by Tara Ellis
Slowly, Patty staggered to her feet and reached back blindly for the horse that was still there, waiting patiently. She thought of her friend Kathy. Alone in the world and dying of cancer, she managed to find the strength to not only live, but love life, while a young man with so much potential gave up.
“Hope,” Patty sighed, determined his death would not be in vain. “I’ve forgotten that we need so much more than water and food.” Uncertain as to how she could reach those in despair, Patty knew that she’d have to start by being honest with the community. Gary had been right in that respect, at least. She’d make an announcement assuring that everyone in Mercy would be given food and water, whether they chose to participate in the exchange or not. Tom Miller would be the perfect spokesperson to spread the word. He was the most respected rancher in Mercy, and people would listen to him.
Heading back to her own horse with the mare in tow, Patty paused at the edge of the yard and looked back at Joseph, his body already claimed by shadows. “I’m sorry you died alone.”
Chapter 7
ETHAN
Miller Ranch, Mercy, Montana
Dinner was an interesting mix of fulfillment and misery. Ethan had been fantasizing about a good steak more than he’d care to admit, and while the roasted chicken wasn’t quite as satisfying, it was a close second. On the other hand, the nonstop conversation between nine people was overwhelming, not to mention the questions his grandma kept asking him. At least Tane was the only extra body there that night, since the sheriff and mayor didn’t want to risk exposing themselves by accepting the invitation to dinner.
When the adults retired to the campfire to sing Kumbaya and drink beers, Ethan saw his chance to escape. Especially since his dad refused to allow the teens to have any alcohol, even though it was literally the end of the world. He happily offered to help Chloe move out of his room when she announced she was on her way to go get her things. He had mixed feelings when he found out that while Crissy had been living in the guest room, and Bishop was in his dad’s, the cute but abrasive girl had been assigned his bedroom.
Sleeping in his own bed was the other thing Ethan had been dreaming about, and he wasn’t sure if he was irritated or thrilled that Chloe had been using it for practically the whole time. As he leaned against the doorframe and watched her stuff her clothes into a bag, he realized that most of the items were his that she had hijacked. Okay…irritated. He was definitely leaning more towards irritated.
One of Chloe’s gifts must have been mind reading, because she looked up then and offered him a lopsided grin. “Sorry. Your grandma said this was all mostly stuff that was too small for you now.”
“Yeah, most of it,” Ethan agreed, maintaining his casual pose. “But Star Wars?” he asked, pointing at the altered tank sitting out on the bed.
Chloe grimaced. “Yeah, well…I know it’s like, bordering on sacrilegious, but it was too big and Yoda is my favorite.”
Ethan snorted. “Favorite? What, you’re gonna claim to be a fan after destroying that vintage tee?”
“It’s vintage?” Chloe sounded horrified.
It was his turn to grin. “Nah, I got it off Amazon for ten bucks. But it could have been!”
Chloe chuckled and looked impressed, rather than annoyed by the joke. “And yes, I’m a self-proclaimed nerd. Though, while Yoda is my favorite character, Firefly is my all-time favorite show.”
Nodding in approval, Ethan pushed away from the door and entered his room. “Agreed.” Maybe she wasn’t so bad, after all.
She watched him as he plopped down in a beanbag and propped his feet up on the bed next to where she was sitting. “BSG is a close second,” she said once he was situated.
“Battlestar Galactica, the reboot?” Ethan asked, crinkling his nose. “No way. I never got into it.”
Turning to face him, Chloe avoided his bare feet like they were a snake and continued to pack the last of her clothes while they talked. “It’s one of the best storylines ever produced,” she insisted. “How far did you get?”
“Never made it through season one.”
“Well, that’s why,” Chloe said as if she’d just figured out some major mystery.
Ethan thought it was cute how animated she got talking about something as simple as a TV show. He assumed she was smart, so he was glad they shared something in common to talk about.
“You’ve got to watch it through at least the second season, and then I promise you won’t be able to stop—” she froze mid-sentence, realizing what she was saying.
