Volume Two
Zombies, Aliens, and Meat Eating Vegetarians?
Mireille Chester
Copyright © 2012 by Mireille Chester
Published by Mireille Chester
Smashwords Edition
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Zombies, Aliens, and Meat Eating Vegetarians?
The sudden downpour of rain barely registered with me as Max maneuvered the truck onto the highway. I could see him shooting quick glances in my direction out of the corner of my eye.
“I’m so sorry, Gabby.” His voice was quaking. All I could manage was a small shake of my head. My throat tightened painfully and I tried to rid my brain of the image of Lane getting knocked to the ground.
We pulled into the yard and Max honked the horn to let the others know we were back. The overhead door opened to let us in.
Everyone paled at the sight of us driving into the shop without Lane. Jason slammed the door shut and ran around the side of the truck to open the door since I obviously wasn’t going to do it. His dark eyes met mine and fresh tears spilled down my cheeks.
“Christ,” he mumbled before pulling me out of the truck and squeezing the breath out of me with his hug.
Max got out and walked slowly to the couches where he plopped himself down. Marie frowned and handed Ashley to Pete.
“Where are you bleeding from?” She pulled the back of his shirt up and her frown deepened.
“It’s not me, it’s Gabs’,” he whispered.
I glanced up from my hiding spot on Jason’s chest at the sound of my name. Shit. I took a deep breath to pull myself back together. These kids didn’t need me to have a breakdown in front of them, though how I was going to stay functional at the time being was beyond me. I wiped my arms across my face.
“Hey.” The word stuck and I cleared my throat. “Maxy, this isn’t on you.”
“Of course it’s on me!” He looked at me, his green eyes locking with mine. “I’m the one who left!”
“I could have stopped you! I should have stopped you! We should have stopped him!”
“I’m the one who followed orders!”
“Fuck!” I slammed my fist against the table, barely noticing the pain from the impact. Everyone was watching with wide eyes and I noticed Max clenching and unclenching his fists. Fuck was right. Hell, if I felt I needed to punch something, I had no clue what he was going through. I grabbed his hand and tugged him to the back room then pushed him in front of me.
“Hit!”
He looked back quickly, shock clear on his face. “What?”
I gave him another push toward the sheet of drywall lying on an angle against the rest of the pile that was stacked.
“Hit it!”
He brought his hands up, but looked at me uncertainly. I stepped past him, raised my arm, and punched the sheet as hard as I could.
“Cock sucking son of a bitch!” I held my hand to my chest. Max grinned and took a swing. His fist smashed through the board which folded in half as he pulled it out of the hole. I bent, picked up both halves and rearranged them for him.
“Again.”
“But…”
“Maxy, sometimes you just have to hit something.”
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “You’re okay with this?” He was starting to shake.
“Hit it.”
I’d barely finished with the word ‘hit’ and his right fist smashed one of the pieces in half. His left fist followed a fraction of a second behind and killed the second piece. I pulled a second sheet off the top of the pile and laid it out for him. He didn’t need any encouragement this time around. He made short work of that sheet and a third one. I reached for a fourth.
“I’m good.” Max placed a hand on my arm, his knuckles white from the dust. I looked at the sheet of drywall, wanting him to hit another one. So long as he was hitting things and I was concentrating on him, I didn’t need to think of the fact that Lane was gone.
“Hey.” He pulled me to his chest and hugged me tightly. “We don’t know for sure he didn’t get out of there, right?”
I shook my head, frowned, and looked up at him. He was right. My heart started to beat frantically. I pushed away from him and started running for the one ton.
“Pete! Get the door! Maxy, Jason, let’s go!” I tossed them each a riffle and Max jumped behind the wheel. Jason’s eyes narrowed in concentration as we peeled out of the yard.
I forced my fingers to relax around the barrel of the rifle. I needed them to be ready, not numb from the excess pressure I was putting on them. I called Lane’s cell, hoping beyond hope that he’d pick up. He didn’t.
“Do we have a plan?” Jason glanced at me before focusing on the road ahead of us.
“We get him out. That’s it. We go there and we get him out.”
I glanced at Max and saw him blinking. My heart dropped as the silver bled back into them.
“I can’t see them, but they’re close.”
“There!” I spotted two of the Yellow Eyes standing on the corner as we streaked by second avenue. I was still amazed at how empty the streets were. The odd car or truck maneuvered quickly through the streets, though that was about it. It was shocking how Prince Albert had only taken three days to become a ghost town. The wipers could barely keep up to the rain hitting the windshield and I fought the urge to tell Max to slow down. Instead, I concentrated on being calm. We would find him. He might be hurt, but he’d be fine.
Max screeched to a halt in front of Robby’s shop. There were no vehicles parked there. Jason was the first to reach the doors and he grunted as he tried to pull them open with no positive results.
“It’s locked up tight, Gabs.”
I couldn’t answer him; I was looking at the blood he was standing in. The only place the rain couldn’t get to was right by the door, under the awning. The spot was so red I felt the bile rise in my throat.
“Shit.” He stepped sideways to get out of the puddle and went still as his boot cracked something into the sidewalk. He lifted his foot slowly.
“What is it?” Max was looking up and down the street.
“It’s…” The blood drained from his face. “It’s Lane’s cell phone.” He handed it to me. “What do you want to do, Gabby?”
All I could do was stare at the phone in my hand. “I…”
“Maybe he went around back.” Jason glanced at the empty Canadian Tire parking lot before moving past Nutters, NAPA, and disappearing around the corner of the building. I stuffed Lane’s cell into my back pocket and followed him. We walked carefully through the dense, overgrown bushes behind the mini strip mall.
“Lane!” My whisper was lost in the sound of the rain. “Lane!” I stopped moving to listen for an answer.
“Anything?” Jason was looking back at me from his position farther ahead.
I shook my head. “You?”
“No.”
We made a complete sweep of the back and circled back to the front of the building where Max was standing in the box of the truck. He looked at me grimly and gestured to the Canadian Tire parking lot where four men were walking toward us. I joined him in the box.
“What do you want to do?”
I glanced at Jason who had his rifle up against his shoulder, his sights set on one of the four Yellow Eyes. The men stopped short as they noticed us. It felt like hours went by with none of us moving.
“Gabs?” Jason looked up quickly.
I shook my head. “Let’s jet.”
“But…”
“No buts. I’m not killing anyone if I don’t have to.” I hopped out of the box and heard Max hit the ground beside me. “How are you feeling, Maxy?”
“Weird. Strong.”
Jason frowned. “Strong?”
Max shrugged. “I can’t explain it. It’s not like an ‘I can lift three hundred pounds’ strong. It’s different.”
Jason slammed the door shut and I looked back in time to see the Yellow Eyes running toward us.
“Let’s go, Max.”
“Where to, Gabrielle?”
“Let’s get back to the shop.” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.
Max put the truck into gear.
“Look, when we get back to the shop, why don’t you take a few minutes and just go sit in the office or something.” Jason put an arm around my shoulders.
I shook my head.
“I’ve got this, Gabby.”
I looked up at him and blinked back tears. “You’re sure?” My heart dropped as all the hope I’d been holding onto left me.
He nodded. No one talked the rest of the ride back to the shop. I watched through the windshield, noticing that the rain had lightened though the wind was still trying to blow us off the road. Once in the building, I decided the office wouldn’t cut it and made a beeline for the mop closet before anyone could see the tears streaking down my cheeks.
Had I really thought I’d find him there? Would he have been sitting on the sidewalk just waiting for us to pick him up? I imagined him looking up at the sound of the truck coming closer, his dark blue eyes crinkled as he looked up into the sunlight to smile at me. A sob raked through me and I leaned my head into my arms. What the hell was I going to do now? Was he out there, hurt and alone? Maybe he was stuck somewhere, hiding from a pack of Yellow Eyes. Did he have his gun with him? Had he managed to keep his pocket knife or had the others taken that? Tears wet my forearms and dripped onto my jeans. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the musty smell of the mop reminded me I needed to buy a new one. I tried to keep my sobs as quiet as possible. I’d take a few minutes then I’d go back out there. There was no way I was going to leave him on his own. After everything we’d been through together, after everything he’d done for me…
A half a dozen scenarios ran through my head. What had happened in the store? Had anyone helped him? Was he hurt? Was he dead? The stress of the past days and my worry for Lane sapped the last of my strength and I slowly fell asleep with my head against the shelf.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I awoke to the feel of someone’s head on my shoulder and I could only think of one other person who might feel as responsible as me.
“Maxy?”
“He’s alright.”
I banged my head on the shelf as I threw myself at Lane.
“Hey, now. Easy. You’ll give yourself a concussion.” His arms held me so tightly I could barely breathe, but I didn’t care. My crying started anew and a tiny ball of anger sparked in me. I wiggled out of his grasp.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I wasn’t mad enough to pull my hands out of his.
“I was thinking I didn’t want you to get hurt.” He gave me a minute to calm down before giving an experimental tug on my arm. Too relieved to stay mad, I followed the pull until I was against him once again.
“I thought you were dead,” I whispered.
“I lost my cell and by the time things calmed down enough for me to let you know I was okay, Jason answered your phone and told me you were sleeping in here. I figured I’d let you know in person you had to put up with me for a while yet.”
I snorted and he pressed his lips to my forehead.
“I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. The man was impossible to stay mad at.
“What happened?”
I felt him shrug. “Not much. Idiot there hit me, I went down, everyone sort of jumped in, Robby fired his rifle at the ceiling, and that made everyone pause long enough for Shawn to pull me out from the bottom of the pile.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I’ll live.”
I reached up and turned the light on, blinking so my eyes could adjust to see him. I had to swallow hard to get rid of the sob that almost escaped.
“Oh, my god, Lane.”
A small trail of blood ran down the side of his face from a cut just about the hairline on his temple. I reached up and gently touched his swollen right cheek. Lane closed his eyes at the touch.
“I’m fine, Gabrielle.”
“Is that it?”
His dark eyes met mine and he smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure I’ll have a few bruises elsewhere, but I promise that’s it.”
I eyed him critically before resting my head on his chest once again. He adjusted his hold on me so he could rest his chin on the top of my hair.
“Once Shawn got me out, he tossed me my rifle and Robby ordered everyone out. They left, we got Jenny out of the back room where she’d been the entire time and went to Shawn’s place where they’d been staying the last couple of days. I convinced them to come back to the shop.”
“They’re here?” I started to get up so I could go thank them, but was stopped by the tightening of Lane’s arms around me.
“Not yet.” He took a deep breath and I smiled as he turned off the light.
“Don’t tell me you were worried about me,” I grinned.
“I’m always worried about you. You’re a magnet for disaster, Freckles.” He chuckled and I started laugh.
“I’m not the one who looks like they’ve gone five rounds in the UFC ring.” My throat tightened and cut off my laughter. “Never again, Lane,” I whispered. “Do you understand me? No more of this ‘save Gabby and screw Lane’ crap. Got it?”
I heard him swallow hard. “Gabs…”
“No. I refuse to…”
“Will you shut up for a minute?”
I clenched my jaw and heard him grinding his teeth before he inhaled deeply.
“I promised you I’d take care of you. Do you remember that?”
I flashed back to that day when we’d been eleven. We’d ridden our bikes out to the airport and had been fishing on the riverbank. This had been the day after he’d spent a session in detention for punching Bernie Halcrop in the face because the thirteen year old had pushed me to the ground and called me a spotty ginger.
He pressed his lips to my forehead just as he’d done that day. “I told you that so long as I was alive, you’d be safe.”
“I remember.”
“Well, you do realize that was a purely selfish promise, eh?”
I frowned. “What?”
“I meant it back then and I meant it every time I reminded you of it since. Right now, I mean it more than ever. So long as I’m alive, you’ll be safe. Do you want to know why?”
