Unable to resist touching her, Leo reached over to take her uninjured hand in his and his ran his thumb over the back of it. “I need you to trust me, baby. I have a plan. There’s a spot I discovered that should prove to be profitable.”
Skye arched an eyebrow and gave him a teasing smile. “A new spot? Just the two of us? I’m starting to wish that metabolic booster had worked a bit better. You might have to settle for just one of my hands on you.”
He chuckled. No one else had ever been able to coax him out of his darkest moods, except for her. “Are you trying to distract me?”
Her smile deepened. “Is it working?”
Skye had no idea just how much she affected him. His gaze roamed over her face and then downward over her soft curves. He barely resisted the urge to groan. If he had his way, he’d spend the next several hours getting lost in her. Even having her this close was a special kind of torment. “If you were any more distracting, I’d never get any work done.”
She bit her lip, drawing his attention back to her mouth. The urge to kiss her was nearly overpowering. Trailing her hand over his chest, she urged, “Tell me more about this secret spot you’ve found.”
Leo moved even closer to her so he was just inches away. He wasn’t willing to tell anyone else what he’d discovered yet. They needed every advantage, even with their own campmates. The only reason he hadn’t told Skye was because she worried when he went to dangerous areas alone.
“I started mapping the area a few weeks ago when you were scavenging with Chance in Sector Three. This area’s a higher-risk zone, but I think we should try it.”
Skye tilted her head, giving him another teasing smile. “Excitement? A little danger? You always know how to show a girl a good time.”
“And I intend to keep doing it,” Leo said with a grin. “Can you make sure Alanza will keep an eye on Veridian for you tomorrow? We’ll be gone most of the day.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Alanza won’t want to leave Niko anytime soon. She won’t have a problem watching Veridian. I’ll give him a few projects to keep him busy, just in case Niko’s condition worsens.”
He squeezed her hand and released her as Chance walked into the room.
Chance glanced over at them. “Yo, Skye, your kid’s trying to teach Daryl how to purify water. You might want to make sure he doesn’t get dunked.”
Skye muttered a curse and hastened out of the room to run interference. Leo chuckled. Veridian was a cute kid, but Daryl didn’t have much patience.
Leo ran a hand over his closely cropped hair and considered his plan. Hopefully, if things worked out tomorrow, they’d be able to get the medical supplies they needed to help Niko and secure Skye’s position within the camp. Otherwise, he’d need to consider a more drastic solution. He wasn’t willing to lose Skye or Veridian. The kid had managed to work his way into his heart, right alongside his mother.
Chapter Five
Skye bent down to finish checking the solar collectors on Leo’s speeder. A few of them were starting to get run down, but they were still functional. Sometimes, that was the best they could hope for. She lifted her head, staring again in the direction of the Omni Towers. Her life had been drastically different just a few short years ago, but OmniLab had changed everything. Even so, she couldn’t regret the past. It had given her one of the best things in her life.
“You about ready?”
Skye stood at the sound of Leo’s voice and nodded, shoving her multipurpose tool back into her jacket pocket. “Yeah. Your speeder’s going to need a few adjustments soon, but we’ll be good for today. You should probably run a full diagnostic on it soon.”
Leo walked toward her and attached the cabling device to his vehicle. “I’m thinking about going to the towers again and banging on their damn doors. If we can’t find anything to scavenge today, that’s going to be my next stop. We need those medical supplies, and I’m not going to take no for an answer. At the very least, you need another metabolic booster and some antibiotics.”
She darted a quick glance at him and frowned. Last night, he’d been quieter than usual. Not even her usual teasing had managed to pull him out of his dark mood.
A few of their people had come back late yesterday. Riven had a broken arm and Pepper had a sprained ankle, which would prevent both of them from scavenging for a while. They were still waiting on word from the rest of their crew. The longer they went without returning, the more likely they had serious injuries.
Unfortunately, it was growing increasingly likely that Daryl would ask Skye to leave. With so many people unable to work, it only made sense to cut loose those who were the biggest drain on their limited resources. The fact she was supporting Veridian placed her at the forefront of the chopping block. She faced the same uncertainty every month. It was only a matter of time before Daryl forced her out. If she was honest with herself, she’d been lucky to have lasted this long. The only thing that had likely saved her so far was Leo’s interference, but he’d never admit to it.
Skye finished packing the bag of supplies into the speeder carrying case. “I appreciate the thought, but going to the towers won’t do much good. If OmniLab wouldn’t help me a year ago when Veridian got sick, they won’t help us now. Our best option is still to trade for supplies with one of the trading camps.”
Leo’s jaw clenched, and he picked up his helmet. “The whole thing pisses me off. Did they at least give the asshole the message when you went to the towers?”
Skye shrugged. “I don’t think they believed me. Why would they? I’m just another ruin rat.”
“This is just one more reason those traders are worthless cocksuckers. He lied to you, Skye. He knew what life was like here, and he stayed just long enough to get you pregnant. Now he’s back in those towers enjoying who knows what comforts while you and his son are down here.”
