Sundown Series | Book 5 | Vengeance Page 6

  Three locations later and the sun was dipping behind the mountains. Max felt frustration rising at the lack of evidence to point them in the right direction. Two of the locations they hit were partially scavenged, most likely by other groups of survivors. The third was behind a chain-link fence. Within that fence, a parking lot was full of cars and infected bouncing between. Griffin refused to allow them to risk getting close to the warehouse to check the status of the supplies. They marked it off their list anyway, assuming the infected would be too much for the scavenging party to get through.

  They pulled back up to their trailer before headlights were necessary. Max agreed they wanted to hunker down before lights could give them away to anyone watching the streets. It was odd how they didn’t see any living in the city. Max created scenarios in her head. The most likely was that Callahan’s men had picked up every living person they saw to boost up their numbers in Camp USA. Callahan needed a large audience to buy into his lies and possibly be the center of the creation of a newly governed country.

  Max set up their propane camp stove by an open window near the back of the trailer. When the water she had on the stove began to boil, she added a bag of pasta and started stirring. She drained the pasta once ready and then warmed part of a jar of pasta sauce that was unopened in the cabinet. Max and Griffin sat in a nice silence as they ate their dinner of spaghetti and dried apples. Once they were done, Griffin took over the task of cleaning the plates. Max was glad they picked a place that had an enclosed backyard with a high fence. Griffin used a small penlight to light his work, knowing the small beam wouldn’t be seen from far away.

  Inside the trailer, Max reevaluated the map and lists of business she made as they drove around Rapid City. Her brow furrowed as her mind whirled around with ideas and plans. Her annoyance took a minute to control, and she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Griffin approached slowly to not scare her. When he was within touching distance, she looked at him. He cupped her cheek with his hand and she couldn’t resist leaning into his touch. His thumb softly stroked her skin until the furrow disappeared, and she took a deep breath.

  “We will figure this out, Max.”

  “I know. It’s just taking too much time,” She replied.

  Griffin leaned into her and pressed his mouth against hers, and for a moment Max was able to be lost in the heat of his affection. When he pulled away, he grinned at her.

  “Today was only day one. Think of this as a vacation for us,” Griffin said.

  “A vacation?” Max replied with a smirk, her voice slightly breathless.

  “Since we found each other again, our daughter hasn’t been more than a tent or bed away. This is the first time we’ve been on our own without someone else from the family being right there. We could take advantage of this,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

  Max couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from her. When it came out like a giggle, she stifled it. Giggling wasn’t a Max thing. However, Griffin loved it and his smile only widened when she did it. He slowly curled his free arm around her back, while the hand on her cheek moved to the nape of her neck. Max stepped fully into him. This was a distraction she could get behind.

  “Come to bed and we’ll start looking again with first light, I promise,” Griffin whispered.

  Max stared into his eyes and all she could see was love shining back. He didn’t get frustrated with her behavior. He didn’t expect her to be anyone that she wasn’t. And he still loved her and wanted to be with her. She had no argument with him now and followed excitedly as they made their way to the bedroom they had secured.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning Max woke relaxed and she would even say happy. Griffin followed through with every innuendo he had made. Having him completely to herself was a new experience, since they were always with members of their group or camping in a tent with the risk of nearby infected stumbling upon them. Max didn’t think about that. Her focus was solely on survival and protecting the group. Things like romance and relationships weren’t her first priority. But as she looked at Griffin in the sliver of light coming from the window, she knew she should try harder.

  “Why are you looking at me? Weirdo,” Griffin grumbled.

  “You promised we would get started first thing. The sun is up. So we should be too.”

  “So you sit there and stare at me? Still a weirdo,” he said as he rolled to the side of the bed.

  Max dressed quickly. She knew they hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep, but she didn’t regret it. Griffin might as he stumbled to get his pants pulled up. He was always cranky without sleep. Leaving Griffin to get himself around, Max started to boil water on their camp stove near the kitchen window. Once it was right, she added instant coffee and pulled out two real mugs from a cabinet. When Griffin came into the kitchen to growl at her more, she shoved the mug of coffee at him and he quieted immediately.

  “Hurry up with your caffeine fix, we need to get going,” Max said.

  “Calm down, woman. It’s still the crack of dawn.”

  Max huffed and folded the map she had been using for planning. She slipped it into her pack, along with food for the day, a full water bottle and her filtration tools. They had syphoned the gas from the vehicle in the driveway of their trailer and were able to get over a half of a tank in the truck. It was enough for what they needed to get around today. But she also put the siphoning tools next to the door, so they could fill up if they found the chance while they were out.

  Griffin finally came to the door with his own pack slung over his shoulder. When he looked at her, his eyes were slightly brighter and he wasn’t scowling at her. Coffee was his elixir and Max would make sure they always had some on hand, so she could avoid his crankiness. They climbed into the truck in silence. Once they drove out of the trailer park, Max started to give Griffin turn by turn directions. He didn’t speak or argue as she led them to the large box store.

