Liar. Maybe the others wouldn’t see through him, but to me, he was clearer than the windows of my fallen apart house. I wasn’t going to be fooled by Bradley again. No way. No how.
I climbed into the SUV and made myself comfortable in the back. Austin had put the seats down to make more room and with the windows cracked it didn’t get too hot or stuffy inside.
Clearing my mind was nearly impossible. I could still smell the sweet flowery perfume my mom used to wear as if it had permeated the fabric and flooring.
I hated being in the SUV alone. The truth was, I hated being alone at all because my mind would fill with the thoughts of what had happened to my parents.
There didn’t seem to be anything I could do to shake the images out. They’d play over and over again until I either eventually fell asleep or they’d stop when Austin laid down next to me.
Maybe we needed to get away from the house. Maybe we needed to find out if there was help out there.
The car door opened and Austin climbed inside the SUV. He laid down next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.
The images disappeared.
“What was that all about?” Austin asked.
“What was what all about?” I asked deciding to play dumb even though I knew it wasn’t going to work.
Austin propped himself up on his elbow and stared at me as if he were trying to dig deep inside my eyes to find answers.
“I’m not sure about that whole throwing water at him thing,” Austin said with a shrug. “I mean, yeah, he’s an idiot but—"
“He’s a liar and a cheater and I’m sick of him being here,” I blurted.
Austin looked stunned by what I’d said. It looked like he was letting my words sink in while he tried to find an appropriate response.
“Yes, he cheated on me,” I said so he didn’t have to ask about it. I was helping him process what I’d said a little faster. “And before you think otherwise, I don’t care about it. I don’t care about any of it. It’s just awkward and stressful having him here. That’s all.”
He continued to stare. He was still searching for words.
“I really don’t. I mean, obviously, it sucks to have been cheated on but if you think I still have feelings or not closure or whatever it is you’re thinking, that’s just not the case. It’s just that I’m embarrassed I was with someone like that and he sort of disgusts me,” I said with a firm nod. “Why would I want him here? Why do we have to take care of someone like that? And his fiancé too.”
“We don’t have to,” Austin said finally finding his words.
I sighed. “If we don’t, they’ll die. They won’t make it more than a day out there on their own.”
“You don’t know that,” Austin said.
“I don’t know but I’d bet our last light on it,” I said trying to push away my frustrations. Devoting any amount of mental energy on Bradley was not only draining but it was also just infuriating. He didn’t deserve my energy.
It made me feel sick that I was angry at Bradley. Not just for what he’d done today but for everything he’d done. It was like I wanted him to be punished. He didn’t deserve everything he had. The life he’d had before. Most of all, I was mad that I was feeling anything because when it came to Bradley, I didn’t want to feel anything. If I did, he was winning and that just made everything worse.
After everything I’d just said and how I’d reacted, I could tell that Austin was conflicted. He didn’t know what to do or say to fix things. And that was where his mind had gone… he wanted to figure out a way to fix things for me.
There was no way I could tell him what Bradley had said to me in the field. Austin would kick him out not caring what time of day it was.
“I’m just so tired,” I groaned and Austin pulled me closer.
“We all are. We are all on edge because of exhaustion,” he said in a velvety tone.
I pressed my forehead to his chest. “I’ll talk to him about it later. I guess I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Austin said. “He deserves to be splashed with a little water. Maybe it’ll wake him up and he’ll realize what he’s lost.”
“I don’t want him to realize that,” I said digging my fingertips into Austin. “All I want is you.”
“You’ve got me,” Austin said. “I think what you did was actually quite tame. He deserves something a bit harsher. Perhaps I should go out there and pour the rest of the water on him.”
I smiled and looked up into his eyes. “It means a lot to me that you’d do that for me, but please don’t.”
“Are you sure? I’ll do it if you want me to.” Austin slowly pretended to get up. He almost seemed eager.
I held him closer. “I don’t want that. Just stay with me while I sleep. That’s what I want.”
Austin brushed my hair back away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. He placed a soft, silky kiss on my lips.
“That what I want too,” Austin said before resting his head on the pillow. He closed his eyes and the muscles in his face instantly relaxed. “But if he ever does anything that pisses me off, I won’t hesitate to send him on his merry way.”
It didn’t take long for Austin to fall asleep. After a few minutes of silence, he was out.
Chapter Five
It was night but the surrounding area was brighter than a football field on Friday night. Austin, Noah, and Marty all held their guns as we stood near the SUV.
My eyes were focused on the field even though I couldn’t see anything beyond the driveway. It was like the light hit a wall and it couldn’t reach beyond a certain range.
Everyone was absolutely silent as we listened, waiting for the creatures to burst through the debris we’d stuffed inside their hole.
There were no noises coming from the hole across the road or from under the house. The only thing we could hear was the occasional sounds of the crickets
I didn’t think for even a second that they were gone. They’d probably found something else to feast on temporarily.
