Chapter 5: Don't Trust Anyone

POV: Avery

"You came," the woman said. "My name is Vanessa. I thought you won't come." 

She was standing in the middle of the room on the second floor of the factory.

I stayed near the door with my hand on the gun inside my jacket. 

I had bought it from the thug down the rough neighbourhood before coming here.

Five more people sat in a circle on the floor, and all of them turned to look at me.

I told myself I would only listen. If it was a trap, I had my gun.

"Were you the one who called me the other day?" I asked.

"I am." Vanessa pointed around the circle. "That is Victor, Helen, Tyler and Nathan." Then she nodded at a man sitting alone in the corner. "And that is Elliot."

The others smiled at me, but Elliot didn't. He just watched me with calm eyes, like he was measuring me. I looked away first.

"Why am I here?" I asked.

"Because we're all the same," Vanessa said. "Everyone in this room died in the apocalypse and came back. So apparently we were all reborn."

My chest went tight. She already said over the phone, but hearing it said out loud made it real.

"We came back at different times," Helen said gently. "Vanessa got six months, and I got three. You only got two weeks, so you need us more than we need you."

"We should help each other," Victor added. "Alone, we can last a few weeks. Together, we can survive long enough to find out why we came back."

"Help each other how?" I asked.

Vanessa smiled. "You paid three million dollars, cash for a concrete warehouse with generators and food. That is the best shelter in the city, and you have it all to yourself."

The room went quiet and my stomach dropped. Only one person could have told them that, and I knew it was Walter. "She's rich now," Tyler said. "Let her share."

"No," I said. "I came back to live, not to babysit strangers. In my last life, I trusted my own family and they let me freeze."

"Think carefully, Avery," Vanessa said. Her voice was still soft, but her eyes were not.

"I said no. If this is your negotiation, then I am not interested. I thought we were benefiting something from each other. But you guys just want to rip me off.” I turned to leave when Tyler moved at me.

He grabbed my arm and pulled the gun out of my jacket. I hit his hand, but Nathan twisted my arm behind my back and pain shot up to my shoulder.

In seconds, everyone stood up and made a circle around me, everyone except Elliot, who stayed on the floor. 

"Then we'll take it," Vanessa said. "You will give us your code."

"Kill me if you want," I said. My voice shook, but I didn't step back. "My door needs my code and my thumbprint, and it locks harder after each wrong try. If I die, nobody gets in, and all of you will freeze."

Vanessa's smile went away. "Tie her up."

"Vanessa, this is too much," Helen said quietly. "We can still talk." 

"Quiet, Helen," Vanessa snapped. "Do you want to freeze? Remember your daughter too."

Victor opened his mouth to say something, but Tyler was already tying my wrists with rope. I kicked and screamed, but Nathan held my legs.

They pushed me into a van and Victor drove towards my warehouse. My wrists burned from the rope. I kept telling myself that I didn't come back from death to die tied up in a stranger's van.

But somehow within the chaos, Elliot wasn't talking. That was when I figured out that he's not even inside the van.

At my warehouse, they threw me against the steel door. The wind was cold that night, but nothing like the cold in my last life. My hands were tied behind me and my fingers were numb.

Vanessa took a small black device from her bag, with two wires and sticky pads. She pressed the pads against my ribs. "This will hurt," she said. "I will stop when you give me the code."

I thought of the cabin, my family and ex husband cruelty. I had died once because I begged. I wasn't going to give them anything.

"You think you're special?" Vanessa asked. "We are all reborn. Only you are stupid enough to refuse." 

"If I'm stupid, why are you the one begging for my door?" I said. "Go to hell."

She flipped the switch, pain tore through my whole body, and my back hit the door so hard it rang. I screamed until my throat burned.

"The code," Vanessa said.

"No," I spat back in agony.

She shocked me again, and again. My body shook and shook. I would bite my tongue each time I thought I would pass out.

Tyler dragged my thumb to the keypad. With shaking fingers, I pressed the wrong codes on purpose. The lock beeped loudly and flashed red. It refused.

"She's lying!" Vanessa shouted, and she raised the device again.

Then a single gunshot echoed and everybody froze. Vanessa's eyes went wide. She looked down at her chest, then fell sideways onto the ground. 

Tyler, Helen, and Nathan screamed and ran different directions. I lay against the door, gasping and shaking. Victor, who was still in the car sped off.

Slow footsteps came closer. Then a tall figure stepped closer with a gun in his hand. It was Elliot.

I tried to crawl away, but my body wouldn't move. He lifted his free hand slowly. "If I wanted you dead, I would have let her finish," he said.

He knelt beside me, pulled the pads off my ribs and cut the rope on my wrists. His hands were careful, but his face was cold. "Hope you're safe," he said.

I pushed myself up against the door, every part of me aching. "Who are you?" I whispered. "And what do you want from me?"

Elliot chuckled quietly. "First rule: Anybody who tells you he or she is reborn, don't trust or believe whatever the person says or do." He looked straight into my eyes.

“And for your question.” He continued. “Who am I? I am Elliot and I was reborn too." Then he smirked.