Love and Decay, Season Two Omnibus: Episodes 1-12

by Higginson, Rachel

  Please don’t let them catch us. Please don’t let them catch us. Please don’t let them catch us.

  We were spread out enough that we could hide easily in the thick brush, but these men were trained killers. And they had been through enough that they knew what to listen and look for.

  The only saving grace about the constant ducking and hiding, was that there were enough men meandering through the forest with loaded weapons that they couldn’t distinguish our quiet footsteps from that of their companions a few yards off.

  We had dressed in black from head to toe, so we also fit into their mercenary-uniform.

  But men were everywhere. I felt shocked with the sheer number of them. How many people lived at the Colony? These guys couldn’t be on watch every hour of every day. So assuming there were shifts of at least three or four teams, and that they surrounded the entire town, there had to be hundreds of them.

  Matthias was growing his cult-like town into an actual civilization.

  If the Zombie problem were ever taken care of completely and mankind allowed to rule this country again of its own free will, who would the job title of Commander in Chief go to? I’ll tell you who, Matthias Allen with his entire city of voters and weaponry.

  This had been what Tyler meant… what Miller referred to.

  The Colony wasn’t a random group of survivors for Matthias to protect and in his spare time get a little worship and adoration on the side. Oh, no. The Colony was Matthias Allen’s attempt at rebuilding America, with himself at the helm.

  This was an investment. The future. The love child of his inflated ego and unquenchable greed.

  This guy was in it for the long haul.

  Nelson stayed at my side. We both had our guns raised and our ears perked. They could come at us from every direction. They could see us through the thick trees and start shooting. They could drop down on us from above.

  The possibilities were endless.

  Adrenaline rushed through my blood and pounded in my ears. My senses went into overdrive as I assessed every next footstep and listened for any odd movement. I couldn’t remember another time in my life when I had been this scared.

  Other than all those times with the Feeders.

  However, this felt different.

  It was one thing to be eaten to death by a creature addicted to brains. It was another thing entirely to be shot down in cold blood by someone of your same species.

  We were supposed to be eradicating the Zombie infestation together. We were supposed to join hands, sing campfire songs and believe that tomorrow would be a better day than today.

  Instead, we were fighting each other in an attempt to gain power in a land where there might never be another opportunity to use it.

  He came up so swiftly, I didn’t notice him. I suspect I surprised him as much as he surprised me, though. I followed the path Gage had walked in front of me and came face to face with one of Matthias’s goons.

  We both jumped back a step, startled by the mirror image of another human being. I didn’t realize until later how lucky I had been that he hadn’t been frightened enough to shoot me on sight. But he was a young guy. Younger than me. He opened his mouth to say something or shout for help or something when Nelson’s arm came up from behind him and subdued him in a solid chokehold.

  Nelson brought him to the ground while the young kid fought and struggled to get out of Nelson’s suffocating grip. He had been caught off guard with Nelson’s arm and he’d managed to drop his gun on his way to the ground. By the time Nelson had laid him out on the forest floor, the kid’s eyes were drooping closed and his face flushed a brilliant shade of purple.

  Nelson set the guy’s head down and banged him right in the temple with the butt of his gun. He scooped up the kid’s discarded weapon and checked it out before slipping it into his pocket.

  “Come on,” he motioned to me. In another second he had turned around and we were back on the path, following Gage and Tyler. Vaughan was behind us and when I glanced back, he carefully stepped over the unconscious body like it was nothing.

  “Holy hell, Nelson!” I whispered harshly at him. “What was that?”

  He shrugged and gave me a tentative glance over his shoulder. “Stuff my dad taught us.”

  I gaped at him. “And you never thought to use that before?”

  He gave me a crooked smile and dropped his voice even lower. “I know I made that look easy, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to knock a Feeder unconscious. Usually they keep trying to bite you.”

  Oh, right. “Oh.”

  “Did that freak you out?” He looked a little nervous.

