Apocalyptic Beginnings Box Set

by M. D. Massey

  Fidgeting with the handles of the bags, she seemed nervous, then held them up. “Look. I found a bunch of supplies.”

  “Great. Now what do we do?”

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “We can’t leave them!”

  Without aiming, Sophie raised her Sig and took out all four undeads within seconds. They pushed through the door and ran back out front just as their watch alarms went off. Running out the front door in haste, they stumbled over one another. When he helped Sophie to her feet, she again inhaled sharply. Nick, oblivious to her reaction, looked around for Nate.

  “Nate?” Nick yelled. “Nate? Show yourself!” No answer.

  Sophie shook her head. “Let’s just go,” she said, straightening her clothing.

  “We can’t just leave him out here on his own.”

  “Yes, we can. Let’s go.”

  “No. He is a giant pain in the ass, but he’s part of our group. And we can’t just leave him. Henry said we have to stick together. He’ll be dinner for one of those freaks.” Sophie flinched at the word “freaks”.

  “He’s far from being a part of our group! Now get in the bloody truck!”

  “No. We need to at least put forth an effort, Sophie.”

  She rolled her eyes, walked to the driver side of the truck, and opened the door.

  “Get in, or I’m leaving you, as well.”

  “That’s just fucking great! Would you do this to Elaina? Leave her for dead so you can get your claws back into Henry again?”

  “Absolutely not!” She was pissed he would imply she would do such a thing, even though she had already thought of it.

  “What makes her any different? She’s a pain in your ass since she’s with your Henry.”

  Instead of getting into the truck, she slammed the door closed and stormed right up to Nick. “Fuck you,” she growled, jamming her finger into his chest. “You have no idea what I am going through! She has no clue about who Henry really is. I do! We were each other’s first. And if he weren’t forced to leave, we would still be together!”

  “Jealous?”

  “Just get in the fucking truck, or you’ll have to hitch a ride with one of your undead pals!” She pointed over Nick’s right shoulder. He looked behind him. There were three coming right for them.

  “Shit!” Nick quickly headed to the passenger side, stopping abruptly when he saw Nate leaning up against the truck. “Fuck!”

  “Get in!”

  “Nate is over here!”

  “What?” Sophie ran over to the passenger side. There sat Nate, slumped over, his neck torn out. “Shit! He’s going to change! It must have just happened!” Sophie raised her gun.

  “Wait!” Nick looked closer. The back of Nate’s head was blown out, decorating the side of the truck. “He’s true dead.”

  “What? How?” She hoped playing stupid would be effective.

  “Gunshot wound.” He pointed at the truck door. The moaning became louder. Sophie looked up and shot each of the undeads right between the eyes. One by one, they dropped to the ground.

  “Get in the truck!” Sophie sprinted over to the driver’s side.

  Nick picked up Nate’s gun. Then he pulled Nate’s lifeless body away from the truck, took off his pack, and dragged him over to the sidewalk. He stopped for a moment.

  “Nick! Come on!”

  “Give me a second!”

  “We have to move!”

  “I know!” Nick yelled. “God, you are such a tyrannical, psychotic bitch,” he mumbled, returning his attention to Nate’s body. “I’m sorry, Nate. You’re in a better place. I’m sure you will have all the Armani you can handle now.”

  He slipped on Nate’s pack and sprinted to the truck. The second he got in, Sophie floored it, throwing him back into his seat.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Nick yelled, his anger boiling over.

  “He’s true dead. Nothing would have changed that.”

  “If it weren’t for Nate…” He paused.

  “I know, but he was a ticking time bomb.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “He was! He never followed orders!”

  “This is not a goddamned military camp! When will you get that everyone is human?”

  “Not everyone,” Sophie mumbled, her anger burning through.

  “Fine. Not everyone. The undeads are no longer alive, but they were at one time! We are all in the same boat here.”

  Sophie shook her head, pushing away her tears. The tension was thick. They were silent the rest of the way back to Henry’s apartment.

