Chapter 45


Larrin woke with a start. Her head pounded like she had drunk way too much vodka which for some reason explained the massive memory blank on last night. Did she go out? Why did she hurt so much? She opened her eyes and blinked a couple times as the light was incredibly bright in the room. Her vision was blurry but once it cleared, she felt her heart stop in shock as this was not her bedroom.

"Whoa, take it easy." a man said as Larrin tried to get out of bed but only managed to fall off the bed. Her ass hit the floor and she looked down at the cast on her right arm with wide eyes as she didn't remember breaking it. She looked up to see a man on the other side of the bed stand up from his chair and hold his hands out in surrender to show that he wasn't the enemy.

Larrin grabbed the doona on the bed and pulled it around her body as she moved to put her back to the wall. She looked like she was in some kind of hotel room but all of it was disorientating, her head hurt, her body pained in her chest and arm not to mention her ass when she fell. She was thirsty and nauseous.

"I'm not here to hurt you." The man said, she noted his American accent and his handsome features. He was fairly clean cut but that didn't mean he was a good person or that she could trust him given she woke up in her underwear in probably his bed.

"Who the hell are you? and where am I?" Larrin demanded as she tried to remember the last thing that happened to her.

"My name is Julian, do you not remember me Sweetheart?" he asked, he looked hurt by her lapse in memory. He moved around the bed and Larrin pulled on the doona as she pulled it around herself making sure she was covered. She was scared out of her wits and practically naked with a stranger claiming they were a couple. It was insane.

"Sweetheart?" Larrin asked incredulously as she didn't know who the hell this guy was but she was not the type of girl to be called 'sweetheart' or 'baby'. It made her skin crawl to be called it especially by a man she had no memory of who for all his good looks left her feeling unsettled not feeling safe.

"Larrin, we've been together for almost 6 months." he told her looking confused as to why she thought it ridiculous he call her an endearment.

"What? What happened to me?" Larrin said not able to believe him as she was pretty sure she'd remember a guy like him. She tried to stand to put more space between them but her legs were too weak and refused to move.

"You were attacked by Scavengers and suffered a broken arm, ribs and a head injury. You've been unconscious for a week." Julian told her, he tried to move closer but stopped as he noticed she was backing away into the corner of the room which wasn't conducive to their relationship.

"Where are we?" She asked him.

"Somewhere in America, not sure where to be honest. Geography wasn't my strong suit in school." He said with a boyish smile that she assumed was supposed to be endearing but didn't make her feel better.

"Now, I know you're having me on." Larrin said incredulously as she barely could think of where her passport was at home or that she'd jump on a plane when she had a PhD.

"I'm not." He promised her sincerely.

"You are, I-" She wracked her brain to think of what the date was or the last thing she could remember and drew a blank. "the last thing I remember is writing my PhD in a cafe in Australia. Why the hell would I be in America?" She demanded. Julian gave a sigh as he sat down on the edge of the bed looking at her. Though in all honestly her life had become a blur of writing in cafes, she couldn't even remember what the date was but she knew one thing. She didn't have the money to fly to America so what he was saying was insane.

"7 months ago, you came to America to see your brother Wolf. You had issues with your PhD, so you decided to take a holiday. There was a pandemic that swept the world killing millions. We were both picked up by the CDC as they thought we were carriers. It was how we met. Our isolation rooms faced one another. We got along and when people died outside in the labs we made a break for it and have been surviving on our own ever since." He told her.

"I don't remember." Larrin told him which was half true. She had flashes of memories but they were jumbled snippets so she couldn't tell if they were real or just TV shows and her lab hours messing with her mind as it wanted to believe what Julian was saying but she just couldn't as there was no evidence but his word. He seemed earnest but she was hiding in a doona with only her knickers and a bra on.

"It must be the head injury. It'll come back to you. Until then let me get you some clothes and food." he offered, Larrin looked at him for a moment and nodded as she could definitely do with some time alone with her thoughts.

"Yeah, that'd be nice and something for a headache as my head is killing me?" she asked him.

"I can do that. Just stay here." He told her.

"Like I'm going to walk around in my knickers." Larrin sees the grounds and memories flitting through her as she looks at her cast. None of it made sense as she had memories of people she didn't know. Julian smiled at her and gave a nod and he got up off the bed and walked out of the room. Larrin didn't miss the click of the door locking when he left.

