Apocalyptic Beginnings Box Set

by M. D. Massey

  -November 2014-

  Henry lay still, staring at the ceiling. He fought his emotions because he knew that if Elaina woke up and saw him upset, she would want to talk about it. That wasn’t something he wanted to do. He took another long pull from the bottle of whisky, then placed his hands under his head again.

  As the scene played out in his head, he could see why he thought his mother was murdered, but he wasn’t so sure anymore. He shook his head, his memories jumping to the first time he met and defended Sophie.

  -June 2000-

  All the recruits stood in a line against the white concrete brick wall, including Luke. Roger inspected everyone Gunther had brought in from the orphanages and picked up off the streets. He stopped at each individual recruit and commented about their physique and structure.

  When Roger stopped in front of Luke, his lips curled into a malicious grin. “Well, well, well. Glad to see you decided to show up.” Luke stared right back at Roger. He chuckled. “Oh, I can’t wait to work with you, Luke. I have been waiting for this for a bloody long time.” He let out an evil laugh, then proceeded to the next recruit. Luke worried that he had made the wrong decision. The man seemed like pure cruelty, and he pissed Luke off.

  “Fuck you,” Luke growled.

  Roger stopped and turned back around. “What did you say, lad?” Roger waited a mere second before grabbing him by the throat, dragging him to eye level. “I asked you a question!”

  “Fuck…you,” Luke growled again. Roger threw him against the wall. He wasn’t afraid, though. He had been in enough fights to know that he could take on some big contenders. He knew he was probably in over his head, but he didn’t care. What did he have to lose?

  Roger got in his face again. “I will say this once, and once only. We clear?” Luke didn’t respond, continuing to glare into Roger’s cold, dead eyes. “You will obey, or you will pay for your trespasses against me. When you disobey, I take it personally.” When Luke didn’t respond, he walked on to the next recruit.

  Luke stood tall, staring down Gunther, who stood off to the side. His eyes bored through him, but he refused to look away. Gunther’s jaw was tight, the muscle twitching along his snarled upper lip.

  A girl’s scream broke the icy river forming between the two of them. They both looked down the line. Roger had a young, tall blonde girl pressed up against the wall, his hips pressed into hers. She fought him, trying to turn her head as he held her face.

  “I’m going to enjoy this one, Gunther. Well done. You shall be rewarded.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” Gunther replied in a monotone voice.

  The sight of a girl about to be abused set Luke off. He instantly remembered a man beating his mother.

  “Back off, you fucking psycho prick!” Luke yelled, venomously.

  Roger looked at him. “I thought we had an understanding, Luke. You’re to keep your mouth shut, or you will earn a day tied in a chair, getting your arse beat.”

  “If that’s what it takes to keep you away from her, you sick son of a bitch!” The girl looked at Luke like he was mental. “Leave her be!”

  Roger chuckled, walking up to him. “You trying to play the hero here, lad?” Roger stepped into Luke, but he stood strong and tall against the disgusting man. “You feel you failed when your mum was in the same position, so now you need to step up? Such a bleeder.”

  “You don’t know shit!”

  “I don’t? You have no idea how much I know. I would suggest you keep your filthy mouth shut, just like your mother should have!”

  Luke hauled off and punched him. He clipped him pretty good, causing his lip to split open wide. Gunther strode up and grabbed him, throwing him against the wall.

  “Get him out of here. Now! Take him to the room and tie him up. We will have a chat a little later!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Gunther dragged a wild, flailing Luke off to a dimly lit room. There was a large, window-sized mirror on the wall across from a metal chair. He wondered if it were a two-way mirror. Why else would there be a mirror like that in a room?

  Gunther tied him to a chair good and tight. His wrists were bound behind him with plastic zip ties, his ankles bound to the chair legs. They were biting into his skin, causing him to bleed.

  Luke continued to stare into the mirror. He wasn’t going to give up. If there were any chance Roger was behind that mirror, he was going to stare at him until he could no longer.

