by W. A Castle
“I can’t wait to meet this friend of yours. I’ve seen pictures of him here and there but you’ve never actually introduced us.” Momma sent me a mock scolding look. I nudged her away gently with my elbow while smiling.
“Stop it momma.” I half mockingly chastised.
At the sound of a vehicle in the distance my heart rate skyrocketed. Oh god, oh god, oh god. I was excited and nervous and scared to see Jax. I don’t understand why I feel like this.
A blue old beat up truck rolled to a stop a few feet away from our caravan. The butterflies in my stomach went crazy at the sight of Jax stepping out of the truck. I was helpless at the sight on Jax scanning the group until his eyes found mine. At that moment my feet, which had seemed to be stuck to the gravel underneath me, moved forward and I broke into a sprint until I was close enough to throw my arms around him.
“Oh my God Jax, you’re here!” I couldn’t help the tears that ran down my cheeks. Jax’s arms tightened around me and lifted me up until my toes were off the ground and then set me down again.
“I told you I would come get you, Mads.” He grinned as he stepped away and walked towards the others. I jumped ahead and walked towards momma and Diego.
“Momma, this is Jax. Jax, this is my mom.” Jax shook momma’s hand and soon the others introduced themselves, even Aaron got out of the car and introduced himself. Jax explained to them that he had a bunker in his property and that all of us were welcome to join. I was shocked as I heard him invite the others into his bunker but I wasn’t really surprised. Jax was a good man. The guys headed towards Ulises’s hummer and marked the route that Jax had cleared along the way. Jax kept glancing over his shoulder and looking at me and I couldn’t help the light heartedness feeling that took over my body. Jax equaled safety. At least that is what my instincts perceived. My eyes shifted towards Trevor who was looking at me and Jax with a slight scowl. When I caught his eyes I sent him a reassuring smile.
I turned away and walked towards the hummer, I didn’t have the inclination to figure out what I felt towards Jax and Trevor. There were more important things than romance right now. Survival was at the top of the list.
Now that everyone was together and we were headed towards the bunker, what then? Would we spend the rest of our lives in a bunker? There were other survivors out there, are there enough people to rebuild our society?
My mind wandered back to Vincent. There had to be others like him and I. Surely there had to be. What about us? What was our place in this new world? I wrapped my arms around myself and leaned against the car. The warmth of the metal seeped through my clothes and warmed my bones.
“Let’s get ready to go!” Ulises hollered.
Jax jogged over to me and touched my arm and asked “Ride with me?” I smiled up at him and nodded. As we walked past Ulises I saw him scowling and shaking his head. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing, be careful.” He grunted and jumped into his hummer. Momma got into the passenger seat and waved over at me.
We rode for hours, filling the silence with small talk. Jax and I talked around what had happened to us after the end of the world happened. I didn’t mind, I still wasn’t sure how to blurt out to him that I had been bitten.
“That’s crazy, poor kid.” Jax replied half-heartedly as he listened to me and leaned over the steering wheel and scanned ahead. I was telling him how Diego had ended up with us; I left out the part that I blew up Janet’s head with a firework.
“I think this is a good place to set up for the night. I don’t like driving at night, the flesh eaters are hard enough to spot as it is.” He smirked around the world flesh eaters. I couldn’t help but grin at his adoption of my nickname for them.
“Hey guys, we’re setting up camp here.” I said through the radio. We came to a stop at a new residential development. None of the houses here had been finished, they all still had exposed beams but there were a few that were more finished than others. There was little chance that flesh eaters had wandered here since it was a gated community under construction. That didn’t mean it was safe inside. It was almost dark out and my eyes kept closing so I was less annoyed when the guys took it upon themselves to break the lock and scout the property. Their misogynistic attitudes didn’t escape us women but at the end of the day we discovered we didn’t mind that much. The only one that huffed and puffed was momma. She didn’t care to be treated as a damsel in distress.
Eli came and knocked on my window, I opened the door and he crawled over me and sat on my lap and rested his head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around him and placed my chin on the top of his head. “Close your eyes babe. You must be tired.” I said into his hair. He nodded and snuggled in closer. As his breathing evened I looked around us. Nothing but desert around us, a few houses could be seen to my left in the distance but they were too far away to worry about.
