His eyes moved around the circle of people until he saw Savannah. She looked so pretty in the glow of the firelight, but his father was right. He couldn’t let himself be tempted by her beauty. She didn’t want to go to Salt Lake City with his family, and he knew she wasn’t a real believer. Right then, he made a decision to never be alone with her. He’d too often found himself thinking about kissing her and knew that was wrong. He needed to keep his distance. She was not right for him, not when they’d been traveling this long and she still hadn’t shown any signs of becoming more interested in their faith. He simply needed to remain pure until he could find the right girl—one who believed as he did and would not question his faith.
13
Savannah had never felt so alone in her life. They’d been walking all day, and no one would really talk to her. Malachi was keeping his distance, though she didn’t know what she’d done to make him mad at her. Ever since the new people had shown up, he’d simply quit talking to her. He’d been going out of his way to avoid her, in fact. Tonya and Jim walked together, always talking amongst themselves, and the rest of the group had all divided into pairs, leaving her completely alone. And Malachi was the only one remotely near her age—she didn’t understand how he could stand to be so solitary, either, or how he could be so hurtful after wanting so badly for her to come along.
Part of her wondered if Malachi was mad at her because she’d been unsuccessful in getting food on the trip into town the day before. It had been decided that her, Tonya, Gretchen, and Jim would go into town. They looked the least threatening, and Jim could be very persuasive. Savannah had tried, too. She’d begged and pleaded with several people, in a way that had made her feel pathetic, and still nobody had helped. All of them had tried. Jim had managed to get some bread from a kind old woman, but that was it. It didn’t seem like Malachi could fault her for what even his mother had failed at accomplishing, but she couldn’t imagine what else was going on.
When they finally stopped for the night, she decided she was going to get Malachi alone so they could talk. She needed to find out what to she had done. She couldn’t stand the thought of him hating her, or even another day of solitary travel like this had been. She needed him.
“Malachi, can you help me collect wood?” she asked politely.
“Uh, I can’t. I have to help my dad,” he mumbled, not looking at her.
She looked around the group, and noticed Jim and Bill talking about twenty feet away from the rest of them. They were huddled together, talking in harsh, quiet voices. Whatever they were talking about had Jim very upset. Obviously, Malachi only wanted to avoid her. Too hurt to question him further, she moved away from him, pretending to be looking for brush and twigs they could burn for fire. She paused near the men, straining her ears to hear what they were talking about.
“I don’t want another gun near my family. The first one was bad enough, but that one looks far more dangerous,” Jim hissed.
Savannah bent over pretending to pick something up but looking towards them. She gasped then, giving away her presence. Jim spun around to face her even as Bill tried to hide the handgun he was holding, but it was too late. Malachi had been only a few feet away, and he’d seen the gun, as well.
“Dad?” he asked, his voice revealing his shock.
Jim sighed, his shoulders slumping forward. “It isn’t what it looks like,” he tried to explain.
“It looks very much like another gun!” Tonya said, irritation in her voice.
“I’m sorry,” Bill apologized. “This is my gun. I brought it from home. Things are bad out there.”
Tonya was shaking her head. “Jim, you said no guns, and now we have enough to form an army,” she exaggerated.
Savannah had to fight to keep from rolling her eyes. An army? And who knew if that first gun would even work? But this gun looked a lot like the one her father had. She didn’t know specifics, but she knew it was going to be more reliable than the antique they’d been carrying.
“I know, but Bill has a point,” Jim reasoned, surprising Savannah.
Everyone stopped talking and doing whatever it was they’d been doing, most of them staring at the gun as if it was a venomous snake. Personally, Savannah was happy to have a real gun in the group. It made her feel safer. Or, well, it should have made her feel safer, but she doubted any of them knew how to use the thing. That was a little scary. She did, though. She was more than confident she could handle the gun if they’d give her a chance.
“What point?” Tonya asked.
