Cities of Rust

by Ariel Bonin

  "We're still going out to look for Nadie and Jake, right, Dad?"

  Andrew watched the girl jump a checker across the board. "That's the plan. On the way back from the school, I saw a couple side roads that were worth checking out."

  Zoey groaned as Robert made a particularly good move, then glanced up. "Lindsey, do you want to come with us?"

  The brown-eyed woman looked at Zoey, just barely keeping her heartfelt surprise hidden. "If you'll have me," she replied with a tender curve of her lips.

  Andrew was touched by Zoey's thoughtful gesture. He, too, had wanted Lindsey to go with them, but didn't want to disappoint Zoey if she'd had expectations of father-daughter time. Since that was out the window, there was actually one more person that Andrew sought to include.

  "I was thinking about asking Charlie to come along as well. He knows this area better than I do. We might need him if we find something," Andrew suggested as he finished his breakfast.

  "That's a good idea," Zoey said, making her final move to win the game. "And still undefeated! Want a rematch, or are you scared of losing again?"

  Robert glowered in confusion. "How come you've won every single game? I just don't get it! You have to be cheating."

  "Did Zoey tell you that we used to play every night when I got home from work?" Andrew asked the young man.

  "No, she failed to mention that useful piece of information," Robert retorted, his entire demeanor indicating defeat. Caren rubbed his back in an act of comfort, but gave Zoey a wink.

  "I think it's only proper that Zoey and I play a game tonight, ya know, to show that I'm still the master at checkers?" Andrew proposed with a twinkle in his eye.

  "Yeah, okay, Dad," Zoey laughed, her tone teasing.

  Lindsey got up to wash her dishes, and Andrew decided to do the same. As she submerged her hands in the soapy liquid, he glanced back into the dining room to make sure no one was following. With a gentle caress, he gathered her hair in his hand and brushed his lips against the velvety skin on her neck. Lindsey inhaled, her hands rising out of the water to hold onto the edges of the metal sink. She arched into him as he nuzzled the sweet spot behind her ear.

  Someone cleared their throat from the doorway, and Andrew stepped away from Lindsey. Daring a look at their intruder, he was surprised to see Dean filling his mug at the coffeemaker. A part of Andrew wanted to tell the man to go away so he and Lindsey could continue where they left off, but they were in the kitchen. It was a common room, which meant he had no place telling Dean to leave.

  Lindsey slid Andrew an awkward glance. "I'm going to run upstairs to finish getting ready. I won't be too long."

  "All right, I'll see you out at the truck," Andrew said quietly, his hand grazing her back as she moved past him. She said nothing to Dean and continued upstairs.

  "You going out to look for Jacob and Nadie today?" Dean asked, taking a sip of lukewarm coffee.

  "Yeah, it's gonna be me, Zoey, Lindsey, and probably Charlie. I saw some places I wanted to look into. We should be back before dinner, though."

  "I'll stay on watch with Darius, keep things in order."

  Andrew agreed, and began to leave the room, but at the last second, Dean's voice stopped him.

  "Oh, and Andrew, I'm sorry about the whole baby thing."

  Andrew gave the man a tepid look and shrugged. "I know Jacob's out there. Somehow we'll find him."

  Dean shifted his feet and stared pointedly at Andrew. "That's not what I was talking about. I mean, I am sorry about that, too. But I was talking about Lindsey."

  Andrew stopped breathing; he didn't even blink. "She told you about that?" he asked as his heart pumped faster.

  Dean nodded in a casual manner.

  "When?"

  "Yesterday morning. It was after you all left for the school," Dean answered as red-hot anger obstructed Andrew's vision. "She was really upset, man. I think I was able to convince her to take that trip to the pharmacy, though. Dodged a bullet on that one, huh?" He chuckled.

  Andrew was about to react when Charlie called out to him to help with the generator. He shot one last warning glare at the other man and stalked out of the room.

  _____

  When Lindsey went searching for Andrew a few minutes later, she found him rifling through a tool box in the shed. With a frown, she studied his stony expression.

  "Is something wrong?"

