Raven's Hell (5 page)

Collin
would show her that he could protect her, that being with him was safer than
being alone.

“You
piece of shit. You’re going to die, but not before you watch me fuck her raw
and bloody.” The man charged forward, trying to get the upper hand on Collin,
but no fucking way was that happening. This asshole didn’t know who Collin was,
who he had been. He had been ruthless back when shit was afloat, before the
infection, and when the world at been at his feet. But now he was even more
savage, even more hardened and cold to everyone and everything.

Collin
braced himself as this little prick tried to take him down. He got him on the
ground, and Collin pinned his arms to his side with his legs on either side of
this piece of shit. He could have killed this bastard nice and slow, and
watched him bleed out, just lying here and waiting for an infected to come
along and contaminate him. But he lifted his head and stared at the woman. Her
eyes were wide, and her lips were parted and she looked at the dead bodies on
the ground, at the blood, and then at the way he was holding the knife over the
man that had nearly taken her from Collin.

“Look
away if the sight of this upsets you.” He didn’t say it angrily, because he
could see that she was living in the past, remembering the moment that had
frozen her. There was no need to make her witness the grisly act he was about
to take pleasure in.

“You
motherfucker and your skank-ass cunt—”

Collin
punched him in the face, and heard his nose crunch from the impact. He bared
his teeth at this degenerate. “Shut the fuck up,” Collin growled out.

“Kill
him,” she said softly. “Make him scream,” she said with anger and hatred in her
voice.

Collin
glanced at her for a second, and then nodded once. He brought the blade across
the man’s neck, just like he had done to the other two, but more slowly this
time. He watched as blood covered his chest. The guy gurgled and spat out the
red liquid. When he was dead Collin wiped his blade on the man’s jacket and
stood. He didn’t speak while he went through the three motherfuckers’ bags and
pockets, taking what he could use as food, weapons, and supplies. He then
turned and faced the woman. The sound of groaning was becoming more apparent,
and the noise from the men shouting, of their death cries, and of the banging
and breaking of shit in the store had the infected coming out of the damn
woodwork.

“Listen,
you don’t know me, I don’t know you, but we need to get the hell out of here,”
he said with determination in his voice. Truth was she could leave without him,
but he’d track her, follow her, and convince her that they needed to be
together. No matter how long it took him to do it. She didn’t respond right
away, maybe thinking about what she wanted to do, or if she should try to kill
him, too. He glanced behind him, saw ten or so infected slowly making their way
toward the grocery store, and faced her again. “I’d love to sit here and get to
know each other, but we need to leave.
Now.”

She
seemed to snap out of whatever haze she was in, nodded once, and then turned to
head out the rear door that could be seen through the back of the store. He
moved in front of her, stopped for a second, and held his hand out, touching
her abdomen with his forearm. He wanted to make sure she was safe, and although
a horde of infected were coming toward them, he didn’t want to be ambushed
either. When it was clear to move forward, he grabbed her hand, held the knife
with his other one, and was pleased when she didn’t fight him on it. Her hand
was much smaller than his, and she was cold, her fingers like icicles. He knew
it was because of what had happened and not because of the weather. She was
breathing heavily, and the sound of her jacket moving up and down from her
rapid respirations had Collin wanting to turn around and just hold her. But
they would have time for that later. Right now he needed to get her away from
this place, somewhere safe, and then they could talk.

They
ran out the back door, and he kept a tight grip on her hand as they moved
across the back parking lot, and into the woods. There was an infected that
staggered out of a gap in the trees, but Collin was ready for him. He wasn’t
very
decomposed, so that told him that this one had been
turned recently, and the bite mark on his neck was proof of that. His face was
ashen, his eyes milky white, and he groaned as he tried to swipe out at them.
But Collin already had the blade plunged into one of his eyes. The infected
fell to the ground, but Collin didn’t stop pulling the woman through the woods.
They ran for another five minutes before Collin finally slowed. He pulled her
behind him, scanned the woods, and then breathed out. He sheathed his knife and
faced her. She was breathing heavily, her eyes wide as she scanned their
surroundings, but she didn’t look as frightened as she had in the store.

“You’re
okay?” he asked.

She
nodded, breathed out roughly, and then put her own knife back in the little
loop of her pants. They stared at each other for a moment, and then she turned
behind her, scanning their surroundings, making sure that she was safe. When
she faced Collin again there was hesitation in her eyes.

“What’s
your name?” he asked her, hoping to prove to her that if he had intended on
harming her he could have done so already. When she didn’t answer he spoke
again. “I’m Collin
Suthers
.” He held his filthy,
bloody hand out to her. She looked at it for a second before grabbing his and
shaking it lightly.

“Rebecca
Shaw.”

Rebecca.

He
rolled the name around in his head, loving the way it sounded, how it made him
feel, and having this proprietary sensation moving through him.

“So,”
she looked at him, stopping what she was about to say. “If you want to come
back to where I have been staying, maybe to rest or eat something, you can.”
She licked her lips, glanced around again, and then looked at the ground. She
was nervous, really fucking nervous. He could hear it in her voice and see it
in the way she held herself. It was the same reaction he had seen on hundreds
of people when they had been around him and feared the situation.

She
shrugged. “If you want, that is. I owe you my life.” She rubbed her hands over
her dirty jeans, and breathed out. “Thank you, by the way.” She looked at him
with just her eyes, and Collin was struck by the vivid green color of them. “I
figured if you wanted to hurt me you could have done so already. But you saved
me, and a little post-apocalyptic hospitality is the least I can show you.” She
was even more attractive up close, even though dirt covered her face. Her skin
was this pale, luminescent shade, her eyebrows as dark as her hair, and he
could tell by her slender shaped face that underneath her bulky clothes she
would be tiny.
Most likely starved, because in this day and
age there wasn’t enough food to keep someone a healthy weight let alone
overweight.

