Now that my mouth wasn’t dry as the Sahara I focused on my breathing. The first step was to take it from ragged gulps to slow purposeful breaths. It didn’t happen right away, but after a few minutes I started to feel more like myself. Without a meal and some rest this guy wasn’t going to make it much further than a few more miles. Plus when we reached Camp Verde we needed to have enough strength left to fight. The way my legs were shaking now, it wouldn’t take much to knock me over.
“The helicopter is moving away.” Holly listened for a moment longer and then took a sip of water. “You want the good news or the bad news?”
“Let’s start with the good news, I’m not sure I could handle any more bad news.” Not that wishing for it not to happen would make it so. Not when Holly already hinted that there was bad news on the horizon.
“The helicopter isn’t circling back, they must have called off the search for tonight.”
Hopefully, that meant it was nap time for us. Those next few miles I’d been thinking about could wait until tomorrow. At this point I’d do whatever Holly wanted if I could just lay down before I had to run again. I got the feeling my night of running wasn’t over, but I wasn’t ready to give up hope as I asked, “And the bad news?”
Holly took off her pack and set it down before slumping to the ground by her tree. “As far as I can tell the helicopter left in the exact same direction we are heading.”
As far as bad news went that wasn’t so bad. I already had the feeling that was where they were headed. At least now we would be as ready for them as they were for us. Slipping out of my own pack, I tossed it on the duffel before staking a seat on the ground. The bark of the pine dug into my head as I rested against it. Normally I would have moved or rolled up a shirt to put behind my head, but I was just too damn tired for that. The trunk might as well have been a memory foam pillow at this point for all the effort I was going to put into moving now.
“It could be worse.” I ventured. I mean things could always get worse.
“Max,” Holly fixed her gaze on me, looking tired and exasperated. “How could it possibly get worse?”
“They could have had trucks full of soldiers deployed behind us searching every inch of this forest, but they don’t, so now we get to rest.”
“Don’t you even think about trucks full of soldiers. We don’t need that kind of juju out in the world.”
“Juju?” Did she really just say juju?
“You know, bad energy. When your thoughts put that kind of energy out into the world, only one thing can happen.” Holly looked at me with a deadly serious expression.
“Well, don’t leave me in suspense,” I snarked.
“Bad things.” She looked away as if a memory flashed before her eyes.
It wasn’t exactly the kind of revelation I’d been hoping for. Just because I thought of soldiers coming to kill us didn’t mean it was going to happen or that I wanted it to, only that it was one possible scenario. How could a person go through life if every errant thought put their life in danger? If the world spun on that kind of logic I would have been dead by age ten. I felt myself starting to get worked up and was about to tell Holly where she could stick the idea of juju when she snorted.
That’s right. Holly snorted so loud it would have made every pig in a thousand-mile radius jealous. Thankfully, she only snorted once before she broke into bellows of laughter. It was the good kind of laughter. The kind that starts in your belly and works its way up until you almost can’t breathe anymore. From where I was sitting, it almost looked like she was choking to death, but the smile on her face told the truth of the matter.
Bad juju? The only bad juju happening here was the kind of one friend betraying another for a giggle. Sure it was kind of funny, and the way she delivered the definitive line with a straight face was pretty good, but I was still pissed. Granted it was mostly because I let her sucker me in. Scientists were too logical to believe in bad juju.
I waited for the laughter to stop before grumbling, “I’ll take first watch.”
“A true hero, and a glutton for punishment.” Holly had tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
“You could say that, but I’m just looking out for numero uno. If I fell asleep right now, there is no chance you’d be able to wake me up for my shift, and I don’t want to deal with the repercussions.”
“Repercussions?” Holly asked, dopey smile still plastered all over her face.
“Yeah. As a man, when you screw up you never hear the end of it. For the rest of your life a woman will always remind you about that one time.”
Holly stood up and started rooting around in her pack. “If you’re determined to take the first watch, at least lay down while I get the food together.”
I grinned over at her. “The only thing that would make that statement better is if there was a cold beer involved and a TV with football on.”
Holly picked up a stick and tossed it at me. “Don’t get used to it.” Her look turned into a glare. “And you’re cooking tomorrow night.”
“I’m all about the equal distribution of work.” Although right now it sure felt like I was doing a heck of a lot less than she was. I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth for too long before accepting what was offered. Before she could change her mind, I grabbed my sleeping bag from the bottom of my pack and laid it out. I’d like to say I stayed awake until the food was ready, but as soon as my head hit the pillow I left the world behind.
Chapter Four
Holly Bowmont
Max was sleeping before I finished rummaging through my bag for the dehydrated food. The poor guy looked like he needed the rest so I didn’t feel too bad about tricking him into the nap. For someone that professes to hate running so much Max was able to match the grueling pace I set, and despite how much I didn’t want to admit it to myself, Max impressed the hell out of me by doing it. He was in far better shape than he gave himself credit for, or maybe when death was on the line Max just found a way to dig a little deeper. Either way we made it, and that was all that mattered.
