Page 24 of Dusk & Desire

I exchange a glance with my brother. We’re not that far from the base. I know we’ll be okay without the food, but every fiber of my being screams at me to protect our necessities. You don’t spend as much time roaming the streets as I did without learning to take care of your shit.

“Fine,” I finally say through gritted teeth.

“And the juicy girl,” the taller of the two men says.

My lip raises into a snarl. “What did you just say?” I growl.

“Not you,” he says dumbly. “The one with the tits. I’m gonna tie her down and fuck them with my fat cock.” He throws his head back to laugh, and I see red. Unthinking, I grab my knife and charge at the man, sailing toward his middle.

“Fuck!” Axel swears, but I don’t pay attention to what he’s doing. I land on top of the man who’s not laughing anymore and bring my knife down, stabbing his neck with a two-handed grip.

The woman screams, making my ears ring. “Shoot her! What are you waiting for, Pete, for fuck’s sake!”

As the man underneath me gurgles and chokes on his blood, I roll off him to get to my feet and get ‘Pete’ in my sight. Before I’m fully off, a loud pop of gunfire sounds. I feel a sting in my arm and register that the man I stabbed stopped making the sounds of the dying. Because he’s now well and truly dead.

“Fuck, you shot Greg, you fucking asshole!” the woman shrieks at Pete and a part of me feels like laughing. I go to cover my arm with my hand, but stop just in time, realizing my arms are covered in ‘Greg’s’ blood. God only knows what kind of diseases he’s carrying.

First, Axel roars, then a loud thud sounds, and Pete’s body lands next to me, his skull caved in. The woman’s screams are cut short by another deafening pop. I eye my girl, her gun still extended, a frantic glint in her green eyes.

Week one after the end of the world, and we all already have blood on our hands.

Chapter 14

Linda

Sometimes I still feel like this is all a dream. As I bandage Noa’s arm after disinfecting it with vodka (and taking a hefty chug of it myself), I feel like I’m about to wake up in my dorm bed and laugh at my silly dreams. I’m woman enough to admit one thing to myself, though: the first thing I’d do after waking up would be to find Noa and kiss her as soon as she opened her mouth to flirt with me. I snort at my thoughts.That would be something.

“Are you drunk, pretty girl?” Noa asks, her eyes sparkling at me from a pale face. Thankfully, the bullet only grazed her, but the chunk of missing flesh surely hurts like the dickens.

I shake my head at her. “Maybe loopy from adrenaline,” I admit. I twist the gauze a final time, then secure it with the clip. I’m glad we’ve been lugging the small first aid kit from the car with us this whole time. I’m also not sad that I shot that crazy woman. When I saw her turn on Noa with her knife held high, I didn’t think twice before shooting. I just wish I’d done it before Noa got hurt.

“I’m sorry you got shot,” I mumble, putting everything back in its place like I know she’d want it.

When she reaches out to caress my cheek, I lean my head into her hand.Yeah. I’d definitely kiss her.

Her eyes are gentle as she smiles at me. “At least you got to play nursemaid too,” she says with a smirk.You know what? I might kiss her now…

“Ladies,” Axel interrupts. Again. “If you’re done blowing on the boo-boos, those gunshots were loud AF. Who knows who’s out here.”

Noa grunts like a disgruntled bear cub. “He’s right,” she grumbles. “Let’s just get to that base, we’re so close.”

I scrunch up my nose and stand up, dusting off my knees, then look back at the other side of the road by the walkway where we left the ruffian’s bodies after taking their stuff, including a nice new gun. I narrow my eyes at them.Good riddance. They won’t be able to hurt people like Jack and Harriet anymore.

Shouldering my backpack, I help Noa with hers before we catch up with Axel.

“Are you sure you can carry that?” he asks his sister with a frown, obviously concerned.

“Yep.” She grins at him, clearly putting on a brave face. “We’re almost at the park.”

After taking the small detour to bury our cans, Axel and I redistribute the contents of Noa’s backpack, unburdening her. She doesn’t say anything, but the look of relief in her eyes is apparent.

We decide to cut through some neighborhoods to save time, anxiously looking at every suburban house and its windows like they’re all harboring snipers.

“Maybe we should steal that boat and sail off,” Axel snickers, pointing at a small speedboat parked on a trailer in one of the driveways.

“If only it had enough gas to get us to California,” I sigh.

Noa snorts. “Might need a tanker for that.”

---