The guards near the fence were walking toward one another. As long as they didn’t see us… we’d make it.
“Let’s go,” I said turning the wobbly doorknob. I pulled open the door just enough for us to slip out. I turned to Polly. “Run.”
I sucked in a deep breath, fill my lungs with the oxygen they’d need to make it the distance. Polly’s breaths next to me were rapid. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Polly run.
Running with the shovel was slowing me down and it was likely doing the same to Polly.
“Drop it,” I said.
“Are… you… sure?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said dropping my shovel to the left so she didn’t trip over it.
My feet were moving fast but they could have gone faster. I couldn’t increase my speed because I knew Polly was already struggling to keep up.
“I… can’t,” Polly said gasping between words.
“You can,” I said encouragingly. “We’re almost there.”
I’d stretched the truth. Polly could see just as well as I could that we were only about halfway to the fence.
The sky darkened rapidly as the storm clouds rolled overhead. The sun was at the horizon, giving up the battle to keep everything lit for the day.
Voices shouted from behind us. I didn’t dare to look but they were at a distance… at the base, if I had to guess.
“Keep going,” I said.
My feet felt numb and my calves felt like they were on fire. Rain poured out of the sky almost instantly making the ground slick.
“Kit!” Polly called out.
I turned back and saw her stumble and fall to the ground. My feet slid and my arms waved around in an attempt to maintain my balance as I tried to stop.
I ran back to her and picked her up. We moved again but it wasn’t as fast. It was hard to get our legs going at the same speed.
“My baby!” she said placing her hands on her stomach.
“We have to keep going,” I said. Beads of water dripped down her forehead and down her cheeks.
The guards at the fence were oblivious. But there were more behind us. I could hear their voices through the rain.
“Stop at once!” It sounded like the command had come through a megaphone.
“Don’t stop,” I said. “Whatever you do, don’t stop.”
The guards at the fence had reached the far corners. We had time to get over the fence as long as the people behind us hadn’t caught up to us.
Our bodies slammed into the fence. The rumbling sound of thunder disguised the rattling we caused from the force.
“Climb,” I said only seconds before the crack of the gun ripped through the air.
“Oh my God, Kit!” Polly said.
I grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Climb!”
My fingers gripped the metal and I dug the toe of my mud-covered shoe into the small hole between the links. I pulled myself up a foot and then another.
“It’s slippery,” Polly complained.
“Just do it, Polly!” I ordered. “Maddie’s out there waiting for us.”
I climbed another two feet. My hands were almost at the top.
Polly was two feet behind but she was managing to make her way up the fence.
Another gunshot sliced through the air. A whistle of a bullet breezed past my ear.
My hands started to shake. “Faster, Polly.”
“They’re shooting at us!” she squealed. I could tell by her shaking voice that she was crying.
“Halt!” a voice shouted from close behind us. I dared a look back as my hand grabbed the top of the fence.
A single guard had managed to make his way nearly to the fence. Movement in the corner of my eye alerted me to the fact that the guards at the fence had noticed the commotion and were running toward us as well.
“Hurry, Polly,” I said. The rain nearly drowning out my voice. A jagged piece of metal from the fence scraped the side of my leg as I swung it over the top.
I could feel my pulse in my leg and I knew that I’d managed to cut myself deep enough to draw blood. I lingered at the top of the fence, leaning forward enough to grab Polly’s jumpsuit to help her to the top.
Lightning struck lighting the area. Guards were running toward us but the mud slowed them somewhat.
“I swear to God, I’ll kill you both if I have to,” the nearby guard shouted. A flash of light illuminated his face enough to see it was the curly-haired guard that had been with Mr. Curly Mustache in the hallway. Our eyes locked. “I knew something was up with you two.”
“Come on, Polly,” I said softly.
The guard took several steps closer. He aimed the gun at Polly’s back.
“Last warning,” he said.
I grabbed Polly and yanked her over the top. The guard pulled the trigger but he missed Polly. I’d managed to yank her out of the way just in time.
“Drop down,” I said.
She let go and fell to the muddy ground below and screamed. Another gunshot, this one louder, blasted through the air. The guard on the other side of the fence howled.
Had Polly been hit?
Had I been hit?
My body had felt numb but I’d thought it was from exhaustion thoroughly blended with adrenaline.
I dropped to the ground. My feet slipped out from under me and I had to steady myself by sticking my hands into the mud. Quickly I stood, freezing when I realized I was face to face with a man holding a gun.
“I knew you’d do it,” Jay said smiling.
I twisted my neck just in time to see the guard fall to the ground. The sky brightened and the large crowd of guards from the base was still charging toward us.
We didn’t have a lot of time. They could climb the fence… come after us. Shoot us in the back.
