Dead Series (Book 2): A Little More Dead: Gunfire & Sunshine (11 page)

Chapter
Ten

O
n his knees with
his fingers locked behind his head, Paul’s eyes bounced from the two men
pointing guns at them to the mint sectional stained with Sophia’s blood. It was
a twisted piece of irony that made it difficult to think. His selfishness led
them straight into a trap and this was all on him. The men’s hardened faces
left little room for doubt they would pull those triggers and the clock
hammered away in Paul’s mind.

The big black guy
whistled like he was eyeballing a restored Mustang Fastback. “Shit, I don’t
know who to start with first.”

The white guy
cackled with gravelly laughter, a rifle tucked into his shoulder. “I feel like
a kid in a candy shop.”

“And here I
thought all the good pussy had turned to shit.” The black man licked his full
lips and shook his head, eyes bouncing between Wendy and Stephanie. “Good thing
we got the fuck up out of Dallas.” He whistled again. “Would you look at these
beautiful babies! Just look at em, Marv.”

Marv shed a crooked
grin, a dark mullet brushing his collar as he shook his head. “Oh, I’m lookin,
Jay-man. I’m a lookin.”

“Take the guns and
the truck and just go,” Curtis said, the whisper of a snarl pulling at his
upper lip.

Jay frowned at him.
“We don’t want your guns and truck, fool.” He took a hand from the machine gun
and ran it back and forth over his shiny bald head for a moment before
returning it to the weapon. “We want what you can’t find in a shuttered
sporting goods store or super market.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

Jay jerked the
weapon to Paul. “Funny, that’s exactly what this cracker National Guardsman
said before I shot him in the face and took his M4 carbine.” He tightened the automatic
weapon against his shoulder. “Now, if you decide to open your bitch mouth again
I’m a put a round right in yer dick.”

Marv cringed.
“Damn Jay, don’t say shit like that, man; you’re killing my boner.”

Jay arched an eyebrow
at him for a moment and both men burst into laughter. They grew quiet and
pinched their eyes against the sunlight streaming through the windows.

Jay’s brow went
up. “So, who’s Sophia anyway?”

Paul swallowed
thickly, pulse pounding at the mere mention of her name and a piece of glass
from a lamp he destroyed the last time he was here digging into his kneecap.

“Who’s Sophia?”

Glaring at him, Paul
imagined killing him a hundred different ways, each time better than the one
before it.

Jay stuck the end
of the M4 against Stephanie’s head. “I’ll kill her right now, homeboy. I swear
to fucking God.”

“My wife.”

Jay stared at him
for a few nonplussed seconds, a frozen snapshot in time. “She get bit?”

Paul looked away,
hands already going numb from loss of blood.

“That’s too bad. I
bet she was a looker, huh Paul? Married to a handsome guy like you and all.”

Paul tipped his
chin down and stared straight ahead, his primal rage threatening to make him do
something stupid. Something he’d regret if he lived long enough to regret it.

Jay pulled the gun
from Stephanie’s head and chuckled. “Shit, maybe when I’m done here I’ll go dig
her up and fuck her too.”

Paul got to one
foot, dislodging the glass from his kneecap and drawing Marvin’s rifle.

“Don’t,” Marvin
said coolly.

Paul got back to
his knees and locked his hands behind his head, seething with rage.

“Good dog.”

Jay pulled up the
baggy jeans hiding beneath an oversized Polo shirt. “So Marvin, you wanna pick
first or you wanna go first?”

Marv ran a tongue
across his yellow front teeth, shifting in his worn boots. “Damn, that’s a
tough call, Jay-man.”

Paul traded a cryptic
look with Curtis, who tipped a slight nod to the two men, both of whom were so
wrapped up in the women they didn’t notice. Paul faintly shook his head no and
Curtis swung his pointed glare back to Jay and Marv.

“I think I’ll pick
first.”

Jay’s face sobered
dramatically as something animalistic took over in his eyes.

