by Snow, Jenika
“A safe haven?” Malachi asked. “Are you serious?”
“It’s where I’ve been heading but I can’t make it north. I had to stop for camp. I got bit by a dog. Can you believe that? A stray fucking dog I was trying to feed and it bit me. Crazy fucker!”
Malachi knew crazy when he saw it, and this man was giving him all the signs, but at the same time... “If you come with us, you will take us to this safe haven?” he asked.
“You can’t be serious?” Sasha asked. “This man has axe murderer, serial killer written all over him.”
“Yes. I will help you. I know these forests like the back of my hand.” He held his hand up and frowned. “What’s back and what’s front?”
“He’s crazy,” Sasha said. “There is no safe haven.”
“But what if there is?”
“What if there’s not? You’re willing to risk all of our lives to follow this loon?”
“I have a cabin,” the man said. “It’s pretty cool. It has running water. Nothing to shave with though. I’ve got supplies. Lots and lots of supplies.”
“What can it hurt?” Malachi said.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you trust me?” he asked. “I’ve never done anything to hurt you and I’m not going to start now.”
Malachi was a good reader of men, and this man wasn’t a threat.
Completely away with the fucking fairies but not a threat.
He had clearly been living alone for a long time.
“I like him,” Lucy said. “He’s funny.”
“You’re not staying alone with him.”
“Trust me, Sasha.”
“I do trust you, but right now, I’m having a few doubts.”
“Doubts are allowable.” Malachi took her hand. “He thinks you’re my wife and Lucy’s my kid. We may as well live up to it in case he acts wacky. You don’t want him coming on to you, do you?”
“No. I don’t.”
Malachi was happy to use it as an excuse.
He simply wanted to hold Sasha’s hand.
Lucy moved to his other side and took his hand. He wasn’t entirely happy about it, but Tree Man smiled and looked touched by the moment. “You look like a real family.” He clapped his hands. “This is going to be so much fun. I promise you.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction
They’d been walking for hours, with Tree Man humming and/or singing the entire time. It was annoying as hell, but he made Lucy laugh, even encouraged her to sing with him, so Sasha couldn’t complain too much.
“Can we rest?” Lucy asked. Although Sasha knew Malachi wanted to keep going—as did she to get to the next town—he ruffled Lucy’s hair and stopped. She stayed close to Malachi, which she was thankful for. Despite Malachi not being threatened by Tree Man, there was no way she was putting her trust into a crazy stranger.
It was clear he’d been out here alone way too long.
Lucy leaned against a tree, with Malachi sitting right next to her. Tree Man was on the other side, talking about the planets and stars and how they were the ones roaring around them. What he talked about made no sense the majority of the time, but he seemed very confident about this safe haven.
“Tell me more about this safe colony up north,” Malachi asked Tree Man.
There was a moment of silence before Tree Man lifted his hand and pointed to the canopy of trees. “Up north. Yes. Up north is where safety is.”
“Where up north?”
Tree Man looked at Malachi. “As far as the sun will take you.”
Sasha snorted and shook her head. “Malachi, you can’t possibly think he knows anything about a safe haven.” She heard the shock in her voice. She was at most half of Malachi’s age and even she could see insanity right in front of her.
“Oh, I know all about the place where the stars and the sun meet, the place where you’ll never be scared again.” He started laughing then, pointing to the sky, telling Lucy how the stars shine brighter during the day.
Sasha looked over at Malachi, saw him staring at her, his expression guarded.
This is fucking insane, she mouthed to him.
He shook his head slowly, and she didn’t know if he was agreeing with her or shutting her down. He was a strong, tough man, gritty and dangerous, and she knew his life before all of this was anything but pleasant.
But could he really be that naïve to think this would work, that they could trust a stranger?
Or maybe he was doing this for them. Maybe he wanted so badly to make them safe that he’d go to extremes like this to make it their reality.
Sasha knew that he kept his gun in his hand at all times, that he was on alert and ready at the drop of a hat. But still, this all seemed like a situation ready to turn bad any second.
“Tell us more about this place up north,” Malachi said again in a harder voice.
Tree Man got serious all of a sudden. “It’s a place that’s safe with food and water, shelter and protection.” His voice was calm and collected, frighteningly so.
Shivers raced up Sasha’s arms and she lifted her hands to rub her skin.
“It’s a place where the little one can run without the worry of getting sick or hurt, of anything bad happening to her.” He looked at Lucy and smiled, a genuine and sweet one. “It’s where the new world can start and grow.”
Everyone stayed silent for a long moment, and Sasha processed his words, not sure where this would go, how it would end. But it was clear Malachi wanted to follow through with this, to see if what Tree Man said was the truth.
“Where were you from before all this happened?” Sasha asked and cleared her throat when all eyes landed on her. “What was your life like before this? Who were you, what did you do?” Although she wasn’t hopeful that he would give her a straight, lucid answer, she’d seen moments of clarity in his expression, and thought maybe he’d show them that side once more.
“I’ve been here. I’ve always been here.” He grinned, his teeth discolored. “I’m the air and the wind. I’m the rushing water and the towering mountains.” He held his arms out, his eyes having this crazy look. “I’m bones and cells and DNA. And the sequence of all of us. I’m the reason for it all. I’m the cure for it all.”
