by Harley Tate
Oh, no. It can’t be.
Ten yards downstream, a body floated half in the water. The other half lay tangled and broken among a fallen tree.
Dark hair, gray sweater, muddy jeans.
Dani stood up on shaky legs and made her way over. She reached down and pulled a clump of leaves and hair away from the woman’s face. Melody’s eyes, now gray and filmy, stared back in death.
Chapter Twenty-Four
COLT
Northern California Forest
6:00 p.m.
“We need to get back. Dani will be waiting for us.”
Doug tramped on ahead. “I have to find Melody.”
Colt cursed under his breath. This entire expedition had gone to hell in a handbasket. “You need to accept reality, Doug.”
“She’s out here somewhere. Hurt or in trouble. I will find her.”
Doug kept walking. With no plan and no destination in mind, he’d been circling the Humvee and growing more and more agitated as the minutes ticked by.
“We need to regroup and set up camp. I’m not saying we leave.”
“Good, because that isn’t an option.”
Colt stopped in his tracks. “Damn it, Doug. We need a plan. I can’t keep following you as you circle the drain.”
Doug spun around to face Colt, fury and fear in his eyes. “I’m not giving up on her. She’s the only family I have left. Melody means everything to me.”
Colt inhaled. They must have bushwhacked through five miles of forest, maybe more, with no sign of Melody. Colt could get them back to the Humvee, but it would be a hell of a lot harder in the dark.
He appealed to the man’s common sense. “As soon as the sun sets, we’ll be blind out here. How can we help your sister if we get hurt ourselves?”
Doug refused to listen. “I won’t stop looking.” He spun back around and charged through the next clump of trees. “Melody! Mel, can you hear me?! Melody!”
Without water or food, exhaustion would take Doug faster than it took Colt. It had been years since he’d roughed it out in the field, but the memory of combat still lingered in his blood. He could survive worse conditions than this, but a civilian wasn’t as hardy.
Even a firefighter had limits.
He checked the safety on his rifle for the thousandth time and followed Doug deeper into the woods.
“Melody! Melody!” Doug cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted until he grew hoarse.
“Down here!”
Doug whipped around. “I’m coming, Mel!”
Colt hesitated. That wasn’t Melody’s voice. It wasn’t deep enough or filled with enough fear.
“Find the river!”
Shit. It was Dani. If she were hollering for help, then something happened. Colt hustled after Doug. The younger man busted through trees and slipped down the embankment like a bull finally freed from a pen. Branches snapped. Rocks tumbled.
Doug slid ten feet at a time, but it didn’t stop him. Colt couldn’t keep up. Between the concussion and the bruises, he would never make it down the ravine that fast. He refused to break an ankle because Doug lost his mind. He lost sight of the man halfway down the ravine.
It didn’t take long to find him once Colt hit the ground.
Dani stood on the edge of the water, rifle pointing at a space between her feet and Doug’s bent-over body. He kneeled in the sand, arms outstretched. A woman lay on the bank of the river, wet hair tangled around her head like a crown.
Melody.
From the looks of her, she’d been dead for hours. Doug hauled her stiff and lifeless body against his chest, sobbing as he pushed the hair from her gray cheeks. “No. Not you. Not you.”
He cradled his dead sister, rocking her back and forth as he stared at her open, sightless eyes. Colt glanced at Dani, a question in the tilt of his brow.
She shook her head.
Just what he thought. Melody was dead when Dani found her. It made sense. From the way the body lay stiff and bent, with her neck twisted at an impossible angle, it was obvious what happened.
Melody took a wrong turn and fell down the side of the hill. She died before she ever hit the ground.
Colt peered through the trees. They had maybe twenty minutes of decent light left. He turned back to Doug. “I’m sorry, Doug.”
Doug snapped his head up and pointed a shaky, accusatory finger at Dani. “She did this.”
“What? No!” Dani’s mouth fell open as her gaze shifted between Doug and Colt. “I found her like that.”
