Ravaged Land: Divided Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Books 1-3

by Kellee L. Greene

“It’s just that there is so much food here. We can’t possibly take it all, and it seems like such a waste.” I covered my mouth with my hand and let it fall back to my side. “We could stuff ourselves for one more day, pack what we can, and then get back on track.”

  The room was absolutely silent until Logan bit down on a chip.

  “Sounds good to me,” Logan said stuffing another chip into his mouth.

  “Are you sure?” Ryder asked taking a step forward. My stomach tightened again.

  I shook my head. My eyes settled on the bag of chips Logan was holding. It was almost as if I could taste the salt when I swallowed.

  “No, I’m not sure,” I said with a small, nervous laugh. “I think my stomach is holding me hostage.”

  “Your stomach is right,” Logan said popping two chips into his mouth.

  Ryder turned and glared at him. “Don't listen to him, his stomach is doing the talking.”

  “Damn straight,” Logan said. “But I agree with it.”

  Charlie was digging in another box smiling as she pulled out some dried fruit strips. “I’m in heaven.”

  Ryder and Shawn both closed in on me. They exchanged an odd look before facing me.

  “We’re trapped down here,” Shawn said pointing at the door. “If someone comes, there’s nowhere to run.”

  “I know that,” I said.

  “I don’t like it,” Shawn said rubbing his elbow.

  Ryder cocked his head to the side and smirked at Shawn. “Claustrophobic?”

  “No.” Shawn looked him up and down. “Not more than anyone else.”

  “Is that so?” Ryder asked.

  I placed my hand on my forehead and stared at them both with wide eyes. The noises of eating several feet away was making it hard to think.

  “Should we take a vote?” I asked, wiping my palms on my pants.

  “I think I already know how those two are going to vote,” Ryder said. “So, it’s up to us.”

  I drew in a deep breath and crossed my arms. “OK, well, then how do you vote?”

  “Go,” Shawn said almost instantly.

  “Stay,” Ryder said, widening his stance. It almost seemed as though he said the opposite of Shawn intentionally. I shook the thought from my head… Ryder wouldn’t have done that. “Guess it’s decided then.”

  I looked at Shawn and pressed my lips together. I was glad the deciding vote hadn't come down to me because my stomach was telling me to stay, and I wasn't sure I could convince it otherwise. We’d be stronger if we refueled.

  “If we refuel, we’ll travel faster,” I said avoiding looking at either of them.

  Shawn’s head dropped back as he groaned. Ryder nodded in agreement.

  “I’ll tell them the good news,” Ryder said, eyeing Shawn briefly before he walked away.

  Shawn stepped past me, scratching at his eyebrow. “I need some air.”

  The stairs creaked as he walked up them. I took a step to go after him but forced myself to stop. If he wanted space, I’d give it to him, even though I was worried about him out there alone.

  Then again, he’d been out there on his own half-dead. He could probably manage now that he was at full health.

  “What climbed up his ass?” Charlie said looking satisfied.

  I shrugged. “Just wanted some air.”

  Ryder leaned closer to Logan and Charlie. “I think he’s claustrophobic.”

  I rolled my eyes and decided to go after him.

  “Aw, don’t go,” Ryder said. “I’m just messing around.”

  “I’ll be back. Just going to check on him,” I said, reaching back for my gun.

  “I’m sure he’s fine,” Charlie said picking at the back of her teeth. She tossed a foil wrapped fruit strip at me but I wasn’t ready for it, and it hit me in the arm. “They’re good. You should try one.”

  “Later,” I said with a nod as I made my way up the steps ignoring the fruit strip near my boot.

  The main floor above us was empty. I could hear their mumbled voices below, but I couldn’t make out what they were talking about.

  “Shawn?” I said quietly. He must have stepped outside.

  I looked out of the half-opened door before stepping outside. The sun was so hot I could feel its heat before stepping out of the building.

  I squinted as my eyes worked to adjust to the bright lighting. The light was making it hard to see further than a few feet in front of me.

