There was a long moment where nobody said anything. Crickets sang. Frogs croaked. An owl hooted. But nobody said anything.
“And if any of the rest of you are like him,” Jason said, “if any of you come after my sister or me, I will kill you.” His threat hung in the air until the others lowered their guns, and I did the same.
My eyes drifted to Ky and Harper, and I finally got my first up-close look at Ky’s wounds. My throat constricted, and my eyes burned with the need to shed more tears than I already was. Ky wasn’t going to make it. I didn’t think even a transfusion of Jake’s blood could fix him…he was just too damaged.
I felt a hand grasp mine, and I looked to my right to see Zoe standing beside me, her face a mask of grief that mirrored mine. I gave her hand a squeeze, then reached for Jason’s with my left and threaded my fingers through his.
But he didn’t look at me, didn’t tear his eyes away from Ky. His Monitor. His best friend. Who was dying.
Ky coughed, drawing my attention to him. His lips curved into a sorry attempt at a smile that lasted about a second and was driven away by a grimace. When his features relaxed once more, he stared up at Jason. “Not…your…fault…”
And then he exhaled for the final time.
33
ZOE
MAY 28, 1AE
The Farm, California
“It is our fault…it’s all our fault,” I breathed. Seeing Ky lying there, another friend bloody and lifeless, was too much. “Sarah…” I closed my eyes, the image of her lifeless body still fresh in my mind. “And now Ky…”
“What about Sarah?” Biggs said.
I spun around to find him standing behind me, shocked and confused, with a crying Everett in his arms. “I heard gunshots…” As he registered the horror on my face, my regret, his grip on Everett tightened, like he knew to steady himself for another blow.
I lost what final shred of composure I had left, and my silent tears turned to violent sobs. “Biggs, I wanted to tell you—”
His eyes darted around the group; everyone was quiet, shocked and waiting. “Tell me what?”
Fists clenched and my heart pounding emphatically, I took a step toward him. “Sarah was one of them, a Monitor. I’m so sorry. I saw everything right before…”
His brow furrowed. “A what?”
“She was going to kill me—she was trying not to—right before she went into labor, but she—she couldn’t.” I took a shaky breath. “She sent you away because she knew what she had to do.” My chest felt so heavy, so tight, I struggled to breath.
“What the hell are you saying, Zoe?”
I tried to swallow back my cowardice. He needed to know, Biggs deserved to know. “Sarah killed herself to protect me.”
His eyes hardened with understanding. The burn of guilt only intensified as I watched his features twist with anger and felt his mounting sadness all over again.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, bracing myself for what might come next. As I exhaled, I opened my eyes and said, “It wasn’t depression, I—”
Biggs glared at Harper. “You lied to me?”
“He didn’t know,” I croaked. “No one did but me and Jason.” Although that wasn’t exactly true, there was no reason to share the blame. Our friends were dead because of us.
For a fleeting moment, Biggs’s features softened, and I knew he was thinking about Sarah, relieved she hadn’t taken her life because of the babies, because she’d regretted having them. But then his eyes found mine, and I held my breath. “I blamed myself…I blamed them, and it was your fault. You allowed me to think—”
I let out a choked sob and took another step closer. “I wanted to tell you, Biggs.” I let the tears fall freely, let his anguish fill me the way it was filling him. “I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I—”
“You could’ve,” he growled. “You could’ve, but you didn’t.” And before I knew what was happening, Biggs was storming back toward the house, Everett’s fussing turning to bloodcurdling screams.
Body numb and clumsy, I ran after him. “Biggs, please don’t—”
“Leave me alone, Zoe!” He stomped up the stairs and flung open the screen door. “Stay away from my children.”
I froze. “Biggs, please…”
The screen slammed in my face. What’s he going to do? When I heard him march up the stairs, when I felt his resolve and disgust and hatred for me, I knew. Sadness flooded through me.
