Thirty
Asia
Two Weeks on the Road
“Not so bad of a day today,” I said.
Jack finished setting up the perimeter and circled with Miles at his side.
Two weeks out on the road, and we were pretty good at this.
We hung cans on string around four or five trees to create a sleeping area.
Another setup a few feet away served as an early warning system.
I smiled as Jack walked up. The stubble on his jaw was well on its way to a full beard and sprinkled through with gray.
“Who would have thought the end of the world would make your hair turn gray?” I said.
He rubbed his cheek and then shook his head.
“I don’t know if it was the end of the world that did that. I’ve never let it grow out this much.”
“That’s surprising,” I said.
“Why?”
“You don’t strike me as the type who’s super into manscaping or beard-scaping? Whatever.” I shrugged.
“You ever had a beard?” he asked, his brows raised.
“Not this lifetime.”
“They’re itchy as shit.” He rubbed his jaw as if to emphasize the point.
I smiled, and Jack turned his lips up in a soft almost smile that I knew was just for me. That expression did something to me.
It made me feel things more dangerous than zombies.
“Can I get some help over here?” Caitlin cut in .
“Your girlfriend’s calling you.” I met Jack’s eyes, amused as I waited for his response.
He denied me that pleasure, though, and marched over to Caitlin without another word. I shook my head and smiled, refusing to be annoyed by Caitlin’s helpless routine.
She was very smart and excellent at reading people, but when it came to Jack, she had blinders on. I wondered if that had more to do with me than him, though I couldn’t blame her. And as much as I tried to ignore it, she and her antics got on my nerves.
Deep underneath—though not nearly deep enough—there was some jealousy, too.
Utterly ridiculous given the circumstances, but there nonetheless.
Not that Jack ever overtly responded to her advances. But that didn’t mean anything.
He didn’t treat me any differently than he did the others. In fact, Miles, and a distant second, Bridget, were the only ones of us that he treated with anything like tenderness.
Asia, it’s the end of the world and you’re worried about dick. Ridiculous, girl.
I needed to remind myself that this was about survival. Another seventy-five miles, and we would be at Uncle Levi’s.
That was what mattered.
And as perverse as it was, being petty about Jack was a nice distraction. As we got closer to Uncle Levi’s, I grew more worried. Would Uncle Levi take me in?
Was Uncle Levi even still there?
I didn’t know, and it scared the hell out of me.
“You know the routine,” Jack said after he left Caitlin.
We usually let him sleep first once we set up a perimeter.
His idea since he was the best equipped to handle things at night.
I missed being close to him at night, though. Missed the reassurance of his body heat, his steady breath that somehow made the night less dark.
“I’m up,” Jack said a few hours later.
The camp was dark, and everyone was asleep. I peered into the darkness, trying to see, and then made out another shape.
“You should sleep, Miles,” I whispered .
“Jack’s going to teach me how to keep watch,” Miles said.
“Okay,” I responded.
I lay down on the sleeping bag, trying not to think about how disgusting it was. We found it on a creek bed and never managed to get the smell out no matter how often we washed it.
It was still better than lying on the hard ground. But when I got to Uncle Levi’s, one of the first things I’d do was burn it and everything else I was wearing.
I drifted off, and what felt like a moment later, opened my eyes and took in the rising of the sun. A shadow fell over me, and I looked up into Caitlin’s smirking face. “You ready to rise for the day Your Highness?”
“Lay off, Caitlin,” Elliot said.
She shook her head. “Asia knows I’m just messing with her.”
I said nothing. Instead, I stood, stretched, and went to find a moment of privacy. Quite a hot commodity in this new world, but I found a tree, handled my business, and headed back toward the group.
A menacing voice froze me in place .
Before I could react, I felt something hard press against my back. “Don’t move.”
A spear of terror shot through my chest.
My knees went soft.
“You got a group over there?” He pressed the object deeper into my back. I wasn’t certain it was a gun, but I couldn’t take the risk.
One moment of inattention, and I put everyone at risk.
The man sounded older and was definitely a smoker.
I would also bet my entire fortune—which by now consisted of two pairs of clean socks and two dozen cans of those sausages that I hated—he wasn’t alone.
“No,” I said.
The blow came so fast, the world split into white light and roaring static. I staggered, my ears ringing.
“Wrong answer,” the man said, prodding my back with his gun again.
I barely heard him, let alone focused on what he was saying. I was still trying to figure out where he’d hit me. Before I could, I heard another voice. “Spotted them. ”
Another blow struck—the right side of my face, maybe?—and my ears rang louder.
The edges of my vision started to blur, and I worried I would black out.
I forced myself to stay conscious, but was unsteady on my feet as we moved through the woods. I didn’t want to fall, but stumbled and reached out to brace myself just before my face made contact with the ground.
“Get up!” The older man punctuated his words with a kick to my side.
Even though my head was swimming, my breaths sharp with the pain, I managed to pull myself to my feet. I’d only gone about two hundred yards away from camp, but the trek back felt like miles.
“We hit the jackpot, fellas,” the first man said.
I listened, hearing others, though I couldn’t say how many.
“Hello,” the first man said.
I looked up, seeing the shock on Lourdes’s face, but realized I didn’t see Bridget or Caitlin. I also realized that my eye was swelling, which impeded my vision.
“Asia!” Bridget yelled .
“Hold on a second there, Grandma,” one of the men said.
Caitlin stepped up and looked completely calm. I felt a moment’s hope, knowing Caitlin could talk almost anyone into anything. I prayed she’d use that skill to my benefit.
“What do you want?” Caitlin said.
“How about a trade, sweetheart?” the first man said.
“What kind of trade?” Caitlin responded.
“I let your friend here go and you give us all your stuff,” the man said.
“That’s not my friend,” Caitlin said.
“Caitlin!” Lourdes hissed.
Bridget just breathed an audible breath.
“Well, I don’t, and if?—”
Caitlin’s words were cut off by a blood-curdling scream.
We whirled around, and through my good eye, I saw Jack driving a knife into one of the men’s back.
He collapsed, his arms and legs twitching unnaturally.
The man next to him dropped his gun and raised his hands.
He didn’t have a chance to do anything else before Jack buried the same knife in his chest. There was a sickening squelch as he pulled it out, and as he ran toward us, I broke the other man’s gaze and stumbled, this time not able to catch myself.
I landed with a hard thud in the leaves and listened to the sound of grunting. I twisted, even though the world spun, and looked up.
Saw Jack’s hands around the man’s neck.
He squeezed, his grip getting tighter and tighter until the man’s breath was completely constricted. I saw the consciousness in his eyes start to fade, then heard a dull snap as Jack broke the man’s neck.
Then he dropped to his knees beside me, his still-bloody hands skimming over my shoulders, my arms, the side of my face.
Checking for blood, I was sure, though his touch was uncharacteristically tender, searching like he was trying to confirm I was really here. Touching me like I was the only thing keeping him alive.
“Asia,” he rasped, voice low and rough with something that made me want to throw myself into his arms.
“Yeah,” I responded, swallowing around the lump in my throat and the dull ache throbbing at my side.
His hand settled at the back of my neck, heavy in the most perfect way.
His touch was calm, conflicting with the tumult in his eyes.
“You could have—” He cut off, like he couldn’t even get the words out.
Then he met my eyes again, his gaze unwavering.
“Don’t ever do something that fucking stupid again. ”