"It's so much greener here," she whispered.
The pen stopped scratching across the paper as Donald froze. He'd been busily transferring the pages that she, Carl, Al, Xander, Riley, and John had given him this morning into his notebook. She'd never enjoyed writing before. She'd always hated having to do any writing for school, and book reports had been a special form of torture as she'd never been much of a reader either. When Donald had asked if they would be willing to write about what was happening to them, and about some of their life before all of this had started, she'd assumed that she would hate doing it. In fact, she'd never thought she would be able to do it.
Surprisingly, the words had just poured out of her and she'd probably revealed more of herself than she'd intended to a man she barely knew. However, once she'd started writing she couldn't stop. The experience had been almost cathartic, as she'd poured her heart and soul onto those pieces of paper. There had even been things she'd forgotten about, like Rita's dog, Moogie. Writing her experiences down had helped her to recall things that had been buried beneath the continuous demands of their every day survival.
Glancing over at the papers in Donald's hands, she recognized Carl's chicken scratch at the top of the pages. She was curious what the others had disclosed about themselves in the pages on Donald's lap. She'd never look at their words though, just as she expected the others to be curious about what she had written, but to never have that curiosity satisfied.
Donald would be the only one that ever knew what had gone onto those papers. She didn't really know the man, but for some reason she trusted that he wouldn't reveal the secrets and truths she had written. Maybe one day someone else would read it, but she wouldn't still be here when that day came.
Peter mumbled something that pulled her attention away from the rock walls closing in on their sides again. "What did you say?" she asked and then wondered why she'd bothered.
His bloodshot brown eyes met hers in the mirror. She'd assumed all he required was some rest but he hadn't gotten much sleep in the past few days. His hair stood on end as he met her gaze in the mirror. His once neatly trimmed mustache was in desperate need of scissors, or a razor, or whatever it was that men with mustaches used to keep them neat. She'd once considered him handsome, but right now he looked more like an emperor Tamarin monkey that had managed to ingest speed. The Tamarin monkeys had always been her favorite things to see when she'd taken Rochelle to visit the zoo.
Peter shook his head and focused on the road again. A chill slid down her spine, she wasn't scared of him, or at least that was what she kept telling herself. But she'd also kept telling herself that he would get his act together. It felt like he was slipping further and further away from them.
Her gaze traveled to Josh sitting beside the teacher. The teenage, Asian boy had stood stalwartly by his teacher throughout all of this but she could see the unease in his onyx eyes. His black hair had been spiked when they'd first encountered him, now it was flat against his skull. He pushed it back from his eyes as a strand of it fell against his eyelid.
Mary Ellen turned her attention away from them as they crested over top of another mountain. Blue rest stop signs began to appear and she wondered if the others would pull into the rest area. A bathroom break, and some time to grab something to eat, sounded great to her right now as her stomach rumbled. At the same time, she wanted to cover as much ground as possible today. She also wasn't much in the mood for encountering anything that was looking to feast on one of them.
Her heart leapt into her throat when the blinker on the truck clicked on and the vehicle began the descent down the steep road. There were two buildings below, tucked into the side of the mountain. Three tractor-trailers were parked on the side of the road, along with a handful of cars. Peter sighed and shifted in his seat before leaning forward. His breath tickled the back of her neck and she had to fight the urge to grab her gun from the dashboard.
"Haven't we done this before," Peter muttered as they drove by the building with the bathrooms.
"I don't think we've exactly done this before." Donald pointed with his pen to the small building Riley was stopping the car in front of.
Mary Ellen leaned forward and shadowed her eyes to make out the words on the sign in front of the building. "New York State Police," she said aloud. "No, we definitely haven't done this before."
Donald placed the notebook and papers on the dash and grabbed hold of the door handle before Mary Ellen came to a complete stop. She threw the car into park, pulled the keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the car. By the time she joined them the others had already gathered by the front steps of the building.
