“It’s fine,” I said in Jamie’s ear. “Just questions.”
Jamie’s head bobbed slightly in a barely noticeable nod. “I’ll be back.”
And with that, they were gone. When they locked the door again, Danny shuddered.
He twisted his fingers in front of his body as he paced the floor. Danny was so nervous it radiated out of him and pinged as it bounced against the metal walls.
“Paul just talks to you. It’s quick and painless,” I said trying to ease his concerns.
“For now, but what about next time?” Danny looked at the door as if he was going to throw himself into it. “I can’t stand another minute trapped inside here.”
He took another step and paused when we heard what sounded like a gunshot. Danny ducked and stared at me as he waved his hands at me to get down. My heart started to race as I pressed my palms to the wall and listened.
“Did you hear that?” I whispered knowing that he had.
Both of us jerked back when another shot rang out. “What the hell?”
Feet scuffling against the ground outside our building made my palms sweat. Voices started shouting what sound like commands.
“Jamie,” I muttered at the wall wishing it could answer me. Tell me where he was. And if the wall was granting my request, the door opened.
The gunshots were louder. It sounded like we were in the middle of a battle zone.
Jamie stepped into the room, and the door didn’t close behind him. “Tom’s enemies are here.”
“I don’t care!” I said, my eyes focused on the opened door. “Let’s find a way out of here!”
Jamie shook his head. “We can’t. We’re surrounded.”
Twenty-Seven
“There has to be a way,” I said fighting back the tears. Tears of frustration. And as if the weather sensed my mood… rain started pouring down just outside the door. It tapped loudly on the metal roof.
A low rumble of thunder hid the sounds of the gunshots. Paul pushed Jamie to the side and stepped into the room.
“Either you all show you’re with us and fight, or you get down, and I lock the door.” Paul's eyes were red and his hands were shaking. “Decide now.”
I wasn’t about to fight for them. The screams I could hear not that far off warned me against stepping into Tom’s war.
I didn’t give my actions much thought. Even though I could see Max standing just outside the door with his gun ready, I pushed Paul so hard he tripped over his own feet and tumbled to the ground.
“Let’s go!” I said grabbing Jamie’s hand as I gestured for Danny to follow. We had to make a move while Tom’s men were busy.
We stepped out into the rain. Max shifted his gun from us to something that sounded like it was approaching.
“What are you waiting for?” Paul screeched. “Shoot them.”
Max stared at whatever was coming. After a second, he lined up a shot, but it wasn’t at us.
“Max!” Paul shouted. “Fine,” he said reaching behind him and pulling out a pistol. “I’ll do it myself.”
“Oh crap,” Danny said grabbing my arm.
Paul pulled the trigger, and Jamie grunted. “Shit!”
“Dammit, Paul!” Max said shaking his head. The gunshots were getting closer. The volume of the shouting was increasing. There were so many cries it sounded like a sea of injured people wailing for help.
“Do something!” Paul demanded, and Max finally looked at us. His gun was still pointed to whatever was making its way through the camp. “Shit.”
Max lifted his boot and kicked Paul back to the ground. Paul’s eyes were wide with shock as he looked up at Max.
“He’s going to kill you,” Paul said. “That was really, really stu—”
Max’s boot to the face cut Paul’s sentence short. “I’m a dead man walking.” He turned to us with eyes bubbling with anger.
Blood was streaming out of the wound just below Jamie’s shoulder, but he ignored it and stood in front of Danny and I. I couldn’t see his face, but I could tell he was breathing heavily.
Another gunshot rang out, and Max turned his back to us, aiming his gun between the buildings. He shook his head and glanced at us over his shoulder.
“You guys want out?” Max said.
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.
“Good choice,” Max said turning toward the back of the camp. He skipped as he took two steps. “Follow me.”
We weaved between several more metal prisons, the sounds of the gunshots diminished slightly as we put distance between us.
“What are they going to do to you?” Jamie asked as we stepped closer to the fence.
“Paul will probably have them kill me,” Max said pushing at the fence. “Especially if they find out I helped you three escape.”
“Come with us,” Jamie said.
Max looked as though he considered it for a second but then shook his head. “I don’t want to go out there. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be in here either, but I got a bum knee. I won’t get far, and I don’t want to hold you guys back.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
Max nodded. “I’m positive.” He lifted a portion of the fence about a foot off of the ground. “Go on, before they make their way over here.”
“Thanks, Max,” Jamie said quickly shaking his hand. “I owe you one.”
“Who knows, maybe one day I’ll come to collect,” Max said with a chuckle, but there was a distant look in his eyes. The kind that showed he already knew his future was questionable. “Hurry. Get out of here before someone sees you. Tom’s men, or his enemies… neither are any good.”
Jamie nodded and motioned for me to go through the fence. I got down on my stomach and wiggled my way under the jagged metal that scraped at my back even through my clothing.
When I was through I stood. My mouth dropped as I saw the men I didn’t recognize approaching.
