by Ryan Casey
But on the other hand… glimpses of a future without her and the others flashed before his eyes.
A month had passed now. The power was still out. It didn’t look like it was coming back any time soon—if ever.
Did he really want to face a life alone?
Or was he willing to at least try for these people?
He took a deep breath and he nodded. “I’ll try my best.”
“Please do,” Emma said. “For all of us. Please.”
They walked a little further down the road. The rest of the group held back. Apart from Jean, who stepped forward, walked towards him.
She didn’t say a lot. Not at first. And Logan wasn’t one to spark conversation, either.
But eventually, she broke her silence.
“That kid cares a hell of a lot about you,” she said. “She’s lost her mum and dad. No idea where they are and not much of a chance of finding them. She’s a long way from home. She just wants you to be the best version of yourself. Even if you are a bit of a dick, just try being less of one, huh? For her?”
Logan looked at Jean. He smiled. “I’ll do what I can.”
Jean stopped.
She was looking at something in the distance.
When Logan turned, he saw it too.
The others reached him. All of them stopped. They didn’t say anything in the dim light of the setting sun. They just stared.
It was Emma who broke the silence.
“It’s perfect,” she said.
Logan looked around at her, a bitter taste in his mouth as the rest of these people all looked ahead.
Because in the distance, across the fields, there was a farm.
Chapter Six
Jack walked off into the fields with Bella and Villain by his side.
Two of the cows had gone missing overnight. He’d had his count last night and swore they were all there, and even though the gate was still in place at the barn, it wasn’t hanging open when he got there this morning.
But they were two cows down. The fact that the gates were back in place meant that someone had closed them.
Someone had been here; someone had taken two cows, closed the gates behind themselves.
Jack thought about the guy he’d killed. The way he’d been sniffing around the barns. Maybe he was with other people who had finished the job for him. And if he was, didn’t it mean killing him was all in vain after all?
A wasted life.
But now he was out here with Bella in search of a trace of the cows’ captors.
They’d followed some footprints through the grass, but they didn’t seem to lead anywhere in particular.
Conversation wasn’t exactly flowing, either. Bella was a quiet girl. Didn’t say an awful lot.
And to be honest, Jack wasn’t really sure where things were between her and his son. They claimed they were just friends, but Jack could tell with the way she looked at him that she wanted something more.
But Wayne had someone else out there. Someone called Candice, who he didn’t want to give up on.
It was going to be a long process. So many people suddenly cast into wholly different lives, many apart from one another. It wasn’t an easy thing to adjust to.
“So do you think it could be to do with the guy the other night?” Bella asked.
Jack shrugged. “Whatever the case, whoever’s involved, two cows are missing. We’ll find them.”
“And what then?”
“Huh?”
“You find these cows. Let’s say you find the people who took them. What then?”
Jack cleared his throat, kept on walking. “I deal with them in the necessary way.”
“You kill them?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You meant it though. Didn’t you?”
Jack looked right at Bella. “What exactly is the point you’re trying to make here?”
Bella sighed. “I just… How much longer can you keep on acting this ruthlessly?”
“As long as it keeps the people I care about safe.”
“And what about when it puts the people you care about in danger? What about when you piss someone off stronger than us? What happens when you lose someone you care about all because you couldn’t open up? Because you couldn’t trust?”
The hairs on Jack’s arms stood on end when Bella said those words. He pictured a horrifying future. Losing Hazel. Losing Villain. Losing Wayne.
He shook his head, pushed those thoughts away. “We have what it takes to defend the farm from whatever might threaten us. And that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
Bella sighed as they walked over the fields, towards some trees. “I hope you’re right.”
They didn’t say much else. Jack found some trails from cows and followed them. It wasn’t the first time he’d been out in these woods with Bella. All of them had been out here at some stage. He’d been teaching them how to shoot. Training them how to hunt. Setting traps and following trails. It was tough business, but they were learning. Certainly wasn’t as exciting as the stories made out. Most of it was trial and error until eventually you accidentally stumbled on success.
But it was a tough group he had here. A group who were willing to learn. That would go a long way.
Out of nowhere, Bella broke the silence.
“Wayne,” she said. “He doesn’t hate you, you know?”
Jack swallowed a lump in his throat. “That’s reassuring to hear.”
“I’m serious. He doesn’t hate you. He… he hates what happened in your past, sure. But he doesn’t hate you. He’s just mixed up. Think about it. He spends all of his teenage life wondering why his dad abandoned him, why he walked away. And then when shit hits the fan, he finds himself back in his company. He finds him looking out for him. Wanting to be there for him. That’s not something so easy to swallow. See it from his perspective.”
