Tom held up his palms and walked back over to the window. Molly followed Nick like a lost puppy. She jumped when he kicked out his frustrations on the side of the shelving unit.
Bronx and I sat by Blair trying to convince her to take bites from various snack foods. She’d chew a crumb for several minutes and then say she didn’t want any more. We tried offering everything from granola to fruit snacks.
“Are you feeling sick?” I asked, worried the wound might have done something worse than we knew. But Tom wasn’t having any problems from his injury.
“No,” Blair said without looking at me. “I’m just not hungry.”
It didn’t matter though, we weren’t going to stop trying. She’d nursed me back to health after I’d eaten the poisoned wolf, this was the least I could do for her.
Several hours had passed before Tom stood up. He held up his hand and waved at the someone outside of the window.
“They’re here,” he announced.
Tom walked over and opened the door allowing the three strangers into our space. Bronx and I stood.
One of them was wearing a baseball cap, but the other two didn’t have their head protected at all. They had an extra layer of fabric over their legs and arms.
“Hey,” the tall one said stepping inside the room and looking around. I was pretty sure he was the one that had stopped by when they first came into town. He offered us all a little wave. “I’m Timothy.”
“I’m Renee,” the petite woman with short, wild hair next to him said as she crossed her arms.
The man to her right bobbed his head. “Erik.”
Tom introduced all of us one by one, leaving Milo for last. It was almost as though he didn’t want them to notice him.
“A kid?” Timothy said softly.
“My son,” Tom said.
“Okay then,” Timothy said. “You guys ready? Long walk ahead of us.”
I couldn’t stop my eyes from shifting to Nick’s leg. His cane was up against the wall. He hadn’t needed it since we’d arrived, but that was probably about to change.
“We’re ready,” Tom said.
“What’s all that?” Erik asked.
“Our supplies,” Tom said looking at them proudly.
Erik and Timothy exchanged a glance. Erik wiped the bottom of his nose and snorted. “Did you pack the entire town?”
“Yeah,” Tom said. “Well, as much of it as I could anyway.”
“They’ll have stuff there,” Renee said.
“Well, then they’ll have even more,” Tom said with a pasted-on grin.
Timothy pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. He held it up and pointed to a dot on the map.
“This is where we are,” Timothy said sliding his finger upward. “And this is where we need to go.”
“How do you know it’s safe?” Nick asked.
Timothy shook his head. “The road to get there probably isn’t, but that’s where survivors need to go.”
“How do you know that?” Nick asked.
“The posted signs. They’re everywhere.” Timothy said.
“Haven’t you guys seen the helicopters?” Renee asked narrowing her eyes.
Tom shook his head. “There haven’t been any helicopters. Or any vehicles for that matter.”
“Then you haven’t been paying much attention,” Renee said. “We’ve seen several.”
“Where would they be refueling?” Tom asked.
Renee shrugged. “How am I supposed to know that? Guessing they do though.”
“So, they’re flying down here to put signs up?” Nick asked trying to cover his grin with his fingers.
Renee cocked her head to the side. “Are you calling us liars?”
“No, no,” Nick said waving his hand. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe there are military bases or airports,” Timothy said with a shrug.
“Well, here’s to hoping it’s not a trick of some kind,” Tom said clapping his hands together.
The three of them exchanged a glance. “It’s not a trick. Canada is safe. They’re helping us.”
“Right,” Tom said bowing his head slightly.
I already knew he didn’t believe it. What no one else knew was what he had up his sleeve. They didn’t know he was going to try to get everyone somewhere to rebuild. He wanted us all to be part of his fresh start.
“Times wasting, should we get started? Long way to go,” Tom said.
Timothy bobbed his head up and down. “Wrap your legs and arms. That shit burns right through your flesh.”
“No kidding?” Tom said raising his bandaged hand.
“Ouch,” Timothy said raising his hand. He turned it over showing the redness on his palm. “Looks like you got it worse.”
Blair turned her cheek to the side as if hiding her bandage. She didn’t want to play the whose wound was worse game.
After we all got wrapped up, we headed out following Timothy, Renee, and Erik. Even though the sun was shining and I was wrapped in layers of fabric, I still felt cold.
“The weathers changing,” Timothy said over his shoulder.
“It’s not just the white stuff that’s making it cold, the seasons are changing,” Renee said.
Erik nodded. “We’re hoping to make it there before the real snow starts to fall.”
“We might move quicker if you guys didn’t have to pull that giant tarp behind you,” Timothy said. “You’re going to wear yourselves out.”
“Nah,” Tom said grinning. “Barely even notice the extra weight.” He glanced over at Bronx who was helping him pull it along. “Isn’t that right, Bronx?”
“Piece of cake,” Bronx said. It didn’t look like it was bothering him in the least, but after a few days of hauling all our supplies along, it was definitely going to be noticeable. Then again, maybe Tom hadn’t been planning on traveling all that far from where we were.
The day passed by without much trouble. Nick tried pulling the supplies, but I could tell his leg was starting to bother him with the additional weight. Or maybe it would have started to bother him either way.