  I blinked rapidly hoping to force my eyes to adjust quicker. Something touched my shoulder, and I jerked my elbow back defensively throwing my whole body into it. But my arm didn’t hit anything. I’d missed my target.

  I turned, aiming my gun at the person I thought I’d find standing there but it was just empty space. After a second, I saw Shawn crouched down. He’d ducked my blow.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “Don’t you know not to sneak up on someone with a gun?” I asked breathing heavily.

  He flashed me a smile. The sparkle was back in his eyes. “I do now.”

  “Feeling better?” I asked lowering my gun.

  Shawn nodded and scanned the horizon. “I almost miss the snow.”

  “Really?”

  “At least then I could see if anyone had left behind tracks.”

  I looked down at the ground realizing he was right. There wouldn’t be any way to know if anyone had been around.

  If we ever found a place to stay, I’d use some of the skills my dad had taught me. I could set up traps, and even some alarms as long as I could find the supplies I’d need.

  “The sun’s pretty warm,” I said, pulling my hair back and letting it fall over my shoulder.

  “Wonder if it’ll stay this way,” Shawn said, his boots sloshed in the water as he paced back and forth in front of me. “What are they all doing down there?”

  “Eating.”

  Shawn sighed. “About last night.”

  Oh God. My mouth felt like it had been glued shut with a cotton ball stuffed inside.

  “I didn’t mean to—”

  He stopped talking when there were noises coming from inside the building. Ryder stepped out into the sunlight with a smile on his face. When he caught the looks on our faces, the smile vanished.

  Ryder looked around as if he’d expected something bad to have happened, but all that was surrounding us was sunshine and soggy ground. He looked at me and then at Shawn.

  “Did I interrupt something?” Ryder asked.

  I drew in a deep breath that squeezed my lungs so hard it felt like they could pop. My stomach twisted as an image of Shawn’s lips on mine flashed in my mind.

  “No,” I said quickly.

  Ryder’s eyes narrowed for just a second before returning to normal, but I hadn’t missed the slight change. I don’t know why, but I felt guilty. Probably because I barely let any time elapse between when Ryder broke things off to the moment when I’d kissed Shawn.

  I knew I was going to have to tell him, then again maybe I wouldn’t depending on what Shawn had been about to say to me. Although I wasn’t sure why I’d have to confess anything to Ryder. Ryder had told me how things were going to be between us. As far as I was concerned, he’d picked Charlie. I didn’t owe him anything.

  It was just that talking to him seemed like the decent thing to do. Either way, I’d worry about it later.

  I didn’t know how he’d take the news, and at the moment I didn’t want things to take a turn for the worse. For the most part, they were going well.

  Charlie and I were on terms we’d both agreed upon. We were fed and getting rest. There was no reason to stir the pot between Shawn and Ryder. Especially when I didn’t even know what I’d tell Ryder.

  “Why don’t you two go back on inside,” Shawn said, avoiding my eyes. “I’m going to have a look around.”

  “Alone?” I asked squinting at him, but not because the sun was too bright.

  “Nah, he’s not going alone.” Ryder stepped to the side and smacked Shawn on the s
houlder. “I’ll go with him. You can keep an eye on the chip monsters downstairs.”

  I swallowed hard, trying to catch a look at Shawn, but he was still avoiding my eyes.

  “Um…,” I said hesitating in the hopes something would change. But it didn’t. “OK. Don’t go far.”

  “We won’t,” Ryder said with a smile.

  When I didn’t move, Ryder waved his hand toward the door. I pressed my lips together and stepped inside.

  I turned to look back at them out of the doorway, but they were already out of sight. There was a part of me that considered sneaking out after them, but I decided against it.

  In the basement, Charlie and Logan were sitting with their backs against the wall, and their shoulders touching. Each with a bag of chips tucked between their legs.

  “Where are they?” Logan asked, his voice rough and demanding.

  “They went for a walk.”

