Angered Seasons: Volume Two (Zombies, Aliens, and Meat-Eating Vegetarians?) Read online

  Angered Seasons

  Volume Two

  Zombies, Aliens, and Meat Eating Vegetarians?

  Mireille Chester

  Copyright © 2012 by Mireille Chester

  Published by Mireille Chester

  Smashwords Edition

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any way, shape, or form without the express written permission of the author. For more information, please visit http://mireillechester.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Zombies, Aliens, and Meat Eating Vegetarians?

  The sudden downpour of rain barely registered with me as Max maneuvered the truck onto the highway. I could see him shooting quick glances in my direction out of the corner of my eye.

  “I’m so sorry, Gabby.” His voice was quaking. All I could manage was a small shake of my head. My throat tightened painfully and I tried to rid my brain of the image of Lane getting knocked to the ground.

  We pulled into the yard and Max honked the horn to let the others know we were back. The overhead door opened to let us in.

  Everyone paled at the sight of us driving into the shop without Lane. Jason slammed the door shut and ran around the side of the truck to open the door since I obviously wasn’t going to do it. His dark eyes met mine and fresh tears spilled down my cheeks.

  “Christ,” he mumbled before pulling me out of the truck and squeezing the breath out of me with his hug.

  Max got out and walked slowly to the couches where he plopped himself down. Marie frowned and handed Ashley to Pete.

  “Where are you bleeding from?” She pulled the back of his shirt up and her frown deepened.

  “It’s not me, it’s Gabs’,” he whispered.

  I glanced up from my hiding spot on Jason’s chest at the sound of my name. Shit. I took a deep breath to pull myself back together. These kids didn’t need me to have a breakdown in front of them, though how I was going to stay functional at the time being was beyond me. I wiped my arms across my face.

  “Hey.” The word stuck and I cleared my throat. “Maxy, this isn’t on you.”

  “Of course it’s on me!” He looked at me, his green eyes locking with mine. “I’m the one who left!”

  “I could have stopped you! I should have stopped you! We should have stopped him!”

  “I’m the one who followed orders!”

  “Fuck!” I slammed my fist against the table, barely noticing the pain from the impact. Everyone was watching with wide eyes and I noticed Max clenching and unclenching his fists. Fuck was right. Hell, if I felt I needed to punch something, I had no clue what he was going through. I grabbed his hand and tugged him to the back room then pushed him in front of me.

  “Hit!”

  He looked back quickly, shock clear on his face. “What?”

  I gave him another push toward the sheet of drywall lying on an angle against the rest of the pile that was stacked.

  “Hit it!”

  He brought his hands up, but looked at me uncertainly. I stepped past him, raised my arm, and punched the sheet as hard as I could.

  “Cock sucking son of a bitch!” I held my hand to my chest. Max grinned and took a swing. His fist smashed through the board which folded in half as he pulled it out of the hole. I bent, picked up both halves and rearranged them for him.

  “Again.”

  “But…”

  “Maxy, sometimes you just have to hit something.”

  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “You’re okay with this?” He was starting to shake.

  “Hit it.”

  I’d barely finished with the word ‘hit’ and his right fist smashed one of the pieces in half. His left fist followed a fraction of a second behind and killed the second piece. I pulled a second sheet off the top of the pile and laid it out for him. He didn’t need any encouragement this time around. He made short work of that sheet and a third one. I reached for a fourth.

  “I’m good.” Max placed a hand on my arm, his knuckles white from the dust. I looked at the sheet of drywall, wanting him to hit another one. So long as he was hitting things and I was concentrating on him, I didn’t need to think of the fact that Lane was gone.

  “Hey.” He pulled me to his chest and hugged me tightly. “We don’t know for sure he didn’t get out of there, right?”

  I shook my head, frowned, and looked up at him. He was right. My heart started to beat frantically. I pushed away from him and started running for the one ton.

  “Pete! Get the door! Maxy, Jason, let’s go!” I tossed them each a riffle and Max jumped behind the wheel. Jason’s eyes narrowed in concentration as we peeled out of the yard.

  I forced my fingers to relax around the barrel of the rifle. I needed them to be ready, not numb from the excess pressure I was putting on them. I called Lane’s cell, hoping beyond hope that he’d pick up. He didn’t.

  “Do we have a plan?” Jason glanced at me before focusing on the road ahead of us.

  “We get him out. That’s it. We go there and we get him out.”

  I glanced at Max and saw him blinking. My heart dropped as the silver bled back into them.

  “I can’t see them, but they’re close.”

  “There!” I spotted two of the Yellow Eyes standing on the corner as we streaked by second avenue. I was still amazed at how empty the streets were. The odd car or truck maneuvered quickly through the streets, though that was about it. It was shocking how Prince Albert had only taken three days to become a ghost town. The wipers could barely keep up to the rain hitting the windshield and I fought the urge to tell Max to slow down. Instead, I concentrated on being calm. We would find him. He might be hurt, but he’d be fine.

