They weren’t ready to give up, and neither was I. The road ahead may be a long one, but we were going to take it… together.
WHITE DUST
By Kellee L. Greene
Chapter 1
The light trickled in through the window at the back of the small church, poking my eye as if it were a sharp pin. Even though the sun was bright, the room was exceptionally chilly.
We hadn’t left with much from my grandma’s house before it burned to the ground. All we had were the two bags Tom had stolen from the kitchen before the fire took away our safe place. Even worse, we were unarmed and stuck with the man that had kidnapped me not that long ago.
He’d claimed he’d been trying to help. It was a lie. I didn’t have a lot of choices because if we left, we’d be struggling to find food and water, and if we took the food from Tom, his son, Milo, would be struggling. I couldn’t do that to the innocent boy.
So, we stayed with Tom, his wife, Nina, and their son. And every torturous minute, I hoped it wasn’t the worst mistake of my life.
We hadn’t been staying in the church for more than a few days, but I still coughed frequently. It was like I was trying to get rid of the smoke that was still trapped inside my lungs. I was still haunted by my near-death experience even though I pretended not to be.
My clothes still smelled of the putrid smoke, but even if I would have found something to change into, I was pretty sure I’d still smell it. Perhaps the scent would be stuck with me forever… burned into my flesh like an invisible tattoo. Lord knows, I didn’t need any more of those.
Seeing my grandma’s house burn to the ground had been painful. I’d had so many good memories there as a child. It was the only time in my life that everything had seemed easy. The flames had reminded me that nothing would ever be easy again.
Jamie was gone and Danny was gone too. Hell, my grandma was probably gone too. And when the house had been engulfed in flames, I had thought it was going to be my turn to bite it. Somehow, I managed to escape, but perhaps it was still my destiny. Death would find me one way or another even if I managed to dodge it this time. It would probably seek me with a stronger passion and my time would come.
As I looked around the room, I wondered who would be next. My brother Nick? Now that things were better between us, maybe life would play a cruel trick and take him away from me. Maybe the reaper would come for Blair or Bronx.
I shook my head. It was definitely something I shouldn’t be thinking about.
I wouldn’t mind if Tom was next after what he’d done. Taking us away from everyone and locking us in that storage bin that had led to Jamie being shot. I still wanted Tom to pay, but I didn’t want that outcome for Nina or Milo. Hell, I wouldn’t even let myself entertain the possibility that this terrible world could take an innocent child even though I’m sure it had already taken plenty.
The thought was nearly paralyzing. Milo was just a kid. He didn’t deserve to be stuck here… none of us did.
One thing I realized was that we were fighters. Things had been hard for me, but somehow, I’d managed to keep going. There were times before the storm that I didn’t want to keep living. The only reason I had was because of how much I feared death.
After having been trapped inside of the burning building, maybe I feared it less. Then again, maybe I actually, deep down, feared it more.
My life hadn’t flashed before my eyes and there definitely hadn’t been a bright light that had called to me. There hadn’t been a sense of peace or anything like that. All I had felt were my lungs being squeezed like oranges to make juice.
I came out of the back room and yawned as I looked around. Everyone was already awake.
“How long are we going to stay here, Daddy?” Milo asked as he drove his toy car on the worn-down maroon carpet.
“When everyone is ready to leave, we can head out,” Tom said sitting on the steps at the front of the church. “We want to make sure everyone is all healed and well rested.”
“Aww,” Milo groaned.
Tom chuckled. “What? You like it here?”
“The cars drive really nicely on this rug, Dad. I like it a lot. It makes a great racetrack,” Milo said grinning at the lined-up cars.
“There will be other nice carpets along the way,” Tom said. “In fact,” he said leaning forward, “the place we’re going has the absolute best carpets for racing.”
Milo smiled but kept his eyes on the cars. “I don’t know, Dad. This is a really great carpet. Watch!”
He pressed his lips together and revved the cars engines before the zipped down the aisle. Tom’s eyes were bright as he watched the boy race his toy cars.
Nina stepped out from behind the altar with her arms crossed in front of her. She smiled as she looked at Milo driving the cars before sitting down next to Tom. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and started whispering to her. I looked down toward my feet and did my best to ignore them.
They hadn’t told us much about where they were leading us, not that it mattered, considering I hoped to break away from them before we got there. Nick, Bronx, Blair, and I needed to come up with our own plan. We just hadn’t had a chance to do it after leaving grandma’s house.
“Everyone ready for their ration?” Nina asked slapping her palms softly against her thighs as she stood.
It took about thirty seconds to eat the small bar she’d given me. My stomach hadn’t felt right since leaving grandma’s so I couldn’t really complain. Not to mention, it felt as though the food was scratching my throat raw when I swallowed it down.
“We’re going to need more water,” Nick said tapping the bottle he and Blair had been sharing.
“When it rains,” Tom said with a slight shrug.
Nick shook his head. “That could take too long.” He cocked his head to the side before turning to me. “Isn’t there a lake nearby?”
