Chapter 3
THREE
Asia
I stared at Uncle Levi, blinked, then, before I realized what I was doing, I had turned to look at Jack.
He stared back at me, unreadable, but I got his message anyway.
The ball was in my court.
I glanced at Uncle Levi again.
Really stopped to look at him. That same tough glint I always saw was there lit his eyes. But his usually rich brown skin looked ashen now. He also had new lines around his eyes, and his canvas work jacket practically swallowed his frame. I wondered when all those changes had come.
Was it after my aunt?
After all this started?
I couldn’t know for sure, but no matter when it started, I wasn’t there for him.
Was only here now because I needed him, again taking advantage of the fact that he was the only person who’d ever given a shit about me.
Hoping that he still did, even if I didn’t deserve it.
“Uncle Levi, I—”
My words were lost on a chest-rending sob.
I ran to him like I’d always been too proud to when I was a child. He let out a surprised grunt and then pulled me into a hug.
I breathed in the familiar scent of farm air and the harsh dollar store laundry detergent my aunt hated with a passion.
Normal smells from a normal world.
A world that was no more.
“Oh, baby girl,” he whispered, the tenderness in his voice cracking the last of my resolve.
I cried, the tears pouring out of me, seemingly without end.
Was I crying for myself?
Crying for him?
Crying for all of it?
When the tears slowed, I stepped back, suddenly aware of Jack’s eyes on me.
I shouldn’t have been embarrassed. It wasn’t like Jack had never seen that before.
But I was. Told myself it was just all the emotion of the day getting to me.
Uncle Levi shuffled from foot to foot and I looked at him again, seeing the reflection of tears that old codes of what it meant to be strong would never let fall.
Most of all, I saw the love.
“You were always good at that,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
I wiped my face on my sleeve, momentarily mortified by how gross that was before I refocused. “Good at what?”
“Well, I was about to tear you a new one for leading those things to my fence, but you distracted me before I could get a word in.”
I shook my head, managing a laugh through the last of my tears. Uncle Levi smiled back, the expression bright, genuine, despite the ugliness around us.
He titled his head. “You got company?”
I glanced back at Jack, who stepped closer.
He stood ramrod straight, his weapon still in his hand, but all things considered, he looked relaxed enough. I wondered if Uncle Levi saw him that way.
“Jackson Thorne,” he said, looking at Uncle Levi with the same unpretentious confidence I knew so well.
“Levi Griffin.”
Uncle Levi didn’t offer his hand, a fact that wasn’t lost on me, and one I knew wasn’t lost on Jack, either.
But as the seconds ticked by, Jack didn’t say anything.
Neither did Uncle Levi.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and gestured toward the pasture. “Are you two genuinely having a stare-off right now?”
“Hush, girl,” Uncle Levi countered without looking at me.
But Jack did. Then he looked back at Uncle Levi with oddly endearing surprise. “How come that never works when I try to shut her up?”
Uncle Levi went still, and I braced myself. He wasn’t a hard man and never played the tough guy, but he didn’t tolerate disrespect, especially not toward those he loved.
A group I hoped I was still a part of.
Then it was my turn to be shocked.
Uncle Levi laughed. And not just any laugh, one of those belly laughs that reminded me of the best times of my life. “Hell, son, I’m only fifty-fifty on a good day.”
That got a gruff chuckle from Jack. The two men nodded at each other, apparently bonding over my penchant for backtalk. Not that I particularly loved this of all things being their common ground, but I’d take what I could get.
The jovial atmosphere didn’t last. “So what’s the story?” Jack said.
He had sobered quickly, and Uncle Levi followed suit.
“Y’all made it here from Atlanta?”
Jack nodded. “On foot most of the way.”
“Then you know the score better than I do,” Uncle Levi said. “Hayes seems to think this will blow over.”
“Bullshit,” Jack said.
Uncle Levi nodded his agreement. “Just like most things about him. But people are scared and falling in line behind anything that looks like authority.”
That couldn’t be good, and I looked at Uncle Levi. “What is he doing?”
“You know his standard routine, but I can handle Hayes,” Uncle Levi said.
“What about this place?” Jack said.
I watched his gaze sweep across the property, and I looked with him, trying to see beyond the corpses interrupting this pristine beauty to remember what I’d thought when I’d first stepped out of that transport van at fourteen having no idea what this place would come to mean to me.
But then I stopped myself.
All of that was gone.
I needed to see this through Jack’s eyes now.
