Feeling a burst of pride that she’d done this instead of waiting in the truck, frightened and helpless, Jessica beamed. “All clear.”
Matt grinned and tugged her into his arms. “Mrs. Bronson, you are looking mighty sexy right now.”
Giggling, Jessica snuggled against his chest. At that moment, they weren’t in the beginning of the apocalypse. Instead, they were a couple in love enjoying one another’s company.
Then a shot rang out.
Chapter 8
Matt
At the sound of a gunshot from somewhere outside, Matt’s first instinct was to pull Jessica closer. Then he remembered that his children were out there.
Another gunshot rang out, then another and another.
“The kids!” Jessica shouted as she sprang away from him, eyes wild with fear. “We need to get the kids!”
He grabbed her hand and raced out of the bathroom. Jeff was already in the foyer.
“Where’s Kayla?” Jessica whisper-screamed.
Jeff gestured toward the women’s restroom with his head. “Told her to wait in there.” He squinted at Jessica. “You should wait with her.”
Matt agreed. He didn’t want her or Kayla—or any of their kids—anywhere near flying bullets. He shifted his eyes to Jessica. Her eyebrows furrowed like she was reluctant to leave Dylan and Brooke outside where the shooting was taking place while she hid inside.
“Kayla needs you,” he said.
She sighed, then nodded before turning and heading toward the women’s restroom. Once she was out of sight, Matt followed Jeff’s lead, pressing against the wall as he crept toward the sheets of glass that fronted the entrance to the bathroom area.
No one was visible in their line of sight. Instead, directly in front of the building sat Matt and Jessica’s RV and the others’ vehicles.
Jeff took point and Matt followed, stepping through the doorway and into the sunshine, then paused. The gunfire was coming from their left. Creeping along the concrete block wall, they worked their way to the corner of the building. That’s when they saw two men shooting from the covered picnic area, using the brick supports as cover. The men popped their heads out, taking potshots at whoever was on the other side of the bathroom building.
Worried that Dylan or Brooke could be hit, Matt wanted to neutralize this threat immediately, but they didn’t have a clear shot.
“Go around to the other side?” Matt asked Jeff, who was studying the men in the distance.
Jeff shook his head. “No. We have a clearer shot from this angle.” He grinned at Matt. “And they don’t know we’re here.”
“How do you want to play it?” Matt was ready to start shooting, but he wasn’t the expert here. Not yet anyway. With the way things were going, he would be soon. Not something he relished learning.
Jeff told Matt his plan. It was risky, but Matt didn’t have a better idea.
Jeff looked at Matt, took a breath, then nodded once. Matt pointed his gun toward the men and began shooting. Jeff bolted out from behind the wall and raced toward the picnic area. Keeping his eyes on the men he was shooting at, Matt kept track of Jeff with his peripheral vision. In less than five seconds, Jeff reached the picnic area. Not wanting to hit Jeff, Matt stopped shooting. So did whoever had been shooting at the men from the other side of the bathroom building, presumably for the same reason.
The enemy took advantage of the lull and shot toward Matt. Matt pressed himself against the brick wall, staying out of range. Bullets slammed into the wall around the corner from him and shards of brick flew past him. Several more shots rang out and then all was silent.
“Jeff!” Emily screamed.
Oh no! Matt jerked his head around the corner of the building and looked toward the picnic area. Three men lay on the ground—the two shooters and Jeff. Emily was flat-out running toward Jeff with Derrick right on her heels.
Matt took off too, his heart in his throat.
Emily fell to her knees beside Jeff. Derrick was there half a second later.
When Matt reached them, he saw a bloom of red on Jeff’s left shoulder, but Jeff’s eyes were open. He was alive.
The two men, on the other hand, weren’t moving. Matt looked at Derrick, who touched each man’s neck. Derrick shook his head. They were dead.
“We need to help him,” Emily said, her voice frantic.
