Defiant: Quantic Dreams Book 2 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (reading list txt) 📗

from you that we won’t have any more issues. Otherwise I’m going to have to take some more drastic measures that I’d rather not consider. Understood?”

I held my hands, the stabilizing patch Shannon had attached to me protesting as I did so. “You’ll get no further trouble from me.”

Eliza cleared her throat. “Alexander has been kind enough to let the two of us escort you. You’ll be supplied with three square meals a day and an hour of exercise time. They’re also going to let you bathe and shower by request-you’ll be escorted by at least one other person every moment you’re out of your room.”

“No more trips to the infirmary that aren’t absolutely required, either.” Marcus helped me off the bed. “If you need medical care, you can request it from your tablet.”

“Got it.”

Before they left my room, Eliza shooed Marcus outside to talk with me. “What’s the plan, boss?” She had warmed considerably to me since this whole thing began. We weren’t quite friends, but I could count on her as an ally. I had a feeling I was going to need as many as I could get.

“We transition outside.”

“That’s it? You think it’s going to be as peaceful as that?”

I sighed and put my head in my hands. “I don’t know, Eliza. I just murdered a man. I think people are scared, and scared people frequently do stupid things. I tried my best to get them moving I that direction, but I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen. In the past two days…it’s been a lot.”

She reached out a hand and gingerly prodded the stabilizing patch on my ribs. I hissed and swatted her hand away. “I guess you have! Touchy, touchy. Listen, I’m busy making sure that my wife doesn’t drop dead from this sickness that has killed something like a hundred and fifty people so far. We are family and I give a shit about whether or not you live or die but do not fuck with me, old man. You might have done us a favor by killing that piece of shit but you have no idea what’s happening now. People are panicking.”

“I imagine they are.”

She tightened her hands into fists. “Jacob, I’m going to say this as politely as I can. I need you to shut the fuck up right now. It is by the grace of my love for your daughter that I am resisting the impulse to knock your teeth out this very moment.”

“Fuck off, Eliza.” I snarled. She stood and stormed out of the room. I exhaled deeply. “Fuck!” I slammed my fist into the wall. White hot pain shot through my arm and tears welled up in my eyes. It was like a dam broke in my mind. All the pain, fear, anger, and shame that I had managed to tamp down over the months came vomiting out of me in a rush. I gave up any pretense of decorum and cried freely, letting an unearthly howl still from my lungs. Some dim echo of my brain registered that the guard standing in front of my door could hear my grief. I didn’t care. There was no honor in putting up a facade of composure anymore.

Hours passed as I lay on my bed, staring listlessly at the ceiling. The confinement didn’t set well with me. Quarantining during the virus I could understand, but this was imprisonment. Knowing that I would not be allowed to leave this room without permission was brushing up against some childhood fears of confinement. When I couldn’t sit still anymore I found another way to fill the time. Packing. There was an extremely limited amount of my possessions that I would be allowed to take with me once I was expelled from the shelter and I had a feeling that Alexander Fang wasn’t about to let me dither about when the time came. The process was more difficult than I had anticipated. Suddenly it was as if every little trinket or tool held some kind of sentimental meaning to me. A sketch of some plants that Fiona had drawn up as a teenager, a toy cat that Marcus had designed and then printed, and a note from my late wife. All of these made the box. So too did a square of my standard-issue blanket. It felt a little silly, but I had spent my entire adult life sleeping in this bed. Fought Gabriel’s machines, come to snuff my life out to enslave an entire population. In a strange way, that blanket was a symbol of everywhere I had been. How far I had come.

I was brought two more square meals before I was let out for my exercise time. The guard who greeted me was a young woman who had at least six inches in height on me.

“Sir, my name is Olivia. I’m here to accompany you on your run. I am to understand that you’d prefer to run circuits of the shelter?”

“Actually, I’d like to run outside, if that’s agreeable to you. You’d be amazed at how the fresh air invigorates you.” Olivia chewed her bottom lip nervously.

“You’ve been out there, right?”

I laughed. “I should say I have. I promise there isn’t a big bad monster waiting out there to eat you. At least, I think you could take it on.” Olivia laughed. “Let’s grab ourselves a shock stick for you. I promise I’ll keep to a large stick.” She agreed and led me outside.

Being outside again was like hooking up a battery to my body and my mind. Running outside was hugely improved by the addition of shoes and proper clothing. Olivia ran parallel to me about a dozen feet away, shock stick appearing and disappearing as her arms pumped with her stride. I purposefully altered our path so that we would pass by the stream. It was a great plan-as we approached the banks of the small body of water I spotted the pale bodies of the crabs, returned