“No!” I screamed. “Quinn!”
Liet got his free arm around my neck and applied pressure. I clawed and scratched his arm, but the oxygen was slowly being cut off to my brain. My knees buckled. I grabbed at the air, hoping to magically pull Quinn back. I was sure Liet was going to kill me.
CHAPTER 23
I regained consciousness a while later. My head pounded and my throat was sore. I sat up and noticed I was in a cot in the women’s house. I swung my feet off the side of the bed and a chain clunked onto the floor. I lifted my right foot and examined the Master padlock that connected the two ends of the chain. I angrily jerked on it. I glanced up and noticed Pam sitting across me. She smiled feebly.
“You feeling all right?”
What the hell kind of question was that? Of course I wasn’t all right. “I’d be doing a lot better if I wasn’t chained up.”
Pam nodded. “I know. I wish I could do something for you, but I can’t.”
I stared at her for a moment. “You could let me go.”
Pam shook her head. “Liet has the only key. He’s wearing it around his neck.”
“You could try to contact Quinn. He’ll know what to do.”
She shook her head again. “Liet’s monitoring the air waves. Anyone who uses the radio without authorization will be shot on sight.”
I balled my hands into fists. Why did she even bring it up? If she wasn’t going to do anything, she should’ve kept her mouth shut. I guess she was trying to look good.
“If you’re not going to help me, what are you doing here?”
Pam’s eyes widened in surprise. “I want to help you, Krista, but what you’re asking me to do is impossible. Besides, where would you go if I set you free? To Quinn? How are you going to get there without a vehicle?”
My eyes narrowed to slits. “I can get a vehicle. Don’t you worry about that.”
“You wouldn’t make it past the gate. You know what sharp shooters we have in the tower.”
“Being dead might be better than being a prisoner.”
“Don’t say that. You know that’s not true.”
I held up my hand to silence Pam. “You don’t know. You’re not the one chained up.”
Pam’s face turned red. “You got yourself into this mess. I’m trying to make things a little easier on you.”
Anger boiled in my chest. “How did I get myself into this mess? Because I followed your advice? You’re the one who told me I deserved to be happy!”
“Then you should have stayed in the West! Why did you come back?”
I stared at her. I wanted to tell her it was because we planned a war, but I couldn’t. If Pam wouldn’t help me escape now, I was sure she’d take the information directly to Liet. That was probably the only reason she talked to me. She was trying to get information.
The door to the house flew open, and Liet stepped into the room. He stood at the end of my bed, his hands on his hips. He stared at me for a moment, then swung his gaze to Pam.
“I need you to get four soldiers. Preferably ones who know how to drive a semi and don’t scare easily.”
Pam saluted before heading out the door. Liet sat in her place.
“You know,” I said softly, “there’s a lot more to gathering supplies than just knowing where they are.”
“You mean like dating your guide?”
I clenched my jaw. “What does it matter to you?”
“It matters a lot to me! I wanted to be the one to provide for you. I wanted to make sure you were safe. I’m your family, not him.” He took a deep breath. “I told you before, Krista, I don’t like to be abandoned. Especially for another guy.”
I clicked my tongue on the roof of my mouth. “I don’t know why I’m the only person in this entire camp you care about. What about the workers? What about that girl, Megan? Why do you have to focus all your attention on me?”
“Because you can’t take care of yourself.”
The heat rose into my face. “Can’t take care of myself?” The question came out as a whisper. “I’ve been taking care of myself for almost three years now. I don’t need you.”
“Of course you do. Where would you be if it weren’t for me? Still in Florida? Waiting on the Johnsons? Maybe married to some loser. I gave you this life, and I can take it all away.”
I grabbed the chain. “I can guarantee I wouldn’t be chained to this bed!”
“I didn’t want it to come to this, Krista, but you left me no choice. I tried being nice, I tried grounding you, but nothing worked. You either physically attacked me or ran away. This was my last option.”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy. Why didn’t you just kill me?”
“You know I can’t live without you. We have to take care of each other. You can’t do that if you’re in the West with him.” He stood and caressed my cheek.
I turned my gaze to the kitchen to keep from spitting in his face.
“You’ll come back around eventually.” He turned and headed out the door.
I threw myself back onto the bed and placed my fists on my forehead. If only I could get a hold of Quinn, but he thought I was going to Florida. He’d be suspicious when he didn’t hear from me in a couple days, but he wouldn’t come looking for me. He couldn’t. Liet told him that they no longer needed his services. If he came back to the city, he’d be killed, and he knew that too.
I had to escape. That was my only way out, but how? I was chained to the bed, and the only key was with Liet. I could try to cut through the metal, but with what? There was nothing in the house I could use, and I was sure no one would help me. My only chance was to appeal to his sentimental side. I was screwed.
