V-Day: (M-Day #4) (6 page)

“
What the fuck?
”
I muttered, unable to stop myself. The I-Man growled low in his throat, the sound barely human as he pulled the woman
’
s shorts down and started licking her snatch right there in front of everyone.

She raised her gaze to mine.
“
See? He
’
s a good little, Fido
—
so good. All of our I-Men are.
”
She threaded her fingers in his hair and moaned, some of the other women giggled.

I felt like I
’
d stepped into some kind of fucked up porn.
Maybe I
’
m still unconscious. That would make a helluva lot more sense than what I think I
’
m seeing right now.

“
You
’
re probably a bit confused,
”
Tasha said, amusement twined into her tone.

“
Yeah, you could say that.
”
Understatement of the year.

“
Instead of explaining I
’
ll just show you, and then we can have our talk. I wasn
’
t planning on springing the presence of our I-Men on you so suddenly after what happened. But Michelle doesn
’
t have much restraint today, it seems.
”
Tasha stood and motioned for me to follow her.
“
Come on.
”

I forced my gaze away from Michelle, whose head was now thrown back in ecstasy, and shuffled along behind Tasha.

This better be one hell of an explanation.

I shook my head to dislodge the images of the I-Man and Michelle from my mind, instantly regretting the motion as a wave of dizziness coursed through me. I involuntarily leaned against the closest wall, squeezing my eyes shut as I rode out the sensation.

“
You okay? Maybe this is all too soon for you?
”
I blinked Tasha
’
s concerned face into focus.

“
No. I need answers.
”
And there was no way in hell I was going to wait to get them.

Tasha gnawed on her lower lip, studying me. Whatever she saw in my expression seemed to satisfy her. She turned and walked slowly down the hall, pausing in front of a door that looked like it led to a basement or rec room of some sort. It was amazing to me how normal and homey the house we were in felt. It freaked me out more than anything else I
’
d come across in a long time.

“
I just want you to know that you have nothing to fear from our I-Men, they
’
re very well trained,
”
Tasha said, before disappearing down the stairs.

I only hesitated a moment before following her. Each step was taken tentatively, me more than a bit afraid of what I was about to face. After what I
’
d just witnessed with Michelle and the I-Man in the dining room, I wasn
’
t sure all the women in this house were sane. And something I
’
d learned the hard way was that you just didn
’
t mess with the insane. You ran the other way.

“
Oh my God.
”
I sucked in a sharp breath, my chest tightening with alarm. No less than twelve pair of ice blue eyes turned to stare at me. More flashes of me on the bathroom floor assaulted me, and I backed up a few steps, trying not to hyperventilate.

“
They won
’
t hurt you, Vi, I promise.
”
Tasha smiled as she walked right into the center of the room.
“
Isn
’
t that right, my little pets?
”
She stroked her hand over one of the I-Men, a particularly large one, who pressed into her touch, needy, like an actual pet of some sort.
“
Who
’
s a good boy? Huh? Who
’
s a good boy?
”
she cooed, using a parody of the tone I used with Cujo.

I was having trouble processing. I clutched at the railing on the stairs.
“
I don
’
t understand,
”
I croaked. None of them were chained, or restrained in any way, nor did they have any clothes on. They were all just sitting around like it was completely normal
—
like they weren
’
t savages because of the infection that had changed them.
Sick. It
’
s all fucking sick and twisted, and they
’
ve all lost their damn minds.

“
They belong to us. They do want we want
—
protect us from other I-Men
—
because we give them what they want.
”

I was almost afraid to ask, pretty sure I already knew, but I did anyways.
“
And what
’
s that?
”

Tasha grinned.
“
Sex.
”
She patted another I-Man on the head like a dog.
“
Just like wild animals I-Men can be domesticated. Tell her, Rex.
”

The I-Man stood, his name Rex apparently. His eyes roamed over my body, which made me want to shrink away from him. Of course I stood my ground regardless. I refused to cower. I wasn
’
t broken, not by a long shot.
My mind is more powerful than my body. Stuff the fear down in that box with everything else.
“
Yeah, we protect our masters, make sure no one takes what
’
s ours, and we get lots of sex.
”
Low laughter echoed through the room. I ground my teeth together, and my nails dug into my palms sharply.