  Max screeched to a halt in front of Robby’s shop. There were no vehicles parked there. Jason was the first to reach the doors and he grunted as he tried to pull them open with no positive results.

  “It’s locked up tight, Gabs.”

  I couldn’t answer him; I was looking at the blood he was standing in. The only place the rain couldn’t get to was right by the door, under the awning. The spot was so red I felt the bile rise in my throat.

  “Shit.” He stepped sideways to get out of the puddle and went still as his boot cracked something into the sidewalk. He lifted his foot slowly.

  “What is it?” Max was looking up and down the street.

  “It’s…” The blood drained from his face. “It’s Lane’s cell phone.” He handed it to me. “What do you want to do, Gabby?”

  All I could do was stare at the phone in my hand. “I…”

  “Maybe he went around back.” Jason glanced at the empty Canadian Tire parking lot before moving past Nutters, NAPA, and disappearing around the corner of the building. I stuffed Lane’s cell into my back pocket and followed him. We walked carefully through the dense, overgrown bushes behind the mini strip mall.

  “Lane!” My whisper was lost in the sound of the rain. “Lane!” I stopped moving to listen for an answer.

  “Anything?” Jason was looking back at me from his position farther ahead.

  I shook my head. “You?”

  “No.”

/>   We made a complete sweep of the back and circled back to the front of the building where Max was standing in the box of the truck. He looked at me grimly and gestured to the Canadian Tire parking lot where four men were walking toward us. I joined him in the box.

  “What do you want to do?”

  I glanced at Jason who had his rifle up against his shoulder, his sights set on one of the four Yellow Eyes. The men stopped short as they noticed us. It felt like hours went by with none of us moving.

  “Gabs?” Jason looked up quickly.

  I shook my head. “Let’s jet.”

  “But…”

  “No buts. I’m not killing anyone if I don’t have to.” I hopped out of the box and heard Max hit the ground beside me. “How are you feeling, Maxy?”

  “Weird. Strong.”

  Jason frowned. “Strong?”

  Max shrugged. “I can’t explain it. It’s not like an ‘I can lift three hundred pounds’ strong. It’s different.”

  Jason slammed the door shut and I looked back in time to see the Yellow Eyes running toward us.

  “Let’s go, Max.”

  “Where to, Gabrielle?”

  “Let’s get back to the shop.” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

  Max put the truck into gear.

  “Look, when we get back to the shop, why don’t you take a few minutes and just go sit in the office or something.” Jason put an arm around my shoulders.

  I shook my head.

  “I’ve got this, Gabby.”

  I looked up at him and blinked back tears. “You’re sure?” My heart dropped as all the hope I’d been holding onto left me.

  He nodded. No one talked the rest of the ride back to the shop. I watched through the windshield, noticing that the rain had lightened though the wind was still trying to blow us off the road. Once in the building, I decided the office wouldn’t cut it and made a beeline for the mop closet before anyone could see the tears streaking down my cheeks.

  Had I really thought I’d find him there? Would he have been sitting on the sidewalk just waiting for us to pick him up? I imagined him looking up at the sound of the truck coming closer, his dark blue eyes crinkled as he looked up into the sunlight to smile at me. A sob raked through me and I leaned my head into my arms. What the hell was I going to do now? Was he out there, hurt and alone? Maybe he was stuck somewhere, hiding from a pack of Yellow Eyes. Did he have his gun with him? Had he managed to keep his pocket knife or had the others taken that? Tears wet my forearms and dripped onto my jeans. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the musty smell of the mop reminded me I needed to buy a new one. I tried to keep my sobs as quiet as possible. I’d take a few minutes then I’d go back out there. There was no way I was going to leave him on his own. After everything we’d been through together, after everything he’d done for me…

  A half a dozen scenarios ran through my head. What had happened in the store? Had anyone helped him? Was he hurt? Was he dead? The stress of the past days and my worry for Lane sapped the last of my strength and I slowly fell asleep with my head against the shelf.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  I awoke to the feel of someone’s head on my shoulder and I could only think of one other person who might feel as responsible as me.

  “Maxy?”

  “He’s alright.”

  I banged my head on the shelf as I threw myself at Lane.

  “Hey, now. Easy. You’ll give yourself a concussion.” His arms held me so tightly I could barely breathe, but I didn’t care. My crying started anew and a tiny ball of anger sparked in me. I wiggled out of his grasp.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” I wasn’t mad enough to pull my hands out of his.

  “I was thinking I didn’t want you to get hurt.” He gave me a minute to calm down before giving an experimental tug on my arm. Too relieved to stay mad, I followed the pull until I was against him once again.

  “I thought you were dead,” I whispered.

  “I lost my cell and by the time things calmed down enough for me to let you know I was okay, Jason answered your phone and told me you were sleeping in here. I figured I’d let you know in person you had to put up with me for a while yet.”

  I snorted and he pressed his lips to my forehead.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I shook my head. The man was impossible to stay mad at.

