Page 23 of Resurrection
Aly points to the toy as I continue to stare at it. “I gave Hawk a taste of his own medicine. Poor guy thought I was going to use that behemoth on him. Honestly, I haven’t decided yet. Figured I’d make him squirm.” She smirks as she goes back to packing the bag some more, the recessive brat in her making me smile.
Jax comes closer to me, assessing my condition. “How’re you doing, Doc? You seem to be walking around better if you found us all the way over here.”
It’s been almost two months since everything went down. The first couple of days, after I woke up and was almost put down in the same second, weren’t the greatest—lack of mobility and whatnot—but we made due. Aly and the guys have been more than helpful, assisting and providing me with anything I could need at the time. Luckily, Jax managed to get the med-kits. Not only for the antibiotics that probably saved my life from an inevitable infection, but for the fact that I would have been one angry bastard having to withstand that suture application without some way to alleviate the pain. Didn’t exactly help that everyone thought I was transitioning into a damn zombie and woke me up with agun to my face, but, fuck it, all that’s in the past. Today I feel… good. The pain is still there but mild, having been reduced by some good old-fashioned ibuprofen and acetaminophen—no more heavy-duty pain meds for any of us unless they’re absolutely necessary—and I’m now able to walk around unassisted. I even tested a few tentative jumps before trailing after them and landed without wincing for the first time in weeks.
“I think I’m good to go. Ankle feels good, not one hundred percent but I’ll give it a fair eighty-nine percent, and my back is healing nicely.” Thankfully, the lacerations weren’t deep enough to require anything beyond a few dozen stitches. If they were just a tiny bit deeper, cutting further in and damaging vital organs, I doubt I’d still be here. They’re still a bit discolored at the suture sites but that will fade in time. Bruises and scars always look worse on me due to my fair complexion and these definitely look gnarly. When we first arrived here, my entire back was purple, black,andblue, so what I’m sporting today is definitely an improvement. I’m sure the extra-curricular activities we enjoyed after I woke up irritated my wounds even more than I probably would have liked to admit, but it was all worth it to love on Aly and reassure each other that we’re all still alive and ok.
Jax grunts affirmingly but Aly’s eyebrows turn down, her mouth morphing with concern. “Are you sure? We can stay a little longer if you need. There’s no reason to rush your recovery.”
I give her a knowing look. “You and I both know that’s not entirely true, beautiful. We can’t avoid the fact that we’re running short on rations.”
“He’s right, baby. Regardless of how we’ve managed to adapt to what happened, we didn’t prepare for any of this. To be honest, we’re low on everything.Again.Food? Medical supplies? We’re gonna need to restock all of that soon, and we can’t do that from here with all the surrounding houses within a twenty-mile radius being gutted out already. I swear it’s like we’re living in a time-loop.” Jax lets out a frustrated breath, raking a hand through his hair. “If Cole’s feeling up for it, I’d say we leave first thing in the morning.” He gives Aly a reassuring smile before nodding to me and leaving the room.
I look down at Hawk who’s still passed out on the ground, face down, asswayup there in the air, his body perched on his knees, balancing somehow. Bending down on my own knees, I run a hand over his back and unnaturally positioned neck, making sure he didn’t break anything when he fainted. After a minor assessment, it doesn’t look like he hurt himself. And he’s breathing just fine, so I’m not worried. I’m sure he’ll come to and find us upstairs with some snark on his lips and everything will be right as rain. I walk over to the cupboard against the wall and find a few items. Unwrapping each, I shove a rider’s crop down his shorts, restrain his wrists in front of him with a pair of fuzzy pink leather cuffs—the key placed right beside his hands, just in case— and positiona nine-inch, veiny as fuck, dildo right in front of his face, the tip just barely touching his lips.
Yeah. That’ll make him smile.
“Why’d you do that?” Aly asks me once I stand and turn away from Hawk.
I huff out a laugh, “He passed out with his shoes on.” I point to his covered feet before returning my eyes to her. “Rules are rules. Unfortunately, I don’t have a marker on me to draw one on him, but a cock within the direct vicinity of his mouth should do the trick.”
She laughs at the prank as we turn around and head for the false wall.
It's late as we enter the main living area of the mansion straight out of a James Bond film. Jax heads off in front of us to the kitchen where all our supplies are spread out on the counter and scans them for our next meal. Sadly, like we indicated earlier, there’s not much left.
Jax and Aly travelled back to the truck while I was out, but were only able to bring back a few boxes of rations, the guns, Jax’s bow and arrows, Hawk’s fishing gear, and a couple other essential items we obtained from his hidden storage at the estate. There’s food, but just like when we left the bungalow, we don’t want to eat it all, especially when we’ve barely begun our journey. We have no idea how long it’s going to take us or what we might come up against between now and then. Perfect example: I did not plan to get mauled by the living dead and set us back two months, but here we are. It happenedonce, and I hate to say it, but it could happen again. We need to be prepared for anything.
