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  The Pale Rider © 2020

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  The Pale

  Rider

  JB Trepagnier

  To my Family

  If you downloaded this book because you think you found my top-secret pen name, it wasn’t me. It was other kids. I was dead at the time. Don’t make Thanksgiving awkward.

  I wake up surrounded by death, and my memories are gone.

  A man in a beige hazmat suit reaches his hand through the carnage. “Come with me if you want to live.” I know I’m supposed to know that from somewhere, but I don’t. I see the world outside me is not right. People either die or they are Rage Heads. Somehow, a virus got out that has turned people into red-eyed freaks who eat flesh. They are fast, their flesh is rotting off their bodies, and they have one goal—kill.

  I don’t know my mystery man in the hazmat suit, but he says I can trust him. He was at that lab looking for something. He claims not to have found it. He only found me. I see the way he looks at me when I ask what he was doing in that lab. I might feel safe with him, but he’s lying to me. He knows everything about me, including the nickname people used to call me, but he tells me I ask too many questions. Maybe I’d be safer on my own.

  The Pale Rider is Book 1 of End of Days. A post-apocalyptic slow burn reverse harem romance. The harem will slowly grow as the books progress. The harem features the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

  Chapter 1

  I

  awoke to nothing but death. And a horrible smell. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know who I was. When my eyes fluttered open, I was dressed in a hospital gown in a white room. There was dust on the nightstand. I noticed that first. The place gave the appearance of some sort of long-term hospital room, but it didn’t look like anyone had checked in on me for a while. And what was that smell?

  I swung my legs off the bed and gently took the IV out of my hand. I didn’t feel like I was in any type of pain to be needing drugs. Why was I here? Was I in some sort of coma? I tested my feet. I could stand. I was a little shaky, but I could walk. I made my way to the door. Where was everyone, and why was there dust in a hospital room? Could someone here tell me my name and why I was here? And for the love of God, what was that smell?

  I managed to make it to the only door in the room. Locked. No one checked on me, but why did they lock me in this room? I pounded on the door and started screaming for someone, anyone to come to get me out of here. I didn’t know how long I’d been in this room, but it was starting to feel tiny now that I knew they locked me in.

  I pounded and pounded. My throat was parched like I hadn’t drunk any water in months, but I kept screaming for someone to come get me. Was I alone in here? If this was a hospital, why wasn’t there a nurse on duty?

  Finally, I heard it. Footsteps in the hallway. I heard a muffled voice through the door.

  “Stand away from the door!”

  I stepped back, and whoever was on the other side started trying to kick the door in. I was so confused. What kind of hospital was I in, anyway? Was there something wrong with the key? Or was there something horrible going on beyond the other side of the door that they had to lock me in and not check on me for so long? I was getting bad vibes about the entire situation.

  The door flew open, and I saw a man in a beige hazmat suit. What the fuck was going on? He held his hand out to me.

  “Come with me if you want to live.”

  That line seemed so familiar, like I should know it, but at present, I didn’t even know my own name or what I looked like. I could see on my arms that I was fond of tattoos at some point, and the ends of my hair were pink like I was a bit of a rebel, but I couldn’t remember doing that. And if this guy really worked for some sort of search and rescue, why was he holding a baseball bat?

  I shrunk back. I was noping all over this. I might not know much right now, but I knew not to trust strange men with their faces covered holding baseball bats. My eyes darted around the room, looking for a weapon that would beat a baseball bat or a place to hide. There wasn’t even an empty tray in here I could beat this guy over the head with.

  My fight-or-flight instincts were kicking in from somewhere unfamiliar. I had no idea what in my gut wanted me to fight this guy. He was much bigger than I was and may have known more about me than I did about myself. The logical part of my brain was saying to run and not look back, and my instincts were telling me to boot up and beat the shit out of this man.

  He held his hands up in surrender, then offered me the baseball bat. I just started at it. It was baby blue, and there was something etched on the end. Why was this man offering me something to bash his head in with? What kind of day was it today that I wake up to crazy men in hazmat suits gifting me with baseball bats?

  “Are you insane?” I hissed.

  There was nothing I could say to him other than that, and if he was a crazy mother fucker, we should probably clear the air about that upfront.

  He whipped his helmet off, and I was shocked at what I saw. He was actually good looking, and when a crazy guy is offering you a baseball bat when you don’t even know your name, you probably shouldn’t be checking him out. His hair was such a pale color of blond, it was almost white, and his eyes were a startling shade of gray. He looked like some sort of angel.

  “What do you remember?” he demanded.

  “Not a damned thing. The only thing I know is that an insane man is trying to give me a baseball bat in the middle of a hospital.”

  “Take the bat and see if you remember anything. It used to be yours.”

  I didn’t take the bat. I wanted to know what the fuck was going on.

  “Do you know me? What is my name, and what is going on in this hospital?”

  He thrust the bat at me harder.

