Evan grins. “I think that was Jo’s boom.”
I throw the truck into park, hop out of the door and run over the ridge. A fire burns what’s left of the jeep in the middle of the creek bed.
Reece climbs down from the back of the truck and stands beside me. “What just happened?”
“Jo.” As I say her name, she emerges from a pile of tree branches and strides toward us with a confident swagger.
We watch her for several seconds before Reece breaks our silence. “I still don’t trust her.” Then he scans the sky. “While we’ve escaped these thugs, we’ve now sent a giant smoke signal up for the army to find. Which presents a dilemma. We need a place to hide very soon, but any place close will be near enough for the military to find us.”
I hadn’t considered this, and now my stomach tightens with new fear. “What are we going to do?”
“We need to get going. We should still be in farm country so hopefully we can find a large barn to hide in.”
I look back at the truck. “There’s four of us and we won’t all fit into the truck cab. How will this work?”
Reece’s mouth twists as he contemplates my question. “For now, you ride in back with Jo. But the next time we take off again, I think you should ride in the back with Evan now that we have blankets to wrap him up in.” Reece clears his throat. “I’m not sure how much longer he’ll last if he doesn’t get an antibiotic.”
I know this, but Reece’s declaration makes it more real. Still, I can’t accept it. “Maybe Jo is wrong. Maybe we’ll find some medicine in the boxes we took.”
“I hope for Evan’s sake that we do.”
Jo reaches the top of the ridge, slightly out of breath.
Reece glares at her, but his face seems softer than before. “I’d love to stand around and ask you how you did that, but we have to get the hell out of here before the military shows up.” Then he walks to the driver’s door while Jo and I climb into the back.
The truck takes off, and I sit on my butt while Jo sits in a crouch by the opening. It’s colder in the back so I crawl over to one of the boxes and open the lid to pull out a blanket. A musty smell I didn’t notice in the store permeates the contents.
Jo watches me with narrowed eyes. “So what’s your deal?” Even though her tone borders on hateful, I sense it’s just a front.
There’s no way I’m going to tell her everything. While I trusted Jo enough to let her out of the truck, I’m not foolish enough to trust her with our secrets. Not that she’d believe me. Someone coming from an alternate universe and running for her life sounds crazy even to me, and I’m living it. “We’re from Springfield.”
“I know that already. What are you doing out here? Did you special rich kids get mad at your perfect life and run away from home?”
I pinch my lips as I try to figure out what to tell her.
“I know your kind.” Derision and contempt drip from her words. “You think you have it rough in your comfy civilization, so you come out to the wilds looking for freedom. Most of you don’t last more than a few days out here.”
I pull a blanket out and shake it open. “You don’t know the first thing about us.”
“So fill me in.”
I study her for a second. “You know we’re from Springfield, but I don’t know anything about you other than the fact I found you tied up in a back room, and you’re all alone. Where are you from?”
“Everywhere.”
“What does that mean?”
She breaks my gaze and looks outside. “It means we moved around a lot.”
“So you were like gypsies.”
She shrugs. “I guess.” She turns back to watch me again. “What are the three of you doing out here in a United Regions military truck and with UR weapons?”
I lift an eyebrow. “We’re on a field trip.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re looking for something.”
A sly grin covers her face. “You and two good-looking boys? What exactly are you looking for?”
I don’t like what she’s insinuating. I shrug with a grimace. “Are they good-looking? I hadn’t noticed.”
She takes my hint and drops the subject.
Reece is driving at breakneck speed and turns a corner so sharp that I have to hold on to keep from sliding across the truck.
“I can’t imagine what you three could have done to have the military after you,” Jo says, “but I’m starting to have second thoughts about hanging around.”
I’m grateful for her help and Evan thinks we need her, but I refuse to beg. Besides, I suspect that she’s just as scared as we are. She wants to come with us or she would have left after blowing up the bandit’s jeep. “Suit yourself.”
A flash of surprise crosses her face before her usual look of disdain replaces it. “After your boyfriends find a place to stay, I’ll decide whether to hang around or not.”
Reece drives for ten more minutes, then slows down. The sky is beginning to darken and I see lights in the horizon behind us. The military. They must have found the wreckage of the jeep and soon they’ll be canvassing the area. Hopefully from the air and not on the land.
The truck comes a halt, and I hear the door open up front. “Julia, give me a hand with this,” Reece calls.
I hop out, surprised that the wind has picked up. A gust lifts my hood and blows it off my head. I tug it back on as Jo strides past me to the front of the truck.
Reece has found a partially dilapidated metal warehouse. The doors are rusted and Reece has them partially open. His shoulder braces against one, and he shoves, but the door barely budges.
I stand behind him and put my palms on the rusted surface and push with a grunt. My body is pressed against his, and I realize that I haven’t been this close to him since I hugged him goodbye next to the road two nights ago.
How quickly everything’s changed.
Jo studies us with a pensive frown. I’m not sure what she thinks she sees. Reece and I couldn’t be more distant.
When we finally get the door open, we turn to the other and push as the lights in the distance grow closer.