I nodded, the butterflies in my stomach fighting for room.
“Because if I have to protect you, I have to be around you. And because if anything were to happen to you, Gabrielle…” His chest rose with deep breath which he let out slowly. “Well, it would kill me.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Hey, guys, we made some lunch.” Pete gave one more knock before walking away.
Lane blew out of his nose. “Let’s go eat.”
“What? Wait! You can’t just say something like that then just switch to ‘let’s go eat’.”
His lips brushed my temple lightly. “I’m hungry and my head hurts. I… We’ll talk more later, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
We left the closet and made our way to the front room where I promptly ran to Robby and almost knocked him over with a hug. Shawn was ready and barely budged as I threw my arms around him. I stepped back and grinned.
“Thank you. So much.”
The brothers smiled.
“Our pleasure. Gabby, you remember Jenny?”
I nodded a welcome to the youngest of the Harris siblings. “Where’re Maddy and Haley?”
Shawn shot Robby a look who then gave Jenny a hug. She stared at the floor, her face hidden by her long auburn hair.
“Why don’t you go to the back and get a coffee. I’ll let Gabs and Lane know what happened.”
She seemed grateful when Max took her hand to lead her to the back.
“Come on,” he offered. “I’ll show you where everything is.”
Robby ran a hand through his short dark blond hair, his blue green eyes squinting with his frown. I always thought it was funny how people would do a double take when the brothers were introduced. At thirty-six, Robby was the oldest and only about three inches taller than my five foot four. Shawn, on the other hand, his half-brother, was two years younger than me, easily stood over the six foot two mark, and had hair as black as the night itself. Haley and Maddy, the two middle sisters, Shawn’s full sisters, were almost the spitting images of him. Jenny, the youngest, had just turned eighteen, had auburn hair and more freckles than me. Jenny’s father had been a godsend to their mother and had done a great job of raising all five kids as his own. The only trait they all had in common was their mother’s stunning blue green eyes.
Robby waited until Jenny and Max closed the office door then turned to us.
“We were all at Mom’s on Friday night. Maddy had found this movie she thought we should all see.” His eyes lost their focus as he remembered back. “We were done eating, so Jenny and Mom were setting up the living room so we could all sit around the TV. I’d gone out to put the dog in the kennel.”
“Dad and I were poking fun at Jenny because Cliff phoned the house for her. I mean, who names their kid Cliff nowadays. Clifford the Big Red Dog. I mean, we wouldn’t make fun of him to his face, but you know, it’s fun to bug the hell out of Jenny about it.”
I could tell Shawn was stalling, trying to avoid getting to the next part. It made me think I didn’t want to hear what was coming.
Robby took up the story. “Maddy and Haley were in the kitchen getting the popcorn ready.” He rubbed his hands over his face and I noticed what I hadn’t before. His bottom lip was fat and he had a scabbed cut over his left eye. “I came into the house and all I heard was Jenny screaming. I ran into the living room and, Christ, at first I thought they were wrestling. I mean, fuck!”
Shawn was staring blindly at the floor. “They came out of the kitchen and just like that, Maddy was on top of Jenny, pulling her hair, trying to get her over on her back. Haley went after Dad. He didn’t even try to stop her. I think he was too shocked. I just… I don’t know. I know I couldn’t move for a second. She jumped on him and bit out his throat. Just like that. Like it was something she did every day.”
“That’s when I came in. I managed to grab Maddy off of Jenny. She screamed and came at me. I yelled at Shawn to get Jenny and Mom out.”
“I grabbed Jenny and I assumed Mom was behind me.” Shawn reached up and quickly wiped a tear before it could fall. “But Mom screamed when Haley turned on her. I pushed Jenny into the bathroom and told her to lock it. By the time I pulled Haley off of Mom, it was too late. She’d shoved her into the glass coffee table and the blood was starting to pool under her. I just… you don’t survive losing that much blood.”
“Every time I’d throw Maddy off, she’d keep coming back. It was like she was just… it was all she could think of. That her sole purpose was to kill me.” Robby sat, obviously shaken by reliving the memory. “I didn’t mean to hurt her,” he whispered. “I tried to get her off. I managed to get her on her back and she still wouldn’t stop. I choked her. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“I stabbed Haley,” mumbled Shawn. “I tried to scare her by waving the fire poker around but she came at me and I held it in front of me. She ran straight into it.”
I wiped my arm over my face to dry the tears as they fell down my cheeks. I tried to think of something to say, anything, but nothing seemed appropriate.
“All I could think…”
We all looked up to see Jenny watching us, her face so white the scratches her sister had inflicted stood out like the stripes on a zebra. Her breath hitched and Max took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“All I could think was why were they trying to eat us when they were vegetarians?” She made no attempt to hide the tears as they streaked down her face in a steady flow.
Max pulled her into a hug and smoothed her hair. “Shhhhh.”
I glanced at Lizzy and was glad to see her put a hand on the other girl’s shoulder to offer support. Everyone stared at one another, speechless. We’d all seen the Yellow Eyes, but the thought of someone we loved actually turning into one had just been driven home. Lane was looking at me, dread in his eyes, and I knew he was remembering my dream. He swallowed hard and came to stand by me. I leaned into him.
“What are we supposed to do?” whispered Marie. She was sitting on Pete’s lap, baby Ashley cradled between them.
Brent turned the TV on and we watched as a black screen with a scrolling message popped up. Everyone gathered around and read the announcement twice in silence.
“They can’t be serious,” mumbled Shawn.
“I think they are.” Grant glanced at Brent then back to Lane. “What do you think, Lane?”
Lane read through the instructions one more time before giving a shake of his head. “I think they’re crazy. Nothing good’s going to come of it. Telling people to leave their homes and to all go stay in various public buildings in their cities… no. There will be too many people, too much stress…”
“It will be riots and then what?” added Robby.
I nodded. “I think we’re safe here.”
Lane stood and put a hand on my shoulder. “Payday was Thursday. Did you all do groceries?”
Everyone nodded.
“Tomorrow morning, first thing, we’ll hit up everyone’s houses, pack up all the food we can find, and bring it here. Robby, we should bring your deep freeze over. I’ll bring ours. Ours is still full of meat.”
Robby nodded. “Same here.”
“Alright. It’s decided then, unless anyone has any objections?” Lane looked at everyone, giving them the option to say they wanted to leave. No one objected.
Max caught his breath and we all turned to look him. Jenny’s hand flew to her mouth while Lizzy took a few steps away from him before going to stand by John.
“I think they found the shop.” His silver eyes met Lane’s.
Brent and Grant jumped onto the crates we’d put under the windows and scanned the area.
“Anything?” Pete made his way to the side window at the shake of the brothers’ heads. “It’s over here.” He looked at Lane. “Do we shoot it?”
“No.”
I nodded to show him I agreed. “These are still people. I don’t know what’s wrong with them, but until they give us just cause to do so, we don’t take them out.”
We all held our breaths for the next ten minutes until Max’s eyes bled back to green and he inhaled deeply. He let out a relieved sigh.
“It’s gone.”
“Alright.” I gave Lane a tug on the arm. “Come on. I’ll have a look at your head.”
Lane waved away the attention. “I’m fine.”
I turned his head and stood on my tip toes so I could have a look. “It’s still bleeding a bit. We’d better go clean it up.” I thanked the brothers again and led Lane to the bathroom. “Alright. Sit.”
“On the toilet?” He grinned.
I put both seats down and gestured regally at it. “Yes, on the toilet.”
“Fine.” He sat and closed his eyes as I carefully moved the hair aside to see how deep the cut was. He let out a small hiss.
“Sorry. Hang on. There’s a big spot of hair that’s matted because of the dried blood.” I went to the small linen closet and put the facecloth under the running water. It ran over my hands, soaked into the material, and continued on its merry way down the drain.
“What are you thinking?” Lane shifted on the toilet seat to get more comfortable.
“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and realize this was all a bad dream.”
He grunted and watched as I shut the water off and squeezed the excess out of the cloth. Had it been anyone else, I’d have been a little freaked out by the way he followed my movements, but this was Lane. It was something he did, something he’d done since we were little. I’d asked him about it when we were nine. We’d been sitting by the riverbank, throwing rocks into the current. He’d told me he was making sure he remembered what I looked like so he wouldn’t forget in case I ever left him. I’d frowned and told him I’d never leave him; he was my best friend; we’d be together forever.
My heart skipped at the memory and my mind flashed a few years forward. We were eighteen and the last two people awake out of our group of friends at the campsite. We’d grabbed our sleeping bags and gone to lie on the beach. I’d snuggled into his side, looked up at him, and smiled because he was watching me. The urge to let him know I loved him was overwhelming and I’d whispered it in his ear. The look in his eyes had softened and he’d smiled, his whisper telling me he felt the same way. I’d been sure he would kiss me, but he’d stopped himself and pressed his lips to my forehead instead of my mouth.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
I jumped as Lane voice cut through my thoughts. “I was just remembering.”
“Oh?”
“Can you… I mean, do you remember… Name some good memories you have.”
“Um, okay. How far back?”
I shrugged. “Start as far back as you can remember and move your way up to now.”
He took his time and I smiled at the way his lips curled slightly as he went through his good memories. “The day my mom took us to the petting zoo and we got to ride real ponies for the first time.”
I grinned. “We were six.”
He nodded. “How about the time we went exploring the old abandoned farmhouse by Mister Granger’s house?”
“The one in his canola field.” I pressed the wet cloth against the matted hair.
“That’s the one. I think we were eight. Then there’s that day on the river bank when we were nine.”
“You told me you watched me so you’d remember what I looked like if I ever left you.”
“And you told me you’d never leave me.”
“And I haven’t.”
“No, you haven’t.” His voice softened. “The day we all went camping and we ended up sleeping on the beach. Graduation day, the day we started our business, the day we got our first community service kid, the day we signed the papers on the mortgage.” He took a deep breath. “Two nights ago.”
I frowned and laughed out loud, surprised. “What?” I managed to part the hair so I could have a look at the cut under it and smiled. Nothing serious.
“When you picked up your phone and I realized you were still alive and then I turned the corner and there you were. Very best day of my life.” He cleared his throat. “Why did you want to know?”
“Every good memory I have has you in it, Lane.” I took a step back so I could look at him and suddenly I was sure that the past twenty years of simply being best friends had been a mistake. “Every bad memory I have somehow is made better because you were always there.”
I looked into his eyes, trying to see if he understood what I meant.
His brows knitted together slightly. “What are you saying?”
“I wasn’t lying on the beach.” My heart was pounding its way out of my chest. What if I’d been wrong? What if to him I really was just his pain in the ass best friend. His eyes widened with surprise. Shit, he wasn’t going to profess his undying love after all. “I… I always wondered why you never kissed me that night.”
He caught my hand gently and pulled me so that I stood between his legs. He moved his hands up my arms so that they came to hold my face. His thumb ran over my cheek.
“Because I knew that if I kissed you, there was no going back for me. I also knew you were scared that if we took it to the next step and it didn’t work out, that things would never go back to how they were.”
“You were never scared of that?”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “I knew it would work out.”
“So why didn’t you say something to me about it?”
“Because it had to be all you. I wanted to make sure you came to that decision on your own. You were so scared about it. I didn’t want you to do it just because that was what I wanted.”
“You could have given me a clue about how you felt, you know.”
“I did. I told you that night. And to be fair, you didn’t kiss me, either.”
