Jessie was out of breath, her thighs burning with every step. She felt a stabbing pain in her side with each labored inhalation. She’d always been physically fit, but had never run as if her life depended on it. And right now, her life and those of her friends undoubtedly, depended on it. She had to lead these two guys away from the ranch to keep her friends safe. 

As she continued to guide them away, she thought about the women who had become her new family. Riley, Sloane, Marie, and Teagan - all of these women had been through a lot and needed her just as much as she needed them. It brought her solace knowing her new family was safe, at least for now.

Jessie turned to see the two men chasing her, were gaining on her. They were so close she could hear their heavy inhalation of breath, barely able to get out the insults and taunts they were throwing her way. “When I get a hold of you I’m going to fuck you up bitch!”

She knew she couldn’t let them catch her. She had to keep going until she could reach one of her guns. When her father was alive, he’d suggested she hide weapons around their ranch, which was nestled near the Willamette National Forest. Jessie had stashed four semi-automatic pistols away from the ranch in each direction of a compass. Only she knew their hiding places. All she had to do was get to the gun on the south side of the ranch. It was the most accessible from where she was at, and Jessie knew the property like the back of her hand.

“Ahhh,” Jessie cried as she felt a rock clip her shoulder. One of the men terrorizing her must’ve picked up a rock and threw it at her. Although it wasn’t huge, it was enough to knock her off balance. The blunt blow stung like a bitch, but she didn’t have long to think about it as the impact made her lose her footing and she stumbled forward to the ground, scraping her hands and knees on the unforgiving earth. She screamed out in shock as she went down.

The first man was instantly on her. Since she landed face first, the guy wrestled with her trying to turn her over to her back. She sprawled out as far as her four limbs would stretch, so he was unable to turn her over. When she got a glimpse of him, she noticed he had the clothes and rough demeanor of a biker. His tattoos did nothing to hide the bulging muscles which were now rippling in exertion as he tried to pin her. As he tried to get purchase on her body, she smelt his distinct body odor mixed in with stale cigarettes, whisky and… death. It was weird and horrifying she could identify the smell of death and despair. The smell burned her nostrils and made her gag, threatening to spill the contents of her stomach.

Although the guy thought he had the upper hand, he didn’t know who he was messing with. She was Jessie frickin’ James, well not the infamous Jesse James, but pretty damn close. Jessie’s father always took her to the shooting range with him and of course growing up on the ranch, hunting was second nature to her. At her dad’s insistence, she also took martial arts lessons from a dojo in Bend, Oregon and it paid off. Her father always told her, “No daughter of mine will go through life not knowing how to protect herself.” In the beginning, she hated the lessons. All the other girls were in ballet learning plies, while Jessie was learning Jiu-Jitsu. It had all worked out, because by the time she was in high school, she was into mixed martial arts, with a touch of bo staff skills and was darn good at it.

Jessie remembered back to when she was a junior in high school. One of her boyfriends decided to get a little too handsy with her one night in the back seat of a car. Everyone in school knew about it the next day because of the broken nose and black eyes she’d given him. Being beat up by a girl wasn’t very manly, and no guy wanted to go through as much razzing as he had, so for that reason, she was never asked out by any guys in school for the remainder of her high school years. 

As she thought of her ex-boyfriend’s broken nose, she got her second wind, reared around with her left elbow and somehow connected with biker guy’s nose. He grabbed his nose with both hands, grunting. Satisfied with the sound of crunching bones and the distracted biker, she scrambled up and fled as quick as she could. She looked around for the other guy who had been chasing her as well, and no one was in sight, just the one biker whose ass she just kicked, his hands to his face and blood streaming down his fingers.

Even though her scraped knees burned, she raced towards her hiding place where her 9mm was stashed. When she reached her ammunition box, she put her hand inside to find it empty. “Oh God, oh God, oh God.” came out in a whisper.

About ten feet in front of her, a familiar male voice said, “Looking for this?”

Jessie looked up and said in a quiet, almost inaudible voice “Mac?” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Mac stood there resting his side against a pine tree with her gun in his hand.

“Mac, are you ok?” Jessie asked in a whisper.

