Deadland's Harvest (26 page)

Tyler’s brow rose and the tension seemed to bleed from his features. “You mean that?”

Clutch held up a hand. “Jesus. Don’t expect a hug or anything.”

Tyler chuckled, and it was the first time I’d seen his smile for some time. “You two had better get some rest. Who knows how long a trip we’ve got ahead of us.”

Reluctantly, I set up a sleeping bag next to Clutch, and we waited for Jase and Griz to show up. Vicki warmed up the camping area by lighting fires in small charcoal grills.

Near dawn, shouting snapped me awake. Blinding light from flashlights shone on us from every direction, and I shaded my eyes, searching to make out the source. Shots were fired, echoed by cries and more shouting.

“Faces down! Don’t move! If you move, we will shoot you!”

Before Clutch and I made startled, terrified eye contact, I saw one of our assailants dressed in full camo hunting gear.

Bandits.

“Jesus. Except for their vehicles, these guys don’t have shit,” one of the bandits said to the man in charge while we all knelt on the fre
ezing ground outside the store. Well, we all knelt except for the two Fox guards who had been on duty when the bandits arrived. No one had seen them since, and I suspected we would never see them again.

One of the bandits had moved the Humvee that blocked the entrance and was now rummaging through all of our vehicles. “Where’s your food?”

“We don’t have any,” someone said.

Every single one of the bandits had a mean look, like they were all pissed off at the world and thought they deserved special treatment now. The leader, missing three fingers on his left hand, had the cruelest look of all. One of his men had called him Hodge, and we all avoided meeting his gaze. He had a mean look, like he’d been this way even before the outbreak. His eyes—cunning like a fox—seemed devoid of any emotion as he looked over the Camp Fox survivors like we were nothing more than cattle.

Our backpacks sat, opened and empty of contents, in a pile behind him, along with our coats. All of our weapons had been confiscated and carried into the store. The bandits who had disarmed me had been overly thorough. I’d wanted to scream and bite as they’d groped, but I’d stood perfectly still with a clenched jaw, afraid of what they’d do to Clutch if I’d reacted. When one was busy checking under my bra with his cold hands, he commented, “Too bad. This one wouldn’t be too bad looking if her face wasn’t so messed up.”

The other one chuckled. “Easy fix. Just turn her around.”

Clutch managed to tackle that one before three others knocked him to the ground. He’d gotten a black eye and swollen cheek, but they moved on from me after that. I felt sorry for the other women, who received the same treatment.

When Mary was grabbed, her husband lunged forward and they kicked him in the stomach. As they dragged her back toward the store, she begged them to stop. Her husband, still holding his stomach, climbed to his feet and ran toward her. A bandit raised his rifle, and my eyes widened. Shots cut through the night air, and I jumped. He collapsed, and she screamed. The bandit holding her punched her and she went limp. Tension hung in the air as she disappeared inside.

“If any of you idiots try something stupid like that,” Hodge said, pointing to the body. “You’re going to end up the same way. Got it?”

No one moved.

Hodge weaved through us, looking at each person one at a time. As he stood behind us, he spoke. “Many of you are wearing uniforms. Are you associated with New Eden?”

No one spoke.

Something moved, and somebody cried out. I swallowed back my fear.

“I’ve never heard of New Eden,” Tyler said from several feet to my left.

The leader came walking around and stood in front of Tyler. “If you’re not with New Eden, what base are you with?”

Tyler didn’t answer.

Hodge bent to stare him down, his smooth brown hair covering some of his face, but Tyler stared straight ahead. “Yeah, you’re military, all right.” He looked up and narrowed his eyes at Clutch. “I’d bet quite a few of you are.” He walked over to Deb and held his pistol to her head. She whimpered and tightened her lips. “Since I’m not, I’ll ask one more time. What base are you with.”

“We’re with the Camp Fox National Guard base,” Tyler ground out.

Hodge lifted his pistol. “Never heard of it, but that doesn’t matter. You military folks are all in bed together, so you are going to help me.”

“Please,” Vicki said through shivers. “We’re hungry. At least feed the children.”

The leader looked up. “Tell me boys. How does a beggar earn food around here?”

“Fuck for it or fight for it,” several bandits replied in unison.