So that was it. All this time, he’d been waiting for me to make a decision. That was fourteen years of spending every day together, both of us waiting for the other to make the first move. I brought one hand up and touched his cheek and let my fingers linger like I’d thought of doing. He closed his eyes and shivered at the touch. I slid my hands into his hair so his head was tilted up and I let myself look at him in a way that echoed how I felt about him. Or maybe it was the opposite. Maybe I was finally letting myself feel how I actually saw him. I trailed my fingertips over his face, somehow knowing exactly how he would feel. I could hear my heart pound harder and I started to wonder why he wasn’t doing anything. He was breathing faster, there was no doubt about that, but he simply stayed where he was. My heart gave an extra hard pound. Like he was waiting. He was still waiting for me to decide.
I wet my lips. There was no way in hell this wasn’t right. I had to tell him. If something was to happen and I didn’t tell him, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.
“I didn’t kiss you because I was scared.”
He nodded slightly.
“And I’ve been scared every day since that night.” I inhaled deeply and pushed on, my fingers still moving over his face, his neck, and into his hair. “But not as scared as I was the other night when you told me you weren’t coming home and I realized that I was about to lose the only person I couldn’t live without. This morning, I thought… oh god, I thought you were gone.” I took a second to arrange my thoughts. “The thought of not having bagels and coffee together in the morning, of not driving to work together…” The thought of not having him around was causing a lump to form in my throat and I decided I could talk all night if I really felt like it. Even if I didn’t kiss him, it was too late. There was no going back.
Lane slowly opened his eyes and I found myself looking into blue eyes so dark they could have been black. Eyes so familiar, I could tell where each slightly lighter colored spot on the irises were with my own eyes closed. My fingers laced in his dark brown hair and I pulled myself down to him. His eyes closed as my lips touched his, his arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me to his chest. I have to admit that the few times I’d let myself think of this moment, I’d imagined fevered lips, a complete lack of self-control, all of which led to us naked and in bed in a matter of minutes. What happened instead was the softest of touches, our lips and tongues shyly exploring the other’s. All of it melted my bones and caused my breath to hitch in my throat.
I felt Lane smile before he pulled me down so that I was sitting on his lap. His free hand brushed the curly red hair out of my face. His lips left a hot trail along my jaw, down my neck, across my throat, and back up before finding my mouth once again. I caught my breath as his tongue found mine and his groan vibrated through both of us. My head started to swim, all of my senses getting lost in the feel of him, the taste of him. How in god’s name had I convinced myself this wasn’t right in the first place?
I pushed my hands up his shirt and smiled at the shiver that ran through him. He took a deep breath, slowed the kiss, and pressed his forehead to mine before burying his face in the crook of my neck.
“Please tell me you don’t regret that,” he whispered.
I put my hands on his face and lightly tilted his head so he was looking at me. “I regret not doing it fourteen years ago on that beach.”
He grinned. “Christ, me too.” His lips pressed lightly against my forehead then trailed lightly down the side of my face, along my jaw, and came to a stop over mine. I shivered at the barely there touch. His fingers were kneading small circles into my shoulders and the back of my neck. I moaned at the feel of his tongue trailing down my neck and along my collar bone. The soft kisses he was pressing up my throat were sending lazy snakes of heat from the pool forming in my belly to between my legs. I made a quick position change so that I straddled him which put me in perfect position to feel him pressing up against me through our jeans. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me to him.
I squeaked with surprise at the knock on the door while Lane swore softly under his breath.
“Hey, guys, are you almost done in there? You know there are twelve adults in this shop and only one bathroom, right?” John waited a half a second before giving another knock.
“Just about done.” Lane flashed me a crooked grin before kissing me again. I blushed at the heat in his eyes. “Hey, now. Don’t go all weird on me.”
“I won’t. I’m not. I’m just…” I glared at the door as John knocked again.
Lane closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “We’d better get out.” He took the cloth off of the counter, scrubbed his face clean of the blood, and stood, gently setting me on my feet. “Are you okay?”
I gave a quick nod and opened the door to reveal John with his fist up, about to knock again.
“Thank god!” He rushed in and shut the door.
“So, is he going to live?” Jason grinned.
“Hmmm?” I frowned.
“Lane. His head?”
Lane grunted. “I told you it was nothing serious.”
I felt the blush rise up my neck and into my cheeks. “I’m going to go read a book.” I refused to look anyone in the eye as I made my way to the one ton. I popped open the glove compartment, and grabbed Lane’s emergency book without looking at what it was. Realizing there really wasn’t anywhere to go to be alone, I closed the door, leaned the passenger’s seat back, and looked at the cover.
The Stand by Stephen King.
Great. I hadn’t been able to finish watching the miniseries on TV because it freaked me out; reading the book while the Yellow Eyes prowled around was definitely out of the question. I looked over as the driver’s side door opened and Lane got in beside me.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “The Stand?”
“Yeah… sort of regretting that choice now that things are how they are.” He reclined his seat and looked at me. “I’m sorry.” He lowered his voice so no one outside the truck could hear.
I frowned. “What for?”
“I got a little carried away in the bathroom.”
I stared, speechless. He’d gotten carried away? I seemed to remember my hands going up his shirt and my legs straddling him. I flushed at the memory.
“Do you regret it?” His dark eyes bore into mine. “Do you want to pretend it didn’t happen?”
I reached over and took his hand knowing he meant it. He’d pretend nothing had happened if I thought we’d made a mistake. I shook my head. “No. I’ll never regret doing that. It’s just weird seeing you look at me like that.” I turned a deeper shade of red. “I mean, I like it. I’m just not used to it.” I gave his hand a squeeze.
“Will it make you feel better if I tell you I always looked at you like that, just not when you were looking at me?”
My lips twitched as I tried to hide my smile and my heart skipped a few beats. “Honestly? That sounds a little creepy.” I grinned to show I was kidding. I exhaled loudly. “I keep thinking we just wasted all those years, you know?”
He gave a slight shrug. “Better late than never.”
“And I mean, really, what the hell I was waiting for?” I watched as he raised himself up on one elbow so that he was looking down at me.
“The end of the world, apparently.” Though he smiled, that look smoldered in his eyes and my heart jumped at the feel of his lips brushing softly against mine. My hands found their way through his hair then jerked back at his hiss of pain.
“Oh my god, Lane. I’m so sorry! Let me see if I opened it up.”
He gave a shake of his head. “It’s fine.” He pressed his palm against the side of his head and pulled it away. “See? No blood.”
I groaned inwardly. What I wouldn’t give for some time alone with him right now. Something must have shown on my face.
“What’s wrong?” Lane ran his thumb over my cheek.
“I wish… I just…” I frowned, trying to find the words I wanted. “I want to go home. I want to go check on Iggy. I want this to be a really bad and really long nightmare. I wish that instead of being in the truck, we were on our couch. You’d be sitting with your legs stretched out and I’d be lying on your lap. We could watch a movie. We’d be having a beer and nachos… I’d kill for a fucking beer right now.” I stopped my rambling to swallow down the lump forming in my throat.
“It will be okay.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but someone will figure it out and they’ll find a way to fix it. We’re safe here for now.” He maneuvered over the shift stick settled himself beside me. I laid my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes as he smoothed my hair.
“Lane?”
“Hmmm?”
I looked up at him and raised a hand to touch his cheek. My heart skipped, my lips brushed over his, and I took a deep breath. I remembered all those times I’d told him, but at the same time hadn’t told him. I decided that from now on, for whatever time we had left, he’d know.
“I love you, Lane. Always have.”
His smile melted every bone in my body. “I love you, Gabrielle. Always will.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The furnace kicked in and I pulled a bunny hug over my head. Pete gave a whistle, turned away from the window and gave a disbelieving shake of his head.
“That’s just nuts. I can’t see a thing out there. There has to be close to two feet on the ground and it’s not letting up.”
“Fucking snow,” mumbled Grant.
I blew my breath out of my nose. “Mother Nature must be menopausing,” I offered in way of an explanation.
“Yeah, well, she’s messing with our plans.” Grant tossed a ball he’d made out of duct tape to Brent who lobbed it to John who back handed it to Max. Jason walked into the room from the back with a yawn.
“What’s happening?”
Lane took a sip of his coffee. “We’re snowed in.”
Jason turned on his heels and headed back to his blankets. The wind howled past the building.
“You’d never guess we were all in tank tops yesterday.” Jenny looked tiny wearing one of Shawn’s bunny hugs. She pulled the sleeves up. “Have you ever wondered why we call these things bunny hugs? I asked the new kid at school where’s he’d gotten his new one from and he looked at me like I’d grown a second head.”
John grinned. “I don’t think I’ve called them hoodies once in my entire life.”
“I really think it’s just a Saskatchewan thing.” Grant nodded along with Brent.
“What makes you think that?” Pete looked up from where he was changing Ashley’s diaper.
“We took a road trip to Calgary last year,” Brent explained. “I asked one of the store clerks at Walmart where their bunny hugs were. He had no clue what I was talking about.”
I left them to their bunny hug/hoodie discussion and went to pour myself a coffee then headed over to where Lizzy was sitting on the stairs by herself.
“Hey, Liz.”
“Hey.” Her glare didn’t move from where Max was talking with Jenny.
“How are you doing?”
“Good.”
“You’re sure?” I joined her in watching her boyfriend with the new girl.
“I said I’m fine.” The glare honed in on me for a fraction of a second before returning to Max.
“You know he loves you, right?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know. I just…”
“You just what?”
“I don’t know.”
I frowned. “You two are inseparable.”
Lizzy shrugged. “Things change it seems.”
“Really? Because you’re sitting here glaring daggers at the pair of them.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Instead of leaving, I stayed beside her, waiting for when she’d open up. It took much less time than I’d anticipated.
“He broke my trust, Gabs. He promised he wouldn’t tell anyone what was happening and he went ahead and told you.”
“Because he was worried about you.”
“Whatever.”
I managed to stop my eyes from rolling as she dismissed my statement with that word.
“And now there’s this.” She gestured to Max and Jenny. “He doesn’t talk to girls.” She glanced at me before continuing. “Ever. He doesn’t talk to them. Well, he talks to you and Marie, but that’s about it. And girls, they don’t talk to him. He’s scary. His reputation precedes him and everyone knows he’s a loose cannon. That doesn’t even matter. He just has that air that keeps people away. But this one doesn’t flinch. Hell, she handled his freaky eye bit better than I did.
“I can handle his temper and I can handle his fits, but this... whatever it is that’s wrong with him is freaking me out.” She wiped her palms on her jeans and I noticed her hands were shaking.
“Other than Max talking to girls and having silver eyes, how are you feeling?”
She smirked and shook her head. “I forgot how shitty it was. You know, the whole not getting it when you need it bit.” She put her head in her hands. “Fuck! I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking.”
Max jogged up the stairs. He bent down and kissed Lizzy on the lips then flashed me a smile.
“What are we talking about?”
I smiled. “Not much. How are you feeling?”
He shrugged and took a seat between us. “Good. Normal. I feel the same as I always do until the Yellow Eyes show up. You know, I actually feel better than usual. I feel…” He frowned, searching for the words he needed. “I feel in control.” His eyes met mine. “Does that make sense?”
“You mean anger-wise?”
He nodded. “Usually, I feel on edge all the time; like I know any little thing could set me off. Right now, I feel like someone could hit me and I’d be okay with it. I swear, Gabs, I could just walk away.” He beamed at the thought and I grinned.
“That’s fantastic, Maxy.”
His smile slipped at the sight of Lizzy wringing her hands together. “How are you feeling, Baby?” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against him.
“Like shit.”
He pressed his lips to her hair and I watched her relax.
“Better now that you’re here, though,” she mumbled and snuggled closer to him.
Another gust of wind blew past the building. I gave Max a pat on the shoulder and Lizzy a squeeze on the arm then made my way back down the stairs. By the sounds of the storm outside, it was going to be a long couple of days.
Lane smiled and put his arm around my shoulders as I sat beside him on the couch. I leaned into him and closed my eyes.
“So, do we have a theory?”
