Carlos pulled out of the little mini-shed. He stood, took a step backward, and tripped.
I reached for him instinctively, and the moment my fingers closed around his wrist, I couldn’t make them let go. Because I was suddenly on fire with electricity.
Wrenching himself free, Carlos stumbled backward.
My knees gave out, and I held myself up on hands and knees as I gasped for air.
“Jesus…fuck, Dani! Are you okay?”
Somehow, I managed to wave at him with one hand. “Yeah…yeah…I’m good.”
Except for one thing: I couldn’t feel a single mind. Electricity had knocked my Ability out…again.
~~~~~
As promised by the Council, a pair of New Bodega-ers made a delivery in the late afternoon. They’d spared some of their precious fuel supply to power up a hybrid SUV, bringing us not only three coolers filled with fresh seafood—rock cod, crab, shrimp, and abalone, as well as several types of seaweed—but also a solar-powered generator and a several-week supply of dry goods. The generator was meant to power the chest freezer in the farmhouse’s enormous pantry so we could store the seafood longer and put more time between deliveries.
After the two of them left, Ky, Camille, and Becca built up the fire in the huge brick oven behind the farmhouse and started making dinner with the new supplies. The rest of us returned to our work around the farm—Harper putting the final touches on his infirmary in the ground-floor master bedroom, Tavis and Sam storing our spare weapons and ammo in the laundry-room-turned-armory, Carlos and Mase joining Jason to help with the windmill, Grayson appraising the fields across the road from the farm, Chris and Biggs scouting around the perimeter of the farm for the best path for a fence we could convert into a wall over time, and me mucking out the stables with Annie’s help. Which consisted more of the little girl rolling around on the floor of the stable aisle with Jack, while Zoe, once again on baby duty, was watching me from a bench in the aisle, one little baby bundle in her arms and the other in a carrier on the bench beside her.
“I am not sure I’m cut out for this, D,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
I paused, turning just enough that I could see her through the stall door. “You volunteered to take care of them…”
“You would’ve done the same thing in my place.” She gave me a sidelong glance before she peered down at the baby she was holding; I assumed it was Ellie, given the pink blanket the infant was swaddled in.
“I suppose…” I continued shoveling. “So, I forgot to ask you about this earlier—I heard you screaming in your sleep again last night. Are those dreams about your mom still bothering you?”
“I don’t know…yeah.” Zoe was quiet for a moment, then she added, “It’s just, all of this stuff about her creating the Virus and having this other family…it just seems so crazy, you know? I mean, my mom is the fucking doctor responsible for it all.” She leaned against one of the stable doors and let out a slow, deep breath. “It’s a lot to take in, I guess.”
As though she were responding to a cue, our resident Crazy squealed, the high-pitched noise trailing off with a girlish giggle.
Which Ellie didn’t like at all. There was a brief windup period, filled with cute little noises, but soon she was wailing away, and bringing Everett right along with her.
“Uh-oh,” Annie remarked wisely from the aisle floor. Jack, who’d been enjoying the belly rub of all belly rubs, rolled onto his feet and, hackles rising, started to growl in Vanessa’s direction.
“Stop that,” I told him, and he sat, quieting immediately, though not taking his eyes from the locked stall at the end.
And all the while, the babies cried like their lives depended on it.
“Damn it!” Standing, Zoe crossed the aisle and entered the stall, thrusting the distraught infant at me.
I held out my shovel. “What am I—”
“Just for a sec, D, please?” Zoe said, barely giving me time to set the shovel against the wall and peel off my work gloves before leaving me with Ellie and rushing out of the stall to pick up Everett. “Shhh…shhh…shhh, baby boy. Please, Everett…please go back to sleep.” She walked around in circles with the baby, cooing and shushing and rocking him gently. “Shhh…shhh…shhh…”
Unfortunately, Everett didn’t seem to understand.
Frowning, I looked down at Ellie. Remarkably, she’d stopped crying. She stared up at me with enormous blue eyes and started making bubbles with her mouth, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Hey there, little girl…you’re not so scary, are you?” I said as I walked through the open stall door leading out to the pasture to bask in the afternoon sunlight. “You’re just a little snuggle bug, huh?”
