“Thank God, you guys are back,” Maddie said turning to come back inside the room. “My mom was just about to go out there and start talking to that crazy person.”
Her back was to them as they entered. She didn’t see that Blake and Jay had brought the starving man back to the room.
“Yeah, that would have been really awful,” Jay said.
Maddie stopped before she reached the bed. She turned slowly, sensing something was off about Jay’s response. Maddie froze when her eyes connected with the tall man staring at her.
“Hello,” he said giving her a small wave with his bony fingers.
“Jesus,” she muttered. “Why is he in here?”
“Maddie!” I scolded.
The man held up his palm. “It’s all right, ma’am.”
Maddie’s eyebrows popped up. “What? We’ve been apprehensive about everyone we come across but here they are bringing a stranger into our room? This is nuts. Stupid even.”
“I’m not going to do anything to any of you,” the man said with a chuckle. “Look at me, I couldn’t hurt anyone even if I wanted to, which of course, I don’t.”
“Of course, that’s what you’d say,” Maddie retorted.
The man smiled at her. If he hadn’t been skin and bones, he would have been reasonably attractive. His eyes were a decadent chocolate brown and his sandy hair waved at the top. He wore a bright smile that smirked slightly on one side.
“I suppose you’re right,” the man said. “But I have no desire to do wrong to any of you. Believe me or not, that’s your choice, of course, but I hope that you do.”
Maddie rolled her eyes and dropped down on the bed. I looked at the man and chewed my cheek for a second.
“I’m sorry about that,” I said stretching out my hand but pulling it back, hoping he hadn’t noticed. I crossed my arms and smiled. “Kit.”
“Dillon,” the guy said giving me a small nod without letting his grin fade.
“Here,” Blake said handing him a bag of chips from our stash in the room. He opened a bottle of water and held it out to him.
Dillon nodded his gratitude. He shakily brought the bottle to his lips and took a slow sip. He shivered even though the water wasn’t cold.
“I didn’t think there was anyone good left in the world,” Dillon said. “You probably saved my life. Don’t think I would have made it out there much longer.”
Maddie pulled the blankets over her head but there was no doubt in my mind she was fully awake and listening to every word.
“Dillon was at the base,” Blake said gesturing toward his jumpsuit.
“That’s right,” Dillon said pointing at the numbers on his chest. “I’d take this damn thing off but I’m afraid that the shorts and t-shirt underneath aren’t enough to keep me warm.”
“You were at the base in Maine?” I asked.
Dillon’s head bobbed once before taking another drink. He sucked in a breath as if his need for oxygen was just as strong as his need for food and water.
“I was,” Dillon said. “And I’m damn lucky to be out of there.”
I cocked a brow. “What do you mean by that?”
“It wasn’t a good fit for me,” Dillon said. “And I’m putting it politely because of the young girl in the room.”
“What didn’t you like about it?” I asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
Dillon shrugged. “I don’t mind. But you should put that place out of your mind. You should find somewhere else to go.”
“My sister is there,” I said.
“Oh,” Dillon said. “What’s her name?”
“Polly,” I replied instantly.
Dillon scratched his chin before taking another slow drink. “Don’t know her.” He noticed my frown. “Oh, don’t take that to mean anything negative. There are a lot of people there and we were all pretty much forced to keep to ourselves.”
“So, she could be there?” I asked.
“Indeed, she could.” He devoured the snack Blake had given him in twenty seconds. “I could count the people I talked to on a daily basis on one hand. One of them was my wife. Or whatever she was.”
The three of us stared at him. Dillon started to chuckle.
“I caught her cheating with one of the camp leaders,” Dillon explained. “But that was only one of the reasons I didn’t like it there. That’s probably why they let me escape.” He laughed again and the skin on his cheeks vibrated. “That’s giving them too much credit. They didn’t let me leave. I escaped. There is pretty much no way they’d let me leave. They followed me for miles. I was lucky to lose them.”
Dillon’s experience seemed quite similar to our experience leaving James’s outpost. Maybe the places were run similarly but that James had been willing to lie to get more supplies for his outpost.
But I didn’t want to think about James or the outpost, I wanted to hear more from Dillon.
“Is there anything else you can tell us about the base?” I asked.
“What do you want to know?” Dillon asked.
“How far is it?” I questioned.
Dillon shrugged. “Not far enough.”
I exchanged a glance with Blake.
“How many people are there?” I asked.
“At least a thousand,” Dillon said. “That’s just a guess, though It’s probably more. I stayed in my room until I was needed, like most everyone.”
“When you were needed?” Jay queried with a raised brow.
Dillon’s eyes shifted over as if he’d forgotten Jay was in the room. “If it was time for work or an exam.”
“An exam?” I asked.
“Mostly they’d just take blood work,” Dillon said.
His answers were so short that I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new about the base. I scratched the back of my neck.
I opened my mouth to ask another question but Dillon looked down at his feet as he covered a yawn. His eyes flicked upward cautiously.
