Raven's Hell (9 page)

“What
the fuck, Rebecca?” he said in a very angry tone, and looked down at where her
knife was in her hand, blood dripping from the tip. “You cannot just run out
there and start going Warrior Princess on their asses. You need to wait, and
together we can do this shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and breathed
out, clearly looking frustrated.

“What?”
she asked just as outraged. “I’ve survived without you in my life, and won’t
just sit back while the big muscle man takes care of business.”

They
glared at each other for several moments, and then the sound of clicking had
them both tensing. Collin pulled her behind his body, and she listened hard,
trying to see where the noise was coming from. The clicking started again, but
it wasn’t as if someone were cocking a gun, but of a lighter, more nonthreatening
noise. It was strange, and one that she had heard before, but couldn’t place
now.

Then
the sound stopped, and they waited several moments, trying to see if it was a
threat, or maybe a small animal going through debris. But when she saw a dark
figure move across the window of the schoolhouse everything inside of her went
on alert. She tugged on his sleeve, about to tell him what she had seen, but
then he started speaking.

“I
saw,” Collin said in a low voice. “You wait here.”

“No,”
she said before he even finished speaking. He stared at her with a scowl, and
then sighed. They moved forward, keeping to the side of the buildings, and when
they reached the front door to the school they stilled. He looked at her,
pointed to her knife, telling her without words to keep it at the ready, and
she nodded. He pushed open the door with his boot since it was already cracked
ajar, and when no one attacked him and infected didn’t come out groaning and
moaning, they stepped inside.

The
interior was small, with a main room that looked like something out of a
nineteenth century schoolhouse atop a hill. There were benches for the
children’s seats, a chalkboard that still had writing on it, and dirt and
debris all over the floor. The two windows in the building were busted open,
and the glass was shattered pieces on the ground and some of the benches. It
didn’t look like anyone was in the room, but she had seen someone walk by the
window. She knew she had, and Collin had seen it, too. And then there was the
clicking again. They turned, faced the darkened corner, and waited for whoever
was standing there to make
themselves
known.

But
the man that stepped into view didn’t seem like a threat. In fact he looked
almost frail, even though he had this crazed, cockeyed look going on. He was
filthy, with salt and pepper colored long hair in thick dreads, and a scraggly
beard. He also held a small light blue camera, one of the old-school ones that
carried the 35mm film and looked like it may have belonged to a twelve-year-old
girl for her sleepovers. He lifted the camera, and they tensed. He clicked it
over and over again, and then started laughing in this crazed way that had the
hairs on her arms standing on end.

“Welcome
to paradise, children.” And then he lunged forward, grabbed Rebecca by the
hair, and pulled her forward. She cried out from the sudden pain, and tried to
take his hands from her hair. But Collin was there, prying the asshole off. The
old man cackled in a seriously eerie way, and then she heard Collin grunt in pain.
Rebecca took action, sliced out with her knife, heard the old man howl, and
then he pushed away from them, stumbling back, and slamming into the wall.

Collin
pulled her close, and she saw a trail of blood move down his arm.

The
old man lifted the camera again, clicked it over and over, and then darted out
the front door. She moved to the broken window, watched as he disappeared
behind the trees, and finally
sagged
her shoulders.
She turned and faced Collin, saw him looking at the wound in his arm, and felt
her heart beat even faster. He didn’t need this right now. Neither of them did.

“Come
here, let’s get that cleaned up.” She moved over to the farthest corner from
where that psycho was, set her bag down, and gestured for him to come closer.
He moved toward her, looking like he hadn’t just gotten stabbed with God knew
what. When he was seated beside her, and she had his jacket off and his shirt
pushed up, she looked at the six-inch slice in his bicep. He reached out,
grabbed her head, and pulled her close to kiss her gently.

“You’re
okay?” he murmured against their mouth.

“I’m
fine,” she said softly and pulled back, smiling. He tried to pull her in for a
kiss again, but she placed a hand on his chest. “Collin…” She looked at his
mouth. “Please, let me just get you cleaned up before an infection sets in.”
She smiled, knowing that he wanted to do a hell of a lot more than to get his
cut tended to.

 
“It’s just a scratch, Rebecca.” He grinned
when she rolled her eyes. They had only kissed a few times, but she was anxious
for more, and it was clear so was he.

“It’s
not just a scratch, Collin. The blade was no doubt rusty. I hope you had your
tetanus shot in the last ten years.” She went back to cleaning the gouge in his
arm, washing it out with some saline she had, and spreading some ointment on
it. Once she had it bandaged, Rebecca said, “I hope it doesn’t get an
infection, but we need to keep it clean and watch it.”

“Okay,
baby.” He reached out and cupped her cheek. He leaned in close enough that they
shared the same air. “I really want to kiss you again, Rebecca.”

She
looked at his mouth, wanting that, too, even though this was the most
inappropriate time. They could have died, both of their lives just snuffed out
because of some loony that had been living out here in the woods with infected
roaming around him for far too long. “Then kiss me. But you should rest—”

Collin
didn’t let her finish that sentence. He slammed his mouth on hers, and speared
his tongue between her lips. He slid his hand behind her head and curled his
fingers into her hair. He tangled his fingers in the strands and tugged her
head back, baring her throat. Collin looked at her with this hard,
desire-filled expression that made her feel as though she
were
naked before him, and he couldn’t get enough of the sight of her.

He
groaned again. “I need you so badly, but I know I have to wait. Right now isn’t
the time, especially not in an abandoned elementary school.”

She
breathed out softly, and when she looked at him she saw he was just as into this
moment as she was. He lowered his head back down to hers so he could take
control of her mouth once more. The sound of their heavy breathing and of his
groaning had her so wet, so aroused. This was so not the time, but she couldn’t
help herself, or how she felt around him. She placed her hands on his chest and
curled her fingers into the flesh. He grunted in pleasure.

