Outbreak The Beginning (The Outbreak Series Book 1)

by Kristal, Deausha

  “How’s the shoulder really doing, Egypt?”

  Sighing, I lean back a bit. I now realize just how close he really is. I can feel the heat coming off him. All I really want to do is lean back and have him wrap his arms round me and forget everything. “It hurts but I’m sure you know that!” I say.

  “I’ll check it before you go to bed,” he says and walks to the other counter and grabs cookies, a pie and cake. He walks over and puts them on the island along with small paper plates and plastic ware.

  Looking over at him I laugh. “Really? Hungry much?”

  Grinning he says, “Always.” He cuts himself a big piece of peach pie and shovels it into his mouth.

  Grinning I turn back to getting the dishes loaded. After I’m done I look over at him.

  “Hey you want to go and sit by the fire? They’re talking about tomorrow. That we need to hit a few stores and it might be an all nighter instead of us coming back here then going out again,” Sal says.

  “Really hadn’t thought of that. I guess we better head outside and see what’s up,” I say.

  Walking out of the kitchen I whistle for the dogs and they run to the glass doors. Walking out I notice it’s starting to cool off. Shivering I head out to the fire with Sal in tow.

  The chairs are all taken so I sit on the ground and the dogs jump into my lap, fighting for who’s going to get petted first. Laughing, I pet both of them and stare into the fire, thinking about all that has gone on and all the stuff that we still have to do.

  “Egypt!” Hank says. “We’re thinking we need to stay out all night to hit the stores. I’m sure we can find a place to spend the night. That way we’re not coming back here and heading right back out.”

  “I agree this way we lessen the chance of someone following us back here,” I say.

  Everyone was talking about what stores to hit and which ones we’re going to hit first, that sort of thing. I just stared into the fire. Gabby walks back out to the fire and stands there for a few minutes.

  “What’s up?” I say.

  “We have heard from Uncle Tommy, they are going to head this way tomorrow morning,” she says.

  Sitting up straighter I say, “So they’re all coming?”

  “Yes all of them. We’ve told them you guys are heading out to hit the stores and might be gone overnight. They’re still coming. It’s really bad where they are and they don’t think it’s safe anymore,” she says.

  “Well it’s not safe anywhere anymore,” I say.

  Liam comes running out yelling something. I hop up and so does everyone else. I start to walk towards him and he stops in front of me.

  “Mom the news it’s really bad they’re talking about the government falling, nothing’s left and something about an EMP.”

  Running past him I head into the house. This can’t be good. Not that it was good before but this is really bad. Nate jumps up and lets me sit down. Everyone else piles into the living room and stops talking. I grab the remote and turn it way up.

  We interrupt the scheduled program to bring you this important announcement. We have been informed that our military has released 2 EMP’s one in Europe and one in China. As of now their governments are no longer functioning. They are in a state of chaos. It’s everyone for themselves. Here in the US, it’s about the same but Martial Law has been lifted, the government has fallen and the military has been disbanded. They are going home to their families. We are sorry to say that this will be the last broadcast. All TV stations are shutting down if they haven’t already. All we can say is try and stay safe, stay strong and if you believe in God … Pray!! Anarchy will rule and it’s everyone for themselves. As of right now 25 % of the population is left. We will play this on a loop until it can no longer play. Thank you and good luck. I’m Jennifer with channel 8 news signing off…God bless America!.

  I keep staring at the TV. Shaking my head I really didn’t think it would come to this but it has. We have to make the best of it. And try and survive.

  “OK guys we need to keep going as we are, nothing new really. We knew this was going to happen. We still have to get to the stores and get what we need, now that they’re saying only 25% of us are left. Stores won’t be as ransacked as they could be. Everyone has to stay armed at all times. I need 2 people for tonight to keep watch. We always have to have someone on watch from now on,” I say. “I’ll take first watch and I’ll need someone to takeover at 3 am!”

  “I’ll relieve you Egypt,” Pete says.