A cruel grin curved upward on Hodge’s face as he bent down to get eye-level with Vicki. “So, which is it going to be?”

Her lips tightened, and she didn’t answer.

He stood, nodded to his men, and they walked around and yanked the adult men forward and made them kneel in front of us. I bit back my cry when they pulled Clutch away and made him kneel with the others. I wanted to lunge forward, to grab him and run, but I didn’t move, feeling like a failure.

Soon, every adult man was kneeling in a row before us in the snow. Clutch and I never broke eye contact. I’d never seen him look as pissed off as he did right now. I prayed he didn’t do something stupid and heroic. Hodge walked behind each of them, holding his pistol in his hand. “So tell me, which one of you are in charge of this little group?”

No one spoke.

“I’m not going to ask again.” He nodded to one of his men, who went to stand next to Vicki, holding his pistol against her temple. She closed her eyes, and tears fell down her cheeks. “In three seconds, I’m going to have my colleague here kill this woman.”

He looked across our faces. “One.”

Clutch opened his mouth to speak. My brows furrowed, and I shook my head once.
Don’t you dare.

“Two.”

“I’m in charge,” Bryce said hurriedly from next to Tyler.

The leader’s brows rose as though he was genuinely surprised, and he sauntered over to Bryce. “You? Really?”

“You’ve got me. Release my people. They’ve done nothing wrong,” Bryce added. Even though his voice cracked, he put on a good act. I almost believed it myself.

“No, I don’t believe I will.” He raised his sidearm, and clicked off the safety.

“Stop!” Tyler yelled. “I’m Captain Tyler Masden, commanding officer of Camp Fox.”

Hodge smirked. He grabbed Bryce’s hair and yanked his head back to look him in the face. “That was stupid of you. I already knew that asshole was in charge. Everybody knows that whoever speaks up first is a hero, an idiot, or in charge. Usually all three are the same.”

He looked up to his men. “Get them to their feet.”

Tyler, Clutch, and the other fifteen men were pulled to their feet by the eight bandits. I could see in Clutch’s, Tyler’s, and all of the Fox men’s eyes that they wanted to turn and attack. We outnumbered them, but they outgunned us. It would be a massacre.

The leader stood in front of Tyler. “Now I know how far I can push you and how loyal your people are to you. Disappointing on both counts.”

He walked down the line of Fox men and back to Tyler. “You are going to help us draw that New Eden squadron into an ambush.”

“We won’t help you,” Tyler said harshly.

“I should clarify. I don’t need your help. Your
uniforms
are going to help us draw the New Eden squadron into an ambush. Now, strip.”

It took rifles shoved into their backs for them to take off their fatigues. As a scout, I wore fatigues, too, but I wasn’t ordered to take off mine, probably because I was smaller and mine wouldn’t fit any of the bandits. I knelt there and watched as Clutch and the others pulled off their boots and stripped down to their T-shirts, socks, and underwear.

They stood nearly naked in the freezing morning air, their breaths making cloud puffs, while two of the bandits carried their clothing away. Goosebumps covered Clutch’s tattoos on his arms.

“Hey, Hodge. We’d better hustle,” a bandit called out as he came running up. “The New Eden pricks are just about to cross the bridge.”

I think everyone’s gaze turned toward the bridge in the distance. Trees with golden and red leaves blocked much of the view, but it was impossible to miss the squadron of heavily armored vehicles approaching in the distance.

“Well, then.” Hodge checked his pistol. “Thank you for your service.”

He walked over to Tyler, held his pistol to Tyler’s temple and fired. A thunderous shot broke the silence. A woman screamed. Tyler fell face-forward, and a pool of dark blood spread out from around his head.

Air flew from my lungs and I couldn’t breathe. My heart felt like it’d stopped. Someone clung to me—Vicki, I think—and I embraced her numbly. Ice zapped the strength from my legs, yet I somehow managed to stay on my feet. My vision swirled. Not Tyler. He couldn’t die. He was too good to die.

People cried out. Hodge held his pistol against Bryce’s temple and looked across our faces. He fired, and Bryce collapsed. He moved to the next man, again looked across the group of survivors, and fired.

My mouth opened as I watched in shock as the bandit stopped next to Clutch. My world spun and my legs gave out. I reached for Clutch. “No!”

