Kick at the Darkness (32 page)

Zigzagging to the front door, Parker didn’t pause.

“What happened?” She yelled after them.

They teetered into the frosty night air, and Parker dug in his pocket for Mariah’s keys. The parking lot seemed a million goddamn miles away. His muscles burned, but he gripped Adam and didn’t stop moving. “Come on, come on.”

“He’s coming. It’s me he wants,” Adam gritted out.

With a grunt, Parker ran faster across the pavement.
Almost there, almost there, almost there…
He skidded to a stop and dragged Adam onto the motorcycle. “Shut up and get your ass on the bike.”

Parker jammed in the key and revved the engine as Adam wrapped his arms around his waist, swaying dangerously. From the corner of Parker’s eye he saw a flash of movement, but he gunned it and didn’t look back. “Hang on!”

The winding driveway hadn’t felt this long when they’d arrived, and Parker’s heart thumped with each second that passed, sweat prickling his neck and adrenaline thrumming through him. He needed the headlight to see, but Ramon would be able to spot them in the dark anyway, so it didn’t matter. The light flashed over the closed gate as they barreled around the final curve, and a man stepped from the guard booth. It was Jake, the young guy from the morning they’d arrived.

Parker weighed their chances of simply smashing through the gate, but it was too solidly constructed, so he braked. “Open the gate!”

“What’s going on?” Jake raised his hand to shield his eyes from the headlight’s glare.

There’s a psycho asshole werewolf chasing us
. “He’s sick,” Parker blurted out. “Look at him!”

Jake jolted back, his eyes wide. “What do you mean? Like, infected?”

“Yes!” Parker lied. “He’s infected, so open the damn gate!” He couldn’t hear another vehicle, but then he realized the pounding in his ears wasn’t only his pulse, but Ramon closing the distance between them on foot. Possibly paws.

Tripping over his feet, Jake spun and reached into the booth to slam on the button. As the gate slowly slid open, Jake pointed the way they’d come. “What’s that?”

Parker spared a glance at the blur of motion speeding their way before zooming through the opening in the gate, leaving Jake in the dust. “How fast can he go?” he shouted.

Adam’s voice was hoarse. “Fast. But he’ll slow down. Can’t…keep up.” Adam wavered and then righted himself.

Gripping the handlebars, Parker strained to keep balanced as they left the resort’s private drive and shot onto the two-lane road down the mountain. While most of the October snow had melted, the road was slushy and slick. He prayed it wasn’t icy.  “Is he still coming?”

“Yes.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck
. “Concentrate,” he muttered, following the curving yellow line and staying in the middle of the road so he could take the turns wide. Even so, they veered frighteningly close to the guardrail, and Parker thought his heart might explode. The wind whipped through his hair and his arms shook as he took another turn, leaning into the road and praying they wouldn’t skid out.

A roar in the night made the hair on Parker’s neck stand up. After the next curve he dared a glance back and glimpsed a feral Ramon in the moonlight, snarling through huge fangs, eyes burning as he hunted them down, running after them so low to the ground he was almost on all fours.

Adam growled in response, but he was clearly weak, and Parker knew their only chance was Mariah outrunning Ramon. He hunched over the handlebars, head down as he increased the throttle and flew around the next bend. Another roar rattled his eardrums, but he didn’t look back. Blocking out everything but the yellow line and the void beyond, Parker whipped around each curve until Adam spoke again.

“I can’t hear him.” He leaned heavily against Parker’s back, but his voice was stronger.

“I’m not stopping until we’re off this fucking mountain.” He eased up and flicked off the lights. “Whoa.” He turned them back on. “We’d better hope the creepers haven’t made it up this far, because I can’t see shit. But I’ll take my chances with them at the moment. Keep your ears open. Can you stay awake?”

“Yeah. Keep going.”

Adam hugged Parker’s waist tighter, and even though Parker was the one in control, he felt a surge of warmth and comfort
. We’re going to be okay. We’re together
. He reached back and squeezed Adam’s knee before turning his concentration back to the road.