  “OK great we leave here at 7 am tomorrow and will stay overnight somewhere. Nate you’re in charge while we’re gone. NO ONE gets in other than family and that’s only if they can safely get in. DO NOT risk the house for any other reason. And that includes us going out understand,” I say.

  “Yep Mom I do, everything will be fine here. Just be careful out there,” Nate says.

  I look at him and nod. Standing up I check to make sure my 9mm is on me and it is!! So I head to the garage. I walk up the steps and go to the railing. I see Sal and Mack going to the RV. Sal looks up at me. I stare down at him for what seems to be a few minutes and he walks in.

  Sighing I turn around and go to the other side. It’s getting chilly out. I test my shoulder moving it. It’s getting worse. I’d rather have had a clean cut than this road rash. That shit hurts like hell!

  Walking back down to the garage I sit in front of the monitors and keep a look out. You can see better in here than outside at night. I twist around in my chair and look around the garage. I see the walkies are charging and will be ready for tomorrow. We still have our cell phones but for how long, who knows?

  Yawning I walk to the refrigerator that’s out here and grab a pop. Opening it I take a drink and settle in for the night …….

  A few hours later……….

  It’s a quarter to 3 and in walks Pete. He’s got a cup of coffee in his hand. His hair is all over the place and his clothes are all wrinkled. HA!! He must have slept in them.

  “Are you going to be ok? You are coming with us tomorrow?” I ask.

  “Yeah I’ll be fine, John is coming out here at 5 to sit for me. And I’ll grab an hour,” he says.

  “OK I’m heading to bed,” I say hugging him. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Grabbing my pop I head into the house.

  Everyone must be asleep, only the small lights are on. I walk into the dining room and the glass doors open making me jump, I reach for my gun!!

  Sal walks in and I relax. I look at him and say, “Goodnight.”

  “Not so fast there Egypt I need to check on your shoulder,” he says.

  Grumbling I say, “Fine follow me. “ I head to my bedroom.

  Rufus and Herk run ahead of me down the hall. I open the door and they jump on the bed.

  “Wait here I’m changing!” I say.

  Sal closes the door and walks to the chair and sits down. All I really want to do is snuggle down into my blankets and go to sleep. Turning on the bathroom light I shut the door and take off my clothes and put my jammies on, tank top and shorts. Sighing I open the door and walk out. I’m so not ready for this. If I’m honest with myself I’m attracted to Sal. I mean who wouldn’t be! I just don’t want anything right now I think.

  “Ok let’s get this done I’m tired and we’ve a very long day ahead of us.” I walk over to the bed and sit down.

  Sal walks over and sets the med kit down. I look up at him and boy was that a mistake. Looking into his eyes I see a look that I wasn’t ready for. There’s desire in them. Clearing my throat he starts to open the kit and grabs a few things out of it. This time he doesn’t sit he nudges my leg to make me spread them apart and moves in between them. He gets to work, gently removing the old bandage and I wince.

  “Sorry,” he mumbles.

  He sets the old bandage down on the floor and I see that there’s bright red blood on it. He cleans the wound and re-bandages it. His hands linger on my shoulder. OK I can’t handle this and stand up. Big mistake! He doesn’t
move and I’m right up against him. His hands move to my hips and rest there. My God he’s huge. I only come up to his chest.

  Looking up I see he is looking down at me. I can see his eyes change colors a bit. And his nostrils flare out.

  “Egypt I don’t know what it is about you but …..” Suddenly his hands are on the back of my head tangled in my hair. He slowly lowers his lips to mine. I have to stop this, I can’t, just can’t. His lips are mere inches from mine. I turn my head and I feel him stiffen up.

  “I’m sorry Sal. I don’t want a relationship right now!” I say. “I…..”

  He stops me. “Egypt I’m not proposing marriage, just a kiss.”

  He relaxes into me again and takes his hand to my chin and lifts my face up so that he can look me in the eyes. He doesn’t go slow this time and leans down and our lips meet. I wasn’t prepared for the feelings that go through me, it’s electrifying. He slowly moves his lips over my mine. My arms move on their own accord up his rock hard chest and wrap around his neck. Leaning into him he deepens the kiss, I get a funny flip-flop feeling in my stomach, his tongue comes out and slides against my lips and I part them so he can have access. Our tongues do an erotic dace together. My knees buckle and he holds me up. We break apart and stay as we are.

