The Girl Who Punched Back (Death Fields 2)

True.

I leave him to this grooming. He’d shaved his dark hair when we got to PharmaCorp, although he left a longer, rebellious strip across the crown. He keeps his jaw shaved and clean when we’re near facilities. I can only guess this is habit from his past military life, or maybe he just prefers it. That’s the kind of information I’d think an actual friend would know.

*

I head back to the dormitory. Even though the elevators are operational something about them freaks me out a little so I take the stairs, two at a time, and enter my residence hall through the heavy, metal door, breathing hard.

Offices have been turned into living quarters—the reception area a lounge. I share my room with a girl named Diane, who at a quick glance is still at her job down in the childcare center. I cross the hall, searching for Cole, and find him sitting on his cot. He leans against the wall, pillow propped behind his neck, knees bent.

“Hey.” I lean against the doorframe.

“You’re back,” he says, laying a notebook and pen to the side. “How was patrol?”

“Okay. We brought in eleven new people.”

“Great.” He brushes his too long, curly blond hair out of his eyes. “We’re going to run out of room soon.”

It’s a concern we all have; space, food, supplies. The population growth is something that’s been bothering me for a while, and I step into the room and shut the door behind me.

“I’ve been thinking about that. Have you noticed that even though we keep bringing in people, we aren’t reducing rations or having to add beds?” I ask.

“It’s a big building and the salvage team seems to do well.” He sighs. “The virus hit so quickly, leaving a lot of supplies on the shelves. I heard them say the other day they hit a canned goods factory down the river.”

He was right about the speed in which the virus brought humanity to a screeching halt. Plus, once someone is infected with the virus—even before they succumb to the infection and die—they have no appetite for food any longer. Well, not the kind you find in a store.

“Still, sometimes the people we bring back in are never seen again. Where do they go?”

Cole’s jaw tenses. “They must not make it through quarantine.”

His explanation makes sense, but I have a feeling something else is going on. It’s probably just my distrust of my sister and her motives. Between the way the virus was created in the first place and the way she acted when we got here, I’ve become a very jaded person.

I sit on the edge of the bed and he shifts over, taking my hand. His thumb runs against mine.

“How’s Chloe?” I ask.

“Better. The bullet wound is completely healed and she’s working through her physical therapy.”

“Good. The sooner she’s back on her feet, the sooner we can leave.”

That’s my plan. That has been my plan since before we got here. Deliver the information to my dad and sister, then leave and wait out this nightmare on my own. The feelings I have for Cole are confusing—everything now is confusing—but it’s real enough that I want him to come with me.

Unfortunately we don’t have exactly the same plans. I can tell by the way he grips my hand that he’s about to argue his plan again.

“I know you hate being here, but it’s the safest place we can be right now. I have a strong feeling the lab is on the cusp of a vaccine and I plan to have some say in how it’s used. Things are…I don’t know. Jane has some weird shit going on down there. I don’t feel right walking away yet.” he says. “Also, your sister saved Chloe’s life. I don’t feel right bailing.”

I stare at my knees, because this is the tension between us. Cole feels an obligation to PharmaCorp and my sister. She didn’t save his twin sister directly, her medics did, but she could have refused to waste the resources. Because of this Cole works in the lab, near but not exactly with my father, and won’t leave. I get it, I do. I don’t want to leave my family either, but I also don’t want to be here.

“Are you getting any more access down there?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “No. I mean, I’m doing my share of blind tests, but I don’t have much solid information. There are just rumors about the vaccine going around.”

I roll my eyes. “Rumors in this place cannot be considered reliable. It’s like a high school cafeteria. You know that.”

He tilts his head, forcing me to look in his brilliant blue eyes. Cole has had my back from the start—longer than I even realized. He’s not dumb. I don’t think he’s even that sentimental. I’m the one that operates on emotion. He moves his hand behind my neck and pulls me close, kissing me on the lips gently.

“Think about it. We don’t have to decide today,” he says. “Chloe isn’t quite there yet.”

I nod.