Colony Z: The Complete Collection (Vols. 1-4) (30 page)

Hannah stared at Owen, unsure of how to react to everything she’d just been told. For the first time in twenty years, she had no words. Nothing she could even say that would be enough. All this time, he’d been lying to her. All this time, he’d been lying to everyone.

Michael was right to hate him. Michael had every right to hate him. And she’d never understood.

Just as this thought entered her head, and her crazed and crying husband began to walk toward her, Michael burst into the cabin, a mirror of his father.

“Dad, you have to help me!”

“What’s wrong , son?” Owen, despite the conversation he was just having, knew there was a time and a place for everything. And each and every situation had a pecking order. Michael came before Owen’s guilt. Every child of his came before him now. That was how it always should have been.

“Eva…she’s…infection…dying…”

“Eva’s infected?” Hannah stepped forward. “How is that possible?”

“Blood from her uncle…still on her necklace…
please help me!”

Owen stared at Michael, hesitated for only a moment, and then ran out the door with his son, leaving Hannah behind to stand in pure wonder at the amazing force and speed with which everything in the world moved. One minute, they’d be talking about a lovely wedding. The next, her son’s bride was infected and everything she thought she’d known for years was a lie.

They rushed to her cabin. Everything seemed to be one great big lie.

“Where is she?”

The empty cabin said it all. Why wasn’t Eva where Michael had left her?

Well, because he hadn’t bothered to tie her up or do anything at all to make sure she didn’t spread out to the other colonists.

Why was Michael so damn stupid?

“We have to find her, Michael, before she really hurts someone.”

Michael nodded slowly, tears still rushing down his cheeks, as both men left the cabin and ran in separate directions, looking frantically for a woman that they were almost sure they would be too late in finding.

And they were right in that assumption. Neither man could locate Eva until Michael heard a yell coming from one of the cabins. James’ cabin, actually. And, not that Michael particularly liked James or anything, but his heart skipped a beat when he realized she’d probably gotten what she wanted. Food.

“James?” Michael yelled, hoping the Warrior would open his door and laugh in Michael’s face when he told him what was going on. But James didn’t come to the door. In fact, even after Michael knocked several times, there was no answer. He knew what was going on inside. And if he didn’t do something, they might lose one of the strongest men they had, and that was unacceptable.

Michael slammed into the door and it burst open, revealed James pointing a shotgun at Eva’s head. The man was holding his arm, and it was obvious she’d bitten him. She continued to snarl, her red hair wrapped around her face, at the man with the gun. And Michael knew he would shoot her, too, if he didn’t do something about it.

“James, please. Please don’t do this.” Michael said from the doorway. Eva turned to him, let out a growl, and then shoved him out of the way as she ran out the door. James shot two bullets, but they missed and pierced the wood of the cabin instead.

“What the hell was that?” James yelled angrily. “Jesus Christ, man, did you know her at all before you married her?”

Now wasn’t the time for humor, and James knew it. He was in an immense amount of pain, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before he was infected and no good to them anymore. He couldn’t even hope to be immune. It was next to nearly impossible. He knew the truth that no one would say. There was no immunization. You get bit? That’s it for you.

People needed to learn to live with the truth.

“Come on, kid. Let’s go find her.” James grunted, holding his arm and the shotgun while at the same time trying to drag Michael out the door. All of this had happened so quickly, yet it seemed James had been entirely too prepared for it. Owen was right. James had been born for the Zero-Hour.

Aaron wasn’t quite that lucky.

When Eva broke into Helen and Aaron’s home, they were both asleep comfortably on the bed, Aaron’s arm wrapped around his new bride. Eva crashed through the door and they both snapped awake, but the windows on their cabin didn’t allow much moonshine in because of the trees surrounding their camp. It was going to be difficult for them to see at night.

Helen figured it was just some kid playing a prank on them because they’d gotten married that day. Or some other rational explanation for the door bursting open in the middle of the night. So she lit the candle next to her bed with the matches she always kept there.

She was not expecting to see a bloodied version of her brother’s bride-to-be standing and snarling at the end of her bed.

