Evangeline, Alone. (Book 1): Evangeline, Alone

by Styles, M. A.

  He laughed. “No, no, not at all. Please continue to save me whenever the time calls for it, if you could.”

  Then silence filled the room again, and he wasn’t sure if he should just leave or keep her company, though he figured it was more like he was the one that wanted the company. She laid the reassembled weapon down and moved to the next. Jack remembered it from the locker room when he brought her in. He got a better look at it now. It was beautifully engraved with ivory and some mother of pearl. He felt stupid only being able to remember seeing those types of guns in Wild West films, usually being pulled from purses or necklines of some ruffled dress. She seemingly snapped it in half and looked down the barrel, then jostled it a bit until a single bullet slid out of one of the two barrels and into her palm.

  “What exactly are you planning to do with that?” he smiled at her, wondering what good could really come from that pea shooter.

  “This, Robin Hood, is for when I need to save myself.” She slid the bullet in and snapped the barrel back into place, then looked up at him. At first he just smirked at her and gave his head a little shake, not fully understanding what she meant. As she went on he understood more, and his smile faded. “At some point we’re all going to have to make a choice, and I won’t let myself change when it comes down to it. For whatever reason. Hell, I won’t give the satisfaction to anyone who might want to do it themselves. Or maybe I’ll just get tired of saving people and finally just want to rest.” She gave him a tired smile.

  “So that’s really it?” he asked, his mouth a little dry.

  When she looked at him again her expression softened. “I will not be used as a weapon against those I care about. And these aren’t exactly made for long range.” She held the Derringer up a bit, and tried to give him a smirk, but it fell flat.

  After a pause he asked, “So where exactly do you get one of those things? I don’t think they’re up for sale that often. At least not ones like that. Is it from before or after?”

  She laid it in her palm and studied it. Her eyes tracked the beautiful swirling vines that crept their way down the barrel, mimicked in the frame work of the aged ivory handle. She rubbed her thumb along the smooth, shining white pearl of the grip panel, rotating it just slightly to make the colors roll across its surface. “Both.” He scrunched his face at the answer. “It’s an heirloom I guess. It was my grandmother’s.”

  “A vase, wicker basket, and gun toting grandma.” His eyes were soft as he brought up some details of her story from the other night.

  At first she was taken aback at the fact that he remembered or maybe that she shared that with him, but sharing that story and having someone actually listen to it and take it in, brought a tightness in her chest she tried to ignore. “That’s the one,” she said, standing up and heading over to the kitchen area, grabbing the roll as she passed, sinking her teeth into it. She grabbed two cups from next to the sink and filled them both, sipping from one and bringing the other to Jack. They each drank until Jack decided to break the comfortable silence.

  “So it’s safe to say I should definitely be bringing my gun?” He waved a hand over her collection of things on the table.

  “Why? Do you normally not?” she grinned at him. “Not smart for a college professor.”

  “An adjunct professor, of rocks,” he joked. “And of course I bring it everywhere.” He patted it on his hip even then. “I guess I’m asking…” He thought for a moment, then found the right words. “Are we definitely going to have to be using them?”

  She set her empty glass down on the counter next to her tray and spooned some of the barely warm soup into her mouth. “It’s been a while since I’ve been out to that spot, but I would say most likely, yes. Though, it’s always best to keep these matters quiet. So a knife is usually the way to go.” She saw him twitch just a bit. “You could always bring your bow, that’s nice and quiet,” she joked to ease his tension, and he let out a little chuckle.

  “A bow and arrow would definitely be nice and quiet, but me swearing after every attempt to shoot it, well, that would not be.”

  She smiled into her bowl. After a few moments she asked without looking up and in-between spoonfuls of soup, “Have you ended many? I know you got the one on the cliff face, so, I guess, a few extra points there.”

  He took a few breaths. “Uh, yeah. I was out there for a bit. Not long at all, really. Two days. So you know,” he stopped for a moment and she kept eating her soup. “Then a few here and there when we’ve gone out.”

