“You got a problem with me? You wanna tell me what it is?” Brody snapped.
“I’ll tell you what the hell my problem is. You’re a coward, Brody. You sit around here and mope because your precious girlfriend isn’t herself. Hell, of course she isn’t herself. She spent weeks inside a prison camp full of men wanting to kill Americans. She’s lucky to be alive, but all you can do is wish she would be normal again!”
He got right in Brody’s face, spitting mad. “Wake up! All of us need to fucking wake up! None of us are normal! Cash lost his family. Maddie lost her dad. I lost my brother. I would give anything to have Ryder home right now even if he never uttered another word to me! At least then I would know he was alive.”
I flinched with each word, feeling his pain and mine.
Cash planted himself between Gavin and Brody, providing a solid wall of strength. “Hey, man, cool it,” he said to Gavin. “Brody’s just trying to take care of Eva. You would do the same thing if you had a girlfriend.”
Gavin turned his attention to me. His gaze ran down my body quickly. “Why are you still in wet clothes?” he scowled, walking around the table to stand directly in front of me.
I stared at the floor, refusing to look at him. He reminded me so much of Ryder that it hurt.
“Maddie?” he asked again when I didn’t answer.
Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. Like a light coming on, the idea brightened my mind.
“I’m going with you,” I said, looking up at him. I hoped he saw the determination in my eyes and not the sorrow.
“Hell, no!”
“I’m a good shot. I can help,” I said, sticking my chin up and daring him to disagree.
“Ryder would kill me.”
“Yeah, he will but I’ll follow you. You know I will. Either take me with you or I’ll be right on your heels. Your choice.” I glanced at Cash then back at Gavin. They looked at me like I was crazy. So did Brody. I didn’t care. I was going.
“Sounds like the decision has already been made,” Cash muttered, glancing at Gavin.
“Yeah, it has. I want to be there when you find him,” I said.
“If we find him,” Gavin added.
Those words crashed into me, almost knocking me off my feet. But gravity kept me upright. Just like the hope I would never lose.
Chapter Three
I watched as Ryder bounced the tennis ball off of the floor and caught it in his hand. Bounce. Catch. Bounce. Catch. His eyes stayed on the ball, not bothering to glance my way.
I swung my legs, hitting them against the hay bale beneath me. The dry sticks itched and poked but I liked my position. From here, I could look down on Ryder, instead of always looking up at him.
“So whatcha doing this weekend?” he asked, glancing up at me before bouncing the ball again.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing,” I said in my high-pitched voice.
“Why not?”
I shrugged again. He caught the ball and looked at me, waiting on my answer.
“Because I’m thirteen and my dad won’t let me go anywhere,” I pouted.
The corner of Ryder’s mouth lifted in a lopsided grin. He bounced the ball against the floor and caught it midair.
“Where do you want to go? If you could,” he asked, letting go of the ball again.
“On a date,” I answered, watching the ball smack the floor and fly back up.
His eyes shot to mine as he caught the ball in midair.
“With who?” he asked, sounding surprised. The grin on his face disappeared, replaced with a frown. I saw his body tighten as he shifted to his other foot, reminding me of someone suddenly uncomfortable.
My eyes grew round at the anger I heard in his voice. What had I said? I shrugged again. (A bad habit I had.) “You don’t know him.”
“Try me.”
I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them tightly. “David Peterson.”
He studied me. His gaze ran over my bony knees before looking back into my eyes. I rocked back on my bottom, ignoring the prickly straw beneath me as I waited for him to say something.
He glanced away and bounced the ball again. The sound of rubber against concrete ricocheted in the empty barn.
“Don’t know him,” Ryder said, sounding bored by the conversation.
“I said you wouldn’t. He’s in my language arts class. I think he’s thirteen but he may be a year older since I’m one of the youngest in class. His daddy owns the gas station on the outskirts of town. You know the one. Your mama took us there when we went to the circus a few years ago. Remember? She bought us Cokes and candy bars.” I blushed, realizing that I was yammering again. Another bad habit I had.
