Sun Still Shining (Rain Must Fall #2)

by Deb Rotuno

  “I have an idea,” Sara piped up in a rushed whisper. “Blow their cars. It’ll draw out the people inside and pull the zeaks to the noise and fire.”

  I barely gave it thought, simply because it was the perfect plan. It would also draw them out into the open so that Joel would have his shots.

  I sniffed once, glancing at the oncoming dead. “Perfect. I want you both inside that closest door before it blows. It leads to the kitchen, through the bar, and into the main lobby. The bar is dark, so you’ll have cover. I’ll set off the truck.” I took the backpack from Sara, handing her an extra clip. “Go!”

  They worked quickly, using trees and shrubs for cover, but Mose plastered himself to the wall before checking the window of the kitchen door. Once he’d turned the knob and pushed Sara inside, he closed it just as silently.

  Working the same way, I met up with Jesse behind the truck.

  “Look,” he whispered, pointing toward the deck, but it was the large windows to which he was referring. “He’s got them.”

  My temper reignited with an inferno. On their knees—bound and gagged—were Derek, Brody, and Lexie. Several armed people surrounded them, though the one who met Sara’s description as the leader was pacing casually back and forth. The fucker did have a slimy smile.

  “We’ve got zeaks inside the fence, and we’re gonna draw those motherfuckers out,” I explained, digging around in the backpack for something specific. “And we’ll add to their damn misery by drawing the zeaks back here. I want you with Joel, aiming and at the ready. Go!”

  I found one last glass jar of diesel, and using my knife, I punched a hole in the top. I ripped a piece of my T-shirt off, stuffing it through the hole. I gave another glance, a silent signal to Joel once Jesse had joined him, and then lit the bastard, dropping it underneath the truck. I took off back for the tree line, diving behind a fallen log just as the whole thing exploded.

  A fireball lit up the shaded area of the back, and the truck bowed up off the ground, coming back down on the small car next to it. Grinning that I’d destroyed both of their vehicles, I exchanged my compound bow for the rifle on my back. The zeaks did exactly as expected. The noise and fire drew them in, which just proved how useless they were. But even better were the armed people coming out the back doors to investigate.

  Joel was smart to wait. I knew him well enough that he was counting down, watching the inside at the same time as he watched them pour out the back-deck doors. One fucker, two… Once three, four, five, and six walked out armed and at the ready, Joel let loose, taking three of them down, one right after the other. Even better were the zeaks moving on in for the fresh meat.

  I aimed, knowing my rifle would set off the noise, pulling the trigger at the three men on my side of the deck. Again, the zeaks fell on the bodies quickly—so far, they were ignoring the gunfire. There may have been survivors, but six were now gone.

  I stood up, taking advantage of the fact that the zeaks were distracted with their feeding. I gave a sharp whistle to Joel, using hand signals for him to watch the windows. I ran low, hiding behind tree trunks when bullets pinged my way. Sara was right. They were unorganized…and untrained. They couldn’t shoot for shit, though they were smart enough to slam the doors to the deck to keep the dead from coming in.

  Keeping low, I ran to the door Mose and Sara had gone in, slipping inside quietly. I locked gazes with my wife, who was staying low at the kitchen door. The mess from the fight I’d had with Brody was still scattered everywhere, but I noticed the two dead zeaks from the pantry were gone. Sara put her finger to her lips and then waved me forward.

  She slowly and silently pushed the kitchen door open to give me a view of the bar and dining area. Mose’s large form was kneeling behind an overturned table, his gun aimed and ready toward the lobby, where raised voices and the sound of flesh meeting flesh reached my ears.

  Jerking my chin, I told Sara to follow me. Staying low, we left the kitchen to join Mose. He barely had a shot, but I could see Lexie, her hands behind her back and a gag in her mouth. Tears streamed down her face, but she wasn’t watching the man pacing back and forth; she was looking at my cousin.

  I’d seen Derek in fights, seen him beat the hell up when we were kids, but this was different. He was battered. Sweat beaded on his brow, and blood trailed down his face from cuts on his temple and above his eye. His nose looked broken and was also bleeding, and he was gagged like Lexie. His usual calm demeanor was gone, and he glared at the man still pacing. Derek was also fighting his bound wrists but didn’t seem to be making much headway.