  She shook her head up and down, scraping the bottom of the bowl as she finished. “I figure everyone else coming with us has had their fair share too, then?”

  “Oh, yeah. Cara, Nate, and Joe were out there for a while together, but Laila was out there the longest by herself. She’s the most experienced I’d say. With a nice quiet friend on her hip.”

  Evie remembered the machete. “Good to know. So, you’re technically the one with the least experience,” she goaded him. “How did you get to be in charge? Dating the boss?”

  His eyebrows jumped at the joke. “Magda? No. I guess she just knows they tend to listen to me, and I have enough brains in my head to try and do what’s best for everybody.” Evie gave him a nod and placed her empty bowl back onto the tray. “Besides, I am the only one that she technically invited to be here. I was interviewed after all and hired.” He leaned back all fake cocky and put his hands behind his head.

  “Right, right,” she said as she walked across the room to where her pack sat on her bed. She reach deep inside and pulled out a large flannel shirt striped with olive green and dark yellow. “Just make sure to actually be prepared this time though. Maybe take a pack. Some water and food. Appropriate clothing.”

  “Ok, ok, I get it,” he joked, but he was glad she didn’t seem so angry anymore about their stupidity with their attempt to follow her. “So what time should we head out tomorrow?”

  “Dawn,” she said as she sat on the end of the bed and pulled her boots off.

  “Well, I guess I should head off to bed then. I’ll make sure to tell the others. Cut their party short for the night. There’s not vodka this time, so it should be pretty easy.”

  “Are you sure Wyatt didn’t bring anything?” she lowered her eyes to him, but smirked.

  “That’s a good point. I’ll bring your tray back down and check it out.” He picked it up off the counter.

  “Thanks. And thanks for bringing that up. I’ll see you in the morning.” As he headed for the door, she walked in the bathroom and turned on the shower.

  “Goodnight.” He let himself out, holding the tray in one hand and turned to make his way down stairs.

  “Since you’re going in the morning, can I ask you a favor?”

  He froze. The voice came from behind him, but he hadn’t noticed anyone when he walked out into the hallway. When he turned around, he saw that Nico was sitting across the hall from Evie’s door on the floor, his back to the wall of the room he was staying in. Slowly he rose up and walked to Jack.

  “Sure man,” he said, still catching his breath a bit.

  “Just keep an eye on her.”

  “Evie?”

  “Yeah. You’ll see it in her. At least I think you will, if something happens. She starts to…" He faded off for a moment trying to find the best way to describe what he wanted to say. "She'll go. Don’t let her pull away. Don’t let her leave. Make sure she’s taking care of herself too.”

  “Um, alright?” The desperation in Nic’s tone made Jack worried all of the sudden. “She seems to have a plan, but I’ll look out for her.”

  Nico dropped his chin and took a breath. He backed up to the door to his room and opened it. “Promise me.”

  “Yeah, man.” Jack shook his head up and down, “I promise.”

  “Just… bring her back, ok?” He took a step in the darkness of his room. “Good luck out there. I hope you find what she thinks is out there.”

  “Thanks. Me too.” Jack starte
d to take a few steps back. He heard the click of the latch as the door fully closed and turned back around heading for the stairs one more time. A few steps later, he swore he heard it again, and turned back to see if Nico had returned, but no one was out there.

  When he woke in the morning, he couldn’t stop thinking about what Nico had said. But when he saw Evie already waiting for them outside the garage, it just slid out of his mind. She was wearing that flannel she had pulled out, with a baggy pair of jeans she was keeping up with that knotted rope she used as a belt, and she looked ready. More ready than every other face as it showed up.

  Laila was the last to arrive. When she walked into the group, she held out a small box, like one you used to be able to get in a continental breakfast at a hotel lobby. Frosted Flakes. They all looked at it in wonder. “I’ve heard about the bet. I want some chapstick. I’m in.”

  “Alright!” Joe shouted.

