I looked around me, but no one else had seen what had just happened. No one else knew, and I felt the heavy weight of that burden rest in my heart and soul. It was another dark secret. Another thing to add to my catalogue of horrors.
Gunner stalked toward me, blood and zombie gore splattered across the front of him, and I staggered back a step, bumping into Linc.
“Hey, you okay?” Linc asked, and I turned to him, my eyes wide and panicked, no doubt. “Nina? What’s up, what’s going on?”
I felt Gunner behind me.
I felt his dark presence leaching into my skin and I pushed past Linc and toward Battle, who was the furthest away. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do; I just knew I needed to get away from him.
“Nitro’s gone,” I heard Gunner say from behind me, and I snorted out a dark laugh. “Meat sacks got him. I tried to help, but…”
“It’s not your fault,” I heard a female voice say. It could have been Anne or Lois one of the women I’d helped liberate all those many months ago, and for some reason that made me stop running and turn back around.
I was stopped in my tracks, unsure of what to do or where to go. I wanted to be as far away from Gunner as possible, but I wouldn’t allow him to hurt any more of these people. Nitro might have made mistakes, but he’d had a good heart. He’d wanted to do good, even if his actions hadn’t always relayed that.
Gunner stared at me and I stared right back, my fear ebbing away like the tide and leaving behind a shore full of anger.
“Come on, we need to go help the others at the mines. It should be just through the trees,” Battle said, standing back up. He brushed his bloody hands down his dirty jeans and glanced down once more at Timbo’s body.
SJ smoothed her hand over Timbo’s face, closing his eyes, and she stood up too. She looked around at us all, her face tear-stained and grief-stricken.
“I’ll lead,” O’Donnell said, and began jogging toward the tree line opposite where we had come out.
We all followed, and I made sure to keep my distance from Gunner, still fearful of him but unsure of what to do with the information. He moved closer to me as we pressed through the trees, the heat of the day and the anxiety lancing through our muscles making it harder.
“Nina,” he grunted my name.
“Not now,” I replied coldly without looking.
“It’s not what you think,” he said, his voice quiet.
I tsked and gave him a scathing look. “It is exactly what I think,” I gritted out, and moved closer to Linc so Gunner wouldn’t try to talk to me anymore.
I would have to tell Shooter, I knew that, but I didn’t want to. Thoughts of Amara and their daughter Indigo pushed through my thoughts. Shooter would have Gunner killed immediately, no doubt, and then Indigo would have no father, Amara no partner. I would be destroying their happiness. But I had to tell, didn’t I? Gunner was clearly unstable still. Clearly a danger to everyone.
We’d been jogging through the woods for ten minutes when we noticed the break in the trees and we cut through them and out into the open. I was relieved to finally be free of the close confines of the sticky air that the forest offered. Even happier to see a scatter of dead Savages on the ground.
I could see the main entrance to the mines, and to the left of it was a smaller entrance. From the smaller entrance I could see movement behind the slatted wooden door that had been put there, the scratch and growl of deaders behind it hungry to be set free.
“No, Rachel!” Anne cried as she ran forward to where Rachel’s body lay on the ground. She was next to Bianco, another of the women I’d helped train at one point, and I felt grief stick me like a pin.
“That’s it,” Battle said, looking around us. “Can’t see any of the others.”
I knew he was assessing for casualties and trying to work out how many people we’d lost and how it had all played out. It was important, I got that, but it was also callous right now and I had the sudden urge to punch him in his nose. Lucky for him, O’Donnell shoved him in the side.
“Asshole!” she said, her tone cutting.
“Two is better than all of them,” he grunted.
“Yes, but how would you feel if those two were your friends?” She shook her head at him in disgust and then we all turned abruptly at the sound of shouting coming from in the trees.
“That’s Aiken!” O’Donnell cried out, and set off running in the direction of the shouting.
We followed immediately, finding Aiken a few feet away, sitting on the ground with his back propped against a tree as he fought off two deaders using a long spear. O’Donnell swung with her sword, taking the head off the first one. The other one turned to her, seeing her as easier prey, and she removed that one’s head just as quickly.
