Apocalyptic Beginnings Box Set

by M. D. Massey

  Once Nick and Henry had their fix and had come down from their high, we packed the truck and hit the road. Henry drove until his body couldn’t go without a drink anymore. Nick and Claire took the front, and Henry sat with me and Thomas in the back. I snuggled up against him while he drank himself into oblivion once more. The closer we got to our destination, the more anxious I became.

  Chapter 43

  I had nodded off with my head tucked into Henry’s chest. I had no idea how long I slept until I was rudely awakened by the sound of screeching tires and being thrown forward into the dash. Claire screamed, and Henry grabbed me by my waist before I flew out the windshield ass over tits.

  “Christ, Nick! What the fuck are you trying to do?” Henry yelled. Nick sat in the driver’s seat, breathing heavily, his eyes wide. I crawled back next to Henry. I was shaken up and my forehead burned like a motherfucker.

  “Holy shit,” was all Nick could manage.

  “Oh, love. You’re bleeding.” I put my hand up to my forehead, and the warm, sticky wetness ran all over it.

  For a moment, he licked his quivering lips and gazed at the steady stream of blood coming out of my fresh wound. Suddenly, Henry sat up and dug through the supplies, finding a couple gauze pads. “Here, press this on it for a moment. I’m going to get out and check out what the deal is.” My head throbbed, and I cringed as I touched the gauze to it. Henry jumped out of the truck, walked to the front, and stood there for a minute. I saw him shake his head, yell something, and angrily march back. He yanked open the door.

  “What’s going on?” I asked wearily.

  “There is a fucking crater in the road. You could fit a double-decker in the bloody thing.”

  “Sorry. It snuck up on me.” Nick was in shock as he looked at Claire, who was hugging her belly. “Are you all right?”

  “I think so. I’m having a few pains, though.”

  “Oh no.” Nick got out and grabbed a bottle of water from the back, then ran to Claire’s side of the truck. “Here. Drink a little water, and let’s lean the seat back. Just try to relax.” Her eyes were full of fear. “It’s going to be okay, babe.” He helped her lay the seat back. Thomas sat in silence, as usual, watching what was happening.

  Henry got back in the truck and pulled the gauze pad away. “Jesus, love. You need stitches. It’s a nasty gash.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. He reached back and grabbed a bottle of vodka. “What are you doing?” I couldn’t believe he was going to drink while my head was split wide open. Hello! I needed some medical attention here.

  “I’m going to clean it.”

  “Oh, right.” I sagged back into the seat for a moment. Then it occurred to me. “Wait!” I sat straight up. “No way. That will burn!”

  “It’s better than an infection!” He pulled a kit out of his pack that contained a tube of super glue.

  “Super glue?”

  “Yes. It’ll seal it. We just need to stop the bleeding first, and make sure it’s dry. Lay back.” He held a fresh gauze pad on my head for a few minutes.

  I was listening to Claire, hoping the baby was fine. She was panicking, but Nick did a great job calming her down. Once she relaxed, her pains subsided. I breathed a sigh of relief. Henry pulled the gauze pad away from my head.

  “Looks like it’s good.” He grabbed another gauze pad and poured vodka on it. I took a few deep breaths. “Here. Hold my hand and squeeze, if need be. Just don’t break it.” He smiled. Asshole. I took his hand and closed my eyes, wincing. “I haven’t even touched you yet.”

  “I know. It’s the anticipation.”

  As he dabbed my forehead, I hissed, squeezing the shit out of his hand, growling in pain. That wasn’t the worst part, though. After he dried off the gash, he held the skin together and ran a line of superglue over it, pinching the wound until it dried. It stung so much, I nearly pissed my pants.

  “Ow! Damn it, Henry!” I wanted to kick him in the tomatoes.

