Without Law 6 Read online

  Eric Vall

  Chapter 1

  I ran as fast as I could, and my girls ran in front of me.

  Anna led the pack, her red braid bounced on her back as she took long strides, and her athletic frame tensed with each bound.

  Paige turned around to look at me, her long brown hair wasn’t in its usual messy bun, it flowed freely around her shoulders, and I could see her pink lips form words at me, but it was so loud I had no idea what she said.

  The beautiful platinum blonde next to me was Tara, she wore a skimpy tank top, and her breasts bounced up and down with each step. She flashed me a toothy smile, and I thought of all the wonderful things she could do with her mouth.

  Bailey, my other blonde girlfriend, ran next to Anna, and she wore denim shorts that were far too short for her long legs. I could see the bottom of her asscheeks and I heard myself growl as I took in the sight of her running.

  Behind me I all I could hear was the constant buzz of people yelling, and I turned around to see what I was running from. There was a huge horde of people, but they all looked dead, and some of them had begun to decompose. There were men in National Guard uniforms with missing limbs, and they yelled orders. Then there were civilians, they were dirty and frostbitten, and they all yelled “eh” in unison.

  I realized then that my long strides weren’t getting me anywhere, I was barely moving, and the swarm of undead was about to overtake me. I yelled out to my girls, but no sound came from my mouth. I felt the first hands on me, and they grabbed me and pulled me down to the ground, but I struggled against them and looked over to my girls.

  “I’ll hold them off!” I yelled.

  I could feel their mouths on me and I kicked against them and reached for my knife. I took two of them out with a blow to the head, but there were too many and I could feel my flesh rip as they tore chunks out of my legs and torso.

  I heard the girls scream, and I looked over to see them all get pulled down at once by the horde. I shouted and struggled harder against the mass of dead bodies around me, desperately trying to reach the girls, but I was overpowered and the world went dark, and I was alone.

  I shot up in bed, and a gleam of sweat covered my whole body. My clothes were soaked, and my breathing was heavy. I looked around in a panic as I tried to find my girls, but they weren’t anywhere to be seen. I took a deep breath as I realized that it had all been a bad dream. Though, judging from my erection, it hadn’t been a total nightmare.

  I shook my head, stood up, tucked my dick into the waistband of the pants I slipped on, and headed downstairs. The sunlight was blinding as I stepped outside, and it took a second for my eyes to adjust before I could see where everyone was. Bailey and Tara tended to the garden, and Rolly worked on the pen for the horses.

  “Where’s Paige and Anna?” I called to Bailey and Tara.

  “Well, good morning sleepyhead,” Tara joked when she looked up and saw me. “They’re out checking the traps.”

  “We made you breakfast,” Bailey said. “It’s by the benches.”

  “Thank you,” I said, and I walked toward the two women. “How’s the garden going?”

  “It’s good,” Bailey smiled at me. “We have things sprouting already.”

  “I can’t wait for those tomatoes,” Tara said, and she crouched down to the row of plants that had begun to sprout. “You’re going to grow into big juicy tomatoes for me to eat.”

  “What are you doing?” Bailey laughed.

  “Aren’t plants, like, supposed to grow better if you talk to them?” Tara questioned.

  “Well, yeah,” Bailey chuckled. “But you probably shouldn’t threaten them.”

  “They have a right to know what’s going to happen here,” Tara smiled.

  “Great, now we won’t get any tomatoes,” Bailey teased.

  “Oh, we’ll get tomatoes,” Tara said, and she narrowed her eyes at the plant. “Won’t we?”

  “I think we should let Bailey talk to the plants from now on,” I laughed.

  “I guess so,” Tara pouted, and when she stood up her breasts bounced in her shirt, and I thought about my dream and the sight of all the girls getting pulled down by the undead Canadians.

  “Hey!” Paige called out from behind me, and I turned to see her and Anna walking toward us with Winchester in tow.

