This is the End 2: The Post-Apocalyptic Box Set (9 Book Collection)

by J. Thorn

He turned around with a half-smile on his face and even though it was extremely adorable and turned my heart into a big puddle of goo, he seemed to want to jump right back into… whatever we were doing, or ahem, about to do.

  Which seriously freaked me out.

  So I did the only thing a girl in my position would do, I put my hands on his shoulders and shoved him out of the room so I could slam and lock the door behind him.

  “Goodbye, Hendrix,” I called to him while he stood there perplexed and alone. “I think it’s nice you didn’t die earlier, too.”

  He shot me his middle finger playfully just before I got the door closed. Dinner suddenly didn’t seem so bad. Dealing with the Parker brothers was way more dangerous than going to dinner with a bunch of bizarre militia type men that could potentially force Haley and me to live in their prostitute housing performing unthinkable services in exchange for cigarettes.

  Chapter Three

  “What are you doing?” I gasped after Vaughan leaned in and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek.

  “Sorry,” Vaughan breathed out nervously. “Uh, I was just doing the husband thing, staking my claim. I was tired of all these men looking at you like you were their next course.”

  “Oh, right,” I cleared my throat and smiled- it was the kind of clown smile that belonged in horror movies, but it was a smile. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

  “Please, relax,” Vaughan pleaded under his breath. He slid his arm around my shoulder and laid a strong hand on my bicep.

  “This isn’t exactly an environment I feel comfortable relaxing in,” I whimpered quietly. “I feel like I have a twitch, I keep reaching for a gun that’s not there.”

  “I know what you mean,” Vaughan sympathized. “These guys are what nightmares are made of. We’re going to get out of here. I promise, Reagan. So far they haven’t made any overtly intimidating threats to keep us here. I think they’re just trying to figure out a system since everything else failed them. Their actions are dictated by fear. We just have to make sure we don’t make them feel afraid.”

  I nodded, agreeing with his wisdom. “I get that. I mean, most of my actions are dictated by fear, too.”

  Vaughan turned to face me, his blue eyes, almost identical to his younger brother’s; reading me, analyzing me with so much intelligence I wanted to shrink away from the power of his gaze. “You’re not controlled by fear, Reagan, not even a little bit. Maybe the instinct to survive, the desire to protect and a goal you feel compelled to reach. But there is so much more to you than fear. That is what separates you from the women over there.” Vaughan indicated a table in the far corner filled with women in all sorts of disarray and depression. You could tell by their vacant eyes, their skittish behavior. It wasn’t just the life they’d resorted to; it was something that rolled off them like perfume. You could smell how terrified they were, how they believed this was all there was left in life. The one thing I could say about Gary was that I didn’t think he’d kidnapped these women or forced them into whatever kind of half-lives they were living. This was their choice when they didn’t see any other. Women held against their will did not act…. resigned.

  “What about you, Vaughan?” I tore my eyes away from those women that truly ripped out my heart and looked for the honesty in his expression. “What motivates you?”

  “Love,” he said simply. “I love my family. I would do anything for them- anything to keep them safe.”

  “And do you think we have enough? Your love and my obsession with surviving?”

  A small smile tilted his lips and he leaned in closer like he was telling me a secret, “Love is the strongest motivator of all, Reagan. Stronger than fear, stronger than hate, stronger than whatever else is out there. Love is more than enough to survive with; it’s enough to live with.”

  His words felt like a punch in the chest with how much power they hit me with. Tears prickled the corner of my eyes and I forced them back, pushed them where they wouldn’t threaten to show a weakness again. “What about me?”

  “Survival’s enough for now, Reagan. And when it isn’t, you’ll learn to love again. I know that, I believe that about you.”

  A heat so ferocious and consuming I shuddered from the effect of it as it moved from my chest to my limbs down to the bottoms of my fingers and toes. “You know that?”

  “You’re capable of anything, Reagan. Why not love? You might have to learn trust and hope first, but love is in there. I see it.” He shot me a wide, breath-taking smile and then turned back to his dinner.

