Linden’s face was thin like a triathlete with a righteous look about him as if he embodied every aspect of upholding the law. She could tell he’d at one point had a flat-top that had now grown out. His eyes were the color of rich fertile earth. His AR-15 was slung down the center of his chest.
“Ma’am, we can spare it. If what she says is true, then we can’t afford to stay out of this fight.”
Massaging her hands, she frowned as if the whole idea made her a bit sick to her stomach. “I trust you. How many?”
“I’d say I can take five men.”
Tibbets nodded her affirmation. “You’ll go with Mayor Reynolds and report back your findings. If this is as bad as she says, we will send anyone able.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I know I only come with asks, but this is important. Can you spread the word to the villages of Van Buren? We need any and all people’s help. Tell them to come to Camp Forge as quickly as they can.”
“I will send word.”
A moment passed before Gwen spoke. “But I also come with a give.”
“What’s that?”
“If we can hold the line long enough, the government has a vaccine. Anyone who fights will be the first to receive it.”
Tibbets put a hand on her chest. “Oh, my Lord.” She shook her head in shock. “That’s unbelievable news.”
“But it’s the flu and strep that are crippling us. We have nothing left.”
“I’ll send for Doctor McKee in the morning.” Tibbets stood, smoothing her heavy wool shirt over her jeans.
Gwen shook her head. “In the morning, ma’am?”
“He lives over ten miles out, and I will not risk my people’s lives getting him in the night. Between the snow, the cold, and the infected, it’s not worth the risk.”
“We will get him.”
Tibbets’s jaw settled as she dug her heels in. “Trooper Linden will go in the morning. You can bed down in the McFarlen place overnight.”
“Please, mayor, we need his help now.”
The older mayor grew stern. “I will not risk his life or yours. You are pregnant, aren’t you?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Tomorrow will be just fine. For now, I suggest you get some rest.”
Gwen gritted her teeth. “Thank you, ma’am.”
AHMED
Northern Missouri
He threw on his jacket and stared at himself in the mirror. His entire form was a dreary shadow. The mirror was aging with dark spots along the edges and gaudy large round unlit bulbs lined the top.
His face was paler than he remembered it. Gaunt cheeks like someone had sucked the extra weight from beneath his skin. Not that he had much to begin with. He rubbed a hand over his jet-black beard. The girth of his beard was extensive and made his narrow cheeks look thinner and the bottom part of his face round.
A whisper leaked from his mouth. “I can’t be here. This is not my fight.”
A soft knock came at the door. He glanced over. The chipped brass handle twisted. “What?” he said quietly.
Sadie’s voice, muffled by the door, came through. “Can we talk?”
He glowered at himself in the mirror. The man there seemed to be fading as if the shadows would overtake him, owning him. “Give me a second.” He collected the shotgun from the corner and twisted the knob, popping the lock.
Sadie waited on the other side. Her oval curls hung around her shoulders loosely and her slender arms were folded over her chest. “Are you okay?”
His mouth clamped shut before he gave her a terse answer. “I’m fine.”
“You haven’t said a word since you got back.”
Ahmed reached out and grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her toward him. He spoke in hushed tones. “Sadie. We killed people today.” He turned away. “I’m not sure we did the right thing. It didn’t feel right.” He shook his head, his eyes reading hers for a moment. “I don’t belong here.”
“Please stay.” She interlocked her hand with his arm. Her eyes were a doe’s and she pled like a child.
It made his gut perform circus acrobatics. Why did she make him feel like this? “You’ve done so much for me, but my fight isn’t here. My people are north.” The words didn’t sound as true as he knew they were. Doubt clouded over him. “I think anyway.” Gwen was north although nothing is certain. Nothing could displace his loyalty to Gwen but this woman in front of him. Her aura sucked him in. Her presence shrouded him at all times. Loyalty pulled him another way, but she yanked him the other. Is it attraction or a sense of duty to pay back the woman and people that saved my life? My debt is paid. I helped them get vengeance on the murderers. His mind continued to torment him with the truth. And became one yourself.
