by Amy Braun
“So I think I’ve picked up that your name is Avery,” Maddy indicated. She looked to my left. “And your name is Simon?”
My brother nodded, concentrating on eating his Cheerios.
“Thank you, Simon. I know you have no reason to trust us, but I can’t begin to tell you how much this means to us.”
Simon stopped munching on his favorite cereal and looked at the pretty girl talking to him. When Maddy smiled like that, it was impossible to be angry with her.
“You’re welcome,” he answered. “You should probably get some sleep. I can only let you stay the one night. You brought a lot of unwanted attention my way.”
Maddy’s smile faltered and I wanted to kick Simon, but she picked up right where she’d left off.
“Fair enough. First light tomorrow we’ll fix the bus. It’s a simple fix, we just caught it at a bad time. By then the Soulless will probably be gone. They hate the light.”
“Are all the suite doors locked?” Theo asked.
Simon looked at the kid. “No. The power’s off. Take whatever room you want.”
“Thanks, man. Really.”
Theo looked at Laurel, the mousy redhead. She bundled up all the food she could in one hand, slipped her other hand into Theo’s, and walked out of the suite with him. Ricardo left with Gwen. I felt a little bad for Jerry, who walked out of the suite alone.
And then there were four. Josh shifted like he was getting ready to leave, but I wasn’t going to let them go without having some questions answered.
“Now that the kids have gone to bed, you can tell us how you survived this long.”
Maddy and Josh looked at me. Josh had his defensive glare back in full force, and Maddy looked a little nervous.
“You can tell us the same,” Josh prodded.
I shrugged off his aggression. “My brothers and I got separated when the shit was too heavy. I ended up in Boulder City and found Simon here. I don’t know where my other brothers are.”
It wasn’t a lie if you left out the important parts like ending the world and spending your free time killing dead things, was it?
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Maddy said. She sounded like she was. “We’ve been living on the run for a while. Josh was already with Ricardo when they found me.” Her eyes turned distant, an old memory pulling her out of reality. “I was trying to outrun a horde of Plagued, and the only shelter I found was this stupid minivan. I locked myself inside like an idiot and tried to hide under the dashboard, but they knew I was in there. They just kept rocking the van and pounding on the glass, and I was out of bullets. I had nowhere to go, and I thought I was…”
She trailed off when Josh curled his hand around her calf and gave her leg a gentle squeeze. Maddy blinked and took herself out of the memory. She relaxed and smiled at him. He retuned it, and that cold bitterness filled my chest again. Stupid human heart.
“Josh and Ricardo saved me, and we picked up the others along the way. We’re looking for the safe haven, and we decided to cut through this resort to find supplies when we got stuck.”
I stopped listening halfway through because I heard the words “safe haven.”
“There’s nowhere safe around here,” Simon said. “I don’t leave the resort much, but I know Vegas is a madhouse. It’s filled with Plagued and Soulless, and God knows what else.”
Maddy was shaking her head again. “There’s a safe haven nearby. I don’t know how many, but there are other survivors there.”
Reason told me that if Maddy and her friends had survived, maybe there were others who had, too. But my true nature told me otherwise.
“There’s no safe haven,” I told her. “Maybe there was one before, but the Soulless would have found it by now.”
Maddy held my eyes. “You don’t have a radio with you, do you?”
“What difference would that make?”
Maddy nudged Josh with her boot again. He didn’t look pleased. She set aside her can of soup and crackers, then picked herself up into a sitting position.
“Come on, Josh. They have a right to know. They might want to go.”
Josh didn’t seem to like that idea. It suggested that she wanted Simon and me to join their vulnerable gang. Maddy’s impatience got the best of her. Letting out a short huff, she crawled forward and grabbed the radio from Josh’s belt. She turned her back and held it out of his reach, fiddling with buttons and knobs until she got it working.
That stupid bitterness came back for round three. It was cute seeing Maddy getting the better of macho Josh, who had no intention of hurting his pretty friend. I couldn’t help but wish it were me weakly attempting to wrestle with her.
My growing fantasy was cut short when the radio crackled to life and started speaking.
“–afe. Repeat, if you are receiving this transmission, there is a safe haven. We are aware that not every survivor has a working radio, so if you are listening to this, let them know they are not alone. Leave them messages. Tell them that the Valley of Fire RV Park near Arch Rock is filled with survivors. Highly trained military personnel guard the perimeter. We have food and shelter, and everyone is valued and cared for. Repeat. You are not alone. If you find the Park, you will be safe.”