Ryder shrugged, indifferent. Catching the ball, he threw it across the barn. It hit the metal siding and made a loud noise that echoed in the night. I cringed, hoping it didn’t wake my dad.
“So what’s this David like?”
“He’s nice. Sometimes he gets detention but most of the time it’s for stupid stuff like snickering during class when we’re taking a test.”
Ryder studied me, waiting for me to say more. I wiggled, suddenly uncomfortable talking about a boy with him. Why, I don’t know.
“So he’s a loser?” Ryder asked, dead serious.
I laughed. “Just because he gets detention doesn’t make him a loser. You get detention all the time. What does that make you?”
I thought it was funny but Ryder didn’t blink. Or smile. He just stared at me with those eyes that reminded me of icicles. Yep, he was mad.
“You’re too young to date, Maddie,” he said, turning away and heading for the big barn doors.
“Who are you, my dad?” I called out, jumping down from my perch in the hay. My short legs hurried to catch up with him. I was always chasing after Ryder. It was aggravating but one of these days he would chase me. I just knew it. I couldn’t wait until that day came along.
He was almost to the barn doors when he stopped and turned to face me. I grew flustered as he stared down at me. I didn’t like those girls that giggled and flirted with him. This was Ryder. My best friend. I’ll admit that he was cute. All the girls thought so. And I could see it too. He had pretty blue eyes and a perfect face. But it was silly to think he was handsome. I couldn’t think of Ryder that way.
“I’m not your dad, Maddie, but I’m a guy. I know that boys your age only think about one thing.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stuck my hip out. Maybe I even stuck my lower lip out, I don’t know.
“And what is it guys think about? Kissing?” I smirked.
“Yeah. That’s one thing.”
“Eva kissed Scott just yesterday,” I pointed out.
“So?”
“So I’m not too young to kiss.”
Taking a step closer, his eyes flashed down at me. “Have you already kissed someone?”
“No,” I answered, fidgeting with the end of my braid.
“Good. Don’t.”
“But I want to.”
“No, you don’t. You don’t know the first thing about kissing. Or anything else,” he added, eyeing my chest and legs.
I blushed, feeling very vulnerable. I had never felt that way around Ryder before. It was a first.
Shaking his head with disapproval, he turned to leave.
“Teach me how to kiss,” I blurted out before he could get very far.
He swung around. His eyes were round with shock and disbelief. “What?”
Shuffling from foot to foot, I kicked the hay under my feet, thinking carefully about my next words. “Teach me how to kiss, Ryder. I don’t want some guy to think I’ve never done it before.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not teaching you how to kiss.”
“Why not? Its not like it will mean anything,” I argued, rolling my eyes.
“No.”
“Chicken?” I taunted, raising one eyebrow. I had hit a nerve. I knew Ryder could never resist a challenge.
His
eyes dropped down to my lips before glancing away, uneasy. He shifted to his other foot and stuck a hand in his back pocket. I could see his mind working, thinking over my insane request.
“Fine. One kiss.”
I grinned like a fool. “Okay. Let me get warmed up,” I said, flopping my arms around and dancing from foot to foot like I saw a wrestler do once on TV.
“This is serious business, Maddie,” Ryder said, chuckling.
My grin grew wider. I loved it when we teased each other.
“Got it. Kissing is serious business. What’s next?”
“Well, you gotta stand close. Like this.”
He stepped closer, leaving only an inch between us. His shirt brushed up against mine, leaving me all tingly inside. My breath caught and my grin slipped before I reminded myself that this was Ryder. A boy I had known forever.
“Okay. Stand close. Check. Now what?” I asked, smiling.
“Don’t let any guy touch you. Understand?”
“Then how do you kiss?” I asked, drawing my eyebrows together and loving every minute of aggravating him.
“Lips only. No hands,” he said, holding his hands out on either side of me.
I nodded. “Stand close. No touching. And?”