She rose to her feet and moved to the bathroom. She availed herself to the toilet and while washing her hand looking the mirror. The sight before her made her gasp as her face was bruised and her hair was a mess. She inwardly chuckled at the moment of vanity for caring about her hair as she catalogued the injuries.

All of them were standard from being attacked, but nothing came to her mind about how they happened. She did know besides her cranking headache, her arm was the running second for pain and annoyance. It hurt like hell and was hot and crazy itchy. She knew it was going to drive her insane but there was nothing she could do about it until it was healed. She just wondered where the doctor was who made the cast and why she would be locked into the room. But most of all she wanted a familiar face, she wanted to go home. Just admitting those things in her mind made her want to cry as she was far away from everyone she knew.


"Well, damn. This place is a fortress." Tex said as he, Marcus and their third man Ben laid down on the top of a hill that overlooked the compound. There still a fair distance away but close enough to see through the windows thanks to high powered scopes and binoculars. They were all hidden in the brush and the sun was behind them so they wouldn't be discovered unless someone stepped on them.

"I know, why do you think we give it a wide berth?" Ben asked Tex as he was keeping a look out for any trouble coming their way; be it man or fauna.

"What's he hiding in there?" Tex asked out of curiosity, as he felt like the amount of men and weaponry on the grounds to be overkill for a man who believed that he was untouchable.

"People, food, medicine, guns. You name anything something people need. He's got it." Ben told him as he kept scanning the area.

"It's also a way-station for the other scavengers but he's King or Boss. He's also doubled the guards on the perimeter. We're going to need more people for this." Marcus commented as he lifted his head from the scope and looked to Ben. Tex felt the tension between the two as they obviously felt this mission was pushing the limits of their capabilities. What they didn't know was that the Nathan James crew and Tom had faced harder challenges and prevailed. Something Tex was banking on.

"Well, he's got his dream girl in there. Wouldn't want anyone busting up the fun before he lets her out into the wild for the hunt." Ben commented drily.

"We should call it in. Get back up." Tex said with a sigh because there was no way they could get Larrin in and out with what they had on them.


"What did you get from Dr Scott?" Mike asked as Tom came into the command centre they had set up. Lt Commander Burk and Lt Foster had control of the room and all angles covered. Andrea had left to continue her duties of overseeing the repairs of the Nathan James given she was superfluous to the current mission. Mike and Tom would be leaving soon but Mike knew that this end of the mission would run smoothly as Kara and Cameron gelled well together.

"Third degree burns." Tom remarked in a low voice. Mike could tell his friend was hurting from the situation. Dr Clarke's death and Rachel's recovery even though Julian had double crossed them. It left a man a little unravelled especially when the woman he cared about was in withdrawal and not overflowing with good humour or forgiveness.

"Tex called in, seems the compound where Larrin in is going take more bodies and fire power." Mike informed him, leaving the topic of Rachel to another time given he took Tom's response to say Rachel had no useful information.

"We'll give it once we have more information. I'll need to get geared up." Tom remarked.

"Yeah blueberries aren't going to blend in with the forest." Mike commented wryly, Tom gave him a tired smile and nodded.

"How are our people doing?" Tom asked as he looked to the room. He felt a sense of pride at how professional the room was running and that everyone was working well given it was a mix of Nathan James crew and Lt Commander Burk with Air Force personnel. It wasn't always easy to work with new people in a tough mission like this but so far they acted like a well oiled machine.

"A few of them are running already, operators are on their tails. A few are being sent further a field but all good so far. We should have some captured scavengers in the next hour." Mike told him.

"Do we know who's running?" Tom asked, it wasn't relevant for him to know but he wanted to know.

"Miller, Cruz and Carter." Mike informed him.


Miller climbed down over the edge of the cliff and tucked himself into the wall hoping the woman chasing him couldn't see him when she looked over. He had to admit he'd counted on being chased by some terrifying guy but instead it was a 5ft 6 blonde woman in her early forties with a machete and throwing knives. It was all kinds of messed up and damned if she wasn't fast on her feet.

