Free In The End: a pre-apocalypse novel by Edward M Wolfe

greedy desire for warmth in addition
to what she did have.
    “Mommy!” Elizabeth pleaded.
    Tori cleared her mind of thoughts
about gratitude and greed and the steady stream of cold air that would not
allow her feet to warm up. She bent her knees and rubbed her feet briskly on
the sheet.
    “Okay, baby. Let’s see… Once upon a
time, there was a nice mommy who had the most beautiful daughter in all of the
land…”
    Tori looked down at her daughter
and her big grin that came from knowing this was going to be a good story. Liz
loved mommy and daughter stories. They were the easiest ones to see when she
closed her eyes because all she had to do was pretend that the story was about
her mommy and herself.

Fifteen
     
    Carl spun around and looked at Trey. “You just mind your
own,” Carl replied with a challenging look. “I’ll take care of the lady how I
see fit. Why don’t you make yourself useful and see if there’s any beer? Then
check the rooms for guns.” Trey dropped his gaze to the floor and went in
search of the kitchen, as ordered.
    He felt a little disgusted with himself for not standing up to Carl, but what could he do?
He owed Carl respect. If it wasn’t for Carl, he’d probably be a homeless bum.
But as it was, he was in Carl’s motorcycle club, and he had even been given his
motorcycle by Carl. For the first time he could recall, he had been accepted by
people and not made to feel inferior; an outcast. His own family didn’t even
accept him like the members of the Unforgiven did.
     
    Unforgiven
MC
     
    Denver
     
    He wore their colors with actual
pride – and although he wouldn’t mention it to anyone in the gang, his
self-esteem skyrocketed the day he first wore the denim vest he was given after
his successful initiation into the club. It was the first time he didn’t feel
like the loser his dad always said he was.
    He couldn’t risk his membership –
his new family, by countering Carl. He winced slightly as he heard the woman
grunting as she struggled to resist whatever Carl was doing now.
    Trey found the kitchen and tried to
ignore the sounds coming from the living room. It wasn’t his concern, he tried
telling himself. He opened the refrigerator and was relieved to see there were
plenty of bottles of Coors Light inside. He grabbed two of them and let the
door close by itself. Holding a bottle in each hand, he left the kitchen,
reversing his path back to the living room where Carl was now straddling the
woman’s hips and holding one big hand over her mouth. The sound of her voice
was muffled, but the high tones of her squealing were still audible.
    “I can do this all day, lady. And I
will, if you don’t get smart and calm the fuck down.” Carl was enjoying the
hell out of himself on Day One of Anything Goes.
    “ Gotchu a
beer,” Trey said from behind him.
    Carl turned and took the beer with
his free left hand. Trey turned and walked away, heading toward the hallway
that led to the bedrooms. Carl’s right hand was clamped over the woman’s mouth,
but now he needed it to twist off the cap because Trey was too stupid to have
done it for him.
    “I’m gonna give you another chance.
When I take my hand away, you’ll stay quiet if you’re smart. If you’re not,
you’ll see what happens.”
    Carl lifted his hand and slowly
brought it to the top of the beer bottle. The woman stared up at him and
eagerly took deep breaths through her mouth, thankful for the increased air she
was able to draw in.
    As Carl twisted the cap, the woman
bucked as hard she could and let out another war cry, still filled with a
fighting spirit and not even thinking of giving up despite being only five feet
and one inch tall against Carl’s vastly greater size and weight.
    She was stronger than Carl thought
possible. As she bucked, lifting him up a few inches, his beer spilled onto
both of them. He pushed down on her face with one hand, pinning her head and
muffling her screams, and set the beer bottle far off