The same asshole who’d put me in the stocks pushed me down, and I landed on my knees at Logan’s side. A second later, Ava joined the lines of people waiting to be married, taking her place at Gideon’s side. She was calm, a hell of a lot calmer than Brady, who stood at the back of the group, flanked by two thugs. The beads of sweat collecting on his forehead were visible from here, and he had his fists clenched.
He’d tried, and failed, to talk Ava out of this during our brief meal, before she’d gone into the bathhouse to get cleaned up, as well as after she’d emerged in fresh clothes. She’d been adamant, insisting this was the only way to buy us enough time to formulate an escape. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. We were pretty much out of options.
At my side, Logan shifted, drawing my attention to him. Two of Matthew’s men had helped him from the infirmary since his ankle was injured, and it must have hurt like hell. Sweat had beaded on his forehead, his dark hair clinging to it, and his skin was even paler than before. We’d had almost no time to speak privately, but it didn’t matter. He knew as well as I did that this whole thing was insane. No matter what the leader of the cult said, we weren’t about to become man and wife, and we sure as hell weren’t going to have sex.
If only Gideon knew that.
We were gathered at the far end of the field, on the opposite side from where the crops grew. A platform I hadn’t noticed before was set up, which was where Matthew stood now, Bible in hand, with an expression on his face that was somewhere between manic and reverent.
Behind the more than half dozen couples waiting to be married stood a few big men with weapons, their presence a reminder that while this was a wedding, it wasn’t a happy occasion. I recognized a few of the other people from the boat, but most of the faces were new to me. Had they been at the settlement when we got here, and if so, were they willing participants in this crazy ceremony? Their expressions were somber, making it tough to know for sure.
Footsteps and quiet murmurs echoed from behind me, and I ventured a look back to find the occupants of the settlement congregated on the bleachers. Old and young, male and female, adults and children, everyone was gathering to witness this blessed event.
I wanted to roll my eyes.
The elated expression on Matthew’s face and the guns at our backs was a weird combination, making my stomach tighten. With each passing second, it seemed to increase until I felt certain I was going to hurl. At least I hadn’t eaten much during our meal. That would make the process of emptying my stomach in front of these people a little less horrible.
“Welcome!”
Matthew’s voice seemed to carry across the stadium, bouncing off the cement and empty seats, and was followed by a murmur of voices. I ventured a look back and found everyone sitting silently, ready and waiting for their prophet to carry out God’s will. Was it just the wedding they were waiting for, or would the happy couples be forced to consummate their marriage in front of everyone? God, I hoped not. The whole thing was just so twisted I couldn’t possibly wrap my brain around it.
The brute at my back shifted, and I looked up. His eyes were on me, his mouth twisted into a dark smile. He’d enjoy witnessing it; that much I knew.
I shuddered and turned back to face Matthew when he began to speak.
“When God created the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden, he decreed unto them that they must be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth. Much like Adam and Eve, we have been called to repopulate the Earth, but only the worthy have been chosen.” Matthew’s gaze moved to the couples kneeling in front of him, and I focused on the ground, afraid I’d do something to give away how repulsed I was by this whole situation. “The souls who were saved from the river were brought here to carry out a purpose, to help fulfill the promise I made to God and work toward repopulating the Earth. The rest of you are present to witness their union, not just in the eyes of God, but in the marriage bed as well.”
My head snapped up. “You’re not seriously suggesting we have sex in front of everyone?”
Matthew gave me a condescending smile, and I had a hard time not jumping up so I could slap it off his face. “We will not watch them, sister, but we will stay where we are until we’re certain the promise they’ve made to God has been fulfilled.”
That didn’t make me feel a whole lot better.
Matthew started talking again, but I wasn’t listening, I was too busy thinking about what was going to happen next, scanning the area around us. How could he prove we’d done it if he didn’t watch? It wasn’t like he would do a medical exam after, right?
I ventured a look Logan’s way, trying to figure out what he was thinking, but the second I laid eyes on him, all thoughts of Matthew and marriage disappeared. Logan’s face was paler than ever. Ghostly white and unnatural-looking.
“Logan,” I whispered, turning to reach for him.
The man at my back grabbed my shoulder, but I managed to shake him off before he got a good grip. My hand was already on Logan’s arm when his eyes rolled back in his head, and I let out a cry of panic as he toppled over. I tried to catch him but managed to do little more than brace his fall.
Cries rang through the air, but I was too focused on Logan to pay attention to what anyone else was doing. He was breathing, but his color was wrong and terrifying. What the hell was going on?
I pressed my hand against his forehead, then his cheek. He was cool but clammy, and shaking him did nothing to wake him.
“Doctor!” I looked to where Matthew stood frozen, his mouth hanging open. “He needs a doctor. Now!”
The older man blinked, snapping out of his shock, and lifted his gaze to the stadium seats. He shouted for someone, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was only focused on Logan. Shit. It felt like only yesterday I’d been in this same position with Kellan. At the mercy of mad men while holding a dying man in my arms. Would things ever return to normal again?
“Hang in there, Logan,” I said as I shifted his head onto my lap.
