Wake the Dead (20 page)

Alex pointed to the left, meaning to sweep the store systematically until they found their target. However, he was suddenly distracted upon seeing the sporting good section and paused to inspect the area.

“Selina, over here a minute,” he said, moving toward that section. Once they rounded the corner, they could see that several glass cases were already broken into and their insides ravaged, however, many arrows and other supplies remained. “Would you like a knife to go along with that other pig sticker?”

Selina laughed at that. “I'm fine with this, Lancelot,” she teased, drawing the desired frown from Alex. “Get what you gotta get and let’s get moving. I wanna get in and out of here as fast as possible. I don’t like this place.”

“Fair enough,” Alex said, sifting through the arrows and finding a handful more carbon arrows that he grabbed and tossed into his pack. As he was about to leave, Alex noted a very nice Swiss army knife left in the case and, kicking at the rear of the case, managed to get it open. He bent low to retrieve the knife, grabbed it, but when he stood, he witnessed two figures standing before them cloaked by the darkness. Each of the pair had a gun pointed at either of them. As they entered into the light, he recognized two men, both looking a bit haggard, unshaven and jittery.

“What we got here?” said one of the two.

“We might be having a party, Ted,” said the other, gesturing with the barrel of his weapon to Selina. “You wanna watch yer girl get hers?”

Alex said nothing and instead looked in the immediate area for something—anything!—that would aid them in this dire situation. The bow and arrow would be too slow for him to use in this close proximity.

“I wouldn’t,” Alex suggested through clenched jaw as Selina held her weapon, tip out toward them.

“I don’t wanna kill you…we just want to know where you hang your hats. Ain’t that right, Sammy,” said the other, blonde haired man, moving closer to Selina. “You better put that down afore Ted there shoots ya, sweetie.”

“Fuck you!” Selina barked angrily.

“I really don’t wanna have to kill ya, little lady. Now, I’d put that weapon there down, or I’m gonna shoot you,” warned the one named Ted, a dark haired man with a full beard. Both were smaller than Alex was, but both were also armed with pistols, which gave them a distinct advantage. “You got a car around here with supplies? You two sleeping in your vehicle? Talk!”

Think, Alex
! he thought angrily.

“I’d rather die than tell you anything,” Selina said through gritted teeth as one of them closed the gap between them, avoiding stabs and thrusts from her, but not easily. Then Alex watched in horror as the man, sensing that Selina knew how to handle the weapon, fired a shot at her. It all happened so fast that Alex saw the discharge of the weapon and Selina fell backward, dropping the weapon and the flashlight in one fell swoop.

Alex could only see blood on her right arm at first and wondered how badly she was wounded, fearing the worst. Ted, the shooter, was closing the gap and stood over her now, slapping her and falling over her, yelling for her to give up their location. He had to hurry. He was not going to let anything happen to this woman. Not another friend would be mistreated or worse while he still drew breath. Such was his vow he’d only recently taken during his fishing excursion, and it was his final pledge to honor Sara’s memories.

Alex finally saw something that would give them a chance—a chance at a much-needed distraction. He looked down on the floor and saw a discarded gun just lying there. Alex bent down to pick it up, not knowing if it was loaded, a toy, or something else altogether, but it was something. However, when he bent down to grab it, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his skull and neck. His world went fuzzy and began to fade. The ground rushed up to meet him and he found himself lying on the floor among broken glass and a cold, hard surface.

Sporadically, he could see the two men slapping at Selina, shaking her hard and he saw the blood dripping from her arm. He could hear Selina screaming, fighting and kicking in between clouds of blackness. He shook the pain and everything from his head and tried to stand, slowly. As he pushed himself up, his hand found a thick shard of glass, which he grasped in his left hand. He felt the glass cut into his flesh and used the pain to aid him in his effort. He was unsteady, but through sheer force of will, compelled himself to continue. His right hand curled around the hilt of his hunting knife as he unsheathed it.

Before either man could turn, he was upon them, one to his immediate left and the other directly in front of him, kneeling over top of Selina. He jammed the broken piece of glass through the blonde man’s neck, blood erupting from the wound, and then, with the collective anger and pain of his losses, he jammed the knife directly into and through the dark haired man’s skull.

Blood slowly seeped and intermingled with man’s dark locks as Alex used the handle of the knife as a handle, yanking the man off Selina before he too collapsed.

***

Alex heard what he believed to be a gunshot.

Pain resonated in his head. That was the only thing he could sense immediately—pain.

His neck and head ached as if someone had crushed them in a vice, as the sound of the gunshot reverberated in his ears. He felt hands on him and panicked, his right arm shooting out to grab his assailant—a blob was all that he could perceive—by the throat.

“Alex!” he heard through the pain and blurriness. “Stop! You’re hurting me!” His vision cleared and Selina was in his grip. He let go immediately and his eyes broadened in shock. Alex looked around and saw the results of what he could have sworn was a dream; or a nightmare, really.

A pair of dead men lay on the floor, off in the far distance, and Selina, a rag tied around her right arm, was leaning over him.

“I'm so sorry, Selina….”

“Sorry for what, you dumb ass? You saved my life. Again.” She leaned over him and hugged him tightly. “I am forever in your debt, Lancelot.” She smiled at him, and in spite of the scene around him and all of the horrors that accompanied it, he felt the warmth of that smile transport him to a place of peace. In that very instant, he was able to shut out the pain, the anger, and the many losses he’d suffered, and truly felt a harmony that he hadn’t felt in a long time…not since he first met Sara.

“This is gonna sound silly, but everything is fuzzy. What exactly happened?”

