Kellan released my hand and went first, pushing the door open enough that he was able to get a look around before stepping outside. I followed, shielding my eyes from the bright light when I did. It was early but muggy, the air thick with humidity telling me a hot day was looming.
Beside an old, beat-up station wagon with fake wood panel sides, the others stood waiting. Logan was in the far back, his injured leg propped up and Beth sitting at his feet. Leaning against the car, Brady stood with his arms crossed, his eyes narrowed on a flustered-looking Gideon, while Ava sat on the hood, looking almost bored.
Matthew stood beside Gideon, a smile on his face that only grew brighter when he saw us. “The happy couple!”
His proclamations were getting old.
“You have everything I asked for?” Kellan asked, ignoring the older man’s reminder that we were now married.
He moved to the back of the car when Matthew waved to the boxes already loaded. Whatever they held must have been satisfactory, because after only a few minutes of digging, Kellan nodded and turned back to Matthew.
“We appreciate the supplies.”
“And I appreciate your acceptance of God’s will,” the leader said.
Kellan worked his jaw like he was chewing on his words to keep them from spewing out.
“Thanks for your help,” Logan jumped in.
Matthew only nodded before turning to Gideon.
The kid looked different this morning, but I wasn’t sure why. He was dressed the same—stained clothes that had seen better days—and he still hadn’t uttered a word, but there was something about his expression that made me think he was looking forward to this. Maybe even relieved.
In the back of the station wagon, Kellan opened an atlas and began studying it.
Logan scooted closer so he could get a look at it as well. “You know where to go?”
“In theory.” He tapped his finger against the page. “That’s assuming these roads are passable.”
“Yeah,” Logan blew out a long breath, his gaze moving to Matthew. When he spoke again, his voice was low, “Let me know when you need a break from driving. This ankle isn’t bothering me nearly as much as I’ve been letting on.”
Kellan lifted his eyebrows but said nothing.
Once Matthew and Gideon had said their goodbyes, the teen climbed into the back seat. Brady climbed in after him, rushing to beat Ava and earning an eye roll from the girl.
All I could do was smile.
It was odd that he’d been so unconcerned about Ash, who Ava had actually been spending time with, and yet had such a strong dislike of Gideon without even talking to the boy. It wasn’t like most seventeen-years-olds were dying to get married, so I doubted the kid had been very involved in Matthew’s decision to find him a wife as fast as possible.
Beth climbed into the back of the station wagon with Logan, and Kellan slammed the door shut. The atlas was tucked under his arm when his gaze met mine, and he gave me a smile that was almost relaxed. I knew the feeling. The thud of hope inside me was hard to ignore, but I couldn’t afford to let it out completely. Not yet. Not until we got home.
He headed for the driver’s side while I went the other way.
I’d just slipped in when Matthew called out, “Godspeed!”
I slammed the door without answering.
Beside me, Kellan let out a low chuckle.
“Sorry, I couldn’t take any more of his insanity.”
I shot a look back to where Gideon sat scrunched against the door, right behind the driver’s seat. The kid didn’t blink.
Kellan turned the key, and when the engine sputtered but rolled over, I wanted to cheer.
He let out a deep sigh of relief and threw the car into drive. “Here we go.”
I didn’t really want to, but I looked back as we drove away. Matthew was watching us with that same creepy smile on his face, and once again it made me shudder. With the exception of getting away from Andrew, I’d never been more thankful to leave someone behind.
Despite the relief flowing through the car, we stayed silent as Kellan drove through the city. The stadium was deep in the downtown area, and most of the roads we had to pass were littered with debris. Zombies were prevalent, and more than once Kellan turned down a road to find it blocked by a horde and had to turn around. It made for a tense escape.
Soon, the buildings grew farther apart, and we began to pass more crumbling neighborhoods than offices, and before long, the city that had once been Little Rock faded in the distance until the skyscrapers looked almost small.
That was when Brady chose to break the silence.
“You’re with us now, young man, which means your crazy leader’s ideas have no weight here. You will not be marrying my daughter any time soon, and you will keep a respectful distance. Do you understand?”
I could hear Gideon swallow. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t want to marry her, anyway. That was all Matthew. It wasn’t like I had a choice.”
“We all have choices,” Brady replied shortly.
“I didn’t.” Gideon sat up straighter. “Look, I was ten when he found me, and alone. I didn’t know what was happening except that I was finally safe, and even if I had really understood, I didn’t know he was going to try to marry me off at sixteen. I just wanted to be safe. That’s all.”
Brady’s stern expression relaxed. “You were ten?”
“Yeah,” Gideon said. “My parents died from the virus, and I was with a neighbor and some other people for a while, but we got overrun. I got away somehow. After that, I was alone for a few weeks, and I’d almost starved to death by the time Matthew found me. He had supplies. Food and water. There were walls, and everything seemed awesome. How was I supposed to know he was crazy? To me, he seemed like a savior.”
“That sounds awful,” Ava said, reaching around her father to put a hand on Gideon’s leg. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
The teen flushed and looked toward Brady, and I could tell he was torn between being flattered by the attention and wanting to shove her hand away for fear her dad would slit his throat.
