“Yeah, you’re part of our group now.” I answered.
“Not group.” Axel said, “Our family.”
“You know what? I like that.” Sawyer agreed. Soon all of us were teasing each other as we convinced Angela and Thomas to join the pile we had going on the bed.
Our talking brought Sydney to check on us. She stood with her hip against the door frame watching us. She didn’t say anything but she was smiling, and seemed a bit surprised that Angela and Thomas had joined us.
“What are you all doing?” She asked after a while.
“Just hanging out.” Daisy responded as she fought to get into a sitting position.
“How did you all manage to fit on that bed?” Sydney seemed genuinely curious.
“Very carefully.” I answered.
“Well, can you manage to untangle yourselves and come eat some dinner?” Sydney asked.
Sydney watched as one by one we all managed to wiggle our way free of the pile we had made. She seemed pleased that Angela and Thomas didn’t disappear back into their room. They ventured with us to the living room to see what was for dinner. Tone was cooking at the stove when we all sat down in various spots.
“Heard you laughing back there, was about to come join you when Sydney put my ass to work.” He said and smiled at us, winking when Sydney looked away.
“Well somebody has to keep you in line Tone.” Sam called from the front of the bus.
“You see how they gang up on me?” Tone asked us, trying his best to look hurt.
“They see plenty.” Sydney said.
It was easy to see why Axel called us family.
Tone and Sydney worked around each other in the kitchen. The smell of the chicken on the stove made my mouth water as we waited.
Thomas had taken a liking to Sam and was sitting on his lap while Axel showed Angela the board game collection. We had a break from the chaos going on outside.
A gun fired.
I went to the windows with Sam and Tone. Outside, we saw a group of men with two female Red Eyes. They had the Red Eyes muzzled. Their hands were zip tied behind their backs. There was also some of handmade harness around their upper bodies that the men had leashes attached to.
Sam signaled for us all to be quiet. He opened a window so we could hear what was going on without alerting the men to our presence.
“I told you this would work.” One of the men said, he had tribal looking tattoos going up his arms.
“Yeah, you were right.” a man with shaved head said and laughed.
“I told you they wouldn’t look beat up, hell they almost look alive.” The tattooed men said as he reached out and slapped one of the Red Eyes on her butt. She tried to turn and snap at him, but the whole get up they had to prevent that, worked. “Say no to me now bitch.”
Tattooed guy’s friends were all laughing. I counted four of them. One of the guys was wearing what looked to be a police officer’s shirt while the other had a plain black T-shirt on. They were all taking turns caressing the bound Red Eyes.
It seemed that the men had known the two girls before they got turned. These men had found them, and were planning to have sex with them even though they were dead. The thought was appalling, who would be willing to do anything with a Red Eye besides run like hell?
No wonder the women had turned them down while they were alive, these guys were creeps. I noticed there was a fifth man that was staying further away from the group. He didn’t appear to be laughing at their jokes.
“Sam, you hearing this?” Tone whispered.
“Yeah.” Sam whispered back.
“We can’t let them rape those girls.” Tone responded.
“They are dead.” Sam said, looking at Tone like he was gauging him.
“You know that doesn’t matter. They don’t deserve to be treated or disrespected that way. The world order may not be where it was, but there is still a very solid line between right and wrong.” Tone said meeting Sam’s eyes.
“I agree.” Sam responded.
“So let’s go rescue some Red Eyes.” Sydney agreed as the conversation continued outside.
“Hey Aaron let’s see if we can get one of these cars started so we can get home quicker and have some fun.” Tattooed guy called to the guy with his hood covering his face, he was also staying away from the group.
“Yeah, how about that cop car over there?” Aaron responded scratching his head and looking around. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew it from.
Tattooed guy was laughing as he dragged the Red Eyes behind him towards the abandoned cop car. He only stopped to pull out a knife that he handed to the guy in the police shirt. He used it to cut open the shirt of the blonde Red Eye. Revealing a hot pink bra and some small tattoos right above her hip bones. Aaron kept moving to the cop car, not looking back at what his companions were doing.