“I have a first aid kit,” Matt said before dashing to the RV, getting it, and running back to their group, who now included everyone but Jessica and Kayla. He opened the kit and handed it to Emily. He wanted to get Jessica and Kayla—he didn’t like the idea of them being on their own right now. What if there were other gunmen around?
Chapter 9
Jessica
The constant gunfire set Jessica’s nerves on edge. Who was shooting? Was anyone hurt? Then the shooting stopped. Heart throbbing with fear of the unknown, Jessica looked at Kayla as they stood in the middle of the women’s restroom. She needed to find out what was happening, but she was also scared to leave the relative safety of the restroom.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” Kayla whispered.
Torn between wanting to hustle outside and wanting to stay where they were, Jessica bit her lip. Then again, it would only take a minute to take care of business. Besides, she needed to go too. “Okay, but let’s hurry.”
Kayla went into one stall while Jessica went into the one beside hers.
The moment Jessica locked the door to her stall, the sound of footsteps entering the bathroom echoed. Was that Matt coming to get them? Why wasn’t he calling out to let them know it was him? Or maybe it was Emily.
The footsteps came closer, stopping nearby. Foreboding swept over Jessica. She moved back, pressing her body against the corner of the stall, her eyes riveted to the tiny gap around the door.
“I know you’re in there.”
The voice belonged to a woman. She sounded upset and angry.
Who was it? Was she alone? Was she dangerous? Who was she talking to?
Kayla was in the stall next to Jessica’s, but she was completely silent. Obviously, she didn’t want the woman to know she was there. And with the wall between the stalls reaching the floor, Jessica couldn’t silently communicate with Kayla.
A brisk knock on Jessica’s stall door startled her. She let out an audible gasp.
“I knew it! You’re in there!”
Heart battering her ribs, Jessica could see the woman’s feet—heavy boots with a broken lace—just outside her door. With no idea what to do, she took comfort in the fact that the woman probably didn’t know Kayla was in the other stall.
“Open the door!” Pounding with both fists accompanied the words.
Slapping a hand over her mouth to smother a scream, Jessica’s eyes widened.
Matt! Where’s Matt?
All at once Jessica remembered she had a gun at her back. Hands shaking, she pulled the 9mm out of her waistband, glanced at it to make sure the safety was off, then pointed it at the door. “What do you want?”
“Oh. She speaks.”
“You have the wrong person.”
A maniacal laugh filled the air. “Are you with the people outside? The ones who killed my man?”
Her gaze shot in all directions. What exactly had happened out there?
More pounding. “Are you?!”
Startled, Jessica almost dropped the gun but managed to keep it in her control. She gripped it more tightly, steadily pointing it at the door. “Leave now.”
“Or what?” The tone was taunting. “I saw you. With those people. And then you came in here with one of the men. He came out but you didn’t. So don’t try to lie to me.”
Swallowing over the knot in her throat, Jessica gathered her courage. She had to protect Kayla, had to protect herself. She inhaled, then said, “This is your one and only warning. I’m going to count to three. If you’re still in this bathroom when I get to three, we’re going to have a problem.” She didn’t want to flat-out tell the woman she h
ad a gun. What if the woman had a gun of her own pointed at the door right now? What if she shot first? Trapped in the tiny stall, Jessica would have no way to dodge flying bullets.
The woman didn’t respond, but Jessica could see her feet planted right in front of the stall door.
“One,” Jessica said, working hard to keep her voice from shaking. She paused a beat. “Two.”
The feet shuffled away from Jessica’s stall.
“Maybe you’re the wrong one,” the woman said, her voice still very close.
Jessica nodded. She was the wrong one. She hadn’t done anything. Not yet.
“Maybe it’s the girl I want.”
Kayla! She meant Kayla! The woman knew Kayla was in the other stall! Jessica had to do something and do it now.
Licking her lips, Jessica crouched down and tilted her head to see exactly where the woman was. She barely managed to see that the woman was standing in front of the neighboring stall, the one Kayla was in.
A soft knock sounded on Kayla’s stall, like the woman was trying to be gentle. “Knock, knock,” she sang out.
