Chapter 9: The Preparations
The lights in the room were dim but Mark’s eyes adjusted quickly as he closed the door behind him. There sitting on the floor in the corner of the room huddled together was Rachel and Trent. Just seeing Trent in the flesh made Mark clench his fists again and he leaned against the wall letting Logan take the lead as he watched the two figures. Rachel’s face and clothes looked slightly dirty and her shirt was torn in a couple of places and yet Mark couldn’t ignore how beautiful she still looked. Trent, on the other hand, looked worst for wares; his face was bruised slightly and Mark thought he could see a distinct handprint on his left cheek, courtesy of Logan’s interview with Trent.
“Sorry about the wait,” Logan said to Rachel and Trent as he reached the middle of the room.
Rachel looked up at Logan as he approached but she didn’t say anything. Trent was a different story, he angrily pushed himself up using the wall as a brace so that he didn’t put too much weight on his hurt ankle. “You guys proud of yourself?! Keeping us here like hostages, you guys are monsters,” Trent said while gritting his teeth.
Stepping forward into the light Mark responded: “The only monster here is you Trent.”
Multiple things happened next all at the same time, Trent’s face turned white and he slowly leaned against the wall. Rachel’s mouth dropped open and she stood up slowly. Tears started to run down her face as she tentatively walked forward to Mark. The disbelief was plain on her face and Mark felt bad that she had to suffer and think he was dead. He shot an angry look at Trent who had since collapsed back down to the floor. Turning his attention back to Rachel, Mark smiled tenderly at her as she reached her hand out and touched his face. Her hand was cold but Mark welcomed the contact.
“It’s me, Rach,” Mark said softly.
Crying, even more, Rachel moved forward and buried her face into Mark’s chest and hugged him tightly. He embraced her back, slowly stroking her hair to comfort her. The moment ended with Trent’s words.
“Good to uh see that you’re still alive Mark, I thought we lost you,” Trent said hesitantly as he stepped forward awkwardly. The straight-out lies that Trent spoke were too much for Mark and in anger, he quickly detached himself from Rachel so that she wasn’t in the way, and stepping forward, Mark slugged Trent in the face. The force of the blow and Trent already being off-balance made him stagger back and slam into the wall and collapse back onto his butt.
“Trent!” Rachel cried out as she rushed to him. As she helped Trent back up, she shot a look at Mark “What are you doing?” she asked Mark.
“He left me to die Rachel. He closed the lid and left me to die. So yeah I think he had that coming.” Mark yelled bitterly.
Rachel looked at Mark in confusion and then at Trent “You said he got grabbed by the zombies and was being…. eaten. That’s why you couldn’t go back and help him. Did you…you lied to me Trent?”
Trent’s face pretty much told her the answer, but only for a second. Staggering to his feet once more Trent said quietly “I thought I saw him get grabbed by zombies… if I knew that he had a chance, I would have helped him. You got to believe me Rachel, I wouldn’t lie to you.”
Mark moved forward “You’re lying to her right now Trent.” He turned to Rachel “You can’t believe him Rachel, right?”
Rachel kept looking back and forth from Trent to Mark, both looking at her, waiting for her reply. She lowered her head slightly, “Mark I think Trent made a mistake. He must have thought he saw you get grabbed and attacked. I can’t think that he would just let you die.”
Mark leaned back in shock as he tried to comprehend what Rachel was saying. She actually believes Trent’s lies. ‘There’s no way to convince her’ Mark thought to himself bitterly. He looked at Rachel and then at Trent and said quietly “Yeah, he must have made a mistake. There was a lot going on at the time.” Mark knew better but for Rachel’s sake, he would let her believe what she wanted to for now. ‘Next time that snake attacks though’ Mark told himself ‘I will make him regret it before I end it.’
Trent’s face relaxed as he realized he was off the hook and said: “Yeah my bad bro, won’t happen again.”
Mark glared at him but didn’t move forward. Rachel returned to Mark again and hugged him tightly. “I’m so glad you’re okay Mark,” she said softly to him.
“I’m just glad you’re safe” He replying, “According to Fin you guys didn’t have much luck food and shelter wise, and Trent didn’t do much to help.”
Trent’s face redden and then relaxed again “Dude my ankle is still jacked up, besides what does that little brat know.”
‘More than you, ya jack-weed’ Mark thought to himself as he bit back the reply, but it was Rachel that spoke up “Hey his name is Finley and he has done his part so be nice to him. Also, you’re not off the hook yet, you should have been more careful with what happened in the sewers, Mark could have died.”
Mark wanted to scream and pull his hair out and yell that’s exactly what he wanted to happen Rachel! Instead, Mark stood there and with a little satisfaction watched as Trent’s face turned red again and he lowered his eyes from Rachel’s reprimand. Logan at this point decided to step in and explain the situation “Right, well all of your stories checked out so you’re more than welcome to join us, but know this we don’t trust easy.” He put a hand on Mark’s shoulder “It’s earned, but once you do, your family. So welcome. Let’s get you all showered and fed before anything else.” Logan led them all out of the room where they then met up with Fin. Logan led them to the showers and then to the cafeteria where everyone ate. As they were eating, they heard a bewildered gasp of surprise behind them along with a voice calling out Rachel’s name. Everyone turned to see Sam running to their table. Rachel barely had enough time to stand up from her seat before Sam tackled her with a hug. Tears ran down both their faces as they embraced one another.
