by SM Olivier
I nodded. “Just as long as you promise to look out for each other and come back to me.”
I didn’t recognize this woman. I had been nursing a broken heart less than a week ago, only to find that my heart wasn’t broken at all, that it was able to expand, gladly accepting the caring and affection of five men. I wasn’t going to say I loved them…yet. Not in the way a woman loved a man, but I cared for them deeply.
I loved Corbin and Wyatt like family, but had my love for them evolved? Attraction, yes, definitely.
With a sigh, I chose to put it all in my file to examine later. Right now, I had to focus on the mission at hand.
Wyatt brushed his lips against my temple, probably the closest to a promise I was going to get. I knew we were headed back out into danger, and sometimes we couldn’t promise things out of our control.
“I will always pray that I return to you,” Wyatt murmured. “After years of wanting you, I don’t want this to end anytime soon.”
I smiled at him feeling my heart lurch in my chest.
“And after finally meeting you,” Easton added, “after hearing all the stories about you, I’m not ready to leave you before I find out what makes you smile, what makes your heart race, and everything else I can find out about you.”
I brushed my lips against his cheek. His endearing words made me feel warm. I felt the exact same way about them.
“She’ll be fine guys,” Kingston said with his cocky grin in place. “She’ll be with me, and you know I’ll make sure she comes home. Especially since I haven’t seen her wrapped around me yet.”
Corbin reached out and smacked the back of Kingston’s head. I hadn’t even noticed that Axel had left the room, and now Corbin had Isa in his arms. She was still wide awake and alert, watching him as if she was dissecting him.
Kingston scowled at him. “You’re lucky you’re holding our princess.”
I smiled secretly. Since when had Isa become…ours? I guess they’d known I had taken more than a personal responsibility for her, just as Easton had. I think it was natural for them to extend their affections towards her.
A week ago, I would have never thought any of this was possible. Yet here I stood, with five men who cared for an infant that depended on me.
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“Up here is a cattle farm. I know his heifers were dropping calves any day. He has a large herd of Angus,” Donny said as we wound our way down a long gravel driveway.
Just in case the farmer was still alive, we had one hundred gallons of gas, two fifty-pound bags of rice, and seven cases of canned fruits and vegetables Nana had canned a couple of years ago.
I had been surprised to see the cellar in Nana’s house nearly full of her canned fruits, vegetables, and jams. I couldn’t resist the urge to swipe a few of her strawberry jams myself. She always made the best jams.
I heard Chad mutter a curse beside me and turned to see what he was looking at. My stomach nearly revolted. There were at least fifteen Angus thrashing about on the ground. I couldn’t tell if the infected or a wild animal had gotten to them. Were we too late? I silently cursed. If we had arrived a little bit earlier maybe we could have saved them.
True, we had planned to eat them and raise them ourselves, but what a horrible way to go.
“His barns and house are in the back,” Donny said grimly. “And he has more pastures out that way too.”
“What happened?” Samuel visibly gulped beside me.
Samuel was a fifteen-year-old teen that still seemed to be trying to figure out who he was. One moment he was trying to take on the mantle of a man, and the next, he was teasing his two younger brothers, reverting to his youthful ways.
He initially seemed excited and honored to be asked to come with us, but now I could see the scared teen he really was. Last week he was running track and texting his girlfriend every chance he got, and this morning he was witnessing our new world first hand.
Donny was one of campground’s groundkeepers, and his wife was a line cook in the restaurant. Samuel worked weekends on the grounds with his dad or bused tables at the restaurant.
The whole Pitsch family were there when Uncle Mitch got the call. He asked them to stay on, and they ran home long enough to grab their essentials and returned a few hours later. There were a few other families that Uncle Mitch regarded as family, and they had stayed on as well.
They fully expected other employees and old guests to show up eventually, and already planned to do a vetting process before allowing them entrance. They didn’t want to invite anyone that wasn’t willing to contribute to the community nor take in any bad seeds.
