I was listening to Claire, hoping that the baby was fine. She was panicking, but Nick was doing a great job calming her down. Once she was calm, her pains subsided. I breathed a sigh of relief from the back seat. Henry pulled the gauze pad away from my head.
“Looks like it’s good.” He grabbed another gauze pad and put some vodka on it. I took a few deep breaths. “Here, hold my hand and squeeze, if need be. Just don’t break it.” He smiled. Asshole. I took his hand and closed my eyes. I winced before he even touched my head. “I haven’t touched you yet.”
“I know. It’s the anticipation.” Once he dabbed my forehead, I hissed. I squeezed the shit out of his hand, growling in pain. That wasn’t the worst part. After he dried off the gash, he held the skin together and ran a bead of superglue over it. It stung so much, I nearly pissed my pants. He held the gash together while the glue dried.
“Ow! Damn it, Henry!” I wanted to kick him in the tomatoes.
“Sorry, love.” He held it for a little while longer and let go with a smile. He seemed quite pleased with himself. “All better.” He kissed my cheek. “Just be careful, and don’t furrow that forehead of yours. Or make any faces at me behind my back.” I couldn’t help it, I had to laugh. Then I stuck out my tongue at him for good measure. He cupped my face with his hand and kissed me. I turned my attention to Claire.
“How are you feeling, Claire?” I was full of concern.
“I think I’m okay. The pains have gone away for now. Maybe it was a mix of stress and dehydration.”
“Just try to relax the best you can.”
She laughed at me. “Yes, Mother. I’ll do my best.” I smirked. “How’s your head?”
“Hurts like a bitch.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Henry drinking out of a bottle of vodka. Perfect. I rolled my eyes. He took a few pulls before he capped it and set it down on the floorboard.
“I’m going to head out and wander a bit, see where we’ll be able to cross over. Looks like this area was heavily bombed.” He rubbed my hand and jumped out. He pulled out his Sig before turning back around to us. “Thomas, keep an eye on the women. Nick, come on.” He hesitantly left Claire’s side, but not before he kissed her cheek and touched the baby bump.
Thomas stepped out of the truck and walked around with a rifle in his hand. I watched Henry and Nick walk away toward the crater and walk along the edge until I couldn’t see them anymore. The sides of the roads looked like grassy fields with tall brush close to the road.
I fiddled with my fingers, bounced my knee, played with the fray on my hoodie sleeve, and twisted my hair in my fingers until I saw them walk back to the truck.
Henry opened the back door and grabbed the bottle. He had a hearty drink, then proceeded to tell us where the crater ended, and that we should be able to navigate around it using four-wheel drive.
Obviously, Nick was driving. Henry didn’t like relinquishing control, but he wanted to help navigate from the passenger seat. He felt two pairs of eyes were better than one, even if his were peering through vodka goggles.
We settled Claire into the middle of the backseat, with her leaning against me. Thomas allowed her to rest her legs on him, as well. She was so worried about the baby that I could feel it radiating off of her. I played with her hair and tried to be reassuring.
Nick put the truck in four high and we headed to the left of the crater. He slowly and carefully drove us around it. There were times where Henry made him drop it into four low because some of the terrain was treacherous. It looked like a grassy area, but it was quite unleveled.
We finally made it back on the highway and Nick decided he would drive slower. I figured it was a good decision on his part because if he went any faster, I probably would have throat punched him.
Knowing we were much closer to our destination, my anxiety was kicking in again. I was afraid that Gunther was going to jump out and get us. My head was throbbing so I decided to indulge.
“Henry?”
“Yeah, love?”
“Pass that back to me.”
“Pass what back?” He looked back at me with confusion.
“The bottle, you moron. My head is killing me. Maybe it will numb me up.”
“Speaking from experience, I can assure you that it won’t. Maybe you should try to get some rest.” I glared at him with the good, old-fashioned raised eyebrow. He sighed and passed the vodka back to me.
I noticed half the bottle was gone already. I was anticipating another puke-fest. I surely wasn’t in the mood to help him through that. I tipped the bottle back and let the liquid pour down my throat. As I pulled the bottle away, the burn hit. I looked at the label. “Ugh. This is the cheap shit.”
“Would you like me to put an order in for the good stuff, straight out of Russia, to arrive at our next stop?” he said with great sarcasm. Asshole. How dare he? He knew that was my thing.
“Of course. Maybe you can have them stop in France and grab some Dom Pèrignon, as well.” He smirked at me, and I handed him back the bottle. Feeling the desire and need to change the subject, I asked, “So where exactly are we traveling to?”
“The port.”
“Why there?”
“It was planned out previously in the program. It’s where I’m supposed to meet him.”
“So you know exactly where we’re going?”
“Of course.” I sighed at him. He was hiding something again. He knew how I felt about that. I decided to let it go for the moment and sit quietly, hoping that the vodka would kick in soon. So far, no luck. Henry kept glancing back and checking on me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to.
At some point, I must have nodded off because when I woke up, it was dark. We were stopped in front of this creepy, dilapidated house.