  “Come out, come out wherever you are,” someone sang from the lobby. “I know you’re in here. I saw you run to the door. You blew up my truck, so the least you can do is show your fucking face, asshole. Otherwise, I’m gonna start killing these three by the count of five. One…two…”

  I stood up, but Sara grabbed my hand, shaking her head.

  Gripping her face gently, I whispered, “Watch my back. Watch for Dad,” against her lips.

  Stepping from the shadows, I stayed armed and at the ready. My eyes caught movement down the hall behind this asshole, but I kept my face blank of any reaction.

  “Three,” the tall man said, smiling when I stepped into view. “Ah, see? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Drop the gun, asshole, or I put a bullet in her head.”

  Quickly, I assessed the room as I set my rifle down. There were four of his people left. One man had a gun to a very beaten Brody, two younger boys on either side of the doorway were flinching at the zeaks pressed to the window, and another woman was guarding the front door to my right. That last one looked scared shitless. The leader had his gun trained on Lexie, though it wouldn’t take much to point it at Derek. All automatic weapons, all untrained.

  I locked my gaze on the leader, shaking my head, but I needed to give my dad something to work with. “Five of you? That’s it?” I tsked dramatically, pointing to each and every one of them on purpose. “Well, there were eleven, I suppose, but so much for that,” I scoffed tauntingly, pointing my finger toward the deck, where his people were now turning. “Wow, that was quick.”

  I grinned at his anger, tilting my head at him. “We haven’t met. I mean, you obviously know some of my people…The name’s Chambers.”

  “Harrison,” he stated, a strange calm seeming to come over him. “I didn’t see you the last time I ran into these two assholes. See…they denied me what I wanted. They killed three of my people…”

  “Just three?” I gasped. “So far, I’m winning. Keep going, Harrison…”

  His face blazed red with anger the more I taunted him, but his voice stayed calm. “You won’t deny me again,” he snapped, bringing the butt of his gun hard and fast to the back of Derek’s head, causing him to fall forward, but the tough bastard merely sat back up and shook it off.

  My gaze locked with my cousin’s but then moved back to Harrison. “This won’t end well. You’re surrounded. You’ve most likely got crosshairs on your head right now. The only reason you’re still standing is that shooting you would break that glass.” I pointed to the deck doors, where zeaks pawed and scraped at the windows mindlessly.

  He shot a panicked glance toward the deck but then flashed back to me.

  “We don’t want to kill you, but we will defend what’s ours. We’ll defend our people. There’s not many of the living left,” I told him. “It doesn’t have to be this way…”

  Harrison abandoned his position behind Lexie and Derek, walking to me—with a limp, I noticed, which made me puff up with pride in Sara at having already wounded the asshole in front of me. He pressed his rifle straight at my chest. That was his first mistake, because he simply had no idea what I was capable of, not to mention I was willing to bet it was taking everything Mose had to keep Sara quiet and in check behind me. I’d owe him for that later.

  I met the man’s gaze with zero emotion. “If you shoot me, you won’t live to pull that fucking trigger again.”

  Br
ody started to struggle, bringing his hands up behind him, despite being bound. He caught his captor in the balls, causing him to double over. I could see he’d done it on purpose, started the commotion, simply because movement shifted from the hallway behind the lobby. Keeping the rifle pointed at my chest, Harrison pulled a pistol from the small of his back, aimed it at Brody, and pulled the trigger.

  “That asshole…” Harrison sighed once Brody slumped to the floor, a single gunshot to his head. “You shouldn’t have trusted him, by the way. He was offering up your old camp, even volunteered to go with us…said he needed a change.”

  “I’m sure,” I muttered with no emotion, breaking my gaze from Brody’s dead body to meet Harrison’s gaze as he put the gun back into his waistband. I couldn’t focus on Brody at the moment—no matter what he’d promised the asshole in front of me.

  For a split second, I wondered if Brody had offered that up to get Harrison out of here or if he would’ve abandoned the group he’d been with since the beginning. We’d never know now.

