“Suddenly you’re all about pleasing your sister.”
“No, I’m all about that vehicle and getting you back to Charlie. However, we have to make that happen, that’s what we’re doing.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
“We’ll see how the drive goes,” Max replied.
When they had slung both of their go bags on, Max propped Griffin up as he hopped toward the Hummer. Sweat almost immediately began to bead on his forehead, and Max knew this was the only option they had. They couldn’t wait any longer because he was doing nothing but getting worse. She helped him lay down in the back where the seats had been folded flat. Then she helped him prop up a gun, so he could watch her back while she was driving. Granted, neither of them had any rounds to use, but Liam had no idea of that. It was information Max wasn’t sharing anytime soon.
She climbed into the driver’s seat and held her hand out to Liam, who was in the passenger seat. He begrudgingly dropped the keys into her hand. As the truck came to life, Max released a small sigh of relief. She was saving Griffin like she had wanted all along. And once she presented Liam to her sister, maybe she would finally listen to Max so they could go after Callahan. Max felt her anger simmer near the surface. Part of her continued to blame her siblings for the situation she and Griffin were in now. If the whole family had gone out together like they should have, Griffin wouldn’t be laying in the backseat with a broken leg.
“So, the photos? How do the kids know I’m here?” Liam asked.
“When you stood by and watched our friend be executed, we were there, taking photos. We didn’t know you were going to kill him, but we wanted to gather information,” Max said.
“I didn’t kill him,” Liam said quietly.
“You didn’t try to stop it. And you stood right there on stage. We got some pretty clear photos and Easton recognized you.”
“The kids think I killed the Kline man?” Liam asked, not able to hide the horror in his voice.
“Your kids are good kids. They want to believe the best of their father. So no, they don’t think you killed him. They want to believe there’s an explanation,” Max said.
“I’m doing my duty. They’ve always understood that.”
“Don’t you think you’re taking duty a little far? There’s no official government any longer. Who are you actually serving?” Max asked.
“The Major gets orders from someone within the government. Someone is still out there.”
“Only those that knew what was happening with this plague are left. At least in this part of the country, the only force we’ve seen is Callahan and his men. And we know he takes orders from someone else in the dark underbelly that created this virus,” Max said.
Liam fell silent for a moment, his eyes out his window. Max was sure he wasn’t actually seeing the scenery as it whizzed by. She couldn’t read his face, couldn’t tell if her words had any effect on his thinking. She decided she would leave him to his thoughts. Quiet worked better for her. She pointed the vehicle toward the house where she and Griffin had been staying. She wanted to get the rest of their supplies before heading back to their movie theatre. Her mind was still trying to work out how she was going to deal with Liam, knowing she couldn’t take him straight to the family.
When she pulled into the driveway, Liam looked around slowly.
“Are my kids here?”
“Nope. This is where we were staying. Need to get the rest of our stuff before heading back,” Max replied.
“Seriously? I don’t have time for this,” Liam replied.
“Get out and help me and we’ll be on the road faster,” Max said as she climbed out. She tossed the keys for a moment to remind Liam that he couldn’t leave without her and headed toward the house.
Inside, Max grabbed a laundry basket and began to toss the food into it that they had found in the house. The sound of the front door signaled the arrival of Liam. He stood and looked at her, waiting for instructions.
“We left our sleeping bags in the room if you want to grab those,” Max offered over her shoulder.
As soon as Liam was down the hall, Max grabbed the food and rushed out to the truck. She threw the laundry basket next to Griffin and got into the driver’s seat. As she was sliding the keys into the ignition, Griffin’s voice came from the back.
“What are you doing, Max?”
“Leaving,” Max said quietly, her eyes on the house.
“Without Liam?”
Max didn’t respond. She didn’t trust the man and couldn’t shake the feeling that she couldn’t take him near her family.
“He’s their father, Max. You can’t prevent them from seeing him,” Griffin continued.
“What if he’s dangerous? What if he just turns us all over to Callahan? That’s why I never wanted to look for him in the first place. We don’t know where his loyalties are!”
“Leaving him here, we’ll never know the answers to that. We need to take him with us.”
Max sighed and sat back, closing her eyes for a moment. All the connections and complications were beyond Max. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Easton and Candace. They were part of the family now. They were great kids. If Alex loved someone, Max accepted that. However, Max didn’t like the complications that came with some of that. She had always kept her circle small, and this was one of the reasons for that. She tried to pull from her inner Alex and behave the way she would want. It only made Max more angry when she knew Griffin was right and she couldn’t leave Liam behind.
When the man came out of the house, both of the sleeping bags were rolled up tightly. He carefully put them where Griffin could use them as a pillow before climbing back into the truck.
“Was that all?” He asked.
Max knew it seemed like a waste for them to come to the house. She had been stalling but, Liam didn’t need to know that.
“Food is scarce, we grab it whenever we can,” Max shrugged.
“Have my kids been eating?”
“Of course. Do you really think we’d just starve them?” Max replied. She was genuinely insulted.
