Condemn (BUNKER 12 Book 2) (20 page)

Finn woke the next morning with the sunlight streaming into the
room and memories of the night before filling his head like a
bitter hangover. His entire body ached from carrying Bix, and his
stomach wanted to revolt. But as badly as he felt, he knew that Bix
must be hurting even more.

He lay in bed for a while with his
arms tucked under his head, staring up at the sag in the mattress
just a few feet away from his nose, and listened to the sounds of
his friend's restless sleep.

They hadn't gotten to bed until nearly
four by the clock on the bedside stand, after Adrian had returned
and the argument they'd had with Jennifer repeated itself in a
somewhat abbreviated form. The explanations had done little other
than baffle and frustrate Finn, and Bix had remained mostly silent,
likely because he hurt too much to move.

The worst part was that he had been
terrified that Adrian would do something to them for sneaking
around. After all, as Jennifer said, it was a different world with
different rules, and he was still trying to understand exactly what
they were.

But Adrian had looked sympathetically
down at them and said, "Y'all are just babes lost in the
wilderness." He told them to go to bed, that things would look
differently the next day. It bothered Finn because it made him
doubt whether he was right to be so self-righteous. After all, the
world had indeed changed, and maybe it was wrong of him to judge
others based on ideas that might no longer be relevant.

The clock now read nearly noon. That
he'd actually slept at all was surprising enough, but to have slept
so soundly was a shock.

"Bix?" He nudged the mattress with the
tips of his fingers. "Hey, man, you awake?"

"Yeah."

"You okay?"

"Surprisingly . . .
yeah. But I'd recommend keeping your distance for a while. I think
I may have absorbed some of that electricity, because I've got some
wicked lightning farts going on up here."

Finn wrinkled his nose. The room did
smell stale. "What're we going to do?"

"Do? Well, first, I'm going to eat
breakfast. Then I think I'll take a giant poop. Or maybe I'll poop
first. Just hope I don't electrocute myself sitting on the
toilet."

Finn frowned. "Be serious."

"I know. It's
just . . . ." He sighed. "I guess it's time for
us to leave, bro. This place is seriously whacked."

"Yeah, that's pretty clear. I mean, do
we tell them we're leaving? Or do we just sneak away? Do we ask for
horses?"

"We owe them enough to tell them.
Whether they want to give us horses . . . that's up
to them."

"It's a hundred and fifty miles to
Bunker Two. That's a hell of a long way to walk, especially through
territory infested with Wraiths."

"Yeah." Bix was quiet for a while.
"You know, I still can't get over what they did to that man last
night."

"Me, neither. It was
crazy."

"Insane in the membrane
crazy."

"Do you think they can be
rehabilitated?"

"The infected or us?"

"Either."

Bix didn't answer for a long time.
Finally, he said, "Not them. But I do believe Jennifer and Adrian
believe they can be, in their own twisted minds."

"I don't believe they do," Finn said.
"I think they know it's all lies. They're just crazy."

"Well, they did prove that they can
make a Wraith uninfectious, at least temporarily. If they managed
to figure out that much, why don't you believe they're trying to
figure out the rest?"

"I don't know that they did, actually.
I'm not convinced they proved anything."

"You saw it. You watched Billy touch
that Wraith. Nothing happened to him."

"I know. I believed it right after,
but then . . . . I mean, I guess after last
night, after them trying to explain it to us, I just don't buy any
of it. I've been working on a theory of the Flense, and so there
may be other explanations for what we saw."

"Like what?"

But Finn avoided the question. He
didn't want to get Bix's hopes up. Or worse, make him believe that
it was possible for some people to be immune.

"I just don't understand," he said
instead. "They seem to genuinely care about the Wraiths, but then
they're profiting from them at the same time."

"You heard what Jennifer said. That's
how they get the things they need to do their
experiments."

Bix sighed. "You and me, bro? We've
been living under a rock for the past three years. Literally. Maybe
we just have to see things the way they do." He shifted, shaking
the entire bed.

"It just seems unnecessarily cruel for
people who claim to be merciful."

"So, we're sympathizing with Wraiths
now?"

"Those things used to be people,
Bix."

"But they aren't anymore. They don't
deserve mercy. They certainly don't show it to us. All they know is
spreading the Flense. That, and killing in the bloodiest way
possible."

"I guess you really don't believe they
can be rehabilitated."

"Hell no. People, maybe. But not
them."

"Well, it's a moot point anyway," Finn
said, sitting up and placing his bare feet onto the
floor.

He remembered crashing fully dressed,
complete with shoes on, but he must have gotten hot in the middle
of the night and taken them and his socks off. The wooden floor was
cold to the touch, even though the air in the room was warm from
the sunlight coming in through the window.

"It's not our fight. I say we tell
them we'll be on our way to find Harper. Horses or no horses, it's
time for us to leave."

"After breakfast."

"It's noon, so, technically, I think
you have to call it lunch. But, fine."

"And one more poop on a real flushing
toilet with real toilet paper."

"Fine. If you must."

Bix let a loud one rip under the
covers. "Oh, I really must."