“Liar! You pushed her. I know it!” Doug dropped his sister on the bank. Her arm splashed in the water as he rushed to stand. His nostrils flared as he took a step toward Dani.
Colt held up a hand. “That’s enough, Doug. She’s told you the truth. Back off.”
“She’s lying.” Doug’s eyes stayed trained on Dani. “You’ve always been jealous of my sister. What, did you see her wandering in the forest and push her? Did she ask for your help before you sent her to her death?”
Dani clamped her mouth shut and her lips thinned to a line.
“So you don’t deny it. I knew it!” Doug took another step.
Colt pulled his Sig from the holster. “I told you, not another step.”
Doug’s eyes flashed to Colt. “Did you tell her to do it?”
Colt sighted the center of Doug’s chest. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve risked my life to save you and Melody. Why would I want her dead?”
“Maybe this was your plan all along. Get us all out here. Pick us off one by one. For all I know you staged the accident.” Doug took a step toward Colt. “Tell me, did you know those men in the Mustang? Are they part of your crew?”
Was it the dehydration, hunger, or grief that concocted these crazy theories? Maybe all three. Colt exhaled. Doug wouldn’t rile him up. “You’re exhausted and starving, Doug. You’re not thinking straight.”
“Oh, I disagree. In fact, I think I’m finally seeing clearly.” He took another step and a smile tipped his lips. “What are you going to do, shoot me?”
“If I have to. How about we just take a step back and relax? We can hike back to the Humvee while there’s some light left, get some sleep, and discuss this like adults in the morning.”
Dani interrupted. “I don’t think—”
Doug turned on her. “That’s right. You never think about anyone but yourself. This whole mess wouldn’t have happened if you never showed up at Harvey’s place. If the asshole hadn’t taken you in and felt sorry for you, my sister would still be alive. We would still be sitting in our parents’ house, comfortable and happy.”
He twisted back and looked at his sister’s body. “Melody would still be alive.”
As Doug stared at his sister’s body, Lottie burst through the brush at the river’s edge. She scampered up to Melody, yipping and barking. Leaves and twigs matted the poor dog’s fur as she sat at her dead master’s side.
Colt swallowed. Everything had gone so horribly wrong. He cared for Melody. Hell, he could have fallen for her if the situation were different. And now she was dead and her brother was falling apart.
He lowered the gun and stepped forward. “Let’s go back, Doug. We can carry Melody together and find a beautiful spot to bury her.”
Doug screamed in anguish. Lottie cowered, but she wouldn’t leave Melody’s side. Doug rushed toward the little dog, hands outstretched like talons.
Dani shouted out. “If you touch that dog, you’re a dead man.”
Doug kept walking. “You don’t have the balls.”
Dani aimed and fired at a spot three feet to Doug’s left. “Wanna bet?”
Shit. Colt didn’t know how to diffuse the situation. Doug wasn’t thinking clearly and Dani wasn’t about to back down. As Colt stood there, gun still aimed at Doug, the grieving man spun around.
He unslung his rifle and pointed it at Dani, but his grip was all wrong. Even if Doug got a shot off, the kick would send him backward into the river. He’d end up on his ass before he could s
hoot again.
Colt spoke slowly and without emotion. “Don’t do this, Doug. You don’t want to die today.”
“Don’t I? What’s the point now? Melody’s dead. Harvey and Gloria and Will are dead. Larkin is God knows where.” He waved the rifle around, finger too tight on the trigger. “We’re going to die out here anyway, might as well get it over with.”
“You’re in shock. Hand me the rifle and we can talk about it in the morning.”
Doug swung the gun back to Dani. “No. She deserves to be punished.”
Colt had to give Dani credit. She stood still, aiming at Doug’s chest, saying nothing. The barrel of the rifle didn’t even shake. The girl might make it in this new world after all.
As they all stood there in a stalemate, Lottie let out a single, high-pitched bark. Doug turned.
It was Colt’s chance. If he wanted to take the man out, now was the time. He took aim. His finger slipped around the trigger as Larkin burst through the trees.
