The Dragons of Men (The Sons of Liberty Book 2) (55 page)

Nadia and Tyler smiled, both chuckling lightly as they shook their heads.

“I know what you mean,” Tyler said, glancing out over the campus as he pointed to a brick building. “This time last year I was sitting in that building, eyeing the young and foxy Miss Andreou from the back of my Governmental Policy and Repercussions course. I tried getting her attention—going so far as to
purposely
have trouble with an assignment. At the time, she was too wrapped up in her doctorate program to care much about an undergraduate. It took the world falling apart at the seams for me to summon the courage and say that she was the reason I took that course in the first place.” Tyler looked at Nadia and smiled as he reached over, taking her hand with his. “It’s funny how love manages to work itself out.”

“Yes, it is,” Eric said, his eyes flickering over to Sarah. She smiled as she glanced at him, her eyes almost tearing up before she turned back to the window to her left. Eric hesitated a moment, trying to work up the courage to do what he had wanted to for so long. He looked out the window to his right as he slowly moved his hand across the seat—a nervous team of five explorers awaiting first contact. His fingertips brushed against her hand, though neither one looked at each other. They simply sat in silence, gazing out separate windows at a strange new world as their hands began to intertwine—the one thing that felt anything but strange.

“Here we are,” Nadia said, turning around to look at them. Eric pulled his hand away quickly, conscious of Sarah doing the same.

What are we, twelve?
Eric thought, nearly laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Nadia asked, looking confused.

“Nothing,” Eric said. “I was just thinking about what Tyler said. I’d love to hear more about you two.”

“Of course,” Nadia said. “I’ll take Sarah and the others in and show them around your new home. We’ve set you up in a four bedroom home near the main campus, so it should suffice until we can prepare something more permanent. In the meantime, Tyler is going to drive you around a bit more and show you our defenses.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Eric replied as they opened the door and stepped out of the car. Eric looked over the smooth solar-paneled roof at Sarah as she stepped out of the car. She smiled before glancing over at him. He nodded his head before looking at the others and walking forward. As Eric was about to open his mouth, Sarah spoke.

“Where is Judah?”

Eric’s smile immediately vanished as the guardian inside of him tensed up and searched for Judah in the other cars. Elizabeth looked back at them confused before shaking her head.

“He said he was staying back at the hospital just as you were pulling away in your car. He said he told you.”

Eric shook his head and looked northeast in the direction of the hospital. Sarah turned to Eric, her eyes wide as she began to speak.

“We should go back and—”

“He’ll be fine,” Eric cut in.

“But how can you—”

“It’s alright, Sarah,” Eric said with a smile as thunder rumbled in the distance. He turned—half expecting a horizon of jets or a volley of artillery screaming toward them. Instead, he watched as rainclouds billowed in the distance. “Nadia’s right. We’re safe now. Besides, I think the worse that will happen is maybe a slap across his face when Alexandra realizes he’s still trying to guard her.”

“You’re right,” Sarah said as she let out a sigh and shook her head, a grin working its way to her face. “That’s why he stayed back.”

“Was there…is there something between them?” Nadia asked, eyeing them both.

“Whatever’s between the two of them is as confusing to us as it is to them,” Sarah replied. “They just walked through madness together. Despite what they’ve lost, I think they know deep down inside that they need each other, even if it is nothing more than friends.” Sarah’s eyes flickered over to Eric and he knew her statement had not only been meant for Judah and Alexandra.

“Well, if you want me to run us back out and get him,” Tyler began. “Eric and I could swing by on our way to inspect the defenses.”

“It’s alright,” Sarah said as more thunder rolled across the horizon. “He’s right. We’re safe now. You two should go. It’ll be getting late in a bit and looks like it might rain.”

“Honestly,” Eric said, smiling as he looked up at the approaching rainclouds, “this is the first time in months that I’m not nervous about the coming storm.”

Judah quietly closed the door behind him, sighing as he glanced back down the long hallway on the fourth floor of the quarantine hospital. He had no idea where Alexandra had hidden herself when she reentered the building. Still, he had decided he wouldn’t stop looking for her until he had found her and said what he needed to say.

He traveled down the corridor to the next room, pausing as he glanced out the large windows to his right and surveyed the town. From the fourth story, he could easily see the buildings off to the southwest where the old university campus was located. Trees budding with spring’s bloom drifted in the wind while steely clouds illuminated by a flash of lightning approached from the west. He knew he would likely find himself drenched if he waited much longer to go find his family, but that thought didn’t bother him at all. Saying goodbye to Alexandra would be a somber act worthy of a lonely walk through the rain.

He turned and quietly opened the next door, peering into the obscure room silently. He scanned the darkness for her.

Nothing.

He sighed again and closed the door. He had begun his search by speaking with a couple of nurses on the first floor, though they claimed they hadn’t seen her. After an initial ten minutes of searching, he had decided to expand his search upward. He figured she would have been on one of the top floors, as the first three floors had been reserved for caring for the sick and injured while the top level apparently served as unused storage. The wing they had been quarantined in for ten days was separate from the rest of the hospital and once someone had been cleared, the nurses and doctors were under strict orders to refuse reentry for anyone. If Judah didn’t find her soon, he’d give up on his hope of finding her on the unused floors.

Maybe a good thing,
Judah thought as he closed the door.

He still wasn’t sure if he should be pushing himself into her life and mind one last time. She had made it clear through actions and words that she wanted nothing to do with any of them anymore, especially him. He had fortified himself behind thick walls of stone and ice after losing himself in Memphis, fighting to keep all emotion at bay. He knew saying goodbye wouldn’t mean he’d never see her again. Despite Alexandra’s pleas for privacy, Judah doubted Eric or his mother would want to leave such a safe haven anytime soon. Rather, he saw the coming conversation as a painful farewell to what could have been.