His cane was tucked inside the supply tarp, but he didn’t reach down and take it out. And after everything with Blair, I wasn’t in the mood to prompt him to take it. Apparently, neither was she.
We were tucked inside a two-story house before the sun touched the horizon. I was exhausted and glad for the rest. Milo had fallen asleep within minutes of stopping.
We’d put in a lot of miles. But there were so many more to go… or was there? At some point, we’d break away.
And hopefully, that would be sometime soon.
Sixteen
The house had enough rooms that everyone could break up and take their own bedroom or area. Tom, Nina, and Milo took one of the rooms, but I was pretty sure Tom wouldn’t be able to sleep. He’d be nervous with the new folks.
Bronx and I took one of the rooms, and Nick took the first watch. I had no idea how he was going to be able to keep his eyes open.
Blair crashed on the sofa, and I wasn’t sure where Molly had gone, but she’d probably locked herself in one of the other rooms.
Timothy, Renee, and Erik seemed to think it was unnecessary to keep watch, and didn’t volunteer for any of the shifts. It didn’t matter of course, because it wasn’t like any of us would trust them.
The three of them gathered together in one of the bedrooms without even bothering to close the door. They were far too trusting. Not that they needed to be worried about us, but there were people out there that they would need to worry about. People like Tom and his enemies.
Bronx checked to make sure the door was locked before he started pacing around the room. The floorboards creaked with each step, and I was sure Nick and whoever else was downstairs could hear him.
“Nick’s watching,” I said sitting down on the corner of the bed. “You can relax.”
I wasn’t sure why I had said that when I was having trouble myself. It was al
ways weird to be in someone else’s home. Sleeping in their beds… walking around in their space.
“He can’t see in every direction,” Bronx said.
“I know,” I said rubbing my palm up and down my arm. “It’s just that we’re going to have to sleep. With how hard they’re pushing us during the day, we won’t be able to move if we don’t get our rest.”
“Exactly why you should be laying down,” Bronx said glancing at me with wide eyes as he gestured to the bed.
My mind quickly shot back to the last time I’d stared into his eyes. We’d been lost in each other’s touch. He was probably right, if I didn’t lay down and get some sleep on my own, he’d be laying next to me and then I wouldn’t be able to think of anything but him. His kiss… his body.
“Right,” I said turning away from him.
Even though it was chilly in the room, I laid down on top of the blankets. I kept my back to Bronx because I actually wanted to get some sleep.
My legs were sore, and my body craved rest. But being alone with Bronx made my mind wander to places that wouldn’t allow me to get the sleep I needed.
When my eyes opened again, it was morning. Bronx wasn’t in the room, and no one had woken me for my shift.
Being alone in the room twisted my nerves. I wrapped my arms around my body, shivering as I left the room.
Everyone was already ready to go.
“That’s everybody, right?” Timothy said counting the heads as if he were a school bus driver.
“Yes,” Tom said.
Bronx slid a breakfast bar into my hand. “They’re excited to get moving.”
“Why didn’t anyone wake me?” I asked.
“You were so tired,” Bronx said. “I couldn’t even wake you for your shift. Wanted to let you get as much sleep as possible.”
“What about you?” I asked.
Bronx flashed me a half-smile that heated my veins. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“You don’t know me very well, do you?”
“What do you mean?” Bronx asked cocking his head to the side.
I quickly raised my brows. “I worry about everyone.”
“Everyone?” Tom asked leaning closer.
I rolled my eyes. “Eavesdrop much?”
“As much as possible,” Tom said with complete seriousness.
Thankfully I didn’t have to talk to Tom any longer about it because we were off. We were once again making our way through the white stuff heading north.
My stomach grumbled loudly when the sun was overhead. We hadn’t stopped moving since we’d left in the morning.
“There,” Timothy said over his shoulder as he pointed to a weathered, old barn.
They didn’t bother to check the property, just waltzed into the barn as if they’d owned the place. Both Nick and Tom looked around nervously, Tom keeping his hand just above his hip where I knew the gun was hiding.
No one confronted us. We ate while Timothy, Erik, and Renee had conversations about their lives before everything had gone to shit.
Timothy had been a real estate agent. Renee a hair artist, that’s what she had called it. And Erik had been a computer programmer. All three of them were excited to get back to the real world.
They believed they’d get jobs in Canada. Find apartments and live happily ever after. Each one of them truly believed that things would go back to normal.
The rest of us sat there listening. I didn’t want to be the one to burst their bubble.
After about fifteen minutes, we were back on the road. We were on a highway, and the signs provided little help. I knew we had to go north and I knew we had miles and miles to go, but beyond that, the names didn’t hold much value. At least we’d know how long we’d have to walk until we found the next town, city or whatever it was.
It was strange to be walking on a road that had once been traveled by so many cars that crossing on foot would have been dangerous. Now there wasn’t a soul in sight.
There were abandoned cars here and there. Some facing in the wrong direction.
