by Ellis, Tara
“Really? A filter?” Decker asked. He held out his hand to the man, who was closest to him. “Can I see it?”
“Sorry, we’re just getting ready to leave.” The man told the obvious lie boldly, inviting Decker to challenge it.
The woman was still studying Ethan. “Are you okay?”
He was tempted to answer her, even though he knew there’d be dire consequences. There was something about her that made him think he’d be safe with her. With them. The dog moved out from behind her and whimpered, as if encouraging him. He didn’t get a chance.
“Tell ya what,” Decker moved Tango forward several paces until he was less than ten feet from the man. “How about you hand over those water filters and the tent, and I’ll ignore your rudeness.”
The dog growled as the four adults all held their ground, none of them moving or speaking.
Decker drew his gun.
Chapter 19
DANNY
South of Virginia, Idaho
Danny’s nostrils flared as she held herself in check and gauged the men in front of them. Instinct told her they were dangerous, and that the boy didn’t belong with them. His face was so battered and bruised that it was difficult to tell how old he was.
The larger man drew a gun.
Danny’s eyes flicked toward Sam, who hadn’t even flinched, and then back at the boy. He was clearly terrified.
She couldn’t allow it to happen. They weren’t going to let them go. Even if she thought they would, Danny would never hand over the LifeStraws. Not without a fight.
“How about you take one of the filters?” Sam offered calmly. “We’re happy to share.”
The man’s upper lip curled so that his teeth were bared, reminding Danny of a feral dog. He had dark, lifeless eyes that worried her more than his broad chest and muscular arms. He drew back the hammer on the gun and jostled it slightly. “I’m not going to ask twice.”
The creepy little guy was licking his lips while staring at her, but as Sam moved to pick up the filter Danny had left on the ground, he turned to watch him. It was the opening she needed.
Reaching into her back waistband, Danny’s hand wrapped around the grip of the Glock. She was relieved she hadn’t made a holster yet, and that it was her turn to carry the weapon. While she wasn’t an enthusiast, the fire department shared a building with the police department, so Danny had been on several gun range dates with a few of the officers and knew how to handle the weapon.
She drew the slide back as she brought the gun around, and either the sound or movement caught their assailant’s attention. He swung his weapon in her direction, but Danny got a shot off first. At less than twenty feet, she wasn’t surprised she hit her mark, and watched the bullet impact him in the center of his chest.
“Humph!” The odd sound escaped the man at the same time that he was thrown back in the saddle, the gun falling from his hand.
“Hey!” Creepy Guy shouted, his voice cracking. His horse sidestepped and he grabbed wildly at the saddle horn to keep from falling off.
Sam was already moving, scrambling for the weapon that was now in the dirt on the side of the road. The black and white horse reared as he approached, understandably spooked by the gunshot.
“Whoa,” Sam cooed, raising his hands and backing away as the horse screamed in fear, his eyes rolling and ears laid back against his head.
The unmoving man flopped sideways in the saddle, blood already dripping onto the ground beneath him. The horse reared again, then pranced backward, throwing the body so that it hung upside down, its right foot caught in the stirrup.
Danny shifted her focus and turned the Glock on the other man. Hardly a threat, he was canted off to the side of his saddle, hanging on for dear life. The boy was watching it all stoically, and she noticed he was handling his spooked mare without any apparent effort.
“Whoa!” Sam yelled again.
The large quarter horse screamed louder and then bolted, dragging the body alongside it. This spurred the boy into action.
“Ha!” Without hesitation, the teen urged his mount into a gallop and sped after the unsightly scene playing out down the road.
Much to the smaller man’s dismay, his own horse followed the others. “Help!” he yelped, while clawing at the horse’s mane.
“Grace!” Danny shouted as the dog sprang past them in hot pursuit. Sam snatched the dropped gun before falling in beside Danny, and the two of them ran after the horses.
