Page 75 of Once Upon an Apocalypse

“He would make you listen.” Amos presses his head against mine, breathing deeply. “Lori, love of my life, please trust me when I say that you can never go to The Wall. General Greene might be on our side, but he isn’t that much different from Gabriel Tuwile. We all become monsters when our survival instincts take over. Some of us have better control of these monsters. Some of us still cling to our inner humanity.”

“The world has always been full of monsters, Amos. It just took the end of it to see them.” My head falls against Amos’ shoulder, feeling utterly defeated.

“Does that mean you won’t fight me on this?” Amos asks.

I sit back up, adjusting my legs so I straddle his. “If you aren’t back in three days, I’m coming after you. Three days, Amos.”

“Three days.” He kisses me to seal the agreement. I want to feel his love and confidence. But all I can feel is ice-cold dread.

Chapter 47

Doctorehoversabovemewith that sickening grin of his. He’s proud of himself. Proud of whatever discovery he made while dissecting my living body. I look down at the open incisions slowly stitching themselves back together. When Doctore laughs, fear locks me in place on the gurney. No need for straps to hold me down.

A knife slices into the newly closed wound on my stomach, exposing my intestines. I would scream if my throat was intact, but that too has been sliced open. Doctore’s hand dives into my abdomen with no intention of being delicate. A wicked smile spreads across his face as his hand finds what he’s been looking for.

When he pulls out a crying baby, I know I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming because this isn’t the same nightmare memory I always replay. No. The baby Doctore holds in his hands is a healthy living baby with brown skin and red hair. When she opens her eyes, they hold the same golden irises Amos has.

My heart flutters for a moment at seeing our baby. Then she cries. Wailing at the sight of my mutilated body. Doctore takes her away to soothe her cries. I try to get up off the gurney, silently screaming for my baby.It’s a dream. I try to remind myself.It’s a dream. It’s a dream.

“Lori,” a worried voice in the distance breaks the haze of my nightmare. I hold on to that voice. Amos’ voice. “Lori, wake up. Wake up. You’re having a bad dream. Please wake up, Lori.”

My eyes shoot open, catching Amos’ golden glare as he looks at me with fear riddled concern. I try to move, to say something, but nothing happens.Am I still dreaming? When did Amos get back?

Amos scoops me up from the bed and places me on his lap, holding me tightly against his chest. His stump secures me against him as his hand slides up to brush the hair out of my face.

“I got you. I’m here now. You’re all right,” he whispers into my hair.

“Amos?” My voice is scratchy, likely from the screaming I thought was silent in my dream, but must have woken up half the campus. “When did you get back?”

“An hour ago. I was walking up to the building when I heard screaming from inside. You scared me to death.”

“Amos,” I repeat, this time believing I am awake and safe. My voice breaks with relief, but the images of my nightmare refuse to leave my mind. “Doctore took our baby. Our baby girl. He took her.”

“Shhhh, it was just a nightmare,” Amos says, but he can’t quite keep the quiver of fear from his voice. “I will never let Doctore near our children, should we have any. What you dreamt was not real. Not real.”

Amos lays me back down on the bed. Before joining me, he throws off his dirty clothes and pulls the blankets over our bodies. The warmth of him behind me and the pressure of his arms holding me tight against him loosen the last thread of fear keeping me tethered to that nightmare. I fall asleep quickly in his arms. No dreams this time.

The Wall will offer no military assistance. No surprise there. Honestly, I don’t blame them. What if Doctore’s men attack them and they don’t have the numbers to protect The Wall while they are all over the state of Pennsylvania looking for traces of his lab? But what if we are attacked? Our community is only a fifteen minute drive to the nearest outpost at The Wall. Would we be enough to stop Doctore, his Praetorian Guard, and gladiators from invading The Valley?

My logical brain says “no” but my heart wants to believe we can hold them back. We need to protect this place.

I sit at the table of the conference room looking at Norman as Amos and his commanders talk strategy. Norman’s face gives nothing away. No fear. No hint of our inevitable demise. Nothing.

When I turn my head to look at my mom sitting next to me, her face shows nothing but fear. The Valley has been attacked before, by small groups of raiders. People scavenging for food. Nothing like what we are facing if Doctore were to knock at our gates. Anna’s and Jeremy’s faces are ashen. Neither of them have anything to contribute to the discussion, but as members of leadership, they will be making a decision on what we should do.

The current plan is to send out messengers to the other surviving communities. Not all of them were hit like The Manor House, but they are all scared enough to likely board up their houses and stay put. They won’t help us. We need to go after Doctore before he comes for us. But no one has put that option on the table yet.

I know it’s a gamble. If we bring all our fighting forces, then we leave The Valley defenseless. It’s likely that Doctore doesn’t know where I am. Matthew didn’t stumble upon this location. Kyle brought him here. There’s no way for Matthew to communicate with Doctore. He’s been held prisoner all week. Unless Norman has a way of sending messages.

Then there’s that question that keeps popping up in my head. Why hasn’t Norman told Doctore where I am already? He’s done his tests on me, well, not all the ones he’d like to do. I would think that would fuel his reasoning to contact Doctore since he is no longer allowed near me. I hate him, but I am not buying it. It just doesn’t make sense that Norman is still working for Doctore.

Amos breaks my thoughts to ask me, “Lori, what do you think? It looks like you’ve got gears turning in your head.”

“They are turning, but you’re not gonna like my idea.” I lock my eyes with Amos. He knows my opinion, and he doesn’t like it. But he’s offering me a chance to bring it to the table. I appreciate his democratic approach, even though I know most of the people in this room will vote me down.

“I think we should attack. We know the locations of his labs. One of them is just a few hours away. Let’s attack that one first. It would give us an idea of what we’d be fighting to bring down the other labs.”

“But what if attacking his labs puts a spotlight on The Valley?” Lucas asks. “We might have a small army of our own, but we are nothing compared to the Praetorian Guard. They are made of hundreds of brain-washed psychos. No offense, Jonah.”

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