The Road: Sanctuary's Aggression Book 2

by Maira Dawn

  Goosebumps trailed down Skye. Was this something she should watch for? She turned her rounded eyes to Dylan, and he nodded in agreement. Had the Sick shown up at Cole’s place when she was cooking? How many times had she fired up the stove without a thought, and all the while one of them were on the lookout? This was yet another way Wade and Dylan had helped Jesse and her. Every time I have this figured out there's another thing I don't know.

  Jesse grabbed Tom’s attention before he left. “When you been out there, have you seen my dad? And do you know anything about Grandma and Sue Ellen?"

  Skye's heart dropped at his question. His family had been on his mind, and Skye had only been able to give him small reassurances.

  Dylan reached out and laid a comforting hand on Jesse's shoulder, and Jesse leaned into him.

  "Well, I haven't seen your dad, Jesse." Tom was gentle but candid. "But that can be a good thing. Many of the Sick end up roamin through town at some point. I haven't been going out as far as your house, but as soon as there's a good day, I’ll check it. That sound good?”

  Jesse nodded.

  "Now your grandmother and Sue Ellen, a guy in their town on the radio gave me a list of survivors. Let me go get it." Tom walked to the other room and came back with a sheet of paper. "This is from two days ago, and Sue Ellen was okay." He leaned down to Jesse showing him Sue Ellen's name on the list. Jesse solemnly stared at it for a moment before looking back up at Tom, a smile breaking out on his face.

  "I'm sorry to say your grandmother isn't on the list."

  "That's okay." Jesse’s quick reply told everyone what they needed to know about that relationship.

  “Who is she with?" Dylan asked.

  “They didn’t tell me that,” Tom said.

  "Any way to get her here?” Dylan asked. “She's Jesse's family. We take care of our own; it's what we do.”

  Tom smiled. “Of course, I’ll see what can be arranged."

  Tricia waved everyone to the kitchen. “Before ya’ll take off, have a snack. Dessert is ready.”

  Skye sighed as she bit into the soft, chewy cookie. “As always, these are delicious.”

  Tricia had to accept the grunts of the men, and that each grabbed a second one before the first had left their mouths as signs of approval.

  Jesse couldn't be stopped from swiping a steaming hot cookie right off the pan.

  Tricia glowed. "It's so nice to have ya'll here. Why don't you stay over? Just for the night?"

  Tom agreed. “I could use the help with a couple of heavy chores I need to get to, if you can spare the time.”

  “Everything's covered at the cabin," Dylan said as Wade nodded, "Any reason you can think of that we can't, Skye?"

  Her lips curved in a smile. "Nope, everything is fine for me."

  "Seems we're good then," Dylan said, while Skye, Tricia, and Jesse playfully danced around the kitchen. This time together meant a lot more than it ever would have before.

  Dylan looked around the room. “You need me to go out and get somethin?”

  “No hunting required,” Tricia said. “but some gathering. The neighbor’s freezer built-up a frost, half covering a big ham. You could chip that outta there. I’ve been hopin to have an occasion to use it.”

  Dylan gave a sharp nod. “Easiest huntin I ever did."

  Quickly, Tricia figured out the menu. "That ham, some sweet potatoes, greens-"

  "Oh, I forgot. We brought you some squash!" Skye said. “and some other stuff.”

  Wade clapped and rubbed his hands together. "Sounds like we're gonna be eatin good tonight!"

  Later that night, Skye stared at the ceiling as she lay on the guest room’s bed. Tricia had made Dylan, Wade and Jesse comfortable in the living room.

  Skye patted her still full stomach and smiled. The pleasant evening had been a welcome relief after the last couple of days. She was fortunate to have friends and family left, many probably didn’t.

  Skye sighed and turned to her side. She needed to call her dad, that was one reason she wanted to come to Toms’. Skye bit the inside of her cheek. It was also something she found increasingly difficult to do. The small knot in the pit of her stomach had wound tighter and tighter throughout the day.

  One worry after another flooded her mind. Tom’s news told how dangerous the cities were becoming. Even if her family survived the disease, would they survive the chaos?