“I don’t know how you care for your children or how you treat strangers,” Liam said.
“They aren’t strangers to us. They are family and we take care of them like our own. Honestly, I don’t care what you think. You definitely ran into the wrong sister,” Max replied, a slight laugh bubbling up at the end. She could hear Griffin snicker behind her and she would have smacked him if he wasn’t injured.
“I don’t know much about Alex. The files Callahan had were just basic. My kids like her?”
“Everyone likes Alex. It’s one of her charms,” Max replied, as she backed the truck out of the driveway again.
As she drove out of the neighborhood, she swerved to miss an infected that had followed them down the street. It wasn’t fast enough to get to the house they stopped at before they were turning around to leave. The man had been short and skinny, maybe a runner, Max figured. His body no longer was agile like it once had been. His clothing was shreds of what he wore when he died. Mud caked his legs and blood smeared his face. He had clearly been trudging through the world for a long time before he came upon Max, Griffin, and Liam. Max was tempted to hit him as she went by, hoping it would end his wandering. However, in the end she couldn’t be sure it would be a death blow, so she swerved.
“My wife liked her, I guess,” Liam mused, looking out the window.
“I’m sorry about your wife,” Max replied.
“Do you know exactly how it happened?”
“Alex told me the story. She was scavenging in a Walgreens,” Max started, but Liam cut her off.
“Looting.”
“In the apocalypse, looting is just a way of life, man. Anyway, her daughter had strep throat, bad. And she needed meds. So they went to this Walgreens. When Alex got in through the pharmacy window, the metal rolling gate was down. She thought it would be a quick trip. But then she heard the screaming from the
other side. When she opened the rolling gate, she saw your wife being bitten. Alex tried to help her, but it was too late.”
“And she just trusted your sister with my kids?” Liam asked, his voice incredulous.
“I guess because she saw Alex’s kids, she knew Alex was a mother and would protect your kids too. You’ll meet Alex, and you’ll see. She gives off something like an aura that just screams trust,” Max replied, a small grin on her face. She glanced back at Griffin and saw him smothering a small smile as well.
“I guess I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Are you going to try to take the kids?” Max asked.
“They aren’t your problem, I’m here now. I’ll be taking care of them,” Liam replied.
“You’re talking like we’re trying to get rid of them. That’s not even near the case. Alex has been training them, teaching them to survive. She cares deeply for them. Alex may be a lot of good things, but she’s not going to just let those kids go without knowing they will be safe.”
“Why wouldn’t my kids be safe with me? I would never hurt them!”
“But Callahan would. Do you really believe he wouldn’t use them against you to get to us the moment he had the chance?”
When Liam didn’t answer, Max knew he had his own doubts.
Chapter Ten
“What are you looking for?” Liam asked.
His voice broke the silence that had been heavy in the air for the last few hours of the drive. Max didn’t mind the quiet. She had nothing else to say to the guy. Finding him for the teens was more Alex’s burden to bear. It all just ended up being a coincidence that Max was the one to find him. She didn’t have the patience to continue to defend her family and convince Liam that they didn’t mean any harm to his children. No matter the words she used or the tone of voice she tried to harness, he continued to ask questions. When he started making her repeat herself, she cut him off.
As Liam wasted her time with questions, Griffin had hovered between awake a painful sleep. Max’s worry for him continued to intensify and her anger was swelling up inside her. She knew she was being irrational. That part of her didn’t stop her from being angry at Alex for not listening to her and wasting time looking for Liam. She was angry at Rafe for not siding with her for once. She was angry at Griffin for even coming with her in the first place. Blaming the victim was the lowest point in her inner monologue of pissed off.
“I asked, what are you looking for?” Liam repeated.
Max glanced over at him, before looking out her own window again. What she was looking for was a place to leave Liam. Though, this time she wasn’t trying to strand him. No matter who he was, protecting her family was number one on her priority list. Even with all the talking during their drive, Max was still no where on deciding which side Liam was really on. And she didn’t have the time to figure that out, with Griffin needing Charlie’s attention as soon as possible. So her only option was to find a place to stash Liam, until she could let Alex know the situation. Alex would need to be the one to make any decisions that came to Easton and Candace.
“I’m looking for a place for you to stay. If you thought I would just take you to where we are staying, you really underestimated me,” Max replied.
“I don’t have time for games, Max.”
Max slammed down on the brakes and everyone jerked forward. Griffin moaned and Max grimaced for a moment before turning her full attention to Liam.
“Time? Why don’t you have the time, Liam? Are you late checking in with your boss? Are you supposed to be bringing someone back to Callahan?” Max demanded.
“I’ve already told you I’m not here on Callahan’s orders. I just want my kids.”
“And then you plan on going back to Callahan’s camp. With kids. That he knows were with us. So I ask you again, what is your goal here, Liam? How are you going to protect the kids when Callahan wants information out of them? You know what he did to Marcus. You also know what he did to me. And when I was the target of his questioning, I barely got away alive. I didn’t even know what was going on with my brother at the time, but that didn’t stop him from waterboarding, electric shock, and bone breaking, did it? Do you want him to do that to your children?”