Robby grunted. “Too many to count.”
I smirked. “How many make sense?”
Shawn chuckled. “None.”
“Alright. Let’s hear them.”
“Well, my personal favorite, would be Lane’s first attempt at a guess.” Pete grinned and Lane rolled his eyes.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.”
Every stopped talking and gawked at Jenny. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “I took this picture yesterday morning. Shawn, you remember those three dead ones we found in front of Superstore?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s probably because of what I was thinking with Maddy and Haley, but I noticed this. I don’t know why I took a picture of it.” She frowned as she hit buttons on her phone. “Here.” She handed it to Robby and we all gathered behind him to see the picture.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” exclaimed Robby.
“What is it?” I bent closer, not really wanting to see what had caused his distress. He handed me the camera and I found myself looking at a dead woman, her dark blue button up shirt only part ways done up to reveal the white tank top underneath.
He exhaled loudly. “Maddy had one like this.”
“You can’t be serious.” I stared at the picture, trying to get my brain to accept what it was seeing. “Really? ‘Proud Vegetarian: Save those without a voice’?”
Lane let out a frustrated breath out of his nose and I stood so I could lean back against him.
Shawn was gaping at his brother. “That can’t be the connection. I mean, right?”
“What did you guys find? Do we know what we’re dealing with?” Brent seemed reluctant to come see the picture. Grant stood shoulder to shoulder with him, his face pale.
Lane ran his hands over his face then gave my arms a squeeze. “It looks like we’re dealing with meat-eating vegetarians.”
Everyone looked at Lane and the silence could have choked us if we’d let it. I nearly jumped out of my skin as Max burst out laughing behind us.
“Oh, my god, Lane…” He took a few deep breaths but couldn’t seem get a hold of himself. “Do you… have… any idea… how retarded that… sounds?”
I tried to stop from smiling but couldn’t hide the twitch of my lips. Lane glared at me. Once the smile won out it was mere seconds before the laughter broke through. “That would definitely be the worst zombie movie ever.” I hugged his arm. “That can’t be it.”
He smirked. “Fine. It sounds retarded.”
“It doesn’t sound any more retarded than anything else we could think up,” offered Robby who’d come to stand by us.
“Like what?” John was grinning.
“Aliens.”
We all stared at Grant.
“What? You guys can say zombies and possessed meat-eating vegetarians and I can’t say aliens?” He looked so insulted another wave of laughter filled the shop.
“Dude!” Brent was laughing so hard he barely managed to choke out the word.
“Demons.” Shawn shrugged as he tossed his idea into the pile.
“You’ve been watching Supernatural again, haven’t you,” teased Jenny. Her grin turned to a frown and we all looked to where she was staring at Max. He stared back at her, a scowl on his face.
“So, if these things were demons, what would that make me?”
The lines of her face softened and a small smile curled her lips. “An angel.”
His frown deepened as he gazed at her silently. Lizzy snorted.
“Right. Maxy, the angel.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “That makes even less sense than meat-eating vegetarians.”
“You know, for the woman who’s supposed to love him, you sure treat him like shit.”
Everyone gawked at Jenny who was having a glaring contest with Lizzy, though none of us looked as shocked as Max. Jenny broke eye contact with Lizzy so that she looked at Max.
“Sorry. None of my business.” She turned on her heels and headed into the back room.
Lizzy whirled on Max. “What did you tell her!”
“Nothing! We were talking about movies.” He watched as she stalked towards the stairs then turned his attention to John who was chuckling.
“I’m going to admit, Maxy… You caught in the middle of a cat fight was one of the last things I expected to see. It’s right up there with human-eating vegetarians and demons.” He grinned and pounded fists with a bewildered Max. “Right on, man.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A couple of days turned into three and the monotony of being stuck in the shop was starting to get on everyone’s nerves. The boys were playing with their duct tape ball and Lizzy was upstairs where she’d been for the past three days. Jenny was sitting with her brothers on the couch with Pete, Marie, and Jason across from them. By the looks of it, the Harris’s were winning the poker hand. I lay on the passenger side of the one ton and Lane lay on the driver’s side.
“What do you figure?”
Lane grunted. “I figure that if we don’t get out of here soon, there won’t be any of us left for the Yellow Eyes to kill when they find us.”
“Do you think we should try heading into town?” I frowned. With no one to work the plows the highway would be almost impassable. The snow and wind had died down, but the drifts would be hell to get through.
“I don’t know what to do.” He sounded so tired.
“Hey. Cheer up.” My comment awarded me another grunt. I took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Do you think… do you think Iggy is okay?”
“I hope so.”
Both of us frowned and glanced at each other.
“Is that…?” I sat up and got out of the truck.
“Dude! It’s raining!” Grant jumped up onto one of the boxes and looked out the window.
I shook my head. “This is unreal.”
Max frowned. “Do you think the weird ass weather has something to do with the Yellow Eyes?”
Lane shrugged. “I don’t have a fucking clue.” He ran his hands over his face.
“Um, guys? My cell’s not getting any reception.” Robby was walking around the building, looking at the bars on his phone.
“Me neither.” Shawn put his to his ear. “It’s telling me my service provider is unavailable.”
Pete ran to the office and came back a fraction of a minute later. “Land line is down, too.”
My heart was starting to pound against my ribs. Were the Yellow Eyes smart enough to take out communication systems or had the storm managed to knock down cell towers and phone lines?
“TV’s out, too.” Lane was staring at the screen, worry clear on his face. One deep breath seemed to fill him with enough strength to pull himself together. “We go to town, we grab what we can, and we come home.”
Everyone nodded.
“Gabby, Maxy, Lizzy and and John, we’ll take the one ton. Pete, get me your keys, we’ll hit up your place. You can stay here with Marie and Ashley.”
Pete opened his mouth to object and was abruptly cut off.
“It’s not up for discussion.” Lane ran a hand over his face. “Shawn, Robby, Jason, Brent and Grant, you guys go together.”
“What about me?” Jenny frowned and took a step forward.
“There’s not enough room in the half ton. You can stay here.” If Jenny had been about to argue, a look from Lane was enough to stop her. He handed her and Pete each a rifle. “If anything comes near, shoot it.”
The two of them nodded. Everyone grabbed their jacket and a weapon then piled into the trucks.
Dark blue eyes met mine. “Ready?”
I nodded.
“Alright, Pete!”
Pete pulled the overhead door open and Lane accelerated into the deep snow outside of the shop, kicking the truck into four by four.
“You know, there’s not half as much snow as I thought there would be,” observed Lizzy.
“No kidding,” I agreed. Though the snow was deep and Lane had to speed through the drifts, the rain and warm temperatures that had returned during the night had managed to melt away a lot of the original snowfall. I glanced back to make sure that Robby was following along behind us in the smaller truck. I looked in awe at the now completely white landscape that had been starting to grow green just a few days prior.
Grant gave me a wave as we headed straight down fifteenth street while they turned right onto fifteenth avenue. I closed my eyes and sent a small prayer up to God. Please, let them stay safe. Lane pulled into the Midtown area and stopped in front of Pete and Marie’s house.
“Ok, we need to grab diapers, bottles, everything that has anything to do with Ashley.” I glanced around before opening the door and running to the house.
The instant I entered the entrance, I gagged.
“Son of a bitch!”
Max turned away from the dead bodies in living room and blocked Lizzy’s view of them. I swallowed the bile threatening to rise and closed my eyes. It didn’t take much of an imagination to see what Pete had walked in on almost a week ago.
“Lizzy, you’re on door duty. If you see anyone coming up the street, give a yell.” Lane gave her shoulder a squeeze to reassure her.
I took my duffle bag to the baby’s room and started to put everything I could into it. Max grinned and pulled six bags of diapers out of the closet.
“Jackpot.”
I laughed.
In the kitchen, I could hear Lane and John going through the cupboards and putting non-perishable items into their bags.
“So how are you doing, Maxy?”
He shrugged. “As well as anyone else, I guess.”
“You really have no idea what the silver eyes thing is about?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Really, Gabs? Like if I had a rat’s ass of a clue I’d be keeping it a secret…” He shook his head. “I have no idea, but I am pretty sure I’m not an angel.” He rolled his eyes at the notion and I smiled.
“I wouldn’t dismiss the idea.”
He snorted. “All I’ve ever done since I could move around was destroy things. I’m pretty much the opposite of angelic.” Max shot a sly glance in my direction. “So, maybe I’m reading things wrong, but you and Lane…” He grinned at my blush. “It’s about fucking time, you know.”
I laughed. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. That was one of the most annoying things about working with you guys; having to watch you pretend you didn’t want each other.”
“So, what? Everyone knew except for me?”
“Pretty much. I mean, Lane didn’t tell us willingly. We had to get it out of him and let me tell you, that man can drink a lot of beer before he starts to spill his guts. But, you know what? He never did get drunk enough to let me have a beer that night.” He smiled. “Always duty first with him.”
“When was this?”
“A couple of years ago. Of course, you could have told him you loved him on your birthday, you know.”
I frowned. “What? Why?”
“Because, now, Jason wins the bet.”
I burst out laughing. “You guys had bets on when we’d finally tell each other?”
“Of course! Every year, I bet on your birthday.”
“Every year? How long has this been going on?”
“I got in on it first year I started with you. Jason said he’s been doing it since he started.” He laughed at my shock.
“So what day did Jason bet on this year?”
“Same day he bets on every year. He puts his money down and says you’ll get together when the world comes to an end.”
The two of us looked up from our laughter as Lane walked into the room.
“What’s up?”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Maxy, here, was just telling me how the crew got you drunk so you’d spill about being in love with me.” I blushed as I said the words, loving how they warmed me on the inside.
Lane glared at Max.
“What? You already told her. It’s not like I’m ruining a big surprise.”
I grinned. “I can’t believe you told the kids.”
“Christ, I had to tell somebody.”
Max sat and tried to breathe through his laughter. “Man, you should have just told her!”
Lane shook his head and smirked. “Alright, Dr. Phil. Are we done here? The smell is starting to get to me.”
Max nodded and hiked his duffle bag onto his shoulder. “Wait.” He blinked and silver eyes met mine. “Lizzy!”
He ran past us and we followed. Max pulled her away from the door and put himself between her and whatever was coming.
“Hey!” Lane called out to the man standing directly across the street from us, his eyes closed. The wind blew through his shoulder length grey hair and ruffled his beard. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his ripped jeans. I tried to see if he was hurt, but I couldn’t see any blood near the rips. My gaze ran over his very fit abdomen and chest and I had a moment inappropriate thought that this man was in great shape and looked really sexy for his age. How old was he, anyway. Sixty-five, seventy? It was hard to tell, but I was sure he might have some mental issues since he was walking around without a coat. He shifted so that he was on one leg, using his other foot to scratch at his calf.
I frowned. “He’s barefoot.”
The man opened his eyes and all of us gasped, my heart jumping into my throat at the sight of the silver gaze.
“Holy fuck.” Maxy’s cuss was just a whisper. The man nodded and vanished.
“Holy shit!” Lane stepped out farther onto the deck to get a look up and down the street. “He was there, right? I’m not freaking out for nothing?”
I took a few deep breaths to calm my heart. “I saw him. I think.”
Lizzy was staring up at Max, fear clear on her features. “Can you do that?”
He frowned. “Of course, I can’t do that! Shit, Lizzy! I’m me!” He reached for her shoulder then stopped, letting his hand fall to his side as she stepped away from him.
“Is he gone? Like, really gone?” I looked up at Max’s now green eyes. “Ok, let’s finish this run and get back to the shop.” I gave him a squeeze on the arm and herded him out the door.
