21. Taryn
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
TARYN
Ineeded air.
The procedure had taken more out of me than I cared to admit.
“We need to secure this place.” Adrian pulled the lines from my arms and helped me slide off the table.
“I’m going to take Max out.” I pulled my hair down and re-braided it, letting it hang down my back.
Adrian frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea after donating that much blood.”
The one thing that was going to suck about having two men in my life was the overprotectiveness.
I wasn’t the girl from the horror movies who went into the dark attic, or the heroine who had a serial killer after her and went out for a walk alone.
I was smarter than that.
“While I appreciate your concern, I can look after myself. I don’t want to walk around rotting any more than you want me to.” I looked up at him.
Beck smirked. “We’re the property of a very capable woman.” He clapped Adrian on the back. “You need to trust her judgment.”
“Weren’t you the one freaking out about her donating?” Lucas sarcastically drawled.
Beck's eyes narrowed. "Just because I dislike watching my woman’s blood drain slowly doesn’t mean I doubt her ability to handle herself.”
“I’ll go with you.” Wren had Mojo tucked under her arm. “He could do with a potty break.”
“Well, now we should all feel better,” Lucas laughed as he left the room, presumably to double-check that the building was clear.
Wren watched him go. “I don’t suggest ever letting that little prick between your legs. He has disappointment written all over him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Max, come.”
“Stay close.” Adrian eyed me as if he were two seconds away from keeping me inside.
“Yes, sir.” I saluted him.
His eyes filled with heat.
“I knew he was the wax-on-the-nipples type.” Wren poked me with her elbow. “You better hide the candles when you're alone.”
Beck threw his head back and cackled. “You’re something else.”
“Yes, I am,” Wren agreed, taking his words as a compliment.
Adrian didn’t look amused but ignored them to join Finley in reviewing his notebook.
When Beck finally stopped laughing, he turned to me. “I trust your skills, but I’m going out to see if I can get a few rabbits for supper.” He walked over and caressed my face with his big, rough hand. “I’ll be close if you need me.”
As we left the room, I noticed Adrian nod to Beck in appreciation. These two men were dominant enough on their own. Together, they were going to be impossible.
Max trotted beside me as Wren walked in front. “I could’ve come alone. I’m feeling better than I was even a few minutes ago.”
“Robin, I lost you once.” Wren stopped underneath a large oak tree. “I’m not willing to take a chance on losing you again.”
I raised my face to cool in the evening breeze. The tree was across the street at the edge of a small mobile home park. A tire swing that had seen better days hung from a large branch.
Max had wandered a few feet away to do his business and sniff around.
“I bet there are some rotters in there.” Wren eyed the four trailers that gave rundown a bad name.
“Rotters?” I opened my eyes and looked at her questioningly.
“I’ve decided that 'infected' doesn’t fit them anymore.”
“Why?” I raised a brow.
“It just seems like we’re past that… and…” She shrugged. “They smell like rotten meat.”
“I get that.” I hid my smile and turned my attention to the trailers. “Should we clear them?”
“Nope, we won’t be here long enough.” She grabbed two pieces of beef jerky out of her pack and handed me one. “We’re not far enough away from Gideon’s town.”
I nodded in agreement.
We needed to give Harper the chance to recover, but it wouldn’t be safe here for much longer. As soon as we returned to the clinic, we needed to make sure Finley kept his word and told us everything he knew about Gideon’s operation.
“Do you know anything about Gideon’s operation?” I asked Wren as she gently pushed the tire swing.
“I noticed some women were missing every time I returned from scavenging. When I asked around, one of the men told me they’d decided to leave.
” She bent down to scratch Max behind his ears.
“Of course, I didn’t believe them.” She stood and looked at me, confused.
“For some reason, they all think I’m crazy enough to believe that nonsense. ”
Somehow, I kept from laughing. “Imagine that.”
“Anywho, I started poking around, and one night I saw some rough-looking dudes pull up in one of the neighborhoods outside the fence. Mace, Gage, and a few other men walked up with some of the unenhanced women in tow, their hands tied and their mouths gagged.” Wren kicked a rock.
“I wanted to stop them, but it was just me and I wouldn’t have stood a chance. So, I watched.”
