“All right then. I guess I will just drive until we find something.” I decided to go back toward the highway since the area we were in was very rural. Plus, that was the direction from which the undeads seemed to be coming. Any prat could figure out there had to be something in that direction.
We drove in silence for about a half-hour. There weren’t any signs of life or unlife anywhere. The tension in the truck was thick.
Reid finally spoke. “So, Gunther…”
“Yeah?”
“How did you meet Quinn?”
“I met her at a pub in England.” I had to split my concentration between the road and my bullshit story, making sure it sounded believable.
“Right…,” Reid mumbled.
It seemed as if he was waiting more information, so I tied it all together. “She was there on vacation alone. She had just called it off with her husband and was on the trip to clear her head. I saw her enjoying a pint alone, and I couldn’t possibly allow that to happen. I peeled away from my mates and bought her another pint. We chatted for hours, and clicked right away. I offered to take her around London the next day and she accepted. We had such a great time together, we decided to keep in touch when she left. I swooped in and won her heart.” I smirked in the rearview mirror at Reid. “How did you meet Shannon?” I thought asking him his story would be a good distraction for me, but I couldn’t keep my mind off Quinn. The look on her face as I was leaving gutted me.
“We were high school sweethearts,” Reid sighed. “We were seriously talking about divorce before all this shit happened. I even had my lawyer writing up the papers. I guess it has kind of brought us together again. I still love her but, well…I see how she looks at you.”
“I assure you…,” I began.
“No, I’m not accusing you of anything. I can see how wrapped up you are with Quinn. It’s rather nice seeing a couple so into one another.” He exhaled. “Shannon used to look at me that way. I miss it.” Then he muttered, “She had several affairs.”
I quickly glanced over at Mitch, whose face still sported the signs of my beat down. He was staring out the passenger side window. I contemplated asking him about Eve, but I really didn’t give a shit. I wasn’t about to be all chummy with the arse.
“You know what I really miss?” Reid asked.
I decided to play along. “What’s that?”
“I haven’t gotten laid in about a year.”
“Yeah…that blows,” I said, thinking back to the hour before when Quinn rocked my world once again. I smirked.
“Nope, not getting any of that, either.” We all laughed, which broke some of the tension. I glared at Mitch. He stopped laughing, not wanting to do anything to piss off me. He needed to fear that I would kill him the moment he breathed wrong. Reid cleared his throat. “I don’t think Shannon and I will ever get that intimate again. I will never forgive her for what she did to me, but I can’t stop loving her. What can you do? Maybe I will find someone in my travels…” His voice trailed off, obviously missing the physical side of the relationship.
We came up on a small town and our discussion ended. I slowed down considerably, pulling the truck into a crushed stone lot. It looked like a tourist trap area, with brightly-painted buildings and looked like lodging. There were abandoned cars scattered around. I hoped it would be a goldmine for us. Looking around, I came up with a quick plan.
“We will start at the general store,” I commanded.
“Am I getting a weapon?” Mitch asked nervously. I laughed. That arsehole must have thought his bollocks were massive. I’ve seen them—not so much.
“Now, that was a silly question, mate.”
“How am I going to protect myself?”
I grabbed Mitch by the shirt and pulled his battered face into mine. My lip rolled up into a snarl. The desire was still there to drain the fucker, but then I would have to kill Reid. I didn’t want to do that. “Do you really think I would put a gun in your filthy hand after what you tried to do? Do you?! How fucking stupid do you think I am?!” I raged.
“No…no.” Mitch was scared. Good, but I was hoping he wouldn’t piss his pants in my truck. “I guess not.” I shoved him back into the seat.
“You are to stay in between Reid and me. I will lead. Now get out!” Mitch scrambled, trying to open the door. Then Reid and I jumped out of the truck. Reid had a smirk on his face and I nodded at him.
We walked to the back of the truck. My vest was filled with the usual weaponry, and I handed Reid an extra magazine and a knife. I closed the gate on the truck and locked it up. “Now listen. I will lead. Reid, do not shoot unless it’s absolutely necessary. Use the knife. Jam it in and twist.” He nodded.