  Andrew threw her a wary sidelong glance and went back to his task.

  Lindsey grabbed his arm, forcing his attention to her once again.

  "Hey! Are you mad at me?" When he refused to meet her gaze, she got into his face. "What the hell, Andrew? Why won't you talk to me?"

  "I'm a little busy right now, Lindsey," he hissed in a low voice. "Why don't you go talk to Dean about it?"

  As she gaped at him, he slipped out of her grasp to join Charlie by the generator. With a shaky hand on her Glock, she went in search of the mentioned soldier. She swept through the front door and into the kitchen. Dean was just turning away from the counter and glanced up at her.

  "Hey, Linds," he said, totally oblivious to her unconfined rage. His use of Andrew's nickname for her was the last straw.

  Lindsey ripped her Glock from its holster and shoved an unsuspecting Dean into the wall. He put his hands up in defense.

  "Woah, Lindsey. What's with the gun?" he asked as she thrust it into his face.

  "Tell me what you said to Andrew," she demanded in a low, trembling voice.

  Dean swallowed hard and said nothing.

  "Tell me right now, or so help me, I will blow your brains all over this goddamn wall."

  Dean exhaled a shaky breath and spoke with careful inflection. "I told him that we talked yesterday about your…situation."

  Lindsey pursed her lips and narrowed her gaze on him. "I seriously doubt that was all you said. And 'talking' is not quite how I would describe our interaction yesterday. I seem to recall a slap somewhere in there."

  "You can't tell me that I didn't help you some way! Yeah, so I said some stuff about Andrew, but I'm not going to just stand by and let him run you into the ground. I care about you, Lindsey—"

  "Hah! That's funny, because I was under the impression that you were backing off from my relationship with Andrew. If you really cared about me, you'd keep your word," she said with raised brows.

  "I tried, I really did, but Andrew getting you pregnant—that's a death sentence and you know it. If you didn't, you wouldn't have gone to that store," Dean said, letting his words sink in.

  Lindsey wasn't going to let him get under her skin. He'd toyed with her and Andrew for long enough. This shit had to end.

  When she didn't respond, he rolled his eyes and glared at her. "Are you going to shoot me or not?"

  Lindsey kept her weapon trained on him, unfaltering under his intimidating scrutiny.

  "Because if you are, there's something I need to do first."

  Confusion caused Lindsey to scowl, as she was unsure what he meant by his statement. Before she could give it another thought, Dean deflected her arms away from his body. He held her face firmly between his hands as his lips crashed down onto hers. Lindsey tried to break out of his hold, pushing at his chest with her free hand, but his grip was too strong.

  Bracing herself for the blast, she discharged her gun into the wall behind his head. Drywall exploded from the hole, showering both of them with dusty pieces. Her ears were ringing from the shot being in such close proximity, but she was still able to hear Dean after he released her.

  "Holy shit!" he shouted. "Are you crazy?"

  "I should be asking you the same question!" she yelled as she aimed her gun at him once again. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now!"

  "Because you don't want to do this," Andrew said from the doorway.

  "What?" Lindsey cried, her gaze only moving from Dean for a millisecond. "I'm thinkin' that I want to—scratch that—I know I want to!"

  Andrew moved slowly as he approached
her. "Lindsey, give me the gun."

  She clenched her teeth and shook her head. "No. No, I can't do that," she said as she adjusted her grip on the handle of her Glock. "He kissed me, Andrew. He fucking kissed me! Knowing that, how could you possibly ask this of me?"

  Andrew looked at Dean with fire behind his blue eyes. Just when Lindsey thought he was going to pull his own gun, he seemed to snap out of it, focusing all of his attention on her.

  "Lindsey, look at me," he implored. When she did, he held out his hand. "Please, give me the gun."

  With a sharp breath, she placed the weapon into his open hand. Andrew tucked it into the back of his pants, and Dean dropped his shoulders in relief. He went to take a step forward, but Andrew laid a hand on his chest.

  "Touch her again, and you'll be wishin' that she'd shot you," he threatened in his deep drawl.

