“You are so amaz―”
She smothered him with a kiss before collapsing on top of him in the throes of bliss. He moved her to the side and rolled on top, kissing at her throat while he continued making love to her. She bit her forearm to muffle the gasps and moans she so desperately had to release into the world. Kevin let out a long groan, his body convulsing with spasms. He held her by the hips, his length thrust to the hilt inside her, and shuddered. Everything burst into flashes of sparkling light, and her body spiraled out of control for a heavenly moment.
Gasping for air, she went limp, arms splayed out to either side like a crime victim. “I love you so much.”
He eased himself down at her side and half pulled her on top of him with an arm around her back. “I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
They held each other, both breathing hard and covered in sweat.
Her mind spiraled down a torrent of worry. What if something happened to him out here? What if Abby resented their going and never forgave her for it? What if this all turned out to be another of Nathan’s games? I want to go home. She drew in air to tell Kevin they needed to turn around, but anxiety fell on her with a crushing weight. It felt as though the entire world (what remained of it anyway) counted on her to do something about the Enclave. As if somehow, she could make a difference―one woman against ten thousand high-tech soldiers―in defiance of all logic.
Guilt at wanting to walk away from that… destiny twisted her guts up and welled out of her eyes. The very idea of going back to the Enclave seemed the most terrifying thing imaginable all of a sudden. What if they catch me? I’ll never see Kevin or Abby again. I’m being such an idiot. What can I hope to accomplish there? Really… I’m only one person. The chilling grip of fear seized her; she burst into tears, clinging to Kevin like a frightened girl awakened from a nightmare.
“Whoa…” Kevin ran a hand up and down her back. “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”
The urge to laugh died like a dust hopper straying onto the road, though it slowed her avalanche of fear and guilt enough to allow her voice to emerge. “No… I’m. Ugh. I was wondering if this is really the right thing to do, but the guilt… it’s eating me inside. It’s like if I don’t do this, everything the Enclave does from now on is my fault, but I’m terrified they’ll catch me and put me back in Detention and I’ll never see you again.”
“Tris.” He traced lazy circles around her back with his fingers. “You’re no mouse. This might not sound quite like I mean it, but you’re the scariest person I know.”
She sniffled into a chuckle. “Thanks, but the Enclave soldiers have all the same boosts.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got two things they don’t.”
“Breasts?” She frowned. “Not going to help. And about a quarter of the military are women.”
“Not half?”
She grumbled. “No. The Council wants to keep women safe and alive to have kids. That whole repopulation thing.”
Kevin smiled and tapped a finger to the tip of her nose. “I wasn’t going to say breasts. You’ve got experience and a strong motivation.”
“They’ve been soldiers longer than I have.”
“Maybe, but they sit behind hovercraft controls and push buttons. How many of them do you think have been shot at for real, or been thrown around by an Infected?”
“I’m sure they keep up on the sims.”
“Yeah, but that’s not real.” He kissed her again.
She shivered. “It’s real enough. I was telling Abby about my escape training. They had to unplug me the first time they threw me in the pool. I almost had a heart attack from the sim making me think I drowned.” Tris clenched her jaw as a wave of fear smashed into the wall of urgency pulling her forward. “I’m so worried about her.”
“She’s really preoccupied with those handcuffs. You afraid she’ll turn out like Zara?” He chuckled.
“Not at all. It’s nowhere near the same thing. Zara gets a thrill out of it. Abby’s morbidly terrified of them. If she’s holding them, she can pick them open in like six seconds now. Put them on her, she freezes and panics.”
He exhaled. “Can’t say I blame her after that situation with Warren. If she’s that scared of them, why is she doing that to herself?”
“She’s trying to conquer her fear… but it’s winning right now.” Tris stared into his warm hazel eyes. “Is this a good idea?”
“Right now, we’re only on the way to see what that number turns out to be. If it looks like a one-way trip, I’ll drag you back home. I’ve still got rope in the trunk.”
She jabbed her finger into his side. “Ass.”
“If you ever wanna play around like Zara…”
Her blood chilled. “No. Please never do that to me. I… absolutely cannot stand being helpless.”
