Page 32 of Reanimated Ruin (Hearts In Horror #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Cat

I WAS STILL in Dom’s bed sleeping, cuddled against him, when both of us were startled awake by the blaring sound of the fire alarm. We both shot out of bed, Dom barreling straight out into the main living space while I scrambled around, looking for my pants. The only thing I could find were my panties, and I decided that would have to do for now. Dom’s shirt was big enough on me that it was about as long as a nightdress, anyway.

When I left the room, everyone else was already out of theirs as well. Rhiannon was nestled safely in Jules’s arms, cowering and hiding against him from the loud noise.

“What should we do?” Sadie asked. “Do you think the building is actually on fire?”

Dom moved to the window and looked outside, then shrugged.

“I don’t see flames or smoke anywhere and no one is outside. Maybe we should just head down and see what’s going on.”

We moved out into the hall and were greeted by other confused groups making their way downstairs. No one seemed to know what was going on, either. Everyone was just looking around, groggy and unsettled. Once we descended the stairs to the lobby, we found the majority of the dorms inhabitants gathered there. I saw Julia and her crew huddled in the corner of the room and made our way over to her.

“Do you know what’s going on?” I asked her.

“I’m not sure, but it’s definitely not looking good,” she said gravely. “There was mostly a bunch of scattered yelling over the walkie talkies, calling for backup to the male dorm building. They also said to lock down all the other buildings and don’t let anyone go outside.”

From the base of the stairs across the room, voices began to raise and people did not sound happy. The crowd began to part and four men started moving toward the front of the room, two brutish looking giants in front shoving people out of their way. I recognized one of them as the officer that was staring at me earlier during our altercation with Cindy.

One of the other men looked just like him, only about a decade older. While the dark golden hair and blue eyes matched, he didn’t have the same demeanor as the younger guy. The older officer’s face was pinched in disgust as he scowled around the room at all the panicked faces seeking answers from him.

When they got to the main doors at the front of the room, Mr. Grumpy Pants stood at the head of the group. His two block head lackeys stood behind him with crossed arms and matching scowls. The one I recognized looked out at the sea of worried faces with a look of concern on his face. He ran a nervous hand through his hair, then put both of them in his pockets. He threw an accusatory glance at the older man as he leaned against the wall behind them.

“Listen up because I’m not going to repeat myself!” Mr. Grumpy Pants shouted. “For those of you that don’t know, I’m Captain Micah Evans. I’m part of the council and in charge of all police related functions here. I’ve been informed that somehow some coward managed to conceal a bite after returning from a supply run. They turned during the night, escaped their room and attacked others. I’m getting reports that there are at least ten casualties, but we do not have any names at this time. No one is allowed in or out of the building and we’ll be doing a headcount, so no one leaves the lobby until I say so.”

Panicky, hushed conversations broke out around the room. I could hear people questioning how safe we really were trapped in here like sardines and I couldn’t disagree with their observation. I moved over to Jules to stroke a comforting hand down Rhiannon’s hair. She didn’t move from where her face was smushed to his chest, covering the rest with her beloved Donut. Jules reached out with his free hand to squeeze mine reassuringly.

Over Jules’s shoulder I could see Micah and his crew coming over our way, glares locked on Julia and her friends. Micah himself had a particularly devious smirk on his face, like he had some kind of trick up his sleeve planned. He made me uneasy. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way, and it went further than my general distrust of the police. His eyes slid over me before settling back on Julia and the few seconds they were there made my skin crawl.

“Hey Julia,” he called out. “Anything happen out on your little excursion today that we need to know about? Any unreported incidents? Would hate to have to quarantine your entire crew for a few days just to be on the safe side. What about this group? They look new, they a couple of lost puppies you brought home with you? I sure hope you remembered to get them checked for bites and fleas before you set them loose on the community.”

“No, there were no incidents to report out on our scouting mission today, otherwise I would have already informed the council,” Julia ground out through clenched teeth. “And of course, I followed protocol and took the appropriate measures when welcoming new members. I would never do anything to jeopardize anyone’s safety in any way whatsoever. Which is more than I can say for you.”

“I’d watch how you talk to me now. I’m not just a detective anymore, I’m the fucking captain. I don’t know if you’ve taken a look around, but who exactly do you think is in charge here?” He took a step forward and growled in her face.

“Micah, come on man,” his younger look alike stepped forward to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Back the fuck off, River,” Micah shrugged the hand off aggressively while maintaining his glare off with Julia.

“You don’t scare me, you over entitled man child!” Julia spat.

