The Preston Six Collection: (Book 1, 2 and 3)

by Ryan, Matt

  “You going to tell me what’s going on?” Jack struggled to get the words out as the car slid around a corner.

  “Emmett’s going to destroy the city.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “It’s what I’d do.”

  The car crashed through an open door of a car.

  “We’re going to die before we even get a chance to be killed,” Jack said as he winced from the reckless speed.

  Harris concentrated on the road, focusing on the immediate target ahead. He couldn’t let a single thing on the car break if they had any chance of making it.

  “Where are we going, to the bunker?”

  “No time, plus the incendiary will flush through every inch of it.”

  “Incendiary?”

  “Look to the sky and tell me if you see anything.”

  Jack rolled down his window and peeked up into the sky. “Yes, there’s a bright light.”

  Harris winced. They only had a minute, two at the most. “I need you to roll up that window and make sure it’s tight. That bomb in the sky will burn everything within a twenty mile radius when it hits.”

  “What?” Jack jerked his attention to the sky. “Can we get far enough away?”

  “No.”

  Jack squirmed in his seat. “Then what?”

  “In a minute, everyone and everything in Capital will be destroyed.” Harris spotted the blue line at the end of the road.

  “Oh my god, I need to call my dad.” Jack fumbled with his Panavice and punched at the screen, momentarily forgetting the systems were down.

  Harris kept his focus on the expanding blue line at the end of the road. He hoped the car was built as well as he thought.

  Jack stopped messing with his Panavice and stared ahead. “What are you doing?” His transfixed gazed didn’t budge from the end of the road.

  Harris slowed the car down to forty miles per hour but didn’t stop as they approached the end of the road. Jack screamed as the car punched past the guard rail. Harris took his hands off the steering wheel as it retracted into the dash. The front end of the car turned down and the blue water below rushed toward them. Jack kept screaming until the car smacked the surface of the water.

  WATER RAN DOWN HIS FACE. It soaked into his clothes and shoes. It ran into the corners of his smiling mouth. Lucas watched as the rain fell onto the flames and filled the street with streams of water. With each drop, the orange glow lessened, and the dark night reclaimed the city.

  They huddled against a large AC box, but it only gave a small amount of cover from the rain. Julie’s body shook next to his as the temperature plummeted. Lucas had been bugging her to use her Pana to cut into the AC box.

  “Let’s just try it. Can it be any worse than this?” Lucas asked.

  “Fine, but if it starts shocking me, kick it out of my hand.”

  He rubbed his wet hands together and stood. Hank got to his feet as well, and they both watched Julie point her Panavice at the four foot tall piece of metal.

  “Okay, here it goes.” Julie leaned back and extended her hand out, bracing herself for a shock.

  Lucas got his kicking foot ready. One sign of agony on her face and he’d punt that thing to Mars. A red beam shot from the Panavice and struck the wet metal. Her face lit up with excitement and relief. She guided the beam around in a large square. Steam hissed as it heated up. The cut metal sheet fell off the box and hit the roof with a splat.

  “Let me check it out first, there could be critters in there.” Lucas bent over and searched the cavity. Julie shined her light inside—nothing but a fan on one side and a hole on the other, like a quaint little room with no rain. He climbed into the space and moved next to the fan. Julie climbed in with him and filled the remaining space. Hank ducked his head in and searched for a space. He by himself would have taken much of the metal box.

  “Come on, let’s go cut one out for Hank.” Lucas shimmied his way out of the box and felt the rain pour down on him.

  Once Julie had cut a hole out in a nearby metal box, they secured his door and rushed back to their spot. Lucas climbed into the metal space and made room for Julie’s soaking body. They pulled the cut door back in place and finally they were out of the rain. The sound of rain pounded on the metal around them, but it was better than being in it. Julie set her Panavice on her lap, lighting up their space.

  Lucas’s shirt dripped on the metal. He wiped some of the water from his hair and shook it on Julie.

