Page 27

Chapter Twenty-seven

I awake to the sound of thudding feet, running on dirt and for a moment I think it’s my feet and I just had some kind of fucked up waking dream while running laps around the house. But then my senses start to clear, and I realise my head is pounding against something sharp in time with the footsteps. I try to raise my head and look around, only to quickly realise that I’m hanging upside down and the sharp thing that’s hitting me in the head is a branch that’s stuck to my captors back.

Well, my little independent streak obviously went quite poorly.

I shake off the inclination to start laughing hysterically and instead put the effort into trying to knee this kidnapping mother fucker in something soft. Balls, if they have them, preferably. I struggle weakly for a moment before my limbs start to come back on-line and I amp up the effort. I lash out blindly at anything I can connect with, and a surge of satisfaction goes through me when I hear a pained grunt. My satisfaction is short lived however, as the ass-hole drops me hard to the ground, following me down and pinning me to the dirt before I can get up. My captor ruthlessly yanks my hands behind my back and ties them together with rope. My injured shoulder immediately protests and it’s my turn to grunt in pain. Fucking shit balls, can my shoulder not cop a freaking break universe? At this stage the damn thing is going to be injured for the rest of my life… which actually might not be that long.

“You want to be a fucking bitch then you can walk. Sick of carrying your fat arse around anyway!” my captors sharp words cut off my thoughts and I go still as a statue. No. No fucking way! I know that voice.

“Caleb, you little mother fucker, did you dart me?!” My words come out a little slurred, but he gets the point. I’m roughly flipped on to my back and Caleb’s pale, dirty face fills my vision.

“How’d you know it was me?” he demands, scowling down at me as though I didn’t save his shitty life a few weeks ago. His weight presses my body down as he straddles my hips to keep me pinned. The position brings on a wave of panic and I fight for a moment to get enough air to reply.

“You sound the same when you’re talking as you do when you’re squealing like a little bitch.” I’m talking shit, trying to sound as though I’m not a second away from freaking out over this whole situation. I have no idea what I’m saying or if it counts as insulting, but I hope to God the tone of my voice conveys my intent. “How’s your arm by the way?”

He sneers at me and lifts a blood-soaked rag in front of my face. I gag at the smell of it and turn my face away. “Oh, you mean this?” he asks, waving the stump in my face. “Do you know what I had to do to stop the bleeding, Lacey? I had to fucking cauterise my own wound! That means I had to stick it in a gods damned FIRE! No one helped me. NO ONE.” His pale face has gone a disturbing red color as he lays out all the terrible things that have happened to him, while I’m tied up on the ground with a bullet wound in my shoulder. I can’t help but roll my eyes at him.

“I helped you, you fucking twat!” I snarl back at him. “And don’t call me Lacey, shit face. That’s not my name.” He blinks down at me stupidly for a moment and I laugh inside at his bewildered look. I keep my laugh on the inside because it might turn into hysterical mania at any point now, and no one wants that.

“You. You helped me?” he asks and I wrinkle my forehead in confusion.

“Um, yeah mate. I put the fucking tourniquet on to stop you bleeding out. I saved your fucking life!”

The bewildered look turns into one of anger and I feel like I might have messed up.

“You think that living like this is saving my life?” he snarls as he shoves his stump under my nose again. I can’t fight the dry heave this time and he smiles nastily at me. “You saved my life so I could what? Live happily ever after with one fucking hand, DURING A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?! UNDER JACOB’S WATCH?!” Oh damn, kid might have a point, maybe I should have let him bleed out. He grabs me roughly by the shoulder and shakes me hard to punctuate his point. Yeah, definitely should have let him bleed out. “How the hell did you think that was helping me?! I’d rather be dead you selfish bitch!”

Right about now, I’ve had just about enough of his pity party. Little asshole kidnaps me to screech about his life problems while I’m lying here tied up like a roast pig. I keep my face blank as he continues to wail at me and cautiously move my feet until they are planted on the ground beneath me. Then, using all the strength I can muster, I heave my whole body up and to the side trying to buck him off me. The effort sends him flying off me and I get to watch in satisfaction as he tries to use his infected stump to catch his fall. I smile as I lurch up on my feet to the sound of his scream.

I quickly look around for the first time, trying to determine where I am and which way leads back to my guys, but who am I kidding, this forest looks exactly the same as every other forest I’ve been in. Hell, I could be nearly back at Jacob’s camp for all I know . That thought sends a shiver down my spine and I wheel back to Caleb to ask where he was taking me. The little fucker has recovered quickly though, and his camo covered shoulder slams into my stomach as he tackles me to the ground. I let out an oomph of air as he tries to stifle another scream from the impact. As I struggle to get out from under him, he rears back and lands a solid punch to the left side of my face with his remaining hand, while simultaneously cradling his stump to his chest. My ears ring with the impact but I grit my teeth at him and surge upwards, aiming to smash my head into that god awful wound of his. I manage to connect and he falls back with a pained shout. I don’t waste this chance and am up and running blindly before he even realises I’ve moved.

I hear him shout after me to stop, but I obviously keep running. Why do bad guys always think I’ll stop running just because they say so?

I dart through the trees as fast as I can with my hands tied behind my back, listening to Caleb crash through the foliage behind me. I take turns at random and pray that I’m not running toward wherever he was trying to take me. What was his end game? Take me back to Jacob? Why? If he got out, why didn’t he just run? And how the hell did he manage to avoid the guys?

I hear the scream before I see it and slide to a halt with my heart in my throat. I scan the trees around me and spot the corpse heading my way. He’s only about ten meters away and if I had if kept running, I’d have smashed right into him. I turn to the left, confident I can outrun a single body, but his scream gets echoed back to him from pretty much all directions. Fuck.

I can still hear Caleb crashing through the forest behind me, so I make a snap decision and sprint back the way I came. It doesn’t take long before Caleb jumps out at me like a leaf-covered jack in the box, but I just drop my good shoulder and barge straight past him. Nope. I will not be fucking eaten by a bunch of dead bodies today, thank you very much. I catch Caleb by surprise and he goes spinning back into the trunk of a tree. I pay him absolutely no mind as I sprint past. The dead are still screeching behind us and almost immediately Caleb is back on my tail, although this time I don’t think he’s trying to catch me.

“Thought. You’d. Rather be. Dead.” I huff out at him as he manages to pull alongside me.

He doesn’t answer, but whatever, I know I’m hilarious.

The smirk is wiped off my face a second later when he reaches over and shoves me roughly into a passing tree. The impact sends me careening to the ground and I land on my bound hands.

“Jacob wanted you back alive, Lacey, but reanimated will have to do.” He looks behind him at the staggering forms of bodies trying to maneuver through the tightly packed trees. “Hope it hurts.” Then he turns tail and runs.