“Lucy and I were talking,” Austin said looking down at the gun in his hands. Everyone looked up at him. The volume of his voice had probably startled them more than the words he’d said. “We were thinking it might be time to head out and see what’s out there.
My mouth started to drop but I quickly stiffened it so no one would notice. I wished Austin and I would have talked about it more although there wasn’t anything that would change that would sway me one way or another.
“What if there isn’t anything out there?” Marty asked flipping his phone around in his hand.
“We could always just come back,” Austin said with a shrug.
“It might not be that easy,” I said.
Austin turned to me with one brow raised. I shrugged.
“Well, we could have trouble finding gas,” I said twisting my finger. “Or maybe we wouldn’t even make it through the first night.”
“The lights on the cars have been pretty thoroughly tested. I could get a backup battery just in case,” Austin said crossing his arms. “I think we’d be pretty safe.”
I stuffed my hands into my pockets so I didn’t throw them in the air. “A million things could go wrong.”
“A million things could go wrong here,” Austin said.
The other’s heads shifted side to side as if they were watching a tennis match. It was the exact reason Austin and I should have discussed things privately and more thoroughly first.
I shook my head but not at his words. It was that I somehow thought that Austin needed to run things by me. I wasn’t in charge. My only job in this group was to take care of Marty.
Anyone that wanted to leave could leave and anyone that wanted to stay could stay. I wasn’t holding anyone at gunpoint.
Maybe Austin had been right about taking a vote. I hated the fact that Bradley and Mallory would each get one.
“We make a list,” Austin said scanning each of our faces. He sto
pped on mine. “I wish I knew what was best for all of us but I don’t. If we go, maybe we can find help.”
“If we stay, maybe help will find us,” I said.
Austin nodded. “It’s possible. It’s also possible there isn’t help out there.”
I studied Marty, trying to determine which way he was leaning but he seemed preoccupied. It was almost as if he wasn’t paying attention.
Marty turned on his phone. The glow wasn’t even noticeable in the bright lights. He held it up, mostly in Austin’s direction.
“I saw this,” Marty said.
I took a step closer. It was a website with an address and the words ‘We Save’ in a large font across the top.
“Is there any way to know when that was posted?” Austin asked.
“It says it was updated yesterday,” Marty said. “But there is no way of knowing if that’s accurate.”
“No way other than going there,” Noah said.
Austin held out his hand. “Let me take a look.”
Marty handed him the phone but there wasn’t anything to see. There was no more information.
“Why wouldn’t they post more?” Mallory asked her eyes dancing around as if she were worried ghosts were lurking over her head.
“This could be old,” Austin said handing Marty the phone back.
Marty shrugged. “Could be but maybe it’s not.”
“What’s the website address?” I asked.
Marty squinted at the screen. “The name of a church.”
Austin and I exchanged a glance. It would take a day or two for us to pack up and several more days to drive there.
“What do we do if we get there and there isn’t any help?” I asked.
“We could come back,” Austin said with a shrug. “Or we could keep looking.” He turned to Marty. “How did you find that website?”
Marty lowered his head. “I don’t even remember… a rabbit hole of sorts.”
“What do you think, Marty?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” he said refusing to meet my gaze. “What do you think?”
I glanced at the house as if the answer would suddenly appear on the outside walls. The weight of the decision wasn’t something I wanted on my shoulders… it seemed as though no one did.
Austin might know the best ways to take care of everyone and to keep us safe but he was apparently a terrible decision maker. And the last thing I wanted was for Bradley or Mallory to weigh in.
I drew in a long breath. My chest deflated as I let it out.
“Okay, let’s do it,” I said.
“Yeah?” Austin asked.
“Are you sure?” Marty said at nearly the same time.
I scowled. “Don’t make me second guess myself. Worst-case scenario we end up back here.”
“That’s not the worst-case scenario,” Bradley said.
I turned to face him. “Anyone that wants to stay here can.”
“Bradley,” Mallory whined as she tugged on his arm.
Bradley cleared his throat. “We need a little privacy to discuss things. Mind if we use your car?”
“Go right ahead,” I said gesturing toward the old beater.
They walked off hand in hand. Bradley opened the passenger side door for her before walking around to the other side. It was weird seeing him get into my car again but the further away from me he was the more oxygen we all had to breathe.
Austin and Noah went off, of course, not that far off, to work on a list of things they’d need to pick up either from their house or from town. I heard their soft words… it was going to just be the essentials, anything else we could find along the way. They didn’t think it would be hard considering there wasn’t anyone left to compete with for the remaining supplies.
They were going to put gas in the back of the SUV and in the back of his truck. We were going to take two vehicles. Austin would drive one and Noah would drive the other. More was better or so they thought because it would be more lights.
