Leo and Anton crouched low and crept through the tall grass that grew near the fencing. When they reached the chain-link fence that separated their properties, they dropped to their knees and raised their rifles.
The screaming gained intensity. And it was coming closer.
The muscles of Leo’s back tightened. He scanned the Granger orchard, finger light on the trigger.
He didn’t like Mr. and Mrs. Granger. In fact, most days he thought they deserved to be hit by lightning. But he wouldn’t let them be hunted down by Russians. Not even they deserved that.
The dark head of Mrs. Granger appeared. She was wearing her customary orchard clothing, jeans and a flannel shirt.
Except one sleeve of her shirt had been torn off. She was bleeding all up and down her arm. There was also a tear in one leg of her jeans.
She ran through the the trees. Mr. Granger pursued her, a guttural growl rumbling up from his throat. It sent a chill across Leo’s shoulders.
Mr. Granger charged after his wife like a lion after a gazelle. Leo had never seen the man move like that. He must be more pissed off than usual. Or maybe more drunk than usual. Both scenarios were feasible. The guy was a royal dick.
Mrs. Granger never stopped screaming. She spoke no words, only screamed. That wasn’t unusual, either.
Sometimes, late at night when the house was quiet and the windows open, Leo could hear the two of them going at it. Mr. Granger was usually yelling. Mrs. Granger was always screaming.
That was why, when Dal moved in with them freshman year, he hadn’t argued when his friend offered to sleep in the utility room. He didn’t want Dal to have to listen to his crazy parents go at each other. The utility room was on the far side of the house, opposite to the Granger farm. If Dal could hear his parents over there, he’d never spoken of it.
Leo and Anton watched the two continue to dodge through the apple orchard.
“Does Mr. Granger have blood on his face?” Anton asked.
Leo had noticed that. “Yeah, he does.”
“Do you think she actually fought back this time?”
Leo shook his head. “I think Mr. Granger bit her. That’s why her shirt is torn.”
“Bit her?” Anton’s brow furrowed. “You really think so?”
“It wouldn’t be the most fucked up thing he’s done to her.”
Anton couldn’t argue with that. Over the years, they’d seen Mrs. Granger with a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, broken nose, and cracked ribs. Biting was fairly tame in comparison.
Mrs. Granger disappeared behind the barn. Mr. Granger was hard on her heels. When the couple was out of sight, the screaming went up several octaves.
“God, that guy is a dick,” Anton said. “Think I could get away with blaming it on the Russians if I shot him?”
“He must be raging drunk.”
“Whatever. Like that’s an excuse. What do you think?” Anton hefted the rifle.
Leo shook his head. He’d learned a long time ago that interference between those two was not appreciated by either party. It had been Mrs. Granger who threw Dal out of the house for trying to protect her.
“Let’s get back to the house and finish packing,” Leo said. “We need to get back to Lars.” Let those two kill each other if that’s what they wanted. After they kicked out their only son, Leo stopped caring what happened to either of them.
Thirty minutes later, the back of the truck was jammed full. It was dusk. Leo hefted the last box of supplies into the back.
“Funny.” Anton watched him with a somber look on his face. “I didn’t think you could lift heavy boxes like that with your messed-up shoulder.”
Leo ignored him, staring up the gravel road and hoping for some sign of his dad and the others. Mr. Cecchino left hours ago. He should have been back with Dal and Lena by now.
“Did you ever even have a shoulder injury?” Anton asked.
Leo rubbed a tired hand over his face. It had been a long day and he’d said too much. “Let’s get back to the cabin.”
Just as they climbed into the truck, the crunch of tires on gravel filled the air.
Someone was coming down the Cecchino farm road.
15
Visitor
“That’s not my truck,” Leo said. He knew the sound of his beloved truck, and that wasn’t it. Alarm spiked through him.
Leo snatched his rifle out of the front seat and sprinted for the wood pile on the side of the house. Anton raced behind him. His little brother might irritate the shit out of him, but the kid had good instincts.
