Nobody's Hero (2 page)

Jimmy’s eyes rolled toward her in a silent plea. “Ah, not personally.”

“You ever shoot a warg before?”

“No.”

“Then be a good boy and put the gun away, before someone gets hurt.” The laughter cut off as if it had never been. The body behind her stilled as the claws slid down her throat, trailing lightly over her skin.

Riley barely dared to breathe. Sweat gathered under her arms and between her breasts. When a drop of moisture slid down her throat, he followed it with his claws, an appreciative purr rumbling through his throat.

Jimmy stared through the gun sight, his hair matted with blood.

“Put it down,” she whispered. “And get in the jeep.”

The gun lowered. Jimmy's hands shook, and she knew exactly how he felt.

“Get in the jeep,” she repeated.

Lips glided along the side of her throat. Riley shivered. “Go,” she told Jimmy desperately. “Warn Haven.”

“Not just yet.” The warg's grip tightened as he bestowed a faint kiss against the line of her trapezius. “Do you know Adam McClain?”

Even as Jimmy shook his head, Riley felt herself stiffen.
Shit
. The mouth against her nape lifted, and his warm breath cooled her damp skin.

“But
you
do.” He sounded delighted.

“He’s no friend of mine,” she replied stiffly.

“Where is he?”

Riley hesitated. No way in hell was she giving up a human to the monsters. Even if the man in question almost deserved it. “I don’t know,” she lied. “I’ve never seen him, just heard his voice. It’s only radio contact out here. We don’t exactly host a barn dance with the other settlements.”

A hand slid over her hip, hauling her tight against him. Tight enough to know he was enjoying this. Riley’s hands clenched on the shotgun. All he had to do was give her a chance. Just one.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he whispered. “Make a move, and I’ll kill the boy first. Make you watch. Better you just put it down, honey.”

She lowered the barrel of the shotgun and rested it on his foot, the threat imminent. “You that fast on one leg?”

“Fast enough.” His fingers dug into her, the claws almost, but not quite, breaking the skin.

She met Jimmy’s eyes. She couldn’t do anything with him there. “Go. Please.”

“And tell them I’m looking for McClain,” the stranger lifted his voice. “If he wants the woman, he’ll have to find
me
this time. I’ll keep her alive for a week. If he doesn’t come for me by then, then I’ll kill her and take someone else.”

“And who are you?” Jimmy dared to ask. A tear slid down his cheek, but hope had risen in his eyes. He had a week, and he knew it.

Riley knew she wouldn’t be alive by then. She’d make sure of it. There were worse alternatives.

“Wade. Lucius Wade. You tell him that. Tell him I’ll be headin’ east.”

Jimmy nodded, taking one last look at her. “Won’t let you down, Riley. We’ll come for you.” His hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t hold the pistol anymore. It clattered to the rocks as he turned, running jerkily for the door of the jeep. He slammed it shut, the noise echoing through the gulch.

Then he was gone, the wheels screaming as they fought for purchase on the sandy surface. All she could see were his taillights, fading into the distance.

“Now,” Wade murmured. “Let’s you and me talk a little more about McClain.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” Riley tilted her face to meet his gaze. The predatory glint rolled through his pale eyes, but she called his bluff, hoping it was one. “You’re not going to claw me up. You need me alive – and unharmed – to bait your trap. So, how ‘bout I blow your foot off?”

“Then what?”

In the distance, the taillights began to fade. All alone. With a man who should’ve been a beast by that point. Her heart was in her throat, but Riley pressed on. “What do you mean?”

“Can’t you hear it?”

Silence. The wind whispering over the desert. And, beneath that, almost inaudible to her ears, the eerie sound of something howling in the distance.

She stopped breathing. Wargs. In beast form. If she got away from him, she’d be torn to pieces. If she was lucky.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he mused. “Like a frigging desert symphony. Full of death, and longing... And hunger... Hear that?” He tilted his head as another throaty howl echoed out through the night, slightly closer. “There’s another one.”

He didn’t need to threaten her. Or point out that she wouldn’t get far. The night was a dark place, and a little voice whispered in her mind,
Better the devil you know
....

At least Wade was still in human form. Claws or not, that was better than being mauled to death – or raped – by one of the monstrously deformed weres.

