He gave a slight shrug. “Better late than never.”
“And I mean, really, what the hell I was waiting for?” I watched as he raised himself up on one elbow so that he was looking down at me.
“The end of the world, apparently.” Though he smiled, that look smoldered in his eyes and my heart jumped at the feel of his lips brushing softly against mine. My hands found their way through his hair then jerked back at his hiss of pain.
“Oh my god, Lane. I’m so sorry! Let me see if I opened it up.”
He gave a shake of his head. “It’s fine.” He pressed his palm against the side of his head and pulled it away. “See? No blood.”
I groaned inwardly. What I wouldn’t give for some time alone with him right now. Something must have shown on my face.
“What’s wrong?” Lane ran his thumb over my cheek.
“I wish… I just…” I frowned, trying to find the words I wanted. “I want to go home. I want to go check on Iggy. I want this to be a really bad and really long nightmare. I wish that instead of being in the truck, we were on our couch. You’d be sitting with your legs stretched out and I’d be lying on your lap. We could watch a movie. We’d be having a beer and nachos… I’d kill for a fucking beer right now.” I stopped my rambling to swallow down the lump forming in my throat.
“It will be okay.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but someone will figure it out and they’ll find a way to fix it. We’re safe here for now.” He maneuvered over the shift stick settled himself beside me. I laid my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes as he smoothed my hair.
“Lane?”
“Hmmm?”
I looked up at him and raised a hand to touch his cheek. My heart skipped, my lips brushed over his, and I took a deep breath. I remembered all those times I’d told him, but at the same time hadn’t told him. I decided that from now on, for whatever time we had left, he’d know.
“I love you, Lane. Always have.”
His smile melted every bone in my body. “I love you, Gabrielle. Always will.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The furnace kicked in and I pulled a bunny hug over my head. Pete gave a whistle, turned away from the window and gave a disbelieving shake of his head.
“That’s just nuts. I can’t see a thing out there. There has to be close to two feet on the ground and it’s not letting up.”
“Fucking snow,” mumbled Grant.
I blew my breath out of my nose. “Mother Nature must be menopausing,” I offered in way of an explanation.
“Yeah, well, she’s messing with our plans.” Grant tossed a ball he’d made out of duct tape to Brent who lobbed it to John who back handed it to Max. Jason walked into the room from the back with a yawn.
“What’s happening?”
Lane took a sip of his coffee. “We’re snowed in.”
Jason turned on his heels and headed back to his blankets. The wind howled past the building.
“You’d never guess we were all in tank tops yesterday.” Jenny looked tiny wearing one of Shawn’s bunny hugs. She pulled the sleeves up. “Have you ever wondered why we call these things bunny hugs? I asked the new kid at school where’s he’d gotten his new one from and he looked at me like I’d grown a second head.”
John grinned. “I don’t think I’ve called them hoodies once in my entire life.”
“I really think it’s just a Saskatchewan thing.” Grant nodded along with Brent.
“What makes you think that?” Pete looked up from where he was changing Ashley’s diaper.
“We took a road trip to Calgary last year,” Brent explained. “I asked one of the store clerks at Walmart where their bunny hugs were. He had no clue what I was talking about.”
I left them to their bunny hug/hoodie discussion and went to pour myself a coffee then headed over to where Lizzy was sitting on the stairs by herself.
“Hey, Liz.”
“Hey.” Her glare didn’t move from where Max was talking with Jenny.
“How are you doing?”
“Good.”
“You’re sure?” I joined her in watching her boyfriend with the new girl.
“I said I’m fine.” The glare honed in on me for a fraction of a second before returning to Max.
“You know he loves you, right?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know. I just…”
“You just what?”
“I don’t know.”
I frowned. “You two are inseparable.”
Lizzy shrugged. “Things change it seems.”
“Really? Because you’re sitting here glaring daggers at the pair of them.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Instead of leaving, I stayed beside her, waiting for when she’d open up. It took much less time than I’d anticipated.
“He broke my trust, Gabs. He promised he wouldn’t tell anyone what was happening and he went ahead and told you.”
“Because he was worried about you.”
“Whatever.”
I managed to stop my eyes from rolling as she dismissed my statement with that word.
“And now there’s this.” She gestured to Max and Jenny. “He doesn’t talk to girls.” She glanced at me before continuing. “Ever. He doesn’t talk to them. Well, he talks to you and Marie, but that’s about it. And girls, they don’t talk to him. He’s scary. His reputation precedes him and everyone knows he’s a loose cannon. That doesn’t even matter. He just has that air that keeps people away. But this one doesn’t flinch. Hell, she handled his freaky eye bit better than I did.
“I can handle his temper and I can handle his fits, but this... whatever it is that’s wrong with him is freaking me out.” She wiped her palms on her jeans and I noticed her hands were shaking.
“Other than Max talking to girls and having silver eyes, how are you feeling?”
She smirked and shook her head. “I forgot how shitty it was. You know, the whole not getting it when you need it bit.” She put her head in her hands. “Fuck! I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking.”
