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  Twisted Fate

  Twisted Book Three

  Kate L. Mary

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to person, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Art by Kate L. Mary

  Copyright © 2017 by Kate L. Mary

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Acknowledgments

  Other Books by Kate L. Mary

  About the Author

  One

  Meg

  The room was deathly still as my family stood in stunned silence, staring at Angus like he was an apparition. Standing in this long forgotten building, surrounded by dusty chairs and cobwebs, I found myself wondering if it could be true, because this most definitely didn’t feel real. It couldn’t be. Two decades had passed since Mom and Dad and everyone else had arrived in New Atlanta, and my uncle, Angus James, had been alive the entire time. He’d been a prisoner in the CDC, used like his life meant nothing, like he was nothing. I just couldn’t believe it.

  And now the same people who’d held him captive for all those years had my dad.

  There was a part of me that wanted to cover my ears so I could protect myself from hearing everything Angus had been through. I knew my Dad was probably going through some of the same things at this very moment, and thinking about it hurt too much. But I also knew that I had to listen. We were on the run, had fled Jackson and his father through a secret tunnel in Dragon’s Lair, and before we could do anything else, make any other plans or even think about trying to free my dad, we had to find out what we were up against. We needed to hear what was going on in the CDC for real. I wasn’t dumb enough to think it was going to be easy to listen to, but it was necessary, and it would help us plan our next move.

  Wherever we were, we were outside the city wall, and even though this place was attached to Dragon’s Lair, it didn’t look like it had been used in years. The windows had been boarded up, allowing only slivers of moonlight in through the cracks, and along one wall sat a cot similar to the ones that had been in the back room of the bar, as well as a table and a handful of rickety chairs. The few candles scattered around cast a soft glow across the dark room, highlighting the emotions flickering across the faces of my family. More chairs and tables that looked like they hadn’t been used in decades were lined up along the wall, just waiting for us to claim them. My uncle Al stood closest, and when he grabbed a couple and moved them toward the table it seemed to snap the rest of us out of it. Slowly, as if waking up from a dream, everyone began to move.

  Dragon and Helen stayed a good distance away as we settled into chairs, probably because they already knew what was going on—my Uncle Angus had been staying with them for a while it seemed—while the rest of us gathered around the dusty old table. Charlie took the chair her father had set down, and I slid into the one next to her while Al and Lila took places across from us. Parvarti sat just far enough away that she was on the outskirts of our little group. Her expression was calm, too calm considering what we were going through.

  We hadn’t really been there for her, I suddenly realized. Joshua had died, leaving Parv alone, and we hadn’t been there to help her through it. I’d been too swept up in what was going on with Mom and Dad to really think about how much my aunt was hurting, leaving her to deal with it all on her own. Even though it wasn’t my fault and my reasons for being distracted were glaringly legitimate, I couldn’t help feeling bad. I needed to make it up to my aunt.

  Mom slipped into the chair next to Angus, sitting so close that it looked like she was holding onto him for dear life. When he set his hand on the table, she reached out to take it. It seemed like she needed to hold onto him just so she could make sure he was real, and it made sense. I mean, after twenty years you kind of gave up hope of ever seeing somebody again, and having Angus sitting at the table right now had to feel like a dream.

  The old chair wobbled under my weight and every breath I took in filled my lungs with dust, but the minor discomfort was overshadowed by the heaviness in my gut. I had so many questions about what was going on, but I didn’t savor the thought of having them answered the way I should. Dad’s life hung in the balance, and we’d already lost him once. Now, after finding out for sure that he was alive, I was terrified that something would go wrong and he’d slip away again.

  Plus, I had someone else to worry about now. Donaghy. The CDC had him, had dragged him out of Dragon’s Lair only a few hours ago. They could do whatever they wanted to him. Jackson could do anything, and his hatred for Donaghy went further and deeper than even I understood. I couldn’t help feeling responsible for how things had turned out. My family had always hated Jackson, but I refused to listen to them. If I’d heeded their warnings, if I hadn’t dragged Donaghy into this, things might have been different. If something happened to him now, it would be my fault.

  How this man, a convict and a fighter, had come to mean so much to me in so little time didn’t make sense. We’d only met a week ago, had barely gotten the chance to know each other, but I felt like I’d known him much longer, and the ache in my stomach told me that I cared about his safety almost as much as I cared about Dad’s.

  Silence covered the room and grew heavy, stretching out until I could barely stand it, but I couldn’t bring myself to be the first one to talk. Angus’s hand looked stiff under mom’s, but I could detect a slight tremor in it too, and I could tell that he was having a difficult time working up to what he had to tell us. The memories of the last twenty years must have been awful for him to carry around.

