“Now or never, River. You can do this. Just fake it till you make it, right?” I mumbled as I got out.
“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” Cole smiled.
“Aw, crap. He’s smiling, and that isn’t good.” I didn’t have any witty comebacks.
“Linc Harris, the world is a small place. I see you found our girls and brought them back to us.” Cole engulfed his friend in a backslapping hug.
“You have got to be shitting me.”
Stacy ignored me, as she was welcomed back with a breathtaking kiss from Darren.
“Oh, I’d love to take credit for these ladies, but they’re the ones who found our missing kid. He’s been gone for three weeks, and they just drove right up with him. Then they told us about what you guys were doing over here, and I had to come see if we could find a way to work together,” Linc informed Cole.
“At least they survived the two full days they were gone,” Cole growled toward me.
“Hey, I’m just glad they’re back. I missed this lady. She’s growing on me.” Darren kept his arm around Stacy as he shook hands with Linc. “Don’t mind Cole, he’s been cranky because he can’t keep this one on a leash. She’s independent and does her own thing.”
“It does seem to be a problem, but I’ve gotten used to independent women like my niece. We’re missing two people, Andi and Sarah Beth.” Cole scanned my face, and didn’t like what he was seeing.
“Let’s do this inside, it’s a long story. Lee and Sean also need to hear what I have to say. They’re safe, so don’t worry.” I ducked the question and walked inside as he pulled out a phone.
“Send Lee and Sean over to the processing station please. We need their help with a situation.” Cole continued to glower while joking around with Linc.
Lee came racing in the door, gun held to his side, not wanting to shoot someone.
“What’s the hurry?” Sean arrived at a much slower pace.
“We ran into a couple situations,” I began, “but we lost a few people in the process. Sarah Beth is fine, but Andi got shot.”
“She’s fine,” Stacy said calmly. “Clayton isn’t, though. One of the ladies we rescued shot him. He’s dead.”
“Holy crap!” Cole landed heavily in the chair behind him. “What did you girls do, start a revolution and get caught in the crossfire?”
“Our intention was to make some paths out into the rural areas and see if we could find some food sources. We stumbled upon Carson and Billy, which led to us being attacked by another rogue group.” I felt my confidence coming back. “Don’t start with how you could have saved us if you’d been there. We did just fine on our own,” I admonished Cole.
“Obviously you did,” he shot back, unimpressed.
“Give them a break. You haven’t heard the rest yet.” Linc joined in, giving me the floor again.
“We took out the other group, and in the process, Clayton shot at Andi. Kelly finally stood up to him, and we escorted him off the mountain. Evidently, he followed one of the groups bringing supplies and tried to take us out at the farm. One of the ladies we rescued took the gun when Andi fell, and shot him.”
“Dawson did really well and didn’t flip out,” Stacy added.
“Well, if you don’t count his pacing and kicking the dead body every time he passed.” I laughed at the expression on the men’s faces. “Hey, if he’d taken a shot at my kid, I’d have done the same thing, as would all of you.”
“I’d have mutilated his dead body,” Cole fumed. “What, like you wouldn’t have made sure that he was completely dead?”
“Anyway, she’s fine and recovering. She and Billy should be able to start moving around in the next few days, and if there are no complications, they can each go home.”
“Can I go see her?” Sean asked out of the blue.
“Um, we weren’t going to make another trip until next week.” Stacy frowned, looking at me to see what I thought.
“I have a better idea. Linc, is there any way that you could take Sean over there? You could take Billy’s parents with you. Is there anything that you need for your community?” I offered.
“If we’re going to make this trade thing work, we might as well start now, and from what you’ve said, they’ll let Sean in, and it will be a huge relief for Billy’s parents. We need more equipment and gas for the vehicles.” Linc surveyed the room.
“I think that’s a possibility. How much are you wanting right now?” Lee questioned.
“An entire truck for the filling station would be nice, but most of the farm equipment runs on diesel. We can install the solar panels that your farms need, and we have crops that have been producing,” Linc explained.
“Once I see Andi, I can go and install the panels,” Sean stated. “If you don’t want to do a deal with this guy, or want to use the resources, I mean, it’s what I can do.”
“Linc’s an old army buddy, and I’m not worried about his intentions. Getting the world back to what it was is going to take some effort, and with that comes an exchange of resources. Having another place with different food groups would be wonderful.” Cole’s expression wasn’t as pained now that he’d heard the rest of the story.
“Sean, we knew that you’d want to head that way. Brad and Dawson need you and a couple of the geeks.”