“When we go out there we need all of you to stay on the bus and stay quiet.” Tone told us.
“We will.” I told him.
“These guys may be pervs but they are still human, let’s try not to kill them if we can.” Sydney said as she checked the clip in her gun.
“What are you going to do with the Red Eyes?” Axel asked.
“Kill them humanely.” Sam answered as he returned his gun to the holster on his hip.
The three of them climbed out the door silently. They started the trek of slipping behind abandoned cars as they snuck up on the group. Aaron had the cop car door open and was messing with the dash. His companions continued to cut select pieces of clothing off the Red Eyes.
Tone had taken the lead and was inching closer to tattooed guy; he was a couple of cars away now. Tattooed guy didn’t even know Tone was there until he cut the leash he was holding to keep the two Red Eyes with him. Sydney stepped up behind the Red Eyes and despite tattooed guy screaming at her, she shot both of them in the head.
At the sounds of shots, the guy in the police shirt went running followed by the guy with the shaved head. Tattooed guy grabbed a gun from a holster on his hip and aimed it at Sydney as the Red Eyes dropped. He fired. Tone jumped, knocking Sydney out of the way, but we saw the blood spray from where he got hit. Sydney returned fire hitting tattooed guy in the forehead. He went down as Sam approached, his gun trained on the guy in the black shirt. Aaron stood up slowly from the car with his hands in the air.
“Don’t shoot.” Aaron called.
“Don’t move.” Sam responded, “Syd, he okay?”
“From what I can see he is. Bullet went clear through his shoulder.” Sydney answered as she helped Tone up and started walking him back to the bus.
The guy in the black shirt drew his gun and aimed it at Sam, but just as quickly Aaron had a gun out and shot him. Sam looked at Aaron for a minute before he nodded.
“Grab a tarp when you come back out.” Sam called after her.
Sydney brought Tone back onto the bus. She directed Sawyer on how to clean the wound, while she grabbed a tarp and headed back to Sam.
“Cover the girls.” Sam told her and she did.
“Could you cover my brother too?” Aaron asked, “He’s the one with the tattoos.” Sam nodded to Sydney and she covered tattooed guy with an end of the tarp. She kept him as far away from the Red Eyes as the tarp allowed.
“What were you all doing?” Sam asked Aaron, still holding the gun pointed at him.
“Man, I don’t know what Wayne was thinking, but once he got something in his head it was better just to go along with it. He was a mean son of a bitch if you tried to oppose him on anything.” Aaron said, “I didn’t want to do it so he found his drinking buddies and still had me tag along.”
Not being able to place the voice was bugging me.
“What did he have you do?” Sam asked.
“See, we met these two girls at the bar a few nights back before the world went balls deep crazy. Wayne, now he really liked that blonde, think her name was Cat or something, but the redhead kept getting in his
way.” Aaron said as he lowered his arms to his sides.
“How does that get us here?” Sam asked.
“I’m getting there. He bought her drinks and was trying to get Cat to go home with him but she said no. He was pissed and still reeling about it when we found the girls after being bit last night.” Aaron explained. “Wayne told them he’d help them and they would be okay they just had to come home with us where he had the supplies. He got them to this house and down to the basement.”
Aaron took a breath and looked between Sam and Sydney.
“Wayne got them to let him zip tie their hands. He told them it was for his safety, since cleaning the bites was going to hurt. Soon as their hands were tied he knocked them out.” He continued.
“What happened then?” Sydney asked.
“He started strangling the redhead. I told him to stop but he told me it didn’t matter they’d been bit they were dead anyway.” Aaron answered. “He strangled Cat too, than made those muzzles and those harnesses. I know what he wanted to do was wrong but he’s my big brother and he’s never listened to me.”
“That’s quite a tale there Aaron. You just confessed to watching your brother kill two women.” Sam responded to Aaron’s story.