“You saved me from those assholes. They were going to kill me if I didn’t talk. maybe worse, who knows? They wanted to know where our camp was…where our vehicle was. But you killed
them
, instead,” Selina explained. Alex rubbed his head, tried to stand but felt dizzy, and instead, fell to his backside against the floor, staring up at her. “Don’t try to move yet.”

“I don’t really remember anything. I mean, in that instant,” Alex stated, noting that the palm of his left hand was bleeding.

“Yep, you took a nice hit to the head. That dumbass there clubbed you with the butt of the gun. You stabbed that one there in the neck with a shard of glass and then killed that one there with your knife.” She stood, retrieved the weapon and handed it back to him. “I cleaned it for you.”

“Oh, right. Now I remember,” Alex stated, recalling now the gruesome deeds and simultaneously dropping his knife as pain resonated in his left hand when he attempted to test its flexibility.

“Let me wrap that for you, I just found a clean cotton shirt and soaked it in peroxide,” Selina added, bending low and tying the rag around Alex’s wounded hand.

“And I heard a gunshot…I think?” Alex asked, trying in vain to shake free the pain from his hand and the ringing in his ears.

“You did. The man you stabbed with the glass, he became a zombie shortly after he died, couldn’t have even been five minutes I don’t think. So, I shot him,” she explained, nodding her heard toward the remains of the blonde man. “My sword was over there,” she pointed, “but his gun was right next to me. I had to use it, he was too close.”

Alex nodded. “Why didn’t they kill me if they were just going to try to get the answers from you?”

“I have no idea…maybe you were plan B,” she said, bending over him and dabbing at the back of his head. When she pulled the rag away, it was smattered with blood. “I'm just glad they didn’t….”

“Man, that fuckin’ hurts,” Alex winced. “Shit, how long have I been out? Is Shadow—“

“He’s fine,” Selina was quick to interrupt. “After I killed that joker, I quietly made my way back to the vehicle to see if they came in from the back or if they found the mini-van. Shadow was alone, still locked inside the back and he was lying down. Now, relax.” Alex did finally exhale slowly, leaning forward and allowing her to dab at the wound.

“Are
you
…okay?” Alex asked sheepishly.

“I'm fine Alex. You got ‘im before he did any real damage.” Alex was relieved at hearing that, though he remained stoic. Her shirt was torn open from the neck down revealing hints of a pink bra, and a tear could be seen on the front center of her left pant leg. Her face was bruised, too, blood dripping from a cut on her left cheek.

“I meant your arm…,” Alex said, tapping the cloth that covered her biceps.

“Oh, my arm? He grazed the skin. It’s not all that deep. I'm in better shape than you, it seems.” Again, she smirked at him and he could not help but feel a very real sense of lucidity at the genuine kindness of her smile. He nodded, retrieved his fallen knife absently, and returned the blade to its sheath. She knelt down and stared into his eyes, leaning closer and once more dabbing at the head wound. Her scent washed over his senses, she was so close, her chest against his face and he swallowed hard.

“You should get some ice on that pretty face of yours.”

She stared at him again, closing the gap between them very slowly, leaning in, her lips moving close to his. He did nothing, unsure of what she was doing at first. Then she kissed him, much to his surprise…and delight.

Alex reflexively recoiled, not expecting it, as he banged his head against the wall. “Ow, damn!” he whispered as Selina backed away, but remained on her knees, eyes level with his.

“I'm sorry, Alex. Are you okay?”

“Um, yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean….“

“It’s okay. Surprised me too!” she rebutted. “But, I feel…something for you. I don’t know if it’s real or not, but it’s
something
.”

“Me too,” he admitted, dabbing at the wound himself, which seemed to have stopped bleeding.

“Is it okay if you…I mean we…made love?”

“Now?” Alex asked incredulously. “Here?”

“Yes, you dumb ass! I don’t know if we will ever get the chance again,” she exclaimed, staring at him wide-eyed. “Besides, who the hell knows if we’ll even live through the night in this crazy world?”

“You don’t have to do this if you feel like you owe me something.”

“Are you really…?” she uttered dejectedly. “You don’t get women, do you?”

She lingered for a long time as Alex stared back at her, literally becoming lost in pools of green, the shade so pure that he equated them to a pair of emeralds. Her pupils also exhibited hints of gold around them, adding to the unique beauty that was Selina. He could see more than a modest hint of disappointment reflecting in those eyes, and he did not want to be responsible for that.

He was suddenly overwhelmed by his emotions, grabbed her wrist forcefully, and yanked her back to him, this time kissing her hard on the lips.

She responded in kind.

At that moment, Alex forgot about the pain in his head, the wounded wolf in the car, and every other thing that they had to accomplish. He was fully overtaken by lust. Suddenly, he came to his senses and pushed her away, holding her at arm’s length.

“I don’t want this for us. I don’t want this to be just about sex,” he said tenderly. She stared right back at him, removing her shirt, then her bra.

“I don’t either, Alex. But like I said, we might not be around tomorrow for me to express myself. Trust me in that I know what I am doing.  I feel something for you—now!—and I want you to make love to me. Is that too much to ask?”

He said nothing and simply kissed her hard again, pulling her in. He stiffened beneath his jeans and she sensed it, kissing him deeper and abruptly standing, unzipping her pants and letting them fall to the floor, revealing a pair of black boyshort panties, hanging low on her hips that pleasantly hugged her curves.

She stood staring back at him for a moment, knowing Alex was drinking in her body. His eyes fell over her in appreciation and again, he swallowed. He felt like a kid in high school suddenly, likening the anticipation to a time when he was about to have sex for the first time. He watched hypnotically as Selina let her panties drop to the ground, stepping out of them.