AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I can’t see a thingpast the wall of men around me. A few minutes ago, Brawn woke me with a gentle pat on my back. I was fast asleep on the bench seat behind him and Grim. When I’d gone to sleep, Brawn had been driving and the sun was just going down, but when I woke up, Grim was at the wheel, and it was dark. I started to ask what time it was, but Brawn said, “We’re here.”
The two of them hustled me from the missile truck to the Humvee, where we all piled in like clowns in a circus car. Grim curled himself around me in the third row of seating while the others packed into the first two rows. It wasn’t easy to see anything past Grim, but I could tell we were on a dusty gravel road. We drove a while behind a semi-truck that was nowhere near as intimidating as Bessy, and now, we’ve parked, and everyone has jumped out.
I’m the last to exit the Humvee, and the second I do, Grim pins me against his side with an uncompromising arm. In front of us, Brawn blocks out everything from the ground to the sky. Doc towers over me on the opposite side from Grim. He keeps a small distance, even though my sullen Ukrainian has every inch of his skin covered. Behind us is Shep, who says to no one in particular, “I bet these cowboys can cook up a mean steak.”
“Maybe they’ll give us some,” Grim says. “If we can keep Doc from shooting them.”
“Faahckyou,” Doc says.
Somewhere ahead of us are Rev and Scrap. I only know this because I can hear Rev talking with our hosts, and I saw Scrap follow him out of the Humvee before the Great Wall of Muscle surrounded me.
We’re on a ranch. That much I surmised. While being ushered between the missile truck and the Humvee, I caught a whiff of cow poop, not to mention a glimpse of three huge men in camouflage with mean-looking guns. During the long, straight drive, there was nothing to see out the windows but darkness and a hint of dawn drawing a razor-thin line far in the distance. Even though I couldn’t make out many details, I was amazed at how vast the land seemed. There were no trees breaking up the midnight blue of the sky, and no hills giving contour to the horizon. The pastures seemed to stretch into infinity. I’ve never seen a landscape like it before. I don’t like it. It’s too open. If I lived here, I’d feel too vulnerable. I guess it’s a good thing my home is in the middle of a thick forest on the side of a mountain.
Above the Great Wall of Muscle, I can make out the top of a sturdy A-frame structure. Behind huge panes of glass, warm light glows. Between the moving bodies around me, I glimpse a ranch-style home that, like the land, yawns to the left and right, seeming never to end. Beyond that general impression, I can’t decipher anything else, other than the pattern of plaid in Brawn’s shirt.
Grim helps me up a few steps onto a porch like I’m an old lady. An elbow in his ribs gets him to ease off a little. But he’s still smothering me. A tall double-doorway allows me and my testosterone-saturated entourage to enter the home as a unit.
Golden lighting gives a reprieve from the darkness, and the thick scent of hot eggs and bacon makes my mouth water. I don’t hear the sound of a generator, but I suspect there’s one running somewhere. It’s a big house, so maybe their genny is far from the main living area. I wish I could look around. It’s not often a Virus survivor gets to visit another survivor’s home.
It’s when I hear a deep voice introduce himself as Sarge and begin to introduce some other men that I get fed up with the uber-protective treatment.
I don’t have Jud’s Gift of knowing a man’s character the second I meet him, but I’m confident these ranchers don’t mean us harm. They’re letting us into their home. With guns. And they’re making us breakfast. That’s not something you do when you’re planning on hurting someone or stealing their girlfriend.
I slink out of Grim’s one-armed hold, and before he can snatch me back, I slip between Doc’s side and Brawn’s back, out into the open. Large hands try pulling me back, but I have the element of surprise on my side. I’m small and quick, and I plaster myself to Rev’s side. Of all my guys, he’s the most relaxed. I’m reasonably confident he won’t send me back to my prison of man flesh.
The guys behind me jostle and curse, but before they can grab me, I’m under Rev’s arm, smiling at a group of enormous men in a homey living room filled with log-framed furniture and Navajo patterned décor.
“Hi,” I say. “I’m Cora.” I hold out my hand to a bald man in camouflage who seems to be the oldest of the group. If my guys aren’t going to be polite and introduce me to our hosts, I’ll do it my darn self. But from the safety of Rev’s embrace.
Rev chuckles while the bald man wraps my hand in his much larger one and gently bobs it up and down a single time. “I’m sorry, baby,” Rev says to me. To the bald man, he says, “I hope you can forgive us for being a little over-protective.”
“If she was my woman, I’m not sure I’d let her out of the house, let alone on a road trip,” Sarge says. He’s a mountain of a man, pale and clean-shaven and throwing off Bruce Willis vibes. He looks down at me with stern wonder, and I suspect that even though he just met me, he’d give his life to protect me.
“So, you haven’t seen any female survivors, either?” Rev asks.
“Miss Cora is our first,” Sarge says solemnly. “And while you’re here, she’ll be treated like a queen.”
“That’s not necessary,” I start to say, but Rev speaks over me.
“As she should,” he says, and he kisses my temple.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Cora,” Sarge says. Around him are five other men. “This here’s Target.” He claps the shoulder of a large, bearded man with a buzz cut and a sharp gaze. Target wears similar fatigues, and so does the second man Sarge introduces. “And this is Recon, my right-hand man.” Recon is equally huge, and he has Mediterranean coloring. His eyes sparkle a striking Caribbean-sea blue as he nods respectfully in greeting.
“These two and Stealth, here—” He indicates an ebony-skinned man behind him who is Brawn’s match in height and breadth. He’s seven feet tall if he’s an inch, and that’s in bare feet with sweats and a ribbed tank top beneath a green apron. “We served in the Marines. Different units, but we met up here in Eden.”
“Hu-rah,” Stealth says in a deep, rich voice. His is the kind of voice that commands attention even at slight volume. The other two stand like security guards with massive arms folded over even more massive chests. Despite their stances, their eyes are soft on me. Welcoming. Admiring. But in a way that makes me feel safe, not squicky.
“And these two are Steel and X-Ray. They’re Texas locals we met up with here in Eden. They’re the ones with the know-how on how to keep the cattle and livestock. The rest of us mainly do what they tell us to keep the ranch running.”
“Yeah, right,” X-Ray says. A swoop of bed-head hair tops a face with a chiseled jaw and a frat-boy smirk. Smile lines and faint creases at his eyes tell me his college days are well behind him, but he still carries himself with a playboy arrogance that reminds me of Doc. Jeans and well-worn work shirts separate him and Steel from the former military men. “Don’t let Sarge fool you. He’s the one who gives orders ’round here. He runs this ship.”
“Runs it tight,” Stealth says, and the others nod in good-natured agreement.
I can tell these men have the kind of connection my guys have. They’re more than just survivors who banded together. They’re brothers.
“X-Ray?” Grim says. I peek back at him from under Rev’s protective wing. He stands away from the others, looking like a bank robber all covered up except for his face. “Is that how you knew we had Cora with us? Your Gift is seeing through things?”
“Yessiree,” X-Ray says, sounding like a good ole southern boy. “Was a large animal vet before the Virus. Used to rely on a portable X-Ray machine and all other manner of diagnostic tools to ply my trade, but now I justseewhat’s wrong with an animal. Turns out it works for other stuff too.” He hooks his thumbs in the pockets of his Wranglers. “You didn’t see me, but I was in the truck, and I could seeallof you.”