The two brothers dove behind the wood pile. A plume of dust hung in the sky, kicked up by a vehicle.
“Think it’s Russians?” Anton propped his rifle on top of the wood pile, crouching to sight down the crosshairs.
“Don’t know.” The hairs prickled along the back of Leo’s neck. His finger tensed on the rifle trigger, ready to fire at the first sign of danger. If Russians were here for the Cecchino farm, they were in for a surprise. He’d shoot every last one of them down.
He was so busy imagining a car full of Russians invading his family’s property that he was completely unprepared for the white Ford Crown Victoria station wagon that rumbled into view. His mouth fell open. He nearly dropped his rifle.
“Is that who I think it is?” Anton asked.
Leo couldn’t find words. He knew that car. He knew the owner. He’d just never expected to see either of them again.
The Crown Vic pulled to a stop in front of the house.
The young woman who stepped out had blond ringlets that fell past her shoulders. Her perfectly teased bangs added an extra three inches to her curvy five-foot-five figure. Generous breasts filled out a slinky spaghetti strap tank that was covered with a black mesh shirt. Fingerless black gloves covered her hands. Black stirrup pants covered a perfect ass—an ass that, a few short years ago, Leo had the privilege to touch. Red heels rounded out the outfit.
Only Jennifer Miola could make a Russian invasion look good.
And even while he took note of how stunning she was, he distantly registered something different about her. Like the light shining from the former cheerleader and gymnastics star was slightly off hue. He couldn’t put his finger on it, though it likely had something to do with the communist invasion.
Leo didn’t let the thought linger for deeper study; he was too busy grappling with the resentment that threatened to choke him.
“Damn.” Anton sat back on his heels, propping the barrel of his rifle against his shoulder. “I forgot how smoking hot she is.”
Leo snorted in disgust. He buried his shock under a scowl and stalked out from behind the wood pile. Just to be a dick, he made it a point to aim the rifle in her direction.
“Leo!” She jumped in surprise when saw him. Heedless of the weapon, she rushed toward him.
He was even further confused when she threw her arms around his neck. He stiffened and held her at arm’s length.
“Leo?” She frowned at him. “It’s me.”
“I know who you are. What do you want?”
He took note of the dirt smudging the side of her face. The shoulder of her mesh shirt had a tear in it.
“Is that any way to greet an old friend?” She gave him her prettiest smile.
Once upon a time, that smile would have melted him on the spot. Today, all it did was put his hackles up. He gave her a flat stare.
“We have some place to be, Jennifer. What do you want?”
She absorbed his coldness with a long look. Her smile faded. “Look, I don’t know how to break this to you, but—”
“There are Russians,” Anton interrupted.
Jennifer blinked. “You know?”
“Yeah. Fuckers rolled right into Bastopol High. I’d probably be dead if Leo hadn’t shown up and saved my ass.”
“We have to go,” Leo said. “We have wounded to take care of.”
“Wait.” Jennifer grabbed his arm. “Cassie is in Westville with chess club
friends. I was driving there to pick her up when the Russians attacked.” She fiddled with her fingerless gloves. “I’ve been driving around for hours trying to find a way to reach her. I didn’t know where else to go. I need help getting my sister.”
And she thought her ex-boyfriend was the perfect person to help her out? Leo swallowed his anger. “I can’t help you, Jennifer. Like I said, we have wounded to take care of.”
“No, wait.” Jennifer refused to let go of his arm. “ Leo, we’re talking about my baby sister. I—”
He shook her off. “You’re not the only one who’s been separated from a family member.”
Jennifer blinked as his words hit her. The empathy in her eyes enraged him. “Leo, I’m sor—”
“Look, I get it. You’re scared for Cassie. But it’s not safe. All the TV and radio stations are down. We have no idea what’s going on. We’d be driving blind if we went out there right now. Cassie is safer wherever she is than in a car with you.”
Jennifer’s expression melted with his every word. The confident cheerleader who’d ripped out his heart and served it to him on a platter two nights after senior prom now looked small, vulnerable, and scared. It didn’t look good on her.
