While outdoors, we kept our eyes open for any animals that were edible. Frankly, they were all edible if we could get them. Gunther and I had set up a few traps around the edge of the woods. Occasionally, we hit the jackpot and trapped more than just vermin. Every now and then, a deer would cross our path. It was always a feast around the firepit, with moans and groans of full bellies.
Cora was working in the garden with Kate, Silas, and Josie, pulling out all the plants that were finished producing. Quinn was sitting on a bench, nursing Grey, who was about a month-and-a-half old. She kept a careful eye on Callie while her mother was busy supporting our food efforts.
Gunther, Chris, Jake, and I were all working in the town center, cleaning up after a few storms with high winds blew through the area. Thomas was on guard duty, watching the surroundings.
Lurking in the distance, James casted glances at Quinn when he could, admiring her. Fucking creeper. I hoped Gunther wouldn’t catch him because all hell would break loose.
“How’s the little one doing?” I asked while we pulled down the rest of what was left of the awning over the porch of the small storefront.
Speaking proudly, he said, “He’s doing really well. Eating like a champ, the little chunk. She’s an amazing mother. I’m honored to share this with her.”
I smiled and glanced at my wife, hoping to be able to see Elaina as a mother someday. Unsure what kind of father I would be, I liked to think I would do okay.
“I’m glad to hear it,” I said.
Pulling me aside, Gunther asked, “Can I be honest?” He pushed his hand through his hair.
“Absolutely.”
“This feels awkward, but I’ve got to talk to someone. And you are about the only one I feel I can.”
“Go for it, mate.”
“There’s something wrong with Quinn.”
I looked over at her. She seemed fine to me. “How so?”
“She cries…but only in our room. She gets mad at me when I can’t console Grey or if I’m not doing stuff exactly how it should be done. I’m not saying, like, fierce. She’s just sad and angry all the time.”
Peeking around him, Quinn was all smiles, bouncing Grey around, showing him to Callie. “I wouldn’t have guessed by looking at her.”
“She hides it well when she’s out of our room, but I’m really fucking worried. She won’t let me get near her. Every time I try to kiss or touch her, she gets angry and shoves me away. I’m dying here. It’s been so long for us. She started refusing me about two months before he was born. She said it was uncomfortable, which I understand, but I’m dying to get back into her.”
“Too much information, mate,” I said and we both laughed. “In all seriousness, have you talked to Cora? She’s the resident expert on all this baby stuff.”
“I haven’t yet. Quinn would be mortified if she knew I told you.”
“It may be different when it comes to Cora. I won’t say anything to anyone, but I suggest you talk to her. She may have a few–”
A gunshot rang out. We both jumped off of the porch.
“Go get the kids inside,” I ordered. “I’ll go check it out.”
Gunther ran over to Quinn. “Inside…now!” he yelled. “Chain the door after everyone gets in.” Quinn held Grey close and picked up Callie. Gunther ran to where Cora was. “Cora! Inside!” She grabbed Kate, and Josie grabbed Silas. They sprinted to the door.
I hauled ass to Thomas, who was a short way down the street. “What’s going on?” An undead lay in a heap on the ground.
“I don’t know if he was the only one,” Thomas muttered.
“Cover me.”
I pulled out my hunting knife and we walked the area. Gunther caught up to us after he had pushed everyone to safety. Another one staggered out of the woods. I charged it and plunged the knife through its skull, but a distinctive snarling sound was coming from the woods.
“Holy fuck…,” I whispered. A mob of staggering undeads came into sight as they pressed forward. “Back inside! Now!”
We ran in the door just before Quinn put the chain on. Gunther and I sprinted down to the weapons room and grabbed axes. Thomas waited for us in the doorway.
“Reload, Thomas. Use them wisely, though. We are far too low to waste any.” Gunther and I ran back down the hallway.
“Gunther!” Quinn yelled. He stopped and turned, seeing her standing in the doorway of their room, bouncing little Grey. “I love you.” With a quick embrace and a kiss on Grey’s forehead, he followed me out.
