Chapter 9 #2
“What are you folks doing out here?”
“What are you doing out here?” Jack interjected before I could respond.
“This is our community. We’re checking it out to see if there are any folks in need,” he said.
“Very generous,” Jack said.
“Well, that’s what communities do. We take care of each other,” Christopher said.
“This wasn’t here before,” I said.
“No, they just started building all around. Pisses Dad off,” Christopher said.
“He doesn’t like them cutting down the trees either?”
“Well, I suppose. But these houses weren’t in his jurisdiction.” Christopher shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “He didn’t like that.”
I quirked a brow, but chose not to say anything, though the bile burned at the back of my throat again.
“About a year or so back, he arrested somebody over here. Judge threw the case out, said something about illegal search and seizure. Guess we don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Christopher said.
“Guess not,” I responded.
“It really chapped Dad’s ass, but…” Christopher said with a shrug.
“Well, we came to look around. Asia and I will take those four houses. You guys can get to what you can,” Jack said.
“Why don’t I go with Asia? Give me a chance to catch up with an old friend,” Christopher said.
Jack went still.
The scary kind of still.
The kind I’d only seen seconds before someone died.
I slid in quickly, looking at him.
He was going to fight me, but I begged with my eyes.
Tried to tell him that Christopher would open up to me if we were alone.
The set of his body was rigid, his jaw clenched.
I put my hand against his chest, his heart beat strong under my palm.
We had an audience, but Jack didn’t care, and I couldn’t afford to.
The seconds slid by, his jaw ticking with the time.
He relented. “Fifteen minutes. Not a second more.”
He looked absolutely murderous, but I moved before he changed his mind, Christopher in tow.
Felt his gaze at my back boring into my back, feeling the possession in it even as I tried to focus on savaging.
The search was remarkably fruitful.
I found canned goods, and even treats, some clothes and shoes that would work for Miles, along with some graphic novels and a handheld video game and portable charger.
I also stuck a tube of lipstick in my pocket, excited for Bridget’s reaction when I gave it to her.
In less than a quarter of an hour, we had picked the subdivision clean.
And then all hell broke loose.
Jack
Focus.
I whispered the word in my brain and felt myself snapping to attention.
I shouldn’t have let her go.
Focus, asshole!
I thought I was.
But, like always, she was there in the back of my head.
I had a weapon in one hand, my eyes trained forward as I searched another house. Familiar.
Light work.
Zombies didn’t really change things all that much.
But she did.
I turned a corner, doing a quick sweep. Grabbed a half-empty box of nine millimeter shells. Threw two cans of green beans in a bag.
She should have stayed back at the farm.
I should have made her.
I knew she was the noble kind of stupid, the kind that thought she should be out here putting her ass on the line instead of back where it was safe.
The clang of silverware in a drawer I pulled open roughly rang in my ears, the angst gnawing at me taking physical shape.
I stopped and swept the kitchen, my gaze frozen on the far wall.
These assholes had a Vermeer print on the wall next to a Live Laugh Love sign.
A capital offense in my book.
I turned my thoughts from the dead homeowner’s terminal lack of taste to other thoughts that provided no comfort.
I should have forced her.
But I didn’t.
Was too fucking pigheaded to admit why.
But now, as I went through another suburban house, one that was effectively a mausoleum, I could admit the truth.
Leaving her would have meant being without her.
And that shit felt weird.
No, not weird.
Wrong.
More wrong than dead people walking.
More wrong than being away from Evan…
I slammed the drawer, uncaring of the noise.
How the fuck did I let this happen?
I didn’t know, but the truth was as undeniable as my need for her.
Her not with me. Her further away than arm’s length…
It made me feel…exposed.
Anxious.
Weak.
I fucking hated it.
Told myself it was just a trauma response.
We’d been through the shit together, side by side every step of the way.
She was my battle buddy.
Yeah.
That was it.
I threw the two one-pound cans of peaches in the bag, too, pleased enough with the trip and even happier that it would soon be over.
We’d found some things, including some warmer clothes for the boy.
It was a good trip—
Pop.
Pop. Pop. Pop-pop-pop.
I let go of the bag.
Was running before it hit the ground.
More pops.
One or two streets over.
Asia’s directions.
These shots were panicked.
The kind of pattern that told me someone was overwhelmed.
I rounded the corner of the house, vaulted the fence, and hit the street at a dead sprint.
More gunfire. Then screams.
A man’s voice.
Not hers.
She was alive.
She had to be.
I rounded another corner.
Saw her.
She was backed against a fence, knife in hand, facing down four zombies.
One of Christopher’s men was on the ground, his abdomen torn open, his intestines hanging from his hands.
The other was gone—fled or dead, I didn’t know, didn’t care.
Christopher stood ten feet back, gun raised but not firing. His hands shook.