“Leave me alone!” Kayla shouted.
Still crouching, Jessica squeezed her eyes closed for a moment. Now the woman knew for sure that Kayla was in there.
The woman laughed, but this time it sounded dark and menacing. “Ollie ollie oxen free.”
“I’m not coming out,” Kayla said, her tone laced with determination.
“Oh no?”
“No.”
“I don’t think you understand,” the woman taunted. “You have to come out. It’s only fair.” She paused. “A life for a life. Your life for my man’s.”
Jessica’s heart slammed harder against her ribs. This woman wanted to kill Kayla? For something she had nothing to do with? As long as Jessica had breath in her body, she would never allow anyone to hurt her baby girl. Falling to her knees, she got close to the filthy ground and lowered her gun, poking her gun out of the stall and toward the woman’s booted feet. She didn’t want to do this. She really, really didn’t, but she couldn’t let the woman hurt Kayla. Besides, this shot wouldn’t kill her. Only disable her.
Forcing her hands to remain steady, she slid her finger until it was touching the trigger. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she considered what she was about to do. Maybe she could reason with the woman, explain that she and Kayla had nothing to do with what had happened outside.
The walls of the stalls began to shake violently as the woman screamed and pounded, demanding that Kayla open the door right now!
Kayla screamed in terror and Jessica’s eyes snapped open. With a grimace of reluctance, she squeezed the trigger.
BOOM!
The sound of the blast echoed off the walls of the bathroom, nearly deafening Jessica, but she was so focused on what she was doing that she hardly noticed.
The woman screamed in pain, falling to the ground as a gun clattered to the tile floor, skittering under another stall.
Jessica twisted the lock on her stall and yanked the door open, her eyes snapping to the woman before scanning the restroom for other attackers. They were alone.
Holding her gun in the low ready position, she stepped out of the stall, then pointed her gun at the woman.
The woman moaned and held on to her foot, her gaze jabbing at Jessica. “You shot me!”
Forcing away the guilt that swept over her, Jessica stared at the woman. “Move out of the way.” She used her gun to indicate that the woman should slide away from Kayla’s stall.
“Or what? Are you going to shoot me again?”
It didn’t seem as if the woman posed a threat now, so of course Jessica wouldn’t shoot her. But she wasn’t about to admit that. She just wanted Kayla to be able to safely come out. “Ignore me and find out.”
Eyes wild with pain and fear, the woman used her good foot to propel herself to the other side of the bathroom. A trail of blood from her wounded foot smeared across the floor.
Keeping her eyes on the woman, Jessica called, “Come out, baby. It’s safe.”
A moment later the lock on the stall turned and the door opened a few inches. Kayla’s face appeared in the gap, her mouth hanging open and her gaze bouncing between Jessica and the woman on the floor. “Mom?”
Holding her gun with her right hand and keeping it pointed at the woman, Jessica held out her left arm to Kayla, who rushed into her mother’s embrace. “It’s okay,” Jessica murmured, which was laughable. Nothing in their world was anywhere near okay.
Chapter 10
Matt
About to leave Jeff and the others so he could get Jessica and Kayla, when the unmistakable sound of a gunshot filled the air, Matt bolted toward the building that housed the restroom, his focus solely on getting to his wife and daughter.
Cautiously entering the building, he swept the foyer with his gaze, his gun at the ready. He thought about his family being taken hostage in the barn in his old neighborhood only the night before and the tactic he and the other men had used to rescue them. As much as he wanted to burst into the bathroom to save them, he had to be smart. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if he got himself killed.
A tap on his shoulder made him jump. Glancing behind him, he was relieved to see Derrick there to back him up.
“Which room are they in?” Derrick murmured.
“Should be the ladies’ room.”
Offering a quick nod, Derrick gestured for Matt to take point. Clenching his jaw in determination, Matt moved forward, his body tense, his ears straining to hear anything that would give him a clue as to what was happening.
