From Across Their Walls (Behind Our Walls Trilogy Book 2) Page 9

  The pause was long enough that Sophie probably understood. Still, she asked, "And what would that be?"

  "If I'm not walking out of here, at least I can see to it that a fucking murderer doesn't walk out of here, either."

  Darkness rushed in.

  -25-

  Heidi snapped awake, suddenly feeling the weight of the darkness around her. With a thrill of panic, she realized that she felt more alone than ever.

  "Hey! Hey, you still there?" she called out to Sophie but all she got in response was a quiet moaning that cycled for several seconds before the slurred voice finally spoke, as if through a muffler. "Still here. So are you, I guess."

  "Don't fade out on me. I'm not going to have you dropping off before I can get to the punch line."

  Silence abruptly intruded over them and her fear spiked. She had to keep her talking, keep her mind firing and working to stay active. She would have to move this along faster.

  "Fading out there, princess?"

  "Whatever you need to think about me, psycho. Pretty soon, you'll be able to make your wise-ass comments to a corpse, I think."

  Heidi shook her head, incredulous that this had gone on for so long. She shifted again as her arm cramped to try and get comfortable. "You really don't know what I'm talking about? You don't remember what you did or have any idea what I might have seen you do?"

  "No clue."

  Heidi finally felt her patience snap and the surge of anger made her even forget her injury. "You know I've seen your stadium before, right?"

  This time, she sensed that she had all of Sophie's attention. She heard rocks pushed around, as if she was working herself up into a sitting position.

  "Okay. How do you—"

  "It doesn't matter. And it isn't that tough to figure out that you have the building sealed off. Not many reasons why anyone would do that except to keep the world out. It's actually a pretty smart idea, if it weren't for the fact that you just built a Petri dish for assholes and killers."

  "Stop it!" It was the hardest edge that Sophie's voice had taken so far and Heidi could imagine that she was feeling her own surge of anger. "You don't know what you're talking about. The people who live there are good and—"

  "I don't give two shits about the people or their intentions. All I care about is what I saw."

  "But what did you see? Can't we just start there?"

  "I was out hunting for supplies, and when I came across the building there was a ton of gunfire coming from inside."

  Sophie didn't speak but Heidi heard a sharp intake of breath, let out slowly as if she was gradually picking up on where this was going. Heidi paused long enough to let the statement sink in.

  "You were...you were there? You were at the stadium when we were fighting for—"

  "Stop. I don't care what you call it and I don't need you confusing the issue with your phrasing. There was a serious fight going on but I think I came in towards the end of it."

  Darkness swelled around her as she began to feel dizzy. Her breathing filled her head and she was starting to think she had missed Sophie's response when she finally spoke.

  "I don't understand. You saw what happened. Why are we here if that was what you saw? We were only defending—"

  "Do not play the self-defense excuse with me. Don't act like I don't know the difference. I saw what you did. I was on the roof of the garage across from the stadium. Pretty good view down into the parking lot."

  "Okay, but what did you..." Again, Sophie trailed off as if she suddenly understood.

  "Starting to think you might know what I'm talking about?"

  "I don't..."

  "Still sticking with your lines? Okay. You want to play dumb? Fine. I was on the roof of the parking ramp. I saw you and a small mob of your buddies. There was a guy in a lawn chair who had been hurt pretty badly. He wasn't putting up much of a fight but that didn't seem to matter much to you."

  "Wait, do you actually think that—"

  "You shot that poor bastard in the head. So don't tell me that I don't understand what you did."

  "But you don't know—"

  Heidi raised the pistol and fired a round into the darkness, in the general direction of Sophie's voice. In the staccato of the muzzle flash, she saw Sophie's pale form leaning against the wall. She looked like a corpse that was barely animate, not even reacting to the sudden noise and flash from the gun. Heidi fired again, pulling the trigger three more times until the chamber clicked as she emptied the last round.