  “Hey, cut it out.”

  “I’m going to hang my shirt on this fan, if you don’t mind.”

  “Oh, well . . . I don’t mind.” Julie glanced at his chest and looked away.

  Lucas pulled at his shirt, struggling to get the wet material off his body. Freeing himself, he rung it out and hung it on a blade of the fan. He looked down at his chest and abs. He always thought he looked good with his shirt off. He glanced at Julie to see if she agreed and he spotted her looking at him. She caught his glance and jerked away, a hint of color entered her cheeks.

  “You know, there is room for another shirt over here. You’ll never get dry with that thing on.”

  “If I’m going to take my shirt off for you, it isn’t going to be in some metal box, on top of a roof, hiding from grinners.”

  “Fine, just sit there soaking then. I never thought you would do it anyways.”

  She scowled at him and huffed out a breath. As she pulled her shirt over her head, Lucas sucked in a breath, staring at her black bra. Her shirt hung from her hand and she held it out for him to take, but he didn’t notice it.

  “You can blink,” she said.

  Lucas pulled his gaze from her glistening chest to her amused eyes. “I . . . well, my pants are soaking as well.” He unbuttoned his top button on his jeans.

  “Don’t push it.”

  Lucas glanced down at her chest as it moved with each breath. He’d seen fully naked women many times—he had an internet connection—but presented with a close, personal set of breasts sent his mind sailing into the sky. He struggled to find something funny to say, but his thoughts stammered and stalled.

  Julie held out her wet shirt again. “Can you hang up mine?”

  “Uh, yeah, sure.” He took her wet shirt, rung it out and placed it on the fan next to his.

  He looked at the metal above him and fidgeted with his hands. He should be saying something witty, something fun. Could he be any less cool? The silence made the room feel smaller and the weight of it started to set in.

  “You okay?” Julie asked.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “You’ve seen me in my bikini a bunch of times, is this making you uncomfortable?”

  “What? No, it just feels different since we’ve been a thing.”

  Julie turned her body toward him. “We’re a thing?”

  “Yeah.” He faced her.

  “You’ve been distant.”

  “Well, a lot of stuff’s been going on. Plus Hank’s been around. I mean, we haven’t had a second alone in a while.”

  Julie smirked. “We’re alone now.”

  His heart stopped at her words, then thudded hard against his rib cage. Was something finally going to happen? Lucas couldn’t move if he wanted to. He stayed locked in place, staring at her, letting the words hang in the air.

  She made the first move and brought her face closer to his, and then he met her the rest of the way. He slowed down right before softly pressing his lips against hers. Her wet hair brushed against his face and he felt a drip running into their paired lips. He moved closer and touched the side of her face, moving to the back of her neck. He couldn’t get enough of her and he greedily took. He heard her moan and he guided his tongue over her open mouth.

  Julie shuffled over to him on her knees, swinging a leg over and straddling his lap. He sat up tall to mold their bodies together. Her wet bra and warm stomach rubbed against him as he explored her bare back with his hands, playing with the clasp of her bra.

  Her hand
s rubbed his back and he felt the passion flowing between them. The intensity of her kisses made him forget everything, the pain, the fire, the Preston Six. It was just them. He finally pinched the clasp the right way and it popped open.

  Julie moved back breathing hard, her mouth open and lust in her eyes. “My bra’s soaking wet,” she said in a heavy breath. She reached up and pulled the straps down each arm.

  Lucas took quick breaths and watched the motions. He couldn’t believe he was about to finally see her topless.

  Julie stopped, holding her bra against her chest. “You hear that?”

  “It’s just my heart pounding.”

  Their makeshift door opened. “Hey guys—Holy mother. Oh, God. I’m so sorry.” he said, covering his eyes and stumbling backward.

  Julie fell forward into Lucas. “Oh my God.” Pressing her bra against her chest she scrambled to the other side of the duct.

