“Kind of you,” Mr. Tate said turning his body. “Head out the main double doors and curve around the walkway to your left. You’ll go past several random buildings before you reach the area with the cottages. You’re in ten. Very private. Beautiful view, even with the rain.”
My head bobbed. “Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome,” Mr. Tate said grabbing my hand again. “If you need anything you know where to find me. Don’t be a stranger.”
Over his shoulder, someone walked through the room. She shot a glance in my direction and curled her fingers into a flirty wave. I recognized her immediately because she hadn’t changed even in the slightest.
Bianca, Mr. Tate’s daughter, didn’t look as though she’d been through hell. She wore makeup. Her hair was perfectly styled. And her clothes were clean.
Mr. Tate closed the door and I rested my hand on Leah’s back to guide her out of the hotel. She kept her head down as we walked through the lobby.
“Who was that girl?” she asked.
“Eva?”
She shook her head. “No, her I figured out like in less than two seconds. I’m talking about the attractive woman with Mr. Tate. It’s like some weird thing going on here with all the young women pairing up with the old guys. No offense to your dad.”
“That was his daughter, Bianca. I met her once or twice, I think,” I said.
“I hate how everyone looks at us here,” Leah said.
“It’s just that we’re new,” I said.
She shook her head. “No, it’s because we look like trash.”
We made our way down the pathway, following the directions Mr. Tate had given us. The paths webbed around each numbered cottage.
“There,” Leah said pointing to the one at the back. She sucked in a breath. “Wow.”
“What?” I asked.
“It’s seriously bigger than any place I’d ever lived in,” Leah said.
I stuck the key into the door and twisted it open. Leah held me back and gestured at a generator at the side of the building.
“Think it works?” she asked.
“Something tells me that it probably does,” I replied.
“It’s crazy to think this was all here while we were out there trying to just stay alive,” Leah said.
We stepped inside the large cottage. I closed the door behind us but we didn’t move as we took everything in. Leah was absolutely fascinated and the look in her eyes brought a smile to my face.
There was a large kitchen, designed for a professional chef that appeared to have never been used. In the living room, there was an over-sized sofa with a big fluffy afghan draped over the back. There were two chairs and a gorgeous oak coffee table in the middle.
“God, I wish that worked,” Leah said gesturing toward the TV hanging on the wall.
“Maybe movies with the generator running,” I said.
Leah’s eyes brightened. “Can you imagine cuddling on the sofa, watching a movie.” She grabbed my arm. “And popcorn. I should have put popcorn on the list.”
“What did you put on the list?” I asked.
“Clothes, pajamas, cereal, milk, steak, eggs, and I can’t remember what else,” Leah said grinning. “I may have gone a little crazy.”
I laughed. “They aren’t going to have steak.”
“It was all I could think of,” Leah said. She sighed. “I don’t want to move.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I don’t want to get this beautiful place dirty.”
I looked down at my feet. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they have staff that will clean for us.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I wish I were.” I exhaled. “Of course, I could be wrong.”
A knock at the door made us both jump.
9
Stevie
We walked down the road through the rain. The only sounds were those of our feet sloshing through the puddles and the rain spilling down around us.
The rain was steady and without any wind, it was like standing under a showerhead. It was a shower we couldn’t ever shut off.
“So, what do you think of them?” Gage asked.
“The new people? They seem fine,” I said. “If that’s what you wanted to ask me, you could have asked me that back at the house.”
Gage chuckled. “I really wanted to check out this house with you. It seems like we haven’t really talked much lately.”
“Not since—”
“Right. Not since then,” Gage said clearly not wanting to talk about what happened to Brooklyn. He hadn’t talked about much since we’d lost them. He was in mourning. It seemed as though we were in constant mourning. “It seems like you and Shawn are getting closer.”
And that was a subject I definitely didn’t want to discuss. It also wasn’t true.
“Just working together,” I said with a small shrug. “Nothing more.”
“If you say so,” Gage said keeping his eyes on the house. “You can keep telling yourself whatever you want but I can see how he looks at you.”
“I have no control over how he looks at me.”
Gage shook his head. “You know, I don’t care one way or the other. Whatever makes you happy.”
“Happy? Ha!” I released a fake laugh. “I don’t think that’s possible in this world. Or my last one, for that matter. Maybe I’m just not a happy person.”
“Bah!” Gage said flapping his hand. “I don’t believe that. We all can be happy people.”
“Will you practice what you preach?” I asked. I bit my cheek, wishing I could take back my words.
Gage exhaled as he glanced down toward our feet. His eyes quickly shot back. “I’m doing my best. I’ll get there.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” I said.
“Yeah, no. It was a fair question,” Gage said jerking his head toward the house. “Let’s see what’s inside.”
Gage knocked at the front door with his knuckle, hesitating only a second before checking the knob. He peeked his head inside, looking left and then right.
“Hello?” he called. “Anyone home?”