Flinging open the screen, I ran in after him. “You can’t leave, please don’t leave. We can help you.”
Biggs ignored me as he strode into his room, placed Everett in his crib, and pulled out his duffel.
“Please don’t do this. Please don’t leave. I want to help, I want to—”
“Get. Out.” He stopped and glared at me. “I said, get out.”
My presence was only making him more despondent, more outraged, so I reluctantly straightened and backed out of his room. I wished he would listen, wished he would stay. “I am sorry,” I warbled. “I am so, so sorry.” Biggs was going to leave, to take the twins, and there was nothing I could do to change his mind.
“You’ll never come near my children again,” he said so evenly I knew it was true, and I sobbed harder as he slammed the door in my face.
JUNE
1AE
34
DANI
JUNE 16, 1AE
The Farm, California
“I can see why the dream freaked you out so much,” Zoe said. She was kneeling beside me in the overgrown grass surrounding the mound of dark earth over Ky’s still-fresh grave. A simple wooden headstone with his name and dates marked the head of the grave. Jason was working on gathering the tools and materials needed to create a more permanent, granite gravestone, but it would still be a while.
A couple of blessedly quiet weeks had passed since Ky’s death and Biggs’s retreat to New Bodega with the twins. We felt the loss of all of them deeply, but we couldn’t afford to dwell on what was gone; we had to focus on what we still had. We had to keep going. We were slipping into a routine of long hours and hard work that felt a little more natural every day. The Farm wasn’t quite a well-oiled machine, but it was getting there.
Thinking about the nightmare that had left me clammy and breathing hard early this morning—a vivid replay of me shooting the child-Crazy a few months back—I nodded to Zoe. “I mean, I know the little girl was a Crazy and was pretty much about to rip your face off, but…I just…” I groaned in frustration, reaching out to rearrange our daily offering of wildflowers over Ky’s grave for the third time. “She was barely older than Annie…and I killed her.”
Zoe took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. I could see that it was practically painful for her not to take over my meager efforts to create a visually pleasing pattern, but I appreciated that she restrained herself. I needed to do this, but I was grateful that she made time to visit Ky’s grave with me every day.
“Personally, I like having my face,” Zoe said. “You did what you had to do to protect me when I couldn’t protect myself.” She grabbed my wrist and squeezed. “Thank you for doing that, D.”
I bit my lip, then squeezed my eyelids shut and nodded once. “You’re welcome, Zo. I don’t know what I’d do if—if—”
“I know, D. Me too.”
I opened my eyes and stared into hers; they were so startlingly blue, so wonderfully familiar. “I love you, Zo.” I loved Jason with all of my heart, but in so many ways, Zoe really was the other half that fit perfectly with my soul.
Zoe’s arms were suddenly around me, and we were both stifling convulsive sobs. “God, D…I couldn’t do this without you. I really couldn’t.”
I pulled away and wiped my cheeks, not the least bit embarrassed at my impromptu display of soppy affection. After all, what was the point of surviving the apocalypse if I couldn’t tell my best friend how much I loved her every once in a while?
My eyes drifted to Ky’s temporary grave marker. We’d erected
one for Ben, too, right beside Ky’s, though we didn’t actually have Ben’s body; we had his memory. At least it was a way for the brothers to be together. They deserve that.
Zoe grabbed my hands. “D…”
I leaned away a little and eyed her.
“D!” she repeated, practically bouncing on her knees.
“What?” I shook my head, totally confused.
“You just spoke in my head!”
I continued to shake my head. My latest period of electricity-induced Ability burnout had proved to be the longest yet, lasting well over two weeks. It had only just ended a few days ago, and it had been fluctuating unpredictably since it had come back online.
Zoe squeezed my hands. “You said, ‘At least it’s a way for them to be together, they deserve that’—but you said it in my head!”
As I continued to shake my head, I realized that something inside me had changed—I could feel her mind. I felt an enormous, wondrous grin spread across my face. I could sense people again. For the first time in months, I could speak to them telepathically. My Ability was fixed. I was fixed!