“Like mother like daughter?” He smiled.
She glared. “I’m not kidding.”
He raised both eyebrows, and his bad-boy grin faded to a look of concern. “All right. I promise.” He brushed a thumb across her cheek. “Wasn’t my fault, was it? For leaving you tied up so long?”
She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. “Maybe that made it a little worse, but I’ve always had this aversion to being contained. Even as a kid, I hated the structure of school. It was like being in prison for the crime of not being eighteen yet. Curfew, work schedules, play schedules. They never even let us socialize with each other, like ‘fun’ was somehow going to ruin humanity’s chances at survival. Maybe that’s why they kept me under watch because I kept pushing the edge of all the rules. Drag my feet, not quite comply until the threat of punishment got close.”
“Sorry you had to grow up like that.”
“Don’t feel bad for me.” She snuggled into him. “My life was easy compared to yours, just rigid.”
“I think you’re afraid, but anyone with so much to lose would be.” He kissed the top of her head.
Can we spend the rest of time together like this? Forget the Enclave?
“You said you had these odd feelings before.”
“I did?” she asked, her voice already heavy with the approach of sleep.
“Yeah… something about your knowing the Virus couldn’t hurt you. You mentioned it a couple days after we got back to Rawlins. You were standing on the road burning that Infected and it struck you out of nowhere.”
“I didn’t think you believed in that stuff.” She smiled.
Kevin chuckled. “What we’re about to do? If it’ll get you home safe, maybe I’ll make an exception.”
10
Sky Watch
Abby clutched her sweatshirt/nightdress in a ball to her chest, feeling awkward as Zoe freely whipped off her dress, tossed it into a basket and walked nude across the loft bedroom to retrieve an actual child’s nightgown from a different basket as though she didn’t have someone else standing nearby. Her embarrassment didn’t make much sense considering no one seemed to care at the lake where they all swam together. She sighed and changed. After draping her dust-hopper hide dress over the back of a chair, she crawled into bed next to Zoe.
The ceiling angled to a point overhead, with individual boards visible under a layer of wine-colored paint. Here and there, a nail stuck out from inexpert construction, or perhaps more recent repairs. Zoe’s room had a lot of space.
Her father and brother live with Bill and Ann. Wonder why her dad didn’t take the big room and put Zoe in with Cody. She was here first, guess it woulda been crappy to steal her room. Abby lay flat on her back with her arms at her sides, staring straight up. Zoe yawned, close enough to feel warmth on her arm, but not touch.
I hope they’re okay. She wondered how far away her new family had gone. It wasn’t fair… they hadn’t even been here a month and already she might wind up an orphan again. The look on her dad’s face appeared in her mind again as he rasped his last breath. Abby closed her eyes, forcing warm tears out the corners, which slid down her head and gathered in he
r ears. She swayed from sorrow to rage while trying to keep still so Zoe didn’t notice the storm going on in her heart. Had Tris not shot Warren, she’d have gone off to deal with him herself… something to do instead of sit here waiting and hoping for Tris and Kevin to come home alive. If they didn’t come back, would she wind up like that feral girl?
As much as she dreaded the thought, she had trouble sleeping without being tied to the bed. Her fear that Warren would come out of nowhere, see her loose, and shoot her for being a risk kept her up. If she couldn’t go anywhere, she wouldn’t be a threat. She slipped one hand out from under the sheet and wiped her eyes. She wanted to run down the hall and climb in bed with Tris and Kevin. She almost felt safe there. Not here, basically alone, waiting for Infected or Warren to kick in the door.
She lifted her head and peeked where she expected to find a door. An open gap gave her a clear view into a small section of empty space above the hallway below. I’m in the loft. A ladder didn’t scare her as much as a door. For one thing, Infected couldn’t climb; for another, her mental image of Warren storming through the door of the room where they’d kept her didn’t work with a ladder. Never mind that more than anything, the dread Tris and Kevin would never come back left her too frightened to sleep.
“You’re not sleeping,” whispered Zoe.
Abby swallowed. “No. Neither are you.”
