Crashing Down - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 3) (12 page)

Dominick landed on the porch with a loud thud. It sounded as if the wood below him had cracked in two. Penn was on his knee looking down at Dominick. Right as Penn brought his fist back, Dean grabbed it. Had he gone through with it, he would have hit Dominick right in the face.

“Ha!” Dominick said, followed by a loud, boisterous chuckle. The look on his face suggested he knew he would have suffered immensely if Dean hadn’t stopped Penn.

Dominick hopped up onto his feet but took a second to reorient himself. Before he could do anything, Dezzie grabbed him around the middle and pulled him away from us.

“That’s enough Dominick,” Dezzie said holding him tightly. It almost looked like the thought to pull his gun on Dezzie had crossed his mind. I couldn’t be absolutely sure but I thought I even saw him jerk ever so slightly for it. But thankfully he thought better of it.

“This is all his fault,” Dominick said as if he was trying to explain it to him, or maybe trying to provoke him to join in the fight.

“I didn’t do anything. I haven’t been out of anyone’s sight since we got here. How could I be the mastermind behind this whole thing? Think about it,” Penn said aggressively tapping his skull, “and then pull yourself together.”

It almost seemed as though Penn had been mostly communicating with Dezzie hoping he could explain it to his boss. It was obvious that he was in a more rational frame of mind. Dominick was too busy steeping in his rage.

“He knows… he’s just upset about what happened to our people,” Dezzie said shrugging his shoulders. He was trying to make excuses for Dominick’s behavior.

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of a dick move to take it out on me, you know?” Penn said and I could tell he was starting to calm down. He wasn’t about to let his guard down, but at least his face was returning to its normal color again.

“If it was possible for him to apologize, he would,” Dezzie said with a half-hearted chuckle. Dominick glanced at him and the look on his face told a different story. This was probably the closest anyone would ever get to an apology from Dominick. And it was probably true that he was taking it all out on Penn. Dominick wasn’t capable of apologies so Dezzie made them for him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Penn said straightening his clothes. He stretched his neck to one side and then to the other. He was trying to relax his tensed muscles.

I hadn’t noticed until I looked away from the house, but a small crowd had assembled around the area. Dominick must have only first noticed too because he stood tall and broke away from Dezzie.

He looked out over his people. “Stop staring and get to work. Go clean up that mess!” he screeched with his fists shaking at his sides.

No one moved. They stared at Dominick and then glanced at one another looking baffled. It was if they didn’t know who to listen to or what exactly they should do.

“Go clean up the mess. Burn the dogs. Burn the bodies. Get rid of them all,” he said waving them all away. The people turned away and headed back towards the front of the camp where most of the bodies were. I had no idea how they were going to clean up the blood-soaked ground. “Go help them,” Dominick said to Dean and Penn.

I could feel Penn’s rage and Dezzie must have felt it too. He stepped between them, “Come with me, I’ll show you what to do.”

“And you two, Ros, Sienna,” he said loud enough so that Penn and Dean could hear him clearly, “you both are coming with me on a run in the morning.”

Dean turned to object, or maybe attempt to find a way out of it for us, but Dominick just grinned. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea… you know… considering,” Dean said gesturing towards all the death spread out around his camp.

“We’ll be off on our run, and Dezzie can show you and Penn how to do one of our other very important tasks. We have to put this camp back together don’t we?” Dominick asked raising an eyebrow at Dean as if he was challenging him. But he knew there wasn’t anything Dean could do about it. Dominick may not have won the fistfight battle, but he felt as though he was winning the war.

“But—” Dean said taking a step closer.

“Everything will be fine. I promise,” Dominick said making a cross over his heart with his index finger. “It’ll just be a couple of hours… and you’ll be here doing important things. We’ll be back before you know it.”

T
hose of us
who were still left all gathered for the night in the big house. I wasn’t exactly sure why Dominick wanted us in the big house instead of the old church building. Maybe it had something to do with how close it had been to the blood-soaked ground. Or maybe the big house was some how safer, but he didn’t tell us his reason. I’d probably never know.

Before anyone was allowed to sleep, Dominick forced everyone who hadn’t been in the tree house with him to get checked over for dog-beast bites. They had to completely disrobe for a thorough check.

At first Dominick was going to make Dean, Penn, Sienna and I go through it again, but Dezzie had managed to talk him out of it. I was pretty sure that would have pushed us over the edge and maybe Dezzie somehow knew that. He reminded him that there was no way we could have been bitten.

With a little persuasion Dominick relented. I breathed a sigh of relief but it had still been uncomfortable to watch everyone leave the room where Dominick was examining them. The women walked away with their arms crossed over their bodies even though they were fully clothed when they left the room. Even the men looked uneasy. But they must have trusted Dominick because no one complained.

Everything had been going fine up until they found someone with a bite or a scratch or something. Dezzie and Mack dragged the woman out of the small room. She was nearly naked, kicking and screaming. Her face was dirty as if she had been lying face down on the ground.

“It’s just a scratch… from a stick or something!” she hollered, trying to break free.