“Perhaps I overreacted.” Brady cleared his throat. “I apologize.”
When Ava finally moved her hand, Gideon let out a big sigh.
“Yeah, okay. No problem.” He shifted closer to the door. “I don’t even know where we’re going, but I’m happy to get out of that place. I mean, there were good things about it, but mostly it was just creepy.”
It was like he’d read my mind.
“Oklahoma,” I told the teen.
“Oklahoma?” he repeated, sounding doubtful despite the statement he’d just made.
“To a shelter,” Ava said, her voice rising. “It’s amazing, I promise.”
Kellan looked at me, his eyebrows raised in silent questions as she began describing the shelter, giving details I’d never told her, and I was reminded of that last night on the American Queen and the conversation we’d had in the bar.
“Ava lived in a shelter just like ours for a time,” I explained. “Outside Vegas.”
Kellan’s eyebrows jumped higher. “Seriously?”
“Yes.” She’d turned to Brady now. “With Axl and Vivian and Angus. Remember us telling you about it?”
“I do,” Brady replied thoughtfully. “I also remember it sounding quite impressive.”
“It really is,” Kellan said. “We have electricity and running water, and even air conditioning.”
“You have to be kidding,” Gideon said, his voice more animated than I’d ever heard it—not that I’d heard him utter more than a few words before today.
Behind him, Logan and Beth had turned to listen, curiosity on their faces.
“We’ve heard of places like that,” Logan said. “Never seen one. I thought it was just a rumor.”
“Nope,” Ava answered. “It’s real.”
The conversation shifted as Ava told everyone about her short time living in the shelter. I’d already heard the story, but I
could tell that, like me, Kellan was remembering the things Andrew had told us and had made the connection. His lips were pressed together in thought, but he said nothing. He didn’t need to. We were thinking the same thing. Andrew needed to pay.
Thinking about the possibility of running into him out here on the road reminded me of Logan’s injury. I twisted in my seat and looked toward the back where he and Beth sat.
“How’s your ankle?”
Logan turned and gave me a somewhat sheepish look. “Not bad. Only sprained, I think.”
“The doctor said it was broken.” He’d said it wasn’t as bad as he was letting on, but I was still surprised to hear that it was such a minor injury.
“We thought it might have been when I got there, but it started to feel a bit better. But I didn’t want Matthew to know. Being injured seemed to be buying me time, so I decided to milk it for all it was worth.” His gaze moved to Beth. “I knew she was out there somewhere. I could feel it.”
I understood. I’d felt the same way about Kellan.
“Well, it was smart,” I said.
“Since you’re feeling okay back there,” Kellan said, breaking through the conversation, “you mind going through those supplies again? I looked them over and saw the basics, but to be honest, I was in too much of a hurry to get the hell out of there to pay really close attention.”
“Which is perfectly understandable,” Brady said.
“No kidding,” Beth grumbled.
In the back, she and Logan began digging through the boxes, and I stayed turned in my seat so I could watch their progress.
“Looks like all the basics are here,” he said as he pulled a pot from the box. “Some food and water.” He took a couple canteens out and shook them, frowning. “These are empty.”
“That son of a bitch.” Kellan’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I should have checked them. I just saw five canteens and assumed the asshole would have had the decency to fill them up for us. It’s not like we can just stop at a gas station.”
“Does that mean we’re going to have to stop somewhere?” Ava asked.
Brady put a reassuring hand on her knee.
In the back, Logan unscrewed the lid of a canteen and peered inside. “Bone dry.”
“Figures,” I muttered. “He probably thinks God will fill them for us as long as we have enough faith.”
Logan snorted and tossed the canteen back into the box where it banged against something else metallic. “Idiot.”
Gideon said nothing, but he didn’t look any happier about the prospect of having to scavenge for water than the rest of us.
“Tell me there’s enough food,” Kellan called back to Logan.
The other man took a few things out of the box, his frown deepening as he shook his head. “We’re going to be hungry when we get there, but it will have to do. Assuming we only have one day on the road.”
Kellan exhaled. “Well, if we’re stopping for water anyway, we can do a little hunting. See if we can scrounge something up.”
“If not,” I said, “we’ll be okay. It isn’t like we’re going to starve, and as soon as we’re home, we can prepare a feast.”
He shot me a grin. “Exactly.”
22
Kellan slowed and pulled the station wagon off the road, easing it into the overgrown brush. Branches scraped against metal like nails on a chalkboard, echoing through the interior, and I cringed. In the back, a sleeping Gideon snorted like he was going to wake but didn’t open his eyes. Instead, his arms, crossed over his chest, tightened, and he shifted so he was closer to the door. In seconds, he was quietly snoring again.
I leaned forward so I could see out the front window, watching the foliage engulf the vehicle as Kellan drove deeper into the forest. He took it slow, easing up on the gas whenever we bumped over anything and practically holding his breath as he waited so see if the vehicle could take it. So far, it hadn’t been anything we couldn’t handle.
“Just a little farther,” he said under his breath.
