Angered Seasons: Volume Four (I Will Survive) (2 page)

“So I should just leave it at home then?”

Jenny patted the riffle she had tied to the back of
her saddle. “I prefer this when the Yellow Eyes are running at
me.”

Fatty Lumpkin put his head down to pick at a patch of
frosty dead grass.

“Come on, Lumpy. You can eat when we get back.” Jenny
gave him a squeeze and he grunted his annoyance.

“Brat says to head to the back pasture. There’s a
small herd hanging out back there.” Max smiled up at Jenny and gave
her leg a squeeze. She put her hand over his.

“Be a good man and tend to the vegetables while I go
get us some meat.”

He stuck tongue out at her. Riley gave a small bark
and started trotting toward our destination and we followed
along.

True to Brat’s word, there was a small herd. Much to
our surprise, it was a herd of ten Black Angus cows, three calves,
and a bull. We stopped our horses and watched them for a
moment.

“How do you feel about being a cattle rancher?”
inquired Lane.

“It’d be nice to have some guaranteed meat,” I
admitted.

“Let’s try to get them to the small pasture behind
the barn. We’ll give them some hay and water then come back out and
try to find how they got in here. We’ll run the fence and see if it
needs patching before we let them back out here.”

The small herd was obviously used to being moved by
horses and we made it to the barn pasture without incident. Max
closed the gate behind the cows and turned back to us with a
grin.

“Definitely better than hunting deer.”

A branch snapping in the woods to our left had the
horses spooking away from the sound. Vader pulled up easily enough
and I watched as Lane reined in Bella. Jenny grunted as Lumpy
dropped his head and hunched his back, all four feet coming up off
of the ground. She hauled on the right rein in an attempt to pull
him around and get him under control.

“Jenny, hang on!” Max paled, fear plain on his
face.

“Pull, Jenny! Pull and spur!” Lane kicked Bella and
made his way toward the out of control pair.

I swore as Jenny lost her grip on the reins and was
left holding on to the saddle horn. Lumpy gave a hard buck, sending
Jenny over his head. There’s no way to describe the sound of a bone
breaking on impact, but it’s one you never forget. Jenny’s weight
came down on her arm and the snap rang through the air. The sound
of her head hitting a large rock made my stomach lurch.

“Jenny!” I jumped off of Vader and ran with Max to
her side.

“Jenny. Hey, come on.” Max brushed her hair back.
“Jenny. Wake up.”

I tried to ignore the bone showing through her bicep
and concentrated on her head. Blood wet the dead grass under her.
Lane knelt beside me.

I took a deep breath. “Her pulse is thready and she’s
not responding. There’s too much blood, Lane.” I felt gently under
her head and fought to keep the bile from rising as my fingers
moved crushed skull.

Max’s whole body jerked as he tried to suppress a
sob. “Come on, Jenny.” He bent over her and pressed his lips to her
forehead. “Come back to me,” he whispered.

He stiffened.

“Max?” I put a hand on his shoulder.

“Back up.” He glanced from me to Lane. “Back up,
quick.”

We scrambled back until we were a good thirty feet
away.

“I just don’t know if this will work. I think I can
do something. I think I remember.” Max closed his eyes and inhaled
deeply. He moved over Jenny’s limp form so that he straddled her.
His eyes bled to silver.

My heart was pounding in my chest and I held my
breath as he put his hands gently on her shoulders and pressed his
lips to hers.

Seconds turned to minutes and though I was scared
that the noise might break his concentration, I finally took the
breath my lungs were craving.

Max blinked and pulled away from her. “Come on,
Jenny.”

I wiped at the tears streaming down my face and raced
to her side as she groaned.

“Max?” She sat up cautiously and touched the back of
her head. “Ow.”

“Take it easy,” he warned with a grin. “You’re not
all fixed.” He pulled his shirt over his head and fashioned a sling
for her arm. “I was able to get the major stuff, but you’ll still
have a bump on the head and if I saw correctly, there’s a hairline
fracture in your arm.”

“You saw?” I gawked at him. “You saw in her?”

“Yeah. It was kinda like a fluorescent x-ray. I could
see where the worst of everything was and, I don’t know. I moved
energy to those spots? No… that just sounds cheesy. Not energy. I
don’t know. All I know, is I remembered how to do it.” He helped
Jenny stand before hugging her close.

