Lynn’s insides clenched. “I… guess we just… focus on getting you to the Homestead.” She focused on their joined hands. “Maybe this’ll factor into our final decisions, but we still have to make it to the Homestead first.”
“Yeah, I know.” Dani brought Lynn’s hand up to her lips to kiss, then put it back on Lynn’s thigh. The symbolism was clear: time for some distance again. She sighed. “Breakfast and go?”
Lynn watched her for a few seconds, then nodded. She grabbed her pants from beside the bedding. “Breakfast and go.”
With grim determination, Lynn scraped the sides of the cart through a tunnel created by the side of a car husk and a cement block. Her thigh muscles trembled as she dug her feet in, and the pulsing that continually plagued her arm intensified as she put strain on the muscle. The rusted metal gave, and Lynn shot forward like an arrow. She nearly stumbled but caught herself before she fell flat on the uneven slabs of concrete below.
“Lynn!” Dani hobbled up behind her.
“I’m f-fine.” She let the beams fall from her grip and doubled over to catch her breath. “Just fucking done with this.” She looked up. The sun was dropping like a stone. “Time to call it a day.”
Dani finally reached her side and she ran her hand down Lynn’s back soothingly.
“I can take another sh—”
“No, I’ve got it.” Lynn shook her head and straightened out. She was sore in ways she didn’t remember ever being, but Dani was worse off. Her knee had held up well for most of the morning, but after a few climbs and two pulling shifts, it had given out again. Lynn had forced her to hand over the cart once her arms had recovered. Dani had resisted, of course, but she was struggling, and they both knew it.
After a few moments, Dani pressed her lips together and nodded. “Yeah, okay.” She gripped her spear more tightly and lifted it into position. “Let’s find an exit.”
Lynn squatted to pick up the beams and had to bite back a groan as her whole body protested against the movement. If something pounced them right now, she wouldn’t even be able to hold her tomahawk with her stiff fingers, let alone fight for her life.
They struggled onward side by side. Not being able to contribute by pulling, Dani focused on keeping them safe and making sure Lynn ate and drank enough. It was slightly embarrassing to be fussed over, but it did alleviate the strain and monotone of the pull.
Secretly, Lynn kind of liked it.
Skeever trotted ahead. He had fully adapted to the pace and sniffed his way along with his tail high.
Lynn tried to orientate herself. They’d made more progress than yesterday because the road was a little less broken up, but they hadn’t yet reached the house they’d camped out at the night Lynn had caught up to Dani. She’d been too absorbed in her misery to be able to gauge exactly how close to the house they were, but it was probably at least half a day away. At this pace, that meant it was still two full days of travel before they would arrive at the Homestead—and that only if nothing went wrong. At least Lynn wouldn’t have to remember the route she’d taken while she’d followed the sound of an elephant being hunted; Dani would know the way.
It felt as if months had passed since that trek through the streets of New York City as she’d tried to picture what could possibly make a sound like that, but in reality it was eleven days. She glanced at Dani. How can it only have been eleven days? Lynn felt like an entirely different person than the woman who’d snuck up on a group of Settlers in hope of a meal. Right now, she couldn’t say she was better off, but she had definitely changed. What that would mean for her going forward was way beyond her ability to grasp, but just the fact she was thinking that far ahead was a testament to Dani’s influence on her.
“I can feel you staring.” Dani turned her head to look at her. “What’s up?”
Lynn’s cheeks heated again. “Nothing, I was just thinking that—Damn it.” The left wheel of the cart got caught behind a chunk of stone and jerked her to a halt. She went through the laborious and achingly familiar process of walking backward to create space between the wheel and the obstacle in order to have enough room to maneuver around it. Once back on track, she frowned. “What was I saying?”
“You were going to tell me why you were looking at me and why it made you smile.” Dani carefully stepped over a crack in the road, but her gaze only flicked away from Lynn a moment.
“Trust me.” Lynn grunted as she put the cart into motion again. “I’m not smiling.”
“Oh, you were.” Dani seemed eager to drive the point home. “That’s why I asked.”
Lynn tightened her lips to fight another smile. She carefully picked her path toward the right lane. “I was thinking that it’s only been eleven days since we met. It feels like a lot longer.”
“Eleven? No, can’t be.”
“Well, I’m going by nights, really. Homestead closet, ruined building, the car in the garage, then two nights without you, and then we met up. We slept in the house with the steps out front first, then the office, then spent two nights at the car dealership, office again, and now we’re here. That’s ten nights, eleven days.”
“Wow.” Dani shook her head. “It feels longer.”
“I know. They must be freaking out about you at the Homestead.” Lynn felt surprisingly guilty about that. She glanced at Dani. Maybe it’s because this horrible journey has led to something good.
“Freaking out?”
As they went down the exit, Lynn passed through another narrow path between two rows of cars. “I told Kate it would be a week. It’s been eleven days, and it’ll be two or three more.”
“Oh.” Dani swallowed and licked her lips. “No, they’ll be fine. They, uh, they knew it would be longer. They’re expecting us to be gone two weeks at least.”
Lynn took that information in. “Why?”
“Because…” Dani hesitated. She glanced up, then back down as she picked her path—and seemingly her words—carefully. Her shoulders sagged. “The detours were planned.”
“Detours?”
“Like, that first night, going the wrong way on the road and taking the long way around over the 95? Kate and I planned that. We knew where you must have come from, so I took you west instead. The idea was to keep you with me as long as possible so I had time to convince you to come with me the whole way. If we’d let you get back to familiar ground right away, you would have abandoned me on day one.” Dani seemed to have trouble getting the words out; her volume dropped the longer she spoke.
The familiar feeling of betrayal stabbed at her heart, but it fizzled out quickly. She had realized long ago that there was a plan in play to assure Richard came home; it was just the scale and depth of the planning that surprised her—and how well Dani had played her part. “That’s… smart.” Lynn took a slow breath. “You two really played me well.” They neared the end of the slope, and Lynn looked around for a place to spend the night.
“I didn’t know you then. I didn’t… care about you like I do now. You didn’t give a damn about me either, so I figured turnabout was fair play.” Dani turned right.
“It was, I guess.” Lynn followed her, away from the highway and its shadowy underpass. “You and Kate were right, I would have left you behind in a heartbeat.”
“You did,” Dani pointed out.
Lynn chuckled. “Well, it took more than a heartbeat, and I came back. Your strategy worked.”
Dani slowed and seemed to hesitate before she put her hand on Lynn’s that was holding on to the beam. “I’m sorry, I really am.”
Lynn shook her head and halted the cart. “You were surviving, and so was I. It’s in the past.” She smiled at Dani to make sure she knew they were good. “I do have one more question I didn’t want to know the answer to, but since we’re getting it all out now, let me ask it anyway: that first day, with the wolves, did you attack that one wolf as part of some strategy I don’t know about?” She inspected Dani to see how her words landed.