Justice (8 page)

“Really, let me know if there is anything I can do. I’m not as selfish as you guys think,” I said changing the subject.
 

“Sure.” He cocked his head and looked at me again, probably trying to get a read on whether I was serious. Satisfied, he grunted and turned and left, motioning for the civilian to follow him out.
 

As soon as the door closed, I went to find a pair of scissors.
 

NINE | Fuck Yeah

We had an early morning reveille at four a.m. No bugle. We were treated to Zach screaming at the top of his lungs, “Fall out, assholes!”
 

I was used to early morning drills, so I was down and dressed in minutes. I stood by Zach’s side and urged everyone on, donning my drill sergeant persona. It was growing on me.
 

“Y’all suck,” Alexis said as she walked past us, a large pack on her back and an M4 in front of her.
 

“You look fucking sexy with that rifle,” Zach said and grabbed her, planting a kiss on her roughly.
 

“Get a room,” I grumbled and avoided the two of them as they got into the kiss. I tried not to stare, but a little part of me wished I was in Lex’s place, a guy fawning all over me and wanting me desperately.
 

The part of me that I liked to mock and throw stuff at.

“Meet ya in the truck,” Zach ended the kiss and swatted her on the ass. She turned and rushed down the hallway and out into the yard with a haughty smirk thrown my way. She knew PDA bothered me.
 

“You’re like a horny teenager. I’ve lost all respect for you, just so you know,” I said as we walked into the chilly morning.
 

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Baby.”
 

“Fuck you, boss," I flipped him off.
 

The three SCTVs were idling in the yard, waiting for their drivers. Ito, Jimmy, and Isaiah were going by water, with one of the armored vehicles loaded. We were leaving one here for the compound. I was going in the rig with Romeo and Lani. The second rig held Lex, Zach, and Blake. The third rig was driven by Kirk and held Duke and Bret Klein.

The goal was to meet up with the troopers and the National Guard in a house off St. Bernard Avenue and Filmore that the group had cleared and were using as a secondary base. Another team from the troopers would break off and hook up with the water craft at a park off Lakeshore Drive, close to Lakeview.
 

Ito would come in from the rear and we would come in from the main road with a direct assault. Hopefully, it would lead to a bunch of bikers peeing their pants and giving up like the pussies they were. Hopefully.
 

As we crossed the causeway that separated our compound from the main drag, I settled into the uncomfortable seat and closed my eyes to catch a few minutes of much needed rest.
 

Romeo didn’t talk and Lani was uncharacteristically quiet, so I slipped into a half doze. Lani usually talked my ear off, a constant barrage of questions about everything and anything. How to do this, and what was it like to do this or that? Poor thing hadn’t lived much before Z hit. She was a sheltered teenager and never got to explore the world before Z, much less live in it. Her quiet nervousness made me twitchy.

I cracked my eye when a large pothole jolted the vehicle and threw me into the door.
 

“Fuck! Watch it, Romeo,” I growled.
 

“It was unavoidable,” he responded.
 

“It wasn’t his fault,” Lani defended him. “The thing was huge. Come summer the streets are going to be a mess.”
 

New Orleans was a swamp. Our streets and houses were built on unstable ground. During the summer the cement heated up and expanded. Fissures in the road often appeared and huge potholes formed overnight. Before Z, the city didn’t fix many of the potholes that formed, unless they became a hazard, leading a lot of New Orleans residents to bitch and get little signs to put in their yard that said, “Fix our streets.”
 
Now there was no one to fill them in, even if there was an inclination. We’d be reduced to expanses of crumbling cement in only a few short years.
 

“I remember there was this big pothole, probably more of a sinkhole than a pothole. It formed right outside of our school, and it was so funny. Someone put a flamingo in there and then during Christmas they decorated the flamingo. What part of the city did you live in before Z, Ro–Romeo?” She faltered on his name, which had alarm bells going off in my head.
 

I was trying to shut them out and go back to sleep, but something about the way Lani was carrying on had me feigning sleep. I felt kind of protective of her. She was a sweet girl and worked her ass off, something I respected. She was also really young and naive. I didn't want her to get grumpy and jaded like me.
 

Men tended to bring out the jadedness in most women. Whether it’s Daddy, or that first awful love, most of the time it’s a guy that fucks us up royally. Romeo was every girl’s fantasy. He had even starred in a few of mine, before I got to know him. Hopefully Lani would realize he was bad news and find someone more in her sphere. She didn’t need to go there.

“Mid-City,” he answered tersely.
 

“We used to live in the city, but my dad moved us to Metairie after the crime got out of hand. My mom was robbed in our driveway.” She looked over at Romeo with that star struck look you only see in young girls and old people with dementia.
 

This wasn’t good. Not good at all.
 

 
Romeo had been something else before Z. A perfect male specimen. When I got the job at MJ Security, he was the first one I heard about. He and Lucas Martinez had been with Blake and Zach from the start. They were all Marines and part of the same regiment. Romeo was an MJ Security icon when I got there. Known as an adrenaline junkie, he took the hardest, most dangerous jobs Zach and Blake had for him. Before I met him, I had already heard a hundred stories. The other grunts told tales of his exploits like he was a superhero.
 

