The Systemic Series - Box Set by K.W. Callahan

Author:K.W. Callahan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-07-09T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Jake Steins and his girl Ava Acadro sat on metal folding chairs eating cold beans from cans inside a frigid warehouse on the outskirts of Memphis. They had made the city their new stomping grounds after the long trek down from the south side of Chicago. They had plans to resupply in southern Illinois, having found a local camp where they’d expected to procure their goods. The camp however had been much better armed than they’d expected. For all Jake’s bravado, he and his band of mercenaries had been ill-prepared for the fight and were swiftly driven from the area.

The defeat had hurt Jake’s ego, but worse yet, it had damaged his reputation among his men. His confidence had been shaken and his men could see it even if Jake couldn’t. That’s why they had all deserted him once they arrived in Memphis.

Now, back were those fears that had haunted Jake in Chicago before the flu. What if he couldn’t do this? What if he wasn’t as tough as he thought? What if he lost Ava?

He’d been able to push such fears aside when the flu had struck. He’d used the surprise with which the disease had caught most people to his advantage, sweeping through his old neighborhood, taking what he wanted, when he wanted, how he wanted, and collecting a nice band of like-minded and equally vicious devotees in the process.

In Jake’s mind, he had envisioned a Sherman-like march through Illinois, him and his men cutting a swath of terror as they pillaged the heartland, leaving only death and destruction in their wake. Instead, those yuppie suburbanite assholes outside that dinkwater town of Avers had screwed everything up.

The thought made him seethe with anger and he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, nearly crushing the can of beans from which he was eating. He threw the near-empty can aside angrily and stood.

It wouldn’t have made him so angry if Ava wasn’t still with him. While he’d lost the remainder of his followers after the debacle in southern Illinois, for some reason Ava had remained by his side. And for as much as he liked the sex with her, her presence was a constant reminder of the defeat he’d suffered and what he’d lost in the process. He’d finally been a leader. He’d finally had the position and power he’d always dreamed of. But he’d lost it all. He could still see it in her eyes. She saw that defeat every time she looked at him; but he was her meal ticket, and so she stayed.

A meal was a valuable thing these days. For the moment though, those meals were getting fewer and farther between, as well as far less palatable. Now, Jake was just waiting, figuring that Ava would leave when the next best thing came along, and that bred distrust in him. He used to pass her among his men freely, assured in his manhood and unwavering in his confidence that Ava would return to him as hungry as ever for his touch.

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