"Tomorrow," Adrian told them. He glanced up at the gathering
clouds. "Smells like rain. It'll be better if y'all wait till
tomorrow."

Finn glanced over at Bix. He was
frankly surprised at how easy it had been to convince them to allow
them to leave. Although, now that they'd gotten the couple's
blessing, he was disappointed that their departure would be delayed
by another day.

They had found cold scrambled eggs,
ham, and coffee in the kitchen with a note instructing them to meet
up at the new church. The two ate in a tense silence, feeling
strange at how normal it all seemed, yet on edge, as if they
expected the crowd from last night to burst in on them at any
moment to drag them away in chains.

By the time they arrived at the new
building — not without a considerable amount of dread —
they found the four hard at work. The roof was nearly completed,
and Adrian was working on the inside, finishing the cage and
installing permanent wiring for all of the electrical
equipment.

"Ah, good. I trust y'all had a good
rest after yer busy night," Adrian said. "Yer just in time for the
detail work."

Finn helped install a circuit breaker
and they grounded all the wiring in case of a lightning strike.
"Don't want it all to go up in flames next time we have a
thunderstorm." Once more he checked the sky. "Looks like we're just
in time, too."

"A little rain's not going to bother
us," Finn said, pressing the issue of their departure. "We'll have
to deal with it eventually."

Adrian shut the cover on the breaker
box and turned to address the boys. "Today's more'n half gone
already. By the time y'all get outfitted proper-like and we've
saddled up the horses and mapped out yer route, it'll be evenin.
Trust me, y'all don't wanna be travelin at night."

So they worked for the balance of the
afternoon without bringing it up again. Bix helped Luke build a
sliding door, which took all four of them to install onto the
rolling track. Afterward, Billy and Adrian returned to reinforcing
the cage. Finn buried the underground cables with fresh dirt and
smoothed it out. They brought in fresh hay and spread it
around.

Jennifer came and went, sometimes
bringing them drinks and snacks, sometimes to critique their work,
and once to rebandage a cut on Billy's leg that he'd received
several days before. "Dang thing's takin its own damn time to
heal," she remarked, and squeezed out a ribbon of antibiotic
ointment from a tube that had expired the year before. While she
was at it, she rechecked the wound on Adrian's forehead and dabbed
the medicine on the multitude of scrapes Finn and Bix had sustained
during their labors.

"Don't know what it is about them
boys," she said. "They're always getting nasty scrapes that take
forever to heal."

No one spoke directly of the night
before, although Finn wondered aloud where the people they'd seen
had come from.

"They's other houses scattered
elsewhere along the shore," Adrian told them. "Huntin and fishin
lodges. Most of them properties is walled in like ours. Makes fer a
safe little community. Some others live elsewhere. They's a large
group some couple-three hundred miles south of here. We trade with
them sometimes. Other folks's roamers, livin off the land with no
real social structure."

"And you pay them to bring you
Wraiths?" Bix asked.

"Ayup. Them and other things, such as
food, supplies."

They finished up with the day's work
and headed back to the house, discussing what exactly they would
need to depart the next morning.

"I'd come with y'all if I could,"
Adrian told them. "But I'm expectin some new ferals in, so I cain't
afford to leave here."

Finn glanced at Bix. Tomorrow couldn't
arrive soon enough for him.

They returned the horses to the barn,
fed and watered them and the other animals, then made their way to
the house. Despite their discomfort, the boys looked forward to
their last real meal for a while. They'd been assured that Jennifer
was preparing a surprise meal to celebrate, and indeed, the most
delicious aromas hit their noses even before they walked in the
front door.

"Sure you don't want to stay just one
extra day?" Bix teased Finn.

"Don't tempt me."

"You boys wash up before you come
inside," Jennifer called from the kitchen.

"We're already in!" Adrian yelled
back. He grinned at Bix and winked.

Jennifer came out, wiping her hands on
her apron, and ushered them away. "Shoo! Use the outside spigot. I
got laundry hangin in the washroom."

"Delicates," Billy said, and made
girlie sounds.

"You boys, show them the way. Adrian,
when you're done out there, I need help with the roast."

"Hot damn!" Bix exclaimed. "Did you
hear that? She made a roast."

"Come on," Billy said, pushing them
toward the back door.

"Keep your pants on, bro," said Bix.
"We're all hungry."

The outside spigot was a manual pump
situated next to a small wooden structure the size of an outhouse.
They'd been told it was the woodshed. Bix reached for the pump
handle, but Luke grabbed his arm and twisted it away.

"Dude, you'll get a turn!"

He tried to free himself, but Luke
refused to let go. Instead, he slammed Bix into the side of the
shed and wrenched his other hand behind him as well.

"Hey!" Finn cried. "What are
you—"

But Billy jumped on him, wrestling him
to the ground. Finn gasped, unable to catch his breath. Billy
dropped a bony knee into his back and leaned his weight onto it.
His breath was a hot stink on the side of Finn's face when he
spoke. "Did you really think you could break the rules?"

"What rules?"

But Billy didn't answer.

Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw
Adrian unlock the shed door and swing it open and enter. Luke
wrestled Bix in after him, and Adrian shut the door behind them.
There was a click, like a latch had been secured inside.