  “Sorry, love.” He held it for a little while longer, then let go with a smile. He seemed quite pleased with himself. “All better.” He kissed my cheek. “Just be careful, and don’t furrow that forehead of yours. Or make any faces at me behind my back.” I couldn’t help it. I had to laugh. Then I stuck out my tongue at him for good measure. He cupped my face with his hand and kissed me. Then I turned my attention to Claire.

  “How are you feeling, Claire?”

  “I think I’m okay. The pains have gone away. Maybe it was a mix of stress and dehydration.”

  “Just try to relax the best you can.”

  She laughed at me. “Yes, Mother. I’ll do my best.” I smirked. “How’s your head?”

  “Hurts like a bitch.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Henry drinking from the bottle of vodka. Perfect. I rolled my eyes. He took a few pulls before he capped it and set it on the floorboard.

  “I’m going to head out and wander a bit, see where we’ll be able to cross over. Looks like this area was heavily bombed.” He rubbed my hand and jumped out. He pulled out his Sig before turning back around to us. “Thomas, keep an eye on the women. Nick, come on.” Nick hesitantly left Claire’s side, but not before he kissed her cheek and touched the baby bump.

  Thomas stepped out of the truck and walked around with a rifle in his hand. I watched Henry and Nick walk away toward the crater and walk along the edge until I couldn’t see them anymore. The sides of the roads looked like grassy fields with tall brush close to the road.

  I fiddled with my fingers, bounced my knee, played with the frayed edge on my hoodie sleeve, and twisted my hair in my fingers until I saw them walk back to the truck.

  Henry opened the door and grabbed the bottle. He had a hearty drink, then proceeded to tell us where the crater ended, that we should be able to navigate around it using four-wheel drive.

  Obviously, Nick drove. Henry didn’t like relinquishing control, but he wanted to help navigate from the passenger seat. He felt two pairs of eyes were better than one, even if his looked through “vodka goggles”.

  We settled Claire into the middle of the back seat, her head in my lap and legs across Thomas. She was so worried about the baby, I could feel it radiating off her. I played with her hair and tried to be reassuring.

  Nick put the truck in four high and we headed to the left of the crater. He slowly and carefully drove us around it. There were times Henry made him drop it into four low because some of the terrain was treacherous. It looked like a grassy area, but it was quite unlevel.

  When we finally made it back on the highway, Nick decided he would drive slower. I figured it was a good decision on his part because if he went any faster, I probably would have throat punched him.

  Knowing we were much closer to our destination, my anxiety kicked in again. I was afraid Gunther was going to jump out at any moment. My head throbbed.

  “Henry?”

  “Yeah, love?”

  “Pass that back to me.”

  “Pass what back?” He looked back at me with confusion.

  “The bottle, you moron. My head is killing me. Maybe it will numb me.”

  “Speaking from experience, I can assure you that it won’t. Maybe you should try to get some rest.” I glared at him, eyebrow raised. He sighed and passed the vodka back to me.

  I noticed half the bottle was gone already. I anticipated another puke-fest. I surely wasn’t in the mood to help him through that. I tipped the bottle back and let the liquid pour down my throat. As I pulled the bottle away, the burn hit. I looked at the label. “Ugh. This is the cheap shit.”

  “Would you like me to put an order in for the good stuff, straight out of Russia, to arrive at our next stop?” he said with great sarcasm. Asshole. How dare he? He knew that was my thing.

  “Of course. Maybe you can have them stop in France and grab some Dom Pèrignon, as well.” He smirked at me as I handed him the bottle. Feeling the desire and need to change the subject, I asked, “So, where exactly are we going?”

  �
�Near the port.”

  “Why there?”

  “It’s where I’m supposed to meet him.”

  “So you know exactly where we’re going?”

  “Of course.” I sighed. He was hiding something again. He knew how I felt about that. I decided to let it go for the moment and sit quietly, hoping that the vodka would kick in soon. So far, no luck. Henry kept glancing back and checking on me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to.

  At some point, I must have nodded off because when I woke up, it was dark. We were stopped in front of this creepy, dilapidated house.

