Glory (Book 3)
Glory - Book Three
By Michael McManamon
Published by Michael McManamon
Copyright 2013 Michael McManamon
License Notes
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Table of Contents
Day 7
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Day 8
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Day 9
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Day 10
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Day 11
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Day 12
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Day 13
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Day 14
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Book Three
Day 7
Chapter 1
Adam woke to find himself lying on the dirt. His head was spinning and his body ached.
The man that Shelly had shot was starting back at him. Or, at least, one of his eyes was. His other eye had been blown away. Actually, the whole side of his face had been. All that remained were several broken teeth sticking out from underneath a flap of skin. It looked as though the man was smiling at him.
Adam took a moment to look at it. He felt revulsion at the sight. Though that was quickly short lived. Anger started to replace any other emotion he had. And it continued to grow.
Shelly had been taken from him.
There had been three men wandering around the house when he had walked out of the barn. They had marched over to him, asked him questions about the house, about who he was with. He had tried his best to make it sound like he was alone. He had even thought that he had succeeded...until Shelly had come outside.
"Get back in the house!" he had shouted to her. He had received a punch in the stomach for his efforts. After falling to the ground, all he had been able to do was watch.
"Let him go," Shelly had demanded once she had gotten to them.
The men had found that amusing. Then she had raised her gun.
Things had happened quickly after that. A few words had been exchanged, someone had made a grab for her.
Point blank, she had shot him in the face.
A fight had begun.
Adam had rushed to his feet and tackled the man in charge. He had started to hit him, and had been doing a good job before the third man got into it.
Over and over, Adam had taken punches and kicks to the ribs, arms, legs, head. There hadn't been much that he had been able to do to stop it.
And then she was gone.
He pressed his hands into the dirt and could feel the dust and stones in between his fingers. He pushed himself upward. Only a little. He didn't have the energy to make it in one go.
He took a deep breath and tried again.
This time he got one foot underneath him. He placed his hand onto his knee and took a moment to gather his strength.
Shelly was gone. She had been taken from him. He had to get her back. Now!
He got to his feet.
Once he steadied himself, he looked around. He wasn't sure how long he had been passed out, but he could see that the sun was starting to set.
It must have been hours that he was lying there!
His anger swelled.
Though, this time, it was directed toward himself. He should have done more to fight off the attackers. He had promised to protect the young girl. And all he had managed was to get beaten up. After she had tried to protecthim!
It wasn't supposed to have been that way. He had let her down.
He squeezed his fists together in frustration and kicked the corpse beside him. A sharp pain shot through him as he did. He tried to spit on the corpse as well, except there was no moisture in his mouth.
No matter.
He turned to look at the barn and shifted his thoughts toward the guns that were inside it. Though they had been locked up and he hadn't been able to free them, he knew that he was going to need them if he was to have a chance of getting her back.
He made his way to the barn, his body screaming out in pain with every step that he took.
When he arrived, he placed his hand on the door frame and leaned against it. He stuck his head into the barn and looked around. He had no idea if his attackers had gone in there and found them. He simply hoped that they hadn't.
A smile came to his face once he saw that the guns were still there.
Now he had to look for a key.
He turned back to the house, sure that one would be in there somewhere.
Come on, he told himself. You can do it. You have to.
He started walking toward it. His steps were small and took a lot of energy out of him, but hewasgetting closer.Closer to the house. Closer to Shelly.
Just a little more.
He stopped before he went inside.
Off in the distance were two bodies that he and Shelly had thrown outside.The owners of the house. It occurred to him that that one of them might have the key.
He went to where they were laid and knelt down beside them. He reached for the man first.
He patted the man's jean pockets.
Nothing.
He moved up to the man's shirt and felt the pocket on the front of it.
Still nothing.
"Damn," he swore.
He turned to the woman next.
As he pulled himself close to her, more pain shot through him.
Deep breath.
He gathered himself and grabbed at her pants' pockets. It felt stranger doing this to her than it did the man, as though there was something indecent about it. It got worse when he had to pat down her shirt. He placed his hand in front of him and could feel her breasts beneath his palms. He tried not to think about it as he felt for the keys.
Nothing.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!"
