Dread (Gods of War Book 2)

by Shannon West

  He felt it wash over him, filling him with pleasure. When it finally stopped and he recovered, he slipped reluctantly from Luke’s body and fell down beside him on the sleeping bag. Logan put his hand down to catch some of his own cum leaking out of Luke’s ass and smeared it on his ass cheeks, marking him to make extra sure everyone would know who this man belonged to, Logan leaned over and sucked up a huge red mark on the side of his neck as he moaned and whimpered. Logan liked the way it looked so well, he gave him another one to match it on the other side. Finally satisfied, he lay back beside him, and drifted off to sleep.

  ****

  Four hours later, Logan had finished packing up the back of the truck, glanced up at the sky and made a command decision. If they were only going to stay another couple of days to wait on Perry and Wilson, he was going to find a cheap motel and check in, because he was tired of being wet and cold all the time. The weather this far south wasn’t freezing yet, but the weather in November could often be unpleasant, and this one was proving to be no exception. He was all about saving their cash, but enough was enough. They could afford to splurge a little. The clouds were as dark and sullen and as full of rain as they had been earlier when he’d first crawled out of the tent. They were already spitting down a few drops.

  He got in the truck beside Luke and Rio and they pulled out of the little camping area near the Tennessee River and headed back toward Chattanooga to find the nearest Waffle House. He was starving after all that exercise with Luke earlier and craving some cheesy eggs and raisin toast. Of course, the hash browns with onions went without saying. He turned to say as much to Luke, when Luke put a hand on his arm.

  “Remember, we talked about this—no Waffle House.”

  Not sure he’d heard him right, Logan cocked his head to the side. “Say what?”

  “No Waffle House. It will clog your arteries.”

  “What?”

  Luke smirked at him and patted his leg. “You’ll live. Just pick somewhere else.”

  “I had my mouth all set for it!” He grouched around for a few miles, finally realizing Luke was ignoring him. “And if I can live through explosions and gunshots and being buried alive, I don’t think cholesterol has much of a chance.”

  “You never know. I don’t want your heart giving out. Pick another place.”

  Logan muttered under his breath for a moment, then gave a heavy sigh, which Luke ignored. “Okay, then Huddle House. Next best thing.”

  “And how is that any better? No, not there either. We need to eat healthier. We don’t know what might be going on in our bodies right now. Besides, you’ve been gaining weight.”

  “All muscle!”

  “Muscle my ass.”

  Logan shot him a wounded look and put the truck in gear. “Well, tell me where I’m going.”

  Luke continued to look through his apps. “I’m looking. Just drive and I’ll let you know.”

  “Aye aye, sir!”

  Luke ignored him and kept looking.

  They wound up at a Cracker Barrel, where he made Logan order some fruit and oatmeal. And then Luke had sat there and ordered waffles with extra butter right in his face! Logan called the waitress back over and added some bacon and eggs to his order, giving Luke a dark look as he did, daring him to say anything about the bacon. Logan had heard once that pigs could have orgasms lasting up to thirty minutes at a time. He figured that was God’s way of thanking them for bacon. It was his favorite food, as well as Rio’s.

  By the time they were on their last cup of coffee, the skies had opened up and were flinging rain down in the parking lot and up against the windows of the restaurant. They got a small order to take to Rio too. He had also fallen victim to Luke’s new plan to eat healthy, and Luke had bought some expensive dog food for him that was specially designed for senior dogs. Luke wouldn’t allow him to give Rio bacon anymore unless he slipped it to him, instead giving him bacon flavored treats. Not the same thing at all as Rio’s betrayed gaze plainly said when he gave him the nasty things. Logan still managed to slip him the occasional sausage.

  They ran out to the truck, getting soaked in the process, and then made their way downtown where they checked into a Days Inn that had seen better “days.” Still, it was cheap, and best of all, it wasn’t wet. They went inside and Logan spread some of their gear across one of the queen-sized beds to dry and then cranked up the heat.

