The Roadhouse Chronicles Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Cox, Matthew S.

  Kevin stared at her until she lifted her head to make eye contact. “I want to keep you as far away from Infected… and marauders as possible. I’ve done crazier things before than this. If shit looks like it’s getting out of control, I promise I’ll drag Tris back here if I have to hogtie her and toss her in the trunk.”

  Abby snickered. “She’d kick your ass if you tried.”

  Tris flashed a coy smirk. “Okay. The tub calls.” She walked out.

  Kevin stood. “Go on and get dressed. Pack some stuff and a towel. You’ll be staying with Bill and Ann till we get back.”

  “Stuff?” Abby crawled off the bed and stood. “I have two pieces of clothing.” She tugged on the sweatshirt-turned-nightdress. “This, and the dress Bethany made for me.”

  “What about your other dress?” He raised an eyebrow.

  Abby looked down. “It’s got Dad’s blood on it.”

  “Well, get ready. I’ll go cook something.”

  Head down, Abby trudged out.

  Kevin dressed and headed to the kitchen. He started to collect pans and food, but Bee walked in and got in the way.

  “I can do this for you, Boss.” Bee smiled. “It brings me pleasure to help.”

  “Heh, okay.” He set a kettle on a hot plate and dumped some instant coffee in a mug.

  Bee fried some dust hopper strips as well as a couple of potatoes. They’d run out of eggs, but no sense checking with the farm for another allocation yet. Not with them going away for a while.

  Abby walked in and hovered at his side while he waited for the water to heat up.

  “I got it.” Bee smiled at them.

  He moved to a seat at the table. Abby sat in his lap, clinging. Whether she meant it as a guilt tactic or not, he felt like an asshole for leaving her behind… but someone did go to extreme lengths to send Tris a coded message. It didn’t strike him as another cruel twist of the knife from Nathan.

  A short while later, Bee set plates in front of them. “How long do you expect to be away? Will Abby be staying here?”

  Kevin exhaled. “Bill and Ann are going to let her stay with them for the time being. You may as well join them instead of being here alone.”

  “That is a good idea. The girl would benefit from a caretaker capable of emotional responses exceeding my capacity.”

  Abby looked up with an offended expression. “I’m right here.”

  “You’re human enough to annoy an eleven year old.” Kevin winked.

  Bee emitted her approximation of a laugh. “There are a few maintenance tasks necessary for this house which I shall attend to in the meantime.” She walked off toward the living room.

  “Bee’s kinda creepy… but cool, too.” Abby jabbed a strip of dust hopper meat with her fork. “Where’d you find her?”

  Tris entered, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, trailing an air of soap and warmth. She helped herself to food and sat as well. After Kevin finished telling Abby about Wayne’s Roadhouse, no one spoke; only the scrape of forks on plastic plates broke the silence for several minutes. Kevin couldn’t look at Abby without feeling guilty as hell for leaving. He couldn’t look at Tris without feeling guilty as hell for thinking of not going. Some part of him almost wanted to suggest he stay behind with Abby while she ran off, but he did not want to go through that again. He’d spent enough time kicking himself for racing out the door half-cocked to chase down the Redeemed without her. That mistake he wouldn’t repeat.

  Tris didn’t lift her gaze off the plate once during breakfast. He figured she felt every bit as bad about leaving Abby behind as he did, but not quite reckless enough to give in to the girl’s pleas to accompany them. Maybe if she were fifteen instead of eleven, it wouldn’t feel like such a foolish idea. Odd as it seemed, he might’ve actually brought her along if she’d been more like Zoe. As much as he hated to think about it, the little blonde nine-year-old knew her way around a rifle. That kid wouldn’t hesitate at shooting threats, even if she did try to aim for legs so she didn’t kill anyone. He spent a moment debating if she’d hesitate taking kill shots on Infected.