We stayed away back from them knowing full well that some of them might have rotting corpses inside. The bodies of those that had gotten sick from the red sky and hadn’t recovered.
A slight breeze blew the white powder up around our feet. The air felt cool on my cheeks, sending a chill through my body.
“Brr,” I said, and Bronx nodded. His head was moving around quickly, and it didn’t take long for me to realize what he was looking at.
In the not too far off distance, the white dust was floating up and around with the breeze. With each little gust, it seemed to go higher and higher.
“We should find a place to stop,” Bronx called to the front of the line. If Timothy heard him, he ignored him. “What the hell?”
Another blast of air blew past, cracking the branches of a nearby tree into one another.
“What’s going on?” I asked even though I had a pretty good idea.
“Winds picking up,” Bronx said. “I don’t like this. Pull as much of the fabric as you can over your face. I’m going to talk to them.”
Before Bronx walked off, he turned to Blair. I was pretty sure he’d given her the same warning, but she didn’t pull anything over her face. She’d simply shrugged and kept moving her feet.
“Be right back,” Bronx said and jogged past Tom, slowing his pace when he caught up to Timothy.
Bronx moved his hands as he talked, pointing to the west. Timothy shook his head, and Bronx dropped back.
“Jesus,” he whispered. “He’s an idiot.”
“What did he say?” I asked.
“We’re not stopping,” Bronx said pressing his lips together. “Well, they’re not stopping, but we are. I’ll let Nick know.”
I nodded, and Bronx dropped back to walk with Nick. I could hear Bronx tell Nick everything.
“I agree,” Nick said when Bronx finished talking. “But there’s nothing around.”
“I think I see something up there, in that group of trees,” Bronx said.
I squinted, but I couldn’t see anything but pale brown tones covered with white. There could have been a cabin in the woods, or it could have just been some dead trees.
The second Bronx stepped up next to me the wind whistled through the branches. Specks of the white dust lifted up into the sky and swirled around in front of us.
I touched my forehead where I’d felt something small touch my forehead. It had been as light as a mosquito landing on my skin, and after a moment, it felt like twenty of them were taking a bite out of me.
“Ouch!” I said turning to Bronx.
He looked at me with concerned filled eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“My forehead,” I said pointing to the side, just above my temple. “Hurts like hell.”
“It got you,” Bronx said. “It’s just a red dot. But we need to get the hell out of here before it gets any worse.”
I tried to pull more of the fabric up to my eyes. The last thing I wanted was for a speck of the floating dust to land in my eye.
Another gust blew, whistling as it moved by. I stopped walking and covered my face as best as I could with my hands.
When I didn’t feel the biting cold trying to get to me through the fabric, I peeked out between my fingers. The flakes had settled, but it wasn’t going to last.
“Everyone okay?” Bronx shouted.
“Yes,” everyone called back. Nina was bent over Milo covering him.
The wind picked up again, and I could feel little cool touches against my scalp as my hair flew around my face. My back was to the wind rounded forward to protect myself as best as I could.
When he stopped for a moment, it felt like pins poking into my scalp in several locations. I bit down on my cheek to fight off the pain I felt.
I reached out and grabbed Bronx’s arm. “We have to get out of here.”
Seventeen
We ran as fast as our already tired feet would move, keeping our f
aces covered as best as we could. When the wind blew too fast or too hard, we had to stop and curl into ourselves like turtles tucking themselves into their shells.
There was so much white swirling around that it was hard to see the grouping of trees where Bronx had spotted what might have a been a shelter. When the wind would settle, someone would shout out in pain. Everyone was getting assaulted by the little flakes.
“Keep moving,” Bronx prompted when the dust settled for a moment.
I could hear the wind whistling and cracking through the scattered trees in the area and knew it wouldn’t be long before the flakes would be whipped around at us again. My heart was racing, and I was having trouble catching my breath.
I wasn’t sure if it was because of the wind whipping the poison around us, or if it was just from the running. And the fear.
“Come on, Gwen,” Bronx said grabbing my arm. I hadn’t noticed there was a break in the wind.
“Move, move, move,” Nick said as he guided Molly forward, shielding her with his covered arm when the wind blew again.
“Oh my God!” Molly cried. “Make it stop.”
It felt like we were moving through the mini-tornadoes of poison forever before we got to the trees. The trees blocked some of the dust, but we still needed to protect our faces.
“There!” Bronx said pointing forward.
When the wind died down for a moment, I saw it too. A small cabin almost completely covered in white dust. The windows were mostly clear, reflecting the small amount of sun that was able to make it through the dust and the trees into our eyes.
When we got to the door, the window blew so hard it pushed me into the side of the building. We all grouped together pushing at the locked door.
“It won’t open,” Bronx said with a touch of panic to his voice.
“Break it down!” Renee squeaked.
Bronx shook his head. “No, we need to—”
His sentence was cut short when Erik threw his shoulder into the door. It rattled, but it didn’t open.
“Stop it!” Bronx said, grabbing the man roughly. “We’ll need to be able to close it!”
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