The guard stumbled but didn’t go down.
Oh, fuck.
I was out of the door and moving fast but silent on my bare feet before my brain had time to react. There were only about 30 feet in between the guard and myself. He had turned, stumbled, and moved to grab Melinda, intent on taking her down. She looked scared out of her mind. She only had the one trick up her sleeve.
He was so intent on Melinda, he didn’t see me coming. I jumped on his back and plunged the knife, still wet with Senior’s blood, into his neck. He fell forward, bringing me with him. I managed to jump off of him as his big frame hit the floor hard.
I reached down and yanked the knife out of his neck and checked his pulse. His pulse was weak and stuttering. He would be dead soon. Just the way I liked him.
I looked up and met Melinda’s grim stare. There was no judgment, just a look of amazement. Her hands still gripped the metal frame. I looked over at the other girl and realized with sickening disappointment that the second girl Melinda had recruited was Clara. The girl was like a bad venereal disease you just couldn’t shake.
There was no stopping and reevaluating her choice of recruitment now though. If we didn’t move quickly, we would be found out. There were only a few sheets of plastic tarp separating us from the sadistic bikers. We needed to get moving. I guess I had to rescue Clara’s ass, again.
I slapped the bloody knife in Clara’s hand and took sick pleasure in her gasp of fear when she took in my full appearance. I reached in my pocket and pulled out the handgun, checked the chamber and clicked the safety off. I handed it to Melinda. I trusted her with a gun, not Clara.
I unharnessed both the guns at my sides and got them locked and loaded. I was the first to the door. Glaring at Clara when her shoes clacked on the linoleum, I was so tempted to just leave her, but I knew she would probably throw up a fuss and ruin our escape. Both girls were still dressed in slut attire, with clacking shoes. I motioned for them to remove them and they both did. We didn’t need the noise or the possibility of a sprained ankle. If I was going barefoot, so were they.
The Southern Clan hadn’t done any enhancements to the security of the door, which was stupid on their part, but great for us. The only lock they had on it was the one that the grocery store had in place. It was easy to disengage from the inside. I pushed at the sliding glass doors, they were once electric, automatic and opened when they detected motion, but were now useless. They easily slid open, meant to be manual if the power ever went out. The freezing outside air blew in to greet me and I took a deep breath. I hadn’t breathed in air this good and fresh in a long time.
“Cross the street to the school, fast and low,” I hissed. If the boys were running surveillance on the gang, the school was a logical choice. It was three stories with plenty of windows. It was a little close for comfort as far as tactical usage, they could also be at the Marina Complex, which was almost twenty stories and close enough for surveillance, but the flood gates were closed and they would have had to climb over the walls without being seen. I was betting on the school. And I was betting with our lives.
Forty-Two | The Anti-Damsel
BLAKE
I paced the floor. I hadn’t slept in days, but there was no way I was going to sleep with every little emotion plaguing me. I could sleep when we had Alexis back. I just had to make sure I didn’t let it affect my concentration. Pace. Scope the camp across the street. Twenty push-ups. Repeat. On the fifth rep, add something different to the mix to shake things up.
Zach was in the same pattern in the other room, except he couldn’t see the camp across the street. Baby and Murphey were asleep in the hallway, trying to get as much downtime as they could before we raided. Romeo and Alphonso were scouting for a second vehicle.
I went to the window on my next circuit across the room and froze in my tracks. I fumbled for the NVGs and brought them up to my face. There was movement at the back door, a figure came running out, baggy clothes, another one followed…shit…is that?
“We have movement, I can’t confirm, but it looks like Lex just broke out of the base, need a pick-up now!” I called into the com. Romeo confirmed over the com and Zach came barreling into the room, waking up the girls in the hall, who came running in behind him.
He grabbed the NVGs out of my hand and began cursing.
“She couldn’t even sit tight and let us save her,” he growled. “Lock and load, looks like we’ve got to go and get our girl.”
Forty-Three | About Fucking Time
ALEXIS
I grimaced as my bare feet found every sharp rock and piece of glass in between the store and the school, but it was nothing in comparison to my back which still burned and seeped blood from Senior’s torture.
There was a shout behind us, just as we crossed Robert E. Lee and made it to the parking lot of the school. They had realized we were gone. They were coming for us.
“It’s them!” Clara sobbed, looking to me as if I was going to go back there and take them all out for her.