  The store seemed like a good place to go, as it backed up to a forest area, making it unlikely for a surprise attack on that side. The box store stood alone in the parking lot, leaving many good vantage points to stake out the store before approaching. Griffin parked the truck a few blocks away, deciding there was no way to sneak up on the building in a big white truck. They both carried their packs and had their weapons on their hips. Max had her tomahawk in her hand, spinning it in anticipation.

  As they snuck behind a row of houses, the sound of an engine stopped Max cold. She looked at Griffin and they both began to run toward the box store. The engine seemed to lead them straight there, and Max couldn’t believe their luck. When they came around the nearest building, they hid to watch as a small box truck circle the store and pull to a loading dock in the back. Max could feel the blood pounding in her ears and she watched men in uniforms jump from the cab of the box truck and the car that followed. She jumped slightly when she felt Griffin’s hand on her arm.

  “Slow, Max. We need to go slowly,” he hissed.

  “We go as soon as there is an opening,” she whispered back.

  One lone man was left with the truck as the others disappeared inside of the box store. Max looked at him and guessed his age was not much older than Smith. His head moved around jerkily, telling Max the man was nervous being left alone in the big loading area. Max nodded toward the soldier and Griffin nodded grimly. She knew he wasn’t thrilled with her plan, but he wasn’t going to argue with her when they were hiding.

  When she snuck up behind the soldier, the man seemed to sense her just as she got within reach. He turned the muzzle of his gun up. She saw his eyes widen just as he saw Max approaching. Max feigned to the side, knowing the gun was going to go off in the nervous man’s hands. She was right, and she felt the air by her face ripple as the bullet barely missed her. The near miss just pissed her off more, making her increase her speed as she tackled the man into the ground.

  “Max, that shot is going to bring them all down on us,” Griffin said as he s
tood above her, ready to defend.

  Max slammed her elbow into the jaw of the soldier and his head snapped back into the ground. She grabbed him by the collar to drag him to his feet, but his head fell to the side and she realized she had knocked him out.

  “Well, shit,” she mumbled, letting the man drop to the ground.

  Just as the man flopped flat, a shout was heard from the back of the truck. The other soldiers came to investigate the single shot made by their team member. Griffin looked from Max to the store opening. They had counted six men from the vehicles they saw before they went into the store. Max took off for the trees, hoping to hide them before the soldiers found their man on the ground. Just as they ran by the first trees, bark began to explode around them.

  Griffin caught up with Max and shoved her by the elbow to run faster, but they couldn’t outrun bullets. When they were ten yards into the trees, they ducked behind two large trunks and waited. They could hear the yelling and crashing of the scavenging team as they ran into the forest behind them.

  “Fan out. Find them. They took down Collins and we need to know why,” one voice yelled.

  Max quickly figured Collins was the young man she had knocked unconscious. Griffin rolled his eyes at her, as if to say she just couldn’t control herself. She shrugged in response, not exactly caring if they knew she knocked him out. But she did care about putting Griffin in danger with her reckless decisions. Griffin pointed deeper into the woods, and Max shook her head. He pointed again, more forcefully, and Max decided fighting right now wasn’t going to do them any good.

  She ran ahead of Griffin and they wove deeper into the trees. Suddenly, the trees opened and a wide open space surprised Max. She skidded to a stop when she realized she was at the edge of a rocky cliff. Looking side to side, she decided to go right and assumed Griffin was behind her. When she ducked back into the trees she heard gunfire, and it was then she realized Griffin wasn’t with her. She looked behind her. She backtracked, but he was gone. Fear and panic began to choke her, and she tried to fight it down.

  Quickly, she made a decision and decided to try to flank the soldiers by running back into the woods on her side and coming up behind them. Another shot sounded and it pushed Max to run faster. She almost tripped over the first soldier that was laying face down. She jumped over the body and turned to flip him over. He was dead, shot in the chest twice from what she could tell. The kill told her Griffin had probably stopped to protect her back, but instead he put himself into danger.

  She followed the sounds of fighting and she fought to get breath into her lungs. Not only was she winded from running, but her fear just continued to increase as she tried to find Griffin. She couldn’t allow him to be hurt because she couldn’t stand to wait to attack. The next body she found was in civilian clothes and she was sure her heart stopped. A moan came from the body and Max snapped into action, realizing all at once that the man was alive and he wasn’t Griffin.

  Flipping the injured man over, she found a soldier with a mop of blond hair, vastly different from Griffin’s brown. She pushed him down onto his back and he groaned again, his eyes pleading with her. She saw the hole in his gut and knew there was nothing she could do for him at the moment. His hands pressed against the wound and blood pushed through his fingers.

  “Where is Callahan?” Max asked.

  “Wh… what?”

  “Where is Callahan?”

  “Help me… please,” Mop Hair said.

  “Nothing I can do, kid, sorry. Where is Major Callahan? Is he back at Camp USA?” Max asked.

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “How about this? I can’t save you. Sorry about that. But I can give you something to help with the pain, make it go quicker and you won’t suffer,” Max offered.

  “I’m going to die?” Mop Hair asked.

  “That’s a bullet in the gut. There’s nothing anyone but a surgeon can do. And sorry to inform you, I’m not a surgeon by trade. Now, if you want the pain meds, you need to tell me where Callahan is.”

