by Siara Brandt
That was an even worse idea.
He clamped his teeth together tighter than a vise to keep from crying out as the infernal, flesh-eating little spikes dug in even more tenaciously as the wire tightened around him like greedy, grasping tentacles.
He was in a hell of a mess.
In fact, he was in so much pain that at first he wasn’t even aware of the woman looking over the edge of the wash above him. When he finally did manage to look up and focus, he heard, “Stay where you are. I’ll be right down to help you.”
Stay where he was? Was she for real? Surely, even from up above, she could see that he didn’t have much choice there. And help him? She was the reason he was down here in the first place. Not only had she tried to stab him repeatedly with her knife, she’d bit him and hurled a club at his chest like she was some kind of deranged wild woman. Now he was supposed to believe she was going to help him? Well, he’d have a few things to say to her when, and if, she got down here. Right now he gritted his teeth and ground out another curse as she vanished from sight.
Getting down on her hands and knees, Sidra could see the man below her. The moonlight, where it shown through the branches, was bright enough for her to see that he was partially buried under a thick pile of leaves. She could also clearly see the glistening loops of barbed wire sticking up out of the leaves everywhere. He wasn’t moving, so she assumed that he was caught fast. Or surely he would have gotten up by now. He looked like a marionette with the strings tangled and pulled too tightly. Whether he was a threat or not, whether he was a Mulada soldier or not, she had to help him. She couldn’t just leave him down there like that. He had saved her from the other man. Hadn’t he?
She found the best place to climb down and clambered over the edge of the wash. She continued to slide downward, careful to avoid the loops of barbed wire which seemed to be everywhere. The wash wasn’t that deep, but it was deep enough that she couldn’t see over the edge above her anymore when her feet hit the bottom. When she finally stopped sliding, she braced herself and faced the man. He was wearing a black cloth over the lower part of his face and his eyes were glaring at her above it.
“Hold still,” she said breathlessly when she saw his frustrated attempt to get up. “Let me help you get untangled first.”
He did go still, but the look he gave her was fierce. Even with the mask.
Surprised that she hadn’t abandoned him altogether, Law ignored her unsolicited offer of help and reached out to free his left arm himself. No matter what it took, he wanted out of there. And fast. Being helpless always had the tendency to bring out the worst in him. Grinding his teeth against the pain, he tore a couple of buried barbs loose and at least had the satisfaction of knowing that one arm was free. After tearing some more flesh, he had the other arm and one leg free. If he could do it carefully, it wasn’t so bad. Other times, there was nothing else but to do it quick and fast and then it hurt like a sonofabitch.
He finally struggled to his knees, but he was still having some trouble with the last few strands. They were wrapped tight around his lower leg, clinging to it like some kind of unholy death vine.
“Let me help you,” he heard, but he ignored the woman, and the exasperation in her voice. He didn’t answer her. Nor did he let up on his efforts to free himself.
“You’re tangling yourself even more.”
He gave her only a brief glance as she stood there helplessly wringing her hands. “You just think I am,” he muttered under his breath.
They both went still and looked up when they heard a familiar sound somewhere above them. A faint snarling.
Damn, Law thought. That’s just what they needed.
He gritted his teeth again and began to work with a feverish determination. There was one strand left. Just one.
“Hold this down with your foot,” he ordered, speaking low, but using his no-nonsense, military voice. The one that had the power to intimidate grown men. “And don’t let it go.
“Where’s your knife?” he asked in a harsh whisper, working recklessly, but efficiently, though not taking the time to look up at her as she stood above him. He didn’t have his gun. He still couldn’t believe he’d dropped it when she’d hit him with that chunk of wood. His knife? Well, that was gone, too. It was still stuck in the shooter’s throat.
“I don’t have it.”
“What do you mean you don’t have it?” he rasped, still not looking at her.
“You made me drop it.”
Well, he had done that. But she’d had an opportunity to get it back again. Before she had joined him down here. Obviously she hadn’t had the presence of mind to take advantage of that. But what was the use in pointing that out to her now? And he, himself, had dropped his own weapon.
The snarling sounds were getting louder. They could hear the sounds of feeding, too. Had to be the shooter, who was obviously providing free, fast food by now.
They were in a trap. There was only one thing to do. Law tore the last barbs from his flesh by brute force, this time only thinking the profanities that spontaneously occurred to him.
The last of the wire came loose, but pain flared like hell fire, spreading all through him.
Was that it?
Ignoring the fierce agony burning throughout his entire body, he dragged himself to his feet. In spite of himself, he had to give himself a few seconds for the pain to settle. But he ground out yet another obscenity, this one out loud, as he looked upward and saw that a scav was looking down over the edge, right at them. Luckily there was only one. So far.
Not hesitating even a second, not giving them any time to make a plan, the scav came plummeting headfirst over the edge, thinking of nothing else but a fresh, easy meal. It immediately got caught in the barbed wire which caused it to thrash around wildly, which tangled the wire even worse.