So far he'd managed to only get away with a couple slices on his arm and face but he was not banking on this chase being easy and turning on her was not going to easy either as she knew the terrain better than him. So he was banking on whoever had his back to catch up and subdue her as Miller didn't see it going well for him to take her to the ground. He knew it was sexist but he didn't like the idea of hitting a woman even if she was trying to kill him.

A whistle sounded in the air, Miller pressed himself against the cliff wall as it sounded like the woman was close. She seemed to make a whistle call like a bird. At first he was afraid she had a falcon out there but so far no birds of the avian variety had attacked him.

"You out there Red?" She called, Miller frowned as she wondered how stupid she thought he was to answer her. "I can smell you; your sweat, your fear." She cooed. Miller didn't move, he kept his breathing slow and shallow trying to remain as quiet as possible as he could tell she was very close.


"Eat." Julian told Larrin as they sat at the small room service table with chairs that were in the room. Larrin looked at the porridge and stewed fruit in front of her not really feeling hungry at all. The food looked fine but she just felt miserably ill, she was pretty sure she was coming down with something. It wasn't just the fever that was dragging her down but everything Julian had told her. He told her about the pandemic and how society as she knew it was gone. Gone with it was her way of getting back to Australia and with no means of communication; she had no way of contacting her brother even if he was still stateside. She knew the US military would have him moving around with them doing whatever they could to bring stability to area.

"I'm not feeling well." Larrin answered truthfully.

"Then have some of the toast and juice at least so the Tylenol can help you." Julian said as he rose from his chair. He moved to her side of the table and tried to feel her forehead but Larrin moved away. He gave a sigh. "I'm just trying to help you." he told her.

"I need a doctor." Larrin said swallowing the nausea away momentarily. She was already predicting a 80% of vomit occurring.

"The doctor is on a run for supplies. Let me feel your forehead." he pleaded, Larrin gave a nod and tried to relax. She didn't know why but she just wanted to run for the hills than have him touch her. Her gut just said everything about this place and Julian was wrong. Julian laid a hand on her forehead and Larrin closed her eyes blocking out the fact he was touching her as it made her skin crawl. His hand moved to under her chin and when it lingered too long she pulled her head away and opened her eyes looked at him.

"So?" she asked him, wishing he move away from her.

"You have a temperature. The Tylenol will help but you need to eat some toast and drink some tea. It needs food to work it's magic." Julian said in a caring manner.

"Ok, you know you can go." Larrin told him in a small but dismissive manner. She didn't like his presence. There was just something about him that rubbed her the wrong way but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"I wouldn't leave you alone when you're ill." Julian said.

"I want to be alone and I can take care of myself. Please just go, I need time to myself." Larrin said making it clear she wasn't going to be coddled.

"You remember anything?" he asked her curiously.

"No, but I do know that I prefer to be sick alone. So please just go and let me rest." Larrin told him. He wore a frustrated expression and gave a nod before he left the room. Larrin felt slightly relieved when she heard the click of the lock. She diluted the tea and nibbled on the toast as she racked her brain for memories of Julian. Memories of the past seven months, something but all she got were vague glimpses of things that made no sense.


Wolf looked around the house, it was mid afternoon and there was no progress report. There was no communications as to what the hell was going on with his sister. He couldn't help but understood why his career drove his family insane given he was now on the outside.

Danny's dream of proposing to Kara in the lounge room would come true as the room was almost done. They just had to put another layer of lacquer on the floorboards and air it. Then it'd be done as they had decided they'd leave it to the couple to fill it with furniture. The rest of the house was still an unmitigated mess but the Lounge room and baby room were pretty much done thanks to the help of many sailors from the Nathan James coming in and out to help the project.

"Eat." Barbara told Wolf as she held out a sandwich on a plate to him.

"Not hungry." Wolf said to her too tired and wound up to be polite.

"Don't care much for that attitude." Barbara said in a no nonsense manner, Wolf nodded as he took the plate, he really wasn't hungry but he knew better than to cross Miller's Mum as she was a force to be reckoned with. "We're all worried about those out there but my boy and your sister need us to stay strong." she added.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Wolf said to her as he was being an ass. Ms Miller's son was out there in just as much danger as Larrin and Kat was worried about Tex. They all had someone to worry about at the moment and his attitude wasn't helping any of them but luckily the house gave them something to work out their energy on.