Poison Hearts | ✓

Chapter 65

"We are?!" I said with a decent amount of excitement.

"Yeah," Asher responded vaguely, pointing just down the road. "That's the Facilities."

"How do we get in?" I asked, "It must be zombie-proof..."

Asher shrugged, "The front door. We say we made a mistake by leaving and we have important info from the government. Then we take them out, find Angelina, and go."

"But are you sure she'll be safer with us?"

Asher shot me a sad side glance. "They electrocuted Alice and gassed you. They didn't help Luke and they force everyone to work. I'm sure she'll be better with us."

A smile broke out on my face. "Oh, Asher!" I gave him a quick hug. When I stepped back, we started walking towards the building. "But didn't you tell them to communicate by walkie-talkie? We'll be caught in a minute!" 

Asher shrugged, "I left my talkie in the car and disabled yours." 

Nervousness filled my chest. "What if they just capture us again? What if zombies have taken over the place? There's so much we don't know..." 

"It'll be fine," Asher said in a distant tone. 

I frowned as we reached the door. "This seems too easy." 

Asher spun towards me, "Didn't you say it was too easy to get out?" 

"But what if this is part of their plan, getting us to come back for Angelina?" 

Asher shrugged, "I seriously doubt it..." And he raised his fist to the door. And knocked. 

Nobody responded. 

Then everything went dark. 

I awoke to warmness, but an uncomfortable kind. I sat up quickly, feeling no harm or chains... no overall soreness of any kind. 

I forced my eyes to focus on the two figures in front of me: Asher and Mrs. T. Immediately I tried to reel back in my chair, but Asher hooked his leg around mine under the table and tugged it back into place. Mrs. T looked at me expectantly from across the table. Asher touched my side reassuringly. 

"Right," I cleared my throat, "I'm sorry. I kind of umm, freaked out..." 

"That's quite alright," Mrs. T looked at me impatiently. "In order to health-check you and make sure you aren't infected, we must temporarily make you unconscious." 

Red flags were popping up in my head. 

"Anyway, back to our original subject of discussion," She folded her hands on the table and blinked at Asher. 

"Yes, I have important information regarding the government's take and plans on the zombie apocalypse," Asher said in a business-like tone. 

"Wonderful," Mrs. T said, lacking emotion, "Care to explain?" 

"Sure ma'am," Asher started, "We-" 

"Why did you leave in the first place?" Mrs. T narrowed her eyes at Asher. 

Asher shrugged, "It was a stupid thing to do. I didn't realize how corrupted the government was. And someone convinced us this place was evil and dragged us into their plan. But we're back now." 

I was beginning to feel sick. I silently wished my heart to stop thumping so loudly. 

"And are you sure you're both on the same page," Mrs. T practically hissed. 

"Mrs. T, are you married?" I asked, my voice shaky. I surprised myself by even speaking. 

She seemed startled and off-guard. "Why... yes. I am. I was... But it's irrelevant," She said, shooting me a dirty look. 

"Do you have any children?" I pressed, and Asher didn't stop me. 

"Two," Mrs. T said between closed teeth. 

"How old are they?" 

"That's enough!" Mrs. T said, standing up, then smiled and gathered her composure. "Now, you wanted to give me some information."

"Not before I find out what I want to know," I said, before Asher could say something probably smart and reasonable but I just couldn't stop myself. 

"And what is that?" Mrs. T smiled at me, folding her spidery hands and sitting back down. 

"How old are your children?" 

"Thirteen and twenty." Mrs. T said without any emotion. 

"A girl and a boy?" I asked. 

"Yes." Mrs. T said, narrowing her eyes. "I don't see how this is relevant..." 

"What are their names?" I asked. 

"This is ridiculous," Mrs. T shot back, eyes flashing. 

My heart was pumping loudly in my ears. Panic filled me. I was back at The Facilities. What were we doing here? Why would we come back? 

Asher grabbed my shoulders, turning me toward him. "Calm down, Autumn." His eyes searched mine. I blinked.

Asher turned toward Mrs. T apologetically, "She experienced quite a lot of trauma outside, as you can see." 

"I see," Mrs. T said, smiling slightly. "That's quite alright. Now just a moment..." 

She stood up, and I felt so panicked I could faint. Asher had woven his arm around mine, as if to keep me safe, to keep me there. 

Mrs. T slowly slide a walkie-talkie out of the pocket of her black pants. 

"I hope you don't mind," Mrs. T said, tilting her head, offering us a dumb smile. "But to make sure you're telling the truth..." 

"You can't," I interrupted, then slapped a hand over my mouth. 

"We will know if you're lying," Mrs. T said without faltering, pressing a button and barking into the speaker, "IN MY OFFICE! NOW!" 

"We already scanned you, your heartbeat. There is a few side effects, but you should be fine," Mrs. T said slowly, as if we were hard of hearing and she didn't have a care in the world, "You're too young anyway, there's no way.." She nearly mumbled the last part, but I caught it and apparently Asher did too.

"You can't," Asher said quickly. 

Mrs. T listened to him. But not me, unfair... "And why is that?" 

Asher opened his mouth, closed it, and answered almost regretfully. 

"We have a child."