Ch - XIII The Complicated Decision

Macy took a decision which was complicated for her, but had no choice...

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

They ran.

Along the back of the supermarket, behind a couple of refrigeration trucks and kept running. They ran down a line of specialty shops, through parking spaces and a row of storage rooms.

The gas tank exploded behind them, splitting the early afternoon in half. The ground shackled beneath her feet and she nearly hit the ground with her conscience cracked and scrambled.

Adrams caught her, dragged her on. He pulled her into one of the sheds as the smoke and haze hit the cloudy sky. It had looked like it will rain, now it looked like hell.

The cool brick wall felt good against her back. The shady inside of the shed was a welcome change with less sunlight. F**k her head hurt, every since she hit her head while running. It spun and pounded and throbbed all at once. Her stomach was overthrowing and she swallowed hard, trying to keep its contents down. So damn not good.

Macy rubbed the handgun fixed against her jeans. What a mess. Some b*****d’s lifeblood drip down her side.

S**t. She said.

Some b*****d had wanted to make her a personal f**k toy. Someone who was willing to kill Adrams to do so. Bloody hell.

She had been in the middle of her very first gun battle. Her ears still rang with the sound of past gun shots, though it might have been the head wound.

The stranger friend slipped into the shed like a shadow. Calm, with his gun still in hand, everything about him was ready.

“Hey,” he said with a nice, deep voice, despite all the bloodshed and crazy in the supermarket.

Her eyesight blurred, and he was just a shape in midlight. Everything around her was a painful gray shadows. She had no recollection of sliding down the wall, but it was probably all for the best.

“H-hey.” Macy frowned; concentrating till things comes into her focus.

It took some time.

The stranger frowned too, which was fair enough. She didn’t sound so great to her own ears, probably looked awful. Stupid thing to worry about, but the stranger man who was watching her, he was pretty. Blonde hair on the longish side, with pale blue eyes staring back at her. Still frowning.

Her focus wavered as the pounding in her skull kicked in. Curling up into a ball in the corner would be for the best, but she couldn’t. If she fell apart now they were f**ked. Those people were still out there, ready to murder and God knows what else.

“Put your head between your knees.” The stranger used that voice again, smooth and dominant. He controlled the situation.

Exactly what was required. She did as told and hung her head. “That’s it.”

She nodded. Or tried to.

“Hey you,” stranger friend said, referring to Adrams.

“There’s water in my pack there …”

Fingers rubbed at the back of her neck. The stranger’s fingers. Nice of him.

“Thank you,” she mumbled.

There came the sound of footsteps and ruffling, then more footsteps headed straight for her. Adrams. Adrams was close. Good.

Everything was better already.

“Princess? You good?” Adrams said.

“I’m okay,” she whispered. Willing it to be true. Hoping she didn’t pass out with pain.

“Course you are. Here, drink some water.” Adrams relaxed her head back and held the water to her lips.

God, he was so good to her. She thought to herself.

She tightened her grip on the pistol and tried to get her s**t together. They really didn’t have time for this. Water trickled into her mouth, and the world slid slowly back into focus.

“You’re going to have quite a bump there,” the stranger said, pulling at her scattered senses.

He no longer frowned, but still looked pretty.

Her head spun, and she put it back between her knees. Preferable to puking on the pretty man or her shiny brand new boyfriend a.k.a Adrams.

“Thank you for saving our asses. Who are you by the way?” asked Adrams.

He moved closer to her other side, and she ever so slowly reverted her head to the upright position. Seeing her boyfie was a medicine all of its own.

Adrams leant in to brush her bruised cheek with a quick kiss. “God, I’m sorry, princess. You alright? Keeping it together?” he asked again.

“Yep.” She answered slowly.

“That’s like my girl.” Adrams winked and sat back on his a*s, dealing the stranger with an assessing look. He raised his chin and gazed at the guy frankly. “You saved our asses, all power to you. And yet …”

“Finn Edwards. I was an officer, a cop, before …” the stranger tried to tell.

“A cop,” Macy echoed in surprise.

“Yeah. For what it’s worth.” The stranger took a big gulp of water. She tried not to notice the blood stains on his arm and the sleeve of his blue t-shirt. No uniform, just jeans and a t-shirt. What use would a police uniform be? The blood and gore would have been from those two b******s on the floor with their throats missing.

Her hands started shaking. About time the rabbit hopped back onto the scene. “You’re really a cop?” she asked.

“Hang on. I’ve got my badge in my pack.” Finn hopped up and find his pack waiting by the half-torn away shed door. He returned with a black leather wallet and flipped it open with practiced ease, displaying the shiny silver shield within and a picture ID. “If it helps any.” He said.

His jeans was lifted up on one side; a knife in its sheath sneaking out from one of his big brown hiking boots. What a weapon.

Probably the one he had used to slit those throats.

“You haven’t told me your name.” Finn bent down, putting himself back into her line of vision. He cocked his head, smiled briefly.

More of a choirboy than killer.

“I’m Macy. This is Adrams.” She tried to smile back, but the expression wouldn’t quite work. “Why were you following us?” she asked.

Finn rubbed his chin with the palm of his hand, his forehead furrowed. “I spotted you two on the highway heading west yesterday, heard the gunshot the day before. I thought to follow. A man and a woman alone … perhaps you don’t want company. Making new friends is difficult these days; there are a lot of dangers outside to consider. You weren’t likely to just accept whoever came along.”

He hesitated, seeming much older for a moment, and very serious. “Humans are social creatures. I didn’t realize how much until nearly everyone was gone. Then there’s security, safety in numbers …”

Adrams made a noise. She couldn’t tell what the noise meant, but apparently, it made sense to Finn. He nodded solemnly in reply.

“They got the drop on you. No offense intended. They were halfwits, but they were trained halfwits. They came prepared and they outnumbered you.” Finn gave the badge in his hand a long look, eyes going blank. “I can help you protect her,” he said to Adrams.

Adrams nod his head. “And what do you want in return for this help?”

“Good question.” Macy pulled herself up, let her hand drop down to rest on top of the gun beside her. Hopefully, a valiant show of strength.

Finn tracked the movement. “No, Macy. Guys … I’m not asking for that. S**t.” He kept his hands low and chest out front. “Eventually you two are going to run across more people and not all of them are going to be a*s**les. Eventually, you’re going to want to find someplace safe, settle down, rebuild. That’s what I want. I want to know there’s something after all this. Us banding together, that’s a beginning.” He explained.

And what was Adram’s take on this?

Her boyfriend shrugged, gave her a small nod. She had to make the final decision. Odd, Ad had pushed his way at every turn up until now.

Finn’s elegant face was all seriousness. Pale blue eyes dug in on her. It felt like his hopes were on a tight leash, but his heart was open infront. He had seemed so contained, controlled, but not so much now. She knew what it was to be alone and without hope.

“You want to be friends,” she said, feeling her way hesitantly. She was lucky with trusting Adrams. Twice in one week trusting two persons might be pushing it. But Finn had saved them from certain horrible deaths. There was a familiar edge of desperation in his eyes, a craving. She’d seen it in Adrams and she’d also seen it in the mirror once or twice. Everyone was scared of something these days. Her rabbit heart sped and her skin felt too small. She couldn’t leave him on his own without hating herself a little. They would just have to take the risk.

“I want to be friends,” Adrams said. “I appreciate what you did for us in there. Stepping in when you didn’t even know us.”

Finn eyes searched her face. “I’ll have your back, Macy. I promise.”

“Okay.” She stopped, sniffed the air. “I smell fire. It’s close.”

 

TO BE CONTINUED IN �" Ch XIV