  Cara took the cereal and brought it to the weapons cache where a cardboard box stood holding everyone’s offering for the pot. Inside now sat the bag of Mac’s dried mango, Laila’s frosted flakes, three cigarettes courtesy of Cara, a box of condoms from Joe, Nates little pocket knife, and an unopened pack of mint gum from Jack. When she made her way back up, Evie started.

  “It’s going to be a two hour drive at the least if nothing comes up. Once we’re there follow me in. They’re likely to be wandering all over the area, so take them out when you can. Quietly. I don’t want unnecessary gun fire and unnecessary talking. Honestly, no talking is ideal. When we’re in, I’ll lead you to where I hope the food still is. We grab everything we can, load up, and head back. Got it?” The last question was rhetorical, but of course Joe had something to say.

  “Yeah. What the fuck is this place?”

  She stood for a moment, pausing to think of what to say, and when she said it, it seemed more like she was telling herself than she was telling Joe. “It’s just a house.” She got in the passenger side of the Jeep and shut the door.

  Everyone followed her lead, throwing their packs into the cars and got in. As soon as Nate slid into the back of the Jeep, he laid down and closed his eyes. Jack looked in the rearview mirror and was pretty sure he was asleep before they even got out of the gate. Twenty minutes in and he was softly snoring. Jack looked over at Evie who was scanning the area as they drove.

  “So is the no talking rule for the car too?” he asked.

  She just looked over at him with a tiny smirk. “No, but we don’t want to wake the baby, now do we?” She pointed her thumb to the back seat, then turned to look out the window again.

  Jack smiled, but stayed silent. Slowly Evie turned to look at him, feeling a little bad if he really thought she didn’t want to talk. She noticed his hand on the steering wheel.

  “How’s your hand doing?” She could see the bandage tape creeping around to the back.

  He lifted it up and looked at it. “It’s fine. It really is just a few scratches. One a bit deeper than the others. I just put this on it for today to help keep it extra clean since I don’t really know what’s in store for me where we’re headed.” He looked over at her, but she was already gazing back out the window again. “Oh, here.” He dug into his front pocket and pulled out the handkerchief she had tied around his hand at the Ranch. “I keep forgetting to give it back to you.”

  She took it from him and shoved it in her pack at her feet. “Thanks.”

  He thought she would have wound it back around her wrist over that spiked dog collar she wore, but he noticed that she already had another one in burgundy wrapped over it. “I really appreciated you helping me with this.” He held his injured hand up again.

  “It seems we could use you around. At least for taking care of things stuck on cliff-faces.”

  He smiled. “It’s a pretty niche market.”

  Quiet settled over the car again, and they watched as up ahead in the road a handful of deer sprinted across. One stood on the shoulder, watching the car go past, the others just visible at the wood line. Exactly as they did before it all. Evie looked back at them in the side view mirror. When Cara’s car passed, the one watched them go, then turned back and slowly walked into the woods, disappearing.

  “Make a left up here,” she told him suddenly. He almost missed the turn. “You’re going to be on this road for another twenty miles.”

  He nodded and drove on. He glanced down at the clock on the dashboard. It glowed a white 6:48, and the sight of it made him rub his tired eyes. Then he noticed a spot on the other side of the road where a telephone pole had somehow snapped at its base, causing it to tilt backwards into the tall trees holding it up. The electrical lines stretched back with it, except for one that had snapped, dangling down. He remembered that spot.

  “This is where I met Charlie and Harrison. Where they picked me up.”

  She turned to him, remembering he said he was out there for two days before getting to the Academy. She had just assumed he was already settled in there when everything began. She had come to learn that it all began at different times for everyone. A slow burn, but a hungry one. All of the sudden he noticed Cara flashing her high beams at him from behind, and she slowly started to pull off to the side of the road.

  “What the fuck?” He said, pulling off too.

  Evie took her gun out from its holster and jumped out, taking off towards the car. She watched as they all piled out of their respective doors.

  “We have a problem,” Cara said to her and Jack, pissed off, and went to the back of the car.