“Can’t I at least get a knife?” Mitch’s whining raked on my very last nerve. I slammed him up against the back of the truck, much like when I pinned him up against the wall at the shack. I pulled out my knife and held it to his throat.
“You want one of these?” Sadistic was going to be my go-to tone for dealing with him. Mitch looked at me, gasping for air. “Answer me!”
“Ye…yes,” he managed to stutter in between gasps.
“So help me, if you even try anything, I will use you as bait. Clear?” He nodded as best as he could. I let him go, but not before I shoved him into the truck, knocking the wind out of him. He bent over, coughing. I pulled a smaller knife out of my vest and dropped it on the ground in front of him. “Let’s go,” I quipped.
“God, Mitch. You are such a fucking moron,” Reid said in a heated whisper. I chuckled under my breath. Reid pulled him up and hurried to catch up to me. I already was at the door of the general store.
I pulled on the handle. Locked. Good sign. Reached into my pocket, I fished out my small tool set. After about two seconds of fidgeting with the lock, we heard the telltale click. I smirked.
“Damn. I think I need to learn how to do that,” Reid murmured in awe.
“Maybe I will show you sometime,” I mumbled. As I pulled open the door, we were slapped in the face by the smell of death and decay.
I stepped in and there was a pool of dark, sticky blood on the floor near the registers. Padding up to the counter, I peered around the corner. Reid’s hesitation was blatant. I was pretty sure he didn’t want to find out what was there. “Christ,” I muttered.
“What?” Reid asked.
“Looks like suicide by gunshot. He…” I tilted my head to the side, trying to determine the sex of the true dead. No fucking clue and I wasn’t about to check. “I think he is still holding the gun. I will just leave it right where it is.”
Reid and Mitch both gagged again. “How can you stand it?” Reid asked through a cough.
“I’ve seen a lot worse than this. This is a walk in the park, mate.” I didn’t elaborate. I had a feeling they weren’t interested in me doing so, either.
After I grabbed a stack of reusable bags from the counter, I gave several to them. “Fill the bags up with whatever looks good. We’ll sort it out later. Make sure you grab all the medical supplies, matches, lighters, batteries and, uh…some stuff for the women,” I mumbled.
The three of us jogged up and down the aisles. We filled about fifteen bags, plus we pocketed smaller items and tucked larger items under our arms. I stepped out the door, and three undeads were stumbling across the road.
Annoyed, I said, “Get the stuff in the truck. I will take care of these buggers.” I dropped the bags, unlocked the truck with the fob, and took off after the undeads.
While I was sprinting toward them, I pulled out my knife, meeting them before they even staggered half-way toward me. I rammed my knife into the head of the first undead man. Half of his face was already torn off. As he dropped to the ground, I pulled the knife out, driving it into the head of the next one. I repeated the process until the last one was down. Within seconds, all three were on the ground. Not a record for me, but a job well done. I shuddered as I wiped the blackened gore and blood off my hand and onto the last one’s trousers.
&n
bsp; I ran back to my truck, Reid and Mitch standing there in awe. “Dude, you don’t fuck around, do you?” Reid muttered.
I smirked. “No. Let’s check out some of these other stores.” We locked up the truck again and walked to the shoe and clothing store.
Once again, I amazed Reid with my badass lock picking skills. I felt like I had a fan girl. We stepped into the store, and the clean clothes smell filled our nasal passages. It was heaven. All three of us stood there and breathed deep. I hadn’t had clean clothes in ages and I suspected it was the same for them. Everything we had was wearing thin and was filthy. We had rinsed off what we could at the well pump and hung it up to dry, but it wasn’t the same as freshly laundered clothing.
“I hope you know what sizes your women wear,” Reid said, looking like he was in his element. “I was a clothes whore in my former life. I loved nothing better than dropping several thousand dollars on designer duds.”
We all took off in different directions. I was a little lost and clueless. I looked around the store quickly, holding up a few shirts and trying to judge what size Quinn was. I felt like such a fucking prat that I was clueless.
