Killjoy (A Lesbian Story)

18: Max

The men all stared at me as I walked through the gas station. It wasn't how I expected them to stare at me; an angry, condescending stare. They looked up at me from the floor with empty stares and their eyes followed me as I went to the back. Hawkeye was staying at the door, looking through the little windows of the doors to watch. I stood next to him and got up on my tiptoes to look through the glass. Nathan sat at a table with his back to us and his hands tied to the rolling chair. Thor was standing up, his hands on the table as he talked to him.

"How did you know where we were?" Thor asked him, "Does that mean your little camp is close to us? With Grimes?"

"We are everywhere...Thor, was it?" Nathan said casually, "We've known where you guys have been for weeks. It wasn't until lil Max showed up that we decided to pay you a visit."

"How did you know she was here?" Thor asked, his eyes flicking up to me before going back down to Nathan.

That caused Nathan to chuckle softly, leaning back in the chair as if he wasn't in a hostile environment, "Like I said, we're everywhere. We've been watching her since she left that high school. We wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure that she would be the perfect test subject. Now, we know that she is."

Since the high school. For weeks, this guy and his buddies have been watching me and I just now noticed? How the hell has he been so sneaky with this shit? It was honestly really creepy how he would know where I've been and where to find me. He could have nabbed me at any time throughout our adventures to see if I was the test subject. Now, I'm here all semi-infected and had a great talk with the Doc in my head.

"Where is Grimes?" Thor asked.

"Not far." Was all Nathan said.

This motherfucker.

Before Hawkeye could grab me, I busted through the doors and walked towards Nathan. He looked up at me with a grin and said, "Ah speak of the devil and she shall appear."

"Cut the bullshit." I said, coming around to the side of the table. Thor gave me a look, but backed up slightly to see what would happen. I put my hands on the cold metal to get down to Nathan's eye level. Letting out a slow breath, I spoke to him, "Enough with this vague shit. I want to know where Grimes is right now."

Nathan looked over to Thor before going back to me, "Lose the god of Thunder and we'll have a nice little talk."

I looked around to see a freezer over to the left. With the army guys watching him, he may not be so ready to talk to me about this. One-on-one could be a different story. And I needed to get answers.

"I'll be fine, Thor." I said before walking behind Nathan. Grabbing the back of his rolling chair, I easily rolled him to the freezer. I swung the door open, pushed him through and stepped in. The freezer was still slightly colder than the other rooms even though there wasn't anything left inside.

Nathan spun around in a circle to look around the freezer. Stopping to face me, he smiled, "Wow. You really do want these answers."

"No shit." I crossed my arms and glared at him, "Now, tell me where Grimes is."

Humming, he rocked back and forth in the chair as if he was thinking, "Well, he's not too far. I would say about two-ish hours if you're driving. Longer if you walk."

"That's not a great answer, bro." I said, "Two hours where? South? North? Up in the air?"

Nathan laughed a deep belly laugh, showing his teeth behind his lips. They were as white and straight as the teeth in a toothpaste commercial. Shaking his head, his laughter calmed down, "Wow, you're so much like your father."

Taking a step forward, I stood right in front of him with only a few feet in between us, "How do you know my father?"

"We've kept our eyes on you for years, Max. Do you really think Grimes only wanted to observe you when this protocol activated?"

"Protocol?" I asked, "What protocol?"

Nathan only grinned at me, "That's classified for now."

I didn't like how he said that. It almost sounded like he had some kind of plan going on. There was something else going on that he wasn't quite telling me. Something was behind that smug grin and it irritated me. All of this vague bullshit was giving me a migraine. Closing my eyes, I rubbed the bridge of my nose before walking in a little circle.

"Then what the fuck will you tell me?" I asked him, frustrated. I walked in front of him and put my hands on his arms, staring at him as we were face to face, "Do I honestly need to use alternative methods? Because, right now, I may stoop to that level due to your annoyance."

"You wouldn't hurt me, Maxie." Nathan grinned at me.

The pain behind my eyes sharpened and I winced while stepping away. Putting a hand to my temple, I turned away from Nathan and steadied myself on the freezer wall.

"You alright there, bud?" Nathan asked with faked sympathy. "Would hate for you to be hurting."

"Shut up!" I barked at him, blinking a few times. The headache was growing by the second, turning in to a deep pounding in my skull that felt like someone was hitting a hot spike into my right eye with a mallet. It's been years since I had a migraine like this. They were a common thing freshman year of high school.

What a joy they decided to visit.

There was a commotion behind the freezer and I heard some gunshots. Opening the door, I noticed that Thor was gone from the room, as was Hawkeye from the door. I ran through the doors to see five bodies scattered on the ground. Two were our people and three belonged to Nathan's people. However, they all had  dark veins under their milky white eyes. Blood surrounded their mouths, matching bloody chunks missing from our people on the ground and bullet enter wounds at their foreheads. The rest of Nathan's men were gone. I looked through the windows to see them shambling towards our people as Thor and some of our men desperately tried to get our citizens out of the way.

Taking out my gun, I weaved around the gas station to run at the horde. I shot a few rounds at them, drawing their attention. Getting closer, I unsheathed a knife and stabbed one in the head before bringing up my pistol to shoot another in the head.

"Max, behind you!" I heard Ashley scream over the zombies coming towards me.

I turned to see another horde of zombies coming from down the road. There had to be at least twenty of them, all heading directly for us. I could hear their hungry moans all the way from here. Whispers swirled around my mind as I shot another turned henchman in the face. My headache swelled and an odd but familiar feeling washed over me. It made my stomach twist and nerves spasm.

"Max!" Thor yelled, shooting at the approaching horde, "Get behind the barrier! Now!"

Turning to them, I took a step forward, but the headache brought me to my knees. I cried out and held my head in my hands. Voices surrounded me, screams from my friends echoed in my ear. One voice, however, was louder than anyone else's. Ashley was screaming my name as she tried to jump over the barrier. Steve grabbed her by the waist to bring her back down as she screamed and kicked at him. I looked back to see the horde five yards behind me. Decaying and hungry bodies swayed in rhythmic patterns, but they weren't focused on me. They were focused on the people behind the barrier. Some dropped as bullets connected with brains, but many took their places.

Everything got louder and louder and my headache made my brain feel as if it was going to explode out of my skull. I fell to the concrete, yelling out for something to make it all stop.

Then, there was complete silence. No screaming. No gunshots. No groaning. Only one voice that said "I can do that."

It was Grimes. His voice caused my body to stiffen and jerk on the ground. I felt myself scream, but couldn't hear it.

That was when everything went black.