Foamers (14 page)

X uppercutted the other man in the chest with the knife. The blade made a sucking
sound as he twisted free. The foamer rocked off the blade, falling to a heap.

Fenris snarled and bit down on the huge shoulder of the foamer pinning Kade. The
foamer backhanded the dog away. Kade used the opportunity to get his knee under the
foamer. Tiny came to the scene and crashed the butt of the farmer’s shotgun into
the foamer’s face.

As the foamer recoiled, Tiny hooked Kade’s arm and hoisted him to his feet. Kade
ignored the pain in his side as they scrambled into the bed of the truck. Tiny and
Ashton stood in the middle, facing out the back, while Kade and X watched opposite
sides of the truck.

The three foamers spread out to the back and sides of the truck while Fenris barked
and snarled. Tiny hit the release on the breach and checked for a cartridge.

“Ammo?” Tiny asked.

“Empty,” Ashton said, and X shook his head.

Kade’s side was zippered open and he was slowly getting frostbite, but he was smiling.
His sister and friend were alive and well; after all he had lost, at least he had
them.

“That’s Alpha Ritchie,” X said, indicating the foamer that had pinned Kade.

“I just wrestled one of the best MMA fighters?” Kade asked.

“No,” X laughed. “You got your ass kicked by an MMA fighter.”

“He does look a little out of shape.”

Tiny closed the breach on the shotgun. “Boys, you can ask for his autograph later.”

The two foamers with Alpha were winter-clad females in puffy coats, hats, scarves,
and gloves. The brunette stepped on the tire and clambered over the rail of the truck.
X grabbed her by the jacket and spun her into the center of the bed.

“Tiny,” X said as the shotgun echoed through the night, blasting the foamer in the
chest. The impact sent the body toppling over the tailgate as stuffing from the jacket
floated to the ground.

“That was our last shot,” Tiny growled.

“I can’t hurt a girl,” X replied.

Tiny flipped the shotgun around, holding it like a bat. “No time for chivalry. I
wanted to save that shot for Alpha.”

A foamer moved toward the truck, but Fenris blocked her path. That’s when Kade noticed
the peppered pink jacket and buckshot healed into her cheek and recognized her as
the foamer he had shot at in the dorm. The ingrained buckshot looked like unground
pepper. In Kade’s mind, her name became Pepper. Alpha rushed to her side. Fenris
lowered to her haunches but held her ground.

Alpha wrapped a massive arm around Pepper’s waist and flung her away from the truck.
She rolled across the ground, getting back onto all fours and facing Alpha. From
deep in her throat, a growl emanated. Alpha huffed and nodded toward the woods.
The growl subsided and the foamers galloped away from the road, alternating between
two legs and all fours.

Kade lowered the tailgate for Fenris, and noticed for the first time X and Ashton
were both wearing red-and-black flannel jackets. Ashton’s hung big around her, like
a little girl in her father’s coat.

When Kade turned around, Ashton threw her arms around him, practically knocking him
off the back of the truck. He squeezed her, and she squealed as the air was forced
out of her. The flood of emotion threatened to overwhelm him. Between the child,
old man, and now finding his sister alive his emotional intake was over flowing.
He couldn’t believe he had found her.

X tipped his hat toward Kade. “I’m thrilled to see you, but you look like hell.”

“Thank you. I knew I could trust you to take care of Ash,” Kade said, not letting
go of his little sister.

X rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Tiny. “I’m surprised you let him out
here.”

Tiny shrugged. “I didn’t. The idiot decided to come looking for you two.”

“What can I say? I missed you guys,” Kade said. The pain crashed into him, causing
his legs to go wobbly. Ashton helped him take a seat. Fenris licked at Kade’s wounds,
and he shoved the dog away.

“For not liking dogs, you seem to be starting a collection,” Ashton said, smiling
at him.

“I found you,” Kade said as his eyes drifted shut.

The next thing Kade was aware of was a cold breeze slicing his skin as he blinked
his eyes open. His body felt weightless as he ascended toward the night sky. The
stars reminded him of a Lite-Brite from his childhood.

He dangled between the first and second floor of Lambian Hall, in a mattress that
had been gutted of its springs to create a fabric pouch. The rope ran from the third
floor to the fourth, where it looped over an extended metal rod, which gave the mattress
enough distance to be vertically hauled without toppling the cargo.

“Pull!” Tiny yelled from inside, where the rest had formed a line.