Jack nodded. “I’m trying my best,” he said. “I realise it’s not easy for him. And I know the mistakes I’ve made. I’m not shy to them. I just wish I knew what to say. The right things to say to him. I just wish I knew how to make everything okay.”
Bella half-smiled at Jack. It was probably the kindest look she’d given him in the month they’d known each other. “There’s no way of rushing these things,” she said. “You need to give things time. That’s the only way. And maybe things will get better with time. Maybe they won’t. But patience is the only thing that’s going to get you anywhere.”
Jack nodded. He didn’t want to hang around and wait for Wayne to accept him. But he knew Bella was right.
“Thanks, Bella,” he said.
Bella frowned. “What for?”
Jack half-smiled. “For giving me a chance to explain myself.”
She smiled back at him once more. Patted him on the shoulder. “Trust me. Nobody knows better than me the importance of being given a second chance in life.”
Jack wanted to ask her about it. So much of her past was a mystery to him.
But then he saw her looking at something up ahead.
He stopped, and he saw it too.
He lifted his rifle immediately.
“Shit,” Bella said.
There was a man.
He was lying on the ground in front of them, right by the trees, just on the edge of their land.
He was dead.
Chapter Seven
“So what do you think?”
Logan heard Candice’s voice and felt dread creep through his body. He sat there in the darkness and stared at the farm. There were a few little lights in there. Looked like candlelight.
He could hear things over there, too. Livestock. And before the sun had set, he’d seen tractors. Fields filled with crops.
One thing was for sure.
This place was occupied.
It had everything a person would ever need for a self-sufficient lifestyle.
And Logan wasn’t sure what to think about that.
“Not usually the optimistic typ
e,” Jean said. “But I’d say it looks pretty damn perfect. Perfect location. Crops. Livestock. The whole shebang.”
“But it looks occupied,” Logan said.
“Then so be it,” Jean said. “We’re all good workers. We could lend a hand.”
“And what if they don’t want a hand?”
“Then we’ll find a way to show our worth to them.”
Logan shook his head. “I’m not sure about—”
“Then you do what you want.”
Logan looked back.
It was Emma who stood against him again.
She looked at him, those big bags under her eyes contrasting her pale skin.
“It looks good. It looks safe. All we have to do is go there. Approach them. We—we just need to see if they want help. If they don’t then… then we can try something else. What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s a risk,” Logan said.
“No,” Emma said. “It isn’t. You’re just worried you might have to work with someone else. Trust someone else.”
Logan shook his head. “That’s not true.”
“It is true,” Emma said. “I didn’t used to want to let new people in. Then… then I saw it got me nowhere. It made me unhappy. Got me in trouble. Then I trusted you. You, of all people. So what’s so wrong about giving these people a chance? What’s the worst that can happen? They say no?”
“They kill us before we even get a chance to ask them,” Logan said.
Emma looked at Logan, sadness in her eyes. “That’s… that’s just a risk we have to take now.”
Logan rubbed his forehead. He knew he was outnumbered. He could see the logic of approaching this place and asking if they needed any help.
And Emma and Jean were right. It looked perfect. The kind of place they needed to settle at. The kind of place they’d been looking for all along.
But something was still stopping him.
There was that sense deep within that this was a mistake.
A big mistake.
But he had a decision to make.
A choice to make.
He could make his own way. Abandon those he cared about. Abandon Emma.
No. That wasn’t an option.
So he had one other choice.
He could approach this place.
He could see whether it was the kind of place that would welcome them.
And if it wasn’t…
“I can’t let you approach this place.”
Jean frowned. “You can’t stop us doing—”
“But,” Logan interrupted. “I… I can approach it myself. Check it out for myself. See what the deal is here. And then we can make our choice.”
Silence followed.
It was Jean who broke it.
“No chance,” she said.
Logan frowned. The others did, too. “What?”
“You’ve made your position pretty damn clear, man,” Jean said. “And I’m not sure I trust you to go walking down to that place on your own. Not after everything that’s gone down.”
“But—”
“We go together. Besides. What looks more threatening? A creepy bastard walking towards a place on his own, or a bloke, two women and a little girl heading towards them?”
Logan shook his head, ignoring the diss. “It’s too risky.”
“And it’s like Emma said,” Jean said. “We’re in this together. All four of us, whether you like to think we are or not. So just accept it, man. Accept that we’ve got your back here. You’re not on your own. We’re gonna smash this, one way or another. Together.”
Logan wanted to push back.
He wanted to resist.
Every instinct in his body told him this was a bad idea.
But all he could do was look at Emma’s desperate, hungry face, and sigh.
“Okay,” he said.
Emma frowned. “What?”
“I said okay,” Logan said.
