Apokalypsis , Morris, Kate [best classic romance novels TXT] 📗

“Shit,” Stephanie said under her breath, clearly worried.

“Hang on,” he told them and fought the deep ruts in the snow as the truck waged its own battle of machine versus mother nature.

They made it to the bottom of the road, and he slid into his left-hand turn, which was fine because there wasn’t any traffic coming in either direction. Then it was up another hill and off to their left again. It was a white-knuckle drive for the passengers, but he felt no fear. For Tristan, it took a lot more than driving in adverse weather conditions to panic him.

“Avery said her family would come over into this neighborhood and park to watch the fireworks every Fourth that the county let off at the fairgrounds,” he told them. “There’s supposed to be a small park at the end of this street. We’ll leave the truck there and walk in. Where we’re going is two streets over.”

“What about you, Tristan?” Roman asked. “You were shot last night. Are you sure you can walk far?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered honestly. Before he left the house, he had plunged a tiny dose of local anesthetic into his side to numb the pain from the wound so it wouldn’t slow him down. It should last a few hours or so. Good enough for the tasks at hand.

“Where’s the other girl?” Roman asked.

“Two are supposed to be at this house,” he told them. “The other is a few miles outside of town. Our buddy Jeff said it’s a sketchy place, more like a bunker in the woods kind of situation. He sold her to a man there.”

“Great,” Alex said. “Glad that asshole’s dead.”

“Everyone, lock and load,” he ordered as he pulled into the small community park. Tristan cut the engine after parking near a dumpster and a tall wooden fence at the end of the city park’s parking lot. He could see swings moving in the wind, a security light buzzing and snapping and flickering. It made him uneasy. “Memorize the route we take in. If something happens to me, get back to the truck. I have a key hidden under the bumper in a small magnetic box. It’ll always be there if we get separated from now on.”

“We should stick together,” Roman said.

“I know, but if I go down, you’d better get to this truck.”

Alex said, “We will. Same for everyone. We stay together unless it goes south. Spencer knows that if we’re not back by noon that whoever survives will try to make it to that country-western bar. It’s only a few streets over. Do you guys know where?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Stephanie said, and the other two agreed.

Tristan reminded them, “The bigger picture is the younger ones back home. This is all to protect the kids so they can survive. We have to think about them.”

“Let’s not screw this up,” Stephanie said.

“Get the girls. Kill the bad-guys. Get out,” Tristan said and half turned in his seat.

“How do we know who’s bad?” Stephanie asked.

“Anyone in there is bad,” he answered. “Don’t worry about it. If they’re in this house where girls are being abused, they’re there for it. They’re in on it. Kill them all. Jeff said there would probably be two or three dudes in there. Don’t hesitate. Got it?”

“Got it,” she said firmly.

Tristan wished Spencer was with him, but there were bound to be situations like this when they couldn’t work together. He had to get these kids trained and ready, and there was no better time than the present. He felt slightly better since Roman and Stephanie were wearing borrowed Kevlar vests.

They exited, he locked the truck, and they sneaked quietly across the park, avoiding the lighted area. Tristan was highly aware of the fact that the infected ones could be anywhere right now. It was only just completely dark, so they’d be out on the move, hunting, feeding, and whatever the hell else they did. Unfortunately, covert missions were also better done at night.

“This way,” he whispered and led them behind the weathered brown, tongue and groove small building labeled for restrooms on one side and staff-only on the other. Then they went down a short hill and ended near a ball field. He wished he had some night-vision gear, but the occasional street lamp gave off a slight bit of phosphorus lighting.

He led them toward another building with a small sign out front that read, “City Garage.” There were two school buses in the lot, a big snow plowing truck, and a few pickup trucks.

“Hey, we should come back here,” he said, pointing to a gas tank. “Syphon it and…”

“Shit!” Stephanie screeched and lurched backward, stumbling into Roman. He caught her before she fell, just as one of the infected ran at her from around the corner.

Tristan drew his dagger and lunged. Alex did the same, and they were able to tackle the madman to the ground.

“Hold it!” he ordered during their wrestling match. It was so strong.

“Kill it!” Alex returned in a lot louder voice than Tristan would’ve preferred.

Tristan was able to get an arm free and stabbed the thing in the thigh. It howled. Then it screeched loudly, too damn loudly, even louder than Alex. It would surely draw others.

“Hurry, Tristan,” Alex said with urgency.

He grappled as Alex also struggled.

“Oh, shit!” Stephanie said. “Guys, hurry the fuck up. We’ve got more coming!”

“What do we do, Tristan? Shoot?” Roman asked.

Finally, he got his arm free enough, swung a leg over, and straddled the thing. Then he stabbed down straight into its heart. Within seconds, it stopped beating, and the thing ceased thrashing around. Alex was already up and on his feet. He extended a hand and pulled Tristan up. His side was getting sore already, and he hoped wrestling around with that thing hadn’t opened up his wound.

“Where?”

Roman pointed from the direction they’d come, from that park probably.

“Let’s move!” he whispered and turned.

They ran as fast as they could through the snow and