Ryder held out his hand. “Charlie, give me your bucket of snow.”
She didn’t argue. Charlie handed it over, and Ryder tossed it on what remained of the fire. The flames almost instantly died out, but there was still smoke wafting out of the sizzling wood. Surely the natives would see it.
“Dammit!” Ryder said throwing the bucket against the wall.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Eli said taking quick breaths as if he was about to hyperventilate. He quickly moved over to the window. His head slowly turned toward us, and he swallowed hard. “They’re closer. They’re coming.”
“How much longer do you think we have?” Ryder asked as he looked at our things scattered all over the floor.
Eli shook his head. “Five minutes, maybe ten at best. Not enough time.”
“What if we sneak out the back?” I asked turning toward the back door.
Ryder’s eyes settled on Shawn for a split-second. “We won’t get far with him. They’ll catch up to us. Our chances are probably better if we stay here. I’m not sure how safe we’d be in the open against their arrows.”
“Arrows?” I asked.
Ryder nodded.
“Are you sure? Out there we can run, but in here we are sitting ducks,” I said rubbing my thumb against my lower lip.
“I can’t run,” Shawn said. “You guys should go. Leave while you still can.”
I shook my head. “I’m not leaving anyone behind.”
“I’ll hide downstairs. It’s the best chance you guys have.”
“We can all hide downstairs. Maybe they won’t even come here.” I crossed my arms as I walked over to the window. I shivered. Without the fire, the room was quickly getting cold. “Sure, they’ll see the smoke, but they don’t know what’s waiting inside the house. Maybe they’ll think they are the ones in danger.”
I had my gun, and while I didn’t have twenty bullets, maybe I’d only need to use one. All I had to do was scare them enough so that they’d leave.
I pulled the gun out of my waistband and looked out the window. They were out there. I could finally see them, but they were still far enough away that we could try to run.
“Maybe that could work.” Ryder’s head was bobbing up and down slowly, while he stared at my gun. “Maybe.”
“One gun won’t scare them,” Logan said.
“They don’t know how many we have,” I said with a shrug.
Ryder shook his head. “There’s no way to know for sure what will happen, but it might just be the best chance we have to survive this. They aren’t going to want to lose their men and women. One could be all we need.”
“But we can’t actually use the gun,” Eli said.
“Why not?” I asked. It wasn’t like I was just dying to use it, but if I had to, there wasn’t anything that was going to stop me from firing at them.
“If you shoot, and kill one of them, they’ll charge. How many can you kill before they get to the house?” Ryder asked.
I shrugged. Probably not all of them, but the house was locked. Even if a few of them managed to get inside, we’d be able to overpower them.
“I don’t have enough bullets, but it’ll take them a while to get inside. I think we’d have the upper-hand,” I said looking at Ryder. “You have your knife and Charlie has her club.”
I wished I had more bullets or even more guns, but I didn’t. Even though my dad had stockpiled bullets, over the years, we’d used them over time. It was something we couldn’t ever have enough of. At one point he’d stopped bringing them back. It was like they had become extinct.
I had what was left, and it wasn’t even close to being enough. But if I had to use them, I would.
“They’re coming this way,” Charlie said, backing away from the window. She moved all the way back to the fireplace and hugged herself.
We didn’t have any options. We were going to stand our ground.
15
I watched the group of natives as they approached. Their gang was mostly men, but there were several women with them huddled together at the back of the group.
They alternated between looking at the ground and up at the house. If the smoke that wisped out of the chimney hadn’t given us away, surely, they’d seen our footprints in the snow. For all I knew, maybe they could even guess as to how many people were inside the house based on the tracks in the snow.
One of the guys pointed at the trap, and a few of them laughed. The others wore unreadable expressions.
They were hairy, dirty and dressed similarly. The three men in front all had hoods made from furry animal heads. Two of which seemed to be wolves and the one leading them wore a bear.
Everyone in the group wore cloaks made from various animal hides and fur. They looked warm and not at all desperate.
There wasn’t a single one of them that looked the way we did. They weren’t thin, nor did they have dark circles under their eyes from lack of a good night’s sleep. All of them appeared to be quite healthy.
Some of the women toward the back of the group had round bellies. If I had to guess, I’d say it wouldn’t be long before they were carrying little fur-covered bundles.
“OK away from the windows,” Ryder said putting his hands on my shoulders and pulling me back gently. “Everyone.”
We all stepped away, forming a straight line. Our shoulders touching as we kept our eyes glued to the front windows, breathing heavily even though we couldn’t see them anymore.
Ryder paced back and forth, taking each step slowly and carefully as if he were walking on thin ice. He stopped every third pass to peek out the window. He’d pause for a moment before stepping back to pace again. His fingers trembled slightly as he ran them through his hair.
“What’s going on out there?” Logan whispered.
“Nothing.” Ryder pinched his chin. “They’re just standing there… staring at the house.”
