Free The Rabid: Rise by J.V. Roberts

going to go down because you’ve got some bullshit hard-on for the government? You’re going to kill all of these people? Your own sister? You’re pathetic.” I shove him, not hard, just enough to make my point.
    He shoves me back, hard, with both hands, right in the center of my chest, and then he draws his gun. I stumble and catch myself against the kitchen counter. “What was that, you punk ass bitch? Say it again, didn’t quite hear you?”
    I pull the pistol from my waistband and level it at his chest in a two handed grip. “ That’s the last time you’re pulling a gun on me.”
    “Oh, you’ve got that right, because I’m about to blow your goddamn head off.”
    We’re standing, muzzle to muzzle, fingers hovering over the triggers.
    “Guys, hey now, not cool. No loaded weapons around the computers.” Bytes chuckles with nervous energy, doing his best to diffuse the situation.
    Katia and Bethany move towards us , cautiously.
    “Ruiz, chill okay, he didn’t mean anything by it. Put the gun away. Our enemy is out there.” Katia is beside him now. She wraps one hand across his wrists, attempting to pull his hands down.
    “Tim, not here, okay? Think about Momma.”
    I lock eyes with Ruiz. Seconds pass. We reach silent agreement and slowly begin to lower our guns.
    “I want both of you out of here by tomorrow,” Ruiz growls, dropping his pistol back into its holster.
    “That’s fine. You can run this deal off the cliff by yourself.” I storm past Bethany and out the door.
     
    ***
    “Timmy, wait.” Katia’s feet slap against the pavement as she races to catch up. “ Hang on a second.”
    By the time I relent , we’re halfway around the pond and she’s breathing heavy.
    “Ruiz, he didn’t...”
    “Yeah, I know, he’s just passionate. Save it, Katia. I don’t have time for the excuses. Your brother is a psychopath. He’s got some circuits loose. And the next time he pulls a fucking gun on me, I’m going to shoot him, so yeah, it’s best that I leave.” She grabs my arms to keep me from turning.
    “Don’t...” she lifts her hands and shrinks back, “just listen to me for a second.”
    “You’ve got one.”
    Katia grips the black gate and stares out over the lake. The water chops against the cement embankment on the back of a breeze that whips her hair around the side of her face. She doesn’t attempt to fix it. “We lost both of our parents. These things...they turned my dad. My dad, he attacked my mom. He turned her too. I didn’t see it, but, Ruiz did. Ruiz is also the one that put them down.” She ducks her head and swipes at her face to try to conceal the tears. “He’s angry, Tim. Can’t you, of all people, understand that?”
    I shake my head. “It’s not that I don’t understand it , I understand it, very well. I spend every waking second pissed off, but it’s focused. I go, I kill the General, and I get Momma back. I’m not going to pollute the rest of humanity because I’m pissed off. Your brother, he’s holding what equates to a nuclear trigger. What gives him the right to make that decision for the rest of us? We’ve all lost someone. He’s not looking to gather what little we have left and rise up out of the ashes. He’s going to go and destroy the only chance we’ve got at a future because he’s pissed off.”
    “ Timmy, if you’d just let him explain...”
    “No, that’s the problem , there’s nothing he can say to make that okay with me. Your second is up.” I start walking again, hands in my pockets, eyes watering up against the breeze blowing in.
    She runs up behind me again, grabbing at my arms, trying to turn me. “Damn it, will you wait, please?”
    I windmill around, knocking her hands away. “Just stop it already . Stop following me. Just let me go.”
    She does.

 
     
    10
     
    Bethany and I really didn’t have much packing to do.
    We’d never unpacked.
    We decided to rest up for the night and leave at daybreak.
    Fresh.
    Our minds and