He turned away from the dead bodies and stared at the house. He'd have to search in there next. And that was something he didn't look forward to.The house was too big. He was in to
o much pain.
But he had to try.
Adam pushed himself up and walked to the door. Then he opened it and stepped inside.
It never occurred to him that his attackers could be there. For some reason, he knew that they were gone. So he didn't bother listening before he started his search. He simply entered the house and began walking down the hallway.
At first, he hoped that he was going to find the keys right away. That there was going to be a key rack that he hadn't noticed last night.
There wasn't.
He shook his head and listed the placed he'd search next. He'd go to the kitchen to check the drawers. Then he'd make his way to the bedrooms. If neither of those places worked, he'd search the bathroom, basement, attic. He wouldn't stop until...
Something lying on the ground in the living room caught his eye. It was a purse, right next to where they had found the two bodies last night.
Adam rushed over to it. His body continued to ache, but he no longer paid it any attention. His mind was on the keys.
He dropped to his knees and grabbed at the purse.
He opened the flap and began to search through it. He came upon a wallet, some pieces of paper, a roll of breath mints. Then he heard a clinking sound.
Keys!
He turned the purse upside down and let everything fall out of it. Immediately, he saw a few keys attached to a golden key ring.
One of them had to be the right one!
He grabbed the keys and held them up before him. He couldn't help but smile.
Next, he stood up and walked back to the front door. He didn't have any time to waste. He went outside.
On the porch, a cool breeze blew against his face. He took in a deep breath, feeling better.
He was going to get Shelly back.
*
Adam's mind raced as he walked out onto the driveway. So much had happened in such a short time. And there was still a lot more for him to do.
He glanced at Shelly's bike leaning up against the front of the house and felt another wave of emotions flood through him.He had let her down. He should have fought back. He was going to find her...
His thoughts stopped when he saw three figures standing out on the road.
"Shelly?" he wondered.
Though he couldn't figure out why they had come back, he was sure that it was them. It had to be Shelly and her attackers.
"Shelly!" His temper rose the closer he got to them. "You fuckin' pieces of shit, let her go!"
They didn't appear to notice him.
"Let her go!"
Adam couldn't control his anger. His hands balled into fists. His feet stomped along the gravel road. He no longer felt the pain in his body.
He wasn't going to let her go again. Not without a fight.
"I said, LET HER GO!"
At that, the figures turned to face him. Though it was still difficult to make them out with the sun shining behind him. What wasn't difficult was to see their hands raise above their heads. Their shouts were easy to make out too.
They werecreatures.
Adam halted and glanced back over his shoulder. He was too far from the house to make it back in time.
He shot a look at the barn and knew that that would have to do.
The creatures charged.
Adam turned and headed toward the barn. Once or twice a pain shot through his side, but he managed to ignore it. He couldn't let anything slow him down. He would die if he did.
He picked up his speed, his feet kicking up dust along the way. He clutched the keys tightly in his hand, afraid to drop them.
The creatures approached quickly.
Adam pushed on.
As he came upon the barn, he could see the man that Shelly had shot. He hopped over the corpse and made his way through the doorway.
He spun to slam the door shut behind him.
One of the creatures put out a hand to stop him. Its fingers got in the frame.
"No you don't!" Adam yelled. He placed his back against the door and pushed. He could feel fingers grab at his face, pull at his hair.
They continued to scream.
He pushed harder. And harder still.
Then, finally, the door closed.
Adam turned and flipped the lock. He leaned heavily against the door. Out of breath, his body ached.
Outside, the screaming continued. They kept beating against the door.
Adam fell down onto the ground, his back still against the door. He needed to catch his breath.
He looked at the keys in his hand once more and hoped that they would work. He didn't know how he'd get out if they didn't.
Chapter 2
Shelly's feet hurt. She had been walking barefoot for the past little while, along the gravel roads and through farmers' fields.
She had kicked off her shoes - one almost as soon as she had left the farm, the other a long time after, when they had changed direction and headed down a new road. She was trying to leave something to help Adam find her. She wasn't sure if he'd come across the shoes, but she didn't have anything else with which to use. She had to hope that these would be enough.
One of the men pushed her.Rick, that was his name.