  “Have you been in the CDC this entire time?” Mom finally asked, watching him closely as if she was keeping an eye out for cracks. She kept her hand on his like she was hoping it would give him strength. Or maybe the other way around.

  “Yeah.” The word came out sounding like it hurt him, and when he winced it seemed to confirm that it did. “Sometimes, it feels like it all went by in the blink of an eye, but other times it feels like three lifetimes. Twenty years is a long time, and they weren’t easy years. They was hard years. So hard that there was moments when I was pretty sure death woulda been better then livin’ even one more day in there.”

  Glitter, the pink haired waitress that had only recently come into my life, was sitting on the other side of him, and she scooted her chair closer when his voice shook. He looked her way and his expression softened. He was the one who reached out and took her hand with his free one, but she seemed to welcome it. Almost as if she needed to make sure he was there just as much as he needed to be close to her.

&n
bsp; Glitter was Angus’s daughter. I still couldn’t believe it. It made no sense. He’d been locked in the CDC for the last twenty years. How had this happened? I could only think of one way, but the idea was so sick it made me shudder. The scars that ran up the inside of her arms, the ones that I had attributed to drug use when we’d first met, seemed to confirm my suspicions, especially when Angus moved and I saw the same scars in the crooks of his arms. The two of them looked like walking pincushions, and I had a sick feeling that was exactly what they were. Exactly what my uncle had been for the past twenty years.

  “What did they do to you?” Lila asked, drawing my attention away from the scars dotting my uncle’s arms.

  “Lots of things.” He cleared his throat and glanced over his shoulder at Dragon and Helen. “You got a drink or a cigarette?” He shook his head and looked down, and when he spoke next it seemed like he was talking to himself. Like he hadn’t yet gotten used to the fact that there were other people around to talk to. “Need somethin’ else to focus on. Twenty years. That’s a hell of a lot of memories.”

  “Angus,” Mom said, squeezing his hand. “It’s okay. We’re with you now.”

  “Here.” Helen held a cigarette out to him.

  Angus returned Mom’s gesture before pulling his hand out from under hers. When he took the cigarette from Helen, he was blinking, almost like he was fighting back tears. His hand shook as he slipped it between his lips, and he closed his eyes when Helen lit it, inhaling slowly as if he needed to focus on the act so he didn’t lose his mind.

  “It all hurts,” he said, the smoke coming out with the words and his eyes still closed. “Every single memory.”

  When he opened his eyes, his gaze narrowed in on Mom’s hand, still resting on the table. How must it look to him? Not the same as he remembered, that was for sure. At the moment her hand looked bony and frail, and the Vivian he’d known hadn’t been a weak person. I’d heard the stories about how they’d come to be here, and I knew my mother had been strong once. She was the one who’d kept on going even after she should have given up. The one who had pushed everyone in those early days. That person had slipped away over the last three weeks though, ever since they took Dad, and it had seemed like that old Vivian was on the verge of disappearing altogether. It was the drugs they’d given her, logically I knew that, but even now that she was off them she didn’t seem like her old self. It was like a part of her had gotten lost when Dad disappeared.

  “Can you tell us what’s going on in there?” Parvarti asked when the silence had once again stretched out for too long. “There are a lot of holes that need to be filled.”

  “I’m sure for you too,” Mom said, reaching out to him but stopping with her hand halfway to his. “So much has happened.”

  “Yeah.” Angus’s hand shook again, and he clenched it into a fist like he didn’t want us to see it. “The beginnin’ is blurry, but I remember comin’ through Atlanta and seein’ the wall. Tryin’ to get here. I remember bein’ bit over and over, and pieces of them takin’ us to the CDC. It was bright and there was people everywhere, but none of it’s clear. There’s a big hole after that.”

  “It’s okay,” Lila said, her voice soft and soothing in a way that reminded me of how she’d spoken to me when I was a small child. “Just take your time. Tell us what you can.”

  “I will.” Angus stuck the cigarette between his lips and inhaled again, slowly this time, closing his eyes and savoring it.

  I held my breath and waited, but before he could say a thing a bang echoed through the room. We all jumped, but Angus barely moved. When he opened his eyes though, his gaze went to the front door. At one time it had had a window in the center of it, but it had long ago been covered with a board that now seemed less secure than it should be considering what lurked just on the other side. Around me, everyone reacted, whether it was pulling their guns like Al and Parv or getting to their feet like Mom. I stood too, my hand already moving to my bag where the gun I’d gotten on the black market was stuffed. I hadn’t told anyone about it, although I wasn’t sure why, and its existence suddenly made me feel more secure about my current situation.

  “It’s okay.” Dragon’s deep voice boomed through the room as he headed to the door.

