Maybe this would be our chance to get away. Find a way to escape. But we needed to do it without getting shot in the back by either Tom or his enemy’s stray bullets.
“We want our stuff back!” the voice in the distance shouted.
“Shit!” Tom said into the dirt. He turned back to his buddy. “We gotta get out of here.”
Tom made several hand gestures at his men and then nodded. We stayed low to the ground as we changed course.
Two of Tom’s men stayed behind us, and two led the way. Tom stayed just behind Jamie, Danny and I. There wasn’t anywhere for us to go but forward. If we tried to drop back, Tom’s enemy would take us out thinking it was Tom and his men.
Our only choice was to keep going. At least for now.
We kept moving after darkness swallowed us, the pale moonlight dimly lighting the way. I kept tripping over twigs and branches, at least that’s what I assumed they were.
We hadn't heard anything in hours, so I braved asking Tom a question. After all, I knew how much he loved questions.
“Who were those guys?” I asked.
“Bad guys. We had to kick them out,” Tom said.
“Seems like maybe they think you guys are the bad guys,” I said.
Tom glanced at me before turning forward again. His eyes reflected the moon giving them a slight sparkle. “Seems those thoughts are contagious.”
“Maybe if you didn’t take people against their will,” I said, and both Jamie and Danny chuckled softly.
“And once they see what we’re doing, they always change their mind,” Tom said confidently.
“Those guys don’t think so,” I retorted.
Tom shook his head. “Those guys are idiots. Which is why they got kicked out. If we hadn’t lost our men to that fog, we would have been able to end them once and for all.”
“They come around a lot?” I asked.
“No, they just find us while we’re recruiting. Trying to pick us off one by one,” Tom said. “That’s just the kind of scum they are. Anyway, it’ll be over soon, so nothing to worry about.”
I swallowed. “How do you know that?”
“Ten or less of them left. They might have lost some to the fog too for all I know.” Tom sniffed and wiped at his nose with the back of his hand. “Hope they did. Anyway,” he cleared his throat, “we should be there by morning if we keep walking through the night.”
“Yay,” I said making sure there wasn’t a drop of enthusiasm in my voice.
“You’ll see,” Tom said. He grinned at me in the darkness, the moon lighting his teeth as if it were a black light. “You guys will never want to leave.”
I wasn’t even there, and all I could think about was leaving. There wasn’t anything they could have that would make me want to stay.
Nothing.
“We’ll see about that,” I muttered.
Tom grunted. “A little less talk and a lot more walk.”
Chapter 22
When morning came, we stepped out into a clearing. The tall grasses in front of us danced back and forth in the light breeze.
Tom stopped and looked around. He pointed and started leading us seemingly back from where we’d come from.
I was so twisted and turned around that I had no idea which way the gas station was. For that matter, I wasn’t even sure which way my grandma’s house was. I needed a road, a sign, something so that I could reorient myself. Being out in the middle of nowhere in an area I’d never traveled before as like being trapped in a maze.
If I was lucky, Jamie or Danny would remember the way back to the gas station. But maybe it would be better to head to my grandma’s and wait for Nick just like he had wanted us to do.
It was just like Nick to get his way. Things never changed.
“It’s just over that hill,” Tom said scanning the horizon.
“How long are we staying home this time, Tom?” one of his men asked.
Tom shrugged. “Not long.” He turned to me. “Every time we go out there we find fewer and fewer people.”
“I’m surprised you find any at all,” I said.
“I’m surprised we found anyone after that poisonous fog,” Tom said eying us one after the other.
“How did everyone at your amazing place survive?” I asked.
Tom looked at the ground as he shook his head. “Our base was just outside the cloud. I don’t think it came out quite this far. Something descended out of the sky, and the cloud grew out from it. Then it started crawling across the ground.”
“So, it wasn’t widespread?” I asked.
“Don’t think so. Of course, there could have been more than one.” Tom bit at a hangnail mostly ignoring me. “But the one here stretched out far. Miles. I was lucky to be on the outside, although when it grew, I got pretty worried.”
“You followed it?” Danny asked.
Tom nodded.
He’d mentioned losing men to the fog. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he had sent the men into the fog to investigate and then left them to die when they didn’t come back. Although I wasn’t sure why I thought that, it wasn’t like I knew Tom all that well. But I did know he was forcing us to join him against our will. He was probably capable of a lot more.
We moved through a thin line of trees, half of which looked like they were dying. When we got to the other side, before stepping out, Tom held up his hands to stop us.
I could see a fenced in zone that looked as though it had once been a military base of some kind.
Tom pulled out a mirror and wiggled it back and forth in the sunlight. Something flashed back at us through the fenced in area, and Tom shoved the mirror back into his pocket before motioning for us to walk.
Two of Tom’s men led the way. One looked to the left and the other to the right. All of them held their guns with their eyes darting around like the silver ball in a pinball machine.
“Is your home not safe?” I asked.
“Usually is, but you met our friends that want to destroy everything we’ve built.” Tom exhaled slowly. “Need to protect what we have.”
