Waves of Fury (Surviving Earth Chronicles)

Chapter Nineteen

Kellen

A nother gunshot goes off, echoing all around us, but I have no time to see if anyone got hit. Mike clearly didn’t spend the past few days locked in a flooded building with little to eat, drink, and with zero sleep because he’s not easy to take down. I managed to disarm him, but he’s landed several dizzying punches across my jaw.

There are more of us than them.

They’re not taking Hailey or hurting any more of our people. We’ll make sure of it.

Since no one is screaming in pain or grief, I’m hoping that means the discharged weapon didn’t strike anyone. I continue wrestling with the younger man, trying my damnedest to get the upper hand. He manages to flip me onto my back and produces a pocketknife out of nowhere. The dull blade presses into the side of my neck, no doubt bruising the flesh but not puncturing it.

I manage to knock the knife out of his hand. A sharp bite across my skin makes me grunt, but it’s shallow enough I know it’s not anything to be worried about. Mike gets his hands around my neck, but then I flip him until he’s beneath me, pulling from his tight grip. I land a punch on his nose, cringing at the sound of breaking bone. Mike groans and gurgles as blood gushes from his nose.

“Don’t. Fucking. Move.”

Every muscle in my body goes rigid as the masculine voice booms from above me. It takes all of two seconds to realize the shotgun barrel entering my vision from the right is not pointed at me but at Mike. I glance up to see Kyle shakily holding the weapon.

Jumping up, I leave Mike on the ground, moaning in pain, as I quickly take in the state of the rest of our group. Tyler has a shotgun pointed at Gunter, who’s sitting on his knees, and Aaron has Nicky’s rifle pressed into the little shit’s back.

We overpowered them.

Thank God.

Judy and Dan now have both their kids pulled to them, the four of them all crying but clearly grateful for the turn of events.

“What do we do?” Kyle asks, bitterness in his voice. “Kill them?”

My stomach twists at that thought. I don’t want to be like these pricks.

“He said there’s rope in the back,” I grit out in a near whisper. “Tie him to the back of the smaller red truck.”

Kyle, only seemingly mildly disappointed at not being able to make a mess of Mike’s skull, nods and then orders the man to his feet. Tyler also has Gunter rise as well. Jesse takes the opportunity to kick Gunter hard in the balls.

“What the fuck?” Gunter snarls and then gags, spewing barf mixed with chewing tobacco all over the ground. “You smashed my fucking nuts!”

Tyler smirks at me as he forcefully pokes the gun into Gunter’s back, urging him toward the back of the smaller vehicle.

Wayne and Gerry join to help tie the men up. These assholes threatened to kidnap and rape that poor girl. None of us are going to go easy on them. Only when the three dickheads are trussed up painfully to the bumper of the truck do we finally ease up as a group.

“Search the red truck,” I bark out to Kyle and Hope. “Take what you can. We’ll be using the other truck to get the fuck out of this place.”

While they start searching the red truck, I stride over to the blue extended cab Chevy and open the back door behind the driver’s side. The truck is a goldmine of supplies. A tactical bag bulging with handguns and ammo sits on the seat. Two more shotguns lie across the floor.

Tyler opens the other door and his eyes widen when he sees the loot. “These dudes were planning for war. Holy shit.”

It’s unnerving to think we may not be the first group they’ve tried to intimidate and kidnap from, but it’s not like we can call the police. And killing them, though it would be deeply satisfying, isn’t an option. This is America. The world may be falling apart, but some of us still believe in doing the right thing.

The right thing in this case is tying them to the truck and hoping a bear finds them.

Tyler closes the truck door and then appears on my side. I pull back from rummaging under the seat to look at him.

“What’s up?”

His features are hard and his eyes glisten. “Thank you.”

Before I can register what he’s even thanking me for, his arms are around me in a crushing hug. Unable to let the opportunity to touch him pass me by, I wrap him up in a tight embrace.

“You’re welcome, though I don’t know what for.”

He scoffs, his breath tickling my neck and sending tendrils of desire straight to my crotch. “For helping take down those guys. They were seconds from stealing that girl and blowing my brother’s big head off.”

I run my fingers up his spine and he shivers. “We have to look out for each other.”

“I know,” he says, voice hoarse as he slightly pulls away but doesn’t completely release me. “I can still thank a guy for being a badass.”

Lifting a brow, I smirk at him. “A badass, huh?”

His lips curl into a wicked grin. “Yeah. Pretty sexy too.”

Heat floods through me, electrifying every nerve ending in its wake. He thinks I’m sexy. Old-ass me. This guy is great for my ego, that’s for damn sure.

“Sexy, huh?” I tease. “You’re really milking this tip. It’s a good thing I pay extra for compliments.”

He leans forward, his lips brushing over my ear. “You got about ten times hotter when you changed out of your corporate zombie outfit into this one.” His fingers twist around the material of my shirt over my abs. “Rugged looks good on you, Kell. Really good.”

