Page 7 of Marked for Execution

His sinister smile and lust-filled eyes made me realize that I might not make it out alive. Fuck if I’d let him use my body for whatever nefarious reasons he had.

Slipping my forearms between his, I forcefully loosened his hold just enough for me to get a knee right to his crotch. I assumed it still functioned the same by his innuendo, so it should fucking hurt the same, as well. He growled as he fell to the side, giving me enough room to straddle him and grab the knife I kept in my boot. With the blade facing down, I pulled my arm up to cut his neck, but he didn't stop clawing at me, despite having half his neck sliced.

Fuck.

We grappled in place, dust kicking up around us until he landed a knee to my abs and tossed me off. Crashing into the broken concrete on my back, I groaned as pain shot up my spine.

“I’m too old for this shit.”

Just as I was about to get up, something blurred in my vision. More dust kicked up, and it made me cough up a storm. I got to my feet and looked around for the shotgun I dropped during the initial crash into the wall.

The sounds of grunts and growls kept me on edge until I finally saw what I was looking for. Grabbing it, I swung the barrel up and pointed at the primary location of the noise. The dust settled, and the sight before me made me cock my head in confusion.

The vampire’s head was clean cut off, rolled into the sunlight, and had burned into ash. I watched in morbid fascination as the kid grabbed the carcass and shucked it into the sun as well, destroying what was left of him.

Before the ashes could even float in the wind, Samuel drove our truck right over where his body would have been. He leaned half of his torso out the window and looked around.

“Did I get him?”

I shook my head and rolled my shoulders, then looked at the kid whose head was still down. He was covered in dust, some of his clothes ripped in places as he silently walked toward the truck and got in.What the fuck just happened?My eye still hurt like a bitch from the debris that hit it earlier.

Blinking a few times, I answered Samuel. “Where the hell were you? What took you so long?”

“I had to corral the guys and head back to get this damn truck. What does it look like? Jim over here was limping, and it slowed us down.”

Whatever. They were here now.

“Come on, old man. It looks like you guys handled things just fine. Dust your rusty ass off and get in the car. We’ll drive around a bit before we hit up the next spot.”

Groaning as I lifted myself to the passenger seat, I put my head back and rested my mind. Samuel could lead from here. I needed a damn break. Fighting a bloodsucker in broad daylight wasn’t part of my plan today.

We arrived on the other side of the old town streets after some careful reconnaissance. Exiting the car, we continued on our scavenge. The two vampires we came across earlier must have been an offshoot from Clan Disaris. We’d heard rumors that some of them healed faster than they should. Images of the bloodsucker still fighting with half his neck sliced echoed in my mind.

Could this be evolution?Were they changing on us, gaining more advantage over humans? I snarled at the thought.What the fuck kind of survival of the fittest is this shit, if we’re all meant to die, anyway?

“Don’t think too hard over there; you might bust a blood vessel.” Samuel’s voice grated my nerves.

I punched his shoulder, and he chuckled as we entered another large store to clear it. The rest of the trip went smoothly. We were able to obtain some canned food and dried seed packets for a few vegetables.

“We need to head back to the meet spot.”

“Roger that. You want to drive, or me?”

“I’ll drive.” I probably shouldn’t, but I couldn’t let the others see any weakness. I needed to set an example of what we expected from each person that chose to go out and do this.

We ventured back to the original parking spot to find Reed and team B already there. As we pulled up beside him, he jumped off the driver’s seat of the Humvee and walked towards us.

“You guys get anything good? Judging by the fact that you needed the vehicle, I’m assuming you found a good loot.”

“Shit. Iwish. We ran into some problems early on, but we handled it. You guys get anything?” Samuel’s demeanor smoothed this over easily without leaving anyone curious.Good.

“Yeah, we found some ammo and some canned meat.”

We all looked over to team C, who were just walking back to their vehicles. Something trailed behind them on a leash.

“We ran into another group of people to the west. We traded a couple of guns for this guy.” The speaker pulled a single sheep forward, and I held back a laugh.

Gunner did chuckle then. “I had a few pistols I lent the guys. The group was only willing to trade for a couple of our rifles and a knife.”