Carl glanced over at her as he lit a cigarette and stepped away before inhaling it. "There could be weapons in there. I'm not so sure anyone would think to, or want to rob the state police."
"No, I can pretty much guarantee a lot of people would prefer not to rob this building," Mary Ellen agreed.
"What do you think about those trucks and cars?" Xander asked as he nodded toward the vehicles parked on the side of the road.
"Either abandoned due to lack of gas or we might have some company floating around here," Carl said. "We can get back on the road and…"
"No, after everything that has happened, any chance we have to grab more ammo and weapons shouldn't be ignored," Riley interjected.
"For once we agree," Peter said.
Riley's freckled nose wrinkled as she turned away from him. "Lucky me," she murmured. Xander wrapped his arm around Riley's waist and pulled her against his side.
"There's no reason for all of us to go in," Carl said. "We'll keep the vehicles running and someone should stay behind the wheels in case we have to make a quick retreat."
Mary Ellen nodded her agreement and pulled the keys for the Cadillac from her pocket. She went to turn back to the car when Donald took hold of her hand and slipped the keys from her. "I'll sit in the car; you can be with your daughter."
Mary Ellen gave him a grateful smile; she released the keys to him. "Stay with the truck," Carl said to John.
John started to protest but he glanced at Rochelle and closed his mouth. Mary Ellen lifted an eyebrow at the bottle of water in Rochelle's hand with a Twizzler sticking out the top of it. She suspected John had something to do with the candy water bottle, and the fact that Rochelle was actually looking up and around again, instead of staring at her feet. If John had been any closer, she may have kissed the kid, but he had moved toward the stairs of the building with Carl.
Draping her arm around Rochelle's shoulders, she pulled her daughter against her side. "How's the drink?"
"Good," Rochelle said and actually gave her a little smile. Relief filled her, she ruffled Rochelle's hair and kissed the top of her head. Rochelle didn't protest the gesture, but she did straighten her hair before taking another sip from her drink.
John turned away from Carl and hurried over to the truck. Mary Ellen watched as Riley, Xander, and Carl cautiously approached the door of the building. She was well aware of the shaggy brunette head missing from the back of the pack, one that had always been with Xander and Riley. The tears that had been brimming in her eyes spilled free. She brushed them away and was about to move Rochelle toward the truck when Josh trotted past her and jogged up the steps of the police station to join the others. He'd been so hesitant and frightened ever since they'd left Xander's grandmother's house, it was good to see him coming out of his shell now. Good to see him trying to help out more.
Riley and Xander turned to look at Josh but they didn't speak as Carl twisted the handle and shoved the door open. Mary Ellen said a silent prayer for their safety when they cautiously entered the building. It wasn't until they had all gone inside that Mary Ellen realized there were no police cars in front of the station. She glanced around the parking lot, but she hadn't missed the emergency vehicles, they simply weren't there.
Rochelle squeezed her hand before pulling away and walking over to the open passenger side doo
r of the truck. Mary Ellen's attention was taken from Rochelle when the car in front started up again. Al climbed out of the car and walked over to join her.
"Think they'll find anything?" she asked.
Al shrugged and pushed his glasses up on his nose. His blue eyes were even larger behind the frames of the glasses; his gray hair had been brushed to the side, away from his lined face. There were dark shadows under his eyes but he was still alert as he pinned her with his gaze. "Let's hope so," he said. "Rochelle seems to be coming around."
Mary Ellen glanced at Rochelle. Her daughter stepped away from the truck and stretched her back. "She does."
"Kids are much more resilient than we adults give them credit for."
"Yeah," she muttered and glanced toward the building. "She's not the only kid here though."
"True," Al agreed.
"Where are the police cars?"
Al shook his head; he stared at the empty parking spots around them. "They probably took them to answer calls when everything started. Judging by the size of this building, I think it's only an outlet for the state police on the highway. The main barracks is probably located somewhere else. I doubt they even have extra vehicles here."
