Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Fourteen

Tyler

Y ap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap!

I wake to the sound of a dog barking in the distance, barely heard beyond the grumbling complaints of both the unsteady building and our crabby group. But it gives me hope for the first time since this whole debacle started that maybe there are more survivors out there. It continues to rain outside, though, which means leaving our shelter isn’t quite possible at the moment.

A shiver wracks through my body, making me fully aware of my state of undress. I’m wearing nothing but my boxers and Kellen’s jacket. Though it smells like him and oddly comforting, I feel at a disadvantage not being dressed. Sitting up, I locate my clothes stacked neatly in Kellen’s lap. We’ve slept away the afternoon and it’s growing dusky in our already darkened shelter. The few cracks on the outer walls that let in natural light don’t reveal anything aside from the steady stream of rain.

Careful not to wake everyone, I quickly pull on my clothes and shoes. By the time I finish, Kellen’s steady breathing has gone still. When I glance at him, his eyes are open and he watches me. Warmth tickles through me, chasing away the last of my chill. Before the dive and all hell broke loose, I’d felt the sparking attraction between us. I thought, perhaps, he was putting off gay vibes, but it wasn’t until we starting flirting that I confirmed it.

Kellen is so not my type. Hell, he’s probably as old as my dad would be if he were still alive. I’m not looking for a sugar daddy. He’s good-looking, though, in a classically handsome sort of way. Ruffled and now sporting a little scruff on his cheeks, he’s more real and attainable than he was when I first met him.

A little flirting at the end of the world never hurt anyone…

No, our fucked-up situation does that all by itself. I mean, sharks? Who’d have thought they’d be in the damn building. I sure as hell didn’t. Seeing Brian’s dead eyes and torn flesh will haunt me for a long time. And losing Frannie? That one especially hurt. I wasn’t strong enough to save her.

Now that I’m fully dressed again, I take in Kellen’s appearance. His jaw is tight and I can see the muscles in his neck are flexed. He’s in pain.

Fuck.

I was so exhausted after today’s hellish event that I completely forgot about his injury.

“Did you have anyone look at your wound?” I croak out, voice hoarse as though I’ve been screaming for hours straight. I suppose almost drowning will do that to you.

He gives me a slight shake of his head. “Everyone’s been sleeping.”

I scan the landing where the seven of us have crowded onto. Beside Kellen is my backpack. It’s no longer filled with the water bottles, which must have been transferred to the trash bag, and once again houses my belongings. I reach over and pull it into my lap. Unzipping it, I discover the first aid kit and my flashlight sitting on top.

“Here, hold this,” I instruct to Kellen after I switch on the flashlight.

He takes hold of the light, fingers brushing over mine. I like that his fingertips feel slightly rough for someone who probably never did a day of hard labor in his life. It goes with his whole “rugged survivor” vibe he has going on.

“At least it’s not a shitty kit,” I say as I turn the first aid box over in my hands. “It’s not waterproof but still shrink-wrapped in its original packaging. We’ll get some use out of it.”

I tear into the packaging and toss it away. Flipping open the plastic case, I take note of the three-hundred-seventy-piece kit. It’ll be quite useful for properly sanitizing and dressing Kellen’s wound.

“Can you unbutton your shirt?” I ask as I pilfer through the box for what I’m looking for.

He grunts in response, setting the flashlight down on the floor so it points upward. Once he’s unbuttoned it, he lifts his undershirt to reveal the mess underneath. The makeshift tie bandage is gone and the sling portion rests on his taut stomach. I try to focus on the wound and not the fact his abs seem to be carved from stone. For a man of his age, he has quite the body.

“I need to clean it out first. This is probably going to hurt,” I warn him as I open one of the hand sanitizer packets to sanitize my hands. Then I don a pair of blue sterile gloves included in the pack. “Point the flashlight where I can see.”

The light dances across the stairwell before landing on his angry cut. It gapes open and leaks blood. Though it’s red around the edges, it doesn’t appear to be infected yet. The sooner we address this, the better. I tear open an alcohol pad and gently swipe around the cut. He hisses at the burn of it.

“I know,” I mutter. “This sucks. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you,” he says, voice low and tight with pain. “Thank you for…everything.”

His appreciation for something so simple as cleaning up his wound has uncomfortable heat burning my cheeks. In my family, we just do what needs doing because that’s the way it is. No one is sitting around waiting to be complimented for their efforts. His appreciation isn’t needed.