  The rendezvous he’d given Perry and Wilson was fairly close by, at a little place called Coolidge Park. Logan’s family used to go there some on weekends for a picnic after visiting the nearby Tennessee Aquarium. Logan’s mom had been big on picnics, and his dad agreed because it kept him from having to shell out even more cash to feed everybody. Logan pretty much hated the stupid picnics his mom loved so much and always tried to eat his sandwich in the car instead, so people wouldn’t see him eating with his family. He guessed that was why he did it anyway—he was never a deep thinker as a kid, but he was always very aware of how he might look to any interested onlooker. Eating with the folks wasn’t cool, so he didn’t want to do it. His mother would shake her head and say, “You’ll never see these people again. What do you care what they think?” But he did care, and he stayed in that sweltering car with his egg salad sandwiches as often as he could get away with it.

  He had told Perry that if for any reason they couldn’t meet at the cabin, then to be at Coolidge Park every day for a week right at noon from the twentieth of October to the twenty-seventh. It was way past that, but they’d decided to wait a little longer than they normally would have because of the fuck up in Alabama. Privately, he had told himself that the fact they weren’t there yet meant they wouldn’t be coming now at all. Still, if they were trying to get there, then he owed it to them to wait as long as he possibly could.

  It was eleven o’clock by the time Logan finished showering and shaving and had put on dry clothes. Luke was standing by the window, looking out at the wet parking lot when he came out. The rain had finally stopped, but the skies were still threatening.

  “Let’s go try the park,” Luke said over his shoulder. “If they’re there, they might be getting too wet and cold to hang around long today. If not, maybe we should just leave in the morning and head on to Atlanta.”

  Logan came up behind him and slipped his arms around Luke’s waist. “You changed your mind? What’s the matter, Navy? Rainy days and Sundays always bring you down?”

  Luke smirked at him. “It’s not Sunday, and no, not especially. I just got thinking that maybe Perry and Wilson figured we’d already left to meet Jackson and Kowalski. They wouldn’t know about Kowalski yet, so they might be trying to find us in Atlanta.”

  “They wouldn’t know about Atlanta, either, because I didn’t tell them about the different rendezvous points if Talladega didn’t work out. Remember? So, this is it. It’s either meet them here or admit they didn’t make it for whatever reason. I wish we had a way to contact them, but we don’t.”

  He laid his head back on Logan’s shoulder and sighed. “Maybe I am feeling a little low. It’s kind of hard not to, with so much we don’t know. About what happened to us, and what’s happening at home. I’ve been wondering what’s happened to my apartment…to my things.”

  “Well, shake it off,” Logan said, popping him lightly on the ass. “It’s only been a couple of weeks, so everything is probably just as you left it. We’re not likely to find any answers in that parking lot anyway, so first things first. We can worry about our stuff later.” He bent to nibble on Luke’s ear lobe. “Of course, we could go and lie down on that nice, soft bed for a while. You know, just to nap. Neither of us got much sleep last night.”

  Luke slipped out of his arms with a smile. “Nap, huh? No, I think first we need to check on the park.”

  “Then let’s go do it now, while there’s a break in the clouds. Rio needs to get some exercise and it’s getting close to noon.”

  They took off to the truck and loaded Rio up to sit between them in what
had become his usual spot. Logan had bought him a towel to sit on so he wouldn’t mess up the beautiful leather seats. It was a short ride to the park, where they found a place to park the truck in the lot nearby and made their way to a picnic table that was facing the front of the park. Maybe the same one Logan used to try so hard to avoid when he was younger. From there, they could see anyone who entered the area. Luke pulled out a frisbee he’d bought for Rio and began tossing it to him, even though the grass was pretty wet. Rio was soon soaking wet and happy, bringing the frisbee back to Luke every time, only occasionally being distracted by a passing squirrel.

  Luke had bought the toy originally because he thought it made them look a little less creepy to be playing with their dog in the park, rather than just lurking around staring at everyone who entered. Logan didn’t really give a damn what anybody thought, but agreed with the concept, saying it might draw less attention to them.

