Chapter 16 #2
He nods as the other two stare at the sign. “Yeah, we’ve traded with them before.” The guys all look at one another and I just know they’re having a silent conversation with each other.
Finally, Theo nods. “They’re not bad people. Some of them are questionable, but Mark’s a good guy.”
Alex inclines his head toward me. “One of us should be with her at all times.”
“Agreed,” Rhys answers with a nod.
“You do realise that I’m right here, able to listen to what you’re saying, right?” I grumble with a scowl. “You want to fill me in?”
Alex, at least, has the decency to look apologetic while Theo just smirks and Rhys shrugs.
“Fine. The Lodge is a safe place to spend the night, but you’ll need to be with one of us at all times,” Rhys says in a stern, brooks no argument voice as he gives me a hard look. “I mean it, Ollie. No wandering off by yourself.”
I roll my eyes. “You make it seem like I don’t care about my safety.”
He shoots me a deadpan look. “After what’s happened since we met, I’m not so sure.”
I glare at him. Prick.
He sighs and rakes a hand through his short, chocolate brown hair. “Just do as you’re told, at least while we’re there.”
“I was going to anyway,” I argue back. “I’m not stupid, Rhys. I understand that it’s not rainbows and unicorn farts out here. I want to live and stay safe just as much as you do.”
He grunts, not looking convinced, but the man smartly moves on. “Let’s move before the last of the light disappears. I don’t want to fight my way there.” He stalks off and the three of us hastily follow.
It doesn’t take us long to find the Lodge.
It’s set in what used to be a motorway services, the trees so thick and overgrown that unless you come across the sign, you’d never know it’s there.
As we traipse down the access ramp toward it, the hair on the nape of my neck stands on end and an itch forms between my shoulder blades.
We’re being watched.
I palm my bow and nock an arrow as my eyes scan the dense forest that surrounds us.
The guys must feel it too because their hands inch close to their weapons as they too flick their gazes around.
Ketchup chirps before flying off into the trees, while Harlow growls with her hackles raised and her lips pulled back to show her fangs.
Beneath me, Bean snorts and tenses, her muscles coiled as she readies herself to spook at whatever is making everyone nervous.
Rhys moves ahead of us, his movements precise and surprisingly graceful.
There’s no way in hell this man wasn’t in the military at some point in his life.
He moves with confidence even when there’s a sense of danger lurking in the shadows.
It’s reassuring to have him up front, ready to tackle anything that comes our way.
And sexy as hell. But it’ll be a cold day in hell before I tell him that.
The further down the access road we travel, the more my back itches and the tenser I become. The Lodge comes into view and so does an enormous iron gate that stretches across the road, blocking our path. Two men stand on the other side of the gate, their faces obscured by the descending darkness.
“State your name and purpose!” one man shouts. “If you’re gang, I suggest you turn back now before you get your heads blown off! Or maybe we’ll just leave you for the dead to eat!”
Well, don’t they sound welcoming.
Rhys stops and the rest of us follow. In the dim light, I can see the muscles on his back bunching and his head moving from side to side as if checking out our peripheries. It’s a subtle movement, one that I’m sure the men at the gate wouldn’t have noticed.
“Call off your guard dogs, Mark!” Rhys hollers toward the gate.
There’s a pause. “Rhys? Is that you?” is the reply, presumably from Mark. I’m guessing he’s the leader of this place.
“Well, I’m sure as shit not anyone else,” Rhys shouts back before he walks forwards again.
The tension is still there, his body ready to pounce at the first sight of danger even though he appears relaxed.
“We need a place to stay for the night. You gonna let us in?” he asks as he stops closer to the gate.
“Who’s this ‘us’ you’re talking about?” I can hear the suspicion in Mark’s voice. I don’t blame him. We’re a bunch of strangers who’ve just shown up at his door just before nightfall; we could be anyone.
“You know the boys; Theo and Alex.” Rhys inclines his head back toward the two men standing next to Bean. “And the woman sitting on the horse is Ollie.”
“A woman, huh? That’s new,” the other man says with a chuckle. “I thought you’d sworn them off after that she-devil of an ex-wife.”
“Don’t remind me,” Rhys grumbles.
That piques my interest. Rhys had a wife? Where is she? It sounds like he’s not happy to bring her up and none of the guys have said anything about her during our journey. Granted, I’ve shut down all personal conversations, but still…
I lean forward in the saddle, as if getting closer will allow me to gleam more information out of this exchange, then catch myself with a scowl. Distance, remember? I scold myself as I shove all thoughts of Rhys and his ex-wife from my mind.
“Alright. If you guys want to come up, I’ll open the gate and we can find you someplace to spend the night,” Mark says after a moment of talking quietly with his companion.
As Theo and Alex step up to the gate, I slide down from the saddle and follow while leading Bean.
Harlow trots beside me, her earlier tension gone as her tongue lolls out from the side of her mouth.
I spy Ketchup flying between the trees to find a place to roost for the night.
She’ll probably find me in the morning and badger me until I give her a treat.
The gates swing open with a high-pitched squeal as all four of us reach them.
Lights explode to life on either side, illuminating what used to be the car park to the motorway services.
Now it’s a bustle of activity, with more people than I’ve seen since the world went to shit milling around various camp fires that flicker in the dark.
Several white marque tents dot the concrete expanse with people streaming in and out of it.
There’s a hum of excitement in the air as people closest to the gate stop and turn their curious gazes toward us.
“Olivia?” a vaguely familiar masculine voice asks from the side.
I whip my eyes over toward the voice as the colour drains from my face and nausea claws at my throat. Surely in the apocalypse, my life can’t possibility get any more fucked up. And yet there he stands, right next to the gate.
The first man to break my heart.