“Are you OK?” Ryder asked, from directly behind me.
I grabbed my chest, trying to hold my heart inside. “Oh God!”
I placed my palm on the wall to steady myself. His hands moved toward me, and I held up my palm to stop him.
“You just scared me is all. I think we should get going,” I said wiping my head again.
“Boy it is warm out there,” Ryder said studying me.
“It’s warm down here,” I said, turning when the others started to wake. “It’s like an oven.”
Ryder clapped his hands. “Time to wake up. We need to get a move on.”
Charlie groaned as she turned on her side and covered her head with her arm. “Five more minutes.”
“Nope. Wake up sleepy head,” Ryder kicked her boot with his. “We’re already behind schedule.”
“What schedule?” Charlie grumbled.
Ryder looked at me and rolled his eyes. She was being her difficult self.
After we stuffed our faces one last time and made sure everything was packed, we headed up the stairs. It was too hot to wear our jackets, in fact, it was almost too hot to carry our jackets.
Ryder was leading the way, but I wasn’t far behind. When we got to the doorway, I saw something move outside. I grabbed his arm and yanked him back.
His head whipped around and he narrowed his eyes at me. “What is it?”
A small bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face. I swallowed down hard and pulled out my gun. “Someone’s out there.”
Chapter 12
Ryder waved us back away from the exit. His eyes were wide, but I wasn’t sure if he had seen what I had.
“Everyone, away from the windows,” he whispered as he carefully crept forward, gripping Charlie’s club with both hands.
Ryder stood with his back against the wall, carefully trying to peer outside. I could see someone walking past the door. Then I heard the voices.
Shawn and I locked eyes. He’d heard it too.
“Has someone been here?” the deep, raspy voice said.
“Can’t tell,” replied a much softer female voice.
I could hear whoever was outside coming closer. There were at least two people out there, but something told me there were more.
When I saw the feet moving toward the door, I took a step back. My eyes locked with Ryder’s and I jerked my head back toward the basement door.
The only thing I could think of was to barricade ourselves down there and hope they wouldn’t find us. Ryder nodded slowly, but I could tell he was unsure if it was our best move. I wasn’t sure what choice we had.
Charlie and Logan were closest and started moving toward the basement. One of them must have stepped on something that made a snapping noise.
“Someone’s in there,” the raspy voice said.
“Nah, probably just some kind of animal,” the woman said.
“Shh!” said a third voice.
I waved at them to move faster, but before I could make a move, someone ducked inside and grabbed Ryder around the neck. The movement was so abrupt, it caused Ryder to drop Charlie’s club.
“Now, hold it right there,” the man with the raspy voice said. He was tall and bearded, wearing a red flannel shirt, sweat decorated his forehead.
I aimed my gun at the man, and he shifted himself almost directly behind Ryder. If the man was holding a weapon of any kind, I couldn’t see it.
The man forced Ryder to duck down, and he pulled him outside of the building. I took several quick steps forward and looked out the doorway.
“Come on out,” the man said. “Do as I say and we can avoid any unnecessary trouble.”
Were they The Evolved? They were marked but not to the extent that Shawn had been. Natives? I didn’t think Ryder would be alive if they were. That left one option. Renegades.
I stepped outside and let out a sharp breath as I looked around. We were outnumbered.
Shawn followed me, with Logan and Charlie just a couple steps behind. Logan was holding the club. All of us stared out in the crowd of ten.
“Seems we have visitors, eh Ross?” the woman said as she crossed her arms.
My brain was rifling through all the information my dad had ever given me. There had to be a way to get us out of our predicament. The only problem was I was drawing a blank. My dad would have been disappointed because I couldn’t think of anything.
“Who are ya?” the woman asked. When no one answered she narrowed her eyes at us. She paced slowly looking each of us over good. “Well, you’re an interesting crew, aren’t you?”
The woman turned around and gave Ryder a closer look. Her head tilted upward slightly, looking down her nose at him.
“Renegade?” she asked.
Ryder swallowed. I could tell he was trying to decide what, if anything, he should say.
“Yes. You too?” Ryder asked.
“Yes, sir, long time renegade and damn proud of it,” she said throwing her shoulders back. Her arm flung back as she pointed a finger at me. “But, she’s not a renegade, and he’s definitely not a renegade.”
The man, Ross, holding Ryder didn’t loosen his grip.
“No ma’am they aren’t,” Ryder said.
“Tina. I ain’t that old you need to call me ma’am. If I asked what was going on, would you be inclined to tell me the truth?” she asked placing her hand on her hip.
Ryder’s eyes met mine. I had no idea what he should or shouldn’t tell them. My experience with Jacob had been fine, but that didn’t mean all renegades would be as kind.
“There isn’t anything going on,” Ryder said. “The five of us are just looking to find our place in the world.”
“Is that right?” Ross asked, nodding toward Shawn. “Him too?”
“He’s renegade now,” Ryder said.
Ross chuckled. “For how long? He’s got about ten too many markings to be a renegade.”
“He’s new, but proved himself,” Ryder said.
“It don’t work that way,” Ross said shaking his head.