Inside the room, X held the rope closest to the window, followed by Tiny, Grace,
Ashton, and Mick. John sat outside the door with his feet braced against the frame
and a pair of work gloves on as he anchored each pull of the rope. Argos sat beside
the window, ignoring the sniffs of Fenris, who was inspecting her new companion.

“Pull!” Tiny yelled.

Everyone in the line gripped the rope in both hands and leaned forward, backs flexing
with the rope over their shoulders. John wrapped the slack around both his hand
to keep the rope taut. Tangling his hands in the rope would be unwise under most
circumstances, but in this case, John would have to lose his arms to drop Kade, and
he would pay any price to not let his new friends down.

They continued the routine until Kade reached the windowsill. At that point, Ashton
and Grace went to the window to pull him inside.

“Don’t worry about being gentle. Just get his ass in here,” Tiny said, as they strained
their muscles to keep the rope from letting the mattress slide.

Ashton leaned out the window and scooped her arms around her brother. She hugged
him tight and pulled his upper body to the window. While she hauled him over the
sill, Grace grabbed his feet, and they gently set him on the floor.

John wrapped the rope around the door handle; then, using the tension to help, he
jumped to his feet and tied the rope around both handles in a bow line knot.

“Boy Scout or sailor?” X asked as he dropped his hands from the rope.

John stood straight and gave him the Boy Scout salute of three fingers. X returned
the salute and raised it a wink.

“They call me X.”

“John. I’m—”

“Stray, you and Grace head to guard duty,” Tiny ordered. John shut his mouth and
gave her a nod from which his head never rose. He went like a broken animal to the
doorway to wait for Grace.

Grace threw her arms around Ashton, and said, “We’ll get caught up in the morning.”

“I have so much to tell you,” Ashton said, her eyes beaming with joy.

Grace went to John, placing her hand between her new friend’s shoulder blades as
they left the room. Fenris, curious as to what else could be out there, pranced after
them.

Mick and X lifted Kade onto their shoulders. He slumped between them, struggling
as best he could to support himself, but was little more than dead weight.

“It’s good to have you back,” Mick said to X, and then added, “we could use the extra
hands.”

“Don’t get sentimental, copper,” X replied.

* * *

John stood in the corner of the roof, opposite Grace. He held a red-and-black, fifty-pound-pull
compound bow across his hips. After he shot Kade, he decided he should stick to what
he was good at, and, being an avid bow hunter from a young age, this was his specialty.

The carbon fiber arrow he had knocked on the bowstring had a broad head tip, which
was an arrow that had three razor blades that came together in a point. Unlike a
bullet, it was not likely to kill an animal at the moment of impact. The animal would
attempt to run with the razors slicing apart its innards, until eventually the animal
would bleed to death. It would be a slow and painful way to go.

And John would envy that animal. “Stray” this, “Stray” that; he was a person, but
no one around here seemed to notice. He might not have been a part of the cohort
from the beginning, but he was here now, and, unlike some of the others, he wasn’t
going anywhere. Kade reminded him of a big brother he’d never had. Grace was truly
skilled in so many ways he could never understand. Tiny, as awesomely badass as she
was, was the meanest one.

They didn’t have to give him some special New Guy award, and he knew he had to prove
his worth, but a little kindness was all he wanted. He liked them, and he liked it
here with them. Already they were more of a family to him than his own blood had
been, even though his pride was constantly wounded by this group.

Grace left her post and crossed to where John stood, lost in thought. The cool night
air danced with thick flakes of snow, accented with a sharp wind that cut through
Grace’s sweats. The gurgle of the creek could be heard clearly in the still night.
Still as the night was, there were plenty of things creeping in the darkness.

John jumped when Grace placed her hand on his back, and he dropped his arrow out
of the guide. She bent down to grab it at the same moment he did, and they slammed
foreheads. The impact knocked her to the floor of the roof. The bright moonlight
lit her eyes like blue candlewicks in a dark room, and illuminated her sprawled-out
blond hair like a halo around her head.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” John asked, offering a hand to her.

Grace coyly smiled at him and patted the surface beside her. John set the bow on
the roof and lay next to her. He put his hands behind his head as he stared at the
sky. This was his favorite time of the year for stars because Orion the Hunter was
visible. That was one of his favorite stories, and it had been much of his motivation
for becoming excellent with a bow.

“How are you doing with the Primal Age?” Grace asked.

“You mean besides being the outcast, and a coward, and shooting Kade on my first
day? Other than that, I’m good,” John said, immediately regretting his sarcasm.

“Hell of a first day,” Grace said, mocking him.

“Could it get any worse?”

