Claiming Her Beasts #2 by Dia Cole
Dominic
As I stood in the gymnasium doorway, I tightened my grip around the remains of Dr. Bloom.
The former dentist thrashed against me, but I easily held him in place. He gnashed his teeth, but the leather jacket tied around his head kept him from biting anyone. More’s the pity. I had half a mind to throw the infected man at those entitled civilians and walk away from this mess. But that would go against orders.
A good soldier always follows orders.
Dr. Bloom’s widow let out a broken sob behind me. Her grief didn’t absolve her and her husband of their actions. Because of them, one of my soldiers was dead.
Rage flickered inside me, hot and bright. Only decades of conditioning kept me from losing control of my temper. “Follow me,” I ordered through clenched teeth.
Gasping for breath, the hyperventilating blond woman nodded.
To ensure her compliance, I shackled her elbow with my free hand while still keeping hold of her husband’s zip-tied arms. Then I dragged the Blooms to the center of the basketball court.
I stood and waited for the gasps and murmuring of the civilians in the bleachers to cease. After a minute, I lost my patience and shouted, “Quiet,” in my drill sergeant voice. It’d been effective in commanding the attention of thousands of soldiers over the years and it did not fail me now.
The sudden hush that settled over the room was gratifying. Clearing my throat, I glared at the pitifully weak civilians the colonel had charged me and my soldiers with protecting. Without our intervention they would already be dead.
Maybe they should be.
I spied a stunningly beautiful face near the top of the bleachers and immediately retracted that thought. She’s among them. The female that had fascinated me since I’d encountered her standing over a pile of corpses, smoking gun in hand.
Lee.
No female had ever captured my interest the way she had. Now I was compelled by some primal instinct to ensure her survival. Something that would be a hell of a lot easier if she and the rest of these civilians would follow my rules.
Grimacing, I roughly thrust Danika out in front of me. “You all know Danika Bloom.”
The blond sprawled out on the floor.
Raising my voice, I said, “Yesterday, Danika and her husband snuck out of the school. At zero hundred hours, they attempted re-entry by ramming a sports utility vehicle through the front gates.” The idiots actually took a portion of the wrought-iron gate down before being surrounded by a horde of infected.
The civilians met my announcement with gasps and wide-eyed gazes.
“My soldiers saved Danika and re-secured the gate, but it cost Private Alaggio his life.” The human soldier had barely been out of bootcamp. Even so, he’d fought against the infected bravely and courageously. His life was worth dozens of that bitch on the floor. Anger smoldered inside me as I scowled at the sobbing woman.
“Dr. Bloom was also killed during the incident.” With a flare of showmanship, I ripped off the leather jacket covering the former dentist’s head.
The sight of his half-chewed off face caused the expected uproar among the civilians.
“He’s a zombie!”
“It’s a Biter!”
“He’ll attack us!”
I allowed their terror to build, even pushing Dr. Bloom closer to the first row.
Collective cries rang out as the civilians shrank back.
Mike, who watched from the base of the bleachers, gave me a sharp look.
I didn’t need his warning. The many wars we’d served in had shown me how destructive human panic and fear could be. But fear could also be harnessed.
Dr. Bloom thrashed and twisted his head around trying to bite me. With his eyes rolling white and bloody saliva frothing from his lips, the infected man looked and acted like a rabid beast. And much like a rabid beast, he needed to be put down.
In a quick motion born of decades of training, I unsheathed a dagger from my tactical vest and stabbed him through the back of his head. Then I jerked it out of his skull, wiped the blade clean on his blue windbreaker, and dropped the former dentist’s corpse next to his wife.
Danika scurried away from her husband’s lifeless body and let out an ear-splitting wail. “W-we just wanted to get Kona. He’s like our child…. He was like our child.” She sobbed harder likely because the terrier had been mortally injured by the same zombies that had killed her husband. “It’s your fault, Sergeant Rosario. You should have just let us bring him here.”
Her sad attempt at justifying her actions only inflamed my fury. “Dogs are carriers of the canine flu. In attempting to bring the animal here, you put the lives of every man, woman, and child here at risk.” I motioned at the people in the bleachers.
Danika wilted under the scorn in my voice and the icy glares from the other civilians. It was obvious she either hadn’t considered the ramifications of her actions, or she really didn’t give a damn about anything other than her potentially virus-spreading animal.
She wasn’t alone in her selfish mentality. I turned my scowl on the civilians in the bleachers. None of them had offered to assist my squad in fortifying and defending the school. That would change immediately.
I cleared my throat. “None of you will survive on your own. However, if you wish to leave, now is your chance.”
The civilians exchanged confused glances.
I stepped around Danika and addressed the crowd. “I’m offering everyone in this room the opportunity to leave right now. No questions asked.” I glanced behind me. “Sergeant Williams, please open the back door.”
Mike gave me an incredulous look but strode over to the door to the right of the stage. As he opened it, a gust of wind blew in carrying the musty scent of ozone. Outside, torrential rain poured from the dark sky, while lightning strobed the wide-open field.
I motioned at the door. “You are free to go.” I was bluffing. I’d never let them leave. But years ago, when I was training to be a handler, the colonel taught me an important lesson.
Force them, and they’ll resist. Let them think they have a choice, and they’ll commit.
“But what about the military evacuation?” A burly man in his mid-forties blurted out.
I gave the man an assessing look, my gaze drawn to the leatherneck tattoo on his beefy forearm.
I can use a former marine.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Those that stay will be evacuated.”