Her voice broke at the end, her mind reeling from even the slight revisit into what she endured at the hands of Callahan and his men. She tried to concentrate on her breathing before she lost it. A hand fell on her shoulder and Max jumped, before realizing Griffin had dragged himself closer to her, to try to console her. Tears pricked her eyes at the emotional look he gave her. She squeezed his fingers before putting his hand back where he was comfortable. She looked back to Liam, noticing he was watching every move they made. It made Max straighten her spine and wipe all emotion from her face. She wasn’t one to show any sort of weakness to a stranger.
“So, Liam, I don’t really care about your timetable. I care about protecting my family, including your children. Because whether it’s what you want or not, they are considered family now. I know what Callahan is capable of, and I won’t let you hurt any of us.”
Liam didn’t respond, giving Max the indication he wasn’t a complete moron. She started slowly driving the area again. She turned the truck into a neighborhood they had searched before. They hadn’t found any additional survivors hiding in any of the houses. They also hadn’t scavenged all the supplies. Max moved toward a cul-de-sac where she felt was easiest defended. She figured if she put him in one of the middle houses he would see everything coming and going and wouldn’t be taken unaware. It wasn’t particularly because Max wanted Liam alive. She just didn’t want to send Alex to find him and have him eaten by the infected. Her sister probably wouldn’t forgive that carelessness.
Max pulled the truck into a driveway. Liam studied the area before opening the door. Max followed with her tomahawk in her hand. Griffin was sleeping in the truck and she left him to rest while she helped clear the house for Liam. She went to the door and banged on it a few times. Once sure there was no one and nothing inside, Max tried the door handle, happy to find it unlocked. She wasn’t sure if this was one they had picked the lock on or if it had already been unlocked. Liam followed her in with his gun raised, pointing to all the corners of the living space they entered.
The house was a small one-story ranch style home. Someone had put love into the home, with reclaimed wood floors and a teal accent wall. It was bright for Max’s taste, but the house was neat and tidy, except for the layer of dust that had collected on everything. They moved into the kitchen beyond a wide open dining room. Two dirty coffee cups still sat next to the sink, waiting to be washed. Creamer was on the counter, next to a sugar jar. Everything was covered in a thin film of dust. It seemed the people that lived here left for their day in a normal manner, but never found their way back alive.
Max took the lead down the hallway, lined with four open doors. The first doorway revealed a small half bath, with seashells on the walls. Max grimaced at the tacky feeling of the bathroom before moving forward. The next room was an office, bare of any additional decor that wasn’t useful. When Max glanced at the photos on the hallway wall, she determined it was a young couple that lived in the house. The office was most likely the man’s and he didn’t allow any gaudy additions. The last two rooms were bedrooms, one master and one that was probably for guests. Max and Liam checked each room and found nothing nefarious.
Max stood in the hallway a few moments longer than necessary. She studied the family photos again. It made her wonder about her life. If she had made different decisions when it came to Jack and Griffin, would they have lived in a house like this? Would Max had struggled with decorating and deciding what their home would look like? She knew she wouldn’t have had anything super gaudy like shells on the walls in a bathroom. Then again, she could also admit to herself she knew nothing about home design and maybe the small half bath in the ranch home was normal and usual for other people.
Liam was waiting for her in the living ro
om area when she exited the hallway. He watched her as she ignored him completely and went back into the kitchen. She stayed away from the fridge, knowing that would be a disgusting mess with no power for months. Instead, she went to the pantry and started pulling out what she found. Liam entered to find three cans of corn, one can of black-eyed peas, a box of elbow pasta and a jar of unopened olives on the table. Max was still poking around in the pantry, so he just waited for her to talk to him.
“There’s enough in here to hold you over until we come back,” Max said, with her head in the pantry.
“I have a pack in the truck,” Liam replied.
“Yeah, I don’t know for sure when we’ll be back. But just stay here.”
Max turned to address him with a box of Bisquick pancake mix in her hand. She added the box to the table before looking at Liam.
“Do not try to follow us. Stay in this house. Either I’ll come back alone, or Alex will come. If you try to follow us or leave here, we will assume you are dangerous and we will not look kindly on you after that,” Max said. Her voice was calm and clear, void of any emotions.
“Bring me my children,” he said.
“That’s up to Alex and the kids.”
She walked out of the kitchen without another word. She went to the door and turned back once to study the man again. He watched her as well from the entrance of the kitchen. He didn’t try to approach.
“I do hope you are better than I’m assuming. At least for the kids’ sake,” Max said.
Liam didn’t respond and Max walked out of the house, leaving the door open behind her. She popped the back of the hummer and pulled out the pack that belonged to Liam. When she returned to the house, Liam was at the open door. She handed him the pack but didn’t let go immediately.
“Do not follow us,” she repeated.
“You better come back with my kids. Marcus Kline said you were reasonable people, I hope he wasn’t lying,” Liam replied, angrily.
Sundown Series | Book 5 | Vengeance Page 12
