Zone Zero: Redemption (Book 2 of 3)

Chapter 5

I blink my eyes open a few times and try to get a bearing on where I am. There is a thin strip of light that cascades in from an open door and I immediately realise that I am in bedroom. I feel the softness of the blankets as they surround me and nuzzle deeper into their warmth.

I search my memory for how I managed to wake up in this bed but I come up short. The last thing I remember is searing pain that faded to black. Then nothing. No dreams came, only darkness.

Looking around into the darkness of the room I try to examine my surroundings but nothing seems even remotely familiar. This is just a room with a bed centred against a wall. There is no window, only a single door that is ajar just enough to let light from the next room seep through.

Faint voices drift through the small opening of the door as I strain to listen to them.

"Vampires and Humans have been separated ever since. Every now and then we find some stray humans that chose to live away from the others in small colonies but normally they stay inside their zone." Alex's voice comes through clear as day.

"So all this came just because vampires exposed themselves?" A female voice answers in return. Keavy.

"Humans weren't ready for us. I don't think they would have ever been ready for us in hindsight." Alex is right. That's why humans resorted to segregating themselves from the vampire population. People were scared of vampires and with good reason.

"And the girl? Where does she fit in to all of this?"

I hear footsteps as someone stands and begins pacing.

"She was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She got captured and brought straight to me as soon as they found out who she was."

I recall that frightening afternoon when I fell through a hole in the ground and woke up underground being hauled in by two vampires. They then drove me to an underground city for vampires where other humans were caged and being sold like slaves. I shudder at the thought of what may have happened to me had I not been taken to Alex.

"And who is she?" I gulp a breath of air at Keavy's question to Alex, unsure of how she may react.

"She is the niece of General James Childs."

Silence stretches through the air and I can almost sense what Keavy must be thinking. I am the niece of the most notorious human alive. All vampires must hate Uncle James and for good reason. He is a monster. Well at least he was until I left him to bleed out in the cell that he once imprisoned me in.

Suddenly, a slight chuckle rises and I have no doubt that it belongs to Keavy.

"So you mean to tell me that the whole reason I was tested on like some sort of lab rat, has a niece and she is in the next room sleeping? The man that has slaughtered more vampires than I can count has living family and instead of killing his neice to send a message, you grow feelings for her?" Keavy half snarls and half laughs at her realisation.

I stiffen in my bed and clutch the blankets tighter not knowing what to expect from Keavy. She has made it clear of her disgust for Uncle James and his remaining family.

"Doesn't matter now anyway, he's dead. You have Evie that thank for that." Alex exaggerates but I know that his remark will soften Keavy's stance against me.

"Then the girl deserves a fucking medal."

A clink chimes as I can only guess they knock their glasses together in a toast.

Relief drips off me as I begin to breathe easy for the first time since I woke up. At least i know that she won't try to murder me in my sleep now.