“Yes you did.”
“And I brought you drugs. Risked my livelihood.”
“That also.”
“Then… what’s this about?”
“Tying up loose ends.” The gun echoed loudly. Tyler brought over a horse for him. “Let’s go home and see what this town has become.”
Chapter One
Del Norte County, California
It was the calm before the storm. It had been four months since the power grid went down, since darkness took hold and the world they knew came to an abrupt end. Life in Humboldt County was peaceful, well, as peaceful as anyone could expect when beyond Eureka the country was still struggling to survive.
“Colby!” Alicia screamed as she wrestled on the ground with the buck-toothed thug. He loomed over her, grinning psychotically, his hands wrapped tightly around her throat. Colby was on the other side of the room fending off a thug intent on carving a slice off him.
For a few seconds, the steel blade was inches away from his eye, its tip dangerously close. Drool from the man’s lips dripped onto Colby’s cheek, black, gooey, stinking of chewing tobacco. His teeth were a nasty brown and rotten.
Despite the deadly situation they were in, they were doing exceptionally well since the odds had been four against two.
Unable to grab the man’s gun out of his holster without releasing one hand off the thug’s wrist, he did the only thing he could and spat a mouthful of blood into his eyes.
It worked.
Startled, blinking hard, the thug pulled back.
Instantly, Colby used that moment of distraction to twist the knife around and jam it up under his chin. Blood spilled as he shoved him off. Every muscle ached as he rose and wiped blood from his eyes and then reached for his 9mm.
Across the room, a man let out a scream.
In a last-ditch effort to avert death, Alicia had dug her thumbs into the man’s eyes. Screaming in agony, he released his grip then gave her a right hook to the face. “Bitch, you are going to….”
Colby squeezed the trigger and a slug shattered the top part of the man’s skull, sending brain matter over Alicia. His heavy frame collapsed, pinning her beneath. She let out a large lungful of air as she pushed him off.
Colby extended a hand.
“Took your sweet time,” she said.
“Figured you had him.”
“Had him? Had him?” she repeated. “He nearly choked me to death. He was twice the size of me.” She rubbed her red neck as Colby helped her back to her feet. She stumbled away from the bloody mess, naked, breathing hard.
“Well, I’d say that was some mighty fine sex, what about you?” Colby burst out laughing. She glared before a smirk appeared at the corner of her lips.
They never expected to encounter anyone down at the harbor. They were on a medical supply run, checking facilities that most might have overlooked, when they got a little too hands-on with each other. It had been that way for the past month. Every day was like going from zero to sixty. An exploration. A new discovery. They’d been in the thick of making love on a desk in the upper room of an office when the thugs burst in. They might have avoided the struggle had they not been butt naked. Their clothes and guns were across the room. It’s not that they started out that way but in the throes of wild sex, the last thing they expected was four guys walking in on them at an empty marina.
Had it not been for a steel letter opener on the desk, he might not have gotten the jump on them and it could have turned out a hell of a lot worse than it had.
“I didn’t hear them approach,” she said, collecting her clothes.
“It was all that moaning you were doing.”
“Oh, blame me. It was your idea to get frisky,” she said as she slipped into black jeans, shaking her head. Colby came up behind her and nuzzled his face into her neck, causing her to squirm.
“What can I say, I can’t keep my hands off you.”
“Colby!”
“What?”
Alicia extended a finger toward the dead men.
“All right, so we pick a better place next time.”
“There won’t be a next time, bud. Don’t you get it? We could have died,” she muttered, pulling away from him, “Let’s get out of here before anyone else shows up.”
He sighed. She was right. They had taken one too many risks lately. In some ways the safety they’d experienced inside Eureka had dulled them to the risk beyond. But their little get-togethers had been an escape from the routine, the mundane of life. With no entertainment so to speak, trips away from Eureka had become something he looked forward to. It wasn’t that they weren’t together inside but there was something about the thrill of being elsewhere that made them keep coming out — that and the curiosity to see how other towns.
With the militia gone, it was up to the residents to pitch in and collect supplies on a weekly basis. Sheriff Johnson had created a schedule.
Now, what probably didn’t help was they were only meant to venture into Humboldt’s towns and cities, but this time they’d gone further, heading north over into Del Norte County.
“Alicia, hold up,” Colby said, trying to do his shirt up as she got away from him. “I know you’re in a rush to leave but our ride’s not here.”
“So get on the radio and call Martha.”
The very mention of her name made him cringe.
The situation between the two of them hadn’t improved.
Since she’d come clean about Skye’s death, he hadn’t seen her until today. It was his choice not hers. Rightly so, he had mixed emotions. He was torn between forgiving and hating her. Anyway, she’d opted to go with them on the run — made arrangements with Johnson behind his back.
Colby knew his mother had no interest in putting herself in harm’s way and this was more about spying on the two of them than it was about trying to bury
