The Red Sky Series (Book 2): Blue Cloud

by Greene, Kellee L.

  “You should get some rest,” he said, the smile still on his face. Jamie rested his hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me down until I was sitting on the mattress.

  I was face to face with his stomach. “You need your rest too.”

  “We’ll take turns,” Jamie said as he eased me down toward the pillow. “Go on, sleep.”

  He leaned down and kissed my forehead. My eyes automatically closed at the feel of his soft lips on my skin.

  I was too weak from everything to argue. I filled my lungs with oxygen only letting my body relax because of what happened between Jamie and I. If I stopped at let myself dwell on where I was or what was happening, I may not be able to fall asleep.

  My eyes were closed, but I still heard Jamie’s soft footfalls as he made his way over to the door. The knob squeaked as he turned it.

  “Jamie?” I said without opening my eyes. I didn’t even have the energy to move my eyelids.

  “Yeah?” he asked his voice softer than a whisper.

  “You said you had some things to talk about. What were the other things?” I asked.

  He exhaled. “Nothing important. Get some sleep.”

  And with that, he left the room, leaving the door open.

  Twenty-Five

  When I woke, Jamie was next to me in the bed. I smiled at him even though he was in a deep sleep.

  I slowly crawled out of bed trying not to make any noise, but the bedsprings squeaked. There was no way to know what time it was and all of the good feelings that had allowed me to actually fall asleep had vanished.

  I remembered where I was. I remembered that I was trapped.

  Danny was sitting on the sofa paging through one of the books from the shelf. I was sure there was no way he was actually reading it.

  “You can get some rest,” I said wrapping my arms around myself. “I’m up.”

  “I’m not tired,” Danny said tossing the book to the side. He leaned forward pressing his fingertips into his temples. He looked up at me. “I’m going to lose it in here.”

  My shoulders dropped. I wished I knew what to tell him, but I understood how he felt.

  “It’s better to try not to think about it,” I said.

  “I swear to God if they open that door I’m going to make a run for it.” He shook his head. “I don’t even care if they shoot me down. Anything is better than this.”

  “Maybe you need something to eat,” I said opening the cabinet.

  Danny groaned as he let his head drop back against the top of the sofa. “Already ate.”

  He stood up and paced back and forth so fast he was going to wear a hole in the ground. I felt bad, wishing there was something I could say but I knew there wasn’t anything I could do or say to ease his mind.

  I pulled out a jar of peanut butter and grabbed a spoon before sitting on the sofa. My eyes followed Danny as he moved back and forth across the floor.

  After I took my second scoop, I heard noises outside our giant metal prison. The sounds of a door opening were close by… very close by.

  Danny stopped moving and stared at the door. I dropped the jar of peanut butter on the sofa and dashed into the bedroom.

  The springs inside the mattress squeaked as I knelt down and started shaking Jamie. “Wake up! Wake up!”

  “What? What is it?” he said, his eyes popping open.

  “Someone’s out there,” I whispered. “I think they’re coming.”

  Jamie sat up and adjusted his shirt before leaning over and clicking on the lamp. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Shit.”

  We walked back out into the living room, and Jamie pressed his ear to the door. His eyes were glued to mine as he shook his head.

  “Nothing,” Jamie said, mostly mouthing the word.

  “Well they were out there,” Danny said turning toward the door. “Think we can break it down?”

  Jamie shrugged. “Maybe, I only remember the one padlock, but even if we do get through, we’re going to get shot in the back.”

  “Will we though?” Danny asked. “They want us here.”

  “It’s a risk, and I’m not ready to take it just yet,” Jamie said glancing in my direction. “They aren’t going to leave us in here forever.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Danny gestured at the cabinet of food. “They could leave us in here for a very long time.”

  I chewed on my raw cheek. “I need to get back to him, Jamie. There has to be something we can do.”

  Just as I finished my sentence, the clanking noises flittered through the air. Jamie’s eyes widened as he waved his hand toward the bedroom.

  “Get back,” he said. “Both of you.”

  The noises were louder. I could hear them talking through the wall even though I couldn’t make out what they were saying. They opened the padlock, and my heart raced. I expected them to just walk in and start shooting us down, but instead, they knocked.

  “May we come in?” a voice asked.

  “Do we have a choice?” Jamie said with a nervous chuckle.

  “Sure,” the man’s voice said. “For now.”

  Jamie looked at Danny and me over his shoulder. I shrugged, and Danny took a step closer to me. He was trying to hide it, but I could feel him trembling.

  The door opened, and Jamie took a step back, holding his palms up. I could see Tom’s men standing with their guns outside the door, but it wasn’t Tom at the door.

  “Hello,” the man said stretching out his hand. When no one accepted it, he let it fall to his side. It didn’t seem to faze him even a little. “I’m Paul, and I understand you’re here looking for a safe place to stay and rebuild. Tom has already told me all about you.”

  “It sounds like Tom has lied,” I muttered.

  Paul studied me for a long moment before his hand moved up to his forehead and he lightly scratched above his eyebrow. “I hear that a lot.”