Josie waited at the side door, armed with a handgun. Gunther touched her shoulder as he ran out.
Full of nerves, Elaina watched from the window in the cafeteria, working her thumbnail right down to the quick. One of these days, she was going to chew the whole damn thing off.
Henry and Gunther worked like two machines—slaying the undeads one after another, but they kept coming. An endless onslaught. The street was littered with body parts, blood, and guts.
Ever since Henry’s last bender, he had really been working hard with heavy bag training and lifting weights. Gunther made it a mission to get Henry into the same shape he was in. His muscled frame was now raw power, kicking ass and taking names.
“Oh god. There are so many,” Quinn whimpered behind Elaina.
“I’m going to go out and help. I don’t want them to get overrun.”
“Grab a couple of the others,” Quinn said.
Looking around, she saw Chris and Jake. “Come on, you two. Let’s go get ready.”
Elaina took them down to the weapons room. She decided to grab another handgun, and Chris and Jake both picked out metal baseball bats. They sprinted back down the hallway toward the door. Josie opened it for them and they ran out into the war zone.
Unable to hold back her tears, Quinn cried while watching the horror outside the window. She was trying to hold it together and bounce Grey, who was crying right along with her.
Then the unthinkable happened. Gunther slipped and hit the gore-slickened pavement, bringing an undead down on top of him. She screamed, which made Grey cry harder.
“Shh…baby boy,” she soothed in between her tears, watching the struggle.
I swear there were hundreds of the gory buggers. Okay, maybe it was just a couple dozen, but it felt like there were so many more because of their size. They were all bulky, like they guzzled protein shakes and weight trained until they turned. It was the oddest sight. They all had on black track pants and black t-shirts with no visible bite wounds. It made me wonder what the fuck was going on.
Why the sudden reprise of masses of undeads?
It hit Gunther and me at the same. “Are you thinking what I am?” I whispered.
“Holy fucking Christ. He created an army to flush us out,” Gunther muttered.
“This is–”
“Let’s just do this,” Gunther growled. We nodded at each other and began the slaughtering.
As the last few swarmed around us, three gunshots rang out at close range.
“What the fuck?!” I yelled as I spun around. There was my wife, aiming her handgun out in front of her, Chris and Jake flanking her. “What the fuck are you doing?! Get back inside!”
“Hello, dear husband of mine. Did you miss that I just saved you?” Elaina said sweetly.
“Henry!” Thomas yelled.
Gunther was on the ground, fighting one off. I ran to him and yanked off the mushy, blood slut that was working hard to bite him. Pulling out my handgun, I blew her brains out, then helped Gunther to his feet.
All of us stood around, looking at the carnage. We were exhausted, but I started directing the clean-up effort of the rotten, gory corpses. Our fingers were sinking right into the flesh and the bodies were pulling apart. After a while, Jake was vomiting from it all, so I had Chris take him inside. No sense in torturing the poor bloke.
Gunther and I stared at the true deads lying in the tree line and ditch. Thomas and Elaina were watching for more to stumble out.
<
br /> “Mate, this is bad news,” I muttered as I wiped my hand on my cargoes.
“Such a sick fuck. Who knows how many he has lined up and at the ready.”
“I think we should keep it under wraps until we get a plan together.”
“Henry?” Elaina came up behind me. “Why are they all wearing the same thing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they were some sort of militant group or some cult or something.”
“Yeah, maybe…,” she said, peeking at the bodies once more.
I looked her over. “You’re a mess, love. Let’s get back inside and clean up.”
The four of us headed back into the building. Thomas went to his room, and I sent Elaina to go clean up in the shower area. Because he fell, Gunther was nearly covered from head to toe.
“I think we should burn these clothes,” I muttered in disgust.
“Yeah, tell me about it. I hope Quinn didn’t see me go down. She would’ve had a meltdown.”
In a low voice, I said, “Let’s figure out this situation before anyone suspects anything.”