His hands tightened on the wheel, and the car lurched forward as he pressed down on the gas. We drove over something bigger, and the entire vehicle rocked, shifting us around. Gideon snorted again, but still didn’t wake. I didn’t have a clue how he could sleep through all this.
Kellan threw the station wagon into park and let out a long sigh. “We’ll have to cover the back a bit, make it look like this thing has been here for a while, but we should be good for a bit.”
“Not long,” I said. “Right? I don’t want to lose any more time.”
Kellan, who was in the middle of gathering his weapons, turned to face me. “We’ll make it as fast as we can, but we have to eat, and we need to find some water to boil.”
I swallowed at the mention of water, and my scratchy throat told me Kellan was right. I was already on the verge of being dehydrated, and with the uncertainty of the world and how long it would take us to make it home, we needed to take the time to replenish our water supply sooner rather than later. If we didn’t have water, it wouldn’t matter how close we were to home.
“You’re right,” I said.
Kellan smiled, and a playful light that reminded me of the days before Andrew came into our lives sparkled in his eyes. “That might be one of the few times you’ve ever admitted I was right without sounding irritated.”
I laughed. He was probably right.
“Don’t get used to it,” I said, swatting at him.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me forward until his mouth was on mine. His hand went to the back of my head as we kissed. It was so deep I felt it all the way in my toes, but it was over fast and he was once again focused.
“Okay, so Logan and I will do some hunting while you guys scavenge the area. We need a place cleared for a fire—we’ll have to wait until after the sun goes down to start it so we don’t draw attention to ourselves. We’re going to need to collect plenty of water, too, assuming we can find a stream or pond.” He paused to press his lips together, worry playing across his features as he turned to look at me. “See if you can find anything in the area to eat. Wild berries or edible roots.”
“How will we know if they’re okay to eat?” Gideon asked.
He’d awoken at some point while Kellan was talking and looked terrified at the prospect of leaving the station wagon, reminding me that he’d been living in a fortified settlement since he was ten years old. Had he been out in the wild any time recently?
“You armed?” I asked him.
Gideon nodded, and his long brown hair fell across his face, covering his left eye. “Matthew gave me this knife.”
He patted his hip, and I almost rolled my eyes. The thing was tiny, the blade no more than three inches long. I wasn’t even sure it would pierce a zombie’s brain if he shoved it through the eye socket.
“Do you have an extra knife, Kellan?” I asked.
The kid pulled the knife free like he thought I hadn’t heard him. “I have one.”
Like me, Kellan frowned when he saw the miniscule weapon Gideon was holding.
“That’s not going to do much unless you’re up against a toddler zombie.” Kellan dug in his bag, retrieving a knife sheathed in brown leather. It was almost three times bigger than the one Gideon had. “This is what you need. Just remember, if you’re going to try and stab a zombie through the skull you have to put a lot of force into it.”
His gaze moved to the teenager’s thin arms, and he frowned.
Gideon took the knife, swallowing. “Where else would I try to stab one? I mean, you have to pierce the brain.”
I almost rolled my eyes when I said, “The eye, for one. If you’re behind him, though, you can stab him through the neck and up into the brain.” I turned my head, tilting it down, and placing two fingers to the base of my skull.
“Or up through the chin,” Brady added, shooting me a grin. “Those of us who are vertically challenged find that approach the most useful.”
“I bet,�
� I said, nodding in approval.
“Okay,” Kellan turned to the door and shoved it open, pushing branches and weeds aside in the process so he could climb out, “we all have our jobs, so let’s get to it.”
In the back, Logan shoved the door open. It didn’t make it far thanks to the surrounding forest, but it was enough that he was able to squeeze through, followed by Beth.
Kellan had driven far enough into the woods that only the very back of the vehicle was visible from the road, and already he was busy moving long dead branches and logs so they were behind it, doing everything he could to make it look like the car had crashed into the woods long ago.
Logan moved to cut a branch so he could help, but Kellan stopped him.
“No. Don’t cut anything.”
“Why?” the other man asked, the serrated side of his knife already poised over a branch.
Kellan paused, a crumbling log covered in moss in his hands. “Someone might notice it’s fresh, and it will give us away.”
“You really think anyone is going to look that closely?” Logan asked doubtfully.
“I think,” Kellan said, and I could tell he was choosing his words carefully, “there are people out there—like Andrew—who are practiced in picking up little clues like that. People who make it their job to notice things the average person wouldn’t look at twice.”
Logan swallowed, and I held my breath. It was obvious he didn’t like having to defer to Kellan, but it was also pretty evident that he realized he wasn’t the only one who had something valuable to contribute.
After a second, Logan shoved his knife in his sheath and knelt so he could grab a branch off the ground. It was old and dry, the few leaves still clinging to it brittle.
I turned away as the two men arranged things behind the station wagon, and my eye caught Beth’s. She had a little smirk on her face, which I returned, and she rolled her eyes. The look was easy to read. Men. I couldn’t disagree.
“Okay, so we should head out and try to find some water. Hopefully, we get lucky,” I said as I scanned the distant forest. How the hell was I supposed to know which way to go? “Keep your ears open and stay as quiet as possible.”
The Oklahoma Wastelands Series Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 78
