Joss stood beside me for a few moments before pulling me away. "I packed something that might be helpful. Never thought we would use it."
He moved around the truck, and I followed him, curious as to what he could be referring to. When I stepped up behind him, he was already reaching into the truck bed, shifting its contents.
"I looked for a stroller, but couldn't find one. Found this, though."
I watched with growing incredulity as he pulled out a red wagon, complete with the Radio Flyer logo on the side. It was plastic, not metal, and had a built-in seat. "Well, I'll be damned."
"At least Hope won't have to walk the whole way." He said.
I looked back the way we came, confident in the miles between us and Vegas. Unless Reed had a vehicle, it would take a long time for him to catch up, but the uneasiness had found a permanent home between my shoulder blades. I absently stroked my holstered revolver before I caught myself and folded my arms. I turned to Joss and nodded.
"Let's get everyone ready to move."
No one complained, least of all Hope. Her grin was wide when she found out she would get to ride in the wagon. For all the toys that she had in her hotel room, this was a new experience for her. She couldn't comprehend the danger we were in out here in the open, and her genuine laughter felt out of place. When Hope beamed up at her, Meg smiled, but her face crumpled into a pensive frown as soon as Hope turned away. Stephanie wore an identical expression.
I herded them forward, thinking the road would be the best option until we got past the town. My eyes scanned the horizon for any movement, but there was nothing to see. Nothing in front of us. Nothing behind. It was deserted.
It was early afternoon by the time we made it to the town, confirming my suspicious. There wasn't anything here. I thought the last town had been looted clean, but this one took it to another level. It had been meticulously cleared out. I stared around in awe.
The lack of vehicles didn't surprise me, but more things were missing. There were no dumpsters, no mailboxes, and most of the fences were gone. The doors had been taken, and the windows had been removed by the frames. There were even a few buildings that had walls missing, leaving vacant areas where sheetrock and studs belonged. All that remained was the skeleton of a town it had once been.
I had no words. We stood silently, each of us staring at the empty buildings not knowing what to make of it. I knew Stephanie would need to rest soon, but the thought of stopping here made me shudder.
"Let's keep moving," I said. Again, no one protested. They were eager to leave the husk behind us.
We walked down the eerie, silent street as it swung to the northeast, and I knew we were headed in the right direction. If we walked until dusk, we might be able to make it to our destination by tomorrow, but an unsettling feeling crept over me. What would we find there? With all the buildings stripped bare, I hoped we would at least find some food and water. Our current supply, stashed in the wagon with Hope, would only last a couple days at most.
We walked over the sand-covered road, and when we came to a particularly long stretch of clear pavement, it caught my attention. There were a good few yards where we weren't leaving any tracks. I paused, and everyone else stopped to watch me.
"What is it?" Meg asked, following my gaze to the road, but she couldn't see what I found so interesting.
"No tracks," Joss answered her.
I gave him an appreciative glance. Pointing to a driveway that led east, I said, "Take Hope, and go that way. I'll need the wagon."
Hope whined as Meg lifted her from her seat, but settled down when Stephanie smiled at her and offered her hand. The shoes we had found for her were too big, but she plodded along, happy to be walking next to Stephanie for the time being.
I grabbed the wagon's handle and continued down the road, past the spot where the sand once again covered the pavement. The wagon and I left clear tracks in the light sand, and I pulled it to one of the buildings and retraced my same steps as I pulled it back out. If he made it this far, it wouldn't fool Reed for long, but maybe it would throw him off for a little while at least.
It didn't take me long to catch up with the others, and Meg gave me a smile as I approached. Some of the tension eased, but my smile faded when Stephanie reached for another bottle of water. After that, the desperate ache of worry gnawed at me, and I couldn't shake it. We needed more supplies.
Once we made it outside the town, the wagon rolled along smoothly enough as long as Hope wasn't inside. The sand sucked at the tires at times, but with Joss walking behind it, it was easy enough to pull it free and keep going. When Hope grew tired and climbed back in, our pace slowed.
