“How did things go out there?” I asked.
“Good. We got all the water boiled and bottled up.”
“Did we collect a lot?”
Bronx shook his head as he slipped his slightly dirty hands into his pockets. “Not as much as one might think with all the drizzling it did yesterday.”
“Drizzling. Ha.” I stepped away from him and walked over to the window. “My clothes still aren’t dry.”
“Thankfully mine dried, or I’d still be wearing your grandma’s robe.”
“Pink is a good color on you.”
Bronx chuckled. “It would have looked better on you. You should have given me the flannel.”
“It was more amusing this way,” I said peeking out between the curtains.
“I bet it was.” Bronx cleared his throat and sat down on the edge of the sofa cushion. “Danny is doing a really good job with that garden. I’m kind of impressed.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what I would have done without him.” The words had escaped before I had even given them much thought. “Where is Danny anyway?”
The sofa squeaked as Bronx leaned back. I glanced at his dirty hands thinking about what my grandma would think. I was tempted to tell him to wash them when something outside caught my eye.
“Something moved,” I said as I sucked in a breath.
Bronx was at my side peering out of the window. His shoulders tightened, and I knew he must have seen it too.
“Go call for Danny. Tell him to come inside,” Bronx said.
“What is it?” I asked as I moved toward the hallway.
“I’m not sure… hurry!” Bronx said pressing his hand against the wall as his eyes moved around looking for whatever had been out there.
I ran down the hall and pulled open the back door. My eyes scanned the backyard, but I didn’t see Danny anywhere. He wasn’t at the garden, and he wasn’t near the garage where we kept the buckets.
“Danny!” I called.
Whatever had been out there wasn’t human. I’d seen it, and it moved so fast I almost hadn’t been sure I’d seen it at all, but when Bronx had, I knew something had to have been out there.
“Danny!” I shouted again. “Where are you?”
Chapter 10
I stepped out of the house and moved around the exterior walls like I was a soundless ninja. My eyes moved over the area scanning every inch for any movement.
Danny couldn’t have gone far. I opened my mouth to call for him again, stopping myself at the last second not wanting to give away my position if something had gone wrong.
I moved quickly but quietly, stepping over branches without making a sound. What if the movement I’d seen had been a human? Dear God, what if it had been Tom and his men hiding in the bushes waiting to pounce?
I moved quicker stopping abruptly and biting down my gasp when I heard a gunshot.
My mouth dropped open, and my throat instantly felt dry. I had to find him.
I ducked under some low-hanging branches and hid behind a tall bush with mostly brown foliage. My heart was racing, and it didn’t stop when I saw Danny pop out from behind a few dead shrubs near the end of the driveway.
He narrowed his eyes at me and then waved. I guess I hadn’t been hiding as good as I thought I was.
“What are you doing out here?” Danny called. He was pulling something behind him, but I couldn’t make out what it was.
“Looking for you,” I said stepping out but still looking in every direction. “We saw something in the—”
“Yeah, I found it.” My eyes focused in on the beast he was dragging behind him. “Wolf. We’re having a hearty dinner tonight!”
I chewed my lip for a moment. “Can you eat wolf?”
“Of course. Meat is meat, right?”
“Danny!” Bronx shouted opening the front door so hard it slammed against the wall. “What are you doing?”
Danny grinned at him. “Catching dinner.”
“That wasn’t the best idea,” Bronx said crossing his arms over his muscular chest.
“Why not? We can’t just eat rice forever.” Danny shrugged as the smile started to drip off of his face.
“The gunshot. It was loud.” Bronx’s eyes moved across the horizon. “Could draw unwanted attention.”
Danny shook his head. “It’s fine. We haven’t seen a soul in weeks. Besides you guys and you knew where the place was.” He let go of the wolf’s tail and placed his hands on his hips. “Thought the thing was going to attack us. I was keeping us safe.”
Bronx stared at him without uttering another word.
“Besides,” Danny said raising a brow, “if anyone comes around, they’ll suffer the same fate as the wolf.”
The only time we went outside was to work in the garden or to collect water. I didn’t want to be the one to tell Danny that the wolf probably would have just moved on before it would have been a threat to us.
There was no reason to point it out because what was done was done. If anyone was in the area, they’d already heard it. Making Danny feel bad wouldn’t have made them unhear it.
“Next time, come inside. We’ll figure something else out.” Bronx rubbed the back of his neck.
“Something besides shooting it?” Danny asked squinting at him.
“Yeah, like a trap or something,” Bronx said.
I snorted. “What do any of us known about setting traps?”
“Nothing, I guess, but how hard can it be?” Bronx asked with a shrug. “Tons of stuff around here we could probably use.”
“Well, for now, I’m going to skin this beast,” Danny said. “Anyone want to help?”
My stomach swirled, and I shook my head. “Not really.”
“Yeah, I’ll grab some knives and meet you out back,” Bronx said jerking his chin at me. “Take watch?”
“Sure,” I said.
I sat at the window staring out alternating between the cloudy sky and the area in front of the house. The clouds seemed darker than they had yesterday but the rain had subsided. It looked like it could pour out of the sky at any moment.
