by Gina Ranalli
Nick eyes widened a fraction. “Meaning?”
“Meaning he should have been able to handle it if he came up against any trouble.”
He gave her a skeptical look and she didn’t blame him. Of course the blade wouldn’t be enough. It hadn’t been enough when three of them went up against the monsters. There were just too many of them. She chewed her lip, mulling this over, and remembered that the monster’s ranks may have swelled even more by now. There was the possibility of Joshua Meadows having been revived at the very least.
She didn’t think Nick would be happy to hear this news but she told him anyway. It was only fair. There was a very good chance that he’d be risking his life in a few short minutes and deserved to know the odds. Helena wished she hadn’t called him after all but he took the information in with a curt nod.
“Like I said, we should get ready. Just in case.”
She agreed and they began the familiar task of getting their weapons together, making sure everything was within easy reach, locked and loaded.
Then, they waited, with Nick peering out the front window through the curtains and Helena at the desk, watching the monitor.
It seemed an extraordinary amount of time passed, with every minute putting her more on edge. She occasionally pressed a hand against the wounds in her stomach, hoping the stitches would hold if she had to fight, but doubting it.
The dot on the screen approached their location, painfully slow, until she felt so tense that she had to call Quinn’s phone again. This time, miraculously, he answered.
“Helena!” he gasped. “Helena, Sam…” Static filled her ears.
“What?” she yelled. “What about Sam? Is he dead?”
“No,” Sam replied. “But he probably wishes he was.”
When Helena didn’t reply, he asked, “You still at the hospital?”
“No, I’m home.”
“I’m headed there now. I…Helena…”
“What?”
“I don’t think there’s anything we can do. I was going to take him to the hospital, but…I just don’t know.”
It went from bad to worse and Helena felt her blood go cold. Quinn had begun to cry.
CHAPTER 22
They searched the entire area and couldn’t find the hunter. There were signs though; drops of blood here and there, some in the kitchen but most on the back porch floorboards and railing.
Bliss suspected they would have found more if not for the constant downpour of rain washing away all evidence.
The bastard had gotten away somehow. They had clearly underestimated his pain threshold and just how close to death he’d been. There was no other explanation for it.
Stomping around the house, Bliss could not even pretend to smile at this point. The others were wise to give him a wide berth whenever he passed by them. No one dared speak, not even Cash, who was the least afraid of Bliss of all of them and was usually quick with the wiseass comments. But even he kept his distance, leaning an arm on the mantel and smoking a cigarette in the dimly lit living room where the body of the hunter had lain.
“All right, listen up,” Bliss called gathering the others into the room. “We’re moving out. Fuck the hunter.”
“He couldn’t have gotten far,” Walt said defiantly. “He’s gotta be in the woods. Just let me-”
“No!” Bliss snapped. “He’s dead. I fucked up. Tortured him too much. We weren’t going to get anything out of him anyway. That’s on me. I let you all down. But we can keep moving, especially with that Winnebago.”
“I’m with Walt,” John said, surprising everyone. “We should find him. If he’s feeling good enough to walk out of here, he’ll be able to tell us something.” He glanced at Melosia, who sat on the dilapidated sofa, holding her side, her eyes at half-mast. “We need to find him.”
“You think he’ll tell us something?” Bliss asked, pushing his hat back on his head. “I peeled his face like a fucking grape! The man didn’t say shit! No, going after him is a waste of time. We just have to keep moving forward, gather more of us. That’s the plan. It’s always been the plan and it has gotten us this far. There’ll be other hunters, I can promise you that. There’s always other hunters.”
“Seems like that’s what everyone’s afraid of,” Meadows said from the far corner of the room where he stood in shadow. His voice was low, almost timid. “I don’t understand. You all got brought back from the dead. What’s to fear after that?”
Bliss was tempted to hug Meadows then. “Exactly!” he replied with renewed enthusiasm. “Listen to the new guy! We have nothing to fear! We own this fucking world. They just don’t know it yet.”