Someone dropped to the ground at my side, his hand moving over Logan’s forehead and cheek just like mine had only a few seconds earlier.
“No fever,” the man said to himself. “Doesn’t make any sense.”
“Do you have antibiotics?” I asked, tearing my gaze from the unconscious man in my lap.
I recognized the man at my side from the makeshift hospital. He looked young. Too young to be a doctor. Had he even made it through a single year of medical school before the virus hit? At least Cade had almost been done with medical school and knew the basics.
The poor excuse for a doctor shoved his hand through his hair, letting out a deep breath. “We don’t.”
They didn’t have antibiotics? What would we do? What if Logan died?
I was ashamed to admit that most of my worries had to do with the fake marriage I’d been about to enter into. Logan was an important part of me making it out of here with my sanity intact, and I had no idea what would happen if he died. Matthew might match me with someone else, maybe even the creeper who’d dragged me from the stocks. It was selfish, and I knew it, but in times like this, surrounded by insanity and having lost everything, it was all I could manage.
Matthew seemed to snap out of his shock after a moment and turned his focus to the thugs standing guard. “Get him to the infirmary.” He looked at the man kneeling beside Logan. “Take care of it.”
The man—I wasn’t even sure if he was a doctor—nodded and stood while two others moved to get Logan. One took his legs while the other held him under the arms, moving after the man who was supposed to make him better.
I followed, not waiting for permission. In light of my selfish thoughts, I wanted to be there to see what, if anything, I could do to help. When Ava and Brady rushed after me, I was more than a little relieved Matthew didn’t try to stop them.
If nothing else, it looked like this little episode had bought us some much-needed time.
The assholes who carried Logan upstairs
practically threw him on the bed before leaving, not saying a word. They acted like they were in a rush to get back. Like they were afraid they were going to miss the show. If Matthew had decided to carry on with the ceremony, it was entirely possible that they were.
The doctor watched them leave in silence. The second we were alone, he turned to face Brady, Ava, and me. “He’ll be fine.”
His blasé tone made it seem like he knew what was wrong with Logan.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I gave him something.” The man moved to the bed where he pressed two fingers against Logan’s wrist, checking his pulse. “It will knock him out for bit, but he’ll be fine.”
“What are you saying?” Brady asked.
I was confused, but also on high alert. Had this man poisoned Logan?
“He didn’t want to go through with the marriage.” The doctor looked away from Logan, focusing on me. “Matthew checks to make sure the couples have consummated it.”
Ava stepped closer to Brady, who put his arm around her waist.
I swallowed, disgusted yet slightly curious exactly how he would do something like that. But not curious enough to ask. Some things were better left unsaid.
“He said he was already married.” The doctor was once again focused on Logan, this time taking his pulse. “He wouldn’t do that to her.”
“Beth.”
I hadn’t known they considered themselves married, but I should have. She wore a ring on her left hand; I’d seen her fiddling with it the day she told me about the baby they’d lost.
The doctor’s gaze was still on Logan when he said, “She’s pregnant.”
In the light of everything else, I’d forgotten all about the suspicions I’d had when we were on the boat. Now I understood why Logan went to such extremes. It wasn’t just about cheating. What if we’d been forced to consummate this pretend marriage, and down the road I found out I was pregnant? It could easily be Kellan’s. God knew we’d had enough sex over the last few days, but we wouldn’t know for sure until after the baby was born.
“He’ll wake up soon.” The man got to his feet, letting out a sigh. “Matthew will want me back there.”
To examine the couples? I shuddered at the thought.
“Thank you,” I said instead of asking. “For helping.”
“I don’t agree with Matthew. Most of us don’t, but we’ve been out there. Things here may be a little crazy at times, but it’s better than being dead.”
“There are other places,” Brady told him. “Safer places.”
“Like the boat you were on?” he asked, his words more challenging than his tone, which sounded defeated and tired.
“It’s not the only place,” I said. “There are others. Settlements where you don’t have to participate in stuff like this.”
“Maybe.” The doctor shrugged and let out another deep sigh. “But I’m not brave enough to look for them.”
He turned away without saying anything else, and I watched him leave, disgusted. He was enabling Matthew. No, the doctor wasn’t the crazy one, and he didn’t wield the weapons or force the people into the stocks, but he wasn’t blameless. Saving one person didn’t make up for it, either.
“Whether he planned it or not,” Brady said once we were alone, “Logan bought us some time.”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh, knowing it would be brief.
Matthew wouldn’t let this go for long.
I was slumped against the wall waiting for Logan to wake up, my head resting on the bed and my eyes closed. Sleep was within reach; I could feel its pull. Could feel its fingers curling around my body, dragging me down, and I didn’t even want to resist. Two nights of almost no rest had taken its toll on me, and all I wanted to do was give in. Who knew when I’d have another chance?
I’d just started drifting off when footsteps entered the room, making my entire body jerk. Just like that, I was wide-awake. My eyes were still closed, but like an advanced warning system of some kind, my heart had started pounding harder. Part of me wanted to pretend to be asleep and ignore whoever had walked into the room, but I knew it would be foolish.
Hesitantly, as if expecting to find a monster standing in front of me, I cracked one eye. What I saw knocked the breath out of me.