  Luke had been tossing it to Rio for about ten minutes when Logan saw him stop and stare toward the entrance. Logan followed his gaze and got to his feet fast. Two men were standing just inside the park, both staring at Luke, as if they were unsure whether or not to proceed. Logan waved to get their attention and called out to them. “Ron! Jake!”

  Both of them turned to look at him, then looked around the park itself, as if searching for any hidden danger. Logan started walking toward them, unable to keep the smile off his face. He heard Ron Perry pull Jake Wilson’s arm and say, “Wait a minute.”

  But Wilson replied, “No, it’s okay.”

  Jake began to jog toward Logan, but Ron followed him more slowly, his gaze fixed on Luke and still wary. Luke was keeping his distance, too, having called Rio to him, and he was standing still watching the two approach Logan, with his hand on Rio’s collar to hold him there.

  Jake reached Logan first and Logan fully expected the bro-hug—the four-step embrace that consisted of a hand clasp, shoulder bump, back pat, and release. Logan was very familiar with the socially acceptable display that combined affection with aggression and was ready to step into it, but was surprised when Jake grabbed him and gave him a real hug instead. Logan had always thought of Jake as being rather aggressively hetero, as was Perry, which was why he paired them together to start with, so the gesture surprised him a little. He returned the hug though, a little surprised at how glad, not to mention relieved, he was to see both of them. Ron Perry had reached them by that time and was thumping Logan on the back with enthusiasm. After burning down his brother-in-law’s cabin, Logan hadn’t expected that either.

  “Man, it’s good to see you,” Ron said. “When we got to the cabin, we didn’t know what the hell had happened, but we suspected the worst. There was nobody around, but the cabin was burned to the ground and the yard around it had all been dug up, like somebody was looking for something. What in the fuck happened?”

  “A hell of a lot. Come on over here and let’s sit down for a few minute. Nobody’s following you, are they?”

  “No, not so we can tell,” Perry replied, casting another nervous glance and a head tip at Luke. “How’s that situation coming along?”

  Logan smiled at Luke and motioned to him to join them. “That situation is just fine. Perfect, in fact. Come on over and sit a few minutes. We have a lot to talk about.”

  Chapter Two

  It wound up taking more than a few minutes, and after an hour or so they decided to find somewhere to eat and continue their discussion. Ron and Jake hadn’t eaten since the day before, having run out of money somewhere in Middle Tennessee and they both claimed to be starving.

  Since Luke knew that he and Logan were still pretty flush with cash, he nodded his agreement when Logan said they’d take them out to eat. He did raise an eyebrow at Logan when he wanted to go to another Cracker Barrel nearby.

  “Hey, they have a lot of choices and nobody cares how long you sit and talk,” Logan said, defending his choice, after Luke gave a long sigh. Logan insisted on a different location though, because he didn’t want to become predictable in case anyone was noticing. Luckily, there were several of them located around town. Luke had Googled it.

  After wolfing down his meal, Perry leaned back and sighed. “Thanks for that, Logan. I was starving.”

  “Me too,” Jake said, polishing off the last bite of his apple pie. “We only had enough money to buy our bus tickets here, along with a few packs of peanut butter crackers. Ron wanted to use an ATM card, but I wouldn’t let him.”

  Ron flushed and shrugged. “I was pretty hungry.” He fiddled with his fork a moment and glanced back up at Logan. “Besides, I think you kinda owed me at least a meal after burning down my brother-in-law’s cabin.”

  “Sorry about that, man. It was the only way I could think of to let you know things were fucked up. I couldn’t trust that somebody wouldn’t tamper with any kind of note we left behind. I’ll make it up to your family when we get out of this.”

  Ron nodded. “It’s okay. My brother-in-law’s an asshole anyway. That cabin was the only thing I liked about him.” He glanced over at Luke. “He reminds me a little of you, Navy. Thinks he’s better than me. Just like you do.”

  “Only Logan gets to call me Navy. My name is Luke. I suggest you remember it.”

  “Oh yeah? Or else, what?”

  “You don’t want to know what, asshole.”

