9. Farron
NINE
FARRON
THREE STRANGE MEN it’d probably be the first time it gets successfully used as a weapon.
God, what an idiot .
I can’t wait to throw this in Holden’s face when he’s back for trying to push me to give Trevor a chance. Ugh .
I make it right behind the three men, my steps quiet so as not to alert them I’m here. Up close, I notice a few more things. First of all, these men are enormous. Sure, Trevor may be a tall guy, and I’m definitely not a short girl. But these guys are built. Beefy. Stacked. Jesus, what are they, going to the gym in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?
I also notice that the darker skinned one with glasses, who is over the shoulders of the biggest one with the long black hair, has a bear trap stuck on his leg. My brows furrow. Did they carry him all the way here with that on his leg? Why didn’t these idiots remove the trap and wrap up the wound?
I’m removed from my train of thought when I notice some of the other members of Rolling Hills making their way here from over Trevor’s shoulder. Perfect. I can just stay here unannounced.
Well, that is what I’m planning until I hear the big one with the tree trunk thighs and the trapped bear over his shoulder respond to whatever nonsense Trevor’s been shouting at them. “Nothing’s funny,” He rumbles out in a ridiculously deep voice I can feel in my chest. “I apologize for my friend here. We were on our way up to your community when–”
Without a second thought, the safety is removed from my gun, cutting him off.
“What the fuck do you mean you were on your way up here?” I ask. Rolling Hills Ranch isn’t necessarily a secret, but it’s definitely not something we advertise. The end of the world truly brings out the worst in some people, and we have no desire to have a revolving door of new folks showing up and looking around. There are not very many people outside our community who know about us, which means these men either heard it because word is being spread and Rolling Hills is in potential danger, or they got it from someone we know for a good reason.
I don’t know what the case is right now.
The men quickly turn around at the sound of my voice. My eyes immediately jump to the one on the left and begin taking him in. Tall and muscular, wearing black cargos and a black tee. I can see a lot of black and gray ink covering his arms, hands, and up his neck. I can’t help the way my mind immediately turns, wondering just how covered in ink he must be. Curly brown hair falls over his forehead and around his face, highlighting his sharp jawline. Light blue eyes like nothing I’ve ever seen before, only made more piercing in contrast to his very tan skin. Speaking of piercing, my eyes catch on the shiny little gold hoop in his nose as it catches in the sunlight.
He does not look like someone who should be around in an apocalypse. As my gaze makes its way back to his eyes, I find him giving me a similar perusal, a smirk on his face.
I roll my eyes and let them trail over to the right to his friend, who looks extremely angry. His hair is long and black, with the top half tied up in a messy-looking bun. It's the perfect length for you to run your fingers through and grab my evil little brain whispers. He looks to be of East Asian descent. He has sharp cheekbones, a sharp jaw, and sharp eyes that seem to take everything in. His full mouth is pointed down in a frown as he glares at me.
His body draws my interest again, just given how large everything about him seems to be. He’s dressed similarly to the first man in black cargos, but with a gray Henley on top, the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, as he hoists the third man over his shoulders. No tattoos to be seen, although I’m not sure this man really needs them to look more intimidating and unfriendly.
Finally, I hone in on the poor guy caught in a bear trap, hanging over the shoulders of the giant. He looks shorter and leaner than the other two, although it’s hard to fully gauge when he’s sideways. He’s already looking right at me with eyes like gold, partially obscured by glasses. His hands have come up to his face, fingers curved to touch his cheeks as he taps on them. I wonder what that’s about. His forehead and hair are both damp with sweat, his darker skin has an ashen tone that I’m convinced can’t be the norm for him, and when he makes a face like he’s trying to grin but looks like he’s wincing, I’m brought back to the present.
“Look…I don’t know who you three are or what your deal is. Your friend there looks like he’s moments away from passing out from all that blood rushing to his head, and I can only assume you want to get him some help. If that’s the case, I need you to finally answer the question I’ve already asked you once. What did you mean when you said you were on your way up here?”
The other members of the community who were running over have made it, and are all gathered by Trevor, behind the three men. Jasper and Peter are standing near the back, their arms crossed as they take our visitors in. Mr. Abel is at the front, and he tilts his chin at me as if to check if I’m good. I give him a subtle nod, and he visibly relaxes. Now, he is clearly just as interested in the answer these guys give as I am.
“I mean exactly that,” the angry one responds.
I breathe slowly through my nose and look up at the sky for a second to maintain my composure before looking back at him and meeting his glare with one of my own.
“Thanks, genius. It would sure be helpful if you wanted to share a little more. Like what purpose do you have for coming to our ranch, and how did you even hear about it, to begin with?”
