“Running in front of the truck is probably a bad idea.” Bethann commented dryly, “Now that we stopped running my muscles have turned to jello and I don’t think I could make it before the truck rammed into me.”
Veronica was about to suggest she try anyway when the passenger side door opened.
“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in!” Ian laughed at his little joke, as he sauntered to the front of the truck. Leaning on the grill he crossed his arms over his chest and gave them all a big smile.
“You do know that there is blood all over that, don’t you?” Daisy pointed out, confusion on her face. “Why would you want to touch that blood, it’s yucky?”
Ian’s smile quickly turned to a sneer as he lurched from the truck, “Shut up little girl!”
Veronica decided not to comment on Ian’s attitude, instead she watched him, waiting to see what he wanted.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t wait forever, after a few minutes of silent staring she asked, “These your new friends Ian?”
Ian gave a quick glance behind him, a smirk tugging at his lips, “They’re alright. Better than that stupid bunch of do gooders you have.” Looking around, he widened his eyes, “Oh, wait, there’s no one here.” He laughed, “Did goody-two-shoes leave you behind?”
“Quit the crap Ian, what do you want?” Bethann barked, “We don’t have time for your games!”
Ian’s face turned to stone, reaching behind him, he pulled out the gun that Jake gave him, “Payback.”
Bethann frowned at his answer but Veronica knew exactly what he was talking about. Ian wants payback for the two times that she dropped him to the ground.
“Why don’t you and that little girl go get into the truck while Veronica and I have a little chat?” Ian motioned Bethann to move with a wave of his gun.
“I don’t think so.” Bethann grabbed on to Daisy’s hand and started to edge away from him.
Veronica looked at her best friend. Bethann didn't show any fear but there was no doubt that Bethann would rather be on her own in a zombie infested world then be taken by crazy men.
“Let them go Ian, I’ll stay and we can have our little chat.” Veronica offered in a soothing voice.
Ian thought about if for a moment, rocking back and forth from foot to foot. Taking another look behind him, he shrugged, “Alright, go ahead.” He waived the gun again, shooing them off.
Bethann’s eyes went wide, she opened her mouth to refuse but saw Veronica shake her head no and look past her at Daisy. Shutting her mouth she nodded and turned away, taking Daisy by the hand. Veronica watched as they made it a few feet before Ian cocked the gun.
Veronica whipped her head around and saw Ian aim for Bethann. She took a step forward but was too late to stop Ian, the report from the gun echoed through the neighborhood. Veronica turned to see Bethann being shoved forward as the bullet pierced her right shoulder.
“AAAHHH!” Bethann screamed as she fell to the ground, the wounds on her stomach scraping the hard blacktop. The bullet lodging between her shoulder joint and the blade. Daisy started crying, tugging at Bethann to get up, asking Bethann if she’s okay. Begging her to be okay. Bethann bit her lip, trying to keep the noise down, afraid that she had already given the infected the dinner bell.
“Bethann!” Veronica pivoted, reaching a hand out before she even took a step.
Ian aimed the gun again, “You move you die.”
“Can’t make it too easy, can we?” Ian laughed. “What?” Ian asked when he saw the murderous look on Veronica’s face. Smiling wide he said, “At least it wasn’t her thigh, she can still run.” Ignoring Bethann, Ian took a few steps closer, “How is Caleb?
Bethann stood, blood flowing through her fingers from the hole in her shoulder. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay. Don’t die.” Bethann turned and started walking away again, Daisy following close.
Veronica didn’t turn back to Ian until Bethann and Daisy made it safely through the barrier of houses. She prayed that they wouldn’t run into any more trouble.
“Alright Ian, what do you want?” Veronica sighed. The stress of the day was started to weigh on her.
Holding up a roll of duct tape, Ian smiled, “How about you stand next to that pole there?”
Veronica stood there looking at Ian, knowing that it wouldn’t take much to wrestle him to the ground and take the gun from him.
