“Nobody else is sick.”
“Good, we leave in one hour. We’re going home.”
◆◆◆
They loaded up in record time and Cam insisted on driving.
They decided to leave the truck there. They didn’t really need it anymore and it gave him the shivers.
They were able to squeeze into the Humvee, and Tanaka was thrilled to be back up in the turret. Cam caught him grinning in excitement. He really needed to teach him to use the fifty-cal.
“Are we going to the island?” Ed asked.
“Yeah, I want to check there first. There’s always a chance they stayed longer, even though I ordered them out to the cabin by the end of the month.”
“Good. I wanted to see it again. I never thought I would. Boy, I wish we could stay there through the winter.”
“I know. They all wanted to as well, but it would be a hard living.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence.
Ed tapped his fingers on his knee impatiently. In the back, Trap and Mac were talking quietly about the people left behind at the prison. Cam knew he was going to have to go back. They needed him.
But Angie and the group needed him too. He needed to go home to them for a while before mounting any other kind of rescue mission. Next time he went he would take a team with him. The warden would regret the day he decided to set up his little kingdom around here.
They finally made it to the old gravel road leaving to the parking lot.
The others sat up expectantly. They were nervous, Cam realized. They hadn’t been around new people in many months. They made it to the end and Cam was greeted by the familiar Z sludge stench. Yep, home.
He hoped that shit rotted away by next summer.
“Here we are,” he said.
He noticed that all their vehicles were gone, the Humvees, the SUVS, everything. There was a boat with a protective cover sitting camouflaged near the edge of the woods. He was glad they had done that.
“What the hell happened to the lodge?!” Ed cried out, looking out over the water.
“Oh shit! I forgot to tell you with everything that’s happened. Tornado took it out during the big storm a couple of months ago. We camped out for a while, now we’re living over in the big houseboats,” he said gesturing over that way.
“What houseboats?” Ed asked.
Tanaka and Mac walked up while Trap was over checking out the giant pile of corpses.
Cam scanned the island. “They must have moved them. That was a good idea…”
“Did you guys take out all these rotters?” Trap shouted over to them.
Tanaka and Mac looked at him interestedly.
“A few of us took out that pile,” was all Cam said.
“Cam himself took down those over there,” Ed said gesturing at the shoreline where corpses decomposed four-deep. “With an axe,” he said, raising his eyebrows.
The others turned to him with open mouths.
“It was only half of them with the axe. I shot the other half. No big deal,” he said, giving Ed a chiding look.
Cam walked around the parking lot, calling the dog to follow him. He was glad the pup had made it.
He supposed there was no reason to go over to the island. Everything looked to have been left in order for their return next spring.
“Mount up and we’ll go to the cabin. I’m ready to see my woman,” Cam ordered.
They moved fast and loaded back up. He wasn’t feeling so well, but he was determined to finally, finally, get home.
Hell, he may even give Jim a kiss, he was so excited about it.
◆◆◆
They pulled down the rutted, dirt road and saw signs of many vehicles passing through recently.
It was a good sign, he supposed. The others had made it. It was unlikely to have been anyone else.
He knew the rumble of the Humvee would travel through the woods. The others would be waiting. They would know it was him.
He pulled up into the clearing and almost cried at the sight of his friends standing there. He manned up and pushed back the tears. Jim would never let him live it down.
God, he was happy!
He stepped out of the Humvee and stopped, scanning all the old, and new, faces. Someone had been busy collecting people.
Suddenly, Angie came through the trees by the side of the cabin and her eyes widened. She dropped whatever she was holding and sprinted toward Cam. He held out his arms wide as she ran to him. He caught her to him and squeezed her tight, bracing himself. He smelled her hair, inhaling her warm vanilla scent.
Fuck, he had missed her.
“I missed you so much!” she cried against his chest.
“I’m sorry I was so long. There was nothing I could do about it.” He pulled her back and looked into her eyes, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs.
“I missed you so damn much.”
He brought his mouth down to hers and pressed his lips against her warm soft ones. It felt like the very first time. This is his woman. His future wife. He couldn’t wait to be alone with her, but for now he needed to greet the others and make the introductions.
He patted his leg and called out. “Hier!”
Angie and the others looked around, confused. When the dog came bolting out of the Humvee, he saw a few people break out into smiles. Angie looked at him with an eyebrow raised wryly.
The dog sniffed the ground experimentally and wandered excitedly to his new group of people. Cam watched as Killer came out from under the porch and puffed out his fur at the sight of the dog. He heard a low growl and watched as the dog sniffed closer. He thought about intervening, but the two animals needed to get acquainted.
They would be living together, after all.
The cat continued to growl a little as the dog got steadily closer. Finally, it was sniffing the cat’s fur. Killer stood still as a statue, probably a little pissed off that this dog was smelling it so audaciously. When the dog started licking Killer, he relented a little and started rubbing against the dog’s legs.
He turned back to Angie. “Tell me you aren’t a cat person,” he said. “We may have to rethink this whole relationship thing if you are.”