“Reece…”
“I see them. You and Jo wait in the building.” He runs back to the truck and pulls it in. I start to close one of the doors behind him, and I’m surprised when Jo closes the other.
“We have to get back into the truck,” I tell her, running for the vehicle. “They have infrared sensors and will be able to spot us unless we’re inside.”
Reece helps Evan out of the cab, and they hobble at such a slow pace, I’m not sure they’ll be camouflaged under the heat-detecting shield in the back of the truck in time. Evan’s burst of adrenaline from our getaway has worn off, and he looks like he’s about to pass out.
I slip my shoulder under Evan’s other arm and we half-carry him to the truck bed. Jo is already in the back and pulls him up as Reece pushes.
We’re barely inside when we hear the motors of the helicopters overhead.
“Did we make it?” I whisper in the darkness. All I hear is the whir of helicopter blades outside, and our breaths coming in quick pants.
“I don’t know.” Reese’s voice is tight.
I’ve always liked that about Reece. He never sugarcoats his answers, telling me exactly how it is, while Evan tries to spare me the worry. At this moment, I selfishly wish Evan were assuring me.
My panic builds, but a hand finds mine and squeezes, and I know it’s Reece. A moment of guilt washes through me, but the reassurance he offers is stronger. We sit for several minutes while I squeeze Reece’s fingers until we no longer hear the aircraft. He waits another minute before he lets go, and seconds later a soft light fills the space.
Evan’s sitting on the metal floor, panting from his recent exertion. His complexion is off, even in the poor light.
A new fear grips me now that the more immediate one has passed. “Evan, we need to get you something to eat.”
He leans his head back aga
inst the wall and closes his eyes. “I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat something. You need to keep your strength up.”
He doesn’t protest, so I grab a flashlight and examine the contents of the chest. We’re low on food, and there might be something better in here.
Jo starts searching the other trunk. “Where are you guys headed?”
Reece and I lock gazes. She’s going to find out if she stays with us, so is it okay to tell her now?
Reece answers her first. “Kansas City.”
Jo sits back on her heels and gives us a blank expression. “Why Kansas City?”
“We’re trying to lose the military overhead. We think if we head to Kansas City they won’t look for us there because of the radiation levels.”
Jo studies Reece for several seconds. “It’s a good plan.”
Reece shakes his head. “Well, it was when there were just three of us. But now there’s four and we only have nine anti-radiation tablets.”
Resting her hand on the side of the box, Jo leans forward. “Yeah, you’ll definitely need them in Kansas City. But there might be some in these trunks. The bandits like to go up there and scavenge. No one else will chance it.”
My gaze narrows with suspicion, wondering if I’ve caught her in a lie. “I thought you said they didn’t have any medicine. Why do you think they have some?”
She eyes me with annoyance. “They don’t have any medicine. Most people out here don’t categorize anti-rads as medicine. They’re more like preventive maintenance.”
“So what makes you think they have some?”
“Because they were talking about it while they held me prisoner. They’d stolen a recent stash and were planning a trip up there.”
Her story sounds too convenient, and the look on Reece’s face tells me that he feels the same way. Jo pulls a small pouch from the bottom of the trunk she searches, unknots the top, then pours a handful of tablets into her hand. She brings her hand up to her nose and sniffs. “Bingo.”
“How can you be sure they’re radiation tablets?” Evan asks from across the truck. His voice is so weak, I can hardly hear him.
“Anti-rads can’t be manufactured out here. They’re stolen from the UR. There are fakes floating around, but only real ones have a metallic odor.”
Reece pulls our bottle out, removes the lid, and sniffs. He then looks at Jo.
Jo reaches her hand toward him and he smells the pills she holds, then he takes one from her palm, comparing it to one from his bottle. “She’s right. They do have a specific odor and the tablets look similar.”
Evan lifts his hand and Reece hands him both pills while holding a light up so he can see.
The pale orb casts ghastly shadows across Evan’s face, making him look worse than he already does, and I stifle a gasp of despair. While I know that Reece wants to go to Kansas City to hide from the government before we head west, I hope we can find some abandoned antibiotics. I’ll search house to house if I have to, but if scavengers make regular trips to Kansas City, despite the radiation risk, what are the chances we’ll find anything? And will the radiation contaminate the medication? I blink back tears of frustration and turn away.
There’s so much I took for granted back in my world. If I got sick, I went to the doctor. How do people out here survive without basic medical care?
Jo pulls blankets out of the chest and hands one to Reece. “Are you headed to the survivalist city in the caves?”
Reece’s head jerks up. “What survivalist city?”
She shakes her head with a grunt. “Do you know anything about living out here?”
The three of us remain silent.
With a sigh, she sits back on her heels. “Look, I think we can work out some kind of deal.” She picks up a bag out of the trunk. “There’s some valuable stash in this chest.” Holding the pouch to her nose, she sniffs then grins. “This is tobacco. This will buy your friend antibiotics.” She pulls out another small bag and smells it. “And this is lavender. It’ll get you information. You’re out here without a plan in a government truck. I suspect you need help. The Deacon can probably help you.”