“Don’t even think about it.” Ian warned, “Yeah, I know what your thinking.” Shaking the gun at her, “You think you can get this from me when I get close to wrap you to the pole. If you happen to get the gun from me, I have two men that will come out and shoot you on the spot. They also have my blessing to find your jerk friends and kill every one of them, starting with Bethann.”
Veronica weighed the odds of getting Ian’s gun then defending herself against two men without any cover. Part of her really didn’t want to believe Ian, he hasn’t proven himself to be very trustworthy. Shaking her head, she knew she wouldn’t take the chance with her friends lives on the line.
Raising her hands, Veronica backed up to the light pole, “What now?”
“Wrap your hands behind you, around the pole, and stay still.” Ian held the gun, pointed at her head, as he made a large circle to the back of Veronica.
When he was sure she wasn’t going to move, he quickly dropped the gun to the ground and grabbed her wrists tightly. Ian held both wrists in one hand, squeezing tightly. Lifting the tape to his mouth he bit down on the end and started to unroll it. Ian wrapped the sticky strip around her wrists four times, then decided to wrap around another three times.
“That should keep you there, not even you can break through that much duct tape.” Ian smiled, pulling at the tape, checking the resistance.
Veronica stood still. She didn’t squirm or shuffle her feet, she wanted to keep the use of her legs, maybe she would be able to kick her way out of this mess.
Ian gave one last tug of the tape. Gently, Ian started to stroke the skin just above her wrist.
“You know Victoria, this could have ended differently.” Ian followed along her arm, tracing a path with his fingers. “We could have had a great life together. Did you know I thought about marrying you?” Ian slowly walked around to face Veronica, feather light touch along her shoulder to the sensitive skin just under her ear.
Veronica said nothing. She didn’t even look at him, she stared straight ahead. She was starting to tremble, not from fear, but from anger. Complete and utter rage at Ian but most of all at herself for not knowing or seeing what a monster Ian really was.
Ian continued to stroke Veronica’s neck, “Your trembling. Are you scared or turned on?”
Veronica darted her eyes at him, before she could tell him to go stuff it, Ian leaned in and kissed her.
“AAughh!” Ian tore his face from Veronica, quickly shoving his hand against his mouth, “You bit me!” he accused, pulling his hand away from his bloodied lip.
Veronica finally smiled then, licking her lips, then spitting the blood filled saliva on to the ground.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking but there is no way that I am scared or turned on by you.” Veronica knew she was at his mercy, being tied to a pole and all. She figured if she was going to die, she was going to make damn sure that Ian knew what she thought of him.
Ian stalked back toward her, pointing his finger in her face, he yelled, “This is why we will never be together. You disgust me.” Dropping his hand Ian ventured closer, “I’m not going to tape your mouth.” He sneered, “I hope to hear your screams.”
Ian spun around and stalked back to the pickup truck. Pulling the passenger side door open, he climbed in. Before he could shut the door again, the driver peeled out honking the horn several times as they sped down the road.
“Perfect, won’t be long before I get visitors.” Veronica grumbled, “The kind that will take a quick bite and then run, if I’m lucky.”
Veronica finally relaxed against the pole. She had
been leaning forward, trying to create a gap between herself and the pole, making it harder for Ian to hold her and wrap her wrists without letting him know what she was doing. She tested the tape but found that he did a better job wrapping her than she expected.
“Great, the one good thing you can do is tape.” Sighing deeply, Veronica started to look around to see if there was anything on the ground within her reach. Tiptoeing around the pole, she surveyed the ground, looking for anything she could possibly get her hands on when she found the gun Ian dropped.
“Oh my, he is so stupid! How could he forget he left his gun there.” Veronica reached out a foot and pulled it closer to the pole. Shifting around the pole again, she squat down and used her fingers to get ahold of the barrel of the gun. Grinning with triumph, she wedged it into the palms of her hands. Slowly, she started to rub her hands together, doing her best to catch any part of the tape on the gun. “As long as I don’t pull the trigger, I’m in the clear.”
After a few minutes of wrestling with the gun, trying to find a safe place to catch the tape and avoid shooting herself in the butt, she took a break.
“Well, this is going to take a while.” She mused. Looking around again, she was grateful that she didn’t hear any trouble coming. She had a few hours before dark, with any luck, she might just make it.