  “If by freak me out, you mean, did I find that irresistibly sexy and want to jump your bones this very second. Then yes, it did freak me out.”

  “I’ve been working on this for months and you’re just now telling me that all I needed to do was choke somebody?

  I grinned at him.

  Vaughan whisper-shouted, “Shut up, you two!”

  We shut up.

  I could see glimmers of buildings in front of us. The thick trees started to break up into bigger clearings and green grass started to poke through the heavy blanket of fallen leaves.

  We were almost there.

  But then what?

  We had a game plan to get into the building, but there hadn’t been much of an organized idea of how we were going to get out.

  I assumed it would go something like: Scream and run for your lives.

  The closer we got to the school, the thicker the men in the forest became. Pretty soon we could only move a few feet at a time before we had to stop and creep into cover. This became increasingly difficult the more the trees spread out.

  Finally, we were at the edge of the tree line with the football field and school in front of us. Gage and Tyler were ahead of us and Vaughan, Nelson and I took cover in a thick brush of chest-high bushes.

  I steadied my breathing and waited for this next part one of the most dangerous segments of this mission. I didn’t know if it would work or not, but it could be the only way to get inside.

  My heart pounded double-time in my chest and I swear I could feel each pump of blood as it pushed through my veins. I didn’t panic often. I mean, sure, glimpses of hysteria every once in a while, but nothing like this, nothing like the fear and anxiety that spiked through my body at an alarming rate.

  And the thing was, I didn’t even really like Tyler!

  Okay, that was a lie. I liked her. Let’s be honest, as ridiculous as she could be, I loved the girl like she was family. And now, watching her walk into her father’s camp with her gun lowered and as vulnerable as ever, I wanted to scream at her to run. I wanted to start shooting everything in sight and drag her by her pretty dark head back to where it was safe, where she would be safe.

  Nelson reached out and linked his pinky with mine. It was such a small gesture but it worked miracles on my increasing mania. His little finger rubbed a sweet trail up and down my finger. The skin-to-skin contact soothed my frayed, frenzied nerves and I relaxed enough to examine our scenario rationally.

  The clicking of guns and swooshing of clothing re-sparked my panic but Gage and Tyler handled this perfectly.

  “I’m not here for a fight,” Gage quickly explained. He raised his gun up with his surrendered hands. “Tyler wants to come home. I just want to deliver her and be on my way. I truly come in peace today.”

  “Kane tried to pick Tyler up yesterday. She didn’t show up.” Some kid shouted at Gage, completely calling out his bullshit lie.

  Smart kid.

  “I held her back yesterday,” Gage answered. “I didn’t think she was serious. Today… today she has convinced me differently.” He sounded as distraught as he was supposed to but the guys around him just stared at him unsure whether to shoot now, or take him to Matthias and shoot later.

  “Call Kane,” someone else ordered.

  I held my breath while someone ran after the worst human being on the pla
net. Five minutes later, Kane sauntered across the field looking pissed as hell.

  “Tyler? What the hell?” he shouted halfway to her.

  “Hey, big brother,” she grinned at him.

  “I drove all the way over there yesterday. Where were you?”

  She shrugged and gave Gage a sidelong glance. Gage gritted his teeth and took a step in front of Tyler. I couldn’t tell if this was Gage acting protectively or him actually being protective.

  Either way, it seemed to add credibility to his story, so maybe a little of both.

  “I kept her yesterday. I hoped she would change her mind.” Gage lowered his gun to his side now that Kane was around. I noticed that even though Kane’s hands were empty, he was in fact, armed from toes to teeth.

  “You kept her from coming home? What gives you the right to tell her what to do, Tennison?” I assumed Tennison was Gage’s last name. Kane didn’t wait around for me to log new facts. “She’s a grown woman. Why don’t you let her make her own decisions?”