“What do you plan to do with me?” she finally asked, shifting the shotgun off his foot.

“Good girl.” His fingers closed over hers. “Now, give it to me.”

She didn’t want to; that was her last hope, right there. His fingers tightened, just a fraction, and Riley let the shotgun slip through her hand, sucking in a deep breath.

Wade snapped the barrel open and examined the shot. “You know lead doesn’t have much effect on a warg?”

“Silver’s harder to melt,” she replied. “And I wouldn't look inside the casing if I were you. You don’t want the chemical contents inside mixing together while it’s in your hand.” A direct look into his eyes. “Or within fifteen feet of me.”

“What happens then?” Something that might have been curiosity shifted in his gaze.

“Boom.”

“Hmm.” He snapped the barrel shut and let her go. “You make it yourself?”

The sudden chill of the night almost made her want to step closer, huddle against his warmth. “What does it matter?”

He smiled. His teeth were very white in the night. “You’re an interesting woman.” Leaning closer, he laughed in her ear. “I might just keep you around for a while.”

She smiled back. “You’ll have to sleep sometime.”

Wade’s laughter echoed, the sound of it soft and intimate in the night. “We’ll see. Now, turn around and put your hands behind you.”

“Or?”

The laughter died. He gave her a dangerous look and hefted the shotgun like a club, the butt of the stock raised above his head. “Or I knock you out, and throw you over my shoulder. I'd have to carry you, but you won’t be able to see where I’m taking you then, huh?”

She obeyed, grinding her teeth together. The thought of being helpless was far from appealing, but she didn’t have much choice.

And she knew this land like the back of her hand. If she could escape – during the day – then she might have a chance of making it home. As if he knew what was going through her mind, he chuckled softly.

The feel of his hand on her midriff made her flinch, but he was only undoing her belt. “Relax. I prefer a little more subtlety to my seduction, and the night’s about to get dangerously overcrowded. I’m not fussy, but I’m not that interested in sharing either.”

She looked up. No movement on the plain, but that faint, echoing song still lingered in the air. “You want to hurry a bit, then?”

He jerked the belt through the loops of her jeans, making her stagger. “Now you want to come with me? Must be my charm.”

She didn’t reply, and he wrapped the belt around her wrists. Once. Twice. Thrice. Then jerked it tight, setting the buckle in place. There wasn’t even a finger’s width of wriggle room.

“Which way?” she asked.

“East.”

“But there’s nothing out there.”

Wade gave her a lazy-lidded smile. “You’ll see.”

F
aint light turned
the sky ahead of her rosy. Dawn. A long time coming. Riley’s feet were aching, and her hands throbbed from lack of circulation. They’d left the warg-song behind hours ago, but she still glanced over her shoulder occasionally, checking the horizon. You didn’t always hear them coming.

Despite the hike, Wade seemed none the worse for wear. He hadn’t bothered with conversation, and she wasn’t interested in starting one. He’d tugged a duffel out from behind a rock an hour into the trek, dragging a faded black muscle shirt on and a pair of heavy shit-kickers. From the rattle of the bag, he was packing some serious heat too.

“Why just the jeans?” she’d asked.

“The better to tempt you with.”

They were the only words they’d exchanged.

Exhaustion was starting to settle in when she staggered up a dusty rise. As the sky cleared, she got her first sight of what lay ahead, and stopped in her tracks.

“No way.”

Icy sweat sprang up against her spine. Ahead, a barbed-wire fence stretched for miles. Signs clung to the wire with faded black hazard symbols barely visible against the yellow. She didn’t come out this way often. Nobody did. But she knew where she was.

“Black River Testing Facility,” Wade said cheerfully, shoving her in the back with the shotgun.

She staggered forward, then dug her heels in.

“Home, sweet home,” he added. “Don’t be shy. I scrubbed the bloodstains off the floor.”

“It’s not the bloodstains I’m worried about,” she replied. “I changed my mind. I’ll sit out here and wait for the wargs.”

He laughed. “It’s sterile. They came through and destroyed any remaining signs of the pathogen. You’re not at risk. It’s been over seventy years since Black River was used to weapons-test their gene-enhanced critters, and sixty-something since the meteor hit.”