“When will that be?” shouted a younger, taller, pockmarked version of the first man. He wore a T-shirt that read, ‘Semper Fi.’
Two former marines. Even better.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe tomorrow. Maybe three months from now. But the helicopters will come.” The colonel wouldn’t have prioritized the rescue of these civilians only to abandon them.
I let the civilians chew on that for a few moments then added, “You all are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice. Those that leave won’t be permitted to return. Those that stay must follow my rules and pull their weight. There will be no freeloaders.”
One of the toddlers let out a well-timed cry.
“Children and the infirm are exempt,” I added.
A few civilians smiled.
A Hispanic man sitting near the top of the bleachers stood. “What if I want to go, but my girlfriend wants to stay?” He pointed at the pregnant woman sitting next to him.
The woman let out an outraged cry.
I re-sheathed my knife and extracted a piece of paper from my pocket. It contained the names of everyone I’d been instructed to protect along with notes on those who’d been rescued with them. “You’re Mario Hernandez, correct?”
He nodded.
“My notes show your girlfriend was not on the initial save-list. Therefore, if you leave, her invitation to stay is revoked. She will need to leave with you.” Supplies were limited. We couldn’t waste them on non-essential civilians.
A wave of murmurs ran through the crowd.
Deciding to make their choice simpler, I carefully unfolded the entire list. “When I call your name, please stand.”
Over the next few minutes, I read the names on the initial list. When I got to the end, roughly half of the civilians were standing, including Danika.
After giving the woman a glare, I walked the length of the bleachers, memorizing the faces of those I’d been ordered to save. None of the elderly or children were among them. But Lee was there, standing beside her sister.
Before her beautiful face could distract me, I forced my attention to the rest of the civilians. “If you’re seated, understand that you owe your place here to the family member or friend on the save-list. If that person leaves, you must leave with them. If they violate my rules and are exiled, you'll be exiled with them.”
Family members exchanged anxious glances.
I clapped my hands together loudly. “Now, sit down and decide if you will stay or go. You have three minutes.”
Up in the bleachers, Lee rubbed the back of the hooded man seated next to her. I tensed, trying to place him.
It’s the hippie-looking guy who caused all the commotion the first day. Who is he to her?
When I’d rescued them, she’d called him her roommate.
But she’s not holding him like he’s her roommate. She’s holding him like he’s her lover.
An unfamiliar emotion made me grind my teeth together. It couldn’t be jealousy though. One had to care for someone to be jealous. And I cared for no one other than my beast. Attachments made soldiers weak.
A weak soldier is a dead soldier.
Needing to focus on something other than my unsettling reaction to Lee, I turned my gaze to the intriguing group of civilians seated next to her. I could tell by their coloring they were Prisha’s children. If they had even a fraction of the legendary Titan’s strength and training, they’d be a formidable fighting force. Particularly the Lykos.
I made a low noise of approval as I studied Avi Sighn. His wolf-shifting abilities were currently suppressed, but once unleashed, he’d make for a powerful beast.
A beast that will need a handler.
Unfortunately, I was the only trained handler here and I’d already re-paired myself to Hunter. Hoping for a change in my beast’s status, I glanced down at the biometric scanner grafted to my forearm. Hunter’s blood oxygen and heart rate were normal, but he still had no brain activity. Even more disturbing, when I reached for him through our beast-handler bond, I found only emptiness.
What happened to him?
“Everyone, listen to me,” Danika called out loudly, shaking me from my thoughts. “Don’t leave the school. Those things… those monsters are everywhere.”
Having had quite enough of the woman, I waved her away. “Leave now.”
Danika’s tear-stricken face went bone-white. “What? No.”
“You endangered the civilians and got my soldier killed. Leave.”
“B-but I’m on the save-list,” she sputtered.
“Not anymore.” I’d put a line through her name.
“Nooo!” she howled. “I’ll die out there.”
“Your other option is to die here.” I tapped my holstered handgun.
A shocked silence descended on the room.
I wasn’t bluffing now. She’d be an example for the others.
“You can’t let him do this!” Danika looked out into the bleachers as if searching for someone to come to her defense.
Lee’s younger sister stood, her expression a mixture of concern and outrage.
Lee jumped up next to Eden, slapped her hand over her sister’s mouth, and dragged her back into her seat.
I mentally applauded the dark-haired female who made me want things I couldn’t have. Then I turned back to Danika. “I will not ask you again. Leave.”
Seeming to shrink in on herself, Danika stumbled around her dead husband and walked to the door.
Mike grabbed her arm and thrust her outside. He’d escort her to the front gate. Danika would be dead by morning. But she had no one to blame but herself.
There are consequences for insurrection.
I should know. I’d been serving a life sentence for defying my orders before the colonel reinstated me three days ago.
Turning my attention to the rest of the civilians, I said, “Who wants to join Danika?”
Unsurprisingly, no one came forward.
I nodded, pleased they were showing common sense. “You’ve made a wise choice.”
“Ready, Sarge?” a husky voice called out.
I glanced over at the dark-skinned female soldier who stood in the gymnasium doorway. “Yes, thank you, Corporal Ross.”
Motioning in Darcy’s direction, I said, “Before returning to your assigned quarters, you will meet with Corporal Ross to receive your assignments. Every able-bodied person over the age of sixteen will receive a team and a group assignment. Everyone, regardless of age, will be expected to follow the safe house rules and my rules for survival.”
“What are the rules?” the Lykos called out.
Ah.I liked him better and better. “Excellent question.”