“I’m really drained,” he said. “This is all really hard to talk about. I hadn’t really expected it. My life wasn’t easy… even the time before the base.”
“Oh,” I said. “Um, maybe you’d like to get some rest.”
“I would,” Dillon said.
Blake cleared his throat. “I can show you how to lock yourself in a room.”
“Thanks, but I’m sure I can figure it out,” Dillon said gesturing at the car. “Is that where you’re going then?”
Blake nodded. “We’re going to see if we can find Kit’s sister.”
“I see,” Dillon said taking a step toward the door. “Well, thank you for the water and the snack. I should go. Good luck to you.”
It seemed as if he couldn’t wait to get away from us. Talking about the base made him nervous… uncomfortable… fearful.
“Will you be around for a while?” I asked.
Dillon stared at me.
“In case I have any more questions,” I added.
“I’m not sure,” Dillon said taking another step back. “You know, I don’t really think I can be of any more help.”
I took a step toward him. “Maybe you could give us directions. Or show us where the base is?”
“Mom, we have the address, remember?” Maddie said. Of course after everything, who even knew if that address was correct?
“An address,” Dillon chuckled. “Good luck with that. I don’t remember anything more. I just want to forget all about that place. I’d rather take my chances dealing with the sick. Thanks again.”
Before I could think of anything to say that might convince him to give us more information, he was gone.
Chapter Three
When the sun touched the horizon, Blake went outside of the hotel and began working on the car. It wasn’t even an hour later, he knocked on the door.
Maddie and Jay were still asleep when I opened the door. Blake was grinning ear to ear as he charged into the room.
“Pack your things,” Blake said.
> It was nice to see him smile. And talk to me in a sentence that was more than one word.
“I wish I had things to pack,” I said unable to stop myself from smiling back at his contagious smile. “Does this mean you got the car started?”
“You bet I did,” Blake said as he shoved the bottles of water and snacks we had in the room into a pillowcase. “It won’t be long now.”
“Aren’t you worried?” I asked biting hard on the inside of my cheek.
Blake wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Worried about what?”
“About the things Dillon told us,” I said. “He seemed so… so… so scared.”
“He didn’t tell us a damn thing. I mean, really, how was anything he said different from what we went through at the outpost?”
I shrugged. “I guess it’s not but couldn’t you see how frightened he was? It just seemed… I don’t know, worrisome.” I lowered my voice. “It’s not just me I have to worry about here.”
My eyes landed on Maddie in the bed.
“That guy looked like he would be afraid of a mosquito,” Blake said.
He wasn’t wrong.
“That’s only because he was starving to death and was just skin and bones,” I said with a frown. “We don’t know a damn thing about the guy other than his wife cheated on him.”
“I don’t know,” Blake said. “It’s not like we came all this way for nothing. We’re going to get your sister one way or another.”
“If she’s alive,” I said in a voice that was barely there.
Blake sighed. “Well, we’re going to find out.”
“Yeah, I know it’s just that—”
“Help me bring this stuff out to the car,” Blake said as he shook Jay awake.
Blake told him we’d be right back and to let us in when we knocked. Whether or not Jay would was another story. He flipped over on his other side and seemingly went back to sleep.
We walked down the hallway in silence. Blake didn’t even bother to tell me we were going to stop at the little store to take what we could.
He handed me an empty pillowcase and I just started filling it with whatever was left. My mind went to Dillon and I suddenly stopped filling the bag.
“What’s wrong?” Blake asked giving me a quick glance.
“We should leave stuff for him,” I said.
Blake shook his head and snorted. “No one would leave stuff for us.”
“You don’t know that,” I said even though he was probably right.
“Pack it all,” Blake said with a hard edge to his tone.
If I didn’t pack it, Blake would. I tossed everything into the pillowcase roughly. I wanted Blake to know that even though I was doing what he wanted, I wasn’t doing it happily.
The store was nearly empty by the time we walked out. The only things we’d left behind were the dry soups packaged in cardboard bowls. It just wasn’t something that would be easy for us to prepare on the road.
I followed Blake to the lobby and out of the hotel. My skin prickled at the brisk air.
“Brr,” I said but still, I sucked in a deep breath filling my lungs until they felt icy.
“Put everything in the backseat,” Blake said opening the back door.
“I forgot the medicine inside.”
“We’ll get it when we go back in.”
I nodded.
“All right,” Blake said closing the squeaky back door. “Let’s get Maddie and Jay and be on our way.”
A hoard of angry butterflies started flapping inside my stomach. It was strange how I wanted nothing more than to find Polly but after talking with Dillon, I was now fearful. I didn’t want anything to happen to Maddie. Hell, I didn’t want anything to happen to Blake or Jay either.
It wasn’t so much what Dillon had said that scared me, it had been how he’d acted. The condition his body had been in. And also, how relieved he seemed to be now that he was away from the base.
What if going to Polly was a colossal mistake? Of course, if she didn’t know we were alive, she wouldn’t try to venture out and find us.
“Are you okay?” Blake asked.
My arms were wrapped around my middle. “Yeah, fine.”