“Collin,
it feels so good, but I’m filthy, and so are you.” She chuckled softly.

“Yeah,
it feels really good, and as much as I don’t want to stop, I don’t want our
first time being in this rundown school. Besides, that asshole could come back
and I want to make sure I’m ready if he does.”

She
made a small noise in the back of her throat, and he wrapped her arms around
her, trying to pull her closer to his body. “You think he’ll come back?”

“Not if he’s smart, but then again he is
clearly a crazy motherfucker so who the hell knows.”
He pulled her
closer, leaned back on the wall, and had his weapons right on his lap, at the
ready. “If that bastard decides to come back I’m ready, and this time I won’t
let that asshole escape. I want you, Rebecca, and not just because I am a man
and you’re a woman, and that I haven’t been with a female in far too fucking
long.”

Licking
her suddenly dry lips, she said, “I want you, too, Collin. I feel safe with
you, protected.” But she knew that there was
more that
needed to be said. She could see it in the way he held himself, in the way he
watched her, and the air around them that was electrically charged.

“There
are things about me that you should know, even if it doesn’t mean anything
anymore.”

Goosebumps
popped out along her body at the deep, dark way he spoke. Settling closer to
him, he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her in close. Rebecca tilted
her head back and stared at the sky that was visible through the roof of the
school and the treetops. The sky was dusky pinks and oranges throughout the
blue and white. For several long moments they didn’t speak, but it wasn’t
uncomfortable. The sound of the wind whistling through the trees had a lulling
quality.

“Before
all of this went down with the infection I ran the biggest drug empire in New
York, pimped out willing women, and sold illegal firearms.”

His
words startled her, but she stayed quiet and waited for him to continue.

“I
killed people, took their lives as if they meant nothing, because they didn’t,
Rebecca.” He stared at her with a hard unforgiving expression. “I liked taking
their lives, especially if they crossed me or my business.” He swallowed
roughly, and she saw the way his throat worked, as if he didn’t want to tell
her and was forcing himself to continue. He was ruggedly handsome, with a few
days’ worth of scruff lining his face.

“I-I
don’t know what to say.” She shouldn’t have even spoken, because this whole
revelation was a shock, but at the same time it really wasn’t. Rebecca had
known he was a bad man before all of this, could sense it in the way he held
himself. She just hadn’t realized or even contemplated that he could have been
this big-time drug lord and pimp.

“But
even though you probably want to run from me, Rebecca,” he shifted so he could
fully face her. “I can’t let you go. I
won’t
.
You’re mine. I knew that from the moment I saw you, and it isn’t in my make-up
to let things go when I want them as badly as I want you.”

Her
heart thundered in her chest, pounded so hard that she swore it would burst
right through her ribs.

“I
didn’t tell you these things to make you afraid of me, although that would be
the smart reaction. I told you because I want you to know who and what I was,
and in this world I will protect you with my fucking life.”

When
she felt his lips at her temple everything faded away. She shut her mouth, not
wanting to make this any harder, not wanting to worry about what had happened
in the past. She should be afraid of him, of what Collin used to be in his
former life. But what did it matter now? This world was destroyed, and
everything that had happened since then was what was important.

“Could
you accept me for
who
I am?” he asked, but there was
this strange tone in his voice. “Because I can’t change, I won’t. This is how I
was in my old life, and in this new one I am even worse. I have to be in order
to survive, in order to keep you safe.”

Rebecca
licked her lips, not knowing how to respond, because she did want him, badly.
But at the same time she should also be afraid. He was just as dangerous as the
savages out there, the ones that killed and maimed for sport. But Collin had
saved her, had done so much for her, and made sure she was safe in the short
amount of time they had been together.

Rebecca
glanced down, knew that she wasn’t about to go into detail about what had
almost happened to her all those months ago, but wanting to be honest with
Collin. “I was almost raped months ago, but they stopped,
had
to stop, when a horde of infected came through. I barely
escaped with my life.” Looking away, feeling these memories wash through her,
she knew this was what was right. If they were going to be in this world
together, fighting side-by-side, trying to survive, then she needed to be
honest.

He
didn’t say anything when she looked at him
again,
just
stared at her with this expression that told her he had known all along. She
didn’t want to have to run anymore, didn’t want to have to look over her
shoulder because there were men out there that wanted her body to use and
abuse. Rebecca closed her eyes and breathed out when he pulled her in close and
whispered how everything was going to be okay.

But
this world made that just a fantasy.

Chapter Eight

Rebecca
followed Collin closely behind. They had been walking for several days, thicker
into the
woods,
farther away from the towns that she
knew dotted this area, but for some inexplicable reason she trusted him and his
decisions. Collin had taken her tote, even though he had his own bag to carry.
She had tried to take it back, telling him she could carry her own things, but
he refused. A part of her felt warmth at the thought he wanted to do that small
thing for her, to make sure she was as comfortable as possible, but another
part of her said that she needed to stay as independent as possible. This world
could eat both of them up in an instant.

Of
course she thought about why exactly she was letting him call the shots when
she had survived just fine by herself this whole time. Truth was
,
she was lonely. That isolation ate at her, and made her
think that the world was closing in on her. Loneliness was a horrible fate, to
her at least. Maybe she just wasn’t built for this kind of world, for this kind
of life? He stopped, held his hand out, and she stood there, silent, waiting to
see what the next move was. She had no idea where they were going, and maybe
that should have frightened her. But strangely enough she wasn’t afraid of Collin.
He hadn’t hurt her, and had instead protected her on every occasion. It
actually felt right and good to be in his presence. Still, maybe this kind of
attention, affection from him, was something she should be wary of, afraid of
even.