"Hurry the fuck up," he told her. "You're slowing down."
"I'm tired." She knew that it would have been best to remain quiet, but she couldn't stop herself.
"You're tired? You're lucky you're even walking! With what you did to Jim back there we should have fuckin' poked out your eyes or some shit."
"Then why didn't you?" Again, she should have kept quiet.
"Whydidn't we?" Both Rick and his friend, Joe, started to laugh. "Will you listen to this little chick? Balls of steel, I tell ya!" He pushed her once more and continued to walk.
Shelly followed. She didn't have much of a choice. She knew that she wouldn't be able to fight against these men. She couldn't outrun them, either. And even if she could, her feet hurt too much to try.
She lowered her head and looked at the ground. She promised herself that she wasn't going to say anything else, no matter what.
She watched her bare feet pass one by one through her vision. Over and over. She tried to focus on them. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she kept picturing the man that she had killed. She could imagine his face exploding once she had pulled the trigger. Half of his cheek flying off into the air. The burst of blood. Bone exposed.
She tried to push the images out of her mind, but couldn't. She saw the man falling, crashing onto the ground.
Rick pushed her for the third time. "What's your fuckin' problem? Why are you walking so slow?"
Shelly squeezed her mouth shut tight.
"It's her fuckin' shoes," Joe shouted. "They're gone!"
Rick looked down. "Where the fuck are they?" He turned to Joe. "She was wearing some, wasn't she?"
"I think she was. I can't remember."
Rick stopped and reached out to grab Shelly's shoulders. He faced her so that she couldn't look away from him. "You were wearing shoes, weren't you?"
Shelly continued to squeeze her lips together.
Rick slapped her. Her head shot to the side.
"Answer me when I'm talking to you," he said. "Were you wearing shoes or not?"
"No."
"No, what? No, you weren't wearing shoes? Or, no, you won't answer me?"
Shelly smirked. She had actually meant that she wasn't going to answer him. He hit her again.
"Answer me, you little bitch," Rick demanded. "Were you wearing shoes or not?"
"No, I wasn't."
Rick cocked his head. He thought that the girl was lying, but couldn't be sure. "If you've kicked 'em off, hoping that your friend will find them, hewon't. And even if he does, we'll be long gone before he can do anything about it."
Shelly didn't what to think about that. She needed to tell herself that Adam would find her shoes and they would lead him to her. He would save her and take her away.
She took a deep breath.
The lie was plausible enough. And the two men seemed to accept it.
"Good," Rick said. "Now let's get moving. We're almost there."
Shelly lowered her head and followed.
This time, she felt the smile creep back onto her face. She definitely wasn't happy about where she was heading, but she had felt as though she had won some type of victory with her lie.
She had fooled them. And Adam still had a chance of finding her.
Chapter 3
Adam ran over to the gun cabinet. He could hear thethings outside, banging on the door. He tried to ignore them.
Lifting his keys, he placed one of them into the lock. It fit. His fingers shook as he quickly tried to turn it.
The key didn't budge.
"Damn!"
He pulled it out and tried another. That one didn't work, either. Nor did the third or fourth.
"Damn, damn damn!"
He started to panic.This needed to work!
He grabbed the lock and began shaking it wildly, hoping that it would come undone. But it didn't take long to realize that it wasn't going to work.
He turned around and looked for something to smash the lock.Surely there would be something in here. A hammer. A shovel. A crowbar.
He ran over to a work bench. There was a saw on it, but he didn't think that that would work. The blade looked too weak to cut through steel.
He searched the walls and saw a hammer. It wasn't big, but he thought that he might be able to bash the lock until it busted.
He ran over and took it off the wall.
Back at the cabinet, he began hitting the lock. Each crack brought about a new revived bout of screaming from thethings outside. Adam ignored them.
The hammer rose and fell against the lock, clanging loudly. It didn't seem to do much else.
Adam started to hit harder, faster. He could see a few slashes etch in the lock. Nothing that would come close to breaking it.
"Damn!" It wasn't going to work.
Adam turned and threw the hammer across the room. Then he turned around and began searching frantically around once more. He ran in circles. Checked each corner or the room. Looked for something -anything - to help him.