Chapter 5 #2
Eventually the all clear comes through the walkie and we start up again. Several more hours of driving pass before we finally turn off onto a rough, bumpy road before stopping again.
“You can take that off now,” he tells me. I yank the damn bandana off and blink several times as my eyes adjust. It’s still light out, but the sun will be setting soon. “We’re stopping for the night.”
He hops out of the truck and stretches his arms.
“Goodie,” I mutter dryly as I open my door and get out.
I stretch too, moaning quietly as my muscles unknot.
I glance around and realize why the blindfold wasn’t necessary for the night: we’re in a small clearing completely surrounded by trees, no distinguishing landmarks to be seen.
The vehicles have been pulled around to form a barrier between the tree line and the center of the clearing.
Some of the men are unpacking sleeping bags and bedrolls, even a few tents, while others start a couple of fires.
They’ve done this before. So, this must be a typical stopping point for them along the way then, and I’ll admit, defensively, between the trees and the vehicles creating barriers, it’s a good one.
“You can take care of anything that may be pressing that way,” Traeger says, nodding towards a small path between two black SUVs.
“Privately?” I ask with an arched brow.
“Semi-privately.”
He beckons to Wynn with two fingers. Well, if I have to be escorted to pee, I suppose Wynn is a better option than Jett.
He’s still throwing murderous looks my way, and it makes my skin prickle.
Not in fear, but in anticipation. He’ll make a move, I know it.
Not tonight, but one day, he will come for me—and he won’t be ready for what happens when he does.
I suppress a smile at the thought, telling that dark, twisted part of me to quiet down.
“Don’t suppose I get a weapon to protect myself?”
Traeger smiles at me, and I hate how attractive it is.
“The area has been thoroughly swept, no weapons needed, I promise.” His smile fades and his features grow serious. “You’re smart, Melody. I’m assuming I don’t need to tell you how bad of an idea it would be for you to try to run?”
I nod, telling him I won’t do anything stupid, and his smile returns.
He jerks his chin, telling me to get on with it then, so I sigh and waltz towards the opening with my shoulders back and my hair swishing behind me.
I never leave the safety of the walls with it loose like this, but I hadn’t exactly been in the best state of mind when we left The Cove.
I’d been too focused on not falling apart and saying goodbye to the only people I love in this world.
I may be a prisoner for all intents and purposes, but I won’t act like one.
I won’t cower and I make it clear with every line of my body that if they want to break me, they better come ready for a long, long fucking fight.
Some of the group give me inquisitive glances or incline their heads in greeting.
Some glare at me. A handful give me unmistakable looks of wanting.
Those are the ones I’ll keep in my sights.
“Sorry about this,” Wynn says quietly as we make our way out of the circle of vehicles and walk a short distance into the tree line. There’s a thick group of bushes a few yards away that will provide a little bit of privacy. He hands me one of the flashlights and a roll of toilet paper.
“Not much room for modesty in the apocalypse,” I say as I take the offerings and throw him a mock salute that makes him laugh.
I wind my way around the bushes, trying not to get snagged on the prickers.
I don’t tell Wynn that my modesty had been long gone before the end of the world.
I’d been collecting beads at Mardi Gras since I was sixteen and had grown up hunting and camping with my cousins—no ladies rooms out in the backwoods.
Wynn continually makes noises while he waits—coughing, rustling leaves with his feet, talking about football. I actually grin. I can’t understand why someone who seems so good is working for Traeger. Maybe his family is being held at FOS and he has to work to keep them safe?
When things are all taken care of, we make our way back to the campsite, and Traeger is waiting for us by the truck.
“You’ll sleep in here,” he says, nodding to the back of the truck.
Do I imagine the quick glance he shoots at Jett across the clearing?
I spy over the edge and see that a sleeping bag had been laid out inside the bed of the truck.
I shrug, grab my pack from the cab, and hop up onto the tailgate.
Wynn stands nearby as Traeger makes his rounds to speak to some of the men, probably planning for the rest of the trip.
I wonder how much longer we have before we get to FOS.
I can’t deny that I’m intensely curious about the place, despite the fact that I wish with everything in me that I wasn’t going there.
It’s like getting a chance to check out Area 51 or something.
Who wouldn’t be a little excited for that?
Food starts being doled out and, to my surprise, I’m handed a can of green beans and some sort of jerky by a short, stocky guy with a long, bushy orange mustache. I take it with a nod of thanks and he bustles along without a word.
“You look surprised,” Traeger says as he walks back over to the truck.
“Figured starvation was part of the Hostage Package at FOS.”
He gives me one of those inscrutable looks again, studying me in a way that makes me uneasy, but then his lips curl up at the corners as he leans his elbows on the edge of the truck bed.
“You have a lot to learn about me.”
“I know everything I need to.”
He shrugs and though it’s nonchalant, there’s a sense of challenge there that makes me narrow my eyes. He straightens and slaps the truck where his arms were just resting.
“Sleep well, Melody.”
Things settle down pretty quickly after that as everyone finishes eating and hunkers down to sleep.
Sixteen men sleep on the ground around the campfires or in the tents, and the missing four must be on patrol.
Wynn and Traeger round out the group of twenty-two, standing near the truck.
I won’t be sleeping, but I’ll pretend to.
Maybe Wynn and Traeger will be chatty and I can glean some new information about…
well, anything, really. Any intel is good intel.
They talk quietly, but move far enough out of earshot that I can’t make out much.
I sigh in frustration and roll onto my back, staring up at the sky.
The stars shine so much brighter now without all the smog and city lights blocking them out.
I try to focus on them and the beauty that I wish so many other people were still around to share with me.
I try not to let myself think of Jonah, of how he’d looked as we drove away from him today.
Before I can stop it, my mind drifts back instead.
Back to the beginning of the end.