“Eva…” She whispered quietly.

“Helen, stay there.” Aaron said, hiding Helen behind him. He got up out of bed and slowly approached the obviously disturbed woman. He reached a hand out to Eva, trying to wake her up, thinking she was sleep walking or something odd like that. Instead of waking up from a trance, she opened her mouth and bit down on his hand, immediately drawing blood.

Helen jumped up from the bed and pushed Eva away from her husband, screaming bloody murder to anyone who might have been able to hear her.

“Helen!” Michael yelled, as he ran into the cabin with James close behind him.

“Michael, stay back!” James yelled, pushing Michael into the wall and grabbing Eva by the hair. He dragged her out of the room by her ginger-locks, refusing to allow her struggle to deter him. He wasn’t going to let this island be destroyed.

“James, don’t hurt her!” Michael yelled, but by this time Owen had arrived. Michael ran out onto the beach, trying to save the one person he’d ever loved, but Owen held him back.

For a split second, Eva escaped from James’ grasp and ran at Michael.

“No!” Owen screamed, jumping in front of his son. Eva bit down on Owen’s shoulder and Owen yelled in pain as Michael pulled him back.

James got his hands on Eva again. Owen, through the pain, managed to get his hands on Michael so he couldn’t hurt himself or anyone else.

Everything had gone completely wrong.

Owen hated himself, as he held his son tightly to him and dragged him back into the cabin. He heard the sound of a gunshot outside, then he heard one follow. And then, everything was once again silent on the beaches of the island.

Michael finally broke through his father’s grasp, or maybe Owen just didn’t care anymore as he fell to the ground in his own pain, and ran onto the sand. Eva and James both laid there, silent and unmoving, pools of blood surroundings their heads.

James had sacrificed himself to save the others. He had put his own life on the line, and had accepted his fate, it only it means keeping Michael alive just a little bit longer. His respect and hatred for the man both grew at the same time. Hatred would stem towards James from Michael for a very long time after that, for the same reason hatred would stem towards Owen from Helen for what he was about to do to her husband in the cabin.

“He has to die, Helen. Before he hurts you.”

“Dad…Dad, did she bite you?”

Owen was going pale in the face, and it took everything in his power not to scream.

“Helen, take the gun and shoot him. Now.” Owen pointed to the gun that Aaron had had stashed on the wood table just in case, like they all did.

“Dad, I can’t.”

“Helen, do it.”

“NO!”

Owen stared at his daughter like she was an alien. He didn’t know her anymore. He didn’t need her anymore. He needed Aaron’s blood.

“Then I’ll do it.”

That was when Aaron began to stir. Helen’s heart jumped, as she feared she might be too late. He had already changed and now he was going to kill her too. Aaron sat up slowly, holding himself against the wall as he opened his eyes and looked at his wife.

“Babe, get me a band-aid and some gauze so I can get this bandaged up.”

Helen stared in surprise and Owen looked at the ground in defeat. His one chance, and now it was gone.

“Aaron, I need you to do something for me.” Owen said, looking at Aaron with the same face he’d used to look at him all those years ago when he told him he needed to ‘be a big, brave boy’.

“What do you need, Owen?”

“I have some vials in my cabin. I need you to fill up one of those vials with your blood, do you understand me? You have the cure. It runs in your veins. I need you to go in, fill that vial, and bring it to me. I’ve been bitten myself.”

“Owen, I don’t think I have the…”

“Yes, you do, Aaron. You’ve always had the cure. Please hurry.”

Aaron, ignoring his own wound, obeyed orders and left the cabin to run to Owen’s own. Though he was extremely confused, there was one thing Aaron wanted to know more than anything else.

If Owen knew he had the cure, why hadn’t he told him before?

Aaron burst into Owen’s cabin and began searching. Hannah and the baby had disappeared, probably to go seek shelter at another house. He couldn’t think of where in specific Owen had asked him to look, or if he’d even given him a specific place at all.

His first rational thought was to check Owen’s suitcase. He flipped through clothes, money, a letter, socks, shoes, and…

A letter.