Not that we were out of the woods yet. Before our journey ended there was some work that needed to be done. First of which was finding a damn ride. Max wasn’t going to be able to run all the way to Flagstaff, and walking there might take us a week. That was if the weather held and the ground was relatively even. Neither of those things were a given when you plotted your own course. Not to mention the fact that I wasn’t looking forward to slogging all those miles. This girl was ready for a hot bath, a nice meal, and a real bed to sleep in. You couldn’t find any of those things out in the forest. Who knew trying to save the world was such thankless work?
There was no way to know what we’d find in Camp Verde so I busied myself getting wood together for a small fire. With the dry logs in place I measured out the required water from my Camelbak. Once the water was simmering I dumped in the first packet. Three minutes later I dumped in the second and presto change-o we had chicken and dumplings. Once you added my secret weapon, a sprinkle of Tabasco sauce, the dehydrated food wasn’t that bad.
With the mixture bubbling away, I covered the pot and went to wake up Max. The poor guy didn’t even budge when I shook him. For some reason the idea of drawing something funny on his face came to mind, but this wasn’t a sorority party, it was the apocalypse. Still, I bet Max would have looked cute with a unicorn on his forehead. Turning away from sleeping beauty, I busied myself by getting a bowl ready. After taking my half of the bounty, I added a few sprinkles of Tabasco to the pot and tucked the bottle safely back in my pack before digging in.
Sitting down, I took a few bites and started to relax. Slowly I opened up my senses to the world around us. I could sense some animals in the distance, some moving towards us with curiosity, and others moving away in fear of the interlopers. The one thing I didn’t sense was another human, and I sure as hell didn’t hear the helicopter coming back. Looking over at Max, I didn’t have the heart to wake him up. Instead I
listened to the woods for a few more minutes and then decided to trust my gut. Whoever attacked us on the freeway wouldn’t be back tonight. Leaning back against the tree, I fell asleep thinking about a world where I could eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound.
Someone was gently shaking my shoulder. I hoped it was Max. Otherwise I was going to start my day by shooting someone. My hand closed around the gun I kept tucked inside of my sleeping bag, and I squinted my eyes against the morning sun. The sun was really shining for all it’s worth today. Even through the canopy of trees, the light was bright enough to keep me squinting as Max’s features solidified into view.
Tucking the gun back under my sleeping bag pillow, I tried to plaster a smile on my face. “Morning, Max.”
Max glared down at me. “Don’t give me that shit. We could have died without a lookout.”
He was pissed, and by looking at the sun he had every right to be. It was closer to mid-day than it was to morning. How had I slept so long? My eyes finished adjusting to the light, and I turned to take in our makeshift camp. Max might have been pissed, but he found the time to eat the leftovers and clean out the pot. So he might have been mad, but not mad enough to wake me up. What was the big deal anyways, we were both still alive, right?
I brought the gun out of my bag and set it next to the one I had hidden under my pack. Max just shook his head as he watched me and then went back to the pot and started carrying it over to his pack. Man, I hated morning people. What gives them the right to wake up motivated and ready to go instantly? At least all I had to do to get ready was roll up the sleeping bag. It wouldn’t take longer than a few minutes for us to break camp and get moving.
As I stood up Max tossed some kind of protein bar at me. The look on his face as I snatched it out of the air with one hand was priceless. Yeah, this girl had skills. Another six inches and sixty pounds and I could have made it in the league, any league. Ok, maybe eighty pounds and eight inches, but those guys were lucky I wasn’t trying to make my mark. It would have been humiliating for all those big burly men to get beat by a girl.
The protein bar had some kind of fake chocolate on it. Come on guys, it's ok to use real chocolate on an exercise bar. I’m burning the calories, trust me. Despite the mockolate, I stuffed the damn thing in my mouth and started strapping my guns in place. With that taken care of, I headed off into the forest to address my morning needs.
Just as I was pulling my pants back up I heard a noise off to my left. “Seriously, Max. If you want to watch me pee, you have to ask first.” Hopefully that had just the right amount of sarcasm in it to let him know I’m pissed and totally not interested in putting on a show for him. You want to watch women pee, you could find that shit on the internet. This girl wasn’t going to be taking part. The more I thought about him trying to watch me, the more pissed I got. Who in the hell did he think he was?
“Never mind, I don’t do creepy and weird. Just come out already so we can put this behind us, and we can start to formulate a plan.” Scanning the trees to my left, I didn’t see any movement. Why wasn’t he answering? If this was embarrassing for anyone it had to be me, right? Even if Max sulked back to camp, he should have still been able to hear me. Maybe something was wrong.
Pulling one of my guns free, I turned and ran for camp. Max didn’t strike me as a creeper, and if it hadn’t been him making noise then it had been someone else. We needed to move. Sprinting into a camp, I came to a screeching halt. Max was lying crumpled on the ground, bleeding from the back of his head. Four men stood over him shouting obscenities and showering him with kicks.
A fifth man swaggered out from between some trees. “He wasn’t alone. There’s some bitch in the trees and two sleeping bags on the ground.”
