Chapter 9
NINE
Asia
“It’s a bad idea.”
Jack didn’t even let me start an introduction. He jumped right in.
Uncle Levi looked at him, waiting. But Jack didn’t let the space grow.
“Seven mouths to feed. Seven more drains on resources.”
His eyes were lasered on me, daring me to contradict him. Ready to call me out—or worse—for being wrong.
“Or seven more helping hands,” Caitlin said.
We turned as one to look at her.
“You think this is a good idea, Caitlin?” Jack’s skepticism matched my own.
“Of course not. But everybody knows the most effective way to build an argument is to take the strongest counterargument. I think it was insane to let them get this far.”
“Kind of like it was insane to let us in?” I countered.
I got it. I really did. But the thought of leaving those people, so clearly desperate, just like we had been, to fend for themselves. I couldn’t…
I looked at Uncle Levi.
“I should blame Kathleen for this mess,” he said.
“Uncle Levi, you know that you’re the actual softie,” I said.
“I know. And I don’t want that to bite you in the ass,” he said.
“So you want them to go?”
He thinned his lips, his forehead creasing in that way that told me he was thinking.
“I do. And they should. But I won’t make them,” he said.
I glanced over at Jack, seeing the disagreement in his face.
“I don’t need you to tell me how dumb it is, Thorne,” Uncle Levi grumbled.
“So why are you doing it?” Jack asked.
“These people are my neighbors. And this community has always been about offering a helping hand,” Uncle Levi said.
“Levi, they may have been your neighbors before, but now…”
“What, they would rip me apart limb from limb for a jar of strawberry preserves?” Uncle Levi said.
Jack gave a slow clap. “Somebody here gets it.”
“Yeah, I get it, but… leaving good people, children, out there. Those kids were over here every week last summer helping tend the horses. I can’t sentence them to death. It’d be kinder to just kill them myself if I was going to do that,” Uncle Levi said.
“So it’s settled, huh?”
“You not gonna argue with me?”
“Your farm, Levi. Your family.” Jack looked at me. “But if they cause problems, I’m handling it my way. No debates.”
“That’s fair,” Uncle Levi said.
I nodded, but my skin felt heavy with the weight of a bargain I wasn’t quite sure I understood.
Because one slip-up, and Jack had carte blanche.
I knew he’d use it, but I didn’t want to admit how far that could go.
Caitlin shook her head. “I still think it’s a bad idea.”
“Duly noted. Now let me tell you what I’ve been thinking,” I said.
“What?” Jack asked, his voice flat.
“We should go over to the subdivision, see what there is to find,” I said.
Jack’s nostrils flared with his breath. “And who exactly is we?”
“Me, you, Elliot. Get one of those men to show us where,” I said.
“No.”
Jack and Uncle Levi spoke in unison.
“What is this?” I asked, looking between them.
“I did all that work to get here and now you just want to go traipsing off?”
I glared at Jack. “Traipsing, Jackson? Really?”
“Whatever. You’re not going,” he said.
“I’m on his side with this one, baby girl,” Uncle Levi said.
“And my vote?” I said.
“Noted and denied,” Jack said.
I shook my head. “So who’s going to go?”
“Me,” Jack said.
Asia
“I told you, you weren’t coming,” Jack said an hour later.
“Yet, here I am,” I replied.
I glanced over at him. His fingers flexed, once, twice, like he was squeezing something —or wanted to.
Then he stretched his arms languidly, drumming a slow beat against the dashboard, looking cool, calm, and collected.
That’s how I knew that he was beyond pissed.
I shifted in my seat, forcing myself to ignore the faint pulse of my sex.
Turned my mind to questions less complex than my uncontrollable reaction to him, questions like how I was going to survive the end of the fucking world.
The conversation with the newcomers had gone well.
Uncle Levi told him much of what he’d told me when I arrived all those years ago.
Reminded everyone that there was no freeloading, no lying, no stealing.
Had told them we were a community, and anyone who didn’t want to contribute was welcome to get on down the road.
Bridget had even taken a couple of the younger girls under her wing, saying she looked forward to helping in the kitchen.
Jack looked homicidal, staring at the new group with enough disdain that save one brave little girl, none of them were willing to approach him
I glanced away from Jack, keeping my eyes on the road, but hiding my face. I didn’t think Jack would appreciate it if he saw me smile.
Once I was sure I wouldn’t laugh, I turned to look at him.
He looked at me. Glared, but then looked away.
I waited till I was in control, then glanced over at him again.
“Jack, I’m not trying to be an idiot. And I don’t want to die. But I don’t want you to die, either. So I’m not gonna let you go out and do something like this alone.”