I imagined them huddled together debating about what they should do. I hoped they were just as worried about us as we were about them.
Each breath I took was shaky. Every inhale squeezed my lungs causing mild discomfort that tensed my shoulder muscles. It was like I was afraid they might hear my breathing.
“Maybe they’ll leave,” I said after my exhale.
“Maybe,” Ryder said pacing back and forth his usual three times. He stopped and looked out the window again. “But they haven’t yet.”
My heart started to pound so hard it felt like my entire body was shaking. Shawn was to my right, and I was pretty sure he could feel my body jerking with each rapid beat where our shoulders touched.
I jumped when I felt a hand lightly touch my back. Shawn’s warm hand wrapped around mine.
He leaned close, his eyes filled with concern. “It’ll be OK,” Shawn whispered, as he moved his thumb up and down on the back of my hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t even move. All I could do was stare into his eyes.
“I owe you one,” he said with a nervous chuckle.
Ryder was staring out the window longer than he had the other times. His eyes were focused on some kind of movement. There was something going on out there, but I couldn’t see what it was.
Logan must have realized it too. “What’s going on now?”
“They’re looking at something, but I can’t see what it is,” Ryder said, his hands clenched together into tight fists.
I couldn’t stop my feet. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the other window. Ryder hadn’t seemed to notice I’d moved, and the others hadn’t stopped me.
One of the natives raised up his bow and aimed an arrow at something in the area just off to my left. I clenched my fist, frustrated I couldn’t see what had their attention.
My body jerked the second he released the arrow. The natives cheered, and they all walked out of sight.
“What are you doing?” Ryder said, his eyebrows pinched together as he grabbed my arm roughly
. “Stay back.”
“Sorry,” I said, bowing my head as I rubbed my elbow.
He shook his head and glanced at the others. His shoulders sank as his cheeks turned ruby red. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you, OK?”
“Sure,” I said wiggling my arm until he let go. I walked back and stood in my spot, refusing to look at Shawn even though I could feel his eyes on me.
“They shot a wolf,” Ryder announced. “They’re dragging it behind them.”
Everyone stared at Ryder waiting for more information. His head moved slowly from left to right, and then it stayed in place.
“Holy shit,” Ryder said, standing as still as a statue. “They’re leaving.” He laughed, but his body didn’t move. “They’re really fucking leaving!”
He slapped his palm against his thigh and punched at the air. I wanted to smile at his enthusiastic celebration, but I couldn’t.
The thought of the natives turning around and coming back for us felt far too possible. Not to mention having seen them so close to the house there was no way I'd ever feel safe at this location.
I watched the others with their big smiles and soft laughs. Charlie bounced up and down as she pumped her fist into the air almost completely silently. Logan smacked Eli on the back. They were celebrating as if we’d accomplished something major, but what had really happened was we’d gotten lucky. Very lucky.
After the brief celebration, they quickly settled. Over the next few hours we’d taken turns watching out of the window anticipating their return, but they hadn’t come back.
Every time I looked out the window, all I could do was stare at the blood-streaked snow where they had dragged the dead wolf. I could still picture the arrow sticking out of the side of its neck.
They’d taken our wolf. It was probably the same one that had visited us. The one we were trying to catch.
I wondered if they were enjoying our dinner. Maybe I wouldn’t have even liked wolf meat anyway.
That night I’d woke abruptly. My eyes popped wide open, and it took me a few seconds to realize where I was.
I couldn’t remember exactly, but I think I’d been dreaming about the natives coming back. I sat up and looked around the room. Everyone was still asleep, all of them except for Ryder who was sitting in a chair near the window resting his face against the window frame.
“You OK?” he asked softly.
I nodded and walked over to him. It was unlikely that I would be able to fall back to sleep with my heart still pounding. “Just a bad dream, I guess.”
“Do you have a lot of those?”
“No, not really. I don’t really even remember it, but I can’t shake the feeling. Anyway, I don’t really want to talk about it,” I said flashing him a small smile.
He smiled back. “We don’t have to talk about it. We all have bad dreams and considering everything, I’m not sure it would even help to talk about them.”
“Have you gotten any sleep yet?”
Ryder nodded. “A little. I don’t need much. Never have.”
I laughed. “Everyone needs sleep.”
“Of course, I just don’t need much.”
We stared out the window in silence. I could hear Logan’s heavy breathing behind me. It was just short of being a full-blown snore.
“When do you think we should leave?” I asked.
“In the morning… if we can,” Ryder said looking over at Shawn. “We’ll probably have to go slow, but I think we should move as soon as we possibly can.”
“Which way did they go… the natives?”
Ryder looked off to the right. “East. But I’m not sure that matters.”
I pressed my lips together. They could have turned south the second they were out of view. There was no way of knowing.
“How many natives are out there do you think?” I asked.
“In that group?”
I shook my head. “In all.”
Ryder shrugged. “I don’t think I could even guess.”
“More or less than The Evolved?”
