29. Taryn
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
TARYN
The silo wasn’t far.
Wren led us through a narrow strip of woods behind an abandoned feed store, then across a drainage ditch swollen from the storm.
“Technically, it’s not just a silo,” she said. “There’s a little office attached.”
“That’s where we’ll stay.” Finley held Rory in his arms, trying to keep her dry as he crossed the ditch.
Finley’s expression was completely apathetic, and I got it. He’d lost the woman that he loved, but the way things stood now, there was no grieving period… only survival.
“And I’m leaving Mojo to guard you.” Wren smiled at Rory.
Beck smirked. “That relieves my mind. With a stuffed chicken to guard them, we can take our time.”
Colson cuffed him on the back of the head.
None of us were in the mood to smile, especially Finley, but I was relieved to see the corner of his mouth lift slightly. He was going to be okay—well, as okay as any of us could be in this new reality.
Wren sighed. “Isn’t he just the most romantic man you’ve ever met?”
Colson blushed, then stepped closer to Wren and laced his fingers with hers.
I was curious about the big guy. I’d have to get the deets on him from Wren after we rescued Lila.
“He’s just amazing,” Beck said sarcastically, fluttering his lashes. “The standard to which all men should live up to.”
Colson glowered at him, and Beck flipped him off.
It was a nice moment of levity, but the anger I still carried from earlier was riding me hard.
Hearing those men discuss women like we were property was hard to swallow. Knowing we’d gone from productive members of society to prostitutes and baby machines went against everything my dad had raised me to believe.
Yes, Ben had been hard on me, but he’d always taught me I could do anything if I put in the effort.
Those bastards had talked about me like I was something they could buy.
They’d soon find out just how wrong they were. I wouldn’t be hunted like a fucking animal. If they wanted me that badly, I’d make them regret it.
The silo appeared through the trees a few minutes later.
A tall cylinder of corrugated steel rose above the weeds, dull with age and streaked orange with rust. An old conveyor chute sagged from one side, and sections of the roof had peeled back, revealing black gaps beneath the metal.
Beside it sat a squat concrete office with one boarded window and a faded sign hanging crooked over the door.
HICKMAN FEED & STORAGE.
The place looked forgotten long before the world ended, which made it perfect.
The office door stood ajar, with a dark smear marking the concrete beneath it.
Beck pulled his knife, Lucas shifted his hatchet into his hand, and I slid GG free.
Colson pushed Finley, who was holding Rory behind him, and Wren stepped to his side, her knife at the ready.
“Stay here,” Adrian motioned for me to stand with Wren and Colson.
I gave him a look and started forward before Lucas had the balls to grab the back of my shirt and pull me back.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I raised an eyebrow in question.
“You heard him.” He nodded toward Adrian.
“Yeah, so?”
“He wants you to stay here while we clear the building.” Lucas man-splained.
“And again… yeah, so?” I repeated, annoyed at the delay.
“You messed up,” Beck said in a singsong voice. “I guess you didn’t dickmatize her after all.”
“Idiot.” Lucas narrowed his eyes at him.
“He’s not as big an idiot as you two are,” I said to him and Adrian. “I can take care of myself, as both of you know. Colson and Wren are more than capable of protecting Rory.” I headed toward the open door.
Lucas immediately followed, with Beck and Adrian close behind.
The closer we got, the stronger the smell became.
Rot.
I’d started smelling it a while back, but I’d hoped it was something in the woods.
No such luck.
Adrian stepped in front of me and pried the door wider with his knife. It squealed against the floor, but nothing moved.
Beck stepped inside first, with Lucas behind him, while Adrian peeled off to circle around to the rear of the building.
I waited a few seconds before following Beck and Lucas into the office.
I didn’t have to lead, but these men needed to learn I wasn’t a princess to be guarded. I was every inch the evil queen Beck had dubbed me, and I could take care of myself.
And maybe I was a tad defensive after hearing those fuckers talk about women the way they had.
The room was small and dim. A metal desk, two rusted filing cabinets, a torn vinyl chair, and an old mattress crowded the space. Mouse droppings covered the floor, and dust coated everything, including a calendar still stuck on a month that no longer mattered.
“Maybe Wren can pick herself up another guy?” Lucas pointed to the old mattress.
I heard something move behind the desk, so faint that if my hearing hadn’t been enhanced, I would’ve missed it.
The guys stiffened next to me, so I knew they’d heard it too.
I raised my bat.