He was being an epic asshole. “Look.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, attempting to dial back his anger. He couldn’t help Jennifer get to her sister, but he could at least give her a safe place to stay. “Come to the cabin with us. You’ll be safe there until the military gets here and takes care of the Russians.”
“But what about Cassie?”
“If things clear up, I’ll help you get her. In the meantime, we all need to lay low.”
“But, my parents—”
He only had so much patience for his ex. “Your parents are in Bastopol, which is swarming with Russians. You can go home or you can come with us. Make up your mind. Anton and I are leaving.”
He turned his back and marched to the truck, slamming the door as he climbed inside. “Anton.” He rapped on the driver’s-side door. “Time to go.”
Anton climbed into the truck. “You’re being a dick, man. She’s scared.”
Leo knew it. It had been over two years. You’d think he’d be over it. He wasn’t. “You coming?” he asked Jennifer.
She hesitated for a heartbeat, then scrambled into the cab beside Anton.
“I don’t suppose you have another pair of shoes?” Leo asked her as he fired up the engine. “Stilettos aren’t conducive for forest life.”
“My suitcase with all my stuff is at my parents. I’m only here for the weekend.”
No shoes then. Well, she would have to get used to roughing it in stilettos.
Leo threw the truck into drive and roared away from the house.
16
Inhuman
Nonna absorbed the arrival of Jennifer Miola with a slow blink. To Leo, she said, “Looks like you deviated from the list, Leonardo.”
Leo huffed and grabbed the first duffle out of the truck. His nerves were frayed. Jennifer’s presence was like a file against his bones.
“Hi, Nonna,” Jennifer said.
Nonna looked her up and down. “I don’t suppose you brought a sensible pair of shoes?”
“She didn’t,” Leo called over his shoulder as he stomped into the cabin.
Bruce came out from the bunk room. “Did you find the penicillin?”
“Yeah. How are they Lars and Adam?”
“Adam is still asleep. Lars is … I don’t know, man. I’m not a doctor, but he doesn’t look good.” Bruce’s voice dropped. “The Russian poison is spreading fast. He has black veins all over his face and neck. It’s really fucking creepy. Nonna made me give him another aspirin, but he’s burning up and sweating buckets. Those wet towels didn’t do a damn thing to help him.”
Dammit. Leo didn’t have the slightest idea of what to do. He tried to sound confident for Bruce’s sake. “The penicillin will help. We have a shit load of stuff in the truck. Help us bring it in?”
Back outside, Leo was shocked when he found Jennifer on the ground with a large garbage bag of blankets slung over her shoulder. She gave him an airy look before climbing up the cabin steps in her red stilettos. Somehow, she made walking in those things look easy.
“Nonna, I have the penicillin.” Leo pulled the bottle out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her.
“Good. You can help me administer it to him. He’s a heavy patient.” Nonna joined him as they climbed back up the stairs into the cabin. She leaned close to speak into his ear. “What’s she doing here?”
Nonna was not a person to cross. She ceased liking Jennifer the moment she’d dumped her oldest grandson.
“She couldn’t get home. Believe me, if I wasn’t worried about her getting shot by a Russian, I’d have left her.”
“It’s no worse than she deserves. And now we have to share our supplies with her? I don’t like it.”
For some reason, Nonna’s iciness toward his ex made her presence more tolerable. “I’ll take Anton hunting tomorrow. We’ll have plenty of supplies.” Besides, how long could the Russians realistically hold out? Three days, maybe. A week at the most. The United States would kick their Soviet asses back across the ocean. They just had to hold out in the cabin until that happened.
“She has to pull her weight,” Nonna said. “There’s work to be done.”
Leo nodded. Jennifer wasn’t lazy. She’d graduated with a three-point-eight. Besides being captain of the cheerleading squad, she’d been a competitive gymnast and president of the Kiwanis club. All that hard work had earned her a scholarship to UC Riverside in Southern California. Idleness was Jennifer’s arch enemy. Leo knew she’d be up for whatever work needed doing.