Grace rolled to her stomach, tucking her hands under her chin. “Your brothers could
have sprung a surprise attack while on the way to Houghton, wrecked Mick’s car, shot
Kade, and killed one of their friends. Then, to save Tiny, you could have had to
shoot your own brother with a double barrel at point-blank range. That could have
been your first day.”

John’s eyes went wide. She had him beat. The idea of killing his own brother tied
a knot in his gut. In the movies, this would be the moment the hero kissed the heroine
who was pouring out her heart. So he should kiss her. That’s what he would do. He
would kiss her. Punctuating his thoughts with a nod, he rolled toward Grace and tipped
his chin.

Her hand met his puckering lips and shoved his head away. John stared between her
fingers at her face, where a half-smirk had settled. It was the Did You Really Think
You Had a Chance? smirk that John knew too well.

John hopped to his feet. He hoped that she couldn’t see his flushing cheeks in the
darkness. She ran a soothing knuckle along his spine.

“Sorry,” John said, desperately searching but unable to find anything to add to it.

Grace moved in front of him and grabbed the collar of his shirt with one hand. She
stood as tall as she could on her tiptoes, barely making it to his jaw line, and
gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“It’s a
maybe later
,” Grace said. “Just ’cause it’s the end of the world doesn’t
mean I’m easy. You’re going to have to work for it.”

John smiled, accepting the challenge.

___________

Xsat on the bed with Ashton while Tiny searched through dresser drawers for medical
supplies.
Argos sprawled by the door, studying Tiny’s every move. Mick had left to get rest
before his next round of guard duty. A handcuff clicked shut around Kade’s wrist
and attached him to the bed post. This was Tiny’s way to guarantee he wouldn’t do
something stupid again.

Tiny’s parka swished with every move she made. Frustrated, she unzipped the front
and dropped the heavy coat. X whistled, for which Ashton playfully slapped him, as
Tiny rummaged while only wearing her sports bra and spandex.

Kade tipped his head back far enough to see Tiny’s exposed back. The sharp lines
of her lats flexed across her shoulder blades while she searched for supplies. A
dry cough shook through him, snapping his head forward. He reached for his mouth,
but the chain of the handcuffs pulled taut. He pulled against them a second time,
but all the strength he could muster wasn’t even enough to swat a fly.

“Is he going to be okay?” Ashton asked.

“I’m fine,” he replied.

“He lost a lot of blood. It’ll be awhile until he’s 100 percent, but he’ll live,”
Tiny replied as she came to the bed carrying an armful of bandages, sanitizers,
and tape.

“How’d he lose the blood?” X asked.

Tiny gripped what was left of Kade’s shirt and tore the side open. He hissed in pain
as the air bit at his wounds. Tiny glanced back at X. “The Stray shot him.”

“An accident,” Kade added.

“An accident,” Tiny confirmed.

“Where did you get him, anyhow?” X asked.

Tiny splashed rubbing alcohol unceremoniously over the wounds. “The prep school across
the creek.”

Kade gritted his teeth as Tiny casually ran a gauze pad across his remaining stitches.
He didn’t know if he was too weak for painkillers or if this was her way of getting
back at him for sneaking off. Either way, he was afraid to ask her. If he was too
weak, that meant he’d be unable to be a productive member of the cohort; if she
was punishing him, asking her about it would only make it worse.

“Where is everyone?” Ashton asked.

Tiny’s hand stopped mid-wipe as her brown eyes found Kade’s. Without saying a word,
he could hear her telling him he should be the one to inform them. With his free
hand, he ran a thumb along Ashton’s cheekbone. Ashton was definitely making a face
at him, but he didn’t care. Of all the things he’d lost, Ashton was found. His hand
dropped back to his side of its own accord, not of his choosing.

“I was wrong about the Wilson brothers. They turned on us and killed Lucas,” Kade
said.

“What about Grace?” Ashton asked. She was safe; finally, after all the time he spent
waiting, he knew she was safe.

“Grace killed one of her own brothers to save Tiny, and she’s turned the dorm into
a fortress,” Kade responded, stretching his shaking arm toward his sister. He wanted
to touch her to make sure she was real.

“Wow,” she said, gripping Kade’s hand in both of her palms. “I’m not sure if I’m
more surprised she had to do that, or that Tiny needed saving.”

“And then Victoria left us for a military scouting party,” Kade added.

Tiny worked along Kade’s side, inspecting which stitches were damaged. Ashton sat
beside X, who silently processed what Kade had said. Kade was thankful for X’s approach;
this was what it was, and they had to move forward. Had he been explaining this to
Mick, he would have needed to disclose every little detail.

