Page 27 of Desiderium
“Fuck, man, he’s lost a lot of blood. Cole, you ok? Answer me, man!” It’s Jax. Apparently, his way of checking to see if I’m still conscious is by smacking me upside the head. Or maybe he’s just patting my cheek but the shock of everything is making it more than what it is. Either way, the fact that I’m squirming all over the ground should have indicated that I wasn’t knocked out but I guess I should thank him for being thorough.
“I’m ok. I’m ok,” I manage to huff out, barely able to keep my eyes open as I see them hovering over me. Exhaustion pulls me towards the darkness but I force myself to stay awake out of sheer will power.
“That’s fucking right you’re ok! Fuckin’ dandy is more like it! Ain’t that right? You ain’t no baby-back-bitch! Now, let’s get your sexy ass up and get outta here, alright?!” Hawk yells down to my prone and beaten ass.
“Fuck you, Hawk,” I respond with as much oomph as I can muster behind the words. It’s embarrassingly weak but he hears me clear enough.
“Aww, I love you too you big hunka Doc salad, but there’s no time for a cuddle party no matter how much you wanna be the little spoon. Now, get your lazy ass up. There’s more coming. Cinderella’s already lost her shoe and it’s about to chime midnight.”
I look back over their shoulders and see the rest of the horde making their way down the beach. I try to stand but my leg gives out as soon as I put weight on it. I try again and fall down flat on the ground.
What the fuck?
I go to look at what the hell is wrong with my leg but get yanked up before I even have a chance. Jax turns me ass over tea kettle, throwing me over his shoulder, and carries me down to the shoreline in an all-out sprint as the undead close in on us once again.
They’re too close. And I’m too tired to fend them off, but I need to. I’ve since lost my AR-15 when they first took me down and dragged me back, but, thankfully, I finally remember...
I still have my Glock.
I wrap my hand around the gun, pulling it from my leg holster, and aim, emptying what rounds I have before I drop the mag and reach for a new one from my side pouch. Reloading the son of a bitch, I rack the chamber and take aim once again. The angle is weird, shooting upside down andsideways, but I manage to take out a few, even as Jax’s ass keeps on bouncing my shots all over the place.
Suddenly, four sharpcracksring out from down the beach. Gun shots. Like a flock of deranged geese with a vendetta, the horde turns all together on a dime and heads towards the sound.
Who the hell would be shooting off a gun all the way over there?
Jax is here.
Hawk is here, too.
Aww fuck!
Isee them swarm to her position just down the shoreline as she stomps around in the damp muck that used to be the lawn that led up to our beach access. The torrential downpour that lasted the past four days has turned what once was a beautifully picturesque lawn into a wet and muddy death trap.
Aly is up to her ankles in mud and debris. Her movements are sluggish as she stares at the immense number of undead flocking to her location. Since the horde was closer to us on the shoreline, and thus the sand, it’s easier for them to move, making them even faster than they were on the uneven, muddy terrain closer to the house. She needs to get out of there. She needs to move.
Now.
But she’s not.
Why the fuck isn’t she moving? Shit, is it the mud? Is she stuck? Fuck, is it another panic attack?
We’re running in the opposite direction, my hobbled ass still on Jax’s shoulder. The guys might not even know that she’s not in the water anymore and we’re too far away to get between the horde and her to do anything about it even if they did.
I need to do something.
Anything at this point.
I lift my head and yell as loud as I can, trying a last-ditch attempt to reach her somehow before it’s too late.
“ALY!!!!! RUN!!!”
Chapter Fifteen
Aly
Fifteen minutes earlier…
“COLE!!!”