“What happened?” Sitting on the ground beside Max, I scratched his big head.
“I saw them unload several large steel drums of fuel, then put the women in the back of the truck.” Her green eyes held more anger than I’d seen yet.
“I’ve tried several times to follow them, but it’s hard without a vehicle.
” Wren shrugged again. “And their mothership would most likely take off before I could get there, anyway.”
I began to laugh, but then realized she was serious. Just when I think she’s getting off the crazy train, she says something like this.
A breeze stirred the leaves overhead, and the old tire swing creaked.
Once.
Twice.
Max’s head snapped toward the oak. The low growl rolling from his chest set every nerve in my body on edge.
He jumped to his feet, and I stood quickly, then had to take a deep breath as I grew a little dizzy.
“What is it, boy?” I whispered.
His hackles rose as he stared into the branches.
I followed his gaze.
Nothing.
Just thick limbs tangled with summer leaves. Then… something nasty landed on my cheek.
I frowned and wiped it away, bringing my finger to my nose.
Rot.
“Wren…” I frantically looked above us.
“What?”
“Something is in that tree.”
Wren immediately looked up, too.
Suddenly, I heard a faint scraping, but stumbled before I could locate where it was coming from.
That damn blood draw must have taken more out of me than I thought.
Shit!
I was the stupid heroine in a horror movie.
I looked back into the tree, and two cloudy eyes looked down at me. An infected had wedged itself deep between two massive branches, everything below its ribs missing. Torn intestines hung dried and black beneath it, suspended for months.
“Wren! Move!”
It dropped.
The torso slammed into her shoulders with enough force to knock her to the ground. Its arms wrapped around her neck as yellow teeth snapped inches from her face.
She screamed. “Robin!”
Max launched first.
His jaws clamped onto the infected’s shoulder, shaking violently, but the thing refused to let go.
I threw myself onto it, grabbing its wrist before its teeth could sink into Wren’s throat.
Normally I could have ripped it off, but not today. My arms trembled, and pain shot through my shoulders.
“Damn it,” I growled.
The rotter, as Wren renamed them, snapped its teeth in my face, its foul breath washing over me as it tried to reach the flesh it craved.
My vision began to blur.
No.
It jerked one arm out of my grip, and its hand wrapped around Wren’s throat.
Her eyes grew desperate.
I pulled with all the strength I had left, even though I knew it wouldn’t be enough.
My strength had failed me for the first time since the meteors fell.
A massive hand appeared over my shoulder. It wrapped completely around the infected’s skull.
The pressure around Wren vanished. The torso lifted into the air as though it weighed nothing.
I stumbled backward.
The man holding it was enormous. Well over six and a half feet. Broad enough to make Beck look merely muscular instead of intimidating.
A thick beard hid most of his face. Dark hair brushed his shoulders. He wore clothes patched together from scavenged canvas and faded flannel, and every inch of him seemed honed for violence.
The infected snapped wildly at the immense man, but he didn’t react. With one smooth motion, he drew a hunting knife from his belt and drove it through the infected’s temple, blood spraying his shirt.
The body went limp, and he dropped it on the ground at Wren’s feet.
Wren coughed violently but finally got out. “You…” She cleared her throat. “… you’re the mattress person?”
The giant stared at her for a few moments before giving a slow nod.
“I figured,” she said, brushing leaves from her jeans and flinging a long piece of rotten intestine over her shoulder. “I left you some jerky.”
He stared at her in fascination for another moment, then his eyes shifted past us, and his entire body went still. His head turned toward the trailers, and one word left his mouth.
“Men.” The tone was so flat it somehow carried more urgency than a shout.
I followed his gaze.
Then I caught it. The faint crunch of boots, more than one set.
Coming fast.
Max gave a low growl, and the giant stepped in front of Wren without hesitation, putting his body between her and the road.
A heartbeat later, I heard branches snapping.
“Taryn!” Beck burst from the trees, his rifle already in his hands, two rabbits swinging forgotten from one fist, as his eyes swept the scene in an instant. “What the hell happened?”
Before anyone answered, three figures emerged from between the trailers.
They froze the second they saw us.
All three men were from Gideon’s town.