  Gage wasn’t having that, not even when he was surrounded by men with guns. “Because she’ll be able to make all her own decisions here? Because you’re some kind of women’s rights advocate? Screw you, Allen. I, at least, have her best interest at heart.”

  “You have her panties at heart, you white trash piece of shit.” Kane stepped forward with fists balled at his sides.

  So, Gage and Kane still hated each other.

  “You’re such a-”

  Tyler stepped forward and put a delicate hand on Gage’s puffed up chest. “I didn’t come back so you two could catch up. I want to see Miller.”

  “Fine,” Kane bit out. “Let’s go.” He turned around and gestured with a stiff nod of his head. Tyler and Gage were escorted by ten of the guys into the school. The rest of the men went back to their patrol.

  Okay, so that was as easy as we’d planned for it to be.

  Now for the hard part. Now for all the other hard parts.

  The three of us remaining, extricated our bodies from the tangle of leaves and pointy branches and started working our way to the north of the school. Kane had taken Tyler and Gage in through the front doors, our plan was to make it in through a secret exit on the side that backed up directly to the forest.

  Back when Miller and Tyler had tried to escape the Colony on their own, Tyler had sent Miller out an obscure window in the very back of the school building. It was supposed to be one of those half windows that latched to close. Tyler and Miller had left it open so Miller could run back to their old home, grab what guns and food had been left behind and sneak back in through that same window to get Tyler.

  Of course, we foiled Miller’s plans that night. Initially that had turned out well for the two runaway Allens. There was no way they could have made it on their own. Neither one of them could even load or shoot a gun. Up until Miller got captured, I was proud of us for intervening and keeping them safe.

  Now I wasn’t so sure we’d done the right thing.

  Not only was Miller back in his merciless father’s custody, but Reagan had earned herself a super scary stalker in the form of Kane.

  But I supposed this was better than Tyler dragging Miller into the middle of the Apocalypse unprepared and unarmed.

  Picking our way across the forest line was slow and nerve-racking. The men seemed to thin out now that a bunch of them had disappeared into the school building, but that wouldn’t last forever.

  At least they seemed to be keeping the Feeders away. For that I could be grateful.

  The window we were supposed to crawl through finally came into sight, just in time for us to be jumped by two henchmen walking a path on the green behind the school.

  The most important thing was to keep them silenced. That meant no shooting, screaming or running away for help. Thankfully, we had two seconds head start while they talked with each other, unaware they were about to come upon us. We froze in our tracks while they pushed through a thick crop of trees.

  I held my gun straight at them, ready and waiting for them to notice me. They both reared their heads back and started to lift their own AK’s. Nelson and Vaughan struck simultaneously. They slid forward with their feet extended and swept the two guys’ feet out from underneath them.

  I dove forward with the butt of my gun poised to strike. The first guy didn’t see it coming until the handle of my gun connected right with his temple. His eyes rolled into the back of his head before he lost consciousness. Vaughan managed to do the same thing to the other guy and snapped his head up to gape at me.

  “When did Nelson teach you that?” He shook his head at me, unbelieving of what he had just seen.

  I pursed my lips, pretending to think about it for a few seconds. “Um, about thirty minutes ago. Or around there. Maybe forty-five?”

  That caused Vaughan to gape some more. “You just picked that up from what he did to the first guy?”

  “Sure did.” I smiled sweetly. “I’m a really fast learner. Are we ready to break into the school now?”

  I turned around to survey the back of the school when I heard Nelson whisper, “I told you she was smart, didn’t I? Super smart.”

  “And now I believe you,” Vaughan admitted.

  I waved them on and a second later we sprinted across the open yard. At least this part of the school was semi-hidden from the rest of the armed men. There wasn’t much back here and no doors, so the main concentration of activity happened on the other side of us.

  We got to the window and I immediately tucked my gun safely away. Nelson didn’t waste time in boosting me up, with one of my sneakered feet balanced on his bent thigh. This was a classic lift from my years as a cheerleader and Nelson executed it perfectly.