Someone says something close by that has Tyler pulling away from me. I take a step toward him, needing…something…but stop when Gerry rounds the back of the truck.

Dammit.

If all these people weren’t here with us, I’d have shoved Tyler against the side of the vehicle to kiss his youthful lips that know all the right things to say to set me on fire.

But we’re not alone.

Back to the whole surviving gig, which quite frankly is getting old.

The earth starts grumbling again and I grab Tyler’s hand on instinct. All around us, the trees sway back and forth, creaking and groaning. Branches snap and then a whole tree crashes to the ground. My teeth seem to rattle inside my mouth as we ride out yet another terrible tremor, which lasts longer than the ones last night.

Almost over.

Any second now.

Instead of calming, the shaking intensifies. A sharp cracking sound echoes from nearby and then makes its way toward us. The ground beneath Gerry splits open, revealing a twelve-inch gap. He hops over it, shooting me a terrified look.

Another loud crash of a tree falling over is followed by crunching and shattering glass. I whip around to see a massive oak has landed right smack dab in the middle of the camping office, obliterating the damn thing.

“Is it ever going to stop?” Tyler croaks out, hands squeezing mine.

The ground continues its complaining and then several seconds later, it dies down until there’s nothing to be felt aside from the chilly breeze whipping at us from the west.

Tyler frowns in the direction of the wind, expression pensive. “It’s a little cold for this time of year.”

He’s right.

Had it been this chilly when we’d been trapped at the top of the building, we’d have all died of hypothermia.

“Come on,” I say to Tyler. “We need to grab our gear, make a pit stop at the general store, and then get on the other side of that mountain.”

“You think it’s safe over there?” he asks, searching my eyes.

“I hope so. Anything’s safer than where we’re at right now. For all we know, California is about to fall off into the ocean like every moonie’s been predicting since Gerty first hit.”

Tyler cringes but gives me a nod of understanding. I let go of his hand so he can help me round up the others. Gerry, with his back to me, stares down at the huge crevice that’s formed on the asphalt.

“This is getting bad,” Gerry grunts, shaking his head.

“It’s only going to get worse.” I clutch onto the back of his neck and give him a comforting squeeze. “Which is why we need to get moving.”

Once the truck is loaded up with all our people and gear, we slowly drive away from Gunter, Mike, and Nicky. While we prepared for our trip, they cursed us and called us every name in the book. At one point, I thought I was going to have to physically restrain Jesse from killing all three of them for sport.

Thankfully, we managed to get the hell on the road without casualties. Wayne, who opted to drive, Elise, and Hope took the front bench seat while Dan, Judy, Hailey, and Silas took the back. The rest of us guys piled into the bed of the truck. The plan when we stop at the general store is to send us guys in to raid for more food and water but also to grab jackets for everyone. The sudden drop in temperature is alarming.

As soon as Wayne pulls up to the store, we all hop out. The building is in worse shape than yesterday, no doubt from all the tremors. The windows in the front are shattered and debris flies out of the store, skittering off with the wind.

I take the lead, stepping through the broken glass door and into the building. The floor is sticky from broken soda bottles and I’m not sure, but I think I get a whiff of gas.

“We need to get in and out,” I bark out. “Half of you grab the jackets. The rest of us will grab water and food.”

“I smell gas,” Gerry says. “You smell it too?”

“Like I said. In and out.” I gesture for him to move quickly. “Let’s go.”

The group of us make quick work scrambling around to grab what we need. If there’s a gas leak, all it’d take was another earthquake to ignite the gas and start a fire or cause an explosion. I want to be far from here if that happens.

I stuff my pockets with protein bars and little bags of nuts before grabbing a case of water near the broken drink coolers. Jesse rushes past me on my way out the door, arms full of various jackets. Looks like he just scooped up the entire rack.

I’m just loading the truck when the ground begins to shake again.

Fuck.

“Everyone out!” I bellow toward the building as Kyle comes out, arms loaded with canned goods. “Hurry!”

Kyle picks up speed with Gerry lumbering behind him. Aaron darts out next, more camping supplies in his grip. I wait for Tyler to emerge next.

And he doesn’t.

“Tyler!” I yell. “Now! We don’t have any more time—”

My words are cut off when the building begins to crumble. I let out a choked sound as Aaron and Jesse both start for the building.

Ka-boom!

We’re all knocked to our asses as the explosion detonates. I’m vaguely aware of bits of glass and splinters of wood biting into my flesh. As soon as I’m sure the worst is over, I jump to my feet, squinting against the inferno billowing from the remains of the building.

Tyler.

He was still inside.

No!

Aaron lets out a pained cry, so mournful and horrible I feel it deep in the very marrow of my bones.

He’s not dead.

He can’t be. Not after everything we’ve survived thus far.

Seconds turn into minutes and Tyler doesn’t emerge from the flames.

This cannot be happening.