“The power will come back on,” Ethan said softly. “Maybe not for a while, but it will, eventually.”
“What if it doesn’t?” Chloe asked matter-of-factly. “What if no one ever gets to watch any of those shows ever again?”
Of all the things in the world to mourn, it seemed ridiculous to be upset over the loss of some TV series. Yet, it was a sad reminder of how much they’d had ripped away. Chunks of their childhood, their culture, the simple pleasure of getting lost in an alternate reality where nothing else mattered for just a little while. The thought gave Ethan an idea and he tried to smile reassuringly at Chloe. “It’s a good thing most of these stories were based on books!”
“True,” she agreed, and then frowned again. “Except it’s a little hard to get to your local library and request a copy.”
Holding a finger up, Ethan jumped up and went to his closet. Opening it with a flourish, he opened one of the built-in cabinets inside and pulled out a plastic tub. He sat it on the bed with a small grunt and then lifted the lid off, revealing several dozen paperbacks.
Gasping in pleasure, Chloe got up on her knees and started digging through the books. “Star Wars and Star Trek!” she beamed, pulling several copies out. “How did I miss this?”
“You went through my stuff?” Ethan asked, his grin fading.
Laughing, Chloe reached out and pushed lightly against his chest. “Don’t worry, I stayed out of your sock drawer. Any secrets hidden in there remain totally incognito.”
Blushing, Ethan vacillated again on whether he liked the precocious teen or not. He’d never met anyone like her before. “Where’s Crissy?” he asked, deciding it was best to change the subject altogether.
“Sleeping,” Chloe sighed, sitting back on the bed with several books piled into her lap. “She’s getting up at the crack of dawn to take care of the chickens so she can get into town and spend some time with Trevor.”
“The other guy who was part of your hiking group?” Ethan asked, trying to remember the brief story Bishop had told them earlier in the day.
Chloe bobbed her head while making a pained expression. “He and Crissy are…close.”
“That’s a bad thing?”
The look Chloe gave him in response was hard to interpret, other than it wasn’t a good topic. “No, not a bad thing, just irritating. He hurt his leg in that wagon accident Sandy told you about, and you’d think he was some hero with the way Crissy waits on him.”
“You don’t like him?” Ethan tried again. He didn’t understand why, but a small part of him was put off that she might be jealous.
Huffing, Chloe added the books to her clothes and closed up the duffle bag. “He’s my friend. They’re both my friends, which is why I guess sometimes I feel a little like the third wheel. It wasn’t like that until Crissy got all heartsick over him. What about you?” she asked bluntly. “You have a girlfriend back in Vegas?”
Thrown off by how quickly she’d flipped the conversation back to him, Ethan fumbled with his answer. “Me? Um, no. I mean, not at the time. Well, when I left for the summer, I didn’t.” His faced burned hotter when she laughed at his awkwardness, and he wondered if she was ever going to leave his room. “You and Crissy going to have enough space, sharing the room?” he asked, hoping she’d get the hint.
“More room than you and your dad will,” she said, pointing at his full-size mattress. “Except that the other times we shared a bed, I usually woke up with Crissy
’s feet in my back. I’ll let you know in the morning how it goes.” Winking, she finally stood and headed for the door. “Where are Danny and her dad going to sleep tonight?”
Ethan shrugged. “I dunno. The couches, I guess. I think I heard Sam say they were all going to camp out there. Or my grandma probably has a couple of cots. I know Danny would sleep on the floor of the barn and not care.”
Chloe paused, considering what he’d said. “She seems pretty cool. Tough, ya know? I guess she has to be if she’s a firefighter.”
“I watched her kill someone.” Ethan didn’t know why he said it. He hadn’t planned to, and once it was out, he wished he could take it back. It was a statement that would lead to questions and he wasn’t prepared to share any of the answers.
Chloe squinted at him, seemingly assessing the validity of his words. She must have seen something on his face that convinced her, because she simply sat her bag down and took over his previous position in the doorway. “How?”
