Holly removed her shirt and moved closer. “I wanna do it like it’s our last time,” she said.
She leaned over and kissed him again as she pushed down over him.
Gabriel and Jessica were already at the car when Will and Holly walked out the door, Dylan and Mary Beth following right behind them. As soon as they reached the bottom of the porch stairs, the children darted past Will and Holly and raced to the vehicle, declaring the last one there a rotten egg.
A small crowd had started to gather around the cul-de-sac, most likely there to see them off. Among them were Timothy, Samantha, and Steve. Will gestured toward them before joining the others at the car.
The kids were hugging Jessica while Gabriel had the rear door of the SUV open, loading the rest of his things into the back.
“Good morning,” Will said to Jessica.
“Hey,” she replied softly.
Gabriel pulled his head out of the SUV and glanced at Will before reaching back in to shuffle some things around.
“About got all your stuff loaded up?” Will asked.
“Yeah,” Gabriel said. “Thanks for getting a head start.”
“Figured it was the least I could do.”
“Yeah.”
Will could feel the tension coming off of Gabriel, but now wasn’t the time to sort their beef out. There’d be plenty of time for that later. For now, Will just wanted to focus on the tough goodbyes.
He made his way over to the group, first stopping at Maureen. He thanked her again for her hospitality, and especially for when they’d first arrived and she’d allowed them to use her house to perform Dylan’s procedure.
Steve was next in line, standing with his wife and son. He extended his hand to Will.
“Thanks for everything.”
Will accepted the handshake. “No problem. Just be careful out there, all right?”
He nodded, and Steve’s wife then thanked Will also, shaking his hand. His son was shy and stood by silently, but Will patted him on the shoulder.
“Take care of your old man, all right?”
The boy smiled and nodded, looking down to the ground.
Samantha was already leaning in to give Will a hug when he moved in front of her.
“Thank you so much for everything,” she said. “Even if you decide not to come back, what you’ve done for our group and the information you’ve given us has forever changed us and made us stronger.”
Will pulled away from her, and she left her hands on his shoulders.
“Same to you,” he said. “Without you guys, who knows where we’d be?”
She kissed him on the cheek.
Will stepped in front of Timothy and the man extended his hand.
“Remember what I said earlier,” Timothy said as they shook hands. “You’re welcome any time.”
“I know,” Will said, sure he’d never see this place or Timothy again.
There was nothing else to say, and so he moved on.
As the others made their way down the line, saying goodbye as Will had, he looked around.
Where the hell is Charlie?
A door slammed shut at a nearby house, and Will looked up and smiled.
Charlie was throwing on his coat as he rushed down the stairs. Shawna, the militaristic daughter of a veteran cop, followed close behind him. She was also quickly throwing on a coat.
“Thought I was gonna miss you,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, because we totally would’ve left without saying goodbye to you,” Will said.
Will shot a look to Shawna, who had trouble looking him in the eyes. She was nervously playing with her hair. Will looked to Charlie and cocked an eyebrow.
“Shut up,” Charlie said.
Laughing, Will said, “It’s all good. I understand why you can’t leave now—believe me.”
“Yeah, well, we just kinda hit it off,” Shawna said.
“Well, take good care of him,” Will said. “You got yourself a good one here.”
Charlie smiled, stuffing his hands into his pockets and glancing at his shoeless feet before looking back up at Will.
“I’m gonna miss you, brother,” Charlie said.
“Me, too.”
The two men embraced, patting each other on the back.
When Will backed away, the kids rushed over to Charlie and hugged him. He almost fell over from the force of their affection. As he hugged them, Will could see that Charlie was holding back tears.
Will got into the driver’s seat and cranked the SUV. As everyone else loaded inside, Charlie approached the open window.
“Seriously, you take care of yourself, man,” Charlie said.
“I will,” Will said.
Charlie leaned in through the window and looked back to Dylan. “You remember what I said, D-Man. Take care of these fools, all right?”