I use another alcohol pad to dab inside the wound a bit. It’s the best I can do with what I’ve got. There are also antibiotic ointment packs. I open one of those and make sure to squeeze the contents into the gaping hole just below his ribs. With a cotton-tip applicator, I smear it all around. Once it’s applied, I use some butterfly closures to keep the wound together. I then cover it with a gauze dressing bandage.

“Lean forward,” I instruct. “I’m going to use this conforming gauze roll to wrap around your torso and keep it in place. It’s self-adhesive, so we should be good so long as it stays dry.”

Kellen sits up and slightly lifts his arms. Carefully, I place some of the gauze roll over his bandage and then roll it around his back. This puts our faces close and I can’t ignore the way my stomach tightens in response. Now’s not the time to get hot and bothered by this man.

Focus, Tyler.

I manage to finish wrapping him up without accidentally pressing my lips against his. Based on the heated look in his eyes, he couldn’t exactly ignore the fiery connection that sparkled between us just now.

Clearing my throat, I sit back and clean up the mess I made before stuffing the kit back into my bag. Once I settle into my spot beside him, I feel much better about his wound.

“Sorry I can’t offer any pain relief,” I say once the light is turned off, once again bathing us in darkness.

He leans his head against mine. “I’m good now.”

Grinning, I take hold of his hand again. “Yeah, me too.”

“You’re a grade-A asshole,” Hope hisses, snapping me awake. “It should have been you down there who died. Not them.”

Kyle’s lip curls up and he sneers at her. “Fuck off, Barbie.”

Gerry gives her a slight shake of his head. Her nostrils flare in anger, but she doesn’t say another word.

“What’d I miss?” I grunt out, side-eyeing Kellen.

He glowers at Kyle and mutters, “He was just saying how Brian getting cut on the vending machine was distracting. That he could have gotten more food if he wasn’t so focused on worrying about him, which, in the end, was a waste since he died.”

Kyle, ignoring everyone, strokes his fingers through Barb’s hair. This guy is a dick, but he doesn’t deserve to die for it. No one does. Yet, if he keeps antagonizing Hope, she might feed his ass to the sharks.

Hope busies herself distributing water bottles to everyone but Kyle. I guess she figures he can fetch his own water. She then passes out several packs of peanut butter crackers for breakfast. Elise clings to her side, no longer crying but nearly catatonic. We all eat our meager rations in silence.

I’m pretty sure I hear the dog yapping again in the distance, but a rumble of thunder silences it. Waiting around for help or until the bad weather passes is getting old. It’s boring and claustrophobic around here.

“Hashtag?” Kellen asks, running a finger over my forearm. “Who tattoos a hashtag on their arm?”

I snort out a small laugh. “Not a hashtag.”

Kellen smirks, lifting a brow in question. Rather than answering, I reach over and dig around in my bag until I find an ink pen.

“Tic-tac-toe.” I grin at him as I draw an O in the center of the grid. “When me and Jesse were younger, we went to a lot of court hearings where Aaron was trying to get custody of us after our parents died. They were boring as hell. We’d play tic-tac-toe on our arms to pass the time.”

Kellen takes the pen from me and leans in closer. “You’re always the Os?”

“Always.”

His hand curls around my forearm, holding it in place as he slowly draws an X in the top left of the grid. Electric pulses dance across my skin from his touch.

“I didn’t know your parents were dead,” Kellen says, waiting for me to place my O somewhere. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I say with a scoff. “They were moon maniacs. Dad literally shot Mom and then offed himself because of it.” Anger blossoms in my chest at the thought of them. “He wasn’t brave enough to take us out too.”

“Fuck,” Kellen utters, shaking his head. “That sucks.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Life’s better with just me and my brothers.” A bitter laugh escapes me. “Well, it was.”

He doesn’t offer any more condolences, which I’m grateful for. Losing my brothers is too hard of a topic to think about right now. We take turns until I beat him. Then I lick my thumb before rubbing off all the ink. Again, we play another round. Over and over, we play, our moves pretty evenly matched, neither of us carrying a big winning lead over the other. It reminds me of my brothers in a good way rather than a depressing one and passes the time, which I’m okay with.

The dog starts yapping again in the distance. I break from our game to glance at Kellen.

“Jesse always wanted a dog, but the landlord where we live won’t allow one.” I crane my neck to listen for the sounds of where the dog might be. “Hey, I think it stopped raining.”

