Dave led the way into the dark house. Mar and Cindy quickly followed. Allen, who still carried Jenny’s unconscious body, came in last. As soon as the tall teen had entered, the door was slammed shut behind him. Mar turned just in time to see a man standing behind the door smash Allen in the back of the head with a club of some kind.

Allen groaned for a moment, but then he and Jenny both toppled to the floor.

Cindy gasped in horror, as Dave rushed toward the attacker, which Mar could see welded a bat with several loops of barbwire wrapped around its business end. But before Dave could get within ten feet of the bat welder, two men leapt out of a side room and tackled him. Dave fought like a wildman, but before Mar could even think about how she might be able to help, he’d been pinned to the floor.

“Man, I think this kid broke my nose,” one of the men said. Mar could see they looked older and had to be at least twice her age.

“Shut the hell up, Lenny,” The other man wrestling with Dave yelled. His head was clean shaven and reflected the dim triangle of light that bled into the room. Looking up to the man near the door he said, “We don’t need a guy do we, Pritch?”

His face stayed cloaked in shadows, but a deep voice boomed out, “Nope, I don’t think any of us swing that way.”

“Then if you will do the honors…”

“Sure thing, Sully,” he said before bringing his bat up over his head and then slamming it down on Dave’s skull like an executioner’s axe.

Dave didn’t even have time to shout. His body when into a seizure as blood poured out of the open wound on his forehead.

The seizure didn’t last long and Cindy sobbed as she threw herself into Mar’s arms. “He isn’t dead is he?”

Mar couldn’t bring herself to answer. Instead she said, “What do you want with us?”

Pritch stepped in closer. She could see he had a brutal face. Years of drinking left the man looking bloated, like his skin could barely contain his stretching bulk. “What do you think we’re doing, sweet thing? It probably shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Even a little bimbo like you should be able to see that his is a good thing.”

“What do you mean?” her lips trembled as she tried to force her words out.

“Well any fool can see we got the end of the world on our hands. Me and my buddies have a hunting cabin in the woods north of Catalina. We had planned to wait until all the idiots kill themselves off and then head up there, but when Sully saw you three hotties heading by it seemed like a gift too perfect to refuse.”

Sully chuckled. “Yep, three of us and three of you.”

“What do you mean?” Cindy stammered. “You can’t take us away. I need to get to my family and see if they’re alright.”

“In the contrary, little one,” Pritch said. “At this point I think we can do whatever we want.”

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