I almost started to say something about stopping when I felt the motorcycle slowing. Ahead of us was an old farmhouse that looked to be pretty empty. The windows were still intact, but the wood siding showed a lot of age.
One the bike stopped, I pushed myself back from Brandon and jumped off. The yard was full of dead grass and oddly bent trees. The whole place looked slightly off, but it was someplace off the road and out of the way for the night.
“ We should check it out before we get too comfortable,” Brandon said, pulling the shotgun from the bag he had thrown over his shoulder. He held it tight and in a ready to use position before starting for the closed front door.
I followed with my own knife pulled from my side. There was no point in using the gun I carried. It was for a different purpose all together. He slid his hand over the doorknob and opened the door. It banged hard on the wall before slowing stopping. He stepped in first. I followed.
The house looked as though it hadn’t been lived in for a long time. The floor had a layer of dust on it and the old torn furniture was pushed up against the far wall. I stepped to the side of Brandon to take in the rest of the house. He decided it was probably okay since it seemed to have been abandoned long before the end of the world happened. I still listened, hoping there were no walking dead holding up in the place. That was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now.
“ I think we’re okay here,” he said, lowering his gun. He glanced at me and I raised my eyebrows. “I’ll check for food. We won’t get far without that.”
“ I guess, but we shouldn’t get too comfortable.” I knew from past experiences that just when you thought you were safe, something always happened. “Might be alright for a day or two, but not much longer.” I’d learned that if you wanted to stay alive, you kept moving. Plus, I had a goal. Even if I really didn’t think it was possible.
I pulled the thin blanket up over my shoulders. Both Brandon and I thought it was smart to stay together. We choose a room with a rickety bed and agreed to take turns sleeping on it, but I was having a hard time letting myself sleep. When I dreamed, it was of the past I’d never return to. I was tired of thinking of what was already over. I wanted to know about what was going to be.
I stared at the ceiling and thought about my mom and my brother. Did they get out? Were they safe? I’d asked myself these questions a lot since the beginning. None were answered and a part of me didn’t know if they ever would be. This was the end of the world and with that people died. That was just the way it was.
Sometimes I wished I would just die too. It was easy to give up when all you saw around you was death and wastelands of broken lives.
I pulled the blanket around me. It was a cold night and the air was just going to get colder. I had to get as close to New York as I could and hope my family was somehow still alive. It was the only thing I had to keep me sane.
I glanced out of the window in the little room to the rising sun in the east. It was nice to see something beautiful compared to the terror I was used to looking at. I sat up and rubbed my eyes before standing and grabbing my stuff.
When I looked to where Brandon had slept, it was empty. I wondered if he was still checking out the place or what was going on with him. I didn’t know him well and far from trusted him, but he was one of the first people I’d run into since all this started.
I slowly got up and started for the door to the little room. When I got there, I slowly opened it and glanced out. There was no one there. I pulled my knife from my side and held it close. One thing I’d learned in all my time out here on my own was ammo ran out. A knife was good for a long time as long as you knew how to use it.
I glanced down the stairs before I took them. They seemed safe enough so I continued down them. When my foot hit the third step, I heard a board creak not far from the stairs. I held my breath hoping it was nothing, but Brandon moving around. There was only one way to find out.
I took the rest of the stairs at a steady pace and readied myself for a fight. My heart was pounding in my chest and my ears were burning. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I didn’t see anything. I let out the breath I was holding until I felt the cold of a barrel on the back of my head.
“ Don’t move,” the voice said. I’d already heard this song and dance from Brandon and didn’t really want to go through it again, but I also wanted to keep my head. I decide to play along.
“ I don’t have anything,” I said and turned the knife so it was along my arm instead of sticking out in plain view, hoping he hadn’t seen it.
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he said to the back of my head. “Turn around, slowly.” I held my hands up and started to turn. I kept the pace slow and was slightly revealed when the barrel of the gun wasn’t pressed on my head.
When I got turned around, I could finally see who it was that had me held up in the house in the middle of nowhere. He had dark hair that fell slightly into his light green eyes. He was dressed in some kind of camo gear that came from a military supply store, but there was no way I was going to believe at this point, he was military.
He didn’t lower his gun, but kept his eyes on me. I knew what he was doing, he was deciding if I was a threat. I slipped the knife into my sleeve and kept my hands up to show I wasn’t a threat to him. I was just like him, a person trying to make it out alive. He lowered his gun, but kept an eye on me.
“ What’s your name?” He asked it out of nowhere. One minute he didn’t know if I was someone that was trustworthy and the next, he was asking my name.
“ What’s yours?” I snapped back, letting my hand down and sliding the knife back out of my sleeve. He watched me and raised an eyebrow at the action.
“Jax.” He didn’t volunteer anymore information. I didn’t press him either. There really wasn’t a point. I just volunteered my own name.
“ Leah. What are you doing around here?” I did need to know his intentions if nothing else. He turned and started walking out of the old house and I guessed I was supposed to follow him.
When I got out of the house, I was staring at five more survivors. They ranged from a couple of children to a man in his late forties. I was amazed at the fact there were more than just me and Brandon alive. It made the idea of my family being alive still that much more real.
“ We’ve been heading East. There’s supposed to be some kind of safe zone on the coast,” Jax said before taking a step towards the small group.
“ There’s a safe zone?” I almost whispered it in disbelief. For such a long time I thought I was the only one out there alive and now I was seeing others that were fighting to get to a place my family could be.