“Stop the truck, man,” Chad said gruffly.
Donny did but didn’t question the big man any further. Kingston jumped out from the seat beside me, and I followed.
“Avery, you don’t need to be here,” Chad said grimly before he climbed between the barbed fence.
“I don’t need to be. I want to be,” I lied as I slid on a pair of gloves. I was serious about not getting blood on me.
I knew precisely what Chad wanted to do. I had been hunting enough with the guys to know what his intentions were. I walked over to the nearest cattle. He didn’t want them to continue suffering in their state.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured before slicing the female Angus’ neck.
Kingston let out a loud expletive before jumping back from the cow he had been kneeling next to. “Come from behind, fast and quick!” he yelled as he began to move like a ninja through the bodies thrashing on the ground.
“They’re turning!” Chad yelled over his shoulder to Donny and Samuel as they made their way under the fence too.
I saw a flash of blood-foamed mouths and bleeding eyes as I moved briskly. I was thankful for the sharpened hunting knife I got from Wyatt. Along with my sais, I now had two pistols, plenty of ammo, and a hunting knife.
With tunnel vision, I worked my way through the field. I looked around and noticed Chad and Kingston were slightly out of breath like I was.
“I think that’s all of them,” Donny said with slightly widened eyes, his chest heaving.
From what Uncle Mitch told us, they had been lucky enough to not run into any infected before or after the call from Uncle Scott. They all lived far enough away from civilization to be safe. We weren’t delusional enough to believe it would last, but these people had been sheltered until now.
“Were the cows… infected?” Samuel looked whiter than the t-shirt he wore. His hands were trembling with nerves. “How?”
Chad and Kingston exchanged a look full of meaning before Kingston ran a hand through his curls. “So far, we know the infection is spread through saliva. If the infected attacked them and didn’t kill them, they’re now infected. We need to be alert, not only for the infected but animals, too. Let’s go.”
“Standby,” Chad muttered. “We can’t go into battle without praying first.”
I noticed no one argued with him.
“Go ahead, Rev,” Kingston murmured before taking my hand in his, squeezing it, and bowing his head.
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“I have eyes on four,” Chad stated as he peered out the front window.
We had pulled up to the old farmhouse. About two hundred yards away were the barns. The house looked like it was well-loved but had seen better days. The roof was missing a few shingles, and the siding was in desperate need of a paint job. Two older trucks sat in the driveway, and in the distance, I could see cattle trailers parked on the side of the barn.
“Rev,” Kingston said as he placed his hand on the door. “Watch our backs.” He tugged on my hand—he hadn’t let go of it since we’d gotten back in the truck—and I realized he was talking about us. I slipped out behind him. Kingston pointed to the left, and I nodded, understanding his meaning. We both ran towards them just as they turned and noticed us.
It took us less than thirty seconds before they were dispatched.
“We’re going to knock,” Kingston stated to Chad as he wi
ped his kamas on one of the infected’s clothing.
“I got your six,” Chad called back as Donny and Samuel exited the truck.
Both of them had experience hunting and seemed more than comfortable handling their rifles.
We climbed the old porch and made our way to the front door. “How did you become so good at the kamas?” I asked King, feeling the need to get out of my head.
“You’re not the only martial artist in the group,” he winked at me. “When we have some free time, you should ask Easton to pull out his nunchucks. He rivals Bruce Lee’s skills.”
I looked at him in surprise before I smiled. “I can’t wait to see him in action. You’re like a ninja with those things.”
He chuckled. “Yet you make me look like an amateur.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled in embarrassment. I knew Kingston was serious and not teasing me, and that’s what made me embarrassed. I could handle him teasing and joking. When he was thoughtful, it threw me off balance.
He chuckled once more. “And you don’t know how to take compliments. You’re like Easton, in that respect.”
I didn’t have time to ask what he meant, since we’d reached the front door. Kingston knocked. We waited for about twenty seconds, and he knocked once more.
