Shay
We had a few runs go bad. One of those was supposed to be an easy one. Ditzy Sheryl ended up having to go, and she was not happy. She let us know the entire way there by complaining about everything. Her feet hurt. It was hot. Her back ached. She even asked Foreman if he would carry her. Bitch.
It was because of her we had our first serious incident. We were scavenging through a hospital two towns over when we ran into a group of people doing the same. They were the first large group of living people we’d come across since everything fell.
Stupid Sheryl trotted over to them, swinging her hips like she was heading towards a stripper pole. I had nothing against strippers, but I really didn’t find it appropriate for confronting a group of feral-looking men.
“Sheryl,” I hissed, trying to stop her but she ignored me and kept walking.
“Hey, baby. Where are y’all from?” she asked as she placed her hand on the dirty-looking man at the front.
He stared down, first at her hand. Then his gaze moved towards her boobs. I had no idea what she was thinking. She’d already tried to sink her claws into every male in the bunker, but none of them had worked out. Maybe she wanted out, away from her ex. Or maybe her stupidity ran deeper than I thought. It was a tossup.
Two more men joined the five we’d stumbled upon in the small downstairs pharmacy. I’d hoped to find at least a couple of usable bottles of antibiotics, some birth control, and most importantly, a refill on the heart medication that Barry needed. We’d stolen all that we could from the tiny pharmacy located near the bunker, but he was nearly out.
“Sheryl, get back over here,” I said in a harsh whisper.
The big guy looked up from Sheryl to find me. Something in his eyes sent a chill down my back, and I took a step back. Fuck Sheryl. My feet wanted to leave that bitch there and run. I didn’t like her, anyway.
Wait, no. Bad brain. Right?
I cut my eyes over to where I thought Soren would be, only to find him edging away from me. Mike stepped forward, drawing my attention as he tried to chat with the other group, but they weren’t really looking to talk. As soon as Mike asked them where they were from, the fight began.
One of their guys ran towards me with some kind of wild look in his eyes. Soren rushed to meet him while Chris grabbed me. He jerked me backwards and blocked my sight just as Soren and the other guy crashed together.
Our side surged forward. Their side met them in the middle. I got stuck in the fucking corner. What kind of shit is this?
I whipped out my knife, but I didn’t try to dart into the fight. I might have been fuming, but I wasn’t stupid. With absolutely zero skills, I’d just be in the way. Getting one of them to teach me something probably would have been a better use of my time than annoying Sheryl and embarrassing myself with my poor ability to flirt.
My mind drifted to the time I tried to be cute and do what Coleen suggested. Instead of laying my hand on Soren’s arm, I pitched forward and ended up whacking my face on the chair.
A strangled sound drew me out of my highly inappropriate daydreaming. Jason, one of the construction guys, staggered back with a knife sticking out of his chest. He paused and stared down at it. His mouth gaped, and his hands shot towards the knife.
“No!” I yelled. His head jerked my way, and I waved my arms as I hollered, “Leave it in.”
I’d watched enough TV to know better than to remove it. What we would do for him later, I didn’t know. But at least he would have a later, and we would have time to form some kind of plan.
The grizzled man who’d stabbed him didn’t seem too keen on leaving him alone. If he got his hands on Jason, that would be the end. I found my feet rushing me towards the man that was at least three times bigger than me. My mind went blank, maybe hiding from my own idiocy.
Just before he reached Jason, I jumped in front of my fellow bunker dweller. My knife was ripped from my hand as the big man walked backwards, taking my weapon with him as it remained lodged in his gut.
The opened mouth and wide eyes forced my gaze away from his face, down to where his hands were beginning to close in on my knife. My brain was still on vacation, but I lunged forward and yanked it out of his protruding belly before he could use it against me.
The tiny red spot around the slit in his shirt became a waterfall as the blood poured out. He glanced back up at me, rage contorting his face.
“You bitch,” he growled and raised his arms.
I retreated as he lumbered towards me, sticking one hand behind me as I tried to wave Jason away. Eventually, he backed me against the wall, and I had nowhere to go. I could only wait and try to jump to the side. Sweat dripped down my face, forcing me to blink rapidly while my eyes burned and blurred.
At the last second, I dove to the side. A crash followed, but it wasn’t the one I expected to see when I looked back. Instead of the big guy running into the wall, I found him on the floor with Soren covering him. They grappled with each other, both of them giving and receiving blows.
Taking a second to glance around the room, I found them all in battles of their own. The only thing we had going for us was superior numbers. Unfortunately, those numbers included the idiotic Sheryl and the injured Jason. And me.
Looking back to where I’d last seen Soren, I found that their positions were reversed, and he lay beneath the big guy. I wanted to help but what could I do?
Flexing my fingers reminded me that I still had the knife. After I ran towards them, I winced at the crack of his fist against Soren’s face. Then I stood behind them. My arms raised above my head, and I plunged the knife between the big guy’s shoulder blades.
He paused and tried to reach around but couldn’t get it. Soren took advantage of the pause and pushed him. That forced me to jump away as the guy fell backwards, burying the knife even deeper.