Reid walked up to me with an armload of stuff. “Uh…what size do you suppose Quinn wears?” I asked, embarrassed.
“She looks to be about the same size as Shannon, so I should think a medium would do. Oh, and I would think Josie would be an extra small.” He patted me on the shoulder.
“Right. Thanks,” I muttered. Reid nodded.
Then the three of us ran around, grabbing as much clothing as we could carry, stopping at the shoes. There were stacks of boxes containing boots.
“Let’s just grab several sizes in different ones,” I said. “Keep them in the boxes. We can use them for the fireplace.” We rushed around, grabbing several pairs each.
Just as we made it outside, a plane flew overhead. “Shit!” Mitch’s voice was drowned out by another plane, immediately followed by an explosion that shook us right to our very core. I spun around, trying to place from which direction it came. My heart raced, worrying it was near the shack because smoke was pluming from that direction.
“Get in the truck now! We have to get back.” We haphazardly loaded our finds, and just before I jumped into the driver side, I heard the telltale sounds of undeads. There was a massive herd coming down the street toward us.
“Holy shit,” Reid whispered. He was standing in the way of the back door on the driver’s side and I wanted to grab the sniper rifle.
“Don’t just stand there! Move!” I shoved him out of the way. Reid fell to the ground and scrambled to get up, as I reached in and pulled out the rifle.
“We should just take off!” Mitch yelled.
“Are you mental? They may eventually make it to where we are staying.” The planes flew by again. I watched the direction they were heading. “Son of a bitch. Looks like they’re taking out the bloody highway!” I refocused myself on the herd.
I stood up on the side step with the door open and began picking them off one by one. Mitch and Reid watched me work and, once again, my fan girls came out in full force. The planes flew over again, followed by even more explosions. The ground rumbled and the truck rocked.
Then the fucking rifle ran dry.
There were still about a dozen staggering toward us. “Fuck!” I yelled when I threw the gun on the roof. Stepping down, I pulled my handgun out of my vest and started running toward them. Again, I picked them off one by one, emptying my Sig. I patted myself down for a magazine but, of course, I didn’t have one on me. Then I remembered I handed the magazine to Reid and never grabbed another one for myself. With all the commotion back at the shack, I had forgotten to reload everything.
Reid came rushing up behind me. “I’ve got them. Get back to the truck!” The planes continued to fly over, dropping bombs. The air was thick and acrid.
Reid emptied his gun, leaving no undead standing. He took a few steps to head back to the truck and a plane came in over the trees. I was already halfway back to the truck. “Run!” I yelled.
Reid looked up as the plane dropped a bomb. The ground exploded, knocking Mitch and me down. Dirt, dust, rock, and undead body parts went everywhere. The debris rained down all over us.
I crawled over to Mitch. “Get in the truck! I’ll see if I can find him!” Mitch nodded and pulled himself up.
Pulling my shirt over my mouth and nose, trying to block some of the dust and smoke from entering my lungs, I ran forward. “Reid!” I screamed. I almost stumbled over the edge of an enormous crater. “Reid!” I screamed again. “Dammit!” I heard a loud groan, unsure of who or what was groaning. “Reid!” I walked around, being careful not to fall into the crater. I kept coming across pieces of body parts, mangled arms and legs. There was blood and bits all over the road. The dust cloud was still lingering.
A few steps later, I tripped over something. Reid. He was still conscious, but was barely hanging on. “Reid,” I murmured. He was missing a leg and there was a gaping hole in his abdomen. “Bloody hell.”
I knelt down to him and Reid reached up. “Tell Sh-Shannon…” He coughed and blood poured from his mouth. He cried out in pain. “I l-love her…”
“I will, mate.” I looked around at the destruction. The smell of burnt flesh didn’t faze me, but the blood pouring out of Reid made me crave. “I’m going to help you move on, mate.”
“P-please, it h-hurts…so much. Quickly.” He strained to speak and his eyes were pleading. How could I let him suffer? I went to his head and held it in my hands. “Please…I beg…y-you. F-finish it.” I knew I had to do it.
