Flesh (Flesh 1)

“Three more of these men were not openly opposed to this plan of taking your women. But we can’t speak to their intentions. We would request you send them on their way. Unharmed.” Captain Manning pursed his lips, his gaze wandering over his companions.

“Enough people have died. Emmett killed anyone who defied him. He executed men earlier this week for speaking out against him.

These three didn’t necessarily have a choice.”

“But you didn’t trust them enough to include them in your coup?” Daniel asked, keeping a hand on the truck door so Al couldn’t climb out.

“No,” Captain Manning replied. “The fewer who knew, the safer it was.”

Santa nodded, lips pressed tight. Blood seeped steadily from his wound. The man had strength and then some. “I take it the other four of you wish to remain with us.”

“Yes. Please.”

“They have nice manners,” Daniel said.

“Right now we need to clean up the rest of the town. Make yourselves useful and we’l see.” Santa ran his eyes over the men, weighing their worth. “Send your three friends off.”

The soldier nodded, clearly pointed out three of the men. “If any of you show your faces here again you’ll be shot on sight.”

Two started arguing, denying. Their movements were sharp, aggressive. But there were a lot of guns pointed at them. The third dropped his gaze, frowned hard at the ground, his mouth working noiselessly. Finally he looked up, nodded. “Can I have a gun?”

“There’s more in the Hummer outside, Nick,” Captain Manning answered, not unsympathetically.

Nick nodded just the once. The man was tall, well built. Lethal. Out of the three, he was easily the most dangerous. Finn kept close.

The man’s eyes never stopped moving, hands clenching and releasing, but when he spoke, his tone was resigned. “Alright.”

The other two men said enough for everyone standing. Insults mixed with denials. Their hot and greedy eyes slid over Erin and Al. It was all Finn could do not to end them there and then.

“They can stay the night in the lock-up at the police station. We’ll release them during the day,” Finn said. He turned to the men.

“And if I ever see any of you three near town again after tomorrow, I will kill you.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Ali wound down the window, curious and frustrated and just a little afraid. Her heart would calm down eventually. Probably. “Wil you move your hand, already?”

“What’s wrong with your arm?” Daniel snapped back, throwing the door open himself. He leant down and ducked his head into the cab and kissed her soundly. His hand burrowed through her hair to clasp the back of her head and hold her to him. Like she would try to escape. Idiot.

They had survived. Her men were alive.

Daniel rubbed his lips over hers, nuzzling her face. “Babe, what have you done to yourself now?”

“I’m fine.” Her shoulder throbbed, the joint swollen and hot. “I love you.”

“I love you too. That being said, you can’t lie for shit. I honestly don’t know why you bother.” Daniel’s hand stroked her bad shoulder and she whined, the pain excruciating. Gray dots hovered at the edge of her field of vision. “Damn.”

“I think it’s dislocated,” she panted.

“You’re going to have to pop it back in for her,” Finn said from behind Daniel. “She shouldn’t have been running around in the truck.

She should have stayed locked in at the apartment.”

“She can make her own decisions. And you. You have a bullet in you!” Ali shifted around in the driver’s seat, a slow and agonizing process.

“Children …” Daniel chided. “Come on, sweet.”

His big hands gripped her waist as he ever so carefully helped her from the vehicle.

“Thanks.”

“I’m gonna help them run the rest down,” said Finn. One-handed, he checked the remains of his clip. “You get her help.”

And out came her fretful tone of voice. High-pitched and panicky, she didn’t even bother to try and rein it in. “No, you’re not, Finn.

You’re bleeding, aren’t you? And we need to figure out how to get the bullet out.”

“Later.” Finn turned his back on her and reached for his rifle in the back of the pick-up. Dismissing her, apparently, which didn’t work. She knew better now.

“Hey.” Ali slipped her good arm around his waist, pressed herself against his back. “Stop. Turn around.”

With an exaggerated sigh Finn did so, careful of bumping either of their shoulders. The lines around his beautiful pale green eyes were embedded deeply. “Al …”

“I love you.”

He canted his head. “I know, but you need to stay put when I tell you to.”

“Love means sticking together. Thick and thin. Good and bad.” She leant against him, rose up on her toes and kissed him. “I needed that.”

Finn put his pistol on the pick-up’s bed, stroked her neck with the tips of his fingers. The scent of blood and gunpowder was thick in the air. “I need you. I nearly lost you again today.”

She shrugged, put on a stoic face. “Things are bound to calm down eventually.”

Finn sighed, pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m gonna lock you up.”

“You’ll try. We’l fight. There’ll be make-up sex. Life goes on.”

“Sam said there was a dental nurse,” said Daniel. “She can dig out the bul et. I’m probably going to have to pop your shoulder back, babe. Sorry.”

“It’ll feel a lot better once it’s done,” Finn said.

“Okay.” She nodded, lips compressed. Her eyes stayed on Santa, huddled aside with a crying Erin. Things could have been much worse. Daniel and Finn stood beside her, close and comforting. So many dead lay about them. “We got off light, considering.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Dan stopped to catch his breath. He leant against one of the big old jacarandas. A couple of members of the militia stumbled past, dragging bodies toward the mammoth bonfire burning bright at the top of Main Street. Several of Blackstone’s remaining citizens stood close to the funeral pyre, saying prayers. Mourning. There was no time for burials and no space in the little town cemetery. And fresh blood attracted infected.

Long as he lived, he didn’t think he’d ever forget the smel of the bodies burning. Twenty-one of the townsfolk were dead. A hel of a toll. Lindsay’s body had also been consigned to the fire. So too had the remains of the slain infected, including Rachel and Owen.