As we approached the fence, my stomach started to swirl sending thick bile up the back of my throat that I couldn’t swallow back down. If we stepped inside the fence I was almost certain we’d never get out again.
My heart started to race, and I could feel sweat beading up at my temples. Jamie looked at me, and I was sure he could tell what I was feeling based on the pinched-up expression he was wearing.
Jamie grabbed my hand as the chain-link fence clanked as it was pulled to the side. My feet stopped working, and he squeezed my hand. He leaned in close.
“I’ll get you out,” Jamie said. “Don’t worry.”
I forced a tight-lipped smile, but if I said I wasn’t worried I would have been lying. I probably couldn’t have been more worried.
My brother had managed to survive the attack, both of the attacks, and so did I. What were the odds I’d survive this and see him again? Surely, they were not good.
It wasn’t like they were going to find us. Nick couldn’t even walk, and even if he could, they had no idea where we were. The only chance at seeing him again, or Bronx and Blair for that matter, was to escape. It would be far easier to get away while we were still outside of the fence.
“Go on in,” Tom said staring at me. His body was so tensed up I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing. “I know it’s not much to look at from here, but it’s what’s inside that matters.”
Jamie squeezed my hand again and took a step inside the gate. My stomach was sloshing around so vigorously it was like a washing machine on spin cycle. It was a miracle I hadn’t dropped to my knees and lost the small amount of food that was in my stomach.
When they closed the fence behind us with a loud clattering bang, my entire body shook with it as if I were an extension of the metal. I turned around ready to beg to be released, but the hard look in Tom’s eyes had me taking a step back. It wasn’t just Tom’s eyes on me, it was all of th
e men. The men that had been with him and the two men that had been at the gate. All of them… staring at me.
“This way,” Tom said, taking a step around me and leading us through the base. He pointed to the buildings near the fence. “Those have supplies. We live in the buildings at the center of the base.”
The fenced in area wasn’t that large. There were about thirty buildings, and I could see the fence in every direction.
“How many people live here?” I asked.
“Enough,” Tom said. “We’re growing.” He gestured off to the side where there was a tilled-up patch of dirt. “That’s where the garden will go. And in there,” he pointed to a building that resembled a garage, “that’s where we keep the pigs. We only have those on special occasions. We are working on breeding them.”
I could feel eyes on us as we weaved between the buildings. Tom walked up to one of the buildings and brought a key up to a padlock. It made a loud click before he pulled open the door.
“Come,” he said taking a step inside the building. I was tempted to push him inside and lock the padlock, but his men were surrounding us.
Jamie, Danny, and I followed him. The building had looked like a shed on the outside with its tan siding, but inside it looked like a living room.
There was a sofa and a couple chairs placed on a rug with a colorful triangle pattern on it. On the wall, there were several paintings hanging, but there were no windows.
“No,” I said taking a step back, but something stopped me. When I turned, I was face to face with one of Tom’s smirking men. “You can’t do this to us.”
“Trust me,” Tom said placing his hands on my shoulder. He pushed down with so much force I thought my spine was going to snap in two.
“Please,” I said as Jamie took a step closer to Tom. He stared at him before pulling his fist back and throwing it at Tom’s face.
Tom ducked out of the way masterfully. It was as though he’d had his share of punches thrown his way.
“Don’t do that again,” Tom said between his teeth as he stared at Jamie with wide eyes.
“You can’t lock us up like this,” Jamie growled back just as ferociously.
Tom chuckled. “I can do whatever the fuck I want. This is my town.”
“Is there even anyone else here?” I said fighting back the tears.
“Of course, they’re just not ready to come out yet and say hi.” Tom was still smiling. “Hopefully you’ll adjust quicker than they have. Why don’t you three go on and make yourselves at home?”
Tom and his men started to back out of the room. I could hear Danny breathing heavily behind me. Tom was just at the door when I saw Danny launch himself toward the door.
Tom flashed him a smirk as he slammed the door closed. Danny winced when his shoulder crashed into the heavy metal door.
“Crap! That hurt,” Danny said rubbing his shoulder. His anger quickly turned into panic. “What are we going to do?”
Jamie and I exchanged a quick glance. It was clear he was just as worried as I was.
His shoulders rose as he drew in a deep breath. “We’ll figure this out. I’ll get us out of here.”
Chapter 23
There were two doors inside of the small living room. One led to a makeshift bathroom which seemed like a slightly larger than normal porta-potty shoved into the small room. The other was a small bedroom.
At each corner of the room was a small vent and just below the one in the living room, was a cabinet stuffed with food. I couldn’t help but wonder just how long they planned to keep us locked up.
I tried to think back to what we saw when we came into the fenced in area. There’d been several buildings near the fence which Tom said held supplies. There were other buildings scattered about that were just like the one we were inside.
Maybe there were others like us locked in their rooms, or maybe we were the first. But it didn’t really matter. All that really mattered was getting out, and that didn’t seem like it was going to be an easy feat.