“He has to be here. Shit… I was hoping he wouldn’t show his face with our tracking devices destroyed.” He glanced down at his forearm. “Leaving is just not an option for us with so many depending on us to keep them safe. That would be impossible out there now.”
“You’re right. We need to stay put until we figure something out. Remember what he said back at the last meeting?” Gunther narrowed his eyes while I continued talking, “He was going to set off when he saw you moving north. When did you remove your device?”
“After I started moving north.” He dropped his face into his hands. “God, I’m such an idiot.”
“I always wondered why he was sailing over. Goddamn it,” I muttered. “This was the plan all along. A fucking game to him. How could someone be so sadistic and twisted to the point of using others as pawns?”
“Can’t exactly fly an army of undead soldiers into an area when you have no idea what the airport looks like. I can tell you this was not what was planned with me, Drew, and Kellan.”
“Here’s what I think. You know how the ship we used for training had jail cells?” Gunther nodded. “He loaded them with prisoners, recruits, and whoever he managed to convince, made it to port, then injected and released them.”
Gunther crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I bet he’s going to release them in cycles.”
“How would he know we’re here? We cut our devices out.” I ran my finger over my scar on the underside of my left forearm.
“Good question,” Gunther sighed.
“We’re going to have be on high alert at all times. How do we do this without scaring the others?”
“Let’s mull it over for a few days and think about what we can do. We need to devise a plan,” he muttered.
“For fuck’s sake… I was really hoping the bastard wouldn’t show. Let’s go clean up. I need to get this shit off of me.”
With Grey still in her arms, Quinn jumped from the chair and ran to Gunther as soon as we strolled into the cafeteria after cleaning up. Elaina and I headed toward the pantry to grab a bottle of water.
“Oh god! I thought you were going to die!”
He grabbed her. “It’s okay, love. I’m fine. I just slipped on the mess and went down. I wish you hadn’t seen that. Don’t watch again. Please.” She cried into his chest. He did his best to try to calm her down. “Come on. Let’s go back to our room.” They turned around and James was standing in their way. “Excuse us,” he growled.
Gunther tried to push past the sorry excuse for a man, but James stepped in front of him. Again, he tried to step around James, but he promptly stepped in front of them.
Elaina elbowed me and nodded. “Shouldn’t you do something?”
“No. I think he’s got it covered,” I murmured with a grin.
Elaina and I sat back and watched. Sadly, we didn’t have popcorn or movie theater seating. I would’ve stepped in if it went too far…maybe.
“What the fuck do you want?” Gunther snarled through clenched teeth.
James had a smirk on his face. “You make her cry way too much for my liking.”
“Are you fucking for real?! It’s none of your concern!”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure I am.” James pinched his arm. “Yes, definitely real. And yes, definitely my concern…since she is my wife.”
“You lost her when you walked out on her. And what are you going to do?! Play the valiant knight and try to connive her into leaving me? Because, I assure you, that won’t ever fucking happen.”
“No. Deep down inside, I know she still loves me. You see, I have known her for quite some time and I know how she is.” He looked at Quinn. “She will leave without my influence and walk right into my waiting arms.” James curled his lips into a grin as Gunther filled with rage.
Quinn wiped the tears from her face. “James, stop it!”
“No. I know I will get you back.”
“What about Savannah?” she asked.
With a lifted brow, he smirked. “Savannah who?”
Gunther had enough. He grabbed James and slammed him against the wall. Gripping the front of James’ shirt, he twisted it in his fist, pushing it to his small, pointed chin. Gunther planted his face right in front of his. “Over my dead motherfucking body,” he growled. “You stay away from my family or you will find yourself wishing you never showed up here. You hear me?”
“Gunther… Not in front of the baby. Come on.” Quinn grabbed his arm. He didn’t move, nor could she overpower him. “Please…”
Gunther shoved James once more, smashing the back of his balding head into the wall. “I mean it. If I even catch you looking at them again, I will eat you for breakfast. Don’t fucking test me.”