Ellie blinked.
“Yes you are,” I cooed. “You’re just the cutest little princess there ever was.”
I heard Zoe’s low, soft chuckle from behind me and froze, caught in the act of being a total softy. Slowly, I turned around.
Zoe stood in the exterior stall door, Everett in her arms, soothed into silent sleep. She was shaking her head and clicking her tongue at me in disbelief. “First Annie, now Ellie…it’s only a matter of time, D.” Her rueful smile broadened.
“A matter of time for what?”
“Babies,” she mouthed, her brow dancing excitedly as she sidled up next to me and nudged my arm with her elbow.
I readjusted my hold on Ellie, shifting her head higher, and sighed. “A matter of time?” I wanted my own family with Jason…someday. But not yet. Definitely not yet. Our world was just too unstable. Plus, we already had two infants, a little girl, and an adolescent boy to take care of on the farm. Any more kids might break us.
“I can see the gleam in your eyes, D. I know you want to see what it would be like to have your own…” Her teasing ceased and suddenly her eyes turned pleading. “Just for a little while, as least?”
I rolled my eyes, nearly snorting. “I knew there was an ulterior motive in there somewhere…” I flashed her my most innocent smile and batted my eyelashes. “Sure, if you want to muck out the stable that badly, I’ll take the twins for a while. You can shovel, and I’ll watch the munchkins.”
Zoe’s smile withered under the threat of yards of moldy hay and manure. She glanced down at Everett. “I think I’ve had my share of poop for a long time.”
“Ahem,” someone said from the stable aisle behind Zoe.
We both jumped a little, Zoe spinning while she did.
Ky lounged against the stall’s doorframe. “Dinner’s ready, and Jason and Grayson want everyone up there so they can do one of their patented dinner–team meeting things. They’re waiting up at the tables now.”
I forced a scowl to hide a smile. He’d surprised us on purpose, I knew it. “Did Jason finish the windmill?” It had looked a lot more like a multiday project than a one-afternooner, so I doubted it.
Ky shrugged and started for the stable’s backdoor. “I’ll be up in a bit…gotta track down the others,” he said over his shoulder.
“Alrighty…Jason summons, we come.” I walked back into the stable to retrieve Annie and my dog while Zoe started gathering the twins’ things into a baby bag one-handed. I paused in the stable doorway to wait for her and Everett.
Zoe waved a hand at me. “You guys go on up. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Okeydokey.” With Annie and Jack in tow and Ellie sleeping soundly in my arms, I emerged from the stable and headed straight for the three round tables we’d moved from the barn to the flagstone patio surrounding the behemoth of a brick oven. Jason, Carlos, Mase, and Grayson were sitting at one of the tables, Jason deep in conversation with Grayson while simultaneously taking notes. Camille was standing in front of the oven’s arched mouth, using spatulas to flip what looked like some sort of biscuit or flatbread cooking in cast-iron skillets. The rest of the group had yet to arrive.
When we were about halfway between the stable and the patio, Carlos spotted my little entourage and nudge
d Jason, leaning in to murmur something, and Jason looked our way. He’d been writing in his notebook, but his pen stilled almost as soon as his eyes landed on me. The corners of his mouth curved upward the barest amount, and his expression, filled with yearning more than desire, seared through my heart. Beside him, Carlos was grinning from ear to ear. Jason said something to Grayson and, pushing back his chair, stood and started striding toward us.
“Jason!” Annie squealed. She ran ahead, throwing herself into his waiting arms.
He lifted her up by the armpits, spinning her around in a circle and earning a second, prolonged squeal. When he finally set her down again, he was laughing, and Annie’s face was flushed with excitement.
“We scooped poop!” she told him, pride emanating from her.
“Did you?” He held onto one of her hands, leading her back the way she’d come. “You’re turning into quite the farmer. We’ll have to start calling you Farmer Annie, soon.”
Annie nodded enthusiastically, but Jason didn’t see it because his eyes were locked on me.