“How?” Ethan echoed, unsure what she meant.
“How did she kill him? Like, slit his throat or—”
“She shot him,” he interrupted. “In the chest. Then he fell off his horse. Well, partway; his foot was stuck in the stirrup, so it dragged him. By the time I got Tango stopped, Decker was dead. So, technically, I’m not sure if it was the bullet or horse that killed him.”
Chloe stood staring at him, mouth open in a silent O. For the second time in as many minutes, Ethan had spoken without giving any thought to what he was saying. Maybe it was because he was home and now that some of his defenses were down, the stuff that was too hard to keep inside was oozing out, like a leak in a septic system. Closing his eyes and turning his head away from her judging eyes, Ethan wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and forget about everything.
“I’m sorry.”
Ethan opened one eye and risked looking back at Chloe. To his surprise, she looked anguished instead of disapproving. Maybe, in time, he could tell her more about what he experienced, and it would help some of his nightmares go away.
“I’m glad she killed him, if he’s one of the men that did that to you,” she said, gesturing to his face and the bruises that hadn’t completely faded. “He deserved it.” Chloe’s voice was harsh, and it had an edge to it that convinced Ethan she meant what she said.
As the short, attractive girl with purple in her hair walked away from Ethan’s room, he felt like a small amount of the weight he’d been carrying around left with her. It was a little easier to breathe, and he was certain he’d have longer stretches of sleep in between his nightmares that night.
He didn’t have a reasonable explanation for the connection he felt to Chloe, other than the fact she’d been sleeping in his room and going through his things for the past two weeks, but Ethan knew it was there. A familiarity, perhaps, of losing your parent and being cast into a situation you had no control over. Shaking his head and chastising himself for being overly emotional, Ethan got up and closed the door.
Going back to the bed, he saw that she’d left the Star Wars shirt behind. Grinning, he carefully draped it on the beanbag. Ethan had a feeling that when it came to Chloe, he’d need all the help from the Force he could get.
Chapter 8
DANNY
Miller Ranch, Mercy, Montana
Danny had spent so many nights sitting next to a campfire that it was the last thing she thought she’d choose to do on their first night in Mercy. However, when dinner was over and she had a chance to truly sit down with her dad and talk, doing it around a fire seemed fitting. It turned out that Sandy hadn’t broken out Tom’s reserve while he was gone, so they also had plenty of beer to toast with.
“You said you have a week of meds left?” she asked her dad as they picked seats next to each other. Grace plodded out onto the back patio with them, extremely content after a big bowl of chicken and carrots.
“Yes, Danny.” He didn’t roll his eyes at her, but Tane didn’t need to. The tone of his voice said it all. It was one of the first questions she’d already asked him after their emotional reunion on the front porch less than an hour before. “I read you should have a month’s worth of all your meds stored up, in case of a disaster. For once, I took some good advice.”
Though he winked at her, Danny couldn’t let it go. While she was incredibly relieved to find out he’d been taking his heart medicine all along, the fact was he’d run out soon. “I’ll figure out a way to find more,” she promised, taking his hand. His was so much larger than her own, and he’d always made her feel safe when he was near. Danny desperately wished that was still the case, except too much had happened, and what used to make everything okay simply wasn’t enough anymore.
“My mom said you’ve spent some time with Caleb on the radio,” Tom remarked to Bishop, as soon as they’d all sat down.
“Some,” Bishop confirmed. “I haven’t had as much time to learn the codes as I’d like. I don’t have the opportunity to make it in to city hall very often, where the radio is.” He leaned back in his chair and eyed Tom. “I’ve managed to help with some of the translations, though. What’s your question?”
Tom wrung his hands together before clearing his throat, and Danny could tell he was nervous. She knew what he was going to ask and it was the type of thing where it might be better not to know. “When we were at the FEMA camp,” Tom finally said. “They wouldn’t allow us to use their radio at all. They insisted it was for military purposes only. So, we still don’t know if Ethan’s mom is alive or not. She was on her way to Hawaii when the ray hit.”