“And this…”
Without warning, he leaned down. Angling his head sideways, his lips fell onto mine. I stiffened, surprised. I never expected him to actually kiss me. My lips froze beneath his, unsure what to do.
He tasted like spearmint, my favorite gum. I decided right then and there that I liked this kissing thing. Grabbing a handful of his shirt, I parted my lips. I didn’t know what I was doing but I wanted more.
As soon as my fist tangled in his shirt, he put his hand on my waist and set me a foot away, breaking our sealed lips.
For a second we stood apart, staring at each other. I was too dumbfounded to say anything and he seemed to be angry about something. Finally, he broke the silence.
“That’s a kiss. Don’t let anyone else do it,” he grumbled.
Turning, he walked away, leaving me with a burning sensation on my lips and a funny feeling in my chest.
I knew I would never be the same again.
~~~~
My mind snapped back to the present. I stood in the same corner store that David Peterson’s father had owned so long ago. The same corner store where Ryder and I had bought candy bars and Cokes when we were kids. Now the place was abandoned, ransacked for supplies. Just a hollow place where the memories of yesterday lingered.
I pushed an empty carton out of the way and peered into the back of the shelf. The lack of sunlight made it almost impossible to see anything, making the search for food almost impossible. It didn’t matter because it was all gone. Emptied of everything but dust and dirt.
“You find anything, Maddie?” Gavin asked, stopping a few feet from me.
I pushed another box out of the way and almost squealed. A small can of Vienna sausages stared back at me. I grabbed them quickly, almost afraid they would disappear if I let them out of my sight.
“Just this,” I told Gavin, showing him the can. “What about you?”
“Nada.”
I stuffed the small can in my coat pocket and double-checked the shelf one more time. With Gavin following close behind me, I left the aisle and headed for the next one. As I turned the corner, I saw Cash rummaging through a bin that once might have held candy bars or chips. He looked up as we approached, his face grim. He didn’t find anything. We were hoping for cans of sardines or some energy bars. Anything to fill the empty gnawing of our stomachs. I was secretly hoping to find a bottle of prenatal vitamins. But everything was gone.
I opened my mouth to suggest we leave when men’s voices came from the front of the store.
“Where the hell did they go?” someone shouted, followed by the sound of running feet.
Another man answered but I couldn’t hear what was being said over the pounding of my heart.
Cash, Gavin, and I stood frozen, stunned that we weren’t alone anymore. ‘What do we do? What do we do?’ replayed again and again in my mind.
Suddenly, Cash and Gavin flew into action. Gavin grabbed my wrist, making me jump. With a firm grasp on me, he started running down the aisle, almost dragging me in his haste. Cash followed, walking backwards as he quietly pumped a shell into the chamber of his shotgun and kept an eye on the aisle.
Gavin hauled me around a metal shelf that once had held boxes of cereal or cans of coffee. I glanced over my shoulder once or twice, terrified I would see men chasing us. But I only saw Cash, following us with a raised gun.
The men’s voices rose, coming closer. Gavin sped up, never letting go of me. Cash stayed on my heels, providing protection against our nameless pursuers.
We ran through the store, trying not to make any noise. Scared didn’t begin to describe how I felt. Terrified didn’t even come close. My heart pounded so hard I was sure the men would hear it.
We turned a corner and headed down another aisle. As we ran, Gavin glanced back. His gaze darted past my head, his pupils rounding.
“Holy hell!” he yelled, breaking our silence.
Before I could comprehend what was happening, he shoved me to the floor. I hit the linoleum hard, the breath knocked out of my lungs. My chin hit the cold, dirty floor, rattling my teeth and causing me to bit the inside of my mouth, bringing blood. Grime lay beneath me, coating me from head to toe. My hands landed in something wet but I didn’t have time to worry about what it was.
From under my hood, I glanced up. Three men were rushing toward us. The one in front reminded me of a huge beast charging in anger, focused only on us and nothing else.