Judah walked to the next door and paused. The door stood open four inches, letting a ray of light spill into the otherwise dark room. He slowly moved in closer, listening for signs of life in the dimness beyond. A faint crying emanated from the room—the cry of a girl he knew. Judah took a deep breath and exhaled as he pushed the door open, his nerves a fire as though he were about to face battle.

You can do this,
Judah thought as he entered the dark room.
It’s only goodbye.

His eyes scanned the darkness and he quickly found Alexandra. She cowered in the far corner of the large room, weeping and apparently unaware that he had entered. He approached quietly, his heavy boots inaudible on the thin carpet. He halted ten feet away from her, swallowing the lump in his throat as he gazed upon the girl he loved.

The girl you failed,
he thought.

Seeing her broken nearly broke him, but Judah knew the time had come to set aside his selfish desires and give her the farewell she had asked of him.

“Alexandra,” Judah said softly, fighting back tears.

Her head shot up and her eyes went wide, glancing from him to the door and back as though she had just realized there was more to the world than her gray sorrow. She rose to a crouch, pointing a white pen she held at him defensively almost as though it were a knife.

“Get away from me,” she whispered uneasily.

“Alexandra, I just—”

“I said go!”

“I will, Alexandra, I promise. I just need to…,” Judah’s eyes widened as he shifted his gaze from her to the pen in her hand.
Not a pen,
Judah realized as his thick walls crumbled to ground beneath the onslaught of anger, pity, horror, and love.

“Oh, God,” he mumbled, tears quickly beading in his eyes. “Are you…are you…,” Judah paused and took a deep breath. “Are you pregnant?”

Alexandra let loose a whimper and glanced down at the pregnancy test in her hand, fear masking her face. She rose to her feet, replacing the appearance of fear with anger as she threw the white pregnancy test across the room.

“Yes!” she bellowed, struggling to speak as she wept and screamed at the same time. “I am! I’m pregnant with the bastard child of a murdering rapist!”

Judah’s legs almost gave out and he reached out for the chair next to him, grabbing it quickly to steady himself. The tears swelling in his eyes broke free.

“I’m sorry,” he said, raising his eyes to look at her—no easy feat. “I’m so, so sor—”

“What the hell are you sorry about?” She stepped forward and shoved him. “Huh? Why the hell do you care?” She reached out and smacked him, weeping as her hand struck his face. She hit him again with the other hand, dropping a tiny box she had been holding to the ground. He let her hit him over and over as she wept. He hated himself. He wanted to absorb the anger that coursed through her veins. He wanted to howl with her and the fear that grew in her body.

You didn’t save her in time! This is all your fault!

He glanced up at her, his eyes finding those dark, beautiful, terrified pools of sadness. “I’m sorry,” Judah said.

Alexandra stopped, wiping the tears away, though they were quickly replaced. She hesitated, her arms twitching as though she wanted to embrace him. However, she simply wrapped her arms around herself and continued to cry as she turned and walked back to the corner. Judah lowered his gaze. He couldn’t look at her. He didn’t deserve to stare upon the beauty he had failed. As he looked down at the floor, his eyes found the box she had dropped. He reached down and picked it up. He scanned over the box, unsure of what it was.

“What’s Mifepristone?” he asked, holding it out for her. She slowly turned, her dispirited gaze resting on the box. She stepped toward him and snatched it from his hand. “Alexandra, please tell me you’re not going to hurt yourself. I can’t fathom what you’re going to do, but if you’re suicidal, I can—”

“I’m not going to hurt myself,” she said, glancing up at him. “I came up here to put an end to the abomination inside me. Please, I just want to be alone.”

Judah’s cheeks grew red and he suddenly thought he might pass out. “An abortion?”

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Alexandra replied. She stared at the box as a fresh deluge of tears fell. “Now would you please just go and never say anything to anyone?”

“Alexandra, have you talked with anyone about this?” Judah asked. “I mean, do you even know what you’re doing?”

“I can figure it out,” she replied.

“But
should
you figure it out?”

“What the hell did you just say?” Alexandra replied, stepping up close to him as anger filled her eyes. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare tell me what to do!”

“Alexandra, please just—”

“No!” she roared as she began to hit him again. “You asshole! You son of a bitch! This isn’t your choice. This is my decision to make!”

“But what about the child?” Judah asked. “Alexandra, you can’t just—”

“Three men!” she barked, her lower lip quivering. “Three men, multiple times in one day. All doing whatever the hell they wanted when I couldn’t even move. You know what that’s like? Can you even fathom the pain—the physical and psychological torment of being too drugged to move as men old enough to be my father violated me?” She paused, stepping back as her eyes burned. “You have no idea what it’s like to lose that part of you.”

“You think I don’t know torment?” Judah replied, his own voice shaky. “You don’t think it doesn’t eat away at me, knowing what happened to you? You don’t think I would have died to keep this from you? There is not a day that has gone by that I am not haunted by my failure to save you in time, but I tried to save you and I lost my innocence that night too. You were raped by three men? I’m seventeen and have already killed at least triple that many men. Do you know what it’s like burying a knife in someone’s neck? Do you know how it feels when a dying man jerks at the end of your blade? I did what I did to save you and I’d bear that burden again.”

“But Judah, this isn’t your burden to bear.”

“And it’s not a burden to kill!” Judah shouted as thunder crashed outside. He paused to take in deep breaths in an effort to keep his asthma at bay. “The world changed, Alexandra. Terrible things happened to me and unimaginable horrors happened to you. We’re teenagers, seventeen-year-old kids forced to grow up fast in a place that’s trying to kill us or take the good inside of us. But I…I don’t know if I believe the new world is so dark that love and life can’t break through.”