End Zone

End Zone (Book Five)-5-2

“Oh, come on, since when have you thought scorpions were cool?” asked Kristie.

“Since Justice removed his shirt earlier,” teased Nora. “Ever since then, she’s wanted to get stung.”

“That’s ridiculous,” replied Paige, crossing her arms under her chest.

“Oh, we’re just teasing,” said Kristie. “Lighten up.”

“Whatever,” she said. “I don’t think it’s funny.”

Kristie sighed.

Paige raised her chin. “Seriously, though, you guys have to admit, the tat was really cool.”

“It was,” I replied. It had been really cool but the sparkle in Paige’s eyes earlier hadn’t been from the tattoo. It was the guy under the ink.

Just then, the front door opened up and Tiny, Bryce, and Justice walked in.

“Well that was certainly a pain in the ass,” said Bryce, looking weary.

“Why? Did you guys run into some problems?” I asked as Tiny locked the door.

“You could say that,” replied Tiny, moving toward the window. “We were almost shot taking the Yukon that’s now parked in the alley. I think we lost them, but I don’t want to take any chances. Let’s get moving.”

“Who were they?” asked Kristie, looking out into the darkness nervously.

“Looters, I think,” said Tiny. “They took us by surprise after we located the keys for the SUV at one of the neighbor’s homes up the street. They chased us for a few miles until we finally lost them. That’s why it took us so long to get back here. You girls haven’t noticed anyone near the house, have you? A big white pickup?”

“No,” I said. “Unless they drove by without lights and we didn’t see them.”

Tiny rubbed his chin. “Well, like I said - let’s get packed and moving. Just in case.”

“I just don’t understand people,” said Kristie, frowning. “You’d think you’d want to ban together with people, not try and rob them.”

“How many were there?” I asked.

“Couldn’t tell,” said Bryce. “They started firing at us and we took off.”

“What happened?” asked Henry, stepping into the family room wearing a clean, white button-down shirt. The other one had splattered blood from Travis and we’d burned it.

“Looters again,” I said. “The guys ran into some when they went out to search for a vehicle.”

He smoothed down his white hair and put on his Stetson. “You get them bastards?”

“No, but they almost got us,” replied Tiny, walking over to Henry. “You get much sleep?”

“Just rested my eyes some,” he replied, rubbing his lower back. “Feller like me can’t sleep too long with a herniated disc.”

“You need to take it easy,” said Tiny. “You’re always overdoing it.”

“No way around it when you’re trying to fight zombies and rescue people,” he replied, patting the pocket of his shirt. “Oh, hell, where’s my chew?”

“Forget the chew, why don’t we find something for the back pain? In fact, I think I have some aspirin,” said Kristie, walking to her duffel bag.

He waved his hand. “Just keep them,” he said. “If I don’t feel the pain, I might mess it up even more.”

“You sure?” she asked, pulling out a bottle of pills. “I’ve got some right here.”

“If you really want to help my back, you’ll massage it,” he replied with a wide grin. “Haven’t had me a good back massage since the nursing home.”

“We don’t really have time, gramps,” said Tiny, frowning. “We need to get out of here and search for the girls.”

“I know,” he replied. “Obviously, my old bones can wait.”

“Don’t worry, Henry, I’ll rub those old bones of yours later,” said Kristie, kissing him on the cheek.

His eyes twinkled. “Haven’t had me a kiss or a promise for some bone rubbin’ in a very long time. This is a good woman, Tiny. Better treat her well or I’m gonna steal her from you.”

Tiny put his arm around Kristie’s waist and brushed her lips with his. “Whatcha think, babe? Am I treating you good, or do I need to step it up?”

She smiled grimly. “You find me those girls and there’s no higher step than that, Tiny.”

His face became serious. “I’m going to do everything in my power. I promise you that.”

“I know,” she replied, staring up at him. “And I have total faith that you will.”

“Damn right,” said Henry. “If we have to search the ends of the earth, we’ll find them.”

Ends of the earth.

His words made me shudder. The truth was they could be headed anywhere and it was going to take a miracle to find them. If they were still alive.

“You okay?” asked Bryce pulling me into his arms.

“Yeah. Just worried.” I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against his chest. As usual, his embrace gave me strength. “I’m just so glad you made it back to me.”

His kissed the top of my head. “Me too, Wild.”

I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

He pulled away and looked down into my eyes. “For what?”

“For coming here,” I replied softly. “If it wasn’t for me taking off like that, none of this would have happened. The girls would be safe, Luke would still be alive, and nobody would be missing.”

