Page 22 of Desiderium (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #2)

Hawk

“And this little piggy went to market. And this little… AHHHH!” I cradle my head in my hands, protecting myself from any further assault.

“What’d you smack me for?! I’m just trying to cheer him up!

” I glare daggers at Jax for not letting me have fun fucking around with Cole’s toes, but soften my temporary attitude as Aly comes over, giggling all the way as she sits by me and pulls my head down to her chest, allowing me to use her boobs as a pillow of comfort.

I relax even further in her arms as her fingers glide through my hair.

Boob pillows and scalp massages.

A man could get used to this.

Jax shrugs. “I don’t know. Just felt like it.

” He grins maniacally before shutting that shit right down—serious face mode activated.

“Anyways, ok guys, listen up. We obviously can’t spend any more time on this thing.

” He indicates to the wooden swimming dock we’ve been resting on, the soft wake rocking the platform back and forth. “Cole, how we feeling, bro? ”

“Well, apart from a fucked-up ankle and a jacked-up back, I’d say just peachy,” Cole deadpans, crossing his arms. At our lack of response, he shakes his head, huffing out a breath as he looks down at his feet.

“Don’t worry about me, guys. I’ll be ok.

” He looks back up at all of us crowded around him, lifting his lips into a smile that definitely doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Hurts like a bitch and I probably won’t be able to walk much for a bit but I’m alive, so I’m already doing better than most of the population. ”

I tilt my head further into Aly’s chest, attempting to conceal my frustration with him, while I purse my lips and huff out a breath of my own.

He’s playing it down. Last thing he wants is to have any of us worry about him.

But he knows better than that. We’re always going to worry even if it was one of us that got hurt.

His entire back is covered, shoulder to ass crack, with cuts, scrapes, bruising, and most importantly, those fucking nail gouges.

Those aren’t looking great at all and, while they’re not deep enough to cause any internal damage, they’re still gonna take quite a few stitches.

Hopefully, this virus can’t be acquired like cat scratch fever cause if it can… Fuck.

Jax, Aly and I performed our eye checks on each other and, as of now, we’re all clear.

And thankfully no one was bitten. How we managed to avoid that is beyond me but I’ll take the bit of luck and run with it.

As for the airborne particles, we all had our balaclavas on but who really knows how effective those are, if at all?

We’re living on a hope and a prayer at this point .

Then, there’s his foot. It’s fucked up. There’s no use sugar coating it.

It.

Is.

Fucked.

I have no idea if it’s broken or not but what I do know is that, with all the swelling, he can barely rotate it, let alone stand on it.

We’re going to need one hell of a plan for when we get off this dock because all of our shit?

It’s in that fucking truck at Jax’s estate.

Well, apart from Cole’s med-pack and our weapons that we luckily kept on us.

But the packs? We set those down in the cab while we were digging through the rubbled remains of Jax’s house.

When the zombies entered the chatroom, the packs were the last thing on my mind as I hightailed it to Aly.

Her safety was of the utmost priority. Looking at the others, I’d say they were thinking the same.

Luckily, Cole always has his IFAK on him.

As a corpsman, I guess it’s just engrained in your DNA to have a med pack on you at all times, just in case.

Jax and I usually do, as well, but for some reason, we shoved ‘em in our packs. Go figure.

“Ok.” I look up as Jax grabs my attention again.

“Here’s what I think we should do. Do you see that house right over there?

” He points to a green A-frame lake house off in the distance.

There’s an empty dock for a boat and a small wooden shed just passed it on the shoreline.

Or at least that’s what I can see from here.

“That’s Bo Johnson’s place. Or… I guess it used to be.

Anyways, he had a row boat. I re member him taking his wife out on the lake to fish and watch the sunsets over the years.

” He pauses as if reminiscing about those times.

It’s weird how at one point, these people were a regular part of our lives, even if they weren’t necessarily in our lives. And now? Nothing. Just ghosts of a memory fading in the wind. “I’d bet my left nut the boat’s still in that shed,” he continues.

My eyebrows furrow as I chime in, “Ok… so… we might have a boat, but what about supplies? Not to be a Debbie-downer but Cole’s going to need antibiotics and, unfortunately, we all know where those are right now.”

“He’s right,” Cole inputs, his breathing still a bit labored. “And we’ve cleared out most of the houses in this town and the next. I’m ninety-nine percent positive that the medicine we have in that truck is all that’s left in this area.”

There’s no denying that. The supply trips we’ve been running for the last year have been less and less reliable as the days go by. There’s just nothing left that we haven’t already taken. The lack of alternative medicinal supplies isn’t the only thing I’m concerned for, however.

“Look at that beach, bro. That’s going to take something big.

” I lift a hand to the estate’s former location.

The beach, as well as the entire property, is now covered with undead lurkers.