“You must be Polly,” Jay said as a flash of light lit his grinning face. He blinked and drops of rain fell from his lashes. “I’m Jay.”
“Let’s worry about introductions later,” I said grabbing Polly’s hand.
We ran into the trees. Into the darkness. And away from the base.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was a long walk back to the church but we made it back before dinnertime without running into anyone from the base or any of the sick. We took the time to get Polly up to speed on everything that had happened.
She went through a range of emotions while listening intently to our every word. Her story hadn’t been as interesting. She’d been at the base nearly the entire time, following their rules and doing what she was told.
Polly had been miserable.
When it was time to tell her about seeing Hoyt, I struggled to find the words. It was bad enough I’d have to tell her what happened in front of Jay but she demanded to know everything.
“That bastard,” she said but she hadn’t really seemed all that surprised by the news.
“I’m sorry,” I said but she waved my words away.
“I had a feeling. Hoyt had a reputation, you know,” Polly said.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Then why did you stay with him?”
“I didn’t have any evidence,” Polly said.
“Why didn’t you even tell me you were concerned?”
“You had enough on your plate. We’d already put so much money and energy into the wedding plans that I felt like I was committed to seeing it through,” Polly said. “Then he paid for so much of mom’s treatments. I’d hoped the rumors had been wrong or that he’d changed.”
Jay sniffed and kept his eyes on the road ahead. “Sounds like a real dick.”
Polly snickered and I smiled at her reaction. She’d taken the news better than I thought she would have. But maybe that was because none of it really mattered anymore.
When the church came into view, my heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing Maddie and Blake again. There were several school buses parked off to the side and a few delivery trucks that hadn’t been there when I’d left. Or if they had been,
I hadn’t noticed them.
There were people outside packing things into the trucks. I spotted Blake among them, helping with some of the boxes.
“That’s Blake,” I said pointing at him with my chin.
“Cute,” Polly said.
“Always a bridesmaid,” Jay teased.
Polly touched his shoulder as she let out a laugh. “You’re cute too.”
Jay blushed.
I looked back and forth between the two of them and grinned. He wasn’t really Polly’s type but maybe that had been why she hadn’t been married. She’d always gone for the wrong type.
Maddie walked out of the church with a plastic bag in each hand. She was side by side with another girl, Twyla’s daughter, Lily, talking about something that made them both smile ever so slightly.
Maddie looked up and stopped walking. The smile fell from her face. It was like she’d suddenly been turned into stone… but then she blinked, breaking the spell. She dropped the bags and ran toward us, swinging her arms to go faster.
“Mom!” she shouted before reaching me. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she slammed into me, wrapping her arms around me. “Don’t ever do that again! Don’t leave me!”
“I won’t,” I said pulling back to look into her eyes. “I promise.”
Leaving her behind had been the right choice. It would have been nearly impossible to coordinate getting all of us out of that hellish place.
Blake was making his way over toward us. There wasn’t a smile on his face but I could see the relief in his eyes.
“Maddie!” Polly exclaimed pulling her into her arms. “I hear it was your idea to come get me?”
“Yes,” she said between frantic sobs. “And it looks like I was right. You’re alive.”
“I’m alive,” Polly said swallowing back her own tears.
Blake approached us, he didn’t stop to say anything to us, he just wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the lips. The warmth I hadn’t felt since leaving filled me once again. It hadn’t been that long we’d been apart but boy had I missed him.
He pressed his forehead to mine and gazed into my eyes. “I should be mad about you leaving like that.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t come after me.” My lips curled upward.
“I wanted to,” Blake said. “Twyla talked me out of it. Besides, I couldn’t leave Maddie and I wasn’t about to take her there. Don’t ever leave my side again, though, okay?”
“I won’t,” I said and he kissed me again.
Polly tapped my shoulder and I reluctantly pulled back away from Blake. She looked him up and down with her eyes narrowed.
“Is this him then?” she asked. “Well, it must be or the one you’ve told me about has some major competition.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Polly, Kit’s sister. I’ve heard a lot about you over the last few hours.”
“A lot, huh?” he asked shaking her hand.
“Well, not that much really.”
Blake gave her his best smile. “Nice to finally meet you.”
“And you as well,” Polly said with a nod. “I should probably thank you for getting my family here in one piece. Although, really, none of you should have done all that for me.”
“You would have done the same,” I said.
“That’s true.” Polly smiled. “I would have.”
We all laughed.
The rest of the day was spent helping Twyla and her people get ready for the move. Twyla was more than happy to have Polly join us and accompany us to the new location.
In fact, Polly and Twyla got along almost instantly. They were two peas in the same pod, excited to discuss organization and how to be most efficient with the packing.
Maddie had run off to rejoin Lily to help with whatever Twyla had ordered them to do. I watched as a pair of boys followed them around offering to help them with various things.
