Zone Zero: Vengeance (Book 3 of 3)

Chapter 16

The world stops.

My world.

Everything in my mind pauses so I can fully understand what I am seeing.

Logan.

Dead.

I drop to my knees and cradle Logans body, just like I did to Declyn. I hold him close to my chest, mentally willing him to be ok but the lack of movement on his part isn't very convincing.

I look over his head at nothing in particular. I don't want to look at his face. I can't. If I see his face still and void of the usual smile he wears it will break me.

I can't lose him. Not when I just got him back.

"Please be ok. Please Logan." I whisper to him trying to trick myself that he didn't just take the bullet that brushed past my neck.

I finally glance down and see it. The bullet that grazed me lodged itself just above his right eye, killing him on impact.

This can't be real. It just can't.

My face feels wet without me even realising that it's from tears. I swipe them away and refuse to believe my eyes.

"No. You're not dead. Just sleeping. Wake up now."

He doesn't move. His eyes open and staring blankly.

"Wake up Logan. Please."

I can hear the commotion behind me but I tune it out. Sirens are blaring and guns are firing but I ignore it all. My mind is only registering one thing right now and that is what lies in front of me.

Logan. Lifeless Logan. That's whats in front of me right now. The dead body of my brother.

A scream of pain leaves my lips as I cradle Logan closer. Maybe if I hold him tight enough he will wake up. And then we can find Annerly and get out of this place.

"Please wake up."

I feel a gentle hand rest on my shoulder but I shrug it off just as quick. The hand appears once more but this time on Logan's body.

"No! Don't touch him! He is ok. He will be ok." I find myself screaming.

Alex crouches down in front of me and tries to get me to look at him. I see him but I don't want to. I don't want to be in this moment. I want to be far away from here with everyone I love alive and laughing jovially at some stupid joke that makes no sense. I want my family back.

"Evie." Alex's voice sounds soothing but I can't bring myself to make eye contact. I just can't.

"Evie, he is gone." His voice is but a whisper but it brings on more unwanted tears.

"No. He can't be. He just...can't...be."

Alex's hands find their way to either side of my face to tilt my head upwards. He looks to me with such sympathy that I can't bare it.

I can't bare any of this. This is too much. I need to shut it out. Shut the pain out so don't feel anymore. I don't want to feel this.

"We need to leave, Evie."

He is right. We do need to leave. But not yet.

"We need to find Annerly."

Alex's face contorts in confusion for a moment before coming to fruition.

"Logans daughter. Do you know where she is?"

A noise from behind me attracts my attention and I am up like a shot. I find the noise in warp speed. It's coming from a soldier that is hanging on to life amongst a sea of sea bodies. I crouch down on top of the fatally wounded soldier as he gasps for air.

Alex is by my side two seconds later looking astonished at what I just did.

"How did you move that fast? Or even hear him for that matter? I couldn't hear him at all over these sirens." Alex admits but I am too engrossed with the man beneath me.

He stares up at me with eyes wide like saucers. His heart is racing at an unfathomable rate and if I don't move fast, he will pass out from blood loss.

He is clearly one of the soldiers that shot at us and I can only guess that Alex was the one to wound him so. Given the other dead bodies surrounding him, all decapitated or with their throats removed I would say he is the lucky one.

"Name," I demand of the soldier.

"Ben." He replies with a croaky voice.

"Where is Sage Patterson?"

"S-Sage who?"

The terror in his voice is thick but I don't think twice about it. He has information and I need it.

"Her mother is Janet Patterson, a member of the UN council."

"Oh...her name is Sage P-Petrov now. She m-married Dimitri Petrov over a year ago."

"Where is she?"

"She lives on Union Street. The house with the red door. P-please....don't kill me. I have children." Ben pleads.

I want to feel sympathy for him but for some reason I cant. He is a father? Well so was Logan.

"I won't kill you, Ben, if you do something for me."

"A-anything." He blurts out before even hearing my condition.

"Bury him. Bury my brother Logan just outside of the Zone." I say pointing to my brother's body.

"But I-I can't leave the-" he starts but I cut him off.

"Bury him outside of this godforsaken zone or I will slaughter your entire family!"

"Y-yes." He agrees nodding vigorously.

I begin to stand and make my way back to my brother. Alex watches me as I do in shock but does not say anything. He doesn't know what to say.

I kneel by my brother for the last time and kiss his forehead gently. Then I close his eyes completely and let him rest.

"I will find her and I will keep her safe. No one will ever touch her as long as I live." I stand upright once more and look down at Logan. "Goodbye, brother."

Alex comes to stand beside me once more and places a soothing hand on my shoulder. He is trying to show sympathy in a subtle way so not to upset me any further. But he doesn't need to worry.

All of the pain, anguish, sorrow and sadness I was feeling only moments ago has gone away. It gave way for a clarity to shine through. A raw emotion that borders indifference in the way it numbs the soul.

Every emotion I was feeling has been pushed into a small crevice in my heart to make way for a new version of myself to take control. In this time of extreme loss, it is what I need. A different version of myself to take over and lead me through the darkness. If I don't let this new version of myself take control right now, I may lose the old version forever.

I have been pushed to the absolute breaking point for most people and am somehow still standing. But in order to keep moving, for the sake of my infant niece, I need to shut off all emotions and let go.

I turn to head toward the pile of dead bodies that Alex created while I was too caught in my grief of losing Logan and stop once again in front of Ben.

Our eyes meet once more and the fear he is feeling drips off him as a thick stench of worthlessness. The smell is heavy and mixes with his blood and urine that he is currently leaking. What a pathetic man that he pisses himself at a moment like this.

"Remember Ben. Bury my brother outside this zone and mark his grave with the name Logan Childs. If you don't I WILL return to finish what Alex here started."

He looks to Alex and then to me and nods once more. He is pale but I can hear footsteps coming this way. He will be saved in a minute or two but by then we will be long gone.

"Goodbye Ben. Do not disappoint me."