by Lucin, David
Cigarette pressed between her lips, Sophie said, “Do I look like a person who hugs?” She gestured to herself with both hands. Even after Lionel washed her jeans, they were still more brown than blue. There was a hole in the armpit of her plaid shirt, and the stink of cigarette smoke was thick, although Jenn noticed it less now than she did a few days ago. Sophie was rough and oftentimes more than a little mean, yet she forced herself onto a one-man cot to be close to her husband. Jenn didn’t know what to think anymore.
“No,” she said. “I guess you don’t.”
“I’ll do a handshake instead.” Sophie stuck out her hand, and Jenn took it.
When Jenn approached the others, Ed was the first to greet her. “Heading out?” he asked from the Dodge. Holding onto the open door with his good arm, he lowered himself out of the truck. Carter helped him stand and stayed close, just in case. The sunburn had faded, his skin now a golden brown. In only forty-eight hours, he’d also put on some weight. Even so, he was still rail-thin, especially when next to Carter.
“Yeah,” Jenn said. “My boyfriend’s probably pissed at me.”
Ed blew is lips dismissively. “He’ll be happy to see you, I’m sure.” He gave Jenn another awkward left-handed shake. “Keep in touch. We’re always looking for help.”
“Will do,” Jenn said. Then Carter wrapped his big arms around her so tightly the air rushed out of her lungs. But she returned the hug. It was the first one she’d had since leaving Phoenix.
Valeria hugged her next. She was stiff and awkward, but Jenn didn’t mind.
Dylan leaned his crutch against his side and shook Jenn’s hand. “I’d hug you, too.” He tapped his crutches. “But you know.”
“Just a scratch, right?”
“I might have been high on painkillers when I told you that.”
“You’re a big boy. You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.” He scratched his stubble. “You want a lift home? Val can drive you.”
“No,” Jenn said. “That’s okay. I don’t mind the walk. Besides, I need to figure out what I’m going to say to everybody.”
“My advice?” Dylan leaned closer to her. “Hearing the details will only make them worry. Water it down for them.”
“Oh, I intend to.”
* * *
For some reason, Jenn knocked on Gary’s door.
It felt stupid, though barging in unannounced seemed just as strange. She’d only been gone for a few days, but a different Jenn was coming home. A better one, she thought. A braver one. Or maybe it was the real, original Jenn on these steps now.
So she stood there at the Ruiz house, tapping her fingers on her hip and waiting. Part of her hoped Sam and the others would be here. Another part wanted a private moment with Gary and Maria and then to be alone with Sam.
The deadbolt clicked and the door opened, revealing Gary, his polo shirt tucked awkwardly into his jeans. He carried a revolver, but when he saw Jenn, he placed it on the side table and wrapped his arms around her. She embraced him back.
“Who is it?” Maria asked from the kitchen. “Were you expect—” She stopped herself. Gary released Jenn and stepped aside. Maria, in her purple housecoat, rushed forward so quickly her oxygen tank nearly tumbled over.
Tears welled in Jenn’s eyes. When Maria hugged her, she let them go. “I’m sorry for leaving,” she forced out into Maria’s shoulder. “It’s probably been hard for—”
Maria shushed her and ran her hand over Jenn’s hair. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay. You’re here. That’s all that matters.”
Ajax meowed and rubbed up against Jenn’s ankle. Then he meowed again, louder this time. Maria pulled away from Jenn and shooed the cat with her foot. “Get inside,” she scolded him.
Sniffling, Jenn wiped her eyes dry. Maria put two cool hands on her face. She’d lost weight, and she didn’t have much to lose anymore. Was it because she was nervous about Jenn and not eating or because she and Gary were rationing their food supplies?
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Maria asked Jenn.
A loaded question. Yes, they found Ed and learned about what happened to his team. Yes, they gathered information about the world outside of Flagstaff. No, she didn’t find her mother and father, but deep down, she never expected to. She did get the closure she needed, though, so in a manner of speaking, she did find them.
“Yes,” she said to Maria.
Maria lowered her glasses and furrowed her brow.
“Not my parents,” Jenn said. “If that’s what you’re thinking. It’s—” She recalled what Dylan had told her: Water it down. “It’s complicated. I’ll tell you all about it sometime.”
Maria hugged Jenn again and led her inside. The living room was empty. Gary had a battery-powered lantern set up on the kitchen table, but it wasn’t on yet; enough orange evening light streaked through the windows to illuminate the house.
He pulled out a seat for her at the table. Jenn dropped her backpack and fell into it hard. Being home with her family stripped away layers of tension she hadn’t realized she was wearing. Ajax pawed at her ankle, so she reached down and set him on her lap. The tuxedo purred and rubbed his cheeks on her knuckles.
“He missed you,” Gary said, helping Maria into the chair next to Jenn. “We all did. Sam’s been by a half dozen times a day to ask if you’d come home.”
Butterflies returned to Jenn’s stomach. Good ones this time. “Is he at his place now?”
“He is.” Maria adjusted the hose around her ears. “They’re all settled in there. Thank God. That Barbara. She’s a nast—” She brought a finger to her lips and then said, “An interesting woman.”
Gary groaned and rolled his eyes.
“Sam’s very good with her,” Maria continued. “Very patient. He’s grown up a lot in the past week.”
“How’s Nicole?” Jenn asked.
“Doing okay,” Gary said. “Been talking about maybe volunteering at the hospital. Getting out and keeping busy will help her. She came with me and Kevin to get our water rations this morning, so that’s a start. A spitting image of Sam, that one.”
Jenn laughed at that. “Yeah, she is.”