  Wait until I told him that. Ha!

  I wedged my fingers underneath the splintered wood and pulled with everything I had in me. I was fully aware that we got maybe one shot at this. The window creaked back and I dug my fingernails in and kept pulling. Splinters dug beneath my nail beds and I regretted making fun of Reagan last night for complaining about this very same thing.

  As I recalled, I kept saying something like, “Stop being a baby! How bad can a little sliver hurt?”

  Well, now I had my answer. A freaking lot!

  The window finally gave with the force of my strength and I pushed it all the way opened. Vaughan stepped up and both of the boys wordlessly lifted me through the window.

  My stomach scraped against the metal frame and my t-shirt got caught on a jagged shard and tore open on the side. I struggled to breathe through the pressure on my waist.

  Once half of my body teetered through the window, I frantically searched for something to catch my fall, but there was nothing and the boys kept pushing from their end. I couldn’t exactly yell at them to stop, so instead, I braced my hands over my head and let the momentum carry me through to the hard floor and an old mop bucket on the other side.

  Holy hell that hurt!

  I worked out a nice tuck and roll because I had time to prepare so my head and neck would be saved. On the other hand, my back took the brunt of my weight and I wanted nothing more than to lie there until I stopped wanting to cry.

  Unfortunately I couldn’t. I jumped to sitting when the small window slammed shut without my body there to prop it open anymore.

  I cursed under my breath and desperately searched around what looked like a supply closet to find something to step onto and get the window open again. My fingers groped through the hazy dimness. Too much dust had been shaken into the air with my fall and I had to slip my shirt over my nose to keep from sneezing.

  Eventually, I found a folding chair that had been tucked behind a plastic shelf. I pushed it against the wall and climbed up in order to force the window open again. I peeked out of it first, just in case, and it was a good thing I had.

  Vaughan and Nelson were nowhere to be found. Instead a couple other goons had started searching the area. By the way their guns were raised and their shoulders te
nsed, I had to believe that they’d either found the bodies we’d incapacitated or they assumed that Feeders were in the area.

  “We’re already several men down thanks to Kane’s little mission,” I heard one of them say through the grimy window. His voice was muffled, but his words made sense to me because of Tyler and Gage. I ducked back down before they could spot me.

  I waited a couple minutes and peeked out again, hoping to see some sign that Nelson and Vaughan were still out there and waiting on me. They could easily have been captured since I took so long to get back to them. But I felt like I would have heard some shouting or gunfire or something. This window wasn’t exactly sound proof.

  I ducked down and decided to bide my time until Nelson and Vaughan thought it safe enough to attempt the window again.

  At this rate it would take us forever to get inside the school building. We needed to get our asses moving.

  I paced the cramped space anxiously and kept poking my head up, to see if they had reappeared. The other men were still searching the area though, so I wasn’t holding my breath that this little snag in our great plan was going to be over soon.

  A thought occurred to me and I eyed the closet door. The window might have been left open, but what about the door? If I was a member of the Colony, I would keep this one hella-locked. Like, all-the-time locked.

  With the window, a Feeder could theoretically find his way in here. But if the door was lost, they would at least have some warning before he managed to break it down.

  I walked over to the thick oak door and ran my hand over the smooth wood. The door handle was classic-school-house brass and filthy with dust and dirt. I wrapped my hand around it, careful not to make any noise.

  I held my breath and slowly turned the knob, hoping the door would easily click open.

  Of course, I wasn’t that lucky and the handle ran into the lock instead.

  Shoot!

  I ran back over to check on the Vaughan/Nelson progress, but still no sign of them. It didn’t help that I was afraid to keep my head up for too long, but in my short-term assessments, I saw nothing.

  Slightly freaking out, I hopped down from the chair and went back to the handle. I convinced myself I hadn’t tried hard enough before. If I put a little muscle behind this turn, it would open. It would do what I wanted.