The Rumblers all glanced at each other, Willa and Opal in the doorway, holding each other like bear cubs or some shit. Just looking at them like that annoyed Bliss and he quickly looked away.
“Now, who’s running this show?” he asked them. There was a hesitation he didn’t like but then Walt spoke up.
“You’re the boss, boss,” he said.
“That’s right,” Bliss agreed. “And I’ve gotten us this far. We just keep going. How about the ocean, huh? The Gulf of Mexico? Down Louisiana way? Nice and warm down there this time of year. And ripe with tourists. People go missing all the damn time. It’s paradise. How’s that sound to ya’ll?”
Opal sighed audibly. “The corpses down there are ancient.”
Bliss shot daggers at her, his eyes instantly morphing. “Are you fucking stupid? We don’t dig up skeletons, moron.”
Like a whirlwind, Opal spun at him, screaming, claws extended, swiping at him. “Don’t fucking call me names!”
He danced out of her reach but almost certainly would have taken her down if the rest hadn’t been watching. He didn’t think their moral could take it if he were to kill one of their own right now. Walt was quick to grab her and hold her back and she didn’t fight him much, thankfully.
Instead of tearing out her throat, Bliss forced the smile and the charm, coaxing them forth with practiced ease, reigning in the minor morph that had occurred in his eyes.
“Whoa. Easy there, killer.” He gave her a little bow. “I apologize for my language. It’s been a long frustrating night. I hope you can forgive me.”
It sounded like complete and utter bullshit, even to his own ears, and he wasn’t sure if Opal bought it, but she simmered down some and Walt released her. The second he did, Willa came forward and grabbed onto Opal as though she were a castaway adrift in an angry sea and Opal were the sole plank from a sunken pirate ship, her only floating salvation.
Cash dropped a cigarette to the floor and ground it out with his boot heel. “Well, I’m game for anything. More space I get between me and those particular hunters, the happier I’ll be.”
Laughing, Walt said, “You fucking pussy.”
Cash grinned and flipped him off and that’s when Bliss remembered: Cash had been with the hunters. There might still be a chance of grabbing them after all. Why the hell had he forgotten that? And even more importantly, why didn’t Cash mention it?
Keeping the grin plastered to his face, Bliss addressed Cash. “You know, we haven’t really had much of a chance to catch up, have we? I’ve got an idea.” He snapped his fingers for emphasis. “I’m gonna let Walt ride my bike and you and me will drive the Bronco. The rest of you can travel in the RV.”
Walt let out a happily surprised whoop. “Hell, yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!”
Cash was almost as good at the smiling game as Bliss, a point which both filled Bliss with pride but also made him somewhat leery.
“What do you say, pard?” he asked Cash.
If there was even a slight hesitation, it was too subtle to detect.
“Cool with me, daddy-o,” Cash said. “Long as you don’t mind the smokes.”
“Nah. Nothing a cracked window can’t handle.” They continued to grin at each other for a long, almost awkward moment, before he added, “Okay. It’s settled then. Let’s move out.”
&nb
sp; Just like that, they were on their way, grabbing what few belongings each of them had and piling into their respected vehicles.
Once Bliss was behind the wheel of the Bronco with Cash next to him and they were safely on the road, he said, “What do you remember about the place you were brought?”
Cash looked out the passenger side window, apparently pondering the question for a good long while. Finally, he answered, “Not much. A Victorian house, I think, judging by the layout but I’m not positive. They put a hood on me until I was in a root cellar, chained to a metal chair that was bolted to the floor.”
“No kidding?” It came out sounding sarcastic, though Bliss hadn’t meant it to. “This area is full of Victorian houses.”
“I know,” Cash replied apologetically. “And honestly, I’m not even sure about that much. I’m just going by how long a hallway seemed and how many steps it was into the cellar. In case you’re wondering, it was a lot.”
“Hmm.” Bliss looked up at the sky and noticed small snowflakes coming down. Apparently it was colder than he’d thought. “Glad to be getting out of this mess,” he said, mostly to himself.