Okay. Welcome to crazy town.
She was shaking her head before he even finished, an unsettling feeling moving deep in the pit of her stomach. But it wasn’t over Tree Man and his insane rambling, but the way he said it, how his voice held so much passion and certainty, so much truth.
“We should be going,” Malachi said, his voice hard and final.
Lucy started whining, but Sasha shushed her and helped her get her bag back on. They had a lot of ground to cover, and for some strange reason, deep within her, she knew this was just the beginning of their journey.
* * *
They’d been walking for hours, the sun would be setting soon, and Sasha was carrying Lucy on her back because Lucy’s little legs were killing her, as per her words.
This was rough on her sister, Sasha knew that, and she wished she could promise it would get better, but she knew it would get worse first.
Malachi was ahead of them, and Tree Man in front of Malachi. Sasha could hear Tree Man humming softly, but other than that he’d stayed pretty much quiet, with no insane rambling, no weird conversations being started.
Twigs snapped under their feet, and Sasha’s belly started to grumble.
Then Tree Man held up his hand, and his shirt fell partially down his forearm. They all stopped and Sacha noticed the mark on his arm. She remembered him saying a dog had bitten him, and although she was several feet back, she could see how red and inflamed it was. It was infected, and she knew if he didn’t get some antibiotics soon it would be bad news.
But he didn’t complain, didn’t even mention it aside from that one time. So maybe it wasn’t that bad.
“The town’s up ahead.” Malachi was the one to speak.
Sasha looked in the distance and could barely make out the road, and a large green sign that told them they were entering Wicklow.
“Tree Man,” Lucy said. “Your arm.”
He turned around and smiled at her, pushing his shirtsleeve down as if it was no big deal. And maybe it wasn’t. Because although it looked bad, it wasn’t like Sasha was a medical expert.
“It’s nothing, sweet Lucy.” He smiled down at her. “Just a scratch, a dog bite scratch. If one thing is for certain, it’s that lending a helping hand will get you bitten. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” He started in on his rambles again but all Lucy did was giggle.
Sasha set Lucy down, taking her hand in hers, pulling her closer.
“You guys stay here. I’m going to scout out the town, make sure it’s safe, then I’ll come back and we can go in together.” Malachi looked at Tree Man. “You’re coming with me.”
Tree Man saluted him.
At this point in the game, she trusted Malachi implicitly. He knew what to do, how to survive.
Malachi and Tree Man walked through the woods and toward the town, and she and Lucy stayed back, waiting and watching, used to this situation, this scenario.
“I’m scared,” Lucy whispered and Sasha pulled her in close for a hug.
“It’s okay. Malachi knows what he’s doing.”
She didn’t know how long they stood there, but it seemed like an eternity before Malachi and Tree Man came back.
“It’s good. Deserted. I didn’t have time to look through the grocery store or pharmacy, so I’m not holding out much hope it hasn’t been ransacked, but I figure anything we find is a plus.”
Well, it was a relief there wasn’t anyone there. “We should probably get a map. Figure out which way we need to go exactly?” Sasha asked.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Malachi rubbed his hand on the back of his head, looking at the ground as if he were thinking. “I saw a gas station. It’s probably our best bet to find a map, that or at the grocery store.” He looked between Lucy and Sasha. “Ready?”
They were all in agreement. Sasha looked down at Lucy and got down on her haunches so she was eye level with her. “You stay close to Malachi or me, and you be as quiet as you can, okay?”
Lucy nodded, her expression serious.
“Quiet like a mouse, okay, Lucy?”
Lucy nodded again and ran her finger over her lips, like she was zipping them up.
Sasha leaned in and kissed her on the forehead and then stood, taking her hand again and walking toward Malachi.
Malachi looked over his shoulder at them, and the expression on his face had Sasha’s heart racing. She thought about all they had done, how her feelings for him were growing by the minute, and that being with him in every possible way was exactly what she wanted. But what time was the right time?
When was the best time to give her virginity to the man she was falling in love with when the end of the world surrounded them?
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Better to trust a rambling man than no man at all
Malachi and Tree Man had checked the entire town and had found no signs of life but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone lurking. He didn’t want to leave Sasha and Lucy for too long, especially with Sasha’s lack of trust in Tree Man. Now, to a point, he completely understood it. Tree Man rambled and half of the time he made no sense, but Malachi had been around men who were much worse.
He’d seen real crazy and so far, Tree Man hadn’t come at them with a knife. In fact, he’d even seen him talking to Lucy, telling her ways to protect herself. The man was weird, no doubt about that, but it could be down to the damn dog bite. He didn’t know. The bite on the man’s arm looked seriously dangerous and he wanted to get it covered.
Also, with Tree Man showing protective instincts when it came to the women, he wanted another man willing to take care of them.
He knew it meant another body to walk around, carry, feed, and to just cause him more work, but it was also another person who could help shoot, and if shit really did hit the fan, it was another body to be killed. His logic wasn’t great but he would do whatever it took to protect these women.