  We’re a nation of broken people… children carrying guns, so many orphans, so many patchwork families. He smiled wistfully, thinking about Ray taking Katie in. Most people he’d run into (pirates notwithstanding) were decent. Perhaps humanity had needed a reset button. At least Zoe still had her real father and brother. Only about five of Nederland’s twenty-something kids had their actual parents around, not counting a handful of new babies of course. Give it time. He bit his lip at the dark thought. It only took him one hand to count the number of people he knew who made it into their twenties before their parents died.

  “I know you’re trying to protect everyone.” Abby looked down as she pulled on her moccasins. “I might start crying when you leave, but I’m not trying to make you stay. I’m just scared.”

  Tris reached across the table to take her hand. “I know it’s too soon. You haven’t even really settled in here. Neither have we… but I’m so worried something is going to happen. I can’t explain where the feeling is coming from, but I can’t sleep either. It’s like I know something is coming and I have to do this.”

  Abby exhaled, stared at their joined hands for a little while, and nodded. “Okay. Are you taking Zara with you?”

  “I… didn’t even think to ask.” Tris gave Kevin a momentary questioning look, but frowned before he could answer. “No… The town needs her more than I do. I don’t want to get her captured or killed.”

  “What about you?” Abby sniffled. “You escaped too. Won’t they try to kill you?”

  Kevin fidgeted, scraping at his empty plate. “We’re not going to ‘take on’ the Enclave. We’re looking for a ruined office building. What happens after that is going to depend on what we find there… if anything. All we have right now is a number. If it turns out to be a dead end, we’re coming straight back here.”

  Abby rubbed her hands down her thighs in a rhythmic, repetitive motion. “’Kay.”

  Kevin stood. As if heading to a funeral, Tris and Abby followed him across the road and down the two-minute walk to Bill’s house. He and Paul sat on green-painted chairs at either side of the front door, under the shade of the small porch roof. Cody had flopped on the ground a bit to the left in the start of the trees where the hill took a sharp upward turn. Every so often, he threw rocks into the distance.

  “Morning,” said Bill.

  “Howdy.” Pete―Zoe and Cody’s father―raised a hand in greeting.

  “What happened?” Bill stood. “You three look grim.”

  Kevin let out a sharp, short, sigh. “We’re going to go check on that lead Tris found. Look, I… suppose there’s no point trying to honey-coat this. Abby’s already heard it. Hell, she lived it once. We both think that Nathan might target Nederland because Tris is here. Drop Virus on it from a drone. I know you guys sorta dismissed the idea, but I’d really like it if you could bring it up again with the militia to be extra careful about watching the air… at least while we’re gone.”

  Abby shivered. “We never even saw it. Some of the soldiers found a smashed bottle in the road with green stuff. Couple days later, they got sick. Couple days after that they… uhh…” She closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath, fighting off the urge to break down.

  Kevin squeezed her shoulder while Tris held her hand.

  “I never really had any training or exposure to the drone program,” said Tris. “Zara was part of the military, so she might know more. But, those things are pretty quiet. The one we found in Amarillo had crashed. Someone must’ve seen it and shot it down, but not before it started to drop capsules. It’s about the size of a motorcycle, black.”

  “Basically,” said Kevin, “if you see anything flying that isn’t alive, shoot the shit out of it.”

  Zoe walked out from the kitchen door, barefoot in her denim dress. She raised her arms toward Bill, showing off black gunk smearing them from fingertip to elbow. “Finished cle
aning it. Wanna check it?” She noticed Kevin and cheered. “Kevin!” She darted over and jumped up and down in front of him without touching. “Cleaned my rifle. I’m too dirty for hugs.”

  “Hey, sweetie.” He grasped her around the chest under the armpits, picked her up, and swung her around once before setting her back down. “We’re going on an important trip. Abby’s gonna stay here for a couple days. I need you to make sure she stays safe.”

  “Okay,” chirped Zoe.

  Abby furrowed her eyebrows. “She’s younger than me.”

  While Tris scooped Zoe up for her hug, Kevin leaned close to Abby and whispered, “Just go with it. It makes her feel better.”

  “Oh,” said Abby. “So I really can’t come with you guys?”

  “Suppose we do bring you, and we get surrounded by Infected. For one thing, I don’t want you to have to go through that again, and for another, I don’t want you to have to go through that again.”

