“What about the lions?” he asked.
I sucked in a breath and pulled my hand free. “That’s why I’m taking the gun but the lions aren’t our only problem anymore.”
“What do you mean?” Gage asked shaking his head.
“The people are being chased by gorillas,” I said grimacing at the sour taste of the words on my tongue. I knew how crazy it sounded to utter them out loud. “If I don’t do something, they’re going to be ripped to shreds.”
Gage’s eyes widened. He looked over his shoulder toward the back door. “Okay, but let me help you. You have to follow your own rules.”
“Fine. Hurry,” I said pulling the door open.
He wasn’t gone long. I was scanning the area, trying to locate the couple. They’d been easier to see from the second floor.
My eyes were dry from staring. It felt like it had taken too long but I finally spotted them, still running. They were running away from the house, just trying to get away from the gorillas.
“Hey!” I shouted waving my hands over my head. “Over here!”
They couldn’t hear me but I could hear the aggressive grunting sounds and heavy breathing from the gorillas. It was all so unreal. For a second, I thought that maybe I was still upstairs in bed having a strange nightmare.
But I wasn’t.
It was real.
“Let’s go,” Gage said racing down the steps.
I followed closely behind him, holding the gun tightly as we ran through the puddles. Shawn called for me from the front door. I couldn’t make sense of his words.
“Stay in the house,” I ordered without turning around.
Gage stopped and lined up a shot. The barrel moved slowly but he didn’t pull the trigger.
“Too far,” he said as he picked up his feet and continued forward.
We didn’t have a plan. It felt careless and wild but I also didn’t think we had much of a choice. I couldn’t ignore the screams and cries for help.
I stopped and without hesitating, I shot into the air just like our neighbor Jake had done. The sound of the gun was like thunder. My body shook but it didn’t stop the gorillas from their pursuit.
One of them, the big one, slowed and took notice. It grunted several times but continued after the couple.
The gorilla closest to the couple was small and faster than the others. It jumped over big puddles and grabbed low-hanging branches, swinging itself closer to the couple.
“Hey!” I called out again. They had to have heard the gunshot. If they heard me, however, they ignored me and kept running.
Gage was a solid twenty feet ahead of me. He lined up a shot at the big one and pulled the trigger.
He missed.
The gorilla stopped, resting on its knuckles for a moment before changing direction. Its eyes were filled with rage as it headed toward Gage.
“Oh shit,” Gage said taking several steps back. “I’m out of ammo.
“What? How can that be?”
“No idea,” he said. “Checked it yesterday. We have to run.”
Why had I shot into the air, wasting my own ammo? How many shots did I have left? Maybe zero.
“Go, Stevie! Go!”
My eyes darted over toward the couple. The slower one, a male, was tackled by the small gorilla.
“No!” I called out.
The other gorillas hopped onto the man, forgetting all about the other person they’d been chasing. They were too hungry to continue when they had a kill.
One gorilla pushed the small one that had actually caught the man off the body. They didn’t want to share.
It grunted its anger and frustration before shoving its way back to one of the man’s legs. I exhaled, forcing myself to look away.
My eyes shifted, spotting the woman looking back over her shoulder. She kept running, even though tears were streaming down her face.
I watched as she made it to a shed. She opened the door and slipped inside.
Gage grabbed my hand. The massive gorilla only got bigger as it came closer.
“Run!” Gage said.
There was no way we’d both make it back to the house. We didn’t have a big enough lead.
I yanked my hand free and aimed at the spot between the beast’s eyes. It kept bouncing up and down out of my sight, making it hard to line up my shot.
Every time I blinked, it was several feet closer to me. If this didn’t work… I would end up in the same position as the guy in the puddle.
I relaxed my shoulders as best as I could and exhaled. The gorilla was close.
I squeezed my eye shut and pulled the trigger. It couldn’t have been more than ten feet away from me.
I wasn’t sure what was louder. The gunshot or Gage screaming at me to run.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me back. My feet got tangled with Gage’s and we both crashed to the ground.
My eyes were locked on the gorilla. It took two large steps before it stopped. Anger left its human-like eyes and was instantly replaced with pain.
The gorilla stumbled forward, swaying first to the left and then two the right like it was a drunk man taking and failing a sobriety test. It didn’t take its eyes off me even as it fell to the ground landing inches from my feet.
It reached toward me. Its thick fingers touching the top of my shoe, which I instantly jerked back.
My chest rose and fell with my rapid breaths. The gorilla’s body stopped moving.
“It’s dead,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Gage said pulling me backward through the mud.
“I think so,” I said.
Gage stood and yanked me to my feet. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed. Gage abruptly let go and started pulling me toward the house.