  Taking a slow, deep breath, I let it out as I glanced around the room one more time. My dad was in position at the end of the hall. Ruby had her gun trained on the girl at the front door. Derek was eyeing the man who’d been behind Brody, and I was sure I heard footsteps behind me, but I wasn’t going to turn around to look.

  Harrison opened his mouth to speak, but I shifted quickly, driving my fist straight into the leg he favored while my other hand pushed away the rifle barrel. He cried out in pain, his knees practically buckling underneath him. Ruby fired her weapon at the same time my father stepped from the shadows. He took out the boy in the left-hand corner. Derek was off his knees and running, now unbound and a small knife in hand, but he drove a shoulder into the man who’d been guarding Brody. They fell to the floor in a heap, taking a small table with them. The boy on the right side of the windows fell too, though I wasn’t sure who shot him.

  I punched Harrison, driving another fist into his arm, and it gave a satisfying snap as the rifle fell. He swung at me, but I wrapped him up and tackled him. His pistol fell from his waistband to the wood floor with a thump, skidding away, but we both struggled for it. Fingers barely grazed at it, and I punched his face twice to stop him. He got a cheap shot in to my jaw, but I still fought his hand that was barely able to reach his weapon.

  “Jack, move!” Sara called out, and I rolled off Harrison as two rounds popped off in the room—one from Sara, the other from Joel, who was stepping out of the bar, the rifle still smoking.

  I collapsed back to the floor with a sigh, and Sara was instantly there, along with Sasha. I wasn’t sure who was more worried.

  “Jack, you okay?” Sara asked, gently touching my face, my chest, my hair.

  “Yeah, baby,” I groaned when I sat up, smirking when she continued to fuss over me anyway. “I’m okay.”

  “You know, I’m really tired of one of my favorite faces taking all this abuse,” she muttered, smiling a little when I snorted at her. But her face fell at the sight of Brody. “Damn,” she sighed, shaking her head.

  “I know.” I stood up from the floor, offering her a hand to help her up.

  Ruby was untying Lexie, and Derek was pulling off his gag as he glanced around, only to look back to me as he picked up one of their automatic rifles. “They followed us here and then snuck up on us. They caught Lexie outside getting water. We had no choice but to surrender. I practically threw Quinn out the door, but they were shooting at us. He made it, I take it?”

  I nodded my head. “He caught a stray bullet in the leg. We found him on the way here.” I held up a hand when he opened his mouth. “He’ll be fine.”

  “Which reminds me,” Dad said, stepping forward. “Gimme that flare gun. We’re gonna need help with these zeaks. Might as well bring them all in.”

  Sara turned to Derek once my dad stepped out onto the front porch. “Did Brody really say that stuff?”

  “I don’t know, Sare,” he sighed, wiping his face on his sleeve. “I think his size intimidated them, because they beat the pure piss out of him first in another room. Hell, I’m pretty sure we all intimidated them, which would be why they waited to catch us all split up, instead of hitting the cabins again. They started with Brody, and then they went to work on me.” He groaned when he touched the bridge of his nose tentatively. “Fuckers broke my damn nose!”

  The front door slammed shut, and my dad walked to him. “C’mere, son,” he said, reaching for Derek’s face.

  “Oh, that shit’s gonna hurt,” I mumbled, turning around to pick up my rifle. I grinned when Derek’s foul language hit the air in every way imaginable after the large crack filled the room.

  “Jack, it’s not funny!” Lexie reprimanded me, and I smirked at the change in her. She was now protecting my cousin, who looked a little uncomfortable about it but said nothing as he tried to wipe up his face.

  “Oh, it’s hilarious! That asshole broke my nose when I was sixteen. Laughed the whole fucking time Dad put mine back. We’re even.” I pointed to Dad, who was nodding with an amused smirk on his face.

  Derek cracked the fuck up, despite his pain. “Well, you deserved that shit, Jack. You almost wrecked my new bike. I loved that bike! Wish I still had it, actually.”

  Sara, Joel, Lexie, and Mose all burst out laughing, but it was short-lived when the zeaks outside got a little louder, a little rowdier.

  “Shit,” I sighed. “C’mon, we’ll start clearing these bastards out. The rest can help once they get here.” I made for the kitchen again so I could come around behind the swarm.