  Evie followed her, gun drawn. Cara put her hand on Evie’s wrist to lower the gun and confusion washed over their faces. Cara reached down and popped the trunk. A flash of yellow rose out, and all they could hear were loud gasps for breath.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Anna said, sitting up out of the trunk.

  “Shit!” Joe shouted, kicking one of the tires and walking back to the front of the car.

  “Anna?” Evie shook her head back and forth.

  “I know! I heard Jack and Nic, or whatever his name is. In the hall. I thought, maybe I could help. You, Mac. Then I heard you guys talking before you left, and I started to freak out, but you started driving… I’m- I’m-” Her eyes were darting from face to face, looking for someone to help, or sympathize, but in the end it was Evie that spoke up.

  “You were wrong.” Evie looked at her hard, anger pulling at her mouth. “You can’t help. You’re not ready. At all. Because of that, you’re now taking up room where we could’ve held supplies for your people. Now you’re taking up our time from making this a quick trip. And now you’ve made this whole thing even more unsafe, because we have to worry about you on top of everything else.”

  Jack walked up behind Evie, and put his hand on her shoulder just lightly enough for her to feel it. “We’ll just have to bring her back.” He tried to deescalate the fear mounting in the young girl’s face, and for a moment it seemed to work.

  Mac started to walk back to the lead car, gun still in hand, down at her side. “We can’t,” she called back. “We’re over half way there, and there’s not enough gas.” She slid back into the front passenger side and slammed the door. She watched in the side view mirror as Laila helped Anna out of the trunk, and led her to the back seat. It looked like she was crying, just enough to wipe tears off her cheeks every now and again. Evie took a deep breath, and looked out the front of the car as Jack got back in.

  “What’s going on? Are we there?” Nate asked as he leaned up on his arm a bit to see out the front window.

  “No,” Jack said, giving Evie a sideways glance as he started back onto the road, the other car following once again. “Anna snuck in the trunk this morning. We just found her.”

  “Fuck,” Nate spat as he rubbed his eyes.

  “We’ll just have her stay in the car. Hope she keeps it locked and stays put until we’re loaded and ready to head back.” Jack ran his hand through his hair and looked back at the car behind them. “We ha
ve a kid out here now, Evie. I know that’s not your fault, but it is our problem. More mine than yours.”

  She threw him a quick look of anger and offense before facing forward again. “She’s all our problem, Robin Hood. You need to remember that.”

  He collected himself, then continued. “So we need to know more… this place?”

  Jack saw her jaw tighten, and he looked back at Nate in the mirror. He was looking at him with worried eyes, now sitting straight up, giving them his full attention. Only a few seconds passed as they waited for her to answer his question, each one making Nate a bit more fidgety. She never looked back over to Jack and continued to stoically stare out of the window. He was about to ask her again, and as his lips parted, she answered, still without looking away from what passed by outside.

  “Ok.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Before

  PART 1

  As she ran, some of the under brush whipped and scratched at her ankles and calves. Thorny vines tugged at her shorts. No one had ever gone this way, so there wasn’t an obvious, worn path. That’s why she took it. If she wanted to have any chance of making it completely, she needed to change it up. Once they realized it, she would only have a couple extra seconds to finally make it over that wall, the wall she could now see coming up in front of her, and that’s when she heard them.

  “Here, here, over here! She took this side!” The shouts from the gateman meant that they had spotted her. They had started the chase, exactly as she had predicted, and exactly on time.

  She heard the rustling growing louder and closer, faster. The balls of her feet sprang off the ground so fast she almost felt like she was flying. The air burned her lungs; her calves started to tighten in revolt, but she could see the detail in the brick now, and the stump left after the storm had felled the tree. The groundskeepers had cut and taken the rest of it away. That’s all she needed; she knew it. All that was left to do was use that extra height, and the speed she’d built up to launch herself enough to reach that one branch overhead from a neighboring tree, and hope her arms had enough left in them to swing her to the top of the wall… before they got to her first.