Danny kicked at the door, but it didn’t budge. All it did was make the whole building rattle and shake and causing its metallic noises to vibrate my brain.
“We’re trapped,” I said dropping down onto the hard over stuff cushions of the sofa.
“They’ll come back,” Jamie said. “Eventually.”
“Yeah, and they’ll be heavily armed,” Danny said. “Gwen’s right, we’re screwed.”
Jamie paced in front of the bookshelf running his hands through his hair. “We’ll figure this out. It’s not time to give up.” Jamie looked at his fingertips. “At least not yet.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but he kept pacing. “We don’t even know what time of day it is. I’m going to lose my mind being stuck in here.”
“That’s probably what they want,” Danny said. “Like a form of torture. Wear us down.”
“Is that something your dad taught you,” I said wishing I wouldn’t have said the words with such a harsh tone. A tone Danny didn’t deserve.
“He talked about it, he talked about a lot of stuff, but he didn’t teach it to me,” Danny said. “We need to stay calm.”
I chuckled. “You don’t look all that calm.”
“I’m not,” Danny said clenching his fists. “But I need to be.”
“It could be days before they come back,” I said.
Jamie stopped pacing. “Danny’s right. We need to be ready for when they do come back. We should get some rest. That metal door is so noisy we’ll hear them coming.”
“I’ll take the sofa,” Danny said nodding. “Makes more sense for you two to have the bedroom.”
My eyes shifted up to meet Jamie’s, but he wasn’t looking in my direction. His eyes were on the door.
“It’s not like I’ll be able to sleep anyway,” I said pushing myself up off of the sofa.
“Well, you’ll just have to try,” Jamie said changing the direction of his pacing until he stopped in front of the bedroom door. His hand slid up the door frame as he peered inside of the room shaking his head. “If we’re rested, we’ll be more alert and more prepared for whatever they’re going to throw at us. We’ll be stronger and ready. We won’t let Tom and his men wear us down.”
Jamie stepped into the bedroom. I could hear his feet scratching at the floor as he continued his pacing. I glanced at Danny, offering him a small nod before I left him alone in the living room.
The bed squeaked as I sat down on the edge. It was just a thin mattress on top of an old metal frame and not even a little bit comfortable.
My eyes moved around the small rectangular room taking in the floral painting hanging on the wall just above the headboard. There was a lopsided wooden nightstand where the lamp sat.
I watched Jamie continue his pacing. His hand shot up to the area just below his neck. Jamie’s fingertips dug into the fabric scratching at the flesh below the collar of his shirt.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Jamie said with a loose cough he tried to quickly extinguish with his other hand.
The room was dark except for the tiny bit of light that came from the bedside lamp. It was plugged into a single outlet. I hadn’t realized it at first, but there had been a lamp in the other room as well.
“Electricity?” I asked looking up at Jamie.
“Apparently. My guess is there is probably a generator out there powering all these buildings,” Jamie said. “There were at least ten others just like this one out there… could have been more.”
Jamie walked across the floor, stopping at the door. Its hinges squeaked as he slowly closed the door.
“I don’t want to disturb Danny,” Jamie said.
“Okay,” I said squinting at him with one eye through the darkness. Jamie was in a strange mood. Even before we arrived.
He let out a breath and crossed his arms. The silence in the room between us was making my throat feel dry.
“For all we know, those other buildings contain people
who want to be here,” I said lowering my voice as if everyone else in the camp could hear me.
Jamie had a faraway look in his eyes. I bit my lip as the tension between us grew. When he opened his mouth, it snapped like a rubber band.
“I need to talk to you about some things,” Jamie said turning and leaning back against the wall.
My eyes darted up, meeting his blue eyes in the dimly lit room. “Oh?”
“I meant to do this sooner, rather I was waiting for a better time, but I have to do it now. I need to tell you how I feel,” Jamie said taking a step away from the wall… closer to me. “About you.”
My heart started to pound even faster than it already was. It seemed like an awkward time to talk, but it was better than sitting around dwelling on how I couldn’t get out of the building. If I continued to focus on that, surely my anxiety would get the better of me, and I’d have a panic attack. That wasn’t something any of us needed.
“About me?” I asked.
“I know I’ve been crazy,” Jamie said sitting down next to me. His voice was soft, probably softer than the two pillows lying at the head of the bed. “You probably think I’m a real idiot by now.”
“Of course I don’t,” I said shaking my head.
“It’s just that with everything that was going on, it was hard to understand what I was feeling, and maybe it still is, but I do know one thing,” Jamie said swallowing hard as he took my hand into his. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I want to do everything I can to make sure you’re safe.” Jamie sighed. “I really, really like you, Gwen, and I wish to God things would have been different.”
“Different?” I didn’t think he was talking about what had happened to end the world.
Jamie looked down, letting a small smile stretch across his face. “Wish I would have asked you out sooner, you know, before all of this. I’ve never been good at asking women out. And when I have, it hasn’t gone well.”
“You didn’t have a problem with Blair,” I said wishing I could take the words back.
The Red Sky Series Box Set Page 28