“I think Camille needs your help,” Jason said to the little girl, and she skipped away. When he reached me, Jason raised one hand to clasp the back of my neck and leaned in, brushing his lips against my cheek. “Well, hello there.”
Hiding a smile, I pulled back and peered up into his jewel-blue eyes. “What’s put you in such a good mood?”
“You.”
Skeptical, I frowned; I smelled like horse manure and sweat, and I was fairly certain I had clown hair, so it definitely wasn’t my present state that was inspiring such happiness. My eyes narrowed and I peeked around him at Carlos. “What’d Carlos say to you?” Because whatever the teenager had said had to be the spark.
Placing his palms on either side of my face, his fingers forming a gentle cage around my head, Jason leaned in again, this time brushing his lips against mine. He lingered, giving me the sweetest, most tender kiss possible. Pulling away, he smiled. “I believe it was…‘Check it out.’”
“‘Check it out?’ That made you all…uber-happy?” I pulled back and studied his face. “Why?”
“If you’d seen you, with the baby and Annie and Jack, you’d be smiling, too,” he said as his focus shifted to a spot behind me. He raised his voice. “How’re the twins today?”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Zoe approaching, Everett nestled peacefully in her arms. “See for yourself,” she said as she neared. She paused just long enough to say, “Consider it practice,” barely containing a smile as she handed Everett to Jason, then continued on her way up to the tables.
I rolled my eyes. Why she suddenly wanted to add more screaming babies to the mix was beyond me.
Jason stared down at the baby that had suddenly appeared in his hands, then looked at me, eyebrows raised in curiosity. “What was that all about?”
I smiled wryly. “Let’s just say she’s not beyond using any means necessary to finagle some help with the babies. As it turns out, motherhood is hard, having twins is harder, and raising someone else’s twins is turning out to be the hardest of all.”
~~~~~
An hour later, we were all seated at the tables on the patio, empty bowls in front of us and only a few stray biscuits remaining in the baskets set in the center of each table. Zoe’d retreated into the farmhouse with the twins to put them to bed as soon and Jason and I had handed them back over to her, and she’d yet to reemerge.
Harper reached for another biscuit and glanced at Jason, who was sitting on my left. “So, what’s the plan for tomorrow? Infirmary’s good to go, or as good as it can be with the supplies we’ve got right now.”
Jason brushed biscuit crumbs off his hands while he chewed his final bite. He nodded slowly as he swallowed. “We’ve got to head into town, stock up on what we need to get this place running.”
“I’d like to come along,” Harper said before tearing off a quarter of the biscuit and popping it into his mouth.
Again, Jason nodded, the motion slow and contemplative. “That works.” He shifted his eyes to me. “You up for a day trip?”
I smiled but shook my head. For some reason I couldn’t explain, I felt like if I left the farm, I might never return. And beyond that, I wasn’t the right person for the job, not while my Ability was burned out. “Much as I’d like to go with you, I think I’m more useful here, with the animals.” When Jason didn’t respond, only blinked, I continued, “Ky’s just as good at scouting, anyway”—I looked at Ky, who raised a shoulder—“and way better in a sticky situation. You three boys go…scout stuff…do manly things.”
Meeting Jason’s eyes, I stared into their unfathomable depths until he shifted his attention to Ky and Harper.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Ky watching us with a strange intensity, but when I looked at him fully, whatever I’d seen was gone, and he wore his usual lazy smile.
“Right, so here’s the deal,” Jason said. “We’ve got four objectives tomorrow: assess Petaluma for any present or future dangers to the farm, load up on the seeds on this list…” He paused to tear a piece of paper out of the notebook he’d been writing in when he’d been talking to Grayson, handing it to Harper. “I know there are a few seed banks in town. They were big on sustainability and that grow-your-own-food shit here, before…”
“Good for us,” Harper commented.