  She smiled despite crying again. “Okay. You guys are my parents now. ’Kay? You better come back.”

  “That’s the plan.” He chuckled.

  Tris set Zoe down and glanced to the left. “How’s Cody doing?”

  The little blonde darted inside.

  Pete offered a resigned one-shoulder shrug. “He’s not talking so much. Gets edgy after dark. Sometimes he wakes up crying, but doesn’t want me to see him like that. You know, at the ripe old age of thirteen, he’s too big to be scared.” He shook his head. “I’d be worried more, but he seems to like that girl Emma. ’Course, he’s afraid to talk to her.”

  Kevin smiled for a second or two. “If there’s any way we can pay back the Enclave for everything…”

  Pete nodded. “Don’t do anything stupid. You want any help?”

  “Nah.” Kevin smiled. “Right now, we’re only checking on something small. Call it a scouting operation. Your family needs you.”

  “If you want some militia, I can probably get the elders to approve a couple.” Bill hooked his thumbs in his pockets.

  “Ned needs them more,” said Tris. “We can move quicker and easier with just the two of us… and I don’t want to be responsible for anyone else being hurt if this turns out to be another tease from Nathan.”

  “You don’t believe it is.” Kevin shot her a meaningful look.

  “No, I don’t. That message was too involved. Nathan’s not that crafty.” Tris squatted and wrapped Abby in a hug. “Keep yourself safe. See you soon.”

  “Okay, Mom.” Abby squeezed her, sniffling.

  Kevin concealed a wince at the look of guilt on Tris’ face. If she changes her mind, I ain’t gonna push her.

  Eventually, Abby released her grip, and Tris stood.

  Zoe came back outside, her arms and hands clean. She ran over to Abby. “Wanna play?”

  Abby made a face like her dog died. “I guess.” She hugged Kevin. “Come home, please.”

  “Be good.” He kissed the top of her head, patted her on the back, and gave Tris the ‘well, you still want to do this?’ glance.

  With a grim face, she plodded off down the road toward their house.

  “Thanks for watchin’ Abby.” Kevin shook Bill’s hand. He waited for the two girls to disappear inside the house. “She’s been having nightmares. Hope it’s not a problem. She might wake up screaming a few times.”

  Bill nodded. “Been there done that. Zoe was the same way for a while. Ann’s pretty good at dealing with bad dreams.”

  “Alright. Well, I better do this before I change my mind.” Kevin glanced over at Tris who waited a little ways down the road with a ‘hurry up before I chicken out’ expression. “I’d be lying if I didn’t have a little hope this turns out to be a load of crap.”

  “Keep your eyes open and get home safe.” Bill shook hands.

  Kevin nodded. “Will do.” He heaved a sigh and followed Tris home.

  She had a bit of a lead on him, and ducked inside as soon as she reached the house. He headed for the car. Tris emerged from the front door a second before his fingers touched the handle, carrying two bags of supplies, which she stuffed in the Challenger’s back seat before getting in beside him.

  “Last chance to change your mind,” said Kevin.

  Tris let her head loll back against the seat, closed her eyes, and sighed. “I can’t.”

  “All right. Let’s do it.”

  Kevin swiped his thumb over the rocker switches, each one lighting blue. The little screen in the middle of the dash displayed a mangled mess of pixels before sharpening into the rear-view targeting camera.

  They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the soft hum of active electronics.

  “Tris?” Kevin glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure we shouldn’t have jinx-breaker sex first?”

  She playfully punched him on the shoulder. “Just drive.”

  Kevin brought the Challenger to a halt on Route 119 as soon as Boulder came into sight. Tris had been crying in silence since they started moving. “If you want to go back, say the word.”

  She clenched her jaw. “I want to, but I can’t. Tell me again it’s a bad idea to bring Abby with us.”

  “It’s an awful idea.” He wrung his hands on the steering wheel, making the leather creak. “Thought she got shot last time when those jackasses strafed us.”

  “Yeah.” She sniffled. “I’m so terrified we’re going to come back and find Amarillo all over again.”