  Dean pushed past Andrew and they turned to watch him leave the room. That was when Lindsey realized that the rest of the group had been drawn in by all the commotion. When Dean got to the doorway, they parted like the Red Sea to let the scorned man through.

  "We need to talk," Andrew said to her.

  _____

  When they were enclosed in their bedroom, Lindsey threw up her arms. "So now you'll talk to me."

  Truthfully, there were no words Andrew wanted to say about what had happened downstairs—he only wanted to act. He was inclined to tear out Dean's throat with his bare hands. The fact that the man kissed Lindsey, his Lindsey, made him livid.

  "Why is he still breathing?" Lindsey griped as her hand automatically went to rest on her gun, but found her holster empty. Andrew pulled her gun from the back of his pants and passed it to her.

  "He's still breathing because I know you don't want his blood on your hands."

  "Don't tell me what I want and don't want," she snapped.

  He sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry. But I'd just assume keep the brains of the living off Charlie's kitchen wall."

  "Okay, fine. But please tell me that we're going to do something about him. I can't be under the same roof as him anymore…"

  Andrew nodded in understanding. "Don't worry about it. Let me deal with Dean."

  "So, you have a plan?"

  Andrew conceded and moved to the door. Holding it open for her, she was about to stride past him, but he circled an arm around her waist.

  "Hey…I love you, you know that, right?" he said as he gazed into her warm brown eyes.

  Lindsey touched his cheek and gave him a tender smile. They kissed for a brief moment, and then made their way downstairs.

  Outside, Andrew approached Charlie and leaned in to ask a favor of the man.

  "Could you find a vehicle and get it running?"

  He shrugged as he used a rag to wipe some grease from his hands. "I can try. There's an old Explorer out back. Something up?"

  "I was hoping to have a parting gift for Dean," Andrew replied, his gaze challenging Charlie to say something against his plan.

  Charlie merely nodded. "A man gets hands-y with your woman? I'd send his ass packin', too."

  "Thanks, I appreciate the support. You and Lindsey may be the only ones I get it from."

  _____

  That afternoon, Charlie gave him the go ahead. Andrew hollered to Dean, who happened to be descending the front steps.

  "Come here for a second. I need to talk to you."

  Dean stopped, and, with discernible hesitance, continued toward Andrew. Their eyes were locked as the burly man closed the space between them.

  "You have ten minutes to get your stuff, some food, and ammo. Then it's time for you to go," Andrew declared, indicating the SUV.

  "You've got to be kidding me," Dean said, licking his lips angrily. "I've done nothing but protect this group! You're just gonna kick me out, because you're threatened that maybe, just maybe, your girlfriend might find a good reason to stray?"

  Charlie came up behind Dean and nudged him with the end of his rifle. "Hey, just get your stuff, man. Don't do this," he said with a shake of his head.

  "All right, fine! Whatever," Dean muttered, stalking into the house. Charlie tailed him inside, while Andrew remained by the SUV. When he came out a few minutes later, he was toting a duffle bag and his assault rifle. Before getting behind the wheel, he quickly regarded Lindsey, who was standing off to the side, and then confronted Andrew.

  "Eventually, you're gonna get her killed. When she's dead and you're holding her lifeless body, I want you to remember me in the back of your head, saying 'I fucking told you so!' I hope you enjoy your time with her, because you ain't got much left."

  Andrew seized his Beretta and pulled back the hammer, pointing the gun directly into Dean's face.

  "That's enough! Just get in the car."

  Dean continued to glower at Andrew, his lips pulling back just enough to bare his teeth. "Fuck you," he spat. "Fuck all'a ya!" And with the slam of his door, the Explorer roared to life and disappeared down the driveway in a cloud of dust.

  Chapter 22

  Darius, Robert, and Zoey stepped out of the house and watched the dust cloud rise in Dean's wake.

  "What the hell was that about?" Darius asked.

  "I told Dean to leave," Andrew said as he walked toward his daughter.

  "Did you even think about including us in that decision?" the man questioned, attitude lacing his tone.

