Page 43 of Redemption (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #4)

Aly

Dare’s annoyingly perfect butt is front and center, pushing me past my breaking point to get to our pit stop just as the sun begins to set.

After the atom bomb he just dropped, he’s the last person I want to be leading me anywhere, but, at this point, I have no choice.

While I’m not exactly vulnerable, seeing as I have my trusty Daisy to help me ward off any potential lurkers who want to try their luck for a nibble from the walking, talking Aly buffet, two are better than one.

And, although Darius decided to withhold vital information until the very last second, I know for a fact he doesn’t want to see me end up dead out here.

I don’t remember the hours having passed by, wandering through the woods and over various roads like fucking Little Red Riding Hood, but here we are. It’s the end of the day and we’re still running for cover.

Or, in my case, shuffling.

To stem the incessant flow Mother Nature graciously gifted me today of all days, I’ve since bunched up my balaclava and shoved it into my panties.

It’s uncomfortable as hell, but at least it’s doing the trick.

.. for now. I’m not sure for how much longer, though.

I’m going to need to find some provisions soon.

You’d think that after walking for so long we’d have come across a house by now, but so far, we’ve been shit out of luck.

On our trip to Tryon Palace, Hawk, Cole, Jax, and I stayed on the main roads.

There weren’t many homes to be seen between Beaufort and the other towns, but at least there were some if we needed them.

While taking woodland trails and hopping over freeways to avoid detection is a safer bet, it also provides little in the way of supply refreshment, forcing me to resort to less than savory methods for menstruation management.

At this point, however, I’d do just about anything to avoid another run-in with the deadhead nation.

Including waddling around like a baby with an overstuffed diaper.

The fading sun is just above the horizon as we finally enter the next town.

Thankfully, the very first house we enter offers exactly what I need to combat Mother Nature’s merciless wrath.

After a few minutes—and a quick sponge bath by way of baby wipes to not look like a murder suspect—I step out of the bedroom suite with a brand-new set of clothes, a backpack filled to the brim with 2-ply toilet paper, pads, and tampons, and a fuck-ton of determination in my gait.

My outfit of choice—or rather the only choice I had, being items straight out of a 1990s JC Penney’s catalog—isn’t helping me look like the big, bad bitch I wish I resembled, but without stopping or reassessing my impending outburst, I stomp through the living room and march right up into Darius’ stupidly attractive face.

Despite the fact that my multicolored windbreaker swishes with each step I take, he must see the overwhelming amount of fire and brimstone propelling my ass across hardwood floors because he doesn’t move; rather, his eyes widen with concern, and he seems to shrink down as I close the distance between us.

Good. His six-foot-two-inch height versus my five-foot-barely-anything means absolutely diddly to me as I pull him down by his shirt collar and force him to look at all his regrets face-to-face.

I lift my hand, two digits poised and ready to go in for the kill.

He looks at them, confused for a second before I send the tensed fingers flying, stabbing them right into the area just below his shoulder—the sweet spot that instantly has him clutching his newly injured joint upon impact.

“Fuck yeah! We know pressure points, too, now, bitch!”

“What in the fuck was that for?!” he yells with a lifted eyebrow, leaning his injured shoulder away from me.

Me-two is off in the corner, sitting cross-legged with a bag of popcorn, and looks about as excited as a kid in a candy store.

She, apparently, also wanted to change her appearance.

Keeping in solidarity with my unintentional ode to the days of TRL, she’s given herself an updo that’s been teased to within an inch of its life and is covered in butterfly clips.

She notices me staring at her newly applied glittery hot pink makeup and lifts a giant poster board that says, in giant bubble font, “Get him, girl! Tubthump his ass!”

I shake my head at her sidelined cheerleading antics and get back to the matter at hand, turning my gaze back to the fuckwit in front of me. “You have about four-point-five seconds to start talking, Darius, or I’m gonna start throwing hands, and these bitches do not miss!”

“Alright, you little honey badger. Alright.” He lifts his hands in surrender, but I’m certainly not done yet.

Oh no.

I’m pretty much possessed by a demon at this point, and that bitch is filled with vengeful rage.

I lost my guys to a pack of delusional, culty fucks; was hunted like a wild animal through a fucking historical garden; my ex came back from the dead; we got attacked by a swarm of zombies and then marched through the woods all fucking day while I waited patiently to get some freaking answers the entire way only to be supremely let down.

I’m bloated, in pain, and in serious need of chocolate or cake or something drowning in sugar.

So, dammit, after all that, I’m gonna get some answers right this fucking second if it kills me!