It didn’t help that he was unbelievably gorgeous. One of the prettiest men I’ve ever laid eyes on. By the time I met him in person, I was ready to kick off my panties and take him for a test drive. Not part of my usual routine, so it had even me scratching my head. Luckily though, Romeo opened his mouth and ruined it for me.
 

He was such an egotistical bastard. It was almost refreshing. And it pushed him firmly in my no-touch zone. A girl couldn’t carry-on with a guy prettier than her. I was also sure he felt the same way about me. Not the prettier part. The no-touch part. He half-heartedly flirted at first, but it was nothing like what I saw him try with other women. It was almost like an art form. The other guys would take notes.
 

Then Z hit. And something happened to Romeo. He was still gorgeous. He was still an adrenaline junkie. He was still the first one to run into the shit, but there was no more play in him. There was no more ego. Or flirting. He was this stoic, mysterious, gorgeous hero. With the brooding bit, he’s even more of a turn-on than he was before.
 

We had been a fun group, before Z. You would have thought it would be awkward, but it wasn’t, me being the only female in a group of Alpha men. We had been a great team. A group that worked, but most of all, everyone knew how to have a good time. Now all my guys had lost that fun, that spark. It had started when Z hit, but the final nail was when Martinez died.
 

All stop.
Didn’t want to think about that.
 

There was a point to my meandering thoughts and it all came back to the fact that Lani should stay far away from Romeo. For one, she was way too young, and two, she didn’t need a broken man. And there was no question, Romeo was broken.
 

“How did you get your nickname?” Lani was desperately trying to make conversation, even though Romeo was down to only grunts.
 

“Long story,” Romeo responded. She should be grateful she got two words out of him.
 

“Seems we have time,” she said and motioned to the convoy in front of us which was creeping along at a snail’s pace. Ahead of us, Lex was leaning out the window trying to stick a shuffling zombie with a spear. If she fell out of the vehicle, I was going to kill her.
 

“It’s not that long of a story,” I yawned. “Romeo was quite a ladies’ man. He could charm the panties off any female and probably a few men. All he had to do was flash that pretty smile. Problem with Romeo, he never could find his Juliet- he sure did try, though. Over and over again,” I laughed. “And over again.”
 

He shook his head but didn’t deny it.

Lani turned around in her seat and gave me an ugly look, I shrugged. It was the truth.
 

“I didn’t expect that,” she laughed nervously, trying to cover up her obvious disappointment. “Is that true?” she asked Romeo.
 

“That about covers it.” He cocked his head and made some adjustments as the brake lights of the lead vehicle flashed.
 
The conversation didn’t phase him. Since Z I hadn’t seen him break a sweat about anything. “Lead, come back,” he said into the radio.
 

“Just got a small herd ahead of us, nothing to worry about,” Zach said through the radio.
 

I dug through my bag and pulled out a newly acquired Maxim 9 that I had talked Zach into letting me use. It was from his personal stash, the first line of guns made of its kind with the suppressor built into the barrel. It looked all sci-fi with a large square shaped muzzle, but it fired regular 9mm rounds and had a decent sized clip.
   
I was dying to use it and now was my chance.
 

I unlatched the access point in the roof and slid the door back. Bright sunlight filtered in, the sun now completely up. I stood in my seat, bracing myself with the built in handhelds made for this action. I had a 360 view of my surroundings. I only had to stay aware of Romeo’s driving so I wouldn’t fall forward. The vehicle was meant to have a large .50 caliber mounted to the roof where the operator could hang on to the gun. It wasn’t meant to balance and shoot a handgun, but I was a girl that liked to live on the edge.
 

I saw Alexis push out the top of the vehicle in front of us. She turned around and screamed, “Fuck yeah!” And gave me a thumbs up sign.
 

Then the lead vehicle revved its engine and pushed forward through the large group of the dead. Some fell under the tires, others began to swarm around the vehicles.
 

I took aim and fired.
 

Headshot. Down it went.

Aim. Fire. Headshot.
Fuck yeah is right.
 

Aim. Fire. Miss.
Shit.
Three more taps and it finally went down.
 

The suppressor on the gun muffled the shot so it sounded like a loud pop, instead of a deafening boom. It was still enough noise to attract the attention of more zombies, but Lex shot that all to hell when she chose her semi-automatic M4 and was taking them down in three round bursts.
 

“Stop playing around with the fucking nine,” Romeo called to me from below.
 

I felt something hit my kneecap, Romeo jabbed me with the rifle to get my attention.
 
I ducked down and grabbed the rifle from his hand and shrugged an apology. I engaged the safety on the Maxim and dropped it into the backseat and pulled up the M4. I could operate this weapon in my sleep. It was like shooting fish in a barrel after that and when only a few remained and the lead vehicle sped up, leaving a trail of dead Zs in our wake, I sat down and secured my weapon.
 

“Next time you’re driving,” Romeo declared as he caught my eye in the rearview mirror. I was smiling from ear to ear. I needed that.
 

“Don’t worry, hotness, they’ll be plenty of action for you later.” I sat low in my seat, catching a glimpse of Lani’s scowl in my peripheral.
She needed to get over that shit, fast.

TEN | No Better