Cellar Sheep

Chapter 14

I lost count of how long it'd been since they threw me into quarantine but judging from the sun shining in on the opposite side of the building it'd been a few hours. And I hadn't moved when two military guys came to pick me up. I barely gave them a glance, too busy scratching crusted blood off Kenny's ring.

"It's gonna be like this, huh," I mumbled. "In here until I'm needed?"

They didn't miss a beat, ignoring what I'd said. "Go wash up and be quick. You're to attend a meeting here shortly."

I glanced up at the word "meeting". Wonder what it could be about.

Guess I'll find out.

I washed and usually I'd be enjoying the coolness of the water but all I could do was stare emptily at the draining water below. I was so tired. So tired of fighting, of living like this. So tired of trying and failing. And hungry.

I was starving.

I dressed in minimal clothing again and taken back to the lounge room for the hotel staff. When I entered I found out that this meeting was meant for the leaders of this place as Wanda, Thomas, Gerald (another military guy who was extremely smart), and two other military people were. I walked in mid-conversation.

"—the people are getting antsy. They want to leave." Gerald said. "And unless we want an angry mob I suggest we take action soon."

"Relax, Gerald, after that successful mission we have everything we need now to take action," Wanda replied, that usual smug grin plastered on her face.

"They're tired of sitting around and doing nothing."

"And once we contact the safety camp they'll have all the freedom they want."

"Safety camp?" I questioned as I stepped through the door. My hair was still damp and I was chewing the inside of my cheek raw with temptations, but these were the people unbothered by my presence. They all gazed at me as the military escorting me nudged my back to take a seat.

I sat down on a hard chair, my knee beginning to bounce.

"So glad you could make it, Karma," Wanda said sweetly, completely ignoring my question. "Now that you're here we can finally start to discuss our next steps of getting everyone out of here and to a safe place."

The plan was simple since we now had access to the snowmobiles thanks to whatever code was written on that note. We would ride them over with weapons to kill any infectee that tried to interfere, break into the lodge where their communications were and contact help. The radio in the hotel only let them listen, which was why they were aware of this "safety camp" which was supposedly a safe haven for those who needed it. But the lodge had supplies that would let us contact them back.

This whole mission would be betting on that the radios there were still intact and we could get to them, but it was our only chance. 

And in other words, they planned to use me again... as bait.

As a disposable weapon.

I couldn't get a single word in before the mission was decided and set already. I wanted to oppose this because it was way too wild and risky and unfair to me, but "the adults were talking". I realized I wasn't there for input on the mission, I was there for another matter.

Without me knowing they'd discussed behind my back about whether to keep me alive or not. They voted to keep me for now since I was useful and hadn't hurt anyone... yet.

That stung a bit.

But now it was a different matter. There were things I needed to do on the mission that if I went against, they'd kill me for. Strict rules and orders: I was basically just a pet waiting for a call.