“That was crazy, Stevie. Careless. You shouldn’t have done that.” Gage wiped his brow as he looked over his shoulder at the other gorilla’s that still hadn’t even noticed what happened to their friend. “What if the gun was empty?”
“I had to risk it to save you,” I said.
“No, you didn’t!”
I swallowed hard. “Yes, I did.”
“It would have killed us both,” Gage said.
“I don’t think so,” I said gesturing toward the shed. “They stopped chasing the girl when they took out the guy.”
Gage hugged me again. “It wasn’t cool. I need you, okay? Don’t do something like that again.”
“She’s still over there,” I said looking at the shed. There was a small window in the door but I couldn’t tell if she was looking out at us.
“We’ll get her when they leave,” Gage said. “Let’s go inside and reload.”
“Josh was right about killing those things,” Gage said. “It’s dangerous to have them wandering about.”
My head fell to the side. “Wonder what else is out there? Alligators, tigers, giraffes… maybe even peacocks.”
“Anything that was able to escape the zoo and find food, I suppose,” Gage said with a shrug. “Although other survivors could have hunted them by now.”
When we reached the porch, I stopped Gage and told him everything that had happened during the night. I informed him that Josh was gone.
“That’s strange,” Gage said.
“Yeah, and your gun being short on ammo, concerned me even more,” I said. “There isn’t anything we can do about it, though. Lucy doesn’t deserve to be punished and if we sent them away, they wouldn’t make it far.”
“Do you think she killed him?” Gage asked.
I shrugged. “She was furious. Either she shot him or she scared him away like she said, which ultimately would probably end up in his death. So, yeah, I guess I do think she killed him.”
“Holy crap,” Gage said.
“Yeah.” I scratched the back of my neck. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think any of us were in danger. If I did, I’d never in a million years let her stay.”
“I know,” Gage said. “I completely agree but I think we do need to keep
an eye on her just in case.”
I nodded. “She nursed Noah back to health. She’s an asset to us.”
“Who was supposed to be keeping watch?” Gage asked.
“Shawn or maybe Lucy,” I said.
“And neither of them were at their post?”
“Lucy was sleeping on the sofa and Shawn was—” I bit my cheek hard.
Gage narrowed his eyes. “Shawn was?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “How should I know where he was?”
My stomach swirled. I didn’t like lying to Gage. In fact, I couldn’t do it.
“He was with me,” I said with a long exhale.
“You don’t say?” Gage said with wide eyes. “How thick do you think the walls in this place are?”
My cheeks instantly felt hot. Gage smacked me on the back like I’d just pulled off a critical three-pointer.
“It’s not like I listened,” Gage said. “I put a pillow over my head and fell asleep.”
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault that Josh is gone,” I said.
“Don’t be silly,” Gage said waving his hand in the air. “It’s not your fault. It’s not Shawn’s either, although he could have asked someone to cover for him.”
I pressed my lips together and looked down. “We fell asleep. It won’t happen again.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gage said. “You deserve to be happy.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I said.
“He doesn’t make you happy?”
I held out my hands. “He makes me… I don’t know. This is so incredibly awkward. Can we talk about something else?”
“Sure, but he better freaking make you happy or I’ll kick him out of this place without a second thought,” Gage said.
“Oh, calm down,” I said with a laugh. “Let’s go reload and get that girl.”
The door popped open and Shawn burst out. He wrapped his arms around me before pressing his lips to mine.
“You’re crazy,” he whispered into my ear. “Totally insane.”
“I thought you were going to chase after me,” I admitted.
“And risk you shooting me?” Shawn said with a smirk. “No way.”
I raised a brow. “Good. Smart.”
Both Gage and Shawn laughed. Shawn kissed me on the top of the head and we went into the house.
We waited for the gorillas to move on. They either forgot all about the girl or had no idea that she’d gone inside the shed.
She was inside, hugging her knees to her chest. “I saw you. I was hoping you’d come.”
“Sorry it took so long,” I said.
We escorted her back to the house. Her name was Becki Bowman. A twenty-five year old hairstylist from Albuquerque. The guy with her was someone she found a few days after the flash of light. They looked out for each other.
She was thankful we offered to let her stay. After Kieran fed her, Becki fell asleep curled up in one of the recliners. Lucy placed one of the crocheted afghans on her and we all left the room.
I went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. Shawn stepped up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he said.
“You’d keep going and take care of the others under this roof,” I said.
Shawn chuckled. “You give me far too much credit. I don’t have that leadership thing you have.”
“It’s you that’s giving me far too much credit,” I said with wide eyes.