  Even though the tears continued to run down his face, Henry didn’t turn away. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples. He was shattering. He looked lost, unsure, defeated, and destroyed.

  “Henry, what is it?” I felt bad for what I had done. I had ended it, regretting my harsh words. While I had searched for answers, interrogating him, all I did was make him feel even more lost and depressed.

  “There is just so much…,” he croaked out.

  “So much what?”

  “Bullshit. It’s too much. I can’t believe I’m cracking. I’m fucking weak!” He slammed his fist on the counter.

  “Henry, you aren’t a machine. How many times have I told you that? You are human. You are going to crack. Look at what’s going on around us. None of us have been able to keep it together. Every single one of us is all over the map with our emotions right now.”

  “I have never cracked once! Not even when I was beaten to within an inch of my life.” He pounded his fist on the bar. “Damn it!” he yelled. “I looked them in the face, blindfolded or not, while they beat the piss out of me. I never once showed an ounce of fear.”

  He was so angry. I grabbed him in the hopes I could comfort him. He turned into my shoulder. “Elaina…,” he whispered. Good Lord, he was completely shitfaced. “Please take me back. I beg you. I can’t go on without you.” He rested his forehead on the center of my chest. A few sobs escaped him. “I can’t. I love you so much. I can’t…without you…”

  “Shhh… I’m here, lover.” I whispered the same words to him that he said to me on many occasions. I tightened my arms around him. I loved him so much. I just wished he would be truthful with me.

  Henry looked up at me. He seemed to have pocketed his emotional state for the moment. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Out of here? The kitchen?” I hoped he wasn’t implying that we should leave the area.

  “No. This area. It’s killing me. I just need to go where I don’t know anyone. I have shot half the people in my building. Your family, my host family, strangers, children…” He paused.

  He was reeling from all the blood he thought was on his hands. Convincing Henry to stay would pose a major challenge. I still wanted and needed to see if anyone I knew or loved was still alive out there, even though my hopes were dwindling.

  “Henry, this has to be happening everywhere. You said so yourself. If we left, we’d run into the same situation. You know that!”

  The slamming of the door made us all jump. Instinctively, Henry pulled out his Sig and aimed it in that direction. I turned around and saw Sophie and Nick. Henry put his gun in the back of his pants.

  “Nick!” I ran to him, jumping into his arms. I was so glad to see he was back and safe.

  “I’m fine, sis.” Henry and Claire walked up to us.

  “I think we should travel,” Sophie murmured as she touched Henry’s face. I glared at her, ignoring her statement.

  “Where’s Nate?” Claire asked, then it dawned on me that he wasn’t there.

  Sophie cleared her throat. “True dead.” She was so cold about it, almost like it was no big deal. Henry looked at his feet and swallowed hard. “Are you all right, Henry?” She didn’t wait for a response. She dropped her pack and pulled him to her.

  “I’m struggling.”

  Sophie hugged him. I hated to see her show affection for him. It lit my fuse,
igniting a white-hot blaze. I didn’t know why, but my jealousy lingered, even though he confessed his undying love to me over and over again.

  “Wait!” Claire yelled. “Will one of you tell us what the hell happened to Nate?”

  Sophie sighed. Claire and I looked at Nick for an explanation. “Sophie and I went into the blood bank to check for medical supplies.”

  “So you were looting. Let’s just say what it really is,” Claire snipped. I was clueless as to why the idea of stealing still bothered her. It was necessary for survival. To be frank, it had been difficult to get used to.

  “Yes. Looting.” He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, Nate stayed outside to stand guard.”

  “Why did you leave him? He wasn’t capable of taking care of himself!” I yelled.

  Nick looked away from my gaze. “I know. I didn’t feel right about it,” he mumbled.

  “Then why did you do it?” I grew angrier by the second. As shitty as Nate acted, I still felt grateful to him. If it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t have my brother.

