As the World Ends

by Marian Lanouette

  “Hey, why don’t we rest here for awhile?”

  “I thought we had to keep moving.”

  “It won’t do us any good to exhaust ourselves. We’ll take a little water and eat something before we move on.” Relief washed over her face.

  “Okay, I could use a break.” Impressed with her strength, it reminded him of one of the reasons he married her. The other, let’s not forget the smoking hot body, he grinned inwardly.

  Inching up behind her, he helped take her backpack off her shoulders. Weary, he ruffled through his bag and found two protein bars and offered her one then sat down alongside of her.

  “Hey, hey, Lauren, slow down on the water. We need to make it last. Here take the bar.” Recapping the water bottle he’d taken from her, Rob shoved it back in her bag.

  “I’m just so thirsty, Rob, can’t I have a little more?” she begged.

  “No, not until we come across some water, hopefully soon.” He stood up abruptly.

  “What?” Lauren asked.

  “I hear an engine. Go deeper into the woods, Lauren, I’m gonna climb up a tree again and see who it is.”

  He watched Lauren scramble up, grab their stuff, and run for cover. When she was well hidden; he picked a tree with the best view. “The son of a bitch is back.”

  As he tried to balance his weight, the branch let go. Tumbling out of the tree, he hit the ground hard.

  “Rob,” Lauren ran at him screaming his name.

  Roan hadn’t heard the tree branch snap but that beautiful scream was music to his ears. Lauren, his Lauren was close. Soon my pretty—real soon—you’re mine. Slamming the truck into park, he grabbed his gun, his stick and checked the knife on his ankle before sliding down and out of the truck.

  “Shit, Lauren, he had to hear you. Stop fussing. I’m fine,” Rob said angrily.

  “Sorry, but you scared me, I didn’t think.” She pouted.

  He was angry but not at her. How stupid was he to give their position away like that. “Lauren, I’m sorry. It’s my fault. He stopped his truck so he heard us. You take cover while I’ll deal with him.” He rubbed her back as he spoke.

  Damn my back’s sore. But I should be able to handle a guy with a bullet in him. God I hope so.

  “Rob, I’m staying. Two people are better than one. I can fight,” she said defiantly.

  “Lauren, I can’t be worrying about you if he and I get into it. Please just hide, I’m begging you.”

  “Okay, but I’m not going far. I’m just warning you, I’ll jump in if he has the advantage over you.”

  “Please don’t. You have your knife and your gun?”

  “Yes, the knife is on my ankle and the gun is loaded just like you told me, remember?”

  “Okay, go hide, I hear twigs cracking.”

  He pushed her away. Standing, he ignored the pain shooting up his back. Warm blood trickled down his neck. Christ, I must have cut myself. It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to let this bastard win.

  Roan spotted him as he entered the clearing. Should I advance or wait? Rob had his gun trained on him, so he brought his gun up and leveled it at Rob.

  “We can both shoot at the same time and see whose left standing, Rob, or we can talk.”

  Roan had no intention of talking. Time has run out for you, Robbie boy. You have what I want. And it’s time to take it. He started to walk slowly over to him when he noticed Rob’s posture.

  “Something wrong, Rob? You don’t look so good.” Well, well, well, I’m not the only one hurting. He laughed.

  Silence. The bastard wasn’t going to talk to him. Stopping short, he pulled up. Was he waiting until I got closer to shoot me?

  “We have a lot in common, Rob. Neither one of us gives up easily. You’ll find I’m hard to kill.”

  “If I wanted to kill you, Roan, I would have put the bullet into your heart or your gut,” Rob answered.

  “Ah, I wondered why you shot so low.”

  “What do you want, Roan?”

  “I heard Lauren scream and came to offer you my services.” He started walking as he talked.

  “Hold up right there, Roan. I’ll shoot if you get any closer. I don’t believe you. Why did you double back?”

  Son of a bitch, he’d seen me before. “I saw your truck broken down and figured you would need a ride.”

  “How neighborly of you,” Rob answered.