“Thank you for keeping her safe,” Kade said to X, clenching his eyes as Tiny tugged
on a loose stitch.

Since his eyes were closed, he didn’t see his sister thread her fingers between X’s,
whose lips pulled into a wide grin.

“X has something to ask you,” Ashton said.

Kade felt like a guitar as Tiny plucked through his stitches; each strum sent notes
of pain through his body. No matter what she did to him at this point, he didn’t
care; today was a good day. X had safely brought his sister back to them.

X rolled up his sleeve to show his bandaged arm. “Do we know if a foamer bite is
contagious?”

Kade’s mind retraced every line of Damian’s letter, hoping to find something that
told him the bites weren’t contagious. These weren’t zombies or vampires, but they
were creatures born of a flu, which gave their condition a logical chance of being
contagious. There was no information that could prove they weren’t.

His eyes settled on X and they shared a long look. He wished he had an answer. An
understanding smile spread across X’s face before he gave Kade a wink. His disposition
faded to an expression of resigned fate, and he swung his body around, lying on the
bed behind Ashton.

“Well, better cuff me up for a couple days. Least I can keep you company,” X said.

Ashton twisted at her torso and put a hand on X’s chest. He reached back and patted
her shoulder. Kade saw none of this because Tiny was dressing his wound.

“Tiny, any idea?” Kade said, lying in the fetal position with his eyes squeezed shut.

“I’m a medic, not a doctor. I need to find a hospital. Between the ambulance and
the infirmary we’ve got a lot of basic stuff, but we don’t have anything for advanced
injuries. If this were any worse, you’d be dead,” Tiny replied as she rubbed ointment
over Kade’s wound.

“As soon as I’m healthy, we’ll go,” he said.

Tiny opened a gauze pad and patted the mesh into the antiseptic.

“That’s not soon enough,” Tiny said as she peeled off a second gauze pad. “Let me
take Mick and John. It’s about twenty miles to the nearest hospital. We’ll take one
of the pickups and be back before you know it.”

“Wait—” Kade was cut off by her hand pushing the gauze against his side. He gritted
his teeth as he clenched his face into something that resembled a pug. Ashton and
X both watched as Tiny smoothed the gauze pad onto Kade’s side.

“We can’t just hit pause till you’re healthy. Deploy your troops,” Tiny said.

Kade panted, struggling to clear his mind enough to let a thought pass. Every choice
he had made so far had come with a negative consequence. Much as he didn’t like the
concept of sending anyone out there without him, he was less qualified than most
of them, anyway. If Tiny thought this was necessary, then—

He grunted as Tiny laid the next gauze. He knew it was her way of telling him to
hurry.

“Succubus.”

“You only wish.”

“Go. But please be careful.”

* * *

Sarge’s squad drove a zigzag path northwest toward the Niagara military base. Their
orders were to map and itemize every store and supply cache they came across. Before
the vaccine went out, they all had pasts that were better forgotten in the empty
shell that was once their country. They had new names and new lives that were more
rewarding than before. None of them ever wondered what had happened to their families.

In the passenger seat sat their leader, Sarge, who had all the skills to have been
the perfect soldier, fit to rapidly climb the ranks and one day be somebody. An additional
skill he possessed, one that kept him from glory, was honesty. He was honest to a
flaw. He had no issue telling his superiors what he thought as it crossed his mind.
This type of behavior constantly kept him from promotions and with enough extra
PT duty for the entire base.

They were nearing the Niagara base, but it had only taken fifteen minutes after
leaving Houghton College for Victoria to wonder if she had made the wrong choice.
The message to Kade had served its purpose, but wandering off with four men she had
never met might not have been the most intelligent of choices. The man to her right’s
biceps were bigger than she was wide, making any attempt to physically defend herself,
if the need arose, completely hopeless. If they wanted to harm her, she would be
at their mercy.

The thought of that alone had her nauseated for an hour before Sarge noticed her
uneasiness and assured her they weren’t barbarians. He asked her why she was so anxious
to leave Houghton, and she told him about her connection through Damian, and the
way Kade and the others all treated her like she was beneath them. Sarge told her
that they had all felt out of place before the Tribe, but now they all had a home
and a purpose.

She couldn’t hope for more than that.

* * *

Alpha circled the carrion, his hands and feet leaving imprints in the snow. He was
on all fours, with his knees tucked under his chest, supporting his upper body on
his knuckles. His elbows bent as he sniffed at the remains of one like him.

The surrounding trees had been shattered and many had fallen. The trees that still
stood were splintered.