“Hmm,” Tina said tapping her chin. “And what about her?”
“She’s… I don’t know what she is,” Ryder said, and the woman tensed. Ryder quickly shook his head. “No, I mean, somehow she wasn’t part of any of this. Ever.”
The woman shook her head. “How’s that possible?”
“Her family had been hidden away,” Ryder said.
“Native,” the guy next to Ross said. He was younger than Ross and Tina. He didn’t seem to be much older than we were.
Ryder shook his head. “Not really.”
“Does she talk?” Tina asked cocking her head to the side as she studied me like I was a rare specimen.
“Of course I can talk,” I said narrowing my eyes at her.
Tina smiled and stepped back as if my voice surprised her. It was almost as if she’d expected me to sound different.
“Well, I’m Tina, this is my husband Ross, and my son Benny. We’re in charge of what’s left of our little group here.” The small group behind them nodded their unenthusiastic greetings.
Tina stared at me as if waiting for something to happen.
“What’s your name?” Tina said gesturing at me.
“Emery,” I said my name slowly as if I wasn’t even sure if it was my name.
Ryder cleared his throat. “I’m Ryder, he’s Shawn, and those two back there are Logan and Charlie.”
“Which is which?” Ross asked with a heavy sniff as he loosened his grip on Ryder so he could swipe at his nose.
“I’m Charlie,” Charlie said stepping forward with her shoulders back. “And I’m also proud to be a renegade.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but I managed to hold them in place.
“Where are you all headed?” Ross asked.
“South,” I answered quickly. They didn’t need to know anything beyond that.
“What’s down there,” Ross said, letting go of Ryder when Tina nodded at him.
I
shrugged. “That’s what we’re going to find out I guess.”
“Where you all from?” Tina asked.
“North,” Ryder said, rubbing the back of his neck. “How about you guys? What’s your story?”
Ross chuckled. “We’re just out here surviving. Trying to avoid The Evolved and the natives.”
“We’re losing too many,” Tina said shifting her weight. “Used to have sixty. We’re all that’s left.”
“Meanwhile their numbers keep going up… at least that’s how it seems whenever we come across them,” Ross said.
Charlie took a step forward. “Where do you guys live?”
A slow grin spread across Ross’ face. “Here.”
A bead of sweat dripped down the side of my face. If they discovered what we’d done to their supplies, it wasn’t likely they were going to be thrilled. I had to hope they wouldn’t look in my backpack.
“Do a lot of natives come through the area?” I asked, hoping to change the subject. We needed to get out of here with what we had.
“Enough,” Tina said, glancing at my backpack. Dammit.
“Not long ago, we saw a group of natives, walking in a straight line,” Ryder said.
Tina’s gaze shifted to Ryder. She nodded. “Yep, we know of them. They go around harvesting what they can. You name it, wood, food, doors, anything really, then they bring it back to their camp.”
“Where’s their camp?” Shawn asked.
“You see those signs around?” Benny asked.
We all nodded.
“That’d be them. Don’t follow those signs,” Ross said.
“How do you know?” Ryder asked.
Tina looked over her shoulder at the group behind her. “We were curious. We followed the signs. It wasn’t pretty.”
“How far away from here is it?” I asked.
“Too close for comfort, but we were working on changing all that,” Tina said. “For now, all our stuff is here. Most of it well hidden.”
Her eyes moved back to my backpack. I forced myself to keep control of my breathing.
“Something tells me you found some of it,” Tina said with a smirk.
“We didn’t know,” I said, tightening the grip on my gun. Since Ross had let go of Ryder maybe we had a chance to flip things in our favor. Then again, I didn’t know if they were armed.
“No need for that,” Tina said gesturing at my hand as if she’d seen the slight twitch. “Us renegades have to stick together.”
Tina looked at Ross, and then at Benny. She stretched her neck to the left and then to the right.
“Maybe I have an idea,” she said rubbing her shoulder.
Ryder’s eyes met mine, and then he turned to Tina. “What’s that?”
“Maybe we join forces. I need more. You all need a place to stay, and apparently food. I think this could be mutually beneficial.”
“What about him, mom?” Benny said pointing at Shawn. “You know we can’t trust him.”
My head started to shake. “We can’t stay.”
“Why not?” Tina pressed her lips together.
“Sure we can,” Charlie said twisting the end of her pigtail between her fingers.
Tina stepped closer to me. Her hair was coarse and frizzy, it probably hadn’t been washed in weeks. “You’d be much safer with us. There are a lot of them out there. Natives. How many have you killed?”
I drew in a controlled breath, and Tina flashed me a half-smile. She pulled up her sleeve and showed me the underside of her arm.
“Each one of those little tally marks… that’s a native.” She flipped over her other arm. “These… these are Evolved.”
“We’ve taken down groups bigger than ours, well back when we had more. But the point is we know what we’re doing,” Ross said.
“There’s nothing out there for you all. You’ll just wander around until you either starve or get taken out by one of the bloodthirsty groups,” Tina said, patting down her hair. “At least with us, you’ll live longer.”