“Hey, I’m more than just my brains. I’ve got some brawn as well,” Sean protested.
“Agreed. Andi must see something in you, and the rest of us will just have to wait to be wowed. Anyway, they need a system setup to warn if this group comes up from Georgia. We have to find a way that they won’t come and take everything away that we’ve built,” I teased him.
“Look, we all know that things aren’t going the way we wanted them to, and certainly not how we thought the world would be. We’ve been locked in groups of people that have played by the rules, and so far, we’ve dealt with nice people. In just two short days, I’ve come across two very different types of horrible people. Ones that took advantage of those too weak to look out for themselves, and the other one wanted power and was willing to hurt others just to get it.” I suddenly felt like crying. “Why don’t you guys figure out the details, and I’m going to go check on something.”
All the emotions and feelings of the past few days had just hit me, and I had to get away before I broke down.
I rounded the building and slid to the ground behind a dumpster, out of sight. What I didn’t expect was for Cole to sit down next to me, holding my bat.
He didn’t say anything, he just laid the bat down on the other side of me.
“I don’t want you to see me like this,” I groaned, my head hidden in my arms.
“River, you can hide from me, but you’re not going to scare me off.” He waved a hand to our surroundings. “These infected things are scary, but even they’re not that bad compared to some stuff I’ve seen out there. You can put up walls to keep me and all these other people out, yet we’re some of the nice ones who actually care.”
He put an arm around me, pulling me closer to him. “I know that we aren’t dating, or that we haven’t had a moment to discuss what we are. I was a little pissed.”
I gave him a disbelieving look.
“Yeah, okay. I was really pissed. Darren talked with me and Lee. They both were fine with what you girls did, running off. Then I realized that I was used to being part of a group, and even though I feel like we really know each other, you might feel rushed into something. It’s not like you can just go home and chill. We all live and work in the same space. So I’m not mad. But next time, I would appreciate a heads-up.” His finger lifted my chin up so that my face wasn’t hidden by my hair. “Can we at least agree to be partners?”
With an offer like that, I couldn’t say anything, but I reached up and brought his head down so that our lips touched in a gentle kiss.
“Thank you. I appreciate that you’re giving me space.” I snuggled into his arm, enjoying the moment. “This is just me having a we
ak moment. I won’t be into cuddling on a regular basis,” I informed him. “So don’t get any ideas that I won’t push all the boundaries in this relationship, because that’s kind of my specialty.”
“That’s what I’m counting on, Pumpkin.”
Instead of a comeback, I just gave him a loving slap on the back of the head. “Don’t call me pumpkin.” I grinned at him. “In public,” I clarified. “Now, I want to see what you’ve been doing with yourself while I’ve been gone.”
“Yes, ma’am. But when do we get to have the hot make-up sex?”
“Who said that make-up sex was on the table?” I countered.
“Well that’s what you do when you have a fight, right?” He turned that devilish grin toward me.
“So I’ve been told, but I would need a much quieter and non-public space this time.”
“Absolutely. Follow me to the make-up sex private space I’ve arranged.”
“You sneaky devil.”
“Only because you’re my angel.”
The End
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Geeks Against Zombies
Sean
I’d always thought Andi was a cute kid. One of the gang, and fun to hang out with. That was the only amount of effort I’d put into analyzing my sister’s roommate. Then the zombies came out of nowhere, and my video games were a living thing in my world. Well, not really living, but undead, trying to kill us all.
My friends and I had it better than most, because we knew how to deal with this kind of situation. We had watched hundreds of movies about zombies, and while we were still the geeks that sat inside all day, that changed when the zombies showed up. Killing those things was the workout we needed to survive and get us out into the real world.
Survival became our main objective, and then the Church Against Zombies group showed up on our doorstep, bringing the one girl that I’d missed when the world went crazy—Andi.
Suddenly my skills for electronics were needed to put civilization back together, and Andi never left my side until the other ladies decided to go exploring without telling anyone. I’d never been so scared in my entire life.
When River and Stacy came back, bringing the news that Andi had been shot, the only thing I could think was, how fast can I get to her? I couldn’t let her die without knowing I liked her as more than just a friend. I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance now, because another group has plans to attack us and take what they want. The mountain groups need my help to get electricity going, and to setup a system to warn us of incoming intruders.
It’s all so crazy, and I never thought that my game world would collide and take over my real life.
Against Zombies Box Set, Vol. 1 | Books 1-4 Page 51