X sat up and put another bullet into the wounded foamer. At the death of their comrade, the other two rushed at him with teeth bared.
His shoes pushed against tile as he scrambled under the kitchen table, leaving a red streak across the floor. He surfaced on the other side, keeping the furniture between them. A flap of meat hung from his left forearm, and blood dripped from his sliced fingers. His pulse ached through each digit, and his ears rang from the gunshots. He had one bullet and two foamers left. The uncle faded to his right, while the child moved to his left. They lumbered on their knuckles, each step slow and deliberate, their rage-filled eyes locked on X.
The garage door rumbled open as the chain lifted the door. The foamers seemed puzzled by the sound. X capitalized on the distraction and placed the sight on the adult foamer’s head. As he pulled the trigger, the foamer rose on two legs. The bullet punched through the wall, sending white powder floating toward the ground. The foamer roared at the top of his lungs and charged X, who kicked a chair into its path. The chair bought X a moment, which he used to roll over the table and rush through the open garage door.
Looking back to see if the foamers were chasing him, X tripped over the bodies on the stairs and slammed into the front of the truck. He stared through the windshield into the wide eyes of Ashton, who gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. As he rushed for the passenger door, she put the truck in reverse and backed out of the garage. He jogged alongside until he swung the door open, and hopped into the seat. He set his empty pistol on the seat and tossed the knife on the dashboard.
He tried to make sense of the beasts he had just faced. They weren’t mindless creatures as he had assumed. That was something he would have to puzzle together later, since Ash needed his attention now.
The engine hummed as the needle climbed the speedometer. Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy miles per hour; her foot held the accelerator to the floor.
“Ash,” he said, opening the glove box and pulling out a first aid kit. “Slow down.”
Houses blew by as the road cut away from the residences and into the woods. Ashton’s body was rigid as she strangled the wheel. X slid closer to her and placed his hand on her knee. Slowly, he slid his hand along her warm thigh.
She slammed on the brakes, causing the car to skid down the road. Shifting the car into park, she turned toward him and he wrapped his good arm around her, pulling her against him. Her rigid muscles relaxed into putty. As he held her, her breaths caught short while she fought the urge to cry.
He looked into her deep green eyes and leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. They embraced while her breathing returned to normal. She leaned against his chest.
“You’ve been bit,” Ashton said, alarm spiking in her voice.
“Let’s figure out how to get to Kade,” X said, knowing the mention of her brother would distract her.
Since the moment the teeth broke his flesh he wondered if they were contagious. Whether they were or weren’t, there was nothing he could do about it now, and his only priority was seeing her to the safety of Kade.
CHAPTER IX
INVASION OF PRIVACY
___________
In their new fortress, none of them felt safe enough to claim an individual room. With the abundance of furniture, they stuffed one of the dorm rooms wall-to-wall with beds, creating a bridge of mattresses. The rest of the furniture had been relocated, leaving the rectangular space bare. To the left of the door was a row of their shoes and coats, and on the right, their weapons stood against the wall like good little soldiers waiting to go to war.
Kade’s sore muscles begged for rest. He had sprawled himself across his mattress like a starfish, with his wingspan spilling onto other beds. If it wasn’t for Mick and Victoria being on guard duty, someone might have had a complaint, but the others let Kade have his space.
The first day had exhausted him. He and Mick had destroyed the first two floors of the west staircase with sledgehammers and hauled the rubble to the rooms on the first floor for Grace to cement into the windows. The second day had been longer. Kade almost missed the monotony of stocking shelves at Rite Aid. He and Mick had spent the day securing the building by taking out the east steps and blocking the main entrance, all while not talking about what they were going to do with Grace.
Grace spent her time working with Tiny to wall up the first floor windows, board up the second floor, and install Lucas’s solar panels. She had assured Kade that when they lost power she’d have one room fed with electricity. They wouldn’t be able to run anything large, but they would be able to generate enough power to charge batteries, the occasional entertainment system, and a small appliance or two. Tiny had labeled it the ‘electric room’ and informed Kade that with the hundreds of iPods they now had, music would be in the picture. This was apparently a concern he had overlooked when he had hoped for electricity.
Victoria had spent the last two days unpacking the vehicles and organizing the rooms. She’d been amazed by the number of valuable items in a college dorm. They were sitting on a monetary value that a few days ago none of them had dreamed possible. And now seemed utterly useless. On top of organizing, Victoria had been tasked with creating their new entrance for the building. With the main entrance and first two floors fortified, they couldn’t access the dorm at ground level. On the north and south walls, she had rolled out two emergency ladders from the third floor that they could keep retracted. For the east and west walls, they used two knotted climbing ropes with safety hooks on the ends; this was also the means they used to hoist Argos into Lambian Hall, though the dog was far from a fan of the new method of egress.