So instead of the main house that sat on a slight rise, surrounded by oaks, I saw both potential cover and hiding places for threat.
The barn, bunkhouse, and other outbuildings were scattered across the property with no obvious way to connect or defend them.
The fence was strong, but designed to keep livestock in, not corpses out.
Uncle Levi studied Jack as Jack studied the property, taking his measure.
“Who are you again?” Uncle Levi said.
Jack looked back at him, shifting his posture ever so slightly.
Uncle Levi didn’t budge an inch.
“Jackson Thorne.”
Uncle Levi huffed, and I decided to step in.
“Jack, why don’t you go check on the others?” I suggested, keeping my voice light but knowing Jack was smart enough to know an order when he got one.
Question was, would he follow it?
Jack scowled, and I prepared myself for an argument.
It didn’t come.
Instead, Jack gave me a sharp nod and marched away, looking slightly annoyed but no worse for the wear, even after what had just happened.
Uncle Levi watched him as he left, then looked at me.
“I’m glad you’re all right, baby girl,” he said, squeezing my hand.
“You, too, old man.”
He gave me a fleeting smile, no doubt remembering when I’d said those same words with everything but love.
Then he sobered. “Who is he, really?”
“He’s the only reason I’m still alive.” It was true, but it wasn’t the whole story. “And he helped me get here.”
“In exchange for what?” Uncle Levi asked, reminding me that despite his own kindness, he always preached that nothing in this world was free.
“Nothing,” I said. Then I realized how defensive, how naive, I sounded. I hated that word, but there wasn’t another to replace it.
Jack wouldn’t even say he’d done this for nothing, and Uncle Levi wouldn’t buy that, even though I was the one selling.
“Well,” I cleared my throat, “he needs to get home. To Nebraska. I told him you might be able to help with that, but I didn’t make any promises.”
Uncle Levi looked to his front porch, where Jack disappeared inside. “He doesn’t look like the type where promises matter much.”
“He’s been good to me.” I didn’t necessarily want to defend Jack but realized I had to.
The way Uncle Levi looked at me told me he thought my judgement was compromised, but he didn’t belabor the point. “We’ll see. But things being what they are, don’t know what I can spare,” he said.
Not a promise, which I knew did matter to Uncle Levi, but I let the subject drop. We needed to focus on more important things first.
I turned away from the porch and looked out over the land.
“How are you in terms of resources?”
“Lost some livestock, but the farm is still running, and you know your auntie kept this place stocked like she was waiting on the rapture.” His voice caught like it always did when he mentioned my aunt, but he moved on. “How many others in your group?”
“Five,” I responded.
“A lot of extra mouths, but extra hands will make lighter work of this mess out here.”
It would, but there were other pressing matters to consider. I stared at the bodies in the grass and then looked at Uncle Levi. “How many of those things have you seen?”
“Not many so far. At first, I thought it was all bullshit, but then I saw some up close and personal. You know they’re dead, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, they are.”
“How many have you seen?” he asked.
I sighed, memories of all we’d seen in Atlanta and on the way here flashing through my head. “Too many. And way too close.”
His eyes took on a wistfulness, and he shook his head.
“The End of Days. I’m glad Kathleen is not here.” He shook his head again. “Didn’t ever think I would say that. But seeing what I’ve seen…”
I squeezed my uncle’s hand but didn’t say anything, knowing how hard that admission was for him.
“Well, let’s go inside and talk,” I said.
“Yeah,” my uncle agreed, but he lingered for a moment, looking at the ugliness that marred a place that had been so beautiful for so many.
Together, we walked into the house. When we made it inside, I was enveloped in the smell of pine cleanser and instant coffee.
The smell of home.
Bridget was the first to greet us. “You okay?” she asked, her expression tight with concern.
“I’m fine.”
Her eyes said she knew that was a lie, but she let it go.
She turned on her smile and looked at Uncle Levi. At that moment, I saw her, my first friend at the courthouse, a memory of a past that was gone forever.
I pushed that thought away. “Bridget, you remember my uncle?”
“Of course,” she said, brightening. “Mr. Griffin was there when you got admitted to the bar.”
She walked over to my uncle, extended her hand. “It’s good to see you, sir. And thank you for taking us in.”
“Oh? Is that what I’m doing?” Uncle Levi asked, his tone deceptively mild.
Everyone’s hope had hinged on getting here, getting help, and in those seconds, that help felt as fragile and ephemeral as a soap bubble. Then Uncle Levi shook his head.