Mac said in a deceptively low, even tone, “Of course I’m all right Jessie. Why would you think otherwise?” Just then Mac aimed at Jessie with the 9mm and fired.

Everything happened so fast she didn’t even have time to scream. The shot had grazed her left shoulder, and she turned around just in time to see the biker drop to his knees with a bullet directly between his eyes to match the broken nose she’d given him moments earlier. She whirled back around to see Mac just staring at her.

“I love you, Jessie. See what I’d do for you? I killed the hideous man who put his hands on you. I don’t want your life to be tainted with his touch.” Mac’s voice was starting to get louder and more frantic. “All I ever wanted was you. I just want to hold you and care for you as a good husband should care for his wife.”

“Mac, I’m not your wife. I love you like a brother. Do you remember Riley and I were at the bar with you the night this all started?” She said in a calm even tone.

“I remember Jessie! I remember you rejecting me! All I wanted was for you to love me. You left me at the bar that night. Why Jessie? Why?”

“Mac, I wanted you to come with me, but you told me no. You said I had to leave. You loaded up your truck and gave me the keys so I could take Riley with me. I remember the tender kiss you gave me Mac. I’ll always treasure it.”

Now that she had a moment to take in the entire scene, Mac looked odd. She knew Mac had MEDS. The horrific disease had claimed every male on Earth, turning them into mad men.  Mac looked torn as to what was right and wrong. He had such a haunted look on his face and almost looked possessed. She guessed in a way, he was. 

Shaking his head to try and clear the fog from his head, Mac whispered, “Jessie?”

With tears streaming down her face she answered “Yes, Mac. It’s me, Jessie. You remember me, right?”

Mac looked so heartbroken and conflicted. “I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t.”

Being weary and yet concerned for her friend, she took a couple of careful steps towards him. “I know sweetheart. It’s so hard. You must be so tired. Do you want to sit down on the rock and we’ll talk for a bit? I’d love just to sit and talk with you Mac. I miss our talks.”

Mac looked at the gun he was holding, then the rock they were to sit on and finally to her. He put the gun to his temple. Jessie screamed out, “No! Mac, I love you! Please don’t do this.” Mac didn’t pull the trigger, nor did he remove the gun from his head.

“My heart and brain are on polar opposites. I can’t keep fighting it. You must kill me. I just can’t do it. Please, help me.”

She was at a loss as to what to say. He was asking her to end his life. It’s not like she hadn’t already killed several men when this whole nightmare began, but this was different. This was Mac. This was her friend. Someone she looked up to. Someone she might have had feelings for. Mac was a trained Navy SEAL, and although she was pretty good in a fight, she knew she was no match for him.  Knowing what MEDS did to a man, she knew she at least had to get the gun away from him. 

“Mac, I’ll help you, but you need to give me the gun, okay?” Mac almost looked relieved. He brought the gun down from his head. He ejected the clip, which left one round still in the chamber. He turned it so, he handed her the butt of the gun. When she took the gun from him, she motioned towards the rock, “Let’s just sit down for a bit and talk.”

Mac nodded and slowly strode to a big flat rock in the clearing. She sat next to him with the gun still in her hand. She didn’t know what to say, and she guessed neither did Mac as he didn’t say a word either. After several moments she broke the silence and asked Mac, “Does it hurt? I mean…are you in pain?” For some reason, it made it easier for her to end his life if he was in pain.

With his forearms resting on his knees, he kept his eyes locked on the ground and hauntingly answered, “Yes and no. No, it doesn’t physically hurt, but the amount of rage, lust, and anger I have going on inside my head is consuming me. Please, I know I’m asking a lot, but I need you to understand I’m losing control. I don’t want to hurt you. I need your help to end it. There’s only one thing I want before you do it.”

“What is it, Mac? I’ll do anything for you. You know that.”

Mac finally looked into her eyes and said, “I want you to kiss me, Jessie. Just a tender kiss is all I ask of you.”

Not knowing what else to say she sputtered out, “O-of course Mac.”

He didn’t smile at her, but he did relax a little. While keeping her eyes on him, she leaned in with care. Mac didn’t move. It was as if he was recording every second of this kiss into his memory before it was all over. Jessie, ever so gently, touched her lips to his. At first, the kiss was tender and innocent. When she thought it was over, she tried to pull back, but Mac had placed a hand on the back of her neck holding her there and lengthening the kiss.

