Wheels' End: Book Four in the Wheels and Zombies series

by M. Van

  “You can wipe that smirk off your face now,” I said without looking at her.

  “Hey, I blame you for me not having a job at the FBI anymore,” she said. Raising my eyebrows, I glared at her.

  “You quit,” I said, appalled.

  “Well, they sort of kicked me out before for being infected,” she said, “and I only got infected because you proved Divus worked.”

  “But they offered you your job back,” I replied.

  “That’s not the point,” she said. “It’s the idea that counts.”

  “I … what?” I said and shook my head in confusion. “I think you’re spending too much time with Tom.” Angie shot me a mischievous look over her sunglasses and grinned before she changed the subject.

  “I have to hand it to your dad, though,” she said, “when he’s doing business, he’s doing business. How did he manage all those open visas to get us all over here—including a certain tall, dark FBI agent.”

  “I have no idea,” I said, “but remind me to thank my dad again when we get home.” As if he sensed we’d been talking about him, Mars turned. I sighed while appreciating the view of Mars in nothing but a pair of boxers as he made his way to me.

  “At least your parents live in a castle or else it would have been cramped as hell, us living under one roof and all,” Tom said. The sound of Tom’s voice surprised me.

  The soldier had arrived that morning and had been dozing on his towel for most of the day after a long trip. The war on zombies still raged throughout the world, and even with the vaccination to prevent infection, it would be a while before the world could rid itself of the infected, if it ever could. Tom along with Preston still fought in that war to secure cities, making sure the distribution of the Divus serum went according to plan, but Tom had managed to get himself some well-deserved R&R, which he decided to spend with Angie. Unfortunately for him, she came with quite an extended family, but I didn’t think he minded.

  I was about to answer, but at that point, Mars decided to make his presence known. He placed his feet on either side of my legs and lowered himself. Holding himself up with his arms, he hovered over me as he flashed that brilliant smile of his. Though he still mourned the loss of his parents—I could tell by the look in his eyes when he thought I wasn’t looking—he always managed to throw me a smile that melted my heart.

  “Are you planning on doing some pushups?” I asked and noticed my voice came out a little bit huskier than normal. I blamed the toned abs that hover over me and reached up to touch them.

  “I might,” he said and lowered himself to brush his lips with mine. One of my hands automatically trailed a path from his abs to the back of his neck so I could pull him in closer, but a familiar voice made us both freeze.

  “Would you two get a room already!” Ash called out. Mars groaned and I smiled against his mouth as he shifted sideways and onto his towel.

  “Kid, I was about to ask you the same thing over there,” Tom called back at her. Ash’s eyes widened as her face flushed bright red. Savanna gave her a questioning look, and I didn’t think she had caught Tom’s remark.

  “Hey,” Angie shot at Tom and chugged an elbow into his side, “you’re an ass and don’t call her kid.”

  I cast a cautious gaze in Ash’s direction and wondered if the color in her face was an aftereffect of being embarrassed or anger. Unfortunately, Rowdy assured we didn’t have to find out. He slammed his tiny body into Ash and wrapped his chubby arms around her.

  “Ash,” he said, “Toby wants to go round in the chair too. Can he? Please.” The little guy’s begging brought her full attention on him, and the grin of affection on her face was unmistakable as she answered him,

  “Yeah, he can, but he has to wait until we get home, because I can’t do it here in the sand.” She tickled him and Rowdy’s giggles dominated the silence for a while.

  Mars had left to get some drinks while Angie and Tom sat engaged in conversation. The two kids had found their way to Ash’s and Savanna’s towels and played with the toys we’d brought for them.

  As the sun descended, most of the people enjoying the day at the beach had started to gather their stuff and made their leave, but there were still plenty of them to go around, although nowhere near the numbers of what it would have been before the outbreak.

  I stretched my legs and got to my feet. As he noticed my approach, Rowdy’s head perked up, and he showed me the miniature version of a Porsche he was playing with.

  “Look,” he said with pride, “it’s the same as yours.” The toy looked close enough to the car that hadn’t left my garage since I’d left for New York two years ago. I had showed it to him once when we had gone out to visit my parents.

  “Yes, it is,” I said and rubbed a hand over his frizzy head, “and one day you and me are going to take a ride in it.” He beamed at my answer and gave Toby a look that could only mean, See! I told you so.

