Chapter Eight
C aroline sat stoically behind her desk once more, but this time I wasn’t alone. The office itself wasn’t large and with an additional six of us inside, it was a tight squeeze.
After Murphy and I had left the room to rejoin the others, ignoring the knowing looks from Sasha and Mina, he went about filling everyone in on my discussion with Caroline. Unsure if she intended for Elizabeth and the twins to be involved as well, I figured it was smart to finally fill her in on everything we had learned since arriving.
Elizabeth had immediately been taken aback, refusing for her children to participate in this meeting. I agreed with her and she decided to leave Stephanie and Lucas upstairs, playing with the other kids while we had this conversation.
I may have told Caroline that I was willing to do anything to survive, but there was one thing I couldn’t do and that was risking those kids' life. I had endured too much to protect them.
Tapping a pen against the counter, Caroline eyed us all, her lips pursed in concentration. This seemed to go on for minutes, the silence deafening, until Sasha finally broke.
“Are you going to tell us what you want?” Sasha asked on an annoyed exhale.
If possible, Caroline’s lips pursed tighter, her brows arching at the interruption of her thoughts.
“I see we have an ambitious one,” she said, dropping her pen and grabbing one of the maps she had shown me earlier.
Immediately, unease unfurled in my stomach, churning the contents of the lunch I had eaten before we came down. After one brief interaction, I was beginning to realize how Caroline operated, and I worried that Sasha had unknowingly volunteered to go out into the city.
Sliding the map in Sasha’s direction, she tapped an area that was circled in black pen. “This area is unknown. I sent three scouts out several weeks ago and they never returned. You will go.”
“I’ll go with her,” I blurted, the burn of several stares searing into my head.
I knew I had to speak up before one of the idiots with me, namely Aiden and Murphy, decided that they would volunteer. I knew what I had told Murphy. That Aiden and I would do this together. But what kind of sister would I be if I put his life at risk? And Murphy knew how I felt about him leaving the safety of this hotel.
Caroline smiled knowingly. There was never a doubt in her mind that I would be the one to volunteer, especially once she put the weight on someone else’s shoulders. As much as I hated it, I was as easy to read as an open book. And she had read every page in the time I had been with her this morning.
“Perfect. I normally send out scouts in groups of three for safety, but two will do. Unless anyone else would like to join?”
Clenching my teeth, I mentally begged for no one else to open their mouth. It was bad enough that Sasha was coming with me, but I knew she wouldn’t back out, no matter the danger. She was too stubborn.
The tension slowly bled from me as no one spoke up, but then a soft voice sounded, my shoulders tightening.
“I’ll go with them,” Mina whispered.
My head swiveled toward her, Sasha gripping her hand tightly. Mina met my stare, nodding slightly. I wanted to tell her that it was okay, that she didn’t need to come, but I saw the strength in her gaze. As much as I couldn’t sit back and watch others risk their lives, neither could she.
“Well, I wish you lot would have arrived sooner. I never had so many people willing to volunteer.” Caroline’s smile was all teeth, nothing friendly in the grin. She knew the word volunteer was used very loosely in this situation.
“If you plan to make it back before nightfall, I’d suggest you leave sooner rather than later,” she added, and my jaw dropped.
“You want us to go now?” I asked incredulously, and Murphy’s hand found mine.
“I’m sorry, are you under the impression we have the time to waste?” Again, the only reaction Caroline gave to my words was a single arched brow.
Grinding my teeth, I shook my head. I knew we didn’t have much time. Just as I knew arguing with this woman was futile. She had our safety in the palm of her hand, completely willing to crumble it at the slightest hint of disobedience.
“What about the rest of us?” Aiden asked, and I wanted to slap him upside the head.
All of us were proving all too easily that Caroline could do as she pleased with us. Belatedly, I was realizing our curious minds could be the death of us. Why couldn’t we have kept our mouths shut, taking the safety the hotel provided, and figured things out on our own?
“I have something in mind,” Caroline said, not giving anything away.
“My children,” Elizabeth interrupted, her voice firm. “They will not be involved.”
It wasn’t a question. Not even a suggestion. Elizabeth had already lost her husband and she wouldn’t be losing the only people she had left.
To my surprise, Caroline simply nodded, her fierce features gentling as she stared at the mother. “I have never, and will never, risk a child’s life. Of that, you can be positive.”
Maybe it was stupid of me to believe her. She had already proven that she didn’t have our best interests at heart. But the sadness in her eyes, the only emotion I had seen from the woman so far, told me she was being honest. Lucas and Stephanie would not be put in harm’s way, at least not by this woman.
Elizabeth nodded primly, going back to her silence, content with the answer. Caroline pushed the map closer to Sasha.
