Time to Survive

I'll Kill Him!

Chris POV


I spat, the blood leaving my mouth and hitting the soldiers black boot.

My jaw was killing me at this point.

Fuckers.

"Asshole, fucking three of our men are gone! Where are they?" the soldier bellowed in my face, bracing his hands on either arm of the chair I was being forced to sit in.

"How the fuck should I know?" I hissed, pulling against my handcuffs, my wrists chained to the arm of the chair. "You motherfuckers took us before they went missing!"

The soldier made a frustrated sound before shoving away from me, pacing back and forth along the claustrophobic room.

So apparently Kelsey was on a rampage.

I knew some men had been killed the night we'd been taken, but now two more were missing.

I was assuming it was Kels, but I didn't know for sure.

I wasn't sure what she was going to do with armed soldiers.

If it was even her.

I had no idea what was going on.

I just knew after being here two days I'd suddenly been dragged out of the annoying room we were all bring kept in almost by my hair.

We hadn't seen any of the base, I had no idea how it was built, and they just fed us in the room; I had been itching to get out and see the surroundings, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.

They were literally forcing us all into that one room, and it was incredibly awkward when we had to use the bathroom
considering there was just a toilet.

But at least we weren't separated.

I could only assume the room was bugged, that they were listening to every word we said in there, watching us.

And I wasn't even being paranoid.

They had cameras in there, they weren't very hidden.

I hadn't seen Maria's son, either, so I wasn't sure if they knew about him or not.

I'd been pacing the last few days trying to figure a way out, but so far I wasn't coming up with a good plan.

Or any plan, for that matter.

So whatever Kels was doing, I hoped it worked.

These guys weren't friendly at all.

I squirmed again in my chair, watching the soldier who had been sent to interrogate me pace.

I had no idea what was going on out there, so their shitty attempt to beat it out of me wasn't going to make me suddenly come up with information.

I'd been surviving on the outside for too long now, a few punches to the face didn't make much of a difference to me.

Not anymore.

"Look," I huffed, feeling blood roll down my chin and wishing I could wipe it off. "How am I supposed to know what's going
on on the outside? I've been in here for two days already!"

"We know it's your people taking them out!"

"Dude! The only one left of my 'people,' is my fucking girlfriend that you motherfuckers tried to shoot! Forgive her if she's not running into your arms."

His fist connected with my jaw, forcing the chair to tip dangerously with the hit.

Ow.

I was starting to see a few stars, and my jaw was throbbing at this point.

I cracked an eye open, seeing the soldier waving his hand, still looking frustrated.

Not my problem.

There's no way just Kelsey and Ryan could take out their soldiers; and if they were, this base had the shittiest trained guards I'd ever seen.

He was half dead and she was fucking tiny!

I hadn't thought they could do much damage.

But then again I suppose I shouldn't underestimate Kelsey.

She was a survivor after all.

Survived the bite, watching her loved ones die --- having to finish them off herself --- losing her home to a fire, being burned alive, kidnapped and hurt --- the list was fucking endless.

My girl was tough.

And so, as I eyed the soldier, I supposed he could be right.

It probably was my people taking out his.

All two of them.

I felt my lips twitch.

My girl, taking down an army base.

Heh.

"What are you laughing at?" the soldier growled, turning to stare me down, a muscle in his jaw ticking. I just looked at him, and I saw his fist draw back ---.

"Down, McDuff!"

The soldier stiffened immediately, and then straightened, going rigid with a salute. "Sir."

"You're wanted elsewhere. Leave him to me."

Great.

I couldn't see who it was, my back was to the door, but I knew the voice.

Brains.

Branes?

Whatever.

Sounded the same to me.

The soldier glared at me before taking off, his footsteps replaced with softer ones. I stared at the floor, watching as boots came into my line of sight, so polished the lights reflected off of them.

"Hello again, Chris."

Asshole.

I glared up at him.

"I know this..." the commander paused a moment, dressed in fatigues with his hands clasped behind his back as he looked thoughtful. "Well, let me rephrase this. Several of my men are missing. I'm presuming they're dead. Now," the commander began to pace back and forth in front of me, and I eyed him warily, "I am also presuming your girlfriend has something to do with it."

"She's ---."

"A small girl, yes, you've mentioned it before. But you know something that's been bothering me about your little story?" he says casually, staring me down for my reaction, I guessed. "Is why, if you're so protective of her, would you let her drive a car by herself when there's so many of you?"

"She wanted too."

Fuck me.

He knew there was another person.

"But why would you let her?"

"She can take care of herself."

"Ah. So she is a small girl, but strong. Tough. Able to take on military."

No!

"Fuck no," I scoffed as nonchalantly as I could, the metallic taste of blood still in my mouth. "But she survived the fucking apocalypse, didn't she? She's not going down easy. But there's no way she's the one taking out your military! And if she was, that's saying you do a real shit job of training your men."

He glared at me, a muscle starting to throb in his clenched jaw.

Heh.

I figured he'd like that last bit.

His lips were pressed tightly together, almost white, so I knew I'd hit a nerve.

I waited patiently, and after a moment he shifted.

"You know, we will kill her before it's over with. The more men I lose, the more satisfying it will be to eliminate her. Of course, the entire reason she's attacking us is because we have you and your friends, isn't it? I assume she would be a bit less prone to harming my men if we start harming yours." he says, as calm as if we were discussing the weather, his eyes cold.

I clenched my fingers around the arm of the chair, glaring at him.

He wouldn't fucking hurt any of us!

I fucking wouldn't let him!

We'd gone through too much shit for someone like him to take us out!

"She's not the one doing this," I snapped, tugging on the cuffs, feeling the harsh metal bite into my wrists. "For fucks sake ---!"

"Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to believe that, now am I?" Branes retorted sharply, glaring down at me like the entire fucking apocalypse was my fault. "She's out there, my men keep disappearing. I don't believe in coincidences. So if we don't catch her, she will be considered as dangerous as one of the dead and taken out."

"You can't do that!" I tried to stand, intent on wrapping my hands around his neck and breaking it in half! "I won't fucking let you!"

He wouldn't hurt Kelsey!

No one was going to fucking touch her!

I'd fucking ---.

I fell back into the chair so hard it tipped backward, and for a few seconds, all I saw was darkness; the chair hitting the ground was distant in my ears, but the jolt of slamming into the ground was enough to jostle me back from passing out.

Fuck!

He hit hard!

Goddammit!

"I had hoped you and your friends would be an asset to this base," the man said, and I forced one eye open to see him waving his hand, his knuckles busted and starting to bleed. He was just staring down at me, his face impassive. "But I am starting to believe otherwise. You brought trouble with you."

"You kidnapped us," I mumbled, feeling my jaw throb, already swelling and painful.

Jesus.

I wouldn't be able to talk soon.

"We're doing what we must to survive." he brushed me off. "Anyone would do the same."

Why did everyone always say that?

That wasn't a good enough excuse to do whatever you wanted!

To fucking hurt people!

To use the excuse that anyone would do the same in your situation was a load of bullshit meant to soothe the guilt over murdering and hurting innocent people. It might be an apocalypse, but it didn't mean that we had to give up or lose what made us human.

Nothing did.

I stared at him, not taking my one good eye off him as he started for the door.

I would kill him.

If he hurt Kelsey, I would take him out!

I would burn the entire fucking base into nothing more then cinders.

And I didn't care who was left in it.

Not even me.