Everything was fine and time seemed to stand still. She finally felt safe in a man’s arms since all this crap started. The feeling of safety, unfortunately, faded all too quickly. Mac’s kiss seemed to become urgent, crushing and bruising. He bit her lip, hard, drawing blood. She broke the kiss crying, “Ow! Mac that hurt!”

Mac didn’t even acknowledge her presence. He worked his way down to her neck, kissing and roughly nipping at her with punishing caresses. He grabbed at her breast violently through the material of her t-shirt, and it made her wince. “Mac! Stop! You’re hurting me.”

Jessie tried to pull away, but Mac was much stronger than her, and she couldn’t break their connection. “Stop moving bitch. I’m going to fuck you like I’ve always wanted to and there’s nothing you can do about it.” 

Her heart sank to her stomach as she realized she’d lost Mac forever. Mac grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back pulling her to the ground in a brutal motion and then began dragging her as if they were back in prehistoric times. Pain shot through her skull like a bolt of lightning. She grabbed at Mac’s hands trying to find some purchase to get her feet underneath her. In doing so, she had dropped the gun.

Mac had managed to drag her about ten feet when out of nowhere the other man who she thought was chasing her earlier jumped on her ripping her body from Mac’s grip. They hit the ground with a savage blow. She took the full force of the man’s body, and when her back landed on a sharp rock protruding from the ground, she heard and felt several of her ribs snap.

Mac was now even angrier and let out a roar she could only describe as that of a demon. Mac pulled the man from Jessie and started striking him. The man stumbled back, and the two were now engaged in a battle.

She was in excruciating pain just from breathing. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the dirt on her face. She tried to get up and away from the two men while their focus was on one another, but all she could do is crawl on all fours, scraping her palms and knees even worse. She didn’t dare make a sound; she had to get to the gun.

She could hear the fight behind her as she crept along the forest floor at a snail’s pace because her ribs hurt so badly. She could hear the blows both men delivered to one another. Fists striking flesh, a bone snapping in two and the screams, oh God, the screams were straight from hell. Jessie tried so hard to tune it out. Oddly enough, she concentrated on the pain in her hands and knees to try and keep conscious. If she felt the pain there, then she knew it was real, and she was alive.

When she finally thought she might get to her gun, she heard a low growl say, “Where are you going?” She tried to crawl faster but the more she tried, the weaker she became. Jessie was out of options. She turned as best as she could so her back was to the ground. She’d have loved to scream out in pain, but with her broken ribs, she couldn’t get enough air behind her voice to scream. Just as she turned on to her back, she saw Mac come into view. His hands were covered in blood. He was twirling some stick or baton or something she couldn’t focus on enough to see. She did know Mac seemed sickeningly amused with himself. He said, “I haven’t had any fun with you yet.” 

She shuffled back as much as she could, but the first blow struck her left cheek. Stars exploded behind her eye. Although she was a trained fighter, she was too stunned Mac would do this to her to fight back. Several more blows rained down on her face, and she lifted her hands and arms to block some of the hits connecting with her face. The action infuriated Mac, and he hit her left forearm with the stick he had, breaking her arm. Even with the pain in her chest from her broken ribs, she managed to cry out, “Please Mac. It’s Jessie. Don’t hurt me. It’s me, Mac. Don’t you remember me?”

Mac didn’t even respond this time. There was no recognition of any humanity left in his eyes. If the eyes were the windows to the soul, then his soul was black as coal. Suddenly a field knife appeared in Mac’s hands. Mac held it up over his head and brought it down piercing her right shoulder and effectively pinning her to the ground.

“AAAHHH!” She screamed. At first, she was in agony. Everything hurt, her arm, her face, her ribs, and now her shoulder, but just as the pain had started moments ago, it now retreated, and she was left feeling cold and numb. She knew in her mind, her body was shaking violently, but she couldn’t feel anything. “This is it. I’m going to die.” Jessie thought. She braced herself with the knowledge she was going to die. She didn’t blame Mac. The Mac she knew, was gone. The last thing she heard before the nothingness took hold was a deep booming computerized voice yell, “Release the female!”