Will smiled and shook his head.
“I will, Charlie,” Dylan said.
Charlie put his hand on Will’s shoulder one last time and then withdrew from the vehicle.
In turn, Will put the vehicle into gear and backed out of the driveway.
They waved at the crowd outside as they pulled away, and Will watched Charlie in the rearview mirror as he went back to Shawna and put his arm around her.
Chapter 18
As Will pulled out onto the interstate, Gabriel sat staring outside. The kids talked beside him, but he’d blocked them out. He was going to be home today, and it was all he could think about.
Gabriel gazed into a nearby field at lumbering Empties as they passed by. There were three of the creatures, one half the size of the others and wearing a dress. They looked like they’d once been a family, though Gabriel doubted such creatures would purposefully stick together after death. He looked away before nightmarish thoughts of his own family creeped into his mind.
The kids giggled then, and Mary Beth bumped into Gabriel. He bit his lip, trying to ignore it. When it happened again, he closed his eyes and felt a shiver crawl up his spine, sending a chill through his arms. When the girl laughed and bumped into him a third time, he snapped.
“Stop!” he finally ordered them. “Jesus, can’t you kids stay fucking still for a little while?”
“Gabriel,” Jessica said, narrowing her eyes toward him.
“Chill out, man,” Will said, looking at him through the mirror.
“You guys just need to calm the hell down,” Gabriel said. “We don’t have room in here for you to be acting like that.”
Mary Beth scooted away from Gabriel, crossing her arms and lowering her head.
“You’re scaring them,” Holly said. “What’s your problem?”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened and he ground his teeth together.
“What’s my problem? You’ve got to be kidding me, asking that question. Right? Tell me you’re joking.”
“Guys, let’s not do this here,” Jessica said.
“No,” Gabriel said. “I want to know. You’re joking, right, Holly?”
“Holly, just let it go,” Will said.
“No,” Holly said, turning around in the front seat to face Gabriel. “You’re unbelievable. Taking your frustration out on the children? This whole trip has been about you and getting home to your family. Meanwhile, Will has lost his family. He has done nothing for you but worked to get you home since we all met. And the two times you tried to go out on your own, who helped you when you got into trouble, huh? Remember when you lost Dylan and you had to come running back to the hospital? Do you remember that, Gabriel?”
“Holly, come on,” Will said.
“Or how about when you got trapped at that school? Who came to help you then? It was Will and those people he helped yesterday. So, excuse me if I think you’re being a little selfish because we had to wait one more day to get you home.”
Gabriel’s internal temperature rose. He’d been scared while at the school, but he hadn’t been this angry. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this way. Before he replied, though,
he looked down at the kids, who’d both begun to cry.
“Look, everyone just shut up,” Will said. “We’re not doing this now.”
“You’re scaring the children,” Jessica said, looking back and forth between Holly and Gabriel.
“There’ll be time for this later,” Will said. Looking at Gabriel in the mirror, Will said, “Let’s just focus right now on getting you home, and forget about yesterday, or the day before that, or last week. All right?”
Gabriel stared back out the window.
Will was right; there’d be time to hash it out later. And when they did, it wouldn’t be pretty.
Jessica had briefly fallen asleep when she was woken up by a strong vibration. Dylan, lying against her, had begun to tremble. His eyes wide, he stared into nothing.
“Dylan,” she said, cupping his face.
“What’s going on?” Will asked.
The boy began to shake more intensely. Mary Beth scooted away from him, covering her mouth and saying his name.
“Stop the car,” Jessica demanded.
“What’s going—”
“Now, Will! He’s having some sort of seizure or panic attack.”
Jessica cradled Dylan in her arms as Will pulled off the shoulder and stopped the vehicle. She looked to Gabriel.
“Help me get him out.”
Gabriel jumped out as Jessica ran her hand through Dylan’s hair.