Bronx and Danny had been out back for so long I started to worry. I had no idea how long it would take to skin and prepare a wolf. Maybe they hadn’t either.
I was tempted to leave my post when I heard the back door open. Bronx stepped into the hallway and looked down at the floor.
“Shit. Dinner will be ready soon,” he said taking small steps backward as if hoping to track less mud into the house. “It’s still pretty wet out there.”
“I can see that,” I said pointing at the middle of his shirt. “Um, you have a little wolf on you.”
He looked down at the small stain. “Dang it! I’m going to have to go clothes shopping soon. Wonder if any of your grandma’s neighbors were my size.”
“Maybe I can get it clean. She didn’t have a lot of neighbors,” I said, and before I finished my sentence, Bronx was tearing his shirt off.
I stared at him as he held it out. “Oh,” he said with a chuckle, “you didn’t mean right now, did you?”
“It’s fine,” I said with a smile as I took his shirt and tried not to notice his perfect stomach. “I don’t mind.”
I walked into the kitchen angry at myself for even noticing Bronx. As I leaned over the sink, I scolded myself for letting my thoughts go there. I scrubbed at the stain on his shirt with some of my grandma’s laundry soap as if the shirt had done something wrong.
Nina came out of the guest room and walked into the living room. I could hear she was talking to Bronx, but I couldn’t make out any of the words.
I looked over my shoulder and noticed how close they were standing. Maybe Bronx had moved on, not that I could blame him.
His eyes moved over Nina’s shoulder and connected with mine for a second. I quickly turned away and got back to work on the shirt that still smelled of Bronx.
They didn’t talk for more than a few minutes before Nina nodded and went back into her room. If she saw me i
n the kitchen, she ignored me. I desperately wanted to know what they’d been talking about but it seemed as though it had been a private conversation.
It startled me when Danny walked in carrying a plate full of steaming meat. He followed my gaze toward the living room and then his eyes landed on mine.
“Did I miss something?” Danny asked setting the plate on the table.
“Not a thing,” I said rinsing the bubbles off of Bronx’s shirt.
“Sure, about that? Bronx isn’t wearing a shirt.”
I rolled my eyes. “Positive. How did the whole wolf thing go?”
“Good. If I get a few more of those hides, maybe I can make a wolf fur blanket.”
“You’re kidding right?”
Danny shrugged. “I bet it would be nice and warm.”
“Gross.”
“When you’re freezing, we’ll see how gross you think it is then.”
“I’ll still think it’s gross.”
Danny looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “But you’d still use it?”
“If it’s life or death, of course, I would.”
“Just like you’ll eat it too.”
I stared at the meat on the plate. “I’m going to pretend it’s steak.”
Danny laughed. “It is steak. Wolf steak.”
“Again, gross,” I said as Bronx stepped into the room.
“Smells… good?” he said ‘good’ as if he wasn’t sure if that was the word he wanted to use.
“Yeah it does,” Danny responded in a way that made it sound as if he was trying to convince all of us, including himself. “It’s food that isn’t rice. Who can complain?”
Danny clapped his hands and rubbed his palms together aggressively. “Well, I’m ready to dig in. Get the others.”
Chapter 11
I hated to admit it, but the wolf meat wasn’t terrible. The only reason it was tolerable was probably the simple fact that I hadn’t had much protein in weeks. Sure, I’d had beans, but it wasn’t the same as having a big hunk of meat.
Everyone had cleared their plate. If anything, I think we all had overeaten. Then again, that was probably easy to do when we had been eating smaller portions. The wolf meat, however, we had to eat before it would rot. There was no reason not to stuff ourselves.
After dinner, we all sat in the living room. Danny was at the window turning every five minutes to tell us how full he was as he patted his stomach. I sat in my usual spot on the end of the sofa, and Bronx was at the far end. It was the first time Nina and Milo had joined us.
Milo looked like he was in his own world as he drove the toy cars around on the carpet. I wished I could zone out the way he seemed to be, but in the quiet with everyone around my thoughts wanted to wander. First, they drifted to Jamie until I pushed them away, but then I kept thinking about Nick. Was he still alive? Would he make it here?
Bronx and Danny were talking about their plans for setting up traps. They both thought we’d be able to catch more animals even though we hadn’t really seen all that many.
“Maybe we’ll catch a bear,” Danny said. I could tell he was thinking back to the beast we’d seen in the hotel.
“I hope not,” Bronx said shaking his head. “We couldn’t even eat the meat fast enough.”
Danny opened his mouth but quickly snapped it shut. Even with the candle lighting the room, I could still see the flash of light through the curtain.
“Again?” Bronx asked when the floor started vibrating. The windows rattled as the tremors shook the house.
“Closer,” Danny said.
Nina was wringing her hands as she looked at Milo. “Maybe we should go. I mean, if they’re coming closer and closer each night. We don’t want whatever it is to catch up to us, do we?”
“I still think we’re safer inside,” Bronx said. “What if we’re out there and can’t find cover? What if it catches up to us and we have nowhere to go?”
“Maybe you’re right,” Nina said her voice cracking. “I just… just… want to do the right thing.”