Dominick stood in the doorway and watched them as they pulled her through the tightly packed room. She was trying to make eye contact with anyone who might save her.

“Please! Someone! Help me! They are going to kill me,” she cried out as the tears cut through the mud on her face. “He’s going to kill me! It’s not a bite. IT’S NOT A BITE!”

I could still hear her scream after Mack had slammed the front door shut. I stood up and took a step towards the front door. It was as if I was being controlled by something. Maybe if I could see it, I would know if it was a dog bite or a scratch. Maybe it would look like Seth’s had with pus and the weird bubbling foam stuff. What if Dominick and his men had been wrong? What if it was just a scratch? What if I was the only one willing to try to save her? Everyone in the room kept their head down. They feared Dominick far too much to do or say anything.

Penn grabbed my arm and pulled me back down next to him. “No,” he whispered sternly. “Sorry, but no.”

I glanced up and locked eyes with Dominick. He wasn’t watching out the window at his men dragging the lady away, he was watching me. The smug look on his face was too much. I couldn’t stand it. I had to do something.

The only thing I could do was to look away from him and pretend I hadn’t noticed. Every muscle in my body was tense… I took a deep breath and tried to force myself to relax. Penn must have felt the change because he let me go.

Dominick had already taken a step back inside the room they were using to check for bites, but that didn’t stop me. Something took a hold of me and I popped up to my feet. With several nearly silent steps I was behind Dominick. He turned, and I slapped him right across his stupid, smug face.

When it registered exactly what had happened, for a second I worried I might have made a bigger mistake than I realized. One that would cost me my life. Or worse, I’d be thrown in his underground prison and the two men inside would think he had thrown down a meal. They wouldn’t even bother to fight over me, they would share whatever meat they could.

He looked at me as if he was confused, but then he grabbed my wrist so hard my fingers felt numb. Dominick wanted to make sure everyone in the room saw what he was about to do.

“You’re hurting me,” I hissed.

“And you didn’t just hurt me?” he whispered back.

“Let me go!” I said louder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dean and Penn both take a step towards me. But Dominick yanked me inside the room and slammed the door behind us clicking the lock into place.

He grabbed my wrist even harder and spun me around so he could push me down onto the squishy sofa. I fell back hard and hit my head against the wall. I was almost certain they heard it in the other room.

After a few seconds, they were shouting and pounding on the door. I heard muffled voices and knew it was Dean and Penn. Although I would have known it was them without even having heard their voices. I wondered if they heard me hit my head and came running, or if they were coming for me either way. But it didn’t really matter, they couldn’t get inside since Dominick had locked the door.

“What are you going to do to me?” I said rubbing my wrist as I waited for him to pull out his gun. I was sure this was where he would shoot me right between the eyes.

“Nothing,” he said shaking his head. “I can’t do anything even if I wanted to. I have to lead all those people out there. If I do anything to the new girl, the one I’d made a big deal about, I’d risk losing their loyalty completely. Especially after what just happened.”

“They don’t care about me,” I said not exactly sure why I had said that. It was as if I wanted him to do something.

“It’s politics,” he said shaking his head. “I can’t lose them. I can’t have them question my actions… not now, not after all this. But if you ever hit me again, I might be forced to defend myself. Do you understand?”

“Come on Dominick, let her out,” Dean shouted through the door.

“They’ll break it down you know, right?” I said knowing, one hundred percent, without a doubt, that they would.

“I know they will. Don’t make me regret this,” he said waving his gun in the air as if it was another threat.

“I won’t.”

The words felt empty but he must not have noticed. He opened the door placing his foot behind it so they couldn’t charge inside. They hadn’t even tried since I was already standing next to the door ready to make my exit.

“Everything is fine,” Dominick said raising his palms up to everyone. The way he did it made me think of a priest standing up in front of his flock. “Tomorrow is a new day. We’ll clean up and get right back to work. I will make sure everything is OK. And that we are all safe. For now, just hold tight.”

About five minutes later Dezzie and Mack came back alone. The scratched woman wasn’t with them. And I was pretty sure the red splatters on Mack’s jacket were blood. But I couldn’t be certain if it was blood from the dog attacks or if it was fresh blood from the woman.

They finished checking over the remaining people, which didn’t take long. I was glad they hadn’t found anyone else they needed to take out back.

Mack stepped out to announce that everyone could take it easy for the remainder of the night. Tomorrow everyone would be expected to get back to work as usual. He also informed everyone that Dominick said that while it was a sad day, he was very proud of everyone. They were strong and put up a valiant effort. But I didn’t believe for a second that Dominick had said any of it. It was more likely that Dezzie crafted the statement and Mack was the one chosen to present it. I’d be surprised if any of the words had actually come out of Dominick’s mouth.

I had trouble sleeping. No matter what I tried I couldn’t stop thinking about how once morning came Sienna and I would be expected to go with Dominick on his random adventure. It seemed strange that when his people needed him, he wanted to take us away from the camp. He probably had his reasons, although they may not be good ones. But there wasn’t a single thing we could do about it.