  I watched from where I was standing, not sure what was happening but certain that we could trust Dragon. He stopped in front of the door, which led to the outside, to the world beyond the wall that was infested with zombies and yet was—ironically—a lot safer than the one I’d grown up in. Still, I tensed when he pulled it open.

  A gust of muggy air blew in, bringing with it two men. I recognized them right away. Al and Lila’s son, Luke, and Jim, the man I’d met for the first time only a few days earlier in Dragon’s bar. Back when I’d still thought my Uncle Angus had died twenty years ago and when I was certain my dad had joined him. Before I learned who Jackson really was and before I’d realized what Donaghy could mean to me. So much had changed since that day.

  “Jim?” At my side, Mom’s body relaxed when she realized that she recognized the man who’d just stepped into the room.

  Less than a second later, Aunt Lila was on her feet and moving toward her son. “Luke!”

  That was when everyone began talking at once. Luke’s mom hugged him while his dad asked him questions, Mom talked to Jim, the dragon slayer I had just met but who she apparently had some sort of history with, Angus and Parv exchanged words that got lost in the chatter. The sounds bounced off the walls, mixing together until I couldn’t make out even a single syllable. There was a frantic air to it all, but relief was mixed in as well. Relief that there seemed to be a plan, relief that some of the people we’d thought we’d lost weren’t really gone at all, relief that we were outside the city walls. That at least some of us were safe.

  After a couple minutes, Dragon lifted his hands and called out, “Let’s calm down. We have some things that need to be done.” Then he turned to face Jim. “Is everything ready?”

  “Yeah,” the man said, looking past Dragon to the door he and Luke had just come through. The one that led to the outside world. “The coast is clear and the city’s pretty quiet. If we’re going to head out, we should do it now.”

  “Where are we going?” Charlie asked.

  She was staring at the door like the idea of going out into a zombie-infested city scared the shit out of her. I understood. I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea of taking a second trip out there when my first one had been so dangerous, but I also knew we couldn’t go back into New Atlanta. At least not right now. We weren’t prepared. Al and Parv had guns since they were enforcers, as did Luke and Jim because they lived outside the walls, but other than those four, I was the only one armed with anything other than a knife. Regular citizens weren’t permitted to carry guns inside the walls of New Atlanta, a law passed by Star years ago that now made perfect sense to me.

  “There’s an unsanctioned settlement not too far from here.” Luke crossed the room and put his arm around his sister’s shoulders as if he could see the fear in her eyes as plainly as I could. “It’s going to be okay. We have a plan.”

  “You’ve known about this?” Al asked his son, his gaze going from Luke to Angus.

  Luke nodded slowly. He gave Charlie’s shoulder a squeeze before turning to face his dad. “Some of it, not all. I learned a lot more about what’s been happening over the last week.”

  Mom turned to face Jim. She didn’t say anything, but the silent questions in her eyes were blatant enough that she didn’t have to. She was begging for answers. Begging to be let in on all the secrets that had been kept from her for all these years. At this point, she had no idea how many there were, but I had a feeling she’d learn it all soon enough.

  “After I left the city, I started to learn more and more about what was going on,” Jim said, his voice soothing, as if he was trying to warn her that the truth might sting. “There were things we couldn’t talk about inside the walls. Things I couldn’t tell anyone.�
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  “Still can’t.” Dragon moved to the door, waving for everyone to follow him. “Not until you get further away from Star and the CDC. It’s not going to take long for them to come looking for you. When Jackson’s men find Meg missing, they will no doubt come to the bar. We’re on the outside right now and no one knows about the tunnel in the basement, but it would still be better if you weren’t anywhere near the city when they show up.”

  “I’m not leaving.” Mom didn’t move from her spot. “Not when Axl is alive and trapped in the CDC. No.”

  “We have to.” Luke abandoned his sister’s side and crossed to my mom. “It’s too dangerous. If Jackson gets his hands on you, it will be the end of everything.”

  “They ain’t gonna kill Axl.” Even though my uncle’s words were meant to soothe, Mom still jerked away from him as if he’d slapped her. The next words came out softer, and laced with nostalgia and compassion. “Trust me, Blondie. You gotta trust me.”

  Mom swallowed as she slowly nodded, but I could tell it was hard for her. She and Dad had a love that had withstood death and grief and even the end of the world, and I couldn’t imagine what it was doing to her to even think about walking away from him right now. It hurt me, so it had to be killing her.

  The knowledge that Dad wasn’t alone in there only added to my pain. Jackson had Donaghy, too. He wasn’t immune the way my father was, so there was no guarantee that he would be safe for even one more hour, let alone the days it would take to plan a way to get him out.