I tried to scramble backward but Gavin had a hand flat on my back, holding me down. I heard the familiar sound of a shotgun being pumped above me. Peeking up, I found that both Gavin and Cash had their guns aimed, loaded, and pointed at the strangers.
The big man didn’t falter. The sight of a gun would have warned most adult men to back off but not this one.
“STOP!” Gavin shouted, removing his hand from my back to raise his gun.
Free now, I scrambled to my hands and knees. I was shaking so badly I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to support my weight.
Gavin and Cash stepped in front of me, providing cover as the man roared and picked up speed, slipping on the slick floor in the progress.
“Get out of here, Maddie!” Gavin shouted.
I didn’t have to be told twice. Turning, I took off running. My tennis shoes squeaked on the fake tile floor as I ran. I didn’t get very far when I hit something slick on the floor. My shoes lost traction and I started to fall. I grabbed the shelf next to me, holding on for dear life. The metal edge pierced my hand, leaving a long shallow cut in my palm. I hissed at the pain but regained my footing. Desperate to leave, I let go of the shelf and took off running, rounding the corner quickly.
Where do I go? I didn’t know the store very well. Cash, Gavin, and I had entered through a broken window in front but I didn’t think I could get out that way. The strangers probably had it blocked.
I glanced right and left, trying to think straight as fear increasingly consumed me. To my right were refrigerated doors that once held beer and soda. Now they sat empty. Useless. To my left was the way out, but the strangers were there, hunting us. We’re trapped. A large swinging door at the back caught my eye. It was marked DELIVERY. My way out!
Worry for Cash and Gavin had me hesitating for a second. Run! Go! They can take care of themselves, the voice inside my head screamed. Listening to my gut instincts, I broke into a run. I could hear yelling, but I didn’t stop. Jumping over an empty box, I narrowly missed the sharp edges of a counter that had fallen down.
I was so focused on making it to the door that I never saw the man. He appeared out of nowhere, jumping in front of me. One minute I was alone, the next I was inches away from a complete stranger.
“Well, hello darling,” he smirked, looking me up
and down.
I swallowed hard with fright and took a step back. My foot landed on some broken glass and I heard it crunch menacingly beneath my feet. The yelling behind me faded. All I could hear was the air rushing in and out of my lungs.
The man started walking toward me. Stalking me. He was young. Maybe my age. The red flannel jacket he wore was dirty and full of holes. And the smell rolling off of him…God, the smell!
I covered my nose with the sleeve of my coat and watched as he fingered something in his hand. A knife. He flipped it around, twirling it with his fingers like a pencil. I felt fear rise up in me when I remembered another man with a knife.
“It’s just you and me, sweetheart. Why don’t we git to know each other better?” he said, grinning. “You look like you gotta be a whole lotta fun.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Walking backwards, I glanced around, searching for a weapon. Worry for my unborn child was the only thing on my mind. My gaze caught on the delivery door again. If I can make it past him, I might be able to get out of here.
The man must have guessed what I was going to do. A brutal look replaced his grin as he stopped flipping his knife. With a roar, he rushed me.
I scampered to the side, out of his line of attack. His hand reached for me just as a gunshot went off. Blood splattered across my face as the man fell backwards, clutching his shoulder.
“RUN MADDIE!” Gavin screamed behind me.
I whirled around. He was standing with his feet spread, shotgun pointed at my would-be attacker. When shouts came from the front of the store, he swung the shotgun that direction.
“RUN!” he shouted again, keeping his eyes focused down the barrel of the gun.
I took off, skirting around the man clutching his shoulder and writhing on the floor. As I ran, I wiped the wetness off of my face, trying not to think about a stranger’s blood on me.
I was almost to the delivery door when it hit me. The nausea. The rolling in my stomach. No, not now! I wrapped an arm around my middle and gritted my teeth. With my free hand, I pushed open the metal door and hurried inside. Near the back of the supply room, I could see a small square of light, indicating a way out.