Chapter 3

Jade Pinkerton's pov

Exhaustion finally hit me, and I drifted off to sleep propped against the inner wall of the tiny storage cold room.

My dreams were centered on that male bipedal wolf, and my mouth frowned in my sleep. Dreaming of him touching my face, my eyes flew open to see Monica tapping my face.

“It's morning, and the sun is out. We took a gander outside, and it's really bad,” she said sullenly.

Rubbing my eyes, I took the cell phone she had waved before me, and I glanced at the comments from across the entire world.

“They're saying that the creatures are werewolves and vampires. That bipedal thing is a Lycan. All the low-level areas were washed out by the comet that hit the ocean, you know, like what happened with the dinosaurs,” she muttered in devastation.

“My mom and stepfather are certainly dead then. They lived near the coast,” I mumbled sadly.

“The earthquakes are going to continue, but up in the mountains, we're pretty isolated from the worst of it. The bridge is gone, so we are stuck up here. Several survivors were calling out for others and are in the cafeteria here since it's the largest building in our town. It's like the end of the world, Jade, and we're all that remains,” she stated drearily.

“So what do the creatures want with us?”

Giving me a sour look, Monica sneered, “We are their food.”

Shivering from her reply, I stood and gathered my weapon.

“I need to get more arrows. I used several on that Lycan fellow,” I said flippantly.

“We need to gather supplies as well. Maybe you and I can go to the grocery store and gather some items,” Monica suggested. I shrugged and told her Sure.

“I need a coffee,” I muttered sourly, and she laughed at me.

“It's the end of the world as we know it, and that's what you want. God, you're so unemotional. My sister is still missing, but you NEED a fix of caffeine,” she asserted while giving finger quotes.

Furrowing my brow, I glared at her, then paused.

“You're my best friend, and I love you dearly, but don't ride my ass. I'm hurting inside, but I know losing my shit isn't going to help me to survive,” I responded, then gestured with a tilt of my head that we should go get me arrows.

“Won't they be in hiding since the sun is shining brightly?”

Adjusting my ball cap, I shrugged and told her I was taking precautions either way.

After getting more arrows, Monica and I introduced ourselves to the other couple dozen people who were also in the stock room.

“Do the arrows kill them,” one middle-aged guy with a shotgun in his grasp asked me, and I nodded.

“Bullets only stunned them momentarily,” he said roughly.

I noticed that his leg was in a makeshift brace with bloodied bandages.

“Hit them in the head or heart, and the vampire ones turn to ash,” I informed him, getting a brisk nod in return.

“They're taking all the younger people and blatantly killing us older ones,” an older woman stated.

“My twin sister was ripped apart after shoving me out of the way. It was heroic but devastating to me,” she added sadly. I swallowed the uncomfortable knot in my throat when she glanced at me with tears in her eyes. I refused to break down in sobs.

An older man asked me if I could go to the pharmacy at the grocery shop and get his blood pressure prescription.

Nodding my head, I got his information and told Monica that we should head out now.

When we exited the warehouse, my eyes scanned the devastation. We were safer in the mountains, and I couldn't imagine how badly it looked below.

Smoke filled the sky, and mutilated bodies littered the sidewalks and streets. Vultures were picking apart what remained of the dead, giving me a sobering shiver.

“I don't see any of those monsters, let's just get to the store and back here before the smoke clouds cover the sun,” I muttered sourly and stepped over the crumbling remains of buildings that fell during the earthquake.

Thankfully, our destination was just a few blocks away, and I glanced over at Monica and suggested that we run.

The streets were eerily quiet minus the sound of our feet hitting the pavement. As we approached the store, I could see that it had already been broken into, and the glass doors were shattered.

Not seeing the blue eyes of a dark-tanned man watching us as we ducked inside the ransacked store, I directed Monica to get some sacks and grab items we could use while I made my way to the pharmacy.

“Hey brat, catch this,” Monica shouted out before tossing me a can of coffee drink my way.

Raising it to her after catching it, I told her thanks as I popped the tab and took a drink of the liquid within.

“Ahh, that hits the spot,’” I commented while smacking my lips. I continued my way through the aisle and entered the pharmacy.

As I searched for the man's prescription, I heard the clearing of a throat behind me and quickly turned.

My eyes widened at the attractive stranger leaning against the door jamb. He was watching me with a curious gaze.

“Excuse me, young man? Um, could you show me where the gauze and disinfectant spray are?” he asked in a hoarse, deep voice. Catching a slight accent, I narrowed my eyes at him.

“My name is Jade, and I am a female,” I responded bluntly as I pulled off my hat, allowing my hair to fall haphazardly around my face. Hearing his sharp intake of air, I pointed toward the display case for what he asked the location of.

“My apologies, Miss, I am Nikolai,” he said roughly.

Ignoring him as I continued to read the prescription bags that hung from the rack. He passed behind me with an awkward limp.

Glancing over at his back, I noticed that his arms were covered in ink and curled my lip at the pronounced arm muscles. Mister Muscle took that moment to look back at me with a gauze roll in his large hand.

“Will this do?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I said, “ Depends on the injury.”

Finding the medicine, I tucked it inside my quiver and drained my drink as I continued watching the stranger.

An air of danger and mystery emitted from him, but I brushed it off, assuming he was just some new resident who got caught up in the shit storm.

“Watch yourself, there are lots of strange things about,” I asserted and left him standing there with a smirk on his handsome face while I went to find Monica.

Searching the aisles for her, the stranger's blue eyes continued to disturb my thoughts.

Why did they seem so familiar, I thought, and saw my bestie loading jerky and protein bars into a plastic sack.

“Did you find the meds?” She asked me, and I told her Yeah.

“Grab those bags, and we can take them back and return for more things,” she suggested.

Looking out at the blue cloudy sky, I hesitantly nodded and suggested that we hurry because a storm front looked to be heading toward us.

“Did you see the smexy eye candy that hobbled into the back?”

She gave me a confused scowl and said, “No! Where? I want to see something to fantasize about,” Monica pouted, making me laugh and grab her arm.

“Don't bother, he wasn't your type, let's go, ya hoe,” I laughed at her, flipping me off.

As we left, Nikolai watched us and followed our steps back to the warehouse with his eyes narrowed at my backside.

I'd just caught the interest of a deadly creature, the very hybrid beast that I had shot full of arrows earlier that night, but I didn't know that yet.