Caitlin’s stare bounced between the two men. For a moment she thought about bribing her freedom from them with the Vicodin but decided against it. They wouldn’t get a thing from her.
Mack turned to look at her. “What you really got in that bag, huh?”
“Nothing you want.”
“Oh?” Mack took a step forward. “You sure about that?”
Earl was circling behind her while Mack moved closer. They were pinning her between them.
“Betcha she took it,” Earl said, boots scuffing on the tile.
“Betcha she’s got somethin’ good in there,” Mack added, eyeing her bag.
“I don’t have anything, you assholes.”
“Oh, she’s a live one, Earl.” Mack chuckled, glancing at his buddy. “You’re sure holdin’ onto that pack awfully tight.”
Caitlin didn’t even blink.
Show no fear.
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” she said. “Like I said, I was just leaving.”
“’Cept you might be leavin’ with what we want.”
Trying not to curl her lip, she said, “I don’t have any OxyContin.”
Earl slammed his fist against the shelf, making her jump.
“Then where’d it all go?”
Idiots. Two pill popping idiots.
“Probably with one of the other hundreds of people who looted this place,” she snapped, glaring over her shoulder. “Looks like you boys were too late.” Gaze shifting to Mack, she added, “Now, I have somewhere to be. So—”
Mack lifted the tire iron he’d been carrying, pointing it at her. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere ‘til we look in that bag.”
“I’ve got a water bottle, a granola bar, and a map.” She pegged him with a hard stare. “Are you really gonna kill me over that?”
His grin was jagged and pure evil. “You think I ain’t killed for less?”
Caitlin’s blood ran cold. These were not men she could bargain with, reason with, or even appeal to their selfish natures. They would take whatever they could from her, and that wasn’t limited to narcotics.
Before she could react, Earl was shoving her forward, grabbing her pack off her shoulder. Mack caught her as she stumbled, twisting her around and holding her by the throat.
“Gotcha,” he laughed in her ear.
As she struggled against him, Earl unzipped her bag to find the Ziploc filled with pills.
“Looks like you’re a lyin’ bitch,” Mack snarled.
“It’s antibiotics,” she told them, straining with his hand around her windpipe.
Earl shook the bag and Mack tsked.
“Yeah, and I’m Santa Claus.”
If someone’s got you from behind, whaddya do? Booker’s voice echoed, the self-defense lessons he gave her rushing back. Easiest parts of a man to hit are his feet, his shins, his groin, his nose.
Mack laughed next to her head, breath just as rank as Earl’s. Caitlin forced herself to inhale deeply, steadying herself.
Strongest weapons you got are already apart of you. Heels, elbows, skull. G’head, show me.
She closed her eyes.
Show ‘em, Cae.
Caitlin brought her heel down on Mack’s toe, and the man yelled. Before he knew what was happening, she reared back, slamming the back of her head into his nose. Blood splattered onto her shoulder as he screamed. With as much force as she could gather, Caitlin jabbed her elbow into his side, and then again lower, and Mack buckled like he was made of popsicle sticks.
“Fuck you!” He rolled on the floor, arms doubled over his groin.
Earl dropped her stuff, rushing for her.
Keep your thumb over those two knuckles, don’t aim for the jaw, go for the nose.
She did just that—Fist colliding with Earl’s nose with a sickening crunch. Blood poured over her hand and down his face as he toppled.
While the men reeled from their injuries, Caitlin ran to gather up her stuff, shoving all the medicine back into her bag.
“You fuckin’ bitch!” Mack yelled, forcing himself to his knees. “I’ll kill you!”
She started to run but Earl grabbed her ankle and she tripped, sprawling on the floor. Kicking out, her heel landed against Earl’s thumb, and she heard it snap. He screamed and let go.
Scrambling, she grabbed her bag and darted for the exit.
Shocking pain lanced up the back of her head and for a split second, her vision was black. Caitlin dropped to the floor again, clutching her head.
The clatter of metal was the only clue as to what hit her. Mack had thrown his tire iron.
Her ears rang, and she curled onto her side as blood seeped through her fingers.
Booker... She had to get back to Booker.
Flipping onto her stomach, she clawed at the tile, dragging herself forward.
“I’ll kill you,” Mack was shouting but it sounded distant to her. “You think you can get away from me?”
The pain was so intense it made her queasy, but Caitlin kept moving, kept pushing onto her hands and knees. Her pack had skidded under a shelf, but she could see it through her tunneling vision.
A hand was on her leg, yanking her backwards. She screamed, flailing her arms out, trying to grab onto anything.
Her fingers circled around something heavy and solid and she twisted, trying to stop herself before she was too close to her attacker.
She registered the sound before anything else.
Like ice crunching under a steel-toed boot.
Blinking, she could finally focus. Could finally see what she’d swung, and what she’d hit.
Mack’s tire iron was bloody and clutched in her hand.
His head was split, gushing red like something out of a horror movie.
Mouth gaping, he collapsed in a heap next to her, unmoving.
If he wasn’t dead, he would be soon.
Gasping, Caitlin pushed away from his body, forcing her feet under her. She was finally upright, but she was swaying violently as she ran to grab her pack.
She heard Earl yelling behind her. He was calling out for Mack, screaming at her, saying she’d killed him.
Better him than her.
Retrieving her backpack, she yanked it onto her shoulder and stopped.
She was injured, concussed, weak. She’d just murdered a man, and his friend was close to coming after her.
Her gaze drifted towards the front of the store.
At first, she thought the shadows were spots in her vision, but when she focused, she could make out the heads and hands all bobbing and grabbing at the windows and doors.
Geeks. A horde of them.
The commotion from their fight had gotten the attention of all the undead nearby.
Before she could even take a breath, the glass shattered, and dozens of decaying bodies tumbled inside.
Earl was closer now, but the impending swarm of zombies had stopped him in his tracks.
Caitlin’s hand found the revolver in the front pocket of her bag, her gaze never straying from the wall of Geeks moving through the store. Swiftly, she yanked it free and pulled back the hammer.
Booker always said she didn’t have it in her to kill. She wasn’t cold enough, wasn’t self-serving enough.
But her hands were caked in evidence to the contrary.
And she’d promised to make it home to him.
Turning her head, she found her target, aimed for Earl’s knee, and pulled the trigger.
To Be Continued…
Look for our heroes in Blood Moon, coming in 2019
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Bloody Sunrise: A Zombie Apocalypse Romance Page 17