Before
he could respond, she turned and started moving through the forest. He
followed, keeping his ears open for any sound or movement from the
infected,
or rogue humans like they had encountered back in
town. He scanned left and right, keeping his eyes trained on everything around
them. After about half an hour of hiking through the thick foliage of the
woods, the trees parted and a rundown and deserted warehouse came into view. It
was strange seeing this building out in the middle of nowhere, but the broken
and hanging sign on its side said it had manufactured farm equipment. It made
sense because of the small Colorado town they were currently in, and the land
that surrounded them.

The
dirt ground gave way to cracked and uneven pavement. There was a large gap in
the fence that surrounded the ten or so acres of property that the warehouse
sat on. It wasn’t an overly large building, certainly nothing that could have
been seen in New York, but for this town it probably was very substantial.

“I
stay up there.” She pointed to the highest level of the three-story building where
a broken out window was. She moved through the opening in the fence, and he
followed closely behind. He didn’t see any infected on this side of the
property, but he could hear their moaning and groaning echo off the pavement
and the building. She might think this place was safe, but it wasn’t, not with
the amount of sound he heard, and the access anyone had to the building. It
wasn’t secure, and certainly not safe. She might not know this yet, but he
wasn’t just coming here to rest and eat. He was coming here to make her see
that she was his, and that he’d be taking her away from this place.

They
made their way into the building without coming in contact with any infected,
but Collin knew that was just luck. He stopped at one of the windows that
showed him the other side of the property, saw at least thirty infected walking
around aimlessly, and cursed low.

“Are
you coming?” she said softly.

He
turned away from the horde of infected corpses only separated from them by the
debilitated warehouse. He followed her toward the back of the building, around
one corner, and stopped when she came to a halt. There were a few pieces of
machinery that were rusted and aged from time and the weather that came through
the various holes in the ceiling. Collin watched as she moved over to the
corner. It was darkened from the shadows, and when she started pulling a piece
of machinery out from it he moved forward.

“I
got it,” she said without turning and facing him. The sound of the metal
scraping against the concrete was loud, and he knew that the infected would be
able to hear it. But she stopped after a second, and pulled out a ladder. When
Rebecca placed it against the wall he looked up and saw that there was a narrow
loft above them. It was pretty well hidden because of the rafters crisscrossing
in front of it, and the thick layer of shadows blocking it from view. There
weren’t any holes in the ceiling right above it to shed light on it and reveal
its location, and although he knew there was a small window somewhere up there
from when she pointed it out to him, he couldn’t see any light.

After
adjusting her backpack and tote over her shoulders, she started climbing the
ladder, then stopped and glanced at him over her shoulder. Collin had to admit
he was damn impressed by her ingenuity and the fact she was smart enough to
find this place to hole up in.

He
adjusted his own bags, nodded, and started after her, knowing that this woman
might very well give him a run for his money when it came to her stubbornness
and strength. But she’d realize that Collin never gave up, and he wanted her
pretty fucking badly.

Chapter Five

Rebecca
pulled the ladder up and onto the loft once Collin had cleared it. She moved it
out of the way, and stared at him. Although the loft was small, it was big
enough to have been used as storage when this place had been up and running.
There were a few bales of hay that had been up here when she had first found
it, and although she had thought about tossing them because they stank from
mold and dust, she kept them as a kind of wall for half of the loft.

“You’ve
been staying here long?” he asked and looked around.

“A
couple of weeks.
It’s served its purpose, and even when a few of the infected managed to find
their way in here, they couldn’t reach me, and didn’t know where I was.”

He
nodded, walked over to the small window, and looked outside. “It’s not safe
here,” he said almost absently.

“It
works for me. You’re free to go, though.” She hated saying that, because even
if it was stupid to have brought him here, shown him where she stayed, the fact
was he had saved her life. Sure, those men may not have killed her, at least
not right off the bat, but they would have raped her to the point she would
have gladly welcomed death.

He
turned around and faced her. The ceiling was high and arched enough that they
could both stand fully straight, but this man was immensely taller than she
was, well over six feet tall. She was not tiny in any sense of the word, or she
hadn’t been before the contamination hit. Before all of this had gone down she
had been full and thick, a healthy size sixteen even. At five-foot-seven she
wasn’t short either, but with the lack of proper nutrition, she felt thin and
frail almost. Now she was trying to keep a size twelve on her without them falling
off. But this man still looked so powerful and strong, like he took care of
himself despite the lack of … everything in the world.

“It’s
not safe here,” he stated again. She didn’t care what he thought. She had found
this place, lived here for the last couple of weeks, and no one had found her
yet. It was safe, elevated, and she left when she needed things. Rebecca was
familiar with the area, and although she knew that maybe she couldn’t live here
forever because the town would only provide so many supplies, she was afraid to
go anywhere else.

“Maybe
not, but it’s worked for me so far, and what is left for me out there?” she
asked the genuine question, knowing that unless there was some kind of safe
haven out there where people had banded together, she had nowhere to go.

He
didn’t respond right away. She watched as he picked up his backpack and sat
down a few feet from her. He took out a small battery operated lantern style
flashlight, and turned it on. It was daylight, and although there was a good amount
of light coming through the holes in the ceiling across from them and the small
window behind Collin, it was still dark in the loft.