Even if we were all in top condition, there’s no guarantee we would all come out of it unscathed.

With Cole down to one leg, there’s no mistaking it—we’d be sitting ducks .

Jax takes a second, turning those thoughts over in his head as he molds his plan. “Ok. Aly, you’re going to stay right here with Cole and Sadie. Do not,” he points to Aly with a stern, don’t-fuck-with-me look, “leave his side. Understand?”

She bites her lip and looks to her feet, nodding resignedly, but Cole speaks on her behalf, backing her up.

“Don’t worry, I’m watching her. But after your conversation with our girl, earlier, I think it’s safe to assume she’ll listen this go around.

And if she even thinks about dipping a toe in the water before it’s time…

” He cocks his eyebrow at her, the Dom side of him coming to the party.

“I’m not a complete invalid.” She visibly shudders at his words, submitting easily to him.

Yeah, she’s not going anywhere.

Jax looks to me, wincing. Oh shit, this is either going to be awful or fucking spectacular.

“Hawk, you and I are going to storm the beach together like fucking Normandy. I’m going to lure as many of the undead as far away from the property as possible by any means necessary, then run to Bo’s place, snag the boat, row it back out to Aly and Cole, load up and row to that house.

” He points to the complete opposite side of the lake from the Johnson’s place.

“That’s where you’re going to be waiting with the truck, far away from any of those undead assholes.

At that point, we all jump in and jet outta there like our asses are on fire. ”

I stare at him, silently processing… Then, ding ! “Wait… wait… wait. So, you’re saying you want us…” I point back and forth between Jax and myself, “to swim to the be ach… where the zombies currently are preparing a picnic in our honor.”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to create a diversion, essentially luring them away like Jeff Goldblum did with the T-Rex in Jurassic Park….”

“Exactly,” he says while nodding dramatically. Fucking bobble-head.

“You’re then going to run your happy little ass all the way over to the Johnson’s house and pilfer his dingy while I snag the truck and book it that-a-way….” I point in the general direction he indicated.

“Yup.”

“You rescue Cole and Aly, then meet up with me… way the fuck over there,” I point more emphatically to the far side of the lake, flittering my fingers after, “and then speed off into the sunset?”

He points to me. “Bingo.”

“Wrong-o, chief.” I twirl my hands around each other. “We’re gonna need to flip that and reverse it. Missy Elliot style. Sorry to break it to you, but it’s gotta be me,” I correct him.

It’s a rare occurrence. I never correct him.

Ever. But he and I both know he’s just trying to be a selfless leader and take the burden onto himself.

And, deep down, he knows I’m right when it comes to this.

I know our run times. He does too. I ran track in high school and, when I joined the Marine Corps, always did exceptionally well on my personal fitness tests. At this point, it’s a no brainer.

Jax sighs at my correction, leaning forward to try and refute my statement but I keep to my argument. “I’m the fastest. Let’s face it, I can outrun any of you, even at your best, any day of the week. The zombies aren’t that fast but we still want to send our best runner against them, right?”

It takes a moment, but Jax reluctantly nods.

Defeatedly. Cole does too. Aly just looks terrified for us.

I hate that we need to do this and to have her feel this way, but we have no other choice.

If we don’t get those supplies, we’d have to start off completely fresh.

And with Cole’s condition, I don’t think we can take any chances.

Those supplies are our only option whether we like it or not.

“Ok, then.” I say, rubbing my hands together, trying to hype myself up for this kamikaze mission from Hell. “Let’s get this shitshow on the road. Anyone have any flares or some other bullshit hiding up their ass that I can use to draw the bastards away from here?”

Our hopeful gazes pass between us as we inventory the extremely limited items on each of our bodies. My shoulders deflate a little, noting the few guns and small bit of ammo we have left.

Jax lifts his hand, placatingly, at my subtle reaction. He knows we’re not in the best shape to be tackling this mission as we are, but he also knows, as well as the rest of us, there’s no choice. And with lack of choice, there’s only one option left—adapt and overcome .

“I think your best bet in this situation is to just be loud as fuck. Shoot off a few rounds, yell, scream, bitch at them. Throw some rocks at them. Light some shit on fire if you have to. Then, once you’re clear and there’s an opening for me, I’ll start my part.”

Is he fucking serious, right now? Am I being Punked? Throw some rocks at them…? Well, isn’t this just a fucked-up bundle of fun? I suddenly feel like Charlie Brown at Halloween—everyone else has the good stuff but I’ve got a rock.

I internally roll my eyes but it does absolutely nothing to stop the impending chaos. We gotta do this, and nothing can be done until I go through with my part. I take a deep breath, steadying myself for what’s to come. Ain’t no sense in holding back now. I put a smile on my face and get to it.

“Well, alrighty then. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, eh boys?”

This is insane…

Fucking insane...

We’re all gonna die.