  I turned my gaze to Ash, who had followed our exchange with amusement.

  “You got a minute,” I asked. Her brows furrowed as she replied, “Sure.”

  I tapped Savanna’s shoulder to grab her attention away from the boys.

  “I’m going to borrow her for a while,” I said, pointing to Ash. Savanna smiled and nodded.

  On automatic pilot, Ash reached for her phone that had never stopped being the thing she carried around everywhere.

  “Leave the phone,” I said exasperatedly.

  “Oh, hell no. Then there won’t be anything to keep you from tossing me in the ocean,” Ash replied.

  I eyed her with a mock grin as I said, “Are you sure about that?”

  Ash seemed to mull it over as she eyed me with suspicion.

  “Aw, c’mon already,” I said as I sank to one knee and grabbed her arm to pull over my shoulder.

  “I’m goin’ to regret this, aren’t I?” Ash muttered. She settled on my back and I groaned as I got to my feet.

  “God, you’re getting heavy,” I said.

  “Oh, shut up,” she replied. “Just pray I won’t ever get as big as you—’cause that’d be a sight.”

  “I’m not big,” I said as I walked us closer to the surf. “I’m tall; there’s a difference.”

  “Not to me, there ain’t.”

  I shifted her higher up my back and Ash rested her head next to mine as she spoke in a soft voice, “So what’s up?”

  “Nothing really, just wanted to hang out a little,” I said. “The house is so crowded lately, and we haven’t had a chance to talk.”

  “Hmm,” she voiced, “this isn’t goin’ to be one of those parental talks is it?”

  “When have I ever given you a parental talk?” I said, appalled at the suggestion.

  “Well, never, but I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t start.” She fell silent after that as if she waited for what I had to say. I found us a spot in the sand that gave us some space from the group and the remaining beach dwellers and lowered her onto the sand. Sitting down next to her, I stretched out my legs and leaned back on my hands as I soaked up the last rays of the sun. It wouldn’t be long before the sun would disappear and bathe us in darkness.

  Ash looked at me anxiously as if I were about to ask her some life-altering question. The thing was that I had told her the truth I just felt like hanging out. I missed spending time with her. For a while we’d been inseparable and I had gotten used to it.

  To ease her mind, I said, “The nightmares are getting less, aren’t they?”

  Her eyebrows rose as she asked, “How …” Her words faltered, and I decided to fill her in.

  “I haven’t heard you the last couple of nights.”

  “Huh,” she started, “I didn’t think … that with our rooms so far … well and with all your extracurricular activity, but then, I should have known you’d be able to hear.” At that, it was my turn for my face to turn beet red.

  “You did not hear us,” I exclaimed. “Because what I heard was your chair saying bump in the middle of the
night when you set off for the kitchen.”

  “Oh …” she added with a chuckle, “well then, maybe our bedrooms are far enough apart.”

  I bumped my shoulder into hers and grinned. After enjoying the view for a moment and letting my red face settle, I asked, “So what is it you want to do with the rest of your life?”

  She pursed her lips and shrugged. “I don’t know yet, never thought that far ahead,” she said and turned to face me. “How about you? What are you goin’ to do?”

  “I don’t know,” I said and mimicked Ash’s shrug. I paused, mulling over the question a little longer. Before the outbreak, thinking of the future had seemed futile. Back then, I hadn’t had a future. As the outbreak unfolded, this had pretty much stayed the same, until I’d found out Divus had stopped my cancer. From that moment on, I had allowed myself to hope, but that had been still a far step from thinking of the future. A smile crept on my face as I slowly exhaled.

  In truth, I doubt any of us had thought much about it. I think we were still in a state of relief that we had survived, and for the time being, it didn’t matter. We were all together, and we’d figure living arrangements and such stuff out later. Besides, having rich parents did have its perks. We didn’t have to worry about money, although I didn’t think my siblings were too fond of us taking over our parent’s home, and I had a feeling some if not all members of our new family might decide to stay.

  “How about we just sit here and do nothing for a while?” I offered.

  “Hmm. Might get cold after a while,” Ash said.

  “Nah, I’ll get Mars to fetch us a blanket.” Ash grinned and I wrapped an arm around her to pull her close.

  “I think we’ll be just fine,” I said and kissed her on the top of her head. “Whatever it is the world throws at us.”