Instead of executing Clutch, Hodge nodded to one of his men who raised his rifle and slammed it down on Clutch’s head from behind. He collapsed into a pile. Tears fell down my cheeks, and I realized the leader was watching me with keen interest.

“You’re a bastard,” I said simply, the ice in my body having given way to boiling hatred.

He smiled broadly. “You see,” he said. “I keep the ones with something to lose. It’s entertaining the things I can make them do to try to save each other. I think I’ll have fun with both of you.”

Never
, I thought to myself.

“Boss,” one of the men said. “They’re coming up fast.”

He looked toward the bridge, before turning to his men. “Get the rest inside. We’ll finish later. We have to get changed before the squadron arrives.”

“On your feet,” one of the bandits ordered, waving his gun at us.

Clutch was just coming to with a groan, and I helped drag him up. The back of his head had a wet spot from an open gash. I slid his arm over my shoulder. His skin was freezing cold. Deb came up and grabbed his other arm. The bandits rushed everyone back into the store and back to our small campsite. The seven small grills still had glowing embers from last night’s fires.

Deb and I helped Clutch onto his sleeping bag, and I wrapped my bag around his shoulders. I swallowed and my eyes blurred. The shock of everything was starting to give way, and adrenaline and the cold made me shake nearly uncontrollably. I held tightly onto Clutch, and he wrapped his arms around me, shaking just as much.

“I can’t believe they shot Tyler,” Deb said in a monotone voice.

All but two bandits disappeared into the back. The pair who remained kept their rifles leveled on us while the others changed. One of the bandits was busy admiring his new rifle: Clutch’s Blaser.

Less than a minute later, Hodge came out in Guardsman fatigues, walked over to the pair standing guard over us, and said something I couldn’t hear. When he turned to us, his eyes narrowed. “If any of you try to run, you will be shot. Got it?”

He didn’t wait for a response. He left with the others dressed in clothes our guys had been wearing minutes earlier, and I wanted to see his blood stain the clothes he stole.

I clung to Clutch, partly to warm him and mostly because I needed to feel him—his breathing, his heartbeat, his
life
. His breathing steadied my own, and I felt my pounding heart return to a level where it didn’t feel like I was having a panic attack. After a minute or two, his grogginess wore off and he no longer swayed or shook as badly. He gingerly touched the back of his head and winced. “
Fuck.
”

I looked up at him. I wanted to ask if he was okay, but when I opened my mouth, a sob threatened to get in the way.

He cupped my face with both hands. He didn’t kiss me, only pressed our foreheads together as though he needed the physical connection as much as I did. Tears streamed down my cheeks. He brushed away a tear with his thumb. “Sh. Don’t cry,” he whispered softly.

The soft words were such a contrast to his rough palms, yet both were full of emotion and I leaned into him. “I almost lost you,” I whispered back, my voice cracking.

He looked up and glared at the bandits, each on opposite sides of our indoor campground, before looking back at me. “You shouldn’t have cried out,” he whispered. “They’ll use me to hurt you now.”

If I hadn’t cried out, he’d be dead right now. Rather than saying that, I simply shrugged.

Around us, the remaining Fox survivors all sat in shellshock. Many were crying in despair and loss, some stared blankly into nothingness, and others looked downright pissed, like they were about to go kamikaze on the guards. I don’t know how I looked to them because I was feeling all of those emotions at the same time.

Tyler’s rumpled blue sleeping bag sat empty, along with a few others, and I turned away, not having the strength to think about the permanence of what had happened. I could only hope that Jase and Griz were safe.

The two bandits didn’t stop Benji as he walked around the clothing racks, picking out clothes and bringing piles to each of the men. Diesel barked from one of the back rooms. The dog had gotten lucky. When Diesel had growled when the bandits manhandled Frost, one of the men had raised his rifle to shoot the dog, but the bandit leader took a shine to the dog and claimed him as his. Though, I wasn’t yet convinced the leader wanted Diesel as his pet or for dinner.

“How did everything go so wrong?” I finally asked against Clutch’s tattooed chest. “What do we do now?”

He watched the guard, and didn’t speak for at least a minute. His body tensed and his gaze hardened. “I’m getting my rifle back.”