“I guess no one’s home,” he said with a shrug.
We turned to walk away, when I saw a curtain twitch by the window. I saw tangled dark hair framed around a young face. The little girl looked like she was about six, and from the tomato stain shirt and snarled hair, I had a feeling she hadn’t had any adult supervision for some time. The curtains closed once our eyes met. Her large brown eyes had looked like she was both happy to see me and frightened.
“There’s a little girl in there.” I pulled on Kingston's hand.
“Are you sure?” he was asking as I heard a dog going wild inside, followed by the screams of children.
Kingston didn’t hesitate as he went back and tried the door handle before kicking the door down. “Rev,” he called on his radio. “We got children inside screaming up at the house. Might need back up.”
We ran down a well worn but spotless wood floor in the direction of the barking and screaming. I skidded to a halt as I noticed a boy of about fourteen or so shoving a toddler and the disheveled little girl into a pantry. The dog was barking wildly at the back door, and a young boy of around eight was struggling to load a shotgun.
“Rev,” Kingston barked into the radio. “Go around back. We have around twenty infected in the back yard.”
I looked up and noticed a back yard surrounded by a white picket fence in desperate need of a coat of paint. There was a child's playset, a dilapidated trampoline, and about twenty infected all salivating to come inside.
The black German Sheperd’s barks seemed to be deterring them from coming any closer, but it was still creepy the way they just stood there, watching, their bodies shifting side to side. I watched them for a moment. Some of them would look at each other before nudging or nodding at the other one beside them. Were they communicating? And how?
“Woah there, buddy,” Kingston batted the shotgun out of the boy's hands. “We’re here to help you. What’s your name?”
The little boy's eyes were wide and haunted, but he nodded and mumbled with a lisp, “Wicky,” he said, but I was pretty sure it was Ricky.
“Okay, Wicky.” Kingston hadn’t seemed to catch the lisp. “Why don’t you go in there with your… brother and sister and my girlfriend, and I’ll make all the bad guys go away?”
My head snapped up. Girlfriend?
The boy nodded numbly and ran into the pantry. The older boy turned, knife in hand.
“You can go in there too,” I said gently.
The older boy had a square jaw, and a long narrow nose but was oddly beautiful with his shaggy, pale blond hair, large ice-blue eyes framed by long and surprisingly dark eyelashes. His features were delicate, and charming freckles dusted his golden skin.
“No,” he shook his head resolutely with a slight southern accent. “This is my home now. They got some of the girls this mornin’. They took my pappy and my mamaw. They ain’t gettin’ my home too.”
I looked at Kingston, and he nodded. “I’m going up top and see if I can pick them off from up there. You stay here and make sure none of them get inside.”
Kingston might have been gone for less than a minute when I heard the gunshots begin, followed by the crashing of a window.
“I’m Avery,” I said to the teenaged boy, noticing now that he was as tall as I was but lithe.
“Mike.” He nodded, his eyes wide. I saw the fear in them, but more than that, I saw the strength there, too.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mike,” I murmured as I walked towards the sound I heard the crash come from. It didn’t sound like it came from outside.
Goosebumps of awareness prickled across my skin, and a feeling of anxiety gripped my stomach. My instincts told me to be on alert. My instincts proved to be correct when, moments later, chaos erupted.
The dog realized that there was infected ambling down the hall from the direction of the side of the house. The moment the dog moved towards that threat, the French doors in the back shattered open.
“Can you tell him to stay there?” I called to Mike.
Mike nodded. “Roscoe, stay, stay!” he said firmly.
“Thanks,” I cried out before the first infected began to fall through the broken door. I took advantage of the chokepoint and took them down as they tried to climb in.
One of the infected broke free from the pile, and Mike was right behind me, hacking away with repeated movements. Realizing he had a dull knife and no knowledge on how to take them down, I quickly bent down and withdrew my own knife, handing it to him.