“Shoot them!” Asia yelled.
He didn’t.
The first zombie lurched toward her. She slashed at its head, connecting with its neck, but it kept coming.
I moved like I never had before.
Grabbed the closest zombie by the back of the skull and slammed it face-first into the fence post, not caring about the splatter when its head exploded like a rotten melon.
The second turned toward me.
I buried my knife in its temple, ripping it out, and shoved the body aside.
The third reached for Asia.
I grabbed it by the throat, driving it backward into the fence, and didn’t stop stabbing until it stopped moving.
The fourth—
A gunshot cracked.
The zombie’s head snapped back. It dropped.
I turned.
Christopher lowered his gun, breathing hard. “Got the last one.”
I stared at him, his hands still shaking.
Dismissed the rage that made me want to rip him apart.
Then I looked at Asia.
She was pressed against the fence, eyes wide, knife still raised. Blood spattered across her shirt.
Her chest heaved with each breath.
But she was alive.
Alive.
“You okay?” My voice came out rougher than I meant.
She nodded, but I saw the tremor in her hands before she fisted them at her sides. Saw her swallow hard, composing herself.
By the time Christopher jogged over, her mask was back in place.
“Thanks for the assist,” he said, casual as hell, like he hadn’t just stood there while she was about to get torn apart.
I didn’t trust myself to answer.
Instead I watched Asia as she went to the man who lay on a lawn holding his own guts.
“We shouldn’t let him suffer like this,” she whispered.
“I mean, we can’t just—” Christopher breathed in sharply when I stabbed the man in the eye and twisted.
Asia watched every second, her expression unreadable.
But I only looked at her for a moment.
Now, I was focused on Christopher.
“You did good back there, Jack. Quick thinking. And, um, here as well.”
I looked at him.
At his clean knife.
At his hands that had finally stopped shaking.
“You froze,” I said.
His jaw tightened. “I was assessing—“
“You froze. She almost died.”
I gripped the knife tighter.
Lifted it.
The world narrowed until there was nothing but me and Christopher and my knife.
I imagined how his flesh would give when I applied the perfect amount of pressure.
Could conjure his screams.
I felt my satisfaction at hearing them until his voice gave out.
I took a step.
Snapped back to here.
Now.
To her.
“Jack.” Asia’s voice was quiet.
I ignored her. “If I hadn’t been here—”
Christopher, dumb fucking Christopher, decided to speak. “But you were here, and we’re all grateful for it.”
He looked at Asia when he said it. She was focused on me.
A smile slid across Christopher’s face and he leaned toward me. “But Asia’s a lot tougher than she looks. Always has been.”
“Please, Jack…”
My fists clenched.
I looked at her.
She was pleading.
For him.
“He put you in danger,” I whispered.
She shook her head. “Please…”
Christopher shrugged, seemingly unaware of how close he was to death. “The world’s a dangerous place. And besides, I didn’t bring her here.”
“Christopher!” Asia said sharply. His eyes widened, but Christopher shut the fuck up.
“Let’s just get out of here.” Her voice was steady. Too steady. “We got what we came for.”
Her tone was so polite, so reasonable.
So fucking revolting.
The one I was sure she used when she handled difficult clients, professional. Distant.
Not the Asia who always stood toe-to-toe with me.
“Speaking of, we found two trucks filled with supplies. I thought it made sense for us to take one and you take the other,” Christopher said tentatively.
Asia stared at me, but I couldn’t look at her.
Couldn’t see her worry for someone else. Someone who’d put her in harm’s way.
Couldn’t think about how I’d done the exact same thing.
I looked at Christopher.
An easy and worthy outlet for my rage.
A man Asia wanted to protect.
That thought was a kick in the gut.
I breathed around it, trying to pretend I didn’t give a fuck. “How lucky. And generous,” I said, though I didn’t look away from Asia.
“Well, this is a community. We take care of each other here,” Christopher said.
“Heard that the first time, Chris,” I said through gritted teeth.
Christopher smiled, and then he shifted toward Asia, smiling brightly. “Guess I’ll see you around.”
He reached out to shake her hand.
Asia lifted her arm, but froze in midair when she looked at me.
Ended up doing some kind of wave thing.
Then looked at me to gauge my reaction.
I didn’t give one, but I was roiling inside.
Christopher stood there awkwardly then shrugged. “Well, best get back,” he said.
“Good-bye, Christopher,” Asia said.
“I meant what I said earlier,” he said.
Then he tipped his hat and made his way to his truck.
“What did he say earlier?” I asked.
Asia waved me off. “It was nothing. Just the typical BS about community. Same shit his father has been spewing for the last forty years.”
She got in the truck without saying anything else.
Probably thought the matter was closed.
I couldn’t wait to show her how fucking wrong she was.