Skye shook her head. Leo’s anger made sense, at least on the surface, but he hadn’t known Tyler or the type of man he’d been. Tyler had cared. She couldn’t fault him for leaving her. He’d made his position clear before they’d ever gotten involved. What happened between them had been her choice.
Running her gloved fingers over her well-worn helmet, she said, “You’re too hard on him, Leo. It was at the end of Tyler’s trading commission. He hadn’t been back to the towers in a couple of years. His birth control implant must have failed early. I didn’t realize I was pregnant until after he left. It wouldn’t have changed anything, but he didn’t know.”
“The rest of his camp knew you were sleeping with him,” Leo argued, checking the controls on his UV guard with a bit more force than was necessary. This had always been a sensitive subject between them, and she usually avoided it for exactly that reason. For Leo to be bringing it up now meant he was looking for a fight. Either that or he was looking for someone to blame for his current frustrations, and OmniLab was a convenient target.
Leo glanced over at her and scowled. “The new trader should have sent word to him. It’s just one more indication they don’t give a shit about any of us. They at least should have given you a way to collect supplies or something.”
Skye shrugged, unable to dispute Leo’s words. She’d thought them often enough over the years, but holding on to her anger didn’t change anything.
When she’d realized she was pregnant, Skye had gone to the new trader. He was pompous and arrogant, refusing to believe her claims about Tyler being the father of her unborn child. As he put it, “no one from the towers would sully themselves enough to sleep with a ruin rat.” It was just one more slap in the face. Even though she’d worked alongside the trading camp crew for almost two years, it had been made clear that her life was inconsequential compared to those who lived within the towers. It didn’t matter that Veridian shared part of that birthright.
Skye blew out a breath, trying to release the anger the memory evoked. Leo was right; most of the traders didn’t care much about them either way. The new trader probably did believe her—he simply hadn
’t cared.
Instead, he’d terminated her contract with the trading camp prematurely. She’d been fortunate enough to receive a severance package and had used all of it to buy a place within Daryl’s camp for herself and Veridian. But all contracts had an expiration date, and she’d already exceeded hers.
Leo unobtrusively helped out quite a bit, but trying to earn enough credits to retain her place and Veridian’s was growing increasingly challenging. Not only did Skye need to keep both of them fed and healthy, but they also required special clothing and gear so they could traverse the surface. It would be less expensive to live in one of the family camps, but much more dangerous. She didn’t want that life for Veridian.
“It doesn’t matter. If Veridian had gone to the towers, I wouldn’t have been able to see him grow up. At least this way, I get to have him in my life.” She lifted her head to stare into the distance. The towers were too far away to be seen from here, but the glimpse she’d gotten from the roof had been burned into her memory. “It sucks to say it, but I’d give Veridian up in a second if I knew he’d have a better life there. Sometimes, I worry I won’t be around to protect him as he grows up.”
“Hey,” Leo placed his hand over hers, “you will be. I’ll make sure of it. And I’ll protect him too. You and Veridian will be fine.”
Skye swallowed and nodded, acknowledging Leo’s promise. She wouldn’t regret the time she spent with Tyler because of the precious gift she’d received in Veridian. And that decision had ultimately led her to Leo.
Unlike Tyler, Leo understood her. They shared a common background the former OmniLab trader had never been able to truly comprehend. Tyler had been a brief fling, but Leo was the one who had truly captured her heart. His gruff exterior was nothing more than a ruse to keep people at a distance. It had intrigued her enough to want to chisel away at the façade, and what she’d found below the surface was more rewarding than anything she ever thought possible.
Skye turned her hand upside down, interlacing her fingers with his. “Maybe I’ll be the one to protect you instead. I kinda like having you around. You’re awfully nice to look at.”
Leo’s eyes warmed, and he squeezed her hand. “Come on, baby. Let’s get going. We have a long drive ahead of us.”
She nodded and climbed on the back of his speeder. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she held on as he pulled out of their camp.
The drive to the ruins was hot and miserable. Skye’s UV jacket stuck to her skin while her hair was plastered to her head under her helmet. This time of year was always bad, with the weather alternating between scorching heat and furious storms. They rarely knew which to expect, and the sudden fluctuations required them to be ready to seek shelter at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, it also had the unwanted effect of burning up some of their equipment faster than necessary.
Skye studied the crumbling ruins and abandoned streets, somewhat surprised by the direction Leo had taken them. They’d traveled closer to OmniLab and the southeast trading district, where a large portion of the ground had shifted and formed a deep chasm more than a century earlier. She didn’t know what had caused it, but many of the ruined buildings within the area had fallen into it.
Her skin prickled as a strange awareness filled her, and she frowned. The entire area felt eerie. She wouldn’t have considered coming here on her own, and even now, her instincts were warning her about some unknown danger. Maybe she was overreacting, but she didn’t believe that. Skye had never scared easily. Even when she’d worked in Tyler’s trading camp, their crew had been reluctant to scavenge there. Strange accidents seemed to occur whenever people went too deep underground. Most people were perfectly content to avoid this entire area, herself included.