  He accelerated. “Then we should hurry the hell up so we’re back in time for the shit to hit the fan.”

  “Maybe I’m overreacting. Nathan hit Amarillo because he didn’t know where we were. How could he possibly know we stayed in Nederland?”

  Kevin lifted one hand off the wheel in a limp gesture of appraisal. “True. If he could find us, he woulda dropped that shit right on Rawlins.”

  “I don’t think so. Virus won’t kill me.”

  “No, but it would end my ass, and then you’d fly straight back to the Enclave with murder in your eyes where he could kill you more easily.”

  She seethed. “Thanks for making me see that.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah.” Tris sighed. “I hope Abby’s not too angry at us if we come back.”

  “When we get back, I’m sure she’ll be happy enough that we’re back to forget all about being angry.”

  Tris smiled.

  “Unless they drop Virus on Ned and she barely survives again, then she’ll be―”

  Tris punched in him the arm; a flash of pain flickered like lightning from his shoulder to his fingertips, stunning the limb.

  “Ow, fuck!” He cringed. “That wasn’t exactly playful.”

  She raised an eyebrow, her face grim. “Don’t joke about that.”

  “Right…” He reached across and rubbed his bicep, holding the wheel steady with one knee. “Gonna head up 119 to 25 to 80 and shoot west. I know at least two ’houses we should be able to stop at. Once we pass Reno, no guarantees. We might get stuck a day or two waiting on the trickle charger.”

  “Or we could ambush an Enclave patrol stopped for a piss break and steal their Hoplite.” She winked.

  “I’d prefer to avoid contact if at all possible. Might not even be a bad idea to swap and move at night once we’re in Cali.”

  She scratched her head. “It’s not like they’re actively hunting us.”

  “Yeah… Let’s hope that stays true after we poke that number. If we can even find a way to do it. Do you have any kind of plan?”

  Tris watched the road go by for a few minutes.

  “Me neither.”

  “Terminal9 mentioned a telephone company central office once we make it into Redwood City. Suppose we just drive around looking for it.”

  “Did he give you anything more specific?”

  Tris leaned around into the back and rummaged one of the bags she’d brought. She slid back into her seat holding a few yellowed papers with computer printing on them. “Umm. Not really.
This is a bunch of passwords, user accounts, and some technical diagrams.”

  “Great. So we’ve got a pile of gibberish and a whole city to search.” Route 119 skirted around Denver, sparing them having to deal with any Infected. He hooked a left turn onto 25 north, which would take them to Route 80. “Simple, right?”

  “Yeah. I figure there has to be more than one CO, some kind of distribution of load across multiple sites. All we have to do is find one of them.” She shook her head, chuckling. “Maybe this weird feeling in my head will give me another waypoint.”

  Kevin emptied his lungs through his teeth. “Last time we followed one of those glowing trails…”

  “Yeah, but I’m not expecting people this time… we’re looking for a building.”

  After hitting Route 80, Kevin opened it up and cruised around 150 mph for the better part of the day. Every minute that ticked by made him second guess leaving Ned behind, but he couldn’t argue that something had gotten a hold of Tris. She wouldn’t let this go, and would be miserable if they didn’t at least try. A telephone number… of all the useless things someone could possess in the Wildlands―that ranked near the top, a few spots below a pilot’s license. He’d never once even heard of a working telephone outside of old movies.

  “I wonder…” He glanced at her. “Maybe it’s a funny way to get us to that building? Whoever sent that message can’t honestly expect a phone to work, right?”

  She shrugged. “At a basic level, it’s a wire between two devices. If the area is small enough, there might be a bit of the network left intact.”

  Four-ish hours later, they pulled in at the Rawlins Roadhouse… former home. Fitch had taken to running the place, and seemed to have lost his itch to drive around. Of course, not driving around also meant he never had to use up the 20mm rounds he’d collected for the big gun on his truck, which made him happy. The place seemed to be doing well, though a few bullet holes in the wall that hadn’t been there before cemented Kevin’s resolve that he’d made the right choice.