  "What the hell is going on down—"

  "Shut up!"

  She felt anger flaring at her lack of self-control. She had brought spare magazines, of course. But they had all fallen loose, and for as little as she was able to move, they might as well not exist at all. In the dark, she could hear Sophie's strained breathing, fairly sure that she hadn't hurt her.

  "You really are insane, aren't you?" Sophie asked.

  "If that works for you, go ahead. You know what you did. And this might be the last thing I ever do but I will see to it that admitting it is the last thing you do."

  -26-

  "You really are an idiot, you know that?" Sophie's voice was barely intelligible. Heidi's ears still rang from the shots and it felt like weights had been attached to her eyelids.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You don't even know what was happening. You stumble onto the scene and see five minutes of a siege that had gone on forever. You think you know? You're an idiot."

  Heidi struggled to move into a more comfortable position and stammered as she tried to speak.

  "You murd...you murdered..."

  "You know, most nights I still dream about that day. All the shit I have seen since things fell apart and that's what I've held on to. Yes. I killed that asshole. I killed him and even though I'd do it again, I still despise myself for it. Can you possibly understand that?" Sophie coughed and the sound of it echoed around them, almost louder than the gunshots had. She spoke again as the hacking descended into silence. "I'm sure it's easier for you to just make me into some kind of a monster. But I'm just a person. Like you. And all we're trying to do in the stadium is survive. As far as I'm concerned, the only murderer in here is you."

  Heidi felt her head loll back on a neck that no longer seemed willing to support it. She vaguely felt the impact as her head struck the wall and she fell to the side.

  Her father was seated at the chair in his kitchen. He seemed composed but the look in his eyes was one of concern, of a deep sorrow and regret. Heidi reached out, yearning for the physical presence of him.

  As if sensing her, he began to speak but she could hear nothing of what he was saying. He looked confused, as if he wanted to know why she wasn't responding.

  A figure emerged from the shadows and slowly took shape. Heidi heard the clipped sound of footsteps before the face clarified and she saw Sophie standing over her father, a gun coming up.

  "NO!"

  This time, her voice found purchase and her scream echoed for what seemed like minutes. She came to, seeing the beams of flashlights stabbing down at them. Pushing back against the wall, she lifted the gun and gestured towards Sophie, even though she knew no one could see it.

  "I told you to stay out of here," she screamed. She heard the sound of bolts drawn of what had to be multiple guns.

  "Stop!" It was Sophie, of all people, who called them off from the dark.

  "Sophie, what are you talking about? We can take her out and get you out of there."

  "Turn the lights off and drop the guns or I will put one in her head!" Heidi yelled.

  "Your gun is empty," Sophie said, almost whispering.

  "As far as you know," Heidi said, cringing at the sound of a petulant four-year-old coming from herself. "How the fuck do you know I don't have another gun? Or another magazine?"

  "Drop your weapon!" The voice crashed down from above, much louder and more authoritative than any of the others.

  "You back down first!" Hei
di yelled. "You think I'm going to just put my gun down and hope for the best? You want to see what the insides of your precious little princess's head looks like?"

  "Heidi."

  Sophie's voice was like a mute button that brought all of her yelling to a stop. She hadn't even remembered telling Sophie her name. And in the newly born silence, the woman spoke again, this time to her friends.

  "Come down but leave the guns behind. She can't hurt anyone anymore."

  Somehow, Heidi felt the atmosphere around them getting lighter, felt her body going weak as she heard the hollow clanking of the guns tossed to the ground. She heard muttering from above as they clearly weren't totally on board with this plan.

  "Heidi, I know you have no reason to trust me. I know you can only believe what you saw. All I can say is that there is more to this story than you know. I'm ashamed of all the things I've had to do but I honestly don't think there were any other options."

