave me.”

“Adam no!”

Shielding my eyes from the sun glare, it was not Adam, nor was he happy to see me.

“Hey why are you out here? No civilians are allowed!”  A guy much younger than his predecessor was yelling at me frantically from the watch tower, waving his arms about like a baby bird.  With a roll of my eyes, I kept walking despite how much he complained.

“Shove it, I brought Cole lunch.”  I raised the little pail so he could see it.  The metal gleamed in the sun throwing rays all over the lookout tower.

“Lady you need to get back to the colony, don’t make me bring this to the council.”  He lectured me.  I bit my tongue from telling him I was on the council, further I was probably more qualified to be out here than he was.

“Just radio him already jackass.  Tell him
Liv is here.”

“Wait...what...you’re
Liv? 
The
Liv Younger?”  I wanted to correct him and tell him I was the very annoyed Liv Younger.  The way he said it made me sound like a thing rather than a person.  Maybe that’s what being locally famous feels like, objectified.

“Last time I checked.”  Through gritted teeth I managing a growl.  Eyes wide, he picked up the radio off his belt then spoke fast.  Was a good fifteen minutes from when Cole peeked over a hill to the east till he was by the guard tower, during that time I was subjected to a million apologies and questions from the scrawny kid who I learned was named Liam (think I knew that already) oldest of three who had just turned sixteen.  Watching his approach, I debated running across the field to him all dramatic and theatrical, but my recently healed leg was not
a fan of that kind of activity.

My heart kicked up a beat or two as he came closer, the broad smile on his all American face having an effect on me that was refreshing and foreign all at the same time.

“Hey girlie.” He picked me up like I was nothing and gave me a little spin.  This was why I had come out here, screw the wall and whatever nonsense my mind was trying to reason out.  I was here to see him.

“Don’t call me girlie.”  I responded playfully.

“Well with all that hair and civilian clothes...”  I punched him in the arm.  He was partially right though, out here in a jacket and sneakers I was not my usual self.  With no knives at my hip and my back barren I did look really out of place next to a man that was armed to the teeth. I knew from experience that in addition to the two katana on his back that Cole would also have at least one knife in his left boot, a short sword at his hip and a .45 caliber gun tucked in somewhere.  Not that he ever would use the pistol. Cole, unlike yours truly, liked being up close and personal with his kills.

“Whatever old man.”  He was a jaw dropping four years my senior.  “Brought you lunch.”

“Have I told you lately how absolutely amazing you are?”  That made me blush.  He started to lean into me, but then his head whipped up.

“Dude you mind?”   Cole snapped at Liam. The kid was staring down at us like an awkward fifth wheel. Fumbling with his binoculars the boy nodded, and went back to looking out over the wall.

I frowned, there it was again. That hole in my chest for the one who used to sit in that very spot.

Cole pulled me gently by the arm away from the tower.  Casually we strolled through the tall grass and away from observation.  In silence we walked on, listening to nothing but the crunch of the brown grass beneath our feet.  The brown patches of earth where cornstalks shot high in the spring came into view to our left.

“Cutting class?”
  He asked me.

“Parents wanted the little ones back home early today to finish up the canning.  With the
early temperature drops I guess most houses are behind schedule this year.”  Winter months were harsh and unforgiving.  There was no longer a grocer you could just pop in on whenever and pick up a meal.  No frozen food, no fridges to store it.  All of our stoves were the old fashioned wood burning kind. Electricity was a mostly forgotten invention at the moment, all of our heat came from fireplaces.  We had two buildings in town that were trialing solar power, but when the roof's got blanketed with snow the panels were useless.

“Well, that gives you some free time then.”

“Not really...”  I bit my lower lip, searching for the correct phrasing. “I’m on the council now it looks like.” 

Cole whistled.
“How did that happen between me leaving this morning and now?”

“Dad cornered me at breakfast. Called it
his ‘legacy’.”  I used air quotes.

“Awesome.”

“I hate it.”

“It’s lame then.”  I managed a laugh, tucking a untamed lock of hair behind my ear.

“I’m going to have to sit in that stuffy room every day with stupid Zack.”  Kicking the grass with my tennis shoe as I said the z word.  Cole bent over, giving me a light kiss on the forehead, snaking a arms possessive around my waist.  It forced me to match his pace as we walked, the longer stride pulling at my leg muscles where I’d been injured.

“Relax, you’re with me.  He makes a move I’ll put him in his place.” 
With a private smile, I knew that to be true.  Cole had already proven he’d beat the guy down for me, and he’d done a hell of a job at it.  A fight neither of them remembered thanks to a little vampire assistance. 

My feet stopped, legs unable to go another step forward without resting for a while.  In honest this was a
nice place for lunch anyway.  On top of the Northwestern hills overlooking the heavy crop zones.  I took in the scenery with a sigh.  It was far more lovely in the spring with all the blooming life.  Now the earth was reduced to a few rogue stalks under a blanket of leaves.

“I’m sure you will.”  I waved the lunch I had prepared him in front of his face.
“How about for now you focus on putting those veggies in their place He-Man?”

H
e practically tore open the metal pail as soon as we sat in the grass.  Tucking my hands under my knees for warmth I quietly observed him devour his lunch. Between massive bites he’d toss me a grin, that proud slightly possessive smile of male affection that was both casual and deadly.

The whole event ended in a large belch.
“Thanks. That really hit the spot.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“So, you want to come to my place tonight?”

“Sick of having to wear pants in the hall?”  I giggled, the visual of him sans pants
staying forefront in my mind. 

The look on his face told me he did not share my playful thought.  Tightlipped, his brow furrowed. H
e ran his hands through his hair a few times, cheeks flushing. “Nah, my Mom kind of wanted you to come over for dinner and junk.” 

I blinked a few times.  He wants me to meet his mother?  The woman who once was furious that I put him in harm’s way but now was supposedly into us being a couple.  That had stressful disaster written all over it.

“If not its cool.”  He started to stand but I grabbed his arm.

“No. I mean. No, I want to.  I just didn’t know we hit the meet the parents part.”  It had been less than two months.

“Hey if I listened to your Dad we’d be at the isle part.”

I punched him in the shoulder. 
“Get out.”

Cole laughed. 
“I’m serious! He’s been all frowns and last name change suggesting when I’m around.” Blushing, I made a mental note to talk to my father. The nerve, where did he get off-

“Cole!  Cole come in!  We got deadheads man!”  With a curse Cole rolled his eyes at the static f
illed voice, ripping the walkie-talkie off his belt.

“Kid is still so
friggen green.”  He grumbled, pushing the talk button.

“Liam calm down, how many and how far?”

“Not here man, north lookout.  They can’t count them.  Oh hell, they can’t count them all.”

Cole was on his feet in an instant.  “En route. Over.”

“We’re close.”  The north lookout was just at the other end of the fields past the chicken coups.

“
I know.  Come with me?”  He asked.  Words that triggered a mental replay of the horrors I had survived. Yes’s and No’s screamed in my head in a choir.

“I’m not armed.”  I blurted, nor was I dressed for any sort of combat.

“We’ll figure it out.”  He was already jogging away from me.

On sheer instinct I followed him.  My legs having to do double time to keep his pace. With each
painful step I kept hearing the lookouts frantic voice, the sound creating my own internal music that drowned out the pain in my limbs.  It couldn’t be that bad, there couldn’t be that many.  He had to just be green and misunderstanding.  The vamps cleared every night, for a swarm of that many to accumulate and get within range in a few hours was unheard of.