A Warm Place 3 - A Post-Apocalyptic Men's Adventure Page 4

  He aimed and fired fast as fuck, and put a bullet in the brain of one of the wolves, killing it instantly and dropping it like a bag of bricks.

  Luckily, I managed to perform just as well. I aimed and fired my own pistol, and I shot out the thing’s left eye, blowing the back of its skull off in a disgusting spray of gore. It joined its brother, skidding to a halt and sending runs of snow shooting up before coming to a rest. I looked around, eyes wide, heart thundering, blood pounding, ready for more wolves. But there didn’t seem to be anymore in the area.

  “Willow!?” Markus called.

  “Markus!?” came a response a few seconds later. “Oh thank God! I need help!”

  We jogged over and he tried the door. “It’s locked!”

  “Fuck! Hold on!”

  We heard grunting, a cry of pain, something being knocked over, something glass breaking, more grunting and heavy steps, and finally the lock disengaged and the door opened up. A very pale woman with glasses and dark hair, maybe my age, fell onto her ass as it did so. It was obvious that the wound was in her thigh and she’d done a hasty job patching it up.

  “Ah hell,” Markus muttered as he came in and crouched by her.

  “Who are you?” she asked, staring at me, grimacing.

  “Chris. I’m here to help,” I replied.

  “Markus?” she asked uncertainly.

  “So far he ain’t seemed full of bull,” Markus replied distractedly as he stared at the wound. “Shit. I’m gonna have to take these bandages off and redo them.” He looked up at me. “Go on to the third cabin. You can see it from here, dead ahead from the front door. Door should be unlocked. Stretcher’s in the tub, medical cache is under the sink. Bring it back here.”

  “On it,” I replied, and stepped back outside.

  I swept the area again for wolves, saw nothing but the corpses, slowly leaking blood from their ruined skulls, and focused on the third cabin. I could, in fact, see it. Just barely, through the trees, maybe fifty yards distant. Holstering my pistol, I set off at a jog. The next several minutes passed quickly as I shifted between the trees, dodging, knowing I had to get there and back as quickly as I could for more than one reason. The snow crunched beneath my boots and the trees raced past me as I dodged them, trying hard not to run face-first into one of the frozen trunks while also keeping an eye out for wolves.

  A few moments later, I came into another clearing the third cabin was built into and took the minimum amount of time necessary to check around the outside, then tried the handle. It wasn’t locked, as promised. I pushed the door open, gun in my hand now, in case any of the asshole arsonists had decided to call this place home. But as I stepped inside and looked around, I saw that the place had the feeling of emptiness and abandonment. I went straight for the bathroom door and opened it up. There was the stretcher, bundled up and ready for transport. Dropping to my knees, I pulled open the cabinet doors so hard I almost ripped one off.

  I found a black case that someone had placed two red strips of tape on, crossing them to make a plus symbol. Perfect. Grabbing it, I shook it gently, heard things shift around inside, tested its weight and found it adequate. This was probably what we were looking for. Reluctantly, I holstered my pistol, then snatched up the medical box in one hand and the stretcher in the other, then headed back outside. As I hit the forest and began making my way back to the second cabin, I kept expecting to see something coming after me.

  A wolf.

  A jackoff in a leather jacket.

  Shit, even a bear.

  But I made it back without a problem.

  “Got it,” I said, setting the items down just inside and to the left of the door. It looked like Markus was just finishing up dealing with Willow’s wounds.

  “All there?” he asked.

  “Looks like. Didn’t get a chance to look inside the case,” I replied.

  “It’s locked anyway. I’ve got the key...okay, done.” He stood and offered Willow his hand.

  “I don’t think I can walk on my own,” she said, looking a little embarrassed.

  “Easiest solution would be for me to carry you,” I said, itching to get back. The longer we were out here, the more a chance of something going wrong there was.

  She looked up at me reluctantly, then over at Markus, who shrugged. “He looks a lot stronger than me, and I don’t think I can carry you safely. For either of us. And we need the stretcher for Ian. He’s more badly wounded...I think.”

  “I don’t trust you,” she said flatly.

  “I’ll be right here,” Markus said.

  She still held out and an idea abruptly occurred to me. “Will this make you feel better?” I asked, pulling her pistol from the back of my pants and handing it over to her grip-first.

  She stared up at me in surprise, then slowly reached out and took it, then quickly pulled it from my grasp. “Seriously?” she asked.

  “Yes. You can hold it if you want, just don’t, you know, point it at me. I’m not going to do anything to you, but we have to go. There’s probably more wolves around and this is the quickest, easiest way to deal with this.”

  She sighed finally and nodded. “Fine. Pick me up.”

  Carefully, after making sure everything was firmly attached to my body and nothing would fall off, I knelt and scooped her up slowly in my arms. She felt tense, not that I blamed her, and I stood. By the time I was finished, Markus had the stretcher in one hand, the medical case in the other, and was standing outside the cabin.

  I walked out to join him and we started walking back to the lodge.

  ~

  “So you really just...showed up?” Willow asked.

  We were almost back to the lodge and I’d been explaining my...self, I guess. “Yeah,” I replied. “With three others. We’ve been heading here for weeks. We’re looking for someone.”