  Lucas trembled and caught one last look at Julie before she connected the back of her bra. He didn’t need the light of the Panavice to see the red on her face. He breathed in and tried to slow his heart rate down. “Well, that happened.”

  Julie shook her head and sat back with her hands over her face. “So embarrassing.”

  Hank called out, “I’m sorry guys. You can finish up if you want.”

  They looked at each other and started laughing.

  “Poor Hank’s never going to be able to look at us the same,” Julie said. She leaned over to grab his shirt, and gave him a mischievous smile when she handed it to him. “We’ll have to find a time to pick up where we left off.”

  She was so gorgeous. He wanted more of her now. Dang Hank and his interruptions.

  Julie yanked her shirt over her head and stepped out of the metal box. Lucas pulled his shirt on; it was still wet and stuck to his body.

  Stepping out of the metal box, she turned around. “You coming?”

  Lucas adjusted his pants. “Just give me a minute.” He thought of little league baseball and after a while, he was ready to stand. Lucas peered at the sky when he exited his new favorite place on Ryjack, and the moon was peeking through the clouds above.

  “Sorry for opening the door, guys,” Hank said. As Julie had predicted, he couldn’t look at either of them.

  “I told you it was fine,” Julie’s said.

  “A few more minutes,” Lucas muttered under his breath. “You couldn’t have waited a few more—”

  “I can see the tar pits, and nothing is moving. You think they all died in the fire?” Hank asked, purposely speaking over Lucas and still not looking at them.

  “They should have been incinerated in that much heat.” Julie walked to the edge of the roof.

  Lucas let out a long breath and thought about what they were here to do. His friends were somewhere down there. “We still need to get off this roof.” Grinners filled the lower floors of their building.

  They spent the next ten minutes walking the perimeter with Julie’s light. “Just like I said before, there’s no way down.”

  “Then we fight our way out,” Hank said.

  “Are you crazy?” Julie said. “There are like fifty of them down there.”

  “Well, what can we do then?” Hank asked.

  “I don’t know, we’ll think of something. Lucas?”

  He knew what he had to do . . . even if it meant telling them his little secret. “I will go down alone and take care of them all. When I’m done, I’ll come get you guys.”

  “No offense, but what makes you think you can kill them all?” Hank asked. “You’re not Joey.”

  “They won’t touch me. I don’t know what it is, but they don’t see me as a threat. I think it’s been like this since the bite.”

  “That’s how you made it through that room under the casino, isn’t it?”

  Lucas nodded.

  Julie staggered back, with her hand over her mouth. “You carry it still. Whatever it is, it’s still in you. They think you’re dead, like them.”

  Lucas looked at the gravel roof and kicked some pebbles with his foot. He sighed and looked to the sky, the moon moved behind a cloud. He didn’t want to be different, but he was. In some sick way, he was part grinner. Summoning the courage to peer into Julie’s eyes, he found her frightened. How could he blame her? She probably thought his saliva could infect her. His chances with her were tossed over the roof like a bag of trash. He didn’t regret telling them, they needed to know.

  He turned and made his way to the metal box, grabbing Prudence and his bag of arrows. Prudence never judged him, she didn’t care if he had something in him, if he was different. She shot her arrows straight and true for him. It was all he could ask. He opened the hatch leading back down into the floors below and gazed down into the darkness.

  “How can you be sure they won’t attack you?” Julie asked.

  “I just know.”

  “But you’ve only tested this once. These things could be different. You might be different.” The panic built in her voice.

  “I’ll be fine, I promise. Soon as I’m done, I’ll come get you.” He pulled the hatch over his head and the room plunged into darkness. He sighed and opened the hatch back up. Julie with an eyebrow cocked handed him her Panavice.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  He held the Panavice in his mouth and moved down the ladder. At the bottom he turned and was face to face with a large man with a black mouth staring at him. His rancid breath made Lucas want to gag. He kept the Panavice in his mouth and pulled an arrow from his quiver. The thin steel made it hard to grasp, but he tightened his grip and plunged the arrow into the man’s head. It fell to the floor. The sound made every nearby grinner turn in his direction.