Max jogged up the stairs. He bent down and kissed Lizzy on the lips then flashed me a smile.
“What are we talking about?”
I smiled. “Not much. How are you feeling?”
He shrugged and took a seat between us. “Good. Normal. I feel the same as I always do until the Yellow Eyes show up. You know, I actually feel better than usual. I feel…” He frowned, searching for the words he needed. “I feel in control.” His eyes met mine. “Does that make sense?”
“You mean anger-wise?”
He nodded. “Usually, I feel on edge all the time; like I know any little thing could set me off. Right now, I feel like someone could hit me and I’d be okay with it. I swear, Gabs, I could just walk away.” He beamed at the thought and I grinned.
“That’s fantastic, Maxy.”
His smile slipped at the sight of Lizzy wringing her hands together. “How are you feeling, Baby?” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against him.
“Like shit.”
He pressed his lips to her hair and I watched her relax.
“Better now that you’re here, though,” she mumbled and snuggled closer to him.
Another gust of wind blew past the building. I gave Max a pat on the shoulder and Lizzy a squeeze on the arm then made my way back down the stairs. By the sounds of the storm outside, it was going to be a long couple of days.
Lane smiled and put his arm around my shoulders as I sat beside him on the couch. I leaned into him and closed my eyes.
“So, do we have a theory?”
Robby grunted. “Too many to count.”
I smirked. “How many make sense?”
Shawn chuckled. “None.”
“Alright. Let’s hear them.”
“Well, my personal favorite, would be Lane’s first attempt at a guess.” Pete grinned and Lane rolled his eyes.
&nbs
p; “I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.”
Every stopped talking and gawked at Jenny. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “I took this picture yesterday morning. Shawn, you remember those three dead ones we found in front of Superstore?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s probably because of what I was thinking with Maddy and Haley, but I noticed this. I don’t know why I took a picture of it.” She frowned as she hit buttons on her phone. “Here.” She handed it to Robby and we all gathered behind him to see the picture.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” exclaimed Robby.
“What is it?” I bent closer, not really wanting to see what had caused his distress. He handed me the camera and I found myself looking at a dead woman, her dark blue button up shirt only part ways done up to reveal the white tank top underneath.
He exhaled loudly. “Maddy had one like this.”
“You can’t be serious.” I stared at the picture, trying to get my brain to accept what it was seeing. “Really? ‘Proud Vegetarian: Save those without a voice’?”
Lane let out a frustrated breath out of his nose and I stood so I could lean back against him.
Shawn was gaping at his brother. “That can’t be the connection. I mean, right?”
“What did you guys find? Do we know what we’re dealing with?” Brent seemed reluctant to come see the picture. Grant stood shoulder to shoulder with him, his face pale.
Lane ran his hands over his face then gave my arms a squeeze. “It looks like we’re dealing with meat-eating vegetarians.”
Everyone looked at Lane and the silence could have choked us if we’d let it. I nearly jumped out of my skin as Max burst out laughing behind us.
“Oh, my god, Lane…” He took a few deep breaths but couldn’t seem get a hold of himself. “Do you… have… any idea… how retarded that… sounds?”
I tried to stop from smiling but couldn’t hide the twitch of my lips. Lane glared at me. Once the smile won out it was mere seconds before the laughter broke through. “That would definitely be the worst zombie movie ever.” I hugged his arm. “That can’t be it.”
He smirked. “Fine. It sounds retarded.”
“It doesn’t sound any more retarded than anything else we could think up,” offered Robby who’d come to stand by us.
“Like what?” John was grinning.
“Aliens.”
We all stared at Grant.
“What? You guys can say zombies and possessed meat-eating vegetarians and I can’t say aliens?” He looked so insulted another wave of laughter filled the shop.
“Dude!” Brent was laughing so hard he barely managed to choke out the word.
“Demons.” Shawn shrugged as he tossed his idea into the pile.
“You’ve been watching Supernatural again, haven’t you,” teased Jenny. Her grin turned to a frown and we all looked to where she was staring at Max. He stared back at her, a scowl on his face.
“So, if these things were demons, what would that make me?”
The lines of her face softened and a small smile curled her lips. “An angel.”
His frown deepened as he gazed at her silently. Lizzy snorted.
“Right. Maxy, the angel.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “That makes even less sense than meat-eating vegetarians.”
“You know, for the woman who’s supposed to love him, you sure treat him like shit.”
Everyone gawked at Jenny who was having a glaring contest with Lizzy, though none of us looked as shocked as Max. Jenny broke eye contact with Lizzy so that she looked at Max.
“Sorry. None of my business.” She turned on her heels and headed into the back room.
Lizzy whirled on Max. “What did you tell her!”
“Nothing! We were talking about movies.” He watched as she stalked towards the stairs then turned his attention to John who was chuckling.