“Sorry,” Jean said. “A little louder?”
“Okay,” Logan said. “I’m in.”
Candice smiled. So too did Emma. Jean just shook her head in disbelief.
“But on one condition,” Logan said.
“Anything,” Candice said.
“We scout this place properly first. We watch for a while. Figure out how many people there are. And then we wait.”
There was a pause. Silence.
And then Candice nodded. “Okay.”
Logan smiled back at her. Not confidently. Not totally happy about this.
But accepting of the position he was in, and what he had to do.
“You’ve made the right call,” Jean said. “We’re right by your side. We all want the same thing. And we’re gonna be okay. Don’t forget that.”
He turned around. Looked over at the farm as it sat there.
He took a deep breath and tensed his shaking fists.
He hoped Jean was right.
Chapter Eight
Jack and Bella stared silently at the body as Villain sniffed around it.
It might still be morning, but it felt later. The sky had grown overcast. It felt like a storm was on the horizon.
Which was fitting.
The body at the edge of their land. The dead man. Lying there. Staring up, fear in his eyes.
Jack walked over to the body, rifle in hand. He could see flies buzzing around it. It hadn’t started smelling yet, which meant it had to be pretty fresh. Within twenty-four hours.
He couldn’t immediately see how this guy had died. But the closer he got, nudging a curious Villain away, it became abundantly clear.
The man’s throat was cut.
Jack crouched down beside that man. A sense of unease built inside him.
Not only because of this discovery in its own right, but also because of what it meant.
Someone was dead on his land.
That meant there was trouble inbound.
Right on his doorstep.
“What do you think?”
Jack turned around and saw Bella standing there. Her eyes were wide, and she was covering her body with her arms, protecting herself from what they’d discovered.
Jack wished he knew what was going on here. But there was no knowing who this guy was. There was no knowing what he’d done—and whether he’d deserved what’d happened to him.
He just feared there was conflict on the horizon, brewing like the storm.
And he didn’t like it.
It made him want to get back to the farm. Fast.
“We should head back,” Jack said.
A few specks of rain began to fall. Bella stayed put. She was looking at something.
When Jack turned, he saw what it was.
There were footprints leading away from the body.
Bloody footprints.
They stood there together. Then rain fell freely now, enough to be filling the steel tanks. Jack knew he should go back. Get away from here.
But this trail leading away from the body.
An opportunity to find whoever had caused this.
And to see if they had anything to do with the missing cows.
“Should we follow?” Bella asked.
Jack shrugged. “I thought you’d be dead against following.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you’re all against trouble and things like that.”
“I’m against trouble,” Bella said. “But that doesn’t mean when there’s a potentially dangerous situation staring us in the face, I just ignore it.”
Jack rubbed his arms. “I’m worried about the farm.”
“Me too,” Bella said. “But we should check this out. Right?”
Jack hesitated before nodding.
He clutched his rifle.
Then he walked.
He followed that trail of blood for a good mile. All the time, he felt the trees around him getting thicker as he strayed from the land he was comfortable in. He could hear birds in the trees around him; see crows st
aring down, watching him.
Every now and then, he got the sense that there were other eyes on him too. Eyes he couldn’t yet see.
He felt like he was walking right into the jaws of a trap.
“At least if we can take one thing from this, it’s brought us together a little closer,” Bella whispered. “Got to count for something. Right?”
Jack shrugged. He kept his focus on his surroundings. “Not really.”
“Huh?”
“I still don’t know a thing about you really.”
Bella smirked. “The less you know about me, the better.”
“That’s not exactly a reassuring answer.”
“It wasn’t meant to be,” Bella said. “Just the truth.”
They walked a little further when Jack saw something.
“Wait,” he said.
“Have you—”
“Just wait.”
They stopped. Because Jack had seen something.
Movement.
In the trees.
He crept closer, rifle raised, ready to fire if he needed to. He was totally focused. Totally prepared.
Then he heard more movement to his right.
His body froze.
He turned around. Rifle in hand.
One of his cows stepped out, sniffed at the rifle, and licked it a little. It was tied around the neck to a tree.
Jack sighed a breath of relief. He lowered his rifle. Wiped his fingers through his hair. Shook his head.
“Come on, girl,” he said. “Let’s… let’s get you back.”
“Jack?”
Jack turned around.
Bella was standing there pointing at something.
He frowned. Approached it.
And that’s when he saw it.
There was a camp.
Tents.
A little makeshift barbecue.
People staying here.
He saw the supplies and he didn’t want to risk upsetting anyone. But at the same time, he saw the value in what they had. He saw the opportunity.
He went to take a step towards this camp, making sure it was totally clear.
“Do you think this is a good idea?” Bella asked.