  Grinning he looks into my eyes and says, “See Egypt that wasn’t so bad.” He lets me slide down his hard body so that I’m sitting on the bed. He reaches around me and grabs his bag and heads to the door. “See you in the morning Egypt. Sleep well.”

  Looking over at him I just shake my head. He walks out the door grinning ……

  “UGH!” I fall back on the bed. What just happened???

  Chapter 19

  My alarm goes off. Stretching I look at the clock it’s 5 am, nothing like getting an hour and a half of sleep. I flip the alarm off and turn over, just laying there. I can’t believe I let Sal kiss me last night. What was I thinking? I won’t deny that there’s an attraction there, because there is. But I don’t know him at all. This can’t happen again. That’s for sure.

  Groaning, I throw the blankets back and walk into the bathroom and flip on the light. Damn that’s too bright. Reaching into the shower I turn the water on. And start taking off my clothes. I can take a shower because Sal put a waterproof dressing on my shoulder. Stepping into the hot water it feels amazing. I let it run down my shoulder for a while trying to work the stiffness out. Making it feel a little bit better I start to wash my hair.

  I hurry up shaving my legs and everywhere else that needs it. Turning off the water I open the shower and grab the two towels I have hanging. Wrapping my hair up in one, I start drying off with the other.

  Walking out to my room I go to the closet and grab jeans and a tank top. I go for the black undies and bra this time. They are really cute lace and black stones. I really don’t need anything fancy.

  Getting dressed I sit on the bed to put my boots on. I put my belt on with my hip holster. Checking my 9mm I giggle to myself. Hey it matches my pink tank top! Hopping up I grab my backpack and throw an extra set of clothes and a hoodie. I always get cold. Walking over to my nightstand I grab two extra clips and a box of ammo. Sticking them in the back pack I head for the door.

  Yelling for the dogs they come running. We head out the bedroom closing the door softly we make our way out to the dining room. Nate and Tomas are up and eating bowls of cereal. Looking into the living room its dark, TV’s off. There’s really no use for it to be on, everything’s on a loop now.

  “Hey mom, how’s the shoulder?” Nate says.

  “It’s just road rash really, Nate I’m fine. Tomas has been through this many times huh Tomas?” I say smiling and indicating my shoulder.

  “Yep sure have Aunt Egypt. Hurts like hell though.” Tomas says grinning.

  “The mouth Tomas! I’ve been slack on telling you guys about it.” Laughing, I set my boots by the glass doors and let the raging mutts out. They run out of the house and dart to the yard.

  Walking into the kitchen I make myself a cup of coffee. When it’s done I wrap my hands around it. Sipping it mmmm!! Just the way I like it! Walking over to the boys I look at them for a minute.

  “Nate you know what you have to do today?”

  “Yep Mom! Everything will be fine here. I know what to do and not to do. The house and everyone in it will be fine. Mom be careful out there. You stay safe no matter what. Mom you know I don’t like this ….”

  He doesn’t finish what he’s saying because in walks Hank and Sal. I look at him and he just shakes his head.

  Looking at Hank, I say. “Hey guys there’s coffee over there.” Sal’s got a stupid but sexy grin on his face.

  Shaking my head I walk out the glass doors and sit on the steps. Looking out over the back yard, I sip my coffee. Stretching my legs out in front of me I look at my toes. It’s still dark out but from the light on in the house I can make out their pink. Well a woman can still be a woman, even at the end of the world. I hear a noise behind me and know someone walked out.

  Looking behind me I see its Sal and Hank. They sit at the table. Looking back out to the yard I see Mack coming out of the RV. I stand up and walk out to the dogs. These guys along with my kids are my life. Dropping down to my knees, they run over to me. I start petting them. “Hey guys I’m going to be away overnight. You listen to Nate while I’m gone,” I say, petting them. I’m really going to miss them and the silly things they do.

