Mad Swine (Book 2): Dead Winter by Steven Pajak Page B

The man was dressed in a blue suit; his tattered tie hung slightly askew, but his clothes were in otherwise good repair. As he drew near, Lara wound up and hit him with a loping shot to the abdomen and as his body bent forward, I used a golf swing to knock his head backward with the blunt edge of the splitting maul. He went down, but I didn’t turn back to see if he was dead.
    Kat was waving us forward frantically in between firing thunderous shots from the Mosin. Justin continued to fire sporadic shots over our heads at unseen enemies. The sound of our footfalls and heavy breathing seemed as loud as the gunshots. Carried forward by fear, Lara and I reached the wall in less than a minute. Without pausing, Lara jumped onto the ladder and was up and over within seconds. I followed up quickly at her heels, reaching the top and throwing my leg over, blindly throwing myself down onto the safe side of the wall. I landed just inches from Lara. We both lay back against the cold ground, breathing like we’d just run a marathon. Plumes of steam arose from our lips almost in unison with every exhale. The cold air stung my lungs but tasted sweet.
    Lara rolled onto her knees and immediately began to pull at my clothing, examining me. “Did he bite you? Did he break through your clothes?”
    “No, I’m fine,” I said. I tried to sit up but Lara pushed me back down, continuing her investigation. I lay back and let her do her thing.
    After a frantic thirty seconds of pat-down, Lara put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Let’s not do that again.”
    “Not any time soon, anyway.”
    We both laughed at that, giddy from the excitement.
    “Nice to see you didn’t lose your sense of humor,” Kat said to me, having dismounted from her perch on the wall. “Because that’s twice today you almost lost your fucking ass and we had to save you.”
    Thankfully, before Kat got her panties in a bunch and gave us a more thorough tongue-lashing, Sam appeared in her parka and smothered Kat in a big bear hug. Justin and Chandra jumped into a very animated conversation, emphatically rehashing kills they’d made. I noticed other folks from the community had gathered around, obviously drawn to the quiet side of town by our gunshots. Their voices were excited and they were all anxious to hear about our botched mission. Had one of our group been killed, things would have been completely different.
    In all the excitement, Kat either forgot about Lara and me, or she’d already gotten over the scare we just gave her. Either way, she’d moved off to bark orders, probably to get a crew together to finish off the rest of the damn things that were now scratching at the other side of the wall. If we left them alone and the snow continued to fall and accumulate, they might be able to make it over the wall if the drifts were high enough.
    Figuring Kat had things covered, I remained with Lara. I reached out for her hand and took it in my own. We both lay quietly looking up at the sky and listening to the buzz around us, relishing the moment. Small flakes lazily drifted down and were dizzying against the crisp blue sky.
    Finally I said, “Thank you for not letting me lose my ass.”
    “My pleasure,” she said. She turned to me then and with her free hand pulled her scarf away from her face. Her freckles contrasted against her milky white skin. “I think I’d like to show you how to make coffee.”
    “I think I’d like that.” I felt a twinge of guilt in my gut, but it lasted only for a moment. I had to move on with my life at some point. My wife and kids would have wanted me to be happy.

Chapter 6
     

A Hero Returns
     
    After having nearly succumbed to the infected on our botched wood patrol, Lara and I returned to my house. Kat had taken charge of the clean-up operation, as I suspected she would, and I did not feel guilty about leaving the scene. There was no one I could trust more than Kat to make sure the job got done. And for once, I felt I