The drive to Max and Lizzy’s apartment was strained. The urge to ask Max questions about the other man was overwhelming, but I could tell that Lizzy’s reaction to him after the fact had crushed him. I decided to wait until she wasn’t around to see if he’d recognized the man or felt anything different than when he met up with the Yellow Eyes. I watched as Lane glanced back at the pair through the rear view mirror. His gaze slipped sideways and I smiled and reached for his hand.
“Um, Max?” Lizzy stared at the ground as he unlocked the building’s outer door.
“Hmm?”
“Maybe we should never mind our place. I mean, with the hallways and all the doors, it can’t be safe, right?”
“We’ll be fine. We have the guns and I’m the freak who can tell when they’re coming, remember?”
She had the decency to look embarrassed and didn’t question our actions any farther as we entered the tiny entrance. We ran up the stairs to the second floor.
“Anything, Maxy?”
He shook his head and led the way to their apartment. Lizzy locked the door behind us and leaned against it with a sigh. Max looked around the apartment, a slight frown on his face.
“You alright?” Lane followed his gaze, trying to see what he was seeing.
“I think so. I just…” He took one more look around. “It feels like someone’s been in here. Something’s off. I can’t see anything missing, though. Let’s just get the food and go. Babe, can you go grab the clothes?”
Lizzy grabbed the duffle bag from him and headed to the bedroom while the rest of us made our way to the kitchen.
“What the hell!” Maxy opened one cupboard and then another. “Lizzy!”
We all turned as she appeared around the corner.
“Where’s the food, Lizzy?” Max looked at his girlfriend, his anger plain for all to see. “You said you went to do groceries Friday after work when I went to your mom’s to try and fix her dishwasher.”
Lizzy’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. “I never went.”
“Where did you go?”
“Darlene’s. She… she put on a game…Vern said he’d double our checks, he just needed a bit to get in on it. He’s been having great luck lately…”
“Fuck! So what was the plan, Lizzy? Let’s just say that after we left your mom’s Friday we hadn’t found out we were in the middle of a fucking zombie apocalypse then what the hell were you planning on telling me!” Max’s anger darkened his eyes and I saw his fists clench at his side.
“I don’t know.” Her whisper broke.
Max swung the cupboard door shut with a slam which caused Lizzy to cringe.
“Max, why don’t you go grab what you want for clothes.” Lane gave his arm a squeeze and he left the room. The sound of drawer doors slamming and the closet door almost breaking off of its hinges filled the silence.
“Lizzy…” I went to stand by her.
“Leave me alone.” She wiped her arm across her face. “Just go away.”
“We’re not going to leave you here alone.”
“You’re not my mother. It’s my apartment. Get the hell out of it.” Her dark eyes glared into mine.
We all looked up as Max reappeared holding two duffle bags.
“I packed everything except those high heeled boots you like to wear out. I figured you wouldn’t need them.”
Lizzy frowned and reluctantly looked up at him. “But…”
“But what? Let’s go. We still have to hit up John’s and Gabby and Lane’s place.” He turned and headed out the door.
“Well, you heard the man. Let’s go.” Lane gestured with his head and Lizzy followed his lead.
“Umm, Gabs?” John stayed back and looked at the ground.
“Yeah?”
“We may as well just skip my place. I didn’t cash my check and there wasn’t much for food in the place when I left last Friday.” He looked so miserable I gave him a hug.
“You’re going to want to get clothes, right?” I glanced back at him as we made our way down the stairway.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Lane was waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. “Everything okay?”
John leaned against the wall and looked at the floor. “I think something might have happened at my place. I tried phoning a few times from the shop, but there was never any answer. You know how they never leave the house…” He swallowed hard. “I mean, I could give a rat’s ass if Bert got ripped to shreds, but mom, well, she may not have been the best mom in the world, but she tried. I just… I think I’d rather not know.”
Personally, I agreed with him. If his father was dead, it wasn’t a great loss to the world, in my opinion. Bert was John’s number one reason why he’d become an alcoholic at the age of thirteen. According to him, it was just easier to deal with a passed out teenager as opposed to a conscious one. When John was fifteen, Social Services had taken him away from his parents and put him in foster care and rehab. When he’d turned seventeen, after much discussion with authorities, he’d moved back in to keep an eye on his mother.
“We’ll go in and check the place out first.” Lane gave him a squeeze on the arm and John nodded.
“Everything alright?” Max called over from where he was leaning against the truck. He scanned the area around the building.
“It’s good! Do you feel anything?” I kept a close eye on his to see if they were bleeding back to silver.
“Nothing.”
Johnny took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”
We all piled back into the one ton and headed south. Fifteenth avenue was a stretch of deserted road.
“Did you know that guy, Max?” Lizzy’s voice was just a whisper.
“No.” There was no need to ask who she was asking about.
I looked back at him and smiled. “Whoever he was, at least he didn’t try to eat us.”
He grinned. “Note to self, silver eyes are better than yellow ones.”
John grunted. “I could have told you that.” He shoved a playful elbow into his friend.
“Man, shut up!” Max laughed. “I wouldn’t eat you anyway even if I had the urge to do something that retarded. You’re too fucking scrawny.”
Lane smiled at me as we listened at the two of them taking jabs at each other. John’s newfound jovial attitude vanished at the sight of his house.
“Just stay in the truck, John.” I sent a small prayer up to God that the kicked in front door was the work of Bert or one of his drunk friends and not the Yellow Eyes. “Anything nearby, Maxy?”
“No. I’ll stay in here with John.”
Lane nodded and we walked cautiously up the steps. He entered the house first, his rifle held at waist height. I scanned the living room quickly, searching through the mess of overturned furniture and scattered personal effects, and sighed at the lack of decaying bodies. Each room we searched revealed more of the same. It looked as though a tornado had flown through the house. Thankfully, there was no sign that anyone had been killed. I bent and picked up a picture of John when he was about seven. His grin was still the same. Even after everything he’d been through, his happy disposition was still prevalent. I set the frame on the coffee table and made my way to the front door.
Max blinked quickly and my heart sank at the silver that appeared.
“Lane!”
I heard his footsteps running through the house toward me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Maxy’s eyes.”
All of us were looking up and down the street, trying to see if we were about to meet some Yellow Eyes or the silver eyed man. Max stepped out of the truck and moved to the front of it, his eyes narrowed in concentration.
“Maxy?” I closed the distance between us so that I was at his side, Lane a step behind me.
“I don’t know. This feels, I don’t know. Different.”
I frowned. “How?”
“I don’t know, Gabs. It’s hard to explain. With the Yellow Eyes, I feel the danger. I know it’s them. When that guy showed up, it was different. I didn’t feel the bad from him. And this… it feels…” He grunted in frustration. “It feels like a hot cup of coffee when you’re cold. It feels… comfortable.” He gave a quick glance in my direction. “I know. It sounds stupid.”
I shook my head. “You’re the one feeling it, Max. I’m not going to tell you it sounds like anything.”
He let out a breath. “Well, whatever it is, it’s gone.”
Lane led the way back into the house and John rushed to his room to get his things packed.
“What do you think happened to his parents?” I asked Lane while I looked out the window to where Max and Lizzy sat in the truck. Neither of them looked at the other and I could see the pain on Maxy’s features.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but here’s hoping they weren’t home when this happened.”
“They weren’t.”
We turned to see John staring at a piece of paper in his hand.
“They left last Friday.” His voice was just a whisper. He handed me the note, his shock obvious. “They just left me.”
I read the note for myself, feeling just as disbelieving as he looked.
Johnny, I’m sorry. I tried phoning you but he won’t wait. It’s eleven oclock on Friday night. We’re going to La Ronge to stay with your uncle. Come there when you get this. I’m sorry, Baby. Mom
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. She always does do whatever he says and he never did give a rat’s ass about me.” He took a deep breath.
“What do you want to do, Johnny?” I gave his arm a squeeze.
“I want to have a drink,” he mumbled then gave a shake of his head. “But I’m not going to. I’ll tell you what else I’m not doing; going to fucking La Ronge. Those yellow eyed bastards are everywhere and I’m sticking close to the one person on the planet that can tell when they’re coming.” He glanced at the truck and flashed a grin at Max. His smile turned to us. “I’ll stay with the people who actually give a shit whether or not I make it through this crap alive.” Though his positive attitude was trying to win out, I could see the sadness in his eyes.
Lane gave him a pat on the back before leading the way to the truck.
“You good, man?” Max gave his friend the once over as he got into the truck.
“Never better.” Johnny closed his eyes and swallowed hard as we pulled away from his house.
It took us ten minutes of sliding through the slush and ice to get to our house. My heart sank at the sight of the front door sitting crooked on its hinges. I only took the time to glance back at Max’s eyes to make sure they were green before I vaulted from the truck.
“Gabby!”
I ignored Lane’s shout and ran into our house, straight to the terrarium. I choked back a sob and turned to bury my face into Lane’s chest at the sight of the empty tank.
“Shit.” His arms went around me.
“Maybe he’s still in the house.” Lizzy looked like she was about to cry. Her comment sent Max and John walking through the rooms. The sound of Iggy’s name being called out brought both tears and a smile. Somehow, I was sure he wouldn’t turn up and even if he was in the house, he sure as hell wouldn’t come running at the sound of his name. I took a few deep breaths and wiped my face with my arm. My heart was heavy in my chest.
“You okay?” Lane pressed his lips to my forehead.
“No,” I whispered. “Nothing about this is okay.” I glanced around the open concept living room/dining room/kitchen. Our cupboards had been emptied and the fridge left open. Food wrappers and garbage were lying scattered around the rooms. Anger sparked low in my belly. This was my house. No one had a right to come in and use it simply because the fucking zombies were taking over the world.
“There’s no sign of Iggy, Gabs. Sorry.” Max gave me a sad smile.
“Lane? The deep freeze is gone.” John looked miserable as he delivered this bit of information.
Lane swore under his breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled loudly. “Alright. Well, I guess we’re here to grab clothes, then.” He handed me a duffle bag from in the entrance closet before heading to his room. I walked mechanically to my bedroom and sat heavily on the bed. Clothes lay haphazardly on the furniture as if someone had tried them on then left them when they hadn’t fit. I grabbed the black Boondock Saints T-shirt and smelled it cautiously. Clean.
Thank god, I thought. I stuffed it into the bag and proceeded to fill it, making sure to put everything from tank tops and shorts to sweaters and jeans in it. I looked at the steel toed boots I wore, shrugged, and stuffed my sports sandles into the bag. When I couldn’t put any more clothes into it, I grabbed a backpack from under the bed, went to the bathroom, and stuffed all of the feminine products I had into it.
“Did you throw my razors in there?” Lane closed the door behind him and leaned back against it.
“I was just getting to it.” I smiled at his scruffy appearance. I’d always loved when he didn’t shave.
“I’m sure he’s alright, Gabrielle.”
I shook my head. “No. He’s not, Lane. He’s an iguana. If he got out, he froze to death. If he didn’t get out, then someone took him. All his stuff is here. He’s…” I swallowed hard and forced myself to stop thinking of the possibilities. “He’s not okay.” I stuffed some soap and shampoo into the bag. “Let’s get back to the shop. The others will be getting worried.”
Instead of trying to talk me out of feeling like shit, he simply gave a nod and led the way back out to the others.
“Anything near, Maxy?” Everyone looked at Max’s eyes on impulse as Lane asked the question. He gave a shake of his head.
“It’s all clear.”
I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes as Lane pulled away from our house. Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe if I thought about waking up hard enough, I would. I thought of the bed I’d just been sitting on and imagined myself lying under the duvet, the blankets pulled over my head. I thought about how it felt to wake up in the morning; the sound of the furnace kicking in to warn me that it was cold out and the smell of coffee letting me know that Lane was already up and that a blueberry bagel covered in cream cheese was waiting for me.
I felt Lane’s hand on my thigh and I covered it with my own.