I searched the farm for one specific mind and found it within seconds. “Guess what, Jason? I’m back…”
35
JAKE
JUNE 17, 1AE
Bodega Bay, California
After giving their names at the heavily guarded wall, Jake and Jason rode their horses into New Bodega, construction plans and “shopping” lists rolled up and strapped to their saddles.
“They should have one of those serpentine belts somewhere, right?” Jason asked.
Jake nodded, leaning down and patting Brutus’s shoulder. “Yeah, but the question is whether or not they’d let me use one…or three.”
“We have plenty to barter with, I’m sure.”
Jake shrugged as a thought occurred to him. “I guess if they don’t have any quarter-inch belts, I can look for a different-sized chain,” he said. “Although I’m not sure a chain would be as efficient.”
“I’ve got to stop in the hardware store, too. I need a few more clamps if I’m going to get that additional shed up before the first wave gets here from Tahoe. I just hope the shop has some.”
Jake tried to imagine making room for another group of people on the Farm. “When’s that happening?”
Jason squinted out at the harbor as it came into view. “A couple weeks. They’re just passing through. When Dani checked in with Lance last night, he told her there’s another farm a few miles past ours that’s ready to be worked if there are willing, capable bodies. And Holly and Hunter said they have a few group members who are more than willing.”
Jake stretched in his saddle. “That’s good. It’ll be nice to have another farm close by.” He scanned the mostly abandoned street.
Fog still hung low, but Jake had grown used to living near the coast and knew it would burn off by midday. The clip-clopping sound of horse hooves on the pavement echoed in the morning fog as they rode toward the town center. Beyond the boathouse, Jake could barely make out the tents compiling the marketplace.
The two of them meandered in silence, taking in their surroundings as they rode further down the winding road.
Jason pointed to the bike rack–hitching post in front of Town Hall. “Let’s see what they have in the way of materials, then we’ll worry about the crab.”
Jake nodded. “Dani’s gonna love you for that.”
A broad smile engulfed Jason’s scarred face. “I know.”
Jake chuckled as they secured their horses to the bike rack. After unstrapping his backpack, he turned toward the morning market and bustling merchants readying their tents and tables for the day. There was a fresh produce stand with eggs and veggies, a seafood tent, another displaying jewelry and gemstones, and others with leather bags and crocheted blankets, jams, and jellies…the tents and stands went on and on.
After Jason patted his horse’s withers and pulled his pack up onto his shoulder, he headed across the street to the hardware store.
“I’ll meet you in there,” Jake said and walked beside Jason. He broke away, heading toward the hunting and fishing supply shop. “I need to get some more arrows for Zoe and the boys.”
Jason nodded and continued on toward the store a few doors down.
Jake entered the first shop in the row, greeting the older woman at the counter before he began to sort through what few options the shop owner had in the way of arrows. Zoe had been spending a lot of time practicing archery, meaning she was getting better and breaking less arrows, but she was still going through them pretty quickly. Although Jake hadn’t told Zoe about it, Jason had agreed to teach him a thing or two about woodworking so he could make custom arrows for her…eventually. He wanted it to be a surprise.
“Sorry, it’s not much,” the woman said, her eyes not leaving the weathered paperback book in her hand. She pushed her reading glasses higher on the bridge of her nose. “I should have more stock in within the next few weeks. Just waiting for the next big scavenging trip to the city.”
Jake made a noncommittal noise before picking a set of arrows he thought would suffice and trading a quart of goat’s milk for them.
“Thank you,” he said, giving her a slight wave as he pushed open the door.
“Have a good day.”
Jake headed out the door and toward the hardware store a couple doors down. When he stepped into the tiny shop, he expected to find Jason poring over the new chisel sets and the sharpeners that lined the shelves, but Jake didn’t see Jason at all. The portly shopkeeper, with his long hair and even longer beard, was the only occupant. He strolled up to the counter from the workshop in back.