In town, they’d find food, car batteries, more ammunition, and they had plans to get big jugs of water from the grocery store. They sounded confident. They sounded almost excited.
“I hope this is the right thing to do,” I muttered loud enough for just Marty to hear.
“I hope so, too,” Marty said. “But I don’t think help is coming for us. It’s just that if any real help were out there, it would be on a real website. They’d be trying to contact people. Hell,” Marty said throwing a hand toward the dark sky powdered with twinkling stars, “we’d probably hear planes, helicopters, or something, right?”
He was probably right but I couldn’t even guess as to what should have been happening if there was help out there. Maybe there’d be explosions or gunfire as the army worked to thin the number of creatures. But there wasn’t anything except for the sounds of the generator and us moving about.
Austin and Noah stepped up next to Marty. Austin had a list of words written on the back of his hand.
“New plan,” he said grinning at me.
“Oh?” I asked almost afraid to hear what he was about to say.
His head bobbed and his eyebrows wiggled. “We’ll leave in the morning, all of us. We can go into town together.”
Chapter Six
I sat on the step of the front porch letting the warm morning sun fill my body. The nights were cold and I needed to absorb as much sunlight as I could before we hit the road.
Austin and Noah were resting, preparing for our journey. There were about twenty minutes left before I would have to wake them and we’d be on our way.
They’d packed as much as they could during the night and we’d finish after they woke. I was feeling… weird. It felt like there was a hurricane in my stomach and it bubbled a sourness up into the back of my throat that put me on the verge of throwing up.
All my life, I’d dreamed of the day I’d leave home and be on my own but I never thought it would be like this. At least, I wouldn’t be on my own.
I felt awful for all the times I’d wanted to get away because now I’d do anything to have my parents back and be stuck in my home forever… if things would only go back to how they were. My life wasn’t ever going to be the same.
We were about to head out to find other survivors… people we didn’t know anything about. It was like I was feeling homesick and I hadn’t even left home yet.
“Having second thoughts?” Marty asked squinting down at me. I wondered if he was tasting the same sourness I was.
“Not really,” I said leaning back slightly to look into his eyes. If I looked deeply enough, maybe I could see how he truly felt. “It just feels weird to leave our home behind, I guess. Are you having second thoughts?”
Marty shook his head. “This doesn’t really feel like our home anymore, at least not to me.”
“Doesn’t look like our home,” I said my insides filling with sadness.
“Guess we’re homeless,” Marty said.
“Guess so,” I said giving him a strange smile. “At least we’re still together.”
Marty nodded. The forlorn expression he wore was something that had been there since the moment our mom was pulled away from him.
“I wish there was something I could have done,” I said and Marty paled before turning away from me.
It was like a big flashing neon sign appeared over his head indicating that losing our mom was something he didn’t want to talk about. To be totally honest, I was just glad he was talking to me.
I cleared my throat hoping that he’d realized I received the message loud and clear. Maybe it wasn’t something we could ever talk about.
I shakily got to my feet realizing that I needed to get something to eat. “It’s time to wake them.”
“Oh,” Marty said moving his feet as if he couldn’t get away from me fast enough. “I’ll go get them.”
My eyes widened briefly before shrinking back to their normal size. He was gone before I even had a chance to say another word.
> I walked over to the stack of boxed-up bars next to one of the lawn chairs and popped open the box. It didn’t even matter which flavor I had because I was just that hungry.
I devoured two bars before dropping the box back to the ground. Bradley was standing directly behind me as I turned.
“Jesus!” I said with a cough. A small piece of granola had gotten lodged at the side of my throat.
“So, sorry,” he said placing his hand on my shoulder.
My eyes slowly moved down. It was like I almost expected to see snakeskin covering his arm.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Bradley said slithering around to my side. “It’s just that I know how hard it is to leave your home behind.”
Austin and Noah were climbing out of the back of the SUV. Austin shot a quick glance in our direction but he gave no reaction to Bradley standing so close to me.
He put his arm around my shoulder and a smile coiled onto his lips. The smile had been for Austin because when he turned back to me, it vanished.
“I know you don’t give a shit but I lost my family and I had to leave my home behind too,” Bradley said.
I shrugged away from him.
“It’s not that I don’t care,” I said taking a teaspoon of offense to his words.
I’d known his family too. Bradley’s mother had been as sweet as sugar and his dad always had a big grin for me whenever he saw me. Both of them had told me multiple times how good I was for Bradley.
He had a younger sister who was off at college that I met on holidays. She was perfectly nice and normal. Kind even.
“I’m just saying I know it’s hard but maybe it’s for the best,” Bradley said.
“You want to leave?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess.” Bradley shrugged and everything about him softened. “I mean, I don’t think we can stay here forever. At some point, we’re going to have to risk it and maybe doing it now while we have all this stuff will give us the best shot.”
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