Even if all she had was a pair of stilettos.
Leo and Nonna entered the cabin when a high-pitched scream broke out. It was coming from inside the room.
The sound was unlike anything Leo had ever heard before. It seemed like the very walls of the cabin might shred under the force of it.
Leo sprinted past Nonna toward the room. Bruce and Anton dropped the boxes they were carrying and raced after him.
The three of them burst into the bunk room. The scene before them stole the breath from Leo’s lungs.
“What the fuck?” Anton cried.
Adam was pinned to the floor by Lars. Lars had one hand around Adam’s neck. His other hand pinned his pelvis. His teeth were buried in Adam’s neck, blood leaking across Adam’s shoulder and gushing across the floor.
“What the fuck?” Anton cried again.
Lars looked up. His mouth and teeth were bloody. Adam flailed, but Lars kept him pinned in place.
Even though Bruce had warned him, Leo could hardly believe what he was seeing. In the hour and a half since they’d been gone, Lars’s entire face and neck had become covered with a webbing of black veins. His eyes were shot through with blood.
An inhuman snarl rippled out of Lars’s throat. Bloodshot eyes shifted, taking in Leo and the other two boys. He growled again. It was an animalistic sound—a warning to stay away. Like Adam was a fucking deer, and Lars was a lion.
“Help me,” Adam said weakly. “Help!”
The chaos of the moment kick-started Leo’s brain. He’d always been good under pressure.
He shoved Anton aside and charged. A boot to the face sent Lars sprawling across the floor.
“Anton and Bruce, help Adam,” Leo kept his eyes on Lars, readying himself to square off against the bigger kid.
Lars bounded to his feet. He barked like a rabid coyote and charged.
Leo grabbed a pillow from the bed and shoved it at Lars, blocking the bloody teeth that snapped at him. The bloodshot eyes of the big teenager locked on Leo. They were crazed and filled with an animalistic frenzy.
There was no sign of humanity in them. There was no sign of Lars.
He snarled and growled, fighting to reach Leo. The bloodlust in his eyes sent fear into Leo. He planted a foot in Lars’s stomach and s
ent him crashing up against the far wall.
He abruptly knew only one of them was getting out of this room alive. The realization flashed through him. Feeling as though he was in an alternate, really fucked-up dimension, Leo pulled out the pocket knife he always carried and flipped up the five-inch blade.
Lars had barely hit the wall on the far side of the room before he bounded back to his feet. With a howl, he charged at Leo yet again.
Leo braced himself, knife raised to meet the rush. The distance between them evaporated. Leo waited until the last second before pivoting. He buried his knife in Lars’s ribcage.
The strike didn’t even slow him down. If anything, it just enraged him. Lars ran into the wall, spun around, and rushed Leo once again.
What the fuck?
The blast of a rifle cracked through the room. Two shots tore into Lars. The first shot hit him in the back. The second one pierced his heart.
Lars moaned and collapsed to the floor. Blood spilled out of his body. He didn’t move.
Nonna stood in the doorway, rifle gripped in her slim hands. “Rest in peace, poor boy.” Her eyes flicked to Leo. “You okay?”
Leo nodded, unable to find his voice. He’d seen his death painted in Lars’s crazed face. Blood pounded in his ears. “Thanks, Nonna.”
“No one hurts my grandson on my watch.” She turned on her heel and left the room.
Leo licked dry lips, taking a moment to steady himself. Then he stepped over Lars’s body and followed Nonna into the main room.
He found Bruce and Anton yelling at one another, both of them crouched over Adam’s body as they tried to staunch the blood gushing out of his neck.
“Get me another towel!” Anton cried.
“There are no more towels, man! You’re not pressing in the right spot.”
“Then find some gauze or paper towels or—or something!”
Adam was sprawled on his back in the middle of the floor. There was a thick trail of blood smeared all the way from the bunk room. The floor beneath Adam was drenched in more blood.
Zommunist Invasion Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 10