Page 87 of Dating After the End of the World
“Say hi to your dead dad for me, you fucking biiiitch!” Nate screams. The words reach a part of me I can’t ignore, spinning me around. My hand instinctively slips into my holster as I find one of my throwing stars and send it flying through the air, right into Nate’s shoulder.
“Ackk!” he yelps as he looks at the steel object lodged in his body, blood trickling down his shirt. His hand goes to it, trying to remove the star, but the pain is far too great for him to pull it out himself.
I start to turn and walk away, but stop and face him again, smirking.
“Whoops. Don’t wanna forget that,” I say, sauntering over to Nate. I squat down in front of him and grip the throwing star, giving it a small twist before yanking it from his flesh. He screams again, grasping at the wound the second it’s free of the blade. Blood pours more freely from the unblocked hole.
“Thanks for holding on to it for me.” I smile and stare into his eyes, seeing him for the man he truly is—and by that, I mean no man at all.
He spits a spray of blood at my face, chuckling and crying at the same time.
“That’s not very nice, Nate.”
“It’s Dr. Warner, ya cunt.” He cracks a grin.
I stand, looking down at the crumpled piece of shit before me, him and the car. Letting out a heavy sigh, I strike my knee into his forehead, smashing his skull into the metal of the bumper. His eyes instantly roll up into his head as he slumps to the ground.
“You’re right, Nate. I am a cunt.”
I’ve never understood why that word was ever considered an insult. To me, it’s a compliment. It’s one of the strongest organs there is. It creates life, it makes men stupid, and it bleeds every month—yet it doesn’t die. I can’t say Nate will have the same fate, though. Blood trickles from the back of his head and seeps out of the wound in his shoulder, staining his shirt red. I feel around in my front pocket and pull out the engagement ring he slipped on my finger months ago. With his return, I’ve been carrying it with me, debating whether to wear it again. I’m glad I didn’t now, and I toss it in his lap.
A barrage of gunshots echoes in the ether, miles away, but it feels like it pierced right through me. I turn, leaving Nate slumped against the back of his precious Porsche, and take off at a full sprint, ignoring the pain in my shins.
Chapter 36
I reach the compound, winded and sucking air, nearly keeling over. The front gate has been smashed off its hinges. Multiple unfamiliar trucks litter the lawn, with gunshots ringing out from all directions. One vehicle is on fire and several bodies lay splayed out on the grass, guns at their sides and arms kicked up in strange positions, as if permanently frozen in midrun.
The soil is spattered with blood, and I can’t help but be reminded of the similar scene a few days back. But this is on a much larger scale. Screams pierce the air, and there are flashes of movement at the top of the property, but it’s too hard to decipher who is who. It feels like that first night everything went to hell at the hospital, but this time, I’m prepared.
Surveying the mayhem, I decide approaching across the front lawn leaves me too exposed, so I creep along the fence line, making my way into the woods, through the thick foliage, staying low and quiet, while using the brush as cover.
I still can’t believe Nate sold us out. If he was worried about the burners killing him, why didn’t he just tell us so we could have planned our own attack and beefed up our defenses? I already know the answer, though. Nate is a coward who only thinks about himself. Even if there were a way that he could have saved everyone here without betraying their trust, he wouldn’t have cared, so long as numero uno was taken care of. I should have made sure he was dead before I left him on theside of the road. But a slow, painful death is what he deserves. Besides, if he’s such a great doctor, then he should be able to patch himself up. I shake Nate from my thoughts and focus on my surroundings.
Snaking and weaving through the woods, I’m able to quickly and quietly get to the other side of the property without detection. A lifetime of familiarity with the nature here keeps me safe in ways I never would have thought. Near the edge of the tree line, I stop and scan the area, planning my next move. I have no idea how many burners are here. It could be five, it could be fifty, but I’m guessing, based on the number of gunshots I heard, what I saw coming in, and the scouting party they sent the other day, there are at least fifteen to twenty of them.
Ten throwing stars, a knife, and some hand-to-hand combat skills aren’t going to help me take a dozen-plus armed attackers. I edge my way out of the tree line to try to get a glimpse of the sniper tower, but suddenly I’m yanked backward, and the strong tug of something at the middle of my shirt pulls me deeper into the woods. I hold my breath, fumbling quickly for my own knife as I anticipate a burner’s blade slashing across my throat or a bullet leaping from one side of my skull to the other. Instead, I’m twisted around, and two arms wrap around me, squeezing me in a tight embrace. The breath I was holding is forced out by the pressure. I bring the knife in my hand down to my side, instead of plunging into the body in front of me. Because it’s Tessa. Over her shoulder, I see Molly, looking on with abject horror.
“Oh my God. I’m so glad you two are okay.” I squeeze Tessa back, trying to reassure Molly with my eyes that everything is going to be okay, even though I have no idea the severity of what’s going on. She starts to cry and runs to us, joining in on our hug.
I can feel her head shaking against my shoulder as she burrows it into me. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay,” I say, pulling away from both of them. There’s no time for us to fall apart.
“Greg was up there on watch when they stormed the property.” She wipes at her tears, pointing through the trees off toward the sniper tower.“I saw two men go up there. He’s probably ... he’s probably ...” Molly cries harder.
I grab the sides of her arms. “Fine. He’s probably fine.” I let go of her as she calms herself and look to Tessa. “Now, tell me what happened.”
“We were both out in the back garden picking vegetables for Elaine when we heard gunshots. A dozen or so men rushed the front lawn from the old house, so we ran into the woods. I didn’t even think to go get my ...” Tessa drops her face into her hands, inhaling several deep breaths.
“Hey, you did the right thing. What were you guys gonna do? Scare them off with your garden shears and spades? They would have killed you or worse. But now, we have the element of surprise. We can fight back.”
“What is happening?” Molly’s voice croaks.
“Nate set us up. Sold this place out just so he could save his own ass.”
“Why?” Tessa and Molly say in unison.
“Burners took him captive after he ditched me in Chicago, and the only thing he could do to get them to let him go was offer this place up on a silver platter.”
“Ditched?” Tessa squints.
