by Siara Brandt
The sun was already getting warm on the circular bald spot on the top of his head when the order was finally passed down to him. The small army swarmed out into the open, with Mogue groaning inwardly about his sore feet. They made their way towards the small town of Ledford. After Ledford, they had plans for Lacombe beyond it.
Chapter 9
Galton looked up at Letha’s slender form in the window. There were no blinds, no curtains to hide her from his view. Did she know that he was watching her from the darkness? Heat simmered in his eyes. He felt a strong stirring below his belt. He’d learned a long time ago that she liked to show off her body. Was that what she was doing now? For him?
His expression changed, became almost savage. Or was she posing for Logan’s benefit? Were they going to make the most of their last night together? His lips drew back into a snarl when he thought about that kiss he had seen them share earlier. She had said it meant nothing on her part, that Logan had caught her unaware. But was she purposely trying to drive him over the edge?
He chuckled humorlessly to himself. That wouldn’t take much.
He knew Logan suspected something. But Logan wouldn’t dare confront Letha with his suspicions. It would lead to a fight and he wouldn’t leave with that between them. What Logan didn’t know was that they had begun their affair even before Logan had disappeared. It had only happened once, but it had been hot and it had been heavy. They had tried to resist the attraction they had felt for each other for years. He had kept his distance as long as he could. But then, fate took over and things just took their natural course.
But now- His dark thoughts grew even darker. Logan’s return was affecting him in ways that he hadn’t expected. The deepest part of his subconscious was evidently connecting with an unpleasant past, one that he’d thought he’d buried and forgotten long ago. But apparently that wasn’t the case. For he had been remembering how his own father had made him feel threatened and helpless, too.
His hands closed around a branch over his head, his fingers tightening around the rough bark until he snapped the branch in two. He was a grown man now, with a grown man’s strength and appetites. He vowed to himself that he would not be pushed around again. And no one would take anything away from him. Not in this world.
Another humorless snort left him. If Logan learned what he was about to do, he would feel obligated to take some kind of action. He wouldn’t have any choice there. He couldn’t help smiling to himself when he thought about Logan’s reaction.
There would be a confrontation. A violent one. Worse than anything in their past. He threw his head back. He stared up at the moon shining through the branches above him and drew a deep breath just thinking about it. He actually hoped something would happen. For a moment, all that was human left his eyes. He would punish the man for not appreciating all the sacrifices he had made in the name of friendship. He would punish him badly.
Galton pulled the cloth off the boy’s head and stared silently down at him. Sunlight was slanting in through the windows. It lay in broad stripes on the dirt floor. Dust motes drifted in the sunlight, slowly shifting course, yielding to the whim of random air currents . . .
He checked to make sure that the rope was still secure. His breath left him in a short laugh when he saw the blood. The kid must have been twisting at the stiff rope for hours to cause so much damage to his wrists. Desperation was a great motivator, he knew. It could force you to do anything.
He placed his booted foot against the boy’s chest and shoved him back against the barn wall. Not ungently, but just to get his attention. He got a sullen glare for his efforts.
He pulled up a chair and sat down. The bloody, swollen features before him didn’t affect him in the least. He felt no inclination toward compassion or mercy. The boy had merely become a pawn in his power struggle with Logan. That was the kid’s misfortune. Not his.
He had already decided on his course of action. He would not be swayed. He would not be stopped. In fact, he looked forward to its climax with eager anticipation, excitement even, so strong was his blood lust now. So potent was the contagion in his blood stream.
His talk with Letha earlier had only inflamed him further. She gave him signals. She surely did. Even now.
For a moment, as a renewed surge of hormones flooded his body and his brain, he felt reality slipping away from him. It was happening more often now. He fought his way back, shook himself mentally, and hung his head for long, dizzying moments while a thin string of drool escaped his lips. Flecks of foam dotted his chin. He didn’t wipe them away. There was no one here to see. Except for the boy. And he didn’t matter.
Galton’s breath grew fast and shallow till he was almost panting like a dog. In fact, he heard himself growl. It confused him for a moment, before he realized that the sound had come from his own throat. He looked around, focused on a small feather drifting down with the dust and by degrees was able to draw himself back again.
He wiped the drool away with the back of his hand, looked and saw that there was no blood this time. He would be clever and cunning, he reminded himself, refocusing. Just like a cat playing with a tiny, helpless mouse. He would not pounce until the very last moment when it was least expected. He even smiled thinking about that final moment when the boy’s life would be extinguished by his own hands. He looked forward to it. As any hunter would. It was the way of nature. His father had taught him that.
“I don’t reckon I can let you go,” Galton now said to his cowering victim. “I thought I could trust you, but you’d tell Logan what you heard, wouldn’t you?” His gaze roamed around the small, dust-sifted room. “Don’t bother to answer me. I know you won’t tell me the truth.”