Leo turned the speeder more to the north, and her arms tightened reflexively around his waist as they drove even closer. This was more than risky, but she trusted him. Leo never would have brought her here if the situation wasn’t dire. She didn’t want to think about what would befall Veridian if anything happened to them, but the alternative of not being able to provide critical supplies for their camp was equally as bad.
Leo pulled into an abandoned building right on the outside of the chasm. Skye climbed off the vehicle and waited while he secured it. The building wasn’t much to look at, more of a hollowed-out shell than anything. It had once been some type of commercial outpost, maybe a small store. Broken shelving units lined the deteriorated walls of the building, but the contents had long since been cleared out. The shelving units could be salvaged for parts, but there was no point in bothering with them. Their camp moved around too frequently for them to be able to utilize more permanent fixtures.
Leo motioned for Skye to follow him, and she grabbed the bag of supplies she’d brought with her while he picked up another larger bag. They’d normally leave them with the speeder, but the chasm prevented them from getting too close to the ruins where they were planning to scavenge. If they had more time and reliable equipment, they could have approached from another direction, but neither was a luxury they could afford.
They hiked a short distance until they approached an even larger building right on the edge of the chasm. Judging by what was left and the amount of rubble, it had once stood several stories high. The building was large enough that dozens of families could have lived in it before they decided to abandon it.
Climbing over a pile of debris, Skye entered the apartment building through a missing window. The glass had disappeared some years before, most likely broken and then later ground into dust. Adjusting the light on her helmet to account for the darkness, she swept her gaze over the area as Leo led her deeper into the building. They tested each step carefully before moving forward, their boots crunching over the debris. This building didn’t appear to have suffered any flooding from the storm, but wind damage and time had taken its toll.
Their footsteps were the only sound in the eerie stillness, giving Skye the impression they were the only two people left alive in the world. It was difficult to imagine this place had once been teeming with life. But now, it was as though nature had decided to reclaim this entire area. Year after year, the man-made structures surrendered to the inevitable, just as many of the human residents had done.
A narrow and partially collapsed staircase led downward into what once was some sort of underground parking area. Skye continued to follow Leo, guessing they were heading toward another entrance to the chasm.
Leo stopped in one of the lower levels of the underground parking garage. The remains of a few ancient automobiles were still present, but age had rendered them mostly useless. They might be able to pick apart some of the components to use in their camp, but that would require more manpower than just the two of them. Once they got a better handle on what supplies they needed, they could arrange to bring more people back here to collect additional parts.
Leo removed his helmet and Skye did the same, disengaging the audio of her commlink system to conserve power. Although she could talk back and forth with Leo, they’d traveled too far outside their camp’s limited communication range to be able to reach them.
She scanned the parking area. It was surprisingly untouched, considering its location. “You always bring me to the nicest places.”
He chuckled. “I did some exploring a few weeks ago and discovered this garage connects with another building. We should be able to cross into it and see what we can find over there.”
Tucking her helmet under her arm, she adjusted the heavy bag over her shoulder. “How far did you explore?”
Leo frowned, his gaze sweeping the garage. “Only far enough to realize it leads directly into the buildings within the chasm. We’re firmly within OmniLab territory, and those traders won’t take kindly to us scavenging here. We should be able to keep our presence masked if they’re anywhere on the surface. I think we’re too far underground for them to pick up anything.”
Skye nodded. “Where’s the entrance?”
“Just up ahead.”
Leo gestured to the opposite end of the garage. “We’ll leave most of our gear here. Once we pass through, we’ll need mobility more than anything. Leave your helmet too. We can’t risk using the communication equipment and alerting OmniLab to our frequencies.”
Skye placed her belongings on the ground, opening the bag to pull out a small carrying pack. She put only the essentials inside, which consisted of a few tools, hydrating packs, and a couple of nutrient bars. She’d intentionally left enough space to store any items they discovered. Glancing over at Leo, she saw he was doing the same with his bag. When they both finished, she walked with Leo down the sloping floor even deeper underground.
“It’s cooler down here,” she said, keeping her voice quiet. Sound tended to carry in some of these buildings, and the effect could be somewhat disorienting.
“Yeah,” he murmured, moving in front of her to lead the way. “I’ve thought about talking to Daryl about moving our camp into one of these garages. It might help to conserve some of our equipment, but it’s a little close to OmniLab.”
“I’m surprised it hasn’t flooded,” Skye admitted, ducking under a partially collapsed column.
“Yeah. There are a lot of weird things about this whole area. I’ve never been able to figure out how everything’s in ruins, but the Omni Towers have remained standing for centuries. Something’s a little strange about them. Even this chasm stops before it gets anywhere near the towers.”
She made a small noise of agreement. “I asked Tyler about that once.”
Leo glanced back at her. “Did he tell you?”
Skye shook her head. “No. He said something about a circle, but he wouldn’t elaborate.”
Ruins of Fate Page 5