Max followed my gaze and grunted as he pressed his lips together. Danny had just pulled his feet through when Max dropped the fence and turned to aim his gun.
“Jamie!” I said wrapping my fingers around the metal.
“Go!” he said letting his hand fall away from the wound at his shoulder. His eyes shifted over to Danny. “Take her… get out of here… explain.”
“Explain? Explain what?” I asked, my heart racing so fast it was making me lightheaded. It felt as though I had suddenly been sucked inside a dream.
“Halt!” the men shouted.
I reached down for the fence, pulling to lift it the same way Max had, but my strength didn’t allow for the same amount of space Max had been able to achieve.
“Jamie, hurry!” I begged.
His eyes locked with mine and I instantly knew he wasn’t coming. I also knew that there wasn’t anything I could do to change his mind.
“You have to go. There’s no time,” Jamie said pressing his hand to the fence. “I love you. Now, go.” He turned to Danny and raised his voice. “Go!”
I held the fence tighter, but Danny wrapped his arms around my middle and yanked me away. He was strong… much stronger than I’d been prepared for.
“I’m not leaving without him,” I said as Danny pulled me through the tall grasses.
“I don’t want to leave him either, but we don’t have a choice,” Danny said.
Sourness bubbled up my esophagus. “Of course we do!”
“Look,” Danny said staring into my eyes, “he’s not coming. There isn’t anything you can do to change his mind.”
I didn’t understand. If Nick could survive a gunshot wound, surely Jamie could at least try to fight for his life from his. There was no reason to give up, especially not yet.
“Jamie, please!” I shouted, and Danny clamped his hand down of my mouth. There were rustling sounds in the shrubs off to our left.
Jamie turned and flashed me a tight-lipped smile. There was so much sorrow in his eyes it made my bones ache.
I didn’t understand.
My feet were refusing to move even though Danny was dragging me with all of his might.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pull my eyes off of Jamie. Not even when his body jerked back, and Max started shooting rapidly at the small group closing in on them.
“Oh my God!” I said between Danny’s loosening fingers. “No! Oh, dear God, no!”
Tears were rolling down my cheeks before Jamie’s body dropped to the ground. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees, but it only took one more shot to drop him to the ground.
“Come on, Gwen, please keep moving,” Danny pleaded as he tried to turn me away from the gruesome scene.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was forgetting something. But of course, I knew I felt that way because I was leaving Jamie behind.
“We have to go faster,” Danny said looking over his shoulder. I followed his gaze but didn’t see anything. “They're going to come looking for us when they find out we’re gone.”
“Do I even care?” I asked.
“You do,” Danny said with a heavy sniff. “Nick’s still out there. Your grandma.”
The front of my shirt was wet with tears. “We shouldn’t have left him behind.”
“There wasn’t anything we could have done to save him.” Danny squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before looking at me. He knew something. Something I didn’t know. Something about Jamie.
Danny looked over his shoulder again and picked up our pace. He was leading us toward a small grouping of trees in the distance, but I had no idea if it was the way we wanted to go.
“I don’t understand what happened back there,” I said keeping my voice low. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I’d heard shouting not too far behind us.
Danny let out a heavy sigh. “He promised me not to tell.”
“Tell me what?”
He grabbed my hands and led me into the trees. Danny stopped for a moment and scanned the area behind us. “I can tell you now, but I wish we were further away.”
“Tell me what?” I said too loudly as my hands balled up into tight fists at my side.
Danny squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “I’ll tell you if you promise to keep moving… we have to.”
“Fine. I promise.”
Danny grabbed my arm and kept leading us away from our kidnappers. “He was dying.”
“What? Nick survived a gunshot, he could have at least tried—”
“No,” Danny said shaking his head. “I saw it when he leaned forward… you were sleeping.”
“Saw what exactly?”
Danny swallowed. “His chest. The cloud poisoned him.”
Twenty-Eight
Everything around me started to spin. I had no idea which way we’d even come from. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words would come out.
“His chest was black… the veins were sticking out. He wasn’t sure how much more time he had,” Danny said. “He made me promise not to say anything to you.”
“Why would he keep that from me?” I said the words scratching my throat.
“He was going to tell you. He was waiting for the right time,” Danny said ducking under a low hanging tree branch.
I thought back to our time together… when I’d reached for his shirt, he held my hands away from him. He hadn’t wanted me to see, and now I knew why.
I wasn’t sure how I could feel so much anger and so much sadness all at the same time. Jamie and I had been in this together since the first day. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to keep going without him.
After all, what was the point if we were all going to die anyway. If the attacks didn’t get us, the other survivors would. We weren’t armed, and we were lost… what chance did we have to survive any of this?
“You have to keep moving. You promised,” Danny said.
I didn’t care about any stupid promise I’d made.
“You know he’d want you to keep going,” Danny said shaking his head. “The only reason I’m still alive is because of you, so I’m going to repay that favor. I’ll get you back to Nick, or to your grandma’s, whichever you want.”
“What if I don’t want either?” I asked, the words tasting bitter.