A gray hand emerged, followed by an arm, as the rotter dragged itself into sight on its elbows. Its legs ended in ragged stumps below the knees, with grimy denim trailing behind. Yellowed fingernails scraped the concrete as it pulled itself forward, revealing a mouth with broken teeth.
“Fucking disgusting.” Lucas wrinkled his nose.
Beck snorted. “What a pussy?”
Lucas stepped forward and drove his hatchet through the rotter’s head. The hatchet hit with a wet crunch, burying itself nearly to the handle. When Lucas yanked it free, the skull released it with a nauseating schlurp, spraying blackened blood and something chunky across his boots.
“Who’s the pussy now?” Lucas wiped his hatchet on his pant leg, then twirled it in his hand.
“Just so you’re both aware, calling someone a ‘pussy’ should be a compliment.” I sighed in exasperation. “You can barely thump a set of nuts, and men will drop to their knees. A pussy can give birth then snap back into place like nothing ever happened.”
Lucas’s mouth twitched first.
He pressed his lips together and looked away, shoulders going suspiciously rigid.
Beck noticed, and that was the end.
A strangled sound escaped Beck’s throat, and Lucas immediately lost the battle he’d been fighting. He bent forward with a sharp bark of laughter, bracing one hand on his knee.
Beck folded right after him.
Within moments, they laughed so hard they could hardly catch their breath.
Lucas grabbed Beck’s shoulder to keep himself upright, and Beck shoved at him, which only made it worse.
Then, somehow, they ended up leaning against each other, half-bent over, completely useless, gasping between bursts of laughter like two idiots who had forgotten the rotters were nearby.
I stared at them. “Are you two done?”
That only made Beck wheeze harder.
Lucas tried to answer, but nothing came out.
Perfect.
Adrian came through the doorway and stopped. His gaze drifted around the room. The dead rotter. Lucas’s gore-soaked boots. Beck leaned against Lucas as both still gasped for air… then at me. “What happened?”
I folded my arms. “I educated them.”
Adrian looked at Beck in question.
That was apparently a mistake because Beck took one look at his completely serious expression and lost it all over again.
Lucas followed.
Adrian crossed his arms over his chest and waited patiently. Which somehow made the whole thing worse.
When neither of them managed to pull themselves together, he looked back at me. “Do I even want to know?”
“Yes.”
“No.” Beck wheezed at the same time.
Adrian’s brow lifted.
I pointed at Beck. “He called Lucas a pussy, and Lucas responded by killing the rotter, proving to Beck that he isn’t one.”
Lucas straightened enough to wipe at his eyes. “Don’t encourage her,” he warned Adrian.
I ignored him and kept talking. “I merely pointed out that men have spent centuries using a part of the female anatomy as an insult, even though their own equipment can be incapacitated by an enthusiastic toddler.”
Adrian stared at me… in silence.
Then the corner of his mouth twitched.
“Don’t you dare.” I stared him down.
That did it.
A laugh escaped Adrian before he could stop it, and I threw my hands in the air. “Unbelievable.”
He turned away, coughing into his fist in a pathetic attempt to recover his dignity. “I’m not laughing at you, baby.”
“Really?” I rolled my eyes, not believing him in the least.
“No.” His shoulders shook once. “I’m laughing because I walked in and found two grown-ass men practically holding each other upright while you apparently delivered a lecture on the structural superiority of a vagina.”
Lucas made a choking sound, and Beck bent over again in hysterics.
I glared at all three of them. “This is why women will eventually rule what’s left of civilization.”
Adrian finally regained control and crossed the room to me. “I never doubted it.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. Then his gaze shifted to the dead rotter. “The building’s clear, except for that one.”
I pointed toward Beck and Lucas. “Good. Because these two are currently useless.”
“Only temporarily,” Lucas managed.
Beck wiped tears from his face. “Give me a minute, and I’ll pussy up.”
All three of them lost it.
Men.
Seemed the apocalypse didn’t change everything.
Wren appeared in the doorway with Rory tucked close to her side, Mojo clutched under the little girl’s arm, and Max pressed against her side.
I feared I’d lost my dog to Rory, but I was okay with it. Maybe the old boy could offer her some comfort after her mother’s loss.
Wren looked from Beck to Lucas, then to me. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing,” all three men said simultaneously.
I smiled sweetly. “A discussion about anatomy.”
Wren’s eyes lit up.
Beck immediately straightened. “No.”
“I haven’t even said anything.” Wren put a hand on her hip.
Colson ducked through the doorway behind her and took in the room in one slow sweep, his gaze stopping on the dead rotter, then on the men’s tear-stained faces, then on Wren in question.
She shrugged. “I don’t know either.”