5. CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
After six days and finding very little in the way of supplies, they split their search party into two and went in different directions. Leandro was still riding with Weston, and instead of dreading spending time with him, he found himself enjoying every moment of it. For some reason, that helped lessen the fear of not having as many people to help keep them safe.
In all, they had six people per group. Besides himself and Weston, the other truck had Griggs, another Alpha, and Basel, an Omega that had been saved shortly before the attack. On the horses were Oxley, an Alpha, and Kelce, who not only was an Omega but was taught to be a great fighter by his family before he’d been captured.
In all, it was a great team to have watching each other’s backs. Leandro just hoped it would be enough, and they’d all make it back. On top of that, he prayed they would find supplies that would get Sanctuary through another attack.
They needed more than medical supplies. Food was good, thanks to Lowen, but they were short of building materials, solar panels, and even clothing or materials to make their own clothes.
Leandro and his friends had left with most of their things. Unfortunately, the Omegas that came to them often didn’t even have any clothes on them since they were often used for sex. Even working around the clock, they couldn’t fix enough housing for everyone, forcing people to double or sometimes even quadruple up in a room.
The situation may seem bleak, yet despite how difficult it was to help so many, they all pulled together like a real community. Each person doing their part. Sanctuary gave them hope for a future. One free of oppression and the fear of being kidnapped and sold as a slave.
“Do you think we’re ever going to find any supplies?” he asked Weston hoping to hear a positive response.
As they had been doing for the past few days, Weston reached for his hand and entwined their fingers before bringing them up to kiss the back of Leandro’s hand. “I believe we’ll find so much, not even four trucks will carry it all.”
Even though he damn well knew Weston was just saying that to make him feel better, Leandro somehow did. Even worse, he couldn’t stop smiling at Weston as if he held the power to heal the pain and hurt Leandro had harbored since childhood when his Alpha father made it clear he was less than nothing.
His Omega father tried to make up for how he was treated by his Alpha father and three Alpha brothers, but there was little he could do. Even if he spent extra time with Leandro, or taught him to cook, or even gave him small gifts that were supposed to have been for him, all of it got wiped away the moment his father or brothers came home and started berating him.
Who was he kidding? Leandro hadn’t been the only one who was made to feel inferior. His Omega dad had been treated the same way.
It had taught him that as an Omega, he would never be treated any other way. Until Weston. The thing was, that concept was so ingrained in him he still wasn’t entirely certain he could trust Weston. Yet, he had hope.
“I mean it,” Leandro insisted. “Are we really going to find anything? We’ve been out here for six days, and the few things we’ve found aren’t exactly that helpful.”
Weston shrugged. “I was with the last group to scavenge for things we needed, and it seemed hopeless then, too. Then one day, we came upon a town that had not everything we needed but a lot. It was the omen that gave us the momentum to keep searching.”
Leandro had heard that story and he had to admit, Weston was right. The group had nearly been ready to quit when they found a veterinarian's office that had been completely skipped. Some supplies weren’t exactly the same, but since the world went to hell, doctors and nurses had learned to use whatever they had on hand.
Leandro felt his hand being squeezed tighter. “The biggest obstacle is to overcome feeling defeated when not finding supplies. We must never give up.” Weston was right.
If only it were that easy.
“I know you said we needed faith. We would find something. But neither team has, and it has now been twelve days.” If the roads weren’t so hazardous to travel, causing them to barely move or risk either popping another tire-they were running low on extras-or one of the horses getting seriously injured.
They communicated briefly through walkie-talkies that Ford had plugged into the trucks so they wouldn’t need batteries. Using them was risky when it was possible a group of Alphas might intercept them, but they kept their conversations very brief and coded.
They only confirmed they were still on target with where they were supposed to be each morning and if they’d found anything. The only other time they were to use them was if they were under attack or if they found a large enough stash of goods that the other team was needed. Since they’d separated, they only had spoken in the mornings.
On the one hand, that was good, since it meant no one was after them. On the other hand, it meant no one had found anything.
They had just entered northern Idaho, while the other group was already traversing mid to southern Idaho. Since going north would lead Leandro’s group into Canada, something they weren’t willing to risk as they did not know where their population was centered, they headed a bit south until they hit the town of Sandpoint, Idaho. It hadn’t been a big town based on how many buildings it had, but according to Kelce, sometimes that was a good thing as they were skipped for bigger places by those fleeing the east.
Especially when it was surrounded by a lake and mountains. It would be somewhere you had to know about and was far enough off the main interstate that one wouldn’t deviate to it for a chance of finding anything useful. That said, anyone who had been living in the area would know and probably would have taken all they could.
“I think we might have found our town.” Weston even sounded happy when he said it. Leandro was still a bit skeptical until Weston pointed to the town down the mountain range they were currently on. “Only a few buildings are damaged, which probably means hordes of people didn’t tear it apart trying to get what they could.”
Leandro felt his heart speed up as his eyes were glued to the scene below them. When Weston pulled off the road onto a service road, Leandro shouted at him, “What are you doing? We need to check it out.”
“It’s also almost nightfall and the last thing we need to do is get stuck in that town overnight when we do not know what we’re getting into.” Weston was right, but it was so close, and Leandro needed to know if they’d finally found what they’d been looking for.
Grabbing Weston’s arm in a steely grip, Leandro pleaded with him. “But we have to find out. There may be nothing there, which would mean we’ve wasted two hours sitting up here when we could keep going.”
“Look.” Weston cupped Leandro’s cheeks with both hands. “I’ll go with Kelce to scope out the place on horseback, but it would be suicide for all to go down there. For all we know, the reason it’s so intact is that people live down there.”
Shaking his head, Leandro opened his mouth to argue, but Weston placed his index finger over Leandro’s lips, stopping him. “I get it. I do. But we have to be smart about this. Even if we’re willing to risk our lives, us dying would mean Sanctuary will not only be down fighters, but they won’t get the supplies they desperately need.”
Closing his eyes, Leandro willed the tears that threatened to fall from doing so as he nodded.
“Morning will be here soon enough,” Weston reminded him. “Then we’ll go down, assuming Kelce and I don’t see any trouble. Got it?”
As much as he hated it, Leandro nodded. “Fine,” he mumbled against Weston’s finger.
Then he flung open his door and slammed it shut in anger. He could hear Weston sigh as he got out of the car quietly to meet up with the others and tell them the plan.
Fifteen minutes later, Weston and Kelce, armed with weapons, a few granola bars, and some water, headed down the mountain through the trees on horses. The rest of them quickly set up camp. It was far colder up in the mountains, but a fire would be too risky, so they had to settle for huddling in their sleeping bags while they ate jerky, fruit, and raw vegetables. That had been their diet for most meals.
It wasn’t exactly ideal, but it was better than possibly alerting any alphas nearby with the light from a fire or the smell of smoke.
Anxiously waiting, Leandro kept his eyes on the trail the horses had left for any sign of Weston or Kelce. He might have wanted to head down right away, but the thought of something happening to Weston had knots growing rapidly in his stomach, causing him to throw up the little he’d gotten down after they’d left.
For the first time in his life, Leandro silently pleaded with God, for he honestly wasn’t certain what he would do without the Alpha who had broken through all his walls.