Clicking a long
fingernail against the rifle, Marv’s tapered gaze slid from Wendy to Stephanie
and back again. Paul shifted on his knees, which were burning against the
hardwood floor, and Marv swung the rifle on him in a heartbeat. “Don’t be gettin
no ideas, hero,” he said, flashing Paul a malicious grin. “You’ll miss the
show.”

“Alright Marvin, come
on and pick already, man. Let’s get this show on the road.”

He turned back to
the women and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, eyes thinning
as he thought it over. “I’ll take you, darling,” he said, grinning at
Stephanie.

“You little bitch!”
Jay laughed. “I was going to pick her.”

“Hey, all is fair
in love and war, Jay-man.”

“I guess so.” Jay’s
eyes hovered on Wendy. “What’s your name, princess?”

She traded a
helpless look with Paul that made him shudder. “Sabrina.”

“
Sabrina
. I like that.” He gestured with
the M4. “Get up.”

Grudgingly, she
got to her feet, keeping her hands behind her head.

“Step over here.”

Wendy crossed the
living room, glancing at her pink gun lying on a sofa table with everyone
else’s weapons while Marv kept his rifle trained on the others. Paul looked at
Curtis who was – judging by the pissed off look on his face – very close to getting
them all killed. Cringing, he silently cursed himself for getting them into
this mess. He never should’ve come here because nowhere was safe now and he
fucking knew that but came just the same.

“Stop.” Jay said.

Wendy stopped in
front of the bloody couch, lower lip quivering as reality crashed down. This
was really happening and they were powerless to stop it.

“Now, nice and
slow like, take off your jacket and shirt.”

“It doesn’t have
to be like this,” Paul said, bracing himself for a bullet to the head. “We can
stop these things out there but only if we work together.”

Marv jerked the
rifle to him, face reddening with anger. “You say one more word and I will
shoot you in the face.” He jerked the gun to Stephanie, pulling a light shriek
past her lips. “But I’ll shoot her first and make you watch.”

Jay kept his gaze
fixed on Wendy. “Always gotta be a hero in the bunch, huh Marv?”

“That’s why ya gotta
break em early!”

Jay gestured with
the gun. “The jacket.”

Wendy looked to
others for help they couldn’t provide and reluctantly let her blue jacket slide
to the floor before pulling her shirt over her head. Jay’s eyes lit up when he
saw the lacey red bra hiding beneath. He whistled. “Damn girl, you got some
gifts.”

Marv couldn’t stop
himself from sneaking a peek and Paul knew that when Wendy removed her jeans Marv
would look again. That would be Paul’s chance to make a move and one thing was
certain: he would make a move.

“Now the shoes and
then the jeans.”

Wendy kicked out
of her sneakers and, with trembling hands, unbuttoned her jeans while Paul
readied himself for his impending attack. If he could get a hold of Marvin’s
rifle he might have a chance to shoot Jay before the big man shot him. It was a
risky plan with little chance for success but it was better than nothing. He
couldn’t live with nothing.

Wiggling her hips
back and forth, Wendy peeled the jeans to the floor.

Jay’s eyes drew to
her matching panties. “Nice,” he whispered, taking one hand from the gun to massage
his groin. “Now go ahead and kick em across the room. Yep, right over there. That’s
it. Okay, okay.” Another echoing whistle slid from his lips, hand working
faster between his legs, voice turning soft and shaky. “Damned if you ain’t the
purtiest thing I ever seen.”

Marv peeked over
his shoulder and Paul shot to his feet, but his legs were stiff from kneeling
on the hard floor and his surprise attack nowhere near as fast as he’d
rehearsed in his mind. Swinging the rifle around, the buttstock connected with
the side of Paul’s head. Shooting stars streaked his vision as he fell into
Stephanie.

“Bad idea,
hotshot!” Marv pointed the weapon at Stephanie, eyes on fire. “I told ya I’d
kill her and I’m a man of my word!”

Paul leaned in
front of her and held his hands up, staggering on his knees. “Don’t!” he cried.
“I’m sorry! It’s my fault and won’t happen again!”