Even with all the work they had done and still had to do, Kade worried about X and Ashton as he lay on his mattress. He knew he shouldn’t be thinking about them now, or he wouldn’t sleep, and he didn’t have long until the second shift was called to guard duty.
His sore neck muscles fired painfully to lift his head off the pillow before he dropped it in frustration. He could hear the steady breathing of Tiny and Grace, and wished he could turn off his mind. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift; focusing his breathing, he slowed the pace and forced long, deep breaths. Every muscle in his body gently relaxed, and a new plane of existence formed behind his eyelids.
Something warm nudged his foot. He kicked at what he assumed was Argos trying to climb into bed with him.
“Dick,” Mick answered, pulling his hand back.
Kade’s eyes shot open. “Am I late for my shift?”
Mick waved for Kade to follow him. Afraid to wake Tiny, Kade grabbed a sweatshirt and left the room as quietly as possible. He yawned as they made they climbed the stairs and exited onto the roof. There was a slight angle to the roof the ushered run off to the four corners where it plummeted through drain pipes.
“He did it again,” Victoria said, kneeling against the waist high wall with a pair of camo binoculars.
Mick and Kade moved past the solar panels, mounted in the center of the roof, to join Victoria. “He’s been doing it for the last hour.”
“Who’s been doing what?”
Kade jumped at the sound of Tiny’s voice. She gave her warm smile in response to his quizzical look. “Did you really think you could leave the room without w
aking me?”
“Someone is signaling us from that building,” Mick said, pointing out into the night.
His eyes followed the line across creek and the small grove of trees to Houghton Academy, a prep school for teenagers. The looming stone building reminded Kade of a prison.
Then he saw it. One. Two. Three. Three flashes of light, an international sign for distress.
“See that?” Mick said.
Victoria lowered her binoculars. “What do we do?”
“We leave him out there a couple days and see what he does,” Tiny replied.
Mick shook his head. “We need all the help we can get.”
The solider and police officer, the two Kade expected to operate on the same wavelength were the two he found to be most at odds. They both lived to protect, but they seemed to have drastically different ideas on what needed protection. Tiny concentrated on the group, while Mick wanted to save anyone.
Kade could feel the mantle of leadership trying to bring him to his knees. If he sided with Tiny, the kid could be sick or dead by the time they visited him. If he went with Mick, he’d be responsible if the kid was hostile. Victoria handed him the binoculars. Scanning from window to window, he tried to find the person. Three flashes again. Kade found him.
It was just a teenager. His face flushed white as he stared at nothing. Just a kid. Just a kid, like Ashton.
“I’ll take a four-wheeler and check it out,” Kade said, returning the binoculars.
He started for the storm doors, but Tiny blocked his path. “I’m going.”
“Tiny, you don’t even want to bring him in,” Kade replied, stepping to the left.
She cut him off. “I trust you to lead us. Whether you agree or not, I’m more fit for this than you. If he’s a threat, I can do what’s necessary. Stay here and cover me.”
“Tiny, you can’t run. What if you make a mistake?”
“I don’t run. This isn’t up for discussion. Keep me covered.”
Kade’s face went blank. She trusted him that much. If only he deserved her.
“Be careful.”
“Just keep your eyes peeled,” she said, and disappeared through the door.
“We all know what’s coming. Can’t you just get it over with?” Mick said.
* * *
The four-wheeler’s engine drowned out the soft sounds of the night on Tiny’s ride to the Academy. Although the two buildings were only a short distance apart, there was no easy way for her to get there. She had to ride north along the creek to where the road bridged, and then cut back down past the grove of trees that put her in a blind spot until she reached the Academy.
Growing up, her family had a few acres of land and she had spent many days tearing around their land on a four-wheeler. Much of her youth was spent doing traditional “boy” things. She was adopted at a young age by a woman who loved her too much and a man who hated her plenty more. Her adopted parents had one biological child before her, and it had been a complicated pregnancy that left the new mother unable to carry another child. Tiny’s adoptive father was perfectly content with that; he had the son he’d always wanted. Then her adoptive father crashed the family car, which resulted in the death of the brother she never knew.
Her adopted mom wanted to be a mother more than anything else, and eventually talked her husband into letting her adopt a girl. Tiny was smothered by her mother from the day she set foot in the house, which only drove her to try to win the affection of her father. Foregoing dresses and dolls, Tiny took to sports and video games, trying to be the son her father wanted. She never let him see her hurt or crying, even after he’d taken his frustrations out on her. Those emotions were for girls, and she wouldn’t ever show those to anyone.