Maria laid a hand on Jenn’s. “They’re home, if you want to see them. Barbara and Kevin stopped by only about ten minutes ago. Kevin was taking her for a walk around the neighborhood. If you go now, you might be able to catch them alone. It’ll probably be easier with Barbara not there.”
“Oh, most definitely,” Jenn agreed. She patted Ajax on the rear, and he jumped off her lap, but she couldn’t move. Leaving Maria so soon didn’t seem fair. The least Jenn could do was spend some more time with her.
Maria smiled softly. “It’s okay. We’ll be right here.”
Gary gripped Jenn’s shoulder.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll see you in a bit?”
They walked her to the door and stood on the steps as she went down the street to Sam’s. Kevin’s SUV was parked in the driveway. She wondered if anyone had used it since Payson. A solar-powered charger had probably been rigged up somewhere in town. If not, maybe she could do it with Sophie’s help.
Jenn knocked again. It made her feel like a stranger.
Waiting for someone to answer, she thought about how she and Sam left things. Sam had wanted to spend the night with her and make sure she was okay, but she pushed him away. He didn’t deserve that.
The door opened, and there was Sam in a lime green T-shirt and gray shorts. His beard had thickened some more. Play it cool, Jenn thought, but at the sight of him, she leaped into his arms and planted her lips on his. His whiskers tickled her face, and he ran his hands up her back the way she liked.
After a moment, he held her out and examined her. “You’re home.”
“Good to see you, too,” Jenn said and kissed him again.
Sam touched her hips and continued gaping at her. “What happened? Where did you go? We thought—”
She put a finger on his lip
s. “Not right now,” she said, then laced her fingers with his.
“Hi,” Nicole said from a camping chair. There were two in here, plus an upside-down cardboard box that served as the coffee table. Nicole’s hair was pulled into a neat bun, and Jenn noticed some mascara. Good. The Nicole she met in Payson would have done those things.
Nicole came over and hugged Jenn warmly, like that first time in the garage at the cabin. It gave her hope that everything would go back to the way it was at the creek.
“Here,” Sam said, gesturing inside. “You want the tour? We’ve got our living room here”—he pointed to the camping chairs and the cardboard box—“and our kitchen here.”
“There’s nothing in there,” Jenn said.
Sam brushed his hand up against the exposed skin on her neck, and it sent a pleasant shiver through her spine. She felt her pulse kick up a notch. “It’s still a kitchen,” he said.
“You deal with the rat crap yet?”
He sighed. “We don’t use that word around here.”
“What word? Crap?”
Sam only grunted. “Want to see the bedrooms?”
“In a minute.” Jenn sucked in a long breath, held it, and said, “I’m sorry about what happened at the golf course.”
“It’s okay. We’re not—”
“No, it’s not okay. Well, it is now, but it wasn’t.” That didn’t make sense. What was she trying to say? Did it even matter? Talking made her feel better, like she was patching up old wounds, so she continued. “I was really messed up after that. I should’ve talked about it. You tried talking to me,” she said to Sam, “but I wouldn’t listen. I buried it and shut you out. I shouldn’t have done that.” She spoke to Nicole next. “And I should have talked to you. I probably came across like a sociopath or something.”
The corner of Nicole’s mouth lifted. Then she pressed her thumb and index finger together. “Maybe a little bit.”
“I’m not making any sense,” Jenn admitted. “I just needed to let you guys know that I’m all right now and that if you’re not, it’ll get better and I want to help. I lo—” She almost said “love,” then caught herself. It was true: she loved Sam. She even made herself a promise that she’d tell him when she returned, but she couldn’t blurt it out like that, not in front of his sister. It could wait until she had Sam to herself, which was hopefully soon.
“I’m sorry, too,” Sam said. “I should’ve given you some more space.”
Jenn squeezed his fingers. “No. I kept pushing you away.”
He pecked her forehead. “It’s good to have you back,” he continued. “In more ways than one.”
She leaned into him and wrapped her arm around his waist. Nicole tapped at her blonde bun. “I’m going to go ask if Maria wants any help with anything,” she said. “And Gary’s been bugging me about getting a firearms 101 lesson. Might as well do it today, I guess. I’ll check in on you guys in a bit?”
“Sure,” Sam said. “Have fun.”
When Jenn heard Nicole close the door, she put her hands on Sam’s chest and whispered into his ear, “I’d like to see your bedroom now.”
* * *
Desolation 3: The Wolves Within is coming in winter 2020.
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The Science of Desolation
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Acknowledgments
Producing a book is a collaborative effort. I thus owe a great deal of thanks to Gaby Michaelis for her invaluable feedback on the story. Sometimes, I think Gaby knows my characters better than I do, and I don’t know what I’d do without her.
Thanks also to my cover designer at Aero Gallerie for the great artwork. I think my jaw almost hit the floor when I saw the first proof. It certainly did when I saw the final version.
Lastly, as always, thanks to the readers who purchased this book. If you enjoyed it (or not), please consider letting me know what you thought by leaving a review on the book’s Amazon page (click here to leave a review).
About the Author
David Lucin was born and raised in rural British Columbia, Canada. He has a Master of Arts degree in military history and has been studying armies, strategy, tactics, and the effects of war on society for over ten years. He’s also a husband, a pet owner, and the commissioner of his fantasy baseball league (though sadly not the champion).
Visit www.authordavidlucin.com to see more of David’s work and read more about the world of Desolation. To hear about new releases and exclusive content, subscribe to his mailing list at www.subscribepage.com/david_lucin_subscribe. You can contact David directly via email at [email protected].