“Just once to the temple, under their jaw and up to the brain, or in the ear,” I commanded him as I continued taking the infected down.
“Thanks,” he said in a high pitch voice before he lowered it. “Thanks,” he repeated.
I didn’t even look his way as I focused on taking the infected down. There were more than twenty of them and probably more on the side of the house.
I saw Donny and Chad in the backyard. The door was blocked entirely from the piles of bodies, so I moved towards the other threat. I turned and headed towards the hallway. My sais worked like an extension of my hands as I took the infected down one by one, with Mike working calmly by my side.
Roscoe’s presence seemed to help us. None of the infected lunged towards us. I determined that I was going to train Bane, but how? If all the dogs could be trained to help us, it would make us safer.
When we finally reached the side bedroom, I noticed that there were only a few milling about in there. I was breathless when we finished.
“Avery!” I heard Kingston’s panicked voice yell.
“Back here,” I yelled in return as Mike stumbled to the open window and promptly threw up.
I walked over to him and gently rubbed his back. He tensed at first and then nearly crumbled. I heard his silent sobs and felt terrible for him. In no world should it have been okay for a boy so young to have to see and do what he had just done.
“It’s okay,” I murmured soothingly. “You did outstanding, Mike. I’ve seen grownups not be able to do what you did today, nor as brave.”
“I killed ‘em,” he sobbed. “Maybe they can be…fixed.”
“Maybe one day,” I said grimly. “But not today. Today they just want to hurt you and your siblings or worse.”
He nodded numbly.
Kingston came running into the room, eyed me, and then I was caught up in an embrace. I was surprised by the sudden action until I realized he probably freaked when he saw all the infected but not me. I held him and kissed his jawline. “I’m okay,” I murmured to him before I turned back to Mike.
“How long have you been by yourself?” I asked. “Was it just your grandparents, you, and the kids?”
Kingston turned me, so that my back w
as against his chest.
“Since Saturday,” Mike mumbled. “Mom’s an addict. None of us know our daddys. She just comes and drops us off when she realizes she cares about getting’ high more than us. I haven’t seen her in three years since she dropped off Carson. Mamaw was out feeding the chickens when the first monster came. Pappy tried to save her, but four of ‘em came from nowhere and took him down. Ricky tried to go out there, but I wouldn’t let him. He’s still mad at me. Hasn’t talked to me since.” He shook his head.
With eyes wide, he continued. “The first night, it was only a few of them. They tried to get in, but Roscoe stopped them. The second night, more came. This morning, we saw them out at the pasture. I couldn’t go out there, though. I couldn’t help the girls.”
Poor kids. They’ve been on their own for four days now! I couldn’t imagine. I didn’t want to imagine! I shuddered.
“You did the right thing,” I reassured him. “How would you feel about coming with us? All of us. We have other children back at the campgrounds, food, and people to protect us. We came to see if your grandparents would do a trade with us,” I admitted to him. “We were hoping to trade some gasoline, rice, and other stuff for cattle.”
“This is my home,” he said firmly.
“You’re not safe here,” Kingston said gently. “More infected will come. There’s nothing to stop them from coming. You did a great job so far, but you look hungry and tired. Come with us and we’ll protect you.”
I saw Mike’s internal battle and how easy it was to read his thoughts. This was the only home he’d ever known. He loved this place. His grandparents’ memories were here, but he was tired and worried about his family.
“I’ll have to tell Ricky and Molly. Carson’s too young to understand,” he said wearily, but I could hear the relief in his voice. “I think they got all the cattle in the pastures, but we have three dozen of ‘em in the barns. I heard ‘em this morning. I think they’re still okay. Pappy’s dogs were out there with him when he ran to help Mamaw. I still heard them barking this mornin’.”
“We’re clearing the infected now,” Chad said softly from the doorway. “Do you think we can use those trailers out back to haul the cattle to the campgrounds?”