Chapter 34
Lucas and Colby could hear Jake and Cody clapping their hands and yelling as they disappeared around the corner of the house.
“Do you think they’ll be alright?” Colby tried to look over his shoulder as they ran but Lucas pushed him forward, blocking his view.
“Don’t worry about them buddy, they’ll be just fine.” Lucas assured, “We need to find a way out of this place and meet up with Dana and the rest of them.”
Lucas and Colby reached the back of the house and came right up to the brick retaining wall.
“Which way do we go?” Colby whipped his head back and forth, searching along the wall to see if he could find the opening.
“I think we should head left, that takes us back north.” Lucas could hear the moaning of the infected and hoped that they wouldn’t run into any more at the back of these houses.
“Do you think it’s weird that no one has a fence up?” Colby questioned, “Maybe that’s why we haven’t run into any dogs or heard them barking.” Colby looked at Lucas, raising his eyebrows, “What kind of subdivision doesn’t allow dogs?”
Lucas smiled at Colby’s train of thought, “Not one I want to be in.” He respond, “Let’s get going. Do you think you can keep going?”
Colby puffed up his chest, “You bet! I’m on the cross country team. I can go for miles at a steady jog.” Colby beamed when Lucas nodded his head and offered for Colby to lead the way.
“Maybe we should just walk for a bit, save our energy.” Lucas replied
Letting Colby walk ahead of him was a good way to protect the young teenage boy without making Colby feel helpless. If anything were to sneak up from behind, Lucas would take the brunt of it. Considering how bad the infected smell, he didn’t think anything less than human would be able to. They had a few hours before dark, as long as they kept quiet, they should be able to make it past the wall without a problem. The only thing Lucas worried about is what they would find on the other side.
“How long do you think it will take for stuff to start to break?” Colby kept his head down as he walked next to Lucas. “You know, like cell phones and gas stations?”
Lucas rubbed the back of his head, took a peak being them, then tucked his hands into his pants pockets, “Honestly Colby, I don’t know.” Lucas admitted. “There’s no way to know how far this will go. If we’re lucky, we’ll have a couple of bad days here, then everything will get cleaned up and back to normal.”
“You think the government is going to swoop in and save the day? Then we can all go back to our merry lives?” Colby snorted, “All Matt and I have to look forward to is foster care.” A tear slipped down his cheek. “Dad was all we had.” he whispered.
“No, no foster care. You and Matt will stay with me.” Lucas answered before he even thought about it, surprising himself and Colby. Lucas knew it was right. How could he trust anyone else to care for the boys? “We told you, back at that lab, that we wouldn’t let anything happen to you or Matt as long as we can help it.” Lucas reached out a hand and squeezed Colby’s shoulder, “Remember? I’m your Uncle Lucas now and that means we’re family. Families don’t split up.”
Colby launched himself at Lucas hugging him tight. He may be fourteen but he wasn’t ashamed to hug. After a short minute, Colby removed himself from the protection of Lucas’s arms, “Does that include Dana?” Colby couldn’t help the smile that spread along his face at the blush that bloomed all over Lucas’s neck.
“Um, I hope so, I don’t think she has plans to move before school is over.” Lucas coughed and looked everywhere but at Colby.
Colby laughed, “That’s not what I mean, you like her.” Colby poked Lucas in the stomach, making him grunt.
“Well, yeah I like her. She great, smart too.” Lucas agreed, “But it isn’t really a good time to ask her on a date, with all the crazy people running around infecting everyone.” Lucas grumbled.
“You know, nothing says I love you li…..” Colby abruptly stopped talking when Lucas help up his hand and started sniffing the air.
“Do you smell that?” Lucas whispered, he whipped his head around, searching for the direction of the pungent smell of infected. “We have to move , NOW!”
They broke into a sprint. Lucas didn’t know if they were running toward trouble or away, he hoped it was the latter.
“Lucas, we have a corner! Do we go?” Colby hammered his feet into the ground, not sure if he should stop.
