The Deepest Red (56 page)

Suddenly, my skin is burning hot. Thick panic fills my chest and races in all directions. I take big breaths as I attempt to calm down. I can’t breathe. A thick door to the outside appears in front of me from the darkness. My numbed hands push at it’s metal bar, wanting to escape. I stumble through and feel the cold winter air hit my face. The snow crunches underneath my heavy boots, one foot than another.

When I’m able to process my surroundings, I realize I have found my way to the very back of our perimeter. No one in our community uses this small piece of property because of the narrow distance from the prison walls to the outer fence. The area would be a great place for raised boxes of vegetables but because of the trees surrounding the fence and the prison walls blocking out the sun, the quiet spot remains forgotten.  

The snow covers the unkempt ground providing a peaceful atmosphere. I shiver as the cold finally seeps into my hot skin. I blink and struggle to lift my lids.

“I can’t do this,” I say aloud to myself. 

  A light breeze brushes my cheeks, turning my nose a slight pink. The cool air touches Lola’s blood still on my clothing and face, bringing a new awareness. I’m covered in her blood, standing in pure white snow. I begin to laugh a crazy tune, one I don’t recognize as my own. I fall to the ground using the snow to wipe away the thick liquid. As the snow around me turns faintly pink, my laugh turns into a sob.

“I like your laugh better,” a mangled voice says from a distance.

I jump to my feet searching for Tom’s pocket knife. I must have dropped it when I grabbed for Lonnie’s weapon.

“What do you want?” I stammer.

From the trees, he appears- the heavy blue cloak a distinct contrast against the snow. I straighten, vulnerable to him except for the metal fence standing between us.

“Just to talk,” he says then coughs as if to clear his voice. The crow mask he wears tilts slightly as if curious. “Is that your blood?”

I shake my head not willing to believe that I’m going to have a conversation with this man, a man who killed my friend.

“Good, Katlin would be pissed and you don’t want to see her when she is pissed.”

Quiet stretches out between us as we stare at one another.

“What do you really want?” I ask again.

The crow mask tilts in the other direction, reminding me of Chevy when I tell him something he doesn’t understand. A low choke of laughter sounds from beneath the worn leather.

“You don’t belong with these people,” he begins, burying his laughter. “At anytime our army can over run these fences and destroy everyone here and you know it. You have seen the manpower we have and that isn’t even the whole army.”

I cringe, understanding that the main commander was out there somewhere with probably even more soldiers and their families.

“Would the actual leader approve of what Katlin is wanting to do here? Why kill our whole community when you could have gained them and their resources into your army?” I ask.

“You have to be in a bad situation to want to join. People as a whole don’t give up a good thing without a fight. You know that,” he responds in his gravel tone.

“Your mission is to kill infected, to cleanse the world for God. Don’t you see the evil you’re doing?” From under his mask, I hear his divert laughter again.

“Am I funny to you?” I ask.

“Don’t you understand after being in what you so nicely name the red zone?” he questions as I glare at his bright eyes peering from within his disguise, the mask partly covered by his heavy hood. “No matter what you do, a person can justify his or her actions so that they’re right in their own eyes. I could murder everyone you love and instead of feeling guilty, tell myself it was in self-defense. Even if it wasn’t.”

“I’m going to ask you one more time. What do you want?”

The man in front of me sighs but with the sound follows a feeling of his amusement. With controlled movements he opens his cloak to reveal two long knives attached to his hips. Slowly, he pulls each one from their concealed locations and throws them a few feet to the snow. I gape at his actions wondering if another knife is hidden behind his back.

“I can read your mind. You should try better to mask your facial features.” He lifts his cloak showing me his empty narrow back.

“Not all of us have useless crow mask,” I state flatly.

“They’re troublesome but they serve a purpose.”

“Like what?”

“Fear. If you were a non infected stranger, would you attack me?”

“You have a point,” I admit.

              “You can call me Jamie.”

“I prefer not too,” I acknowledge, judging the distance his weapons are from his reach. I could vanish inside the prison before he scaled the fence. His eyes follow mine to his weapons and then travel to the top of the fence.

With amusement in his damaged voice he says, “I wanted to kill you because of how unpredictable you are. My life is already complicated enough without adding more drama to the mix but I will confess I’m glad I didn’t.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“I will go above and beyond to not be the person experiencing my mother’s wrath.” I startle at his words, all thoughts of escaping disappearing from my mind. He was Katlin’s son. “Okay, here is the deal,” he continues ignoring my expression of shock, “If you come with me, Katlin will spare the prison. None of our army has actually seen your supplies or this place, she made sure of that. I’m the only one who has detailed information on how this prison works and to tell you the truth it isn’t enough of a challenge for me.”

“She would forget about her revenge just to have me with her?” I ask, baffled.

“I don’t know if you realize this or not but my mother is literally insane. She will rationalize it just like she does everything else,” he says.

“How do I know she will keep her word with her being crazy and all?” I question.

Jamie shrugs.

“You don’t, but I can guarantee if you don’t come with me she won’t wait for this snow to melt before she kills every last one of those people within those walls.”

“You want me to drop everything and follow you. Someone who burned my friend to death!” I shout.

“I don’t regret killing him. He was bitten,” Jamie states emotionless.

“I don’t regret killing Nicholas,” I snap back, wondering if Connor would have followed the blood trail I’m sure I left behind. Will he be here soon? Is he listening now?

“I don’t regret you doing that either. Nicholas was an idiot who only wore the mask because his father saved the commander’s life years ago.”

A sob escapes my lips but I quickly banish the approaching madness threatening the outer layers of my mind. Slowly, Jamie’s hands caress the edges of his hood, folding the fabric gently away from his mask. The old leather strap pulls tightly around his thick brown hair. He is older than I thought he would be, maybe only a year younger than me, but then again the red zone was not a kind place to grow up.

“What are you doing?” I demand, a little confused.

“I have developed a more selfish reason for you to come back with me,” Jamie admits quietly.

My eyes follow his fingers as he unlatches the straps from his hair. He bows his head letting the mask fall into his hands. I am mesmerized by the site unable to look away, waiting for him to reveal himself without his barrier, waiting to know the face of my concealed enemy.

His bright eyes find mine, revealing his young face. I gasp. Jagged scars stretch across his right cheek and up to his forehead. The injury is old, one occurring maybe when he was just a child. However, it isn’t the old wound that sends me stumbling backwards, it’s the familiar face so similar to my father’s.

“I want to get to know my sister,” he concedes as a twisted smile widens across his face.