“Would you mind if these two come along as well? I hate to impose strangers on you,” he said, nodding toward Reggie.
“I got a place to go, up near Oxford,” Reggie said.
“I want to keep Shay,” Zahara said, her eyes beginning to glow gold and her shoulders beginning to broaden. Reggie’s eyes widened and he nodded and he swallowed. Xander almost smiled. Apparently, Zahara had a deep maternal side to her. He’d never seen her in that light and perhaps with a regular human child she might not be this way, but with a werepup, he thought maybe that triggered her. Her eyes shifted to him in challenge and he smiled and shrugged. Who was he to stand in her way? Shay would need to learn how to be the creature she was in a few years and she’d have the two of them to help her through.
“Can I tag along to Rose’s place? In the morning, I’ll head to Oxford. I just don’t want to travel at night, with these creatures here,” Reggie asked hesitantly.
“Of course, Reggie. You’re more than welcome,” Rose said. Xander thought that Ethan wasn’t very happy. He’d seen the bumper sticker too. Ethan eyed the man with distrust and it was stamped all over his face.
“I’ll get Shay’s things,” Zahara said as she went over to the Jeep and took out numerous bags. Xander unlocked the cargo storage box and she squished the bags inside. She then went to her things on the seat and put her weapons away. The ambulance down the road was still going and the shadows were lengthening.
“Let’s get to a gas station and Ethan, you can lead the way, we’ll follow behind,” Xander said and walked to the driver’s side of his truck and got in. Zahara helped Shay into the cab and buckled her in and then beamed over at Xander, her face glowing with an inner radiance. He shook his head, he’d never imagined Zahara could be this way, this soft.
Ž
Bobby moved the shopping buggy about the store, edging around body parts and piles of gore. Avery was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. The young man jerked and squeaked at every sound. Both men had been staggered by the implications of werewolves in their world. As if zombies weren’t bad enough. Bobby snorted in derision at the thought. It was almost laughable. What an ignorant fool he’d been. But one of the biggest surprises was when he’d seen Reggie walking out with a woman, who clearly wasn’t Marney and a little black girl. The world was now completely crazy.
Never in a million years would he have seen Reggie anywhere near a black kid, not willingly at least. What in the hell was going on? Where were his wife and boys? A frisson of guilt moved through him but he tamped it down and buried it. Reggie should have gotten home. Not his problem. Clearly, the man had poor decision-making skills as was evident with the company he chose.
He and Avery had waited for a long time in the vehicle as they watched for the werewolf to exit. Obviously, the werewolf hadn’t killed the three people exiting the store. Had they seen the animal? He knew he’d not imagined it because Avery was a babbling fool when he said they needed to go into the store for supplies before more zombies came.
“We can’t go in there! That werewolf didn’t come out yet,” Avery whined. They had waited for nearly an hour and still no werewolf. Finally, Bobby got out and started walking toward the store. Avery had gotten out and ran to catch up. He’d seen the AR-15 hanging from Reggie’s shoulder so he’d been the one shooting inside the store. He’d also heard the kid screaming. So, the only explanation was that the petite lady with them was the werewolf.
When they’d gone into the store, he’d seen the destruction but there wasn’t a sound. They’d moved quietly about the aisles but saw no werewolf. Bobby shook his head again. The werewolf had to have been that woman. He wondered if there were more of the creatures out there and laughed softly. What he could do with a werewolf, damn.
Ž
The caravan took off and Xander weaved behind Ethan’s ambulance and Reggie was behind. They headed away from the abandoned ambulance and the growing number of zombies that gathered around it. there had to be thousands now and he shivered at the sea of death things that moved and undulated around the screaming ambulance. They stopped at two gas stations, filling the tanks but also picking up fuel cans. On his way home to North Carolina, Xander planned to pick up more cans and fill the back of his truck with them. He didn’t know when, but he knew that soon, the power grid would fail because more than likely there was no one at the switch.
When that happened, he didn’t fancy sucking on a hose to get gas out of a vehicle. Once they got to the cabin, he’d head out and gather supplies. Whatever they could gather would have to last them because he didn’t see the country bouncing back anytime soon. He looked down at Shay, who was asleep, nestled up against Zahara. He looked into her emerald eyes and he smiled.
“You look mightily pleased with yourself,” he said softly.
“I am. I can’t believe I have a kid. I’ve never liked the crumb