  “Morning Egypt,” Mack says.

  “Morning Mack, hope you slept well last night?” I ask.

  Bending down, he starts petting Rufus. “Slept like a log. How’d you sleep? I see Sal took care of your shoulder?”

  Looking over my shoulder at Sal, he’s really staring at us. “It’s good, just stiff but I guess that’s to be expected. And for the hour and a half I got, I slept great thank you.” Looking up at Mack I hand him my cup of coffee. Smiling at me, he takes it and winks.

  The dogs take off across the yard. So I stand up. All of a sudden I get a big old bear hug from behind! Laughing I know who it is. He always picks me up and hugs me.

  “Morning Pete, can ya put me down already?” I say laughing.

  “Nope can’t do that Egypt!” Pete says. “Hey Mack she’s not even the weight of a fire hose.”

  And he hands me off to Mack. Grinning Mack twirls me around and just holds me in his arms. OK I can deal this. I lay my head against his shoulder. “Mack,” I say wiggling in his arms, “You’re so comfortable I could sleep here all night.”

  Laughing he starts walking me to his RV he gets there really fast. Opening the door he walks in and goes to the back where the bed is.

  “Mack, what are you doing?” I don’t get to finish because he falls to the bed with me pinned under him. Slowly he puts all his weight on me. All I really see is his chest. Man that shirt fits like a glove. “Mack wha…” He grabs my chin and lifts my face up.

  Looking into his eyes I know what he’s going to do. Groaning I grab him by the hair and lower his lips to mine!! He’s not gentle kissing me and I don’t want him to be. Our lips are crushing each other. Roughly his tongue goes into my mouth. I wrap my arms around him with my hands, pulling him even closer. My hips have a mind of their own and start to grind against his. I can feel that he’s hard!! Pulling away I look at him.

  “Mack what the hell are we doing?” I try and push him off me but he is too heavy and honestly I don’t want him off.

  Mack slowly lifts his weight off me. “Egypt, you want this as much as I do and you know it. I’m a patient man and I can wait until you realize I’m the one for you, not Sal!!” He gets up and walks to the front of the RV and out the door.

  Sitting up, I take my hand to my lips. What the hell was I doing? And what did he mean Sal’s not the one? Getting up I make my way to the door of the RV and jump out. Hearing a scraping noise we all look over at the deck to see Sal giving Mack and Pete a dirty look. And he heads into the house.

  Both the guys laugh as
I make my way over to them. We all head into the house. “What’s wrong with him?” I ask.

  “Well I know that he’s taken by you so I would assume he doesn’t like us messing around with you,” Mack says laughing.

  “He does not!” I say. “And besides, he’s sure not my boyfriend.” Looking over at Mack I give him a dirty look.

  They both laugh again and we step into the dining room. The boys are still eating. And now Liam is with them.

  Smiling and shaking my head I say, “Hey Mack you better put more cereal on that list of yours. These boys are going to eat us out of house and home.”

  “Already on the list Little Hose!” he says.

  Looking at him like he’s crazy. “Little hose really Mack?” I say looking dead serious. All of a sudden Mack and Pete burst out laughing.

  “OMG you guys are messed up.” Walking up really slowly to Mack I grab his shirt and pull him down to me and whisper in his ear. “Maybe you have a LITTLE HOSE?” I feel his chest jerking and I know he’s laughing.

  Bending down he whispers in my ear, “Egypt you felt it!! Is it little?”

  Blushing, moving away, I’ve said what I needed and grab my boots heading to the garage. Taking the steps two at a time I head up on the roof. “Hey John how’s it going?”

  “Just a few zombies going by. They stopped in front of the house for about 10 minutes but then moved on,” he says.

  “OK, hey I’ll stay up here you go and get something to eat.” Sitting down I start to put on my boots when I hear someone coming up the stairs. Maybe John forgot something. Looking up, I see its Sal. He comes over and sits across from me and just looks at me.

  “Morning Sal,” I say.

  “Morning Egypt. How’s the shoulder?” he asks.

  “Its fine just a bit stiff but my medic did say it would be,” I say grinning.