BEYOND THE DEAD ZONE | COMPLETE

Twenty-Nine | Cerci

Twenty-Nine |

Cerci

I felt horrible as we were escorted to Aunt Mari's office. Clearly this was more serious than I expected because both Mari and Halie were in the office. Normally it was Oz who took care of the lesser Sanction problems. Judging by Haile's neat black braids and calm demeanor—she's been here for a while. I knotted my fingers together nervously as Alpha moved over to the desk, speaking lowly to Aunt Mari. She merely nodded, her eyes filling with an emotion I could read.

My eyes moved to Dad who looked tired and I felt even worse. He rubbed his forehead slowly and shook his head as the door closed shut behind us. Valen stood beside me with his hands in his pocket and Flash had sat outside the door—no doubt being previously ordered not to stand with her owner.

I took a little step forward, "Dad I—"

"Go clean yourself up," he cut me off with heavy eyes, "We'll talk after. I'm so disappointed in you. Get something to eat and shower. We will talk after."

I balled my fists, that was just like him. My heart dropped and I bit my lip. He was never mad—always disappointed but even then he'd always make sure I was ok fight. I felt tears threaten to fall and I just hung my head. Who was I kidding? I was no hero.

I could never talk back to Dad—I just wasn't that person—let alone save the world.

"Please," I whispered quietly—I was sure he couldn't hear me, "Please see me for once. Just listen to what I have to say. It's important."

His eyes widened, "Cici..."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Uncle Felix roared at Valen.

My eyes widened as Valen's eyes filled with anger, "What? I did my job!"

"You were to take Eero to Town, not take off!"

Valen threw his hands up, "You said to protect her!"    

"It kind of sounds like," Haile cut in, her voice cold, "You knew exactly what you were doing. Dad finally gave you a job and like usual you fucked it up on purpose."

My eyes widened. I knew Haile and Valen didn't have good blood—but she was being mean for no reason! My jaw opened and I felt annoyance fill me. Her grey eyes flickered over to me and her head tilted slightly. Instantly, I closed my mouth and looked at my feet.

"Where is Eero Brooks now?" she asked.

I looked back to her, "She went—"

"I was asking my brother."

My face burned with embarrassment.

"Damn stop being such a bitch," Valen snickered, "You're so far up their asses you might as well get paid. Why are you even in here? You're not in charge yet. Get out of Mom's chair."

Aunt Mari sighed, "Enough. Valen you crossed the line with this one. You'll be on honey duty for the rest of the month. Cerci Honey, I'm sorry but I'll ask you don't come back here for the month either."

My head snapped up, "What?"

"It's not a punishment if he's not punished," she replied.

No. No, no! This wasn't how this was supposed to go. Tears filled my eyes and I looked at Valen helplessly who just glared at the floor. We didn't have time for this but what could we do? We couldn't go against our parents. I was too afraid of Dad's disappointment and Valen was too angry at his own parents. My mind scrambled for an answer. What would Eero do?

"Fuck," I whispered, mimicking something she'd say, "Fucking Christ!"

"Cerci!" Dad gasped in total shock.

I looked around—all eyes were on me like I was crazy. I couldn't help but to smile. Maybe I was afraid of my own consequences, but I wasn't afraid of Valen's parents, and I wasn't afraid of channeling my inner Eero. I looked past Dad and over to Aunt Mari whose eyes were watching me very carefully; a ghost smile on her lips.

I focused on her.

"Excuse me?" she chuckled, "I've never heard you speak like that Cerci."

I held my chin up, my smile melting away, "That's because I never had to. Yes we snuck away with Eero and went past the wall but you need to listen to what we have to say. The entire dome depends on it. If you don't listen to us, we might all be dead by the end of the week and that would be very, very, not good."

The entire room's atmosphere changed.

"What are you talking about Cici?" Dad whispered.

I looked at him and suddenly all my bravery was gone. I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. A lump suddenly formed in my throat and I found myself unable to speak. Beside me, Valen grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly. I glanced at him but he looked at Dad with such determination it filled my stomach with butterflies.

"Eero said there is a new strand of zombies that are coming from beyond the wall and when they come, if we don't prepare, we're all dead. They're smart and strong—stronger than anything we've seen. We've seen them already inside the walls."

"Bullshit," Haile snapped, "We can't trust anything you say!"

"Well, I can," I cried, "And I've seen them. Maria was one of those things. She spoke words—human words but she wasn't human. A-and I've been beyond the wall. There was a whole settlement and it's gone now because of those things. That settlement had skyscrapers and guns and tanks and those things tore through them."

Silence. I sounded utterly insane but judging from the fear on everyone's face—they finally believed us. I let out a small breath. Darn it. This was supposed to be the easy part. Valen squeezed my hand again and I held back a smile. I think we did good.

"I need to go back to town," Dad stressed, sounding alarmed, "Jax needs to hear about this. If what you're saying is true and we're closest to the wall then we don't have a lot of time to prepare at all. We need to warn the others too."

I nodded my head, "Eero, Ben, Idris and Cora are on their way to the other settlements."

"Eero is on her way home right?" Dad demanded.

Valen and I glanced at each other.

"Uh," he stuttered, "Not exactly."

Everyone but Haile, Valen and myself sighed deeply.

"Mira is going to flip," Dad grumbled.

Uncle Felix laughed boisterously, "She might be mad enough to take on those Delta zoms herself! Maybe we should keep Eero away from her!"

Aunt Mari shook her head, "She'll burn down the entire dome with us in it."

"That's an understatement," Dad muttered.

I curiously looked between them. Just who was Eero's mom?