Page 30 of Whispers and Warriors (After #2)
EPILOGUE
The blinking cursor on the screen pulsed in a steady rhythm, casting an eerie green glow across Liam’s face in the darkened room. He leaned back in the creaky chair, his fingers drumming absently on the desk as he watched the lines of code scroll by.
It had been three months since they’d discovered this hidden bunker, buried deep beneath the rubble of the old city. Three months of sifting through the remnants of a world long gone, salvaging what technology they could to aid in their survival. And yet, the sophisticated systems that whirred and clicked around him still felt surreal, like ghosts from a forgotten past.
Liam sighed, running a hand through his messy brown hair. His glasses slipped down his nose and he pushed them back up reflexively. No matter how many times he sat in front of these terminals, immersed himself in their archaic language, a part of him couldn’t quite believe it was real. That somehow, amidst the decay and destruction that reigned above, something still functioned down here.
The door creaked open behind him and he swiveled in his chair to see Emma silhouetted in the doorway, her golden hair set aglow by the flickering fluorescent lights of the hallway.
“Hey you,” she said softly, her smile tired but warm. “Burning the midnight oil again?”
Liam returned her smile, the tension easing from his shoulders at the sight of her. “You know me. Can’t resist the siren song of ancient databases and flickering CRTs.”
She chuckled, crossing the small room to perch on the edge of the desk beside him. “Find anything interesting tonight?”
“Not really. Just the usual records, supply logs. Though I did find an old MP3 collection. Seems our mysterious benefactors had quite the taste for 90s alternative.”
“Ooh, I’ll have to raid that later. Nirvana and candlelight, how romantic.”
He shot her a wry look. “Not sure how romantic a bunch of grungy dudes yowling about teen angst is, but hey, whatever floats your boat.”
She laughed, swatting playfully at his arm, and his heart swelled at the sound.
It’s moments like this that made it all worth it , he reflected. The long nights, the stress and uncertainty, the looming specter of the world they’d lost. As long as he had her beside him, believing in a future beyond all this, it was enough.
The computer beeped insistently, dragging his attention back to the scrolling lines of green text. He scanned them quickly, frowning as a pattern began to emerge.
“Hang on...” he muttered, leaning forward. “There’s something here, about a shipment that came in right before the bombs fell. This was here before the bombs?” Blood rushed in Liam’s ears.
“What? Maybe this was a research facility, and that’s how it became a safe place?” Emma asked, concern creeping into her voice.
Liam shook his head. “It doesn’t say. Just that it was classified Level Black, highest security clearance.” He looked up at her, brow furrowed. “What could be so top secret that it warranted that level of lockdown?”
She bit her lip, shadows flickering behind her eyes. “I don’t know. But I have a bad feeling we’re going to find out if you keep digging. Maybe don’t?”
“Does that sound like me?” Liam smirked even as his stomach threatened to flip. Did he want to go down this route?
“Knock knock,” Alex called playfully. “Ya’ll coming home at any point?”
“Dinner is not getting cold, but I’m hungry,” Bash growled as he appeared beside Alex.
“How would you know it’s not getting cold? I’m cooking.” William chimed in next, but didn’t enter the room.
“In all seriousness, Liam, you can’t poke around this much at night. Accept that it’s wonderful here and stop digging through nav charts and records.” Chris’s voice left no terms for Liam to argue.
Which is why he didn’t argue.
Liam’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he dug deeper, searching for any scrap of information that might shed light on the mysterious shipment. The more he found, the more his unease grew.
“It looks like it was some kind of joint project between the military and a private research company,” he said, scanning the lines of redacted text. “Something called Project Lazarus.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Lazarus? As in rising from the dead?”
“Fucking hell,” Bash snarled, walking up behind him.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Liam muttered. He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. “What were they trying to do? Bring back the dead?”
“In this world, who knows?” Emma sighed. “But whatever it was, it can’t be good.”
Liam nodded grimly. The thought of some secret, potentially dangerous technology out there, lost in the chaos of the apocalypse, sent a chill down his spine. They had enough to worry about just trying to survive day to day. The last thing they needed was some pre-war ghost coming back to haunt them.
And yet, a small, treacherous part of him couldn’t help but wonder. If Project Lazarus was what it sounded like...could it be the key to rebuilding what they’d lost? A way to bring back even a piece of the world before?
“Liam,” Chris’ warned as if he knew Liam was about to dig more.
He shook his head, dismissing the thought. It was a fool’s hope, and he knew it. The past was gone. All they could do now was try to build something new from the ashes.
“We need to tell the others,” he said, standing up. “If there’s even a chance this thing is still out there, we need to be prepared.”
Emma nodded, her face set with determination. “You’re right. We’ll figure this out, together. Like we always do.”
She reached out, twining her fingers with his, and he drew strength from her touch. As long as he had her, and the family they’d built here, he could face anything this broken world threw at them. Even the ghosts of the past.
The weariness in Liam’s bones seemed to melt away as he held Emma’s hand in his, her touch a steadying force amidst the swirling uncertainties. He met her gaze, those captivating eyes that always seemed to see right through him, and felt a surge of love and gratitude.
“What would I do without you?” he murmured, bringing her hand to his lips for a brief, tender kiss.