Soren jumped up and blood dripped from his face. I stood there staring down at the writhing man until Soren snatched me off my feet. Thrown over his shoulder, I bounced along as he ran out of the room, dropping me off at the stairwell.
His hands cupped my face, and he filled my vision. “Shay, go downstairs. Find somewhere to hide until we come out. I have to go back to help.”
I shook my head, and his fingers dug into my skin.
“Yes, you will.” To my surprise, he ended his command with a quick peck on my lips.
I blinked, and he was gone, jumping back into the fray.
Chris
We struggled to get back to the bunker, didn’t manage to get the medicine we needed, and couldn’t save Jason. It only took a few hours for him to “wake up” again and begin wandering around.
Sheryl was lost in the fray, and after voting, we decided to leave her to her fate. Sounded cruel but we didn’t have the resources to fight gangs over a woman who started too much shit.
We made changes to how we went on runs after that, too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the medicine Barry needed.
It didn’t take too much longer before Barry had a major heart attack and died, too. We don’t know how long it took him to get back up because we carried him outside before he could begin walking around again.
Life went on. Well, if you could call it life. Between being stuck underground bored to tears and the stress of being above ground, tempers and emotions were everywhere. The fact that both Soren and I were interested in Shay didn’t help. Mike had already started dating Coleen. Those two were glued together the third day into our new life.
So, it became tense between the two of us, but when one of the shit stains started hitting on Shay, everything blew up. The day started like most others; slow as fuck.
When I walked into the community area where we ate breakfast, I spotted Waylan hovering around Shay. As I eyed him while getting my bowl of oatmeal, he touched her about fifty times. Oh, it wasn’t anything big. Just him laying his hand on her arm, resting it on her shoulder, pushing her hair back, corny shit like that. Pitiful.
I sat beside Soren.
He seemed to be angry eating, shoveling in the overcooked mush while glaring at Waylan.
“He doesn’t stand a chance,” I said before beginning my own angry eating.
Soren cut his eyes towards me. “Are you being an asshole? I can’t tell sometimes.”
“Nah. Not this time, anyway.” Using my spoon, I pointed. “See how she keeps leaning away?”
He paused for a moment, then nodded slowly. It took a few beats before he did exactly what I thought he would and jumped up. I stood, much more calmly, and followed the stomping Soren.
He muscled his way between Shay and Waylan, plopping down into the space that he created. A smile touched my lips before I schooled my face and slid into the spot on the other side of her.
“What the fuck?” Waylan asked, a growl lacing his voice.
I threw my arm around Shay’s shoulder, forcing her to look at me. She turned her head and leaned in. If it came to blows, I wanted to be able to grab her out of the way in time. Besides, I had a feeling it was about to devolve into things she wouldn’t want to hear.
“What’s with the caveman act?” she whispered as she fought a grin.
I tilted my head forward until our foreheads touched. “Why? You into cavemen? Because I don’t mind a bit of roleplay.”
She pushed against me, and something between a sigh and giggle came from her lips. “You know what I mean.”
“We noticed you didn’t look that comfortable. Figured if we came to rescue you, it might improve our standing,” I answered truthfully.
“Standing? What? Like I have a roster now?”
“I’d prefer it if that roster remained with just two names, but I don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced to add names just because you aren’t attached to anyone.”
It was shitty but until she started gutting people or dating someone who didn’t mind doing it for her, she would be a target for all of the guys who were beginning to realize their hands were their only real options. Society wasn’t what it was just months ago. The hospital proved that. Even if I did want her to just choose me and only me, I knew that Soren wouldn’t hesitate to kill for those he cared about. That was one of the biggest reasons he’d been allowed into the house without having any prior connections. Well, that and because he had the ability to procure the best party favors.
Shay started to turn her head, so I glanced to see why. Soren stood up. So did Waylan. Time to distract her while keeping my eye on the situation.
I raised my arm, cupping her cheek to pull her back to me. Her mouth pursed, no doubt ready to question me. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to hers. She didn’t jerk back. It wasn’t our first kiss, after all, but it was our first in front of everyone else. To my relief, she seemed to forget everyone else.
I’m ashamed to admit it, but watching those two ugly bastards slipped my mind, too. That is until Soren sat back down and began rubbing her back. She pulled away from me and dove on him like he was a candy bar. We hadn’t found chocolate in weeks, so that should explain exactly how she latched onto him.
I stood and stuck one arm beneath her legs while wrapping the other around her back. Pulling her away proved to be a bigger problem than I thought since those two didn’t seem to want to separate.
“I’m not disappearing with her. Shit. Let go, Soren,” I bit out.
I just wanted to take it out of the public view. Besides, it was time for a chat. He released her, hesitantly, and she latched onto me. Our procession caught everyone’s attention but because Shay stared up at me, I had to behave. Instead of looking at them, I smiled down at her. Surely, Soren could do the scary glaring thing by himself.
Soren
Fuckers. I knew that Shay was the only female around that wasn’t guarded by Mike or a husband, but damn. The choice to be together needed to be made freely on both sides. These fuckers seemed to think they could press themselves onto her and that would be good enough.