"Makes sense," Mary Ellen said.
Movement behind one of the windows drew her attention back to the building. She thought she spotted Xander but couldn't be sure, it was almost impossible to see inside the dark building. She glanced around the deserted parking lot again; her eyes lingered on the trucks and cars parked on the hill before she turned toward the bathrooms. Maybe they'd get a chance to use the bathrooms before they left, but then she might prefer to go outside rather then enter a building with plenty of hiding places.
Her gaze traveled over the picnic tables set up next to the bathroom building. On a normal day, she could have pictured families gathered around the tables. It would be a great place to share their lunches as they enjoyed the panoramic view of the mountains spread out before them. She couldn't get over the amount of green within these mountains.
"It's so different here then the shore," she whispered.
"It seems as if the quakes weren't as bad here and they definitely didn't have any tsunamis."
She gave a small laugh at Al's words but she couldn't tear her gaze away from the trees. "No, definitely no tsunamis. I did see a burned patch on the side of one of the mountains."
"I'm sure some areas were still hit hard here, and I'm sure there are also sick people in these mountains, but it's already not as warm and the plants aren't dying as rapidly here."
Mary Ellen took in the reddened sky, but even that didn't appear as vibrant as it had in Connecticut or Massachusetts. It was pinker here, almost like cotton candy instead of fire. Her gaze was torn away from the mountains when Josh stepped back onto the porch and placed a duffel bag down on the ground. Mary Ellen couldn't see what was in the bag as it was zipped shut but it was big enough to hold some shotguns or rifles. At least that was what she hoped it held.
"I'll get the doors on the truck open," she said and hurried to the back of the truck.
She glanced at Peter leaning against the Cadillac, but his attention was focused upon the calm highway. Throwing the doors on the truck open, she refused to look at the bloodstain they had been unable to completely scrub from the truck.
She had just pushed the right door completely open when a muffled crash sounded. Mary Ellen's head shot toward the building as another crash echoed from within. Her heart leapt into her throat, she jumped away from the truck and bolted across the parking lot toward the doors of the police station.
Al was already on the porch and heading inside when another crash sounded and Carl began to shout, "Whoa whoa whoa!"
Mary Ellen had just stepped onto the porch when the window beside her broke out. She jumped back and nearly fell over as glass shattered outward. Her eyes widened at the sight but she darted toward the doorway. "We're not going to harm you!" Xander yelled as she and Al stepped into the shadowed building. Pictures of men and women in uniform, and awards in picture frames, lined the empty hallway before them.
Mary Ellen clasped her gun before her as she poked her head around the corner and into a room with three large desks inside it. Carl and Xander were on the floor. Xander was sitting on someone's back; blood trickled down his right cheek from the three scratch marks that had been raked down his face. Carl was holding down the person's legs as angry, muffled cries escaped the thrashing person. Josh sat in a rolling chair with his hand pressed against his jaw. Mary Ellen could already see a red welt forming upon his chin. Riley was kneeling before whomever they were holding down, but she turned to look at them when they entered the room.
Mary Ellen realized it was a woman lying on the ground beneath Xander. The woman's eyes rolled in her head; she continued to try and kick her legs as infuriated cries escaped her. Mary Ellen didn't know what to make of the scene but her heart went out to the woman pinned to the floor.
The woman lifted her head and her eyes locked on Mary Ellen's. The woman's one clear green eye and one clear blue eye startled Mary Ellen; she'd never seen eyes quite like them before. The woman was petrified, she was irate and half crazed, but there was recognition and intelligence within her astonishing eyes.
"You're safe with us, I promise. Please just calm down," Riley said pleadingly. "We'll let you go. You can even stay here if you want; we just can't have you attacking us again."