“I believe you three are going to be on your way?”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to sit here and listen to what other plans she had for the three left in the room. But I knew there was no point in pushing and so I stood from my chair, Mina and Sasha standing as well.
Before we could leave the room, Aiden wrapped me in his arms, whispering quiet words of encouragement. I was passed into Murphy’s embrace, his warm lips pressing against my forehead before I was shuffled toward the door.
Mina and Sasha waited for me as Elizabeth placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Be safe.”
With no other goodbyes to be had, the three of us walked out of the room and headed up the elevator to our room. We packed our bags quietly, shoving food and coats inside, just in case the trip took longer than anticipated.
As I zipped up the bag, my eyes landed on the empty gun on the bedside table, a magazine sitting next to it. Murphy had been leaving it there during the day, not wanting to scare any of the others here with the weapon.
Sasha must have seen the indecision on my face, the unease of carrying the weapon, because she stepped over to the table, loading the gun and sticking it into her bag.
“Better safe than sorry,” she mumbled, Mina and I nodding numbly.
The situation hadn’t quite hit me yet. I knew we were going out into the city. But there were thousands of people milling about, the streets seemingly safer than anywhere back in Montana. However, Caroline’s words haunted me. The way she so simply stated that the last scouts hadn’t returned.
The fear of those words sat heavy on my chest and followed me as we stepped out of the hotel and back into the unknown.
Sasha and I stared down at the map while Mina spun in a circle. We stood off in a corner of the sidewalk, dozens of people sliding past us, barely sparing us a glance. They hurried off to wherever they were needed and at any other time I probably would have scrutinized them, trying to pinpoint exactly where they were rushing to, what they were possibly working on.
I didn’t have the time to do that today as I continued to stare at the map. Finally, Sasha gave up, letting out an aggravated growl.
“Why can we not figure this out?” She groaned, holding the map closer to her face as if that would help.
Turns out that three adult women who had somehow survived a ridiculous amount were about to be bested by a map. And it wasn’t some flimsy, hand-drawn map either. The streets were all labeled, landmarks and the like dotted on the page, and yet, I was absolutely clueless about where we were.
Unfortunately, it had taken us about two hours of walking to realize we were maybe going in the wrong direction. And I didn’t have high hopes that we’d even be able to retrace our steps to the hotel. Not that I thought that was a good idea. Caroline’s reaction if we showed up empty-handed was not something I wanted to experience.
Pressing my face into the map like Sasha, I scanned the streets, eyeing the dark circle we were supposed to be heading toward. The circle ended near Lake Michigan, which meant we were headed toward the large expanse of water that took up the north end of the map. Obviously, that should indicate we should walk north. Now, if only I knew which direction north was in.
“Mina, your help would be greatly appreciated,” Sasha called out and I turned, nerves skating up my arms when I didn’t immediately spot her notable red hair.
“Where did she go?” I asked and Sasha dropped the map, immediately turning in a circle. When she wasn’t able to pinpoint her, she turned to me with fear lining her eyes.
Letting out a relieved sigh, she gripped my arm, pulling me through a crowd of people, until I also spotted Mina. However, the nerves didn’t fade when I saw she was talking to a woman dressed in business attire.
Caroline hadn’t explicitly stated we couldn’t talk to anyone, but the implication was there. Plus, knowing that nearly all the people in the city worked for the government didn’t send hope through me that they’d be helpful.
“Thank you so much.” Mina’s words were soft and kind as she turned from the woman.
Hurrying over to us, she pushed us forward, looking over her shoulder before turning off into a small alley between two buildings.
“What are you doing? We don’t split up,” Sasha berated her and Mina’s cheeks flushed pink, but she stared her down nonetheless.
“I wasn’t splitting up. But we were getting nowhere with this thing.” She flicked the map that Sasha still held. “So, I decided to ask for directions, like a normal person.”
“And she gave them to you?” Sasha asked, bewildered.
Mina’s cheeks turned pink once again and she shrugged. “She thought I was a kid.”
A laugh bubbled out of me, my hand slapping over my mouth as I tried to contain the sound. The noise broke the tension we had all been feeling and the two chuckled softly, the three of us sharing a smile.
“So you know where we’re going?” I asked, wrapping my arm around Mina’s shoulder as we shuffled out of the alley and back onto the sidewalk.
“I do. Unfortunately, we walked in the complete opposite direction.”
As if the universe knew of the positivity swirling between us, a somber cloud of reality hit us.
“We aren’t making it back to the hotel before the night, are we?”
Sasha’s shoulders slumped as Mina agreed and I rested my head against Mina’s as I closed my eyes. One step in the right direction, one thousand steps into danger.