“I really can’t say.”
“But if you had to.”
Ryder grinned. “Who’s going to make me?”
“Me,” I said, cocking my head to the side.
He laughed. “OK, OK, well, if you were holding me at gunpoint, I’d, and this is a complete guess, say there were more natives.”
“Interesting.”
“What? Are you going to organize them and take out The Evolved?” Ryder said raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe. But then I’d be worried about the renegades.”
He laughed and even though I hadn’t felt like laughing, I couldn’t help but smile back. Ryder’s smile was contagious.
It surprised me how comfortable I felt with Ryder. There was just something about him that made me feel like I’d known him all my life.
“Hey,” Ryder said taking my hand in his. He stood up and looked into my eyes. “I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. That was totally not cool. I panicked. I just worried that something might—”
“It’s fine,” I said feeling heat fill my cheeks.
“It’s most definitely not fine. The thought of something happening to you just overwhelmed me. I wanted to get you away from the window, it was all I could think about.” He shook his head and looked away for a second. “I’m not trying to make excuses, it was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
I chewed my lip. “Really, it’s fine. No harm done. I know you were just doing what you thought was best. No hard feelings, I promise.”
“Well, I still feel like an ass. Everyone was staring at me. God only knows what they were thinking,” Ryder said looking down into the empty space between us.
“They won’t even remember in the morning,” I said with a smile.
I suddenly became very aware of how close we were to one another. Charlie’s words floated around in my head as I stared into his eyes.
The room was mostly dark except for the dim light across the room from the crackling fireplace. He took a small step forward, our bodies only inches apart.
“I know I haven’t really known you long, but from the moment I saw you,” he paused, “you’ve infiltrated my every thought.”
All the moisture left my mouth. It felt like my lips were glued together. Even if I wanted to say something I wouldn’t have been able to.
His lips curled slightly at the ends as he moved closer. My breath felt stuck in my throat, and my heart started to pound, hard pats against my chest.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t think.
“Hey,” Eli said, looking at us from across the room.
I jumped back at least a foot. My hand pressed hard against my chest to hold my heart in place.
“Sorry, I can take over now,” Eli said walking closer. He was eying us both suspiciously.
How long had he been watching?
What had he heard?
Had he noticed I was a complete idiot? Ryder smiled and patted Eli on the back as he stepped up to the window.
“Anything going on?” Eli asked.
“Nothing out there,” Ryder said, glancing at me.
“Go on, get some rest,” Eli said gesturing towards the floor with his chin. “Looks like morning isn’t too far off.”
I finally was able to swallow. My body started to function normally again, although it felt as though electricity was running through my veins.
Ryder laid down in Eli’s spot and watched me as I walked back to where I had been sleeping next to Shawn. His smile was gone, but we stared at each other for a moment in the darkness.
He blinked several times and then closed his eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that Ryder was tired, but even though I hated to admit it to myself, I wished Eli wouldn’t have interrupted.
My heart and emotions were all over the place, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling something for him too. Whatever Ryder felt when we’d first met, whatever t
hat feeling was… well, I had felt it too.
And now, maybe I’d never know. Maybe the moment was lost forever.
16
It had been two days since we’d left the brick house behind. The path had been clear as far as we could see. Not a single track of any kind in the snow, not even animals.
Shawn was healing rather quickly. The wound on his wrist still needed to be bandaged, but the cut near his eye was significantly improved. He still needed to hold his bad arm tight to his chest.
Everyone was mostly in good spirits. We had refilled our water bottles before we’d left the house and had enough food to last for days. It wasn’t like we were able to have extravagant feasts, but we were fed.
We hadn’t traveled far over the last couple days, but we’d been making progress. Everyone was still tired since we hadn’t been getting nearly enough rest. Sleeping at night wasn’t easy.
When I’d left my home, I don’t think I had realized what I was in for. Maybe if I had been traveling alone, I would have made it further, but if I was being honest with myself, I felt safer having the others with me. Although, every time I had that thought, I could hear my dad’s words repeating in the back of my head.
The weather hadn’t improved. It was still just as cold as it was the day I’d set out from my home. Walking through the wet, heavy snow was hard on our tired legs, but we kept going, and surprisingly with very few complaints.
We’d only been walking for a few hours when clouds filled the sky, blocking out the somewhat warming sun. The temperature felt as though it had dropped at least ten degrees, if not more, in a matter of minutes. All we could do was keep moving. The faster we moved the warmer we’d be.
“I hope we can find another house soon,” Charlie said crossing her arms, rubbing her hands up and down to warm herself.
“That would be nice,” Ryder said, his head moving side to side as he looked out at our surroundings. “But it’s not something we can count on.”
Just looking around the area, I could see how empty our world was. There wasn’t anything around except for a few trees in front of us. Two of them bent to the side, leaning as if they’d been broken, and another had been uprooted and was lying flat on the ground.
Ravaged Land: Divided Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Books 1-3 Page 9
