I set the photos on the table and reach back in, my fingers brushing against the cool metal ring I’d found earlier. I fish it out and hold it up, the moonlight glinting off the platinum.
Alex took the ring from her mother the night she killed her. The whole grisly event happened minutes before she stumbled into the old truck I’d hunkered down in for the night. She didn’t know then that I’d been assigned by her sister to ensure she arrived safely at PharmaCorp with the data and samples needed to create the first vaccine. She didn’t know my hands were dirty with the blood of others. Neither of us had any idea what the future held. At that very moment she was a grieving daughter and a terrified girl holding a gun in the face of a mercenary that could have ended her life in a heartbeat. She had guts then and she’s only matured into a strong, self-assured woman that can kick more rabid Eater ass than anyone I’ve ever met.
My heart twists like a screw twists through the flesh.
I hold up the picture of the girl with the pigtails and stare at her innocent face. I wonder what would have happened if I’d never entered her life. If I’d stayed up in those mountains? She would’ve had enough strength to survive the Crisis without my help. She could’ve met a man like Green who has the skills but not the baggage. He helped her escape Chloe. I did nothing but lead a monster and her army to Alex’s door.
It took Alexandra a long time to make a dent in the walls I’d built around myself, and with every passing moment I’m not sure I should have let down my defenses.
I repack the bag, item after item securely in place, except for two things. I tuck the ring and photo in my pocket—a reminder of the sacrifices we have to give.
Chapter Eight
The following two weeks starts a familiar pattern. Sleep, eat, rest. When I wake on the couch the fourth morning after the ambush, my headache a little less than the day before, I hear voices in the kitchen.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” I ask from the doorway. I rub my face to wake up. Jude and Green sit at the kitchen table. A small ration of food is between them. We’re nearly ou
t of everything.
“Hey man.” Jude’s smile turns concerned when he gets a good look at my bruised face. My skin has taken on a garish purple hue over the last two days. “What the hell happened to you?”
I eye his split lip and busted nose. “Same thing that happened to all of us. The apocalypse.”
“Green was just telling me the plan to head to Catlettsburg. You down with that?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’m worried about sticking around here too long. How much longer do you need?” He’s still pale and washed out. Probably dehydrated. I’ve got no interest in heading out into the Death Fields weak.
“Honestly,” Jude says, as though he’s ever anything but, “I’m gonna need a few more days.”
“You’ve got it.”
Jude holds up a can of cold soup, but I shake my head. I’ve got to take a piss. I head out the back door.
The morning air is brisk but it feels good against my foggy head and weary muscles. My leg is feeling better but I can’t fully shake the headaches. That butt to the head wasn’t my first concussion. I move around the side of the house, not looking for privacy—there’s plenty of that these days—but to get my back against the building while I take care of business. I’m halfway through relieving myself when I hear a rustle in the bushes near the barn.
“Shit,” I mutter, buttoning my pants with one hand and reaching for my knife with another. I press my back against the wall and wait. The bushes shift and branches bob up and down. The movements seem jerky and lumbering but not the frantic rush of a larger group. The last thing I want to do is deal with another stray Eater right now.
I wait patiently for the monster to come out, but it doesn’t seem in a rush. I’ve about given up when limbs snap and I hear a sudden burst of footsteps on the ground along with a strangled noise. I lean out to get a better look and come face to snout.
“Savannah?” I say, calling to my horse. She nickers in reply. I rub her neck and press my face against hers, feeling genuine relief for the first time in days. “I thought you were gone.”
I step further in the yard and see a second horse. It’s Jude’s horse, Murray. I walk over and grip his mane, pulling them toward the house. I kick the back step, too excited to be quiet and shout, “Green! Jude! Come on out!”
The door swings open and I see gun barrels before faces, but Green slowly emerges. Jude follows, stepping over the bloody, stained imprint of his face on the porch floorboards. His mouth lifts up in a wide grin. “Murray!” he shouts, holding his arms out at his horse.
“Our trip back to Catlettsburg just got a little easier, don’t you think?” I say, patting Savannah on the back.
*
At first sight, the walls aren’t that impressive. It’s just metal sheeting separating the Death Fields from Catlettsburg. But as we get closer I realize just behind it are camouflaged brick and stone blending in with the surroundings.
“Clever,” I say to Green who’s riding the horse next to me. The three of us take shifts on the two horses and move slow. None of our abused bodies can handle a lot of impact or jostling on the back of a horse.
We dismount and I hand Green the binoculars. We’re about six blocks from the center of town and haven’t run into anyone, human, Hybrid, or Eater in our day of travel. I’m eager to find out what’s on the other side of those walls.
Green frowns. “They’ve actually done some of this since we left. The exterior was one of my primary concerns, particularly after being at The Fort.” Avi apparently had created a fortress-like environment long before the Crisis was a reality. From what I’m told, Avi was the ultimate prepper—the brains behind the sustainability of PharmaCorp. He’d come up here with the same idea, although without Jane and her deadly bio-weapons. “It’s possible they were waiting for spring.”
It’s a solid theory but we also know it could be that Chloe beat us here and put her Hybrids to work fortifying the existing fence. Whatever happened, there’s an eerie quiet as we move closer to the town.