Over the past few weeks, they managed to check out the other houses on this side of the lake that weren’t included on Hawk’s and my original scouting runs. Unfortunately, their food storage was extremely similar to the one we found here. Limited at best. The only food items they’ve managed to procure from them are a handful of prepackaged cookies and pastries, and about a dozen water bottles. The fact that the pastries haven’t molded at all in over a year is concerning, but we’re all hungry and try our best not to think of what could possibly be in them to make them immortal.
We each take our seats at the island, choosing our fate for dinner and leaving some for Hawk for when he finally wakes up. I lift a granola bar package and tear it open, devouring it in two bites. Jax bends down, giving Sadie a few treats from his pack and a rawhide, before he does the same to his own granola bar. Aly, however, is taking her time, savoring every little, tiny last bit of her chocolate cupcake. It’s not the healthiest by far, but it’s calories, and in this stage of the game, calories are key. I hand her a bottle of water and watch as she drinks half of it before I down mine.
I see Jax looking at her, concerned. He doesn’t like rationing food like this. He’s used to creating full-scale healthy and hearty meals. Taking care of everyone. The estate provided everything we ever needed. I bet, if he wasn’t as self-controlled as he is, he probably would have emptied out the station wagon and saidfuck it let’seat,but we all know better than that. This is about the long game. But regardless, to Jax, this isn’t even close to what he expects of himself and I can tell it’s eating him up inside.
As such, I’m happy my body’s finally cooperating enough to get us back on the road. While leaving the safety of this place means throwing us all into a bit of uncertainty, risk, and danger, we all know it has to be done. Longevity, in a place like this, isn’t feasible. We made a plan—Tryon Palace. We have a vehicle. We have our supplies, plus the ones that are hopefully still where Jax left them. And we have each other.
I look to Jax, reassuring him that he’s making the right decision and that we have the confidence in him and in ourselves to make the trip successful. “Tomorrow?”
He nods his head, bolstering his decision. “Tomorrow.”
Chapter Twelve
Aly
“Can you please… Stop. The fucking. Singing…. Seriously, dude, I can’t take it anymore,” Jax grumbles to Hawk as he claws at his overgrown hair. Honestly, I’m right there with him. Hawk’s been singing continuously for the past hour, which would have been fine under normal circumstances, but he’s decided to change all of the lyrics around, even creating new ones to go with the melody. It was fun for the first half dozen songs—both Cole and myself were singing and dancing right along with him—but now? Even I can’t take it anymore.
“Hey, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the crockpot,” Hawk replies, ignoring Jax’s complaints and continuing with his new rendition of Britney Spears’Work Bitch.“You want a ling-uini?… A little porc-ini?… Add some zucc-hini…. You better cook, bitch! How ‘bout a bell-ini? Maybe ask a genie… She’ll bring some pan-inis. Now, grab your fork, bitch! Daaaaa nah na na na na naaa na…”
Jax sighs loudly, throwing his head violently back on his seat. “For the love of God!”
“Ok. Ok.” Hawk smiles at the rearview mirror, his gaze meeting mine as I sit in the back. “Obviously, not a fan of the classics….” He clears his throat, trying his best to not hum the rest of the song and annoy anyone any further. To ease the tension, I lean forward over the seat, take Hawk’s hand in mine and start to massage his wrist and palm. I’ve found that, for some reason, this calms his overly-charged mind enough for him to stand the silence around us.
And it issilent.
The farther we get away from Jax’s township, the less noise there is. It’s almost like his estate was the oasis for any and all wildlife. An animal retreat, if you will. Sure, it was on a lake, so they were probably drawn to the water, but still… here? It’s eerie… Ominous.
We’ve been on the road for a good two hours. Once we left the McSmarty-pants Mansion, we headed north to rally up with the stocked truck. It was right where Jax and I left it, still heavy with our remaining supplies, but we had to cut through a dozen or so lurkers again before we could retrieve any of it. It wasn’t that bad the first time we took back the truck with just Jax and myself, and it was even easier with the four of us hacking at them with the guy’s knives and my new awesome baseball bat.
I was so freaking excited to see it sitting there in all its glory in the shed outside the Jetson’s house, probably where Jax found that ax. Once I saw it, I knewit was going to be coming with me. It saysSluggeron the side but I’m going to rename it to something else. I don’t know what, yet, but it has to be something awesome. Something that strikes fear into the hearts of anyone who just so happens to be on the receiving end of her hits. Something like… I don’t know…Daisy.