Curiosity got the better of him and, before Aaron knew what he was doing, he had opened Owen’s letter and was reading it to himself.

When he finished reading the letter, he was shaking more than he had before in his entire life. He folded it up, stuffed it into his pocket, and ignored the idea of getting a vial. Instead, he grabbed Owen’s gun off the bed and stalked to the door of the cabin.

“Where are you going with that, Aaron?” Hannah asked from the doorway. Aaron jumped at the sight of her. Did she know?

No. He decided she didn’t.

“I’m going to see your husband. And I really think you better come with me.”

“Why?”

“Trust me, Hannah.”

Aaron led the way, gun pointed straight ahead, as they traveled back to his cabin. And he prayed for Helen’s sake they weren’t too late.

“Aaron, did you bring the…”

Owen stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the young man pointing a gun at him, with a look at his face that Owen had never seen him with before.

“What’s wrong, Aaron?”

“How the hell did you know that I had the cure?”

“Well I…I just…”

“Only told me I had it when it was convenient for you, huh? When it would save your own life?”

“Aaron, why…”

Aaron threw the note at Owen from his pocket.

“Read it out loud, Owen.” He ordered. Owen sighed deeply when he looked at the note. He looked at Aaron with pleading eyes.

“Aaron, please. Please don’t do this.”

Aaron tightened his grip on the gun and aimed.

“I’ll do it, Owen.”

“Aaron, stop it!
Stop it!”
Helen screamed, running toward her husband. But Hannah snatched her hand and held her back. Even she wanted to know what Owen was going to say, because even she had a feeling he was hiding something from them. From all of them.

“Now, Owen.” Aaron ordered again. Owen looked at the ground and then at the note. Slowly, he read.

“Owen…Got the kid. Well, him and his brat friend. Get me the serum and I’ll have the money. Don’t screw this up, Owen. You’ve got a lot more to lose than I do. And don’t get your girl caught up in this shit. You don’t want that, and neither do I. You have a week. –MPJ…
Listen to me, Aaron, please, I…
”

“MPJ. As in the son of a bitch who held me captive in his basement when I was four years old and killed my best friend? Is it
that
MPJ?”

“Aaron…please…”

“…how did you know that Aaron had the cure?” Helen stepped toward her father, shaking. Hannah held her tightly, so she wouldn’t get to close to the man that was about to turn into a monster. Owen laughed a drunken, twisted sort of laugh.

“…you wanna know the truth, kid? The
real
truth? Alright, then, here it is. The virus was never supposed to spread, alright? It was never supposed to leave the basement of that morgue but that god damn
stupid
Collins screwed everything up by continuing to be the complete idiot that he was.”

“…you knew?” Hannah said in disbelief. “That whole time you…you
knew?”

“What? You think we just
happened
to be near a morgue? Hannah, you were never supposed to get involved. This was never supposed to be your problem.”

“Finish the rest of the story, Owen.” Aaron held the gun tightly. Helen had never seen him so angry.

“…look, me and this guy, Marcus Phillip Junior...we were in pretty deep with this FBI scandal. My dad knew the guy. They grew up together. And he knew I was in the town where everything was supposed to happen. So one day, he gives me a call, alright? And he wants me to go into this morgue one night and get this serum that’s supposed to make people go all crazy and wacko. I was just going to run in, tell Hannah I was saying hi to a friend or something, get the serum, and leave. But no. No, nothing went right, because the idiot got himself killed. He was never supposed to know that the serum had to be used on a
live
body to work. He was just running in circles so the FBI could fire him. The thing was never supposed to spread.”

“Why did you do it?” Hannah asked, angry now. She’d trusted this man for years of her life. And he turned out to be…this
thing.

“Why did I…? The guy was gonna give me two and a half million dollars, Hannah! I was gonna quit the football team, take you off to some paradise somewhere and live the rest of my life out with you. That’s what I wanted. To get out of that stupid little town. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“And you were willing to let some innocent little boy get kidnapped for you?”

“Okay, maybe I was. And so what? So
what?”

“Did you know what he was doing to us?!”
Aaron yelled.