“What are you thinking about?”
I smirked. “I’m trying to wake up.”
He wrinkled his nose and I smiled. “I tried that this morning,” he admitted. “I don’t think we’re dreaming.” He honked the horn to let the others know we were pulling into the yard and the overhead door started to open.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“We’re going to have to ration it,” mumbled Shawn. We all stared at the canned and boxed goods we’d organized on one of the shelves in the back room. Robby’s full deep freeze sat plugged in beside the fridge which was almost bare. Though the second truck’s raiding party had done slightly better than ours, it hadn’t been much more fruitful. Jenny’s house had been broken into as had Shawn’s and Jason’s. The only food they’d been able to salvage had been from the twins’ apartment and Robby’s house.
“I’m getting hungry just thinking of having to go on rations,” complained Brent. Though his brother didn’t voice his opinion, it was clear by the look on his face that he was in the same boat.
Lizzy’s gasp immediately turned my attention to Max.
“Bad, neutral, or comfortable, Maxy?” I watched as his eyes narrowed and his body stiffened.
“Bad. Very bad.” He shut his eyes and I frowned.
“You okay?”
He shook his head and went to stand by the far wall, his entire body trembling.
“Holy fuck! Dude, there’s five of them out there!” Grant was standing on a crate and looking out of the space we’d left in the windows.
Brent was at the other window. “Lane, dude, what do you want to do?”
Lane was staring at me, tense. We all watched as the door handle rattled.
“I have to… I don’t know what I have to do.” Max stood plastered against the wall.
“Shit. Maxy, what’s wrong?” The Yellow Eyes forgotten, I rushed to his side. My hand touched his arm and I swore again. “He’s burning up! Lizzy, get me a wet cloth.”
I looked up at Lizzy’s whimper. She gaped at us, shaking her head.
“Lizzy!”
Jenny ran to the mop room, grabbed one of the cleaning rags, wet it, and ran it back to me. “I’ll get him some water.”
I thanked her and pressed the cloth to his forehead. His teeth rattled and sweat beaded his brow.
“Oh, god, it hurts, Gabs.” A sob raked through him and he groaned.
“What hurts? Where does it hurt?”
His silver eyes met mine. “Everywhere.” He wiped the tears from his face with his arm but couldn’t keep up to the flow of them. Another spasm took him and he paled.
Lane knelt beside me. “Is it like before?”
Max shook his head. “No. Yes.” He groaned. “Yes, but worse.”
Lane looked at me. “Maybe it’s because they’re close.”
“They were just as close when they walked by the store,” countered Shawn.
“Oh, god, make it stop!”
All of us jumped and a few of us screamed as one rifle went off and then another. Brent and Grant reloaded and fired out the window a second time. I turned back toward Max as Grant took the last shot.
“Did you get them all?” questioned Robby.
The twins were pale and were staring at each other.
Brent managed a nod. “Is Max okay? Did it help?”
Maxy groaned and slid sideways down the wall so that he lay in a ball on the floor.
My throat tightened. “Oh, my god, Lane…”
“Aaarrrrgh!” Max opened his eyes and I gasped. The silver had fully taken over his eyes. “It’s close.” He groaned. “You guys… have to get out… Gabby… Get them out of here!”
Everyone was looking around frantically. My heart was beating so hard I was sure it would give up from exhaustion. A breeze blew through the building and I glanced at the door to make sure it was closed. It was.
“What was that?” Lizzy was stuck in place with fear.
“What?” Jenny looked up from her place beside Max. All of us yelled and Lizzy screamed as she was flung backwards and away from us. Her shoulder drove into the wall and she grunted with the impact.
“Lizzy!” Max tried to stand, stumbled and fell to the ground. All of us watched, stunned, as a man stepped out of the shadows in the far corner of the shop. His chuckle chilled me and I shivered.
“Well, then, little brother, it has been a while, hasn’t it?”
I gawked at him, unable to process what was happening. There was no mistaking who he was addressing; other than the fact that his hair was longer and a shade darker, what I was looking at was a slightly older version of Max with yellow eyes.
Max blinked away tears of pain. “Who are you?” He managed to get onto his knees, though I wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to stay upright with the amount of shaking he was doing. I moved to his side and hooked an arm under his while Jenny did the same with the other.
“Tsk, tsk, little one. And to think I thought I should save you when mother decided you weren’t fit to live. I’m your brother, Max. I stopped by your apartment earlier, but it seems I missed you. I have to say, I’m shocked. Why in the world would you stoop to living in such conditions? My dogs have houses bigger than your living space.” He shrugged. “You really don’t remember me? I’m hurt, really I am. Does the name Glade bring back any memories?” Glade took a step forward and Max groaned as another surge of energy seemed to pulse through him.
“I don’t have a brother. My mom died giving birth to me and she didn’t tell anyone who my dad was.” Max pulled himself to his feet. “And fuck you. I like my apartment.”
Glade snorted. “All of it lies and stories. Let’s see if we can’t jolt your memory, shall we?” He extended a hand toward Lizzy who gasped as though he’d touched her.
“Leave her alone!”
Glade raised an eyebrow at Max. “Oh, I’m not going to touch a hair on her head, little brother, but if you don’t want her to die, you’d best remember who you are and do it quickly. My pets are hungry and she’s been marked.”
“Where is he?” Lane ran over to Lizzy as Glade disappeared into thin air. “Maxy? Is he still in here?”
Max fell to his knees. “Yes!”
The front door flew open and Marie screamed at the sight of seven Yellow Eyes walking into the shop. One of the women ripped Lizzy from Lane’s grasp while a second one attempted to pull him to the ground.
“Lizzy!” Max could barely manage to look up.
I yelled to Marie to get in the office with Ashley. Pete took up his sledgehammer and swung as hard as he could at the Yellow Eyes on top of Lane. Her head snapped back and she slumped to the ground.
Jason raised his rifle and dropped it in frustration. One bad shot in the shop would mean dead friends. Jenny tossed me my bow and pulled hers out of its case. I took aim at one of the men making his way toward us, held my breath, and let the arrow fly. I exhaled with relief as it sank into his chest. The sound of Jenny’s arrow connecting with one of the women was followed by Grant’s cheer. Bobby, Lane, Jason and Shawn rushed forward to pull the other four off of Lizzy.
“Stop!”
All of them hesitated at Max’s yell. He’d gotten to his feet and we watched amazed, as the air between him and the Yellow Eyes started to waver.
My heart pounded in my chest and I gulped in air to try and calm it. A fraction of a second later, a wave seemed to fly through the atmosphere and the creatures were sent slamming into wall. Lane rushed to Lizzy’s side and I ran to Max as he fell to the ground in a heap.
“Marie! I need you in here!” Lane’s panicked eyes met mine and my heart sank.
“Jenny, stay with Max!” I rushed to Lane’s side and swallowed hard at the sight of Lizzy bleeding everywhere. “Jason! We need towels!”
I heard his boots hit the floor as he ran for the closet. Lizzy was covered in gouges, bites and scratches, some of them deep. I tried to focus on what might be the worst of them and where I should be applying pressure. Blood was seeping into what was left of her clothes.
“Jenny? How’s Maxy doing?”
“He’s breathing. He’s out, though. He’s not responding to anything I’m doing.”
I swore. “Brent, Grant, get him on the couch and cover him up.” I grabbed a towel from Jason and pressed it into a bite mark on Lizzy’s hip. Marie took a deep breath and tried to figure out what needed attention first.
“The bite on her leg. We need to stitch that one.” Her voice quivered. “Oh, god, maybe I should do the one on her chest…”
Pete handed Ashley to John and knelt beside his fiancée. “Hey. It’s okay. Just pretend this isn’t Lizzy. Think of it as someone you don’t know coming in to the clinic.”
She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and nodded. Having worked in a clinic and helping with minor emergency patients for a year before Ashley had been born, she was definitely our best hope at getting Lizzy patched up.
“Where’s all the blood coming from?” John was keeping Ashley happy by rocking her gently, though by the devastated look on his face he was moving by pure reflex and might actually have forgotten he was holding her.
I looked down and realized I was kneeling in a puddle that was slowly spreading. “Lane, something’s wrong!”
“I need you to roll her over. I think it’s coming from under her.” Marie’s eyes were saucers in her head but she was managing to sound calm. I moved to Lizzy’s head while Jason took her legs and Lane reached for her torso. We turned her onto her side.
“Keep going! Get her on her stomach, now!” Marie grabbed a towel and followed Lizzy’s back down until she was pushing down over her friend’s kidney with all of her weight. I put another towel into her outstretched hand.
“Marie?”
Light blue eyes met mine and my heart sank at the shake of her head.
“I’m not trained for this.” She lifted the towel just enough for us to have a quick look. The entire left side of Lizzy’s lower back was a gaping wound. “She needs a hospital.”
I’d been keeping my finger on her pulse to make sure she was still with us. “Fuck.” I wiped my hands on my jeans and tried to find the beat I’d lost.
“Gabby?” Lane watched my face for my answer.
I swallowed hard and put my ear by her mouth to see if I could feel a breath. Tears streaked down my face as my eyes met his.
“What? You mean…” Brent blanched and sat heavily on the floor.
“I…” I cleared my throat. “She’s gone.” A sob made its way up my throat. “Oh, my god, you guys… I…”
Everyone stayed where they were, too devastated to move. We all looked from one to the other. All of our faces were identical; tears streaked cheeks, jaws clenched in an effort to keep some control over the sobs, and chests heaved.
Pete pulled Marie into his arms while John went to sit with Ashley by Max and Jenny on the couch. My eyes met Lanes and any control I was keeping over the tears dissipated. The sight of the tears rolling down his face was enough to undo me completely. One sob shook me and then another. I sat back on my heels and wrapped my arms around my legs, hiding my face in my knees, barely registering the fact that Shawn was covering Lizzy with a blanket.
“Gabby?” Jenny had to repeat my name twice before it registered. I cleared my throat and wiped my arm across my face before looking up.
“I don’t want to bug you, but Max won’t wake up.”
I scrambled to my feet and rushed to his side, the thought of losing both of them crushing the breath out of me.
His face was pale and his skin felt clammy under my hand as I held it against his forehead. “He’s still fevered. Does he swallow when you put water in his mouth?” I glanced back and saw her nod. “There’s Advil in the office. Can I get you to crush a couple up and put them in a bit of water?”
She jogged away, no questions asked.
“Maxy, honey.” I brushed the hair out of his eyes and knelt beside him. “It’s alright, Maxy. We’ll get you better. Hang in there, okay?”
Lane put a hand on my shoulder and I leaned my cheek against his fingers.
“He’ll be alright.” He adjusted the pillow under Max’s head before taking his pulse. “He’s warm, but other than that he just looks like he’s sleeping. Maybe whatever he did drained him.” He took a deep breath and blew it out of his nose. I looked up at how exhausted he sounded.
The front door opened and my throat tightened once again at the sight of Robby and Shawn carrying Lizzy outside. Jenny handed me the water.
“I’ll… I’ll clean up,” she offered and headed to the mop closet.
All I could do was nod my thanks.
“Okay, Maxy. You need to drink this.” Lane held his head still while I spooned the drugged liquid into his mouth. I sighed with relief at the sight of him swallowing. Lane waited until he was done before gently opening one of Max’s eyes. His whole body relaxed. “Green.”
We took a seat beside each other on the floor against the couch. Lane gave a small gesture with his head and soon the rest of the crew as well as the Harris’ were sitting with us.
“I don’t know what to say, guys.” Lane scoffed and leaned his head back. “I have no fucking clue what to say.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, I have no clue what is up with Maxy… I just…” His voice broke and he swallowed hard. “I just don’t know.”