Less than half a mile down the road, Danny caught up to them. The boy had gotten control of the runaway horse and was standing next to the body. Its foot was still in the stirrup, twisted at an awkward angle, and she didn’t need to be a paramedic to know that he was dead.
“Here.” The boy was holding the lead rope out to her. His face was still hard to read under all of the abuse, although she thought she saw relief.
“You killed him!” the small, ugly man shouted accusingly at Danny. “You killed Decker.” Somehow, the annoying guy had managed to hang on.
“Get off the horse, Billy.”
Billy looked at the boy in surprise, obviously shaken by the calm fury in the teen’s voice. “Ethan, they killed Decker!”
Danny hung back, putting an arm out to stop Sam from interfering. Grace was circling the group and whining, unsure of the horses.
“I said get off!” Ethan reached out and grabbed the man, yanking him sideways and out of the saddle. The two of them fell to the ground, with the boy on top. Billy was the larger of the two, though clearly at a disadvantage. Danny watched as Ethan straddled Billy and then began to pummel him.
“Oomph!” Billy grunted, as first one fist and then the other landed solidly in his midsection. “Stop, Ethan! Come on, man.” He tried to block the strikes as they moved up to his face, but was unsuccessful.
“You killed them!” Ethan growled as he beat the man. “You killed them!”
Danny had seen blind rage before. She could only imagine what had driven the young man to it, but it was time to stop him. He didn’t need to add more fuel to his nightmares.
“Come on,” Sam barked as they both moved forward and grabbed at Ethan’s arms.
“Stop!” Danny ordered when Ethan tried to throw them off. “That’s enough!”
Sam managed to wrap Ethan up and hauled him up and off his feet. “It’s okay, son,” he said, walking several steps away before lowering the teen back to the ground. “It’s over. You’re okay.”
Ethan closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, his shoulders sagging. Sam let him go and moved away as he gave Danny a look of concern.
Danny wished she could give him more time to compose himself, but she needed answers. “Ethan,” she said softly. “Who are these guys?”
Ethan opened his eyes and looked over at Billy, who was still on the ground, moaning. “Convicts who escaped their bus when it crashed. He has a gun,” he added, gesturing towards Billy. “I don’t think he’s got any bullets left.”
Danny moved over to where Billy lay. He didn’t offer any resistance when she pulled his T-shirt up, revealing a small handgun. After confirming it was empty, she stuffed it in her back pocket before rejoining Sam and Ethan. Grace had decided the horses were okay and began edging forward, sniffing at Ethan’s hand.
“Are these horses yours?” Sam asked.
Ethan nodded. “Mine and my dad’s.”
“Where’s your dad?” Danny hated to ask the question, except it was getting dark and they needed to quickly decide what they were going to do for the night.
Swallowing hard, Ethan squared his shoulders before looking back over at the dead man. “He shot him, then knocked him out when he tried to stop them from taking our horses. I—” Ethan looked down at the ground. “I don’t know if he’s alive or not, but I left him a note at…at one of the places we stopped. He’ll be looking for me.”
Billy struggled into a sitting position and spat blood onto the ground. “What are you gonna do with me?”
&
nbsp; Sam studied the man before pointing down the interstate. “I’d suggest you get back on your way.”
“Hey!” Ethan objected, taking a step towards the man. “He can’t have any of my horses!”
Danny put a hand out on Ethan’s chest and smiled at him. “Of course not.” She withdrew the Glock and pointed it at Billy. “Unlike yours, this one has bullets in it. Start walking.”
“But—”
“Now!” Danny screamed, making Billy jump.
“Can I at least have my bag?” Billy whimpered, looking pleadingly at Ethan.
Ethan moved over to the horse he’d been riding and untied a small duffle bag. He threw it at Billy’s feet. “If you come anywhere near me again, I’ll kill you.”
Billy clasped the bag to his chest and staggered to his feet. Without another word, he spun on his heel and began to stumble south down Interstate 15. They watched until he was beyond where their things were still lying in the grass.