I pushed forward, we couldn’t stop now. Our only chance was the school and the hope that Romeo and his mystery man were there…and maybe…maybe…
I turned and sighted two bikers running fast behind us. I fired in quick succession. I only had a few shots and no extra clips. It was almost impossible to hit a moving target, especially if you couldn’t stop and take aim. The shots weren’t meant to hit them. They did the trick, causing them to instinctively fall to the ground to avoid the bullets. It gave us a little more time to make it across the street.
Melinda slammed into the glass door of the front office and I watched in horror as she yanked on it, but it didn’t budge. It had better be open! It had to be open!
One more pull and the door swung open. I breathed a sigh of relief when she disappeared into the dark office. Clara was not that far behind her. I turned, spread my legs and took aim. I fired off four more shots, one hit its intended target and the biker fell, he didn’t get up. The second biker kept coming.
I fired off once more, but it missed and the gun clicked, I was empty. I had only two shots left in the second gun. Before I could freak out, I heard the scream of an engine tearing toward me.
Friend or foe?
A black truck tore around the corner and slammed into the approaching biker, throwing him ten feet into the air. A man dressed in all black fatigues, his face covered in combat goggles and a SWAT hood came racing from the school just as the truck went into reverse and pulled in front of me.
The man from the school walked casually over to the fallen man. He pressed a silence equipped handgun to the fallen man’s head and fired one round.
Dead. There was no coming back from that.
Four dead. Four humans dead. No zombies.
The man turned to me, and his movements registered. I knew that walk.
He yanked off the goggles just as another man dressed in full combat gear exited the school and was by my side in an instant.
Zach.
Blake.
They stood over me, around me, their covered faces unreadable. They were both tense, like they didn't know what to do, didn't know what to do with me. I couldn't imagine what I looked like...covered in blood, hair matted, and I realized I was panting, almost hyperventilating.
“It’s about fucking time, boys.”
Forty-Four | Thousand Yard Stare
ZACH
“Lex.” I reached my hand out to her. She was covered in blood from head to foot. It was splashed across her face and matted in her hair. She was wearing men’s clothing that was too big for her and looked very dirty.
Her face was slimmer. She had lost weight and even in the dim light of the headlights I could tell there were dark circles under her eyes.
Her eyes were wide and she was glancing around her, panic in her gaze. I wanted to take her in my arms, but she gripped the gun in her hand tightly. I had seen too many soldiers with that same look. If I tried to show her some comfort she might freak and t
urn on me.
She couldn’t help it, she was in attack mode. I needed to get her back to the compound. We couldn’t stick around and play soldier anymore. Lex needed help and she needed to get home.
Forty-FIve | Clarity
ALEXIS
"We have to get the fuck out of here, now!" My voice was high-pitched and shaky even to my own ears.
"Incoming!" A smaller figure pushed out of the school with an M4 raised and at the ready. I recognized Baby's voice immediately. There was another woman with her dressed in combat gear and they both had their guns raised, trained on two figures ahead of them. Melinda and Clara. They must have encountered them in the office.
"Friendly," I cried out. "But we need to get the fuck out of here now!"
Clara and Melinda ran for the truck, but they were intercepted by Zach. He pushed himself in front of Clara, his tall frame towering over her.
"Ain't gonna happen." He raised his gun and pointed it directly at her head. Uh oh. I should have seen this coming. Part of me wanted to leave her, let Zach force her away…but some little bit of me knew this was wrong.
"Zach, what the fuck?" Baby hissed. "We don't have time for this shit."
"She's not coming back with us. I should put a fucking bullet in her head right now."
"I deserve it," Clara said in a soft whisper and damn, if the little part of me that wanted Zach to pull the trigger got overruled by my logical, moralistic sensibilities. Fuck. My muddy brain, overrun by pain and panic, suddenly kicked into gear. I knew this wasn’t going to be good. We had to get out of here. I was surprised we weren’t being overrun by the bikers yet.
"Don't, Zach, please don't do this." Blake raised his hands in supplication. "She's unarmed. We'll figure it out when we get back to the compound. Put the gun down."
I had to make a decision. It was probably one I would regret later, but I couldn't let this continue. I walked up to Zach and pulled on his arm, pulling the gun away from Clara's head.
"C'mon, baby, let's go home. Can you take me home?" Zach's arm dropped to his side and his eyes met mine.
In a flurry of movement, Baby rushed up behind Clara and pulled her to the front of the truck. She pushed her into the passenger side and then ran around to the driver's side, hissing at us to get moving. Blake helped Melinda get into the bed of the truck and Zach did the same with me. Before we were settled, Baby had slammed the truck into gear and was moving.
"Church one, Grunt two, come in, this is Boss Team," Baby called into her com. "We've got the package, we are disengaging and returning to the nest. Over."