  “Morning,” I smiled at the girls, but I was still stressed from my dream, and all I could think about was the coming swarm of people.

  “Winchester caught this,” Anna said, and she lifted a small brown rabbit up to show me. “We weren’t sure if we should let him keep it or if we should keep feeding him like we have been.”

  “Let him have it,” I shrugged. “He earned it.”

  “It won’t affect him to let him hunt like that, will it?” Paige asked, and she pushed her thick glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

  “No,” I chuckled. “He’s pretty domesticated at this point. I don’t think there’s much danger in allowing him to hunt when he’s hungry. We’ll still feed him at mealtimes.”

  Winchester eyed the rabbit in Anna’s hand and wagged his tail happily, his tongue flopped out of his mouth, and he panted slightly.

  “Sit,” Anna commanded, and Winchester obeyed. “Good boy.”

  Anna tossed the rabbit to Winchester, and he caught it in his mouth and laid down to devour his catch.

  “Did you eat breakfast yet?” Paige asked.

  “Not yet,” I shook my head.

  “Well let’s go sit for a minute,” Anna suggested. “There’s coffee over there, and I could use a cup.”

  “I’ll go get Rolly,” Bailey said, and she headed toward the horses and Rolly.

  The girls and I made our way to the fire pit, and I found my breakfast still warm in the pan, even though the fire was out.

  “This looks great,” I said as I hefted the pan of beans, venison, and mushrooms. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Anna smiled, and she handed me a cup of coffee.

  “Let’s head up to the roof,” I said. “I want to keep watch.”

  “Alright,” Paige said, and she grabbed the skillet and we all made our way up to the roof.

  “You look rested,” Rolly chuckled as he and Bailey made their way onto the roof and sat down.

  “I don’t feel too rested,” I laughed. “The extra sleep was nice, but don’t let me sleep in again.”

  “Oh please,” Tara said. “You work super hard. A little extra sleep every now and then is good for you.”

  “You all work hard too,” I told her. “Next time I’ll let you sleep in.”

  “I’ll take that deal,” Tara grinned.

  I ate my breakfast while the girls and Rolly sipped their coffee.

  “How’s the pen coming?” I asked once I was done eating.

  “It’s coming along fine,” he said. “But I am worried about what we’ll feed them once the grass starts to die.”

  “Hmm,” I frowned. “For now we’ll take them out each day and let them graze near the school.”

  “I wonder if Betty has some hay we can have?” Anna asked.

  “She might,” I said. “But she has livestock too that she’ll have to consider.”

  “Maybe we can grow some ourselves,” Paige suggested.

  “We’ll look into it,” I nodded. “We should ask Betty if they can stay there once the grass starts to die.”

  “Should I keep working on the pen then?” Rolly asked.

  “Probably not right now,” I said. “We may need one eventually, but for now I don’t think they’ll wander off too far.”

  “Okay,” Rolly nodded, and he took another drink of his coffee.

  “I’ll go to the library and do some research on if we can grow hay up here,” Paige said.r />
  “I think I’m going to grab a shower,” I nodded.

  “We figured you would want one,” Anna chuckled. “So we forbade Tara from getting one this morning.”

  “I appreciate it,” I laughed, and I stood up and stretched.

  “I get first dibs tomorrow though,” Tara grinned.

  “I’ll take that deal,” I said with a wink, and then I headed downstairs to grab some fresh clothes.

  The shower was only lukewarm, but it felt good on my sore muscles, and I lingered under the water before I stepped out and dried off.

  I heard a cat call whistle from the garden and looked over to see Tara waving at me while Bailey laughed and pushed her lightly.

  I laughed and shook my head, then I got dressed and headed toward the girls.

  “We’re going to have a meeting,” I told them, and I reached down to pet Winchester while he chewed on his rabbit. “In five minutes by the firepit.”

  “Okay,” Bailey nodded.

  “I’ll need more than five minutes for a meeting with you,” Tara said, and she licked her lips.

