Broken Dreams (66 page)

Chapter 44

s that a school?” I asked in astonishment.It was untouched. The building was brick, one story, and was a decent size. Not too big, but it would be a great size for all of us. We saw a large parking lot off to the right side, and a playground toward the back and to the left. Further back, there was a wooded area that looked untouched, as well.

It wasn’t the same circumstance for every other building that was around the school. Some were just charred remains, others were falling down. There were a few that were untouched. The grass all around was burnt, but that would grow back eventually. The destruction was very random. As we came to a stop, I was thinking that it was possible that some of the damage could be from storms, but I wasn’t quite sure.

“Kind of looks like a school,” Henry replied. A few undeads, in various states of decay, were staggering about. “I’m going to take care of them.”

Henry checked his Sig and tucked it into the usual place. Then he pulled out his favorite long-bladed hunting knife. He always had a “don’t fuck with me” glimmer in his eyes every time that knife made a grand appearance. After seeing how he could wield the thing, I wouldn’t fuck with him.

He threw open the truck door and, without missing a beat, the undeads were attracted to us. They collectively staggered toward the truck. Henry jumped out and slammed the door. He marched right up to the closest one and plowed the knife right into his forehead. I shuddered. As many times as we had seen him in this manner, it was still impressive…although I was pretty sure I would never get used to seeing it.

At first, I watched between my fingers, but then we all watched in amazement as he took the undeads down in record time. In a way, it was a little bit of a turn on, seeing him slay them with such power and ease. Nick sat on edge, his hand on the door handle, just in case Henry got into trouble but, as usual, he didn’t. Once they were all true dead, Nick and Thomas got out and carried the already decaying bodies off into a ditch across the road.

Claire and I watched them in silence while they scoped out the school. They peered through the dusty windows as they walked around the building. I hopped out of the truck as Henry came back over to us. He had a little gore on his face. I wiped it off and, surprisingly, I didn’t gag. Go me!

“Thanks, love,” he said as he tucked a rogue strand of hair behind my ear.

I leaned into him and whispered in his ear, “You looked quite hot out there showing off your mad slaying skills.” He groaned loud enough for only me to hear. He pushed his body into mine, pressing me against the truck.

“I have some other skills I would like to show you later…if you will allow me, of course.” He was feeling insecure about our relationship, just as much as I was. He leaned in closer and nipped at my ear. Instantly, my body was ready for him. I was putty in his hands and he knew it.

“I may entertain your offer.” I looked up at him through my thick, black lashes. He smirked, but then stepped back.

“We’re going to check out the inside of the school. The windows are all papered over so we can’t really see much. I’m hoping it’s abandoned. So get loaded up, love.” I wilted back against the truck. He reached for me. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just wish we had people to do this for us.” He laughed. Apparently, he thought that I was kidding. I wasn’t. As he walked away from me to the front of the truck, he yelled for me to grab an axe. I didn’t want to play that game anymore. Henry hollered for us to come up to the front of the truck. Captain Henry was back, and he was about to lay it all out for us.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Here’s the plan.” I felt like I was on a plane, listening to the takeoff instructions from the flight attendant. “We are going to clear the school. Use your bullets sparingly. Try to use an axe or a knife first.” Then he looked at Claire. “I don’t want you to do anything. Just walk with us. You’ll have your Sig. Once we find a room where you can hang out while we check out the rest of building, I want you to try to rest as much as you can.”

“I’ll try.”

“I want you to lock the door and try,” Nick demanded. “You are exhausted.” When he saw that her eyes began to water, he ran up to her. “Babe…” He grabbed her and held her. She sobbed into his chest. “Talk to me,” he murmured.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t feel well. I keep having contractions. I’m tired, I’m scared, I’m worried about the baby, I’m worried about you.” She continued to sob and curled her free arm around her stomach, as if she was holding the baby, comforting it. It broke my fucking heart.

“I know. I’m sorry.” He brought her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “This may be a good place for us to settle down and have the baby, alright? We’ll see what we find.” He gave her belly a comforting rub, then wiped her tears away. It gave me the warm fuzzies seeing their interaction with one another, regardless of the situation. They loved each another on an amazing level.