His mouth worked before his mind had thought anything through. “Come with me. I have friends in Iowa. Leave all of this. This feud. Being here will only bring us more suffering.”
Tiny crow’s feet formed around her eyes in pain, her head shaking short nos. “I. I can’t leave them now. It’s been so bad. We’ve already lost so much. It would break them.”
Ahmed bobbed his head, using their grip on one another to pull her closer. He leaned his head to connect with hers and they stood in silence for a moment, taking in the physical touch of another person not hell bent on causing the other harm. After a moment, she raised her head, her lips pursing. He needed no goading. Their attraction was clear. They touched. Her lips were soft even in the dry air. Their connection shattered in a fraction of a second, her very presence disappearing away. The yearning willed him to do anything to get it back.
She composed herself. “Let me see your wound before you go.”
He gulped his desire and gave her a curt nod, stripping off his jacket and shirt. She unraveled his bandages. Round and round they went, and he lifted his arm so she would have an easier time. She stuck a fingernail under the sticky bandage and peeled it back, bringing a few stray pieces of bristly chest hair with it.
“Ow,” he said softly.
Her eyes darted up at him for a moment and a small smile crept to her lips. “You get shot, but you complain about the bandage.”
Getting shot was a fraction of a second in his mind. Like a wounded deer, fear and adrenaline had forced him onward until he dropped behind a log. A searing poker jammed through his chest before he blacked out.
“I don’t even remember it.”
“They were bad men like the Baileys?”
“Worse than the Baileys.”
With a finger, she prodded around the wound, staring at the surrounding tissue as if she searched for something.
“How do you know about this?”
“About what?” she continued prodding.
“Wounds and medicine.”
Taking an antibiotic cream, she rubbed some over top and around the healing hole in his chest. “I have an associates in veterinary medicine from the community college.”
Ahmed laughed a bit. “You’re a vet?”
“Vet tech. You’re my biggest animal yet.” A small grin embraced her lips.
He stared down at his chest where the wound had sealed up into a painful itchy scab. The area around the wound wasn’t red and infected but relatively smooth, fresh skin.
“No sign of infection. That was the hard part. Keeping your strength up to fight off any infections. With no oral antibiotics, you would’ve struggled.”
“What about the bullet?” It still struck him as crazy that a projectile could be inside his body.
“It went clean through you. I’m not sure I could have fixed a bullet fragmentation inside your body.” She ran a hand across the bandage pressing it hard back on his chest.
“I guess I’m lucky you didn’t decide to put me down.”
Her smile grew as she circled the dressing, still stained with dried blood, around his body. “You should be more appreciative. That idea was discussed.”
“Jimmy’s idea?” He threw his shirt and jacket back on.
She put loose bandages back into a white
first-aid kit. “I won’t say.”
They stood in silence for a moment. “Do you think Lee will let me borrow a horse?”
She gazed at the kit and closed it with apprehension. “You mean give you a horse? Cause we both know if you leave, you ain’t coming back.”
He reached for her, and she let his hand fall to hers. “I have people that need me.”
“A girl?”
“No.” After a moment, he continued. “Not like that.”
She sighed. “Lee’ll give you a horse, but you have to promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll come back.”
Should you make a promise you can’t keep? Between the infected and everybody else still left, there’s no way I can make it back here. “I’ll come back after I find them and make sure they’re all right.” He stopped for a moment. “I have to see them through. We’ve been . . . “He paused. “We’ve been through a lot.”
“I’ll wait for you.” She nodded.
He wanted to tell her the reality of the situation. It wasn’t to wait. Not for him. She shouldn’t hold out for anyone. She should live every day like it was her last because in this world, it very likely could be. Instead, more lies slipped off his tongue like poisonous honey. “Then I won’t make you wait long.”
“Don’t,” she said softly. She left him standing in the bathroom a shamble of emotions, some good, most bad.
He hefted his shotgun and walked for the door.
