by Brant, Jason
Lance pursed his lips.
Gave Greg a small nod.
Turned and joined the others.
As they started away from the tree, Adam called after them.
“I love you guys. Best family I could have asked for. Tell Lily I love her. Remember your promise, Lance.”
“We will.” Eifort’s voice cracked. “We love you, too.”
Lance pawed at his cheeks, smearing dirt and tears. “They’ll be safe with us.”
They turned and trudged through the forest, following the river.
As they moved away, the last thing they heard their friend say was, “I’m sssooo hungry.” A small hiss trailed the words.
They continued in silence, no speaking or looking back.
And then the gun fired.
27
The coffee tasted glorious. Cass didn’t know if the wonderful flavor came from years without sampling the drink, or if the coffee was some kind of premium brand. Either way, she relished it as she sipped from a mug.
She sat across from Emmett at the kitchen table, their plates empty of the eggs he’d scrambled. With a full belly and a hot drink, Cass’ mind had cleared a little. The grief and the rage felt manageable.
Neither had spoken about Lance or Megan yet. In fact, they hadn’t said much of anything since Cass had relayed her harrowing experience with Wayne. Emmett had nearly cried as she told him the story.
It occurred to her how hardened she’d become over the years. Sure, she’d been a nasty, take-no-shit woman before, but now she was brushing off her attempted rape better than her dear friend. In their new world, they had little time for dwelling on the past. Each moment presented a new challenge to overcome.
If they were lucky, there would be time to dwell on the shit show that had been the past few weeks when everyone was reunited.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Cass asked. “I saw some paperwork in the main building back there that said Muddy Run, but that didn’t mean much to me at the time.”
“Some kind of camping ground, obviously.” Emmett glanced out of their RV at the children playing a few feet outside the door. He’d opened the window so they could hear if the boys tried to wander away. “Hard to tell how far we drove because of the road conditions. No idea how fast we were able to go. Being blindfolded in the back didn’t help.”
“Definitely Pennsylvania.”
“But are we north or south of Harrisburg? Philly?”
“We’ll have to ask one of our friends out there.”
Two bigger guards sat at a picnic table fifty feet away from the RV. One chain-smoked cigarettes as if he hoped for lung cancer in the next week or so. Cass assumed more guards watched the backside of the vehicle.
“I don’t know how we’ll find them.” Emmett lowered his voice, finally broaching the subject hanging between them. “If they’re even still alive.”
“They have to be.” Cass watched Lincoln wave his hands around Finn’s head. Both children laughed. “You heard that voice yell from behind the house. Someone was there helping them.”
“I also heard a hundred Vladdies bearing down on us.”
“Eifort had a gun. She’s surgical with those things.”
Emmett pressed against his eyes with his palms. “I’m just trying to be realistic here. We can’t do anything brash that could get the kids hurt.”
Cass felt her abs clench. She wanted to scream at him that they had to get back to Baltimore, to search for their spouses, but a part of her also knew he was right. For now, they had to think about the children’s safety first.
The people inside this new camp were their current problem.
“Is staying here good for them?” she asked. “These people bought us like cattle from the assholes who tried to kill Lance and Megan. And it didn’t appear to be their first transaction. Are our kids safe here?”
“I don’t know.” Emmett stared at his empty plate. “I just don’t know.”
“But you’re right. Even if we could escape from here with everyone, how would we keep them safe after nightfall? I have a feeling we’re in the middle of nowhere. Trying to keep the kids quiet at night is a recipe for disaster. We wouldn’t last more than a few hours before something found us.”
“We should have never gone into the city.”
“It’s not like we had much of a choice. No food, no water, and goddamn pirates after us at every dock and port.”
“But look at where—”
A knock at the door cut them off.
Cass got up and opened it, expecting to find one of the guards. Instead, Paul stood on the packed earth in front of the door, peering up at them. His unruly beard looked worse than usual, his gaunt face holding an unhealthy hew even though he was as tanned as the rest of them.
“Thank, Christ.” Paul climbed the two stairs and embraced her. “I thought those fuckers were gonna kill yinz.”
“It’ll take more than those pussies to kill me.” Cass stepped away, holding him by the shoulders at arm’s length. “Where’s Liz?”
Lance’s ex-wife had moved in with Paul shortly after they’d arrived on the island. Their relationship ran hot and cold, their constant shouting matches heard halfway across Anegada all too often. Though Liz had realized how terribly she’d treated Lance and had apologized for a lot of her behavior, her personality still turned somewhat toxic from time to time.
When she failed to get her way, the woman often exploded in anger.
Cass had asked Lance often during their first year together how in the hell he’d married someone so aggressive and bitchy. He responded by asking himself how he’d managed to marry two women with the same personality traits.
That resulted in her kicking his ass around their small, but comfortable hut on the beach.
Then they’d end up in bed, sweaty and exhausted.
Their situation on the island with Lance’s ex was weird, but manageable. They made it work despite their differences.
Cass often wondered if Liz resented her.
