He started to run. He had no idea how much of a lead she had on him, but he refused to let that bother him. He would find her, no matter what. He couldn’t do this without her.
He ran for over ten minutes. He could tell that he was getting closer; her scent was much stronger. But she was moving faster than he thought she could; he wasn’t making as good of time as he had hoped.
He turned the corner and there she was: Gina was standing still, bag dropped on the ground, rifle aimed forward. Dean looked to the side and he saw what she was aiming at: another truck full of dangerous looking men, four with rifles trained on her.
He was too far away to reach them in time, too far away to yell, too far away to hear or do anything to help. He started running anyway, but she was blocks away. He’d never make it. Dean watched as she lowered the rifle and one of the men jumped out of the truck. The man struck her across the face and took the rifle from her, then grabbed her and hauled her to the truck. Petey leapt to attack him, but he kicked out hard and Petey shied away.
And then she was in the back of the truck, and it was taking off.
Dean screamed, but the roar of the truck drowned him out. Petey was chasing after it, but it was outpacing him and was soon turning down another block, leaving Petey in its dust. Dean ran even faster, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
He got to where the bag was and saw Petey’s food spilled everywhere. The half med kit was smashed open on the ground, its contents strewn on the pavement. Petey was barking. Dean paused for a split second at the bag, catching his breath, then ran on.
He caught up to Petey within a few moments. Petey looked up at him. Together, they ran.
The scent of the men wasn’t hard to follow; in fact, it was almost overpowering. But they were moving much faster than Dean and Petey could. They were both sucking air, but both refused to give up. Dean wouldn’t leave Gina behind and Petey wouldn’t, either.
Just when everything began to seem hopeless, the truck finally parked in front of a library. What a place for a gang to hide out, Dean thought.
The outside was deserted and utterly quiet. Obviously, these men weren’t worried about being followed. Dean wasn’t sure if these men ran this city, or if they were just one gang of many, but it didn’t matter. He was getting Gina back, no matter what.
Even if it cost him his life.
And it probably will, he told himself. Strangely, he was okay with that. After working so hard to stay alive these past two years, and after the apocalypse started, Dean was surprised to find that he was okay if he didn’t make it out of this. The only thing that mattered to him was getting Gina and Petey out of here safely.
What would his grandfather say? He found that he didn’t care anymore. Dean was his own man.
“Watch the front, Petey,” Dean ordered, and slunk off the best he could, trying to figure out what his plan of attack was. He had to be quick.
He reached a window at the side of the building by keeping low. Carefully, he liftede his head up, just enough to peer inside. The building wasn’t completely dark: they had flashlights aimed up at the ceiling, illuminating the room slightly. He could see two men inside.
The left a minimum of three more. He moved around the building, looking into windows, but he couldn’t see anyone else - including Gina. Around the back, there was a man outside the door, cigarette hanging from his lips. He was looking out at the alley, without a care in the world.
Dean waited patiently, though it was tough. His instincts told him to shift and rush the man; tear him limb from limb. Patience, he told himself. That’ll come, soon enough.
Finally, the man tossed his finished cigarette to the ground and stomped it out. He turned to go back inside, hand reaching out to open the door — and Dean rushed into action. He was a blur, grabbing the man before he had the chance to even touch the door. Dean grabbed him by the throat, one over his mouth, and pulled him backwards. The man thrashed, terror in his eyes, but Dean didn’t let go until the man was still.
He lifted the limp body, tossing it into the dumpster and heading back towards the front. As he made his way back, he was surprised to find that killing didn’t bother him. Not now.
Before everything had started, he had vowed he would never harm another person again. He realized how foolish that was. Someone that he loved was in danger. He would do anything to make her safe again. He would take out this whole city.
Out front, Petey was still there, watching the front door.
“I’ve got a plan, Petey,” he told the dog. He wasn’t sure how well he understood, but he told him anyway. “We’re going to draw some of these men out here. I need you to distract them. Then, I’ll move in.”
Petey just looked at him. If he understood, Dean didn’t know, but it was the only good plan he had. Dean stood straight, and tore off his shirt. He stripped down, then started to shift. Petey gave a yelp of surprise, but held his ground.
Dean made his way to the front door and rapped a paw on it. Then he backed off, moving to the left of the door. Within seconds, two men were coming out of the front of the building, rifles drawn.