Lucas sped up and took the lead. The smell was getting stronger, they went the wrong direction. Slowing down, Lucas lead Colby to the house at the corner. It was surrounded by bushes, offering a degree of protection. Lucas inched closer to the edge and tried to peek around to see what was on the other side. What he saw scared him. There was a group of them, on the ground gnawing at pieces of what looked to be a woman. Lucas started to walk backward, motioning for Colby to back up. Keeping his eyes in front of him, hoping that they didn’t make ant noise that would attract attention. Lucas started to push Colby back, when Colby gripped Lucas’s arm and tugged.
“They're behind us too.” Colby’s voice shook with fear. “What do we do?”
Lucas’s heart started pounding with the rush of adrenaline, he searched around the yard looking for anything that he could use for protection.
“Don’t you have a gun? Can we use that?” Colby begged.
Lucas shook his head, “It will attract too much attention.”
Not seeing anything, not even a garden hose, Lucas started to weigh their chances if he used the gun. Moaning started behind them, catching the attention of the group on the ground, some of them leaving their meal to investigate.
“What about that? Can we make it and jump over to the other side?” Colby pointed to a pine tree that was growing next to the retaining wall.
The tip cleared the wall by several feet, making the tree well over fifteen feet tall. Looking at the branches at the bottom, Lucas figured he could give Colby a boost then jump up and grab the lowest branch. He just hoped he could do it fast enough.
“We don’t have a choice.” Lucas wiped sweating palms on his pants, “We are going to run as fast as we can to that tree.” Colby nodded his head in understanding, “Ready? GO!”
Lucas took off toward the tree first. He could feel Colby behind him, keeping as close as possible without stepping on his feet. They made it halfway through the yard before the groans became barks of excitement. This new sound spurred them faster, fear working their muscles hard. Lucas threw his back to the tree, leaning, he cupped his hands for Colby to step into.
Without missing a beat, Coby stepped into Lucas’s palms and was lifted into the tre
e. Grabbing onto the sap filled limb, Colby climbed as fast as he could to give Lucas room to pull himself up. As soon as Colby left his hands, Lucas twisted around and jumped, grabbing onto the branch he pulled himself up. Lucas managed to get the limb under his stomach when he felt a tug on his shoe.
Lucas felt himself slipping, he looked down to see that a very large man had reached up and wrapped his fingers into the laces at the toe of his shoe. Lucas kicked out, trying unsuccessfully to loosen the grip of the disgusting man. Lucas gave two kicks but the man's fingers were just wedged in too far and the infected man wasn’t damaged enough to lose the fingers.
Lucas thought fast. If he let go and dropped to the ground, he could dislodge the man and try to make a run for it. He might even be able to lead all the infected away from Colby. Lucas was about to let go when he felt weight fall on top of him, preventing him from moving.
“AARRGGG!” Colby threw his body on top of Lucas, his added weight helping to keep Lucas in place. Holding on tightly to Lucas with one hand, he stabbed at the infected man with a small dead branch he wrestled off higher in the tree.
Colby stabbed at the man’s face, fear creating the tears that were running down his face. “Let go! Let go already!” With a final hefty jab, Colby shoved the tip of the stick through the eye, piercing the brain matter. The actual dead weight of the man threatened to pull Lucas and Colby from the tree.
“Kick it off!” Colby pleaded.
Lucas huffed, both at the weight of Colby and the pain that was pulling at his straining muscles in his leg. “Can’t, its fingers are stuck in the laces.”
“Kick the shoe off with your other foot before something else grabs it!” Colby grumbled. Sweat was beading on his forehead as he tried to hand on to Lucas and the tree.
“Oh, yeah.” Lucas had his other leg held in the air, trying to keep it out of the hands of the infected. Carefully he lowered his foot so he could use it as leverage to slip off the murderous shoe.
With a pop, she shoe slipped off his heel and slid from his foot, dropping the shoe and the infected giant to the ground. With a sigh, Colby released his death grip on Lucas and the tree. Carefully, he mad his way back to the trunk of the tree, climbing up a few branches, he found one to sit on.
Infection Series (Book 1): Preservation Page 15