  Henry was passed out, as well as Claire. Thomas and Nick got out to investigate. I sat waiting, keeping my fingers crossed that we were alone. Several minutes later, Nick came back to the truck.

  “Looks good. It’s empty. No beds or furniture, though.” I sulked a little. He rolled his eyes at me. “Cut the shit, Lainy. What did you expect? A fucking five-star hotel?” He slammed the truck door and went to the back to start unloading. Grumpy much? I knew he was really worried about Claire and the baby, so I cut him some slack. He wasn’t sleeping well, either. There were times I would wake up in the middle of the night, seeing Nick and Henry chatting.

  Henry stirred, and Claire sat up. I began the daunting task of waking Henry from his drunken slumber. Once I got him inside, I helped unload the truck. I was so fucking sick of loading and unloading. It was getting beyond ridiculous. I couldn’t wait until we found a place where we could stay for a while. Hopefully, a more permanent place. I just wanted to be able to call someplace home again.

  When I woke up the next morning, Henry and Nick had the maps open on the floor. I wondered how long they had been at it, noticing a couple candles melted on the floor. They were quietly discussing different routes we could take to get to where Henry needed to go.

  Nick wanted to get somewhere that would have some sort of bed for Claire. She was growing increasingly uncomfortable. Plus, her legs and feet were swelling. Every minute of each day, she became more and more worried about the baby. She was having contractions, which worried me. She tried to convince me it wasn’t a big deal and it happened, but I could see the fear in her eyes. It was far too early for her to go into labor.

  After he spent a good portion of that morning trying to console Claire after another crying jag, Nick made an executive decision that we would stay a few more nights in that run-down house. She needed to get rehydrated, and we needed to convince her to eat more than she had been.

  All of us gave up close to all of our bedding and linens to try and make her as comfortable as possible. We had a long-winded argument over it because she worried we would get too cold, but we told her we would pile on the clothes. I wasn’t worried about Henry because, more than likely, he would keep warm with whatever bottle he was currently nursing.

  Approximately a week later, we left that house and headed the direction Henry and Nick planned out. Once again, Nick drove, Henry navigating from the passenger seat, a bottle of booze clutched in his hand. We were getting extremely low on essential supplies, but had plenty of booze for some reason.

  It was roughly another week before we finally made it to the approximate area where Henry was to meet Gunther. As we drove down a country road, there were signs of what we thought were bombings. The few houses we saw were either burnt to the ground or dangerously close to collapsing. There were only a couple that looked like they could have still been inhabitable. It was so sad to see all of the destruction. As we drove past each house, we were all silent, one question lingering around us.

  Were there any survivors?

  I hoped we would run into some, just to talk with. The conversation between us pretty much consisted of Henry’s drunkenness, Thomas’s silence, Claire crying, Nick grumbling angrily, and me throwing out some sarcastic, witty comments here and there, which may or may not have been directed at the drunk in the truck. Needless to say, conversation had become quite dull.

  As we continued down the seemingly abandoned road, we came up to a clearing.

  “Well, would you look at that…?” Nick muttered in amazement. I sat straight up and looked out the front of the truck. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

  Chapter 44

  “Is that a school?” I asked in astonishment. It looked untouched. The building was brick, one-story, and was a decent size. Not too big, but big enough for all of us. We saw a large parking lot off to the right side, and a playground toward the back and to the left. Farther back, there was a wooded area that looked untouched, as well.

  It wasn’t the same for every other building around the school, though. Some were just charred remains, others falling down. There were a few left untouched. The grass all around was burnt, but that would grow back eventually. The destruction looked very random. As we came to a stop, I thought some of the damage could be from storms, but I wasn’t quite sure.

  “Kind of looks like a school,” Henry replied. A few undeads, in various states of decay, staggered about. “I’m going to take care of them.”