  “Bet you do,” I said. “It’s because Tom keeps kidnapping and bringing people here against their will. My guess is when he stops doing that, you’ll stop hearing it.”

  Paul chuckled. “I’ll offer you the same deal I offer all the folks that want to leave.”

  I glanced at Jamie. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “You give me a week of your time, staying here and contributing and if you still want to leave when times up, I’ll tell Tom that it won’t work out with you.”

  “All of us? And he’ll just let us go?” I asked.

  “All of you.” Paul shrugged. “He’s let others go, but only after I tell him, it’s not going to work out.”

  It sounded like a deal worth taking, the only problem was, I didn’t have a week to give him. We needed to get back to Nick and the others.

  “Is there any way we can leave sooner? Like now?” I asked, swallowing down the sour taste at the back of my throat.

  “Tom doesn’t do that,” Paul said his cheerful expression fading.

  “So, what does he want us to do?” Jamie asked.

  The fake smile reappeared on Paul’s face. “It’s simple. I talk to you, and you’ll do basic chores until we feel you’re ready to join the team in a bigger role.”

  “Talk to us?” I asked.

  “Yes, privately.” Paul folded his hands in front of him.

  I shook my head as I crossed my arms. “Talk about what?”

  “It’s like an evaluation,” Paul said.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “And if I refuse? I mean, I have no idea who you are. What even qualifies you to evaluate me?”

  “If you refuse, Tom will keep you in here, waiting until you’re ready to talk,” Paul said rocking back on his heels. “Cooperation will get you far here. I started where you are, in fact,” Paul said looking around the room, “this was my room.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Jamie said with a laugh. “This hasn’t even been going on that long.”

  “Tom has been prepared for a long time,” Paul said pulling back his shoulders. “Anyway, shall we get start
ed?”

  My body tensed.

  “It won’t be long. Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes,” Paul said looking at me. “You’ll be back with your friends in no time. Gwen?”

  I shook my head.

  “Are you sure that’s how you want it to be? It’ll be so much easier for you if we just get started,” Paul said taking a step toward the door.

  I looked at Jamie hoping to find the answers in his eyes. But all I found inside his blue eyes was worry.

  “I get it, you want some time to think about it,” Paul said steepling his fingers and tapping the tip on his bottom lip. “Let me step outside and give you a few minutes to talk about it.”

  Paul didn’t wait for a response. Danny looked as though he was considering attacking the man from behind but after taking two steps changed his mind. When the door closed, I found out why.

  “The guys out there had their guns aimed at me,” Danny said. His shoulders were rising and falling quickly. “I think we could take them.”

  “We couldn’t even get one out before another shot us,” Jamie said.

  We didn’t have much time to dwell on what we could or should do. It wouldn’t be long before Paul came back in to collect his answer.

  “What should I do?” I asked, my words flowing so quickly they bumped into one another. “He’s going to come back in here any second… I’m almost afraid to tell him no.”

  “I don’t want you going with him alone,” Jamie said shaking his head as he crossed his arms.

  “Do I have a lot of choices?” I asked my eyes widening with every passing second. “Because if I do, please let me know what they are.”

  Jamie started to pace. “Maybe it’ll be okay, he did say he wanted to evaluate all of us, that means he’ll be back.”

  “What if they don’t bring me back?” I said the dryness in my eyes making them feel scratchy.

  “I’ll find you,” Jamie said reaching out and grabbing my hand.

  My cheek was bumpy from how much I was chewing on it. “You’ll be locked in here.”

  “I’d find a way, or die trying,” Jamie said looking into my eyes, barely blinking.

  Our discussion was cut to an end when the door was abruptly pushed open. Paul looked at me as if I was the only one in the room.

  There was a darkness in his eyes that chilled my bones. “Well,” Paul said a grin slowly stretching across his face, “what’s it going to be?”

  Twenty-Six

  I followed Paul out of the room. The bright sunlight pierced my eyes as if my eyeballs were being poked with thousands of needles… repeatedly. It took several seconds for my eyes to adjust to the change in lighting.

  “It’s been mostly sunny around here, but the humidity in the air tells me it’s going to storm soon,” Paul said over his shoulder.

  Jamie stepped out of the small building before Paul’s armed guard had gotten a chance to lock it behind us. The guard stared at him for a moment before he started to laugh.

  “Jamie? Jamie from the delivery service Jamie?” the man said. He was tall, at least six foot four, and his hair was more orange than the sun above. His chest was broad and muscular. He looked as though he could have picked up the delivery truck. “Remember me?”

  Jamie stared at him for a long moment. Paul examined them both looking unsure of what he should do. It was obvious in the amount of time they’d been running their camp, they hadn’t run into anyone else recognizing each other.

  “It’s Max! Big Max? We worked together. You trained me.”

  “Right,” Jamie said bobbing his head as the memory came back.

  “How are you doing?” Max asked.

  Jamie’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

  “Oh right,” Max said. “Forgot about all the shit that happened. Looks like you manage to avoid the sickness. You look good considering.”

  “Thanks… I think,” Jamie said.

  “Well I meant it as a compliment,” Max said wearing a big grin that displayed his perfectly white teeth.