Sam was the first one to pull away from the hug and said “I’m so glad they found you” as she wiped away a tear from her face. “Mark told me that you were here in the city and I was hoping they found you but I didn’t think we would get this lucky.” Sam scanned the group at the table and her gaze stopped on Trent. She paled slightly but quickly cleared her throat and turned her attention back to Rachel. Mark had followed Sam’s gaze and he looked as well as Trent. Trent’s eyes kept flicking to Sam and then to Rachel and he kept clenching his jaw. Trent tried to discreetly shake his head no, which made Mark furrowed his brow in suspicion. Trent lowered his eyes and went back to eating his food. Mark looked at him and back to Sam. Rachel’s next question gave him the connection he was searching for.
“So, Sam, what are you doing here in Vegas, I thought they stationed you in Arizona.”
Sam paused again confirming Mark’s suspicions “Oh, they needed less help in Arizona and more help here in Vegas so uh they transferred me here.”
“Yeah what a coincidence.” Mark said, making everyone turn to look at him, “otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to meet up so easy.” He looked at Sam as he spoke, and she realized Mark knew the truth.
Sam nodded and lower her head slightly to try and hid her guilty looking face “Yeah talk about lucky” she agreed. “Umm anyways I need to get back to my duties but I’ll see you all later. Rachel I’ll swing by later to catch up with you.” Sam looked at Rachel and smiled, before quickly glancing at Trent, and then at Mark before hurrying off.
Logan cleared his throat “Sam has been a major asset to our group, she alone is basically our medical wing. I look forward to working with you all as well. I’m sure all of you have skills that will help us all grow and become stronger,” and with that everyone went back to finishing their meals. After the meal, Mark excused himself to his room, saying that he wasn’t feeling good. It wasn’t a total lie Mark told himself as he walked away. As Mark left the cafeteria, he could hear Logan in the background explaining the rules here at the college and what the plan was for rooming and chores for Rachel, Fin, and Trent. Mark arrived at his room and flopped onto his bed. He was starting to get a headache from his mind constantly racing so he started to rub his temples. The truth he now knew made him sick to his stomach, and yet Mark knew he couldn’t say anything right now. This place and the situation they were in wasn’t really the ideal place to reveal secrets which could potentially split everyone up. Mark sat up in his bed.
‘We need to escape’ Mark thought to himself. ‘Everyone is together again; we need to find a way out.’
Mark started to think of a way to grab everyone and escape when he heard a knock on his door.
“Door’s open,” He said, and the door opened to reveal Sam standing in the doorway.
‘Oh geez,’ Mark thought as he saw who it was, ‘I don’t have time for this.’
“Mind if I come in,” Sam said a bit timidly.
“Sure,” Mark replied, “What’s up?”
Sam stepped in and closed the door behind her, “Logan saw me and asked for me to check up on you since Logan said you didn’t feel good.”
Mark noticed she had a medical bag in her hand as she stepped forward towards him, but he waved her off. “It’s nothing, just a headache, just got a lot on my mind right now.”
Sam wavered for a second deciding what to do next before she sat down quietly on the edge of Mark’s bed. “Listen about earlier, thank you for not telling Rachel. She’s been through a lot recently, and I feel bad about the whole situation already.”
Mark looked Sam straight in the eyes “It’s not my job to tell her the truth, it’s yours.” Sam’s eyes fell from contact “I know. I promise I’ll tell her…just give me time.”
Mark continued to look at her and felt a little guilty for how hard he was being on her. Mark put his arm around Sam and gave a slight squeeze, “Look, Sam, Rachel deserves the truth and eventually she’ll find out. It’s just a matter of how she finds out.”
Mark could hear Sam start to sniffle and looking down he noticed droplets of water starting to soak into her shirt. “Oh Sam,” He said softly to her, and she buried her face into his chest. Sobbing Sam said “I didn’t mean to hurt her. It just happened one day and escalated from there. I felt bad and I was going to tell her but I just felt too guilty each time I wanted to bring it up. I’m a terrible sister.” Mark rubbed her back and told Sam to take deep breaths. Finally, Sam pulled back from Mark and started wiping her face as she gulped in breaths of air. With red puffy eyes, Sam looked at Mark again and apologized “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break down, this isn’t your fault either.”
Mark returned the gaze “It’s not completely your fault either, and I have a feeling that this is more Trent’s fault than yours Sam, but still tell Rachel the truth.”
Sam nodded in response and started to get up “Okay I’ll go do that now.”
Mark reached out and grabbed her wrist gently stopping her, “Actually that can wait, for now, right now I need your help coming up with an escape plan.”
Sam sat back down on the bed, “Escape plan, but why?”
“We can’t stay here Sam.” Mark said “Not that they really give you an option to leave either. I have family in Idaho on a farm, which is why I left California with Rachel. We were going there before we got into this situation. Idaho is still the goal and since everyone is together again, we need to escape.”
Sam nodded in understanding.
“Since Logan trusts you and mostly me,” Mark continued, “That means it will be mostly up to us to grab the supplies and find a way to help the others escape.”
Over the next hour, Sam and Mark talked and devised a plan to escape from the college. Mark felt a little like a traitor since Logan had saved him and trusted him but Mark pushed the feeling aside. He needed to get everyone in his party to Idaho safely and with Sam’s help, this plan might make this happen.
“Okay over the next week, we need to gather the supplies,” Sam said to Mark. “I’ll get the medical supplies since they won’t suspect a thing.”
Mark nodded his approval “I doubt that I can get everyone weapons, but I’m certain that I can everyone’s personal items back. I could also find out the perimeter watch schedule so that we can sneak past the guards without causing a problem.”
Sam nodded and stood up to leave, “Looks like in a weeks’ time we are getting out of here.”
Mark followed her to his door and as she walked out, he said “I hope so,” and then he closed the door.
ns 15.158.61.17da2