“Go easy, Marv,” Jay
ordered in a low voice, massaging the bulge in his jeans. “Don’t go killin all
the hot chicks now.”

Marv looked like he
was about to cry, his face a twisted ball of rage. Finally jerking the rifle
away, he let out a frustrated cry and glared at Paul. “Next time I will skin
her alive and make you watch. You got me, slick?”

Paul barely nodded,
Marv’s face blurring around the edges.

“Now get yer hands
behind yer head and sit still.”

Paul did as
commanded with a warm trickle of blood running into his ear. The room spun
around him and his body felt light. He shook his head to clear the fog,
catching an angry look from Curtis in the process.

“Do a little spin
for me, girl.”

Wendy looked from
Paul back to Jay and did a slow spin.

“Nice tat,” Jay
said, staring at the small of her back. “Hey Marv, you like butterflies, don’t
ya?”

Marv grunted,
keeping the rifle pointed at Paul. “Didn’t call me the butterfly catcher fer
nothin,” he said with a cackling laugh.

Jay’s voice
hardened. “Now sit the fuck down on the couch, Goldilocks.”

Wendy stared at
Jay for a long second before folding her trembling arms across her breasts and
glancing at their guns on the sofa table. “Guys, we’re all in this mess
together,” she said. “It’s us against them. If you do this, we’ll never win.”

Jay brought his
hand back to the M4 and pointed it at her face. “Who said I want to win?”

Her eyebrows
dipped and everything got quiet. Real quiet.

“I like this world
a lot better than the old one where I broke my back pullin sixty hour weeks
only to go home to a house full of screaming kids and a wife too fucked up to
make me dinner.” He gritted his teeth. “Now, sit the fuck down on the couch,
bitch, or I’ll shoot you in the gut.”

Grudgingly, Wendy
sat in a pool of Sophia’s dried blood while Jay leaned the M4 against the
armchair Paul spent a few days trying to die in.

Paul’s mind raced,
stunned from the blow to the head and unable to see a way out. His heart beat
so fast it made him dizzy. Stephanie leaned against him to keep him from toppling
over. He bit his tongue to stay focused. If he passed out now, they were all
dead.

Jay stripped off
his oversized shirt, revealing a pregnant looking belly with stretch marks running
beneath. Kicking off his white sneakers, he unzipped his jeans and yanked them
to the floor, taking his boxers with them and springing loose the biggest
erection Paul had ever seen.

Wendy’s eyes
widened.

“Don’t worry, this
won’t hurt, baby girl,” Jay whispered, staring at her like she was a cut of
meat in the butcher’s case while pumping his cock in his hand. “Much.”

Paul bit his
tongue harder and looked to Marvin. Marvin flashed a crooked grin, finger
hugging the trigger.

Jay sauntered
closer to the couch and stopped, standing over Wendy with his hand bobbing
faster. “Go ahead and spread your legs for me, princess.”

Wendy leaned back
into the couch and clamped her legs shut. “Please,” she said, tears cascading
down her pasty cheeks. “Don’t do this.”

“Oh, I’m a gonna
do this alright, and I’m a gonna do this all day long.”

Marv huffed out a
short laugh. “Not that long, Jay-man! I want my turn soon,” he said, eyes
flicking to Stephanie. He puckered up and blew her a soft kiss before returning
his attention to Paul.

“Spread. Your.
Legs. Or I will shoot Paul in the stomach.”

Wendy glanced at
Paul with a feeble look in her eyes that made his gut twist. His mind flipped
through options, each one sounding worse than the one before it.

“Don’t make this
any harder than it has to be, Sabrina.”

Her body trembled.
She took a calming breath and slowly parted her legs, bringing a sparkle to
Jay’s eyes.

“That’s it, baby girl.
See? That wasn’t so hard.”

Marv smiled at
Paul. “I think deep down she likes it,” he whispered.

The metallic taste
of blood filled Paul’s mouth and suddenly Marvin wasn’t Marvin anymore. He was
Sophia and she was holding up both hands. She nodded upstairs and began
counting down on her fingers.