  I sat there stunned with my mouth open. Where had these boys come from? And why did they mean so much for my survival?

  Haley and I lasted for two years without them and in the one week we’d known them they’d just come into our lives and taken over. Now I couldn’t imagine life without them, without their protection or caring about what happened to them.

  There were so many different people we could have run into- people like Gary and his merry band of weirdos. Instead, we meet men who knew how to love and value each other and us- who spent their lives protecting each other so they didn’t just survive through this end of the world bullshit, but they lived through it too.

  “How’s the food?” Gary asked, plopping down across the table from us. He had spent his dinner at some kind of honored position that looked out at the large Army-style mess hall. There were a group of men with him that seemed to have leadership roles and a few choice women that hung around and waited on them.

  “Very good,” Vaughan answered. And that was true. We ate chicken- as in actual meat. I’d never been more excited to see white meat in my life.

  Truthfully at this point I would have taken some McNuggets I found in a trashcan- come on, it’s only been roughly two years, we know those things haven’t even begun to grow mold on them yet. Don’t they have like a solid ten year life span? But this was so much better than even that.

  Hendrix was sitting on the other side of Vaughan and he asked, “Where did you find poultry?”

  “We raise it,” Gary answered proudly, clearly hoping to impress us. “A couple of our guys were farmers, brought their stock with them when they came. We’ve got a chicken coop, some sheep left and a couple dairy cows.

  “That’s impressive,” Vaughan whistled and I couldn’t tell if he was actually impressed or just playing along. “We’re lucky to share some jerky.”

  Gary laughed out loud, long and boisterous, as if that were the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “Shit, you guys are lucky you found us. How long you think you could go on living like that?”

  “For as long as we have to,” Vaughan was more serious now.

  “You really aren’t thinking about staying here? After all we have to offer? Protection, electricity, meat, milk. You’ve got a growing boy over there. You think he can survive on jerky?” He gestured toward Page who had successfully kept her hat in place and her head down.

  “Actually, before the infection outbreak, studies were showing that cow’s milk wasn’t all that healthy for you. Our bodies can’t even digest that kind of calcium-“

  “Anyway, as I was saying,” Gary cut me off, but Ok, I didn’t exactly blame him. “We are offering you a place to set up for a long time. You could get off the road, take a break. Surely your women would appreciate a permanent home.”

  “What is the benefit for you if we stay?” Hendrix asked smoothly. “From how I see it, we’ll eat your food, use what’s left of your electricity, take up space and keep our women to ourselves. We would suck up your resources and give you what in return?”

  Gary’s eyes narrowed on Hendrix with a scrutiny that sent shivers trailing down my spine. “Your loyalty. And when there’s problems, your willingness to take care of those problems.”

  “Zombie problems?” Vaughan pressed.

  “Among others,” Gary answered cryptically. “And as far as your women go,” he cleared his throat. “Not all of you are…. tied down. Unless y’all share-“

  �
��We don’t share,” Hendrix ground out, his eyes flashing with his strong temper.

  Gary put his hands up, “I didn’t mean nothing by it.”

  “Thank you for the offer,” Vaughan took over again. “But we promised my wife’s family we would come for them. And if there’s even a small chance they made it, they will be waiting for us. We can’t let them down.”

  “That’s good of you. Loyal,” Gary nodded, but his eyes called bullshit on Vaughan’s excuses. “How far south did you say they were?”

  “Very,” Vaughan coughed out. “They’re very south.”

  “You know the southern states are bad, don’t you? What started in Mexico has invaded up here. It starts in Arkansas and they’re spreading out everywhere. You ain’t going to get far down there without some help. How ‘bout this. You go on and get your family, I’ll even send some help with you. You could leave your boy here, your women too, if they want. Then when you find them, or what remains of them, you can bring them back here and all stay together. That’s what I would do for you.”