  Charlie scrunched up her nose. “Together?”

  “I guess so,” I said holding in my sigh. My eyes focused on the stairs, waiting for them to come back.

  I should have gone after them. I shouldn’t have let them go out on their own.

  They wouldn’t go far. Would they? I started to pace, and every time I went near the stairs, I considered running up them to find Shawn and Ryder.

  I’d give them five minutes, give or take, and if they weren’t back, I’d go out after them. Each step I took echoed loudly in the basement. I could feel Logan watching me as I moved back and forth.

  After roughly five minutes passed I stared at the door at the top of the stairs. Time was up, and they weren’t back.

  I took a step toward the stairs stopping abruptly when Logan’s arm dropped down in front of me to block the way.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Logan asked.

  “To look for them.”

  Logan shook his head. “They’ll be back.”

  “OK,” I said letting out a heavy sigh and lowering my gaze.

  The second Logan turned his back, I made a run for it.

  Chapter 11

  Before I’d even made it half-way up the stairs, my feet lifted off of the ground, and Logan pulled me back down the stairs. His arms were wrapped tightly around my waist.

  “You’re a fast one, aren’t you?” Logan asked. “Sneaky too.”

  “Why won’t you let me go?” I said between my teeth.

  He shook his head. “The last thing we need is for something to happen to you while you’re out looking for them.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, but he pressed his fingers down over my lips. My eyes widened.

  “Don’t look so offended,” Logan said.

  My brow wrinkled as I squeezed my eyebrows together. Charlie bit into a chip, and my eyes shifted over to her.

  “They’ll be back. Jacob let Ryder out every day, and he always came back. He can take care of himself,” Logan said, and Charlie nodded.

  I wiggled my head, and his hand dropped away from my face. He loosened his grip on my torso slightly.

  “Luck runs out,” I said with a sharp exhale. “When I first met him, he was getting attacked by one of The Evolved. That could be happening right now, and you two are just sitting in here chowing down on your bags of stupid chips.”

  Logan moved his mouth an inch from the side of my face. I could feel his breath against my cheek. “They will be back.”

  When the first step creaked, Logan let go of me. I drew in a sharp breath and turned toward the stairs. Every muscle in my body tensed until I recognized the boot.

  They were back.

  “Thank God,” I said in a breath.

  “Told you,” Logan said brushing past me.

  Ryder and Shawn both wore blank expressions. Neither of them said anything.

  “Find anything of interest?” I asked, my voice cutting through the silence like a knife.

  “Nope,” Ryder said, turning to dig in one of the boxes.

  Shawn sat down on the steps and kicked off his boots. “But it’s getting pretty hot out there. Not that you can tell down here though. I’m going to need shoes.”

  “That’s not going to be easy to find,” I said wishing I’d been more prepared. I should have packed more clothes before I’d left my home.

  “No… no, it’s not,” Shawn said. “It actually started raining when we were out there.”

  “Rain?” I asked.

  Ryder nodded. “Not snow… rain.”

  “It was just a sprinkle,” Shawn added. He looked up at me and must have noticed the concern on my face even though I’d been trying to hide it. “Just a passing shower. Nothing to worry about.”

  He’d intended to relieve my worries, but it didn’t. There could be more storms behind a passing shower, but on the bright side, if there was one, at least it wasn’t snow.

  “Hopefully the sun will dry everything out,” Ryder said looking out the window.

  “Based on how warm it is today, I bet it will,” Shawn said fanning himself with his hand. “Think it’s even starting to warm up a bit down here after all.”

  My eyes darted at the boxes. “We should plan what we’re going to take with us. Pack it up. Things that will keep us full, but that are packaged small.”

  “So not the chips?” Logan asked with raised eyebrows.

  “Right. Not the chips.”

  After we packed and feasted, we all wanted to get some rest. There was still a bit of sunlight coming through the small window, but we had to take advantage of the situation. It could be days, weeks, or maybe even longer before we’d come upon anything even close to an opportunity like this again. Maybe we never would.