“Should we go onto the roof and take a look around?” Kellen asks. “See if we can survey the damages without the storm trying to take us out?”

Despite him being the boss of all these people, I like how he consults me. Like we’re apocalypse partners.

“Are you up to it?” I ask, dipping my head to indicate his wound.

His half grin is sexy and makes my stomach flutter. “Thanks to you, I’ll manage. Feeling lots better.”

I rise to my feet and then help him to his. He picks up his jacket and gingerly puts it back on. It’s torn all to hell and bloodstained.

“Better take the ax with us,” I say, smirking at him as I pull on my backpack. “People might think you’re an actual zombie and not just a corporate one.”

He flips me off but dutifully hands off the ax. The others look at us expectantly.

“Sit tight,” Kellen instructs. “We’ll assess the situation and be back to make a plan.”

Kellen opens the door and steps through it. The wind is blowing and it’s still sprinkling a bit, but the worst of it is hopefully gone. Seawater swells and splashes against the side of our building, however not as intensely as it was when the cruise ship blasted through here.

“Holy shit.”

Kellen’s barely uttered words have me coming to stand beside him. The scene before me is hard to comprehend. It’s like something out of one of Jesse’s video games.

This can’t be real.

There’s water everywhere. Almost like I’m on one of Aaron’s charter fishing trips in the deep sea, except instead of standing on the Angler-traz, we’re perched on some random building in the financial district. I don’t know what I expected when I got to see what was left of our city, but it wasn’t this.

The number of buildings sticking out of the water I can count on two hands. Everything else is just…gone.

We’re never getting out of here. No one is coming to save us. Miles of ocean as far as the eye can see completely surround us. We are so fucked.

Despair claws its way up inside me.

What’s the damn point? Kellen should have let me drown rather than revive me. This is all too much to take.

The dog starts yapping again, snapping me out of my rapid crash into hopelessness. I scan the few buildings around us, trying to pinpoint where it’s coming from. About a hundred yards away, I see movement on a fire escape landing.

Squinting, I notice it’s the same Chihuahua I saw on the elevator what feels like a lifetime ago. Its elderly owner is nowhere to be found. How the poor pup made it from this building to that one is unknown to me, but I’m sure it was extremely terrifying. He’s lucky to have survived.

“We have to save it,” I grunt, dropping my ax to the rooftop beside me.

Kellen finally breaks his silence and whips around to glower at me. “Are you kidding me? You’re not swimming in that water again .”

Ignoring him, I yank off my backpack, jeans, shirt, and shoes. Once I’m ready to swim, I make it to the edge of the building to assess the murky, churning water below the surface.

Kellen’s footsteps crunch on the loose gravel behind me. His hand curls around my bicep and squeezes.

“I said no,” he growls.

Snapping my head to look at him over my shoulder, I bite back, “You’re not my boss, Kell. You may be theirs, but you’re not mine. I’m going to rescue that dog.”

A flash of terror gleams in his eyes, lurking behind his sudden anger. “You can’t! You’ll get yourself killed just like Frannie and Brian!”

“I’m saving the damn dog. End of story.”

His jaw muscle ticks as he affixes a hardened glare on me. It may work with his subordinates, but not on me. That dog will die unless I help it. It’s all alone with no food or water.

I pull my gaze from Kellen’s and survey the choppy waters once more. If there were sharks, I’d see their dorsal fins. I think I’m more at risk from debris and actual buildings beneath the surface than another shark encounter. Still, a shiver of apprehension skitters down my spine.

“Please,” Kellen rasps out. “Don’t do this. I can’t save you if shit goes south.”

“I don’t need rescuing,” I grunt out.

He opens his mouth to argue some more, but I use the element of surprise to my advantage. I tug from his grasp, take a running jump, and then land feet first into the water, which is better than headfirst.

Quickly, I kick back up to the surface, not eager to be underwater so soon after my near drowning. When I emerge, I can hear Kellen bellowing my name behind me. A wave swells toward me and I barely keep my head above it.

The dog starts barking in earnest now that it sees me in the water. I take a huge breath before swimming hard against the wave. Once I make it over it, I let it pull me toward the building where the dog is making its presence known to the world. Kellen doesn’t stop hollering my name, which is mildly annoying but easily ignored.

Something scrapes against my leg and I shudder to wonder just what all is floating around beneath the surface. There could be jagged pieces of metal or hunks of concrete or massive glass shards. Not to mention dead bodies and sharks. In the water is not my favorite place to be, but I can’t leave the poor dog all alone.