John blinked, the twins frowned, and everyone’s eyes turned to me. My heart jumped with the realization that if Lane wasn’t in control of the situation then I was second in command and it was up to me to fix this. I inhaled deeply and put a hand on Lane’s thigh.
“I don’t know either.” I gave them all a sad smile. “But we’ll try to figure it out.”
“Does anyone remember hearing anything at all that might have seemed odd the week or so before this shit started?” Pete voice was muffled in Marie’s hair as she leaned back against him, baby Ashley on her lap.
Everyone thought of his question and played back the events of the week before my birthday. Work had gone smoothly, I’d had a great time with Lane out at a friend’s place the weekend prior when we’d all gone horseback riding for the day. Granted, the mare I’d been on had been a little more edgy than usual, but with the wind blowing harder than usual, that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I frowned.
“Iggy was off, too,” I mumbled.
Everyone gawked at me like I’d grown a second head. Lane’s dark blue eyes met mine.
“You’re right.”
Brent snorted. “How can an iguana act ‘off’?”
“He wasn’t eating well and he was restless. He was moving around his tank a lot more than usual.” I looked to Lane who nodded to show he agreed. I pressed on. “When we went riding the Sunday before, Ginger was skittish. She is one of the laziest mares around. I mean, I didn’t think much of the fact that Dolly was being a meathead, but Carl was having a hell of a time with Ginger.”
“Mom’s dog was acting weird,” offered Jenny. “He was growling and barking at people. That dog never barks and it sure as hell never growls.”
Robby and Shawn were nodding.
“He tried to bite Maddy before supper.” Shawn frowned at Robby’s statement. “It was before you got there. Dad told him to go lay on his bed and that was the end of it.”
“So, are we thinking that the animals knew this was coming?” Jason ran his hands over his face.
“Maybe.” Lane gave a disbelieving shake of his head.
“The weather is all fucked up, too,” stated Brent.
“The weather’s been getting weirder and weirder for the past few years; that’s the joys of global warming, dude.” Grant rolled his eyes at his brother.
“But the night this shit started it was minus forty and it climbed to plus ten in the matter of hours. Don’t tell me you forgot that freak thunderstorm,” countered his brother.
Brent smirked. “Yeah, that was pretty fucked up.”
“Animals are acting weird, the weather is all buggered up, and people are turning into zombies.” Pete wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t clear anything up.”
I reached back and pressed a hand to Max’s cheek. “His fever is coming down.”
“Right,” grumbled John. “And then there’s Maxy, the silver eyed old man, the ‘comfy’ feeling Max felt, and that freak who said he was Max’s brother. We can’t forget all that shit.”
“Did you see how he just pushed those things off of Lizzy without even touching them?” grunted Jason.
“He’s going to lose it when he wakes up,” whispered Marie with tears in her eyes.
“This is fucked up,” mumbled Lane with a shake of his head.
I leaned my head against his shoulder and tried to keep the fresh tears from rolling down my cheeks. “Royally fucked up.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I pressed my lips to Max’s forehead then lay back down on the floor beside Lane. He pulled me against him.
“How is he,” he whispered.
I shrugged. “The fever’s still gone. He seems fine, really. His breathing is regular, his heartbeat is steady… it’s like he’s sleeping.”
“So long as we can keep him drinking, he should be alright for a little while longer,” offered Lane.
“It’s already been three days, Lane. He can’t live on water and any time we try to make him a shake or a smoothie to drink, he chokes on it.” Both of us fell quiet as we thought about what we would do if Max didn’t wake up soon.
Lane checked his watch and snuggled deeper into the covers. “Try to get some sleep. It’s just four o’clock.” His lips pressed against my forehead and I smiled.
“You get even less sleep than I do.”
He grunted away my accusation. “I always sleep less than you. You’re a sleeping machine.”
“A girl needs her beauty sleep,” I countered with a chuckle.
I felt him smile against my hair. “No, you don’t. You’ve always been beautiful.”
My heart fluttered. “See. All that sleep is paying off.” I blushed despite the teasing tone I managed. My yawn caused him to laugh and the sound vibrated through me. I tightened my hold around him, hanging on to the pure happiness of that sound.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head. Repeating the obvious wouldn’t change the fact that everyone was scared shitless and it sure as hell wouldn’t fix anything. I focused on him and how he’d always made me feel safe; how even though our situation seemed hopeless, lying here with him gave me just a hint of faith that all wasn’t lost and somehow we’d live through this.
“Nothing. I was just thinking that I guess there’s one good thing about this shit show coming along.”
“Hmm?”
I brought a hand up to his cheek and kissed him softly.
“I definitely won’t complain about that,” he agreed. He pressed his lips to mine and I sighed.
“Dude, get a room.” Max’s scratchy voice cut into our moment and I jumped up with a delighted cry.
“Maxy!”
He offered us a weak smile. “Hey.” He was just as pale as when he’d been asleep, but he was awake and that was all I cared about at the moment.
“How are you feeling?” Lane grinned.
“Exhausted. What the hell happened, man?”
“You don’t remember anything?” My throat tightened at the thought of having to explain to him that Lizzy was no longer with us. He sat up and rubbed his hands over his face.
“I have to have one hell of a piss. How long was I out?” He stood carefully and I was glad he seemed steady on his feet.
“Three days.” I watched him falter mid-step at my answer before continuing to the bathroom. I sat beside Lane on the couch.
“How do you want to do this?” I inquired.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should go outside so he can have a meltdown in private. If the others are here he might feel like he needs to hold back.”
I nodded. This wasn’t going to be a ‘count your way to feeling better’ kind of situation. Sometimes, you just had to hit something. We looked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening. Max stood just inside its frame, his face covered in shadows.
“Maxy? Are you okay?” Lane stood and strode over to him. “Come sit down. We’ll get you something to eat.”
I made my way to the shelf and took a couple of granola bars and some dried fruit from it, careful not to wake anyone else up. Lane met me back at the couch, a glass of water in his hand. Max took a sip.
“I remember some of it,” he whispered. “I remember that guy who said he was my brother. He sure looked like me, didn’t he?”
I nodded.
“I…” He swallowed hard. “I remember those things jumping on Lizzy and Lane. I felt like I was going to shake apart. It was like I’d drank a ten gallon tank of coffee, you know? I just felt sick and past the point of jittery.” He brought a dried apple up to his mouth, but dropped it back into the package without eating it.
“Do you remember anything else?” I gave his arm a squeeze to let him know I was there.
“I don’t know how I did it. I felt like if I didn’t get rid of the energy I would just die. I just… Fuck, I don’t know. I didn’t want to die and I didn’t want Lizzy to die and I wanted those Yellow Eyes to die. I just concentrated on that and it just left me. That’s all I remember. I remember seeing those things fly off of Lizzy. That’s it.” His light green eyes filled with tears and he wiped his arm across them. “I didn’t do it, did I? I wasn’t fast enough, was I?”
I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close. “I’m sorry, Maxy.” My voice broke and I swallowed hard. “We couldn’t stop the bleeding.”
Lane moved so that he sat on Max’s other side and hugged him from that side so that he was safe between us. Max’s sobs shook all of us and soon the three of us were crying together. Someone came out of the back room then retreated back into it. A few minutes later, the rest of the crew was sitting around us, everyone’s arms around each other.
When the tears had stopped and we were all able to talk again, Lane asked the obvious question. “Do you need to hit something?”
Everyone frowned at the shake of Max’s head. “No. I’m okay. I mean, I’m not okay, but I don’t need to hit anything.” He ran his hands over his face and let out a deep breath. “Can I see her?”
Jason disappeared at Lane’s nod and came back with two jackets. “I’ll go with him,” he offered.
Max took his jacket. “It snowed again?”
Brent shook his head. “No, but it’s back down to minus ten again.”
Max started to walk toward the door then stopped. He gazed at the ground miserably for a moment before looking in my direction.
“Gabs, do you think… I mean…”
“I’ll get my jacket.” I did just that then took him by the hand. I gave it a squeeze. He inhaled deeply, blinked a few times, and relaxed.
“All clear.”
We stepped through the door. Outside, Mother Nature had decided to turn Brent into a liar and small snowflakes were floating down from the sky.
“Did anything change in town?” Max glanced down at me.
“We don’t know. No one’s left the shop since you passed out. I just… I mean… If that guy came back, we wanted to all be here to fight him if we had to.”
“You mean my brother.”
“We don’t know for sure he’s your brother, Maxy.”
Jason scoffed and looked back at me, his eyebrow raised. “They’re identical, Gabby.”
“Not to mention we both have freaky powers and glowing eyes. I…” Max stopped talking as we rounded the corner to the back of the building. Fear crossed his features but was quickly replaced by a fierce determination. He walked to the blanket that covered Lizzy and brushed the light sprinkle of snow off of it. Jason and I stood back, shotguns in hand. We watched as he peeled back the blanket.
“I’m so sorry, Lizzy.” He hung his head and his shoulders started to shake. “Oh, my god, Baby. This was my fault.”
“This wasn’t your fault, Maxy,” countered Jason.
“Of course it was. It’s me. Don’t you guys see that? Everything I’ve touched since I was small, I broke. There was no way I was going to be able to have someone love me without it all going to shit. How could I possibly think that anyone I cared about wouldn’t get destroyed by whatever’s wrong with me?”
I shook my head to get rid of the snow in my hair and knelt beside him. “That’s enough of that. Lizzy died because some Yellow Eye sicked a bunch of other Yellow Eyes on her. That’s it and that’s all. You did your best to save her, Max.”
Max’s head snapped up. “Gabby, stop.”
“No, you need to listen to this…”
“Gabby! Shut up!” He turned his head in my direction and I caught my breath at the silver that had bled into them. He quickly recovered Lizzy before staring into the woods behind the shop. “It’s the comfortable one.”
None of us moved as we waited for whatever it was to show itself. My heart was pounding in my chest.
“It’s gone.” Max frowned.
I blew out my breath. “That’s getting frustrating.”
He grunted his agreement. “It would be nice to see who it is that’s on our side instead of just meeting the Yellow Eyes all the time.”
“You still have no clue who that old man was?”
He shook his head. “No idea.”
“Okay, well, let’s get back inside before they send out a search party.”
The search party, which was made up of Lane, met us on the side of the building. His worried face relaxed at the sight of us.
“We’re going to make a trip to town,” he announced.
“I’m coming,” stated Max. “You’re gonna need me to tell when those freaks are close.”
I nodded. “Wouldn’t have it any other way. Who’s all going?”
“Me, you, Maxy, and the twins. Jason, you, Robby and Shawn will hold down the fort.”
Jason nodded and opened the door to let us in. I raised an eyebrow at Brent who was sitting behind the wheel of the one ton.
“Back seat, boys,” laughed Lane.
“Dude! Come on! It’s been weeks since we got behind the wheel. I’m dying here!” Brent jumped out of the truck despite his objections and swung open the back door so that Max could climb in. He followed after his friend.
“You guys take care and if anything seems off, or I guess more off than it has been, then get your asses back here.” Robby patted the hood of the truck as we pulled away.
The city looked so peaceful it was hard to believe the horror that was truly happening. Not one set of tire tracks marred the freshly fallen snow. It reminded me of when we’d leave to go fishing at some ungodly hour because Lane loved to get up at five when we hit the road. Though I hated to wake up that early, I had to admit I loved how quiet everything was.
“Let’s go by the Art Hauser center and see how people are faring,” suggested Lane.
I frowned. “What if they decide we have to stay?”
He grunted. “Then too bad for them.” He crossed the intersection of twenty eighth street and sixth avenue. All of our eyes were on Carlton Comprehensive Highschool. Were there people in there? Were they normal? Were they armed? Did they have enough food? We looked past the school to the large arena where all of us had gone to watch our local WHL hockey team play. I wondered if any of the Raiders had decided to hole out at the rink. Cars, trucks, and vans were parked haphazardly throughout the parking lot. Lane shoulder checked purely out of habit and started to turn in.