O’Donnell dropped beside Aiken, her hands going to his shoulder where a slow trickle of blood was coming from.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Bite?” Battle asked, and Aiken shook his head.
“Spear,” Aiken grunted.
“Oh thank God,” O’Donnell said, sounding relieved.
Battle dropped beside Aiken and pulled out a small medi kit. He opened it up and pulled out some cleaning solution and a bandage as O’Donnell helped Aiken out of his jacket.
“Savages.” Aiken winced. “Thought we had them but then another group appeared from goddamn nowhere.” He winced again as Battle squeezed the solution onto the wound. “Fight got caught up in the forest and I got separated from the rest.”
SJ looked around us. “The others, they’re out here?”
“Yeah, last I saw of them. Aimee was with me for a while but then she took off after two Savages.” He called out as Battle wrapped the bandage around the wound tightly.
“Shooter?” Battle asked, and I felt a pang of guilt because I hadn’t even thought about Shooter.
“Not sure. A couple of your guys took off into the trees though. He’s probably with them.” Aiken squeezed his eyes closed as Battle tied off the bandage.
Battle stood up, and he and O’Donnell helped Aiken back to his feet. “Can you still fight?” he asked Aiken, who rolled his shoulder tentatively and nodded. “I need to go find Shooter.” He glanced around him. “Gunner, Texas, you’re with me. Linc, O’Donnell, you two stay with Aiken.”
“And us?” I asked, gesturing to SJ, Anne, Lois, and me. I narrowed my eyes, knowing that he saw us as weak. I only had one arm and he’d seen each of the other women cry in the last thirty minutes—therefore we were no good to him. I hated him in that moment. Knowing that crying wasn’t a weakness in any way, and neither was me losing my arm. I was stronger than I’d ever been before. I’d been broken before, not because I’d lost my arm—I realized now—but because I was heartbroken. “Never mind, we’ll figure it out.”
I turned and headed back to the clearing, Anne and Lois hot on my heels. SJ had followed the others into the trees. I already knew that I was going into those mines. That was definitely where the Savages would have gone to hide, and I was going to hunt them out and kill each and every one of them and prove to Battle that I wasn’t weak and useless.
36.
Nina
The mines stank like death and betrayal. These women had betrayed their own kind. They’d turned against humans and sided with the deaders, haunted by the desire for food at any cost. The flesh of mankind only a meal to them and not a loved one.
As we sank deeper into the depths, the air grew stuffier, the stench of rot growing stronger with every step I took. Bodies lay scattered on the ground at our feet, and I was more than happy to see that they were all Savages until we came across a prone body, the patch of the Highwaymen on his leather cut.
I bent low, turning the body over, my head and heart filled with sadness and dread. It was Sketch, the nomad that had come down from the mountains to help us. I stood up, fighting tears as I wondered how many more people we would lose because of these sick, hateful bitches.
Up ahead I heard talking, a
nd the three of us moved quickly through the tunnels. We turned a corner, coming into a dimly lit room that opened up the further in you went. Bodies hung suspended from the ceiling and blood layered the floor like a crimson carpet.
I gagged at the smell and covered my mouth as my eyes adjusted to the scene before me.
It was Mikey.
He was standing with Axe, the asshole biker that I’d grown fond of over the course of a year. Savage bodies lay all around him and I recognized the bloody battle he’d just been through, the anger and grief on his handsome features as he held his machete high, ready to kill or be killed.
“You’ve been a stain on my life for long enough,” Shooter growled at Mikey, and I shook my head, willing Shooter not to be doing what I thought he was.
“I don’t even know you,” Mikey yelled. “If it’s about the bike, I’m sorry. I didn’t leave the kid abandoned though, I knew he’d be able to catch a lift.”
“It’s not about the fuckin’ bike,” Shooter snarled.
“Prez, think about this,” Gauge said, and I was grateful that he was at least trying to stop this madness.
“Fall in line or fuck off, Gauge!” Shooter snapped.