  Heidi's mind flashed back. She saw the man that she had found in the middle of that field. He had been defenseless, too. And how had she reacted? Beaten him within an inch of his life so she could steal his vehicle. The family along the side of the road, the father who had begged her for help. What had she offered? One step up from telling them to fuck off. And finally, Trevor's face hovered before her.

  "You don't have to make any decisions," Sophie said. "I'm not asking you to just forgive. But at least give us time to talk about this like adults, without guns and without life-threatening injuries."

  Sophie coughed again and this time Heidi thought she sounded like she was actually vomiting. Hacking it out, Sophie took in a long, unsteady breath before speaking again.

  "We don't have to die down here."

  She wanted to argue but couldn't. She could neither think of what to say or give voice to anything, even if she could. What harm would there be in granting more time? She needed a doctor. If they were willing to provide one, was she really in a position to turn that down?

  She needed help.

  In the end, her body made the decision for her. A fog rose within her and in the last few distorted moments, she heard the muffled shouts and footfalls of people coming down. Heidi's eyes closed and her last thought was that she was going to die a failure because she didn't have just one more bullet.

  -27-

  Heidi woke, looking first up at the ceiling, then side to side. The lights in the room were dim with a single shaft of illumination coming in from the slightly cracked door. She could hear nothing going on around her, and as she lifted her hands, she was surprised to find that, save for her right arm which was tethered to her side in a makeshift sling, she wasn't shackled to the bed.

  "Hello?" she called out, although her parched voice likely didn't go much farther than a few feet. Still, at the sound of it a chair scraped across the floor from the far side of the room and a man came into view. He bent over Heidi and quickly flashed a light in her face, causing her to flinch away.

  "Sorry it's so dark," the stranger said. "We have electricity but we try not to use it unless we have to. Most of us have gotten pretty used to it by now."

  Heidi started to say something when she noticed that the man was already handing her a cup of water.

  "My name is Gary," he said. "We've been taking care of you for a few days now."

  "Where am I?"

  "You don't remember being brought here?"

  "Last I remember is being underground. I passed out."

  Gary nodded. "You were shot in the upper chest, near the shoulder. You lost quite a bit of blood and I still can't believe the bullet didn't puncture a lung for as close as it hit you."

  "The other one..." Heidi felt her voice stall out and she took a tentative drink of water. "Sophie, I mean. How is she?"

  A shadow seemed to fall over Gary's face. "She's still in critical condition. We're not sure how close to the spine you managed to hit her so if she's able to retain the use of her legs, there is going to be a long recovery for her. For sure, she'll end up needing a cane."

  Heidi let her head fall back on the pillow. If there was a worse place to end up, she couldn't think of one, trapped in the heart of enemy territory after trying to kill one of them.

  "What are you going to do to me?" she asked.

  Gary seemed genuinely confused. "I don't understand."

  "I tried to kill her. Not much I can say to defend that. What's it going to be, then? Take me out back as soon as I can walk out under my own power, kill me and dump me out with the garbage?"

  There was another pause before Gary began to laugh. "Are you serious? If we were going to kill you, why would we have wasted all these supplies getting you back to health?"

  It was a reasonable point, one that Heidi had to admit she hadn't considered.

  "And Sophie doesn't rule over this place like her own little kingdom. Even if she wanted you killed, it isn't like she could just point a finger and...what?"

  Heidi had started to laugh herself, a deeply seated chuckle that made her body shoot up and down with pain as she did it. She winced at the sudden resurgence as she tried to answer.

  "It's just that I've seen what Sophie's idea of leadership looks like."

  "What's that supposed to...oh, that. Sophie mentioned that you were—"

  "Dr. Morrical?"

  Gary looked over his shoulder at the woman who had entered the room. She was much younger, platinum blonde hair partially obscuring her face. Heidi also took note for the first time the man sitting next to the door, rifle leaning up against the wall.

  "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said to Gary. "Do you mind if I sit with her for a minute?"

  Gary looked like he wasn't comfortable with the idea. "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah. Just a few minutes."

