"Of course, but I have to trust God to protect them, because there's not much else I can do."
"If something happens to her, you'll be devastated."
"I'd feel the same if something happens to my brother."
"Yeah, but it's pretty obvious you care about Randi."
So much for hiding his feelings. "True, but Ethan's what she needs. He's able to get her talking about God and helping her deal with her anger. He's better for her than I am."
"Nonsense. If you love her, don't let her slip out of your hands. Life is short, don't waste it."
How would he even go about pursuing Randi? She needed Ethan's guidance, and they'd gotten close. If she was in love with him, Josh didn't want to come between them. Yes, he did. Who was he lying to besides himself? He'd love to come smack dab in the middle of them, but Randi needed a man who loved her unconditionally and was able to help her work through her issues. Maybe Ethan was the man God had chosen for Randi, and if that was the case, he wasn't going to do anything to change that. No matter how much he loved the woman.
Every muscle in Bryan's body ached as he flipped a quick U-turn and headed back. What time was it? Almost sunrise by the way the sky was gradually lightening up. He'd done all-nighters quite often when he was younger, but this was pretty hard on him. Maybe some of the group at the cabin rested so they could drive, and he could nap. If he didn't get at least a little sleep soon, he'd be worthless. Alton, too. The man was running on nervous energy, now.
He slowed as they neared the decimated compound. "There's a big flashlight in the back. Grab it. We'll have to search for them."
Alton found the flashlight as they pulled into the perimeter area. Bryan drove near the ATV barn. "Let's go. If they're smart, they stayed in the towers."
Alton shrugged. "Dumb luck I didn't hit them. I was trying to take everything out."
Bryan shuddered. If the children hadn't gotten out… His stomach rolled. He grabbed the flashlight and led the way to the first tower. When he reached the top, the door was locked. He knocked, and it creaked open. A tall teen girl with long, dark hair peeked around the door. "What do you want? We don't have anything."
The girl Randi told about the escape hatch. "I'm Bryan. I was in the basement with Randi and Alton. Do you remember me? I'm the one who got you out of the house."
"Yes."
"We want you and the other kids to come with us."
Her eyes grew wide. "After you tried to kill us? I don't think so."
"We didn't try to kill you. Alton forgot you were in the basement when he shot the rocket launcher off. That's why I got you out before it hit the house. If you stay out here by yourselves, you will die. Come on, we have a large group with several adults and a lot of teens and younger children."
"There are adults with us."
"Then let me talk to them." She opened the door and let Bryan and Alton inside.
Lynn, Tammy's mother, pointed a gun at them. Bryan raised his hands. "I'm here to help."
"After what you did? No way. You're a traitor."
"Lynn, have you asked yourself why Vixen wanted to attack this group?"
"They threatened to wipe us out. It was them or us."
"No. Reginald's group just wanted everyone to leave them alone. Had any of us other than Vixen asked to join, they would've brought us into their group with open arms. Do you remember the black family Vixen turned away?"
"Yeah." Thank goodness Lynn had been on patrol that day and seen it. "Reginald's group took them in. Aaron and Ayanna were killed during the fight, but Keshanna and Kayde are still with Reginald's group. Do you know why Reginald and Mary Anne took their girls and escaped?"
"Reginald forced them to leave. They didn't want to go."
"Another of Vixen's lies. She beat their daughter with a bullwhip. If you come with us, Belle will show you the scars and tell you the story herself. Mary Anne died fighting to keep Vixen from slaughtering her family."
Several emotions flitted across Lynn's face. "I'm afraid of going with you."
Alton walked to Lynn's side. "You know I wouldn't lie to you. I was by Vixen's side forever and believed her lies until I saw the truth. Bryan's not lying. Come with us. I can't promise you'll all be safe, but you'll be better off with us than you will hiding out here with no food or water."
"Leave. Let me talk to everyone here. I'll meet you outside the door in five minutes and tell you our decision."