“Don’t forget about my glorious incarnation...,” a psychotically cheery voice chirps from behind me.

MOTHERFUCKING FUCKITY FUCK!

I extend my arm in Dare’s direction and point my finger as if it were a harbinger of doom.

“Don’t you little honey badger me, you fucking asshole.

You owe me! Something. Anything! I need fucking answers, and I need them now !

” You’d think I’d be too tired to fight after everything that’s happened, but agitated frustration consumes me, causing me to pace the length of the living room.

I see him take a deep breath, about to start his own little story, but he’s taking too long.

Which means he’s probably just trying to fix a story together instead of telling me the truth.

Well, fuck that shit. I cut him off before he gets the chance to spew some more distorted fabrications or deflections.

“You originally said you wanted me to get as far away from that town as possible. To run away and never look back. But it only took a little bickering on my end for you to finally cave and back down, agreeing to join me to find my guys. Said if it was the one thing to make me happy, you’d do it.

You’d lead me right to their doorstep.” A rogue tear falls down my cheek before I smack it away.

“And me, being the lost girl at heart and missing you so much after all these years, I decided to look the other way when everything in my gut said to not listen to you. Not when you’ve already hurt me so much.

I should have listened. I should have realized that you’d been holding a fucking bomb this entire time.

The fact that you work for them.” I’m forced to look away when my anger gets the better of me.

My eyes glaze over with the unshed tears I’m straining to keep back, but, in the span of an instant, my mind clears as a thought enters my mind.

I stop pacing and look directly at Darius, daring him to look away and show his guilt.

“Back at Tryon, it seemed a little too convenient that you just so happened to be in the same exact place at the same damn time as me. The odds of that happening by chance are astronomical.” I tilt my head the other way, eyes narrowing as his breaths quicken, knowing I’m on the right track.

“How did you know I’d be there, Darius? To wait in that particular garden? At that entryway? How is it possible that you, out of every fucking person left on this godforsaken continent, knew to be right there at that exact time?”

“He did say he works for them... just never said what he does for them...”

My gaze finds my imaginary twin behind Darius, and instantly, my hackles rise once more, my mouth dropping open with shock and betrayal. She points her fingers down to his bag. To the odd shape concealed inside that I hadn’t noticed until just now.

In a swift move, I blow past him and bend down to rifle through his pack.

The son of a bitch doesn’t move as I tear it apart.

Doesn’t speak. Doesn’t stop me either. He knows what’s in there.

Knows what I’ll do if I so much as find what I think might be in there.

He also sees the scorned look on my face when I find the damning evidence of his betrayal.

Lifting the tiny drone, my hands shake with barely restrained anger. I press the power button, and music fills the air.

Bob. Fucking. Marley.

“You motherfucker! You led them right to us! They could be fucking dead because of you! How could you?! HOW COULD YOU?!” I shake my head in disgust and drop the drone, waving to Sadie to follow as I head for the exit.

That rat bastard. It wasn’t a hallucination after all.

He used that damn thing to spy on us the entire time, letting the others know where we were the entire fucking time so they could take us out one by one.

And then he wanted me to just leave my guys to rot after those assholes stole them away?

! Wanted me to run away into the sunset and forget all about them?

Well, fuck him.

I lift a hand to the doorknob, about to leave his ass in the dust, but that’s not enough for me. Instead, I turn around, march right up to him, and punch his good-for-nothing face right in the eye.

Back when we used to date, I was the epitome of a pacifist. I never even wanted to kill a bug, let alone hit someone out of anger.

Oh, but how the times have changed. The shock of all this violence coming from the least violent person he thought he knew is enough to render him speechless, allowing me to do it again.

.. and again. My fists fly as I take my anger out on his pliant flesh.

And it feels magnificent!

After a few more good hits, however, he finds my wrists and pins them down to my sides. Doesn’t matter; he got the point and two black eyes to boot.

“Goddammit, woman, stop it!”

Working up some saliva, I spit right in his backstabbing face.

“Don’t call me woman , asshole! I’m so much more than that.

In fact, right now? I’m your worst fucking nightmare.

” I lift my knee and aim straight for his nuts, but he manages to keep his head enough to dodge my attempt at the last minute.

Damn it all to Hell. Of course it wouldn’t work a second time.

Fed up with my assault, he doubles down, pulling me into a tight bear hug, forcing me to surrender. “Goddammit! Listen to me! It’s not what you think!”

“Oh? And what is it? You tripped and fell into their cult? Or are you—?”

“I’m helping people escape!”