The Rot: Book 2

Chapter 25

Carter started to mock Cyn, "Oh, boo hoo."

"Asshole."

"Cynthia, don't taunt the man with the gun," I said.

"So why in the hell are you three pricks here?" Carter asked. "And don't give me a smart ass, bullshit response, Reid." Damn, and I was just about to do that, too.

"To kill you. Why else?" Cyn answered Carter. Dammit, Cyn. What the hell did I just say?

"Yeah, you leading the eaters to us really ruins our day," Mick replied.

"Or, you can just stop doing that," I told Carter. "Just leave us alone. And we'll leave you alone."

Carter frowned and shook his head at us. "No. Here's what's going to happen, I'm going to kill the three of you. Then, in the morning, I'll be heading to that office and kill the rest of your group. I especially want that Nicole to suffer. Then, I'll feed your remains to the dead people. I like to keep them happy."

""'Happy?' What?" I asked. Yeah, I was a little more than confused.

"You feed them, they get happy."

"You feed me to the dead things, they'll just get mad," I quipped.

"Reid, you're making me feel bad."

"For what?"

"For killing you."

"Or, you can kick us out of your lovely house and just give us the boot," I replied, nudging Mick with my elbow.

"Huh?"

Mick flung his right foot forwards, flinging the chain from his boot towards Carter. The chain struck Carter in the chest. I charged forward, and tackled Carter.

The two of us fell out of the room and into the empty dining area.

Carter managed to grab his assault rifle, but I kicked the weapon away before Carter could use it. In the melee, the gun went off. The gunshot was deafening, and it made my ears ring.

Cynthia and Mick came charging out of the room to help me with Carter. "Get away from me!" Carter shouted as he got back to his feet. He went to pick up his assault rifle, but in the dim light of the room, Carter couldn't find his gun.

I grabbed Carter from behind and threw him across the dining room, towards the front of the house. Mick picked up Carter's flashlight and used it to locate Cynthia's knife and my axe.

I ran into the front of the house and I was about to punch Carter in the face when a biter came crashing through one of the front windows. The dead thing no doubt heard the gunfire. Who knew how many more eaters were on their way.

The corpse rushed towards Carter and I. Grabbing Carter by his shoulders, I spun him around and pushed Carter towards the dead thing. Carter and the biter fell backward to the floor. Before the stench could take a bite out of Carter's back, Carter rolled off to the side, disappearing back into the living room.

The biter sat upright and I kicked the stench in his face. Mick ran out of the back room, clutching my axe. He brought the blade down into the side of the eater's head.

Carter ran up from behind and jumped onto Mick's back and started to strangle Mick.

"Get this bastard off me!" Mick said, struggling to breathe.

I swung my right fist, punching Carter in his forehead. Cynthia then emerged from the other room and she had found her knife. Carter wasn't fazed by my punch, he continued to choke Mick.