“Cam!” she said, squeezing his arm.
“Jim’s probably a cat person,” he said with a scowl. Angie chuckled at him.
He pulled Angie to his side and started walking to the large group of people near the cabin. There was a cluster of unfamiliar girls around Nick, and he frowned.
“It’s the colonel!” he heard one of them whisper to another.
As he got closer, he saw them all straighten up and form a line. Nick and Brad joined the ranks, along with Jack and Jonah. They were really taking things too far.
He slowly walked past the line of girls at parade rest. Someone had been teaching them something, he supposed. Nick saluted, while trying to hide a grin and failing, and the rest followed suit.
He stopped and closed his eyes. He counted to five…and turned, suppressing a smile. He faced them and returned their salute. He supposed once wouldn’t hurt, they seemed to expect it.
Nick and Brad grinned and dropped their hands. They seemed inordinately pleased to have finally drawn him out. He would have a word with them sometime.
“Cam,” Jim said as he stopped in front of him.
Jim’s eyes narrowed as he scanned Cam’s face and body. Shit, he could tell something had happened. He let it go for now though, thankfully.
Jim came forward and gave him hug. A very sentimental, two-armed hug. He supposed he could make an exception this once. He was too happy and too tired to argue with Jim over a hug right now. Maybe later…
“How have you been?” Cam asked him, glancing over at the group.
“Pretty good. We have a lot of catching up to do. Why don’t we all go in and get something to eat and drink. We can go over everything then,” Jim suggested.
Cam looked down at Angie and flashed her a quick smile. Her face was lit up brighter
than summer sun. She was radiant. She looked thinner though. She hadn’t been eating right. He would make sure that was fixed starting today.
“Come in and get settled,” he said, looking back at Tanaka, Trap, and Mac.
Ed had found Jessica and Nick and Brad and was talking animatedly to them. He was happier than Cam had ever seen him.
He walked in the door and took stock of everything. They had accomplished a lot here in a short time. That was good.
He noticed the animal pen out back and wondered about that. He would have them go over that with him later. He saw that they had already put up a good deal of fencing, and he was relieved. That had been one of his biggest worries— the completely open perimeter.
He watched as everyone settled themselves into chairs and sofas, and on the floor. They were waiting for him to speak.
“Well. Here we are,” he started.
Suddenly everyone started clapping and smiling…even Trap, Tanaka, and Mac joined in.
“Did you really miss me that much?” he joked.
“Come on, Colonel. Tell us everything!” Nick said from his pile of women.
Cam wondered what the hell was going on there.
“All right. Let me sit down first. I’m pretty tired.”
He sat in a chair in the front and started his story. Angie clutched his hand throughout the recital, covering her mouth and breaking into silent tears when he got to the part about the women dying.
When she heard about his own illness, he heard her gasp and squeeze him tighter. By the end, she was cutting off the blood supply to his arm.
He had their rapt attention throughout, and nobody said a word until he was finished.
“So, there’s a plague out there?” Jim said with dread, glancing at Nick and the new girls. “Is that what is turning everyone into walking corpses?”
“I think they are related, sure. I don’t think they are the same thing though. Why?”
“Well, we went out on a couple of missions within the last few weeks. I didn’t know we needed to be looking out for that sort of thing.”
“Missions for what?” Cam asked.
“Jess needed medicine, and we found these girls being held against their will. We got them out, but Nick got bit in the process. He’s fine now though,” Jim said quickly.
Cam looked quickly at Nick. Nick nodded at him. He did look okay, but he was going to get a look at that bite later.
“So, we’ve got to go back in and help those people in the prison?” Jack said after Cam turned back to them.
“Yes, sometime. I don’t know if the warden is going to crack down on the people there, or what, but he needs to be taken out. Eventually, he may get ideas about taking over more real estate,” he said with a meaningful glance.
“You don’t have to go right away, do you? You just got back, and you need to rest!” Angie said worriedly.
“No babe, I’m here for a while. I’m taking a team with me next time,” he said, kissing her hand.
She ran her fingers through his hair, and he closed his eyes and savored the feeling. Jim came and sat next to them and put a hand on Cam’s shoulder.
“You’ve lost some weight, brother,” he said casually.
“Yeah, haven’t been hungry. I’m sure I’ll have more of an appetite now that I’m home.”
“Angel, why don’t you take Cam up and run him a bath. Make him take a nap or something. I’ll have Jean fix him up a meal in a little while.”
“Jim, would you get Trap, Mac, and Tanaka settled? Oh, and get Ed his things. The ones we brought from his house,” Cam asked.
“Sure thing,” he said and got up to get things done.
◆◆◆
A little while later Cam was lying in a hot bath upstairs.
Angie had washed his hair for him and found him some clean clothes. When the water started cooling, he got out and dried off. He looked in the mirror again, feeling the eerie sensation of being back in that death house. It was like he had been standing there staring this whole time, and maybe he wasn’t really home. Maybe he was lying sick in bed in that place, bleeding from his fucking eyes and dying.