“Gauge is right, Shooter,” Balls said, looking around uncertainly. “This ain’t right. We’ve got more important things to be killing right now. Mikey’s on our side.”
Shooter laughed darkly. “This fucker isn’t on my side.”
Mikey looked between the four men in front of him, looking confused as hell, and I knew that this was my fault. I had caused this. I had created this. I hadn’t given myself over fully to Shooter, and now Mikey was going to pay for it. I’d dangled a carrot in front of Shooter for over a year with the promise of me being his, but he’d known all along that while Mikey was alive I would never be able to let go. He knew I still loved Mikey and always would, and he was prepared to kill him because of it.
“And you,” Shooter said, pointing at Axe, “you knew what could happen if you brought him here!”
Axe grinned. “Hey, I’m on your side, Prez!” he said bitterly. “We’re all on the same team. We’re all Highwaymen now, right?”
“You little bastard!” Balls roared, and raised his weapon before taking a step forward. “After everything we’ve done for the Rejects. For you!”
“For me? You took my club from under me. You thought I was going to go quietly?” Axe laughed loudly, sidestepping Balls’s weapon.
“Balls, no!” Shooter called, but it was too late. Axe raised his weapon and Balls’s long knife clashed against the metal, snapping abruptly. Axe followed through with the knife, swinging on an upstroke into the side of Balls’s face.
Balls grunted and fell to the ground, his hand clutching his face with both hands as he cried out. Gauge stepped forward, rolling his shoulders, and swung his large hammer at Axe, who blocked it with his axe. It was all happening so quickly. A flash of metal, the clang of weapons and the grunt of exertion followed so quickly by the cry of pain.
Lois had left my side, and when I glanced back at her she had both hands over her mouth as she continued to back up, further down the dingy hallway.
“I’m sorry, I can’t…” she said.
I nudged Anne and gestured for her to follow Lois. No one should be alone in those deathly hallways. Lois turned and started to run, and Anne followed her with a last regretful glance at me.
I turned back to the room, watching as Gauge pushed his knife through the side of Balls’s head, silencing him forever and stopping him from reanimating. Axe was already dead on the ground.
I felt sick and horrified by Shooter. Two men had just died because of him. Because of his lust to kill Mikey. To stop me from pining after the man I couldn’t have. It was madness.
I bit my lower lip and swallowed. There was no choice now. Shooter had pushed my hand and I had to go out there. I had to let Mikey see me. I was terrified by what Mikey’s reaction to me would be, but there really was no choice now. There was no way on earth I was going to let Shooter hurt Mikey. I’d die first.
I stepped out into the room, coming from the shadows and moving closer to them all. Mikey’s gaze was fixed on Shooter, his face harder than I remembered, the lines around his eyes and mouth more defined. He looked broader, maybe even taller, though I knew that was impossible. He was the man I remembered and yet he was so much more too.
“Shooter…no,” I said, my voice softer than I intended.
Neither man heard me at first, both of their gazes locked in a battle for power, but then Gauge saw me, patting Shooter on the shoulder, and as Shooter’s gaze left Mikey and moved to me, he knew he’d lost me for good.
I watched as despair swarmed his features. His dread of what would happen next. His grief at losing me. His anger at his own mistake.
Mikey followed Shooter’s gaze, landing on me seconds later, his expression confused, then angry, and then relief flooded his features.
“Nina?” He whispered my name and I nodded.
I watched the slow bob of his Adam’s apple move in his throat as he tried to comprehend what was happening. I wanted to smile. To reassure him that he wasn’t crazy, that I was there, alive.
When I’d seen him half dead, staggering along the road with that deader chasing after him…when he’d gone to O’Donnell and not me, I’d thought he’d chosen her. I’d thought he’d seen me and had made his decision, and Shooter had encouraged that belief. But a year had passed, and I’d examined that moment hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. I knew now, Mikey hadn’t seen me. He hadn’t chosen one woman over another. He’d chosen O’Donnell because he didn’t know that I was an option. I’d let him believe that because I’d figured that I was broken and worthless. Unsure if I was going to live beyond the week because of my injury. I’d left him to be happy with her, believing that was what was best for him, and I’d let myself be miserable without him, growing angrier and sadder each day at his loss. At my loss.