“I’m going to admit, Maxy… You caught in the middle of a cat fight was one of the last things I expected to see. It’s right up there with human-eating vegetarians and demons.” He grinned and pounded fists with a bewildered Max. “Right on, man.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A couple of days turned into three and the monotony of being stuck in the shop was starting to get on everyone’s nerves. The boys were playing with their duct tape ball and Lizzy was upstairs where she’d been for the past three days. Jenny was sitting with her brothers on the couch with Pete, Marie, and Jason across from them. By the looks of it, the Harris’s were winning the poker hand. I lay on the passenger side of the one ton and Lane lay on the driver’s side.
“What do you figure?”
Lane grunted. “I figure that if we don’t get out of here soon, there won’t be any of us left for the Yellow Eyes to kill when they find us.”
“Do you think we should try heading into town?” I frowned. With no one to work the plows the highway would be almost impassable. The snow and wind had died down, but the drifts would be hell to get through.
“I don’t know what to do.” He sounded so tired.
“Hey. Cheer up.” My comment awarded me another grunt. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Do you think… do you think Iggy is okay?”
“I hope so.”
Both of us frowned and glanced at each other.
“Is that…?” I sat up and got out of the truck.
“Dude! It’s raining!” Grant jumped up onto one of the boxes and looked out the window.
I shook my head. “This is unreal.”
Max frowned. “Do you think the weird ass weather has something to do with the Yellow Eyes?”
Lane shrugged. “I don’t have a fucking clue.” He ran his hands over his face.
“Um, guys? My cell’s not getting any reception.” Robby was walking around the building, looking at the bars on his phone.
“Me neither.” Shawn put his to his ear. “It’s telling me my service provider is unavailable.”
Pete ran to the office and came back a fraction of a minute later. “Land line is down, too.”
My heart was starting to pound against my ribs. Were the Yellow Eyes smart enough to take out communication systems or had the storm managed to knock down cell towers and phone lines?
“TV’s out, too.” Lane was staring at the screen, worry clear on his face. One deep breath seemed to fill him with enough strength to pull himself together. “We go to town, we grab what we can, and we come home.”
Everyone nodded.
“Gabby, Maxy, Lizzy and and John, we’ll take the one ton. Pete, get me your keys, we’ll hit up your place. You can stay here with Marie and Ashley.”
Pete opened his mouth to object and was abruptly cut off.
“It’s not up for discussion.” Lane ran a hand over his face. “Shawn, Robby, Jason, Brent and Grant, you guys go together.”
“What about me?” Jenny frowned and took a step forward.
“There’s not enough room in the half ton. You can stay here.” If Jenny had been about to argue, a look from Lane was enough to stop her. He handed her and Pete each a rifle. “If anything comes near, shoot it.”
The two of them nodded. Everyone grabbed their jacket and a weapon then piled into the trucks.
Dark blue eyes met mine. “Ready?”
I nodded.
“Alright, Pete!”
Pete pulled the overhead door open and Lane accelerated into the deep snow outside of the shop, kicking the truck into four by four.
“You know, there’s not half as much snow as I thought there would be,” observed Lizzy.
“No kidding,” I agreed. Though the snow was deep and Lane had to speed through the drifts, the rain and warm temperatures that had returned during the night had managed to melt away a lot of the original snowfall. I glanced back to make sure that Robby was following along behind us in the smaller truck. I looked in awe at the now completely white landscape that had been starting to grow green just a few days prior.
Grant gave me a w
ave as we headed straight down fifteenth street while they turned right onto fifteenth avenue. I closed my eyes and sent a small prayer up to God. Please, let them stay safe. Lane pulled into the Midtown area and stopped in front of Pete and Marie’s house.
“Ok, we need to grab diapers, bottles, everything that has anything to do with Ashley.” I glanced around before opening the door and running to the house.
The instant I entered the entrance, I gagged.
“Son of a bitch!”
Max turned away from the dead bodies in living room and blocked Lizzy’s view of them. I swallowed the bile threatening to rise and closed my eyes. It didn’t take much of an imagination to see what Pete had walked in on almost a week ago.
“Lizzy, you’re on door duty. If you see anyone coming up the street, give a yell.” Lane gave her shoulder a squeeze to reassure her.
I took my duffle bag to the baby’s room and started to put everything I could into it. Max grinned and pulled six bags of diapers out of the closet.
“Jackpot.”
I laughed.
In the kitchen, I could hear Lane and John going through the cupboards and putting non-perishable items into their bags.
“So how are you doing, Maxy?”
He shrugged. “As well as anyone else, I guess.”
“You really have no idea what the silver eyes thing is about?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Really, Gabs? Like if I had a rat’s ass of a clue I’d be keeping it a secret…” He shook his head. “I have no idea, but I am pretty sure I’m not an angel.” He rolled his eyes at the notion and I smiled.
“I wouldn’t dismiss the idea.”
He snorted. “All I’ve ever done since I could move around was destroy things. I’m pretty much the opposite of angelic.” Max shot a sly glance in my direction. “So, maybe I’m reading things wrong, but you and Lane…” He grinned at my blush. “It’s about fucking time, you know.”
I laughed. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. That was one of the most annoying things about working with you guys; having to watch you pretend you didn’t want each other.”
Angered Seasons: Volume Two (Zombies, Aliens, and Meat-Eating Vegetarians?) Page 3