  Robert stood by with an expression of discontent. "Yeah, Andrew…"

  The former captain looked between them and scowled. "You can't honestly tell me that you'd be okay with a guy like that hangin' around here! Robert," Andrew addressed, pointing at him, "would you feel any differently if he'd been hitting on Caren—asking you how to get into her pants?"

  Lindsey gasped. "He said that?"

  Andrew cringed when he realized he'd never brought up that conversation with her. He turned to meet her shocked eyes.

  "Back at the school…the day you saw Jared. I told Dean to stay away from you. Clearly, he didn't listen."

  As Lindsey processed that new bit of information, he spun to face Darius once again. Robert had backed off. Evidently, his comment about Caren was the right one. Darius, on the other hand, wasn't easily convinced.

  "Personal matters that affect the whole group, need to be dealt with as a group," the large man said. "What's done is done, but you need to start thinking about people other than yourself."

  Zoey surged forward. "Hey! My dad has done more for this group than any of you!"

  Andrew pulled her back. "It's okay, Zoey."

  Darius shook his head. "Let's just hope that we don't end up needing him for any reason," he said in reference to Dean, before striding away.

  With a heavy sigh, Andrew turned to Lindsey. Her chin dipped down as she chewed on her bottom lip.

  "Thank you for telling Dean to leave. I don't know if I could have done it."

  Andrew held back a smirk. "Earlier I think you pretty much did. At that point Dean should have left on his own free will. I know you can take care of yourself, but I didn't want that to be on you," he said, mentioning his exchange with Darius.

  Lindsey gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you."

  _____

  The next morning, Andrew went outside to refill the generator. Much to his surprise, Charlie was already there. The man was lining up gas cans and had a pensive look on his face.

  "Oh, hey, Andy. Were you still thinkin' of headin' out today?"

  Andrew nodded.

  "Listen, would it be all right if we turned this into another multi-purpose trip? We're almost outta fuel. We can go the way that you want, look for Nadie and Jake, while makin' stops along the way? See what we can find?" Charlie proposed.

  Andrew settled his hands on his hips and peered down at the row of empty gas cans.

  "We're gonna have to. I had no idea we were so low. Between you and me, I don't know how we're gonna make it through the winter."

  He nodded. "I'll start loadin' up the truck."

  Andrew he
lped lug gas cans back and forth, enough to fill the bed. After they ate a quick breakfast, the foursome got ready to leave. As they climbed into the truck, Ana strode across the yard toward them.

  "Want some company?" she asked. "I need to get some air."

  "Hop in," Andrew responded, holding open his door so she could jump into the backseat with Lindsey and Zoey. As Charlie maneuvered down the driveway, he watched the majestic ranch recede in the side mirror until it was no longer in view.

  After stopping at two stations and finding nothing but dirt, they finally made it to a convenience store with promise. Most of the windows were still intact and the gas pumps looked relatively untouched. Charlie parked by the pumps and everyone exited the truck.

  "Charlie and I will fill as many of these things as we can. Ana, you take watch. Lindsey and Zoey, why don't you go into the store, see what you can find?" Andrew directed with proficient ease.

  Lindsey passed by him and they exchanged a loving glance. It was his way of saying, "Be careful" without smothering her. He watched the two females enter the store, and then got to work.

  When they'd made it halfway through their gas cans, Andrew was startled to hear the sound of an approaching vehicle. It was still out of sight, so he quickly gestured to Charlie and Ana to get inside the store. He shut the glass door just as a large military truck appeared in the opening past the trees.

  Keep going. Please, keep going. Dammit.

  The truck whipped into the gas station parking lot, indicating to Andrew that they'd been headed there all along.

  "What's going on?" Zoey asked from behind her dad.

  "Get down! Where's Lindsey?"

  From her ducked position, Zoey scanned the room. "I'm not sure. I think she's near the back."

  "Okay. Go find her and make sure you stay out of sight," Andrew urged. "There's another group outside." He watched his daughter move down the aisle in a hurried crouch, then focused his attention on the vehicle by the gas pumps. Four men exited, armed to the teeth with fully-automatic assault rifles and long Bowie knives on their hips.

  "Shit," Charlie muttered from beside him.