Weeks passed. Well, it felt like weeks, but it might have only been days. I didn’t have a calendar so I wasn’t really sure. I was completely miserable and convinced I was going to die chained to the bed. Liet never came to see me again, but Pam made sure I had food and water. The chain was long enough to allow me movement around the house, but I couldn’t get out through the door or windows. My ankle bled from where the chain rubbed. The only thing that kept me going was knowing Quinn and his people would attack any day, but that hope was slowly dwindling. From my calculations, they should have been there a week ago.
I was surprised when Pam came to the house with the key to my chain.
“What’s going on?”
“Liet wants to see you.”
“Why?”
“The trucks we sent out haven’t come back.”
“So send out some more.”
“No one else will go.”
I scowled. “So he’s expecting me to clean up his mess.”
That pretty much clinched it for me. Liet was insane. That was the only way to explain his actions.
Pam unlocked the chain, then escorted me to the courthouse. As I stepped through the threshold, I took a deep breath. Pam stayed behind at the door.
Liet looked up from his work and smiled as I approached the bench. I stopped a few feet from his desk and tucked my hands into my back pockets.
“Liet.”
“Ah, Krista, I’m glad you could make it.” He stepped around his desk and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, gently kissing the top of my head.
I suppressed the shiver that ran down my spine. “What do you want?”
He pulled back and went to his desk. He shuffled through his papers until he found what he looked for. He stared at it for a moment before placing it back on the desk.
“Looks like we need fuel.”
I sucked in a deep breath and pulled my hands out of my pockets. I wanted to ask him what his problem was, if maybe he’d been dropped on his head as a child, but I knew that moment might be my only chance. I didn’t want to anger him.
“Why didn’t you call Quinn?”
Liet dismissively waved his hand. “He wouldn’t return my summons. I think he’s afraid I’ll hurt him.”
“Would you?”
Liet responded with a smirk.
>
I rolled my eyes. “How many trucks?”
“We only have one we can spare right now. Will you be able to fill it up?”
I glanced up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. When I came to a conclusion, I folded my arms across my chest and focused my sights back on my cousin. “I might know of a place, but it’s been a while since I’ve been out. How soon do you need it?”
“As soon as you can get it here. And I doubt things have changed that much in ten days.” He leaned back in his chair and fiddled with a pencil on his desk. “Of course, I wouldn’t expect you to go alone. In fact, I downright forbid it.” He nodded to the man who stood behind him. “This is Ben. He’ll accompany you on your mission.”
I looked the man up and down. His faded green fatigues hung loosely on his small frame, his cheeks were covered with a few days’ worth of stubble, and his dirty brown hair stuck out in multiple directions. His dark eyes were sunken, and his shoulders slumped forward.
“You running out of men out here? This one looks a little green.”
“He is a bit new, but he can handle himself.”
“He’d better. I don’t want another Anderson or Wilks on my hands.”
Ben’s face paled.
“I need you to leave as soon as possible,” Liet said.
“I’ll need my weapons.”
“You can have them as soon as you leave the city.” Liet motioned toward Ben, and he came from behind the desk.
He joined me, and we turned and left the room.
As the sun set, we walked to the other side of town where the vehicles were kept behind locked gates. I climbed into the passenger seat of the tanker truck, placing my foot on the dash. Ben pulled onto the highway.
Ten days? Was that all? It seemed like so much longer. It made me feel better, though, because I’d been convinced Quinn forgot about me. Written me off as a lost cause, but it wasn’t true. Not enough time had passed. I was sure he still planned on attacking, and he would have saved me, I know it, but this situation worked too. Either way, I was free.
Liet must really have a screw loose. I mean, he had to know I wasn’t coming back. If he thought Ben was going to stop me, he was really dumb. Thank goodness for his stupidity. Without it, I’d still be chained to that bed. I think luck played a big role too. I glanced out the window and up at the stars. Yep, I was the luckiest girl I knew.
We were about an hour away from North Platte when we ran into our first zombie. The truck was cruising at sixty-five miles per hour with Ben zoning at the wheel when the figure emerged in the headlights like a ghost. By the time he realized what was going on, the creature splattered all over the front of the truck. Under reflex, he slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. I stared at him. His eyes were wide and his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel.
“Are you all right?”
He turned slowly to face me and nodded mechanically. “I think so.” His voice was barely over a whisper.
I undid my seatbelt. “Get up.” I motioned with my hand for him to move. “I’ll take it the rest of the way.” A moan echoed outside and I glanced over my shoulder. I grabbed his arm. “C’mon. We don’t have much time.”
Ben undid his seatbelt and moved to the other seat. I put the truck into gear and took off down the road as two more zombies crawled on the cab. I watched in the rearview as their bodies thumped onto the pavement and rolled into blackness. His face went white.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
Ben took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. I’m okay. I’d never seen a zombie before. I thought I hit a person.”
I snorted. “Never saw a zombie before? How long have you been in North Platte?”
“I got there five minutes before I met you in the office.”
“Well, you’d better get used to it out here. The undead are everywhere. They may be slow and easy to kill, but they’re like cockroaches. Where there’s one, there’s several.” I nodded toward the gun on his belt. “Best to keep that handy.”