“Thank you for everything,” I said sullenly. We locked eyes, then I snapped his neck, making his pain end. I pulled out my small pocket knife and sliced open his throat, drinking what I could.
“Gunther!” Mitch’s voice was close by. “Gunther!”
I sat up. “Fuck…,” I moaned. “I’m coming,” I grumbled, feeling angry that I was going to have to deal with Mitch on my own. I licked my lips and wiped my face with my sleeve, trying to get rid of any evidence of what I had just done.
As the dust cloud began to settle, I saw Mitch’s outline ahead of me. The high was kicking in fast and furious. For a moment, the earth felt like it shifted. Then I realized I had tripped over a large chunk of road in my path. Without thinking, I inhaled deeply. Instantly, my throat and lungs burned with dirt and dust, causing me to face-plant into the pile of debris. My high disappeared in a snap.
“Gunther!” Mitch called out again. I began crawling over all of the bits and pieces of bodies. My coughing was fierce and it tore at my throat, which now felt as if it were on fire and full of grit. Mitch found me and pulled me out of the settling dust cloud. “Where’s Reid?” He looked around.
“Gone,” I choked out. Then I began coughing so much that I gagged. “Shit, I need water.”
“Let’s get you to the truck.” Mitch grabbed me by my arm and practically dragged me back. He swung open the driver’s door and I hoisted myself in.
My lungs felt like they were tearing into tiny pieces every time I labored to suck in a breath, and my eyes were tearing up from all of the coughing. When Mitch put a bottle of water in my hand, I opened it and poured half of it over my face, trying to get rid of some of the dust and debris. I was finally able to open my eyes, only to see cracks in the windshield.
“Fuck me,” I mumbled between jagged breaths.
Mitch jumped in the passenger side. “What the fuck is going on?” It was a rhetorical question, but I couldn’t stop myself.
“I don’t know, genius, but we need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Are we leaving his body?”
“He was missing a leg and he had a huge hole in his abdomen.” A violent cough burst from my lungs. “He was alive when I got to him, but he begged me to end it… I snapped his neck.”
“What?!” Mitch was stunned. “Maybe we could have brought him back for Levi to look at him!”
“Did you even hear me, arseface?” I continued to cough between words. “Huge…fucking…hole.” The coughing was pissing me off so, like any man would do, I punched the dash. “Damn it!” I growled. “He was missing a leg. There was no saving him. He begged me. I couldn’t let him suffer.”
“Damn. Shannon’s going to freak.”
“Yeah.” I kept taking small sips of water. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Hoping the truck would start, I jammed the key in the ignition and turned it. The truck roared to life. “Thank you,” I whispered to no one.
“Do you think they’re okay?” he asked in a strained tone.
“I hope so.” I didn’t waste another second. I threw the truck into reverse and spun it around, then jammed it into drive and floored it. Mitch looked at me like he was rather impressed by my finesse even while my breathing was compromised.
“This is fucking crazy, man.” Mitch shook his head in disbelief.
“Welcome to my world.” Mitch looked at me as if he was rather intrigued, but completely confused.
Chapter 33
Quinn lay in the bed, trying to rest like Gunther instructed her. She couldn’t keep her mind off of him, though, and needed to keep busy or her mind would wander to places it shouldn’t. Josie came back into the bedroom after spending a few unwanted minutes with Eve. She was lying next to Quinn, reading a book. “I can’t lie here any longer,” Quinn said, sitting up.
“Why? Are you uncomfortable?” Josie set her book down, ready to help Quinn if she needed it.
“No. I need to keep busy.”
“But…”
“I’m fine,” Quinn snipped. “There has to be some sort of busy work.”
Josie sighed. She knew if something happened to her, Gunther would flip out. As if she could control Quinn. She left the room, leaving Josie behind.
“Quinn. Shouldn’t you be…?” Levi began as she walked through the common area.
“No, I’m fine. I need to find something to do.” She began looking around the tiny shack. The walls were closing in on her. “I need to go outside or something.”
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