Page 68 of Night of the Living Manny
Thank God for all the protocols they’d put in place.
Then he looked at his equipment. Okay. Okay, he could handle this. This he knew.
Time to save the world.
BRENDENpulled into the garage and sat there with his hands on the wheel for a long moment. He couldn’t stay in there long or the kids would come looking, and he needed them to stay away from the car until he looked it over.
Christ.
He didn’t want to hurt those kids, but he was going to have to tell them.
He’d stopped to get gas in the cans, so they had more for the generator. That was a good thing, at least. He climbed out of the Hummer so he could head inside.
Susanna met him at the door. “Where is he?”
“The military took him. He called, and they showed up out of nowhere.”
“What? You let them? You let them take him?”
“He didn’t give me a choice. You were more important to him than anything.” He wasn’t gonna lie, but he didn’t have to defend his, or Liam’s, choices to anyone.
“But….” She stared at him, a shocked fury in her eyes.
“Susanna, I’m sorry. He said to keep you safe, and that’s what I’m going to do.” Brenden stared back. She was so close to being an adult, but he needed her to trust him.
“You asshole. You were supposed to bring him back.”
“You think I don’t know that?” He kept his voice dead even and kept looking her right in the eye.
“I need him. Britt’s just a baby. I can’t raise her and Peter. I don’t know how.”
“I won’t let you down, Susanna. We’ll find him.” He said it, and he knew that was what they would do. They would need to plan, and he had to figure out how to keep them all safe, but he would do it.
“You don’t have to stay. You can just leave us here.”
“Susanna.” He didn’t reach for her, but he held his hands out at his sides. “I don’t have anywhere else to go. You guys are all I have.”
She searched his face. “You promise? You’re not going to leave me here to do this?”
“I promise. No matter what. You’re family to me now, okay?” He meant it with everything in him, and he willed her to believe it too.
“If you’re lying….” She came to him this time, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Did they kill him?”
“No. They took him. I have his sample, though. We need to test his antidote before we make any other plans.” He hugged her hard, tears streaming down his cheeks too.
“This is no fair. Not at all.” She held on to him, letting him comfort her.
“No. It sucks balls.”
She gave a watery giggle. “Yeah.”
“Okay. We tell Peter and Britt that he went willingly, okay?”
Susanna nodded. “I hate to lie to them, but they’ll be so scared.”
“I know. Then you need to start researching for me. Where would they take him? I’ll go to the basement and try to figure out how to test the sample.”
“Okay. He’ll send a message, if he can. I know Daddy. He’ll get ahold of us.”