I’m watching his jaw grind when his tattooed friend responds. “ We’ve been visiting different communities for the last few months looking for family. At the last place, a guy named Ray told us about Rolling Hills. Said you were good people and that it wasn’t too far. We figured we’d take a chance.” His brows are scrunched in, a shadow over his eyes as he responds. But he quickly gathers his composure as he smirks and adds, “And boy, was it a chance definitely worth taking.”
“Anyway,” Grumps begins. “We were on our way up here, to your community, when my brother stepped in a bear trap about an hour East of here.”
“Probably one of ours,” I tell him. “We’ve set traps in all directions a few miles out to catch any infected that might somehow make their way close to us.”
I look over at Mr. Bear Trap and frown as I walk a little closer to look at his leg. “You really should be more careful where you’re walking.”
When I turn to look at his face, his brows are furrowed like he doesn’t understand what I just said, and then Grumps chimes in again, taking a step back from me. “Don’t blame him for getting injured while he still has the fucking trap on his leg.”
“Here’s the deal. I don’t know you guys, and I sure as hell don’t trust you. If you really are looking for family, I can almost guarantee you they’re probably not here. But Mr. Bear Trap over here clearly needs help because you two morons left it on his leg. I’ll take a look at his leg and help disinfect and patch up whatever’s going on, and then we’ll talk more about what’s next.”
“Why the hell should we trust you to take a look at his leg?” Grumps asks, fury in his voice. “We need someone who actually knows what they’re doing to help, Princess. Adrian and I were EMT certified, so we can do it ourselves; we just needed more supplies.”
I sigh and wish for the millionth time that Holden was back so he could handle this and not me.
“As lovely as it is that you’re so knowledgeable, I don’t believe I feel quite so giving enough today to just hand you some of our supplies and hope for the best. Luckily for you, I know what I’m doing. For all intents and purposes, I’m the doctor here.”
“A doctor?” Tattoos asks, his hands coming up in a dramatic gesture to rest on his heart. “Perfect, now you can tell me if I’m going into cardiac arrest or if my heart’s just gone because you stole it.”
I have to hold back my laugh at the pathetic line. “You guys can follow me back, and I’ll get that leg looked at. Before you do, I need you to leave your weapons with Mr. Abel behind you.”
“There is no way that’s happening,” Grumps seethes. “We are not leaving back our weapons for you to steal and then attack us.”
And that’s precisely the moment that I decide I’ve had enough, tired of the whiplash these two men’s opposing personalities are giving me. I step up to him and poke him in the chest.
“Listen up, asshole. I don’t have the energy to go back and forth with you. Either you leave your weapons, or you leave here. Period. Your friend is looking worse and worse the longer we stand here talking, so if you want to get him medical help, then make the decision, and let’s speed this along.”
“Come on, K…” Tattoos mutters. “He needs to get that looked at, and we obviously can’t keep moving for multiple reasons. Just do what she says.”
After a long beat of silence and continuing to glare at me, Grumps lets out a deep sigh.
“Fine, let’s get this over with.”
I watch as Tattoos turns to Mr. Abel and hands him their bags and supplies, along with removing a few knives and a gun from his own body. He then follows suit by grabbing weapons off the other two. The big one has some combat knives on him, just like Tattoos, but Mr. Bear Trap has a machete. I had to learn firsthand what can happen when you come across other people during the end of the world, especially men. I don’t trust anyone. Taking these weapons is a matter of safety, especially given just how many they have.
Feeling satisfied with them, I give a sharp nod. I look over their shoulders and make eye contact with Mr. Abel. “I’ll let you know later on about giving them their things back.” He agrees, and everyone begins to disperse, heading back to their regularly scheduled programming.
Tattoos starts bouncing on his feet. “Lead the way, gorgeous. I’ll have to call you gorgeous until you finally tell us your name. I’m Adrian. Theo’s the one caught in the bear trap, and the mean one is Kenji. But don’t worry, I’m double the sweet to make up for him.”
I grin at his antics. At least now I know their names. “Great. Thanks, Adrian.” Reluctantly making eye contact with the devil, I spit out, “You can follow me.”
As I move forward, Trevor runs up to my side. “Wait up!”
“What are you doing, Trevor?”
“I’m going with you,” he replies. “Need to make sure you’re safe with these guys while you help their ungrateful asses.”
I shoot him an incredulous look and snort. “How are you going to fight them off, Trevor? With your rake? I’m well-armed and can take care of myself.”
“But Farr?—”
“No, Trevor,” I cut him off. “I don’t need your help. You can go back to whatever you were doing before this.”
I shoot him a tight smile and spare a glance at the men. Adrian has his eyebrows raised, while Kenji almost looks smug.
“Trouble in paradise?” he asks me, smirking .
Lord, give me the strength to deal with this today.
I look over to Theo and find that he seriously looks like shit. Time to speed this up.
“Let’s hurry this up before your friend dies.”