Escaping Grace: A Turning Grace Novel (15 page)

“You like?” Destiny asked.

“Um…not really,” she said, trying her hardest not to cough. She turned to me and offered the lit cancer stick.

“I’m okay,” I said. Smoking was just not my thing.

“C’mon, Grace! Just do it! I mean, it won’t kill you!”

I rolled my eyes. I hated being in the spotlight and if inhaling rat poison into my lungs would stop Sonny from peer pressuring me, then I’ll do it.

I took the cigarette and wrapped my lips around the filter. It felt strange in my fingers, but I drew in a breath anyway. I could feel the hot smoke fill my lungs.

Bleh! Definitely not for me.

I frowned and handed it back to Sonny, who also frowned and pushed my hand away. “No, thank you! No more for me.”

“Give me that!” Destiny said, swiping it out of my hands. “Awesome, this just means I don’t have to share my smokes with any of you.”

“So, let’s do something,” Sonny pouted.

“I’m up for nighttime skinny dipping if you all are,” Ian said nonchalantly while he shrugged his shoulders.

I wondered how many times he has offered that suggestion.

“Only in your dreams would you have four girls at one time,” Destiny snickered.

Sonny unraveled her neat bun and shook her hair out. “Nah, I don’t feel like getting my hair wet.”

“We can go to the jungle.” This time Ian had a slightly less sexual proposal.

“Oh, yeah. Let’s go to the jungle,” Sonny shrieked excitedly.

“What would we do in there?” I asked. Something about the night and walking through the jungle in complete darkness didn’t seem to interest me. There was no light out there. It was known that our Zombrid eyes could adjust to the night and dark rooms, but what about the animals? Apparently there was an endless supply of wild boar on this island. And who knew what else was out there.

I may have been half zombie and capable of taking down something larger than I was, but I really didn’t want to put myself in that situation.

“Um…hike,” Charlie said with a snarky look. She turned around and pulled Ian by the wrist. “C’mon, I’m going to get my boots on before we go.

Sonny leaned into my ear. “What the hell is her problem?”

I wasn’t about to tell Charlie’s story. She said only Ian knew about her past, and it wasn’t my place to disclose what she told me to anyone else. Who knew if she would have divulged as much information she did with other people around. Maybe she was confiding in me in strict confidence.

“I have no idea. But just remember that everyone here has a story…so you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.” I chose an answer that would most likely shut Sonny up about it.

The three of us started walking toward the beach.

“She blames Grace for her not dying.” Destiny reiterated to Sonny.

“What? That’s so stupid.”

“More stupid than the reasons why you hate me?”

She zeroed in on my eyes. “Whatever. I live with you now. So you’re just going to have to grow up and get over it.”

Really? After all these years of making fun of me and bullying me and humiliating me, I’m the one who needed to grow up?

“Besides, if anyone is going to be a bitch to you, it’s gonna be me.”

I didn’t know how to take that. I guess with a grain of salt.

Ian and Charlie met us on the beach and we made our way to the entrance of the jungle trail. I thought about V again, remembering that I promised to stay in my room all night. Hopefully, if the date was going well, he would just let the night go on without worrying about me. But I knew better. He was probably going to come check up on me in the suite, so I mentally swore to myself that I would be back in about an hour or two…with or without the crew.

There was a gentle breeze coming off the ocean water. The sky was clear and the stars were shining bright in the night sky. The moon was our only light, but it was full tonight and lit up what it could in the dense jungle. Thankfully, we had the ability to adjust our eyes to darkness. If not, it would have been difficult to hike down the trail.

Ian and Charlie guided the way, leaving Destiny in the middle and Sonny and I following close behind.

We walked for about fifteen minutes in silence. It was actually kind of nice, almost therapeutic in a way. I could hear Ian and Charlie speaking in low voices ahead of us. Destiny was quietly smoking another cigarette, and Sonny had her head buried in her phone.

It was nice to hear the soft sounds of insects buzzing around and frogs croaking in the distance. It was nature, and I loved the sound of nature.

“Ugh, God! Why didn’t you tell me to change my shoes? My Louboutins are getting stuck in the mud!” Sonny whined.

That sound? Yeah, I did not love that sound too much.