Alpha had witnessed it all. The big thing with the two light-projecting eyes—that
wasn’t like him or the trees, but like a moving rock. The swiveling antenna on top
had looked around like an eye, and then, when it saw one like him, it roared, and
everything burst. Trees, others like him—the roar ripped them apart all the same.
The one like him that had been killed was nearly torn in half and sprawled in such
a way that its feet lay beside its head.

The snow was a vibrant red in the morning light, disrupted only by Alpha’s dark
form as he circled the corpse to its open midsection. Alpha sank his teeth into the
entrails and tore away a mouthful. The one Kade called Pepper and a second one like
Alpha cautiously approached with their heads low to the ground.

Alpha sidestepped the corpse and strutted toward Pepper with his head held high.
The second one like him scooted back, always facing Alpha, but not lowering his
posture. Pausing before Pepper, Alpha’s eyes flicked toward the surrounding trees.

The thick trunks couldn’t hide the crunch of footsteps in the snow. Others like them
were watching from the shadows of the trees. Alpha took a long, deep sniff, swelling
his chest with air, and then let out a snort. Extending his arms and collapsing
his legs back, Alpha lowered himself to Pepper’s level. He bent his neck until his
forehead touched the top of her head. Then he slammed his hands off the ground, throwing
his weight back onto two legs as he stood to full height and spun away from her.
He faced the trees with his torso lowered and his arms outstretched, inviting a charge.

Pepper lifted her head and bounded to the corpse. She bit down on the first part
of the body she came to, but her bite was blocked by a sleeve. Pulling back with
a wrinkled brow, she moved down the length of the body and struck again at the shirt-covered
ribs. Her jaw worked back and forth like a saw, but she still couldn’t feed herself.

The second of Alpha’s kind kicked up snow as he rushed over and buried his face in
the corpse’s innards. His mouth worked furiously to chomp on as much as he could.
Pepper shoved him with both hands, rolling him away from the body. As he righted
himself, he glared at her with a crimson face, his lips pulled into a snarl. Pepper
responded with a rumble from deep in her throat.

He crashed into her, and they locked arms to shoulders, like the antlers of two competing
bucks. Forcing Pepper back over her own feet, he pinned her on her back. He exposed
her face and neck by slamming his hands into her elbows and forcing her arms into
the thin sheet of snow. His teeth aimed for her throat as she emitted a high-pitched
cry.

Alpha barreled at the two fighting bodies. His charge crashed into the aggressor
and the two rolled across the ground, scraping at each other until they came to a
halt with Alpha underneath. Alpha coiled his legs around the inside of the attacker’s
thigh as his arm crossed under his challenger’s left arm and grabbed the wrist of
the right arm. From some place in Alpha’s empty mind came the knowledge of what to
do, as if his body had done it thousands of times before. Alpha wrenched the right
arm across the body, pulling on the tendons all the way down the arm and pinning
the left arm straight. The attacker tried to roll, flexing his body, but Alpha’s
hold remained true.

Alpha’s hand clenched a handful of the opponent’s hair and yanked his head to the
side, giving him a clear shot at his neck. His lips curled back as his jaw stretched
open. He bit down hard on the foamer’s jugular and ripped down the length of his
neck, shredding the vein.

Blood poured down Alpha’s face, jacket, and throat as he sealed the wound with his
mouth. His eyes rolled back as he basked in the warm life force flowing into his
body. The aggressor withered and squealed as he grew more still until, at last,
he lay limp in Alpha’s hold. Alpha shoved the pale body off and rose onto two legs.
Letting out the loudest roar his human vocal cords would allow, he pounded his chest,
showing off his dominance to those who watched from the trees.

From the shadows, nine more like them crept forward. Pepper hopped to Alpha and they
faced the half-circle of creatures before them. A rumble emanated from Alpha as he
lowered himself onto all fours.

The leader of the troop looked along his troop’s line, which returned Alpha’s growl.
Beta was the dominant member of the others, which would not have been assumed by
looking at him: He was the runt of the pack and had a dopey demeanor. He snapped
his jaws once to the members on his right, and then once more to those on his left.
The rumbling stopped as the members of the troop sat back on their haunches.

Beta kept his head held high and sauntered forward. His knuckles left divots in the
fresh snow, until he stood before Alpha, who still had blood dripping from his jowls.
The two leaders faced one another. Alpha sneered down at Beta, who was half his height
on all fours. Beta’s troop tensed in preparation to charge. Pepper’s lower lip quivered
as she looked from Alpha to the pack.