Page 8 of Genesis
With the gun still pointed at where he splashed, my heart beat faster than my chest could handle when he didn’t surface.Was I killing him or not? If he was going to die, I wanted it to be by my hands, not the warm embrace of the lake Zan rested in.
“Fucking fuck!” I jumped into the water and dove down to get him. It wasn’t too deep, but Cadoc got pushed under the dock, his body hitting the slats from the bottom. I wrapped my arms around his not-yet-dead body and dragged him to the surface with a gasp. He didn’t breathe in, so I fucking smacked him in the face. “Wake up!”
He choked, sputtering water all over me. “Zan.” He reached for me.
Anger. “Fuck you, Dire. You aren’t dying today.”
“Oh,” he muttered, going limp.
I shoved him away and swam to the shore, letting him fend for himself. How pathetic was it that I had no one in this world except the man I hated most? The man who gave my twin the life he deserved and then let him die by mistaking his intentions. Cadoc Dire was all I had, and I didn’t even want him. I feared being alone more. I feared breaking my promise to Zan more.
Without speaking, we repacked all our shit, made sure our guns and clips still worked, ate something from his pack, and barely kept it down. When we were packed and ready to go… somewhere, we both stared at Amelia’s backpack on the beach. I’d packed most of it for her, but had she put something personal inside? Could I touch it?
Cadoc grabbed it and walked away. He waved at the lake like a madman, and just as I was scoffing at that, I nodded at the lake behind his back.
I’ll be back for you, Zan. I don’t know when, but I’ll visit.
We didn’t talk for two days. We walked until we found a settlement in an old industrial area. We scoped it out but decided not to go there because the guy running it seemed batshit crazy. There wasn’t anything said about it. The guy in charge killed a few people for show, and then he lit a chemicalfire and got all his people high as fuck. As much as I craved that high, Cadoc had looked at me and I’d looked at him, and our shady eye conversation landed on the same conclusion.
We kept walking.
On the fourth day, I stopped dead in my tracks. Cadoc stopped with me, and the two of us listened to a familiar sound.
“Dirt bikes,” he said, his voice hoarse from cigarettes and lack of use.
My crew? What were the odds? Anyone could have a dirt bike out here, but… we were still close to where I’d last seen them.
He crouched down, peering through his scope to track the area of the sounds. Knelt down beside me, I looked at the top of his head, wondering how in the fuck out of everyone… we were the only two left. We were the least deserving of life, and maybe that’s why we were still here. Cockroaches, both of us. It didn’t stop me from being jealous of Zan, though. Ever since he met Cadoc, he earned happiness, and I hated that Cadoc was the one to give it to him. Such an asshole, but everything my brother loved.
I’d wanted someone to look at me the way Cadoc looked at Zan ever since the first time I saw it. Anger and rage had burned me up at that look. Jealousy and resentment that Zan got to feel it while I continued to suffer in silence. I hated Cadoc for it, but I also wondered why he hadn’t looked at me like that. Why Zan? Why didn’t anyone ever pick me?
“Punisherskulls,” Cadoc said, pulling me from my mind. My fists unfurled. “It’s your crew.”
Relief washed my legs out, making me collapse. “Fuck.” I caught myself on Cadoc’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
I walked out of the treeline, waving my hands in the air to signal my crew. I didn’t have myPunisherhoodie on, but I hoped they’d still recognize me. “Sully! Andi!” There were atleast six of them riding together. Fuck, it’d been too long since I’d seen them. “Sully!”
I kept walking into the open, hoping no sniper was going to pick me off. Or maybe I just didn’t care either way. When I looked back, I noticed Cadoc still knelt in the brush with his eye pressed to the scope.
“You coming?”
He shook his head.
“Dire.”
“Just go. They don’t like me. They won’t come if I’m there and I’ll keep an eye.”
The bikes slowed down, turning in our direction, so I nodded at Cadoc and kept walking to the gravel road. I’d tell them Cadoc was with me and everything would be fine.
“Holy fuck! Zade?” Andi gasped, throwing her helmet to the ground. “Finally! We’ve been looking for you for weeks, asshole!” She jumped at me, throwing her arms around me in a tight hug.
I hugged her, bumping knuckles with Sully behind her back. “Hey, man. Been a while.”
“No shit. We got… shit happened.” My heart reminded me it was broken. “Everyone okay?”
Sully shook his head. “We lost Jax. Fucking shrapnel from an explosion…” He made a slicing motion over the side of his neck.
“Jesus.” Death was never far away in this world. “Everyone else is okay?”
