Angered Seasons: The Worst Birthday Ever (Volume One) (9 page)

Maxy lay on the floor in a pool of dark
blood, his eyes staring, lifeless, into mine. There wasn’t a part
of his body that didn’t have damage to it. His eyes had been gouged
out, most of the skin on his face had been ripped away.

“
Max?” My whisper stuck in my throat and a
sob raked through me. “Maxy.”

I started to crawl backwards and stopped
short as my hand fell on something else behind me. I closed my eyes
and turned, scared to look. I took a deep breath and forced myself
to see what I had touched.

“
No. Oh, god, please no.” Johnny lay on
his stomach, his face turned away from me, his hair black with
blood.

A whimper startled me and I jumped to my
feet. Marie had plastered herself into the far corner of my room,
little Ashley shielded in her arms. Pete lay at her feet, his chest
ripped apart.

“
Marie!” I took a step toward her and
paused at her scream. “Marie, we have to leave!” I started to move
again then froze. There was nothing quite like the sound of a rifle
being loaded.

“
Don’t do it Gabby.” Lane’s voice
shook.

I turned slowly, shocked by the mix of
emotions in his words. Anger, fear, complete devastation.

“
Lane?”

He was covered in blood and bruises, he had a
cut under his left eye, and his lip was split. The gun was aimed at
me. He blinked and the tears left streaks down his cheeks.

“
Lane, what happened?”

He shook his head and swallowed hard. I
caught some movement in the mirror and my stomach heaved. It took a
second to register that the woman looking back at me was me. My
hair clung in mats, my clothes were ripped, and I was covered in
blood. I looked myself in the eyes and doubled over to throw up a
thick stream of red.

“
No, no, no, no…” I shook my head and
leaned against the wall.

Lane choked on a sob as my yellow eyes met
his.

“
I’m sorry, Gabby.”

He pulled the trigger and I screamed and
jerked in pain. My face hit the floor with an amazing smack and
everything started to go black.

“Gabby!” Lane’s hands were rolling me over.
“Gabs. God, I’m sorry.” The sound of feet running to where I lay
sounded muffled. “Shit. Jason, can you get me a cloth? There’s
blood all over the place. Gabby… Gabby… come on. Wake up.”

I jerked away from the pain as someone put
pressure on my nose. All of the tension left Lane’s body at the
sight of my eyes focusing on him. “I am so sorry, Gabrielle. You
screamed and I sort of jumped myself awake and managed to push you
right off the couch.”

I frowned at looked past him to our entire
crew staring down at me with worry.

“What the hell were you dreaming about?”

I swallowed hard. “You shot me.” My voice
broke.

He jerked back. “What?”

“I turned into one of the Yellow Eyes and you
shot me.” I closed my eyes and tried to get my heart to slow. Lane
pulled the cloth away to see if I was still bleeding.

“I am so sorry.”

I grunted. “You had to. I was killing
everyone.”

He started to laugh. “I meant about pushing
you off the couch.”

I glanced up at him and smiled. “Well, it’s
not like you did it on purpose.” I touched my nose gingerly. “Does
anyone need to use the bathroom before I use the shower?” I
grinned. “You know, you’d almost think we knew this was coming the
way we designed this shop.”

Lane helped me up. “If I’d known this was
coming I would have put bedrooms in it.”

I grabbed a towel and a clean tank top and
jeans and headed to the bathroom. The first thing I did was wash
the blood from my face. I sighed as the hot water ran over me, my
cuts and scrapes from last night still giving me a bit of a sting
to remind me they were there. I heard the door open and close.

“Did I break it?” Lane sounded so guilty I
had to smile.

“No.” I poked my head around the curtain to
show him I was fine. “It’s fine, Lane.” I frowned. “Hey, it wasn’t
your fault.”

“I promised you I’d never hurt you.”

“Lane, you were sleeping.”

He gave a slight shake of his head. “Once I
realized I’d pushed you off, I looked over and all I could see was
you lying on the floor the day Chris beat you.”

I’d been twenty five and dating my second
boyfriend. After a month of being together, he’d decided it was
time I put out and I’d objected. He hadn’t taken kindly to it. I
still sent prayers up to god to thank him for bringing Lane home
early that night. When I’d come to, Chris lay in a pile on the
living room floor and Lane was carrying me out to the truck to take
me to the hospital.