Liz’s marriage to Lance had floundered from the beginning, leaving both of them miserable and unsatisfied. Cass lived with the man Liz had always wanted, but never got. The man he’d become was strong and driven, not the sniveling, unemployed wuss modern civilization had twisted him into.
Lance told her that she would never get along with Liz because neither ever gave an inch on anything. Cass couldn’t argue with him there.
“She’s two campers down, tryin’ to compose herself. Been a wreck since we left…” He caught himself before he said Lance and Megan. “Since Baltimore.”
Emmett stepped forward, embraced Paul. “Have you seen Lilith?”
“She’s with Liz, and she’s a goddamn mess. Poor girl.” Paul scratched at his unkempt beard. “We’re in a helluva a pickle here. Guards are watchin’ our every move, but they didn’t stop me from coming over here at least.”
“So we’re prisoners who are allowed to roam freely inside the walls.” Cass glanced at the guards. “What do you think we’re dealing with?”
“I’ve been watchin’ ‘em n’at. Takin’ notes. Four-hour shifts for the guards. All armed, of course.”
“Where do you think we are?” Emmett asked.
“If I had to guess?” Paul chewed his lower lip as he thought about it. “I’m thinkin’ southern PA based on the terrain. We aren’t really in the Appalachians yet. Maybe somewhere around Lancaster. Kinda hard to say for sure.”
Cass let out a sigh of relief. They weren’t particularly close to Baltimore, but their situation could be a lot worse. These people had working vehicles. If they could pilfer one of those, they might be able to hit the city in a few hours, depending on how clear the roads were.
“There’s something weird about this place,” Paul said, lowering his voice.
“Other than the fact that they purchased us from a bunch of psychos?” Cass asked.
“Other n’at.” Paul gestured at the guards through the window. “Where are all the men at?�
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“What do you mean? I can see two right now.”
“I mean, I spotted a lot of women when they pulled us out of the van, but not too many men.”
Cass frowned. “All the guards were men when they dropped us off.”
“Yah, but that’s all I’ve seen. Big burly bastards with guns are following us around, but that’s it. I’ve been watching some of the paths and roads around us. Saw a lot of ladies walking around. Not too many gents, though.”
“What’re you saying?” Emmett asked.
“Just what I’m seeing. Lots of women. Just a couple of men. Don’t know what it means yet.”
Finn tried to throw a rock outside, but only managed to toss it straight down into his lap. Cass normally would have laughed at the failed attempt, but her mind remained locked on the situation at hand.
“How many guards have you seen?” she asked Paul.
“Twelve at least, maybe more. Was hard to keep track of ‘em when they were unloading us like cattle.” He scratched at his chin again. “We need to check out more of the campground, figure out how they’re even alive here. It’s not like we’re heavily fortified in our damned RVs.”
Cass was struck by the fact they’d encountered three separate groups of survivors in the past two days. They’d run into a lot of people living on boats off the coast, but the groups were usually small and struggling to get by with limited supplies. The idea of surviving, let alone thriving, on the mainland seemed an impossibility.
But several years had passed since the first signs of the Xavier virus.
Humanity had adapted.
If nothing else, she figured that living out in the middle of Bumfuck, Pennsylvania kept the local Vladdie population to a minimum. Trying to get by in the suburbs of Philly would be suicidal.
“They have power,” Cass said. “And gasoline. How is that possible?”
Paul grunted. “Hell if I know. We’re back in the States, but it feels like we landed on another planet than the one we left. We barely got out of there, and they’re driving around in doggone cars.”
One of the guards outside unclipped a walkie-talkie from his belt, then held it up to his mouth. He spoke a few sentences and then listened, his features hardening. Whatever news or orders he’d received hadn’t pleased the brute.
“What’s our first move?” Emmett asked. “We need to approach this from a united front.”
Cass watched as the guards stood and started toward their RV. “First, we’re going to negotiate our release from this place and get them to loan us a vehicle. Then we’re going after Adam and Greg. After that, we’re making a trip back to Baltimore to find Lance and Megan. Too easy.”
Paul’s face twisted in discomfort. “Cass… they can’t be—”
One of the guards pounded on the door, his meaty fist shaking it in the frame. “Miss Valerie wants to speak with you.”
“They’re alive, Paul.” Cass reached for the door handle. “And we’re going to find them.”
28
They continued in silence for a long time, the occasional sob the only sound passing between them. The kid took the lead, Greg the rear. Lance tried to swallow his grief, to focus on the multitude of problems facing them, but struggled to rein in his emotions.
Adam had deserved a good life.
To grow old with his wife.
Raise his child.
Now he lay dead under a tree.
Eifort stopped a few feet in front of Lance before swiveling to face him. She wiped at her eyes. “I know this sounds cold right now, but we need to figure out where we’re going.”
“There’s a gas station on the road ahead,” the kid called over his shoulder. “Maybe they’ll have a map or something.”
Lance shrugged. “That’s as good an idea as any.”
Truth be told, he hadn’t even noticed a road as they walked, let alone seen a sign for a gas station or a city. He’d mostly stared at his feet, watching for jutting rocks on the path.