Until she met Kade.
When she was around him, the cork came out of the bottle. He would listen and never judge. She gave him her heart and he protected it, though he never accepted it as his. Kade was the only one who saw through her abrasive exterior. Her feelings for him were no secret to anyone, but nobody knew the depths to which they plunged. There was so much more to it than want or lust. She had never been the type to believe in soul mates, but there was something more to Kade. Within moments of meeting him, she could feel a pull to be near him. Many times she tried to tell herself they were just childish emotions that would fade, but years passed and the pull only got stronger. It wasn’t as if she’d sat loyally waiting on the sidelines for him, but even when she was with someone else, something was missing. Every relationship felt empty compared to her draw to Kade.
Tiny let off of the accelerator as she stopped in front of the Academy. A door opened and the teenager crept toward her, carrying a black backpack.
“I can’t believe there are other survivors,” the lanky teenager said. He had short-cropped hair and a thin face with sharp cheekbones.
His eyes went as wide as full moons when Tiny drew her sidearm on him.
“Whoa, lady,” the student said, his body shaking.
She swung her leg over the four-wheeler and popped onto her feet, keeping her sight trained on the kid’s chest.
“So much as exhale, and I’ll give you a new hole to do it through,” she said as she stalked toward the lanky boy.
Standing behind him, she kicked his feet into a wide stance and patted down his jeans. His body shook as he fought to hold his breath.
Kade’s voice crackled from the walkie. “Tiny, what do you think you’re doing?”
She pulled the walkie off the utility belt around her yoga pants. “Shut up and watch my back.”
Curling her fingers around the boy’s shoulder, Tiny spun him. “Anything in the bag I need to worry about?”
The student’s face had turned a light shade of blue.
“I asked you a question.”
He dropped to his knees, gasping for air. His hands tore the straps from his shoulders and he threw the backpack down.
“Please don’t shoot me!” he pleaded, clutching her ankles.
She sighed and holstered her pistol. She pushed her toes against his collarbone and lifted his head until their brown eyes met. Saving this kid’s life was something she had to do, but she already felt like he would be a liability. All she could think about when she looked down on him was how pathetic he seemed.
“Get on the back,” she said. He scrambled to his feet and collected his bag. He rushed, with the grace of a seven-legged spider, to the four-wheeler and straddled the seat.
“Can I drive?” he asked as Tiny approached.
“Just because I didn’t shoot you doesn’t mean I won’t,” she replied, stepping over and taking her seat.
She cut the four-wheeler out of the parking lot and across the grass toward the bridge. The terrain jostled them like a mechanical bull, so she decided not to hurt the kid when he wrapped his arms around her waist.
The ATV ramped onto the bridge, and Tiny heard Mick’s voice over the walkie. “You’ve got two foamers chasing you. Keep moving.”
She squeezed the breaks, sliding the ATV to a stop. The kid released his hold as she raised her legs, spun around face-to-face with
him, and drew her pistol.
“I’m sorry, I won’t touch you again,” he said, holding his hands up and leaning away from her. She found him pitiful but lovable in his own pathetic way, like a puppy still growing into its paws.
Tiny grabbed his collar and pulled his head down, accidentally burying his face in her breasts. The two foamers pursued her onto the bridge.
A tall, twenty-something woman, dressed in a long T-shirt and short shorts, came barreling toward them on all fours. Around her mouth and down her neck was a red stain. Her warm breath clouded in the air.
Behind the female was a beast of a man. He was large enough to be a professional football player and was wearing a coat with an A across the back.
Tiny rested her elbow between the kid’s shoulders and lined the sight on the woman. She tapped the trigger and the bullet slammed the dead center of the woman’s face, exploding the back of her head. Her limp body fell against the metal bridge. Pivoting on the kid’s shoulder blades, Tiny’s sight aligned on the man. The shot echoed through the night as the casing pinged off the bridge. The beast spun in a circle and collapsed.
Tiny holstered her pistol and took a few deep breaths. She uncurled her fingers from the fabric of the kid’s shirt and pushed him out of her cleavage. He sat back with a clown-like grin on his face as she spun around and continued toward Lambian, calm and collected like it was any normal day.
* * *
“Help!” John screamed. Each of his limbs was cuffed to a separate post of a dorm room bed. His black Jansport bag was beside the bed, and there was a German shepherd sleeping by the door.
“Help!” he yelled. The dog lifted his head and gazed impassively at him. He could swear the dog was thinking about what to do. Dumb dog. What did a dog know? He wouldn’t know. He’d always wanted a dog. He wondered what the dog’s name was.
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