  “Hey,” Logan said, his voice hard. “Cut the shit, both of you. Perry, don’t call him Navy. And just for the record, he is better than you. Luke, stop being so touchy. Now the two of you settle down and shut the hell up. We got enough enemies as it is.”

  Ron shrugged and fell back against his chair, seeming deflated. “True. I’m sorry, Nav…I mean, Luke. All this has made me irritable.”

  “You think?” Jake said and laughed.

  Ron sighed. “I guess I didn’t really believe those Institute guys would come after us.”

  “I told him they would,” Jake said. “I-I kind of know things like that now.”

  Logan stirred uneasily and glanced over at Luke. His eyes were wide and he had begun to look nervous. “What kinds of things?” he asked Jake softly.

  Jake shrugged. “All kinds of stuff. Future things—at least I think it’s in the future. Some of it is really clear and then others are not…not as plain. They’re things that might happen, if nothing changes. I knew there was trouble at the cabin in Talladega. I saw it. Long before we ever got there.”

  “You saw it, huh?” Logan replied, feeling uneasy. “You saw what, exactly?”

  Jake tilted his head slightly to the side. “Men in the woods, waiting. Shooting and fighting and running and then…darkness.” His voice changed then, his eyes glazed over and he dropped his head. When he began to speak, his voice was lower and gruffer. It sounded a little like Logan’s.

  “So dark, can’t breathe, and everything pressing down…” He shuddered and rubbed a hand over his face and looked back up at them.

  “Damn. Did any of that happen?”

  Logan nodded tersely and took another sip of coffee. He had never believed in fortune telling or psychics, so this was freaking him out a little. “Yeah, it happened. Like I already told you guys, Kowalski betrayed us…made a deal with the Institute for the ‘antidote.’ Dumb asshole. There isn’t any damn antidote, because they didn’t do this to us.”

  “What do you mean?” Perry asked, leaning forward intently.

  Logan nodded over at Luke, who took up the story. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot this week. I mostly discount a lot of what Kowalski told us. But even so, I think some of what he said was true. Or at least the truth as far as he knew it. If the Institute could have created some kind of super soldiers, it would have made them millions, and Kowalski said they thought they were close to getting the formula right. Mexico was supposed to be another trial run, like dozens they’d done before, and the injection they gave us was something to make us a little crazy. Maybe pump us full of steroids to enhance us a little. Have you ever heard of th
e Viking berserkers?”

  “No,” Perry said. “What are they?”

  “They were a special group of warriors, so intoxicated by battle lust, they say, that they used to howl like wolves and bite their shields they were so anxious to get into battle. Just crazy as hell. Some researchers say they probably were given drugs to make them that way. Maybe even a fungus from mushrooms containing a compound used today to synthesize LSD. The Institute could have used actual LSD in the injection they gave us. Who knows? Whatever it was, it was only supposed to be temporary and last as long as the mission we were on, and then it would have worn off once we came back in. Then, like Kowalski said, they would have given us another injection to make us forget some things and then we’d have all gone on with our lives.

  “But in the briefing they gave us beforehand, they told us that lab was involved in assassinations for the cartel, sometimes using biological agents. Whatever they were cooking up in that lab we blew up may have added to the mix. Maybe we ingested it in some way. Along with that MARS drug they were storing in the warehouse. Logan says he remembers waking up covered in cloud of yellow smoke. I remember a little of that. It smelled awful and burned my nose. It was so dense, I could barely see through it.”

  Jake nodded. “I remember some smoke, but not all that bad. The explosion toppled a wall on top of me and Jackson. Maybe that covered us some? Protected us from the worst of it? I don’t know.”

  “Yeah,” Ron nodded. “I was buried up under a bunch of stuff, so I don’t remember that much smoke like you’re talking about.”

  “I remember it,” Logan said. “It was hard to breathe for all the smoke.”

  Luke turned and gazed thoughtfully at Logan. “For me, it wasn’t as thick as what you’re describing. Maybe that’s why you’re stronger physically in some ways than I am. Maybe you got a bigger dose of whatever it was.”