Remains (After The Purge: Vendetta, Book 3)
Page 27
“Chris?” she asked.
“She’s way better than us this morning,” Wash said. “That’s a tough kid.”
“What’s she doing out there?”
“Helping Lyla and the townspeople pick up the pieces. There’s a lot to pick up after last night.”
“Keith?”
Wash shook his head.
“And the creature…it’s dead?” Ana asked. “Truly dead?”
“Yeah, it’s dead,” Wash said. “Truly dead.”
“What about the others? The black eyes that were out there last night?”
“I killed the ones that were on the street. Nothing showed up after that, so it’s safe to say they’re dead, too.”
“I don’t think ‘safe’ is the right word this morning, Wash.”
“Safe enough.”
Ana was still staring at the figures moving around outside their window.
“They’ll be fine,” Wash said. “They survived The Purge. They can survive anything after that.”
“Have you met them?”
“A couple. The ones that came to my room with Lyla.”
“How is she, by the way?”
“Hobbling around on a crutch, but she’s alive. After last night, that’s a victory.”
“Yeah,” Ana said, and grimaced again.
“You okay?”
She sighed and fixed him with an annoyed look. “I can barely move without feeling like I might vomit, Wash. I don’t think I’m going to be ‘okay’ for a while.”
“We don’t have to leave right away. We’ll heal up first, then go when we’re ready.”
She smiled at him. “‘We?’ Who is this ‘we’ you’re referring to?”
“I was just thinking…”
“And what were you just thinking?”
“That maybe I’ve been meaning to walk through Nebraska again. You know, see if there are some jobs up there. I heard about this place called Newton…”
Ana frowned.
“No?” Wash said.
“Forget Newton,” Ana said. “I like Kansas better.”
“What I meant was, I’ve been meaning to walk through Kansas again…”
Ana smiled again. “Maybe you’re not such an asshat after all.”
He laughed. “And all it took was almost dying in Texas for you to realize that, huh?”
“Hey, it’s a big state; it took me awhile.”
“Better late than never.”
Ana glanced back at the window and didn’t say anything for a while.
“What is it?” Wash asked.
She turned back to him. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Back to Kanter 11. Back to Emmy.”
“We will, after you heal up. After we both heal up.”
“I’m fine.”
“Bullshit.”
“I want to leave this place, Washington. I want to go back to Emily.” She reached over and took his hand, and squeezed. “Let’s go. Let’s leave today. Maybe not this morning, but today. You, me, and Chris. Let’s just…go.”
Wash sighed. Just the thought of packing up and climbing on a horse now, after everything they had been through, made his bones ache.
But he saw the determination on Ana’s face and knew she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Hell, if he said no, there was a very real possibility she might just leave him behind and go on her own anyway.
He nodded and squeezed her hand back. “I’ll ask Lyla for more painkillers.”
“A lot more,” Ana said.
He grinned. “Yeah, a whole lot more.”
A Word From the Author
And just like that, the 3-part “Vendetta” storyline comes to a close. Does this mean there will be no more After The Purge books? Perish the thought! I have plenty of stories about more people set in different locations fighting different enemies to tell. Too many, in fact.
If you would like to see more of what’s going on out there, please take a second to leave a review for Remains at a bookseller of your choice. And if you haven’t already, please do the same for the first two parts in the series. Even a short review would be tremendously appreciated, and it would let me know you guys want more.
Thanks again for reading, and until next time… Stay out of the dark!