by Jenika Snow
In a swift move, Mason was before the female and had his knife raised high. He plunged the blade into the side of her neck, causing the infected to gurgle out a ghastly sound. He pulled the knife out and stabbed it in the eye, and the infected fell to the ground. After he pulled his blade out of its eye, he wiped it clean on her dress. But before he could make a step toward them, another one came from out of the trees across from them. This one had his arms out in front of him and green-and-black goo coming from its eyes.
Sparrow had her weapon in her hand, a thick steel pipe that did a lot of good when brought across the heads of the sick, but before she could move, Asher tightened his hold on her. “He’s got it, Sparrow. You’ll just distract him running out there.”
And Asher was right. Right when she thought the walking corpse would have grabbed Mason, he had him on the ground and his blade buried right in one of those nasty, dead eye sockets. Mason pulled it out and wiped his blade clean once more, turned and scanned the area, and then came back to them. He stared at her for a moment before grunting something out to Asher.
“Come on, let’s see if there’s anything useful in the car. Just stay behind me and close.” He tried to take hold of her hand, but she took a step back. He stopped, which had Mason doing the same. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She looked between the two of them. Mason had that perpetual scowl on his face, as if her stopping them was wasting their time. “I just want you guys to know I can handle myself. You don’t have to watch over me like I’ll break.” She held up her weapon. “I’ve killed plenty of them, and joining you means I want to help, not be a hindrance. I can hold my own with you guys and carry my weight.”
Mason grunted, and Asher sliced an irritated look at him.
“We found you nearly getting eaten and clawed to death by one of those fuckers,” Mason said low with a hint of anger in his voice. “So excuse me if I’d rather you do what we say instead of getting in our way.”
What. An. Ass. Sparrow tightened her hold on the pipe and glared at him. She had learned over time that keeping her mouth shut was for the best, but there were some things that just needed to be said.
“If I am such a burden to you, which your attitude seems to claim, then why in the hell did you even ask me to join you?” Sparrow had never been one to speak her mind. She was perfectly content in doing what she wanted, and if someone didn’t like it, they could go fuck themselves. But for the last few days of being in Mason’s company, seeing the glares and narrowed-eyed looks he gave her, and the overall icy disposition he wore like a damn chip on his shoulder, he was pushing it. “I survived this whole time without you, and I certainly can manage it again.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, but she would not let the sight of his raw masculinity sway her better judgment. He was an asshole, and all she said was she wanted to help.
“And I’ll say it again. If we hadn’t come along when we did, you’d be half eaten and walking around infected like the rest of them.” He turned and took a step but stopped and looked back at her. “And for the record, I didn’t offer to take you along. Ash did.” Mason said it so icily, so fucking dead-toned, that Sparrow’s entire body stiffened. He looked at Asher. “Now let’s fucking look through the car and get the hell out of here. I’m done talking and drawing even more attention to ourselves.”
He was moving toward the car, and Asher opened his mouth to say something, but she shook her head and followed Mason onto the street and toward the car. Okay, so she wasn’t welcome by Mason. That much was clear. And she certainly didn’t want to be somewhere, traveling with someone who clearly didn’t want her there. So she’d just have to leave. She’d go with them into town, see if she could scrounge up some supplies, and get the fuck away from them. Maybe they should have just left her there for the infected, but maybe she wouldn’t have been okay if they wouldn’t have shown up.
One thing was certain. Sparrow wasn’t about to hang around someone who didn’t want her there. She much preferred to be on her own anyway.
Chapter Six
The interior of the car hadn’t offered anything, but when Mason popped the trunk, they found a gallon of water, a few blankets, and a few cans of fruit. They took what they found, shoved it into their packs, and moved back into the shaded and partially hidden tree line. For the next ten minutes or so, they didn’t speak, but that was fine with Sparrow. Asher kept looking over at her, and she didn’t miss how he lingered back from Mason’s quick, determined steps and stayed closer to her.
She didn’t need or want his help and was starting to feel really fucking stupid for taking Asher up on his offer and joining them. Mason’s words had been like a slap to her face, and because of what? Saying she wanted to help, that she didn’t want to be the person who relied on them for everything?
She remembered just last night though, when Mason offered her the rest of his water. Had he showed her a glimpse of the human inside, or was the machine he portrayed every other time just trying to appease her, because he felt sorry for her?
No, he didn’t feel sorry for her, because he didn’t feel anything. She had seen it on more than one occasion, when someone just detached themselves from others. But it was just her, because it seemed his relationship with Asher was solid.
That was probably it though.
He might think she would ruin whatever connection the men had together, but honestly, she didn’t give a shit about what they did. Yeah, they were attractive, and yes, she had thought of some very dirty things concerning them, but she was a female, and they were the first males who caused a warmth inside her since the fucking world ended. Damn her hormones, damn the fact that she hadn’t been with a man in God knew how long, and damn Mason for making her feel like a thorn in his side.