Some of the construction guys seemed decent, but a couple of them worried me. Still, it wasn’t my place to decide anything for her. When Chris pointed out how she kept leaning away from Waylan, I was both happy about that and pissed all at once.
Chris led us down the hall where our rooms were located. When we’d arrived, the five of us chose to take over a hallway of our own away from the other denizens of the bunker. When Chris paused by her door, I stepped forward and turned the knob, pushing it open when I heard the click.
“And what are we doing in my room?” Shay asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Chris.
“We’re having a chat,” he answered. “Of course, if you decided that you needed to get undressed first, it could wait a few minutes.”
I shook my head. What an idiot. And then she laughed, and I could only sigh. Chris had an ability to make his idiotic statements sound like jokes. They weren’t.
“I think I’ll keep them on for now. So, what are we having this very important discussion about?” She wiggled out of his arms, dropping down onto her feet before plopping on the twin-sized bed.
The utilitarian rooms were fairly sparse, but she’d made racks that were covered in rocks of various kinds. I picked one up, turning it over in my hand as I tried to figure out why she always came back with a pocket full of the things. They didn’t really look like anything special.
I heard Chris answering her, but he trailed off and she popped up beside me. Her fingers closed over mine as she pulled the grey rock from my grasp.
Her eyes locked onto it while she flipped it over, revealing the bottom. “You know, I spent almost four years studying my ass off. Right before all of this happened, I was getting ready for finals. Anxious if I would get into my choice school for yet more stress. It’s funny how much I’d forgotten what I liked about the field.”
She lifted it so I could see the small impression from some long-dead creature. I glanced at it, but I wasn’t the rock lover. Instead, I found her eyes. They told me everything she felt, but I didn’t get to decipher anything. She only stared down at that reminder that things once died.
“I’d forgotten the weight of my favorites in my pockets and that fleeting moment of excitement when I found a new treasure.” She sighed and placed it back in its designated spot.
We stood there for a moment before she looked up at me, her lips curling into a grin. With a yank, she pulled me towards Chris who sat on her bed watching us.
“So, what’s this about?” She fell beside him and patted the other side, her gaze locked onto mine.
“Don’t look at me. This is his meeting,” I answered and shrugged. I really didn’t have a clue.
Shay and I turned to stare at Chris. When he shifted and cleared his throat, I smiled. Fucker.
“Well, I think I can speak for both Soren and myself,” he paused when I coughed.
“Let’s see if I agree after you spit it out. I don’t want to tie myself to your ideas too soon. They aren’t always the best.”
Shay laughed and turned to me, reminding us of the time Chris thought it would be a good idea to be lowered into some well with a really old rope. It snapped. I laughed but not at the story. No, it was Chris’s glare that I found so funny.
“Well, fine. Now that my feelings are hurt, can we move on?” he asked, and I rolled my eyes as Shay twisted to pat him. “So, as I was saying, I speak for myself when I say that I think it would be a good idea to get some idea of what’s going on between us.”
I rubbed my chin, trying to decide which way to go with that. “Yeah, I guess he does speak for me on that.”
“Well, that’s such a relief,” Chris said dryly. “I just think it would be nice to talk about where we stand with whatever this is that’s been going on. Those guys aren’t going to stop as long as they think you’re open to their advances.”
And there’s my opening. “Not that I would pressure you into deciding anything before you wanted to. If you want those advances, that’s completely up to you.”
Just when I thought I got some brown
ie points for saying the right thing, she turned, a slight sheen growing in her eyes. Shit. Why did my chest hurt so much?
“So you don’t care if we just stop seeing each other? Well, that’s nice to know now,” she huffed.
“No. No, that’s not. No. I just meant that it’s your choice,” I spit out. Fuuuuck. “I certainly don’t want this to end. If it were up to me, we would already belong to each other.”
Wait, I didn’t mean to say that. Not that I didn’t mean it. I did. But I didn’t mean to reveal so much.
“Same here. I would’ve already gotten some awful tattoo with your name on it,” stupid Chris chimed in.
I sat there frozen, unsure if I’d just messed everything up, and he was over there making idiotic jokes. How did he become my competition?
We both knew that she had been ‘dating’ both of us, and we both knew that the other had already become invested in the relationship. We simply ignored it, but he just had to bring it up. What if she dumped us both? She hadn’t said anything. Shit, she was dumping us both. I would kill Chris. Then toss him outside with a blindfold on.
“I don’t know,” she whispered and looked down at her twisting hands.
Silence fell over us. I had no idea what Chris thought, but my mind raced as I tried to figure out what that meant.
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” Chris broke through the terrible thoughts in my head.
Time passed slowly as we both waited for Shay to find her words. When a tear dripped from her chin, my head snapped up, and I glared at Chris. I was definitely killing that motherfucker.
Shay
I felt torn. They wanted me to decide between them, but I couldn’t. Since we’d joined the bunker life, I’d found things in both of them that I didn’t want to give up.
When we’d arrived, I’d helped Chris through the infection that made him so sick. The entire time, he only tried to make me smile. Well, when he was lucid enough to do so. He kept life from being so doomed. He kept me from losing it, and his sweet gestures made my heart flutter.
Tales of the Apocalypse: A Dystopian Anthology Page 10