  He didn’t need any testing to see they didn’t care he was there. Before his bite, they would have been falling over each other to get to him. Now they meandered around, searching. The sound enticed them and they moved toward it.

  Lucas pulled an arrow and shot it into another head. He repeated this until every arrow was used in his quiver. It took a few minutes to collect his arrows and stow them. It was gruesome work and he cringed each time he had to pull an arrow from a skull.

  With a full quiver and the third floor clear, he moved to the second floor and repeated his work. His arm began to feel sore from the pulling of the stiff bow and yanking arrows from rotten heads. His fingertips got raw from the string, but it was a job that could only be done by him.

  A grinner trotted by at the sound of his fallen brethren flopping on the floor. He’d stopped wincing at them being close to him. Sighing, he pulled an arrow back and shot it into the head of the trotter. The dead bodies around him sickened him. He almost liked it more when they wanted to kill him. Having them give him a pass, felt like being included in some horrible club no one wanted to be in.

  A grinner nudged against his arm as it staggered by. He fired an arrow and then finished clearing out the second floor. The lobby and restaurant only held a few grinners and he dispensed with them quickly. Gathering his arrows, Lucas ran up the stairs and up the ladder. He pushed open the hatch.

  “Oh, thank God.” Julie rushed to him and hugged his head. He clumsily held her with one arm. “You were down there for a long time.”

  “Yeah, there were more than a hundred.” Lucas pulled himself from the hatch and onto the roof. He handed Julie her Panavice.

  “Are these teeth marks?”

  “Hey, I don’t have a third hand.”

  She wiped it on her shirt and stuffed it into her pocket.

  “You’re welcome, I just spent an hour or so in hell, clearing that building for you guys.”

  “Thanks, man.” Hank patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s go get them.”

  The street smelled of fresh rain mixed with the rancid smell of burnt tires. Steam rose from the partially collapsed building they once stood on. The rain cleaned off a lot of the filth and if Lucas focused on a particular section of the city, it seemed normal.

  “Everyo
ne watch for grinners. There were tens of thousands of them down here,” Lucas said. He glanced at Julie, hoping she was staring at him, but she held her Panavice like a flashlight and stared ahead. Did she think of him any different now? How could she not? He was a freak.

  “So are we going to just knock on their front door?” Julie asked.

  “Yeah, basically. The fire should have driven any MM guys away from the door. We might have a chance of surprise.”

  “Then what? They have guns.”

  “Hey, I’m just as deadly with Prudence.” He held her high. “Fine, to be on the safer side, I can get to the door first.”

  The large moon shone too much light down on the field of burnt bodies laid out in front of them. The smell of rain, tar, and BBQ filled the air. His nose soaked in the new smells. He wanted to gag and spit out every breath, but they had to keep moving. It wasn’t much further. The first hundred feet only had a spattering of charred bodies, but Lucas saw past the gate to where the bodies were packed together, sometimes three high.

  He pushed the gate open, sliding a blackened body with it. They passed the iron gates and stopped, looking for a path of any kind to the door. There wasn’t one. Lucas walked in front and nudged each body he passed with his foot. If they still breathed, he hoped it was enough to stir them. Each nudge resulted in a crunching sound as their clothes and flesh fell from their charred remains.

  The smell became overwhelming by the time they got to the middle of the wasteland. Lucas tried to push a grinner aside with his foot, but the thing’s clothes and skin slid off. Losing his footing, he fell. Its well-done body fell apart as Lucas landed on it. He jumped back to his feet and pulled a chunk of charred clothes stuck to his arm—at least he hoped it was clothes.

  “I think I’m going to throw up.” Julie held her stomach and leaned over a pile of bodies, hurling on top of them. Hank, behind her, grabbed at his mouth. Lucas didn’t feel any nausea but felt the guilt as his friends suffered the grossest thing he’d ever walked through.