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

by Kellee L. Greene

“I’m taking her inside,” Shawn shouted over the sounds of the rushing deer.

  When I was in the house, it wasn’t much quieter. Shawn held me until the stampede finally came to an end.

  “Go help him,” I said to Shawn. “I’m going to go lie down.”

  “Are you sure? I can stay with you,” Shawn said.

  I shook my head. It might have been the last thing I needed, but I wanted to be alone.

  Chapter 21

  That night we’d had a feast. Shawn and Ryder had prepared the fish and the deer meat, along with a ton of rice. We all ate more than we should have as we listened to the storm pass by.

  It was a violent storm with strong winds that made the house creak and crack. Lighting cracked and cut through the night sky like a knife while thunder rumbled the ground worse than the stampede.

  The flashes of lightning were so bright it would illuminate every room in the entire house. Each of us wearing the same scared expression with each ear-piercing crack.

  “Hope it doesn’t strike the house,” Ryder said glancing at Logan.

  “Why not?” Abby asked as flashes of light brightened her face.

  “It could start a fire.” Ryder hadn’t taken his eyes off of Logan. “And if there’s a fire….”

  Logan stood up and crossed his arms. “I can walk.”

  Ryder nodded, but he hadn’t looked satisfied. “But for how long?”

  Logan’s hand tightened at his side and then relaxed as he lowered himself back down onto the chair.

  “We’d figure it out,” I said pressing my lips together.

  “There’s always the storage building. That’s made out of brick,” Shawn said. “I’m sure Logan could easily make it that far.”

  Logan nodded, and silence filled the room. The storm occupied much of my thoughts. Every time there was a storm I wondered if it would be the one that would finish us off. My parents didn’t like the storms, and I guessed that because of that, I hadn’t either. Nothing good ever happened after a storm.

  The sun came up bright and early the next day and was already hard at work to dry out the yard before I’d even opened my eyes. I stared at the door not wanting to get out of bed.

  Several minutes ago, someone had walked down the hall and stopped in my doorway, but I wasn’t sure who it had been. I’d closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep.

  I wasn’t sure what it was that was holding me down, but whatever it was had a hold on me that I couldn’t seem to push away.

  Voices fluttered in the air like butterflies around me. The others were up and going about their morning routine, but I didn’t want to be a part of it.

  It wasn’t that I wanted to be alone again, in fact, that was probably the last thing I wanted. Deep down I knew that what I didn’t want to do was confront our plans for the future.

  I didn’t want to decide if we should stay in the house, or if we should strike out in search of something better. Something different.

  For all I knew, there wasn’t anything out there. Maybe the farm was the best we were going to ever have and planting the seeds I’d taken with me would be the right thing to do.

  My stomach twisted at the idea. If I planted my seeds, we could still be forced to leave the farm, and I would lose everything. The seeds I carried with me, were the last thing I still had as a reminder of home.

  There was always the chance that the seeds would grow and feed us for years to come. I could get more seeds from the plants but planting them felt too risky. Too permanent.

  There was a chance I wouldn’t ever be able to plant them, and it was hard to come to terms with that notion. My mom had told me to plant them in the south, where it was warm, and they’d grow. We had a farm. It was warm. And as long as there wasn’t anything wrong with the seeds after all this time, they’d grow.

  But I couldn’t commit. The others would be asking soon what we should do. They’d want me to decide if we should stay or if we should go. I was pretty sure all of them, except for maybe Shawn, would have a strong preference for staying. Even with the man who occasionally showed up and left people in the storage shed to die wandering about. He could come back, but he would be easy to deal with. At least, I believed that’s what they would say.

  The floorboards at the end of the hallway creaked. I could hear whispers deciding whether or not they should wake me. Their voices weren’t urgent, so I wasn’t worried. I closed my eyes and relaxed my body.

  “Maybe she’s tired,” Abby whispered.

  Someone said something, but I hadn’t been able to make out what they’d said. I was pretty sure the soft mumbles had belonged to Shawn.

  “Give her a few more minutes,” Abby said, and after a brief hesitation, the floorboards creaked as they walked away.

  My eyes popped open, and I turned so my back was toward the door. I stared at the bright window.

  If only my mom could give me some kind of sign, to let me know this was the place I was meant to stay. We had water and fish. There was a field that needed a little work but would definitely work for planting the seeds I had.

  Was there anything else out there? What if this was it?

  I needed a sign. Any sign.

  I closed my eyes, and in my mind, I begged my mom for a signal. But of course, nothing happened.

  The front door crashed as someone flung it open. When the door slammed shut, I abruptly sat up in bed.

  Ryder walked past the hallway and stopped just before the kitchen. I could see his tensed body at the end of the hall.

  Ryder's hand shot up to his head, and he held it in place. “Holy shit, you guys are not going to believe what I found.”

  Chapter 22

  I crawled out of bed, and everyone stared at me as I walked down the hall. Ryder glanced over his shoulder to see what they were looking at but quickly turned back to face them.

  “What is it?” Logan said concern filling his eyes.

  “I don’t know how we missed it, to be honest,” Ryder said with a hint of a laugh.