“We don’t have to shoot anyone, but if we can at least look like we can defend ourselves, it might be enough,” Jim reasoned.
Savannah fought the urge to do a face-palm. She couldn’t let that comment go. “My dad and uncle always said that if you have a gun, you have to be prepared to use it or it will be used on you,” she interjected, earning a number of horrified looks from the others.
“Do you know how to use a gun?” Tonya asked, clearly aghast.
“I do.”
Bill grinned. “Have you shot a nine millimeter before?”
She looked at the gun more closely, stepping forward. “I think so. I don’t know what it was my uncle had, but I shot a small gun and a rifle; I think it was a twenty-two or something like that. My uncle taught me how to load a magazine and gun safety in general,” she answered nonchalantly, “and that looks like my dad’s gun, which I shot once.”
“Show me how to shoot,” Malachi blurted out.
She raised an eyebrow. Now he was talking to her? If that was what it took… “I can do that.”
“I think I’d prefer you to leave the gun alone,” Tonya said, her lips pursed.
“Mom, I’ll be the one who learns how. I won’t ask Dad to shoot someone. I will protect the family,” he said proudly.
Bill cleared his throat. “It’s my gun. I’ll carry it with me.”
“Do you have extra ammo?” Savannah asked.
Bill looked at her more directly, and she could feel him sizing her up. “I have some.”
She smiled, hoping he’d see the logic in letting her try it. “Wouldn’t it be better to have a back-up plan in case something happens to you? We can show Malachi the basics. With the revolver and your gun, we need to be sure more than two of us can shoot.”
“I can shoot,” Ken chimed in. “It’s just been a while.”
“So, three of us know. I think it would be smart if Malachi knew, as well,” she said, wanting the chance to prove her value to the group and also get some time alone with Malachi.
Bill nodded. “I guess we can do that. Tomorrow, I’ll show him how to load and fire the gun.”
Savannah didn’t take offense to being excluded, nodding instead of arguing. She was getting used to it. Whether it had more to do with her being a girl or being a teenager, she wasn’t sure, but this would give her something to talk to Malachi about since he was clearly interested. And, soon, they’d get to her Uncle Ennis’ house. He was the one who had let her shoot at his private gun range, and he’d respect her more than this group did. They all seemed to think she was a helpless little girl, and she couldn’t wait to get away from them. They could leave her with her uncle and go on by themselves. She trusted her dad and uncle to keep her safe a million times more than she trusted these people. She was simply stuck with them for now and knew that their group was better than none.
14
Austin felt every mile they had traveled over the last two days. It seemed ridiculous that forty miles felt like two thousand, but riding bareback on a horse wasn’t easy. The broken leg had just made it all the worse. Now, he focused on Savannah, which was the only thing still keeping him going. Getting to her helped him get through the pain. She’d been alone for coming up on a month now, around three full weeks, and that was far too long.
He’d suffered a serious setback and become extremely ill after trying to get on the horse that first day he’d tried. Amanda had been worried enough to make him seriously c
oncerned he wasn’t going to make it. After three days of high fevers, he’d felt like he was on the mend, but it had taken that long.
Since then, there’d been a lot of healing, and a lot of arguing. He’d wanted to set off on horseback at the very moment the fever had broken, but Amanda’s reasoning and his own pain had won the day. And a lot had changed in the interim. More people had shown up to try to pilfer Amanda’s supplies, and she’d had to shoot her rifle in the air more than once to scare them off. As it was, two of her horses had been stolen, or maybe the mean one had run off when she’d stopped feeding him carrots and oats, if her suspicions were correct. With the barn gone,, there’d been too few supplies and no good method of protecting them while she and Austin slept, and they’d agreed it might be a matter of time before her remaining horses, Raven and Charlie, disappeared.