Hell, Law thought. This was ridiculous.
There wasn’t much room to maneuver. Sidra shrank back from the sharp-clawed, groping hands and the snapping teeth that were trying to get a hold of her. She found herself huddled up against the masked man. She didn’t know what to do. They were trapped. They were weaponless. There was a struggle as the dead lunged madly forward. First for her. Then for the man beside her. At least as far as the barbed wire would allow it to go. The man tried to fight it off with his bare hands.
Sidra couldn’t look. She covered her eyes with her hands and shrank back instinctively behind the man . . .
They were lucky. That’s all he could say. That’s all he did say.
If she hadn’t recovered her presence of mind and beaten the thing on the back of the head with yet another branch . . .
Well, there wasn’t any point in going over it anymore. They were alive. That’s all that mattered. But three close calls in one night were three close calls too many. Law didn’t intend to have a fourth. Which meant they needed to find shelter. And fast. You had to stay walled up somewhere if you were going to get any rest at all. And he was dead on his feet. He knew that there were some caves and hideouts up and down the river, but getting to any of them would take a long time. This cabin was going to have to be it. If it was unoccupied.
He stared at the cabin a while longer. “You stay here while I check it out,” he finally said without looking at the woman beside him.
From the corner of his eye, he was aware of her turning her face towards him. But she didn’t say anything. She just watched him for a few moments, then she looked back at the cabin.
Watching the man’s broad back as he walked away from her, Sidra was wondering what she had gotten herself into. She had already figured out that she was with a man who expected to be obeyed instantly. Like he was military through and through. Like he was a general and she was a private soldier. She instinctively found herself rebelling against that. She didn’t intend to let another man tell her what to do. Webb had tried to tell her what to do, and look what had happened there.
She turned her attention back to the cabin. It was old. Maybe more
than a hundred years old. There was a front porch, but it looked like it was ready to fall in. The cabin wasn’t very big. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, but the door looked like it was sturdy and some of the windows had been securely boarded up. It might be a safe haven for a while. If there was nothing inside it. She watched as a faint light shone briefly inside. It was quickly extinguished.
Using his small flashlight to look around the dark interior of the cabin, Law figured the place had probably been used by hunters. There was one big room downstairs and a loft accessible only by a ladder. After a thorough search he found that there were no scavs. And no live occupants, either. Luck seemed to be on their side.
“We should be safe enough here for the night,” he told the woman when he went back outside.
“For the night?” she echoed, clearly thinking that over now that the prospect of spending the night alone with him was looming right in front of her. He could sense her hesitation. And her fear.
But she didn’t have any other options, so, just like him, she was going to have to make the best of it. Frowning, Law asked her, “You got a better plan?”
“I . . . uh . . . no,” Sidra admitted. She didn’t have any kind of plan at all. She just wanted to be somewhere safe for a while so that she could get some much-needed rest and contemplate the next phase of her journey. And honestly, travelling any further in the dark seemed foolhardy and reckless considering everything that had happened already. She had no desire to push her luck any farther tonight.
She didn’t say yes. But she didn’t say no, either, Law noted. If she was smart, though, she would realize she didn’t have any other options. Whatever she decided, this was where he was staying. She would have to make her own decisions.
“Come on if you’re coming,” he said as he walked away from her. After only a moment’s hesitation, she quickly ran to catch up with him.
There wasn’t much in the way of furniture in the cabin, Sidra saw. There were three narrow beds. Cots really. And a small, wood-burning stove stood in one corner. It didn’t look like it had been used in a long time. There were two chairs. One of them was a threadbare, filthy-looking recliner. In the moonlight, she could see letters written on one of the walls. Some black, some lighter in places. She wanted to see what was written there - it could be some kind of a warning - but it was too dark to read in the moonlight.
That’s when she noticed a spider, a big one that was almost the size of her hand, crawling slowly in the moonlight across one of the cots. She sucked in her breath and took several quick steps backward.
“You’re kidding me,” the man beside her muttered when he saw the look on her face as she stared in horror at the spider.
For Pete’s sake, Law thought. She’d just been shot at and bashed a scav’s head in and she was afraid of a spider?
He swiped at the spider with his hand, knocked it on the floor and ground it under the bottom of his combat boot. After that, they were both silent as they went their own ways and separately continued to check out the cabin.
But Sidra kept stealing worried glances at the man. He’d barely spoken to her all the way here. Was he a rescuer? she wondered. Or by bringing her here did he have a more sinister motive in mind? He didn’t have the mask on anymore, but she was still half convinced that he was a Mulada soldier. He didn’t have any tattoos, but he definitely looked like he could be one.
It was true that he hadn’t harmed her in any way. So far. But that could be because he was lulling her into a false sense of security. Then when her guard was down, he could catch her unaware and do anything to her. He could rape her. He could kill or even torture her. There wasn’t any law anymore, except for small groups that made their own rules and were organized enough to enforce them. In general, there was no punishment whatsoever for crimes of any kind, and there were plenty of people who took advantage of that. The truth was, she had no assurances at all that she wasn’t going to be in for the fight of her life if this man turned out to be as dangerous and as deadly as he looked to be.