I shut the water off and wrapped a towel
around myself before stepping out of the shower. “Lane.” I waited
until he was looking at me. “You didn’t hit me. I fell off the
couch. I’m fine.”

He ran his hands over his face. “You’re sure
you’re alright?”

I nodded and hugged him tightly. “Now, get
out so I can get dressed.”

He stopped at the door and frowned. “I’d
never be able to shoot you.”

I blinked. “Well, if I were to start killing
everyone in the shop, I’d want you to.”

He shook his head. “I’d shoot myself
first.”

I stared as he left and closed the door. By
the time I was decent, the twins had cooked up some breakfast and
my stomach growled at the smell of bacon and eggs. I glanced up at
the clock. Six thirty in the morning.

I made my way to sit beside Max who was
staring at his hands.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“How was your night?”

He glanced at me and smiled. “Better than
yours.”

I grinned. If he was joking around then he’d
managed to get past the hurting himself stage.

“Have you felt anything like at the
park?”

He shook his head. Lane’s cell phone went off
and I watched as he answered it.

“Lane, here. Oh, hey, Robby. Not much, just
holed up at the shop. You?” He looked up at the clock. “Yep, we’ll
meet you there.” He hung up. “Robby’s opening up his shop in twenty
minutes to a few of his customers. We made the list.”

I finished the bacon I was eating and
swallowed my coffee in a gulp. “I’m coming this time.”

He nodded. “He also said the bow you ordered
is in, so he can get you set up for that as well.” He downed his
coffee. “Jason, you’re in charge until we get back. Max, you’re
with us.”

I caught Lane looking up at Lizzy who was
glaring at him. Max pulled on his boots, no questions asked, while
I handed Jason my rifle and hopped into the one ton. We pulled out
of the yard and I marveled at the lack of snow and the odd green
patch of grass that was already starting to show.

“This is unbelievable. It’s barely seven and
I don’t need a jacket out. Mother Nature’s lost her marbles.”

Lane nodded. It took fifteen minutes to get
to Robby’s sports shop. Ten trucks lined the street when we got
there. We made our way to the front door and were let in by Robby’s
brother, Shawn. Everyone tensed at the sound of the door swinging
open.

“Lane, Gabby! Good, you made it.” He glanced
at Lane’s rifle, nodded to himself, and went to the bullet case.
“You need a couple more guns?”

“If you’ve got them.”

Robby nodded, went to the back, and returned
with three more rifles. He set them on the counter beside the boxes
of bullets and went into the back once again. He was grinning when
he returned.

“Here she is, Gabs.” He pulled the bow out of
its case with a flourish and I laughed.

“Ooh. Oh my god, Robby, you weren’t lying!” I
aimed an invisible arrow at the mule deer head hanging on the far
wall. “It is so comfortable!” I grinned and handed it to Lane to
try.

“Alright, so here’re your arrows… I added
three more packs of the Gold Tip XT Hunters so that gives you 24
altogether. Here’s ten boxes of shells, three riffles. Maxy, you
have your hunter’s safety yet?

Max shook his head. “Not yet.”

“You know how to shoot?”

Max looked to Lane who nodded. “He shoots
cans out at the shop.”

Robby gave a half shrug before handing him
one of the rifles. “I don’t think those yellowed eyed idiots out
there give a shit whether or not you’re killing them legally.”

“Do you think it’s going to get worse?” I
frowned and looked around the store where others were waiting to
have a turn at Robby’s supplies.

He raised an eyebrow at us. “There’s no news.
None whatsoever. No TV guys stepping up with special announcements,
no radio guys telling us what might be happening… just that same
message over and over. Stay indoors, don’t come out.” He shook his
head. “How long until folks run out of food? I have no clue what is
wrong with those people, but I will tell you one thing. This is
going to get worse before it gets better.” He took a deep breath.
“Shawn’s been told not to go to work at the water plant… they told
him to stay home. There’s no one manning the plant right now. Start
boiling your water just to be safe.”

Lane nodded his thanks for the bit of inside
information. “How much do we owe you?”

Robby looked at his till. “Give me half now
and if we all survive this shit, you can pay me the rest
later.”