When he looked up, he flashed Jake a welcoming smile. “Morning.”
With a nod, Jake approached the counter. “Morning. I’m looking for my friend, Jason. I was supposed to meet him in here.”
The shopkeeper shrugged. “I’ve only had a few people in this morning. What’s he look like?”
“He’s a big guy, dark hair?”
The man chuckled. “I’ve lived here for years…seen a lot of visitors by that description.”
“Perfect. You might know his family, actually—the Cartwrights?”
Although the shopkeeper’s expression never wavered, Jake could have sworn some of the color drained from the man’s face.
Jake took a step closer to the counter. “Everything okay?”
The man seemed to blink himself back to the present and nodded. “I did just open up. Your friend might’ve come up when the door was locked.” He busied himself behind the counter, and Jake got the distinct impression the man was avoiding his gaze.
“Did you know the family?” Jake asked as he glanced around the shop, wondering if Tom had been a regular back in the day.
“I did, actually.” He cleared his throat. “I was a friend of their father’s.” He stilled for a moment and met Jake’s eyes. “Honestly, I thought they were all dead.”
Jake shook his head. “Not all of them.” Jake stood there a moment, contemplating. “Alright, well, thanks anyway.” He turned to leave just as the door opened, and Jason walked in.
“Morning,” he said to the shopkeeper, who offered him a tight-lipped smile in return.
“Good morning.”
Jason scanned the store. “I need three twelve-inch hand-screw clamps, if you have any.” He laughed softly and shook his head. “Zoe’d love the smell of this place.”
Jake watched the shopkeeper, waiting for him to check his inventory, but he just stood there, watching Jason intently. Jason didn’t seem to notice the man’s scrutiny.
“Did you have those clamps?” Jake prompted, and Jason turned his attention back to the counter.
“If you don’t,” Jason said, “I’ll take three of the closest thing you’ve got.”
The shopkeeper gave him a curt nod. “I’ve got ’em,” he said. “Just a moment.” He headed into the attached workshop.
When he returned, he set the
clamps out on the counter.
“These will be great, thanks,” Jason said.
As the shopkeeper wrapped up the clamps, his eyes narrowed slightly on Jason, then on Jake. “What are you boys building?” he asked.
“A new shed.” Jason pulled his pack off his shoulder and set it up on the counter, preparing to barter with the shopkeeper, but the shopkeeper waved him away.
“It’s on the house,” he said and slid the wrapped clamps over to Jason.
Jason looked thoroughly confused.
“He knew your father,” Jake explained when the shopkeeper said nothing. Jake watched the owner’s placid expression.
Jason’s head tilted to the side. “Really?” He outstretched his hand. “I’m Jason. I’m afraid I don’t remember you.”
The shopkeeper extended his hand, as well. “Charles, and don’t worry. I wouldn’t expect you to.”
~~~~~
“Zoe, can you get me the diagrams you’re working on for the farm?” Jason asked as he walked up the porch steps. “I’m trying to figure out where we need to focus our attention.”
Zoe nodded. “I guess I’ll practice later.” She winked at Jake as she set her bow and new set of arrows on the porch railing and headed inside for the diagrams she’d been sketching. It had been a few weeks since Biggs had left with the twins, and Jake was glad to see Zoe was finally getting some of her pep back and finding her groove again.
“You planning on finishing the shed in one day?” Jake asked. “I know you like projects, but…” He smiled.
“Just trying to keep everyone busy. Between you and me, I’m hoping the shed’ll be done in the next couple of days. If Harper and Tavis can have enough of the field dug up, we can—”
The crunch-crunch of hooves on gravel came from the end of the long driveway. Jake turned his head to watch a gray horse and rider pass through the open gate. When he noticed the shaggy-faced, portly man from the hardware store, he frowned.
The Ending Series: The Complete Series Page 128