Ross crossed his arms. “There’s another group of renegades not far from here. We help them out from time to time. That’s where we were. We’re in the process of bringing our stuff over there. Considering a permanent residence with them.”
“Why don’t you all think about it. We’ll give you a few minutes to talk it over,” Tina said, waving at Ross and Benny as she started walking backward.
We huddled together even though they’d given us plenty of space. It wasn’t just the sun beating down on me that was making me feel hot.
I drew in a slow breath. “I’m not staying.”
Charlie crossed her arms. “I am.”
Chapter 13
I stared at Charlie with my mouth hanging open. It took several seconds before I could speak.
“What? Are you kidding me?” I said trying my best to keep my voice down. “Fine by me! Have fun.”
I started to walk away, but Ryder pulled me back. There were several muffled chuckles coming from the group of renegades watching us.
“I told Ryder this back when you guys were still with Jacob, and I’m still saying it. I do not want to get involved in your war,” I said.
“We don’t have to stay forever,” Ryder said, his voice calm.
“You too?” I asked. My hands were clenched so tightly I couldn’t feel my fingers. My blood was boiling.
Ryder placed his hand on my shoulder, but quickly pulled it away as if he’d been burned. “You saw that group of natives. There isn’t anywhere out there that is safe.”
“I’ll find somewhere. My parents did it. I can do it too,” I said between my clenched teeth.
“That was a different time,” Logan said in a low voice. “A lot has changed. Maybe they knew what they were doing then, but this is different.”
“Why would I want to join up with the losing team?” I said unable to keep my voice low.
Ryder’s face dropped as if I’d punched him in the stomach.
“Let’s all take a minute,” Shawn said, his eyes darting back and forth between Ryder and I. He turned to me. “Emery.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I said.
“What if it’s just temporary?” Shawn said. “I’ll go wherever you do, but at least consider it. They have supplies. They have others.”
“I don’t want to stay with them,” I said crossing my arms.
Charlie exhaled loudly. “I have no idea what you even think you’re going to find in the south.”
“A place that’s far away from everyone else,” I said.
“Alone?” Ryder asked his voice barely above a whisper.
My thoughts suddenly shifted back to the time I’d spent alone after my mom had died. It had been painful to the say the least. Lonely. It hadn’t been any way to live. Did I really want that?
If I was being honest with myself, being scared out of my mind that the natives were going to find us, was better than being alone. Either way, I was scared, but one way I was by myself.
Ever since my mom told me to go south, I had an image in my mind of what my life would be like. A secret home, on a warm beach with plenty fish to catch and abundant water. My garden would grow, and I wouldn’t have to worry about anything. But I never thought much about how alone I’d be. Just me for the rest of my life.
My knees felt weak, and I sighed. “When it’s just us, it’s easier to be invisible.”
“We don’t have to stay forever,” Shawn said. “When you want to leave, I’ll go with you. Let’s just see what they have to offer.”
“I think it’s a terrible idea.” I crossed my arms and tilted my head back. The sun warmed my cheeks. “I’ll give it a few days, but after that, if it’s not something amazing, I’m back on my way with or without you.”
Charlie clapped her hands. “You’re going to love it.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Well I don’t, but I remember what it was like with Jacob. Let me tell you, it was about four thousand ti
mes better than it has been traveling around willy-nilly,” Charlie said, raising her eyebrows.
“I didn’t make you come with me,” I grumbled, turning when I heard someone coming up behind me.
Tina was standing there giving us a bright smile. “So, is it a yes?”
“It’s a yes,” Ryder said.
“Temporarily for me,” I said pressing my lips together.
“Ain’t no one going to keep you if you don’t want to be with us,” Tina said, leaning closer. “But I think you’ll see it’s better when you have friends. Tell you what, I’ll even let you keep everything in your backpack just to show you what good people we are.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Tina clapped her hands, and the others closed in. She did her best to introduce everyone, but all I could think about was how big of a mistake I was making.
“So,” Tina said turning toward us when she finished rifling off all their names, none of which I would remember. “We’ll probably rest up here for a day or so before hauling supplies back to our main base.”
“We’re in the process of moving. Just feels like the natives are too close,” Ross said.
Instead of traveling to the south, I’d be stuck in the middle of nowhere helping some renegades move their goods to another location. I felt more lost staying with the renegades than I would have wandering around toward the south.
“You guys all sleep in the basement?” Charlie asked.
“Nah,” Benny said stepping up next to her. “We’ve got a different place cleared out down the way.”
Tina crossed her arms. “Might be a good idea to show them around. We’ll be here a bit yet, they might as well see where we live before we head back out.”
“You got it,” Benny said with a salute. “Follow me.”
We followed Benny through the puddles, and across the cracked concrete. He gestured to a large piece of metal.
“Right under there,” Benny said lifting it up with ease.
Under the thin sheet of metal was a staircase leading underground. Charlie went down first, practically hopping with excitement.
I couldn’t believe that no one had discovered their hideout, but I couldn’t say anything about it because we hadn’t either. What was it with the renegades hiding underground?
Ravaged Land: Divided Series - A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Books 1-3 Page 22
