These assholes deserved to die, just like the sick that wandered around aimlessly. They were humans who strayed from being decent. Killing them was doing a service to everyone who was trying to survive.
He let him fall to the ground in a silent lump and wiped off his blade on the back of the guy’s shirt. He lifted his head and saw Mason tilting his chin toward the group still huddled around the fire. Asher moved forward, parallel with Mason, until he was hidden behind the trunk of a thick tree.
“This whole drawing straws shit for the pussy isn’t going to happen with Collin or me.” The “leader” they had seen back at the shop spoke in-between guzzling a bottle of liquor. “I have first dibs, and then my right-hand man, Collin, gets my sloppy seconds.”
He slapped Collin on the back, but the guy didn’t even crack a smile. Asher did notice he glanced over at Sparrow. The blond who rubbed Ash the wrong way just by the way he looked suddenly stood.
“What’s up, man?” the fuckwad leader said and looked around at the group of guys. They all started laughing at nothing, but Ash didn’t miss when Collin reached behind to the small of his back and grabbed the gun stationed there.
“I’m not getting sloppy seconds, Todd,” he spoke to the leader, and everyone stopped laughing instantly.
“What the hell, Collin?” Todd started laughing again. “All right, you can have her last then. You can get everyone’s fucking sloppy seconds. And I’m sure it’ll be all tore up by then.” He started chuckling, and a few of the other guys did too, but there were some who glanced around hesitantly. “Besides, it isn’t like you aren’t accustomed to used-up pussy, not with the profession you used to have before the infection.” There was another round of laughter.
“It’s obvious you aren’t listening to what I’m saying. No one is getting her except me.”
Asher straightened, looked over at Mason who was a few feet from him, and saw the same rage coming from the other man. Before anyone else could say anything, Collin had his gun pointed at the center of Todd’s head.
“You fucking disgust me.” Collin pulled the trigger before anyone could respond, and the spray of blood and brain matter coming out the back of Todd’s head was like a fountain. For a second, no one moved, and then like a blast from a cannon, there was movement from all corners. The shouting was earsplitting, and so was the sound of guns being fired. The gunfire blazing was sure to attract the infected from a mile away.
As it was, these guys had been relatively safe so far out in the woods. With the sick staying more in the once populated areas, seeing as that was where the infections circulated, it wasn’t a surprise these humans lasted this long, but now with the noise, gunshots, and blood scenting the air, the infected were sure to come. Asher cut his eyes to Sparrow, but she was no longer tied to the tree. He scanned the area, praying he didn’t see her bloody, lifeless body.
“Where the fuck is she?” Mason asked right beside him, and Asher didn’t miss the slightly frantic tone of his voice. A bullet ricocheted off the trunk right by their heads, and they both ducked. Putting their knives away, they reached for their guns at the same time.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to go find her. Cover me.” Mason was up and moving through the trees toward where they’d seen Sparrow. Asher stood and started picking off guys. He got two before anyone realized he was shooting them from the cover of the trees.
The guy named Collin was fighting hand-to-hand with another guy, but Collin took him out only seconds later. Ash ducked behind a tree when one of the men fired off a gun in his direction. Asher leaned to the side, aimed his gun at the shooter, and put a bullet right between his eyes. The blond looked right at Asher, but his attention was diverted when someone tackled him to the ground.
Ash ducked when another bullet flew by his head and swiftly ran toward where he knew Mason had gone. But when the sound of a gun going off close enough to him that his ears rang, he stopped and watched in horror as Mason fell down to one knee. The bullet had gone through his shoulder, and Asher turned on the fucker who shot Mason. He shot twice into the guy’s chest, and he fell to the ground in a heavy, bleeding heap.
Asher lifted his gun, and when he saw Collin grappling with another guy, he aimed, not caring which one he hit but knowing one of them would go down. He fired, and saw it land in the man Collin was wrestling with. The bullet hadn’t killed him, and by the rage on the man’s face, clearly he thought Collin fired, since he renewed his fighting tenfold. Asher turned to Mason. They needed to get out of this carnage. Mason stood and braced a hand against a tree.