Page 86 of Once Upon an Apocalypse

“Amos, please. You are not thinking rationally.”

“Here’s what’s going to happen, general. You are going to bring me, Lori, and my friends back to The Valley. If you would like to ask my wife questions, you can do so there, under my supervision.”

General Greene sighs, but I don’t let him talk. “You refused to help us, which left us to go out and find Dr. Tuwile ourselves. If you wanted him so badly, you would have helped us. You were too late. But you will still get to reap the rewards. You get to take his empire now. All I ask is that you leave Lori alone.”

After a few beats of silence, I add, “And all the research you find in this and any other facility will be brought to The Valley for Norman to catalog. If there’s anyone who can find a true cure, it’s him.”

I don’t wait for the general to respond. With Lori in my arms, I push through the soldiers. They let me go without a fight.

Chapter 53

Lori

Ijoltawake,breathingin a gulp of beautiful, sweet air. I’m alive. Then the pain hits. Radiating from my side. I touch the tender newly healed skin, wincing at the sharp tendrils of discomfort. Lifting my eyes, I take in my surroundings. I’m not in that room with all the monitors. The room where I killed Doctore. Shit, I didn’t sever his spinal cord. But he certainly wouldn’t have dosed himself with the sacramentum gladiatorum if he wasn’t absolutely certain he had perfected it.

Closing my eyes, I try to remember what happened after I killed Doctore. The soldiers were angry, but I lost consciousness fast and can’t recall anything after that. When I open my eyes again, I look at the white walls around me. It looks like one of the medical rooms at The Valley. But that would mean I’ve been out for hours, maybe longer depending on how far away Doctore had taken us.

The bed I’m lying in feels warm, further evidence that I’ve been out for longer than I thought. I gently pull the blankets off, revealing a fresh change of clothes. No more rancid blood stains, yay. Even my feet look like they’ve been scrubbed.How long have I been out?

I must have said my last thought out loud because a voice responds to the question. “You got in a little after midnight and it’s now…” My mom pauses to look at the watch on her wrist before telling me the time. “Ten past four in the morning.”

“Mom,” I say before breaking into a side-splitting sob.

She runs to my bed, pulling me to her chest as she lies down beside me. “Oh, honey. It’s okay. Everything is okay now.”

“Is it? Where’s Amos? Jonah? Olivia and Kyle? I don’t remember how I got here, if they got out.”

My mom gently strokes my cheeks, brushing the tears away. “Amos is fine. Jonah was badly injured, but he’s healing. Healing quickly too. Olivia has a few broken bones, which are also healing quickly.”

That means the sacramentum gladiatorum worked for them. That means they are immune like me. Relief sweeps over me, but then I see the look on my mom’s face. “Kyle?” I ask.

“I’m really sorry to tell you that Kyle didn’t make it.”

“No.” My chest clenches. “But Doctore gave him the sacramentum gladiatorum too. What happened? Amos can’t be okay after his best friend died. I need to go to him.”

I try to stand, but my mom pulls me back down. “Let him rest. He had a tiring night bringing you back home. General Greene was ready to throw you in the brig for killing Dr. Gabriel Tuwile. That man has wanted his hands on Gabriel for years. I’m glad he’s dead. Sorry it had to be you to kill him though, sweetheart.”

“I’m not sorry. It needed to be me.” I rest my head on my mom’s shoulder, letting my body relax. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, honey. Amos reminded the general why it was better this way. Persuaded him it would be dangerous to keep Gabriel alive. Now there are hundreds of soldiers with no one to command them. General Greene needs men. It was the perfect compromise. The only thing Amos couldn’t stop was the confiscation of Gabriel’s super soldier serum, which I believe is called sacramentum gladiatorum?”

I nod. “That guy was obsessed with anything Roman. Honestly, he would have conquered the world if I let him live.”

We both chuckle at the morbid joke. After a few silent moments, I nearly fall back asleep, then my mom’s voice pulls me to alertness. “I was so worried about you, Lori. I knew I couldn’t hold you back. There’s no stopping you when you are on a path. When you didn’t come back when you were supposed to, I feared the worst. I kept reminding myself that you came back to me twice, and you would do it again. I was so scared.”

“I’m sorry, mom. I promise not to scare you like that again.”

“Don’t you go making promises you can’t keep.” My mom turns her head enough for me to see that sharp side eye of hers, making me giggle.

Shifting on the bed a little, I stifle a groan of pain. My side burns. Usually a good sign that I’m healing, but still unbearable.

My mom gets up, responding quickly to my quiet groans of agony. “Let me get you a painkiller.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ve been through worse without any. Please don’t waste them on me.”

“You sure?”

I nod, patting the side of the bed for her to lie back down and resume cuddling. “Do you know how the military found us?”

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