“Well I’ll be damned. If it isn’t…oh, shit.” He stumbled to a stop at the sight of Melody’s corpse.
Doug spun around and pointed his rifle at Larkin. “Stand back!”
Larkin lifted his hands. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to lower your weapon.”
“Were you in on it?”
“In on what?” Larkin glanced at Colt as another figure emerged from the trees.
Colt blinked in surprise. A man in his mid-forties with a two-inch beard came to a stop next to Larkin, his blue eyes clear and calm. It can’t be.
“Walter Sloane? Is that you?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
COLT
Northern California Forest
7:00 p.m.
Walter Sloane. The pilot who landed a commercial jet on a tiny runway after the power went out. The first man to save Colt’s life post-EMP. What the hell was he doing in the middle of the Northern California forest?
He looked a little older, maybe a little more haggard, but otherwise the man appeared in excellent health. A beard coated his previously clean jaw and out of the pilot’s uniform he seemed a bit younger, but it was definitely the same man.
Colt nodded in his direction. “Good to see you again, Pilot. Wish the circumstances were better.”
Walter nodded, but didn’t say anything. Colt tried to take in the scene from Walter’s perspective. An air marshal and a teenage girl pointing weapons at a distraught man standing over the corpse of a woman. Not exactly the warmest welcome.
Larkin stared at Melody’s dead body where it lay on the creek’s edge. Colt could see the emotion working behind the man’s clenched jaw. After a moment, Larkin glanced up at Doug. “Is there a problem?”
“Are you blind? Melody’s dead!” Doug jerked his rifle in Dani’s direction. “And it’s all her fault!”
Larkin managed to keep his voice even. “Is that right?”
“No.” Dani shook her head while she held the rifle. “I found her in the river. She was already dead.”
“The ravine is almost hidden in the tree line.” Colt tilted his head toward the embankment. “Melody must have fallen.”
Doug trembled. “No way. Melody wouldn’t be so careless.”
Colt pressed on. “She was distraught. Harvey’s death wrecked her. Don’t you remember, Doug? She could barely stand at his grave.”
The rifle in Doug’s hands shook. “I don’t believe it.”
Colt tried again. “It would have been easy to catch a rock or break a leg. I slid a bunch of times.”
“Better you than her.”
“That’s enough, Doug.” Larkin eased forward again. “Dani told you what happened. Let it go.”
“I won’t.”
Colt watched Larkin. He couldn’t get a read on his old friend. How much had he shared with Melody? Had their relationship changed into something more? As Larkin stepped toward Doug, Colt prepared to shoot anyone who made a wrong move.
Larkin pulled a pistol from his waistband and held it close to his chest. He reached out with his other hand to Doug. “Hand me the weapon.”
“No.” Doug swung the rifle in Larkin’s direction. “It’s mine.”
Larkin didn’t even flinch. “If I remember correctly, it actually belongs to that asshole who killed the Wilkins family.”
Doug stared at the dark metal barrel for a moment. It was enough for Larkin. He lunged for the gun and plucked it from Doug’s hands before he had time to react.
Doug stood there, hands still in the shape of the rifle, frozen.
Larkin turned to Walter. “Does your offer still stand?”
Walter glanced at Colt. “Yes. But the first sign of trouble and you all will have to leave. Understood?”
Colt didn’t know what the hell was going on, but if Walter was offering, he was taking, whatever it might turn out to be. He nodded at Walter before turning his attention on Doug. The man needed to come to terms with reality. Colt holstered his weapon and approached.
“We can all help with Melody, if that’s what you want.”
Doug shuddered while he stared at his sister’s corpse. “No. She’s my responsibility. I can bury her.”
Colt exhaled. He didn’t want to push, but leave Doug there to handle his sister on his own? He stepped back to stand beside Dani and motioned for her to stand down. She lowered the rifle with a scowl.
Larkin bent down and scooped Lottie up into his arms. “Walter has some food. I’m going to get Lottie something to eat. Is that all right, Doug?”