“You look like you’re going to be sick,” Blake said.
“Oh, um,” I stammered as I forced a smile. “I’m just worried about this. I know it was my idea to come here but still, I have to think of Maddie, you know? What if what Dillon says is true? What if we can’t leave?”
Blake looked out at the horizon. A gentle breeze blew his growing hair across his forehead.
“Dillon escaped. We can escape,” Blake said but his body had become very still. He turned to me as he exhaled. “We got away from the outpost we can get away from the base.”
“We didn’t get away without losing something very precious. That is something we can’t risk again,” I said as the coldness that had been in my lungs found its way to my stomach.
I shivered and looked down at my feet.
“We’d be better prepared,” Blake said taking a small step toward me. “We know what to expect.”
“This place won’t hesitate to kill us the way James’s had,” I said even though I didn’t know anything about the base. It was a feeling deep in my gut and I believed it with all my heart. “They don’t need to keep the numbers up for more supplies. They are the suppliers.”
Blake’s eyes flicked away before connecting with mine. He was closer to me than he’d been in days and it made the butterflies in my stomach flap harder.
“We don’t have to go,” Blake said. “She’s your sister and if you want to stop and come up with another plan, I’ll support you.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Why? Why would you do that? You’ve been determined and well, kind of a hard ass about going to get her.”
“Because I don’t want anything to happen to you or Maddie either,” Blake said. “I’ve grown quite fond of her.”
He swallowed as he looked into my eyes. Blake cleared his throat and took two quick steps backward.
“We’re kind of a team, you know?” Blake said. Seriousness fell on his face. “I don’t want to lose anyone else either.”
“Maddie won’t let us back out of it now,” I said shaking my head as I crossed my arms in front of myself. I was placing them there as a barrier between Blake and I. My brain worked better when there was more space between us.
Blake let out a light laugh. “She’s not in charge. Besides, I’m sure she’d understand.”
“You don’t know her,” I said my eyes bulging out of their sockets. “I really don’t think she would understand. She’d probably sneak away in the night and go herself. That would be far worse.”
“You’re right,” Blake said. A hint of a smile was still on his face. “Well,” Blake said swallowing hard, “it’s an option.”
I nodded but I knew deep down it wasn’t really an option. Even if we delayed things, I wouldn’t ever be able to go on without knowing what happened to Polly.
“It’s not an option,” I said.
I followed Blake back inside. Everything after our talk was a bit of a blur.
I blinked several times and the car came into focus. We were standing there, ready to leave. My fingers numb from squeezing the bag of medicine so tightly.
“Ready?” Blake asked.
“Ready,” Maddie said.
The dark circles that had been under her eyes were gone. She’d gotten a lot of rest and hopefully, she’d fought off the last of the illness.
“Let’s go,” Jay said yanking open the rusted back door behind the passenger seat. “Still can’t believe this is the car you chose.”
“Gas,” Blake said.
“It’s a piece of junk,” Jay muttered with a smirk.
Blake raised a brow. “Sometimes, those are the ones that last the longest.”
“What times are those?” Jay asked.
“I don’t know. Shut up,” Blake said. The entire car bouncing as he dropped dow
n into the driver’s seat.
He turned the key and the car grumbled several times before it started. Blake patted the dash as if he were petting an angry cat.
“He didn’t mean it, baby,” Blake cooed. “You’re not a piece of junk, are you?”
“Oh, my God,” Maddie said rolling her eyes.
Jay and I both laughed.
Blake shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the parking spot. He started to drive toward the road but stepped on the brake as Dillon ran out from the hotel waving both arms.
“What does he want?” Blake muttered.
“Probably food,” I huffed.
Blake’s eyes darted to mine for a second before gesturing at me to roll down the window.
“Everything okay?” I asked when the window was down halfway.
Terror filled Dillon’s eyes and he shook his head. “Don’t go. Please don’t go.”
Chapter Four
“You don’t realize what you’re doing,” Dillon said sounding as if he were out of breath. “You’re making a terrible mistake.”
“Jesus,” Blake muttered under his breath. He hadn’t intended for Dillon to hear him but he had.
“Is there anything I can do to change your mind?” Dillon asked.
My fingers wrapped around the armrest and I squeezed. “Tell us why it’s such a mistake.”
Dillon looked off at the horizon. He didn’t say anything.
Blake lightly pressed on the gas and the car started rolling forward. Dillon grimaced.
“Wait!” he begged.
Blake braked.
“If you know what’s good for you, you won’t go,” Dillon said.
“Is that some kind of threat?” Blake asked.
“Definitely not,” Dillon said. “It’s me trying to help you.”
“You’re going to have to give us more to go on than what you have,” Blake said.
Dillon clasped his bony fingers together. “Come back inside and we can talk about it.”
“We can talk out here,” Blake said.
“I prefer a location that is a bit safer,” Dillon said his eyes darting around.
Blake looked at me and then over his shoulder. “It’s up to you all.”
What Remains Series (Book 4): Evasion Page 2