The phantom voice on the other end of the radio sounded credible. They sounded sincere. They were telling every human left alive the words they’d been dying to hear.
That was why I didn’t trust it.
“Sounds like the kind of message professional cannibals would leave.”
Maddy shot me a dark look. “Trust me. Cannibals are not this sophisticated.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’ve come across them?”
She didn’t answer me. Damn. How much shit had this girl seen?
“Have you tried radioing them back?” Simon asked.
“Yeah,” replied Josh. “The message is automated. Whoever’s playing it left it on a loop without sending a receiving signal.”
“Then that transmission could be months old,” my brother reasoned. “There could be nothing there, assuming you even make it.”
“Then there’s no harm in checking it out, is there?” Maddy countered.
“If nothing else, there will be supplies,” Josh added. “We can see what kind of condition the place is in, then go from there.”
“And where the hell would you go, exactly?” I asked. “The world’s been fucked up the ass one too many times, Rambo. You’re not going to find the Garden of Eden in an RV Park, I’ll tell you that much.”
“Probably not, but we’d find something,” Maddy argued. “We’ve run out of places to hide. While you and your brother have been hiding out, you’ve got no idea how bad things have been turning out there. It seems like every city we go to, we’re swarmed by Plagued or hunted by Soulless.”
Because Ciaran and his flying monkeys are looking for you, I decided not to say. I was following Simon’s advice and not letting Maddy know she was looking at half of the people responsible for her homelessness.
“Then why would you want to stay in one place?” asked Simon. “If they’re hunting you, they’ll find you. The Valley of Fire wasn’t habitable even before the Plague started.”
“Because we need to go somewhere and remember that we’re human,” she told him. “Running like this makes me feel like an animal. We’re stuck in a world of monsters we can barely fight, and can only kill if we’re extremely lucky. If we don’t stop and find a place to restart and remember what we are, then we’re no better than the creatures trying to eat us.”
Not one of us tried to disprove Maddy’s point or tell her that it was hopeless. Logan was going to introduce himself to them sooner rather than later. But the belief and conviction in her voice wouldn’t let us argue with her. Maddy truly and wholly believed that she and her traveling band of misfits would find a place of peace. Even if the haven was a lie, she thought they’d find a way out of the darkness and into the light. It was written on her face in Technicolor and sunlight. I couldn�
��t think of any gentle way to let her down, and it made me feel like more of an asshole, because I knew that there were millions of Plagued, Simon had dried out the earth, Kade had burned everything he could see to the ground, and Logan had cleaned up after all of us.
Pointing all that out wouldn’t win me any points with the tough beauty sitting on the couch.
“Look, we’re all pretty beat,” Josh said. “Why don’t we get some sleep and figure out the next step tomorrow?”
He looked at Maddy and held out his hand. She frowned, but shut off the radio and gave it back to him. Josh hooked it to his belt and stood up, picking his rucksack off of the floor. He slung it over his shoulder and grabbed his rifle, then looked at Maddy as she gathered her things and stretched up to her full height. The stretch made her look taller than she was.
“Want to share a room?” Josh asked.
“I kinda want my own, actually. This is probably the first and last luxury hotel I’ll ever stay at. Might as well enjoy it, right?”
Josh moved his eyes from me to Simon, then fixed on me. He was probably assuming I was the bigger threat, and he was right.
Maddy picked up on his unease. “Relax, Josh. If these guys try something, I’ll show them how much of a helpless damsel I’m not.”
She said it casually, playfully, but I had no doubt she could and would back up her threat.
“Okay. See you in the morning, Maddy.”
“Get some rest, Josh. You need it.”
Josh smiled at her, but there was stiffness behind it. Trouble in paradise, perhaps? Josh glared a warning at me one last time, then took his things and left the suite. Once he was gone, Maddy looked at Simon.
“What’s the next best room?”
Simon shrugged at her, bewildered. “Down the hall and to the left? I don’t know. I kinda picked this room and never left.”
Maddy nodded. “Down the hall and to the left it is.” She turned to me. “Would you mind walking me there?”
I cocked an eyebrow. “After your ‘I’m no damsel’ speech? Do I need to be worried?”