The woman's eyes shot back to Riley, her thrashing began to ease. Mary Ellen crept closer as a sob escaped the woman and she collapsed upon the floor. Xander climbed swiftly off of the woman's back but he kept his palm in the center of it. Carl's grasp on the woman's legs eased.
"It's ok," Riley whispered. She soothingly rubbed the woman's tangled blond hair. "I know you're frightened, but you're safe now. I promise."
The woman only cried even more as Mary Ellen knelt beside her and the men stepped away.
CHAPTER 3
Riley,
Riley didn't know what to do as the woman's shoulders continued to heave and heart- wrenching sobs tore from her. Riley had experienced this kind of crying before a couple of times that she could remember. Once when her dog, Jingles, had been hit by a plow when she was eight, and then again when Carol had died. She hadn't sobbed like this over Lee and Bobby, but the awful feeling of needing to cry lingered within her chest, making it difficult for her to breathe.
This kind of crying was an awful form, the kind where no matter what she did she couldn't stop the tears from flowing and the snot from pouring out of her nose. The fact that it often resulted in a struggle to breathe would eventually bring on a bought of hiccups that just added insult to injury. Riley had cried like this a time or two in her life, but she had no idea how to handle a stranger doing it before her. She awkwardly rubbed the woman's shoulder as the woman began to take in heaving gulps of air that would cause the hiccups.
"It's ok," Riley said over and over again but her words didn't seem to be getting through to the woman.
Eventually either a lack of tears, or just plain exhaustion, caused the woman's heaving sobs to subside. She drew her knees up against her chest and hugged them to her as she began to rock back and forth in an attempt to comfort herself. Her sobs lessened even more and eventually even the rocking eased. She finally lifted her head to take them in with bloodshot, swollen eyes.
"Ma'am I don't know what you've been through but I promise that you'll be safe with us," Josh said hesitatingly.
"Oh God kid, don't call me ma'am," the woman moaned. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Riley couldn't help but smile; Carl stepped forward and thrust a box of tissues toward the woman. "Thank you," she muttered as she took the box from him.
She pulled out a handful of tissues and began to dab at her eyes before blowing her nose. Those strangely colored, amazingly vivid eyes focused upon her. Riley could almost see the wheels spinning in the woman's head as she tried to figure out if she really was safe with them. Ri
ley put her gun away and held up her hands. She crab walked backward from the woman.
"Are you alone?" Carl inquired.
The woman nodded. "Yes."
Even still, Carl moved toward the door and stood in the doorframe. He stared down the hall toward the rear of the building with his gun before him. "Do you have any more weapons on you?" he asked.
Carl had knocked a small revolver from the woman's hand when she'd first emerged from the trunk she'd been hiding in. The woman shook her head but Riley highly doubted she told the truth, she certainly wouldn't have if the roles were reversed.
She wasn't nervous about the fact that the woman may still have a weapon, she'd put her gun away but Xander, Josh, Mary Ellen, Carl, and Al were still holding theirs. Riley knew they would shoot without hesitation if it came to keeping someone safe.
"You really are safe with us," Riley said.
The woman tossed aside the tissues and turned toward the window. She rose up a little to look at the vehicles parked out front. "How many of you are there?"
"Ten."
"There's ten of you?" she croaked out.
A pang shot through Riley's heart and she had to blink away her own tears at the yearning and disbelief she heard in the woman's voice. "There were more of us, but…" Riley couldn't find the words anymore so she became silent as she looked toward Xander.
He rested his hand on her shoulder and stepped closer to her. His hazel eyes were flecked with beautiful shades of jade green and gold that she found fascinating. His dark, sandy blond hair curled around his ears and forehead. "But it looks like you've been through hell too. You know what it's like now," Xander said.
Fresh tears began to stream down the woman's cheeks. She released her first hiccup. "What is your name?" Riley inquired.
"Nancy, Nancy Wainthrop. It's so odd to say that." Her gaze drifted to them, her brow furrowed. "I haven't said it in… days… weeks?"