By the time the sky began to brighten in the east, they were in the foothills with Denver sprawling in the distance. They’d lost their map, along with their pack and weapons, but Parker managed to find his way around the city, out of reach of the grasping infected that overran the area.

They were still on the outskirts of Denver, weaving through the lonely cars clogging the roads when one of the bike’s lights flashed. Parker’s stomach dropped. “Shit. We need gas.” He glanced around. “And soon.”

A yellow sign beckoned them a mile down the road, and Parker pulled into the seemingly deserted gas station. He left the engine running. “We have any company?”

Adam closed his eyes. After a moment he shook his head.

Parker turned off Mariah, groaning as he stood and stretched his stiff muscles. He reached out a steadying hand as Adam swung his leg over the bike. “Careful.”

“I’m fine.” He swayed on his feet.

“Uh-huh.” Parker wrapped his arm around Adam’s shoulder and helped him down to the pavement to sit against the side of an abandoned and blood-spattered Toyota parked at one of the pumps. Parker crouched in front of him and nodded to the road. “You keep watch.”

“Okay, but I’m fine.”

“Dude, you got shot up with enough tranquilizer to take a
grizzly
out of commission for a day. And that’s not even the craziest thing that happened last night. You’re white as a sheet and you can barely stand, so sit there and shut it.”

Adam’s lips twitched. “Have I ever mentioned that you’re bossy?”

“Oh, you love it. You can’t fool me.” He moved toward the pumps.

Adam caught Parker’s hand. He was paler than Parker had ever seen him, and blood stained his cheek. “I do, you know.”

Parker squeezed his fingers and managed a smile despite the golf ball of a lump in his throat. “I know.” As Adam took a shuddering breath, his lip trembled, and he blinked back tears. Parker dropped to his knees. “Hey, hey. It’s okay.” He took Adam’s pale face in his hands and kissed him gently.

“When I woke up, I was so afraid. Powerless. Then I heard your voice.” He smiled tremulously. “I knew you wouldn’t back down. I knew you’d save me.”

“Figured it was my turn.” Parker tried to smile. He wanted to fold Adam into his arms and keep him safe forever. “I’m sorry I couldn’t…” He exhaled sharply. “They cut you. It healed, but I couldn’t stop them. I tried, but…”

“You saved me, Parker. You could have left me behind.”

“No fucking way.” He took Adam’s hand in his and entwined their fingers. “Never.”

Nodding, Adam sniffed loudly and wiped his eyes. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m being so emotional.”

“I think we’re both due a breakdown or two. Or three or four.”

Laughing, Adam nodded. “I guess that’s true.” His watery smile faded as he grazed Parker’s swollen jaw with his fingertips. “Does it hurt?”

Parker honestly hadn’t thought about it. He ached all over. “Yeah, but it’s okay.”

“I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.” Adam stared intensely. “Ever.”

Parker’s breath stuttered as his heart swelled. “I know.”

“It’s been a long time since I didn’t want to hide. Since I wasn’t ashamed of who I am. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Me either. Without you, I mean. In case that wasn’t clear. I’m rambling. I do that sometimes.”

Adam kissed him tenderly, and Parker melted into him before forcing himself to stand and focus on the task at hand.

Of course there was no power and the pumps were dead, but he rummaged in the garage and found a piece of clear plastic tubing he could use to siphon. A battered Broncos backpack sat near the work bench, and he grabbed that too, along with a red gas can. He hurried back outside and kneeled by the Toyota’s gas tank. “This is going to be super fun, huh?”

“I can do it.”

“You’ve done it every other time. My turn.”

“Be careful not to swallow any of it.”

“Thank you. That’s very helpful. Any other pro tips?”

Adam rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying. Have you ever done this before?”

“No, I have never sucked gas through a tube. But I’d better get used to it.” He stuck the tube into the tank, hoping the Toyota owner had managed to fill up before getting his or her face eaten. He gripped the plastic and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”

“Say hi to the folks at home.”

“What?” Parker looked over to find Adam filming with the small recorder Angela had given him. “How do you still have that?”