Bryan and Alton walked outside. "If they choose not to go with us, we'll have to leave them, and you'll have to learn to be okay with that."
Alton grimaced. "I don't have to like it, though."
Lynn opened the door. "We have some questions."
Bryan nodded for her to go ahead and ask.
"Will they let us stay armed?"
"I'm not sure. After all, y'all were in the group that attacked them. I can't promise that."
"Will they let us stay together or are they going to split us up?"
"Considering we only have so many vehicles, I can't promise you that we can keep all of you together, but we can try. That's the best I can do."
"You're sure they won't kill us when they see us?"
"Lynn, to be honest, I didn't even see you, or Mabel at the battle." He motioned to the only other adult sitting in the floor. "None of the teenagers were there except for Sarah. Randi was trying to save her when Joe killed her."
Color drained from Lynn's face. "He killed Sarah? Why?"
"Because she was going to leave with our group. I'm telling you we aren't the bad guys in this situation."
"Mabel and I weren't at the battle. We stayed back with the children because Vixen said we would be a liability."
"Are there any others alive?" Alton asked.
"Yes, but they left without us. Every last one of them ran off. We were going to wait until first light and start walking toward Atlas. Maybe we'll be safe there."
"We aren't going that direction. If you want, we can take you back to Atlas, but Reginald's group's getting as far away from any of Vixen's remaining minions as they can."
Lynn turned to the others, and they murmured in agreement. "We'll go with you. You and Alton ain't ever lied to us, but if you're double crossing us, I'll kill you in your sleep. These kids and teens are my and Mabel's responsibility, and we take that seriously."
"I would expect nothing less. The truck is a double cab, but some of you will have to ride in the back end. I'm sorry we don't have anything large enough for everyone."
"Don't matter to us." Mabel stood and dusted off her jeans. "Crammed is this room cain't be no worse."
Bryan smiled at the older woman. Wrinkles criss-crossed her face, and she talked like a hick, but she was the hardest working person in Atlas. He'd always admired her.
"Let's go." He led the way down the stairs and Alton brought up the rear. "Try to stay quiet, but move as quickly as you can. With the fences down, infecteds can wander in and out of here at will."
He reached the bottom and held up his hand for them to wait. His heart thudded in his chest at a tempo that would rival any of his wife's workout songs. He opened the door and shined the flashlight out. Nothing, so he stepped outside. Eyes shone in the distance, but they were the height of a deer or antelope, not a person. He hoped.
Randi's hand shook as she reached for the door. They weren't well armed, but maybe what they had was enough. The people standing in the road weren't brandishing weapons. They were just standing shoulder to shoulder with a light in front of them.
She opened the door and stood on the jamb. "Can I help you?"
A man with skin the color of burnt umber who was built like a linebacker stepped forward. "Ma'am, we sure hope so. We are looking for shelter."
"Where are you coming from?"
"This here's my family." He pointed to the people standing with him. "My sister and her children were in Disney World when all this happened, but the rest of us congregated at Mom's house. We held off the infected, but got overru
n by a group of people with guns. They told us we could die or flee. Since we didn't have any guns, we fled."
"Where is this house?" Was it Vixen's group that overran them or was he making up a story?
"Outside of Utopia. We've been walking for a while now, but much more out in this and none of us will live. My oldest brother and his kids were killed."
"Give me a second." She climbed out of the ambulance and joined Mark at his window. "What do you think?"
"We can't leave them out here alone. They aren't even armed."
"At least that's what they say." Randi ran her hand through her hair. "One of these days our trusting people's going to bite us in the rear."
"Probably, but wouldn't you rather take that chance than have to live with thinking you left people out in the wilderness to either face infecteds or Vixen's group?"
"Yeah. You're right." Randi sighed. "Let's load them up in the back if they want to go with us."