  Silence dredged between us for long, painful moments before Vaughan formulated a response. “That is a very generous offer. One I would be a fool to decline, but I can’t leave my family behind. After everything that’s happened I’m just not exactly anxious to let anyone out of my sight. You can understand that, I’m sure you lost people too.”

  “That I did,” Gary answered slowly. “I suppose you don’t want my men either?”

  “If it’s as bad as you say, I feel guilty risking any more lives than I need to.”

  Vaughan Parker, master negotiator.

  I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling triumphantly. I wouldn’t have had the patience to deal with Gary politely. There probably would have been some bitch slapping and toe stomping had the conversation been left up to me. Vaughan was earning my respect not just as a human being but as a leader too. Something I thought I would never give away again.

  “Alright then, Vaughan. Do what you need to do. We’ll take care of your vehicle tonight and y’all can be off whenever you want tomorrow.”

  “Thank you again, Gary,” Vaughan stuck his hand out to shake the other mans. “Your hospitality has meant a lot to us. We appreciate this more than we can show you.”

  “Like I said, you took care of a problem for us. This is a fair trade. We don’t owe you, you don’t owe us. Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” Vaughan nodded.

  Gary got up and retreated back to his table where a girl not much older than me immediately draped herself across his lap. I repressed the urge to vomit and turned back to Hendrix and Vaughan.

  “Good work, captain, my captain,” Haley grinned from across the table. “Solid skills. I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

  I snorted. “You couldn’t have done it at all. You’re a terrible liar.” I mouthed liar, so that it wouldn’t be overheard in the noisy room.

  “That is not true,” Haley rolled her eyes, trying to be overly convincing.

  “Case and point,” I smirked.

  Haley stuck her tongue out at me.

  “I’m going to have to remember this,” Nelson laughed at us. “This is enlightening.”

  Haley turned bright red and looked down at her broken nails.

  “We’re leaving first thing in the morning,” Vaughan instructed, ignoring what was happening between his brother and my friend. “Let’s get back, get to bed and forget about this entire twenty-four hour foray into the decline of civilization.”

  “Vaughan, we fight Zombies on a daily basis,” Harrison piped up. “I think we’ve already seen the decline of civilization.”

  Vaughan hit him with a stone somber look, his voice gravely serious, “This place is worse than anywhere we’ve been yet, Harry. You need to remember that.”

  Harrison looked around with his still vaguely innocent eyes and shrugged his shoulders. “If you say so, brother.”

  Hendrix stood up and we all followed. We took our empty trays and handed them off to a few men designated with dish duty. They had two large tubs of water that they were using to clean and rinse the trays and then there was a small pile for leftover food or bones. They didn’t seem to be throwing anything away, which made sense since there weren’t exactly garbage trucks or services around anymore. But I also had to wonder what they were going to do with those bones.

  Looking around at a room of men leering at me with hungry eyes and guns and knives strapped to every available space on them, I decided they probably saved them to make toothpicks or pencils or something equally as weird as they were out of them.

  Yeesh, I could not wait to be out of here.

  We hurried back to the house we were temporarily staying in and divided into our separate rooms. Our bags were thrown into sloppy piles in the living room, so once we’d found our own we spent time in our rooms reorganizing the mess the henchman had made.

  I rolled up my underwear desperately wishing I could bleach them after those guys had their disgusting paws on them. I felt violated. I felt wronged.

  Mostly I felt like complaining.

  Haley flopped on the dusty bed and rolled over with a groan. “This sucks. And my shoulder’s sore from all that shooting earlier.”

  I rubbed my own shoulder, “Mine too. It’s kind of funny though. A week ago we would have gave our right arms to sleep in a bed,” I sighed. “Now look at us. Turning our noses up at free housing.”

  “Yeah, but this housing isn’t exactly free, Reags,” Haley pointed out.

  “What do you think about those women, Hales? Can we start a crusade to give them freedom?” I lay back next to her so that our heads were touching and we were staring at the ceiling bathed in moonlight from the open windows and candles we lit after we got home from dinner.

