Seraphina's Revenge: A Rebirth In The Apocalypse Novel

Chapter 95: Radio Silence

The road into City D Crossing was a slow crawl over salt-bitten pavement, snow drifts on the highway the height of a car, and the wind-polished ice that was hidden under the snow. The Hummer’s tires rumbled low, its weight keeping it steady where a lighter vehicle would have already ended up in the rhubarb at this point.

Sera sat in the back seat between Elias and Alexei, the center belt crossing her chest but doing nothing to keep her from leaning forward slightly to see out the windshield. Elias was on her right, silent and still as stone, his gloved hands resting loosely on his knees, but the energy came off of him in waves.

To her left, Alexei sat, his arm braced along the door, as his eyes flicked over the passing buildings with the kind of casual alertness that wasn’t casual at all.

In the passenger seat, Zubair scanned the sidewalks the way a man did when every window might hide a rifle barrel. Lachlan drove, his grip light but precise and his shoulders loose despite the constant twitch of his eyes from road to rearview.

It was like they were preparing for war, and Sera couldn’t help but enjoy studying their reactions to their environment.

City D Crossing had always been noisy. The wide lanes were built for shoppers, not survivors, which meant that they were designed to funnel streams of cars into sprawling lots. In winter, the air used to be full of exhaust from delivery trucks, the clatter of carts, people calling to each other over the wind. Now there was nothing but the hiss of tires and the slap of an old plastic Halloween banner half-torn from a storefront window.

Most of the big-box stores still wore their familiar logos, but the windows were black or covered in warped plywood. A few entrances gaped open like dark mouths spilling stale air into the cold.

The Hummer rolled past a coffee shop, its windows coated from the inside with frost so thick it looked like painted glass. Beyond it, the shadowed shell of a grocery store sagged under a roof crusted in ice.

All of a sudden, a phone rang. The sound was so abrupt in the quiet hum of the vehicle that everyone’s head turned slightly to look at Sera. Even Alexei raised an eyebrow as if asking if she was getting that or not.

Sera’s hand was already in her jacket pocket before she even thought about it. She didn’t remember slipping the phone in before they left. Maybe it was habit — the same instinct that had her checking the edge on her knives before stepping outside. Her thumb swiped the screen without hesitation.

"Hello?" she said, not bothering to check to see who it was before answering the call.

"Sera!" Her mother’s voice burst through, bright and effusive, like she’d been holding it in for weeks. "Oh my god, you picked up. I wasn’t sure if—"

"Mom?" Sera straightened in her seat, her voice flat with surprise. "Where are you? Are you guys okay?"

"Oh, we’re fine," her mother rushed, and the relief in her tone was almost giddy. "Your father’s company grabbed us on the second of November and whisked us away. I am so sorry I didn’t call until now, but they insisted on radio silence."

Sera frowned, her gaze still on the road ahead. "The university insisted on radio silence?" she confirmed, her brows wrinkling.

Her mother laughed, light and dismissive. "No, silly. I guess I didn’t tell you before — that big project we mentioned? That was for a different company. He hasn’t been working for the university for months."

A muscle in Sera’s jaw tightened. "Where exactly are you?"

"Oh, we can’t tell you that," her mother said cheerfully, as if secrecy were nothing more than a game. "I wish I could, but national security and all that. But you wouldn’t believe this apartment they’ve put us in. Huge windows, a kitchen twice the size of the old one. And Nathaniel—"

Sera kept her voice even. "Nathaniel?"

"Yes! Your sister was in town with him when they came for us, so the company brought them, too. He’s been running all over the place. You’d think we’d fed him pure sugar for a week straight. Nadia’s thrilled, of course. She says it’s like a vacation. Oh, and you should see the furniture! All brand new. It’s just... wonderful, Sera."

Her fingers tightened around the phone. A month. They’d been sitting in comfort for a month before picking up the phone.

"I know you’re perfectly safe at the university," her mother went on, her tone warm, almost indulgent. "You’re probably living the high life, right?"

Sera smiled faintly, though it didn’t touch her eyes. "I am, Mom. Just hanging out with some friends and my old roommate."

"That’s my girl." Her mother’s laugh was soft, pleased. "We’ll talk soon. Love you."

"Love you too."

The call ended, the warmth in her mother’s voice snuffed out as quickly as it had come.

Sera set the phone in the cup holder between the front seats, her face giving away nothing. Inside, her gut twisted, a slow tightening coil.

It had always been instinct to please them... especially her father. It was like she had some type of compulsion to do whatever it took to avoid that heavy, cold disappointment in their eyes. They wanted her when no one else did. When her own birth mother set her aside, her adoptive parents too her in and loved her.

But at the same time, she wasn’t the same girl who’d twisted herself into knots for a kind word. Being reborn had shown her exactly where she stood. Still, hearing it laid out so plainly, even if that wasn’t her mother’s intention, that their happiness was complete with Nadia and Nathaniel with them, that she hadn’t crossed their minds enough to warrant a call for weeks made her feel small in a way she hated.

From the driver’s seat, Lachlan glanced at her briefly. "You okay?"

"Of course. My parents have their daughter with them, why would I not be happy for them?"

Alexei turned his head slightly toward her. "Aren’t you their daughter, too?"

"I used to think that," Sera said, her voice even but quiet. "But I think I’ve disappointed them one too many times in the past year for me to qualify as family anymore."

Neither man spoke after that. Elias didn’t move, but she could feel his gaze slide toward her before he looked back out the window.

The Hummer slowed as Lachlan pulled into the lot of the hardware store. The automatic doors were jammed halfway open, snow drifted in thin lines across the entrance.

Sera unbuckled her belt, pushing the cold feeling in her chest down where it couldn’t be touched. "Let’s get this over with."