  “I don’t know! Okay?! When we came back out, he was missing. We saw a few undeads roaming about. We went back to the truck, and he was sitting on the ground with his throat torn out. He must have blown his brains out after he got bitten.”

  “Wait… I’m confused,” chimed in Claire. “So he was bitten, then shot himself? How is that possible? Don’t they usually feast? And why wouldn’t he shoot the undeads before they got to him?”

  “I don’t know,” Nick said, sounding ashamed. We glanced back to get answers from Henry and Sophie, but they were no longer there. We all looked at one another.

  “Where did they go?” I stormed down the hallway, yelling for Henry, Nick and Claire hot on my heels.

  Chapter 13

  “So you just left him to fend for himself?” Henry asked as he sat on the edge of the vanity, crossing his arms.

  “Yeah. I guess it didn’t work out for him.” Sophie shrugged, then grinned.

  “Ugh! Sophie! You have to be more careful. Someone could have seen you.”

  “Who? There was no one around but undeads.”

  Henry threw his arms up in the air. “Nick could have seen!”

  “I had already sent him down the hall.”

  “He didn’t see you go back out?”

  “No. Once I heard the door swing shut, I waited a minute, then hauled arse back outside. Then I took care of him.” She smirked.

  “Good god, Sophie.”

  “What? I needed to get my fix! I was feeling it. Oh, and I brought you a tiny gift.” Sophie pulled a vial of blood from her cleavage and winked at Henry. “Sorry, it’s a bit chilled now, but not too bad. Drink up. This will help you perk up. Lord knows all that bloody alcohol isn’t doing anything for you.”

  Henry reached for the vial. “Thanks. It’s not too cold. Refrigerated is the worst.” He popped open the vial and tipped it back, like he was doing a shot of tequila. Then he recapped the vial and handed it back to her, shuddering.

  His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he relaxed a little. Between the alcohol and the donation, he started to drift. He wished he and Elaina were on good terms. He really wanted to lay down with her. Not for sex. He just wanted to hold her like he used to.

  “You really need to be more careful.” Henry’s words were breathy. “We need to get out of here. There aren’t enough clean donors around this area. Plus, we need to find Gunther so we can take him out.” His words ended in a growl.

  “I know.”

  “The trouble is going to be convincing the others.”

  Once I realized they had disappeared again, I went looking for Henry and Sophie. I listened at the bathroom door and heard Henry say something about convincing us. Why everyone decided to have their private conversations in the bathroom was beyond me. I whipped open the door.

  “Convince us of what?”

  Henry and Sophie looked at each other. I was pretty sure I startled them again. Obviously, they were up to something. Henry took a slow, deep breath.

  “To travel.” Sophie said. “We believe we should travel.”

  She grinned, making me want to throat punch her again. I was getting sick of that feeling.

  In all honesty, I didn’t know what would be best for us as a group, but I wasn’t convinced traveling would be the greatest idea.

  “Why? I think we would find this amount of devastation anywhere we go.” I folded my arms in front of my chest, putting on my best “fuck you” smile.

  “Not necessarily. Gunther may have secured a larger area. He probably has better help, too.”

  “Really?” I was pissed. I thought I was doing a good job, considering I was the one who shot Jacob so he would let her go. For the most part, I thought we were all doing a fine job, considering.

  “That’s not what she meant,” Henry snipped.

  I glared at him. “Then what exactly did she mean, Henry? Why is getting to Gunther so important?”

  “He has the most experience…and some tools that are quite valuable,” Sophie purred.

  I rolled my eyes and looked at Henry. “I thought you were the be-all, end-all of this entire situation.”

  “Henry is amazing, as you know.” And there it was again. If she didn’t stop referring to my man in a sexual manner, I was going to snap. I knew she was doing it on purpose, but I was quite sick of it. “And he understands a lot of what’s going on, but Gunther just has that little bit extra that Henry doesn’t.”

  Could the conversation have been any more implying? She really seemed to prefer Gunther’s “tools” and “abilities” over Henry’s, which was nothing I would complain about. He had kept me quite happy. I wondered how many of the recruits and trainers she willingly did the “horizontal tango” with.