And I would have continued that way if it would have meant he was happy and safe. But life had thrown me a curve ball, and maybe this was my second chance. Maybe this was life telling me to give Mikey a real chance to choose. Me or O’Donnell—now he really could make his own choice, and I would live with the consequences.
Mikey moved to come to me but Gauge stepped in his way and Mikey looked up at him sharply, his expression going from confusion and wonder to anger in a heartbeat. He swung out with his machete and Gauge raised his hammer to block the machete. The metal clang echoed around the room loudly and I winced.
“Move!” Mikey ordered Gauge, shoving him back, his machete pressed against the handle of Gauge’s hammer. “I said move!” he bellowed, growing frantic at his need to get to me.
“Prez!” Gauge yelled at Shooter, but Shooter was glaring at me, his love and his hatred colliding in a frenzy of emotions. “Prez!”
Shooter nodded at Backtrack and gestured for him to come to me, and I knew right away he was going to drag me out of there. Take me away from Mikey so I didn’t have to watch them kill him. Because if Shooter couldn’t have me then no one could, right?
“Don’t do this, Backtrack,” I pleaded, watching as Gauge and Mikey continued to fight, Mikey growing even more frantic as he watched Backtrack coming toward me. “Shooter, stop this!” I pleaded.
Backtrack at least looked guilty as he lunged for me. I ducked under his arm and swung back to kick him in the bottom of his spine. He called out in pain and turned back to me and I swung my machete at him, stopping an inch before his face. He froze and I froze, both of us knowing how easy it would have been to kill him. Backtrack’s eyes went wide and he held up his hands and turned and stormed toward Gauge and Mikey.
“Gauge, stop this,” I yelled at him as I grabbed his arm with my one hand and tried to avoid stabbing him with the weapon attached to my other. “Please, I’m begging you.”
Gauge reared back and shoved me off of him and I flew backwards, landing on the bloody ground. I fumbled to get u
p, my hand touching body parts and gore. Mikey raised his arm and punched Gauge right in the face, his fist colliding with Gauge’s nose. I heard the crunch of bone as I stumbled back up to my feet.
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Mikey yelled furiously.
“You’re a dead man!” Gauge yelled, pointing at Mikey, blood pouring down from his nose and over his mouth. He swiped at his noise and beard, shaking the droplets of blood to the ground before rolling his shoulders.
I ran to Shooter and grabbed his arm. “Shooter, stop this, please, I’m begging you.”
He turned his cold blue eyes to me, his face a mask of hard stone. “You’re mine, remember? You swore to me.” He grabbed my biceps roughly and shook me. “You’re my old lady, Nina.”
I nodded in agreement. “I know, I remember, Shooter, I remember. But not like this. I won’t be with you like this.”
His stony expression cracked and I saw his pain beneath the anger and panic. “You haven’t been with me all along, Nina. You’ve always been with him.”
His voice was hard as stone, his pain so visceral that I felt it all the way to my heart. I nodded, tears filling my eyes. I couldn’t lie anymore. There was no point when he so clearly saw the truth that I had been hiding from him all along. A year had passed, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t love Shooter like I loved Mikey.
Gauge and Mikey were on the ground now, in a full-on brawl as they fought with fists, their weapons long discarded. Backtrack looked uncertainly at me and then started making his way over to them, the murderous look on his face showing me his intention.
“I’m sorry,” I pleaded with Shooter. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to love you, I did. But you can’t force love. You can’t make someone love you. It’s either there or it’s not.”
Shooter sneered at me, his once beautiful face now ugly and full of hate for me. The eyes that had looked at me with love and adoration were gone, replaced by his distaste for every word I said.
“I do care about you, Shooter. I do, I swear, but…” I couldn’t finish the words off, and it didn’t matter because he already knew.
The Dead Saga | Book 7 | Odium 7 Page 28