They stopped when they reached the edge of Rockport. The town looked like something out of an old country movie, with cobblestoned sidewalks and gas-style streetlamps. It looked deserted, like the occupants rushed out of their homey little world, leaving their belongings scattered along the street, their previous lives lost in the wind. A telephone pole leaned to the side, perilously close to falling completely over. There were a few cars parked along the curb, some with their doors hanging open, and others with the remembrance of life that they once had.
The trio stayed in the center of the street, all three of them with their weapons of choice held tightly in their hands, and their gazes moved back and forth along the deserted, eerily silent town. The sound of banging had Sparrow tensing, but she saw a shutter smacking back and forth against the side of a building. She saw a hardware store, a little video store, and even a kiosk-style ice cream stand. She tried to image what the town of Rockport looked like before the fall of the world. She could visualize the people walking back and forth, laughing, shopping, living.
“Come on, there is a pharmacy and grocery store up here and around the corner.” They followed Mason as he made quick work up the street and then took a right. She first saw the pharmacy with the once quaint little mortar and pestle with a recipere in the center of the mortar.
“Let’s stop in the pharmacy first. I want to see if anything is left.” Asher nodded, and Mason continued leading them toward it. They stopped in front of it, but the door hung from the hinges. They listened and slowly stepped inside. The interior was dark where the light didn’t penetrate it through the windows.
“Let’s make this quick. I don’t want to spend a lot of time in town.” Mason kept his voice low. There were only two aisles, with a long shelf between them running along the center. Because it was so small, they stuck together and made a sweep of the whole place. They stopped at the counter in front of the pharmacy, but they could see down each small aisle and didn’t spot anyone.
“I’m going to see if there is anything left that might be useful to take.” She looked between them. “Any allergies?” She smiled, but apparently the men didn’t think it was funny, since they just stared at her. She shook her head and moved aro
und the counter to step up into the small box-like drug dispensary. The shelves were still standing, but there were boxes and bottles scattered all along the floor.
The room was murky with shadows, but there was enough light coming through the windows that she could at least see well enough. She got on her haunches and pushed some of the pill bottles around. Stool softeners, pain relievers, and cough suppressants were some of them. She grabbed a few bottles of the pain relievers and shoved them in her bag. Standing and going over to the shelves, she scanned what was left. A lot of stuff and been picked through, but she did manage to find some antibiotics, grabbed the bottle, and put it in her bag. She took a few more things and headed back around the counter.
“Get what you needed?” Asher asked.
“I grabbed some things. Let me see if there are any first aid supplies.” She went through the two aisles, feeling the two men following behind her. There wasn’t much of anything left, but she found some medical tape, gauze, a few bottles of sterile water, and several other supplies that would come in useful if one of them got injured. “Okay, I think I got enough.” They made their way out of the pharmacy and headed toward the grocery store.
The grocery store was smaller, but she supposed for the town it could have been considered large. The sign stating the store was called McMillian’s hung right above the front doors. The once red lettering had a few holes littered in it and had a washed-out look to it. A lone shopping cart was tipped over in the center of the parking lot, and grass and weeds were starting to make their way through the numerous cracks in the pavement, but aside from a dented and old blue Toyota Corolla sitting in one of the parking spots near the front, the place was still and silent. They did a quick scan of the lot and then slowly moved toward the front doors. Asher leaned forward and looked inside through the dirty and almost foggy-looking front window.
“Looks pretty bare in there, but we might be able to find a few things, maybe even some stock in the back.” He turned and looked at her. “You ever done a search before?
“Yeah, but mainly in houses. The only store I ever went into was with the first group, and it was a 7-Eleven.”
He nodded once and pointed to the pipe she had a death grip on. “Stay on the alert until we make a thorough sweep.” Asher said it gently.
“Keep your head up and stay out of the way.” Mason said his statement coldly and didn’t look at her when he spoke. Sparrow gritted her teeth but didn’t bother responding. She saw Asher clench his hand around his knife so hard his knuckles turned white. Mason opened one of the doors and stepped in. Asher was next, and she looked behind her at the empty parking lot before following them. The inside was dark aside from the light coming through the huge glass windows, but it didn’t penetrate the inside the building, and the grimy, grungy quality made the rear of the store look murky and frightening. They waited a few minutes and listened to see if they heard any grunting or moaning.
When silence greeted them, Mason faced them and said, “I’ll take the right. Ash, take her with you to the left. We can meet up in the center. Grab what you can find and fit in your pack.”
“I can take the center, and we can meet by the supply door.” She kept her voice low then pointed to the door that could just be made out in the back center.
“You sure?”
She looked at Asher and nodded. “Yeah, I’m not an invalid. I can bash a few skulls in if I need to.” That had Asher smirking and Mason scowling deeper. God, that man had a serious bug up his ass. “You need a good cleansing.” She hadn’t meant to say that aloud, and when the words spilled from her mouth, it had Mason narrowing his eyes.
“What?”
“Never mind, I won’t get in your way. Now, come on and let’s quit wasting time. This place creeps me out.” Before he could say another nasty remark, she was moving down the center aisles. Shelves were turned over, and empty boxes of food littered the ground, but there were some cans with missing labels amidst the rubble. She shoved them in her pack and kept searching. After finding three dusty water bottles, a few half-broken and crushed chocolate bars, and a box of pasta, she stopped in front of the beauty shelf. There were some pink razors, a dented bottle of shaving cream, some brushes and combs, and even a small bottle of off-brand perfume.
