Page 79 of Crucified By the Dark
The large gates pulled apart as he kept running. Not far off the path from the main entrance were some dunes that, if you stepped on them, you would easily sink up to your knees. Many of the new members had gotten themselves into trouble more than once.
He looked at the device showing a minute and a half left as he pulled up and turned to face the dunes. It had been a long time since he’d thrown a baseball, but he had a gun for an arm. It was why he’d played center field. Turning the device in his hand, he didn’t picture what would happen if it exploded. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, he saw a cheering crowd. It was the bottom of the ninth tied game in the world series, and the ball was just hit to him.
He raced back and grabbed the ball out of the air, then took aim and fired toward home plate and the runner trying to steal the game. He watched the ball sail through the air as it left his hand.
“Jeremy. Run.” Snapping out of the vision, he turned and ran back through the gates, diving behind the Hummer that had raced over. The explosion was loud. Sand erupted into the air to rain down on him. He covered his head and sighed as the Hummer rumbled, taking the force of the aftershock.
He slumped on the dirt, his ears only ringing slightly, but other than that, he seemed to be alive and in one piece. Okay, he was taking Morry on vacation as soon as he was cleared from his surgery because this week had been fucking nuts. Whoever said that everyone needed excitement in their life hadn’t had a gun to their head and a bomb go off in less then an hour.
Feet skidded to his side. “Are you okay,” Morry asked, her hand gripping his shoulder.
He rolled over and smiled. “Yeah, I’m good,” he said. He started to smile and then grabbed her rolling her body underneath him as the storage buildings exploded in succession. The stored ammunition fired, hitting the buildings and everything else.
“Get under the Hummer,” he said.
She slid under, and he followed. It sounded like a fun day with fireworks. He held Morry’s hand and could clearly remember when he was a child and would happily shoot off little rockets or sit with his parents to watch the Fourth of July celebrations. But this one was far deadlier.
As the explosions and the sounds of ammunition going off died down, they scooted out from under the Hummer. At least ten people were lying on the ground, bleeding. The storage building, bar, and clubhouse were gone as black smoke billowed in the air.
Morry stared at the mass chaos and damage, her eyes blinking until he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“It’s all gone,” she said, looking up at him.
“It’s just buildings. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but…Oh no, Butch,” Morry said, and they ran toward the man who had become a close friend since Jeremy arrived. Trev was already kneeling by his side, trying to stop the bleeding, but even he could tell it was bad.
Butch gripped Morry’s hand as she knelt by his side. Blood trickled from his mouth, but he managed to smile. “It’s. Been. An. Honor,” he said and then coughed hard, blood pooling in his mouth. Butch’s eyes turned up to the dark sky as silent tears poured down Morry’s cheeks.
Jeremy pulled Morry to her feet and wrapped her up in his arms. It would take a lot to rebuild, but more than that, the loss of their people would hit Morry hard. She would blame herself. He already knew it and was prepared to make sure she knew every second of every day that it wasn’t true.
Trev stood and looked around before his eyes found him. “What you did saved a lot of lives. I would be honored to have you on my team any day,” Trev said before nodding and walking away.
“I love you, you crazy ass,” Morry said, pulling back to look up at him. “But don’t ever fucking run with a bomb again, or I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
He could only smile as she kissed him, then stomped away to take care of others. Fuck, he loved that woman.
Morry stood at the graveside, watching as they lowered Butch’s body into the ground. He had so much more life to live. It shouldn’t have ended like this. Almost everyone had left, including his family, but she’d chosen to stay behind for a little while longer.
“So what is the next step,” Morry asked as she looked up at Trev, who was standing quietly on the other side of the hole. Wolf was next to him, sitting in a chair, petting Duke’s head. Any other time she would’ve loved to have the group together for a reunion, but not for this.
Jeremy gripped her hand tighter, and she looked into the eyes of all those she trusted the most in the world.
“The only thing you need to worry about is Kyle’s surgery,” Trev said. “Kes and I have spoken and decided to rebuild what you lost.” He held up his hand before she could argue. “We want to do this. The attack was at your place but make no mistake. It was aimed at all of us.”
She nodded. “Thank you.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe that he wasn’t Stephen. I never met him, but you would think I would’ve known.”
“He looks similar, and if I hadn’t spoken to Tyler’s family in person when we got back, I wouldn’t have known either.” Trev rubbed at his chin. “The bigger issue is that whoever sent him knew how much TK meant to you. They took advantage of that connection to place a mole inside. Whoever this is, knows us well.”
“I need to get to Maeve,” Wolf said. “And I need to know what Dean has to do with all this because at the moment it’s not looking good. He is the only one of us not here and the only one of us that knew how close you and TK had become or who Maeve really is. Hell, he’s the only one that knew Miller’s connection to Mel and Trev.” Wolf crossed his arms over his chest.
“I know it looks bad, and I still don’t think it is him, but we’ll find out the answers,” Trev reassured them.
“What about Dean?” Jeremy said.
“We can’t seem to reach him,” Morry explained.
“Well, that’s probably because he hasn’t been around for months, almost a year,” Jeremy said, and all eyes turned in his direction.