  “I don’t really care what the world throws at us,” she said, “’cause we’ll kick its ass anyway.”

  “Zombie-killing badasses,” I added and Ash chuckled at the old description we had once given ourselves.

  We sat in companionable silence for a while until I turned my head at a sound coming from my left. Mars had a big smile on his face as he approached. The fading light bathed the sky in orange and it gave his dark skin a beautiful, almost copper, complexion. The sight of him brought a goofy grin to my face that I couldn’t have hidden if I’d wanted to.

  “Ladies,” he said as he knelt by my side, “I’ve heard the strangest thing just now.” His tone had this playful seduction in it that had me immediately suspicious of his intentions.

  Ash didn’t seem to sense anything as she looked at him questioningly and asked, “What’d you hear?”

  Without answering, he took my hand as he stood and pulled me upright along with him.

  “Mars,” I said, drawing out his name. The word had barely left my mouth before he threw me over his shoulder in one swift move.

  “It seems you two haven’t seen the water up close yet all day,” he replied.

  As he turned to walk in the direction of the water, I playfully hammered my fists against his back and caught an interesting view of his backside clad in boxers, which made me wonder if he’d ever consider wearing speedos.

  A yelp from Ash regretfully pulled my eyes from Mars’s butt. Tom grabbed Ash under the arms, and Angie carried her legs.

  “Hey, not fair,” she grumbled. “You’re like harassing a disabled person here.”

  “And here I thought you would never play that card,” Angie said.

  “Well, desperate times call for desperate …” she started to say, but her voice faded as she squirmed against Tom’s grip. “You know I never really liked you, Tom.”

  “No one does,” Angie replied. Tom shot her an appalled look that quickly turned into one of a hurt little puppy.

  “Babe, I know you love me,” he said. “There is no point in denying it.”

  I couldn’t see Angie’s expression and perked my ears to hear her reply, but by that time Mars’s strong legs marched through the water until it reached his hips and then very unceremoniously he dumped me in.

  I came up gasping for air, feeling shocked over the coldness of the water even after the hot couple of days we’d had.

  Before I knew it, Mars pulled me to my feet and drew me close. Wrapping my arms around him, I gazed into his eyes.

  “So,” he said in a soft voice, “this is quite a change for you.” I narrowed my eyes and cocked my head at him as I wondered about what he was trying to tell me. When I didn’t say anything he added, “To allow this many people inside your heart, and I haven’t seen you freak out once.” The remark reminded me of the stupid argument we’d had while we stayed inside Cheyenne Mountain about my commitment issues. Hidden under water I playfully kicked him in the chins.

  “Hey,” he muttered, but he couldn’t contain a smile forming on his face. “I’m just checking.”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but I was interrupted by a loud scream.

  “I’m gonna kick both your asses for this,” Ash called out without any real conviction. And the pleading gaze she shot at Savanna, who stood watching us with a broad smile on her face, was just adorable. But instead of helping, Savanna gathered up Toby and Rowdy by her side and pointed at Ash’s impending bath.

  As Tom and Angie, holding Ash, took their first steps into the water, I turned to Mars. My lips brushed his temple before I whispered into his ear, “Have I ever told you that I’m a quick learner?”

  “No,” he said as his hands cupped my face, “but I’ve noticed a thing or two.” Before I could wonder if he meant killing zombies or shooting M4s, or maybe something entirely else, our lips connected.

  “Mags,” Ash called out behind me, “you’re gonna help me here or what?”

  It wasn’t so much that I didn’t hear her, but at that point Mars deepened the kiss, and I think I might have forgotten.

  “Maggggsss,” Ash called out in a finale attempt before a loud splash literally drowned out the sound.

  Wheels’ End

  Book IV in the

  Wheels and Zombies series

  by M. Van

  Thanks for picking up this book and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. I would really appreciate it if you left a review.

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  Other books

  By M. Van

  The Wheels and Zombies series

  Ash: A novella in the Wheels and Zombies series

  Brooklyn, Wheels and Zombies

  Aground: Book Three in the Wheels and Zombies series

  Wheels’ End: Book Four in the Wheels and Zombies series

  Available on Amazon

  Stand-alone novels

  Behind the Glass

  Available on Amazon and other stores

  Find them all at

  www.42links.net