  Shawn shook his head. “Missed what?”

  “OK, well, I moved some shit around in the storage building and there was a door, just like the one in the kitchen,” Ryder said as I stepped around to join in the meeting. “I figured I’d probably just find more canned junk, but that isn’t at all what I’ve found.”

  Shawn shot me a look and turned back to Ryder. “So, what did you find?”

  “A stockpile of grenades, but that’s not all,” Ryder said raising his eyebrows. “There are a couple guns, ammo, and more. It’s like someone had been preparing for the end of the world. There are even packets of seeds down there.”

  “Seeds?” I asked feeling the heat rising through my body.

  Ryder nodded. “I don’t know if they’ll grow, but it’s worth a shot, right?”

  My fingers twisted together. I was being confronted with the exact conversation I’d been trying to avoid.

  Ryder stepped closer, and there was no doubt he could sense my nerves. “I know you aren’t sure about staying, but I think this is a sign, don’t you?”

  “What?” I said swallowing hard.

  “Guns to protect ourselves and seeds to start growing. Maybe this is the place you were searching for all along,” Ryder said placing his hands on my shoulders.

  My eyes darted over to Shawn. The back of my neck was sticky with sweat, and my insides were swirling.

  “I don’t know,” I said pulling away from him. It wasn’t that I was trying to be disagreeable, or make things difficult, I just didn’t know what to do or say. I started pacing the floor near the window. “What if I don’t want to stay.”

  “Then we don’t have to,” Shawn answered first.

  I stopped for a second to look up at Ryder and Logan. Abby would most likely do whatever Logan wanted.

  Logan’s shoulders rose as he inhaled. His expression was unreadable.

  Ryder’s face was hard, and his eyes were dark, but they had been ever since we’d lost Charlie.
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  “What Shawn said. We don’t have to stay, but maybe we should give it a try,” Ryder said his jaw softening. “It can be like a trial run. If anything happens, we can run. Or we could probably even hide, but I’m fairly confident that with what we have down there, we can defend this place against the natives and The Evolved.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and stopped in front of the window. “Can I have some time to think about it?”

  “Take all the time you need,” Ryder said. “Would you like to see it?”

  “See the hidden room?” I asked.

  “Yeah, maybe it’ll ease your mind.”

  I chuckled. “Nothing eases my mind about any of this.”

  “Well, OK, but maybe it would help you decide.” Ryder stepped up beside me. “I’m not trying to rush you into making any decision you’re not comfortable with, after all, this is your quest.”

  I swallowed down the sour taste at the back of my throat. “I always thought that when I found what I was looking for, I’d know it. But I’ve felt nothing. I don’t know if this is the place.”

  “There’s always the possibility that this isn’t the forever place, but maybe this is the for now place. Maybe this is the place we’re supposed to stay until things change.” Ryder placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Just think about it, sleep on it if you want to, and if you’d like I can show you what’s down there.”

  Logan was standing on my other side. “We’re with you, whatever you want to do.”

  “But… why? Why do you trust me to make the right choice?” I said feeling tears welling up in my eyes.

  “You haven’t steered us wrong this far,” Ryder said bumping his elbow me lightly.

  “It’s quite possible that when Ryder had us chase after you saved our lives. If we’d have stayed back there… well, you know,” Logan said with a hard sniff.

  I shook my head and turned to Shawn and Abby who were both staring at me with a brightness in their eyes.

  “I don’t even have to tell you that you saved my life,” Shawn said.

  “You definitely saved mine,” Abby said quickly wiping at a tear that had escaped.

  I bit my lip and swallowed down all the emotions that were filling me. Standing there with them all looking at me was overwhelming. I could feel how much they cared about me. It was like it was wrapping around me in a warm, but invisible embrace, and dammit it felt good. But I didn’t want to let them down. I didn’t want to make the wrong choice.

  “I don’t think this should solely be my decision,” I said turning back to look out the window. “Do all of you really want to stay? I mean, what if The Evolved come here tomorrow and murder us in our sleep?”

  “They won’t make it to our doorstep with what we have in that room,” Ryder said.

  “Pretend they do,” I countered.

  Ryder pulled back his shoulders. “I want to fight for this place, but I will follow you if you want to leave.”

  “Logan?”

  “I’m with Ryder. But if you want to go, I’m with you one hundred percent.”

  Abby stepped forward clasping her hands in front of her. “I really like it here. It feels like a home, but I’d follow you to the ends of the earth.”

  Her smiled warmed my heart, but I shivered when I turned to Shawn.

  “I’ll support whatever—”

  “What would you do?” I asked.

  “I… I’d… I’ll sup—”

  “Shawn. Answer me. Give me your honest answer. I know you’ll go with me if I leave, but if it were up to you… what would you do?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair as he looked down at his feet. His eyes shifted up to lock on to mine.

  “I think I’d stay until there was a reason not to,” Shawn said.

  “That man that wanders onto the property, is he not reason enough for you? For any of you?” I asked.

  Shawn shook his head, and the others did the same.

  “He’s alone. He’s always been alone. I’m not afraid of him with the way things are, but if that changed, we’d just hightail it out of here,” Shawn said. “Like we talked about when we first got here. We could pack bags so if we needed to leave in a hurry we’d be ready.”