Tane made a whistling noise and then shook his head before Bishop could answer. “I’ve helped Caleb, too, with some of the paperwork he’s produced. One of the things I worked on was a list of stations he’s contacted. I’m sorry,” Tane added quietly. “Hawaii isn’t one of them.”
“That doesn’t mean they’re not there,” Bishop offered. “In fact, based on what we’ve learned, I think Hawaii would be one of the safest places to be. We’ll talk to Caleb tomorrow about it. I’m sure he’ll have some ideas.”
Tom was understandably disappointed by the news, and Danny wished there was something she could say. They all had so many questions, and they’d already gotten used to not having them answered instantly by googling or picking up a phone. She still had no idea how her co-workers and friends in Helena were doing, plus her mom and grandparents were also in Hawaii. Sam had already accepted that his wife was most likely dead, but he also had friends and colleagues in Helena. Sandy told them how unstable the city was, so going there wasn’t really an option yet. At some point, they would, though it would probably be after winter. Until then, they’d have to figure out their roles in Mercy.
“Where is Ethan?” Sandy said, noticing the teen hadn’t come outside with them.
“Bed,” Tom said with a grin. “He’s been going on about sleeping in his room since we left Vegas.”
Studying her father in the glow of the fire, Danny was relieved to confirm that he still looked as good as he had when he first arrived at the house. She’d spent so much time imagining all the different ways he could be hurt or become sick that she was having a hard time believing he was okay. If Danny was honest with herself, she’d have to admit that he’d fared better than she had since the gamma ray.
Tane looked up and caught her staring. After a brief flash of concern clouded his dark features, he beamed a bright smile at her. Reaching out, he gently touched the knot on her forehead that was still noticeable. “You gonna tell me how you got that?”
Danny pulled away without meaning to, and then silently chastised herself. She’d been fiercely independent her whole life, even as a child, but the past few years she’d become more withdrawn and…shut down. While she was determined to tear down some of those walls, it was obviously going to take time as well as patience from the people around her.
“It happened at the FEMA camp,” Tom offered. He was sitting on her other side and she turned to loo
k at him gratefully. “While saving my butt,” he added with a chuckle.
“Is that where you met?” Tane asked. They’d barely had time to catch up on the basics while eating, so Tane hadn’t heard much yet.
“No,” Danny said hesitantly. “It’s a long story, Dad. I’ll tell you more about it later. Basically, Sam and I came upon Ethan after he and Tom had a run-in with some criminals. Then, Tom found us, and we all decided it made sense to travel together since we were headed the same way.”
“That’s definitely the condensed version,” Sandy said with a hint of laughter and a tinge of cynicism.
Danny cringed. They’d already told Sandy and Bishop most of what happened. She was going to leave out the details of her and Tom’s first encounter, but to her dismay, Tom told her everything. Right down to him tackling her and putting her face into the ground before she pulled the gun and nearly shot him. Danny figured it was some displaced need to confess everything he’d done wrong to his mom, but she was afraid it would just make things awkward between her and Sandy. Based on the older woman’s comment, Danny guessed she was right.
“Yeah,” Tom agreed with his mom, and Danny held her breath. “Let’s just say that despite my misguided efforts, Danny still managed to save Ethan and reunite us.”
Danny let out her breath, thankful she wouldn’t have to go into some long, drawn-out explanation with her dad. She was already emotionally exhausted and the beer was making her sleepy.
“It sounds like you were lucky to have Danny around,” Bishop said.
Danny began to grin, but her expression froze as several images came to mind. Blinking to clear her head, she took another long swallow of beer. “It went both ways,” she finally said.
“What do you know about those men we saw in the mountains?” Tom asked, clearly thinking back over some of the same encounters as Danny.
“Not much,” Bishop answered. He stood and tossed another log on the fire, sending a cascade of glowing embers up into the darkness. “There have been some random attacks on a couple of the other communities we’ve connected with through the Pony Express. They’ve avoided Mercy so far, but probably only because we’ve closed down our roads and have armed guards.”