“A few miles back,” I said with a shrug. “I think? Honestly, I don’t remember. When grandma took me there as a kid, it felt as though we had driven in that car forever.”
“The days of no air conditioning. Everything felt further away, especially in summer,” Nick said with a chuckle. Perhaps he was having his own flashback to grandma’s wood-paneled station wagon. He squinted at the wall. “It’s back toward the house, right?”
“East from here maybe?” I shook my head. “It was so long ago. I could go take a walk. See if I can figure it out.”
Tom tapped his chin with his fingertip, but Nick shook his head. Nick stepped in front of Tom blocking my view of him.
“We have no way of knowing if that water is safe to drink though,” Nick said scratching the side of his head. “It was a bad idea. We’re going to have to go house to house looking for bottled water. Hell, we won’t even know if the rain is safe.”
“We’ll boil everything,” Tom said. “We’ll need supplies for that.”
“We can’t go house to house,” I said shaking my head. “Out here? There’s miles and miles between properties. It’ll take weeks.”
“We’ll just have to see what we can find as we make our way to Tom’s mysterious place then,” Nick said.
Tom chuckled. “It’s not all that mysterious. It’s Nina’s parent's house.”
“What if we don’t find anything?” I asked. “It’s not like we can go that long without water. The more walking we do, the more water we’re going to need.”
“Maybe it’s time we think about leaving,” Tom said ignoring the look Milo was giving him. He looked Nick up and down trying not to focus on his leg. “You think you’re all ready for it?”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “Still early, we could head out right now.”
Tom glance and Nina and she gave him a little nod. It was so small I hadn’t even been sure it had been there. But when I caught Nick looking at me, I saw there had been something in his eyes. He had seen the little movement as well.
Maybe it had been nothing at all, but it had been an interesting exchange.
“Well, then,” Tom said clapping his hands. He released a soft, little snort. “I’d tell everyone to gather their things, but we don’t have anything to gather.”
He wasn’t funny. Not even a little and, hopefully, he got that message from the look on my face.
We all walked down the aisles as if we were leaving a funeral. None of us wore anything even close to a smile.
Being inside the church had given us a break from everything that had been going on in the outside world. It was almost as if we believed nothing could happen to us as long as we were inside the church.
Nick hesitated when he reached the big door. He looked at us over his shoulder, holding the door handle in place.
“We ready?” Nick asked smirking slightly as he cocked his head to the side.
“Do we have another choice?” I asked.
Nick shook his head and Tom smiled. They both seemed to draw in a breath at the same moment Nick pulled open the door.
Instead of moving forward, Nick froze. His shoulders rose as he soundlessly pushed the door closed.
Nick looked like he was deflating as he turned to face us with his hand still on the door. “Someone’s out there.”
Chapter 2
Nick and Tom wedged in the piece of wood we’d found lying around between the door handles. It wasn’t a strong piece of wood by any stretch of the imagination, but it was what we had.
“What exactly did you see?” Tom asked.
Nick held out his palms and was working to keep his expression neutral. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“What wasn’t a big deal?” Tom said his lips barely moving.
“It was just a couple people,” Nick said.
“How many exactly,” Tom said each word slowly.
Nick shook his head. “I don’t know two, maybe three. They didn’t see me.”
I wasn’t exactly sure why Nick wasn’t telling Tom the exact number. He used to be a police officer, there was no doubt in my mind that he knew the exact number of people he’d seen.
“Did you notice anything about them?” Tom asked. “Were they armed?”
“I couldn’t tell,” Nick said crossing his arms and widening his stance.
“What were they wearing?” Tom asked.
Nick’s head tilted to the side. “They were too far away for me to see their attire. Is there something I should be aware of? I mean, if someone out there is dressing a certain way, I should probably know about it, right?”
“No, they don’t wear anything of note,” Tom ran his fingers through his hair. “I… I’m just worried it’s them.”
“The men that hate you?” Nick asked for confirmation.
“Yes, the men that hate me and you and all of us,” Tom said.
Nick nodded. “They were just too far away for me to see anything, but the fact that they were three moving human beings.”
“Okay, okay,” Tom said trying to keep himself calm. Nina tried to hide her look of concern, but she was failing. “What way were they headed?”
“North,” Nick answered confidently.
“Well, we’ll head out east in an hour,” Tom said pushing his shoulders back.
Nick eyed him. “Is east the way we want to go?”
“Northeast but yes,” Tom said glancing at Nina.
I looked back and forth between Tom and Nina, settling my eyes on Nina’s. “What’s at your parent's house? Why do we want to go there?”
Nina drew in a quick breath. “My parents were preppers. This is going to sound crazy, but they had a bunker.”
“A bunker?” I asked narrowing my eyes at her.
“Yes, a bunker.” Nina shook her head slightly.
“And you’re first going there now?” I asked my head tilted to the side ever so slightly.
Nina’s tongue pushed against her cheek for a second. “Not that I like to tell people, but my parents and I hadn’t been on speaking terms.”
“So, they won’t be very welcoming?” I asked.
“It’ll be fine. Nothing to worry about,” Nina said crossing her arms. “Maybe they didn’t even survive.”