  Next, Gunther tied a bandana around his mouth, gagging him. Luke bit down on the rolled material. Gunther stood in front of him and smirked. “I suggest you keep your mouth shut from now on. I’m sure this will teach you a hearty lesson.” He wrapped another bandana around Luke’s eyes, tying it so tight, he saw stars in the darkness.

  Luke sat seething, but unafraid.

  “Take care, Cock-up.” Gunther patted him on the shoulder, then left the room.

  About an hour later, Roger came in and beat him semi-unconscious. When he was finally done, he ordered Gunther to take him to his dorm room.

  Gunther cut his ties and dragged him to his room. He tossed him through the door, then slammed it shut. Luke lay on the floor, unable to move. Then he heard bare feet walk up to him.

  “You all right, mate?”

  Luke groaned. He felt large, warm hands untying his blindfold and gag. Once he could move his mouth, he coughed up all the blood that had collected in the back of his throat. His eyes couldn’t focus yet, leaving his vision useless.

  “Christ, mate. They beat you good.”

  “Yeah,” Luke choked out.

  “Let me help you to the loo so you can get cleaned up. My name is Gabriel, by the way. We’re roommates.”

  “Luke.”

  “I gathered that from earlier.”

  Luke groaned as Gabriel helped him to his feet. “I’m going to be sick.” Gabriel quickly ushered Luke to the stark, white bathroom so he could throw up.

  After several violent vomiting cycles, Luke passed out on the cold, white tile floor.

  -November 2014-

  Elaina moaned in her sleep, bringing Henry back to reality. He rolled over and curled up behind the love of his life.

  “I love you so much,” he whispered in her ear. She moaned again, snuggling into him. He would do anything to keep her safe and unharmed, no matter what pain it caused him. He wished he could have done the same for his mother. He nestled his face into her long black hair, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 25

  I woke up at dawn with a cool body wrapped around me. I opened my eyes, seeing Henry’s bandaged arm around my waist. I smiled. He was so relaxed and seemed to be resting peacefully, which was unusual for him. I had no idea how he survived on such little sleep. As I lay there watching him, I couldn’t think of anything else, except that I had my Henry back.

  He had removed the bandages from his hands. They looked sore. I ran my fingers over his fingertips. He groaned, gripping me tighter. For one enjoyable moment, I forgot about how crazy my world…our world had become.

  When I rolled over, I looked at all of his wounds and scars…the bandages around his arm and chest, his bruised face, the crooked nose, the cut on his lip. I stroked his face. He battled valiantly for us. Knowing I almost lost him made the hair on my body stand up on end. Or maybe that was his chilled body pressed against mine.

  I felt closer to him than I had in a long time. And now that I knew his and Sophie’s stories, my love for him had grown even stronger. He had done amazing things, having terrible things happen to him in return. I could never let this man go, ever…even if he was a crazy, fucked-up, crossbreed freak.

  He opened his eyes, and the sparkle of emerald green took my breath away. I was a sucker for such brilliance.

  “Good morning, my black-haired beauty,” Henry said in his sexy, raspy voice. He reached up and stroked my face with the back of his fingers.

  “Morning, hot stuff. Your eyes… They’re really green again.” I smil
ed as he leaned in and kissed me. Oh, how I missed his lips brushing across mine. I couldn’t believe I had pushed him away for so long. I returned his soft kiss with a more aggressive one. I placed my hands on his muscular chest, rolled him over, and pushed his lips open with my tongue. He hissed and pulled back, grabbing his lip.

  “Oh no! I’m so sorry!” His cut had opened again. “Shit. Am I going to get infected now?”

  “Is it bleeding badly?” He ran his tongue over it. I got a closer look at it, careful not to touch it.

  “No. It looks like maybe it’s just a crack in the scab, but I don’t see any blood. Let me get something for you.”

  I jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom. I opened the cabinet and found a tube of lip balm, then ran back in and sat next to him. I rubbed his lips with it, taking care that I didn’t hurt the already sore part.

  “Thanks, love. That helped.” He sat up.

  I checked his wounds. His body was ravaged by Kellan not that long ago. It was beyond difficult to watch. I was thankful Thomas had the wherewithal to shoot the son of a bitch.