She picked up the perfume, opened the bottle, and brought it to her nose. The light, floral yet sweet scent had her closing her eyes and reminding her of a very different life. She tucked the perfume in her bag, grabbed some razors and the cream, and even a bottle of lotion that she found under a pile of papers. She kicked away a few empty boxes and saw the small first aid kit. It wasn’t anything big, but it did have things they might need at some point. Looking up, she saw Mason and Asher scanning the aisles and shoving things into their packs. But it was the sight of several circular racks in the corner by the storage door that had her growing excited. Clothes. Clean clothes. After finding a couple more cans and boxes of food, she moved over to the racks at the same time Mason and Asher did.
“God, I hope they have my size,” she mumbled to herself. Over the past few months, obviously food had been scarce, when she could find it. She had gone from a healthy size sixteen to a size twelve in just that short amount of time, and the clothing she had on hung from her body. She wasn’t as big as before, but she certainly wasn’t a twig. She quickly went through the rack of jeans, and even though they certainly weren’t anything designer label and were totally off brand, they were like freaking gold to Sparrow.
She found a few in her size, and more in a fourteen, but she took them all and shoved them in her already full bag. They had packs of plain T-shirts on the ground, and she grabbed a couple packs in a size large. She was a little thinner, but her breasts were still large, and a bigger sized T-shirt would be far more comfortable. Movement to her right had her lifting her head and her heart stalling as she watched Asher peel off his grungy shirt and tear into a pack of clean ones. His chest was hard and defined. Mason gripped the edge of his own shirt, but right before he took it off, he lifted his head and stared right at her. Sparrow quickly looked away and scanned a tipped-over shelf with underwear.
Apparently, McMillian’s was a one-stop place to get everything. She found a pack in her size, and when she stood and turned around, it was to see Mason and Asher right behind her and dressed in clean shirts. Their packs were all but bursting at the seams with the food and clothes they had gotten, and there was a nice feeling at having the little things once again, even if it was things like clean underwear and razors.
“All right, I’ll go first. It’s going to be pretty fucking dark back there, but we scored on batteries and flashlights in the hardware section.” Asher lifted up a yellow flashlight and clicked in on. He tilted his head toward the supply door, and they moved closer to it. Mason stayed close to her, and the feel of his body heat had everything inside her rising to a scorching level. There was something about him that turned her on. Maybe she was a masochist for wanting someone that clearly didn’t like her, but dammit he was so attractive, and the way he was so aloof shouldn’t have her wanting him as much as she did. Pushing all of that aside, she held her breath and wrapped both her hands tightly around the pipe.
Asher placed the flat of his hand on the door and pushed it open. It was dark, too dark to see, but the stench that came from the darkness had Sparrow gagging and quickly covering her mouth and nose. Obviously, something was rotting back there, hidden behind the shadows. Asher clicked on the flashlight and pointed it in front of him.
The body lying in the center of the floor was half eaten, but when Asher moved the light over its head, she could see the bullet wound that caused its brain to splatter all over the floor like a grisly work of art. The sound of another flashlight clicking on had her looking over and up at Mason. His face was a hard mask, but he sensed her stare and looked down at her. Their gazes held for a moment.
“You have to be ready for anything, Sparrow.” His voice was deep and low. He handed her a flashlight a
nd then wrapped his hand around hers that held the pipe. “Just stay close, okay?”
She nodded, and he let go of her hand and took a step forward. They entered the small backroom, and she turned on her flashlight and lifted her arm to move the light around the space. There were shelves lined up on all sides, a small desk with papers scattered around it, and a metal door, which she assumed must have been a freezer of some sort. The body lying in the center of the floor was grossly decomposed.
“Come on,” Asher said at the same time he made his way to the desk and picked up a tote bag. He emptied the contents, and she watched as papers, pens, makeup, and even tampons fell onto the ground. “There is some water and canned goods over there.” He pointed his flashlight over to the ground where the things he mentioned were scattered around the floor.
They moved over to the items, but the room was so dark that even with their flashlights Sparrow could hardly see anything. She moved away from the body, but her foot caught the edge of a box overturned near the corpse and she tripped. Before she fell forward and landed right on the rotting flesh, a strong, big arm wrapped around her middle and hauled her up against an impossibly hard chest. She knew instantly that it was Mason who held her before she even lifted her eyes to see which man was in front of her and who was behind her. The scent of him, wild and untamed, was the smell that always seemed to surround him. Her thoughts were solidified when he whispered gruffly against her ear.
“You have to know where you are at all times. Next time, I might not be here to catch you before you fall.” He didn’t say it arrogantly or with that hint of irritation that always followed. “Watch your step.” He lifted her off her feet and moved her away from the body before she could even comprehend what was going on. Once her mind was clear, she moved over to where they were shoving the supplies in the tote bag.