“What’s tobacco and lavender?” Reece asks.
“Who’s the Deacon?” Evan whispers.
“You smoke tobacco,” I say. “And lavender—it’s for perfume, lotions, potpourri.” It seems so strange to live in a world that doesn’t know about cigarettes and lavender. While tobacco’s no big loss, scented lotions and perfumes are.
“What purpose does it serve?” Reece asks.
Jo’s hand gives a dismissive wave. “Never mind that. The fact is that these things are hard to find. It takes a lot to get a tobacco plant to grow, so that makes this valuable. In Deacon’s city, you’ll find people willing to barter for it.”
“How can there be a civilization in a city full of radiation?” I ask.
“They live in the caves.”
Evan coughs, then shifts his legs. “The rock walls would put up a barrier to radiation. I heard there were caves in the hills used for storage. I suppose it’s possible. What’s unbelievable is that there’s a city outside in the wilds, not part of the United Regions.”
Jo shrugs. “There’s lots of towns out here, although most are pretty small. Deacon City is the largest I know about.”
“How many people live there?”
“Last I heard, almost one thousand.”
Evan’s mouth drops open in surprise. “I knew there were survivalists out here, but I had no idea they had any type of civilization.” He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “But it makes sense if you think about it.”
Reece scans Jo, his skepticism written on his face. “How would you know? Have you been there before?”
“When I was a kid. My parents made an attempt at living in civilization. My mother wanted my brother and I go to school.”
“Attempt? You didn’t stay?”
“My father couldn’t handle living in a confined space, no matter how spacious the place was. He tried, for my mother’s sake, but after a few weeks we left.”
“That was the only school you went to?” Reece asks, amazed.
“Yeah, but I’m not stupid. My mother taught me how to read and write. My father taught me mathematics.”
Jo is the last person I would accuse of being stupid.
“So where are your parents?” Reece asks.
“Dead.”
“And your brother?”
“He and my father had a disagreement, and he took off.”
“To Colorado?”
Her shoulders stiffen. “That’s my business, not yours.” But her change in demeanor suggests Reece might have hit on the truth.
“Do you know how to get to the caves?”
She grins, but it’s not friendly. “Of course. Are you asking me to take you there or would you rather hang out in a partially blown-up house while I go?”
While Jo has a wealth of knowledge we need, something about her attitude sets off warnings through my head.
Reece must be thinking the same thing. “So how did you blow up the jeep?”
“I knew that creek bed is where they ambush travelers. They’ve set up the dead foliage to shepherd travelers into the gully, then they attack.”
Reece grunts. “Yeah, I figured that one out on my own. The question is, how did you blow up the jeep?”
Her eyes hardened, and she swallows. “After we were attacked, they tied me up and left me alone while they searched our things. One of them was bragging about a big United Regions gun they had hidden in the brush, a weapon they could use to ambush big vehicles. But they’d only blow something up if they were really desperate.”
“Why?”
She tilts her head with a sneer. “How many cars have you seen driving around out here?” We answer with silence. “Exactly. They’re too valuable to just blow up. I worried they didn’t really have the gun, that it was all talk. But given the circumstances, it was worth the risk. Lucky for
you all, they did.”
We’ve seen no signs of any type of life out here other than Jo and the thugs who took her. But it’s obvious that’s an illusion. We just don’t know where they’re hiding.
“My turn,” she says. “What are you all doing out here? Chipper, over here”—she motions toward me—“says you all are looking for something.”
Both boys cast a questioning glance in my direction, and I raise my eyebrows in frustration. I didn’t give anything away.
“You could say that,” Reece finally answers.
“What is it? I might be able to help you.”
A wicked grin lights up Reece’s eyes. “Don’t you worry yourself about that. That’s our business. You help us get into the caves, we’ll figure out the rest from there.”
She doesn’t seem surprised by his answer, but she doesn’t back down. “So is one of y’all’s daddy a UR military man, and you decided to take the H2 out for a drive around the wilderness?”
Reece gives her another grin. “Nope, they’re just standard government-issue where we live. Everybody gets one. Evan and Julia left theirs at home.”
“Ha,” she says, and her eyes light up. I think she enjoys this back and forth with Reece. “It’s obvious that you all are the reason for the increased patrols. You must have something they want.”
It occurs to me that if trading and bartering mean survival out here, she might be willing to sell us out if she thinks we have something the government wants.
Lowering his head, Reece smirks, then looks her in the eye. “Nope. Just a group of high school students out to explore the world. I’ve always wanted to see Boston. Maybe there’s still some tea in the harbor.”
“That’s a waste of time. There’s nothing out east. And besides, you said you were going through Colorado.”
“Maybe we’ll just drive around and see the sights before we head out there. I’ve always wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean.”
Evan lets out a groan, and I scoot over to him and put my hand on his forehead. I know my hands are cold, but he’s hotter than before. I take the light and shine it on his leg so I can examine his wound. Parting the ripped fabric reveals red streaks that shoot up his thigh. I bite my lip as panic races through my head. I know this is bad, but I’m not sure how bad or how much time Evan has until he either dies or loses his leg.
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