Maddy grinned and waved dismissively. “Relax. It’s the threat I give all the boys.” She grabbed a fruit cup and her backpack, thanking Simon again. She made her way to the door, stopping to glance back at me.
“You coming or not?”
I hesitated, positive she wanted to talk to me about something. I looked at Simon, wondering why she would leave him out. Simon stared at me.
“I’m tired. Go.”
“Are you gonna lock me out?”
“Depends how much longer you stand here.”
The thought of sleeping in the hallway instead of that semi-soft couch was what made me leave the suite with Maddy. I closed the door behind me, hoping I wouldn’t come back to find it locked.
Maddy was already walking down the hallway. I moved briskly to catch up with her, feeling eyes on my back. I turned my head, and sure enough, found Josh shooting daggers in my direction. He scowled when we made eye contact, then closed the door with a sharp bang.
The noise got even Maddy’s attention. She frowned at Josh’s door.
“I don’t think your boyfriend likes me very much,” I stated as Maddy and I began walking again.
“Josh isn’t my boyfriend,” she informed. “He’s more like an overprotective big brother.”
I seriously doubted that, but how would I know? My older brothers were a shut-in, a bully, and a deserter.
“So, why’d you want an escort?”
Maddy lifted one shoulder, then dropped it. “Honestly? I wanted to talk to somebody. I can’t remember the last time I just chatted with a stranger. I love everyone in my group and would do anything for them, but I like encountering the new and the strange.”
“Good thing I’m the latest attraction at the Lunatic Zoo.”
Maddy chuckled. “Well, you did go all Chuck Norris on the Plagued out there.” She looked up at my face. Her deep blue eyes seemed even bigger than before.
“Thank you for that, by the way. No one else said it and they probably won’t, but we’re all grateful. If you hadn’t shown up, I’m pretty sure we would’ve been dinner.”
I nodded at her, absorbing her sincerity, though I definitely didn’t deserve it.
“Where’d you learn to fight like that?”
“One of my brothers is big into combat.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Three. I’m the youngest.”
“Really? Simon looks younger than you.”
I grinned at her. “Are you trying to say I’ve got wrinkles?”
Maddy nudged my elbow with her own, grinning widely. “He exfoliates, doesn’t he?”
“Don’t tell anyone. It’s his dirty secret.”
She laughed, then asked, “What are your other brothers like?”
Simple enough to answer. “One’s a psychopath and the other’s got a bad case of depression.”
“Wow. Bet your Sunday dinners are interesting.”
Yeah. We set the world on fire during the last one.
We finally reached the suite door, and I had to ask Maddy what had been on my mind ever since she walked into Simon’s suite. “How can you be like this?”
Maddy turned around. “Be like what?”
“Positive. The world’s gone to dog shit but you smile and laugh through it. I don’t get how.”
Maddy hesitated, like she didn’t understand the question, or didn’t want to answer it. After a brief moment, she smirked and shrugged her cute, lopsided shrug. It was missing its earlier spark.
“If I don’t laugh at the world, I’ll end up crying over it,” Maddy confessed. Her smile was half-hearted. “One of those things isn’t as fun as the other.”
We stood there in silent comprehension for a while, both of us fascinated by each other. We were like two alien species meeting for the first time. I knew I should have walked away and let her sleep, but the only thing I wanted to do was stare into the depths of Maddy’s eyes and learn everything about her.
I knew about attraction from the memories given to me by the Bosses, but it just seemed like a waste of time. Caring about people was a burden that always crushed you in the end, and the more you cared, the harder the pressure was. I always imagined my concern would extend to Simon, Logan, and maybe Kade if he were in a good mood. But now I had taken in seven survivors, and I was already willing to risk my life for one of them that I barely knew.
This was going to be a problem in the future.
“Thanks for the walk and talk,” Maddy whispered. “You have no idea how much I needed it.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” I replied. “See you tomorrow.”
I turned and started walking away, though I swore she was still watching me. I didn’t entertain the thought by looking back.
When I reached Simon’s suite, the door was unlocked.
Miracles happened after all.
Chapter 6
I expect a shit storm every time I wake up. I don’t know why I assumed today would be any different.
Slamming doors were the first signs everything was not all right outside the palace walls. I sat up, knife in hand from where I had hidden it under the pillow. I heard Josh shouting outside and got to my feet. I was rushing the door when Simon yanked it open. He was moving so fast he nearly bowled over me.
