“What kind of a network?” Elle asked.
“Business connections,” Georgia replied. “My brother had a hefty stash of drugs, and he was high half the time, so I’d swipe them and sell them to my own customers. It was great. I always had cash in my pocket.”
“Right. It was great until you went to jail,” Pix smirked.
“You should talk, you little hacker,” Georgia shot back.
“At least I wasn’t selling dope to thugs on the street in Los Angeles.”
“Hey, calm down,” Jay interjected, hiding a smile. “We all made mistakes, and it’s over now. What we did back then was in the past. This is the apocalypse, remember?”
“What happened to your brother?” Elle asked Georgia.
“Don’t know,” Georgia sniffed. “He was a half-baked lunatic any way you slice it. I’m guessing he died when everything collapsed. I wouldn’t know. I was in prison when it all went down.”
She acted nonchalant, but Elle could hear the emotion in Georgia’s voice.
“What about you, Jay?” Elle asked, the flames throwing shadows over her face.
Jay held his hands in front of the fire.
“Doesn’t matter,” he shrugged.
“Come on. We’ve all confessed,” Georgia prodded. “You can, too. We’re not going to tell anybody. I mean, there’s ain’t anybody left to tell, anyway.”
Jay just shook his head.
“Not every story’s worth telling,” he murmured, looking down.
Hmm. Elle knew how that worked.
“We should all get some sleep,” she said. “You guys go ahead. I’ll take the first watch. Jay, you want to take the second watch?”
“Sure.”
They kept the fire burning as they curled up and went to sleep. Elle stationed herself above the campsite, huddled in the darkness. She pulled her hood around her face and scanned the horizon. The freeway wound around the curve of the mountain. If they traveled fast, they could reach the ranch in three days.
If they could stay alive long enough, that is.
Chapter Ten
As they followed the 405, they bypassed abandoned rest stops and gas stations. Elle warned the kids not to stop at any of the buildings. Oftentimes roadside stops had become traps for wandering travelers. It was a great way to get robbed and killed.
Neither of which were appealing. At all.
“Here we go,” Elle announced, pointing to an off ramp. “We follow this road and by this time tomorrow, we’ll be there!”
She was excited. Aunt and Uncle would be so surprised to see her. They probably thought she was dead. She had disappeared such a long time ago… what if they had forgotten about her?
No, Elle thought. They would never forget about me… right?
Elle was far more comfortable as soon as they left the freeway. The road that they were following was older, and as they progressed, became smaller. It was hardly ever traveled, and the lack of tire tracks made it obvious that there had been no recent traffic in this area.
To Elle, that meant just one thing: Omega hadn’t been here.
Yet.
They pushed on, walking until their feet hurt. The open space of the mountains was a huge change from the snug confines of the city. Elle felt exposed, like she was walking around with a huge target on her back that said: SHOOT ME. It put her on edge, but the fresh air and the stunning scenery was terrific.
“I almost forgot what it was like to have this much space around me,” Elle commented. “I’m so used to Hollywood and Santa Monica. Everything is squished together there.”
“It’s a good change,” Jay replied. “There’s freedom out here.”
Yeah. Maybe he was right.
They traveled all day, making camp at nightfall. Elle wrapped her hands in strips of cloth to keep them warm, pulling her hood around her face. She leaned her head against her backpack. The earth was slightly damp, leaving streaks of dirt on her pants. Jay made a small fire when it got dark, enough to warm the kids’ pinched, red faces.
Sleeping in the wide-open spaces was different than sleeping within the confines of an apartment building. The sky was dark, deep blue. Elle stared at the stars. The longer she watched them, the more she seemed to see. She fell asleep, sucked into the mesmerizing swirl of the Milky Way.
Early morning came too quickly. It was bitterly cold. Elle sat up, flexing her stiff fingers. She nudged the others awake. They moved slowly, shivering in the frigid temperature. The remains of the fire smoldered in the coolness of the morning. Jay stamped it out with his boots, hiding traces of their presence.
“Breakfast,” Elle muttered, opening her backpack.
She took two sealed granola bars and split them between the five kids. It wasn’t appetizing, but it was heavy enough to tame the hunger pains. For now.
They left the campsite.
As they followed the road, they wound upward around wide, dry hills. Drought-resistant foliage was clumped together in places and patches of forest lined the mountaintops. They stopped once to eat a snack and drink water, then kept moving again. They didn’t want to stop. Stopping was dangerous. Constant movement gave them a better chance of survival — this was something Elle had learned the hard way, after months of living in the city, being hunted by bloodthirsty Klan members.
In late evening, they finally arrived.
“We’re here!” Elle said.
She jogged forward, up the last part of the road. It flattened into a gravel driveway. The driveway led to a ranch house. It was painted in muted tones, blending with the hills. The house was surrounded by a chain link fence.
“Nice place,” Georgia remarked. “Were your folks rich?”
“My parents weren’t rich,” Elle corrected. “But my Aunt and Uncle were.”
“What did they do?”
“My Aunt’s family was cattle ranchers… probably a hundred years ago.”
“Ah. Lots of money,” Jay muttered.
As Elle approached the chain link fence, she noticed that it was hanging open. She stared at the front door. Weeds were growing around the entrance steps.
“The dogs are gone,” she whispered.
“The dogs?” Pix echoed.
“There were German Shepherds. Lots of them.”
Elle pushed the gate open and whistled softly. There was no answer, no barking. She followed the path to the front door and jiggled the handle. It was unlocked. She pushed the door open and gripped the handgun tucked into her belt.
“Elle… this is wrong, isn’t it?” Flash said, his voice shaking.
“Very wrong,” Elle replied.
The door swung open and revealed a long hallway. The spacious rooms were empty. Curtains were drawn.
“They’re gone,” she breathed. A sob lodged in her throat. “They haven’t been here for a long time.”
“What do you think happened?” Georgia asked.
“I don’t know.”
Elle walked to the end of the hall, turning into the living room — a familiar spot for her. The couches and chairs had been covered with white sheets. Dim sunlight filtered through the slits in the shuttered windows. The house was cold, empty. Elle stared at a mirror hanging above the empty fireplace.
She was alone. Again.
Elle huddled against the back of the cage, panting. She was caked in filth. The Klan had taken a knife to her thick black hair and hacked it off. Blood slipped down the back of her neck. She’d never been so dirty before. She’d never been so tired.