“Why didn’t they bomb the place?” She glared up at the stark adobe buildings behind the fence.

“What would be the point? Everybody was dead.” He shrugged. “And the government had other matters on their mind. Namely the Eastern Confederacy, and the enforcer bands.”

He gave her a gentler nudge. Riley staggered forward, her left knee giving out beneath her. With a sharp cry, she plunged forward, unable to balance herself.

Strong hands caught her by the belt. She almost screamed as fiery pain flashed through her hands.

“I forget you’re only human,” he commented, tearing the belt buckle loose.

“No,” she murmured, feeling blood begin to circulate through her fingers like liquid nitrogen through her veins. Too late. The throbbing sensation made her head spin. She could barely even move her arms, even though they were free now.

“You should have told me you were hurtin’.” He swung her over his shoulder with ridiculous ease.

No!
She kicked at him. “I’m not going into that building! Leave me out here! I’d rather die.”

“So melodramatic.” He kept walking, ignoring her struggles. “That’s always an option, you realize, darlin’. I really only need McClain to
think
I’ve got you. A little hair and the scent off your clothes ought to do it, if I bait the trap right.” His manner was easy, as if he were speaking about what she’d like for dinner, and not about cutting her throat.

A shiver ran through her. Any doubts about just how dangerous he was evaporated like a drop of water in the desert sun.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she could see the fence looming closer. “Why the hard-on for McClain?”
Keep him talking. Then maybe he won’t kill me.

“He’s still breathing,” he replied, as if that explained it all.

Ripping a piece of the fence aside, he slipped in through the gap. The scrape in the dirt showed this wasn’t a recent development.

Just how long had he been out here, hiding in this godforsaken place? Watching for a chance to get at someone, and hoping they came from McClain’s settlement.

The buildings loomed in the night, soaking up the soft, pre-dawn light. The stark white adobe walls looked ghostly, and the silence was unerring. Some trick of the wind kept a sheet of loose iron banging in the distance.

Creepy. She tensed against Wade, momentarily grateful for his company. And that just said it all, really.

Black River was the site of every Wastelander’s nightmares. Everyone knew the stories: a hidden government facility running research into wargs, and forced
evolution
, whatever the hell that meant. Weapons testing, though the weapons had once been human. Rykker, the only settler in Haven who remained from before the Darkening, claimed that nobody even knew what shadow-cats were before the meteor struck, and
something
escaped from Black River. Now, the Great Divide was crawling with them.

Why would you even create something like that? Sometimes she thought it would be easier to live in pre-Darkening times, where you could buy your foods in something called a supermarket, or fill your car at a gas station, according to Rykker. Then she'd think about all the bad things that still plagued the world, like the Dead Zones surrounding ancient nuclear plants that had been destroyed by wildfires from the crash, or the revenant plague.

Maybe a simpler life was a better one?

Wade swung her to her feet in front of one of the buildings. Riley staggered back against the wall, too exhausted to even try running. He gave her a terse look, realized she was too tired to care, and knelt down. Shuffling the dirt out of the way, he yanked on a smooth iron ring.

Opening the trapdoor revealed a gaping black maw.

“No.” She scrambled away.

“Ladies first.” He grabbed her and hauled her forward. “Mind the drop.”

Levering her over the hole, Wade lowered her into it. Riley’s feet curled under her as she tucked into a fetal position. She couldn’t help herself; she was partly hyperventilating. The only thing connecting her to the world outside was the warm hand gripping hers.

Looking up, she stared into his pale, emotionless eyes. “Don’t you leave me here.” The last words broke unstead1ily. “Don’t lock me in.”

A moment of silence. Something flickered in his eyes – not quite sympathy or compassion, but the most human reaction she’d seen in his face so far. As if it were buried so deep, he didn’t even know what it was. “I’ll follow you. Put your feet down. You’ll be able to touch the floor.”

She didn’t want to let go of his hand.

Their fingers clung, entwined.

And the silvery animal-shine of a warg flashed through his eyes. His lip curled back. “Let go.”

It was the hardest thing she’d ever done.

Landing on the floor, Riley knelt, breathing quietly whilst she waited for her eyes to adjust to the pre-dawn light. The room was thick with darkness, encroaching in on her, looming,
pressing
….