Surprisingly, Henry was passed out, as well as Claire. Thomas and Nick got out to investigate. I sat waiting, keeping my fingers crossed that we were alone. Several minutes later, Nick came back to the truck.
“Looks good. It’s empty. No beds or furniture, though.” I sulked a little. He rolled his eyes at me. “Cut the shit, Lainy! What did you expect? A fucking five-star hotel?” He slammed the truck door and went to the back to start unloading. Grumpy much? He was really worried about Claire and the baby so I cut him some slack. He was pulling a Henry, and not sleeping very well, either. There were times when I would wake up in the middle of the night, and Nick would be chatting with him.
Henry stirred, and Claire sat up. I began the daunting task of waking Henry from his drunken slumber. Once I got him inside, I helped unload the truck. I was so fucking sick of loading and unloading the damn truck. It was getting beyond ridiculous. I couldn’t wait until we found a place where we could stay for a while. Hopefully, a more permanent place. I just wanted to be able to call some place home again.
***
When I woke up the next morning, Henry and Nick had the maps open on the floor. I wondered how long they had been at it, until I saw that the couple candles they had used were melted on the floor. They were quietly discussing different routes we could take to get to where Henry needed us to go.
Nick wanted to get somewhere that would have some sort of bed for Claire. She was growing increasingly uncomfortable. Plus, her legs and feet were swelling. Every minute of each day, Claire was becoming more and more worried about the baby. She was having contractions throughout the day, which worried me. She tried to convince me it wasn’t a big deal and it happened, but I could see the fear in her eyes. It was far too early for her to go into labor.
Nick made an executive decision after he spent a good portion of that morning trying to console Claire after another crying jag and said we were staying a few more nights in that run-down house. She needed to get rehydrated, and we needed to convince her to eat more than she had been.
All of us gave up close to all of our bedding and linens to try to make her as comfortable as possible. We had a long-winded argument over it because she worried we would get too cold. We told her we would pile
on the clothes, and not to worry about us. I wasn’t worried about Henry because, more than likely, he would keep warm with whatever bottle he was nursing.
Approximately a week later, we left that house and headed the direction Henry and Nick planned out. Once again, Nick was driving and Henry was helping navigate from the passenger seat with a bottle of booze clutched in his hand. We were getting extremely low on essential supplies, which meant food and water. However, for some reason, we had plenty of booze.
***
It was roughly another week before we finally made it to the approximate area where Henry was to meet Gunther. We were trolling down a country road when we saw signs of the bombings. The few houses that we saw were either burnt to the ground or dangerously close to collapsing. There were only a couple that looked like they could have still been lived in. It was so sad to see all of the destruction. As we drove past each house, we were all silent as one question lingered in the air around us.
Were there any survivors?
I hoped that we would run into some, at the very least to swap war stories with. The conversation between us pretty much consisted of Henry’s drunkenness, Thomas’ silence, Claire crying, Nick grumbling angrily, and me throwing out some sarcastic, witty comments here and there, which may or may not have been directed at the drunk in the truck. Needless to say, conversation had become quite dull.
As we continued down the seemingly abandoned road, we came up to a clearing.
“Well, would you look at that…?” Nick muttered in amazement. I sat straight up and looked out the front of the truck. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Chapter 44
“I
s that a school?” I asked in astonishment.It was untouched. The building was brick, one story, and was a decent size. Not too big, but it would be a great size for all of us. We saw a large parking lot off to the right side, and a playground toward the back and to the left. Further back, there was a wooded area that looked untouched, as well.
It wasn’t the same circumstance for every other building that was around the school. Some were just charred remains, others were falling down. There were a few that were untouched. The grass all around was burnt, but that would grow back eventually. The destruction was very random. As we came to a stop, I was thinking that it was possible that some of the damage could be from storms, but I wasn’t quite sure.
“Kind of looks like a school,” Henry replied. A few undeads, in various states of decay, were staggering about. “I’m going to take care of them.”
Henry checked his Sig and tucked it into the usual place. Then he pulled out his favorite long-bladed hunting knife. He always had a “don’t fuck with me” glimmer in his eyes every time that knife made a grand appearance. After seeing how he could wield the thing, I wouldn’t fuck with him.
He threw open the truck door and, without missing a beat, the undeads were attracted to us. They collectively staggered toward the truck. Henry jumped out and slammed the door. He marched right up to the closest one and plowed the knife right into his forehead. I shuddered. As many times as we had seen him in this manner, it was still impressive…although I was pretty sure I would never get used to seeing it.
At first, I watched between my fingers, but then we all watched in amazement as he took the undeads down in record time. In a way, it was a little bit of a turn on, seeing him slay them with such power and ease. Nick sat on edge, his hand on the door handle, just in case Henry got into trouble but, as usual, he didn’t. Once they were all true dead, Nick and Thomas got out and carried the already decaying bodies off into a ditch across the road.
Claire and I watched them in silence while they scoped out the school. They peered through the dusty windows as they walked around the building. I hopped out of the truck as Henry came back over to us. He had a little gore on his face. I wiped it off and, surprisingly, I didn’t gag. Go me!