  If yesterday taught her anything, it was that she couldn't get to her family no matter how much she wanted to do so. Good or bad, I have to know how they’re doing. I refused the think about the whole situation today, but I need to call as soon as I can tomorrow.

  Skye closed her eyes, but her worries didn’t allow sleep. She turned to her other side. It was too quiet. Used to the noises men and boys made in their sleep, the silence was overwhelming.

  Skye rolled her eyes. She should be glad to get away from it for one night. But the sounds had stopped being an irritation a long time ago. They meant Wade and Dylan were near and that meant safety.

  Skye huffed at her insecurity but stopped herself. There were certainly enough valid reasons for unease right now. She rose, wrapped a blanket around her, and tucking a pillow under her arm, she tip-toed down the stairs.

  Wade and Jesse were deep in snoring slumber as they lay on the floor, but Dylan sat up, his head leaning against the back of the couch. He raised his head as soon as he saw her.

  Skye stopped in the living room’s doorway. For a minute, she stared at Dylan across the darkened room. Her anxiety eased.

  Dylan nodded Skye toward the empty recliner that was beside the couch he sat on. He knew why she was here. She went to it and slid onto the seat, then raised the footrest.

  Skye turned toward Dylan and returned his intense gaze once more before arranging her blanket and closing her eyes.

  The couch springs squeaked as Dylan lay down. His quiet breathing soon turned to a comforting, soft snore. It lulled her to sleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Dad

  The next morning after a big country breakfast, Skye could wait no longer. With a stomach starting to reject the food it just devoured, she asked Tom for the use of his phone. Praying both that she would get through and that the phones wouldn’t work, she dialed her father's number.

  Skye's breath caught with the first ring. She turned her frightened gaze to Tricia, who hurried to her side. Skye put a hand on her thumping heart as she waited for someone to answer. On the fifth ring, there was a click.

  "Hello?" said Charlotte. Skye mouthed to Tricia that it was her sister-in-law.

  "Charlotte? It's Skye."

  "Skye! I'm so glad you got through." Relief was unmistakable in Charlotte's voice. "I was just going."

  "Going? Going where?" Panic made Skye's tone sharper than she intended. She clenched the phone tighter.

  Charlotte’s voice clogged with emotion. ”Skye, honey, I took your dad to the hospital yesterday. I'm so sorry. It—it came on so fast. He didn't make it. He passed away a few hours later.“

  Skye was numb except for the sharp prickles that waved up and down her arms. She wasn’t hearing right. It couldn’t be. A sharp pain shot through her.

  A whisper at first, then a shout. “Daddy, no. No!" Tricia put her arms around her. Skye laid a hand on her throat.

  Charlotte continued to reassure Skye. ”Your dad didn't suffer. I was with him the whole time. It wasn't the AgFlu. It was his heart. We made sure he was as comfortable as possible.”

  "I should have been there." Skye forced the self-condemning words out.

  "No, Skye, please don't think that," Tricia said as she rubbed Skye's back.

  Skye brought a hand to her forehead. “Oh, Charlotte, I’m so sorry. I tried to make it, I really did. I'm sorry. Thank you so much for being there for him." Sorrow tightened her throat.

  "You have nothing to apologize for. Your dad was happy to know you were safe. That meant everything to him."

  "Yes, yes, of course. Charlott
e, are you okay?"

  "Yes, so far I am. My sister is a few streets over, and I'm going to stay with her now."

  "And Bobby and Janie, anything from them?"

  A sob escaped Charlotte. "No word about them, I asked everyone, even at the hospital. I'm hoping that means they found a safe place somewhere. I will leave a note for them. If you somehow hear from them, tell them I’m staying at Gretchen’s. How about you Skye? Are you still well?”

  “Yes, I'm fine. I did get sick but got over it. I'm visiting Tom and Tricia today and using their landline, but I'm still up in the hills with the Coles. It's secure, really nice. I had wanted to bring dad and you all here--" Her words trailed off as fresh tears started.