Lucy deserved a shot at a normal life and the only way he was ever going to be able to get that for her was to have as many people as possible around to help her grow up.
Walking through the small town, they didn’t go straight to the grocery store but to the gas station. The windows were smashed and there was toilet paper everywhere. There were no traces of blood. He’d been to places where there were people dead on the ground from being shot or stabbed.
That was why he wanted Tree Man, who was leading their little party.
Sasha and Lucy took the middle and he was at the back, keeping an eye on everything all around. He knew without him keeping a check on them all, Sasha wouldn’t be happy.
He wished there was something he could do in order to help her relax. Not everyone she met would be normal, or what an average girl thought was normal.
Damn.
Malachi knew he was going to have to really fucking get over the fact she was in high school, even though she was of age.
There he went.
His morals coming back into place, although he certainly had none of them when she was in his arms, and he wanted her.
The ache he felt for her wasn’t going away. The more time he spent with her, the more he wanted from her. Tree Man wasn’t just giving him a chance for Lucy to have a normal life, he’d also offered Malachi a possible future with Sasha as well, and he was going to take it, and hold on to it with every single chance he got.
Tree Man stopped and looked into the gas station. They weren’t at the door yet and Malachi saw Sasha getting angry.
“What’s the holdup?” she asked.
“Don’t you hear anything?” Tree Man asked.
“No, nothing, because nothing is there.”
“Oh right, it’s just me.” Tree Man smiled at Lucy. “Don’t listen to every single voice you hear.”
Lucy giggled.
Malachi drew his gun as he heard sudden movement and noise. Even Sasha did.
He was tense, waiting for it, and then a Labrador walked out of the gas station. His tail was down and he looked terrified.
“Doggy!” Lucy dropped down to her knees, opening her arms.
“Lucy, no.”
It was too late as the dog charged toward Lucy. Malachi was poised to shoot it if he had to. Only the dog started to give Lucy kisses as if they were the best of friends.
Lucy’s laughter filled the air around them with joy.
He’d never heard her laugh like that. He looked toward Sasha and saw the tears in her eyes as she knelt down beside her sister and the dog moved toward her as well, trying to get more attention.
“Do you think he’s a stray?” Sasha asked.
“His owner could have left him, or not made it.” He was speaking in code so as not to upset Lucy.
“I love him,” Lucy said.
Tree Man chuckled. “Told you I heard something.”
Sasha turned toward him. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“Oh that’s okay. I’m going to give you many reasons to doubt me.”
Sasha chuckled.
“Can we keep him, please? I’ll take care of him and we can buy him dog food at the grocery store. The shelves were never empty of dog food. I want him. I want him. I want him.”
Malachi laughed. “You don’t have to worry about it. What do you say, Sasha? Do you want to keep the dog?”
Sasha got to her feet, biting her lip. “Do you think it’s safe for us to?”
“He may be a good scout for us. He’ll sense when people are near. He can bark.”
“Wouldn’t it also give us away?”
“No, kind of like a person burgling your house and the dog barks, it gives you the signal to get you ready. I think it’ll be good and look at her. Lucy is already in love with him and with everyt
hing going on, I don’t want to upset her more by telling her no.”
“You’re right. I can’t remember a time she laughed like that.” Sasha nodded. “We’ll keep him.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes. I want to keep him.” She bent down and smiled up at him. “Malachi has something to say to you.”
“Please, Malachi, please,” Lucy said.
“You can keep the dog.”
“Yes.” Lucy got to her feet, rushed toward him, and threw her arms around him. “Thank you. You’re the best. We need to name him. What should we name him?” she asked.
“We’ll leave that up to you,” Malachi said. “Let’s go and get that map.”
He still held his gun but for the past ten minutes he’d been distracted.
“Come on, Buster. Is your name Buster? I don’t know. We’ll try several to see if they stick.” Lucy giggled.
Stepping into the gas station, it had already been looted. There was no food on the shelves and the fridge was also empty. He hoped the grocery store had more supplies.
Tree Man walked behind the counter and found one of the maps, opening it up and spreading it out.
“Okay, so this is the last town for what looks like three hundred miles,” Tree Man said.
Malachi looked at the map and saw nothing but a mass of trees. There was also a lake and it looked like there was a bridge close to it. He hoped the bridge was still up and they didn’t have to pass through the fucking lake.
“We’re going to need a car,” he said. “Where about is this safe place you’ve talked about?”
“It’s not on any map. But the safe haven is, well, safe.” Tree Man started laughing. “Away from the worldwide spread. The infection.”
“Wait, holdup, worldwide?”
“Yes. It was everywhere. There was no place safe once it started. It traveled from town to town. Through the cities like wildfire, and it touched every single person.”
“How do you know all this?” Malachi asked.
“Ramblings of a mad man always makes sense. There is always the body that knows. It makes sense. It knows how to fight the disease and to be strong. It has anti-bodies spreading within one self and it has no known bounds. This disease is not over yet, Malachi. It’s so strong and when it finally finishes, the world as we know it will be nothing.” Tree Man shook his head. “I’ve heard of people who have traveled north. They will take people who are not infected and have never been infected. Healthy people.”