“Holy shit,” the first one said.
“He found us! Come here, boy!”
Petey growled. Both men walked out from the door, and Dean moved to attack. The first man caught a flash of movement, managed a, “What??” and then Dean was on him. The second man turned, but he was dead immediately.
It was over within two seconds. Dean could feel his bloodlust growing. He tried to push it away — it was almost overwhelming, but he knew that he had to keep a level head if he meant to save Gina.
But he didn’t have much time, so he rushed into the building, Petey right behind him.
*
“Where are your friends?”
Gina gritted her teeth. She was tied to a chair in the back of some library, or what was left of it. These men had burned most of the books for warmth during the night. Idiots, she thought. Should have saved them for the winter.
“Come on, honey,” the other man said. “We found Bradley’s truck a couple blocks away from where we found you. He’s dead in the bed. So are some of our other friends. You have no idea about this? You did it all yourself?”
Gina didn’t say anything, just narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t going to give in to these men. There were only five of them left in total. It seemed that Dean and she had killed the rest of their group unknowingly.
She thought of Dean. The murderer.
Was that fair? She didn’t know. He’d saved her, more than once. And now, she found herself hoping that he would save her again. But she wanted nothing to do with him.
The first man pulled out a knife, bringing it close to Gina’s eye. “We don’t want to have to hurt you. You’re too pretty for that. What’s taking Jim so long? How many cigarettes is he smoking?”
“I’ll go check,” the second man said.
The knife came close, and Gina tried to pull back. Tears were starting to flow down her face. She couldn’t risk closing her eye, the knife was so close. This was it…
Boom! There was a sudden loud noise from behind the man with the knife. He was blocking Gina’s view; she couldn’t see what the noise was.
“Holy shit! A grizzly!” the second man yelled from behind her. Dean!
The man nearest to her turned and lunged for a rifle. She saw Dean roaring towards him, the door to the room shattered into a thousand pieces. Petey was rushing in behind him, going for the second man. Gina’s eyes flashed back to the man going for his gun, but he never reached it.
Dean made short work of him.
“Let me go, dog!” the last man yelled. Gina tried turning in her chair. She could see just enough to see that he was trying to run, but Petey was snapping at him, slowing him down just enough. Dean was moving in. Gina turned away and let Dean do what he had to do.
It was over within seconds. She heard Dean shifting behind her, then he was kneeling at the chair, undoing her bonds.
&n
bsp; “Did they hurt you?” he asked.
“No,” Gina bit off. Dean undid her bonds and then pulled her out of the chair. He immediately grabbed her in a tight embrace. Gina let it go on for just a second: that was all she would allow herself. Then she pushed Dean away.
“I want you to stay away from me,” she said. “Thanks for saving my life, but Petey and I are going to the safe zone, and I don’t want you anywhere near me.”
“Gina, please.”
“I’m sorry, Dean.”
“I didn’t mean to kill that man,” he told her. She could see the sadness on her face. “I never wanted to kill him. But I had to, to keep others safe. To keep myself safe.”
Gina didn’t know if she believed anything he said. In her heart, she wanted to. Badly.
“It was two years ago, almost to the day. I was in a gas station, buying breakfast, when he came in. He was drunk and had a gun. There were a few others in the gas station with me: the clerk, a woman and her daughter, another guy. The senator’s son wanted the cash. It was some kind of thrill for him. When he didn’t get as much money as he wanted, he lost it.”
Dean paused. Gina could tell just how much it was hurting him to tell the story.
“He started firing, randomly. And he hit that little girl. I tried to stop the bleeding, but she bled out in my arms. She died, and I could have stopped it, if I had just acted sooner. When that man saw what he had done, he dropped the gun. He realized just how badly he had messed up.”
“Dean…”
“So I jumped on him. I attacked him. Tore him limb from limb. I thought he deserved it. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn’t. But no one else saw it that way. The news didn’t mention the little girl that died because of him. They only focused on how I murdered a senator’s son. So I fled and never looked back.”
“I’m sorry,” Gina told him. What else could she say? She felt ashamed of how she had acted. She should have asked him about it, should have talked to him, instead of running away. She’d almost got both of them killed.
She didn’t know what she should say. So she just grabbed Dean and pulled him close, as he cried on her shoulder.
*
“So, this is it,” Gina said.