“You saved that girl. I don’t think I could do that,” Shawn said. “The reason everyone looks to you is because you’re good at this.”
“I’m not,” I said shaking my head. “Brooklyn, Teddy, Josh, whatever is left of that guy out there.”
Shawn exhaled. “All those things… you did what you could to help.”
“But I was too late for each one of them.”
“You still tried,” Shawn said. “When will you get it? When will you be able to see how everyone else sees you? How I see you.”
I looked away from his intense stare. “Probably never. I don’t even know why I went out there.”
“But you did. You’re amazing,” Shawn said.
“I wish you wouldn’t say that.”
“I don’t think I’m ever going to stop saying it,” Shawn said. He raised his brow and looked over my shoulder. “So, I was wondering… where am I sleeping tonight?”
I pressed my lips together. “Shawn, I don’t know what this is but I also don’t see why we should hog all the bedrooms, you know?”
“So true,” Shawn said bobbing his head. “More and more people keep finding us. They’re all going to need somewhere to sleep. Poor Becki is sleeping in a chair, for goodness sake.”
I smiled and him. “I’m first on watch tonight.”
“Should I wait up?”
I pushed his shoulder to move him out of my way.
“What?” he said laughing as he held up his hands. “It was a serious question.”
I went into the garage, closing the door behind me. My eyes closed as I slowly pulled in deep breaths.
It was crazy but a smile curled my lips. I was here and I was doing the best I could. Even though the job was hard at times, I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
I’d continue to lead as best as I could… as long as they wanted me to. I wasn’t someone that could just sit on the sofa and read a book day after day.
My eyes opened. There was tons of work to do before my shift.
I was sure that whatever we faced, we’d be okay. If the gorillas or lions came back, we’d figure it out.
I could do what needed to be done. Maybe I needed to improve but it was something I could work on. Each day I’d do better.
We were all learning how to live with our new situation and really, we weren’t doing that bad. We were surviving and that’s what we’d continue to do.
“Can we help?” Shawn asked as him and Gage entered the garage.
“Or will it be weird?” Gage said. “I don’t want to be like a third wheel.”
“Oh my God, I’m leaving,” I said.
Gage crossed his arms and stood in the doorway. “Okay, okay. In all seriousness, we’re here to help.”
“All right then,” I said jerking my head to the side. “Get to work.”
Gage’s eyes sparkled with his smile. Somewhere deep inside, there was a little tingle of happiness. It was small and I almost hadn’t recognized it but it was there.
Things were going to be okay. Together, we’d make sure of it.
What’s next?
Book five in The Reset Series, is in the works! Sign up for the mailing list to be the first to know when it’s released!
Need something to read while you wait? Give Ravaged Land a try!
Books By Kellee L. Greene
The Reset Series
Flood - Book 1
Sinking - Book 2
Drowned - Book 3
Swamp - Book 4
Book 5 Coming Soon!
What Remains Series
Sickness - Book 1
Outpost - Book 2
Infected - Book 3
Evasion - Book 4
Red Sky Series
Red Sky - Book 1
Blue Cloud - Book 2
Black Rain - Book 3
White Dust - Book 4
Indigo Ice - Book 5
Yellow Heat - Book 6
Ravaged Land Series (1)
Ravaged Land -Book 1
Finding Home - Book 2
Crashing Down - Book 3
Running Away - Book 4
Escaping Fear - Book 5
Fighting Back - Book 6
Ravaged Land: Divided Series (2)
The Last Disaster - Book 1
The Last Remnants - Book 2
The Last Struggle - Book 3
Ravaged Land: Eventuality Series (3)
The Wall - Book 1
The Outside - Book 2
Falling Darkness Ser
ies
Unholy - Book 1
Uprising - Book 2
Hunted - Book 3
The Island Series
The Island - Book 1
The Fight - Book 2
The Escape - Book 3
The Erased - Book 4
From Below Series
Creatures - Book 1
Desolation - Book 2
The Alien Invasion Series
The Landing - Book 1
The Aftermath - Book 2
Destined Realms Series
Destined - Book 1
Mailing List
Sign up for Kellee L. Greene’s newsletter for new releases, sales, cover reveals and more!
And follow Kellee L. Greene on Facebook.
About the Author
Kellee L. Greene is a stay-at-home-mom to two super awesome and wonderfully sassy children. She loves to read, draw and spend time with her family when she’s not writing. Writing and having people read her books has been a long time dream of hers and she’s excited to write more. Her favorites genres are Fantasy and Sci-fi. Kellee lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two kids and two cats.
For more information:
www.kelleelgreene.com
The Reset Series | Book 4 | Swamp Page 16