“It’s all right, sweetie. We’re going to get you some fresh air.”
The door opened and Gabriel reached inside. He grabbed Dylan under the arms and slid the boy across Jessica’s lap. She took hold of Dylan’s legs and stepped out of the vehicle.
“Mary Beth, grab a blanket,” Jessica said.
The young girl showed up moments later with a blanket she’d grabbed from the back seat. She folded it once for extra padding and lay it on the ground. Together, Gabriel and Jessica lowered the boy onto the soft surface.
Jessica kneeled down next to Dylan, who continued to stare with wide eyes.
“Just breathe,” Jessica said, caressing his face.
“We’ve got company,” Will said.
Jessica looked up from the boy to see a pack of Empties moving down the middle of the interstate, heading straight for them.
“Gabriel, Holly, and I will take care of them,” Will said. “You just stay focused on Dylan.”
The three grabbed their weapons and focused their attention on the oncoming threat while Jessica continued to try and calm Dylan down. She put the back of her hand on his forehead when she saw sweat beading up. He was warm.
“Get me a bottle of water,” Jessica told Mary Beth.
The first gunshot startled Jessica. It was the first thing to catch Dylan’s attention, too, as he looked toward the others.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
“Everything’s gonna be all right,” Jessica said. “You’re just having some sort of a panic attack.”
“But the Empties, they—”
“Don’t worry about them. They’re taking care of them.”
Mary Beth arrived back from the cargo area of the SUV with a full bottle of water and handed it to Jessica.
“Here, see if you can sit up,” Jessica said.
Dylan, still staring with open eyes, slowly sat up straight. Jessica moved in front of him, blocking the boy’s view of the fight going on in the street.
She pressed the bottle to the boy’s lips and said, “Drink.”
He accepted the bottle, letting the cool liquid hit his lips and slide down his throat.
Jessica tried to focus on the boy and block out the onslaught behind her, but it was impossible. Gunshots continued to go off, along with the sound of a knife blade piercing and tearing flesh. Out of the corner of her eye, Jessica could see Mary Beth watching the gruesome scene.
“Don’t look,” Jessica told her. She reached over and grabbed the girl, forcing her to focus on Dylan. “I need your help with Dylan, okay?” Jessica lied.
The girl nodded.
“There’s more coming,” Will said.
“How’s he doing?” Gabriel called back to her. “We’ve got to go. Now.”
“Are you good?” Jessica asked Dylan.
The boy still trembled lightly, but he nodded.
“I need you to verbally tell me you’re okay,” Jessica said.
She didn’t turn around, but she could hear the horde approaching.
“Yes, I’m okay,” Dylan said.
“We’re good,” Jessica yelled back.
She stood up, then reached down and pulled Dylan to his feet
“Go, go!” Will yelled, running back to the SUV with Gabriel and Holly.
Jessica made sure the kids were safely inside the vehicle before she looked up to see a herd of a dozen Empties heading their way. Will was still turning around and firing at the creatures as he ran back to the car. Jessica jumped into her seat, urging Dylan to hurry and scoot over just as the others got back.
They slammed their doors and Will threw the SUV into drive. The road ahead was blocked with abandoned vehicles, fallen bodies, and the oncoming horde.
“Everyone, hang on,” Will said.
Jessica wrapped her arms around the children, shielding their eyes as the vehicle pulled forward. She peeked up just in time to watch Will slam into an Empty, its corpse tumbling over the edge of the hood. He hit others, and the creatures screamed as he plowed through them. But they made it away with the vehicle still in tact.
“I’ll find an exit ahead and we’ll pull over,” Will said.
Chapter 19
Less than a mile down the road, Will pulled off at the next exit. He turned at the end of the ramp, gliding toward a desolate scene. On one side of the road was a gas station, its windows shattered. The inside looked like it had already been raided, so there would likely be no point to checking it. On the other side of the road were two larger buildings. Built with metal siding, they looked to have been some kind of warehouses. Will decided to pull into that lot in order to hide behind the buildings.
