“We wondered what happened to you two,” Josh said. He stood over me at our table and alternately glared at Will and stared at my chest. So much for pleasantries.
“We just got ahead of you, that’s all.” I folded my arms and glared back.
“We ran across a couple of bodies a few miles out of town.”
Luke chimed in, “The turkey vultures were circling something awful. You should have seen them pecking away at those bodies.”
My stomach curled in on itself, and I turned my gaze toward the window. The caravan trucks and vans were filling the parking spaces along Main Street. The restaurant became a sudden hive of activity.
Josh eyed me and Will for another few seconds. “You two know anything about that?”
Will came to my rescue. “We saw them, too. It looks like they tangled with some wild animals—could have been anything around that State Forest.” Will drank his coffee, keeping his eyes level with mine.
“Might have even been those wolves you brought with you. They disappeared from the caravan yesterday. Where are they?” He gave me that half smirk that grated on my nerves.
“Can’t say when we last saw them.” Will winked over the top of his cup.
Before Josh could question us further, Rudy came through the door and headed straight for us. I was either in deep trouble, or…
“Miss Lily, thank the Lord you all right.” He didn’t stop to catch his breath. “You near gave me heart palpitations. All I could wonder was what I was going to tell your uncle.”
“I’m fine,” I lied. If he only knew what I’d been through in the last few days…To take the heat of everyone’s eyes off me, I added, “Unlike you, who are in desperate need of a bath house.” I crinkled my nose at Josh and Luke who were standing much too close to the table to ignore the stench of body odor and cannabis. Rudy wasn’t much better off with his dirty hands and sweaty clothes.
Rudy laughed, “I can’t argue with you there. I wanted to see you for myself. Now I know you’re okay, I’ll be about my business.” He glared disapprovingly at Will. “I thought you two parted ways.”
Will’s shoulders stiffened, “I made a promise to Sam that I would make sure Lily gets home safely.” He stared steadily into my eyes as the warmth crept into my cheeks.
Josh snickered and glanced at his brother. “I think we got it from here. No need for you to tag along any further.”
Will set his cup down and leaned back. “I don’t think that’s up to you.”
The energy in the room rose substantially. Suddenly, Will’s hand shot to his forehead as if he were in pain.
I glared at Josh, who had his laser focus aimed at Will. I put my hand on Will’s arm and felt his pain recede.
Josh narrowed his eyes at me. “Go ahead, Lily. Tell your boyfriend he’s not welcomed in Stanton. You know he’ll bring nothing but trouble.”
I didn’t want to believe that was true. Will had proven himself sincere when he went above and beyond to recover Sam’s medicine. But even more importantly, he’d been there when I needed him. He’d rescued me from those horrible thugs and seemed determined to keep me safe. For whatever reason, I wasn’t ready to let that gift go unnoticed, or to let Josh think he’d won.
I set my tea cup on the table and met Josh’s gaze with a hard stare, coming to a decision that I knew went against everything that Sam had taught me. “Will’s coming home with me.” I glanced at Will to watch his reaction, but his face remained neutral. The words surprised even me. I knew I wasn’t ready to say goodbye again so soon. Even if riding along together for the day was all we had, I wanted more time with Will. I wasn’t sure what awaited us in Stanton, but having Will by my side gave me a sense of comfort I wasn’t ready to give up. I would deal with Sam later.
Josh’s eyes widened. He grunted as he turned on his heels and pushed his way out of the diner, his brother tagging along behind asking about breakfast.
Rudy and I exchanged a chuckle while Will remained perfectly still. The big-chested butcher gazed through the window as the brothers crossed the street. “Those two have been nothing but pains in my ass since the trip started. Questioning anything I say, acting all superior and full of buckshot. It gives me a dang headache.” Rudy rubbed his forehead as he turned to go. He called back over his shoulder. “We’re leaving in an hour. I expect you to be waiting for me at the truck. And if you see those dogs of yours around, I suggest you tell them to keep running and hiding. Josh has got it in his head that they killed those fellas on the road and ought to be put down.”
An hour later, with the sun a glowing ball of heat above the trees, I was sandwiched between Rudy and Will in the cab of the old Chevy, happy for the air conditioning and equally as happy that Rudy had taken time to bathe. The static of an old citizen’s band radio crackled on the dashboard, a leftover from before the turn of the century. It was primitive, but it worked to communicate between vehicles.
We crept down the road at a crawl with all of the supplies loaded corner-to-corner on the trailer and filling the back of the truck. Even the freezer car was stocked full. There would have been no room to ride in the back, and with the windows tinted to block out the sun, the protection was worth the bumpy ride.
The wolves would find their own way home, hopefully steering clear of Josh. If he was serious about blaming Bo and Pappy for the deaths of those two strangers, it would be one more excuse for him to act like he was the law just because his father was a constable. I wondered again about his ability, my nerves firing in response. I didn’t think I’d imagined the dark energy that rolled off him when he was standing next to our table seething with anger. Will’s response and Rudy’s comment about the boy “giving him a headache” made me realize that Josh had some ability to put pressure on a person’s brain—how much pressure, I didn’t want to think about. I tried to dismiss the uneasy feeling that settled in my gut.
Rudy handed over a bag. I jingled the heavy leather pouch next to my ear. He had done a phenomenal job of trading our supplies and had procured everything on our lists. “What’s this?”
“I collected the money for your brother’s flutes and wood crafts. People were buying them up faster than shovels in December. I didn’t know what Zeph might want in return for them, so I only took coins.” Rudy smiled broadly, his large white teeth beaming. “I even found him one of those wrist comps you said he wanted.” He pulled the compact wrist unit out of his shirt pocket and handed it to me.
“Zeph is going to love this.” I tucked the gadget into my pack along with the coins. The thought of home made my chest ache. I felt like I’d been away for weeks rather than days. So much had happened. I missed Sam and Zeph, but still had so many unanswered questions about what to do next. We certainly couldn’t stay in Stanton with the Industry closing in. We’d have to move fast and who knew whether this new medicine would even help Sam. We might need to use Zeph’s coins for starting over someplace else. My stomach took another drop with a bump in the road as I thought about Sam’s disappointment.
There were two canisters of Syntoxin in my pack. The possible cure for Sam’s cancer was now happily in my hands. I had to be happy about that. I tried to relax and focus on the good. I had saved Will from certain death, and then in return, he had saved me. I had made it out of the city in one piece and was on the homestretch to reaching my family. But the pervasive sense of doom that crowded my mind pushed every other thought away.