  “Just take the bat.”

  “Not until you tell me my name.”

  He looked so irritated with me I wanted to take that bat and smack him upside the head with it. But then, I’d never find out my name.

  “Your name is Ariel, but everyone calls you Speedy. Now, take the bat. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  “Why does everyone call me Speedy?”

  This big brute of a man just straight up grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the hospital room. Now I knew where the smell was coming from. I knew why there was dust in my room. All the staff was dead. It looked like something killed them and ate them in the hallway. The smell hit me even harder in the hall, and I dry heaved.

  “Look at that, kitten. It’s not pretty. See those teeth marks? The things that made them are swarming this building. I had to cut my way through them to find what I was after in this building. All I found was a girl without her memories in a hospital gown. Now, take the bat because you will need it to fight your way out of here. Even if you can’t remember a fucking thing when you touch it, you need protection to make it out of here alive.”

  I might be confused, but I wasn’t stupid. I was looking at an entire hallway of decaying, mangled corpses. I looked him right in the eye and grabbed that bat from him. I didn’t know what was so important about that stupid, baby blue baseball bat, but when my hand wrapped around it, I felt this little surge, and I saw a flash.

  I saw a crowd, and I felt a rush as they all cheered as I stepped up to the plate. I could see a field of wom
en with tattoos like what I could see on my forearms, and they had colorful hair like the pink on my ends. I could hear a chant from the crowd. Speedy, Speedy. Was that me? The strange bat gifting man said people called me that. Why did people call me that? If I looked down, it was etched into the blue bat.

  Just like the flash came into my mind, it was gone. I shook my head.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  “Did you remember anything?”

  “A softball game.”

  The man shook his head.

  “We’re in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Rage Heads, and she remembers a fucking softball game.”

  “Well, you could give me a little more fucking help than handing me a baseball bat. I don’t even know your name.”

  I heard this unreal wail come from down the hall. It didn’t sound like it was alone, and it seemed like it was headed in my direction.

  “Time to go, kitten, unless you want to get eaten.”

  I didn’t know if I could trust this guy, and he was being pretty shifty about giving me information about myself and what he was doing in this hospital. I wasn’t stupid, though. He was my best chance of getting out of this hospital alive. He had one chance to explain himself when we got out of here, and then I would ditch him and seek answers on my own.

  I heard the pounding of footsteps. How many of those things were in here, and how did they move so fast? The man grabbed my hand and yanked me down the hall. Don’t ask me where he got that fucking sword from.

  “Aim for the head,” he yelled as we tore ass down hallways littered with half-eaten bodies.

  Good to know. I wished he would have given me a few more helpful tips before we took off running in this corpse infested hospital. I saw a flash of a softball game, but did I actually know how to wield this thing? I didn’t even know my last name.

  We almost made it out when the source of those wails popped out from behind a corner. There was no logical explanation for what was making those noises. They should have been dead and buried. Most of them had clothes that were hanging off their rotted frames. Their flesh was so nasty. It should have had maggots crawling out of it. The ones that still had eyes had this unnatural red tint to the whites of their eyes. I had no idea how they moved that fast, given the state of their decay.

  There was way more of them than there were of us. There were worse things to have than a man with a sword who gifted you baseball bats and kept secrets when you were surrounded by walking corpses. I didn’t know how I knew, but I would need both hands on that bat if I were supposed to be hitting these things in the head.

  He was the only one who knew where we were going, but my survival instincts kicked in. I wrenched my hand out of his and took the bat in both hands. As soon as one of those things came near me, I swung as hard as I could. I guess I did use to be a softball player at some point because when my bat connected with this thing’s head, it was like an overripe pumpkin. I was guessing it even sounded the same. I had to stop myself from vomiting.

  I only had one goal here. Kill my way through these things. But was it any better outside? If the hospital was like this, what was the rest of the world like?

  It seemed like endless swinging and squelching noises before that wailing and hissing noise stopped. The man and I were standing among a pile of bodies, and there was black blood pooled at our feet. He just grinned at me.

  “Not bad, kitten. Let’s get as far away from here as possible.”

  “Not so fast. What is your name, and do you have a car?”

  “My name is Aeron, and no one has cars anymore. There’s no point. You can’t get gas anywhere. I’ve got something better.”

  “Why should I trust you? You haven’t given me much to go on.”

  “Because it’s not just the Rage Heads you need to worry about. Humanity has gone to shit. If you want to stay safe out there, you need friends and supplies. I’ve got both.”

  “How do I know you’re not part of the humanity that has gone to shit?”

  “You don’t. But you don’t remember shit, and I have answers. You’re just going to have to trust me, cupcake.”

  “Are you actually going to give me more answers than what you have?”

  “I can help you get your memories back, and I can explain to you what is going on. But not here. It’s not safe. I have a place we can go for the night, and there are separate beds in case you think I have any intention to rape you.”