If Jesse were here, he’d get that dog.

I’m doing this for my brother.

The swell of another wave sends me hurtling to my destination but quicker than I expect. I hit the side of the concrete on the building, knocking the breath out of me. Something hard bangs into my arm.

That’s going to leave a bruise.

Grunting with exertion, I fight against the waters as I’m tossed continuously against the side of the building until I reach the fire escape. The dog is on the landing another level up. When I finally climb from the water, I’m battered and exhausted. I don’t know how in the hell I’ll make my way back with a dog in tow. Didn’t really think that one through too well.

“Tyler!”

Kellen is pissed based on the way he stalks up and down the ledge of the roof like a ferocious lion. So much for apocalypse partners. Guilt niggles at me for going rogue. I really fucked that one up.

The dog howls pitifully and scratches at the metal, trying to get to me. I take my focus off Kellen and use the last of my energy to climb the ladder until I reach the landing. I step over the railing and don’t even have to bend all the way down to pick up the dog. It launches itself several feet from the ground right into my arms. A laugh bursts out of me as it starts licking my chin and jaw.

“Hey there,” I say, grinning at the happy pup. “And just yesterday, I didn’t think you liked me in the elevator.”

The dog yaps, tongue lolling out before licking me again. I squeeze it to me, kissing the top of its furry head. Its collar jingles, drawing my attention. I grab hold of the metal circle hanging from the soaked collar to look for its name. Pretzel.

“Pretzel? Is that your name, buddy?”

Pretzel howls and whines. I snuggle him to me. Since his owner is nowhere to be found, I’d say it’s safe to assume she perished when the tsunami hit. There’s no telling how long this poor dog was here, exposed to the elements without food or water. My heart aches knowing he was all alone.

“Not anymore,” I murmur. “You’ve got me now.”

“Tyler!”

I point to Kellen. “Him too, Pretzel. He’s super pissed I rescued you, though.”

Beyond Kellen’s yelling and cursing, the whistles of the wind and sloshing waves, and Pretzel’s barking, I hear something else. A rumbling sound. A motor perhaps?

I attempt to shush the dog, but he’s too happy to be rescued. I’m scanning the horizon when something rounds the side of the building.

A boat!

This one is manned, too. I can see people on it. Kellen has stopped yelling my name and is now waving wildly toward the boat. Pretzel yowls and I also wave to the newcomers.

We’re going to be rescued.

This nightmare will soon be over.

As the boat comes into view, I recognize it. My heart hammers double time inside my chest. Is this a dream? This can’t be real.

Voices holler from the boat.

Voices I know.

Voices I love.

Holy shit.

“Aaron! Jesse!” I bellow, hot tears filling my eyes and causing me to choke on my words. “Here! Over here!”

The Angler-traz’s motor cuts off and then it drifts with the waves until it’s bobbing between me and Kellen. Jesse launches out a floating life ring that’s attached to a rope. I scramble down the ladder and into the water with Pretzel tight in my grip and then grab onto the life ring. Clinging onto it with one arm and the dog in the other, I let Jesse reel me in. When I reach the side, a teenage girl materializes in time to pull Pretzel from my arms. Then both of my brothers are there, grabbing my biceps and hauling me onto the boat.

“You’re here,” I croak out in awe as my brothers take turns squeezing the life out of me. “You came for me. How?”

Aaron takes my face in both of his hands, grinning at me. “I knew you were in the financial district when the waves hit. If anyone could survive, it’d be you.”

We hug again, this time for longer. Both of us tremble as tears of joy escape us. Once composed, he pulls away to look at me again.

“When the rain stopped, we came looking for you. I heard someone yelling your name, so we followed the sound. And then, there you were. Randomly holding a dog in nothing but your underwear on the side of a building in typical Tyler fashion.”

I snort out a laugh. “About time you showed up.”

Aaron’s grin slides away as he looks past me at the fire escape. “Tabby?”

Guilt sluices through me. If I’d known this shit would go down, maybe I could have forced Tabby to come up to the top with me. It’s doubtful, but I could have tried.

“There’re only seven of us and she’s not one. I’m sorry.”

Aaron bows his head, pain etching his features. I hated Tabby, but Aaron cared for her, and I don’t like seeing him upset. He swallows hard and then nods as though accepting my answer. “All that matters is we’re together again.”

“What happens now?”

“We get the hell out of here and to dry land, little brother.”

Thank God.

It’s almost over.