“I’ve been angling north for the past hour or so.” The kid stopped and pointed ahead. “See the road?”
Eifort nodded.
“The sign for the station is off to the right a bit. I haven’t seen the building yet, but it can’t be far. Looks like a mom-and-pop kinda place, judging from the sign.”
Lance finally spotted the road as they resumed their march. The sign stood at least a dozen feet high and had a rusted, light-up logo face that was broken from age and nonuse. Lance couldn’t even make out the name of the place because of all the smashed glass and plastic.
He glanced over his shoulder at Greg for a moment.
The guy lumbered along, shoulders rounded, head down. He still held the pistol in his right hand, dangling loosely from his fingers. He hadn’t said a word since he’d caught up to them, and no one had approached him yet.
Lance had often wondered what it would take to get Greg to be quiet for just a little while.
Unfortunately, they’d found out what would silence him.
The kid reached the road first and followed it to the right, striding down the dotted yellow line. The pavement remained in good condition, though it wasn’t the best paving job Lance had ever seen. Roads in Pennsylvania were notoriously bad before the world had turned to shit; now they were a joke.
Brush rose several feet high on either shoulder.
They walked along the road for a while before Lance spotted the roof of a building peeking through the trees and weeds on the left. Shingles were missing, and a rain gutter had torn free.
Brandon angled across a parking lot with weeds sticking up through the pavement. Two parked cars sat in front of the building. Someone, or something, had smashed the windows out of both vehicles, though no bloodstains were visible in or around them.
The gas station only had four pumps in total, and they appeared to be from the seventies. Maybe older. They had analogue dials instead of digital, and there wasn’t a credit card reader in sight.
Intact windows covered the front of the building, a solid coat of dirt turning them opaque. One of the two doors stood ajar.
“Hold on a second, kid.” Lance turned back to Greg, who finally raised his head. “Eifort is the best shot—can you give her the pistol?”
Greg handed it over without a word, his expression flat.
Eifort gave him a small, joyless smile before checking the mag. “I guess I’m going in first then.”
“I’ll go.” Lance moved to the door. “I just want to make sure you can take out anything that wants to bite off a piece of me.”
The inside of the gas station was small and quaint.
Or it had been at one point.
A handful of shelves that had likely held potato chips and beef jerky were empty. The floor had a few wrappers littered on it here and there. Cigarette racks behind the counter on the left were similarly bare.
Lance stepped inside, head on a swivel.
It didn’t appear as if anyone had entered the building in a long time, but he remained alert just the same. Two closed doors along the back wall caught his attention. If anyone was hiding in the gas station, they would likely be through those.
Leaves covered the floor by the entrance, crunching underfoot. Eifort came up behind him, pistol at the ready.
Standing refrigerators on the right wall stood open, the majority of their shelves vacant as well. A few gallons of long-spoiled milk remained. Someone had pilfered the soda and energy drinks.
Lance cut toward the counter, scanning the racks sitting on and behind it. One held a few dozen pairs of sunglasses. He spotted real-estate fliers and a classifieds booklet. Behind the counter, under the open and empty register, he found a key to the bathroom attached to a plank of wood with RESTROOM carved into it.
Eifort moved to the back of the building, carefully checking the door handles to see if they were locked. The first one didn’t move, and Lance assumed it was the bathroom. After she tried the second door, she stepped back as it pushed open.<
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Light leaking in from the door illuminated two pairs of legs stretched across the floor.
Eifort glanced inside where Lance couldn’t see before taking a few steps deeper into the room. She emerged with another pistol and closed the door behind her. “An elderly couple is in there. Looks like they took their own lives a long time ago.”
Lance frowned and turned his attention back to the crap under the register. He rifled through papers and inventory logs. The idea they might find a map in a gas station had sounded nice, but now he figured it was a dumb idea. Everyone had used the navigation apps in their phones for years.
He hadn’t personally seen anyone use a map in forever. For the past decade, it probably hadn’t made financial sense to even stock the damn things. He figured younger generations didn’t even know how to read one.
After a few more seconds of sifting through the junk, he felt his hopes rise as he stumbled across a folded-up hunk of paper.
“Bingo.” Lance dropped everything else to the floor, then unfolded the map on the counter. He counted his blessings that a smaller, older gas station out in the middle of nowhere hadn’t embraced the joys, or lack thereof, of modern technology.
“It’s clear.” Eifort motioned for the others to join them.
As Brandon and Greg stepped inside, Lance ran a finger along the map, attempting to figure out where they were. His sense of direction had never been the best and he had no idea what road they’d stumbled upon, so he struggled to even get a rough idea of their location.
“Can I see?” Brandon asked. “I’m pretty good with this stuff.”
“Be my guest.” Lance twisted the map around, so Brandon could study it from the right angle. He tried to ignore the fact a kid was better at navigating than he was. So much for his theory the younger generations were worthless without tech.
Greg slumped against the counter, still staring at his feet. The man seemed utterly defeated. Lance couldn’t blame him. They’d all done terrible things to survive, but having to kill a friend, a best friend, was beyond comprehension.
At least, it should have been beyond comprehension.