“Nope. We haven’t talked yet.”
“What?” Abby rolled her head to look at the grinning blonde at her right.
“You’re sleeping over. We have to talk all night.”
“I guess.” Abby stared straight at the ceiling again. Is there anything up there, watching us? Waiting to kill us? “Not like I sleep anyway.”
“You don’t sleep? Like ever?” asked Zoe.
“I try, but I always wake back up.” She swished her feet side to side.
“Why?”
Abby shrugged. “Bad dreams.”
“I didn’t like my dreams either. So I stopped having them.”
Abby glanced to her right again; Zoe’s smile had faded to a serious look.
“How do you stop dreaming?”
Zoe rolled on her side, facing Abby. “Ann said bad dreams are like letting whatever scared me keep scaring me. So I didn’t be scared anymore. What are you scared of?”
“Stuff.”
“You’re scared your parents won’t come back.”
Abby twitched at the sudden contact of Zoe taking her hand. “Yeah.”
“They’ll come back.” She grinned. “They went to Chicago and got my Dad and brother.”
“Is that what you had bad dreams about?” Abby looked at her again.
“No.” Zoe’s confidence faltered. For a second, she looked frightened, but she closed her eyes and sucked a deep breath in her nose before letting it out her mouth. “There’s lots of Infected in Chicago. Lot of people were in this building. A man got a bus working, and people were gonna leave. My dad made them take me even though they had no room for him or Cody. I didn’t wanna go. Daddy didn’t want me to get hurt by the Infected.” She kept quiet for a while. “Mommy died tryin’ to protect me.”
“I’m sorry.” Abby squeezed Zoe’s hand. “Mine died when I was five. I don’t really even remember her. She had something the doctor couldn’t fix.”
“The people on the bus were kinda mean to me.” Zoe frowned. “No one wanted to take care of me, so they stuck me in the back and ignored me. We drove until it got dark, an’ the man driving got into a fight with another man who wanted to drive ’cause the other man had been doing it too long. They pulled over so we could get out and pee and stuff. Some people had food, an’ they ate some. I didn’t have any.”
“That’s so mean.” Abby scowled. “How could they not feed a kid?”
Zoe shrugged. “This one old man was nice to me. He gave me a potato an’ told me a story ’bout this other planet that’s all jungle and’s got these little hamster men who helped save the whole universe by killin’ bad machines with rocks and spears an’ stuff.”
Abby grinned.
Zoe’s smile faded to a hollow stare of fear. “The ’fected found us. The old man carried me on the bus, but the driver man was fat an’ they got him. The old man took a big suitcase offa shelf, dumped it empty, ’an told me ta get inside.” She shivered. “I got in and he shut it up tight. Everyone was screaming and the ’fected made roars and moans. I heard ’em walkin’ ’round. Some of ’em stepped on me.”
Abby gasped and held Zoe’s hand tighter. “That’s so scary…”
“I think they smelled me. Kept pickin’ up the suitcase and droppin’ it. I didn’t make noise. I’s too scared to cry. They went away, but I still didn’t move ’til I had ta pee, an’ it was quiet for a long time. I couldn’t get out.”
Abby shivered.
Zoe blushed. “I cried. I thought I was gonna die. ’Fected too stupid to open a suitcase. I started yelling, but no one was left. They all died.”
Abby rolled onto her side, facing Zoe. “I’m so sorry… that’s awful.” That’s why they let her have this room… the ladder. She knows they can’t climb ladders.
“I got all dizzy and sick, dunno how long I was in there… but I heard someone and tried to yell. Was Bill. He found me and let me out.” Zoe got quiet for a while. Color returned to her face, as did her smile. “An’ your parents came here an’ Bill asked them ta get my Dad and Cody out from Chicago. They did it!”
Abby forced herself to smile back. “That’s great. I’m sorry you got stuck in a suitcase.”
Zoe shrugged. “It saved me from ’fected. That’s what I bad dreamed about. Bein’ stuck in a suitcase. What’s your bad dream like?”
“Umm. Probably not as scary as that.”