Randi walked forward to meet with the leader of the group. "I'm Randi, and this is Mark. You're welcome to come with us. We're heading for temporary shelter, but our ultimate destination is days away. I can't promise you safety, but I can promise numbers. We have a fairly large group of people, including children."
"That sounds great. If we keep walking, we won't live much longer."
"There are a couple more things you need to know. One, there is a group that attacked us and chased us from our home. We've been told they're still after us. They have large numbers of people, and we're all at risk if they do come after us.
"Two, before I agree to bring any you of into our group and risk my family, you'll have to strip and prove that you aren't infected. We've had one person bring the infection into our group and it won't happen again."
"I'm Darius Jones. Don't much like the idea of stripping, but I guess I understand."
"Okay, Darius. Mark is that young man in that ambulance. He will check the men, and I'll check the women. You can line up one at a time, or you can all strip at once. We have the privacy of the back of the ambulance."
Randi climbed into the back of the ambulance, and the women in the group came forward. An older woman with gray hair tried to climb into the back of the ambulance, but the step was too high for her. Randi suppressed a sigh. What was she doing bringing these people into their group? They couldn't take care of themselves.
Randi hopped down and made a step out of her hands. The woman held onto her shoulders and Randi lifted her until she could get into the back of the ambulance.
"Thank you, child." Randi climbed in behind her and the woman disrobed quickly despite her shaky muscles. She left her underclothes on, but there were no signs of bites anywhere on her body. "I told them to leave me be, but they insisted I come with them. I don't want to slow your family down." She plopped down on the bench next to the stretcher. "I'll be eighty-four in a couple of months. I've had a good, long life. Promise me you won't sacrifice anyone else to save me if we get in a bind." She grabbed Randi's hands. "My children will do anything for their momma, so I need you to promise me."
Randi swallowed. Looking into the sweet woman's gray eyes. How could she not do everything to help save this woman? "I will do my best to save everyone. Does that work?"
"No, child. I want you to promise me that you'll take care of your family and mine over me."
"Okay."
"Good." The woman smiled. "Call me Granny. That's what everyone else calls me."
"Granny, I'll help you down, then why don't you climb in the front of the truck? It'll be more comfortable."
"You're a sweetie." Granny gave Randi a kiss on the cheek and stood. Randi hopped out of the back and reached up for the tiny woman. She lifted her down. Granny didn't weigh much more than 90 pounds.
They finished checking for bites and the Jones family was clean, so they headed back to the campground. Would Bryan be back, yet? Randi was anxious to find out if Vixen was in any shape to come after them. She'd just added a herd of people to her list of responsibilities.
Granny dozed in the passenger seat while Randi followed Mark to the campground, but she awoke when they pulled into the park. "Is this the state park?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She patted Randi's leg. "Such manners. Your momma must be proud of you."
Randi cleared her throat. "She died when we were attacked."
"Child! What happened?"
"Mom hated guns and refused to fight even for her life. Someone shot her before I could get her out of there."
"I'm sorry, baby, but you can bet she was proud of you. Not many people are willing to help strangers nowadays."
Mom proud of her? Not likely. She'd made too many messes in her life. "I don't know. There are things in my life I'm not proud of. I've made poor choices and haven't always been there for my family."
"So, you're telling me that your momma wasn't proud of you because you're a human being who's made mistakes just like the rest of us?"
"You don't understand." Randi pulled to a stop in front of the cabin. "We're here." She climbed out and ran around to help Granny out of the truck.
"Child, you and I aren't done talking." Granny kissed her on the cheek again. "I know I'm a meddlesome old lady, but after almost eighty-four years on God's good earth, I'm not changing. So, you and I have some talking to do. We're going to figure out why you don't think you're worth anything when God says you're wonderfully made." She patted her on the arm. "But that conversation can wait. I know we've got work to do."
Randi opened the back of the ambulance and swallowed. How could she hide the truth from Granny? The woman seemed to see right through her.