  Henry checked his Sig and tucked it into the usual place. Then he pulled out his favorite long-bladed hunting knife. He always had a “don’t fuck with me” glimmer in his eyes every time that knife made an appearance. After seeing how he could wield the thing, I wouldn’t fuck with him.

  He threw open the door, the undeads attracted to us. They collectively staggered toward the truck. Henry jumped out and slammed the door. He marched right up to the closest one and shoved the knife right into his forehead. I shuddered. As many times as we had seen him in this manner, it was still impressive…although I was pretty sure I would never get used to it.

  At first, I watched between my fingers, but then we all watched in amazement as he took the undeads down in record time. In a twisted way, it was a little bit of a turn-on, seeing him slay them with such power and ease. Nick sat on edge, his hand on the door handle, just in case Henry got into trouble. As usual, he didn’t. Once they were all true dead, Nick and Thomas got out and carried the already decaying bodies off into a ditch across the road.

  Claire and I watched them in silence while they scoped out the school. They peered through the dusty windows as they walked around the building. I hopped out of the truck as Henry came back over to us. He had a little gore on his face. I wiped it off and, surprisingly, I didn’t gag. Go me!

  “Thanks, love,” he said, tucking a rogue strand of hair behind my ear.

  I leaned into him and whispered, “You looked quite hot out there showing off your mad slaying skills.” He groaned loud enough for only me to hear. He pushed his body into mine, pressing me against the truck.

  “I have some other skills I would like to show you later…if you will allow me, of course.” He felt insecure about our relationship, just as much as I was. I had hope, once we settling down somewhere, we would work on getting back to the Henry and Elaina that I missed.

  He leaned closer and nipped at my ear. Instantly, my body was ready for him. I was putty in his hands and he knew it.

  “I may entertain your offer.” I looked up at him through my thick, black lashes. He smirked, then stepped back.

  “We’re going to check out the inside of the school. The windows are papered over so we can’t really see much. I’m hoping it’s abandoned. So get loaded up, love.” I wilted back against the truck. He reached for me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just wish we had people to do this for us.” He laughed. Apparently, he thought I was kidding. As he walked away from me to the front of the truck, he yelled for me to grab an axe. I didn’t want to play that game anymore. He then hollered for everybody to come up to the front of the truck. Captain Henry was back, and he was about to lay it all out for us.

  “All right, ladies and gentlemen. Here’s the plan.” I felt like I was on a plane, listening to the takeoff instructions from the flight attendant. “We are going to clear the school. Use your bullets sparingly. Try to use an axe or a knife first.” Then he looked at Claire. “I d
on’t want you to do anything. Once we find a room where you can hang out while we check out the rest of building, I want you to try to rest as much as you can.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “I want you to lock the door and try hard,” Nick demanded. “You’re exhausted.” When Claire’s eyes watered, he ran up to her. “Babe…” He grabbed her and held her. She sobbed into his chest. “Talk to me,” he murmured.

  “I’m sorry. I just don’t feel well. I keep having contractions. I’m tired, I’m scared, I’m worried about the baby, I’m worried about you.” She curled her free arm around her stomach, as if she were holding the baby, comforting it. It broke my heart.

  “I know. I’m sorry.” He brought her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “This may be a good place for us to settle down and have the baby, all right? We’ll see what we find.” He gave her belly a comforting rub, then wiped her tears away. It gave me the warm fuzzies seeing their interaction with one another, regardless of the situation. They loved each another on an amazing level.

  Henry jumped back into the truck and drove past us. He backed it up against the building so it was out of sight from the road. We all stood near the side entrance, waiting for him. He came around the corner with a rifle slung over his shoulder. My nerves danced and my throat felt tight as my master locksmith fiancé picked the lock on the side door. He opened it with caution and we all stepped back, hands over our noses, waiting for the stench of death to hit us.

  Surprisingly, there was a lack of the essence of death, which was good because I really feared that smell. My poor stomach didn’t appreciate the onslaught of the horrific odor. We entered the school and, with quiet footsteps, walked through the hall.