It was the middle of the night and the whole room was dark when something startled me. I knew I had been sleeping but now I was wide awake staring blankly into the darkness. Dean was keeping watch, and he was half-sitting, half-laying with wide, concerned eyes.

“Everything OK?” he whispered after a long pause. It was as if he had been waiting for me to say something first. Or if he wasn’t sure if I was actually awake.

“I guess,” I said, and he stretched out his arm. It was his way of suggesting I could come and rest by him. He wanted to help me fall back asleep. Of course it would be more comfortable sleeping in his arm but it wouldn’t help me feel safe. As long as I was in this camp I wouldn’t feel safe.

I crawled into his arm anyway. Even if it would only help me fall back asleep it would be worth it.

“We’ll get out of here,” he said quietly. “I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I warned with a small smile that he likely couldn’t see in the darkness.

“I will keep it… or die trying.”

“Well, I don’t want that,” I said twisting my neck so I could look up at him. “If anything ever happened to you I’d….”

“Same,” he said and kissed the top of my head. While Dean hadn’t been the same since we had lost Owen, his mood was improving every day. However, he still seemed to struggle with things. Dean seemed far less confident than he once had. He should have stepped up to lead us, but hadn’t been able to. Penn had stepped in to lead, but I wouldn’t ever say that out loud. Even if Dean knew it was true.

Then again it wasn’t like we really needed a leader. We worked together. That’s probably how we’d made it this far. But truth be told Penn had guided us when Dean hadn’t been able to.

But whatever was happening at this camp, it was revitalizing Dean. He was finding his purpose again. Maybe this was what he needed to find himself again.

I looked into his eyes. It was as if I was trying to see what he was thinking about, but it was too dark and I couldn’t see far enough into them. The door to his thoughts and feelings was still closed, it was nearly impossible for me to gain access.

He pressed his lips to mine but it felt more like he was trying to stop me from looking at him. It wasn’t like he was trying to hide it, but he wasn’t ready to deal with all the sadness from our losses. I didn’t blame him, but I wanted him back.

“OK love birds, that’s about all I can take,” Penn whispered as he covered his eyes and peeked out between his fingers. “Both of you sleep. I’m up.”

Dean shifted himself downward to a more comfortable laying position. He kept me wrapped in his arm and it felt as though he needed me there. Once we laid down, and I was in his arm, I was finally able to fall back asleep and I didn’t wake again until morning.

It took an hour before everyone was up and moving around. Several of the women were wondering what they should do about breakfast when one of them opened a closet and found it packed tight with granola bars.

Two of those women walked around passing out the bars, but none of them were brave enough to knock on Dominick’s door to offer him any. They seemed uncertain with everything that had happened. Maybe Dominick had been right about the camp politics and why he couldn’t have done anything to me.

After a while all three of them came out into the living room area and were instantly greeted with a box of bars. Of course, they each took two.

“I don’t think you should go with him,” Dean said putting his hand on my shoulder. It was like he was trying to hold me back, but it wasn’t like I wanted to go either.

“I’m not sure I have much of a choice,” I said placing my hand on top of his.

“Oh, so you don’t care about me?” Sienna teased as she stepped up next to us. She put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight, but her mood quickly changed once her eyes landed on Dominick.

“Of course I do,” Dean said completely seriously. “I don’t want you going either. I’m hoping he’s forgotten about the whole thing.”

I shook my head knowing that wasn’t a possibility. He’d probably been looking forward to it all night. Dreaming about it. It was all about asserting his dominance over us. Even after what had happened with losing all his people to the dog-beasts, he still wanted to show that he was in charge. And there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it.

“If something should happen, or we should get separated…,” Dean said so quietly I could barely hear him. He was staring at Dominick and I could tell he wanted to get his words out before he came any closer. “Head east towards Colorado. Denver is the only city I can think of… go there. Post signs, do whatever you need to do. Penn and I will do the same. If we get separated know I will not give up on trying to find you. Either of you.”

“I’m just going to hope it doesn’t come to that,” Sienna said twisting her fingers against one another.

“Me too,” Dean said and squeezed both of us right when Dominick turned away from the couple he was talking to. He smirked as he came towards us.

He wedged his way into our little circle and smiled a big, fake smile. “Dezzie will come for you guys in a minute… you girls ready to go?” Dominick said knowing that we couldn’t say no. We would be ready when he wanted us to be ready. If there had been a way to even attempt to get out of going with him, I would have tried it. But there wasn’t a single thing I could think of that would have actually worked. Except maybe another HOME attack, but I had no control over that.

He gestured for us to follow him but Dean grabbed my hand and pulled me back. I crashed into his solid body roughly and the intensity of the kiss almost melted me. I knew Dominick was watching, but I didn’t care.

“Remember what I said,” he whispered before letting me go.

I glanced back at him at least twice before I even reached the door. Maybe I was worried I wouldn’t ever see him again, and I wanted to memorize everything about him. Or maybe I was hoping something magical would happen and Sienna and I wouldn’t have to go with Dominick.

I sighed and reluctantly followed Dominick out the front door and down the porch steps. Even though I knew I couldn’t see him I looked back one last time.