  Shawn took the first watch as I expected he would, and the second the others were asleep, I sat up. I sucked in a deep breath and soundlessly made my way over to him. His eyes were on me every step of the way.

  I sat down next to him and rubbed my palms up and down my thighs.

  “You should be sleeping,” Shawn whispered.

  “I know… I will,” I said, pausing to chew on my cheek. “But I have to ask you something first.”

  Shawn picked at his fingernail. When he didn’t say anything, I knew I had to prompt him.

  “Earlier,” I said, hesitating for a moment to swallow, “when we were outside… you started to talk about something. About what happened between us.”

  “Um, yeah.” Shawn looked down at the floor. “And then we were interrupted.”

  I nodded. “What were you going to tell me? That you regretted it?”

  “What? No!” Shawn said almost too loudly. “What would give you a crazy idea like that? I would never.”

  Shawn grabbed my hand and tilted his head slightly to look into my eyes.

  “I don’t know. Then what was it?” I said feeling as though the oxygen was being sucked out of the room.

  Shawn let out a breath that seemed to go on for minutes. He squeezed my hand.

  “Just that we can’t let that happen again,” Shawn said, as his eyes shifted down toward my lips. He didn’t have to say it, I could already tell what was on his mind. “Because of him.”

  “He’d understand.”

  “Would he?” Shawn interrupted.

  “He should. He’s the one that broke it off with me,” I said, my voice just above a whisper.

  Shawn was shaking his head before I’d even finished. “Not because he wanted to. He felt like he had to.”

  “He still did it.”

  “No matter how badly I want to do it again, right now, we can’t.” He forced himself to look away from my mouth. “It would tear him up.”

  I blew out a puff of air between my lips. “What makes you so sure about that?”

  “Because I know how I’d feel.”

  The air between us felt tighter.

  “Doesn’t it matter what I want?” I asked.

  “Of course, but we have to think of our group as a whole too. As long as we are together, we have to work together.”

  I
hated it, but he was right. We couldn’t do anything that might put any of us at risk. I’d done that with Ryder, and it sent Charlie running, putting her in danger.

  My talk with Ryder had basically been the same. He wanted to keep the group together, just like Shawn was doing now. But with Shawn it was different. With Ryder, it had felt like he was choosing Charlie, but with Shawn, he was choosing all of us.

  Shawn turned his head to look into my eyes. “But it doesn’t change how I feel. It’s killing me inside because if I could, I’d do it all over again, right now. I’m using every last bit of willpower I have not to because I know it’s the right thing to do.”

  “I wish you could too,” I said feeling a blast of heat surge through my body.

  “You should go lay down,” Shawn said, placing my hand back down on my thigh. “Before I lose my willpower.”

  I smiled and left him sitting there. Even though he was right, it didn’t make it any easier to digest.

  At some point, I’d talk to Ryder. Surely, I could get him to understand. After all, he’d made his choice. There was no reason I should have to give up on what I wanted. He’d made his choice, he should be the one to live with the consequences.

  I sighed and turned over on my other side. Ryder was laying there, his leg moved ever so slightly. It looked as though he was dreaming.

  I still had feelings for him. They didn’t just disappear the minute he’d broken things off, but I couldn’t sit there wishing and hoping. It was done. I could move on… except that apparently, I couldn’t.

  When I woke in the morning, the others were still sleeping, except for Ryder who was on watch. He stared as I tried to silently go through my backpack. I wanted to make sure I’d squeezed as much as I possibly could inside my pack. It was going to be hard to leave behind the boxes of food.

  What if we were making a mistake? What if we should stay here until everything was gone?

  This room was temporary. Once everything was gone, we’d still have to go out there and make our way. We’d still have to find somewhere else to stay eventually. Other than the food, staying was a bad idea. If anyone came poking around, we’d be in major trouble considering there was only one way out of the basement.

  I wiped the sweat from my brow. My hands were starting to shake. We needed to get out of the basement.