Emma’s smile was soft, but there was a glint of steel in her eyes. “Let’s hope you never have to find out. Now come on, we need to move past this and just accept that this facility was here before the bombs and it explains why it’s so built up.”
Together, they made their way out of the monitoring room and down the halls of the compound. Liam couldn’t help but marvel at the efficiency and purpose in Emma’s stride, even as his own steps faltered slightly with exhaustion. She was a force of nature, his Emma. Unbreakable.
“Okay, go on ahead, I’ll catch up. I still need to lock this down. No one’s coming in to monitor radar at night.”
That always seemed weird to him, but he didn’t question it. The island had been functioning under cover for almost three years, almost right after the bombs.
He watched as they filed out, pulling out his access card and booting down the computer.
“Another day in paradise that seems almost too good to be true.” Liam snickered and stood, pushing the chair back. “Off to dinner and a good night’s sleep.”
Whistling, he left the navigation room and tugged the door shut behind him, knowing that it auto-locked before heading down the hall.
The low, indistinct voices from the adjacent room seemed to call to him, a siren song of secrets waiting to be uncovered. He glanced over his shoulder at the retreating backs of the others, torn between the desire to follow and the insatiable curiosity that had always been his greatest strength and weakness.
Stepping into the small hallway, Liam could still hear the faint murmur of voices from the other side of the door, but he resolutely kept his gaze forward. He wouldn’t look back. He couldn’t.
“It’s none of your business,” he muttered under his breath, a mantra to keep his curiosity at bay. “You’re not part of that conversation. You don’t need to be.”
With a sigh, he let his hand fall from the door and turned, moving quietly toward the source of the voices. As he drew closer, the words became clearer, snippets of conversation filtering through the thin walls.
“...Warrington’s planning something big...”
Liam’s heart ached as the weight of Victor’s name settled over him like a heavy fog. The man was a ghost, a specter that haunted the edges of their new world, a constant reminder of the darkness they’d fought and almost lost to.
He knew he should walk away, let the whispers fade into the background hum of the compound. But the part of him that had always sought the truth, that innate curiosity that had served him so well as a navigator, refused to be silenced.
Liam leaned against the wall, his fingers absently tracing the tattoo on the back of his hand as he strained to hear more. The voices were low, urgent, a rapid-fire exchange that set his nerves on edge.
“...the attack was just the beginning...”
“...need to keep this contained...”
“...heard they’re doubling the guard rotation, fortifying the perimeter...”
Each snippet of conversation was clearly a piece of a larger mosaic, a fractured image that Liam desperately wanted to see whole. He closed his eyes, trying to fit the fragments together in his mind.
The attack. The whispers of some larger plan. The frantic efforts to shore up their defenses. It all swirled together, a maelstrom of uncertainty and dread.
Liam’s jaw clenched as he pushed off the wall, a sudden resolve hardening in his gut. He couldn’t just stand by, not when their hard-won peace was at stake. He needed answers, needed to know what they were up against.
But even as the determination took hold, a flicker of doubt crept in, insidious and chilling. What if the truth was worse than the not knowing? What if Victor Warrington’s plans were beyond anything they could imagine, let alone fight?
Liam shook his head, banishing the dark thoughts. They had faced impossible odds before, had clawed their way out of the ashes of the old world and built something new, something worth protecting.
And he would do whatever it took to keep it safe, to keep his family safe. Even if it meant staring into the abyss of their past, into the shadowed heart of a man like Victor Warrington.
With a last, lingering look at the closed door, Liam turned and headed down the hallway, his steps heavy with purpose. He needed to at least share what he’d overheard. Chris would decide what to do next.
But even as he willed himself to walk away, the second mention of Victor Warrington’s name seemed to echo in his ears, stirring a knot of unease in his stomach that refused to dissipate. There was something about the millionaire that set Liam’s nerves on edge, a sense of barely leashed menace that lurked beneath the polished veneer.
Liam’s heart raced as he pressed his ear to the cold metal of the door, straining to catch every syllable. The voices were unfamiliar, the tone urgent and furtive. What were they talking about? What shipment? And what did they mean by ‘potential applications’?
Shaking his head, Liam tried to focus on the task at hand. He needed to finish his shift, to make sure the island’s defenses were holding strong. With the recent attack still fresh in everyone’s minds, they couldn’t afford any lapses in security.
He knew he should walk away, rejoin the others and let this mystery lie. But the part of him that had always been driven to understand, to unravel the knots of the unknown, wouldn’t let him. He had to know.
“One step at a time,” he reminded himself softly, pushing the troubling thoughts of Victor Warrington to the back of his mind. “Just focus on what’s in front of you.”
And right now, that was Emma. His heart lightened at the thought of her, at the news they were waiting for. If all went well at the doctor’s appointment, they would be taking their first steps into a new role, a new adventure.
Liam couldn’t help but smile at the thought of becoming a father, of raising a child with the woman he loved in this improbable sanctuary they had built. It was a future he had scarcely dared to dream of in the bleak years after the bombs fell, a glimmer of light amidst the darkness.
He would go home, and then they could decide how to tackle what he’d heard. It sounded like the island had it under control, and perhaps the unit hadn’t been there long enough to gain that trust.
Trust that we’ll just have to earn.