  Henry claimed he was feeling better, but I knew him better than that. Physically, he was trying to play the tough guy role, but I knew that, emotionally, he was an absolute wreck. I was glad Sophie volunteered to head back to Henry’s apartment to grab the rest of the supplies. Hopefully no one had broke in and took everything we scavenged.

  Leaving in the dead of night, without telling anybody, was simply not a brilliant move on my part. I had no idea why I thought it would be a great idea to leave on my own, but felt I had to at the time. Although, in some ways, I was glad I did it because I was able to hold my mother and do my best to comfort her through her last breath.

  There was a soft knock on the door. I jumped up out of the bed and opened it. “Hey,” I said to Sophie. Henry waved her in from the bed, holding onto his lip.

  “We’re almost ready to leave. Thomas is drawing now.” Then she furrowed her brows, tilting her head to the side. “What happened in here?”

  I blushed a little. “I kissed him a little harder than I probably should have.”

  “All right then.” She blushed. “So… We’ll be waiting downstairs.” Then she waltzed off, still in those high-heeled shoes.

  “Well, we should probably go down and say goodbye to them. And you, my sexy man, need to get another fix.” He tried to smile, but winced. I kissed him on his cool, stubbly cheek. His gaze danced around my face.

  “I’ll be down in a minute,” he said.

  “But they’re leaving soon, and you really need to—”

  “Love, I can’t go down like this.” Confused, I looked at him, then noticed where he was pointing. When he pulled the blankets back, I saw his soldier standing at full attention. “Still thinking about your kiss,” he smirked. “And much more.”

  “Oh, my god, Henry!” I threw his pants at him.

  He was still laughing when I walked out of the room.

  “Morning, sunshine.” Claire turned and smiled at me as I jogged down the stairs. I ran over and hugged her, then cried. “Hey, hey. It’s fine.” She pulled back. “We’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Try not to worry too much.” I nodded. “Is Henry coming down?”

  “Yes.” I sniffled. “He’s still a little slow in getting up.” I tried to put his rather personal issue out of my head. The more I thought about it, the more it tempted me. I needed to control myself, though. With no birth control around, we needed to be careful. It wouldn’t be wise to bring a baby into the world we now lived in.

  If we did get pregnant, would our baby be like Henry? Was it just luck that both Sophie’s kids were normal? There were so many questions, but I was unsure if Henry or Sophie had the answers I needed. How could we move forward without having any sort of real answers?

  “Hello? Are you in there?” Claire waved her hand in front of my face.

  “Uh, yes.” I blushed. “Sorry. Lost in thought.”

  “I asked you if you wanted something to eat. I found a great stash of goodies in the cellar. I forgot your mom canned so much.” My heart ached again.

  Claire held up a basket overflowing with jars of tomatoes, peaches, salsa, pickles, my mom’s famous apple butter, and a huge box of crackers. My mouth watered.

  “There is a ton of stuff down there. The cellar is packed.”

  I looked up and smiled, mouthing, Thank you. In all the madness, we completely forgot to go down and see if there was anything useful. To be honest, I didn’t want to go down there. I didn’t want to relive seeing my mother in that state.

  Henry came down the stairs, partially dressed, carrying a half-empty bottle of whisky, and headed straight over to me. I wondered where he found that. He wrapped his cool arms around my warm body. He looked beautiful, even when he was bruised, battered, and bandaged.

  “Better?” I asked him in a sassy way.

  “Mmm…,” he groaned in my ear. “Not until later.” He kissed me on the cheek, uncapped the whisky, and took a swig.

  “I meant your lip.” I shook my head when he took another drink from the bottle. I couldn’t understand why he wanted to drink so early in the morning.

  “Oh, right. Yes. That’s better for now…until later.” He winked at me. I had to change the subject.

  “Here. Let me help you tighten up that bandage, then with your shirt.”

  He hissed as he held his arms out, still clutching the bottle in his hand. I took off the metal clips and unwound the bandages. The bruising on his chest varied from shades of yellow to dark purple. He frowned when he saw me shake my head. I rewrapped him, then helped him put on his t-shirt.

