by A. P. Madden
The man stopped at the kitchen door. Luke waited for him to move on or come in, but he did neither.
“Is that... blood?”
Luke froze. His free hand - the one that wasn’t gripping the knife - went to the wound on his side. The bandage was wet. It was too dark to see it, but he knew it would be stained with blood. It must have dripped onto the floor in the hallway.
The man stopped talking, and Luke saw his shadow move. He was bending down. He was going to touch the blood to see if it was fresh.
Luke stepped out from behind the door and brought the knife up. The man jerked upright and Luke drove the knife under his chin. His eyes bulged and his throat spasmed. Luke pulled the knife out and the man collapsed like a bag of rocks.
The hallway was less dark, and he glanced at his bandage while he crouched beside the dead man. It was bleeding, but it wasn’t bad. He had irritated the wound by moving around, but it didn’t open back up. He was going to be fine. He just had to be careful not to overdo it.
He took everything useful he could find. A handgun with six bullets, a pack of cigarettes, three condoms and an inhaler. Luke hesitated before taking the inhaler. It could come in useful in the future, but he felt strange pocketing it. It humanised the dead man more than Luke wanted.
In the bedroom, Seth had packed everything and he was waiting by the foot of the bed. “Is he gone?”
Luke took the larger of the two backpacks. “He’s dead.”
“Oh. Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
Luke watched him for a second. He didn’t know what to say. After a moment of deliberation, he decided not to say anything.
Luke dropped the backpack again when he remembered that he didn’t even have shoes on. He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on his boots, grimacing at the pain in his side, and then he grabbed the shirt Seth held out to him.
“You’re bleeding,” Seth said.
Luke grunted and pulled on the shirt. “I’ll survive. We’ll head out the back door and through the backyard. If it’s clear, we’ll cross the street and slip between the houses opposite us. I want at least two or three streets between us and these guys. Then we go east.”
“Got it.”
They walked downstairs. Seth hesitated when he saw the body, but he followed Luke to the back door without saying anything. The backyard looked clear, and Luke led the way to the fence. He gripped his gun tightly. The gunshot would be loud, but if they needed to use weapons, it was going to be too late for stealth anyway.
Seth stayed close to him, and they reached the next row of houses without a problem. As they got to the corner and ducked behind it, there was a shout from the house they just left.
“One of his friends must have come looking,” Seth whispered.
“Unlucky,” Luke replied. “I hoped we’d have more time.”
The man’s shouts drew the others, and there were crashes as they searched the house. Luke and Seth hurried into the darkness.
Luke would have preferred to stay on foot and run between the houses until sunrise. It would be easier to hide and they had a good chance of making it without drawing any attention to themselves.
Unfortunately, his bad luck was still flowing strong. The dull ache in his side was growing sharper with every step, and one touch told him that blood was already seeping through his shirt. They needed to find a car.
Luke forced himself through several yards and streets before his eyes landed on an old navy sedan.
“I have a good feeling about that one,” Luke said.
Seth followed his gaze. “You can’t be serious.”
“Check it out. I’ll watch the street.”
“But it’s boring.”
“Which means it might have been overlooked by scavengers. Check it for fuel and try the engine. There might be keys in the house, but we don’t have time for that. You can hotwire it, right?”
Seth sighed and hurried across to it. He didn’t reply, and Luke got the message. He wasn’t happy with the vehicle choice.
It was unlocked, which didn’t mean much except that this neighbourhood had low crime rates. Luke glanced up and down the street, holding one hand against his side. He heard the kid muttering something and then the engine roared to life.
“Nice work,” he said, joining Seth as he straightened up.
“I told you I was good at this,” Seth said. “I’m driving.”
Luke laughed and threw his backpack into the backseat. “Hilarious. Hurry up and get into the passenger seat.”
Seth grumbled but he jumped in and opened the glove box while Luke reversed out of the driveway.
“There’s a driving licence in here,” Seth said. “Marianne Smith.”
Luke focused on driving and scanning the mirrors for anyone following them, but he couldn’t stop the name from branding itself into his mind. She was probably long gone, a ghost of a memory, but her name circled around his head until he had committed it to memory.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling bad for the dead. It only took something small to make them into real people instead of faceless strangers. A driving licence, an inhaler, or a cheap old sedan sitting in the driveway of a posh neighbourhood.
It was harder to forget people once you started to know them.
***
Chapter 18 - Rendezvous
Once they were a safe distance from the house and the group of men who were sure to be searching for them, Luke let Seth take over driving.
“Just for a while,” Luke said. “I just need to clear my head.”
“Okay,” Seth said, and he slammed his foot down. The car shot forward and Luke grabbed the door handle.
“Careful!”
“Calm down, I’ve got it,” Seth said, grinning as they picked up speed.
“We’re going to die,” Luke muttered.
“What?”