I gasped and scrambled to my feet, nearly falling in my haste, and rushed across the room. “Kellan!”
My body slammed into him, and his arms wrapped around me. He didn’t even have a chance to utter a sound before my mouth was on his. I ran my hands up his chest to his face, holding him as we kissed. His actions were no less urgent as he held me, pulling me against him tighter until I could hardly catch my breath, his hands balled in my shirt, his mouth bruising against mine.
I didn’t even register that I was crying until I started gasping for breath. The sobs were more violent than the wave of water that had smashed into our boat. I had to break away from the kiss because I couldn’t catch my breath, and in seconds my cries had transformed into hiccupped sobs that shook my whole body.
Kellan scooped me into his arms, refusing to release me for even a moment, and carried me to a metal chair in the corner of the room. He hadn’t uttered a sound, and part of my brain—the part that had feared I’d never see him again—began to wonder if he was even real. Why wouldn’t he talk?
“S-say s-someth-thing,” I managed to get out between gasps for breath.
“God, Regan,” he muttered, his face pressed against mine, his lips caressing my cheek as he talked. “You have no idea how scared I’ve been. I thought—”
He swallowed, and I waited for him to go on. When he didn’t, I pulled back so I could look in his eyes. Tears shimmered in them, and when he blinked, they dropped to his cheeks, sliding down in a stream. I wiped them away with a shaky hand, unable to speak. Unable to do anything but stare at him.
We stayed like that until the sound of sniffling made me turn. That was when I saw Beth. She’d taken my place at Logan’s side and was holding his hand, staring at him with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Beth.” Her name scratched its way from my throat.
She lifted her head, her gaze meeting mine, but like Kellan seemed unable to speak.
I clung to him tighter.
“He’s going to be okay,” I managed to get out. “The doctor said he’d wake up soon.”
She only nodded in response.
Beneath me, Kellan shifted, bringing my attention back to him. He was dry but filthy, with dirt streaked across his face and staining his clothes. They were ripped, too, enough that I could see scratches on his stomach through the torn fabric.
Where had they been?
I had a million questions, so many I’d never be able to voice them all, but they would have to wait. We had a much more pressing issue to deal with. Namely, the crazy cult we’d stumbled upon and what we needed to do to get out of here.
Swallowing down my tears, I said, “Did you meet Matthew?”
“The old man?” When I nodded, Kellan said, “We met him right after we got here.”
“Did he tell you what this place is all about?”
“He said something crazy. Something I didn’t quite understand.” He shook his head, and his hair flopped across his forehead. Thanks to the haircut I’d given him, it didn’t cover his eyes, which I was grateful for. “Something about it being God’s will that your marriage didn’t take place.” His arms tightened around me. “What the hell is he talking about?”
“He has some crazy idea that he needs to help repopulate the Earth.”
Kellan’s entire body stiffened under me. “That son of a bitch, I’ll kill him. If he—”
“No.” I put my hands on his chest to prevent him from standing. “It isn’t like that. It’s weird, but not that twisted.”
I explained Matthew’s crazy ideas and told him about the marriages that had taken place, as well as the ones we’d managed to avoid. Beth frowned as she listened, but with each word out of my mouth, Kell
an’s expression hardened even more.
“What the hell is wrong with people?” he muttered after I’d finished filling them in.
I didn’t have an answer, so I stayed quiet.
We’d only been sitting like that for a couple minutes when Matthew came in, followed not just by the doctor, but by Brady as well. The older man wore the manic grin that was now more than familiar as he looked Kellan and me over, and it made my body stiffen.
“See,” Matthew said, waving from Kellan and me to Beth and Logan, “God’s plan will be fulfilled, just as I said.”
Beneath me, Kellan shifted. “And how will that happen?”
“Through your marriage and blessed union,” Matthew said, his tone matter-of-fact.
“What are you talking about?” Beth asked.
Matthew tore his gaze from us so he could focus on her. “God has sent me to help repopulate the Earth, and it is my duty to marry as many couples as possible so they might be fruitful and multiply.” He lifted his arms as he spoke, once again reminding me of that image of Jesus from my childhood. This guy, though, was no god. “The ceremonies will be held in the morning.”
“Logan and I are already married.” Beth lifted her left hand, showing Matthew the gold ring I’d noticed on the boat. “As far as being fruitful, I’m afraid you’re a little late to the game. I’m already pregnant.”
His bushy, white eyebrows jumped in surprise. “Are you?”
“Yes,” Beth said calmly. “How far along is tough to judge, but I’d guess I’m almost out of the first trimester. The morning sickness has eased.”
The older man’s gaze moved to us. “And you two? Are you married?”
I opened my mouth to tell him yes, we were in fact married, just as Kellan said, “No.”
I wanted to slap him.
“Very well.” Matthew nodded twice. “You will marry in the morning.”
Kellan stood, pulling me with him. “I don’t think so.”
“Think it through,” Matthew said, his smile melting away.
He looked even creepier without it.
“He’ll kill us if we don’t.” I kept my voice to a whisper.
The Oklahoma Wastelands Series Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 76