“As I said I didn’t want nothing to do with it. I tried to calm Wayne down but he’s a mean guy and he holds a grudge like a starved dog holds a bone.” Aaron explained, “Please don’t kill me. I swear I didn’t touch the girls nor was I going to. I was planning to take off as soon as he was distracted.”
“Well now, what should we do with you Aaron?” Sam asked, lowering his gun finally.
“Take me with you? I can help with your friend Wayne shot, I’ve cleaned wounds like that before.” Aaron said after he thought about it for a moment.
“How do we know you’re not going to try and get revenge on us for killing your brother? We’ve got kids with us trusting us to keep them safe.” Sam asked him.
“As I said. The world’s gone crazy and Wayne wasn’t someone I would have saved if I could, even with him being my brother.” Aaron answered.
“Sydney, cuff him.” Sam decided, “It wouldn’t be right to leave him alone out here.”
“Thank you.” Aaron said as he turned around and placed his hands behind his back. Sydney handcuffed him and they led him onto the bus.
Once they got Aaron on the bus they took off the handcuffs so he could take a look at Tone. He pushed his hood down and looked up. My eyes met his blue-green ones, eyes I’d seen a hundred times before.
“Ashlyn?” He asked after a minute.
“Yeah.” I answered and went to hug him, “Where’s Emily?”
“She’s dead.” Aaron said and his eyes looked like they were watering up.
Emily was his younger sister and one of my friends. Aaron adored Emily. I remembered how many times he would give us rides or money or anything else she asked him for.
“How?” I asked as tears started to escape from my eyes.
“I don’t know. Wayne said she refused to go with him. He wanted to meet with me and she attacked him when he tried to grab her, he said it was an accident.” Aaron answered.
“Your brother killed your sister?” Sawyer asked as she joined us, she had been friends with Emily too.
“Yeah he did.” Aaron said and turned to look at Tone.
“How does it look?” Tone asked.
“Sorry my brother shot you.” He apologized. “Woman was right. Bullet went straight through, I don’t think we’ll have to do much to help it heal just bandage it and keep it clean. He’ll be good as new soon.”
“Well then, you hungry?” Tone asked Aaron after he finished getting Tone bandaged up.
“Yeah, been walking all night.” Aaron answered and sat down at the table. He looked at Sawyer and me.
“I’m guessing you all know my name how bout you tell me yours.” Aaron said and smiled at me.
“Well we got Daisy with the green hair. Axel is right next to her.” I told him nodding in their direction. “Angela is holding her brother Thomas. Tone you patched up, Sydney is the woman standing by the doorway, and Sam.”
Aaron nodded and ate the food Sydney put down in front of him. He was like an animal deciding what he thought of us and how he should react. He seemed to calm down a bit when Sam took the wheel and started driving the bus.
Tone was asleep in the passenger seat next to him. I think he thought we were going to leave him out there to fend for himself. I don’t think Sam could have done that. Even if Aaron had been involved with what his brother was doing and not just a bystander.
“How do you know the girls?” Sydney asked him.
“They were friends with my sister Emily. I used to give them rides everywhere they wanted.” Aaron answered.
“You got a last name?” Sydney asked him after he had cleared his plate.
“Yeah, Pierce.” Aaron answered.
“That sounds familiar. You ever spend time in the drunk tank?” Sydney asked him.
“No, I didn’t but Wayne was a regular there.” Aaron answered, a shadow of pain running across his eyes.
“I’m sorry about your brother, we didn’t plan to hurt any of you, but he shot my partner, I reacted.” Sydney told him.
“I think the shock is wearing off a bit. You have to understand, it’s not like we were buds, it was mostly he said jump, I asked how high to avoid a beating.” Aaron admitted.
Aaron sat at the dining room table as the bus rumbled down the road. He seemed to be taking in his surroundings and adapting to the new turns that had been taken.
“Ashlyn?” He asked.
“Yeah?” I responded.
“I see Battleship over there. Want to play?” he asked me and I grabbed the game. We set up on the table and started to play.