Jim sat at the table with his handgun resting in front of him. “Where you goin’?”
Ahmed stopped. He expected some sort of determent, but Sadie’s was the only one that held any clout for him. “I’m sorry, but the time has come for me to leave. Thank you for helping me. I won’t forget it.”
“No you ain’t.” Jim’s eyes laughed at him with icicles.
“I have people I must see after. They need me.”
“You ain’t leaving us.” Jim started to twirl his gun in a circle on the table, spinning it with his fingers like he was about to play a game of handgun spin the bottle. The gun rattled in circles on the table. Round and round it spun.
Is he going to shoot me? The gun continued to spin. “I have to. I have responsibilities to people just like you.”
“You got a responsibility to us. You’re a part of this now.” His index finger kept the gun going. The gun skipped over the table round and round.
“A part of what? Your blood feud?”
With his palm, Jim stopped the gun, laying a hand on the handle. He stared at it as if he contemplated its fate. “Sly will be back.” He glanced back at Ahmed. “You gonna leave Sadie to that fate?”
Sadie peered down at her feet. Ahmed wished to God that those words hadn’t affected him like they did, but the mention of her name tugged each and every one of his heartstrings. Logic wrestled his heart, throwing it on its back for a three-count.
“She has you and Lee to protect her. You’ll be fine.” His words felt thin like he knew better. He knew that when he walked out that door, he’d be condemning her to death.
“We’ll fight, but we’ll lose without your gun.” Jim gripped the handgun. “Your hands ain’t clean. They as bloody as mine. Sly will come, and when he does, he will crucify what’s left of this family. You want that blood on your hands too?” He gave direction with his firearm. “Walk out that door. Put us to death.”
Every single person’s eyes were upon Ahmed.
“No one told you to charge in guns blazing. We could have talked to them.”
A disgusted snort snuck from Jim’s throat. “They’d stall so they could get in position to gun us down. You and me both know nobody was gonna do no talking. We went for vengeance and we got it. There may still be time for talking, but it wasn’t yesterday. Not until the scales were righted.”
The man was delusional. Ahmed shook his head. “You killed that woman.”
Jim snarled, pointing his weapon haphazardly at Ahmed. “Nobody’s clean in this!”
“You’re right, but I’m going.”
“We need you for one more night.”
The words rolled quick off his tongue. “I’m gone.”
Jim’s eyes softened just a fraction. “Lee set up a meeting tonight. We are gonna talk this out, but if I show with three guns to Sly’s ten.” He shook his head. “Sly will end us there. I sent Andy over to Foxworth’s. There’s another three boys there, but it’s still lopsided. There won’t be any point in making a deal. We need him to make a deal.”
The guilt of leaving them weighed heavily on Ahmed’s conscience. “I won’t do it.”
“I only need you to stand there ready to fight looking all mean and scary.” Jim gave him a flat-lipped grin.
“Then I am gone.” Ahmed couldn’t believe that he uttered those words.
Jim bowed in mock deference. “Carry on your merry way, my brown friend.”
“I’m not doing this for you.”
“Don’t care who you do it for as long as you do it.”
Ahmed glanced at Sadie. She is the reason.
She smiled and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Jim holstered his sidearm. “The Old Grossman Farm. Tonight.”
TESS
Outskirts of Shimek State Forest, IA
The soldier smacked his lips as he chewed with his mouth open. He sucked his teeth and ran his tongue across the front. He shoved his gold plastic spoon back into the brownish MRE pouch and stared at her. “You sure are lucky you had these little meals, or we would’ve eaten that stupid horse of yours.” He leaned forward on a horrible pastel-colored floral-decorated couch holding his MRE in a hand. Her gun rested on the table in front of him along with her harness he’d ripped from her body, leaving her shuddering in the cold.
In the unheated house, her body shook without her heavy coat. Her hands were tightly bound with some kind of rope behind her back. She sat upright on the floor and glared at him. Her teeth clinked against one another in a desperate plea to stay warm. “Fuck you.”
