“I think it’s strange that no one has brought up the most obvious question,” Jada said, speaking up for the first time since we started discussing the whole thing. “What are we going to do about it? I mean, we are going to try to put a stop to this. Aren’t we? We just risked everything to get rid of one dictator. We can’t just sit back let another one take control.”
Silence settled over the group.
It was something we hadn’t discussed after leaving New Atlanta, and something I had never even considered. Was Jada right? Could we do something about what was happening inside the city? Should we?
“I’m tired.” Angus was the first to break the silence, and his words were followed by a deep sigh. “If everybody else wants to go to war again, I’ll do it, but I ain’t gonna lie. I’m beat.”
He looked around, and the exhaustion he’d just spoken of seemed to etch lines into his face right before my very eyes. It wasn’t just him either. I could see it in Mom and Dad’s expressions too, in Parv’s. The weariness, the emotional scars left behind by all the wars they’d fought in the past. I’d heard about them all, more recently than ever before, and I knew it wasn’t like my family to walk away from something like this. But I also knew they were getting older. Not old, I couldn’t see my parents as old, especially when they suddenly had so much more life to live, but older. Tired like Angus had said.
“I just can’t do it again,” Mom said. “I don’t think I have it in me.” She reached out and took Dad’s hand even as her gaze moved across the yard to where Margot sat. “As selfish as it sounds, I can’t risk losing what I just got back.”
“Me neither,” Parv whispered, her gaze on the ground. “We’ve given up too much already. Let someone else take this battle.”
Jada frowned and looked around at the people gathered in our backyard. Al and Lila were nodding, as was Dad. Even Jim seemed to silently agree with Mom and Parv.
“So you’re saying we do nothing?” Jada asked, turning her gaze on Jim.
He grabbed her hand. “I’m saying we need to think of ourselves for once.”
I had to agree with him. It wasn’t fair that my family, who had already been put through so much, should have to take responsibility for the world yet again. We’d fought and clawed our way here, and for once we were together and whole. I wasn’t ready to sacrifice that. Not so soon after getting it. And we’d be risking so much more this time, because we were still hiding the existence of both Glitter and Margot from The Church. Starting a war with them would put all of that at risk, and with as twisted as their teachings were, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what they would do if they found out about my sister and cousin.
“We can’t,” I said, drawing Jada’s gaze my way. “If the High Priestess finds a reason to come here she could find out about Margot and Glitter. What do you think will happen then?”
Glitter, who was sitting at my uncle’s side, scooted closer to her father.
“No,” he growled, as he pulled her against him. “That ain’t gonna happen. We gotta stay out of it this time. It’s for the best.”
“They said they planned to be peaceful,” Mom pointed out. “That all they wanted to do was live in their new paradise. Who are we to stop that?”
Jada’s determination wavered, but she still shook her head like she had a hard time wrapping her brain around it.
The discussion went back and forth, but the original sentiment Angus had expressed seemed to be echoed in the words of everyone around me. They were tired. This was one fight they couldn’t take responsibility for no matter how guilty it made them feel. They had no steam left.
No longer interested in a debate that was totally devoid of a satisfactory solution, I eventually got up and went over to the swing where Margot still sat. She was staring at the dirt, pushing herself back and forth with a shove of her toes against the ground, but she lifted her head when I walked up and smiled.
“Meggy.” Hearing my name on her lips still gave me goose bumps, but I was getting more and more used to it every day.
“You want me to push you?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. I was just thinking.”
“What about?”
When I knelt at her side, she was forced to look down at me. Her face scrunched up the way it did when she was thinking something through, which always reminded me of how Dad pressed his lips together when he was thinking, and then she shook her head.
“You can tell me,” I said gently.
“Are you and Donaghy going to move out?”
I smiled and reached up to take my sister’s hand. “Not right now, but one day. One day we’ll need our own house because we’ll want to have a family. You know, kids. You’d like that wouldn’t you? Being an aunt?”
Margot pressed her lips together. “I guess.”
“I think you’d be a great aunt.”
My sister shrugged and pulled her hand from mine so she could once again start swinging. It was slow and lazy though, and her gaze was fixed on Donaghy as she did it.
“Do you love him?” she asked finally.
I followed her gaze to find him watching us, his blue eyes taking in the scene like he knew what she had asked me and he was waiting to hear my response. We still hadn’t said the words out loud to one another, not just because it still felt too soon, but also because things had begun to feel less urgent. I’d started to tell myself that we had time. That life was going to be simpler from here on out. After today, I now knew that wasn’t true.
“I do,” I told Margot, my eyes still on Donaghy. “I love him very much.”
He smiled, but I could tell by the way he tilted his head that he had no idea what I’d said, which was fine with me. When I told him, I wanted to be standing right in front of him so we could kiss.
After dinner we all walked over to Dragon’s new bar to get a drink. I’d only been inside a couple times, but I’d passed by the building on a daily basis because it was on the main street. It was nice, a lot cleaner and cozier than his place in Atlanta had been, with polished wood floors, a saloon type bar that reminded me of the old west, and glass chandeliers that sparkled from above. It was the name that really got to me, though. A new life meant a new name for his bar, and Dragon had chosen the most obvious and touching one possible. Helen’s. The tribute brought tears to my eyes every time I saw it.