  “Jack,” Mose called, pointing to the bodies in the room. “What do we do with them?”

  My eyes fell to Brody, and suddenly I felt weary and sore. I gazed around the room at the people who’d survived with us this far. I thought about the ones who were probably scrambling to pack up and head our way. We’d been through hell, and we’d continue fighting until we didn’t have to anymore. Brody was never going to be my best friend, but he had fought for us, for the camp he seemed to hate or resent. Regardless of everything that had transpired—past, present, drinking, fights—he had been a part of us, one of us.

  I looked to Sara, who was watching me carefully. Sometimes my heart ached with my love for her, and now was no different as I saw the sadness on her face. No matter how bad that asshole got, no matter what stupid fucking decisions he made, she never wanted to see him killed. It wasn’t due to any feelings. No, it was just…Sara. She never wanted the people she knew to suffer, and I wondered if she knew just how badly he’d suffered, knowing he’d ruined the best thing that ever happened to him: her. If it had been me, I’d have been utterly fucking broken knowing I’d messed up a chance with her. And I wondered if she’d simply pitied him this whole time, like she’d pitied Derek about his misguided feelings while we were apart. I was pretty damn sure my sweet, beautiful girl just felt sorry for Brody.

  Her brow furrowed, but she continued to look to me. I leaned in to kiss her forehead, pulling back to nod a little.

  “We’ll bury Brody…properly. The rest can burn once we clean up. C’mon. Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 5

  SARA

  Rocky Point, Oregon

  7 months after Hurricane Beatrice

  “OKAY, DEREK, TRY IT NOW!” I yelled down from the roof.

  Tina and I chuckled when Derek and Jesse darted back inside the shed to check the solar generators. The panels on the roof were covered in leaves, branches, and just plain muck. They’d sent the two of us up there to clear it off.

  “God, it’s beautiful here,” Tina said, sitting down by the chimney.

  When I sat beside her, I gazed over the place. “It is,” I agreed. “I have a feeling it’s gonna start snowing soon.”

  “Hmm.” She nodded, and then we both sat quietly for a moment, continuing to look out over the grounds, trees, and lake.

  The lodge was in full swing. It had taken almost an entire week to clean it up,
clear out the zeaks, air out some of the rooms they’d been in, and get the place ready for habitation. The fences had been checked, rechecked, and checked again. The gate was repaired from where Harrison had broken it, and we were completely encircled, safely locked inside. To go to the dock of the lake, we had to leave the lodge grounds out of a smaller gate, but no one went alone, and we’d learned to watch for zeaks pressing against the fences. The guys had also removed the destroyed vehicles Jack had blown up.

  Today was the attempt at getting the power to work, if only at night. The solar panels were in perfect shape, but the streamline windmills had been in disrepair. My gaze fell to Quinn and Jack, who were currently cleaning them, oiling them, and trying to get them up and running. Quinn’s leg was wrapped and sore, and he hobbled around most days on crutches that Rich had found in the first-aid office, but his spirit was high and he tried his best to help.

  I gazed out over the lake, smiling at the sight of my dad, Rich, Freddie, and Janie. They were all fishing out in a small metal boat. The water was beautiful, and I could tell my boy was in grandpa heaven. When they’d all shown up after we’d sent up the flare, Freddie had been almost frantic when he arrived. He’d practically climbed Jack to make sure he was okay, that he was safe, and he’d clung to me like a limpet that night, so I’d had no choice but to sleep with him in his new room. He’d settled down by the next day, especially when his dad had promised no more separations, though I wasn’t sure who that promise was aimed at more—Freddie or me.

  The schedules, the night watches, the school classes for the kids, the hunting—it was all falling into place slowly. The routine had barely changed once we all got here, merely the location. Only here, we used less ammo, less fuel, and hopefully, we’d have some sort of power, if only on occasion.

  Joel and Mose were chopping wood for all the fireplaces inside, since at night, the temperature dropped significantly. They were stacking it up on the deck as best they could, though there was more stacked behind the greenhouse that Jonah, Abe, and Millie were currently working on. They weren’t quite sure how it would hold up over the winter, but they had high hopes for spring.