“ Yeah, we heard about it from someone that was there,” Jax spoke for the group and was the leader, that much was clear.
“ Why would he leave?” I didn’t look Jax’s way. The question nawed at me. What if there was a good reason not to go there?
“He was looking for his family.” He almost looked sad at the thought. “He was a good guy.”
“ You don’t think he made it?” The question was kind of a stupid one considering what we were up against. The silence was the only answer he gave.
“ We’re moving out in a few. Are you going the same direction?” Jax almost smiled as he said it, but there was something else behind it. He didn’t want to have to worry about another person if he didn’t have to, but I could take care of myself and would never want another person to have to do it.
“ I can go on my own. It’s not a big deal,” I shoved my hands in my pockets. The truth was I didn’t want to go on my own. I liked the idea of someone else being around and someone else taking the lead for me. While I wanted to make sure I was in some kind of control, it got to be too much sometimes.
“ You don’t have to be alone. There are people out there.” Jax glanced at the group like he was asking permission in his own way. They all looked at him as though they didn’t mind the extra couple of people. There was no way
I was going to leave Brandon on his own. He wasn’t as tough as he thought he was and the break might actually do him some good too.
“I’m not alone,” I said motioning to Brandon behind me. He had somehow managed to stay out of the whole thing until just then. Jax cracked a smile and turned towards the group.
“ This is Ayla,” he said pointing to a young girl of about eight. She had long black hair and looked as though it hadn’t been brushed in weeks. When Jax introduced her, she glanced only quickly at me before looking at the ground she was kicking. She wore old tattered tennis shoes and jeans that were a little too big for her small frame. Her light purple t-shirt looked as though it had seen better days and the lettering was starting to fade from it.
Jax went on to a man standing beside the girl. He had the same dark hair and I figured it was her father. He was wearing dark jeans and black tennis shoes that were wearing out in the front. He glanced up for a moment and caught my gaze. His eyes were not dark like Ayla’s but a beautiful green with a hint of sadness. I figured we all had that these days.
“That’s Keith,” Jax continued. He went on. “The one on the end there is Ely and her sister Kaly.” The girls were both blond and almost looked exactly the same except for the age difference. Kaly was clearly only a teen and Ely was just a few years older. They both wore jeans that were tore from day to day wear and t-shirts that had seen better days.
Kaly’s was a dark blue while Ely’s was a light red and fit a little too loosely. They both had tried to pull there long blond locks into a ponytail, but Ely seemed to be able to get her hair done better for whatever reason. It didn’t look as though she had failed to brush it for as long as the others. That made me think of my own hair and how it was probably matted to my head. I frowned at the thought.
“ It’s nice to meet you, but we still don’t have any idea who you are?” The last of the survivors said to me taking a step forward. He was tall with dark skin and kind eyes. He was the kind of person you hoped to meet when everything else seemed to go to shit.
“I’m Smith,” he said, smiling as he waited for me to answer. “ Leah.” I turned and glanced at Brandon who was still hanging back. “This is Brandon.” Smith glanced back at him and then looked at everyone else.
“ So what are we still doing in here? Don’t we have to get somewhere?” He almost made it a crack and I caught Jax rolling his eyes. As much as I wanted to remain serious, I just couldn’t help but crack a smile.
# The first part of the walk was quiet. Kaly and Ely stayed off with themselves and Jax seemed to take the lead. I glanced back at Brandon from time to time. He was hanging off to the side of the group tinkering with something in his pocket.
I struggled to catch up to Jax and find out more about this safe zone. If it was real, I wanted to get there and fast.
“ So, what’s your story?” The question came out lighter than I thought, but if I was going to be a part of this group, there had to be some kind of trust. Jax glanced at me before even letting me know he’d heard what I said.
“ I don’t know if you really want me to answer that question,” he started and then glanced in my direction. The look in his eyes was a warning, but I had to know what he was capable of.
“ I do. If we’re going to be trying to keep each other alive, I need to know who I’m helping.” It was blunt. I knew that, but it was the truth. Jax sighed, but didn’t look at me.
“ I wasn’t a good guy.” He glanced at me for a reaction. I didn’t give one, but kept walking with him. “When the world went to shit, I was in prison. Somehow things malfunctioned when the electricity stopped working and I managed to get out.”
“That was probably the safest place to be when all this started.” I kept a steady gaze with him, but a part of me wondered what he was in for. He seemed good enough, but how can you really trust anyone right now.
“ Yeah, until the guards got infected and then it was the worst place. I was lucky.” He stopped there and I didn’t push him. “We just found each other as we tried to make it alive, but this life, it’s not an easy one.” He smiled as he talked, trying to lighten the mood. “What about you?”
“ I was in college when it started.” The memory of normal life made me smile. “It was my first semester.” Everything seemed so far away, even though it really wasn’t. The life I’d lived was gone and this new one was all about surviving, staying alive another day.
We walked most of the day and got pretty far before the sun started settling behind the trees. We stayed off the interstate and tried to keep to roads less people would travel. It seemed like a good idea. There were more dangers than just the Undead trying to have you for a snack.
“ We have to find a place to settle for the night. There’s a campground not to far ahead we can stay at,” Jax said, glancing back at the group.
“ That won’t be very protected.” I looked back at the kids in the group. Somehow they’d managed to make it alive for as long as they had, but one wrong choice and it could all come down around them and us.
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The 13th Witch Complete Trilogy Page 17