Dragon waved distractedly when we walked in, too swamped to do much more, and I found myself turning to Glitter. “Looks like he’s going to need some help behind the bar soon.”
She smiled, paused long enough to pull her hair—which now had brown roots that were nearly two inches long—out of her face, and then practically skipped over to the bar. When she ducked behind it and took her place at Dragon’s side, he grinned, revealing the gap where his two front teeth used to be.
“What about you?” Donaghy asked, nodding to the bar. “You want a job?”
I laughed and shook my head. “I don’t know what I want to do with my life, but I know waitressing isn’t it.”
The sudden change in our lives had made careers uncertain for all of us. Dad, Al, and Parv had worked the wall for as long as I could remember, something we really didn’t need anymore, while Luke, Jada, and Jim had been thrust into unemployment thanks to the death of every zombie around. Mom alone had job security because of her training as a midwife, but the rest of us were still floundering. And with the uncertainty about how we would even get paid, we weren’t rushing to find anything either.
Donaghy got our drinks and we settled around a table with the rest of my family, talking about more pleasant subjects than what was going on with The Church. Margot was at Mom’s side, looking out of place in the bar but smiling like she was having the time of her life, while Dad looked back and forth between all of us with an expression of contentment on his face. Like me, he seemed to be trying to soak it all in rather than focus on the bad things.
People started wandering off as it got later and later, and I didn�
��t miss it when Angus and Parv left together. Based on the look Mom and Lila shared, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed how much time those two were spending together.
It was late by the time Donaghy and I found ourselves walking home. The settlement had mostly turned in for the night and most of the houses we passed were so dark they looked abandoned, but despite the hour we moved at a leisurely pace, holding hands and enjoying the cool evening that told me fall was on the way.
When we reached the old gazebo at the end of the street, I pulled him into it. He didn’t protest, but instead allowed me to lead him to the bench. My heart was pounding, but it wasn’t nerves. It was anticipation. Excitement, even.
I twisted my body so I was facing him and smiled.
“What?” he asked.
“I have something I wanted to say.” He nodded and I swallowed. “It’s something I’ve been thinking for a while now. I held back for so many reasons, but after today all those reasons seem stupid and I realize I can’t keep it in anymore. Donaghy, I—”
“I love you,” he said. My mouth dropped open and he laughed. “I wanted to say it first.”
I laughed too, and then I was up on my knees on the bench, kissing him, whispering the words against his lips, “I love you. I love you so much, and I’m so glad we get to start this life together. No matter what happens, I just want to be with you.”
He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back, and the hope I’d felt before going to New Atlanta today returned. Things would never be easy, I’d been fooling myself to think they would, but we could handle it. Donaghy and me, along with my family, which was now achingly whole. No matter what happened, we could handle it together.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Donaghy
The team was in place. Now all we had to do was wait.
From my spot behind a group of bushes I could see the barrel of Meg’s rifle. It peeked over the roof where she was perched, only the tip of it showing. I doubted anyone passing through would notice it, but they weren’t looking for her. Not the way I was.
Only a couple feet away from her a second rifle was visible, which I knew belonged to Max. He’d been a sniper in Afghanistan before his legs were blown off, and Meg had spent nearly a year training with him. She was getting pretty good, and enjoying it too. She liked the job because it gave her purpose, but I liked it because it kept her out of harm’s way. I wasn’t the only one either. It made her dad happy too.
When the sound of a whistle broke through my thoughts, I pulled my gaze back to the street. There was a bend in the road about thirty feet from where I sat crouched, which made it impossible to see much. Angus was up that way though, and I knew that he was the one who’d whistled. It was a warning to be ready, and one I wouldn’t take lightly.
Only a few seconds passed before the sound of an engine reached me. Our trap was already set, and when the truck rounded the bend the driver slammed on the breaks, skidding to a stop less than three feet from the roadblock we’d put up. He reacted the way they all did, throwing the truck into reverse, but by then Jim had already pulled our truck onto the road behind him, completely blocking his escape.
All around the truck our people poured out of the woods. Angus and Axl had their guns trained on the driver while Parv, Al, and Luke focused on the passenger. I kept down, staying out of sight for the moment, while across the road from where I crouched Jada did the same.
Jim hopped out of our truck, gun already drawn, and headed over to join the others.
“Climb on out,” Axl called.
No one in the truck moved, and a second later the driver yelled back, “You might as well shoot us. The priestess is out of patience. If we lose another shipment, she’ll do it anyway.”
“We ain’t gonna kill nobody if we don’t gotta,” Angus said.
There was still no movement in the truck, and I felt my body tense up. I raised my gun, pointing it at the windshield, and poised my finger over the trigger. The glare from the sun made it impossible to see inside, but I knew that Meg and Max would have a good view from where they sat. A good shot too.