“…Marcus Phillips was never exactly a kind man, alright? I didn’t know all the details, and I didn’t make it my business to know.  I was just supposed to get the serum and get the hell out.”

“…what did Marcus want with the serum?” Aaron continued to question him.

“The hell am I supposed to know? He was dead when we got there. Once the shit hit the fan, I knew we’d need you. If anything, you should be thanking me for coming to get you. For convincing them to keep you. You’ve got the only pure blood in the world…and I figured…I figured if anyone was ever willing to pay up for a cure…I had one on hand…”

“You’re a sick, twisted man.” Aaron said, glaring at Owen.

“…why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you use him to save James? To save Eva? To save
your own daughter?”
Hannah had let go of Helen and was now walking toward Owen herself.
“You could have saved Judith Marie!”

“I couldn’t have used him to save Judith Marie because you would have known, alright? You would have known that I knew something more than I was supposed to. And then what? Then everyone would have known, everyone would have hated me. And I never would’ve gotten to lead this island like I am now. Everyone would’ve looked up to Aaron, Aaron, Aaron, all because he had pure blood. Look, I loved her. But it was too late for her anyway, okay? Too god damn late...but it’s not too late for me. Please, Aaron, I don’t deserve to die.”

“I think that’s exactly what you deserve, Owen.”

“Look, the government made the serum, alright? I was just the guy who was supposed to deliver it.”

“What did Marcus want with it?”

“What do you
think
he wanted with it, Aaron? He wanted to inject the serum into people, start people getting scared, and then introduce the cure like he was some kind of saint. The disease would be controlled…and he’d get all the money he ever wanted. He was a smart man.”

“Yeah…real god damn smart.” Helen said, hating her own father. She prayed the blood of his that ran through her veins wasn’t the same blood that had made him do those terrible things.

“Listen, that was my past okay? Yeah, I killed a couple of guys. But I did it to protect you. I did it to protect my family. I risked my life for all of you, all the time. I risked my life for Judith Marie…I didn’t want to kill my daughter.”

“Yeah, but you were too much of a coward to tell us the truth when you could have.” Hannah said. “Owen, I was sixteen years old and you dragged me off into the middle of nowhere. You dragged me off, telling me that I needed to. This cock and bull story about us needing each other and…God, did you even mean it when you asked me to marry you?”

“Hannah, you have to believe me. I never wanted anyone to die. I wanted the money for you. For me and you.”

“Owen, it’s not even about you getting the serum for that monster,” Helen said, not even calling him ‘Dad’ anymore. He didn’t deserve that kind of respect. “It’s about everything you did from then until now to cover up what you’ve done.”

“…please…” Owen whispered one last time before losing his breath. He fell to the floor of the cabin, taking in his final gusts of air.

“Aaron…I want to live…”

“Hannah?” Aaron looked at Owen’s wife, who still seemed to be in shock. Even so, she managed to pull her words together.

“Give me the gun, Aaron.”

“But…”

“I don’t want you killing anyone in front of my daughter. She’ll never get it out of her head…trust me. I know. Give me the gun.”

Aaron slowly passed the gun into Hannah’s waiting arms.

“Aaron, please take Helen out of here.”

“Daddy…” Helen said one last time before Aaron took her arm. She broke down sobbing. “He was my dad…he was such a
good
dad…”

“Get her out of here, Aaron!”

And then they were gone.

“Hannah…please…help…”

Hannah stepped toward the man from her past. The boy who had run into the woods preparing to propose, and instead triggered the end of the world. The man who acted for all those years like he hadn’t known. The man who had lied, tricked, and deceived simply for the benefits it gave him.

The man who had caused death upon death upon death.

“You lied to me, Owen.”

“Hannah…please…”

“You lied to me.”

“I’m…different…different now…”

“You killed our daughter, Owen.”

“Didn’t…want…couldn’t…trust…”

“You killed my child, Owen.”

“Hannah…”

“I was sixteen, Owen. I trusted you with everything I had and you…you lied to me. You lied to everybody.”

“…please.”

“Goodbye, Owen.”

A gunshot. A scream.

Owen dropped to the floor. Dead.