"I thought you were exaggerating about your own personal army, Alexis," Melinda called over the sound of the wind as we rushed down Milne Boulevard, away from the bikers and their sadistic base.
"I never exaggerate," I said, but I don't think she heard me. I could barely hear myself. The last few days were catching up to me fast; my head was swimming and the throbbing in my back was the only thing I could focus on. Both men were acting like they didn't know what to do with their hands. I sat squeezed between the two of them and they fluttered over me as if they didn't know if they could touch me.
With each bump and jolt, I winced until it became obvious I was in a lot of pain.
"Lex, Lex." I don’t know who was talking, my brain had become all fuzzy again and all I could hear was my name repeating over and over again. The wind rushed against my face and the slam of the truck over every pothole and bump were finally too much. I let the dizzy slide of pain wash over me and for the hundredth time this week I passed out.
Forty-Six | The Better Man
BLAKE
"What did they do to her?" I asked the girl that Alexis had called friendly.
"What didn't they do," she answered.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Zach snarled.
“Exactly what I said.” To give her credit, the woman didn’t back down when we both glared at her. “Those men are monsters and they treat women no better than pets. She got us out of there. She killed three of them on the way out. I think the leader, Senior, beat her something terrible before we left. I heard him screaming at her and the sound of whatever he was hitting her with.”
I gingerly moved Alexis until she was lying over Zach’s lap and I pulled up her shirt. It was a mess of blood and open wounds. He must have hit her with a switch.
“Wrap her up,” I said to Zach, handing him a towel from my pack. He placed it over her frame. She looked so tiny and frail. I had never thought that about her before. She had always been a rock. Amazing. She could conquer anything you threw at her. The day I met her, she ruined me for all other females. There was no one like Alexis. And it wasn’t just her strength or her smarts. There was something about her, how she could look in the face of danger and crack a joke. How she could tear you to pieces with just a look. How she could also quantify your entire existence with a smile and a glance.
I had questioned my reason for being here, for existing, and everything about life when I came off of my second tour, probably fucked up with PTSD and anything else you could think of. I thought marrying Clara would even it out. It hadn’t. I thought going into business with Zach would give me purpose. It helped me a little, but not enough.
It wasn’t until the dead rose and tried to eat people that I finally found meaning in my life. And that meaning came in the form of a five foot ten brunette that decided to ram the levee protection gates and could swing a mean ax. And then I had to go and fucking ruin it. Just like I ruined everything else.
I couldn’t blame Zach. If I was in his shoes, I would have wanted to kill Clara too. But really his gun should be pointed at me. I was the one that brought her here. I was the one that left Alexis and brought Clara back, stirring the pot. It was my fault she had been beaten, probably raped…it was all me. I’d seen many soldiers broken beyond repair from what they’d seen during combat, or experienced. This was no different. Has Lex been broken?
If she lost that light in her eyes, that fire…I would never forgive myself. I was pretty sure that even if it did come back, I wouldn’t be able to let it go.
I looked over at her. Zach was cradling her gently against his chest. It’s where she belonged. Zach was always the better man. Alexis deserved the better man. That better man definitely wasn’t me.
Forty-Seven | Liquid Coping Method
ZACH
It took us three hours to make it back to the base. Three hours and Alexis never came to. We radioed ahead when we came into range and told them the situation. The gates were open and ready for us when we sped over the bridge.
Isaiah was waiting, black bag in hand, and took a look at her back before we even got out of the truck.
“She’ll need stitches for some, but it’s not that bad. It just looks really bad and she’s probably in shock. She’ll be fine.” He put a hand on my shoulder and I nodded.
“Can we do it at the house? I don’t want her to wake up in the infirmary,” I asked and he agreed.
“Hannah, take Clara and lock her up somewhere, I don’t want her roaming around the compound freely.” Blake motioned to Baby. He spotted Clara’s sister in the crowd and motioned her over. “Madison, this is Melinda, Heather Murphey and Alphonso Lopez, they are our guests. Please show them the barracks and supplies so they can get cleaned up and find a bunk.” She nodded and led them away.
Blake looked in my direction and the mask of the leader slipped away from his face, revealing nothing but sorrow and pain.
“Let’s drive her over to the house, break protocol for a change,” he said, alluding to the no driving around the island law that he had put in place when we first bought the land. Getting behind the wheel, he slowly pulled forward, worried that jostling her might cause her more pain. Alexis didn’t move though. Isaiah sat next to her, watching her the whole time. I sat on the other side of her in the bed of the truck, it was the longest one-mile ride of my life.
Live (NOLA Zombie Book 3) Page 16