  Paul looked back and forth between the two men before clearing his throat. “We should get moving.”

  “Hey,” Jamie said leaning closer to Max. He whispered something quickly and then took a step back.

  “I’ll take good care of her,” Max said with a quick salute. “I promise you that.”

  Max jerked his head toward the building, and Jamie reluctantly stepped back inside. He offered him a subtle nod before closing the door and fastening the padlock.

  I followed Paul away from the building, Max at my side. My arms were wrapped so tightly around my middle I was struggling to take in full breaths.

  We walked by two other large shed-like buildings similar to ours before turning into a small building that resembled a tiny home. It looked like it had been constructed relatively recently.

  “Come on in,” Paul said pushing open the door and stepping to the side.

  Max stayed outside the building. I could see his shadow through the small curtain at the top of the door.

  “Have a seat,” Paul said gesturing toward a faded red loveseat.

  I sat down and folded my hands in my lap. My eyes quickly moved around the room.

  There was a small pristine kitchen with a door at the back. Another door, just to my right was open wide enough that I could see that it was a bedroom.

  “Is this your home?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How nice, you have windows,” I said, sourness saturating my tone.

  Paul grinned. “Play your cards right, and you’ll have your very own windows soon enough. So,” Paul said leaning back in his brown leather chair, “tell me about yourself.”

  “There isn’t anything to tell,” I said shaking my head.

  “Of course, there is. Basically, what we’re interested in is your skill-set. What did you do before the attack?”

  “So, it was an attack? Do you know anything about what happened?” I asked leaning forward.

  Paul shook his head. “I do not have any insider knowledge if that’s what you’re asking. Like everyone else we’ve talked to, all I know is that it was some kind of attack. I take it by your reaction you don’t have any further information?”

  “No,” I said slumping back.

  “Anyway, tell me, what are you good at doing, Gwen?” Paul asked.

  I shook my head. “Nothing. I wasn’t good at anything before, and I’m even worse at everything now.”

  “Everyone has a skill,” Paul said. “We’ll figure yours out with a little soul searching. Is there anything you were passionate about before the attack?”

  “No.” And if there had been, I wasn’t about to tell Paul the absolute stranger.

  “You’ve survived this far, you’re clearly skilled. What did you do to survive?”

  I pressed my lips together and raised my brow. “Fell in with the right people. I guess. Or maybe we’ve just been lucky.”

  “You’re not giving me much to work with, Gwen,” Paul said letting the disappointment show in his eyes. “We have lots of open positions. Servers, cooks, gardening, recruiting, runners—”

  “Runners? What is that exactly?”

  Paul smiled at my interest. “Someone who goes out and collects supplies. Right now, the team is full.”

  “Oh,” I said letting my own disappointment show.

  “Have you ever given birth?” Paul asked keeping his chin down as his eyes peered up at me.

  I squinted at him. “No. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “One of our standard questions. Well, I’ll make a note of your interest, however,” Paul said with a heavy blink, “we need a certain amount of trust with our runners. We need to know they’re going to come back.”

  “Of course. That makes sense,” I said. It wasn’t like I had the time to sit around proving I’d be loyal. I needed to be out there finding Nick now, not weeks from now.

  Paul continued to talk. I listened as he went on about the morning routine,
the lunch routine, and it was around then I zoned out.

  I didn’t care about their routines. What I cared about was finding a way out of this place. We needed to not be locked up. We needed to figure out a way out of the fence. And do it all while not being shot in the back.

  “That’s all for now,” Paul said standing up. “We’ll talk again soon.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said wondering if Paul had noticed that I hadn’t been able to pay attention to his words.

  I was tired. Scratch that, I was exhausted and there wasn’t any amount of sleep I could get in this place that would help.

  “And don’t worry,” Paul said walking with me over to the door. “We’ll figure something out for you. See you tomorrow for your first adjustment class.”

  “Adjustment class?” I asked.

  His face pinched up. “The classes I was just telling you about.”

  “Oh, right, the adjustment classes,” I said forcing a smile. Hopefully, Jamie and Danny would pay better attention and they could explain it to me after their evaluation. I didn’t want to let Paul know I hadn’t been paying attention. I didn’t want to upset Paul.

  “Let’s head back and get your roommate,” Paul said opening the front door.

  Max stepped to the side and smiled at me. I wanted to smile back, but I didn’t have the energy, and I still wasn’t sure what I thought of Jamie’s old buddy Max.

  As we made our way back to my metal prison, I noticed that our building wasn’t far from the fence. The only problem was the wound-up amounts of barbed wire at the top. Even if we got out of our cell, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get over the rusted-up clumps of needled metal.

  Max opened the door, and Jamie was there pulling me to him as he looked at the men over my shoulder. He looked me up and down before pushing me protectively behind him.

  “Did they hurt you?” Jamie asked quickly.

  I shook my head.

  “Don’t be silly,” Paul said widening his stance. “Your turn, James.”

  “Jamie.”

  “Isn’t that kind of a nickname for James?” Paul asked.

  Jamie exhaled. “Not in my case.”

  “My sincerest apologies. Your turn,” Paul said nodding at Max.