“Well, he sure as shit ain’t giving us anything,” one of the men grumbled. “How many of you are there?” he shouted before delivering a vicious kick to Max’s ribs.
“If you wanted him to talk, you probably shouldn’t have stomped on his head so much.” A man in a green hunting jacket started speaking and his voice came out cool as a cucumber. The men around him grinned and then they all started laughing.
My other hand dipped and brought the second nine-millimeter pistol up to chest height. The barrels hovered over the men in question. They hadn’t seen me yet, but could I really just shoot them before they had a chance to fight? One look at Max’s crumpled form on the ground and something inside of me hardened. “Any of you assholes want to explain to me what is going on here?”
The men’s heads and rifles all snapped up, and pointed in my direction. Despite my guns being leveled at their chests, the man in the green coat motioned for his men to lower their weapons. He plastered the sleaziest smile I’d ever seen on his face and slowly stepped forward. That was a big mistake.
Mr. Green Jacket leered at me before grinning back at his men. “What do we have here, boys? Looks like some fresh meat.”
They all started laughing, and that was when I started pulling the triggers. This little girl wasn’t going to wait around to become the victim. Plus, the best way to win a fight with uneven odds is to strike first, and damn sure the hardest. Green Coat wasn’t laughing anymore. The bullet between his eyes made his face go all slack, and then he dropped to the ground. His buddies didn’t even get time to register what had happened to their leader before three more of them met a similar fate. I holstered the gun in my left hand and started marching towards the group.
Four out of five wasn’t bad for a few seconds of work. The fifth one might not have been dead yet, but from the looks of it he wasn’t long for this world. For now he was still alive, and I planned on asking him a few questions before he met the afterlife. The bastard tried to slither away as I closed in on him, but before he could do more than get on his knees I kicked him in the back sending him face first into the dirt. The man rolled over, his hat flying off his head. He held up one arm in front of his face, as if the limb could stop bullets.
Before I could get a word in the man started blubbering, “Please don’t kill me.”
“That’s going to depend on the condition of my friend. If he’s still breathing, I might consider letting you go.” I kept my gun leveled at his chest. “That is, if you can answer a few questions for me first.” Everything in me was screaming to get back to Max and make sure he was ok. Every second counted if he was hurt, and I was wasting them with this assclown.
The man’s face went oddly slack. “My number is 3463. I am a member of the Falcon’s Alliance, and demand to be treated as a prisoner of war.” He glared up at me, all of his fear forgotten as his mental conditioning took over. “My number is 3463...”
His worthless babbling cut off and quickly turned into a scream as I jammed the barrel of one of my guns into the bullet wound on his shoulder. Sure, it was all fun and games when it was five on one, but it seemed the fun quickly faded when you had someone poking around in your bullet hole. Then things got real. Simulated torture and conditioning didn’t hold up in real-world circumstances. Just ask the elite Special Forces members how their anti-interrogation training went. I bet you can’t find any that have fond memories of it. Nothing says band of brothers like putting out a cigar on your friend’s back.
Mr. 3463 wasn’t going to be able to take much more. I could already tell he was cracking. It was so hard to find good help these days. Grinding the barrel into the wound for one last reminder of what would happen if he disappointed me, I pulled the gun back.
Before the pain could wear off, I shouted down at him. “How many of you are there?”
“There are thousands of us in Verde, bitch. More than enough to deal with the likes of you.”
It seemed that he had a little spine left after all. I liked a little fight in a man. It was so unsatisfying when they just gave up. It seemed like 3463 was due for a reminder on how this was going to work. Pain always seemed to be a great motivator.
Slapping the side of his head with the barrel of my gun seemed to get his
attention focused again. I doubted there were thousands of men there. These military-esque groups tended to play things close to the vest and keep their organizations small. If I had to guess, I’d say the Falcon’s Alliance was a few hundred men at best, probably much, much less.
“Let’s try this again. How many men do you have in Camp Verde?” I tapped the side of his head with the barrel of my gun to make sure I had his full attention. “Before you answer, just ask yourself how important your ability to walk is.”
Whoa. Now I was starting to sound like Max. When did I become such a badass?
3463 looked up at me, and his mask cracked. “Sixty-five of us, including them.” He pointed at the bodies scattered around Max.
Max still hadn’t moved and the small niggling feeling was starting to scream at me that he needed my help. Before I could help, though, I needed just a little more from the man sprawled on the ground before me. “Why are you hunting us?”
“You could be infected. It’s our job to keep this town safe.” He smiled as if he thought it all made sense, and if I just looked at it from his point of view I’d be on his side in a matter of seconds.
“Real bang-up job you’re doing.” I shot him. There wasn’t time for this shit, and I couldn’t take care of Max with him looking over my shoulder.
Their job was to keep the townspeople safe. What a load of shit. It was more likely the people in Camp Verde were terrified of the gun-wielding idiots striding into town and claiming to be their saviors. This wasn’t the wild wild west anymore. I hoped that I was wrong, but I doubted it. People that wanted to protect others didn’t smile while they tried to stomp a man to death.
Rise of the Necrotics (Book 7): Into The Woods Page 3