“Thank you.” Ethan had taken the black and white horse’s lead rope and was stroking his head, further calming him.
Danny smiled in response, struggling to find the right words to say to the boy. She figured there probably really wasn’t anything she could say. Instead, she turned to Sam. “It’s getting dark.”
Sam was already on the move. “I’ll go get our things together, if you want to move that guy off the road.”
It took both Danny and Ethan to wrestle Decker’s deformed leg out of the stirrup and then maneuver his body into the grass. Sam arrived carrying both packs on his shoulders, while awkwardly walking the bikes, as they were tossing a couple of broken tree branches over Decker.
“Billy disappeared around the next bend,” Sam offered, dropping the gear and bikes onto the ground. “I don’t think he’ll be bothering us.”
It was getting hard to see, so Danny knelt down and dug around in her pack until she found their sacred flashlight. When she clicked it on, Ethan gasped in shock.
“How?” the boy asked. “Where you came from, does stuff still work?”
Danny felt guilty for not explaining it first. “No, I’m sorry. From what we know, the flash might have affected the whole world. We figured out certain flashlights work, if they didn’t have batteries in them during the event.”
Clearly disappointed, Ethan still smiled at the light. He reached out his hand, passing it through the beam as if it were some sort of liquid gold. “Well, I’m still stoked to see it.”
“Where were you when these cowards attacked you?” Danny asked, regretting the question when it made the boy’s smile fade.
“It’s been four days.” Ethan bent down and began to pet Grace. The dog pushed up against him until he sat so she could get into his lap. He laughed at the retriever’s antics but then grew serious again as he thought back over the four days. “We were north of Idaho Falls, at a rest stop.”
Sam whistled. “That’s quite a distance. Does your dad still have a horse?”
Ethan shook his head.
“You said he was shot,” Danny pressed. “Do you know how bad it was?”
His brows furrowed; Ethan pressed his lips together. “I don’t think it was too serious. Looked like his arm or shoulder was hit. He was knocked off his horse when it happened, but he got back up and was conscious and everything. He still tried to stop them, and that was when Decker hit him in the head with his gun. He was going to shoot him—I talked Decker out of it.”
As Ethan recalled what happened, Danny was reminded that in spite of his size, they were dealing with a scared teenager, not an adult. They couldn’t just leave him out there, alone. “How old are you, Ethan?” she asked.
“Fifteen. I’ll be sixteen next month,” he added, as if age still mattered in the new world.
Fifteen. Danny closed her eyes. He was even younger than she’d thought. His strength and perseverance were impressive. She turned to Sam and when their eyes met, she knew he was thinking the same thing. She gave a small nod of agreement.
“Ethan,” Sam said, moving to sit down next to him on the ground, with Decker’s body cooling less than twenty feet away. “I don’t know where you’re heading, but if you’re going back to where you were last with your dad, it’s the same direction as us. I think we’d be better off if we all stuck together.”
Ethan’s hand stopped moving on Grace’s head as he looked over at Sam, and then up at Danny. His green eyes were still visible in the gathering dark and they were wet with unshed tears. “Will you help me find my dad? We were on our way home. We have to get home to Mercy.”
Danny’s breath caught and she was filled with such a feeling of purpose that it was almost overwhelming. Kneeling down on the other side of Ethan, she put her hand over top of his, still resting on Grace’s head. “Yes,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “And Ethan—”
Ethan took a shuddering breath and stared at her expectantly.
“Do you believe in fate?”
Chapter 20
PATTY
Mercy Valley, Mercy Montana
The rooster crowed as Patty put another egg in her basket. The sun was just beginning to peek over the ridgeline of the mountains to the east, and she enjoyed the last few minutes of coolness she would experience for the day
She snatched another egg and then jumped away from the rooster, just in time to avoid a nasty scratch. “Ornery old cuss,” she muttered. If they didn’t need more chickens, he would have been the first on her kill list. “We can still make it happen,” she snapped as the bird lunged at her again.