I glanced over at him. Waited until he looked at me.
“And besides, I think we make a pretty good team.”
“Whatever,” he said.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed.
“Oh my God, Jack, way to build up a girl’s confidence,” I said.
“Problem is this girl has too much confidence. She thinks she should be out here in the wild instead of back where it’s safe,” he said.
“Oh, Jack wants the little lady to stay home. I don’t know if you’ve forgotten but I got your ass out of Atlanta,” I said.
“That’s not exactly the way I remember it happening.”
“I do. But anyway, you don’t know anything about this place, and I can take care of myself.”
“Whatever. Let’s just get this done,” he said.
I nodded at the windshield. “The subdivision is right up there. Uncle Levi drew a map.”
“Drive past the entrance.”
I did, then kept my eyes on the road, desperately wanting to look, but needing to be prepared for whatever might come. I was grateful that the roads seemed to be clear, but I couldn’t bank on that lasting.
“Approach from the side. Let’s see if there’s anything there,” he said.
I did, and pulled into a side road.
“Should we try to hide?”
“No. If we need to make a break for it, it’s better to have everything out in the open,” he said.
“Yeah, not like there are too many places anyway. This was all trees last time I was here,” I said.
“We’re gonna make this quick. In and out,” he said. “And Asia…”
I looked at him, hearing something in his voice.
“Out there, you follow my lead,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said.
He reached across the seat and grabbed my chin in his hand, forcing me to meet his eyes. After a long moment, he trailed his fingers down, settling them on my neck.
Right at my pulse.
I was sure he felt it racing.
Knew he saw my reaction to him.
I fought to stay still, but shifted at the wetness that slipped from me.
He pressed, making sure I felt the pressure.
That I felt him.
“Not ‘yeah’,” he said. “You follow my fucking lead.”
“I got it, Jack,” I said.
He nodded, and I touched the handgun at my side, then touched the knife.
I wouldn’t say that I was ready, but I wouldn’t show that to Jack.
Instead I got out of the car and looked around.
It was truly a beautiful day.
A fucking perfect day.
The sun was high in a bright blue sky, the weather cool enough for sleeves, but not too cold.
It was tranquil, serene.
A perversion.
Like Mother Nature was laughing at us, creating a beauty like this in a dead world.
My stomach roiled, the oatmeal I ate for breakfast threatening to make a reappearance.
I swallowed the bile back and looked ahead.
“We’ll be quick. In and out. Less than thirty minutes,” he said.
I nodded and got behind Jack as we walked down the black asphalt.
This was two conjoined cul-de-sacs with about five houses each leading out to the main road.
Mist clung to the overgrown grass, and as I looked, it seemed so…normal.
But it wasn’t.
Because some of that mist was tinged pink with blood.
The basketball on one driveway had a handprint on it that would have been adorable if it were made with finger paint but turned my stomach when I realized it belonged to the man who lay dead next to it, his intestines exploding out like confetti.
There were some golf clubs thrown across another lawn.
All of it a bizarre pantomime of normalcy that was perverse.
“It’s quiet,” Jack said.
I noticed that too, surprised by it.
But then again, I shouldn’t have been able to be surprised by anything.
Not at this point.
Not in this world.
“You see that up there?”
I looked to where Jack was and saw an open door.
I nodded, and together, we approached quickly, quietly.
Jack nodded to one side of the white wooden stairs, and then took the other.
I looked through, grateful for the lattice that allowed me to see Jack, and we waited.
Heavy footsteps pounded, and in the blink of an eye, Jack sprung.
“Asia Newman?”
I looked at the man who Jack was holding, his forearm wrapped around the other man’s neck, the gun pointed at his head.
“Chris?”
It was Christopher Hayes, the sheriff’s son. One who looked remarkably unperturbed that he was on the verge of being choked out with a gun to his head.
“It’s Christopher. Dad says I’m not in elementary school anymore,” he said.
“Christopher,” I said, still not quite sure what to make of things.
“Uh, does your friend here mind?” Christopher said, pointing at Jack’s forearm.
It was the only thing that suggested that perhaps this was anything other than an old acquaintance bumping into another.
“You know him, Asia?” Jack said, not moving an inch.
“Yeah. He’s Sheriff Hayes’s son,” I said.
Jack held his grip for a moment longer, then lowered his arm.
“Thank you, sir,” he said, glancing at Jack.
But his attention was soon fully focused on me again.
“Dad said that you were back in town. It’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re not—”
“Dead?” I said with a shrug.
Christopher smiled, his babyish face reminding me of when we were kids.
“Sounds kind of harsh, but yeah,” he said.
“I’m glad you’re not dead either, Christopher,” I responded.