Henry jumped back into the truck and drove it around past us. He backed it up against the building so it was out of sight from the road. We all stood near the side entrance, waiting for him. He came around the corner with a rifle slung around his torso. My nerves danced and my throat felt tight as my master locksmith fiancé picked the lock on the side door. He opened it with caution and we all recoiled, waiting for the stench of death to hit us.

There was a lack of the essence of death, which was good because I really feared that. My poor stomach didn’t appreciate the onslaught of the horrific odor of death. We entered the school and, with quiet footsteps, walked through the hall.

We immediately spotted a sign that said CLINIC. Henry held up his fist, signaling us to stop. He touched the door handle. Locked. He pulled out his trusty tool set and, within a couple of seconds, the door popped open. He cleared it and nodded at Nick.

“Claire,” Henry whispered and waved toward the door. She hesitantly approached it. “Stay in here and lock the door.”

“It’ll be alright, babe.” Nick put his hand on the small of her back, urging her inside.

“But…what if something happens to you? How will I know?” He didn’t have an answer for her. She grimaced as the silence continued. He grabbed her arm.

“Claire, please. You need to rest, and you need to stay safe. I don’t want anything happening to you or my little one.” He palmed her belly. She nodded and looked down, and a few tears escaped. Nick kissed her on the forehead. “We will be back for you.” Just before she closed the door, I blew her a kiss. She flashed me a sad smile as she shut the door and turned the lock.

Nick put his hand on the door and his head sagged. He was choking back his tears. I touched his shoulder, and he shook his head. He fought valiantly, trying to not allow his emotions get the best of him.

“It’s going to be okay. I have a good feeling about this.” His jaw trembled as he forced a few deep breaths. We heard Claire sobbing behind the door and it was tearing him to pieces. It took him a moment before he could pull himself away.

We cleared through the majority of the school. We didn’t look into every closet and room that were behind some of the already closed and locked doors, but we were confident all was clear. It was small, but it was beyond grand to us. We discovered a lot of useful supplies. The impression that we got was that it was deserted.

I watched and waited for Henry from the doorway of the cafeteria. He looked ridiculously sexy standing there with his hands on his hips, scanning the room. He turned around and smiled when he saw me.

“Well, let’s bring in our stuff. As long as no one barges in on us, I say it’s ours for now.” Nick took off and jogged down the hall to get to Claire. Thomas, Henry, and I walked down the hall behind him to go out and start unloading the truck.

Once we had unloaded everything, we locked the doors of the school. We chose to live in the first wing of classrooms because they were located in the central area. Our rooms were spaced out a bit from one another so we could have some sort of privacy. I was so happy that we wouldn’t be right next to one another.

The three men went back to the gym and carried all the mats to a bunch of the rooms. It was not quite a bed, but better than the hard floor. They set up Nick and Claire first. She needed to lie down and relax…or try to relax.

Henry and I decided to go check out the pantry in the cafeteria. We were surprised to see that it was fully stocked. Some of it was unusable, unless we channeled our inner colonist. There were hundreds of cans of soups, fruits, vegetables, and meats, and crazy amounts of prepackaged snack foods, juice boxes, and water. I almost felt bad taking it over, but we were in a time of eat or be eaten. I chose to eat.

Henry said he believed that the people from the area must have figured that they were coming back. Either that, or they didn’t have the ability to take the supplies with them. Whatever happened, I was pleased with our find.

I grabbed a couple packages of snacks and water, and headed out to see Claire. She needed some nourishment. Henry, Nick, and Thomas went off to find locks and chains for all the outside doors.

I knocked on her door. “Claire? Are you up? I have snacks for you.”

“Come in,” her voice weakly called from behind the door. I opened it, and she was only in one of Nick’s t-shirts. “Sorry, the pants were getting to me and I wanted something baggy on for a change. I’d go naked, but I don’t want anyone to walk in on me.” She smiled. I had to chuckle over it. I’d known Claire for many years, and walking around naked would be one of the last things she would do.