Lane smiled and went to catch the horses who were now
grazing quietly near the fence.

“Come on.” I took Vader from him and gave Jenny a
hug. “Let’s get you back to the house so Marie can patch you
up.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“We need to catch a Yellow Eyes.”

Everyone stopped talking and stared in shock at
Max.

“I’m serious. I need to find out what I can do. I
need to see what I can remember. We can’t just hide away forever.
Glade will be back and when he shows up, I need to know how to deal
with him.”

“Speaking of your darling big brother, where the hell
has he been?” John looked outside as if to make sure the subject of
conversation didn’t suddenly appear.

“I have no idea. The only thing I’ve felt around is
the dogs.” He reached down and gave Riley a pat on the head.

“Though I can see the positive aspects of having a
couple of Yellow Eyes at your disposal for training, I’m a bit
worried as to how we’d keep them here safely after the fact.” Shawn
looked around to see if he was the only one on this wavelength.

“We could lock them in the basement.” Jenny gestured
toward the door that led to the room in question.

I shook my head. “I am not having those things in the
house. What if they got out?”

“What about the shed?” Robbie suggested.

“That might work.” Lane, Robbie, and Jason headed
outside to see if the shed would make a secure enough prison.

“If we do this, you have to stay here,” I announced
to Max.

“No way.”

“Max, it’s not up for discussion. If we come across
more than a few of them and some get away, the first thing they’ll
do is tell Glade and Terra where you are. If it’s just us, they’ll
have no clue who we are.”

Grant nodded. “Gabby’s right. You need to sit this
one out.”

Riley barked and Max glared at him.

“Fine. But you go with them. You can let them know if
they’re close.”

The dog’s tongue lolled out of its mouth and I was
sure he was grinning.

“Do we have a plan?” Lane came back into the house
and pulled his bunnyhug over his head. “It’s getting hot out there
again. It actually feels like August in August.”

“I suppose if Mother Nature wants to save this
planet, she has to take it easy with the weird weather. There’s
only so much the plants and animals can take.”

Jason grunted. “I don’t care what her reasons are.
I’m just happy it’s nice out. Now. Let’s go find us some Yellow
Eyes.”

Riley barked and bounded out the door and into the
back of the one ton.

“You’ll need ropes, the guns just in case, some duct
tape…” Shawn was coming out of the barn, shoving things inside of a
duffle bag.

Lane and I jumped into the truck and were joined by
Grant, Robby, and Jason.

“Which way should we go?” I watched the trees go by
as we pulled out of the yard.

“I think we’ll have our best luck right in town.”

I shivered. “I was afraid you’d say that. If there’s
more than two, it’s a no go, got it?”

He nodded.

It had been so long since we’d been to town I was
scared of what we’d see. There had been a few decent sized fires a
month back; they’d been big enough we’d been able to see the smoke
from the farm.

Lane kept going straight off the highway so he was
driving along fifteenth street.

“We’ll go check around the Gateway Mall. If there’s
nothing there, we’ll head up second avenue.”

“What happens if we find other people? I mean, we
can’t be the only survivors, right?” Jason never took his eyes off
the buildings we passed. “Hang on. Stop.”

Lane did as instructed and we all looked to where
Jason was pointing.

“Over there. By the Walmart.”

I squinted. “In it?”

“No. By the seasonal part. Where they keep the plants
in the summer.”

I gazed to the other end of the store and saw what he
was seeing. My stomach dropped at the sight of a dirty and thin
little girl. Her long blond hair was matted to her head, her yellow
eyes sunk into her face. “No.” I reached over and put a hand on the
steering wheel as Lane started to pull into the parking lot. “Lane.
No.”

His dark blue eyes met mine and I could see he wasn’t
very happy about what he was about to do. “We don’t have a choice,
Gabrielle.”

“She can’t be more than six or seven! How the hell
does Terra justify this? There’s no way that kid had anything to do
with activists or anything like that!” I could feel the tears
welling in my eyes and I blinked them away angrily.