Lane handed him one of the credit cards,
signed his name on the receipt, and slung the rifles over his
shoulder. We said some quick hellos to a few of the others we
recognized then made our way to the truck.

“Um, Gabby?” Max’s voice shook.

“What is it?”

“I think we’re about to get some
company.”

I looked up and saw a group of eleven Yellow
Eyes walking down the street in our direction. A quick glance back
to Max caused my heart to jump in my throat.

“Holy shit, your eyes are glowing again.”

He squeezed them shut. Lane leaned into the
truck, grabbed his sunglasses, and handed them to Max who quickly
put them on. I grabbed two rifles and a case of shells.

“Let’s get inside.” Lane led the way back
into the shop. “Robby, there’s a group of eleven of them heading
this way.”

Everyone stopped talking and stared at us. I
frowned. No, not us… Max. I looked up at him and took a deep breath
to stay calm. The silver glow of his eyes could be seen through the
dark glasses.

Lane stepped between Max and the others.
“He’s not the problem here. We don’t know what’s up with Maxy right
now, but he’s not dangerous.”

“So says you,” grumbled a man I’d never met.
He narrowed his light blue eyes at us.

“You won’t be killing one of my employees
while I’m standing here.” Though Lane hadn’t raised his voice,
there was no mistaking the threat behind his words.

I felt Max stiffen beside me.

“They’re here,” he whispered. The room went
still as everyone pulled in a collective breath and held it. It was
almost comical. Here we were, all of us experienced hunters, armed
with a variety of weapons, and none of us wanting to draw attention
to ourselves.

“I don’t know if I can shoot another person,”
mumbled a woman behind me.

I glanced back and wondered if I was as pale
as her at the moment. “It’s either you shoot them or they tear your
throat out.”

Whatever little bit of color she had left
drained from her face at the sound of my words. I loaded my rifle
and pulled Max down beside me behind a shelf. Lane took the shelf
next to us. That seemed to set everyone else in motion and soon
everyone was set up behind a shelf or desk, gun barrels or arrows
aimed at the door. We watched as dark shadows moved behind the
closed blinds in the shop’s windows.

I glanced at Max who had taken off the
sunglasses to get a better look through the sights on his rifle.
His eyes looked like they had been photoshopped. They didn’t glow
like a light. It looked more like someone had poured mercury into
them. Past him, Lane stayed focused on the door. The five minutes
we all stayed ready seemed an eternity.

“They’re gone.” Max blinked and the silver
bled back into green.

A shadow towered over us.

“What the fuck was that all about!”

I jumped between Max and the man who had
questioned him earlier. “That was nothing. See? Maxy’s fine.”

The man pushed me to the side and I grunted
as I fell into a shelf. He grabbed Max by the front of his shirt
and jerked him toward his chest. Max closed his eyes and started to
count, though I could tell he was going to lose the battle with
this internal battle. I knew the instant he took a swing at the
man, he’d be dead. Everyone, Max included, stopped moving at the
sound of a rifle being loaded. The man stiffened and my heart
jumped at the sight of Lane aiming his gun at him.

“Take your hands off of him.”

The man turned red. “Robby, you’re actually
going to sit there and let this idiot point a gun at me?”

Everyone turned to see Robby who shrugged and
pulled a cigarette pack out of his shirt pocket. He pulled a smoke
out, lit it, and took a long drag. His eyes stayed on Max the
entire time. “Seems to me Maxy, here, just managed to keep us
alive.” He took another drag. “Let the kid go, Garrett.”

“I’m not going to…”

“Garrett! I don’t think you’ve ever had the
pleasure of meeting Lane. Here’s something you need to know about
him. Lane only loves two things in life, and you’ll pick up on that
immediately if you ever have a conversation with him. The first is
Gabrielle, that pretty little red head you just threw to the
ground. The second is the community service kids they work with,
which Maxy happens to be.” He inhaled deeply and blew the smoke out
slowly. “If I were you, I’d let go of the kid.”

Instead of listening, Garret seemed to decide
that Lane wouldn’t simply shoot another human being. He pulled his
arm back to punch Max. Instead of pulling the trigger, Lane flipped
the gun around and smashed it against the back of Garrett’s head
just as Maxy ducked away from his fist. I ran to stand in front of
Max, my rifle slightly raised in warning.