Be Careful What You Wish For: A Zombie Apocalypse
Chapter 41: Wake Up Call

Chapter 41: Wake Up Call

Max studied Salvatore’s face for a few minutes before his eyes went wide. "You’re a genius," he whispered, the awe in his voice easily heard.

Salvatore simply shrugged his shoulders before turning his attention toward the front.

"Dis be getting old," sneered Dimitri. "What’s with de crazy?"

"Not cookoo as in crazy, cookoo as in the bird. They be a brood parasite where they lay their eggs in other birds nests. That way, they don’t have to care for their babies; everything is done for them," smirked Max, his eyes flashing for a second.

"Are you calling my Pet a parasite?" demanded Désiré, clearly not impressed with Max’s explanation of Ronan’s idea.

"No," grunted Luca, nodding his head in approval of the new plan. "We’s let Alicia do all de hard work so dat Short Stack has a home when she comes back."

"If she comes back. Dis ain’t like normal times. There be no promise of her safety," pointed out Dimitri. "I’s finally figured out why some people kidnap deir woman and lock ’er in the basement. The second I’s find my Kitten, she’s never leavin’ again."

"Well, that escalated quickly," chuckled Luca, adjusting his backpack into a more comfortable position. "But I’s can’t say I disagree."

"We’s learn how to protect what’s ours better. Alicia knows this world, ’as ’ad visions forever about it. Follow ’her for now until our woman comes back. Agreed?" grunted Max, looking around at the men he considered his brothers.

"And René? What’s we gonna do about ’im?" asked Ronan, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

The men became silent as they thought through Ronan’s question. They had all met René when they were at the lowest point in their lives. It had never been a question about whether they were going to follow him or not.

He had decided that he wanted to be a police officer, so they all joined the force. He decided to buy a house; they all chipped in and bought one together. There was never a "them" without René.

Even when he started dating Alicia, something that none of them had ever done before, they accepted her into their group. She used to joke that she was Wendy and they were her lost boys.

Everything in their lives was about the seven of them.

But the moment Dimitri showed up at the mall, that all changed. They finally realized why they were brought together, and it wasn’t because they all heard voices talking to them.

The second they saw the milky white eyes of Hattie, the world fractured. René was no longer their center, their entire focus. Now, a tiny scrap of a girl, who was so fragile it hurt their hearts, needed them more than René ever did.

"Why’s do we gotta do anythin’ about René?" asked Luca, cocking his head to the side as they continued marching forward and away from the place where they lost their heart. "He isn’t ’ere now, is ’e?"

The six men stared past the civilians as they hunched over in fear and pain to where Alicia and René were walking at the front of the pack, hand in hand as their heads leaned together, talking about something only they knew.

Max felt a brief sting of pain in his heart, knowing that things would never be the same again. He hated change and the idea that he was breaking away from René. Ever since he was young, he had separation anxiety, and the idea of losing a brother was enough to send him into a panic attack.

"Is it new?" asked Salvatore as he looked over at Max, causing the other man to stop walking for a second.

Was this a new thing? Was this the beginning of the separation between René and the rest of them....

Or had it happened 10 years ago, the first time Alicia had walked into their lives?

Looking back at all the times René had left them to do something with Alicia, of him choosing her over one of them... maybe this wasn’t a new thing.

Maybe this was just the first time that he understood what had been happening in slow motion over the years.

"If she donna find us, I’m gonna go ’unting for her," grunted Max, quickly picking up his pace until he was back between Salvatore and Désiré.

Salvatore just snorted in amusement, and the men went back to talking about nothing, their thoughts on the one person keeping them all together.

-----

Elizabeth was awake before almost everyone the next morning. If I hadn’t slept in her arms, I might not have noticed the fact that she was out of bed, starting a fire, and getting coffee ready.

Like recognized like, and I could see the same conditioning that I had been subjected to.

However, that was the old me.

The new me was going to stay in bed until the very last second just because I could.

Burrowing my head back under the blanket, ignoring the rocks from the road digging into my back, I kissed Teddy on the head and fell back asleep.

Unfortunately for me, it seemed like I had just closed my eyes when I was being awakened by a kick to my back.

Stunned, I flipped over and clutched at the foot so it couldn’t strike me again. Not thinking, I bit down on the flesh under my mouth and didn’t let go until I tasted blood.

"Ahhhh!" screamed Jennifer, kicking out her leg as she frantically tried to dislodge me. "Get this fucking bitch off me! I swear to God, I’m going to kill her! I’m going to fucking pull out all her teeth, tie her to a post and let the fucking zombies eat her for lunch!"

The commotion brought Elizabeth running over, and I could hear her footsteps approaching. Not wanting to use any power to be able to see at the moment, I simply shut my eyes and hunched over, making sure that my face and head were well hidden.

Hiding my head was the only way to hide the smirk on my face.

That would teach her to kick me awake.

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