The Survivors: Book One

He drew his 9mm so fast none of them knew it was coming.

Bang!

The biker fell to the floor a second later.

"You have been found guilty and I sentence you to death!" Adrian roared over Caleb's moans. He grabbed the murderer by his jacket and brutally dragged him out of the tent, leaving a wide, bloody smear in the dirt and grass.

He roughly handcuffed the screaming man to the door of Joe's lime green convertible and headed for a nearby supply truck, tossing the keys into the dirt just out of the killer's reach.

"You can set him free when he's dead," Adrian snapped as he stepped into the truck. His mind raced furiously, knowing Tonya had done this - Caleb was one of her lovers, he'd seen them himself. She would pay!

Minutes later, Adrian stepped out of the tent with Joe's stiffening body over one broad shoulder, a shovel and a bottle of Jack Daniels in his other hand. His sheep stayed with him as he dug the grave and got drunk, waiting with eyes that begged him to say he forgave them for not stopping it.

Point man when it happened, Neil's face had been the most ashamed. No one had wanted to get involved, and Adrian's voice was hard as he finished sinking the cross into the thick, ugly dirt, turning to look at them.

"I'm getting tired and there are survivors out there who still care enough to try again. If you guys can't get it together enough to at least do what's right, then I'll find another group to help and you'll be on your own again."

Adrian closed the notebook, thinking the panic on their faces had been enough to tell him he had their support, their loyalty. Except for Tonya. Never one to follow blindly, her twisted logic had become clear when she'd come to Joe's tent where he was getting drunk. She had begged him not to be banished, and he let her stay because of one simple sentence.

"If I had known Caleb was nuts, I woulda told someone!"

That had stopped him. He too had missed it, had let in a remorseless killer.

Because of Tonya's lust for power, two men were dead and he couldn't even punish her publicly due to his own strict rules concerning the treatment of women. Therefore, he'd devised his own line of justice, and tonight would be the climax, literally. After weeks of subtle flirting and making promises with his eyes, he was going to let her seduce him.

The savior and the whore.