“You can trust me,” Drew Levin blubbered, scared for his life. “I won’t tell.”
Galton stood, shoved the chair away and then dragged the boy to his feet. “Let’s go.”
Reeve Madsen wasn’t looking for any trouble. He was just looking for some food, which these days wasn’t as simple as placing an order with an attentive waiter in a fancy restaurant. If he was lucky, he’d also find a bed to sleep in for the night, and maybe even a cigar to smoke after his meal. Now that would be a real treat.
But he forgot all those things when he came in sight of the house and heard the scream.
“Lord,” he muttered under his breath as he came to a dead stop and stared straight ahead. Something was happening up at that house. Something bad.
He had re-aligned his priorities in a major way. He knew that in his old life he had been obsessed with money, status, possessions. And most of all, his own needs. And now? Those things didn’t matter anymore. His new mission, his only mission, was to find his son. The son he’d never had time for. The son that he prayed to God was still alive.
He had undergone a major transformation, inside and out. That’s why he couldn’t ignore that scream.
Someone was in the alley. Or something was in there. Thayer edged closer to the brick wall of the corner building and stopped. As he moved farther along the wall, he also kept his gaze on the street at the far end of the alley, where two of the undead had just passed by. But it was the alley beyond the brick wall that was the unknown factor. He knew he had to be prepared for anything. He took a deep breath, turned the corner and stopped.
There was nothing there. Just a narrow, grass-grown gravel strip that was littered with overturned trash cans and garbage of all descriptions. There were closed garages on both sides of the alley and these, he knew, could be hiding anything. With his gun drawn he moved stealthily down the alley, followed closely by Lindel.
Using one of the same military hand signals that he had taught to the kids, he pointed with two fingers into an enclosed yard where he had seen movement beyond the bushes. He knew Lindel understood because he nodded back at him. Something was in that yard.
There was no way of knowing what they might encounter. It was too late to wonder whether they should have avoided the alley altogether, but it was a hell of
a time to be re-thinking that.
Thayer ran ahead to some bushes and crouched down low, envisioning a number of possible scenarios. They could take three or four zombies out, but if there were more of them than that, and if they weren’t seen, they would retreat. .
Gravel crunched slightly beneath his booted feet as he moved forward. It might alert whatever was in the yard, but he couldn’t help it. He rose up and aimed his gun straight at the yard and the eyes that were looking back at him.
It took him maybe three seconds to realize that it wasn’t a zombie he was looking at.
“Logan,” he gasped in astonishment. “You scared the living hell out of me. I thought you were dead.”
“You’re kind of visible riding around in this thing,” Logan pointed out as the three men stood looking down at the map that was spread out over the hood of the four wheeler.
“Yeah,” Thayer agreed. “But Lindel can’t walk so well and we can cover a lot more ground this way.”
They had been going over in detail all the places they had searched. Thayer had already told Logan about Letha’s betrayal. And about her and Galton. Letha’s actions concerning Seth and Kesi had come as a shock to Logan. But as far as Galton Clune went, hadn’t he suspected it all along?
“So it’s your call, Logan,” Thayer said. “We sure haven’t had any luck finding them. Maybe you can do better than we did.”
Logan looked questioningly at Lindel who said. “We’re in this together. We keep looking.”
“All right,” Logan said. “But finding them isn’t our only problem. I saw Mulada soldiers on the move yesterday. Near Ledford.”
Chapter 10
“I’m coming,” Sidra said breathlessly.
Law stopped in his tracks. He didn’t turn around, but he stood there patiently waiting for her to catch up with him. “You think you can climb that?” he asked when she reached his side.
“You mean climb way up there?” Sidra asked with her head tilted far back.
“That’s where we need to go.”
It had rained again, off and on. Not the drenching downpour they had gotten used to. It was just a light morning rain that had ended a little while ago. The sun had already come out again. A faint mist was rising from the damp ground.
“You think you can manage it?” Law asked again when she didn’t answer him right away.
“I can manage it.”
That’s what she said. But what Sidra was thinking was something entirely different. The top of that hill was a long, long way up. It looked like they would have to be part mountain goat to reach the top. She wouldn’t even have considered climbing such a steep grade on her own, but if Law thought they could accomplish it, then she would have to trust him.
“We need to get to the other side and I want to avoid the roads,” he told her.
That made sense of course.
“Hear that?” he asked.
She strained to hear the faint roaring sound in the distance. At first it sounded like thunder. But she realized it went on too long to be thunder.
“The creeks are running hard from all the rain,” Law told her. “We go any other way, they might cause some problems and slow us down.”
He glanced down at her. She was still looking up at the hill.
He pointed. “Can you see that rope up there? We can use it to pull ourselves up and over the edge when we get to that point.”
