Page 59 of Redemption (Devil Dogs of the Apocalypse #4)
Dare
The residents of the Phoenix Rising community fill the pixelated screen on the drone’s controller; hundreds of men flood the roads and fields, with even more of them filing in and out from the surrounding buildings.
After Alessandra’s outburst the other day, I’m surprised it still works but happy it does because it gives us a chance at a little bit of reconnaissance before we enter the lion’s den.
Phoenix Rising is deceptively massive, containing dozens of places to conceal a person if need be.
If I’m able to find the guys with this, it’ll make extracting them that much easier.
I change the angle of the drone slightly and fly out to the farther end of the community, surveying the southern quadrant before returning back to the main buildings located in the center of the town.
We’ve been searching for hours now, but, unfortunately, even with my dated version of Jax, Hawk, and Cole, as well as the updated detailed descriptions Alessandra provided, it’s like trying to find three needles in a haystack.
“I’m sorry, Al. I’m not seeing them anywhere out in the open.
Normally, when we have new recruits, they’re taken straight to the Infirmary for testing and then relocated into their working units, but it’s been days since their abduction. At this point, they could be anywhere."
After Alessandra was able to get the supplies she needed, the alluring scent of blood that made the zombies go crazy dissipated, and, a few days later, the horde went right along with it.
Well, mostly...
I hate to say it, but I’m thankful the horde lingered for as long as they did. It gave me a little extra time with her. Especially since, after we finish this, I have no idea if or when I’ll be able to see her next.
Regardless of my open feelings towards her, she’s never reciprocated them.
For all I know, once we’re done here, she may simply want to resume living out our lives on our own separate paths as we were already doing; a clean break, and then she’ll be gone, living the life she deserves with the people she loves and cares about.
While I’ll be back to my normal everyday life as a recluse vigilante, surviving out the remainder of my days as a hollowed-out shell, knowing my soul is elsewhere.
But, this morning, the majority of the horde left, leaving only about a dozen or so scattered around the safehouse.
While I would have loved to be selfish and keep her all to myself for a few more days, the decrease in the surrounding hostile presence left me with no more excuses as to why we couldn’t leave.
With that sobering reminder, I snuck out before she woke up and took care of the rest. Quickly.
Silently. The last thing I wanted was to wake or draw her to the melee, knowing full well she wouldn’t hesitate to join in the fight even if it meant potentially harming herself.
To her, that wouldn’t matter. If her presence sped up the overall slaughtering process and eliminated the cause for delay, she’d leap at the chance to get to her loved ones sooner, despite what that would mean for her own well-being.
She saw their bodies strewn about the property when we left. Their bloody, mangled remains were proof of what I had done only a few hours earlier, but neither of us commented on it. We had more important things to think about.
Like making sure her reunion went off without a hitch.
Honestly, my mind is still blown by the fact that she’s somehow found and started a relationship with my three best friends.
Not only is it a statistical anomaly, it’s borderline serendipitous.
I could cite the almighty bro code of not fucking my ex-fiancée, but let’s be real here—they probably have no fucking idea who she actually is.
Sure, I’ve talked about her to them from time to time, but, with our relationship officially declared DOA when I fucked up beyond all reason and stepped onto that plane, she never really came up in any sort of detailed description.
As for Alessandra, she’d never met them prior to Zombocalypse 3000. Hell, we broke up before I even met them. So, clearly, she wouldn’t have had any clue who they were to me either.
Regardless, something brought them together.
Whether it was fate, or a higher power, or just remarkable, unimaginable, end-of-the-world luck, they found each other.
And, after listening to her descriptions of them, of how they make her feel and their roles in the relationship—plus a healthy dose of self-loathing on my part—I’m positive she’s found who she’s meant to be with, even if it is with all three of them.
To be fair, it’s the least she deserves after everything she’s been through—the chance to be happy with the guys who make her so.
And, regardless of the fact that the mere thought of her leaving now that I’ve finally gotten her back is enough to shred my heart to pieces, in the end, it’s the least I deserve after what I’ve put her through.
She still has no idea I know who they are, though. It’s already difficult enough coming to terms with what I know they’re doing together. It’ll be even worse if I acknowledge it.
Sex with some rando can be blocked out completely from my overzealous imagination.
If I can’t put a face to him, then I can’t absentmindedly visualize what might occur between them.
But sex with my best friends? And all three of them to boot?
Probably at the same time? Don’t forget to breathe, asshole.
You deserve this nasty bit of karma. Fucking.
Hell. It makes me want to kill everything within a hundred-mile radius in an extremely violent manner before I proceed to lobotomize myself to rid my mind of the filthy, carnal shit I just know they’re doing on the regular.
Yup... And there it is. The raunchy, hedonistic gangbang involving everyone I hold near and dear to my heart.
... And then there’s me on the sidelines, pounding a screwdriver into my frontal lobe to the cadence of their sloppy, wet skin slapping and Alessandra’s needy moans and pleas for even more of their cocks.
Oh, happy days....
Sure, if it’s actually them, they could potentially ask me to tag along with them once they realize I’m still alive.
In fact, I could almost guarantee it. But could I do that knowing I might never get to have Alessandra the way I truly want?
To remain on the sidelines while I watch them physically show their love to her while I can only do the same from a platonically appropriate distance?
Not to mention, regardless of what the guys offered, would she even want that?
One thing at a time....
Alessandra peeks her nose over my shoulder and sighs when she confirms what I’m seeing.
“Ok...,” she starts, squinting at the indistinct figures milling about on the ground before turning away to pace a line across the dirt, thinking out loud as she makes her rounds.
“This is just a minor setback. We knew it was a possibility we wouldn’t be able to spot them with this thing, especially since you can’t hover it any closer or else they’d notice you scoping things out. Maybe we could—”
Her voice drifts off as she trudges away, talking to herself and going over every option she can think of that we can potentially use to infiltrate the town.
We’re still a few miles from the border, far enough away and deep enough in the brush to feel comfortable with her wandering off a few meters, but close enough to have every one of my senses firing on all cylinders.
After living amongst the Phoenix Rising community as long as I have, I know the threats concealed within.
The dangers lurking in the shadows, as well as the deceptions wandering around in broad daylight.
The sooner we’re out from the town’s direct line of fire, the better.
So, while she troubleshoots, I continue to maneuver the drone around the buildings, trying to zoom in as far as the camera will allow on a couple more places I suspect they might be keeping the guys or where new candidates are often put to work.
Yet, every time I focus on what seems to be a new face or a person obviously out of place for this time of day, they don’t match her descriptions.
For example, there’s one particular person who keeps catching my eye.
Something about him makes him feel displaced.
He just exited the cafeteria and is now loitering outside the Infirmary.
I know a few guys who work there. One in particular is decent, and I’ve come to trust him implicitly over the past few months.
I’ve seen him do the same thing before, only from the ground.
No one would suspect him of doing anything questionable just by the way he stood around and lingered for moments at a time, basking in the sunlight before heading in for work.
But this guy? The way he moves practically screams at me. If I wasn’t staring right at him, looking for something to be off, he’d look like some regular Joe.
The only difference is that I am staring right at him, and he’s being shady as fuck, making him my first potential match.
His appearance, however, doesn’t match any of the descriptions Alessandra gave me earlier.
Regardless of the fact I already know what they looked like, I have no idea what they look like now.
Personally, I’ve lost about forty pounds, added a few new scars to my face and body, and have grown and maintained a neatly trimmed beard in the time since the world decided to shit a brick.
I can only imagine what changes they’ve made or endured in the same amount of time.