Max grunted behind us. “Stop!” He reached forward and slapped Lane’s shoulder to emphasize his point. Lane slammed on the brakes and I stiffened in my seat as we skidded on a patch of ice. The one ton’s tires hit a spot of dry asphalt and came to a stop.
“Jesus, Maxy!” I took a few deep breaths before looking back at him. My heart sank. “Good, bad, or comfy?”
“Bad. Very bad.” He was starting to shake so hard the twins were trying to hold him still. Lane didn’t bother asking any more questions. The truck fishtailed as he stepped on the gas.
“Which way, Max? Which way to get away?” I reached a hand back and squeezed his arm. My throat tightened at the sight of the tears rolling down his face.
“West on Marquis. Turn right.” He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. I looked around wildly, trying to find what was causing him so much pain. He blinked and gasped. “What the fuck…”
“What’s going on?” Lane kept his eyes on the road and we flew past Liquidation World.
“It’s gone. Just like that. It never happens like that. I can usually feel it move away, you know. Like the feeling fades.”
Grant looked over Max’s head to his brother. Brent stared back at him, his face pale.
“I don’t like this, Lane.” I tried to keep the fear out of my voice, but knew I did a terrible job of it. “Let’s go back to the shop.”
He nodded, turned right onto second avenue and headed back towards fifteenth street.
“Man, I’d kill for some KFC right now.” Brent looked at the restaurant longingly.
“No way, dude. Mcdonald’s.” Grant grinned.
“Nachos and a beer,” I mumbled. Lane reached over and gave my leg a squeeze.
“Bagels and Timmies,” he added.
“TJ’s Pizza. Bacon wedgies with ranch dip.” Max sighed. He frowned. “Hey, Lane, can you pull over? It’s that comfy feeling again.”
Lane stopped and we all got out of the truck. The twins jumped into the box to get a better view. Max blinked and looked at me, confused.
“That’s weird. It’s comfy and bad together.”
Everyone made sure the safety was off of their riffles.
“Yellow Eye,” warned Brent. We all turned toward the Mohawk parking lot where one of the freaks was standing, his yellow gaze on us.
“Dog,” stated Lane as a yellow lab trotted out from behind some hedges. The Yellow Eye started at the sight of the canine and promptly turned and ran around the building, away from us. The dog cocked its head at us, its tongue lolling out of its mouth.
“Holy fuck!” exclaimed Max. None of us responded. We all stared, shocked, as the dog blinked its silver eyes before giving a bark and chasing after the Yellow Eye. Max glanced around. “Umm, I think we need to get moving.”
Everyone piled into the truck, no questions asked, and Lane headed for the shop.
“Okay, so, are we thinking that the dog was your comfy feeling?” I glanced back in time to see Max nod. “Wow. This just gets more fucked up the longer it keeps going.”
“Well, on the plus side, it couldn’t get a whole lot worse, now could it?” Max looked much less hopeful than his statement.
We got back onto the highway without any further feelings or sightings and I sighed with relief as we pulled into the yard. Lane honked the horn.
“Did you guys find anything?” inquired Shawn as we got out of the truck and he shut the door.
“Nothing really useful. The Art Hauser Center seems to be filled with pure evil so maybe Glade or whatever his name is is holed up there, the Yellow Eyes are still walking around, and it looks like dogs are on our side.” Lane ran his hands over his face.
Those who had stayed behind gawked at him.
“Dogs?” Marie blinked.
“Yeah. That comfy feeling I get, I think it’s dogs. Or at least it was today. We saw a Yellow Eye and this yellow lab chased after it. The dog looked at us and it had silver eyes.” Max shook his head.
“Dude, you should have seen it,” exclaimed Brent with a grin. “That Yellow Eye saw the dog and freaked then Cujo looked at us all happy and chased after it.”
“Cujo was a St. Bernard,” mumbled Robby.
“Whatever, man.” Grant shrugged, dismissing his brother’s mistake. Everyone started to talk at once, either throwing out ideas about what this new development meant or jumping in on the argument of which killer animal in a movie was the scariest.
“Hey, guys?” Max’s silver eyes met mine and my heart jumped. Everyone else seemed too engrossed in their conversations to notice.
“Guys! Hey!” His second attempt to get their attention did the trick and everyone stopped short at his shout. He turned toward the front door. “He’s here.”
“Who?” Lane started to raise his riffle, but stopped at a shake of Max’s head.
“The old man.” He walked to the door, opened it, and stepped back. The barefooted gentleman looked just as he had the first time we’d seen him. Long, silver and white hair hung past his shoulders and blended with his long beard. His silver eyes met Max’s and he smiled.
“I’d like to take offence to that comment, but I’m afraid I can’t.” He stepped into the shop at Max’s invitation and sent a nod in our direction. “Hello, Max.” He gazed at him warmly and I wondered if Maxy had lied when he’d said he hadn’t recognized the man.
Max frowned. “Do I know you?”
“You used to.” The man’s voice was laced with sadness. He took a deep breath. “Max, I am your father.”
The ensuing shocked silence was broken by Brent’s snort which was quickly followed by his laughter.
“Dude!” Grant punched his brother in the arm. “What the fuck man?”
“I’m sorry!” Brent was putting a lot of effort into getting a hold of himself but I could tell he was losing the battle. “I just… Come on! Max, I am your father?” His laughter redoubled. “Maxy… Dude… Can you imagine… if your name… was Luke!”
We all gawked at him and the man frowned.
“Why would his name be Luke?” It was his turned to be stared at.
“You know, man. When Darth Vader says the same thing to Luke Skywalker… Luke, I am your father?” Brent’s laughter died down and he frowned at the man. “Dude, what the hell! Everyone’s seen that movie.”
The man’s blank expression was enough to sober everyone up again.
“I never knew my dad,” stated Max, ending the Star Wars discussion.
The man claiming to be his father closed his eyes and gave a sad shake of his head. “When I brought you here, I’d hoped you were young enough you would forget about us.” He let out a long breath. “It seems I got my wish.” His brow furrowed as he pondered whatever thoughts were running through his head and he ran a hand over his face. “I really thought it was for the best, Max. Your mother was ready to get rid of you. Permanently. Glade came to me and told me of her plans. I couldn’t take you with me. Or maybe I could have. Maybe I should have. Either way, it’s my fault you’re not ready for this…” His voice trailed off and he seemed lost.
“Okay, look. Back up a bit, will you?” Max’s fists were clenching at his sides. The man noticed the gesture and smiled.
“Do you need to hit something? It always used to make you feel better.”
Max’s fists paused mid-clench. He frowned. “Wait. Glade. He said the same thing when he was here. That bit about our mom and him being my brother.”
“Your brother found you?” The old silver eyes widened. “You have to leave. Now. If he comes back…”
“Hang on, now! How about you tell me what the fuck is going on before you start ordering me around.”
“We don’t have time to…”
“Oh, we have time.” Max promptly sat on the ground and crossed his arms like a pouting child. “I’m not moving until you tell us what the hell is going on, who you are, and who you think I am.”
The man let out an exasperated sigh. “I see you aren’t any less stubborn then you were when you were four.” He looked at all of us. “Fine. Here’s the short version. I am your father. Your brother’s name is Glade; he is four years older than you are. Your mother’s name is Terra. She embodies beauty, love, life. Glade took after her. They were made to create. You, you took after me. But you’re like her as well. You couldn’t control it. We just… Here, it wasn’t as bad. Here, you use fists...”
“Jesus! Get on with it.” Max was five shades paler than he usually was. The shop shook with the sudden lightning burst and ensuing thunder.
The man looked up at the ceiling. “Your mother knows I’m talking to you. She’s very upset. Max, please. You need to hide. You’re humanity’s only hope.”
“Right. Well, now I know you’re fucking nuts. I don’t save things. I destroy them.” He swallowed hard.
“Dude! Maxy’s mom makes lightning when she’s pissed? What is she? Like a witch?” John’s eyes were saucers in his face.
“No, no. Witches aren’t real. At least, not any more. I already told you. His mother is Terra.”
Lane frowned. “Terra as in earth?”
“Precisely. Earth, nature, you pick. Either or, it doesn’t matter. Unless Max can remember who he is and what he can do, she’ll destroy what she helped to create.”
“Dude!” Brent had lost all of his cockiness. “You’re saying Maxy’s mom is Mother Nature?”
The man let out a frustrated breath. “Didn’t I just say that?”
Max stood. “No, you didn’t. You’re being pretty vague. You actually expect me to believe my mother is the one and only Mother Nature?” He scoffed. “Yeah, okay, then. So let’s pretend for just one second that I might go for that, that would also require me to think that Mother Earth is an actual being. And if I’m her son and you’re my father, I’m going to assume that you aren’t your average old geezer just wandering around barefoot because he forgot his Alzheimer’s meds.”
This awarded him a blank silver gaze.
“Dude! Snap out of it. Maxy’s asking who the fuck are you?” Grant wiped his palms on his jeans.
“Where your mother is life, I end it. Where she creates, I destroy. Everything has a plan. She starts them and I end them.”
“Oh, my god. Stop talking long enough to give us a straight answer.” I took a step toward Max and put a hand on his arm.
“Death.” Jenny’s whisper shocked all of us.
The man nodded. “That’s one of the names. Death, Time, as well as a few more.”
“Father Time?” I was sure I was going to start laughing. “You want us to believe that you’re Father Time?
The silver gaze met mine. “Hold Max’s hand.”
I frowned but did as he said then watched as he gave a nonchalant wave of his hand.
“You don’t need to believe a thing I say, my dear, but I guarantee that if you do your chances of surviving this apocalypse are astronomically greater than if you don’t.”
I gaped at my friends who were now frozen where they stood.
“What the fuck, Maxy?” I looked up at him and saw the same terror on his face as I was feeling.
“I… I don’t know, Gabs.”
Time, or whatever he was, crossed his arms across his chest. “Your mother is upset. Humanity has been destroying her planet and she’s decided the only way to save it is to get rid of all of you.”
“And what about you?” I inquired.
“As I mentioned before; everything has a plan. Earth as it is was never supposed to go on forever and Terra knew this was coming. She’s changing the plan and messing with the timeline. She needs to be stopped.”
Max’s silver eyes met mine and whatever color remained in his face vanished. “I think we were wrong about it not being able to get worse. Gabs, we’re stuck in a war between Life and Death. Literally.”
I looked around at the others who were still frozen. My heart was pounding its way right out of my chest. I took a few deep breaths, but it didn’t seem to help me calm down.
“We are royally fucked, Maxy. Royally.”
To Be Continued…
For Matt
It’s amazing what a conversation about the weather can spark in the imagination.
About the Author
Mireille Chester was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1979 and moved to Saskatchewan when she was eight. Writing is one of her many passions which also include reading, drawing, painting, animals, and the outdoors. She is a stay at home mom and wife.
Her first series, The Chosen One Trilogy, is the first of her adventures which are based in the world of Quelondain. The three stories, Crossover, Journey, and Destiny follow the adventures of Hayden Carlson when she suddenly discovers a world filled with magic and finds herself caught up in a war that could wipe out almost every being that lives there. The trilogy has been described as a great mix of epic and paranormal fantasy.
Mireille now lives in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan with her husband and their three children as well as multiple animals. She hopes to keep readers entertained with her magical worlds and enjoyable characters.
http://mireillechester.com is where you can learn more about her books and follow her blog.
Books by Mireille Chester
Adult Novels
The Chosen One Trilogy
Crossover
Journey
Destiny
The Witteck Chronicles (coming soon)
Young Adult Novels
Chael’s Luck
Tyler’s Story (coming soon)