Melody’s brother swayed back and forth on his feet, never once taking his eyes off her body. “Fine.”
Larkin motioned to Walter and the pair of them eased around Doug and joined Colt and Dani on the bank. Walter gave Colt’s hand a quick shake. “Looks like you all are in a bind.”
Colt nodded. “That’s an understatement.”
“I’ve got a base camp not far from here. You are welcome to come rest there.”
“We’ve got a Humvee up the hill with some gear and quite a few weapons.”
Walter nodded. “We can collect everything tomorrow. How about all of you come with me before it’s too dark to see?”
Colt glanced up at the sky. Sometime during the altercation with Doug, the sun had set. They didn’t have long. “Thank you, but someone should stay with Doug.”
“No. I want to be alone.”
Colt knew the man’s grief was eating him up, but he couldn’t leave Doug to the elements. “What will you do overnight?”
“Bury my sister.”
Larkin caught Colt’s eye. “I’ll come back to check on him in a while.”
Leaving Doug didn’t sit well with Colt, but what choice did he have? If he stayed, it would only prolong the conflict. If he left, Doug could mourn his sister in peace. Both options were terrible, but with reluctance, Colt agreed. “I’ll be back at first light.”
Doug didn’t respond. He walked over to his sister’s body and knelt by her side. Colt turned away. Doug needed time to grieve without a bunch of people he barely knew staring at him, wondering if he would crack.
Walter pointed downriver and Colt, Dani, and Larkin fell into step behind him. Lottie sat in the crook of Larkin’s arm, her little ears pricked as she listened to the evening animals of the forest waking up. The poor little scrap of a dog had been through more than most pets, and now her owner was dead.
Colt didn’t know how long an animal like Lottie would last in this new world, but he would try his best to keep her alive for Melody’s sake.
With a heaviness in his heart, he left the woman he’d grown attached to in unexpected ways behind. So far, the trek out of Eugene had brought nothing but pain and misfortune. He hoped Walter’s presence would turn the tide.
Chapter Twenty-Six
COLT
Northern California Forest
9:00 p.m.
Colt swirled the last dregs of tea around his mug and gulped it down. “I can’t thank you enough for letting us
come here.”
Walter nodded. “You’re welcome. I could frankly do with some company. It’s been a long week on my own.”
Larkin, Walter, Colt, and Dani sat in a circle around a small fire, watching the flames dance. They’d been mostly silent for the past hour, drinking tea, eating some of Walter’s jerky, and recovering from one hell of a day.
Colt reached out with a stick and poked a log not yet burning into the fire. “So you’ve been out here hunting?”
“Gathering anything I can find, really. Meat, edible plants, berries. If it’s not poisonous and I can preserve it, that’s what I aim to do.”
Colt stretched out his left leg and rubbed at the healed knife wound in his thigh. He had bruises all over from the car crash, injuries from the last month that weren’t completely healed, and a concussion that still made him close his eyes every now and then. Walter on the other hand, seemed right as rain.
For a man who set off with nothing but a pilot’s uniform and a couple of granola bars, he’d done a hell of a lot better than Colt expected. With a stretch and a groan, Colt eased a loaded question across the night. “So… where are you located these days?”
Walter smiled over the rim of his mug. “Not going to tell you that.”
“Fair enough.” Colt glanced at Larkin and exhaled. He didn’t expect the truth from Walter, even if he’d gotten an answer. They might have both survived the same emergency landing, but Walter didn’t know Colt from a hole in the ground. “Tell me about Sacramento. It had to fare worse than Eugene.”
Walter filled him in on the details, describing everything from the looting and fires to the National Guard sealing up the worst riots and letting them burn themselves out. It sounded like he barely escaped the violence. Walter poked a stick at the fire keeping them warm. “What about Eugene? When I went through, it was fine. Why leave?”
Colt shared his experience staying at the University of Oregon for the first two weeks and how the National Guard who came to help went rogue. He told Walter all about Jarvis and the night he barely escaped with his life and how Dani kept him alive, and how Harvey took them in when they were on death’s door.