Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67694 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“It’s okay. They’re not going to hurt you ever again.”
I don’t actually blow my nose on his tee. But it’s a close thing. I take a step back and swipe away the tears and give him two thumbs up.
As for him, he eases off the jacket. Trails of blood are running down his right arm from a wound in his bicep.
I gasp. “You got shot!”
“It went through. Grab your first-aid pack and we’ll patch it up before we get back on the road. No idea if these dickheads had friends nearby. They didn’t seem sick, at least.”
I get the first-aid kit, but before dressing the wound, I say, “We need to get you meds in case of infection.”
“I have some antibiotics,” he says. “I mean, they’re out of date, but they’ll do.”
“How out of date?”
“Five or so years. They’re probably fine.”
I raise my brows. “No, Dean. We need a pharmacy.”
“Okay.” He inspects my face with a frown. “Your cheek is swelling.”
“Being mouthy might not have been the best idea in this instance.”
“I don’t know. As much as I hate you getting hurt, it made for a perfect distraction.”
“Great.”
“They would have killed me,” he says seriously. “You get that, right? What you did was very brave.”
“Be honest. We both know perfectly well that it was fueled by idiocy.” I don’t want to think about what would have happened if they had killed him. Nor what they were planning on doing to me. Life sure comes at you hard some days. “Lucky you’re a good shot. Now stand still so I can do my nurse thing.”
“You do a nurse thing?” he asks with interest.
“Medical-aid adjacent might be more accurate. The worst injuries I’ve ever treated are blisters from wearing new shoes and a hangnail or two.”
He winces. Such a tough guy. “This should be interesting.”
I am keeping a mental list of things I wish I had searched for on the internet. Also, losing online maps outright sucks. We still have GPS for what it’s worth. Dean said orbiting satellites are constantly bombarding the world with radio waves. He briefly turns on his smartphone and even without mobile data, he can access our coordinates. However, without a connection to a map they might as well be hieroglyphics.
We follow the signs for the closest town. The motorcycle is left on a back street, and we walk the couple of blocks to the drugstore. Then we crouch behind a car in an alley opposite and watch the street for a while.
I’ve never been on a stakeout before. Or whatever this is. Trash is blowing about, care of a warm wind, and the scent of dead and rotting bodies is in the air. For as long as I live, I will never forget the stench of decay. I wonder how long it takes for a corpse to dry out and desiccate. My life used to be so nice and simple. How the human body decomposed rarely even crossed my mind.
Wherever we settle, we’re going to have to deal with the dearly departed. But that’s a worry for another day.
Dean’s gunshot wound has stopped bleeding. But he’s moving in a stiff and careful sort of manner. Like he’s in a lot of pain. I have now seen him kill four people. All of them to protect us from the virus or violence. One of these days, I’m going to take a moment to scream into the void. Just get out all of the horror and rage and hopelessness. But there’s no time for me to fall apart right now. We need meds and a safe place to stay for the night. Then I’ll go back to work talking him into Wolf Creek.
We watch the drugstore for the agreed-upon hour. For safety’s sake. I am not great at waiting, but I manage to stay quiet and not fidget too much. I’m happy to be taking a break from the bike. Seems my ass still requires a respite after a certain number of miles. And almost getting kidnapped for the second time tends to take it out of you. Happy to have made it through my first gunfight, too. I feel like you should get a sticker or badge for that.
The drugstore’s front window hasn’t been broken. You would think this sort of place would be right up there with gun shops in popularity now. I wonder if everyone in this town died. Perhaps the store stayed open until the end and no one needed to steal anything. There’s every chance we’re the first to visit since the virus shut down this corner of the world.
Though, with that being said, the jewelry store down the street has been broken into. And a body lies on the footpath out front with half of its head missing. Guess a shotgun at close range would do that sort of damage. Though I don’t really know for sure. It’s just an educated guess care of action movies.