Quinn took his hand and led him off. A little stunned and still against the wall, James rubbed himself from head to chest.
“You think he’s okay?” Elaina whispered.
“I don’t know. I warned him ages ago to stay away from her.” I shrugged. “He’s a nutter for messing with Gunther.” I popped the last bit of carrot into my mouth.
“I will kill him, Quinn. I swear on my life,” Gunther raged as they walked away.
“I know. You have to calm down. Please. Grey needs his daddy.”
“Yes. I’m sorry. He just pisses me off to no end with his fucking almighty attitude.” Gunther opened their door and allowed Quinn to walk in first. He closed the door, locking it behind them. She turned around, her eyes full of tears. “Love? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” she cried.
Gunther grabbed her and held her. “Talk to me. What’s going on with you? I’m so worried. You’ve been so off.”
“I’m just so scared,” she sobbed. “Scared for us, for you, for Grey. What if something happens to you?” Her sobs were so harsh, she choked.
“You have to calm down.” The more Quinn started to fall apart, the more Grey cried. “Hey, hey, hey, little bear.” Gunther took Grey from Quinn’s arms, bouncing him and walking around. “It’s okay, Grey bear. Shh…” After he held him close, he calmed. He swayed back and forth until Grey went back to sleep. “Go lie down while I take care of him. He okay in the food department?”
“Yes. He should be fine for an hour or two.”
“Then, by all means, go rest,” he coaxed. “You’re knackered.”
“Are you sure?” She wiped her face, eyes leery.
“Yes, we’re fine. Now go. I will take him out of here so you can rest. If I need any help, I can get Cora.” Gunther kissed her on the forehead. “You need to stop worrying so much, love. It’s going to tear you to bits.”
In the forefront of his mind, he worried about how close Roger was. He hated lying to her, and had a gut feeling everything wasn’t going to be all right. After what happened outside, shit was real and it was getting more real by the second.
Tears were still streaming down her face. “It’s just hard. Ever s
ince he was born, I’ve been an emotional nightmare.”
“I know,” Gunther said with a smirk. “You need to come down off the ledge, love. We’ve got it handled.” He pulled her into an embrace. “You know what you need?”
He kissed her ear and neck, her breath hitching every time his soft lips pressed against her delicate skin. When her hips pushed into his, he groaned. Gunther released Quinn and walked over to the bed, lying Grey down in a gentle motion.
Walking back over to her, he kissed her with a passion they hadn’t had in months. When she returned his desire and need, he picked her up and carried her over to the desk.
The urge for her was overwhelming.
The deep pull inside her body ached for the relief only Gunther could give her. It had been far too long since they had been one, but she was worried. Quinn feared he wouldn’t like how she looked since Grey. She was soft in the stomach and had some markings that mortified her, none of which happened when she was pregnant with Carrie.
Gunther pulled off his shirt, but when he started to remove Quinn’s, she stopped him. “What? What’s wrong?”
“I’m still a little, uhh…” She looked away, feeling embarrassed.
Sensing her insecurity, he touched her face. “Love…I think you are so much more beautiful today than the day I saved your foxy self.” With hesitation, Quinn lifted her shirt off. Close to drooling, he groaned, “God, woman. Look at you. So fucking beautiful. I want you so very badly.”
He pulled her pants down, then let his fall to the floor, as well. Deciding to take it easy on her, he was going to make passionate love to her and treat her like she was the most fragile gift ever given to him.
She lay back on the desk as he slowly filled her. Slapping her hands over her face, she cried out in pain.
His heart thudded on his chest. “You okay, love? I’ll stop.” He started to pull out.
“No, please, keep going,” she said through her tears.
“Are you sure? It doesn’t feel right with you crying.”
“It’s fine. Please…,” she coaxed, hands still covering her face.
He was afraid of hurting her further and stared down at her. “Are you sure?”
Fractured Hearts (Shattered Lives, Book Three) Page 37