“Why do I have to tell you what to do?” I asked. Seriously, when the hell did I become Sonny’s keeper?

“Because…you’re supposed to have my back.”

I chuckled. “Oh, really? Since when?”

Sonny stopped walking and lifted her leg to daintily pull a large piece of muck off her heel. Although I didn’t want to, I stopped to wait for her.

“Why don’t you just take your shoes off?” I asked.

She snapped her head in my direction, as if I asked the most horrible question she’d ever been asked. “You’re joking, right?”

“No, take them off. It’s just mud.”

“Right, and ruin my fresh pedicure? I don’t think so. I can’t exactly do my own toes, you know. Which reminds me, I’ve got to get Margo out here. There is no way I’m going to live here without my beautician on hand.”

An enormous part of me felt ashamed and guilty for Sonny not being able to do her own nails. Granted, she probably never did them herself anyway, but it sucked that she didn’t have the option to. At least not until she gets the new arm.

But I still rolled my eyes at her narcissistic remark. I worried that if I kept rolling my eyes around Sonny, they might stay that way. “Fine. Then don’t. C’mon.”

“You know, I don’t like your attitude, Grace,” she stated.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. You don’t have to be mean to me.”

“Just like you didn’t have to be mean to me back home?” Two wrongs didn’t make a right, but it was hard to be nice to her after all the flack she has given me in the past.

She threw her arms out in frustration. Well, her one arm. What was left of her other lay limp at her side. “Okay, fine! You want me to say I’m sorry? I’m sorry! There, is that better?”

I couldn’t help but wonder why the sudden change in her. Did becoming a Zombrid affect her humanity in a positive way?  Because, if anything, I would have expected zombies to have issues with even keeping their humanity.

“I’m not asking for an apology, Sonny.” And that was the truth. It just bugged me that after all this time, she could pretend like she didn’t torture me for years.

She stared at me for a moment before reaching down to take off her overly expensive shoes. She shrunk about three inches as her bare feet sunk into the moist soil.

“This actually feels kind of nice,” she smiled as she wiggled her toes in the mud.

“Told you. Now come on. We’re losing them,” I demanded, turning to see the rest of the gang continuing their hike without us.

Sonny obeyed, and we caught up with the rest of the group.

“I really am sorry, Grace,” Sonny said in a low voice.

I suddenly felt guilty. “No, Sonny. I’m sorry. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be here. And you would have your arm.”

“Hey, shit happens. Besides, I’m getting a new one,” she said with hope in her tone.

She rubbed her stump gently, pressing down on the bandages to make sure they were secure.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

“Meh, a little. It’s still kind of sore, but it’s healing from the last surgery. Dr. Roberson said lost limbs take a little bit longer to heal than if it were broken. But still faster than normal.”

I didn’t say anything.

“You know what makes all of this better?”

“What?”

“The fact that you and Tristen aren’t together anymore.” She sighed. “Karma is a bitch.”

I wanted to punch her nubby arm, but she was right. Karma was a bitch. I stole Tristen from Sonny, and now we weren’t together. But honestly, there was a gratifying sensation in the pit of my stomach.

Neither of us had him.

“Where are we walking to, Ian?” Destiny asked as she exhaled smoke out of her mouth.

“We’re headed toward the falls,” he called back.

“Um…no we’re not. This isn’t the way to the falls.”

Ian and Charlie stopped moving forward. “What do you mean? I come this way all the time.”

“Well, if you weren’t yapping your mouth to Charlie, then you would have noticed that we missed the turn,” Destiny explained.

“So, where are we going then?” I asked. I grabbed my cell phone out of my back pocket and looked at the clock. I didn’t have time to get lost. V was going to be pissed.

“Destiny, why didn’t you say anything?” I couldn’t tell if Charlie was upset or just giving her the usual attitude.

“Because, I thought getting lost would be more fun,” Destiny giggled.

Charlie huffed and folded her arms. Ian found it amusing and patted Destiny on the back. “Well done, mate.”

“So like, what does this mean? Are we really lost?” Sonny asked.

“Nah, we aren’t really lost. This island isn’t all that big. We’ve just never been this way,” Ian responded.

“Let’s just keep walking.”

“I can’t, guys. I have to get back to my suite.” It wasn’t like V was my dad or anything. I just didn’t want to worry him. And worrying was definitely something he did often with me.