Even now, he wasn’t sure how it had happened, but one of them had raised the idea of her accompanying him to find Savannah, taking what supplies she had along with her horses. There was nothing keeping her on the farm, and she wanted news of what had happened. He liked to think that they’d grown into enjoying a friendship also—at least, he hoped that she wasn’t tagging along simply because she felt responsible as some sort of caretaker.
One way or another, the moment he’d felt like he was strong enough, he’d insisted they leave the farmhouse and go in search of Savannah. It had been a huge battle to get Amanda to agree, as she’d wanted to wait another week, but finally she’d caved in. And it turned out she’d been ready to go, to the point that he guessed she worried she was more of a target in the farmhouse than she’d been letting on, between being a single female and a veterinarian. She’d traded with Daniel, offering him some medicine and food in return for a cart and harness that she’d hooked up to her Charlie and loaded up with supplies, practically before he’d blinked.
Now, though, after three days of on-and-off travel to make the forty miles to his and Savannah’s RV, he wondered if they should have taken their chances and waited another week.
“It’s just around the corner,” he grunted, the throbbing in his leg beating in time to his heartbeat.
“You look awful,” she muttered from her horse beside him.
He shrugged, gripping Raven’s mane and harness in a way that probably gave away just how much agony he was feeling. “But, I’m alive.”
“Barely.”
The rhythmic plodding of the horses’ hooves remained oddly cathartic as they traveled down the dirt road he knew would lead him to the backside of the farm they’d been staying on. They’d encountered gangs the first day they had left Amanda’s place, but not seen much of anyone since then. Fortunately, Amanda had brought along several of her guns, giving him a Glock to hold onto. Thankfully, the gang had been on foot, and only armed with baseball bats.
“We’re not far,” Austin told her, feeling better about their progress now that he was somewhat familiar with where they were. His eyes scanned the horizon, looking for any signs that there had been trouble on the farm.
“Up there,” he said excitedly, pointing to where his fifth wheel was parked in the field next to the long driveway.
He got the horse to move a little faster then, anxious to find Savannah. He imagined she was inside writing or reading a book, just waiting for him.
“Let’s get to the stairs of your RV. I’ll help you dismount,” Amanda called out, riding ahead of him.
He ordered Raven to stop and slid from her side, putting his weight on his good leg. Amanda dismounted Charlie nearby and grabbed the cane she had found in the back of her father’s closet, giving it to Austin to use. It had been about three long weeks since he’d broken the leg. It was healing, but bearing his full weight still wasn’t possible. The crutches had been too awkward to try and carry on the horse, too, and they’d decided they weren’t worth their space in the cart since Austin could use the cane well enough for short distances now.
He hobbled up to the front door, trying to hop more than walk. “Savannah!” he called out.
There was no answer. He tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. He yanked it open, already sensing she wasn’t there. The place even felt still, and he turned around without taking a step inside.
“Savannah!” he called out again, swinging around to look over the farm’s land. Where was she? Even if she’d gone to the house to stay with Bob, wouldn’t she have been keeping an eye out for him?
But the whole place looked abandoned. He didn’t hear or see anyone. Not even the farmer’s horses. He froze in the doorway of the trailer, stunned. It had never occurred to him that she wouldn’t be there.
“Let me check inside,” Amanda said in a soft voice.
Amanda returned a couple seconds later, handing him a note. He snatched it out of her hand and read it, his heart dropping.
“Oh no,” he groaned.
“Who’s Ennis?” Amanda asked.
“My brother. His house has to be at least twelve-hundred miles from here. They’re walking?” he said, shock and fear making his voice shrill.
Amanda looked again at the note, patting Charlie’s neck absently. “Your daughter left four notes like that, just that I saw, all saying the same thing. She wanted to make sure you’d know where she was headed—she’s got a solid head on her shoulders, obviously. And at least we know she’s safe and not alone.”
There was a lump in his throat. What Amanda said was true, but why had Savannah left? “I’m going to talk to Bob. He owns this place, so maybe he can tell me what happened. Why would she leave?” he asked, more to himself than Amanda.