We walked south of the road, but I knew we would eventually run into the military base if we continued east. Every now and then, I caught sight of a mile marker and knew we were getting closer. There was no doubt that we were out in the open, but maybe we would have time to hide behind the many boulders and ledges that littered the desert floor if I saw something suspicious.
"Can we rest?" Stephanie asked as twilight began to fall.
I looked at her, seeing the weariness in her eyes, and nodded. "Let's aim for those rocks."
She nodded gratefully, and we veered toward an outcropping that sat north of us. We were almost there when Joss stopped suddenly, his head snapping back in the direction of the road. He got a curious look from Meg, but fear leaped inside me. He had heard something.
"Get Hope," I said to Meg, and Joss reached for Stephanie. She was quick to react, grabbing his hand and running along with him, but Meg seemed confused.
"What is it?"
"I hear something," Joss called over his shoulder.
Fear flared on her face, and she pulled Hope from the wagon. I jerked it forward and we both stumbled along behind Joss. Luckily, there was enough clay for the wagon to roll along easily, and the tires didn't sink into the sand until we were close to the rocks. Joss came back to help me pull the wagon out of view.
We were all panting, cowering within the shadow of the rocks, afraid. I couldn't hear anything over the pounding of my own heart.
"What did you hear?" I whispered.
"A hum, like a motor," Joss said with a look of concentration on his face. I waited a few moments but couldn't hear anything. I started to speak again, but he quickly shot a finger in front of his lips, motioning me to silence.
I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and tried to get my pounding heart under control. Slowly, I began to calm down. The frantic heartbeats slowed, and the sound of blood racing through my ears faded. I could hear again, and the hum of a soft motor buzzed in the distance.
I moved to the edge of the rocks, intending to poke my head around, and had to swat away arms reaching for me. I wasn't sure who it was, but I didn't have time to look. The humming was growing louder, and I had to see who it was. I had to see if it was Reed.
We were too far away from the road for me to have a good vantage point from the ground, so I swung back into the shadows. I tilted my head up to scan the smooth boulder that hid us and spotted a ledge covered with desert weeds.
"Is it him?" Joss asked, his voice a whisper.
I shook my head. "I can't see yet. Boost me up."
Joss's head turned to the spot my eyes were fixed on. Without pause, he laced his fingers together and held his cupped hands low in front of me. I stepped one foot into his waiting hands and kicked off the ground with the other. Joss easily hoisted me up to the small ledge, and my chest slammed against the smooth rock. My hands scrambled for something to hold on to, and I felt myself start to slip before my fingers found a crack in the rock. I pulled myself up and smirked in triumph.
"Come on, you bastard," I growled as I pulled my revolver. All I could see was a black dot on the horizon, framed by the setting sun. I knew it was him, out in the open, alone. The perfect target.
The whirring motor grew louder as the vehicle took shape, and I scoffed when I realized it was the golf cart. Gordon had manag
ed to get it working, and Reed had taken it. I cussed under my breath and snarled as I leveled the gun, waiting.
The figure driving the cart became clearer, and I shifted self-consciously as I found myself staring at Reed's face. I hated that face. I grew eager for the moment. Steady. This wasn't like last time when my emotions had gotten in the way and unnerved me. I would end it now. I wouldn't miss. Only a few more seconds...
Suddenly, the ledge my foot was standing on crumbled beneath me, unable to hold my weight. In a blink, I was falling. I groped frantically for the crack in the rock, and my fingertips brushed against it as I continued to fall away. For the span of a heartbeat, a heartbeat that seemed to last forever, I floated in the air. Away from the rock, off the ground, I hung suspended over the Nevada desert as another opportunity slipped through my fingers.
And then I crashed to the ground.
~ ~ ~ ~
I drifted in a haze full of heat and pain, and struggled to wake. The desperate need to wake pushed at my mind, but I couldn't understand why. I swam through the fog, finding my way to the light, and gasped for breath. My lungs burned. I coughed and sputtered, trying to remember how to breathe, when a hand clamped over my mouth.
Panic flooded through my veins as I fought the arm that constrained me, needing more oxygen than what I could suck through my nostrils. My lungs burned as I struggled, and a face appeared over me. Through watery eyes, I was able to focus on the features. Meg. She held a finger in front of her lips, lips pressed so hard together they were white, and released me.