“Oh, don’t be such a girl, Grace!” Sonny yelled before she smacked my arm.

“Hey! I’m not being a girl!” I yelled back, slapping her good arm.

“Ouch!”

“Okay, okay girls,” Ian interrupted.  “As much as I would like to see a cat fight, we should just get on already. I’ll lead the way.”

I exhaled violently, regretting the fact that I was going to give in. I grabbed my phone and texted V.

Grace Watkins: Hey, I just wanted to check in. I’m in Destiny’s suite and okay. She was having some…girl problems. So don’t bother us! Hope your date is going well ;)

Not even a minute later…

V: I will be in the hallway in thirty minutes if you need me.

Damn. I was going to have to sneak into my room later.

Grace Watkins: Okay. I’ll see you later. Oh, and I want to know everything about your date!

V: Fine.

Ha! He hated talking about himself.

“Who ya texting?” Sonny asked innocently while spying over my shoulder.

I blacked out my phone and put it back in my pocket. “No one.”

“Uh huh. You got a thing for your bodyguard guy, don’t you?”

“What! No! He’s…old!” Gross! V could be my dad! The thought of that made me sick to my stomach.

Or was I hungry?

I grabbed a snack out of my bag.

“Oh, that looks good.” Sonny reached into my Ziplock baggie.

I rolled my eyes…again.

We walked and walked for another twenty minutes before finally reaching something other than jungle.

“What is that?” Destiny asked.

Ian got closer to it. “It’s a fence.”

A chain-link fence stood tall in front of us. Above it was chicken wire, similar to what you would see surrounding a prison.

I got up closer and touched it with my fingertips. It was old and rusted, certainly not up to par with the rest of the compound.

A few feet behind the fence was a concrete wall, just like the Z lab.

“What is this place?” Sonny asked.

I turned to the group. “Could this be…East Cocos?”

Chapter 13

The Cell

Ian laid a hand on her back, “Destiny, we can go if you want.”

“No! If this is East Cocos, we should check it out.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Charlie asked. “I mean, it might not be best to see her.”

It was nice to see these three together. I had become close to Ian and Destiny, but the three of them have been friends for a while before I showed up. There was a sense of camaraderie between them, a sense that they watched over each other and genuinely cared.

It seemed at this moment, Charlie and Ian were attempting to guard Destiny from adding on to the heartbreak she experienced when her girlfriend was hauled off to East Cocos. Abby was a part of the “incident”. I didn’t learn much more about her since Destiny brought her up that day at the beach with Tristen, only what Ian mentioned about Destiny not wanting to talk about it. But I did hear that they were completely in love.

“If you guys have lived here a while, why haven’t you seen this place before?” Sonny asked.

That was a good question.

“Like I said, we’ve never ventured off this far. We always followed the trail. Besides, the others didn’t get sick till just a short while ago, so we didn’t even know about this place till then.” Ian explained.

Destiny began power walking along the fence.

“Destiny, where are you going?” Charlie called after her.

Ian followed.

“Should we follow them?” Sonny asked.

I didn’t answer. I contemplated really hard on whether or not we should follow. But when Sonny began to walk ahead, I realized I would be an idiot not to. The rainforest wasn’t necessarily scary, but I sure as hell didn’t want to be left alone in it.

We walked the length of the fence until a bright red light came into view. The fence curved left, and we followed to find Destiny standing at the fence entrance. Her fingers poked through the links, and I could tell she was holding on tight. She was staring at a large, riveted steel door. The red light lit up black letters that read EAST COCOS.

I was right about the door! Wrong about the QUARANTINE.

“She’s there,” Destiny whispered.

Charlie grabbed her shoulder gently. “Des, we can’t go in there. I’m sure she’s okay.”

Destiny looked down at the hefty padlock that looked like it made gaining entry into the place impossible. She took hold of the lock and started shaking it, probably hoping that it would just fall off.

“Destiny! Stop it! We can’t get in!” Ian yelled at her.

“What is wrong with her? And what is this place?” Sonny asked in my direction, low enough for only me to hear.

I answered back in a low voice. “Her girlfriend is in there. Those Zombrids are really sick.”

“What? Well, we have to get in!”