Finally, after a tense couple of minutes, the passenger door flew open and a man hopped out. “I’m not dying for her,” he muttered. He had on the same red robe that everyone in the city wore these days, and he ripped it over his head and tossed it aside the second he was down. “Never believed all this bullshit anyway,” he said, spitting in the dirt as he shook his head. “Only went along with it so I’d have food on the table, but this is too much.”
We’d been hearing the same sentiment a lot lately, but that didn’t mean The Church still didn’t have a hold on the majority of the population. They did, and it was stronger than ever.
“Come on out with your friend,” Axl called to the driver.
“He’s not my friend,” came the sneer.
I saw Axl stiffen and I moved closer, waiting for the moment I was needed. It never came though, because only a split second later a gunshot broke through the air and a hole appeared in the truck’s windshield, cracks spreading out from it like a spider web. The passenger hit the dirt, swearing up a storm, but Axl and Angus lowered their guns.
“You got him!” Axl called.
“Stay alert,” Jim said as he headed to the back of the truck.
Jada came out from her hiding place and so did I, and together we walked toward the truck. I glanced up when we were halfway there and caught sight of Meg, still lying on her stomach with her rifled aimed at the truck.
“Anyone in the back?” Al was asking the passenger.
“Just the two of us.” He glanced toward the driver. “Dumb son of a bitch.”
I heard the truck’s back door groan open and a second later Jim called, “Clear.”
“Why isn’t she sending backup?” Jada asked me as we walked.
“Stupid. Arrogant. Who knows? We’ve been hitting her trucks for months, and we can’t be the only ones,” I replied.
These runs had become a normal routine for us, and a matter of survival. With The Church cutting us off, things had gotten sticky. We needed the supplies, especially in the winter months. We had food growing and we hunted and stored things, but we had new people coming in every day, leaving the city or finding us after wandering the now empty countryside. The population of Senoia had doubled since the zombies disappeared, and there was no sign of it stopping any time soon. We’d set up a rationing system similar to the one that had been in place when the walls in New Atlanta were first put up, but there were times when we barely squeaked by. Without the food we stole on these runs, we wouldn’t be making it.
Luke slung his rifle over his shoulder. “Let’s wrap this up.”
“Anxious to get back?” his dad asked, slapping his son on the back.
Luke rolled his eyes in response.
Footsteps scraped against the ground at my back and I turned to find Max crossing the street and headed our way. Meg was at his side. Even though this run had gone smoothly, I found myself looking her over to make sure she was in one piece.
“Stop,” she said when she caught me doing it.
“I’m just worried about you.”
“You don’t need to be. I can fire a gun just fine.”
“Better than fine,” Max said. “You see that shot?”
I didn’t look at him when I said, “I saw it.”
“Let’s load up!” Jim called from behind me.
Max headed over but Meg didn’t move. She was waiting for me to do it, I knew she was, and just to be difficult I held back and instead grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the others.
“Let’s get home.”
She napped on the way home, her head resting in my lap as the truck bounced down the street. The other people riding in the back of the truck with us were sprawled out too, Al, Max, Luke, and Axl. Jim and Jada drove, while Angus and Parv had taken responsibility for the truck we’d just hijacked. We’d headed out early so we could snag this run, and everyone was as exha
usted and ready to get home as I was.
Meg’s dark hair slid across her face and I brushed it away. She shifted at the touch, but didn’t wake. She’d been exhausted lately, but despite my best efforts at trying to convince her to stay behind today, she’d insisted on coming. Eventually she was going to have to slow down, but I knew it was going to take some real convincing to get her to admit it.
It took us about an hour to get back, and Meg didn’t stir until we’d rolled to a stop in the center of town. Everyone else did as well, standing and stretching their arms above their heads in hopes of getting the kinks out. Meg moved, yawning, and I took the opportunity to twist my back, cringing when it popped.
“Luke!”
I was familiar enough with everyone by now to recognize Lila’s voice, as well as her panicked tone. Luke did too, and he didn’t even bother grabbing his stuff before jumping out of the truck. Al was right behind his son.
“You think it’s time?” I asked Meg.
She dragged herself to her feet. “It would be early, but it’s possible.”
We climbed out, me first before turning to help Meg down. Luke and Al were already halfway across the common space in the middle of town, running at Lila’s side toward the house.
“What’s happening?” Jada called from behind us.
“Probably the baby,” Meg said, and then she looked up at me with her eyebrows raised, waiting.
I held back again. It was harder than the first time and she smiled like she knew it, like she knew I was dying to do it, and I realized she was teasing me. Laughing at me. It made me more determined than ever not to give in.
We left the supply truck to be sorted by the people in charge of inventory and headed across the town after Luke. He and Kelly had moved into a new house two streets over, but we knew she’d be at Axl and Vivian’s. The first floor bedroom Parv had originally taken up residence in had been converted to a delivery room months ago, making it easier for Meg’s mom. As the only midwife in the settlement, she was busier than ever. Thankfully, she’d found a good apprentice in Charlie.
Twisted World Series Box Set | Books 1-3 & Novella Page 100