  “Oh, look!” I showed him the array of deliciousness Claire had found. “I have no idea why we didn’t think to go down to the cellar. I forgot she canned like a prepper. I’m so glad Claire thought to look. I was getting tired of cheese crackers and cardboard-flavored chocolate chip cookies.” Henry smirked, then looked at the jar I held in my hand.

  “Is that her apple butter?” He set the whisky bottle on the table. Everyone looked at it as if it were an elephant in the room, but no one said a word.

  “Why, yes, it is!”

  He snatched the jar out of my hands and popped it open. Sophie walked over with a spoon, smiling. He dug into it, not even waiting for a cracker.

  “Mmm. Oh, love, I forgot how good this is.” He winked at me. Was he insinuating something? It had been a little while since we had been together, but it hadn’t been that long. I raised an eyebrow at him, tossing him the box of crackers.

  He chuckled a little. “Not exactly toast, but it will do.” He sat at the table.

  “It’s nice to see the two of you back to your old selves.” Nick stood in the kitchen door, smiling and sipping on his mug of Thomas’s blood like it were a cup of coffee. I smiled, then shuddered, knowing he wasn’t drinking coffee. Henry nodded at Nick.

  I wanted to move away from him, but since I had decided Henry and I were in it for the long haul, I needed to learn how to deal with the blood intake, no matter how much it grossed me out.

  “Gather around.” Henry waved everyone over. “Let’s get the plans finalized. Give me what you have already.” I cracked open a jar of tomatoes and a jar of peaches. We gorged ourselves on my mom’s hard efforts as we talked. It was as if she were still taking care of us from the grave.

  “We’re going to go back the way we came.” Sophie leaned against the table next to him. “The highway was mostly clear going back into the city. I have a feeling most people were fleeing the city, not going into it.”

  “Right.” He sipped on his mug of blood. “Make sure you take the full magazine.”

  “No, you need that,” Sophie insisted.

  “Listen, you might run into some serious shit out there. Nick and I have it covered here. We have a wide variety of cutlery to work with.” He grinned.

  “Not funny.”

  “I’m not trying to be funny
. I’m just saying.” He smirked again, tipping back his mug to get every last drop. I shuddered again.

  “I will have you know that when Thomas and I went to the medical facility, we did a pretty good job taking off some undeads’ heads with the handle of a shotgun. We didn’t use a single bullet.” Claire stood with her hands on her hips, proud of herself.

  “Yes, quite impressive for a proper girl such as yourself.” Henry grinned.

  “Feisty this morning, aren’t you, Henry?” I said with a smile. We all laughed.

  It died down when Sophie, the buzzkill, said, “Anyway, once we get back to the apartment, we will load up with as much as we can. Depending on when we get there, we may spend the night.”

  Henry nodded. “I want you to make sure you take some proper provisions with you. Food, blankets, water, et cetera.”

  I was even more nervous than before. I didn’t want to think about the danger they would face the moment they walked out that door.

  “What’s the time limit before we go and look for them?” Everyone looked at me. “What?” I shrugged. “I’m just concerned. That’s all.”

  “You have such little faith in me, do you?” Sophie placed her hands on her hips, waiting for a response.

  I sighed. “No, Sophie. I just want to make sure we have a plan in place, just in case.”

  “Right…” It was long and drawn out. “Give us five days.”

  “All right,” Henry said.

  “Fantastic. Let’s load up, shall we?”

  On Sophie’s cue, everyone hustled around the house, gathering items were necessary for the trip back to the apartment. The supplies we collected may have been a little excessive, though. There was no way they needed so many blankets for just the three of them.

  The closer it got to the time for them to take off, the more my stomach sank.

  Once the truck was loaded, Henry had a few last details for Sophie. “You know those vehicles that were pushed off on the side of the road on the main road here?” She nodded. “Check to see if you can siphon from them, and see if they have any extra supplies.” He handed her all the tracking devices. “Leave these somewhere. I want them to think we’re holed up somewhere else.”