  “I just don’t get it.”

  In all honesty, I wasn’t trying to be a hard ass. From the beginning, I got the impression Henry was the best of the best. I wanted to believe that. He had shown signs of weakness, but he was human. Training or not, we would all crack under the pressure he had put on himself. Lips trembling, I felt myself crumbling, chewing the inside of my cheek.

  “Well, can Claire, Nick, and I discuss this in private?”

  “If it makes you feel better.” I was sick of Sophie’s attitude.

  “Yeah, it would actually.” She seemed to forget I owned the attitude around there. She needed to pay me royalties if she wanted to borrow it, even for a moment.

  “Any decision made should go through Henry.” She quirked a brow and rested her dagger-clawed hands on her hips. “After all, he is our leader.”

  “Yeah, well, I think the three of us should discuss this alone for a minute to see if we’re all on the same page.”

  “Ah yes. The great divide. Suit yourself.” Sophie shrugged. She grabbed Henry by the hand and dragged him out of the bathroom, Nick and Claire walking in.

  As he walked away, Henry looked back at me, a pained expression on his face. I knew he truly felt like he was losing me forever. I loved him with everything I had, but I wasn’t sure where we were going in our relationship anymore.

  I slammed the door closed.

  “Let’s discuss this quickly and quietly.” Nick and Claire nodded. “Tell me what you think.”

  I looked at Nick. “Well, I don’t know. One part of me says what do we have to lose, besides each other? The other part wants to stick around and make our way back to our families’ homes to see if there are any survivors.”

  I looked over at Claire. “Elaina, whatever you decide, I will have your back one hundred percent. But let me just say that I think this is it. This is all we have. Our other option is we stay, they go.”

  My body went rigid. I was pretty sure I couldn’t handle being away from Henry, regardless of our relationship status.

  “Would they just leave us unable to protect ourselves, though?” Nick asked.

  “I doubt that.” Claire pointed at me. “Henry loves her dearly. I don’t think
he would leave her high and dry. Or leave her period…even if they are, seemingly, on the outs right now.” Nick raised his eyebrow at me, and I looked down. “He’d probably drag her out kicking and screaming.”

  “Are you okay, Elaina?” Nick reached out and touched my arm. “Did you two break up?”

  “I gave him back the ring.” I held up my left hand. He raised his eyebrows. “I can’t handle his lying anymore. And I know he’s hiding something.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest and clenched my teeth together so that I wouldn’t cry again.

  “Wow. I don’t know what to say.” I think he was trying to decide whether he wanted to hug me or kick Henry’s ass.

  “Me, either.” It killed me as much as it killed Henry. A part of me thought he would just stay there with me, but the other part feared he would go off into the sunset with Sophie. I was torn.

  “We need to decide,” I said. “What’s left here? If anything, we will eventually need to travel to get supplies. I think we looted nearly every building here, except a few apartment buildings.”

  “Right.” Nick tucked his hands into his pockets as he spoke. “Valid point. Let’s vote. Majority rules.”

  “Is this even a democracy anymore? I feel like King Henry and Queen Sophie are calling all the shots here, and we are the jesters who provide them with entertainment.” Nick and I looked at Claire, jaws open. This whole situation turned even the most proper people into cynical, snarky bitches.

  “Do we stay?” I asked. The three of us looked at each other. Nick and Claire were still working it through their heads, much like I was.

  “Travel?” There was a pregnant pause, then we nodded at one another.

  We headed back out to the kitchen where Sophie and Henry checked over the guns and stuffed the packs with necessities. Henry looked up when he saw us coming down the hallway.

  “Well?” he asked, apprehension in his voice. We locked gazes for a moment.

  “We will travel.”

  Henry dropped the supplies he was about to put in the pack and ran up to me. He reeked of booze. “Really, love? I’m so relieved. You have no idea how worried I was that you would want to stay.”