“You and me both,” Cash replied, lighting up a smoke and cracking the window. Naturally, neither of them could contract cancer but Bliss still didn’t like cigarettes and insisted that others not smoke around him too much, though it happened anyway it seemed.
He decided to change the subject. “What do you think about Meadows?”
Cash shrugged. “Seems okay, I guess. Haven’t talked to him though.”
“I think once the shock wears off he’s going to be a fine member of our tribe. Maybe one of the best.”
This statement surprised Cash. “What makes you think so?”
Bliss smiled. “Cause I made him.”
“Well, yeah. But you made us all.”
“That ain’t what I’m talking about. I mean, I made him. With my loins.”
The expression on Cash’s face was priceless. Surprise changed into doubt and finally shock.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cash asked.
“I don’t kid about family, kid.” Bliss laughed, at his own joke and the fact that Cash still didn’t get it. “This probably means that Meadows is gonna be my second favorite.” He made sure to stress the word second, hoping Cash would question him, but he didn’t.
“How is that even possible?”
“Do I need to tell you about the birds and the bees, Justin? I will, but you know, I thought you had that part down already.”
“I thought that you were…I mean, we were…not able to with…uh…human women.”
“Oh, we can. Not to say we should. Not by a long shot. The birthing kills them almost every time. But not always. Find one with those sturdy, wide hips and you might be good to go. She has to be healthy and strong too, of course.”
“But you bred with one? Why?”
“More than one. More than two even. Lots. But that’s not why I’m telling you this. It’s not so much about Meadows as it is about you.”
Cash was silent for a moment. Then, “What are saying, Bliss?”
Bliss took one hand off the steering wheel and gave Cash’s knee a hard pat. “You’re one of mine too, boy. Why do you think you’re so damn handsome?”
The inside of the truck filled with the sounds of Bliss’s laughter and outside, snow mixed with rain, threatening to make travel on the roads that much more dangerous.
CHAPTER 23
The second Quinn pulled into the driveway of Helena’s house, she and a man he didn’t recognize came running out the front door towards the car.
In the passenger seat, Sam was unconscious again, slumped against the door. The man Quinn didn’t know, opened the door and caught Sam as he tumbled out, gasping at the sight of the other man with what essentially amounted to no face.
Helena, upon first seeing Sam, let out a low, miserable moan that wasn’t so very different from the moans Sam himself had made the few times he’d awoken, even for a few seconds.
“Fucking bastards,” the man said, lifting Sam effortlessly and carrying him like a child to the house. Helena barely glanced at Quinn, following the man, droplets of rain and snow collecting in her dark hair as Quinn brought up the rear.
Once inside, the man gently placed Sam on the sofa and Quinn had the first opportunity to glance down at himself, seeing that he could have been mistaken for a serial killer or maybe even a serial killer’s victim, so covered in blood he was. He felt a moment of revulsion and then Helena was hugging him, so tight he had trouble breathing, but he hugged her back nonetheless.
“I’m sorry,” he said, beginning to weep against her shoulder. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t think a hospital would-”
“It’s okay,” she replied, also crying now.
The stranger let them have their moment but interrupted them after only a few seconds.
He touched Helena’s shoulder, causing her to break away from Quinn as she wiped tears from her cheeks with the heel of one hand.
“This is bad,” he said. “He should be in a hospital. He’s not going to make it otherwise.” He paused, then bravely continued. “I honestly don’t think he’ll make it either way.”
Quinn stepped forward. “That’s why I didn’t take him. Sam always said hospitals mean questions and questions we can’t afford. I thought this was one of those times.”
“The man is missing his lower face!” the stranger said, raising his voice. “Fuck questions!”
For the first time since he’d known Helena, Quinn saw uncertainty on her face. She looked from the man, to him and back again.
“I’m sorry,” Quinn said. “Who are you?”
“Nick Valley,” the man said briskly. “I’m calling 911.”
