Page 27 of Outbreak

“Just eat your food, Ghost.”

CHAPTER 21

Rue

The sun is starting to set, and I’m getting restless. I want out of this truck; I need to pee, take a goddamn shower, and get into some fresh clothes. It won’t be long, and my ass cheeks are going to grow roots to this fucking seat, and the smell will tote us off.

“It’s been hours,” I complain, because what else am I going to fucking do? “We’ve barely moved a mile. What is taking so fucking long?”

Ghost is just as irritated, but he’s taken to giving me the silent treatment when my incessant whining gets to be too much. Oh, fucking well. He shouldn’t have kidnapped me. I could be bitchin’ to Mal and Noah right now. They’d be doing the same, and it would be one big bitch party of three.

Or we’d all be dead.

Sometimes my subconscious is a real cunt. Can’t she just be on my side for once?

We sit in silence again as I think about my friends and where they are now. I hope they got out. I need them to be okay; even if I never get to see them again, I just want to imagine they made it out and found somewhere safe to be. Noah has family in high places—resources that he could use to survive. So I’m choosingto believe they made it out together and are off sipping fruity umbrella drinks on a beach somewhere the dead can’t reach. A smile crosses my lips at the thought, and when I look back out the windshield, relief floods me. “Look. Somethings happening,” I say, when I look up to see a line of armed men in uniforms walking between the cars up ahead, stopping at each car before moving on to the next one. “People are getting out.”

I can’t contain the excitement in my voice. As much as I appreciate the safety this truck offers, I also need to fucking pee. Families of all sizes pile out of packed up vehicles, even an RV. Four children step out of the vehicle in front of us, looking terrified and overwhelmed, their parents the same.

Ghost mentioned there were children inside when he went to speak to them, and I could tell by the haunted look in his eyes he was thinking the same thing as me. I don’t know how they’ll survive. It feels cruel to think, but that’s the devastating reality of whatever this is.

Zombies? That sounds outlandish, even in my mind. Like a bad sci-fi movie come to life. How is this even possible? My spiraling thoughts are cut abruptly when Ghost lowers his window for the approaching soldier.

“You may exit your vehicles now. Stretch your legs, but stay close to your vehicle at all times. We have men patrolling along the roadway to ensure your safety. It’s going to be a long night. Stay alert.” The man walks on to the next vehicle to give his regurgitated speech before we have a chance to ask him anything.

“Well, it looks like we’re gonna be here all night. I’m going to piss my pants soon, so let’s go.” I get my door halfway open and my leg out before Ghost jerks me by the arm back inside the truck, the momentum almost slamming my wayward leg in the door. “Hey! What was that for?”

“You don’t get out without me. You wait for me, or have you forgotten the rules already?” he practically growls at me.

“Fuck the rules. In case you haven’t noticed, the world went to hell in a handbasket, and unless you want your truck to stink of piss for however long we’re trapped inside, I suggest you come the fuck on.” Fuck him and his rules. “I’ve got a new rule. Don’t kidnap a mildly mentally unstable bitch if you can’t handle it.”

I talk a big game, but I sure do sit my ass in that seat until he releases my arm, gets out, and comes to my door. He doesn’t reattach the leash he must have taken off while I was sleeping before we got here, but he does set me down on the ground and interlaces our fingers. He opens the back door and grabs a pack of baby wipes from our grocery store haul before guiding me down into the ditch and into the edge of the woods.

He doesn't walk us too far, and we aren’t the only ones using mother nature for—well, mother nature. I can’t find it in me to care though, as Ghost blocks my body from view with his massive one, letting me squat and relieve myself in, at least, an illusion of privacy.

He doesn’t miss the opportunity to wipe me clean afterwards though, giving me just enough humiliation to stain my cheeks red, but not enough to stop the wave of desire that crashes into me when he touches me. It’s not sexual in the least, but it's the most intimate thing someone has ever done for me, and I don’t know how to feel about that.

The emotional whiplash this man gives me makes me dizzy. One second I’m screaming at him for being an asshole, and the next I’m wishing the asshole would make me scream for him. I can’t keep up with myself.

Ghost turns away from me to handle his own business, and I find myself trying to peer around him. Like a peeping tom, I wanna see what we’re working with here. I’ve already felt it pressed against me, but there’s no way it can be as big as it feels.

I want the ground to swallow me whole when I trip over my own damn feet and stumble into him trying to take a peek. “If you wanted to see my cock so bad, all you have to do is ask, Rue.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I scoff, because the arrogance of this asshole is as outrageous as it is hot. He doesn’t need his ego stroked anymore. “I tripped.”

“On what? The air?” He laughs as he zips back up and turns to face me. I want to rip that stupid mask off his face and see what he looks like when he smiles. I want to seehimin general. It’s bugging the piss out of me. I feel like I know him, but I can’t put my finger on who the fuck he could be.

When we get back to the truck, the others are standing around their vehicles, some pulling out ice chests and passing out water. Others have put a blanket on the grass for their kids to play. There’s a younger couple behind us, sitting inside their car with the doors open, scanning the emergency channels for updates.

“There’s nothing new,” the red head says from the passenger seat, her bright yellow converse propped in the opening of the door frame. “And these assholes won’t tell us anything!”

She’s yelling loud enough to catch their attention, but they continue to ignore her. I’m trying to be nosey and listen to their conversation, but Ghost startles the fuck out of me when he comes up behind me and picks me up. “What the fuck are you doing?” I ask, but he just sits me in the back of his truck and climbs in after me.

“I figured you didn’t want to be back in the truck so soon, but we’re sitting ducks out here. At least from up here we can see what’s going on.” He pops the lid to an ice chest as I take a seat, looking around at everything he has back here. There’s a large metal box that runs the length of the cab with a lock on it, several duffle bags, and… Wait a minute. That’smyduffle bag.

“That’s my bag,” I state, because it’s not a fucking question. I recognize the pink straps that are frayed and worn from living out of it before I got into Magnolia State.

“I, uh, packed it for you before I picked you up,” he says, darting his eyes over the cooler lid at the bag he clearly never told me about.

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