Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I’m dead on my feet and hurting everywhere. I hiss, unable to keep from thrusting against his tight fist.
“Touch me too?” he pleads, voice raspy.
I don’t need to be asked twice. With desperate need, I grasp onto his length as my lips crash to his. The next several moments are frantic until we’re both completely spent. We stand there, lazily kissing, as our bodies come back down from our shared high. Then he continues to wash me.
“I’m going to go relieve Aaron,” he says with a quick peck to my lips. “Rest. You need it, old man.”
I smirk and manage to swat his cute ass before he disappears. Since I haven’t washed properly since getting sick from eating bad meat, I take the moment of privacy to clean every crack and crevice I can reach. By the time I’m dried off by one of the used, crunchy towels and into clean clothes, I feel like a new man.
An exhausted, barely standing new man.
I don’t even remember falling into bed.
“Get up! Hurry, Kell!”
I wake, completely disoriented and confused. Tyler is standing over me, thrusting my bag, pants, and boots at me.
“What is it?” I rasp out as I scramble to throw on my pants. “Fire?”
He shakes his head, a panicked look on his face. “People. The bad kind. They’re headed this way and already shot out the windows on the front of the building. We have to go. Now.”
I yank on the rest of my stuff and am out the door in the next few seconds. Tyler thrusts the shotgun at me and races out the door. The rest of our group groggily exits their rooms, but we’re all already hurrying along the sidewalk, hoping not to run right into more bad people.
A figure bolts out of a stairwell in front of us and I barely manage to get my shotgun up before Tyler shoves it back down.
It’s Aaron.
“This way,” he hisses, pointing north. “They’re coming from the south side. We have to move!”
Wayne yanks a hobbling Judy onto his back while Dan drags a coughing Silas quickly behind them. Jesse has a protective arm around Hailey who hugs a trembling Pretzel, with Hope hot on their heels.
Aaron darts off ahead, rifle at the ready, searching for threats before our group can encounter any. When he reaches the edge of the building, he peeks around the side, scans the area, and then turns around to motion for us to move faster.
Wayne runs like a football player, charging full steam ahead. We all rush after him. Aaron waits until Hope, the last of our group passes, to put himself between her and the other group.
We have a good head start, but once we hear shooting behind us, panic sets in. I can hear the report of Aaron’s rifle so close I’m nearly deafened. The smoke grows heavier as though Wayne is taking us right toward the fire. I want to scream at him to go in the other direction, but I know it’s in an effort to lose them.
I just hope it isn’t a fatal mistake.
Pretty soon, we’re all coughing and staggering in the thick smoke.
Someone—Tyler—grabs my bicep that’s holding the shotgun. “Take Hope’s hand. Everyone stay together.”
Hope’s hand is clammy in mine and I squeeze it tightly. The pace we’ve set out on is steady, but we won’t be able to keep at it for long. Silas’s coughing grows more intense and a nervous trickle shoots through me. We need to get him away from this smoke.
Something scrapes against my side and I realize it’s another building. I bump off it and nearly lose my footing. More shots can be heard and then Aaron roars.
“Aaron!” Tyler booms. “What happened?”
“I’ve been hit. Fuck, I’ve been hit.”
Tyler jerks me forward until I can see Dan in front of me. I give him a quick nod before he disappears to go find Aaron. My gut twists violently with worry.
We seem to be zigging and zagging through buildings and cars, some of which are smoldering. The coughing from our group grows more intense. It’s not until I gulp in a lungful of cold, less smoky air that I realize we’ve made it to safety.
From what we’ve seen thus far on our travels, it appears we’ve encountered yet another national park or wildlife range here in the desert. Though we won’t find supplies, we will at least be away from people since they’re every bit as awful as the weather events.
At least the earth is softer here and not so hard like it was when we were in Death Valley. It’s a bit marshy, in fact.
“We have to take a break,” Tyler says, panting from exertion. “We’ve been going for hours. I need to look at his gunshot wound.”
Everyone stops and all but collapses to the mushy ground. The shower I’d stolen seems as though I took it years ago, not hours. I’m already sweaty, smokey, and now my pants are covered in mud.