Robby reached over the seat and put a hand on my
shoulder. “We need to bring her home with us, Gabs. Maybe Max can
fix her. Maybe he can get the sprite out of her.”

“Fine.” My voice broke and I cleared my throat.
“Just… don’t hurt her.”

Lane gave my leg a squeeze before putting the truck
back into gear and driving toward Walmart. The girl bared her teeth
and came at us. Before I knew what was happening, Riley was jumping
out of the box and racing past us.

“No!” Lane slammed on the brakes and jumped out as
the border collie knocked her to the ground. The dog clamped his
jaws around the girl’s neck and she went still.

“Riley, damn it! We need them alive!” Lane knelt
beside them and relaxed. “Jason, bring the rope!” He reached over
and gave Riley a pat on the head.

“She’s okay?” I stood just behind him and watched as
the girl’s chest rose and fell with her breaths.

“I think she’s fine, you know, considering she’s
possessed by an evil sprite.”

Jason quickly tied her legs then her hands. Riley
pulled back gently and sat back, his head cocked to the side as he
gazed down at the girl who lay motionless, her eyes never leaving
his.

I took a deep breath and had to bite my tongue not to
object while Robby taped her mouth shut.

“Christ, she’s skin and bones. Don’t the sprites have
to eat?” Jason looked like he was about to be sick.

“Let’s get her back right away.” I took a step back
as they stood her up. Lane cradled her in his arms, holding on
tightly to keep a grip on her now squirming form.

“Man, is she ever strong for such a tiny thing.” He
grunted and handed her to Grant who was sitting in the back seat of
the truck.

Riley gave a bark and ran off around the corner of
Walmart, heading for the back alley behind Subway and Booster
Juice.

“Robby, wait up!” Lane ran off after Robby who had
taken off after Riley.

I jumped as first one rifle went off and then
another. I got on the running board, my gun aimed over the top of
the cab.

“Gabby?” Grant was struggling to hang on to the girl.
Jason was on the other side of the truck, his gun aimed at the
corner of the building.

“Just stay in!” I glanced a Jason and saw him inhale
deeply, calming himself in case he had to take a shot.

Riley yelped and another couple of shots rang through
the air.

“Gabby! Get in the truck!”

I couldn’t see Lane and if he said anything else, it
was lost in the next round of shots. Jason kept the two doors on
the passenger side open and I put the truck in gear, ready to
go.

“Go! Go! Go!” Lane was bleeding, his T-shirt ripped
along the side. He dove into the truck and slammed the door behind
him. Jason paused, unsure if he should close his.

“Go! Now!”

I floored the truck and heard Jason’s door close.

“Fuck!” Lane punched the dash. “Fuck! Swear to
fucking god, Gabs, they were waiting for us! She was bait!”

I sped back onto the highway, trying to put as much
distance between us and the city as quickly as I could.

Jason and Grant were pale, both of them catching my
eye in the rear view mirror. When Lane didn’t elaborate, I put a
hand on his leg. His fingers gripped mine and he hid his face
against his window. I could see the tears running down his face in
the reflection. I gave a slight shake of my head at the pair in the
back. He’d talk when he was ready.

“How is she doing?” I glanced at Grant who was
starting to sweat with the effort it took to hold the girl.

“She seems just peachy.” He glared at her. “Sit still
now.”

Lane choked down a sob then turned violently, his
fist raised and aimed at the yellow-eyed girl. He stopped himself
less than an inch from her face.

“Lane.” I pulled the truck over on the gravel road.
His eyes never left the girl’s. “Lane!”

He finally blinked and sat back into his seat.
“They’re gone.” I barely heard his whisper. He cleared his throat
and repeated the statement. “By the time I turned the corner, Riley
was already running back toward us. There were at least twenty of
them. Robby tripped and fell so I started shooting. Riley got one
down but there were too many…”

I swallowed hard.

“What the fuck am I going to tell Jenny and Shawn?”
Lane’s voice was muffled in his hands.

Knowing I didn’t have an answer that would make him
feel better, I put the truck back into gear and started for
home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn looked up from the book he was reading on the
porch as we pulled up. He grinned and jogged to the truck.

“That didn’t take long!” He pulled the back passenger
door open and frowned. He took a step back and looked into the box.
His jaw tightened.