That evening we found a mostly finished house and set our things there. The guys hadn’t found anyone so we were all sure this place was safe enough that we could all get some sleep. The gates were locked again, the entrance we came in from was the only way in and out and the entire property had thick metal gates all around. It looked safe, but then again I had thought the same about the library. No flesh eaters could get past those gates, people were another matter.
The house was unfurnished and I wasn’t looking towards sleeping on the wooden floor. I unclipped my sleeping bag from my back pack and handed it to momma. She opened her mouth to protest, but even she was rational enough to know that I could handle hard floors, her, not so much. I chuckled and sat down next to her. Diego was happily wriggling around on his makeshift bed; I had folded up all of his blankets to create some padding. I opened up a water bottle and finished it in a go. I was so thirsty, and not for the lack of water. No matter how much water I drank, my thirst didn’t ease up.
“Hey girl,” Clara plopped down in front of me cross legged, “So that friend of yours is a hottie huh?” I laughed at her wriggling eyebrows and shook my head when she offered a cereal bar.
“You know I’ve been wondering,” Clara paused to take another bite of her bar, “What’s our plan? What are we supposed to do? Besides the obvious, survive. But…” She trailed off. I knew what she was asking, the same thing I had been wondering back the highway.
“I don’t know,” I leaned back against the wall, “It’s not like we can do anything besides staying alive. We’re not scientists, we’re not government.” I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
Clara frowned and scratched the back of her head. “Mind if I bunk with you guys?” She turned to look at momma and me, “I don’t really feel like bunking next to the guys.”
“Sure.” I smiled up at her. I scanned the open space and saw Lexi in one of the corners sitting by herself eating a bag of chips. I wanted to get up the courage to ask her to sleep with us, but I was too chicken shit.
“Could I talk to you for a minute?” Jax towered over us with a small smile that his moustache and beard half covered. I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet.
“Let’s go for a walk.” He shouldered his rifle and took my hand as he led me outside. I patted my waistband behind me, making sure my gun was still there.
As we slowly walked around the house and made our way around the property I caught him staring intently at me a few times. “What is it, Jax?” I punched his shoulder and smiled.
“I’m just trying to figure out how you’re out here in the open with me.” He asked quietly. At first I frowned and was confused at what he was saying. But I realized quickly what he meant.
Shit. “Something happened on the road, something that took my fear of open space. Well at least, the physical reaction of my fear.” I was still afraid of the world; my body just handled panic better.
I felt him tense next to me and his hold on my hand tightened almost imperceptibly, “What happened?” Jax’s voice was tight.
“I was bit.” The words came out so quiet I wondered if he’d heard me.
Jax stopped and pulled me in front of him, he grabbed my shoulders and his face contorted in fear.
“You were bit? Where?” He roared. He patted my body up and down, searching for bandages with his eyes and hands.
“I’m okay Jax.” I whispered and placed my hands on top of his to stop him. That’s when he took in my mangled finger, his eyes widened.
“Maddison, you’re not alright, you were bit!” He pulled me to him and crushed me against his chest. I felt the slight tremble of his body. “I shouldn’t have let you come all this way. This is my fault.” He said into my hair as he kissed my head. I tried to ignore the heat that spread across my chest and cheeks. Seriously, I had no time for this, but my body begged to differ. With incredible self-control I pushed away from his heat and gave him a level stare.
“I didn’t turn, Jax. There was another girl, Adrie, who was bit too. She turned, but I didn’t. I am okay.” I patted his chest and smiled. He narrowed his eyes in confusion and denial.
“What?” He choked out. I lifted my shirt and showed him the puckered scars. His expression steeled as I showed him all the bites. When I was done exposing myself I looked at him. He stared back, his jaw tight and his eyes cold.
Fear shot through my heart. I didn’t want him to walk away from me. I was afraid this was enough to make him turn his back on me.
Before I could blink, before I could open my mouth to ask him to tell me what was going through his mind, the sound of semi-automatics and shotguns and a series of shots exploded through the quiet night. At the sounds of firing I instinctively ducked and Jax threw his massive frame on top of me and sent me tumbling to the ground. Suddenly it all stopped. Through the dread silence, shouting erupted and more semi-automatic shots penetrated through what had been a quiet and peaceful night.
Part Two of End of Days
Will come out in
January of 2018
Stay tuned for more flesh eater action!
Don’t forget to also check out more W.A Castle’s books!