  Roan heard the sarcasm in his voice and laughed. “I thought so.”

  “We don’t want anything from you, Roan. Get in your truck and drive away.”

  “No.”

  “No.” Rob pulled the trigger, catching Roan by surprise as he went down.

  I’m gonna really kill this bastard if he doesn’t stop shooting me. And it will be a slow torturous death. Crap, he grazed my arm. A couple of inches over and it would have been my heart. He watched Rob drop to the ground. Firing back he didn’t think he hit Rob.

  “It could have been closer, Roan. Do you really want to test my skills and play this game?”

  “I’m playing until the finish and to the victor go the spoils. You know what the spoils are, don’t you, Rob?” Purposely, he baited Rob, hoping to distract him. The guy could shoot.

  “You’ll never get near her, Roan.”

  Fuck, he’s a controlled little bastard. He had to give him that. “We’ll see. You look hurt. Did you fall out of that tree?” Damn, he’s not moving like he’s hurt. I better make the next one count.

  Silence filled the air.

  “No answer, huh?” Roan laughed.

  Rob lay on the ground, waiting him out. The guy was going to talk him to death. He did hurt but he wasn’t going to let him know. His training taught him to focus on the target not the pain.

  Behind him he had heard the bushes rustle when the guns went off. Thank God Lauren had stayed hidden. He gauged Roan’s temperament, knowing he would make the first move, giving Rob the advantage. All his Air Force battle training had kicked in. Assess the enemy, then and only then, make your move. Roan seemed to be reacting to circumstance. An amateur, if he’d ever seen one. And that was bad. It meant he was a wild card.

  Roan pushed up off the ground, taking a chance as he started walking toward Rob. It ends one way or another today. Let’s hope my assessment of him is correct. I do not believe Rob will kill. If he had it in him, I’d be dead already.

  “Why don’t we fight like men, Rob, with our hands instead of iron,” Roan tried antagonizing Rob. “You’re a cagey bastard, Rob,” he said impatiently. So close to his goals and this bastard was holding him up. Where exactly was Lauren hiding? Roan didn’t dare look until he dispensed with Rob.

  Rob listened as Roan grew more frustrated. Desperation echoed in his voice. Not good, he thought, it made him more dangerous. This guy’s proved he’s not good under pressure. Emotional decisions would make it difficult to anticipate him. The rules of combat were there were no rules, Rob mused.

  Shooting at Roan’s arm when he got within twenty feet of him, Rob knew soon he’d have to make the worst decision of his life. Take a man’s life to survive or wound him leaving an angry enemy out there to hunt them. In all honesty, he wanted to use his fists on Roan, that’s why he hadn’t shot at the torso to begin with. Wanted it too much, so he let his training guide him. Needing to reload, he counted two bullets left, so no more wasted shots. Obviously, he wasn’t scaring him. It was now Roan’s move.

  “You’re wasting bullets now, Rob. What was that, three shots you fired? Did you reload from yesterday?”

  God damn, I wish the bastard would stop talking. He’ll talk me to death.

  Roan walked slowly to the tree line, stopped, and turned his head in all directions, probably hoping to gleam Rob’s position.

  “You bastard,” Roan screamed as he hit the ground.

  Rob pounded on Roan’s back and head. A pulse beat a rhythm in his head as he snuck around Roan and jumped him from behind. Only one thought filled his mind. Kill Roan. Pinning the creep to the gr
ound, he sat on him, his fists flying, landing punch after punch. Roan bucked under him and somehow managed to dislodge him. Before Rob knew it, their positions reversed. Bringing his knee up, he aimed for Roan’s groin, but Roan turned out of the way avoiding the hit. Rob kept throwing punches into Roan’s face with one hand while searching out his wound with the other. Always go for the weakest point, his mind screamed. Roan howled when he landed a punch to his nose but the bastard keep fighting. Roan had landed a few good punches and blood was dripping into Rob’s eyes. Confused when Roan gave up his advantage and rolled off him, before he could react, Roan jumped back on him, never giving Rob time to catch his breath. From his peripheral vision he saw Lauren spring from the woods. Dear God, no!