  "Good, you stay there. It eased your dad's mind knowing you were safe." Agony laced Charlotte's tone as she asked, "How did we get here, having conversations like this?" She cleared her throat. "I can't say it's nice here, but we'll get by. If I need to, I'll head down there. But right now, I want to stay with my family and hope that Bobby and Janie come home. If that doesn't work out, I have another sister outside of town that has been begging us to join her."

  Skye asked Charlotte to leave Tom's number in her note for Bobby and wrote down Charlotte's contact number. They each gave their assurances they would try to stay in touch. Both took their time saying their goodbyes, worried it would likely be the last conversation they would ever have with each other.

  Skye slowly hung up the phone, her head bowed. Her greatest fear had materialized. "They're all gone. My family is just gone." She was hollow, a hole sat in her chest where her beating heart used to be.

  Tricia and Tom wrapped her in their arms and Skye leaned into them letting their small words of comfort encourage her. Though consoling others didn't come naturally to Wade, Dylan, or Jesse, each did their best.

  Jesse came over to Skye and hugged her, the first he had ever initiated. “Hug me for as long as you need to, I can take it."

  Skye smiled through her tears, stroked his hair and drew him closer.

  The whole execution seemed awkward to Wade, but he managed a stiff hug not too unlike Dylan’s first hug. He made it quick but gave her back a few pats.

  Dylan reached over everyone, wrapped his hand around her upper arm and pulled her into his embrace. As his strong, warm arms comforted her, Skye blew out a long, soft breath and laid her head against his chest. She reached around Dylan, putting her hands on his back and leaned against him, knowing he would hold her up.

  When Skye's tears started again, Dylan consoled her. "There's nothin you could've done."

  Tom frowned as he watched Skye and Dylan. When had this happened? He was supposed to be a cop, and this was the first he’d noticed. He threw a questioning glance to his wife.

  But Tricia didn’t look at him. She watched Dylan and Skye with a smile as wide as the New River Gorge. Apparently, she had seen this coming, probably from the time they hit the door.

  Tom’s frown deepened, and he folded his arms as he stepped back from the group. As he got ready to clear his throat, Tricia rapped on his forearm.

  She wagged her finger at him and mouthed, “None of your business.” As if that wouldn’t give him enough of a hint, she shot him a narrow-eyed glare.

  Tom’s uncertain glance went from Tricia to the couple and back again.

  Still... Tom wasn’t sure how he felt about this. He sent Tricia a scowl, then turned to take his police-issued Glock out of his gun case and holster it.

  He refused to look at Skye and Dylan, instead turning his gaze to the living room’s rain-dotted picture window.

  Something caught his eye. There was a movement in the stand of trees facing the house.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  One Way or the Other

  The change in Tom’s demeanor caught Dylan’s attention. “Stay here,” he whispered to Skye as he pushed her back and grabbed his own rifle.

  Dylan stepped up beside Tom. “What do you—” Dylan saw it too. A flash of blue in the grove of trees. “He’s runnin!”

  Tom, Dylan, and Wade raced out the front door. Tom yelled back to Tricia, "You know what to do!"

  The men rushed out to the wooded tree-line that faced the living room but whoever it was had disappeared. A squeal of tires against pavement on the other side of a small rise told them where, but by the time they got to the top, the intruder was out of sight.

  Grateful the rain clouds were breaking up, Dylan headed back to the stand of trees and waved Wade and Tom over. “Let’s see what we can find out.”

  Tom looked up at the upstairs window of his house. Tricia, Skye, and Jesse aimed rifles out the window. "I'm really hoping one of them doesn't shoot us.”

  Wade and Dylan gave a deep chuckle of amusement. "We've taught ours how to shoot," Wade said. "Whatcha been doin with yours? ‘Cause last I knew she was a lousy shot.”

  “Tricia is probably a better shot than you,” Tom said.

  Dylan glanced up at the house and scoffed, then he got down to business pointing out what he saw. "Yeah, someone's been here. A man, most likely. It's trampled, they stood here a little while. Left behind a couple of these." Dylan kicked at a few hotel-size bottles of alcohol littering the ground.