No one responded. He pushed the door open wider and we entered cautiously.
“Guess no one’s home,” Gage said.
The house wasn’t as massive as the ones back on the ranch but it was a fairly decent size. It was quite clean inside too but what I took note of was the book that was opened on the coffee table next to a half-empty mug of tea.
“There’s lots of stuff in here,” Gage called from the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I said my fingers twitching. “I might know why.”
“Why?” Gage asked poking his head out from around the corner.
I looked around the room for more signs. “Because I think the owner of this stuff might still be around.”
“You’re being paranoid,” Gage said. “Holy crap! Come check this out!”
I bolted into the kitchen. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Indeed,” Gage said. “A greenhouse but not sure how efficient it is without sunlight. Let’s check it out.”
“Lead the way,” I said gesturing toward the back door.
A creepy-crawly feeling forced me to look over my shoulder. I half-expected to see someone standing there but it was just the same empty space as before.
It was humid inside the greenhouse. All of the plants were brown and wilted, and it smelled like the bottom of a trashcan.
“Smells terrible,” I said doing my best to ignore the stench.
“But this is a great find,” Gage said holding up a box.
I blinked several times. “We have a lot of boxes back at the house.”
“Not like this one,” Gage said tapping his index finger on the side. “This one is filled with all kinds of different seeds.”
“That’s great but we can’t plant anything with the field flooded and if you haven’t noticed, we haven’t seen sunlight in weeks,” I said.
“It might not always be
that way,” Gage said. “We have to come back for these. Well, and the other stuff too.”
I pressed my lips together for a long moment. “Just add it to the list of things to do.”
“Let’s bring them inside and organize what we want so it’ll be easier to haul it back to the house,” Gage said.
“Sure,” I said.
But before we made it to the door, there was a loud sound that frightened us both into freezing like statues. I sucked in a breath and turned to Gage slowly. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements.
“Did you hear that?” I asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
Gage nodded slowly.
“What was it?”
“If I told you what it sounded like, you’d think I was crazy,” Gage replied.
I exhaled slowly. “That’s exactly why I won’t tell you what I think I heard.”
The second roar was completely unmistakable. Gage stepped in front of me protectively.
We inched toward the door. My hands shook as the pack came into view. There was no doubt what had made the noise.
Lions. And they were coming toward the greenhouse.
10
Joss
The storm slowly rolled over us and hung over the tiny house. Robby and I took turns sleeping through the night and into the early morning.
It was hard to sleep in the small space not only because I didn’t trust Liam but also because the air was stale. The uncomfortable warmth kept my clothes damp and I couldn’t stop thinking about how itchy my skin was.
The lingering storm kept us inside the small space. None of the others seemed to have as much trouble sleeping as I did. Especially Liam.
“Any day now,” Caleb said breaking the silence as he let the curtain fall back into place as he turned away from the window.
He almost bumped into me as he made his way to the little booth fitted tightly against the kitchen counter. Caleb leaned back and bumped his head on the edge.
“Who the hell would want to live like this?” Caleb asked.
“No one,” Jenna groaned.
Her hand was on her stomach and her eyes fixed on the small bump that somehow seemed a bit larger. Hopefully, that was a good sign.
“What is the doctor like?” Jenna asked as her eyes locked on Liam. Her eyelids fluttered, anticipating his answer.
“I only talked to him once or twice,” Liam said. “He’s a nice guy. But everyone in town is.”
“I doubt that,” Robby muttered.
Jenna ignored him or she hadn’t heard it. She chewed her lip and let out a slow breath. “Okay. That’s good.”
Liam offered her a warm smile. “If it were my girlfriend, I would have been thrilled he was her doctor.”
“You guys told him?” Jenna scowled.
Robby shook his head. “No, he guessed it.”
“Sorry,” Liam said. “I didn’t mean to be nosy or anything. It’s not going to be a secret much longer.”
“It wasn’t really ever a secret. It just felt like private or something,” Jenna said.
Caleb rubbed her back. “You’ll be okay.” His voice was soft, like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. “We just need to get you to that doctor so he can check you out.”
“I liked my doctor. I felt like I could tell her anything,” Jenna said.
“I know,” Caleb said.
Robby cleared his throat. “How are you feeling today? If this storm stops, I’d like to put in a few miles.”
“Doesn’t seem like it’s going to let up anytime soon,” I said.
“I’m fine, thanks,” Jenna said with a shrug. “It might just happen if we walk too much and I’m sure constantly being soaked to the bone doesn’t help either. I’m beyond exhausted. Hungry all the time. This is hard.”
“It’s hard and I’m not pregnant,” I said.
Caleb squeezed Jenna close. “You’re growing a life. Of course, you’re exhausted. I don’t really know anything about it but I’d imagine pregnancy was exhausting even before the end of the world.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Jenna said rubbing her stomach.