  I smiled at Tara, but I was more focused on our plan for the National Guard and the Canadians. As sexy as she was, we needed to be alive for me to do anything about it.

  I headed for the library and found Paige sitting on the floor with several books around her.

  “Meeting on the roof,” I told her.

  “Okay,” she looked up from her books and smiled at me.

  “Five minutes,” I smiled back at her.

  “Got it,” she said, and she gave me a thumbs up.

  I found Anna and Rolly filling up the five-gallon buckets with water for the horses.

  “Meeting on the roof,” I said.

  “Okay,” Anna nodded, and she shut off the water and hefted the bucket.

  “Just come over when you’re done,” I told them.

  “Will do boss,” Rolly said with a smile, and he lifted his own bucket and followed Anna toward the horses.

  I made my way to the roof and sat on the edge.

  “Those horses drink so much water,” Anna said as she and Rolly took seats on the benches.

  “Well they’re pretty big animals,” Bailey said as she and Tara took their own seats, and Winchester laid down at their feet and continued to chew on his rabbit.

  “I swear it’s like three times a day those damn things need to be filled,” Anna laughed.

  “Let’s just be happy we don’t have to carry water from the stream anymore,” Rolly smiled.

  “So true,” Tara sighed.

  “We could ride them down to the stream so they can drink,” Bailey smiled.

  “I’ll take any excuse to ride,” Tara giggled.

  “We’ll have to do it a few times a day,” I said. “We can all take turns to get everyone used to riding.”

  “Oh, that’s even better,” Tara purred.

  “Do you ever stop thinking about sex?” Anna laughed.

  “Ummmm, no?” Tara snickered.

  “Hey,” Paige said as she walked up and took a seat next to Anna.

  “Okay,” I took charge. “We need a plan.”

  “What are you thinkin’ boss?” Rolly asked, and he leaned forward in his seat.

  “We need to figure out what we’re going to do about the Guard, the civilians they are keeping as slaves, and the Canadians at the border,” I said. “We have a few options here.”

  “I think our best option is to do nothing,” Anna shrugged. “We need to worry about ourselves and getting through the winter.”

  “Yeah,” Tara agreed. “It sucks for those people, but we’re all just trying to survive.”

  “The civilians chose to go to the camp in the first place, and the Canadians took the risk to try to cross the border on their own,” Anna said.

  “They did,” I nodded.

  “They’re just people,” Bailey frowned. “We should help them.”

  “No,” Anna shook her head. “We should help ourselves first.”

  “Tav came along and helped us all out,” the blonde hippie protested. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without him.”

  “That’s true,” Paige nodded. “I think we should help if we can, but I think Anna’s right too, we need to make sure we’re taken care of first.”

  “Can’t we do both?” Bailey asked.

  “There’s too many people at the border,” Tara shrugged. “We can’t feed a hundred thousand people.”

  “What about just the civilians at the Guard camp?” Bailey said. “They're not as many people in there.”

  “That’s true,” Anna conceded. “But that’s still extra people to take care of.”

  “What if we don’t take care of them?” Bailey frowned again. “We can just break them out of there so they can at least try to take care of themselves.”

  “They may not be able to,” Rolly said quietly.

  “Yeah,” Tara agreed. “There’s a reason so many people went to the camps to begin with.”

  “Not everyone knows how to survive on their own,” Anna nodded.

  “We didn’t even really know how until Tav showed up,” Paige said, and she gestured in my direction.

  “I guess,” Bailey said. “But couldn’t we teach them?”

  “That’s a lot of people to teach,” I said and I gave Bailey a small smile and a squeeze on her arm. “Your empathy is admirable, but sometimes you can’t help everyone.”

  “Tav is right,” Anna said to Bailey. “I know you want to help everyone, but they’re just too many people.”

  “I can deal with eating meat again, and hunting, and everything like that,” Bailey said, and her breathing started to grow heavy. “But what kind of people are we if we don’t help others when we can?”