  The soldier seemed to weigh his options. He looked at Max, then looked around as if to hope someone was coming back to help him. When he saw no one, his face fell and he looked back at Max.

  “No one is coming. So info for drugs. Where is Callahan?”

  “He’s at Camp USA… for now.”

  “For now? What does that mean?”

  “He’s going to travel. His recovery isn’t going well. He needs help,” Mop Hair said, his voice becoming sluggish as he started to fall under due to blood loss. Max shook his shoulder, causing his eyes to snap open again.

  “Where is he going to go? For help?” She demanded.

  “San Francisco. Underground facility. Doctors….” Mop Hair said. His voice trailed off as his body went slack. Max sighed and closed his eyes carefully with her fingertips.

  San Francisco? Max thought to herself. An underground facility seemed like something ‘The Suit’ would have after single handedly ending the knowing world. Max crouched next to the soldier’s body and searched his pockets. She took his extra ammo and grabbed his rifle. She pushed his rations into her pack, because extra food could never hurt. The sounds of gunshots had quieted, and Max couldn’t decide if that was a good thing. She slung her pack back on and ran toward the last place the shots seemed to come from. She wove carefully through trees, making her steps as quiet as possible. She didn’t want to alert anyone to her approach.

  When she found herself circling back to the cliff clearing she had been on before, she was about to give up, until she found Griffin sitting on the ground next to another body. She ran to him and skidded to her knees in the dirt. Her eyes quickly did an inventory of his body and she couldn’t see any wounds. Griffin’s chest heaved from his exertion. He reached out a dirty hand to her and pulled her in for a quick kiss.

  “Where did you go?” Max exclaimed.

  “They were too close. Tried to pick them off,” Griffin panted.

  “Stupid! We fight together. We’re stronger that way!” Max practically screamed.

  “Shhh. I can’t yell right now. I’m tired,” Griffin replied.

  A sudden sound had Max spinning in her spot, raising the rifle to her shoulder. Griffin heard it too and he was on his feet lightning fast and at her side. Both of them waited, not knowing what was trampling through the trees toward them. The first shot caught Max off guard and she felt a slight pain as it grazed her arm. She bit out a curse as she dropped to a knee and began to squeeze the trigger. She didn’t know who she was shooting at, but since they decided to shoot first, she didn’t really care who she killed. Her mind was laser focused and her blood was boiling. She could feel the heat from her blood as it spread down her sleeve and though she knew there was pain, her anger made it feel like nothing more than a bee sting.

  A grunt to her side caused her to pause her shooting, and she swung her attention to Griffin. A soldier had come running out of the forest and had tackled him. Max knew he could handle himself, but her thoughts were momentarily paused as she worried. She had little warning to the next soldier that came running at her. He knocked the rifle from her arms and tried to heave her over the edge of the cliff. Max was smaller than the soldier, so she ducked as his momentum tried to take them both over. She planted her foot against a large bolder at the edge of the rocky outcrop. With all her might, she flung her body forward and rolled when she landed feet away from the soldier.

  Max turned in time to see the solider barely catch himself before tumbling over. He turned his angry gaze back to her and she saw the moment his eyes lit in recognition. Shit, she thought to herself, he knows who I am. The one thing Max hadn’t planned on was the notorious reputation Callahan had created for her family with his men. Wanted posters littered every location Callahan could reach, hunting for the Duncans. It wasn’t that the Major didn’t know where they were, it was that he wanted to sow the seeds of hate and doubt in the minds of anyone that was willing to assist them. The soldiers under Calla
han’s command all knew who the Duncans were by their faces, Max especially. It was not going to work out in Max’s favor now.

  Another soldier came limping into the clearing, his leg bleeding profusely, though some sort of fabric had been tied around it. Max felt a moment of elation to know she hit one of them at least.

  “It’s Max Duncan. We need to take her alive,” the first soldier said.

  “Dean’s dead,” the second soldier bit out.

  “Callahan will make her pay for that.”

  Max didn’t know who Dean was, but she was pretty sure it was one of their buddies that she must have shot. She couldn’t find it in herself to feel bad about that. She pulled herself to her feet and pulled her tomahawk from its sheath. The soldiers looked at her like she was crazy, but she just smiled at them. She knew she looked like a lunatic, grinning at them, but it was part of her plan. She wanted, no needed, them to rush her, be reckless so she could have the upper hand. The one with the lame leg was clearly not in fighting condition. The other man was larger, burly even, and Max didn’t want to take him hand to hand.

  “Where’s Garcia?” Lame Leg asked.

  Soldier Number One looked around and when he brought his eyes back to Max, he just shrugged.

  “Don’t know. He was fighting the guy with her. Lost sight of them.”

  The hair on the back of Max’s neck prickled. Lost sight of them? She stole a quick glance to the side, where she left Griffin with the soldier that had come at him. She could see the signs of a fight in the dirt, but they were nowhere to be seen. Did they fight back into the woods? Did the soldier run, and Griffin followed? Max didn’t think he would leave her, even if it was to chase a soldier. Where did they go?