I gulped air in jagged gasps, unable to be as quiet as Meg wanted. She reached to cover my mouth again, and I tried to fend her off when Joss's voice broke us apart.
"It's okay. He's gone."
Reed! Memories came flooding back, and I struggled to sit up, to find my gun, but I fell back immediately as a sharp pain shot up my leg. I ground my teeth together, stifling a moan.
"What happened?" My voice was tight as I tried to move my leg and got hit with another wave of pain.
"Hold on," Joss said, moving from the side of the rock to my leg. I saw the sun glint off my revolver in his hand, and I relaxed a little. "You fell."
No shit? I wanted to snap, but held it in with a grimace. What happened after I fell was what I wanted to know, but it wasn't worth asking. Reed was gone. I had missed him again. My hand balled into a fist as it slammed into the sand. I blinked away tears of frustration, and was able to prop myself up on my elbows.
I hadn't fallen free of the rocks. My left leg was fine, sprawled out to the side and resting comfortably against a crevice, but my right foot was wedged tightly between two rocks a foot off the ground. I moved instinctively, trying to jerk free, and bit back a yelp of pain.
"I said hold on," Joss snapped, but I barely registered him. Flashes of white were going off behind my eyelids, and the fist that I had punched the sand with had become a claw, digging into the ground as the pain assaulted me. My whole body was rigid as I waited for the agony to relent.
As it faded, I became aware of my surroundings. Joss had both his hands on my calf and was slowly lifting my foot free of its trap. I tensed, waiting for the wracking pain to come again, but Joss was gentle. There was no escaping the pain entirely no matter how careful he was, but with Meg supporting me from behind and Joss holding my leg, I was soon free.
"We should take her boot off," Stephanie said softly from my side.
"No." I moaned through uneven breaths. I was reluctant to see how badly I'd been injured. I couldn't admit to myself that something might be broken. We couldn't afford that kind of delay.
I opened my eyes to look at the faces that surrounded me. Joss was digging through a pack, and Meg had a frown plastered across her face as she stared at my foot. I was slightly surprised to see Hope clinging to Stephanie as the two of them sat deep in the alcove of the rocks, but nothing prepared me for the look on Stephanie's face.
Her lips were pursed together tightly, not with fear, but with annoyance, and she frowned at me in... disapproval? I had never seen her look so mature.
"The boot has to come off." She said again, firmly. "If your foot starts swelling, it's only going to make the pain worse, and we'll still have to take the boot off. Maybe even cut it off."
I stared at her in shock. "How do you know this?"
Stephanie's stern facade finally broke, and she blushed slightly. "The kids in the hotel got hurt a lot, and before," she choked on the word and took a deep breath. "Before the hotel. People were always hurt. I learned a few things when one of the teachers fractured their ankle."
Joss's eyes flashed from me to Stephanie, and he tossed a shirt at me. "Bite down on that if you have to. It's clean."
My eyes widened as I caught the shirt. Logically, everything Stephanie said made sense, but I felt betrayed that Joss was taking her advice. My feelings were ridiculous, and it was out of frustration that I jammed the shirt in my mouth and bit down with a growl.
Joss avoided my eyes as he concentrated on untying my boot. When he pulled it off, pain reverberated up my leg, and I shouted through the shirt that was firmly tucked between my teeth. "Son of a bitch!"
The pain subsided, and I wiped tears from my eyes. Joss poked lamely at my foot, but it was obvious he had no idea what he was doing. Feeling snide, I said, "Is it broken, Doc?"
He rolled his eyes.
Reluctantly, I looked to Stephanie, seeing no other option than to rely on her limited knowledge. She moved to me, Hope following curiously behind her. After looking at my foot for several seconds, she reached out and gently squeezed my ankle between her slim fingers. She pulled away when I jerked.
"There's nothing visible, so if it is fractured, it's not bad. Even if it were bad, you'd heal soon, right?"
"I think so," I muttered.