  “They could surround us,” I offered.

  “There’s a lot of shit that could go wrong. Even if we were out there. There will always be what ifs,” Shawn said scratching the back of his neck. “But what if we stay? What if we grow those seeds? What if this is the best we’ll find? What if this is our home?”

  I swallowed hard as his eyes, those perfect eyes stared into mine. What if Ryder finding the seeds, so I didn’t have to give up my own, was a sign?

  “I need to think,” I said moving my arms awkwardly as I stepped away from the window.

  “You might have to wait on that,” Ryder said gesturing at Logan with his chin. Logan stepped forward and backed away from the window until he was next to Abby.

  “What? Why?” I said scrunching up my nose at Ryder.

  Ryder turned around and exhaled slowly. “He’s back.”

  Chapter 23

  Ryder positioned himself behind the wall, making sure his body wasn’t leaving a shadow on the closed curtain. “He has a friend.”

  “A friend?” Abby asked.

  “Another prisoner. He’s tied up the same as the last one,” Ryder said shooing us all back toward the hallway. “Shit.”

  I didn’t understand, but I moved deeper into the house.

  “He’s going to find that his last prisoner is gone,” Ryder said. “Thankfully, I covered everything back up the way it was. He won’t find the secret room if he hasn’t by now.”

  Logan and Abby slipped into their bedroom, but Ryder, Shawn and I stayed in the hallway.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked. “He’ll probably just think the guy escaped, right?”

  “That’s what I hope,” Ryder said. “But I want to be sure he doesn’t see any movement in the house.”

  “It might make it easier if he came to the door,” Logan said quietly.

  Ryder shook his head. “Maybe but I don’t want him doing anything stupid, like breaking down the door. I think we just wait it out and see what he does.”

  “We can’t see if no one is watching,” I said taking a step forward.

  “Whoa, what are you doing?” Ryder asked grabbing my arm.

  “I’m the one with the gun. I’ll be the one to answer the door if he comes knocking,” I said with a confident smirk.

  Something had changed inside me. My confidence seemed to be increasing. When the pressure was on, I remembered who I was. I’d been trained by the best. I was far stronger than I even gave myself credit for.

  Ryder must have seen something different in my eyes because he let go of my arm and smiled.

  Everyone inside this house was my family now, and I’d do whatever I had to in order to protect them and take care of them. We had just as much of a right to what was left of the world that anyone else wandering about had. There was no reason we shouldn’t fight for our lives.

  I smiled when it struck me. Even though it was shitty at times, there were still other times that were really great. Like being with Shawn. Like laughing and smiling with Ryder, Logan, and Abby. All of it was still worth fighting for.

  My parents wouldn’t have wanted me to live a life of solitude, they just hadn’t wanted me to get caught by the people they had feared.

  I pulled out my gun and stepped up to the window. The man was standing outside the building looking around as if he thought he’d find either the man he’d tied up or maybe those that had taken him.

  I pulled my shoulders back and looked back toward the hallway. A smile curled on the ends of my mouth.

  “Let’s go have a talk with the guy trespassing on our property,” I said, and both Shawn and Ryder turned to one another and smiled. Ryder pulled out his blade as him and Shawn walked toward me.

  “Wait for me,” Logan said. His walk was borde
ring on overconfident, but that was a good sign. It meant he was almost back to his old self again.

  I turned the knob and stepped out of the house. The native instantly turned toward me and didn’t look quite as surprised to see us approaching as I would have guessed he’d be.

  “What are you doing here?” the man grunted.

  “Funny,” I said clutching my hands in front of my body making sure he saw the gun. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

  The man broke out into ruckus laughter. “Well, let’s see, this was my granddad’s farm, then it was my dad’s, and now it’s mine. So really, back to my original question, what the fuck are you doing on my property?”

  I swallowed hard as my confidence started to dwindle. We were the ones trespassing.

  The native pulled out his gun and clutched it in front of his body in the exact same way I was. His lip curled up on one end as he shifted his weight.

  “Suppose you found my food,” the native asked. “How long you folks been here enjoying my luxuries?”

  “Luxuries?” Ryder said with a hearty chuckle.

  The man cocked his head to the side. “More so than other places, wouldn’t you say?”

  “The place was empty, we didn’t know,” I said almost sounding apologetic. “Why aren’t you ever here to enjoy your luxuries?”

  “Because I have work to do,” the man said jerking his chin toward the storage building.

  Ryder’s head was moving side to side. “Like what?”

  “Getting information from people like you, and him,” he said glancing at Shawn. “I’ve taken out plenty of your camps just on my own. I’d like to live in a safe neighborhood.”

  “Wouldn’t we all,” I muttered.

  The man chuckled. “Apparently not. But I reckon it all be over soon.”

  “Why do you say that?” Ryder asked.

  “The war is coming to an end. At least that’s what I’ve learned during my interrogations.” The man’s finger twitched.

  “You give away information that you’ve worked so hard to gather away quite freely,” Ryder said. “And to the people who’ve taken over your home and had their fill of your supplies.”