She stole another glance at him. He towered over her. He had to be at least six foot tall. She couldn’t forget how easily he had overpowered her before they’d ended up in that wash together. Actually, with the mask off his face, he looked even more intimidating. With that dark beard growth shadowing his hard, masculine jaw and those glacial eyes that refused to give her any reassurance whatsoever, not to mention the various weapons strapped to his body-
“No more lights and we probably won’t draw any more of them,” she heard. “I have some water packets and some MRE’s.” He wasn’t even looking at her as he reached into one his pockets. He drew out some packets and tossed them on one of the cots. Not the one with the spider. As she stared down at the packets, he asked abruptly, “You want to tell me why you’re out here all alone?”
She didn’t know what to say to him. She wasn’t prepared for the question so she hesitated as she tried to come up with a suitable, but vague, answer. She definitely didn’t want to give him any personal information, but the silence between them dragged out for a long time. She had to say something.
“I’m trying to get home.”
“And home is?” he prompted
Home is where my mother and sister are was her immediate thought. But she didn’t tell him that. There was no reason to believe that he wouldn’t do some harm to her or to her loved ones if he knew where they lived. Or at least where they had lived the last time she had seen them.
“Um,” she hedged, biting her lips as she tried to figure out some kind of reply. Something that would satisfy him and stop him from prying any deeper. It had never been easy for her to lie. Even a zombie apocalypse apparently couldn’t change that. “It’s south of here.”
“South?” He was frowning again. Clearly, she was trying to evade a direct answer, but he had no intention of pushing her into elaborating. She wasn’t talking.
As Law narrowed his gaze in her direction, he admitted to himself that it was a smart move on her part. She didn’t know him from Adam. Handing out information to strangers could prove to be a dangerous move in this world. What she did or where she was headed was entirely her business and the last thing he wanted was to be involved in her personal problems. Problems tended to be big ones these days. So he didn’t press her. She had a right to her privacy. For whatever reasons.
“Suit yourself, honey. There’s nothing says you have to tell me anything. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t.” And then he added, “You look like you’re exhausted. I know I am. We should get some sleep while it’s quiet.”
She didn’t move. She maintained her position by one of the walls, obviously staying ready for flight. Or a fight. He didn’t know which. Maybe she didn’t know, either. He figured he should say something to make her feel more at ease, so that she could at least get some rest.
“Look, I know you haven’t got a single reason to trust me. I’m a complete stranger to you. Stay there as long as you need to. Stay there all night if you have to, but I’m going to lay down. I’m about dead on my feet. We’ll get some sleep and then see how things look in the morning.”
With that, he stretched himself out on one of the cots, while Sidra stood there, still trying to decide if the man was a threat to her. In a world turned upside down, she had to admit that he did seem like the best choice at the moment. He was well armed and so far he had kept her safe. She wanted to believe that he would continue to do so, but Webb’s warnings about evil men kept replaying in her mind.
After the man lay silently for a few moments, he gave her a sidelong glance. His eyes narrowed again as they remained focused on her face. “I can’t make you stay here,” he said. “At least I won’t make you stay here. But you should know, if you’re contemplating leaving, I don’t think you’ve got a chance in hell of making it out there on your own.”
He couldn’t see her very well but he thought that her eyes grew wide there in the moonlit darkness. Settling back onto the
cot again, he stared up at the shadow-wreathed ceiling. He felt like hell. He had been torn up badly by the barbed wire. He had taken some pain killers and he was waiting for them to kick in. Nothing heavy duty. He wouldn’t take anything that would dull his senses, but hopefully it would take the edge off some so he could at least get some rest. Hard telling what they would have to face in the morning. They. He didn’t know why he was even thinking that way. Come morning, they would go their own separate ways. He’d already decided that. But the truth at the moment was that he wanted her to stay. Because he knew damned well he wouldn’t get any rest if she did leave. His mind would be conjuring up all kinds of scenarios of her out there on her own, and none of them had a happy ending.
“Look, I know how uncomfortable you are being alone here with me,” he began again without looking at her. It was his last attempt to put her at ease.
Sidra gave him a sharp look. That was putting it right out there in the open. And uncomfortable? That was definitely putting it mildly.
“But spending the rest of the night here with me is your best bet for staying alive. I’m armed. You’re not. We’re relatively safe right now. I have no intention of bothering you. In any way. If you go out there- ” He didn’t finish. He just let his words trail off into silence.
Deep down, Sidra knew that he was right. Unless he was planning to use his weapons against her. Not that he actually needed to use any weapons. She already knew that he was more than capable of subduing her without them.
After another silence, he added, “The only thing I’m thinking about right now is getting some sleep. So- ” Again, he let his words trail off. And then he seemed to forget her entirely. He didn’t have anything more to say as he made himself more comfortable.