“No!” Helena said. “How the hell will we explain his injuries? They’ll probably arrest us and we can’t be sitting in cells and trying to come up with explanations for…for…that.” She gestured at Sam but averted her gaze from him.
“He’s like a father to you!” Nick protested. “You can’t just let him die on your couch!”
She looked helplessly at Quinn who didn’t know what to say. Nick was right. Sam was like a father to Helena. He’d seen her in good times as well as bad and, he supposed, Sam was like a father to him as well. He and Helena had become Quinn’s family and even though he was still a bit green, they seldom talked down to him. A lesson he thought this Nick character could learn from.
Quinn said, “There’s something else we should consider.”
They both looked at him questioningly.
“While I was getting Sam out of that house…I stepped on something on the lawn. I thought it was a rock or something and almost didn’t look down, but it felt a bit weird so I did look down. It was Sam’s cell phone.”
They watched him, waiting.
“They had an RV. Looked brand new. Not sure if they’re keeping it or what but I took a couple seconds and went inside. Stashed Sam’s phone under the sink in a new package of dishwasher pellets so it wouldn’t slide around.”
Understanding lit up Helena’s face. “GPS! That’s how we tracked you!”
He nodded. “Worth a shot, right?”
She pressed a hand to her forehead. “I can’t believe what an idiot I am for not thinking of it first. I just assumed his phone would be…I don’t know…gone, I guess.”
Both she and Quinn headed to the desk, with Quinn sliding into the chair and tapping keys. A moment later he said, “Got it.”
Nick stood where he was, incredulous. “Are you shitting me?”
“Nope. Not shitting you. They’re on the highway, headed south. Looks like they might be headed out of state.”
“I can’t believe they’re not headed here,” Helena said. “We thought for sure they would be.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. No idea why they’re beating feet but it sure seems like they are.”
“The question is, is that good or bad?”
<
br /> “Well, they got Meadows. Maybe there’s another prime candidate somewhere south of here? We haven’t been searching the web for new ones.”
Nick knelt beside the sofa, feeling Sam’s neck for a pulse. “If you don’t want to call an ambulance, then I’m going to drive him to the hospital. I’m not going to just sit here and let him die.”
“Just drop him off,” Helena said. “Don’t stick around. We’re going to need you.”
“For what? You just said the monsters are fleeing.”
“I doubt they’re fleeing. They’re just onto something we don’t know about yet.”
“Video cameras will be everywhere,” Quinn put in. “If you’re going to the hospital, try to avoid them as much as possible.”
Nick stared at them as if they were aliens from outer space. “What the hell is wrong with you two? This is Sam we’re talking about!”
Quinn saw Helena’s cheeks darken and braced himself for the oncoming explosion. She shocked him by bursting into tears.
“Don’t you fucking think I know it’s Sam we’re talking about?” she yelled. “Of course I know that! We both do! But we’re doing what he taught us! Putting the mission first! He always said he wouldn’t like it, but he’d be doing the same thing! So, if you want to go get yourself busted, be my guest. I’ll be grateful if they can save him but look at him! You said yourself they probably won’t be able to. He’s dying from shock and probably blood loss.”
She stopped, trying to get herself under control but Quinn felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes again. He focused intently on the computer monitor, unable to look at her anymore. His vision blurred but he blinked rapidly until it cleared again, determined not to break down. They didn’t have time. They had to decide their next move and if this Nick guy didn’t want to be part of it, then so be it. He and Helena could go it alone. They had before and, the way things were going, they’d have to again, maybe for a very long time.
Nick’s face was grim and he seemed to be debating on how to respond to Helena but ultimately, he didn’t. He silently went about the task of picking Sam up off the sofa. Without a word, he carried him out of the house. He didn’t even ask for help opening the door, or closing it for that matter. The man was a beast, Quinn thought. Massive and obviously as strong as an ox. Quinn wouldn’t want to get on the guy’s bad side and was grateful for more than one reason when he was gone.
