Page 39 of Chaos Destiny
Were we alone, I would have kissed her. This time around, I would hold on a little longer, grow more familiar with the feel of our mouths touching. The line between a friendly kiss and a kiss that told her exactly what I wanted to do to her wasn’t thin, and I suspected she would figure it out the moment I slipped my tongue into her mouth.
“‘Here’s Johnny,’”Dana announced in her best Jack Nicholson voice.
Dallas approached, and in the middle of his approach, he spun out two cartwheels and a backhandspring.
Yet, he was the milder of the two.
Considering I’d grown up with twin brothers, I could already tell the twins apart. The brothers insisted they were descendants of the gods Horus and Set from Ancient Egypt, but they spoke with Southern accents and had names like Memphis and Dallas. Occasionally, their accents slipped or came out comically strong, but I couldn’t figure out the true story those fake accents hid.
“Gates!” Dallas yelled, his arms open wide. “Listen to your god. Open up, and let us go forth.”
The guard, a twenty-year-old kid named Cory, rolled his eyes as he turned the crank to open the gates.
Omar stood on the other side in front of a white pickup truck that had seen better days, and the deep rumble of the engine behind him made me uneasy.
I slid my thumb down Tayler’s palm and then released her hand, heading for the truck. “We need bikes,” I said. “This thing sounds like it’s making morning rounds to collect garbage cans. The noiseswemake are enough to draw the Infected.”
Omar scratched his chin. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, but it’s what we have to work with right now.”
Memphis appeared from only God-knew-where and vaulted over the tailgate into the truck bed. “How about, on the ride, we look for somebah-sickles?”he suggested.
Omar faced him. “Some…what?”
Dallas joined him in the back. “You heard my brother. Bah-sickles. You ain’t never had a bah-sickle?”
I reached for the passenger door handle. “That sounds more like how I used to say it back in my prime Aussie days.”
“Southerners is just Australians with a different twang,” Dallas argued.
“And what part of the south arey’allfrom again?” I asked.
The brothers laughed.
“New guy, I ride up front with Omar,” Allen called from the entrance. “You get in the back with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum.”
I didn’t argue.
One of the quickest ways to assume power over someone else was to give them the illusion that they were the one in charge. Weak men, so captivated by the allegiance of their flock, oftenfailed to realize just how little power there was in the ignorance of sheep.
“I’d say it’s more like Tweedle-Death and Tweedle-Danger,” I said, hoisting myself over the side panel into the truck bed.
Memphis whistled.
Dallas stabbed the air in my direction. “See, I knew I liked you for a reason. We was just talking about that, right, Memphis?”
“Just talking about it,” Memphis echoed. “Move over, Allen. There’s a real sheriff in town.”
They laughed again, Memphis falling to his back.
Allen waved them off and leaned close to Tayler. The entire time his gums flapped, she kept her eyes on me. Our extended eye contact grew so obvious that Dana noticed, and I read a whole paragraph’s worth of speculation on her face. But, until she caught me with Tayler’s leg wrapped around my waist where I had her propped against the wall of the supply room, it would remain speculation.
Allen went to kiss her cheek, but she leaned away and punched him in the chest.
“Allen, stop,” Omar ordered. “Won’t tell you twice.”
Omar was one of the few men in the camp who matched me in size, so I more than appreciated that he didn’t fuck around when it came to Tayler. If it came down to it, he would be the first person I asked to help me bury Allen’s body. Something told me the little guy wouldn’t take it well when he learned that he’d lost Tayler to a man who thought she was the furthest thing from a “failed doctor.” Within minutes of meeting her, I could tell that a level of intellect I would never match hid behind those enchanting eyes.
Omar and Allen entered the truck.