“Slow down,” Luke said. “I’m serious,” he added, seeing the kid rolling his eyes. “If we total this car, we might not find another one as easily. Do you want to walk the rest of the way there?”
Seth didn’t reply, but the car slowed down. Slightly. It was enough to put Luke’s panic at ease, and he felt the exhaustion pulling at his thoughts again. The burst of adrenaline from being trapped in a car with Seth driving had passed, and he quickly found himself succumbing to the pull of sleep.
Just for a few minutes, he told himself as he drifted off.
***
The car stopped.
Luke frowned and opened his eyes, squinting out the window. It was too dark.
“Where’s the sun?” he mumbled.
Seth grinned at him. “It’s after dark, and we’re here.”
Luke looked around in confusion. “Where?” His voice was raspy with sleep.
“The rendezvous,” Seth said. “Obviously.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“A while,” Seth said, and got out of the car.
“Very helpful,” Luke muttered, opening his own door.
His legs almost didn’t react in time to stop him from falling face-first out of the car, but he recovered in time to stumble into a standing position.
“Luke? Seth? Oh my god!”
Luke looked up at the female voice, and he forced a smile for Naomi. “You’re here,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she said. “But you’re not.” She walked right up to him - closer than he expected. Before he could react, she reached down and pulled the edge of his shirt up. “What is this? A stab wound?”
Oh. She was checking the wound. “Uh, yeah,” he said. “A few days ago.”
“You shouldn’t be walking around,” she said, guiding him towards the door. “Who patched you up?”
“I did,” Seth said. “He was out cold, so I had to. But he checked it over when he woke up. Said I did okay.” Seth gave a shrug, trying to hide his self-doubt.
“You did,” Naomi said, examining the cut. “It was good work, short-term. I�
�ll finish it inside.”
Inside, Naomi sat him on an old couch. “Lie down, okay? I’ll grab a few things and be back.”
Luke was tempted to argue, but there was something in her eyes that stopped him. Maybe it was worry or concern, or something more, but whatever it was stopped the words in his throat.
“We need to put someone on watch,” Luke said.
Seth blinked. “Me?”
“Just stand by the window and keep an eye on the road,” Luke said. “Someone might have seen our car coming this way.”
Seth moved to the window and stood there, watching the world outside. When Naomi returned, Seth glanced over, but Luke caught his eye and the kid turned back towards the window.
Luke gritted his teeth against the pain as Naomi began working on him. She was being as gentle as possible, but it still hurt like hell. Despite the pain, he felt better as he watched her face. The worry or fear or... whatever it was that he had seen, it was gone, replaced by a calm efficiency. She knew what she was doing. She knew how to fix it.
He tried to relax. She was talking to him, trying to distract him from the pain. He wasn’t really listening, but he enjoyed the smooth sound of her voice wrapping around him. He preferred seeing her like this. Just thinking about her worried eyes made his stomach clench.
The moonlight caught the strands of her hair and fell softly across her skin. She was beautiful. Luke imagined that she would be beautiful in any lighting. As soon as he thought it, he told himself to stop being such an idiot. He decided to blame the blood loss for his moment of weakness.
She glanced up at him a few times, and each time she seemed surprised to find him looking at her.
He deliberately didn’t think about what it could mean. For either of them. Any connection between them would lead to disaster. The world had ended and taken most of the human race with it. The people still standing were violent and dangerous. Caring about other people was stupid. Reckless, really. He couldn’t protect her. He couldn’t protect anyone.
“It’s done,” she finally said.
She smiled down at him, and he realised it was too late. At some point, she had slipped inside his defences.
“Thanks,” he said. “Did you meet any trouble while you were alone?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” she said, pulling up her sleeve to show him the dark bruise below her elbow.
“What happened?” Luke demanded, sitting up sharply. Agony flared in his side. He took her arm gently and examined the bruise. “Who did this?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I got away from them. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with before.”
He suddenly realised how close they were, and he released her arm. He expected her to move away, to clean up the bandages and instruments around them, but she didn’t. She stayed exactly where she was. Her eyes were warm and her lips were full, and he wondered what would happen if he tried to kiss her.
“I can give you two some privacy if you want,” Seth said, shattering the moment.
Naomi hurried to gather up the medical supplies, and Luke narrowed his eyes at the kid.
Seth just grinned at him and turned back to the window.
Naomi disappeared into another room, and Luke’s side pulsed painfully with each heartbeat, so he lay back down. By the time Naomi returned, he was already asleep.
***
Luke woke, but he had no sense of how long he was asleep. He sat up slowly, testing his side. Judging by the light coming in through the windows, it was morning. He had slept through the night.
His eyes landed on Naomi and Seth, sitting together at a table, and his stomach relaxed. He didn’t realise he was worried about them until he saw them chatting and laughing. Anything could have happened while he was passed out, and he would have been completely useless if they needed him.
That won’t happen again, he promised himself.
Luke sat up carefully, propping himself up against the single cushion. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was better than the floor. He tentatively touched the wound on his side, but he could already feel that it was slightly better than the night before.