“Well, we’ll just have to see what can be done about that, won’t we?” He smiled ominously and went to walk away, passing behind me and my guys.

“Where the fuck did you get those scratches, boy?” Micah demanded and grabbed Dom’s shoulder, spinning him around to interrogate him. “I thought you said they were all cleared by medical. Were you attacked? If you’re concealing a bite, it will be found and you will be punished for endangering the community.”

“Hey chill out,” Dom put his hands up in front of him in innocence. “The scratches are from someone very much alive and they happened after we got here. Don’t worry.”

He motioned to me and shot me a wink. Micah’s gaze shifted to me as he took in the too big shirt on me and my lack of pants. My cheeks heated and I averted my gaze to the floor. When I looked back up, it wasn’t Captain Dick-head staring me down anymore, but the man I know knew was named River.

He was smirking at me, but not in the foreboding way Micah was so fond of. His soft expression was like he’d just been let in on a particularly delectable secret. His eyes glimmered as he held mine for a moment before following as Micah stormed off. Apparently, Dom’s reasoning for the scratches had been satisfactory enough for him to continue his rampage elsewhere.

I was feeling well past my daily limit for embarrassment. Not that I was ashamed that I’d had sex with Dom. I just didn’t understand how my private business continued to be a public topic of discussion. I made a note in my mind to give him shit later for not putting on a shirt before coming down here.

“Sorry you guys got caught in the crossfire of my strife with Micah,” Julia said once they were out of earshot. “Him and my family have a lot of unresolved history. My daughter, Chloe, went missing three years ago, and he was the detective in charge of her case. He refused to take it seriously. He said she was an adult, and they were allowed to disappear if they wanted to, but it happened the summer after she graduated. She had only recently turned eighteen years old. He even went as far to insinuate that maybe Lukas and I were just horrible parents. That she was just counting down the days until she could get as far away from us as possible.”

Lukas came up beside her as she said this and put an arm around her to comfort her. She looked up at him with a small thankful smile, but there was still such profound sadness in her eyes. I couldn’t imagine that these two people in front of me were bad parents. I knew all too well what they looked like.

My parents would have never taken it upon themselves to form a team to go out into a fucking apocalypse to put themselves selflessly in harm’s way to find complete strangers and bring them back to safety. I know some people were good at hiding how truly awful they were deep down, but after a five-minute interaction with Micah, it was looking like he was the problem.

“We tried so hard to find her, but there was only so much we could do without the help of law enforcement. I went down to the police station so many times to beg them to look into foul play that they threatened to arrest me,” Lukas revealed solemnly. “I know my little girl. She wouldn’t just leave us with all these unanswered questions for this long. We were a happy family . She was happy. Something terrible happened to her. I know it in my soul.”

“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you’ve both had to endure. No one should have to go through that,” I said, feeling righteous anger burn in my chest at the injustice they’ve experienced. “I know all too well how it feels to be failed by a system you’ve been taught your entire life is supposed to protect and serve you. That’s not always the case.”

Julia stared at Micah across the room, her eyes glazed, and she didn’t appear to be in the room with us anymore. The look on her face said she was reliving some previous interaction with him. Her eyes darkened a bit before blinking it away, then returning to a neutral expression.

“Thank you, honey,” she said to me with a smile that once again didn’t reach her eyes. “We’ll never stop looking for her, but I’ve at least tried to come to peace with my negative feelings towards Officer Evans. Some days are harder than others, especially when he acts like such a power hungry tyrant. I just hope his younger brother, River, isn’t as bad as he is. The last thing we need is two of them. Duncan, his right-hand man who you’ve already met, is bad enough.”

“What are you talking about? That guy was as sweet as pie,” Dom scoffed.

“Oh, don’t I know it,” Julia laughed. “We shouldn’t keep gossiping though. The last thing you guys need is word getting back to them about it. Micah already picked on you just for being associated with me. I don’t want to make it any worse. Also, please don’t let anything I’ve said scare you off. There are a lot of good people here. This is still the safest option. Anything is better than being out there.”

I shuddered. The nights we spent holed up in random places flashed through my mind. The night we woke up to all hell breaking loose at the stadium and had to run for our lives, dodging infected and bullets. Despite tonight’s safety breech and meeting Captain Dick-head, I still felt safer here inside the walls than out there. I wasn’t going to let a pompous asshole ruin a good thing for my family and me. What he didn’t know about me was my recent life choice to stop taking shit from horrible men. Something about him just was heightening the new stabbier side of me.

I wasn’t trapped in here with him, he was trapped in here with me.