Ian gave her a disapproving glare. “No, we don’t. If those Zombrids are sick and contagious, I don’t want what they have.”

Destiny began sobbing. “I have to see her! I have to see her, Ian! I can feel her. We are so close!”

“We can’t get in. There’s a lock on the gate.”

“Oh, move out of my way!” Sonny pushed Ian and Destiny away from the gate with her one arm. She analyzed the lock, then reached up and pulled something out of her hair.

“Grace, come hold this for me.”

I obeyed, not because she told me to, but because I was curious to see how she planned to get this lock off.

I held the lock steady while she kneeled down and tilted her head to get a better view. She stuck what I was assuming was a bobby pin into the tiny little keyhole and wiggled it around several times.

“C’mon. Really? What is she some kind of secret agent?” Ian asked sarcastically.

There was a clicking sound and Sonny pulled the lock open.

“Nope. My daddy is the president of one of the largest security companies in the country.”

Of course he is.

“So.”

“…so, they have to test out all the products. Picking a lock was a breech that needed to be tested. This lock is so old, a toddler could have picked it.” She put the pin back in her hair.

Destiny couldn’t wait any longer. She pushed open the gate and ran to the steel door.

From the looks of it, there didn’t seem to be a handle or lock or way to open it.

“Okay, 007. How do we get in here?” Charlie chastised.

Sonny glanced around before pointing her finger at the wall. “There. It’s a tiny camera. It looks like it could be a retinal scanner.”

“How are we supposed to do that? It’s probably programmed for Dr. Roberson and his staff,” Ian said.

“Let me try.”

A deep voice came from behind us, and I knew immediately who it was.

“V, what are you doing here?”

He held up his cell phone. “I tracked your phone.”

There were a million things going through my mind. Some of them were curse words. Okay…most of them. He had a tracker on my phone? Did he not trust me?

But as much as I wanted to be pissed off at him for violating me in that way, I was half-expecting it and half-happy that he did it. V’s whole job was to protect me. I was very valuable in the Zombrid world.

I knew there weren’t any ninjas or rivalries somewhere out there trying to abduct me in the middle of the night. I was not coveted by an evil villain who wanted me in order to make clones or something (not that I knew of anyway). However, being able to track me down could be beneficial. What if I forgot to eat or didn’t eat enough and I wasn’t with V? I didn’t want to ever get into that horrible state of mind Dr. Roberson was telling me about, you know…losing all brain function and turning into a man-eating death machine? So, V being able to find me to give me what I needed was pretty cool.

“Shit. You’re going to tell Dr. Roberson we’re here, aren’t you?” Ian asked.

“No. Just move over.”

“Man, he is a cutie. If you don’t want him, I’ll take him,” Sonny whispered.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

V stood stiffly in front of the eye scanner thingy and closed one eye. We were all silent, waiting to see if he had the right eyes to open this massive, fortified door.

A second later, a low buzz sounded from the door and it popped open.

“Wait.” He towered in front of us. I suddenly felt like we were tiny children in comparison to his tall, burly body.

“Destiny, I know you want to see Abby. We are only going in so you can see her. The rest of you, do not touch anything. Do not talk. Do not go off alone. We stay together.”

“Haven’t you been in here before?” I asked. He was one of Dr. Roberson’s employees. I was certain that he had been to East Cocos, or at least knew of what it was like in there. In our many conversations, I never once thought to ask him about it.

Me and my stupid obsessing over Tristen!

“No.”

Okay, well…I was wrong.

“Everyone, follow me.” He turned around and opened the door. Destiny followed close behind him, with eagerness in every step she took.

Charlie linked arms with Ian. It was hard to believe that just this afternoon I could have lost all of what made me pure to him. There was no doubt in my mind that he and Charlie had a connection that he and I would never have. I’ve never been in a friends-with-benefits relationship, but the vibe I was getting from them seemed like there could be more than just sex.

Sonny linked her arm with mine. I looked down at it then back up to her.

“What? I’m kind of scared.”

A part of me wanted to snatch my arm away; it reminded me too much of my dear friend Phoebe. But I didn’t. And I didn’t know why.

We walked through the entrance. V’s pace was slow and steady, probably trying to stay quiet in case anyone was around. It was late now, but we didn’t know who would be here.

