Time was running out. They would reach Richard’s body before nightfall. If Dani kept up this pace despite her blistered feet and Lynn remembered the way clearly, they would arrive even earlier. The encroaching deadline made her antsy. Perhaps it was time to just be honest and accept the inevitable if she had to.
Lynn formulated her opening gambit carefully before she spoke. “Dani?”
“Hm?” Dani dragged her gaze away from the tree line only momentarily.
“I have a problem.”
This drew Dani’s attention a little longer. “Problem?”
Lynn nodded. “Yeah. I have been trying to figure something out, and I’m not getting anywhere. So—” She licked her lips nervously. “I guess I’ll just ask. Dani, is there any way I can get you to come with me? Before we bring back Richard’s body or after, I don’t care anymore at this point. I just… I can’t stay at the Homestead, but I don’t want to leave there without you either. Not if I, you know, can help it. Somehow.” Naked again. Lynn hated the feeling, but this was too important to stay in her comfort zone.
Dani stopped to look at her. “Why do you want to stay with me?” Her voice had gone soft again.
Lynn slowed, then stopped too. She looked away under the guise of scouting for danger. “Because it’s better out here with you—because I am better out here with you. And I don’t just mean things anyone could do like stand guard or find food.” The feeling of Dani’s body against hers ghosted across her skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake.
“I’ve met people before who could have traveled with me and been good companions. I’ve never wanted them to stay. It’s different with you, and before you ask me ‘why’ again, I don’t know. I really don’t. It’s just—” Trust. If she hadn’t trusted Dani, she wouldn’t have gone after her. Still, it was better not to use the word. That would leave her too exposed right now. She was already so far out on the ledge that she was sure she would fall. “…that I know you will have my back when things go wrong.”
Dani watched her, then took a deep breath. “I still think we could convince Kate you would be the better choice to replace Richard.”
Lynn checked on Skeever for signs of danger, but he had rolled onto his side in a patch of sunlight. She shook her hair out and took her time formulating her reply. “I’m not suited for life in a settlement, Dani. I haven’t been able to since I was a little girl. I’d feel trapped when I’d be at the Homestead and chained to it whenever I go out. I… I don’t mind sharing what I have with you, but to be responsible for the well-being of people I don’t like? I know it’s probably selfish of me, but I don’t think I can do it.” She hesitated, then added: “Besides, I’d still not be out with you. We’d barely see each other, and that’s… that’s not enough of a pay-off for putting my life in danger for them.”
Dani seemed to work that over in her head. The fact that she didn’t outright accuse Lynn of being a horrible person was encouraging. Eventually, she shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know how we could make it work.”
Lynn’s insides churned, and she went a little cold despite the heat of the sun. The fear of losing the person that was causing her to feel all these new, good things urged her to take a step forward.
Dani’s eyes widened at the sudden move.
“How about this.” She met Dani’s gaze. “I already promised you I would go with you and get Richard’s body. I’m still against it, but if that’s something you need to do, we’ll do it. If we don’t die trying, we’ll go back to the Homestead and you can talk to Kate and the others. I’m not going in because they’d take Skeever away from me. We’ll set up a place and time to meet so you can tell me what they said. Maybe you can convince me, or maybe their reaction will convince you to come with me. Whatever the case, we’ll meet at least one last time to talk things through.” She held out her hand. “Deal?”
Dani inspected the hand, then Lynn’s face, then the hand again. She swallowed.
Seconds ticked by, and Lynn became sure Dani would refuse. Disappointment crept through her veins. It had taken a lot out of her to put an honest offer out there, and Lynn felt her walls slipping back in place to shield her from the rejection about to come. She was in the process of lowering her hand when Dani’s fingers closed around it.
“Deal.” Dani’s grip was stronger than her tone. “We’ll talk things through.”
Lynn stared at the slightly darker hand in hers, amazed to feel calloused and warm skin after she had been sure Dani wouldn’t reach out. She squeezed and brought her head back up.
Dani’s gaze locked with hers.
Lynn still didn’t trust herself enough to read it, but there was clear turmoil in Dani’s eyes. They had solidified something between them now, something that left open possibilities for the future. What those possibilities were, Lynn wasn’t sure, but the intensity of Dani’s gaze caused a flutter of something delicate and wild in her stomach.
Dani squeezed before releasing Lynn’s hand. “We, uh… we should keep going.” She cleared her throat.
Lynn curled her fingers, enjoying the lingering sensations of Dani’s touch. A step, a small step, forged in honesty—for once. Then she shifted her tomahawk back into her hand and focused on the feel of the wood instead. “Lead the way.”
With eight lanes heading straight on, Dani didn’t need more information than that.
“I think this is the right exit.” Lynn turned and glanced back out over the road they had just taken. She recognized it—the train tracks ran parallel to it; the station seemed to be where Lynn remembered it should be, and the road did allow them to go right. She didn’t remember the number 20 that it had been marked with, but it all seemed to line up.
“Okay, then we’ll have a look.” Dani scanned the exit that ran up from the interstate to a road that crossed it and branched off in either direction.
Lynn adjusted the straps of her new backpack. They dug into her skin at a slightly different location than the old one had, which made wearing it uncomfortable. She would get used to it soon enough, but the prospect of getting the backpack off had quickened her step in the last hour or so.
They had nearly reached the top of the ramp when Skeever started to growl. He tilted his head to listen.
Lynn instinctively did the same and reached out for Skeever’s collar to keep him close.
Dani stopped too. She frowned and gripped her spear more tightly.
After a few seconds of anxious waiting, a sound of very distant thunder reached Lynn’s ears. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so it wasn’t that. What else caused this sound? She relaxed when the answer popped into her head. “Hooves.”
They spilled onto the overhead pass a few seconds later, as plentiful as if someone had emptied a gargantuan bucket of them: the black-and-white-striped horses Lynn had spotted along the road heading into New York City. They were in full gallop, rushing from right to left as they wove their way between the cars and other obstacles as gracefully as dancers. If Dani held out her spear, she could touch them; they were that close.
“Zebras!”
Dani called out the word loudly enough to chase the jittery creatures away from them. The whole herd swerved around them like water around a rock in a rushing river.
Skeever pulled against her hold and barked his yipping, whiny bark that usually only came into play when she stopped him from eating scat or playing in mud pools.
Lynn watched in awe as the herd of at least fifty or sixty animals thundered past. They didn’t move like horses, more like donkeys, and their whinny was high-pitched and very similar to Skeever’s bark when he felt as if she was keeping him from something fun and exciting. Kind of like now. Lynn paid him no heed. She marveled at the majestic, stout animals that seemed so alien against the backdrop of green and gray. Their stripes bewildered the eye and made it even harder to get an accurate count. She couldn’t imagine an environment they could blend into, but perhaps the dizzying effect of their stripes was enough protection against predators.