His eyes softened. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Besides, if we wouldn’t have come looking for you, we wouldn’t have rescued Adria.”

“Yeah, but her life is in danger now,” I replied.

“Not as much as it was when she was on that boat in Stillwater. Another few seconds and she would have been zombie food if it wasn’t for Billie and Paige.”

“And now he’s kidnapped her. I just don’t get it.” I bit the side of my lower lip. “Where do you think he’s taken them?”

“Maybe back to Atlanta? What do you guys think?” he asked, turning around.

“I think Atlanta is a pretty good assumption,” said Nora. “Heck, maybe he misunderstood us and thought we were all driving in separate vehicles.”

Paige snorted. “I doubt it.”

Nora’s face darkened. “Why do you have to be so pessimistic all the time?”

“I’m not. It’s just that there was only one vehicle here, so why would he think that we were all driving separate? It wouldn’t make any sense,” she countered.

“It wouldn’t make sense, but he also may have not been thinking clearly,” said Nora.

“You’re right. He may have been confused,” said Kristie. “Look at what had just happened before he walked out the door. If that wasn’t enough to drive someone a little off center, I don’t know what else could.”

Paige sighed. “Yeah. Maybe.”

“There are other things to consider,” said Bryce. “I hate to say this, but it’s also possible that someone else kidnapped Billie and the girls.”

Kristie’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“I’m still going with my first gut feeling,” said Paige. “And if you ask me, I believe that Billie brought the girls back to the Mall Of America.”

“Why would he bring them back there?” asked Bryce.

Kristie sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Paige has this crazy notion that Travis is controlling Billie.”

Bryce’s eyebrows shot up. “How? Travis is dead. We moved his body outside, and I’m pretty sure it’s still there with a big hole in the center.”

“I’m sure it is still out there. That’s not what I meant,” said Paige, glaring at him.

“Then please explain,” said Bryce, folding his arms over his chest.

She noticed that all eyes were upon her, even Justice’s, and smiled weakly. “Well, if he really is a demon, then he could have jumped into Billie’s body after the other one was destroyed.”

“You seriously think that Billie is being possessed by a demon?” asked Bryce incredulously. He turned back to me. “What about you, Wild? Do you believe all of that stuff about demons and the ‘End of Days?’”

“I don’t know,” I replied, staring down at my left boot. I bent down and tied the laces. “I mean, we did see Travis do some crazy stuff.”

“Exactly,” said Paige. “And don’t forget about the earthquakes and the red lake water. Those were some of the signs that Billie mentioned. You know, in the ‘End of Days’.”

“He was just obsessed with that,” said Kristie. “And you were no help, Paige.”

“Well, he made some really good points,” she said.

“Excuse me, but the lake water is pink,” corrected Bryce. “Not red.”

“Close enough,” said Paige, talking faster. “And don’t forget about the St. Croix, which was pink too, and the zombies wading around in it. I’ll bet they were attracted to the blood in the water.”

Nora grimaced. “Okay, that’s disturbing.”

“You weren’t there,” said Paige. “It was worse than disturbing.”

Bryce groaned loudly. “You can’t be serious. We’re back to that old theory again?”

“Now wait a second, I think Paige might be on to something,” said Henry.

We all turned to him in stunned silence. Henry was the last person to believe in anything supernatural.

“Don’t look at me like that. You have to admit, Travis used some kind of mind control with those zombies. And remember that ball of fire he threw at the church? Even the nuns were convinced that he was a demon.” He frowned. “No, I think Paige is on the right track and we need to high-tail it back to the mall before he kills that baby.”

Kristie’s eyes widened in horror. “Henry, you really think he’s planning on killing Adria?”

“It’s what he wants,” said Justice, speaking up for the first time. “Travis isn’t human. He had some kind of control over me that I still can’t explain. I think they’re absolutely right and Billie is being controlled by Travis.”

Tiny sighed. “Well, what do you think?” he asked, turning to Bryce. “It couldn’t hurt to check it out again.”

His lips curled under and then he sighed. “I guess we have to. I still don’t believe he’s possessed, but obviously we have to start somewhere.”

“I think you should start by having a more open mind, young feller,” chastised Henry. “It might end up saving your life.”

“He’s right,” I said, grabbing Bryce’s hand. “We all need to be ready for anything.”

“Wild,” he said, squeezing my fingers. “You’ve already taught me that lesson.”

I grinned.

4

Allie and Kylie

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