  “We could start a non-profit, I’ll be the CEO, you be public relations,” she suggested but then turned sad again. “I don’t think they’ll want to go Reagan. I think this is the life they choose.”

  “It’s scary out there. I can’t blame them. They might not have any other choice.”

  “I hate this.” Haley sounded depressingly resigned and I reached out to hold her hand, hating this as much as she did. “When did life get so screwed up?”

  “Ok, let’s play,” I perked up at the thought of our favorite game. “We haven’t played in a while.”

  “We haven’t needed to since the Parker brothers came into our lives,” Haley giggled.

  I laughed too. “Yes, I think it’s safe to say your attention has been successfully diverted.”

  “Oh, right, because I’m the only one making googly eyes.” She elbowed me in the side. “Pretty sure I’ve at least narrowed down my options.”

  “Pretty sure he narrowed them down for you.” I turned to face her. “Huh, Mrs. Nelson Parker.”

  She looked at me for a second, deciding if we were going to have girl talk or play our game

  before blurting out, “Keep fountain pop. Leave never having toilet paper when you need it.”

  I sighed, “Those are good ones. God, what I wouldn’t give for an ice cold Coke straight from the machine.”

  “You’re making it worse,” Haley groaned.

  A knock on our door startled us both and we jumped up to sitting. Haley was closest to the door so she rolled off the bed and yanked it open.

  Page stared back at us through the candlelight, her pale face drawn and sleepy. She was still wearing the stocking cap, but her long hair had started to escape in wispy strands along her face. “Can I sleep with you guys tonight?” she asked in her sweet little girl voice. “The boys smell bad.”

  We laughed but agreed and Haley let her in. She crawled onto the bed in between us and we all lay there holding hands with our heads together. Haley leaned over and blew out the candles before settling back in.

  “We’re playing a game, Page, want to play with us?” Haley asked once we were submerged in darkness.

  The environment around us was noisier than us
ual. People moved about outside and the boys were making sounds throughout the house. I was used to almost complete silence save for the occasional cricket and the sound was perturbing. The game was soothing my nerves and lulling me to sleep.

  “Sure,” Page said on a yawn. “How do you play?”

  “We call it Keep-One, Leave-One,” I explained. “So, I’m going to say something I would keep from before the whole Zombie thing happened and then I’m going to say something I hate that I would like to leave and not have to deal with. I would keep Netflix. I loved watching movies, curled up on my couch with my boyfriend.”

  “The boyfriend that turned into a Zombie?” Page asked innocently.

  “Yep, that’s the one.” I coughed out. “And I would leave no air conditioning. I miss air conditioning.”

  “Me too,” Haley whispered.

  “Me too,” echoed Page.

  “Ok, Page, it’s your turn,” I prompted, nudging her arm with my elbow. I held my breath, afraid she would pick one of her parents to keep.

  But she surprised us all by saying, “I would keep popsicles. I miss popsicles.”

  “That is a good one,” Haley laughed.

  “And I would leave…. these people. I don’t like these people we have to stay with.” Her voice was a whisper of fear and I hated that she ever felt afraid, let alone her whole life revolved around it.

  No, that was wrong. Page’s whole life revolved around love according to Vaughan. Page was one of the lucky ones, even in this unlucky world.

  “We’ll be gone by morning,” I promised, turning over and curling up with her.

  “I know.” Her voice was still small, but there was confidence behind it. “Vaughan won’t let us stay here when there’s daylight. He’ll keep us safe.”

  Another knock on our door but we were only able to lift our heads to the sound before it was pushed open and Vaughan, Nelson and Hendrix all pressed their way into our room. They each held up a candle so they could see their way around. The light reflected off their bright eyes and cast shadows across their faces. It wasn’t fair that they were so attractive looking even in candlelight, it seemed like there should be some bad lighting for these guys. Maybe I should get them under some bright fluorescents or a black light. That could probably help my self-esteem.