The wind picked up and the entire tiny house felt like it had moved a foot to the east. My eyes widened before I turned to look out the window.
“That was scary,” Jenna said.
“This storm is something else,” I replied.
Caleb rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip. “Like the first one we went through?”
“No, not that bad,” I said.
“Good,” Caleb said. “Not sure if any of us could survive that again.”
“I hope nothing like that ever happens again,” I said.
Robby’s head bobbed up and down. “We were lucky.”
I let out a harsh breath. “Or unlucky.”
“Always so negative,” Jenna muttered.
“Just realistic,” I corrected.
She snorted. “I feel like we’ve had this exact same conversation before.”
“At least once,” I said.
The wind blew against the tiny house again, quickly erasing whatever Jenna was going to say from her mind. I was glad because I wasn’t in the mood to hear it. Not that I was ever in the mood but also, I wanted to be alert as the storm seemed to only be getting angrier.
Liam stuck his notebook in his backpack. He looked nervously around the room as he drummed his fingers on his knees.
“I’m going to eat something,” Liam said. “Anyone else want to eat?”
“We have our own food,” Robby said. “But thank you.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen any of you eat or drink anything since I met you,” Liam said his eyes darting toward Jenna. “You need to keep your energy up. All of you. In fact, you should all get more rest. I don’t know exactly what you’ve been through but I can tell you need it. Bags under your eyes. Pale skin. You all look sick.”
Jenna scowled. “Thanks for telling us we look hideous.”
“Sorry,” Liam chuckled. He held out his arms and patted his stomach. “Look at me. Healthy. I can travel without much trouble. You can have this too. You don’t need to ration your food and be miserable. We have plenty of supplies back at the town.”
“What if they run out of food?” Robby asked.
“I don’t think that will happen,” Liam said. “They stockpiled tons and they’re always bringing in more.”
Robby looked toward our bags. “If it’s all the same, I think we’ll continue to ration.”
“Then take some of mine,” Liam said. “I insist.”
He gave his bag a kick and it slid across the floor, stopping at Robby’s feet. Robby stared at it.
“Go on,” Liam said.
Jenna kept her eyes on him as she grabbed the bag. It seemed like she was waiting for the punchline to a really bad joke.
Liam laughed as he shook his head. “Will you feel better if I don’t watch?”
“Maybe,” Jenna said.
“Okay.” Liam playfully covered his eyes. “I won’t watch.”
The wind blew aggressively at the same time, thunder shook the tiny house until the walls vibrated. Liam’s hand dropped away from his face and his expression became serious.
He marched over to the door and ran his hands through his hair. “I need to go out.”
“What?” Robby asked as he blew out a puff of air. “Are you crazy? The storm—”
“I’ll be right back,” Liam said as he reached out and quickly turned the knob. The door smacked closed before any of us could even react.
Jenna was chewing a bite of something and she didn’t bother to swallow before talking. “What the hell was that about?”
“No idea,” Robby said.
We both peered out of the window, watching Liam as he ran away from the tiny house with his head down and his shoulders up to his ears.
“Should one of us go after him?” I asked.
“No,” Robby replied instantly.
“He’s going to get lost out there,” I sai
d.
Robby pressed his hand against the wall. His eyes shifted over to meet mine. “He left the map.”
“He left everything. He’ll be back,” Jenna said smacking her lips together as she dug through the backpack looking for more food. “Guys, he has chocolate bars in here.”
I hesitated but not for long. “Pass me one.”
“Me too,” Robby said with a huge grin. He took the bar from Jenna and took a massive bite. “Mmm. Wow, that’s good.”
“You’re supposed to enjoy it. Savor it,” I said breaking off a perfect rectangle.
Robby’s hand with the bar dropped to his side. His body softened and his eyes narrowed.
“What is he up to?” Robby asked no one in particular.
I squinted as I peered out of the window. Our shoulders touched as we both stared at Liam.
“What’s going on?” Caleb asked from behind us. There wasn’t enough room for him to see between us.
“He’s not alone out there,” Robby said.
“What do you mean he’s not alone?” Caleb asked. “Who the hell would be out in the middle of nowhere during a storm like this?”
Robby wiped at the condensation that had gathered on the windowpane from our breaths. His eyes narrowed even more.
“No idea.” The words leaked out between Robby’s nearly closed lips.
The gunshot was unmistakable.
It wasn’t lightning.
It wasn’t thunder.
It was most definitely a gunshot. And as if to confirm it, Liam dropped to the ground.
11
Adam
Leah placed her hand on her chest and stood behind me as I opened the door. Two men stood outside, each carrying four stuffed plastic bags.
“Here you go,” the one on the left said. “Is there anything else we can get for you?”
I took the bags from him and set them down on the floor next to me. “No, that’s all. Thanks.”
“Have a good day,” they both called as they turned and walked away.
I closed the door. “It felt like I should have tipped them.”
The Reset Series | Book 4 | Swamp Page 5