“I don’t believe you. Your grandma—”
“Who says she’s even alive. It was a stupid plan.”
Danny shrugged. “A plan is better than no plan at all.”
“Says who?”
“Probably someone.”
As we walked, my mind kept drifting back to my time with Jamie. When I thought of the feel of his lips on mine, the tears started to flow faster.
He’d been different. In control and in charge. It made sense why he’d told me he wished he would have told me how he felt sooner.
If those women, Shannon and Monica would have just left him alone, he’d still be with us. I was glad they were dead because if they would have still been alive, I would have killed them myself.
Danny and I kept moving. My heart ached more and more with each step. It had felt as though I’d left a part of myself behind, but Danny was right about one thing… Jamie would have wanted me to keep going. That was why he stayed inside the fence. He’d sacrificed himself to delay Tom and his men long enough that Danny and I could get away.
I didn’t think for a second that if Tom survived the battle at his base, he would give up on us, but if we kept moving, we’d be able to stay ahead of him. Eventually, we’d lose him, and he’d go back to collecting people to put to work for him and his camp. We just had to hope we’d never cross paths with him again.
It was sometime the next morning we came across what had once been a busy highway. An interstate. Abandoned cars were strewn about, some on the roads and some in the ditches.
“Which way?” Danny asked pointing left, and then right.
“Left,” I said with a shrug. “I guess?”
“Sorry I didn’t remember the way back to the gas station,” Danny said keeping his eyes focused on the long road ahead.
I shook my head. My eyelids scratched with every blink. “It’s okay. I didn’t either.”
“He’ll go there you know,” Danny said with confidence. “To your grandma’s.”
“I hope so.”
Danny and I hadn’t stopped for rest, nor had we stopped long to try to find food and water. We were both terrified of stopping. It didn’t matter how badly my feet hurt, or how sore my calves were, I forced everything to keep working.
“Hey there’s a sign up there,” Danny said. “Maybe we’ll find out if we’re on the right track.”
I didn’t respond. Danny had kept trying to talk to me about anything and everything, but I wasn’t a good travel companion because I answered as little as possible.
I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I was forgetting something. Maybe I never would.
As we approached the sign, the words became readable. It was only fifteen more miles to my grandma’s house.
“Three days,” I said squinting at the sign.
“Think that gas station is around here?” Danny looked up and down the road.
I shook my head. We definitely hadn’t been on the four-lane highway when we’d been traveling all together.
“My guess is it’s back at least ten miles, maybe more,” I shrugged.
“Think so?”
My shoulders slumped. “No, I don’t know. I have no idea.”
“They’ll meet us there,” Danny said placing his hand on my shoulder. “Who knows, maybe they’re there already.”
If he’d said that hoping I’d feel better, the thought had the opposite effect. All I could think about was having to explain to Nick, Bronx, and Blair how we’d lost Jamie. I wouldn’t even be able to do it.
Blair would probably somehow blame me which would only sting more because I already blamed myself enough. We shouldn’t have left him. I shouldn’t have ever crawled under the fence.
The remaining miles and days went by in a hazy blur. I couldn’t remember the events, not that
there had been much to remember. We’d stopped for food and water a few times, finding more than we’d expected.
It was hard to eat with the storms that were raging inside my stomach. Grief had taken over, but somehow my mind had been able to figure out a way to keep my body moving.
It was two days later when my grandma’s house came into view. We’d made better time than I predicted, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that both Danny and I were worried we were being followed. We hadn’t ever stopped to rest for longer than we had to.
“That’s it?” Danny asked.
“Yep,” I said looking at the closed curtains. The wooden fence around the backyard was completely intact as were the barns behind the house, at least as far as I could tell.
It looked weathered but nearly identical to what I’d pictured in my mind.
“You ready?” Danny asked glancing at my unmoving feet. I hadn’t even realized I’d stopped walking.
“She’s not in there,” I muttered.
“How can you be so sure?” Danny asked.
I swallowed hard. “No one is in there.”
Danny shook his head.
“I can just tell. If Nick was in there, he’d be hobbling out to see me, and if my grandma was in there, I’d feel it.”
“Sorry,” Danny said, taking my words as if they were facts. He hadn’t even tried to argue. “Well, I guess we’ll go inside, have a look and wait for nick and the others to arrive then.”
“Okay,” I said knowing there would be food inside the house. There would be water from the well out back. And as long as no one had followed us, we’d be safe for the time being.
The stairs leading up to the front door creaked noisily. Danny stood close as I pulled open the screen door and wrapped my hand around the cool metal front doorknob.
I slowly turned the knob, but it didn’t budge. Grandma had locked the door.
“Locked?” Danny asked.
I nodded. The only time grandma locked the door was when she left. She’d been trusting, not to mention she lived in the middle of nowhere.
I could remember Nick asking her one time what she’d do if serial killers just walked in. She’d gestured to my deceased grandfather’s shotgun and told us she wasn’t worried.
The Red Sky Series (Book 2): Blue Cloud Page 15