He parked the vehicle out of sight from the interstate and then got out and went around to help Jessica get Dylan out of the back seat. The boy had calmed down, but still looked too fatigued to get out of the car on his own.
They set him down on the concrete, several paces from the SUV. Will ran his hand through Dylan’s hair.
“Just breathe, buddy.”
The others gathered around, and Jessica said, “Let’s give him some space, all right?”
Will stood up and backed away with the others. Holly had her arm around Mary Beth, and Will briefly glanced at Gabriel, who stood on the other side of the vehicle.
“Thanks for your help back there,” Will said to Gabriel.
“Yup,” Gabriel replied, staring away from Will, off into the distance.
Will wanted to say something right then. He wanted to slide past the hood of the vehicle and get in Gabriel’s face. To tell him not to be such an asshole. But he resisted the urge, not wanting Dylan’s panic attack to flare up again. Instead he reached into the vehicle and grabbed a bottle of water. Twisting off the cap, he took a sip.
“Go ahead and drink all our water,” Gabriel said. “We don’t mind.”
“What’d you say?” Will asked.
“I’m pretty sure you heard me,” Gabriel said. “Or maybe you’re just so far up your own ass now that you’re deaf.”
“Will, don’t,” Jessica said, but Will pretended not to hear her as he marched to where Gabriel stood, stopping just inches from his face.
“Look, dude, I don’t know what the hell your problem is, but this shit needs to stop now.”
Gabriel scoffed. “Okay. Sure.”
“You’re pissed that I went on that run yesterday for Timothy? Awesome. Well, you know what? Get the fuck over it. I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m here now. With you. Trying to help you find your family. What the hell else do you want?”
“You know, you’
re right, boss. You’re always right. Sorry that I questioned you. Here, let me get you another bottle of water, sir.”
Gabriel started for the vehicle, but Will blocked his way, eyes narrowed as he glared at him.
“Get out of my way,” Gabriel said.
“No,” Will said. “Not until you promise me that you’re gonna stop this shit.”
“And what’re you gonna do about it if I don’t?”
Gabriel tried moving past him again, but Will shuffled to block his path.
“Don’t do this, guys,” Holly said.
“Stay out of this,” Will said to her.
“Wow, even telling her what to do now?” Gabriel asked.
Will shoved Gabriel with the intent of knocking him down, but Gabriel somehow kept his balance. His eyes went wide and he went at Will swinging.
Gabriel connected with the first punch, slugging Will in the cheek. The sting vibrated through his face as he stumbled back, stopping when he hit the vehicle.
“Stop!” Jessica shouted.
But Will ignored her. He rubbed his face, smiled, and then ran at Gabriel.
Wrapping his arms around Gabriel, Will tackled him to the ground. Both men grunted as they hit the concrete. The move took a ton of energy out of Will, even with the adrenaline rush. Lack of sleep and not eating enough had caught up to him. But he straddled Gabriel as the two men locked hands, trying to outmuscle one another and get in a blow. Holly, Jessica, and the kids cried out, but Will ignored them. He had the leverage on Gabriel, and he was going to get in as many licks as possible before the two men split.
Will managed to push Gabriel’s arm out of the way and threw his first punch, connecting with his cheek. He immediately swung again, but Gabriel raised his arm up to block the blow, taking hold of Will’s wrist again.
“You tired yet?” Gabriel asked.
Will gritted his teeth and threw Gabriel’s arm away long enough to hit him once more, this time in the mouth.
When Gabriel looked up again, he had a crimson smile stretched across his face. He laughed, spitting some of the blood straight into the air.
“That all you got?”
Will bit his lip, nearly drawing his own blood. He yelled out as he used the last of his strength to fight off Gabriel’s arm, punching him in the face again. And again.
Empty Bodies Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 96