Jarvis stopped chewing and eyed his comrade. “Can you believe the mouth on her?”
Low licked his lips. “Yeah, I can. She’s one of them from Steele’s camp. I seen her before.” Clearly the subordinate follower of Jarvis, Low was the smaller of the two.
“Is that right? You one of Steele’s play toys?” Jarvis wore a disgusting set of gray fingers dangling from his neck. Tess could tell right away that the man had gone feral and would kill at the drop of a hat. His eyes were empty, lacking the empathy a man should hold, but still gleaming with a wild glint said he enjoyed the act of killing.
Her eyes narrowed. “No.”
“You’re lying, girl.” An evil grin split Jarvis’s lips as he rose striding to her. He bent down near her. “You are, ain’t ya? You got a thing with him. You love him.” He reached a dirty finger out and stroked her cheek. Trying to turn away, he forced it back upward. “It’s true.” He let her look away. “What are you doing so far from home?” He stared down at her.
“I was looking for somebody.”
“All by your lonesome? Well, that ain’t too smart is it? But don’t worry, me and Low will take care of ya. Ain’t that right, buddy?”
“Sure will.” Low’s stubble-clad cheeks raised in mirth. His eyes went distant as if he imagined his dastardly deeds in real time.
The infected still pounded the door in the back bedroom.
Jarvis jerked his head in its direction and forcibly exhaled. “Low, I thought I told you to take care of that.”
The other soldier looked hurt. “I was hungry, man. It ain’t going anywhere.”
“I’ll fucking do it. Axe.”
Low scooped up his axe and tossed it to Jarvis who caught it out of the air. Tess’s stomach flopped as he dragged the axe along the wall as he walked. His voice came out mocking. “Lucy, I home.”
With a quick glance at his disappearing ally, Low stood, his blanket flaring out behind him.
Jarv
is knocked back on the door, tormenting the dead behind it. “I’m right here. Come on and get it.”
Low stepped closer to Tess, chest rising and falling rapidly. He crouched down with a quick glance back down the hall. “I can help you.”
She nodded yes.
“But I need you to help me.”
His eyes shrouded with menace. He fiddled beneath his blanket.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Shhh. We don’t want him getting upset.”
“Fuck you, man,” she said loudly.
His eyes grew gaping and he grabbed her cheeks. “I said shut up. Do as you’re told and I’ll get you out of here.” He released her and his hands went beneath his blanket again.
“Help!”
His hand cracked her cheek with fire, and she tipped over against the ugly blue carpet. She’d had worse. “You hit like a bitch.”
“You—”
Jarvis’s voice echoed. “What the fuck?” He stood in the entrance to the hallway, blood-covered axe in hand.
In fear, Low retreated a step. “I was teaching her a lesson for talking back.”
Jarvis glared down at her and back at him. “You were trying to squeeze one out quick while I did the fucking dirty work.”
“No.” He gave her a sharp glance. “I wouldn’t.”
Hands squeezed the axe tighter, forcing Jarvis’s knuckles white. “You know I get them first. I’m of higher rank.”
“I know the rules.” Low cast his eyes downward.
Cocking his head to the side, Jarvis sneered. “Do you? I’m thinking you need to be taught a lesson.”
Low took a step back. “Come on, man. I wasn’t.”
“Yes, he was,” Tess piped up.
Jarvis’s eyes went wide. He lifted a hand off his axe and pointed an angry finger at her. “You be quiet. I’ll deal with you in a second.” He faced his comrade.
Low had inched his way toward his rifle and now he lunged for it, diving on the ground. The glass living room table tipped and shattered, sending guns, gear, food and glass shards everywhere.
The M16A4 tipped on its side as he fumbled for it. Jarvis ran for him, taking big steps and swinging his axe over his shoulder like an experienced lumberjack. Low got a hand on his rifle, pulling it in tight. The axe blurred through the air and gunshots exploded in the room.
The End Time Saga (Book 5): The Holding Page 19
