Live Another Day by Baileigh Higgins (finding audrey .txt) 📕

“Max.” Her lips found his, and they kissed until their surroundings faded away to nothing. Nothing existed but them and their embrace.

“Where have you been? I’ve been so worried,” he murmured. “I’m never letting you go again, ever.”

“And I you.”

He kissed her once more, but she chuckled and pulled away. “You might want to put me down, Max. Old friends have come to see you.”

“I don’t care.” He nuzzled her neck with his nose and breathed in her familiar scent.

“You will once you see who it is.” She pushed him away with a firm nudge and turned toward the convoy of vehicles.

Max’s gaze slid over them and came to rest on a familiar Land Rover, old and rusty but trustworthy. His brows lifted in amazement. “Logan?”

Long legs clad in muddy boots and jeans slid from the driver’s side followed by a lean torso topped by broad shoulders and messy dark hair. Piercing grey eyes found him and lightened with instant joy. “Max!”

“Logan, you son of a...where’ve you been? I’ve been worried sick.” Max leaped forward and grabbed his friend, enfolding him in a big bear hug.

Logan laughed. “Come on. You always knew I’d be back, didn’t you?”

“I’m surprised some zombie didn’t eat your skinny ass,” was Max’s acerbic comeback.

“Nah, I’m too tough and gamey.” Logan clapped him on the back. “Anyway, I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Another one?” Max frowned as he looked in the direction Logan pointed.

When he spotted Martin’s face, his jaw hit the floor. “Martin? It can’t be.”

Martin grinned. “The one and only.”

They clasped hands and hugged with much guffawing and exclamation until Breytenbach interrupted. “Hate to break up this happy reunion, but we’ve got an undead problem outside our gates.”

Max sobered immediately. “You’re right. We’ve got a fight on our hands. Ke Tau is attacking tonight.”

From the walls, battle cries sounded as the defenders stabbed at the encroaching undead with long spears. Max spotted both Abraham and Philip up there, along with Lisa, Mpho, Elise, and a few others under the leadership of Michael. Joseph and a couple of helpers were running down the sides, picking off those dead that seemed intent on encircling the camp.

“Seems we arrived just in time, little brother,” Martin said, using Max’s old nickname with easy familiarity. “Do you need guns?”

“We do.”

“I’ve got a small cache stashed in the back of my truck.” Martin led the way and opened up a metal trunk containing several shotguns, R4’s, 9mm’s, AK47’s, and even a few grenades.

Max allowed himself a satisfied smile and pocketed several of the explosives along with a few extra cartridges for his R4. “Just what we need to get rid of these fuckers hounding our doorstep.”

Martin turned to a younger man at his side. “Josh, see to it that everybody is armed according to his or her expertise, okay?”

Josh nodded. “I’ll still get to fight, won’t I?”

Max laughed. With Martin and Logan at his side, he felt invincible. “There’s plenty to go around, trust me.”

A few others hovered in a semi-circle, and Martin introduced them as Jed, Donya, and Caleb. “They’re all good fighters.”

“Good to know.” Max spotted another girl hiding behind Logan. She had the most striking blue eyes he’d ever seen, and he paused. “Hello there. Who are you?”

“Nadia,” she replied with a touch of defiance in her voice, almost as if she expected him to distrust her on sight. Weird.

“Nadia’s a friend,” Logan said, one hand going to the girl’s shoulder.

Interesting. I’d like to hear more of this friendship later, Max thought. He clapped his hands together. “Right, let’s go.”

He marched toward the wall but paused when he saw Ronnie and Lenka helping an injured Mike from the truck. The Irishman's face was covered in bandages stained yellow with disinfectant. His right arm was likewise wrapped and held in a sling. One foot hovered in the air, shoeless, while patches of his skin were red and raw.

Max turned to Breytenbach. “What happened? Is Mike okay?”

“He’ll live,” Breytenbach replied in a strained voice. “We had a spot of trouble in town, that’s all.”

Kirstin appeared at Max’s elbow and whispered in his ear. “The Captain is ill. He needs to go to the infirmary with Mike. Make sure he does.”

With those cryptic words, she pecked him on the cheek and ran up the ladder towards the tower with her sniper rifle slung across her back. “What? How come I have to do it?”

He looked at Breytenbach more carefully, and alarm filled him. The Captain stood with his arm around a tearful Julianne, leaning on her. That in itself was unusual. His face was pale, and his lips tinged with blue. “Captain, why don’t you and Julianne take Mike to the infirmary? We can handle things from here.”

Breytenbach shot him a sharp glance. “Don’t patronize me.”

Julianne tugged at his sleeve. “Christo, please. You’re not well. I just got you back, and I won't lose you again.”

Breytenbach hesitated then drew himself upright even while he swayed like a reed in the wind. “No, I can fight.”

Max decided a more forceful approach was needed. “Captain, you’re of no use to anyone in this condition. You’ll only be a liability. Go.”

Breytenbach blanched, but after a second, he lifted his chin and said, “Ronnie, Lenka, stay here. We’ll take Mike to the clinic.”

“All right, Captain.” Ronnie saluted smartly before hurrying to the wall to join in the pitched battle raging along its length. Lenka followed more slowly, and only after a respectful bow to his leader.

Breytenbach propped the suffering Mike up with one shoulder while Julianne took the other side. “Call me if you need me, Max. I’m not over the hill yet.”

“Of course,” Max replied then watched as the trio walked off. Once they were gone, he sighed with relief. “Thank, God, he listened.”

Logan jabbed him with an elbow. “Breytenbach and your Mom? That’s new.”

“We’ve got lots to talk about,” Max agreed.

“You have no idea.”

“Later, guys. Right now, we have a job to do,” Jed reminded them.

“You heard the man.”