“It was zipped in my coat pocket with an extra battery.”

“Well, here goes nothing, Mr. Scorsese. Although he didn’t make any documentaries, I don’t think. Mr. Moore? I can’t think of another famous documentarian.”

“This is exactly why you needed to pursue film studies.”

Parker laughed. “Touché.”

“Now suck.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Ah, I see. This is some kinky shit going on, huh?” He licked the rim of the tube. “You like this?”

Adam’s shoulders shook. “Work it, baby.”

After the incredible stress of the previous night, it felt so good to actually laugh and breathe. Parker grinned. “Okay, ready or not, here I go.”

In the end, siphoning gas was just as much fun as it sounded, and Parker narrowly avoided a mouthful of the stuff, managing to pull away just in time as it splashed out of the tube. He quickly filled the gas can and transferred the fuel to Mariah’s tank, repeating the process until she was full. After tying the gas can to one of the straps on the Broncos pack, he sat next to Adam with a sigh, their shoulders and thighs pressed together. He leaned back against the Toyota and stared up at the gray clouds before glancing at Adam. “Why are you still filming me?”

Adam kept the tiny camera steady. “Because you’re beautiful.”

“Oh. Um, thank you.” Parker ducked his head, a blush heating his cheeks. “Okay, save your battery.”

When the camera was safely tucked away in Adam’s jacket, they sat with their heads together and hands clasped, and he wished they could just find a place to curl up. He sighed. “We should keep moving. Put as many miles between us and Ramon as possible. Just in case.”

Adam nodded. “Just in case.”

“I hope they’ll be all right up there.”

“Me too.”

“What if Dr. Yamaguchi will be able to create a vaccine? At least all the bullshit would have been worth it.”

“I hope so. Maybe one day we’ll find out. Maybe Ramon’s right, and in the new world, werewolves won’t have to hide who they are.” Adam shook his head. “Maybes and what ifs. Who knows what’ll happen.”

Parker knew there was no answer, but he asked anyway. “After we get to the Cape, whether my family’s there or not…what are we going to do?”

Adam squeezed his hand. “We’ll figure it out.”

It was all they could do, and Parker found it was enough somehow.

BOSTON BURNED.

The acrid smoke hung low over the city in the dusk like an early morning fog rolling off the Atlantic, and orange flames licked tall buildings on the horizon. The suburban streets teemed with creepers, the chattering a constant din even at a distance.

Parker imagined the brownstone in Cambridge, and his old room with the Red Sox posters he’d put up when he was thirteen so he could ogle the players and their tight pants while pretending to care about baseball.

“It’s all gone.” His voice sounded strange to his own ears. He sat behind Adam on Mariah, hidden in the trees, close enough to see the destruction of his home but far enough to stay safe. They were both exhausted and hungry, their clothes grimy. The filthy Broncos pack from the gas station in Denver hung from Parker’s shoulders, the gas can swaying against his hip.

“I’m sorry.”

“I should have ridden the swans again.”

Adam rubbed Parker’s thigh. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“The swan boats. In the Public Garden? By Boston Common. They have these historic wooden boats, like barges, with benches on them and a swan at the back. You sit on the benches and a guy pedals the boat around the pond. No engine or anything. They can fit, like, twenty people on a boat, so the staff get a good workout. But not anymore, I guess.” He blinked back tears. “Sorry. I’m babbling. I didn’t think…it was easier when it was places I didn’t know.”

Adam moved to get off the bike and likely comfort him, but Parker shook his head. “No, don’t. I’m fine. I can do this. I’m fine.”

Adam settled back down and rested his hand on Parker’s thigh again. He turned his head and briefly nuzzled Parker’s cheek, the rub of his growing scruff rough but comforting.

For a week they’d encountered desolation and destruction as they made their way across the heartland. The dead and the infected were everywhere, with survivors fewer and fewer. Pockets here and there. Convoys heading west, telling them to turn around. Now that Parker saw it for himself, part of him wished they’d listened. He squared his shoulders. “Okay. We need to keep going.”