Near the top she could see a rope dangling over the edge, right below a grassy overhang.
“Scavs won’t be able to climb like we can,” Law said. “So we won’t have to worry about that.”
Sidra took a calming breath, then finally looked at him. He was trying to reassure her, she knew. What he didn’t know what that she had always been afraid of heights. But she wasn’t about to tell him that.
She focused on him, on what he was saying to her. He’d gotten her this far and trust had been a big part of it. Shouldn’t he be able to trust her to climb one more hill? His blue shirt was pressed against his body by the wind. He had shaved his beard off last night which made him look almost breathtakingly handsome as he stood there in the warming sunlight. This time she looked at him as much as she wanted to. This time she told herself that his good looks were much easier to think about than the climb ahead of them. So much easier.
With Law leading the way, they began to make their way upward. They had to be careful because the ground was still slippery from the rain. In fact, small rivulets were still running downward in some places over the saturated ground.
The first half of the climb wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined. Even with the mud. Halfway there, they halted on a ledge of rock where the soil had been cut out by the water probably thousands of years ago. It made a shallow cave where they paused to rest before continuing on.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Law said. “We’ll rest here for a few minutes before we go on.” He wasn’t winded in the least, but she had to wait for her breathing to slow down.
It was really beautiful up here in the morning sunlight, Sidra thought as she looked around. It was scenic. Peaceful. Especially without the scavs. Law was right. They wouldn’t be able to reach them even if they tried.
He warned her that the climb was going to get more difficult from here and she gazed upward. She’d already figured that out, but if he thought they could make it, that’s what mattered. Of course, on her own, she probably never would have attempted such a frightening climb.
Watching Sidra, Law knew that she was afraid. But he also knew that she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She had grit. And determination. And bravery. Yeah, she had surprised him.
“You okay?”
She nodded. “Yes. Only I- I should have told you before that I don’t like heights. In fact, I’m petrified of them.”
He didn’t seem to be surprised in the least. “I was wondering if you were going to get around to telling me that.”
“You already knew?”
She should have suspected that. He had an uncanny way of reading her mind and there wasn’t much she could hide from him. She also knew he was trying to take her mind off her fears when he started asking her questions. About what she had done before everything had fallen apart and about her old group.
“How many were there?” he wanted to know.
“About thirty.”
“That’s a big group. Were they well organized?”
“Pretty organized, I guess.”
What Law was really wondering was what kind of man her boyfriend had been and what he had done to make her run away from him.
“So what was he like?” he came right out and asked her.
It took her a few moments to realize he was talking about Webb.
“He was- ” She paused while she thought that over. “He was controlling. And possessive. Unfortunately, he thought I was one of his possessions. He locked me in a room when he found out I was going to leave. He made the mistake of thinking that I would eventually agree to captivity.”
Law couldn’t imagine Sidra ever agreeing to that.
She gave a startled little cry. A few drops of water dripped on her hand from somewhere above. She reacted by jerking her hand away like it had just been burned, maybe thinking it was a spider or some other kind of bug. He already knew how she was with spiders.
“It’s just water,” he assured her. Even knowing that it was a bad move on his part, he reached out and took her hand in his. He brushed the water away. Stupid thing to do but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Then he pulled her away from the slow drip of water which was now wetting her sleeve. It brought her even closer to him. Another bad move.
“Take this. You need to be armed.” He placed one of his guns in her hand. He had already taught her how to use it and she put it in her pocket without questioning him.
“What do you think is up there?” she asked him.
“Hopefully nothing.”
But his curiosity about her past had not yet been completely sati
sfied. His gaze rested on her mouth for a moment before he asked, “So now that you’ve run beyond the length of your tether, do you still think he’ll come after you?”
“I don’t know.”
The leaves were casting wavering shadows on Law’s handsome features as he nodded soberly. His gaze held hers. She took a deep breath, wondering if she was imagining the change in his eyes.
She must have imagined it because abruptly he looked away and said, “Time to go. You stay close to me,” he said as they began to climb again. “Hold onto me if you have to.”
Hold onto him if she had to? What if she only wanted to? was her spontaneous thought.
“I’ll be right behind you, but let me go first when we reach the top,” he was saying. “I want to see what’s up there first.”
After about ten minutes of slow, careful climbing, they were almost to the rope. Thank goodness, because it was getting steeper. Much steeper. Even with Law right behind her, Sidra didn’t dare look down. She had looked down once much earlier and that had been frightening enough.
Finally, Law reached around her for the rope, and jerked on it, testing it. “It’ll hold,” he declared.
She was gazing upward at the trees, trying not to look down, trying to concentrate instead on the trees that the rope was coming from. Trying to concentrate on holding on for dear life to the sturdiest branches around her. There was a dense canopy of foliage above them. It blotted out most of the sky. What if that rope didn’t hold?