  “What happened?”

  I felt him shrug. “Not much. Idiot there hit me, I went down, everyone sort of jumped in, Robby fired his rifle at the ceiling, and that made everyone pause long enough for Shawn to pull me out from the bottom of the pile.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “I’ll live.”

  I reached up and turned the light on, blinking so my eyes could adjust to see him. I had to swallow hard to get rid of the sob that almost escaped.

  “Oh, my god, Lane.”

  A small trail of blood ran down the side of his face from a cut just about the hairline on his temple. I reached up and gently touched his swollen right cheek. Lane closed his eyes at the touch.

  “I’m fine, Gabrielle.”

  “Is that it?”

  His dark eyes met mine and he smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure I’ll have a few bruises elsewhere, but I promise that’s it.”

  I eyed him critically before resting my head on his chest once again. He adjusted his hold on me so he could rest his chin on the top of my hair.

  “Once Shawn got me out, he tossed me my rifle and Robby ordered everyone out. They left, we got Jenny out of the back room where she’d been the entire time and went to Shawn’s place where they’d been staying the last couple of days. I convinced them to come back to the shop.”

  “They’re here?” I started to get up so I could go thank them, but was stopped by the tightening of Lane’s arms around me.

  “Not yet.” He took a deep breath and I smiled as he turned off the light.

  “Don’t tell me you were worried about me,” I grinned.

  “I’m always worried about you. You’re a magnet for disaster, Freckles.” He chuckled and I started laugh.

  “I’m not the one who looks like they’ve gone five rounds in the UFC ring.” My throat tightened and cut off my laughter. “Never again, Lane,” I whispered. “Do you understand me? No more of this ‘save Gabby and screw Lane’ crap. Got it?”

  I heard him swallow hard. “Gabs…”

  “No. I refuse to…”

  “Will you shut up for a minute?”

  I clenched my jaw and heard him grinding his teeth before he inhaled deeply.

  “I promised you I’d take care of you. Do you remember that?”

  I flashed back to that day when we’d been eleven. We’d ridden our bikes out to the airport and had been fishing on the riverbank. This had been the day after he’d spent a session in detention for punching Bernie Halcrop in the face because the thirteen year old had pushed me to the ground and called me a spotty ginger.

  He pressed his lips to my forehead just as he’d done that day. “I told you that so long as I was alive, you’d be safe.”

  “I remember.”

  “Well, you do realize that was a purely selfish promise, eh?”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “I meant it back then and I meant it every time I reminded you of it since. Right now, I mean it more than ever. So long as I’m alive, you’ll be safe. Do you want to know why?”

  I nodded, the butterflies in my stomach fighting for room.

  “Because if I have to protect you, I have to be around you. And because if anything were to happen to you, Gabrielle…” His chest rose with deep breath which he let out slowly. “Well, it would kill me.”

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Hey, guys, we made some lunch.” Pete gave one more knock before walking away.

  Lane blew out of his nose. “Let’s go eat.”

  “What? Wait! You can’t just say something like that then just switch to ‘let’s go eat’.”

&nbs
p; His lips brushed my temple lightly. “I’m hungry and my head hurts. I… We’ll talk more later, okay?”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  We left the closet and made our way to the front room where I promptly ran to Robby and almost knocked him over with a hug. Shawn was ready and barely budged as I threw my arms around him. I stepped back and grinned.

  “Thank you. So much.”

  The brothers smiled.

  “Our pleasure. Gabby, you remember Jenny?”

  I nodded a welcome to the youngest of the Harris siblings. “Where’re Maddy and Haley?”

  Shawn shot Robby a look who then gave Jenny a hug. She stared at the floor, her face hidden by her long auburn hair.

  “Why don’t you go to the back and get a coffee. I’ll let Gabs and Lane know what happened.”

  She seemed grateful when Max took her hand to lead her to the back.

  “Come on,” he offered. “I’ll show you where everything is.”

  Robby ran a hand through his short dark blond hair, his blue green eyes squinting with his frown. I always thought it was funny how people would do a double take when the brothers were introduced. At thirty-six, Robby was the oldest and only about three inches taller than my five foot four. Shawn, on the other hand, his half-brother, was two years younger than me, easily stood over the six foot two mark, and had hair as black as the night itself. Haley and Maddy, the two middle sisters, Shawn’s full sisters, were almost the spitting images of him. Jenny, the youngest, had just turned eighteen, had auburn hair and more freckles than me. Jenny’s father had been a godsend to their mother and had done a great job of raising all five kids as his own. The only trait they all had in common was their mother’s stunning blue green eyes.

  Robby waited until Jenny and Max closed the office door then turned to us.

  “We were all at Mom’s on Friday night. Maddy had found this movie she thought we should all see.” His eyes lost their focus as he remembered back. “We were done eating, so Jenny and Mom were setting up the living room so we could all sit around the TV. I’d gone out to put the dog in the kennel.”