  Roan jumped on Rob with the knife in his hand. With all the strength left in his body he plunged the knife into Rob’s stomach. The sucking sound it created stunned him. It sounded like a popped balloon as it deflated. Rob screamed. Pissed when he continued his assault on him, Roan stabbed him again. Rob threw another punch and hit Roan in the wrist, causing him to drop the knife. Roan pounded his fist into Rob’s jaw.

  In his fit of rage, Roan hadn’t noticed that Rob had stopped moving. Coming back to his senses, he looked down at the unconscious body and rolled off. He’s dead, good, he deserved it.

  He looked up in time to see Lauren charging him with the gun in her hand. Stupid of her not to come in shooting, he thought. He pulled himself up, ignoring his pain and charged into her taking her down hard. A tiny thing, he thought as he landed on her, knocking the wind from her lungs.

  This wasn’t the way he had planned on taking her, but here she was. He put his hand in the top of her shirt and ripped it from her body.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Listening to the exchanges between the two men had Lauren’s skin crawling. She cringed when she heard Roan’s declaration. Over my dead body, buster. I’d kill myself first before I let that bastard lay a hand on me. The gunfire stopped her heart for a second before she heard Rob’s voice and her world balanced out again. Until she heard Rob’s scream followed by silence, she ran from her hiding spot with only one thought, help Rob.

  With the wind knocked out of her when Roan tackled her. Lauren struggled to breathe. Roan’s weight on top of her had forced all her air from her lungs. When he ripped the shirt down the front, he’d eased his weight off just enough to give her the moment she needed to suck in air. His eyes and the expression they held frightened her. Terror, loss and fear filled her mind. In his eyes she saw the wild unfocused look of the crazy. So intent on possessing her body and not her, she thought quickly, bringing her knee up to disable him. He blocked it while ripping her bra down the front. Putting his lips to her neck, he kissed her. She had to push down the bile burning her throat. Focus. Think of a way out of this situation, Lauren. You’re smarter. There has to be a way to stop him. Don’t lose it.

  When he started to moan and angled his body lower, she tried to grab for her knife. Not able to block out the terror as the bastard took her nipple in his mouth. She let out a blood curdling scream. Twisting and turning her body in every direction, trying to throw him off didn’t help. He had her pinned. Roan shifted his weight and unbuckled her shorts. Working her hand lose she raked her nails down his face with all her strength didn’t even distract him though his scream pierced her ears. He got her shorts off and struggled with her underwear as she squirmed. Pushing and scratching and biting him didn’t stop him either. When his weight shifted slightly he had pinned her left side down as he ripped at her thong. Thank God for nylon, she though as he fought with the thong. Pain shot through her side as he crushed her to the ground working his hand down between her legs while he continued to suck hard on her nipple. Oh, God, please stop him. She silently begged in shock. Just about ready to give up when she felt him shift his weight again to the side. Giving her the moment she needed to reach for the knife. This time she got it and brought it down hard, plunging it into his back with all her might. Roan rewarded her with a howl. He pushed off of her and slapped her hard across the face. Still within her reach, though dazed, she stabbed him again and again. How many times, she didn’t know. She just kept stabbing him until he stopped moving. Still winded when he fell on top of her she struggled to breathe. Somehow, somewhere, she found the strength to crawl out from under him.

  Hyperventilating and sobbing, it hit her. By her own hand, she had killed a man. But worse, he had killed Rob. Focused on reaching her husband, Lauren pushed up and crawled over to him. With Rob’s head cradled in her lap she wailed in pain. The loss, harder than anything she had ever experienced in her entire life. Stroking his head gently with her hand she rocked him as the tears flowed.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Hey, don’t cry,” Rob coughed, trying to smile.

  “Oh my God, I thought he killed you.” She kept kissing him all over his face, crying at the same time.

  “It’ll take more than a creep like him to do me in,” he moaned.