Moments later he crossed the threshold into the women’s restroom and peered around the corner. A woman he’d never seen before lay on the floor, her foot bleeding. But to his everlasting gratitude, Jessica and Kayla stood over the woman, appearing whole and healthy.
“Dad!” Kayla said, stumbling toward him as tears filled her eyes. He wrapped her in his arms. Jessica stayed where she was, her gun pointed at the injured woman.
“What happened?” Derrick asked.
Jessica told them what had transpired, ending with, “She claims you guys killed the rest of her group, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
“It is,” the woman said, her voice wavering between pain and fury. “It was me and Evan and Todd. Thanks to you it’s just me now.”
Derrick frowned. “We didn’t want any trouble, but your friends shot at us unprovoked.”
The woman scowled.
“Her gun’s in there,” Jessica said, pointing to a stall.
Derrick retrieved it, tucking it into his waistband.
“Jeff’s been shot,” Matt said.
Jessica’s eyebrows rose as she lowered the gun. “What? How badly is he hurt?”
“Not sure yet.” They needed to get back to their group. Especially since they didn’t know for sure if there were others in this woman’s group. Others who were a threat. “We need to go.”
“What about me?” the woman cried, her face screwed up in obvious pain.
Derrick quickly searched the woman, then knelt beside her. Gently removing her boot and sock, he examined the wound. “It’s only a flesh wound.” He turned to Matt. “Can you get a first aid kit?”
Matt didn’t like the idea of leaving Jessica and Kayla, but he had complete confidence in Derrick’s ability to keep them safe. “Yeah.” When he got back, first aid kit in hand, he handed the kit to Derrick, then went to Jessica, who had tucked her gun back into her waistband. Drawing her into his arms, he relished the feel of holding her. What if the woman had shot her or Kayla instead of Jessica shooting her?
He didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he focused on Derrick, watching as he cleaned the woman’s wound and wrapped it in gauze.
“That should do it,” Derrick said as he stood.
“What?” the woman said, alarm in her voice. “You’re leaving me? Alone?”
Derrick didn’t hesitate. “Yeah.” He looked at Matt, Jessica, an
d Kayla. “Let’s go.”
The four of them left the bathroom to the sounds of the women screaming obscenities.
“I feel bad about leaving her,” Jessica murmured to Matt. “I mean, I’m the one who shot her.”
Matt turned to her with a frown. “Did you have a good reason to shoot her?”
“Yeah. She had a gun and wanted to kill Kayla.”
“Then don’t feel bad. Besides, it’s not like we can bring her with us. We could never trust her to not hurt Kayla or anyone else in our group.”
That seemed to settle Jessica, although he understood how hard it was to not help someone when in the past they would have helped without hesitation.
They headed straight to the others, who were gathered around Jeff. He was sitting up, leaning against the brick support, a bandage covering his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” Jessica asked him, concern in her voice.
Expression surly, he nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
Matt lifted his gaze to Emily. She wouldn’t pretend everything was okay if it wasn’t.
Emily turned to Jessica. “It was a through and through. But still, we have to watch for infection.”
“I assume you can walk,” Derrick said with a smirk.
Jeff chuckled. “It’s my shoulder, not my legs.”
“Good. We don’t know if any other hostiles are in the area, so we need to get moving.”
With help from Chris and Emily, Jeff stood. His face was pale. Matt hoped he wasn’t hurt worse than he was letting on.
“Let’s blow this pop stand,” Jeff said with a laugh.
Matt was ready to leave this rest stop that had been anything but restful. Soon, they were back on I-80 heading west, but this time Derrick was in the lead and Emily drove her and Jeff’s truck.
Driving in silence, Matt left Jessica and the kids to their thoughts.
“I can’t believe I shot that woman,” Jessica said after twenty minutes.
Kayla leaned forward from the back seat, leaning halfway into the front. “You saved me, Mom. That woman said ‘A life for a life.’ That means she was going to kill me.” She shook her head. “You had no choice.”
Forced Exodus (Pandemic Book Two) Page 4