  “Who?”

  “Lindsay.”

  She paused. “Why?”

  “One of the people I’m traveling with, a girl named Delilah-”

  “Oh my God, Delilah actually came here?” she asked, staring up at me with wide eyes from the cradle of my arms.

  “Yeah. You know her?”

  “Lindsay talked about her a lot. She said they used to spend so much time together, but they ended up splitting apart before everything went to hell. And this is where they’d meet up. But Delilah never showed...fuck, I can’t believe she actually made it. That’s so nuts. Lindsay’s been here for like six months now, waiting.”

  “When was the last time you saw her?” I asked.

  “A few days ago...I hoped she survived.”

  “Lisa said she saw her today, she’s somewhere out here.”

  Willow looked relieved. “That’s good, at least. Probably looking for her damn cats.”

  “Cats?”

  “She, among other things, tended to a few cats. She lived in a former pet shop. She helps people’s pets, she used to be a vet. Or was training to be one, anyway...so you’re like Delilah’s boyfriend or something?”

  “Something like that,” I replied.

  “Hmm.”

  “What?”

  “I got the impression that Lindsay like...liked her, you know? I wonder if that might cause problems.”

  “I guess we’ll find out.”

  “You don’t seem too worried.”

  “Given the fact that I just walked into a disaster area and promised to help, I’ve got bigger concerns at the moment.”

  “Why’d you promise to help?”

  “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

  “Because it’s weird. People see something like this, they’ll at best turn around and go the other way, or at worst try to take advantage...you know Lisa’ll shoot you in the face if you try to fuck her over, right?”

  “She told me as much. Don’t worry, I’m not here to cause problems, I’m here to fix them.” I paused. “But I guess it takes time to build trust, so just...let me work, I guess. Eventually you’ll all figure out that I’m not some fuckhead in disguise here to rob you blind or kill you in your sleep or something.”

  She didn’t seem to know what to say to that, and we didn’t speak the rest of the way back to the lodge.

  This time, I actually got to go inside. There was Nate, and two other people. A man and a woman. The man was laying on a couch, his leg bandaged more heavily than Willow’s. He looked very pale and weak. I thought he and the woman beside him might be a couple, from their body language. Yeah, he was gonna need a stretcher.

  “Aw shit, Willow,” Nate said, and his expression seemed abruptly torn between worry for Willow and white-hot contempt for me.

  I parsed that in about three seconds: he had the hots for her. Whether she felt the same way was in the air, but she didn’t seem interested in me at all, and although I would fuck her if she was interested, I was plenty fine not getting involved with this.

  “I’m fine, Nate,” Willow replied with a vague but practiced irritation that made me think they’d been bugging each other for months, if not years. I walked her over to a second couch and carefully set her down, then stepped back and away from her.

  “I’m going back,” I said.

  “Why?” Markus asked.

  “Those two wolves, that’s several meals’ worth of meat, and we all need it right now. Is there a sled or something we could use to bring them back?”

  “Yeah, actually,” Markus said. “That’s a good idea. All right, try not to take too long. We’ll get ready while you’re gone.”

  “Yep,” I replied, and quickly left the lodge.

  ~

  All in all, I thought this was off to a good start.

  Perhaps even a great start, considering the circumstances.

  I managed to make it back to the second cabin, grabbed each of the wolves by one of their hind legs, and started dragging them back through the woods, and got them back to the lodge without running into any other wolves or impediments.

  So that was nice.

  By the time I got back, everyone was outside. The injured man was laid out on the unfolded stretcher, and Nate was carrying Willow, while Markus and the woman were making final preparations on the sled. It wasn’t very big, and I can see why they didn’t think to use it to haul either of the injured people. There were some supplies on it already: some tightly folded clothes, a backpack that might’ve held anything, the medical case, and several cans of food tied very tightly together, all held in place with some bungee cords.

  “Perfect, just in time,” Markus said as I approached.

  We got the wolves onto the sled and applied another bungee cord to hold them in place. I stood up and looked at Markus.

  “We’re gonna be relyin’ on you if something happens,” he said, somewhat reluctantly. “Linnie and I are gonna be holding up the stretcher, Nate’ll be carrying Willow, and none of us can just drop our load to shoot a wolf or a raider. So the responsibility will be yours.”

  “I can handle it,” I replied.

  He scrutinized me for a bit, then nodded once, tightly. “Fine then. Let’s go, people! We’ve got a long, hard day ahead of us.”

  And with that he rejoined Linnie, the woman I’d seen in the lodge, and they each grabbed an end of the stretcher and lifted it up. Nate readjusted his hold on Willow, she grimaced but otherwise held silent, and I grabbed the leashes of the sled and set out.

  I took the lead.

  ~

  It was a long but thankfully boring walk back across the snowy wastelands. The only anxiety-producing part was crossing the frozen river, and only then because we were paranoid about it. Nothing happened and we continued on our merry way afterwards. There was enough going on and distracting me or forcing me to pay attention that not a whole lot was running through my head. I considered trying to strike up a conversation with someone, but decided against it. I’d probably squeezed about as much good favor out of our initial encounter as I could. I was honestly surprised they hadn’t shown me more distrust than they had.