  Gary frowned before nodding and stood for the newcomer to take his seat. The girl glanced over her shoulder and watched Gary leave before turning back to Heidi.

  "My name is Corrine," she said quietly. "Sophie is my sister."

  "Christ on a pony," Heidi muttered as she turned her head away. Of course it had managed to get worse. Looking back though, she saw a smile on Corrine's face.

  "It's okay. I thought it might help if I came down and talked to you for a while."

  "What the hell is happening right now?" Heidi snapped at her.

  "Sophie said that you were here the day the stadium was attacked, but that you might have gotten the wrong impression of what you actually saw."

  "Look, I get it. You love your sister. I appreciate your loyalty. But it's hard to get the right impressions from putting a gun to someone's head and blowing it off."

  "Will you please just listen?"

  Heidi stared at her for a minute before flapping a hand in her direction, indicating for her to indulge.

  "The man you saw in the parking lot that day was leading a huge group of rovers. They—" Corrine stopped and her eyes narrowed at the blank look on Heidi's face. "What?"

  "What the hell are rovers?"

  Now Corrine was the one to be confused. "I...what do you—"

  "I've been keeping pretty much to myself," Heidi said. "Sorry, I just don't know the lingo."

  Corrine shook her head and smiled again. "Right. Sorry, it's just become so common. Rovers. Packs that go around looting houses, killing people and taking what they—"

  "Got it," Heidi said, twirling a finger to get her to go on.

  "They wanted what we have here. So they attacked us. They kidnapped and killed several friends of ours as a way of trying to intimidate us before and during the siege. The man you saw? Just before the fighting started, he personally executed the man my sister was in love with."

  Heidi felt the moisture sucking out of her mouth as her head began to spin at the prospect of where this was going.

  "Someone on the inside betrayed us. Fiona. She showed them how to sneak in past our defenses, just to save her own ass. A lot of people were killed."

  And all Heidi had done was try to add to that
body count. She had spent so much time believing in her own imagined righteousness. Turns out, she was just as much of a monster as any of the rest.

  "Heidi?" Corrine asked. "Are you all right?"

  "Why aren't you killing me right now?" Heidi asked. "It's not like I haven't been asking for it. I probably crippled your sister, at best, and for no better reason than my own stupid-ass paranoia."

  Corrine smiled. "Not putting up much of a defense, are you?"

  "I'm serious. What the hell is going on? Because honestly, if you all are just fucking with me, I'd rather you just did me in and got this over with."

  This time, the smile faded. "Look. I realize you got the worst kind of impression of us. But we really aren't in the business of killing people off. I'm not thrilled about what you tried to take away from me. Sophie is all I have left. But I'd rather help you than kill you."

  "What's his job, then?" Heidi said, nodding towards the man by the door.

  Corrine glanced back and nodded her understanding, but giving no sign of remorse or guilt. "Let's just say we haven't been able to last this long without being careful. Fiona taught us how much we can end up paying by handing over our loyalty too easily. Reynold is going to be one of your escorts for a while. You aren't restricted, save for a few areas but we want the people here to feel comfortable with you being here. I don't believe you'll try anything again, but we have to be careful."

  Heidi nodded as she let her gaze drift to the wall behind Corrine. It made sense. It was exactly what she would have done, if the situation was reversed. More than anything, she wanted to crawl back down into her subterranean cell and never show herself to the world again.

  "Do you think I could see her?" she said, barely above a whisper as she struggled to get to the rest. "Your sister. Assuming she makes it?"

  Corrine's smile returned. "I think we could probably work that out."

  -28-

  Sophie wasn't allowed any visitors until she had fully recovered. And even then, the notion of putting her together with the woman who had tried to kill her wasn't overly popular. Heidi was left alone in her room for the most part, and while she wasn't overtly prevented from moving around freely, any time she left to wander she was always with an escort, just as Corrine had promised.