Page 25 of Once Upon an Apocalypse

“My alma mater. I was having drinks with a few alumni when the town was attacked. We didn’t get hit hard in the beginning and we worked fast to set up barricades around the safe parts of campus. Me, Amos, Norman, Jeremy, and Anna. The five of us took the lead and made this place what it is today. A safe zone. We haven’t had an outbreak inside our walls for three years. And though there have been attempts from outsiders to get in, we have not been breached. There are quite a lot of survivors here, but we have protocols in place for new arrivals. Even my daughter has to follow them.”

“I understand. You can’t really trust anyone in this world. I’ll do whatever I need to.”

“If you aren’t ready to talk, you don’t have to, but you’ll have to stay here. In this room. Under constant surveillance.”

“Nothing I’m not used to.” I close my eyes and sigh. I know I’m safe here. My mom is here. She is one of the leaders. “I’m not ready to talk about all of it, but I’ll try. Jonah, he’s not a subject I wish to discuss yet.”

Chapter 18

AfterItellmymom that I’m ready to talk, she hops off the bed to notify the other leaders. Anna and Jeremy offer me sympathetic smiles as they walk to the other side of the room to stand next to the window while Amos and my mom chat quietly by the door. When Norman enters, taking the chair across from my bed, I can feel the tension in the room thicken.

Now that I have a good look at Norman, he instantly reminds me of Ben from the TV showLOST. Large nose and forehead with a small mouth. A mouth that likely talks a lot. He even wears small round glasses.

I cross my legs as I push myself further back on my hospital bed, bracing myself for all the questions they want to ask me. No surprise Norman is the first to speak. I don’t really hear his words as I’m still preoccupied with Amos, who is now leaning against a wall, staring at the floor.

Why is he ignoring me? Why do I care so much?I glance at my mom, who’s leaning against the same wall inches away from Amos. She offers me an encouraging smile. Then I remember Norman was talking to me, so I turn my attention back to him.

“Sorry, what was the question?”

Norman sighs as if I am nothing but a waste of time. “Dr. Gabriel Tuwile. How did you become involved with him? And how can you survive a bite without turning?”

“A few months after the outbreak, my boyfriend and I were raiding our local ShopRite. We were captured and brought to Novus Seclorum,” I say.

“Novus Seclorum?” Anna asks, fidgeting with her long brown hair.

“That’s what Doctore and his cult followers call the bunker he rules over,” I explain.

“And what is this Novus Seclorum all about?” Jeremy asks as he leans against the wall of windows. His dark brown skin glows from the sunlight pouring in, a brightness that’s reflected in his kind brown eyes.

I smile up at Jeremy, then laugh when his question registers in my brain. “Just a bunch of Roman-obsessed muscle heads who think they’re saving the world.”

“Are they? Saving the world?” Anna asks.

“I don’t really know what they do apart from the experiments Doctore did on me and…the Colosseum.”

My mom holds back a sob and when I look at her, she’s barely holding it together. Amos wraps an arm around her in comfort, still avoiding eye contact with me.

“What experiments?” Norman’s voice brings me back to him again.

“He was attempting to mutate my DNA. Not just me, others too. He said it was a cure.”

Norman gags a laugh at my answer, pushing his glasses up. “A cure? For what? The virus he created?”

“What?” I ask.

Ignoring my question, Norman asks me another, wanting to know more about how I became immune. “Can you tell us more about the treatment?”

“Treatment? He tortured me. And countless others.”

“Was he able to replicate his success? Are there more super soldiers like you?”

“Super soldiers? What?”

“Genetically modified soldiers. Difficult to kill because they can heal quickly. And not just heal, regenerate skin as if they were never wounded. Amos told me he saw you get ripped apart, yet here you are all intact. Even your wounds from yesterday are nearly gone.”

“Norman, stop!” my mom screams. “My daughter obviously was not in his inner circle and knows nothing about his experiments except for the torture she endured.”

Norman ignores my mom and looks right at Amos. “This is why we should not have included her in the interrogation. If Cathy cannot handle herself, you need to escort her out.”

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