“I understand,” Bronx said, his eyes meeting mine for a split second. He stood and walked over the window. “I was hoping they’d be here by now.”
Nina stood. “Bedtime Milo.”
“Aw, come on mom! I’m playing. I’m being good.” Milo puffed out his bottom lip.
“You are, but it’s getting late,” Nina said forcing a smile that was so tight it looked like her lips might crack. “Tell everyone good night.”
Milo scooped up the cars and looked at me and then at Bronx and Danny. “Good night.”
“Good night little man,” Bronx said rubbing his hand on the top of the boy’s head. He smiled at his hair sticking up in all directions.
“Good night,” Danny and I both mumbled as they walked out of the room.
After the door locked Bronx scratched the stubble on his chin. “She’s just worried about Milo.”
I nodded. I understood because I was worried too, only I was worried about all of us.
There was another flash that silenced us. The light had been brighter than all the others. It had filled every shadow in the house for a long moment before everything turned black again.
It took a few seconds for my eyes to readjust. My fingertips dug into the armrest as the house shook again.
I looked up at Danny and Bronx. I wondered if it was time to hide in the cellar, but then again, I didn’t even know if hiding in the cellar was the right thing to do in this scenario. We didn’t even know what was happening out there.
The three of us stayed in the living room taking turns sleeping on the sofa. It was the middle of the night when Bronx woke me.
“What is it?” I said popping up. My eyes were so wide I could feel them bugging out of their sockets.
“Oh, it’s fine. I’m just so tired I can’t keep my eyes open.”
“Oh,” I said looking around the room taking in my surroundings. It didn’t take long to remember where I was. My heart was pounding so fast I wondered if I’d been in the middle of one of my nightmares before Bronx had woke me. Thankfully, I couldn’t remember it if I were. “No problem. Get some sleep.”
Bronx barely waited for me to get off the sofa before flopping down. “There haven’t been any more lights.”
“Good,” I said, but I wasn’t all that sure how good it was. If they happened again tomorrow night, the flashes would be directly overhead. And none of us knew if it was better to run for it or stay inside.
The sofa squeaked as Bronx tossed to the other side. He didn’t stay in one position long before flopping to the other.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m so tired I can’t sleep.”
“Try to relax.”
Bronx huffed. “If I could relax, I wouldn’t have trouble sleeping.”
I bit back my giggle. “Right. Sorry.”
I glanced at Danny, but our talking wasn’t even coming close to disturbing his sleep. His chest rose high and then fell deeply with each inhale.
Bronx sat up and leaned forward, running his fingers aggressively through his messy hair. He growled before pushing himself to his feet.
“I’m going out,” Bronx said.
“What?” I asked as I stood.
“A quick run.” Bronx stretched his arms over his head. “This used to help. Five minutes.”
I stepped in front of him. “The hell you are.”
Bronx chuckled before placing his hands on my waist. He lifted me off of the ground and moved me out of the way.
“Hey!” I said slapping at his arms.
He was almost at the front door, but I was fast. I ducked under his arm and pressed my back against the door, stretching my arms out at my sides to block him.
“Gwen, please,” he said placing his hands on his hips.
“Bronx you aren’t thinking clearly,” I said shaking my head. “This isn’t safe.”
“I have to do something,” he said rubbing his hands up and down his arms.
His anxiety was growing so large I could feel it poking at the skin on my arms.
“Okay, um, how about crunches? Running in place? Oh! I know, jumping jacks!”
At first, he looked at me as if I’d lost my mind, but then his head started to slowly bob up and down. “You got yourself a deal, but under one condition.”
“What condition?” I asked narrowing my eyes at him.
Bronx raised a brow. “That you do them with me.”
“What? No thanks, Bronx. I don’t want to get all hot and sweaty.”
His lips curled up at one end as he glided the tip of his thumb across his bottom lip. “Then I’m going for a jog.”
“I’m not moving.”
“Think you can beat me to the back door?”
We stared each other down for a long moment before I jerked to the side moving around him. He chased after me, stopping halfway. Bronx chuckled and turned back toward the front door.
“Dammit!” I said pivoting so quickly I nearly tripped over my own feet.
“Okay! Okay! You win,” I said taking in a quick breath. “I’ll work out with you.”
“Don’t I wish,” Bronx said under his breath.
“What was that?” I asked pretending I hadn’t heard him.
His eyebrows flicked up so quickly. “Nothing. Jumping jacks or crunches? You know since we already did a little running.”
“Crunches?” I couldn’t remember the last time I did crunches, but then again, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done jumping jacks either.
“All right,” Bronx said pointing at the floor. “Let’s see who can do more.”
“You’re on,” I said confidently even though I knew there was no way it would even be close. I’d seen Bronx’s abs, they had to have come from hard work unless he just happened to be blessed with an amazing body.
We laid down side by side and looked at one another. He raised a brow. “On three?”
I nodded.
“One, two, three!”
We started curling forward, and I managed to keep up for the first four. When I was on six, and he was already on ten, I stopped and couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped between my lips.
Bronx looked out of the corner of his eye and met my eyes. He smiled at me. “Six? That’s all you got?”
The Red Sky Series Box Set Books 1-4: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series Page 36