“You need to stand up to him,” Caleb chuckled. “You’ve allowed that bird to chase you around one too many times.”
Patty shoved the basket of eggs at her husband. “I thought you were going to sleep in,” she said, ignoring his advice.
Caleb shrugged. “I’m tired enough to sleep for a couple of days straight, but whenever I close my eyes, numbers and lists start scrolling.”
Patty turned her attention to the vegetable garden that was becoming overrun with weeds. It certainly didn’t take long. Even with getting such an early start to the day, she wouldn’t have enough time to make more than a dent in the work needed to be done around the place.
“I’m so tired, Patty.”
Patty paused, the weariness in Caleb’s voice startling her. He hadn’t come out to the hen house to tease her about roosters. Pulling her gloves off, she stuck an arm through his and guided him over to what she called her “thinking bench”. Situated toward the back of the property, it sat up on the sloping acres with a nice view of the valley. Sitting, Patty stared out at the soft light spilling along the mountain slopes. It all looked so…normal.
“We’re going to have to take a few days and work on getting things in order at our own house,” Caleb observed. “I’ll need to start chopping wood soon, if we hope to have enough to get through the winter.” Fortunately, they had a wood-burning fireplace.
“I was thinking I might ask Sandy if that young girl might be able to help us for a day,” Patty said. “Chloe, I think her name is. We could trade some apples or something.”
“She reminds me of you.”
Patty laughed. “Really?”
“When you were younger,” Caleb explained. “You had the same sort of tenacity and spunk. I think it’s a good idea.”
“Aaron and the others should be on their way out of town by now.” Patty squeezed Caleb’s arm. “It was a good idea. The Pony Express.”
“We’ll see how it pans out. Meanwhile, I’ve made some new contacts.”
Patty’s brow creased. He didn’t appear optimistic about it. “More bad news?” She wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it sooner.
Caleb leaned back on the bench, his face profiled by the fresh sunlight. His expression was hard to read. “More of the same. But, one of them claims to be with the US military.”
Patty gawked at him, turning on the bench to face him. “What? When? You should have told me!”
Cale
b shook his head. “I wasn’t sure, Patty. It was the right frequency, but obviously anyone with some basic knowledge could get on there and make the same assertion.”
“Why are you telling me now?” Patty asked, not certain she wanted the answer.
“Because last night the contact told me they’re activating what’s left of the national and state guards. It sounds like there might be some sort of loose order coming together at some point. I thought we could get the stranded kids’ names to them. I imagine they’ll be creating lists of survivors, same as in any other mass causality incident, for reuniting loved ones.”
The news of an existing government was huge. The fact that Caleb hadn’t been forthcoming about it was troubling, though. “What’s wrong, Caleb?”
Caleb hmphed and tilted his head at her, looking incredulous. “You have to ask?”
She squinted at him until he looked away. “You know full well what I mean, Caleb. You’re a Vietnam veteran who’s dealt with more death than I did in my thirty years of nursing. I know you can handle stress. I know you, more than anyone, are capable of facing what we’re up against. So, I’ll ask you again. What’s wrong?”
“I’ve seen what sorts of decisions we’ve already had to make,” Caleb said, looking grim. “I suspect it’s only going to get harder and I don’t know if the government is going to necessarily have our best interest in mind.”
“Shutting off Mercy is the right thing to do,” Patty said, not expecting to have to defend that particular decision to her husband.
“I know it is,” he countered. “I said it was hard, not wrong. But what about when supplies start to run low? Or if we can’t get the water distribution worked out?”
Patty looked away, back out over the valley. She didn’t have an answer.
“I heard you talking with Melissa,” Caleb pushed when she remained silent. “People are already running out of their medicine, and some of them will die without it. She has some of it in stock, but who’s going to determine how to disperse it? Will it be based on age, need, or who contributes most to the community? Maybe you’ll hold a lottery? That sounds familiar.”