He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. When he opened them, the world shifted back into what it was supposed to be.
He looked like a damned mountain man. He was going to have to trim his beard soon. His hair needed cutting too. It was past his shoulders now and starting to get in his way. He looked at the faint outlines of his ribs in the mirror. He was going to have to increase his calorie intake and put some fat back on.
Muscle was all well and good, but some fat was necessary in the winter.
He left the bathroom and walked to the bedroom they would be using. He felt guilty for the three of them taking up a whole bedroom to themselves, but Angie said the others had insisted. Apparently, Nick’s little Valkyries looked up to him as some kind of hero or some shit. He shook his head and opened the door.
Angie lay on the bed waiting for him. She was wearing nothing but a t-shirt, and, despite his exhaustion, he immediately wanted her. He saw her smooth, slim legs and her ass cheeks teasing him under the hem of the t-shirt.
Shit, it’s been a long time.
She held her arms out to him and he walked over to the bed. She pulled him close and placed a kiss on his hard, flat stomach. He threaded his fingers through her hair and forced her to look up at him.
“It’s going to be fast this time,” he warned.
She raised an eyebrow, nodded, and pulled him close.
Angie
Angie woke suddenly in the evening gloom. She was confused. The light was wrong.
What time was it?
She felt the warmth as her back and remembered that Cam had come home.
She glanced over her shoulder at him sleeping peacefully. He needed it so much. She stood and looked around for her clothes. As she found her panties and slipped them on under the shirt, she heard the door creak open.
Jim peeked around the corner of the door, and seeing her awake, came in quietly. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She felt a little embarrassed to be underdressed in front of him, but he didn’t say anything about it.
“Happy, baby?” he murmured in her ear.
“More than ever. I have both halves of my heart back with me,” she whispered back.
He closed his eyes and looked like he was in pain. “Please don’t say things like that to me,” he said. “I can’t…” He trailed off.
She looked over at Cam’s sleeping form, then tugged Jim over to the seating area. He followed her and she felt his eyes on her backside. What she had to say was important, and she couldn’t hold off any longer.
She had made her decision. She couldn’t tell him, not until Cam came home, because it didn’t feel right. Now, it did.
Jim sat, and she sat next to him and held his hands in hers. He looked at her warily.
“This is it, isn’t it?” he asked.
“What?”
“Where you tell me that what we had going on was a mistake, and that we’re going to have to just be friends,” he said, acerbically.
“I love you, Jim,” she said softly.
“But not enough,” he retorted.
“That’s not true, and if you’d shut up and hear me out maybe you’d know that!” she snapped in a whisper.
He crossed his arms and clenched his jaw, waiting.
She took a deep breath and began, not sure exactly how to approach the subject.
“Cam wants us to be together,” she said.
Jim’s mouth dropped open. He obviously hadn’t been expecting that. “Cam’s dumping you?” He shook his head as if it were impossible…which it was. Cam would never leave her.
“No. We’re still getting married.”
“Angie, I don’t understand. Help me out here,” he said, leaning forward to stare at the floor.
“Cam wants me to be with him…and you. I want it too.”
He finally lo
oked at her again, and he was flabbergasted. She smiled a little, thinking of her own reaction so long ago.
“That’s not possible. Cam would kill me…twice!” Jim said too loudly.
“Shhh. No, he won’t. Do you really think I’d have let you kiss me when he was gone, if he hadn’t told me, it was okay? He wants us to be together, for his sake, for my sake, and for you.” She gave him a few moments to process that. “If you want that,” she finally said. “I can understand if you don’t. It’s not normal, and it’s not something that most people would agree to. I probably wouldn’t have either except that I fell in love with you both—”
“Angie, shut up,” he said cutting her off. He pulled her into his lap and pulled her against him so tightly. He buried his face in her neck and she could have sworn he was breathing her in, trying to meld with her into one.
She felt the rough grating of his beard on her neck and felt sensations that she had no business feeling with Cam sleeping so closely.
“Jim? Will you think about it?” she asked, hesitantly.
Maybe he finally had enough. Maybe he was telling her goodbye.
“No,” he finally said. “I don’t need to think about it. We are going to be together, like we always should have been.”
He stroked her face and she saw the determination and the love in his eyes.
Everything clicked into place. She felt complete.
“We’ll talk more about this later,” he said. “Believe me when I tell you that this is the best day of my life. All the little stuff doesn’t matter. We’ll work it out.”
She smiled, kissed the hand that caressed her face, then looked over at Cam.
He looked so different, so changed.
“He had it rough out there, didn’t he. He must have been really sick,” she said in a low voice.
“Yes, I think so. We need to keep him resting as much as possible for a while. We’ll keep him off the watch schedule and the work schedule for at least a week, maybe more. It’ll be hell though, and he won’t like it much.”
“I’ll keep him busy. He won’t even think about it,” she teased.
“You had better save me some loving,” he said, pinching her bottom.
Refuge From The Dead | Book 3 | Dead Fall Page 17