“That’s fine. You do as you need.” I helped her get situated with the mats and her linens. Finally, she sat down on her new bed and leaned up against the wall. She sighed.

“Finally, someplace I can rest comfortably. Let me just say that being pregnant during an apocalypse sucks…hardcore. Hovering was not working for me, and now that we have a real bathroom, I’m ecstatic. But we still need an abundance of water to flush the toilet. I have to pee, like, nine hundred times a day.” I handed her the bottle of water and the snacks that I thought she would like. She leaned back against the wall and rubbed her expanding belly.

“I’m sorry that you don’t feel well,” I said as I sat down in one of the random chairs in the room.

“I feel awful. Like, really awful. I have headaches, and all this swelling.” She looked down at her ballooned feet and legs. Something didn’t seem right. She was off. Then she tipped her head back with a wince.

“You alright?” I started to get up.

“Just stretching pains. They suck. My entire area is achy. She’s wreaking havoc on my body, the little booger.” She let out a soft smile.

“She?”

“Yeah. We think the baby is a girl.”

“Oh, I hope so! Then we can even up with the boys!” We both laughed and chatted while we ate. Afterwards, I decided to leave her be for a while so she could get that much needed rest.

I headed into the room Henry picked out for us. It was just across the hall, and a few doors down. I loved that each room was equipped with a tiny loo, as Henry called it.

He was stacking desks and chairs to clear out an area for us to put a bed together. I watched him work. He was so efficient. Every movement was calculated and pre-determined. It was kind of sad, actually, but that was how he was. There was no letting go or just casually doing something. It was always going to the max, and with much precision.

“Hey, hot stuff.” He turned around and smiled at me while he straightened out the bedding on the stack of mats. “All of the doors taken care of?”

“Yeah. We found chains and key locks in the maintenance room. Plus, we will lock our room doors as we rest. It’s not a perfect way to keep everyone out but, for the most part, I think we’ll be fine.” I knew what he was implying, but I didn’t want to think about it.

“Good.” I smiled back at him with that look. The one that meant I needed him right then. He knew the look, and took a few quick long strides to stand in front of me. He took my breath away. Then he slammed his mouth down on mine, grabbing my hands and wrapping them around his neck.

“I want you so desperately.” He ground his hips into mine. I felt him right away. “I haven’t stopped thinking about fucking your brains out since outside earlier. You prove to be quite a distraction for me, my love.”

“I like the sound of that…fucking my brains out.” I smiled, and he stole another hard kiss from me. He groaned as our hips rubbed together. He released me for a second.

“You like the sound of that?”

“Yeah.”

“Mmm…,” he moaned. He dove in for another kiss, but he scooped me up at the same time and carried me over to our new bed. When he laid me down, I could see that he was fully ready for me. In haste, I yanked off his shirt. His body wasn’t as trim and fit as it used to be, from his lack of proper exercise and drinking to excess, but he still looked hot to me.

I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down on the bed. I ran my hands down his chest, followed by my tongue, which caused him to moan deep in his core. I made it to his belt, making quick work of it. I slid down his cargos and exposed all of him, thick and heavy. I felt a little empowered, since he was naked and I was still fully clothed.

I ran my tongue up his inner thigh, and he groaned with pleasure. He was becoming unhinged and we hadn’t even got to the good stuff yet. I slowly made my way up, nipping and kissing, and then I ran my tongue up his shaft.

“Oh, fuck, love…,” he rasped. I worked my way around, kissing, sucking, and licking him. He was panting and moaning nonstop.

It had been so long since we had been able to properly be together. On the road, when he wasn’t passed out or when I wasn’t ready to beat him down for his drinking, we would try to grab a quickie when the others were resting. But it just wasn’t the same.

I loved pleasing my Henry. I looked up at him, and he was watching my every movement. I licked my lips and he had a wicked grin. “See something you like?”

“I’d like to see more of it.” He put his hands behind his head, and watched me as I stood up and did a little strip tease for him.