  “I killed him, Rob,” she whispered.

  “Did you check to make sure,” he said, pushing himself up. “Is there blood coming out of my mouth, Lauren?”

  “No, why?”

  “That’s a good sign. Let’s check him.”

  As Lauren helped him up, Rob almost passed out from the pain. Once they made it over to where Roan lay, Rob checked for a pulse. Yep, Roan was definitely dead. Lauren had indeed killed him. It wasn’t the thing to wish for, though he did; he wished he had killed Roan.

  “He’s dead. Let’s move his body to the truck and start heading down the mountain.”

  “Okay.” Putting her arm around his waist, she helped him up.

  “You okay, Lauren?”

  “Surprisingly, yes. I thought he had killed you. I’m not sorry. He got what he deserved.”

  Together they rolled Roan’s body onto Rob’s jacket and pulled him over to the truck. Rob couldn’t lift him because it made him bleed out more. He climbed into the truck, searched and found some rope. Fashioning a loop he had Lauren place it around Roan’s waist.

  “Why can’t we just leave him?” Lauren asked.

  “Because when we get down there, if there’s some law and order, I want them to see the trauma he caused us and that it was self-defense.”

  Rob continued to set up a pulley system so it would be easy for Lauren to leverage Roan’s body into the truck while he guided it. Helplessly, he watched her struggle, but she finally got him in the truck.

  “All set?”

  “Yes,” she said as she headed to the driver’s side.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m driving and don’t give me any lip, buster. You’re as white as a ghost. You lost way too much blood.”

  He gave in too easy. Another sign he was badly hurt. They drove in silence most of the way. Rob was in and out of consciousness Worried, Lauren drove a little faster. She prayed Roan missed the major organs. Every now and then she reached over and put her finger under his nose to make sure he was breathing.

  The sun wasn’t out, but the grey mist had lifted. As they approached town they saw a lot of burned-out abandoned vehicles and buildings, but no people.

  Shaking Rob to bring him around, she asked, “Can you hear me?”

  “Yeah, I’m just resting my eyes.” He smiled at her.

  “I can see that.” She smiled back, hiding her concern.

  “Where are we?”

  “Asheville.”

  “I don’t see anyone.”

  “I haven’t seen anyone since we entered the town.” She stopped the truck and turned her head toward him.

  “Did you reload your gun?” Rob asked.

  “I never shot it.”

  “Where’s your knife?”

  “It’s right back in my sheath where it belongs. How about you, did you reload?” She watched his hands shake. It was an effort for him to speak. Time was against him. Worried she scanned the area.

  “Yes,” Rob groaned.r />
  “Rob, please just take it easy, I’ll find someone.”

  “Try to find the police station or hospital, whichever comes first. Both should have generators.” He lapsed into unconsciousness again.

  Tears running down her face, she found the police station first. Locking Rob in the truck, she headed up the steps. At the front door she pulled on the right one—locked—she tried the left one next, same thing. She ran around to the back and found a door open. As she walked down the hallway, the silence eerily inched its way up her spine. Fear threatened to overcome her, but she pushed it down and thought only of Rob. He needed her to stay strong. Each room she checked, along with the quiet, continued to set every nerve in her body on edge. Then she heard it, stopped, and listened for a moment. A soft cry, female she guessed.

  “Hello,” Lauren called out and waited.

  The crying stopped. “Hello, is anybody here?”

  Stepping into a large office filled with desks, phones, and computers, she looked around for the person crying. There wasn’t one cop in sight. Movement to her right caught her attention. A woman stepped from one of the offices lining the side of the room and pointed a shaky gun at her. Lauren hoped she didn’t pull the trigger by accident. A fast assessment had her figuring the woman to be about thirty, with short brown hair, and not much taller than her at five-three. Lauren hoped she had some common sense.

  “Hi, I’m Lauren,” she said, holding up her hands.

  “I’m…I’m Shelley…Shelley O’Toole.”

  “Could you point that gun somewhere else, Shelley?”