Page 74 of Once Upon an Apocalypse

Amos squeezes me against him as I shout, “What? How many?”

“Matthew said there were at least a dozen successful gladiators from his other laboratories. Not all of them achieved the same mutations. None of them can heal as quickly as Lori. Half of them died when he ripped their bodies apart. The others took months to heal and months more to recover. Some never recovered mentally and had to be put down like animals.”

My body temperature plummets, turning my skin to frost as Jonah’s words wash over me. Amos’ hold on me is the only thing keeping me grounded. “So what Doctore did to me, he’s done to a dozen others?”

Jonah nods again, looking away from me as if ashamed. “In different arenas all around the country. He lied to me when he said he needed your DNA. He already created other gladiators. According to Matthew, they aren’t as strong as you.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You are also inhumanly strong.”

“I am?”

“Yes,” Amos says. I turn to him, his face so close to mine I can feel his breath against my cheek. “You’ve bruised my ribs before and come close to fracturing my bones. You can also take a lot more than you think. Your skin is tougher.”

Amos’ golden eyes glimmer with lust as he looks me up and down, likely recalling how rough he can be with my body and I never complain. In fact, I always beg for more. I nudge him in the ribs, bringing him back to this moment.

“Ow,” Amos shouts in jest.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I bruise your ribs again?” I pout at him, pushing out my lower lip, which causes a reaction I instantly feel beneath my ass.

“You can bruise any part of my body, Copperhead,” Amos whispers so that only I can hear him. Jonah clears his throat, reminding us that we are not alone. We pull back from each other slowly, and I adjust myself enough to cause a quiet moan from the back of Amos’ throat. “Oh, I will get you for that later.”

“Promise?” I smile up at him before turning my attention back to Jonah and Olivia, who are doing their best to look anywhere else but us. “What should we do with this information? We can’t just sit here and wait for Doctore to send his goons here. If we know where his other labs are, let’s destroy them.”

“Lori,” Amos says, likely about to say something I don’t want to hear. “We can’t do that. If there are others like you, other super soldiers…we need to know who we are up against and if we can fight it and survive. And we still don’t know what Norman’s part in all this is. If he has a part to play. We could be walking into a trap.”

I know Amos is right. I know we are safe here. But I don’t want to be a sitting duck waiting for the Praetorian Guard to find us. “Did Matthew say anything about me? What Doctore still wants with me?”

Jonah winces as he says, “You’re his gladiator. He created you. He thinks you belong to him.”

Amos growls, clenching his fist. “I can’t wait to kill this fucker.”

I lay my head on Amos’ shoulder, hiding my fear in the crook of his neck. He holds me tight against him as if telling the universe to try and take me away from him.

“Who’s going to The Wall?” Olivia asks, just as impatient to do something as I am.

The vibration of Amos’ voice soothes me a little, but I hate the words that come out of his mouth. “I will go later today. Kyle and Lucas will accompany me.”

Olivia sighs. I can tell she wants to tell him “no” just as I want to chain him to me so that he won’t be able to leave. But it has to be Amos. He is our general. Even though it’s not an official title, that’s who he is to this community. Since he’s fully healed now, I cannot stop him even if I begged him to stay. Which I will attempt to do later.

“You should bring Kelly,” Olivia suggests. “One of the soldier boys has a bit of a crush on her. Maybe she can sway him to get General Greene to help us.”

Amos nods, brushing his chin on the top of my head. “Give them their orders. I want them ready to depart in an hour. And tell Anna to pack our car with enough supplies for a week.”

After Jonah and Olivia leave the office, I lift my head off Amos’ shoulder. “Please don’t go, Amos. Please.”

“I don’t want to leave you, but I have to go.”

“I know, but Amos…what if something happens to you? At least let me go with you.”

“No.” Amos’ face hardens, not with stubbornness but fear. “There could still be spies at The Wall. And General Greene doesn’t know you are at The Valley. He knows of you though. If he sees you, makes the connection, he wouldn’t hesitate to take you from me.”

“Why? I thought we are allies with The Wall.” My voice shakes at the raw fear on Amos’ face, making my fear spread like wildfire inside my chest.

“You are one of Dr. Tuwile’s super soldiers. A gladiator.Thegladiator. General Greene would kill to have a super soldier under his command.”

“Fuck that. I would never follow his orders.”

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