"We should wrap it anyway, and camp here for the nigh--"
"No." I interrupted. Stephanie sat back, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me. "Not here. We're too close to the road. We'll have to find another place to camp, or..."
I cut off abruptly, realizing what I was about to say. I couldn't force the words out, fearing it would sound like a bad movie line. Joss frowned at me, and I cringed as he gave voice to my thoughts. "Or go on without you?"
I gave him a twisted grin, trying to hide my reaction. "No. You can pull me in the wagon."
Joss groaned. "Give me the shirt."
I tossed it to him and ground my teeth as he used it to bandage my foot. When he was finished, I struggled to stand, the pain causing me to suck air through my teeth. My ankle couldn't bear my weight. Meg moved to me, sliding her arm around my waist as she pulled my arm over her shoulder.
"Let's try this." She said, smiling, but her eyes were crinkled with worry. We tested a few steps as I leaned heavily on her, and my holster poked me in the ribs. I stopped to unbuckle the straps, and Joss raised an eyebrow in question as I handed it to him. I shrugged. "It'll only get in the way."
Ignoring his frown, I turned back to Meg. She nodded, smiling and ready to assist me. "We can do it."
Hope skipped to Meg's side, her too-big shoes slapping on the clay. Meg wasn't able to hold Hope's hand, not while she was helping me, but the girl didn't seem to mind. She was content to walk along beside us. We aimed for another cluster of rocks to the south and left Stephanie and Joss behind to gather up our dwindling supplies. With my slow steps, they would have no trouble catching up with us.
I stumbled through the sand, leaning on Meg part of the way, and then on Joss when he relieved her. The distance to the rocks had looked deceptively close, but I didn't take my injury into account. The sky had turned gray by the time we made it, only a sliver of sun remaining on the western horizon. I collapsed to the ground exhausted, barely making it within the shelter of the outcrop.
Joss left me there to rest while he made sure the others got settled, and came back to drag me to the camp. There was room enough for all of us to stretch out, and the rocks sheltered us on thr
ee sides. Not a bad place to sleep for the night. Dinner consisted of more MREs and Joss forced me to eat one. The label said beef stew, but apparently, they used that term loosely.
I listened to Joss and Meg argue about their guard shifts. Joss didn't want to sleep at all, wanting to rely on his hearing to guard us throughout the night, but Meg convinced him to make a schedule. I felt useless, laying with my wounded ankle propped on my pack and hoping I would be okay in the morning.
The night passed slowly, and I was grateful when Joss came to check on me at dawn.
"Found you something." He said as he handed me an old, twisted root about three feet long. There were notches down its length where Joss had whittled the stubs down during the night, and the top was shaved smooth so it fit comfortably in the palm of my hand. I smiled.
"This should help," I said as I used the rocks and my new cane to clamber to my feet. It was a clumsy maneuver, but I was able to do it on my own. I shot a triumphant look at Joss, who was hovering over me in case I needed help.
"Cool." He grinned back. "How does it feel?"
I tested my injured ankle, putting pressure on it a little at a time, pushing the limits until a sharp pain shot up my leg in warning. I reached down to pull at the make-shift bandage, and it came away easily. I wiggled my toes experimentally, and used my cane to take a few staggering steps around our camp.
"Can I put my boot back on?"
Joss smirked as he looked over our sleeping companions. Even Meg was curled next to the wagon, sleeping soundly. He leaned close to me. "I saw the glow last night. They're definitely lights."
My eyes went wide. "Where?"
Joss pointed to the northeast. I glanced at Meg. "Did she see it too?"
"No." Joss shook his head. "At least not that I know of. She didn't seem to move around during her watch."
"Do we tell them?" I asked, meeting his eyes again. He shrugged in response. "I don't want to get their hopes up if it's nothing."
"We can wait." He said and fetched my boot. "What about Reed?"
The frustration and anxiety felt like bile in my throat, brought on by the mention of his name. Reed had run through my thoughts all night, keeping me awake. I didn't like the idea of him making it to the town ahead of us, but now we had the opportunity to get the jump on him. Our odds were improving.
The Phoenix Curse (Book 3): After Page 24