“Thanks, love,” he said as he tucked a rogue strand of hair behind my ear.
I leaned into him and whispered in his ear, “You looked quite hot out there showing off your mad slaying skills.” He groaned loud enough for only me to hear. He pushed his body into mine, pressing me against the truck.
“I have some other skills I would like to show you later…if you will allow me, of course.” He was feeling insecure about our relationship, just as much as I was. He leaned in closer and nipped at my ear. Instantly, my body was ready for him. I was putty in his hands and he knew it.
“I may entertain your offer.” I looked up at him through my thick, black lashes. He smirked, but then stepped back.
“We’re going to check out the inside of the school. The windows are all papered over so we can’t really see much. I’m hoping it’s abandoned. So get loaded up, love.” I wilted back against the truck. He reached for me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just wish we had people to do this for us.” He laughed. Apparently, he thought that I was kidding. I wasn’t. As he walked away from me to the front of the truck, he yelled for me to grab an axe. I didn’t want to play that game anymore. Henry hollered for us to come up to the front of the truck. Captain Henry was back, and he was about to lay it all out for us.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Here’s the plan.” I felt like I was on a plane, listening to the takeoff instructions from the flight attendant. “We are going to clear the school. Use your bullets sparingly. Try to use an axe or a knife first.” Then he looked at Claire. “I don’t want you to do anything. Just walk with us. You’ll have your Sig. Once we find a room where you can hang out while we check out the rest of building, I want you to try to rest as much as you can.”
“I’ll try.”
“I want you to lock the door and try,” Nick demanded. “You are exhausted.” When he saw that her eyes began to water, he ran up to her. “Babe…” He grabbed her and held her. She sobbed into his chest. “Talk to me,” he murmured.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t feel well. I keep having contractions. I’m tired, I’m scared, I’m worried about the baby, I’m worried about you.” She continued to sob and curled her free arm around her stomach, as if she was holding the baby, comforting it. It broke my fucking heart.
“I know. I’m sorry.” He brought her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “This may be a good place for us to settle down and have the baby, alright? We’ll see what we find.” He gave her belly a comforting rub, then wiped her tears away. It gave me the warm fuzzies seeing their interaction with one another, regardless of the situation. They loved each another on an amazing level.
Henry jumped back into the truck and drove it around past us. He backed it up against the building so it was out of sight from the road. We all stood near the side entrance, waiting for him. He came around the corner with a rifle slung around his torso. My nerves danced and my throat felt tight as my master locksmith fiancé picked the lock on the side door. He opened it with caution and we all recoiled, waiting for the stench of death to hit us.
There was a lack of the essence of death, which was good because I really feared that. My poor stomach didn’t appreciate the onslaught of the horrific odor of death. We entered the school and, with quiet footsteps, walked through the hall.
We immediately spotted a sign that said CLINIC. Henry held up his fist, signaling us to stop. He touched the door handle. Locked. He pulled out his trusty tool set and, within a couple of seconds, the door popped open. He cleared it and nodded at Nick.
“Claire,” Henry whispered and waved toward the door. She hesitantly approached it. “Stay in here and lock the door.”
“It’ll be alright, babe.” Nick put his hand on the small of her back, urging her inside.
“But…what if something happens to you? How will I know?” He didn’t have an answer for her. She grimaced as the silence continued. He grabbed her arm.
“Claire, please. You need to rest, and you need to stay safe. I don’t want anything happening to you or my little one.” He palmed her belly. She nodded
and looked down, and a few tears escaped. Nick kissed her on the forehead. “We will be back for you.” Just before she closed the door, I blew her a kiss. She flashed me a sad smile as she shut the door and turned the lock.
Nick put his hand on the door and his head sagged. He was choking back his tears. I touched his shoulder, and he shook his head. He fought valiantly, trying to not allow his emotions get the best of him.
“It’s going to be okay. I have a good feeling about this.” His jaw trembled as he forced a few deep breaths. We heard Claire sobbing behind the door and it was tearing him to pieces. It took him a moment before he could pull himself away.
We cleared through the majority of the school. We didn’t look into every closet and room that were behind some of the already closed and locked doors, but we were confident all was clear. It was small, but it was beyond grand to us. We discovered a lot of useful supplies. The impression that we got was that it was deserted.
I watched and waited for Henry from the doorway of the cafeteria. He looked ridiculously sexy standing there with his hands on his hips, scanning the room. He turned around and smiled when he saw me.
“Well, let’s bring in our stuff. As long as no one barges in on us, I say it’s ours for now.” Nick took off and jogged down the hall to get to Claire. Thomas, Henry, and I walked down the hall behind him to go out and start unloading the truck.
Once we had unloaded everything, we locked the doors of the school. We chose to live in the first wing of classrooms because they were located in the central area. Our rooms were spaced out a bit from one another so we could have some sort of privacy. I was so happy that we wouldn’t be right next to one another.
The three men went back to the gym and carried all the mats to a bunch of the rooms. It was not quite a bed, but better than the hard floor. They set up Nick and Claire first. She needed to lie down and relax…or try to relax.
Broken Dreams Page 67
