The Dead Saga (Book 5): Odium V

by Claire C. Riley

  I feel Butcher’s hand on my shoulder. I know it’s him because it’s heavy and rough. When I look up he genuinely looks concerned. I watch the indecision cross his face, and then the shame when he looks at Shooter.

  “The Savages have taken Drag,” he finally says, his cheeks flushing pink out of shame. “And you know what that means.”

  Shooter takes notice now. He sits up straighter and I watch the twitch in his jaw speed up. His eyes flit from me back to Butcher.

  “I’m unarmed, brother, so if you’re going to do something, do it,” Butcher adds on. “There’s something else you should probably know, and I tell you this not to help you out, but because it might make you get the fuck out of my way so I can get back to my boys and form a damn army.”

  “What is it?” Shooter replies.

  “They don’t just provide water. They’re meat eaters.” Butcher falls silent for a moment, I’m presuming to let the other man think about his words. “So now you know.”

  “Cannibals?” he replies and Butcher nods.

  “They’ve got my friends too,” I say, clinging onto some desperate hope that maybe we can all work together and get my friends back. “They’ve got Phil, and Mikey,” I sob.

  The other man’s expression doesn’t change and I can see that my words hold no sway with him. As a matter of fact, Butcher’s words don’t seem to have made much difference either, or if they do, Shooter is too good at hiding the fact.

  I shake my head, feeling myself breaking down before it even happens. I look down into my hands and cry again, feeling pathetic and weak when I need to be anything but. I’m choking on my tears and fear and trying to stop myself, but all I can see is Ricky in that goddamned metal bath, all hacked up to hell.

  Butcher’s hand is rubbing my back as he tries to calm me down, and it finally starts to help.

  “Please,” I sob. “You have to help.” I wipe my eyes and grit my teeth, and force myself to calm down before I hyperventilate and pass out. Odds of survival? Who the hell knows anymore?

  When I finally look back up, it’s because I can feel that someone is at my window looking in at me. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and look out, expecting to see the biker. Instead I see a woman standing there.

  She has long dark hair, and even darker eyes that look like they’ve seen too much in this life. Her skin is pale and clear, barring a faded red scar by her mouth. Her brow is furrowed intensely as she stares in at me and I can tell that she wants to say something to me, but doesn’t know how to.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not normally like this,” I say with a shake of my head, knowing that’s the damned truth. I don’t remember the last time that I cried, so what has gotten in to me I sure as hell don’t know. The woman opens her mouth and then glances back to the other biker. He’s gotten off his bike now and is watching her intensely. I mean, seriously intensely. It’s almost creepy the way he’s staring, yet there’s also something very reassuring about him. Like I know for certain that he wouldn’t ever let anything happen to her.

  She looks back at me and leans in closer. “Who are you?” she asks.

  “My name’s O’Donnell. This is Marley and Butcher. I don’t really know them though. I was with some friends, and we got split up, and then everything went to shit.” I can feel anger and terror and panic all mingling inside of me, waiting to explode, so I take a deep breath to calm myself down before I start crying all over again.

  “We good in there?” the other biker asks her, and she nods but continues to stare at me.

  “We need to go,” Butcher says from next to me, sounding pissed off and probably stressed to hell too, though he’d never admit that of course. “Gotta get back to HQ.”

  “Wait!” she says, putting her hand on the ledge of my window. “Did you just say the name Mikey?”

  I swallow before answering, because something inside me knows that this isn’t just coincidence.

  I don’t believe in them. I believe in fate. And meeting this woman, right here, right now, this was fate.

  “Yes,” I say, and she gasps, her eyes widening.

  “Is he okay?” she asks.

  I shake my head no and she squeezes her eyes closed. Pain flashes across her features and when she opens her eyes, tears are brimming in them.

  “Where is he?” she asks.

  “They took him.”

  “Who?”

  I look over to Butcher for confirmation and he shrugs in irritation and sighs. “Fuck all point in holding back anything now, bitch,” he snaps angrily.

  I look back to the woman. “He’s been taken.”

  “By who?” she asks firmly, her eyes suddenly cold.

  “By the Savages.”

  “Who the fuck are the Savages?”

  “They’re cannibals,” I say, my words barely a whisper. “And I’m pretty sure that they’re going to eat him.”

  To be continued…

  Coming winter 2017

  ODIUM VI

  The Dead Saga

  ‘There’s never a better time to die than when there’s

  nothing left to live for’

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Claire C. Riley is a USA Today and international bestselling author. She is also a bestselling British horror writer and an Amazon top 100 bestseller.

  Claire writes on the darker side of fiction, dipping her pen into genres such as zompoc, post-apocalyptic romance, dystopia, thrillers, and horror. She writes characters that are realistic, and kills them without mercy.

  She also writes under the pen name Cee Cee Riley

  Claire lives in the United Kingdom with her husband and three daughters and firmly believes that cupcakes, rum and rap battles are the best way of working through life’s problems.

  She is represented by Michelle Johnson of Inklings Literary Agency. Please contact her for all tv, movie and foreign rights.

  Author of:

  Odium The Dead Saga Series

  Odium Origins Series

  Limerence (The Obsession Series)

  Out of the Dark Series,

  Twisted Magic,

  Co-authored books with USA Today Bestselling Author Madeline Sheehan:

  Thicker than Blood,

  Beneath Blood & Bone,

  & Shut Up & Kiss me,

  Coming soon from Claire under her new pen name of ‘Cee Cee Riley:’

  Ride or Die Episode One: Jesse

  Contact Links:

  www.clairecriley.com

  www.facebook.com/ClaireCRileyAuthor

  http://amzn.to/2oiFbQz

  Acknowledgments:

  A series like this, isn’t made all on its own. It takes a fantastic team behind it to pull it all together. And what a great team I have.

  From my editor Amy Jackson whose notes have me laughing hysterically every single time – you’ve been with me from the start, so thank you, you know I love you dearly.

  To my cover designer Elizabeth Constantopoulos– thank you for all your kickass work.

  To my team of amazing pimpers – Little Red’s Deads. And of course to San and Kelli who run my Claire C. Riley fan group – you all rock my world with your constant excitement about my work and it wouldn’t be the same without you here to cheer me on.

  Then there’s my author friends who listen to me bitch and whine when I can’t take the stress any more. There’s far too many to personally name them all, so I’m only adding my go-to girls who have to listen to pretty much every drama of mine day in and day out – A. Meredith Walters and Eli Constant – you both keep me sane and I love you dearly.

  And of course to the amazing blogging community who help with every release, every sale, and every teaser. Thank you so so much.

  And finally to my amazing readers who can’t get enough of this series and my characters. Without you this would be nothing but a pipe dream, and I owe you so much. You have my eternal gratitude, not only for showing me that it can be done, but for showing my children too. Thanks to you, they believe
that dreams really do come true.

  Claire x