  “That’s what we’re saying though,” Anna said, and she leaned forward in her seat. “We can’t help them right now.”

  “I don’t see why not, though,” Bailey protested, it seemed the blonde hippie was not about to go down without a fight. “We can get the people out of the Guard camp so at least they’re free.”

  “But what if they don’t even want to leave?” Tara scoffed.

  “We can at least give them the choice,” Bailey said, but her voice was growing in volume, and I knew I needed to put a stop to this before the argument got worse.

  “What about the farmers?” Paige asked before I could interject. “If we got those people out, they could make their way down here and attack the farmers and civilians.”

  “Why would they attack them?” Bailey countered. “We just freed them, don’t you think they would be grateful?”

  “I think they’d be hungry and desperate,” Anna said with raised eyebrows. “Desperation makes people do crazy shit.”

  “Yeah,” Tara agreed. “We can’t just let a bunch of people loose to attack our friends.”

  “But we’ve taught them how to defend themselves,” Bailey said, but her face was growing red, and it looked like she might cry.

  “We have,” I told her. “And they would be able to defend themselves, but once the Guard leaves for the winter, all those Canadians will come down, too.”

  “And that’s if the Guard makes it to the winter,” Paige interjected. “It looked like they could be overwhelmed any day now.”

  I nodded.

  “We need to focus on ourselves and our friends first,” Anna said with a gentler tone.

  “We love you, Bailey,” Paige said. “And I admire your faith in people, but not everyone is as nice as you are.”

  “They’re right,” Rolly smiled at the small blonde woman. “You’re nicer than most people. But we can’t take in every stray dog, we already have one.”

  Bailey looked down at Winchester, and he stopped eating for a moment to look up at her with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. Bailey laughed and reached up to wipe a tear from her eye, then she reached down and petted Winchester’s black head.

  “What about the farmers and the civi
lians though?” Bailey asked.

  “They are part of our community, and we will continue to protect them as well,” I said. “We’ll all need to work as a united tribe to prepare for winter.”

  “Their farms are really out in the open though,” Tara frowned. “Once the guard leaves, the Canadians will get to them for sure.”

  “That’s probably true,” I nodded, and I saw Rolly’s eyes widen.

  “Why don’t we move them here with us for winter?” Rolly asked.

  “That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “We can fortify one place a lot better than we can fortify four, and this place isn’t out in the open as much as the farms are.”

  “We can’t really make any calls without them, though,” Anna said.

  “Fair enough,” I nodded. “We don’t want to make a plan they don’t agree with.”

  “Yeah,” Tara grinned. “We don’t want to be responsible for breaking up Betty and Rolly.”

  “No, we don’t,” I laughed. “Okay, Anna, Paige, can you go swing by the farms and the old school, tell everyone that we’ll have a meeting here tonight just before sunset, and everyone should come.”

  “Okay,” Anna nodded, and she stood up and moved to Bailey. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Bailey said. “I know you’re just doing what you think is best.”

  “I am,” Anna said. “But I want you to know that I always have your best interest in mind. It’s my job to protect your nice little butt.”

  “She’s the best shot out of all of us,” Tara chuckled. “I don’t think she needs much protecting, she does have a nice butt though.”

  “You know what I mean.” Anna scowled at the platinum blonde. “We have to protect her from her own niceness.”

  “I know we’ll always do what we can,” Bailey smiled at her redhaired friend. “It’s just hard.”

  “I know,” Anna said, and she hugged the blonde. “But we’re gonna kick this apocalypse’s ass.”

  “We’re already doing a pretty good job of that,” Paige grinned, and she hugged the blonde as well.

  “Don’t get too cocky,” I chuckled. “Winter hasn’t come yet.”

  “Ugh,” Tara groaned. “I hate the snow. It’s gonna be so cold up here.”

  “We did it once already,” Anna mused.