“What is it?” Zoe tickled her side.
“Stop.” Abby grabbed for the elusive finger, but soon found herself in a tickle war.
A sharp thud in the floor brought their giggling to a halt.
Abby froze, dreading punishment. Zoe didn’t seem too worried. She kept a hand over her mouth to mute continued laughter. Once she’d calmed again, she pushed on Abby’s shoulder.
“’Mon. Tell me. You don’t gotta be scared.”
Abby cringed, not wanting to think about it. Already, the phantom presence of rope closed around her wrists. “Umm. I was in Amarillo.”
“Big city?”
“Kinda. It was. Not really. People got sick. A drone dropped Virus on us, and no one knew what it was. People… people I knew… turned Infected. Everyone went crazy.”
Zoe’s eyes widened. “That’s scary.”
“Only like fifteen of us made it. We were hiding in the basement of an old store for like two weeks. When it all happened, I had to run in the middle of the night. I only had my dress, no shoes. The basement was chilly and wet and I got a cold. Everyone thought I’d gotten the bad virus.” Angry shouts danced around her memory; again, the harsh overhead light beat down on her. Warren glowered. Tears flowed.
Zoe rolled over and held her. “It’s okay.”
The absurdity of a younger girl trying to play mommy chased away some of the terror. She wiped her face. “This old bastard Warren thought I was gonna turn into an Infected. He made me take my dress off in front of everyone so they could look for bite or scratch marks. My Dad was angry and told them no, but they yelled at him ’cause they thought he knew I’d been scratched and was trying to hide it. They said he wanted to kill everyone.”
“Okay. They checked me when I got here too, but it was only one doctor lady.” Zoe shrugged. “I hadda bend over an’ touch my toes. She put a cold metal thing on my chest and back. An’ this squeezy thing on my arm that hurt.”
“I didn’t have any bite or scratch marks, but he was still gonna shoot me.” A rush of gratitude flooded her as she remembered the glower on Tris’ face when she first stormed in. She had no idea who Abby even was then, but still she looked so angry at the way Warren had treated her. “Tris came outta nowhere a
nd pointed a gun at him. She tried to tell them I wasn’t sick, but everyone was afraid I was gonna turn into an Infected in the middle of the night. Warren made them tie me to the bed so if I got sick, I couldn’t get anyone.”
Zoe scrunched up her face. “That’s mean, but I guess it’s better than being shot.”
Abby stared at her. “How would you feel if they tied you to a bed and Infected came in? And you couldn’t get away.”
“Eep!” Zoe curled up and shivered. “That’s different! That happened? Did they get you?”
“My Dad and Tris stayed with me. The Infected broke into the basement, but they didn’t get to the room I was in. After that, Tris made everyone leave. A couple people got hurt running past Infected. We stopped at this roadhouse to sleep, and Warren said he’d shoot me if they didn’t tie me to the bed again. Lauren got scratched bad. She went Infected in one night. I heard her roaring and I couldn’t move. I thought Infected were gonna come in the room and get me.”
“That’s scarier than bein’ in a suitcase,” whispered Zoe. “’Fected can’t open a suitcase.”
Abby sniffled. “Later, on the ride, my cold got worse. It was just a normal cold, but Warren was gonna shoot me. He went crazy. My Dad tried to stop him from killing me, and Warren shot him.” Abby broke down, sobbing into her hands. “Warren killed my Dad right in front of me.”
Zoe held on again. “I’m sorry.”
“Girls?” whispered Ann. “Is everything okay?”
Abby sniffled and sat up enough to look at Ann peering over the floor from the ladder. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
“All right, but if you need us, we’re right below you.” She offered a motherly smile and climbed down out of sight.
Zoe narrowed her eyes. “I hope he died.”
“Yeah. Tris shot him as soon as Dad died. Zack shot Tris for killin’ Warren, but Zara killed Zack and threatened to shoot anyone else who moved.”
“Oh, no! Did Tris die?”
“No, dumbass.” Abby poked her. “She was here for a month.”
The Roadhouse Chronicles (Book 3): Dead Man's Number Page 14