Chapter Seven
Aaron slept on the couch and was up before any of us, making breakfast. The smell woke me and I followed my nose out to the kitchen and sat at the dining room table watching Aaron. He had shrimp cooking in a skillet as he chopped up mini sweet peppers. He had supplies sitting on the counter next to him. He had a bottle of Ranch, a bottle of Tabasco sauce, bacon, eggs, and shredded mozzarella cheese.
“Good morning.” He greeted me as I watched him.
“Morning, what are you making?” I asked him, watching as he cracked eggs open and poured them into another skillet.
“I’m making Cajun eggs and bacon. It’s a thank you for letting me stay with you guys.” Aaron answered as he started to mix in the mozzarella, and the mini peppers into the skillet with the eggs.
After stirring he added in the shrimp, some ranch, and some tabasco sauce then he covered the skillet. He threw the bacon on to the skillet he’d used for the shrimp.
“It smells great.” I told him as Sawyer, Daisy, and Sydney joined us in the kitchen.
“I’ll say it does.” Sydney agreed.
“It’s nothing. I just want to be useful.” Aaron answered.
“What if you don’t like spicy stuff?” Axel asked from behind Sydney. Angela and Thomas were standing with him as he eyeballed the tabasco sauce.
“Don’t you worry; I didn’t add enough in to make it spicy. Put in just enough to give it the flavor.” Aaron answered as he started dishing out plates to everyone before getting his own plate.
He even brought Sam and Tone plates to the front of the bus. No one spoke much as they ate which says a lot about what everyone thought of Aaron’s cooking. He was right that the eggs were not spicy at all but had all the flavor of being so.
Sydney cleaned up the kitchen when everyone was done eating. Aaron sat down on the living room floor to play Life with Axel and Angela while Thomas watched. Sam had decided to take the wheel since he wanted to get a move on. We were driving down the road again. The ride was going smooth for about half an hour before Sam stopped.
“Damn it.” Was all he said.
“What’s going on?” Sydney asked as she made her way to the front of the bus.
>
We all looked outside wondering what was going on now. In front of us on the road were a bunch of abandoned cars. A couple buses, an RV, a moving truck, and a semi-truck completely blocking the road.
“Shit. What do we do?” Sydney asked.
“I could back up and try another way or we could go out and see if we can move them out of the way.” Sam responded as he turned the bus off and sat there staring at the mess in front of us.
“Hey I don’t know if this helps or not, but Wayne’s group and I had a system we were using when we went out for supplies.” Aaron said.
“What would that be?” Sam asked.
“We’d spray paint a green x on doors of buildings that were clear and a red x on buildings that had Red Eyes in them. I could go through and start marking the cars that are clear or ones that have bodies in them.” Aaron suggested.
“We don’t have paint.” Sam said.
“I have cans in my bag.” Aaron responded.
“You know it’s not a bad idea. That way if the kids go out they know which cars to stay away from.” Sydney agreed, patting Aaron on the shoulder.
I followed Aaron outside and watched as he started going from vehicle to vehicle. He was putting x’s on the windows. After I’d been watching him for a while he came back over to the bus.
“Do you want to help me with this?” he asked, I noticed at least a couple cars have keys in them we can mark those cars with two x’s.”
“Yeah I’ll help.” I agreed and he handed me two cans of spray paint.
Soon we had every vehicle marked, they were nineteen altogether. Eleven of them had red x’s and eight had green ones. We were heading back to Sam when we started hearing a muffled thumping noise. As we got closer to the noise we started hearing a voice.
“Is someone out there? Please help me?” the voice called out.
“Where are you?” Aaron called back.
“The trunk of the red Neon.” The voice answered.
“Try the door, if its unlocked pop the trunk and stay back till I say it’s safe.” Aaron directed me as we stood by the Neon.
I walked to the front of the car and did as I was told. The door was unlocked so I popped the trunk. I looked at Aaron and he nodded at me.
Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1) Page 5