  Maybe I was getting more personable?

  I had to admit, there was a really good chance that traveling for weeks with Megan and Delilah, and then Elizabeth, as constant companions had upped my charisma game. I never thought of myself as particularly charismatic, but I could be reasonable and, perhaps on some of my best occasions even charming now and again. But one thing I was not was disarming. I made people nervous, now more than ever.

  How much of that was something I could change?

  Maybe more than I had initially anticipated. I thought I’d had a lot of luck since arriving here this morning, between my interactions, getting the motel room, and being entrusted with these important jobs. If I had shown up by myself, they’d probably have just told me to fuck off. Or hell, maybe they’d have decided not to risk it and just shot me outright. Or maybe that was it: the women who were with me. Maybe I hadn’t gotten any better at anything, it was just the fact that I had three disarming women traveling with me.

  Dana had made that point.

  All of my thoughts abruptly ceased as we got within about fifty yards of the town, or what was left of the town.

  Someone screamed.

  It was a clear and obvious sound, despite the distance. Sound and light travel quite well in snowbound environments, especially when the winds die down, like they had over the past hour. And I thought I knew the voice that had just screamed.

  Elizabeth.

  “Stay here!” I snapped, dropping the sled and sprinting off, pulling my pistol out.

  That wasn’t a ‘you startled me’ scream or an ‘I tripped and hurt myself’ scream. That was a panicked, terrified scream. I don’t know what had happened, but if any single one of those motherfuckers had hurt or even tried to hurt her…

  I was already starting to see red as I finally got to the buildings. Panting heavily, shaky with adrenaline, I got up to the edge of the building on the right side of the street, the side our motel was on. Edging along the outer wall of what had once been that Tex-Mex place, I listened carefully. Someone was shouting orders, a man. He sounded panicked. Someone else was talking, or trying to talk anyway, sounding calm but direct.

  Lisa.

  Shit. Fuck. This was bad.

  I got to the corner and looked around.

  Everyone was frozen in the street, staring at two people maybe halfway down it, and I felt my guts freeze and shatter as I fully realized the situation.

  Someone was standing in the middle of the road, and they had a gun to Elizabeth’s head.

  FIVE

  For a few seconds, I couldn’t breathe.

  I was so consumed by pure, white-hot rage that I almost, almost lost my shit and just bumrushed the fucker. But something in me kept control, something in me warned me that if I went at this without a level head, she might die.

  Would probably die.

  And then I saw something, behind them both, creeping up the street.

  Megan.

  With her rifle, getting into a good shooting position.

  Fuck, if someone looked at her, gave her away…

  I had to get in there and distract the fucker. Part of me was aware that maybe it wasn’t the best idea that I get involved, I was too pissed off right now. But another part of me recognized that my present state was as good as it was going to get, and I was getting involved regardless. So I guess I just tried to make the best of a bad situation as I headed out. I rounded the corner of the building I’d been ducking behind and began walking right towards Elizabeth and the dead motherfucker putting a gun to her head.

  Pushing my way through a crowd of people, I listened to Lisa trying to negotiate with him.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  I could see Megan getting into position now, aiming the rifle. Did she have a good shot? I seriously doubted she’d risk Elizabeth’s life if it could be helped.

  “Just...stay back!” the man snapped. His eyes were bugging out and he looked a little delirious, but I couldn’t confuse the look on his face with any kind of psychosis or drug-induced haze or drunken behavior. He was here, he was mentally checked in, and what’s worse, I could read a sort of sick satisfaction in what he was doing. “Send two more bitches over here with backpacks full of food! Understand?!” he demanded.

  “Okay! Just...don’t hurt her,” Lisa replied. She was playing for time but I thought it would only be so long before he noticed someone looking not at him but behind him.

  “Then do it! Hurry up! Or I blow this pregnant slut’s head off!”

  I was surprised that Elizabeth wasn’t crying, but the look on her face spoke more of shocked terror than anything else.

  Abruptly, Megan stood up, slinging the rifle and pulling out a pistol instead.

  She must not have been able to get a good shot. She began moving forward, trying to be silent. He was going to hear her boots in the snow, shit.

  I stepped forward out of the crowd.

  “Let her go,” I said, and I didn’t even have to try and pull myself up to my full height or be intimidating, because my near total fury was making that my natural state. The man immediately turned to face me, some part of his brain probably instantly recognizing me as the biggest threat. “Right fucking now.”

  “Back off!” he snapped.

  “You aren’t going to shoot her,” I said, taking a step closer. “Because you know that the second you do, you’re fucking dead. Let her go right now, and I won’t kill you.”

  It might have been a lie, I honestly couldn’t tell in the moment, but I could see fear and doubt begin to cloud his face.

  He made the next potentially logical move, in his mind at least, and pointed the gun at me instead, keeping his other hand firmly around Elizabeth, holding her in place.

  “Back off and I won’t have to kill you,” he snarled.

  That was the signal Megan apparently needed, because she suddenly dashed forward.

  What happened next happened fast and all at once, it seemed.