He touched it briefly and nodded. “I will.”
Great, I thought, more fresh meat for the undead. I hope he doesn’t drag me down with him.
I drove on I-80 until I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. Ben snored next to me. I glanced at the dash. The clock read 2:00 a.m. I pulled the truck to the side of the road, and as soon as the tires hit the rumble bar, Ben jerked out of his sleep.
“What’s going on?” He wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.
“I need a break.”
He straightened up and glanced nervously out the window. “Are you sure it’s okay to stop here?”
I put the truck into park and shrugged. “No, but I have to pee.” I opened the door and stepped out. Before closing it behind me, I stuck my head back into the cab. “You’re driving.”
I hurried around to the back of the tanker drum, out of Ben’s sight, and then undid my pants. I kept one ear open for the sounds around me, but only heard the howling wind. After I finished, I turned to head to the passenger side of the truck and came face-to-face with a half-rotted corpse. The creature wore one sleeve of a red and black checkered shirt and a pair of tattered Dickies. Its ribs were exposed under black rotted flesh, and one eye was about ready to fall out of the socket. One work boot was securely on its foot while the other was attached by its shoestrings that were twisted around its ankle, slowing the already snail-paced creature down. I went to dodge away from it under the truck, but noticed another zombie, this one just the top half, was in my way. I pulled out my gun and shot twice, hitting both of them in the head. Running, I went back to the cab and climbed into the seat.
“Let’s go.”
Ben hesitated for a moment. Who knew what ran through his mind, but I imagined he tried to figure out what was going on. It wasn’t until a creature banged into the side of my door and knocked him back into reality that he put the truck into gear and headed down the highway. I gave him directions where to go before crawling into the sleeper cab and then falling into an uncomfortable sleep.
***
I awoke as the sun came over the horizon. I stretched and looked over at Ben—his mouth gaped wide open in a yawn.
“We almost there?” I asked, suppressing my own.
Ben nodded. “I think so. Do you have anything to eat?”
I shook my head curtly. “There’ll be food when we get there.”
Half an hour later, the truck pulled into the deserted town that was our destination. The gas station sat on the edge, next to the highway, and I had him pull up to the nearest pump.
“Okay, we have to do this quickly and efficiently.” I scanned the area. “I don’t know how many undead are in the area, but once they catch wind of us, they’ll be here in no time.”
Ben glanced nervously out the window.
“Here’s the plan.” I explained to him that we’d first get the pumps and hoses in place, then he could head to the station and collect the food. I told him I’d watch his back while he unscrewed the gas cap from the cement.
He protectively placed a hand over his weapon. “Why can’t I watch your back?”
I pushed my eyebrows together and huffed. “I’m five-foot-two and weigh a hundred and ten. Do you really think I can get the cap off?”
Ben frowned. “How do I know you’re not going to shoot me and leave me out here to die?”
“Ben,” I kept my voice as calm as possible, “if I wanted to harm you, I could have pushed you out of the truck when you were sleeping.”
He stared at me for a moment, his eyes wide.
It took a little convincing, but I finally got him out of the truck. It took us fifteen minutes to get the hoses set up and another couple hours to fill the tanker. Ben ran into the building during that time to get us food. We feasted on beef jerky, canned meat, warm soda, and stale chips. We sat in the cab and kept our eyes open for the undead. Luckily for us, we only saw
two, and that was as we finished the job. I shot them both before we continued on our way.
Once we were a quarter of a mile down the road, Ben let out an ear-piercing holler. It was so unexpected, I jerked the wheel and almost flipped the tanker.
“Woo-hoo! That was exciting!” He punched the dashboard a few times with both his fists in rapid succession. “You never knew when those SOBs were going to strike, and when they did, pow, pow, you took care of them. How’d you learn to shoot like that anyway?”
My heart pounded in my chest, and I took a couple deep breaths to calm down. “Practice.”
“It was amazing. I’ve never seen anyone shoot like that before.” His mouth opened into a wide yawn and he shook his head. “Uff, I’m tired.”
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “Why don’t you get some sleep? We’ve a way to go, and I’ll wake you when I need you to drive.”
Ben’s head bobbed forward, and he caught it before his chin hit his chest. Sluggishly, he crawled into the back.
I turned the tanker truck onto a secondary highway, which we followed for another hour, then turned down a dirt road. The landscape changed from the flat desert into rolling hills covered with juniper trees, then into steep cliffs with pines and red rocks. My stomach fluttered with excitement, and I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. I had the truck going as fast as I safely could, but it seemed to be taking forever. I wanted to squeal when the gates to the ranch opened, and I pulled the truck inside.
Quinn waited for me on the porch as I exited the truck. I wrapped my arms around his neck and told him how much I’d missed him. He squeezed me back so hard I lost my breath. Our gazes met for a brief second before we locked lips in a hard, long kiss. After we released, I buried my face into his chest, and he placed his chin on the top of my head.
Life After The Undead Omnibus [Books 1-2] Page 22
