Chapter 7 #2
“Yeah.” Cam squeezed her hand. “Dette took the baby, and Key made me come lie with her on the hospital bed. It was... awful and amazing all at once.” He laughed, sounding like it still amazed him.
“After I calmed down, I told them I loved them and asked them if they would adopt me for real, so I could be their son and Odie’s brother. ”
Allie wiped tears from her eyes. “Cam, that’s lovely.”
He grinned. “Key still swears up and down they were only doing a public service by keeping my ‘delinquent ass’ from terrorizing another poor family.”
Allie’s heart warmed at the thought of Cam being loved. Having that family. “And they made it out with you, when San Francisco fell?”
“They had to just about drag me out.” His smile faded.
“I’d been back home for a few years, working as a physical therapist in Oakland.
I really loved it, way more than I thought I would.
” He sighed. “It wasn’t what I’d planned.
I’d gotten my bachelor’s while I was in the Marines.
I did two years of psychology before I switched majors, figuring I’d be better at helping people physically than mentally.
” He paused. “Well, I wanted to do both, I guess.”
That made sense. “So you were military?”
“Four years. Bouncing around Europe first then the Middle East.”
She didn’t ask if he’d seen bad things there.
It seemed like a moot point, given the state of the world.
“My dad’s younger brother was serving in Iraq when everything happened.
” It occurred to her that she would probably never know her uncle’s fate or whether her aunt and young cousin had survived the zombies.
They lived in Valdosta, Georgia, but who knew when she would ever be able to travel that distance or even try to send them a message?
It was entirely possible that Allie was all that was left of her family. A dull ache began to press behind her eyes, and she untwined her hand from Cam’s and picked up her coffee cup. She took a sip, not really tasting it.
Cam nodded. “I had a place near where I worked, not too far away from home. Odie was in college, and I was thinking about getting my master’s degree.
We did Sunday dinners, family game nights, the whole bit.
” He sighed. “I was ready to try to meet someone, settle down, start a family. Dette had big plans to set me up with this one girl working at her hospital.”
He rolled his eyes, smiling a little, before he got serious again.
“Then things started to go to shit. Key always got quiet when we’d hear reports on the news or someone would bring up the incidents.
When they finally told us the truth—well, so to speak—New York was toast, and Chicago was on its way down.
I mean, New York was the first big disaster area, with the swarms and the flooding.
The reports were nuts, and they’d just started alerting people in Oakland and the Bay Area. And I got called back to active duty.”
Allie swallowed down a surge of sympathetic fear.
“When I told Key I was preparing to report in, she noped it hard, said we had to stay together.” Cam met her eyes. “She’d apparently had her first real dream the night before, telling her we had to get out of the city. Not to go to the military, not to go to any of the evacuation points.”
Her head felt strangely light. It was wild to hear him talking about such dreams as if they were a factual occurrence in his world too. Hell, she had a goddess in her head as well as in her dreams, and she still hadn’t gotten used to it. “You believed her then?”
Cam frowned, turning his coffee mug around and around in his hands. “Would you?”
Allie shrugged. “Maybe not.”
“No. I didn’t really believe in her dream, not at first, but I believed Key. I believed her desperation. And... her eyes when she told me about the images, it was like she’d seen Hell or something.” He shuddered. “So I left with them, but under protest.”
He shook his head. “I wanted to help people. The fucking world was ending, and people were dying. Running from it seemed wrong. It was the opposite of everything I’d been taught. Everything I’d been trained for.”
Oh, Cam. “I get that.”
“Key and Odette said they’d let me go back once we made it safely out of the city.
” One side of his mouth curled up. “They’d lied, of course, and told me as much once we were on the road, but it didn’t matter.
Once we got away from the city and the crowds, it got pretty fucking clear that there wasn’t going to be anything to go back to. ”
“I’m glad you made it. I’m glad you trusted her.” She met his eyes. “How did you end up here?”
He sighed. “I’m not totally sure where here is.
I was already way off my planned route before I crossed paths with the horde.
We’re in southern Illinois, right? I was still in Missouri, I think, when I got chased into the path of the horde.
I saw signs for a town called Chester and headed that way.
I ran across a bridge over the river, thinking it would bottleneck the Zs. It slowed them down but not enough.”
She briefly explained their position, but it seemed like a hollow sort of thing to do. As if things like state lines even mattered anymore.
He nodded. “My people are up north, past Jefferson City. Nearer Kansas City.” His mouth quirked. “I miss them.”
I know you do, but you’re not answering the question. “Why did you leave them?”
“There was something I felt I had to do.” He looked at her, his expression neutral. “How did you end up in the bunker?”
A little stung, both by the non-answer and the abrupt turn, she responded in kind. “I found something I needed.”
He snorted and shook his head. “Fair enough.” He fiddled with his fork for a moment before he admitted, “I was... trying to help someone I cared about.”
“Okay.” My turn. Allie took a deep breath. “I knew the bunker was here because of a dream.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was enough for the moment.
He nodded. “I wondered.”
“Were you able to help that person?”
His expression didn’t change. “No.”
“I’m sorry.” She looked down at her plate. “We don’t have to talk about it right now.”
He leaned forward and covered her restless hand with his. “I’ll get there. I swear that I’m not trying to keep secrets. I’m just... not quite ready to leave behind this happy feeling yet. Being here. Being with you. It feels good.” He took a breath then let it out slowly. “I’ll get there.”
Allie wanted to believe him. She gave him a lopsided smile. They sat together in silence for a moment.
She gave his fingers a final squeeze before reclaiming her hand. “Let’s finish our breakfast. I have something else to show you.”
After they ate and rinsed their dishes, Allie led him back to the communication station. She’d seen the fondness on his face when he’d spoken of his family. Despite her worries—will he leave me here when he goes back?—she had to give him the chance to reconnect with them.
She opened the computer desk’s lone drawer and withdrew a large black binder labeled Radio Use. “Whenever you’re ready to try to reach out to your people, you’ll need the radio bible here. I can help you, but I haven’t done much with it aside from scanning for other radio operators.”
She’d been too afraid to make herself and the bunker known to others, she realized with a little twist in her gut. Maybe that was why she’d spent so much time underground and had avoided going up to the surface for more than getting sunshine. Was she more afraid of the zombies or other people?
The only reason she’d gone to get Cam was because Morrigan had told her to do it. And she’d been terrified the whole time. A herd animal afraid of the herd. Staying alone felt as unnatural as the creatures that had taken over their world.
“Thank you,” he said, taking the binder from her and setting it beside the radio.
She looked up at him in surprise, only for him to enfold her gently in his arms. She went with a sigh, laying her head on his shoulder. Breathing in the scent and aliveness of him. Basking in his care. “You’re welcome.”
Maybe she could go back to the world, back to herd life, if Cam was part of the deal. After a moment, Allie reached out to turn on the computer to check the security cameras.
The feeds came to life, each part of the split screen filled with zombies.