They went inside and Darius introduced his family, but Randi couldn't remember all of their names. Maybe she would keep everyone straight eventually. Darius mentioned that he was nurse practitioner. That might come in handy with Gabriele's current state.
Josh caught her by the arm. "Where did these people come from?"
"They were stranded and alone in the street after their home had been invaded, and they'd been run off."
"Do you trust them?"
"I don't know, but I couldn't turn them away." She rubbed her hand over her face. What she'd give for a shower and to wash her hair. "I refuse to be responsible for anyone else's death."
Josh rubbed her shoulders. "Bryan's not back, yet. Why don't you try to get some rest before we head out?"
"Okay. We have two ambulances, so we don't have to carry Gabriele into the back room. Mark thought we could shove more people into the ambulance than in the car."
She walked to the bedroom to check on Gabriele and Ethan. Gabriele was sleeping, but Ethan was awake. She grabbed his hand. "How are you doing?"
"Hey, darlin', I've missed seeing your smiling face. I'm good. Getting better all the time." He frowned. "Can't say as much for you, though. When was the last time you had any sleep?"
"I don't know, but there's so--"
"Darlin' if you don't rest, I'm not riding with you when we leave here. You're exhausted. Why don't you go to the RV and lie down for a while?"
"The RV's full. So's the living room. I'm going to find a corner in here where it's quiet and close my eyes for a while."
Adriana ran into the room and grabbed her in a bear hug. "Thank God you're home. I've been praying and praying that you would come back in one piece."
Randi smiled and stepped out of her sister's embrace. "I came back a little bit ago, but Mark and I went hunting for ambulances so we can safely transport Ethan and Gabriele."
"No one told me you were safe." Adriana clenched her teeth, and grabbed Randi's arm. "We need to talk. Privately."
"Okay." Was her sister fixing to chew her out? What for this time?
Adriana led Randi outside to a couple of lawn chairs. "Sit down. I need to talk to you about a couple of things."
Randi eased into the chair, but every instinct told her to run. She wasn't going to like this conversation.
"First, I love you more than you
know. I'm sorry for the way I've treated you, but I do love you. If only I could take back all of the mean and hateful things I said to you. Can you forgive me?"
"I already told you you're forgiven. More than once."
"Well, I still feel guilty, so I may apologize a million more times. Second, we need to talk about why you left earlier."
"Vixen's not going to stop coming after us. I left to try to stop her."
"Revenge isn't right. We have to try to forgive the woman for what she's done."
"How? She won't stop? If we don't put her in the ground, she's going to keep chasing us and trying to kill us."
"No one said this was easy, but seeking revenge for what she's done to us isn't right. You know that."
Randi pressed her lips into a fine line, but she didn't respond. Was Adriana right? Did she need to add the vengeance in her heart for Vixen and her people to her list of sins?
"I know you've been battling with God for a long time, but in here..." She laid her hand on Randi's chest over her heart. "In here, you know right from wrong. You know Jesus forgave you, and you have to learn to let go of the hatred and hurt that you're carrying around."
"You been talking to Ethan?"
"No, but it sounds like he has your number." Adriana held hand. "I love you, and it's killing me watching you destroy yourself from the inside out. I know you carry a lot of guilt. Part of it I'm responsible for laying on you, but you need to let go of the guilt and the need to make things right. Including taking revenge into your hands."
Chapter 28
The sun rose higher in the sky, and added to Josh's already frayed nerves. They needed to pack up and get out of here, but Randi needed sleep first. Why had Adriana dragged her outside to talk? He paced across the small room a few more times, and decided enough was enough.
He strode outside. The women sat in lawn chairs talking in low tones. Randi's eyes were bloodshot and dark circles hung beneath them. Fatigue lines etched her face. If she didn't get some sleep, she'd drop. "Go to the RV and sleep."
"There are too many people in there." Randi stood. "I'll lie on the floor in the room with Ethan and Gabriele."
Inquisition Page 27