  Wade scratched his cheek with the palm of his hand as he examined the scene. “Did you see this, brother?”

  “Yeah, he came from and headed toward the road.” Dylan pointed in the direction he meant.

  "Let's check it out," Tom said.

  The men hoisted their weapons and started for the small hill, their feet sinking in the rain-soaked ground. They topped the rise and looked over the scene below, there was an empty rain-soaked street with a car-sized square of dry pavement.

  Dylan continued to track the stranger. “He was moving fast. See? He fell here and slid on the wet grass.”

  Dylan looked at the other two men. "From what I'm seeing, this isn't the first time he's been here."

  Tom's jaw set at the news. One look at each other, and the men scattered. One up each side of the street, and the other over the hill on the opposite side, but their investigation didn’t lead to any more clues about who the intruder was.

  Tom frowned and huffed out a breath. "I'll check with my guys around here, but why would they do this? They don't need to be casing my house, they can just come on in."

  A scowl covered Dylan's face. “Nah. There ain't no reason for someone friendly to do this. Something’s up, Tom, and I don’t like it.”

  Tom's eyes narrowed as he scanned the empty hills. "Neither do I, D, neither do I."

  Wade offered his opinion in the form of a large splat of saliva he spewed to the ground.

  The men milled around for a couple of minutes but unable to do anything else they walked to the house. Once there, Tricia headed straight for Tom hugging him in relief as he told her of their findings.

  Dylan looked to Skye. Her worry eased once Tom said the person had left. Skye made her way over to Dylan, and they hung back as Tricia invited the others out to the house's fenced-in patio.

  Dylan put a light hand on Skye’s back. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I mean, it’s disconcerting but there is nothing to do.” Skye glanced up at Dylan. “I was actually thinking of something else.”

  Dylan raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, your family, Dylan. It might be a good time to contact them. I really hope you get better news than I did, but I'm sure you want to know one way or the other." A tear trailed down her cheek, and she brushed it away.

  Dylan nodded as he lightly ran a hand down her arm. She's right, this could be my last chance to call him.

  Skye settled outside with the others, and Dylan went to the phone. He chewed the side of his thumb as he listened to it ring. When his dad answered, relief rolled over him.

  Dylan’s voice broke as he addressed his father in their native language.

  "Son, is that you? I've worried about you." His father's voice quivered.

  Dylan’s chest swell
ed as it always did when this man called him ‘son’, then the familiar ache started. Emotion often welled up in Dylan when he spoke with his father. To have a parent care for him as much as this man did moved Dylan, and while tears were hard to come by the ache was not. Dylan slowly rubbed the spot at his heart trying to get it to calm.

  "Are you well? Is Wade healthy?" his father quickly asked.

  "Yeah, yeah. Well, Wade’s dad died." Dylan's tone was flat, it was no loss to him. "But me and Wade are fine. How ‘bout you and yours?"

  "Better than most. When this disease started, we enforced a strict quarantine here, so we kept the number exposed to it low. We've lost a few here, but none of your brothers or sisters."

  Dylan felt a burden lift he'd been unaware he carried. He had several siblings on that side of his family. His father had been married twice, both times to women who loved raising children. It was a relief they all were okay.

  "Come here to us, son."

  "It's not that easy. I've taken in--well, we've been helpin out a woman and a boy. She's got a bit of family left here, and I reckon she won't want to leave."

  "You have a woman now?" His father’s voice lifted with interest.

  "No," Dylan quickly said. "No, I didn't mean--"

  His father broke in and chuckled. "Sounds to me like you have a woman."

  Resigned to his father's humor, Dylan gave in. "I don't know what she is, but we're helpin her."

  "Bring her too. And your brother and the boy, there's room here for all of you. It’s where you should be, where you always should’ve been.“

  Dylan bowed his head. A part of him did belong there. ”I’ll keep it in mind, but your place is a ways off. We had trouble getting to Skye’s family, and she‘s closer. We shouldn't go that far unless we have to. We’re set up pretty good on the mountain, but Dad, we just might end up there, if need be."

  “Her name’s Skye, uh?”

  Dylan laughed. “Dad.”