DEAD IN BED By Bailey Simms: The Complete Second Book

PART 11, SECTION 9

"I thought I'd prepared for everything," Ian quietly began, staring out the window beyond the swallow perched on the sill. "We were up against so much," he said. "More and more positives roaming everywhere. Food running low. Winter setting on. But I'd promised myself I'd protect my family. Whatever it took. I promised myself."

For a moment I thought Ian might break down again, but he drew in a fortifying breath and collected himself. He told me about how he'd built an underground bunker on my parents' ranch. He dug hidden tunnels leading to it from the house's basement, the shop, and the barn. If roaming positives descended en masse, Ian's family and my parents would be able to flee to the bunker through multiple entrances, and if the house were occupied, they could survive or escape without being trapped under ground. He'd fortified the bunker's walls with concrete, put in enough cots for the entire family to sleep on, and stored away enough water and canned provisions so that they'd be able to hide out down there for months if they had to.

"I had the kids practice evacuations," he said. "Your folks too. Tyler and Haley were so good about it. They knew just what to do. At a moment's notice they were ready to run down to the basement and into the tunnel's hidden entrance."

Ian told me that Haley always made sure to grab her pair of bronze horses before rushing downstairs.

"She'd named them Fido and Rex." At this recollection, Ian actually smiled a little. "That kid." He shook his head. "I have no idea where those names came from. But she wouldn't ever go anywhere without Fido and Rex the bronze horses."

Now Ian's eyes began to darken.

"But it wasn't the positives who came after us, in the end," he said. "It was the Home Guard coming after Tyler."

"Jason's squad." I said.

Ian nodded ruefully. "Jason's squad."

I felt sick. If Jason had shown up at the house looking for Tyler, then it was my fault. Bile rose up my esophagus. How could I have been so careless? Jason had known that Morgan had died at our house, and he must have learned that she had died from a sharp object thrust into her ear. When he'd awoken the morning after our horrific little tryst and had found a bloody knitting needle up his ass, he must have realized that I had killed Morgan. And from there he must have deduced that the only reason I would ever have killed my best friend was if she were harming someone in my family. And who else would I have needed to protect her from her but Tyler? Jason had come after Tyler, I realized, believing he must have been positive.

"Your mom and dad stalled the Home Guard at the porch for a long time," Ian said. "Should have been plenty long enough for me to get Danielle and the kids into the bunker. But, Haley"—Ian's voice broke as he shook his head—"that damn kid, I couldn't find her anywhere."

Ian told me how he'd raced through the tunnels, searching for Haley in the barn and in the shop. But he hadn't been able to find her. "I couldn't believe she'd dare go back to the house. We'd done the drill so many times, she knew she was supposed to go straight to the nearest tunnel."

But when Ian couldn't find Haley anywhere else, he realized she had to be back at the house somewhere. 

He hurried out the tunnel and into the basement, raced through the kitchen, and sprinted toward the stairway on his way toward Haley's bedroom.

But Jason was already in the house by that point. He stood in the entryway, Ian explained, just at the base of the stairs, blocking the way to Haley's room.

Jason was startled at Ian's appearance for only a brief moment. Then he drew his gun.

"And  what else could I do but draw mine?" Ian said. His eyes darkened further at this memory, and his gaze grew distant.

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