Jay wasn’t much different from the young boys. He’d occasionally approach Polly and ask her how she was doing or if she needed anything. He was definitely doing his best to make sure she felt welcomed.
Blake didn’t want to leave my side. Whenever we weren’t carrying anything, we’d be holding hands. I couldn’t wait to have some alone time with him although I wasn’t sure when that would be with everything we had to do. We had a long journey ahead of us but hopefully, in the end, it would all be worth it.
In a world of terrible… somehow, we’d managed to find something acceptable. Something that was pretty okay.
Would it stay that way? God, I hoped so.
We survived the winter spending most of our time underground in a bunker that was moderately heated thanks to a generator. There was a house on the property that had a fireplace where some of the group opted to stay. They kept watch. They kept everything protected and safe.
When spring came, they put plans into action. A few small crops had been planted and by summer, they were growing better than expected.
There had been a small group that had gone out looking for animals like rabbits or deer but they’d come back with chickens. We were lucky that food and water weren’t even in the top five on our list of concerns.
The sick hadn’t come around but we knew they were still out there and that meant we couldn’t let our guard down. If the sick or those from the base came, Twyla and her people would be able to handle the situation with the arsenal of weapons they’d collected to defend our territory.
Everything was working out better than anyone could have hoped. It hadn’t been easy to keep track of time but it was probably late summer when Polly had her baby.
There had been a midwife among Twyla’s people and the pregnancy and birth couldn’t have gone more smoothly. Polly’s baby wasn’t the only newborn in the group. Two other women had given birth and another two were at least six months along.
And then there was me. I’d only known for about three months that I’d soon have a second child.
Blake had hooted and cheered when I told him the news. I was scared but at the same time, I was surprisingly happy. I wasn’t sure how to take care of a baby in our new world but I would have to figure it out.
“We’ll be fine,” Blake said one night when I’d been staring out of the window. We’d been lucky to have one of the bedrooms on that particular day. “Look at Polly. There are a lot of people around that will be happy to help us too.”
“It was hard the first time,” I said. “This is going to be completely different.”
“You’re stronger now, Maddie will be an excellent big sister, and I’m here to help too,” Blake said kissing the top of my head. He placed his hand on my stomach and chuckled. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a dad.”
I smiled at him. “You’re going to be a great dad too.”
“I sure as hell am going to try to be,” he said. “I’m going to take care of you, Maddie, and our son the rest of my life.”
“Son,” I repeated with a laugh.
“It’s just a feeling,” he said.
“Don’t be disappointed if she’s a girl.”
Blake smiled. “I wouldn’t be. She’d probably be just as beautiful as her mother.”
“And smart,” I added.
“And strong,” Blake said wrapping his arms around me.
I wasn’t exactly sure how we made it to that particular moment after all the struggles, loss, and sadness we’d had to endure but we had. It almost seemed wrong to enjoy the happiness that was around us.
Life wasn’t ever going to be easy but at least we’d gotten to a point where it wasn’t going to be full of challenges and suffering every day of our lives. We’d fight and we would do whatever we needed to be okay.
We’d survive.
We’d persevere.
We’d be a family.
Books By Kellee L. Greene
What Remains Series
Sickness - Book 1
Outpost - Book 2
Infected - Book 3
Evasion - Book 4
&
nbsp; Red Sky Series
Red Sky - Book 1
Blue Cloud - Book 2
Black Rain - Book 3
White Dust - Book 4
Indigo Ice - Book 5
Yellow Heat - Book 6
Ravaged Land Series (1)
Ravaged Land -Book 1
Finding Home - Book 2
Crashing Down - Book 3
Running Away - Book 4
Escaping Fear - Book 5
Fighting Back - Book 6
Ravaged Land: Divided Series (2)
The Last Disaster - Book 1
The Last Remnants - Book 2
The Last Struggle - Book 3
Ravaged Land: Eventuality Series (3)
The Wall - Book 1
The Outside - Book 2
Falling Darkness Series
Unholy - Book 1
Uprising - Book 2
Hunted - Book 3
The Island Series
The Island - Book 1
The Fight - Book 2
The Escape - Book 3
The Erased - Book 4
From Below Series
Creatures - Book 1
Desolation - Book 2
The Alien Invasion Series
The Landing - Book 1
The Aftermath - Book 2
Destined Realms Series
Destined - Book 1
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About the Author
Kellee L. Greene is a stay-at-home-mom to two super awesome and wonderfully sassy children. She loves to read, draw and spend time with her family when she’s not writing. Writing and having people read her books has been a long time dream of hers and she’s excited to write more. Her favorites genres are Fantasy and Sci-fi. Kellee lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two kids and two cats.
What Remains Series (Book 4): Evasion Page 14