They were on the edge of the community. It was much larger than she had anticipated: tents as far as the eye could see, big military ones. She could see men constructing log cabins. Despite looking like a military camp, she saw no military presence. A few kids ran around their mother, who was carrying a basket full of some kind of fruit.
“This is it,” Dean answered. They had left the library in a hurry, taking the men’s truck back to the warehouse. They loaded it down, parking the truck in the alleyway out back. They had enough food for months, now, including enough for Petey. They had even gone back and picked up his extra food and the rest of the medical kit. It never hurt to be safe.
And then they had left North Williamstown behind, hopefully for good. Dean followed the road north, then turned off onto a nondescript service road through the forest. Gina thought he was crazy, but he had led them right towards the encampment.
They got out of the truck as a man started walking towards him.
“I’m General Harris,” he said, extending a hand to Dean, and then to Gina. He didn’t look much like a general to her, but now, it didn’t matter. “Pleasure to meet you two. You two look like you can help out around here.”
“He’s not staying,” Gina said. General Harris gave Dean a look, but then nodded. “He’s dropping me off here. And half of this food.”
General Harris looked around to the back of the truck. His eyes went wide. “Where did you find all of this?”
“There’s a distribution center in North Williamstown. Loaded with food. This isn’t even a fraction of it,” Dean said. Gina felt herself smiling. He had really come into his own. Then she realized he would be leaving and sadness threatened to overwhelm her. The smile dropped, but she worked to put the smile back on her face.
“I’d really like to know where it is,” he said. He looked Dean up and down. “Are you sure you don’t want to stick around, son? You look like you could be of great use around here.”
“Afraid not,” Dean said.
The General nodded and then called a few people over to help unload what supplies would be staying with Gina.
“Do you have a doctor?” Gina asked.
The General shook his head sadly. “Afraid not. We have one nurse. She’s doing the best she can, but it’s not enough. We have enough medical supplies, but no one that knows how to use them properly. That’s one of our few shortcomings.”
“You’re in luck,” Dean said, grunting as he handed a box of food to another man. “This woman right here is one of the best doctors I’ve ever met in my life.”
General Harris’ eyes went wide again. “Is that so?”
Gina blushed, but nodded.
“Looks like we’re in luck, then. You don’t know just how much that’s going to help around here.”
After the food was unloaded, Gina walked up to Dean.
“Are you sure you can’t stay?” she asked.
He shook his head sadly. “It’s not my place. You’ll do fine.”
“Good luck, Dean,” Gina said. She wanted to say more: that she loved him, that she wanted him to stay more than anything, but nothing else came out. She kissed him lightly on the lips. Petey came up and jumped against Dean’s leg. Then he was climbing back in the truck. Gina watched him drive away, Petey at her side. They watched until the truck disappeared into the woods. Then she followed General Harris into the camp to see what she could do.
*
Gina was exhausted. She collapsed back into a chair, peeling off gloves and tossing them into the trash. It was over. It was finally over. She sat there for a few moments, catching her breath. What she had done was outside her realm of expertise, but she thought she had done an outstanding job.
She peeked her head back into the room. “Everything okay?”
“Wonderful,” the woman lying on the bed said. In her arms, she cradled a newborn baby. The woman’s husband stood next to her, looking down with pride as only a new father could. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Gina said. “Monica is going to come in here in a few minutes and get you situated. If you need me, just let her know.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
Gina smiled and left the room. As she left the building, she told her nurse to let her know if anyone needed her for anything — anything at all. Monica nodded and smiled.
Gina was exhausted. That was the first baby they had delivered, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. No fewer than four other women were pregnant, now. Her schedule would get much busier in the near future, but Gina found that was okay.
It had been nearly five months since Dean had dropped her off and disappeared down the road. The weather was cool, but not cold, yet. Luckily, the General was a smart man, and they were prepared for the winter. He wasn’t a general anymore. Now, he was the mayor, but his title of General had stuck, despite his efforts to get people to stop calling him that. He had men working around the clock, replacing the tents with actual buildings. He was an important part of this new society. Gina smiled: she was, too.
Things weren’t back to normal, not yet. But they were getting there. More and more important members of society were filing in, slowly. A few engineers had recently shown up. A water treatment specialist had shown up immediately after she had. Both professions were definitely in high demand out here. There were no other doctors, but Gina held out hope that there would be more, soon.
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 91