She shook her head, her eyes darting around the open property. “Let’s go over to the house. I’ll get the horses taken care of while you talk to your friend.”
Amanda stepped in beside him without another word. He knew the drill. He wrapped his arm around her petite shoulders and let her support his weight while they slowly trudged across the driveway, the horses plodding along behind them. It was such a short distance, there was no question that limping along beside Amanda was easier than getting back onto Raven for the duration.
As they got closer, his eyes landed on a cross made from a couple of branches stuck in a rectangular pile of dirt near the barn.
“What is that?” Amanda asked.
Yet, they both knew exactly what it was. “A grave,” Austin ground out the words, stating the obvious.
“Who?” she asked.
“It wasn’t there before,” he said, feeling dread wash over him.
They kept moving towards the house. Amanda reached out first and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she pushed the door open, going in first.
“Bob!” he called out from behind her, hoping the farmer was napping or hiding out. The house even felt empty, just like the farm itself.
“Sit down in one of those chairs. I’ll check and see if anyone’s home,” Amanda ordered him.
Austin knew he should protest. It should be him checking the house. Nevertheless, he flopped down on the worn recliner, the throbbing in his leg subsiding a little with the change in position. He could hear Amanda moving through the house, knocking on doors and calling out. Austin’s eyes roamed the living room. It was neat and tidy, with no signs of trouble. That had to be a good sign.
“No one’s here,” Amanda announced.
“We need to know who’s buried out there,” he whispered.
“It isn’t Savannah. She left you that note,” Amanda reminded him.
He rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re right. Maybe it’s Bob,” he reasoned. “Why would she leave? Because he died, you think? Why wouldn’t she wait for me, though?” he asked, frustrated to have made it so far only to discover she was gone.
“She said it was too dangerous to stick around here. She was smart enough not to stay in danger.”
“I don’t know those people she’s with. She had a crush on the kid that was with them. Have you ever heard of them?” he asked her.
; “Kind of. I don’t think they’re bad or dangerous. They’re a little weird and they may try and convert her, but I don’t think they’ll hurt her if it’s the family I’m thinking of. They’ve been traveling through this area for years, doing their revivals.”
Austin shook his head; his stomach was in knots. “I’ll kill them if they hurt her. What if they’re a cult and they won’t let her leave?”
“Her note said she was going to your brother’s house,” Amanda pointed out. “Not joining a cult.”
“What if they said that to get her to go with them and have no intention of letting her go?” he shot back.
Amanda took a deep breath and looked back at him. “Think about what you’re saying, Austin. There’s no point worrying more about it right now—it is what it is. I’m going to get the horses settled in that barn out there, then look around and see if I can find some food.”
“And then we have to get going,” he muttered.
She looked at him and then his leg before turning and walking away. The forty miles getting to the farm had nearly done him in, and they both knew it. He felt weak as a kitten. There was no way he could get on that horse and ride twelve-hundred miles. The Loveridges had almost a three-week head start, too, what with all the delays Austin had encountered. He stared down at his leg, wrapped in the purple casting material Amanda had used to freshen the cast before they’d left her place. She had a real thing for the girly colors.
It seemed as if he couldn’t catch a break, no pun intended. Everything was all wrong, and he had no idea if or when he would ever be able to make it right again.
“Look!” Amanda came back into the living room, holding up a blue, shoe-looking thing.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“A walking boot! It might be a little small, but I can rig it to fit you. This will help tremendously. I still don’t want you going for a hike, but this will help you get around and support your leg!”
Austin forced a smile, seeing she’d been thinking of him even before the comfort of her horses. That said a lot. “Thank God. You know, Bob had a lot of horses. There may be some saddles out in the barn,” he said hopefully. “There’s a pond behind the house also, now that I think of it. You can get the horses watered there before you put them up.”
Survive the Chaos (Small Town EMP Book 1) Page 11
