Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
Asia
“So, what’s going on, Caitlin?” I asked.
She had been gone two full days, and I’d started to worry.
And not just about Christopher. Dante was a reminder that the world was more than the farm and the town, and while I didn’t doubt Caitlin’s ability to handle any situation, I didn’t want her to be at risk.
Which was why I was more relieved than I’d ever admit to see Uncle Levi’s truck rolling up to the farm. But the Caitlin who got out of the truck…yeah, seeing her left no doubt there was a problem.
She looked at me, then looked at the others who had gathered. “Let’s talk privately,” she said.
Her voice was quiet, intense, and confirmed this was serious.
The farm hadn’t adopted any kind of official leadership structure, and I didn’t make it a point to have private conversations. But if Caitlin asked, I knew there had to be a reason.
I nodded, then stepped up onto the porch, Caitlin behind me, Jack behind her.
“You left Dante alone?” I asked.
“He’s still here?” Caitlin said.
“Long story, and sounds like you have information,” I said.
She nodded, and we settled in the living room. Caitlin looked at the door, chewing her lips.
“That serious, huh?”
“Yeah, that serious,” Caitlin said.
“What is it?” Jack asked.
“Christopher. It’s bad.” She sighed, then shook her head. “I didn’t think anything of it at first, but then I saw it with my own two eyes,” she said.
I thought about what Jack and I experienced in the town. “Did he feed someone to a zombie?” I said.
Caitlin’s eyes widened. “No.”
“So what then?” I said.
“The children…” she said, her voice stricken. “Christopher has taken all of the town’s children. Moved them out of their parents’ homes. Said it was for their own good.”
Jack’s jaw clenched. “Makes sense.”
“How?” Caitlin asked.
“Consolidation and control. Simple,” I said.
He studied Caitlin. “But that’s not it, right?”
She shook her head. “No. He’s coming here. I don’t know when, but he’s coming. And, eventually, he’s going to want more than flour.”
Jack
“Spit it out, Jack. I know something’s on your mind,” Asia said later that night.
I glanced at her. “I never realized I was so transparent.”
She let out a humorless laugh. “That’s you, all right. Transparent like quantum physics and the rule against perpetuities.”
She sat on the bed, her shoulders relaxed. Other than the slightest squint, her eyes gave away nothing.
I met her eyes. “This has to end.”
She sighed, laid her head back against the wall. “It does.”
“I’ll be back soon,” I whispered a second later.
She looked in my direction but stared through me.
“Okay.” A single word in a voice that gave away nothing and told me everything.
Then she jumped up from the bed and walked out of the room.
I reached for her hand and stopped her, holding it for a moment, my eyes locked with hers.
I was searching for something, but I didn’t find it.
Her face was serene. Her lips weren’t held taut like they were when she held in a curse.
They were soft, pliant, and I couldn’t help but remember kissing them, remembering how she’d yielded to me, looking into my eyes with something like wonder in hers.
Not now, though.
There was no wonder in her eyes, no anger.
No want.
There was nothing at all.
My heart kicked with the realization I couldn’t deny.
She wanted me.
She hated me.
Now she was done.
I let her hand go. “I need the truck.”
“You know where the keys are.”
She walked away, and I watched her go.
I shouldn’t have risked doing that, but I did. Wanted to stay, but I didn’t linger. Instead, I left the house, hoping my memory of the booby traps on the farm was true.
Asia was hurting. I caused that, and I’d have to deal with it. But that would take time that neither of us had. But there was something I could handle quickly.
I should have stopped her, forced her to listen until she understood, but there’d be time for that.
First things first.
I took Levi’s truck, thankful I could pop the clutch without kicking on the engine. I made sure Elliot saw me but wanted to get away without waking Miles. The kid would have questions, and now wasn’t the time to talk.
Once I was far enough away from the house to risk it, I turned on the truck and made my way to town.
The moon was bright enough that I didn’t risk the lights.
I didn’t need to. The road was as clean as any I’d ever seen, no trash, no abandoned cars, certainly no bodies. There weren’t even that many leaves.
That cleanness only confirmed I was right. Asia didn’t like this. It didn’t matter. I failed Evan. I was not going to fail Miles, fail her. My baby.
Christopher had to go.
That was the only option.
As I got closer to town, I grew more confident in my decision.
All the resources he wasted keeping the streets clean, stealing scraps from Asia, and there wasn’t a guard in sight. This road led to the heart of town. With the muscle he had, I shouldn’t have been able to get within five miles of this place.
It could have been a ruse, but my gut told me it wasn’t.
Christopher was too arrogant, too used to intimidating pregnant women and old men.
He wouldn’t even consider a frontal attack.
A blind spot I’d use to my advantage. I just hoped I didn’t have to kill too many of the others, but that was for them to decide.
I’d kill as few or as many as I needed to get my point across.
And then I’d be free to focus on proving to Asia that I wasn’t going anywhere and making a safe place for her and my baby.
I left the truck about a mile outside of town and set off on foot. I packed light, an AR and ammo, two nine-millimeters, and the knife I strapped to my ankle, so the jog in was easy.
It was dark, but I saw enough to know I still hated this fucking place. A few things had changed since I was last here. I’d expected fortifications, but instead found a beautification project. The streets were lined with blue fifty-gallon barrels with fake flowers stuck inside.
Main Street had three neatly lined hopscotch boards and two four square courts. A partially deflated pink and green neon ball lay off to one side, and a banner that said COMMUNITY in blocky black letters was strung between the sheriff’s department and the diner.
And it was quiet.
Too fucking quiet.
I fought to keep my unease at bay, but it crept up my spine with every second that ticked by.
A half hour into my search, and I didn’t see a single soul.
When I made it to the end of Main Street, I headed towards the water tower.
There was a modular office out front. It was probably a construction office before, but now, located next to the best vantage point, it made a perfect guard station.
Bingo.
Having finally spotted someone, I slowly approached the office and had my gun at the man’s head before he woke up from his nap. He sat in a foldable camp chair, with three other chairs flanking him.
Those chairs were empty, but someone was here. There was an opened can of potted meat that was half-eaten, two crumpled plastic water bottles, a shot glass.
“Take me to Christopher,” I said to the man.
“I—”
I pressed the gun to his head harder. “No bullshit. Take me to him.”
The man hit my forearms, struggling to break my hold. “He’s gone,” the man said.
“What do you mean he’s gone?”
“He’s not here. He’s—”
I jammed my knife into the man’s temple. He dropped in an ignominious heap when I let him go.
I paid him no attention and moved before I wiped the blood off my knife.
Christopher wasn’t here.
But I knew where he was.
I set off in a dead sprint.