Her words sounded so cold as if she’d hoped they hadn’t.
“Well, if they have a bunker, they probably survived, right?” I said matter-of-factly.
“Bunkers don’t protect from illness,” Nina said turning her back toward me. She looked up at Tom. “When do you think we should leave?”
“Go on back to driving your cars,” Tom said rubbing his palm on the top of Milo’s head. “We’re going to stay for a bit longer.”
“Yay!” Milo cheered.
I flopped down on one of the pews pulling my leg up toward my chest. I hugged it as I watched Nick pull Tom to the side.
They stood there quietly discussing the plan as they crossed their arms. Bronx lowered himself down next to me, his legs spread wide as he leaned his head back.
“Think we need to worry about that?” Bronx asked shifting his eyes in Nina’s direction for a split second.
“I’m not sure,” I said lowering my voice. “Hopefully, we’ll be gone before we need to give it a lot of thought.”
Bronx looked into my eyes. “We will be.”
“You sound so confident,” I said with a half-smile.
“Nick’s rubbing off on me,” Bronx said.
I shook my head. “God, I hope not.”
“Yeah, he most definitely isn’t,” Bronx said looking at his folded hands. “You know,” he said crossing his leg over the other, “I like to think that I’m rubbing off on him.”
Before I could say anything, not that I knew what to say, Blair sat down on the other side of Bronx. She leaned closer and looked at us both briefly as if making sure she wasn’t interrupting.
“What are you guys talking about?” she asked. “Are you talking about what our plan is?”
“No,” I said shaking my head.
“Damn,” Blair said. She locked eyes with mine, narrowing just one of hers. “I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Hoped I could hear from here.”
I pressed my lips together as I moved my head side to side. “Probably just deciding when we should go.”
“I think we should just go,” Blair said. “What are the odds we’re going to run into whoever was out there?”
“Tom seems really worried about it,” I said as a cold chill entered my body.
“You’re not?” Blair asked.
I shook my head. “We’re with the bad guy. He’s the one I’m worried about.”
Nina turned and looked at me. I wasn’t sure if she had heard what I said, but if she had, she was choosing to ignore it.
There was no doubt she’d tell Tom later, but he’d probably just laugh. To him, I was a pesky little mosquito that wouldn’t go away.
Good.
I wasn’t going to make anything easy for him. Why should I?
We hung around the church for what felt like far too long before we headed out. This time, when Nick looked out the door, he was a bit more cautious and Tom took several minutes verifying that there was, in fact, no movement.
Tom and Nina led the way with Milo following close behind them with his cars clutched tightly in his hands. Nick and Blair were behind them with Bronx and me at the rear.
“I hate thinking that other people out here are bad,” I said keeping my voice low. “There are bound to be other people like us that just want to find a safe place to stay… food to eat… water they can drink.”
“How can one tell the difference between the good people and the bad people?” Bronx said with a shrug. “There are definitely people out here that would kill their best friend for a drink of water.”
“If we can’t tell the difference, we’ll just have to assume everyone is bad,” I said with a shrug. “I don’t like it, but it is what it is, right?”
Bronx swallowed. “And everyone out there is probably doing the same. If they see us, they’re not going to think so kindly of us.”
“There probably aren’t that many people left after everything that’s been thrown at us,” I said looking down at the muddy ground. It wasn’t that long ago it was completely covered in a strange black, oily goo. “We’re lucky to be alive. If being alive is good.”
“Better than the alternative right?” Bronx asked with a half-smile.
I couldn’t think of how I should respond, so I just focused on the road ahead.
We’d probably walked most of the day when a small house came into view. Nick slowed his pace, but Tom and Nina kept charging forward.
I knew what Nick was thinking without having to ask. He wished he would have been armed because, for all we knew, those inside were.
I wasn’t sure how far from grandma’s we were, but it wasn’t a house I recognized. Not that I probably would have recognized all that many houses from the area in the first place.
“How far do you think we walked from the church?” I asked Bronx.
He touched his chin with his thumb. “Three miles?” Bronx’s eyes darted to Milo before landing back on mine. “We’re moving a little slow.”
“That’s okay,” I said. Not that Nick would ever admit it, but the speed was probably ideal for his injured leg. He hadn’t used his stick cane and he’d been able to keep up without any trouble as far as I could tell.
What I didn’t know was how many more miles Tom would want to put in. There was still plenty of daylight left, but was there a need to push it?
I kept my eyes on the small house as we approached. It was a strange house. Somewhat out of place considering it was out in the country and it didn’t have a barn or silo to go along with it. It was just as though someone wanted to live out in the middle of nowhere just to be left alone. Hopefully, that means there wouldn’t be anyone inside.
As we got closer, I saw a bit of black goo on the corner of the roof near the eavestrough. It was a reminder of how unsafe things were without a shelter.
“We really need to come up with a plan,” I said under my breath.
Bronx nodded.
We cautiously made our way up to the house. If anyone is inside, they didn’t do anything to try to stop us from coming closer.
The Red Sky Series Box Set Page 46