It was dim, with only a few faint lights that lit up around us. I immediately noticed a soft beeping noise coming from ahead, kind of like a monitor of some sort. Our footsteps sounded loud and hollow. I glanced down to see what we were walking on. It was a grated walkway that allowed me to see below us. We were on the second floor of the facility.

We walked in slow strides together, until suddenly there was more room to fan out. The narrow walkway led to an open room. V walked cautiously over to the railing and looked down. I followed to see what he was looking at.

Yes, we were on the second floor. The grated catwalk formed a square around a hole below us. We looked down to find the first floor underneath. It was barely lit up, but I could still see gurneys and medical equipment scattered around.

“There are the stairs,” Destiny pointed out. She hurried over to them but before she could reach it, V grabbed her by the upper portion of her arm.

“We have to stay together.”

She looked up at him and nodded, her eyes stained with black tears from her mascara. She desperately wanted to see her girlfriend.

“Let’s go,” he demanded loud enough for all of us to hear.

We followed him down the stairs to the first floor.

A single, large light fixture hung down from the ceiling in the center of the space.

The low pitch of the beeping sounded louder, but seemed to be coming from a different direction. Behind us maybe?

I turned around to follow it, but stopped when I heard a gasp.

Charlie was standing out of the light and off to the side, staring at something. Her mouth was covered by her hand, and she seemed completely terrified at what she was looking at.

Ian and Destiny rushed over to her.

“Holy shit,” Ian responded to what was in front of him.

Sonny pulled me toward them, but I was reluctant. Curiosity coursed through me, but I was afraid to see what they were looking at.

It wasn’t until we walked closer to them when I realized what was lining the walls of the entire first floor. Bars…like a jail.

They were jail cells.

I tried to peer inside the three that we passed as Sonny pulled me closer to the others, but there wasn’t much to see. They were empty.

Until we reached the one they were staring into.

I gasped too, trying to hold back the terrified scream that was forming in my throat.

“What the…” Sonny started to say what I was thinking.

A man swayed slowly from side to side while he hung from the ceiling inside the cell. It seemed as though he was suspended in mid air. His body drooped limply and his head leaned forward, long hair covering whatever it was around his neck that allowed him to dangle.

I stared harder and analyzed him, noticing that chunks of his arms were missing. The skin around the wounds appeared rigid, almost as if it was torn off him. My eyes traveled down to his hands, and I was only able to count four fingers on his left, two on his right hand. He was missing the other fingers. His clothes were dirty and ripped apart, and what was even more horrifying was the fact that he only had one leg. The other leg was gone from his thigh down.

“What happened to him? Did he hang himself?” asked Ian.

“I don’t know,” V responded.

“How could he reach up there? There’s nothing he could have stood on,” Sonny pointed out.

And it was true. The cell was empty except for his body.

Ian stepped closer to the bars and leaned in a little to get a better view. “Whatever happened to him happened a while ago because he reeks,” he said, covering his nose.

“V, what is this place?” I asked, not understanding what I was looking at. From how Dr. Roberson explained it, I imagined East Cocos to be like the Z lab. Maybe just another place for treatment. But it seemed rundown and dilapidated. It was dirty and scary. And apparently had people hanging by their necks!

“I heard it was a jail long ago, but I had no idea it still was,” he responded.

That sent chills through me. A jail? These sick Zombrids were being held captive?

“Should we help the guy down?” Sonny asked.

“No.” V got closer to the bars as well. He paused for a moment to examine the man’s body. “He’s been dead a long time, and I don’t think he hung himself.”

“You think someone did this to him?”

“I think he may have been someone’s meal,” he answered.

A muffled groan came from behind us. We all turned around at the same time to examine the row of darkened jail cells that aligned the other wall.

Destiny rushed over to the first cell and looked in. When she realized it was empty, she moved on to the next, then the next.

Until finally, she stopped at the fourth one and let out a loud cry.

“Abby!”

We all ran over to her and peered into the cell.

We couldn’t see her completely. She was huddled up in the dark, far corner of the cell. All we could hear was the groaning, which seemed to be growing louder and longer.

“Abby, baby. It’s me. It’s Destiny. I’m here to get you out,” she whispered softly as she held on tightly to the metal bars.