Naomi and Seth were looking at a map spread across the table. It was the same one they used to plot their route to find Seth, and it looked like she was teaching the kid how to read it. He seemed like he was genuinely interested, to Luke’s surprise.
“Supply run,” Naomi told him, seeing that he had woken.
“Okay,” Luke said. “Give me a few minutes to-”
“Not you,” she added. “Us,” she said, gesturing to herself and the kid.
“We’re not splitting up,” Luke said. “And I’m fine.” To prove the point, he pushed himself up and got to his feet. He made a good effort of not wavering, even though his vision spun as soon as he stood. “See?”
Naomi made a small, disbelieving noise. “You need to stay off your feet for at least one more day. Then you can go running and fighting whoever you want.”
“But-”
“Doctor’s orders.”
Luke frowned. “Splitting up is still a bad idea.”
“We need food,” Naomi said. “The factory is still a few days away. We need to restock before we start travelling again. Even if we left right now, we wouldn’t make it the whole way there.”
Luke couldn’t argue with logic and reason. “Have you ever seen a horror movie? The characters always split up and bad things always happen.”
“That’s a good point,” Seth said.
“We won’t be alone,” Naomi said. “I’ll be with Seth. We’ll have each others’ backs. You can hold down the fort here by yourself, can’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Great. Then it’s settled.”
Luke frowned. He wasn’t sure how she won the argument, but she was already packing her things, and Seth was too eager to go exploring, so he didn’t question it.
Luke sighed and sat back down on the couch. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but his entire body breathed a sigh of relief when he got off his feet.
***
Chapter 19 - Who Would Miss Him?
Naomi drove, and Luke rode shotgun and navigated. His body was still refusing to do anything physical without sending fiery spikes through his torso, but his mind was sharp and clear, and he was glad he could still contribute.
“How’s the pain?” Naomi asked, glancing at him.
“Fine,” he said.
Seth grumbled something in the backseat, and Luke hid a smile. The kid was still sulking because he wasn’t allowed to drive. Luke was still traumatised from the last time he let Seth drive, and apparently, Naomi had seen the car swerve wildly up the driveway to the rendezvous house, and she refused to give him the keys again.
The drive back was surprisingly uneventful. Luke had a bunch of theories about where Morgan’s men were, but he didn’t have anything to back them up. He wanted to see what Naomi thought, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it in front of the kid. Any time it was mentioned, Seth suddenly went quiet and his face paled.
“We’re almost there,” Naomi said.
Luke nodded. A few minutes later, they passed the hiding place for the vehicles. “What are you doing? You missed the turn.”
“Change of plan,” she said. “I’m not letting you walk back to the factory in your condition. We’ll leave the car with the others around the back. If Caelan wants me to move it back, I’ll do it tomorrow.”
Luke didn’t argue. If he was being honest with himself, he had been dreading the long walk back after they dropped off the car.
Several guards waved at them as they drove up to the factory, and Luke recognised a few men and women from Naomi’s group.
It was a struggle to climb out of the car without showing his agony to any of the people watching. A lot of people must have been waiting for them to get back because the crowd steadily grew as more people heard about their arrival.
“Luke.”
He smiled at Caelan as the man
walked outside. “Hey, man.”
Caelan didn’t return the smile. “You let yourself get hurt.”
Luke glanced down at his blood-stained shirt. “Didn’t have much choice about it,” he replied. “Don’t worry, the guy responsible won’t be a problem for us again.”
Caelan didn’t say anything, and Luke frowned.
“I’m okay,” he said. “Really, I am. Naomi patched me up.”
Caelan glanced at her and inclined his head in a small nod. “Appreciate it.”
“No problem,” she said. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to find my family and tell them I’m okay.” She slipped through the crowd and disappeared inside.
“This is Seth,” Luke said, nudging the kid forward.
Caelan gave him a once-over. “Good. I’ll get someone to show him where to clean up, and then we’ll bring him up to his uncle. If we’re lucky, he’ll be awake.”
Seth kept his mouth shut - for once - and Luke glanced at him. The kid looked nervous. Or scared, maybe. Was he scared of Caelan? Luke supposed that the big man was quite intimidating, but he wouldn’t call him scary.
Caelan gestured to one of the younger guards. He stepped forward and gave Seth a friendly smile. He was probably not much older than Seth, and the kid looked relieved at the opportunity to escape from Caelan’s hard gaze.
He glanced at Luke before following the guard.
“It’s okay,” Luke said. “I’ll see you inside. You can relax, it’s safe here.”
Seth nodded, stole a quick glance at Caelan, and then hurried to follow the guard inside.
As soon as they were alone, Luke looked at Caelan. “Something’s wrong. I can see it on your face. What is it?”
“You know what’s wrong,” Caelan snapped. A few people nearby looked at him, and he glared at them all until they hurried to give him some space.
