Free Salvation: Secret Apocalypse Book 5 (A Secret Apocalypse Story) by James Harden Page B

that?”
    George’s eyes
are fixed on the security camera footage. He is biting his lip. He doesn’t
answer me.
    “You need to
understand,” I continue. “You need to come to terms with it because we don't
survive this. We are already dead. He wanted you to unlock those cells because
he wants the infected to kill any remaining soldiers, any remaining survivors.
That's it. That’s all he wants. ” I hold up my
watch. “I’ve got less than three days. You’ve got less than ten minutes. What
are you going to do? How do you want to be remembered?”
    It sounds like a threat but I swear I
didn’t mean it to.
    George does not
back down. He keeps at me. He keeps himself in denial. “What did he ask you to
do?”
    “What?”
    “He wants
something from you,” George says. “He wants you to do something. He is trying
to change you. He is trying to make you see the master plan. His master plan.”
    I think about
this question. He wants me to watch the world burn. He wants me to watch hope
die.
    I don’t say this
out loud. I can’t say it out loud.
    “What does he
want from you?” George repeats.
    “He… he wants me
to watch the world burn. He wants me to watch Maria die.”
    “We can’t stop
him,” George says. “He is too smart. He is too cunning. He is ruthless. There
is no stopping him. That is why we have to do what he says.”
    “Goddamn it,
George. Are you even listening to yourself? You are already dead. I am already
dead. He has killed us. He is killing us. Slowly. He is torturing us.”
    George is
shaking his head. He does not want to believe.
    And I am
reminded of something the man in the gas mask said.
    The
five stages of grieving.
    Stage one is
denial. And George was still there, he was stuck in this stage. He is unable to
move on.
    And I am done
trying to convince him.
    Maybe the man in
the gas mask was right. Maybe I will have to kill him.
    I look at Kim. I
try and make eye contact with her. I try and send her a telepathic message to
let her know that we will need to gang up on George and get his gun and
probably kill him. But I am unable to get Kim’s attention. She has moved back
over to the computer and is staring at the CCTV footage on the screen. She is
glued to the images.
    The infected are
starting to stumble out of the holding cells.
    Jack is still hiding
underneath the single bed. I can just see one of his shoes. He is trying to
hide as best he can, because he has no other choice.
    Suddenly there
is a knock at the door, followed by a bump at the door, followed by the
scratching of fingernails.
    I can see
shadows moving and shuffling between the frame and the floor.
    We are the three
little pigs.
    We are hiding
behind a wooden door.
    We have been
talking too loudly.
    And now the big
bad wolves are here.

 

Chapter 14
    The infected are right outside the door. They know we are here.
    I am holding my
breath.
    I don’t know
what to do. We have to move. We have to leave. Without Jack.
    Suddenly the
lights go out and we are plunged into darkness.
    “What the hell?”
Kim says.
    “He cut the power,” George answers.
    “What?”
    “He cut the goddamn power.”
    “How?”
    “I don’t know.”
    The emergency
lighting kicks in. These are faint red lights that give barely any light at
all.
    “Oh god, we’re
going to die in here,” George says. “We’re dead. He said he would save me. He
promised me. Why is he doing this? Why?”
    “Keep your voice
down and keep your head together,” I say.
    And as I’m
telling George to keep his head together, I’m thinking the exact same thing. He
said he wanted me to watch the world burn.
    He
wanted me to watch.
    If he wants me
to watch, then why is he trying to kill me?
    He’s crazy, I
tell myself. He is torturing you because he enjoys it. He is a psychopath and
he wants you to struggle and beg and run for your life.
    This is the
reality. Deal with it. I have to focus on surviving. On getting out of this
room. Out of this prison. Away from the