“That it is,” Jason said with a nod. “We’ll also load up on medical supplies, and search any bookstores, libraries, or anywhere else we can think of for books on”—he looked down at his open notebook—“managing an orchard, gardening, sanitation, irrigation, food preservation, composting, beekeeping…”
“I’m glad you’re staying tomorrow,” Grayson said from across the table, and it took me a moment to realize he’d been speaking to me. “I know you have some knowledge about herbs and such, and I thought you might be interested in converting the vegetable garden, or at least part of it, into an herbal garden.”
“Oh…yeah. That would be great, actually.” His timing was perfect, uncanny even, considering what Carlos and I had talked about briefly during our walk up to the well pump.
Grayson smiled, excitement lighting his eyes.
Jason gave my shoulder a squeeze and leaned in to press a kiss against my cheek. “Are you done? Because I am…”
Harper and Ky reached for another biscuit at the same time, and as their fingers brushed, Harper jumped to his feet, knocking his chair backward, and pulled his pistol. He leveled it at Ky’s chest.
Ky did the same, only he aimed his gun at Jason.
The rest of us froze.
The backdoor to the farmhouse slammed open, and Zoe yelled, “Jason! Ky’s one of them!”
“Don’t do it, man.” Harper’s voice was a low warning.
“You don’t get it. I have to do it,” Ky said, right before he pulled the trigger.
CRACK.
Jason’s body jerked, and I screamed.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Ky stumbled, knocking his chair backward.
I didn’t understand what the hell was happening. I pulled my own handgun, but I didn’t have anywhere to aim it.
Ky slumped on the ground, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides, his legs sprawled in front of him akimbo, and his chest rising and falling rapidly as he gasped for breath. Blood stained his lips as well as the front of his t-shirt, turning fabric that had once been faded green almost entirely crimson. He was staring past me, at Jason.
I glanced over my shoulder as horror knotted in my gut, a writhing, visceral feeling. Blood streaked down Jason’s sleeve, and my stunned brain finally processed Zoe’s words. Ky was one of them—a Monitor. And something had triggered him, and he’d attempted to carry out his mission…to kill Jason.
If Harper hadn’t seen, if he hadn’t been ready…
I shook my head, unable to believe what was happening.
Ky was a Monitor. Ky tried to kill Jason. Ky…my friend.
“Sorry�
��man,” Ky managed to say between gasping breaths.
“I know, Ky. I know,” Jason said. “Fuck!” There was so much hurt and rage and desperation in his voice that it shredded my heart.
“Do it,” Ky whispered. “Kill…me.” He let out a ragged breath, and blood bubbled on his lips. “I won’t…stop…”
“Damn it, Ky!” Jason shouted, finally losing the battle with his emotions. “God…”
“Oh, God,” Zoe groaned and met my eyes. “It was me, in the stable, when I mentioned my mom…he was listening…” Her eyes closed, and tears broke free, glistening on her cheeks. “I triggered him.” She slumped lower in her chair, hanging her head in her hands. “It was me…”
“Zo…” I wanted to go to her. I yearned to go to her, just like I yearned to go to Ky. But I couldn’t. Not yet.
“Alright, this is what’s going to happen,” Jason said, raising his unsteady voice. “We’re going to remain nice and calm while I explain how this extremely fucked-up situation isn’t what it looks like. Harper didn’t just shoot Ky in cold blood.” He looked at Harper. “Please, see if there’s anything you can do for him.”
I watched as Harper made his way to Ky while the others exchanged nervous, confused glances.
Beside me, Jason took a deep breath. “Here’s the truth. My mother”—he practically spat the word—“is Anna Wesley, the General’s pet doctor.”
I watched the others’ faces as he spoke, shock and horror widening their eyes, twisting their familiar features into masks of outrage and disgust.
“The General keeps her on a leash by dangling the constant threat of death—mine and my sister’s—in front of her. He placed Monitors close to us, people with hidden commands to eliminate us if she ever tried to contact us.” He paused, letting his words sink in. “Well, she contacted us, Ky found out, and he just tried to kill me.”
“It’s…true,” Ky wheezed, and I risked glancing down at him. He was staring at Jason, his eyes both empty and imploring. “It’s true.”
The Ending Series: The Complete Series Page 127