  “I’ll bash your fucking head in with this baseball bat if you tried.”

  “Keep Smurfette on you at all times.”

  “Smurfette?”

  “That’s what you used to call your bat.”

  I sighed and followed Aeron out of the hospital. The key to my past was in this grumpy ass, sword-wielding mother fucker who just showed up out of nowhere. I still didn’t know if I would stay with him, but if I would find out who I was, I needed to leave with him and hear him out.

  Chapter 2

  “I

  m not getting on that,” I said, looking at Aeron’s big fucking horse. That wasn’t a normal horse. It wasn’t white, but I couldn’t describe its color except pale. It was way bigger than any horse should be, and I swear its eyes flashed red at me.

  “Meremoth is a champion stallion, and he obeys me. You just need to sit up there while I control him. You aren’t scared of a horse after you just killed all those Rage Heads, are you?”

  “Why is he so big, and why did his eyes flash red like that?”

  “He’s big because all horses of his breed are that size. It was just a trick of the light. As you can see, Meremoth has perfectly normal eyes.”

  “You’re telling me people use horses instead of cars now?”

  He just shrugged.

  “No, most people aren’t lucky enough to have a horse and go on foot. I could always ride him and make your ungrateful ass walk all ten miles home.”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you are a huge asshole?”

  “Well, you’re being a spoiled brat. It’s the end of the world. You need to be a little more grateful when people are offering to share their shit with you because there are some people out there who would just as well cook you and eat your flesh.”

  “Well, you haven’t exactly told me what’s going on and why we got attacked by corpses.”

  “Look at your surroundings, kitten. What do you think is going on?”

  I looked past the horse. The sky wasn’t blue. It was some sickly orange color. Any grass I could see was dead. There were cars just abandoned, some on the sidewalk, some on the road and parking lot. Some of them, I could see dead bodies inside, and some had the doors open like someone had looted the car to see what was inside.

  “How did this happen?”

  “Not here. It’s not safe. Now, will you get on my fucking horse so we can get home sooner, or do you want to risk hoofing it on foot?”

  “Sorry. I’ll get on the horse, but do you think you could be a bit more patient? I don’t even know my last name, much less what’s going on.”

  Aeron ran his fingers through his white hair.

  “This sure would be easier if you remembered,” he muttered.

  The horse was so huge, I couldn’t even imagine how I was supposed to get myself in the saddle. I couldn’t reach it.

  “A little help?” I asked Aeron.

  This guy right here. He picked me up and practically threw me in the saddle. If I hadn’t grabbed the pommel, I would have flown completely over this fucking horse. He didn’t even give me a chance to settle before he heaved himself after me.

  Oh. Were we going to sit like this? I didn’t even know this guy, and his crotch was pressed right up against my ass. He held the reins in one hand and wrapped his other arm around my waist. This was a little… intimate considering I didn’t know his last name or mine, and he was kind of an asshole.

  I threw the kind of out the window and upgraded him to total asshole when he kicked his horse, and the thing started run
ning so fast, I was sure I would fall off. I shrieked and clutched the pommel. Aeron tightened his hold around my waist.

  “Calm down. We’ll slow down when we are less exposed. Don’t draw attention to us, or you’ll bring a swarm on us, or worse, stupid humans still using guns.”

  “Why wouldn’t you want a gun during the end of the world?”

  “Rage Heads are drawn by sound and smell. A gun will draw every Rage Head within a fifteen-mile radius to you. Most smart people don’t use them anymore and have learned to hunt with bows.”

  “Will you teach me?”

  I was starting to think I would stay with Aeron long enough to survive on my own and find some place to hunker down. Why did he have my baseball bat from who knew how long ago and know what I called it? He said he was at that hospital looking for something and heard me pounding. I was guessing he didn’t find it and found me instead.

  If he wasn’t looking for me, how did he know so much about me, and where did he get that bat? Something wasn’t sitting right with the mysterious Aeron and me.

  I’d hear him out, but depending on what he said, I may or may not stay with him. He was kind of a grumpy fuck.

  Chapter 3

  T

  he crazy asshole driving the horse did eventually slow down when we got to narrow roads with a lot of tree cover. Where were we anyway? I didn’t recognize any of this landscape, and I wasn’t getting any flashes like when I touched the bat.

  “Aeron? Where exactly are we?”

  “Waterville, Washington. It’s pretty remote. We won’t be staying. We’ll be meeting someone in Mexico.”

  “Who said I was staying with you?”

  “I did. I found you, I rescued you, and I’m claiming you. You’re coming to D.C. with me.”

  “Excuse me? You can’t claim me if I don’t want to be claimed.”

  “Don’t be stupid. I can’t protect you if I don’t claim you. Important things are waiting in D.C. We have to make pit stops in Mexico and Florida to pick people up. Then, we are going to Washington D.C. to stop the end of the world.”