“
Why not just take it like the other I-Men?
”
The words popped from my mouth without thought.
Shit.

Tasha laughed.
“
It
’
s okay. I would wonder the same thing in your position.
”

“
So? Why?
”

“
Because we made them.
”

What? I had to have hit my head harder than I think. I have serious brain trauma to think I heard what she just said.
“
What the hell does that mean?
”

She raised her arms and spun in a circle, definitely not helping to dispel my suspicions of any insanity issues.
“
All of these men were uninfected, but we knew
—
we knew it was only a matter of time, so we infected them ourselves and trained them from day one. I guess you could say we bred them.
”

Hence the dog names.
Shock and revulsion rolled through me.
“
Why would you do that?
”
I
’
d never considered the possibility that my brothers could have been uninfected initially and had it forced upon them. How could I?

My gaze swung around the room, my heart thrashing against my ribcage. Were there more of them? What if my brothers were among them?
I
’
ll kill every single one of these crazy bitches with my bare hands if they infected my brothers. And Riley
…
what if he
’
s here too?
I clutched at my chest, trying to breathe normally, and failing horribly.
“
Why? Why would you do that?
”
I calmed a smidgen when I didn
’
t recognize any faces in the crowd. I silently prayed that there were no more of them in any other part of the house.

Tasha
’
s grin dropped into a scowl.
“
Why? Because we were tired of being victims. I thought you would understand. Every single one of the women in this house would have been died brutally in different ways. Some are survivors like you, too. But all of them were abused by I-Men.
”
She stalked towards me, her eyes filled with rage.
“
Emily was raped repeatedly right in front of me, and I couldn
’
t
—”
Her voice cracked.
“
I couldn
’
t stop it
—
couldn
’
t save her.
”

In that moment I understood everything. The victims had become the abusers, although they didn
’
t see it that way. They saw it as empowering themselves. Two wrongs never made a right though. I backed away slowly.
“
You stole any chance the uninfected had for survival. You stole
—”

“
We stole nothing that shouldn
’
t already belong to us!
”

I raised my hands in surrender.
“
Okay. Fine. It
’
s just
—
I don
’
t
—”
I needed to stay on Tasha
’
s good side, who seemed to be the leader of the group, at least until I was well enough to strike out on my own again. I
’
d just stuck my foot into my mouth up to the knee and I needed to fix things fast. I was pigheaded sometimes but not a complete idiot.

I inhaled sharply and screamed, the sound hurting my skull. I clutched at my head, before tugging on the ends of my hair.
“
How could you make more of them? How could you make more? Get them away! Get them away!
”
Internally I was cringing at my need for dramatics, but honestly, one really shouldn
’
t mess with crazy people. Tasha didn
’
t seem quite rational, to say the least. I knew if I pretended to be utterly freaked out it would soften Tasha towards me again, and hopefully keep me safe.
“
Get them away!
”
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced tears to form.
“
Get them away!
”
I waved my hands frantically in the air.

I smothered a smile when Tasha
’
s arms came around me.
“
It
’
s okay, Vi. I
’
m sorry. I should have realized it was too soon for you to see any of this. Come on, back to bed for you.
”

I allowed her to lead me upstairs where Cujo was waiting for me to cuddle with her. She was my comfort
—
my only comfort in a world that kept getting worse.

I could really use some of your words of optimism right about now, Ty
. My twin
’
s jovial grin flashed across my mind, causing a sob to escape from me.
What if he
’
s somewhere with monsters just like in this house? What if I
’
m too late?

I
’
d known since day one what I
’
d been dealing with when it came to the infected. I
’
d never stopped to consider that they weren
’
t the only monsters out there.
Maybe the Doc was right after all
—
maybe the human race is nothing but a virus on this planet. Maybe we deserved what Men-V brought us.

My dreams were muddled, bits and pieces of memories interwoven with fears to create epic nightmares.

Michelle raised her gaze to mine.
“
See? He
’
s a good little, Fido
—
so good. All of our I-Men are.
”
She threaded her fingers in his hair and moaned, some of the other women giggled. The I-Man raised his head, his features glazed over with lust, but they were familiar
—
too familiar. It was the face of the one and only man I
’
d ever loved
—
the one who
’
d stolen my heart when I was a kid and never given it back.