“Tracking us is more like it,” Will said.
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Me, neither. But it won’t make any difference tomorrow. We’re thirty minutes from Starch if we push it. Two hours if we go slow. Either way, we’ll be in Starch by tomorrow.”
“If it’s there like you said.”
“It’s there.”
“So you keep saying.”
“Trust me.”
“Only as far as I can throw you. Luckily for you, I can throw pretty far.”
Lara did her best to stay awake and listen to them without interrupting. They had their own rhythm and she felt like an interloper, stealing pieces of their conversation, even though she hardly understood what they were saying most of the time.
Sometime around midnight she gave in. It was the first time in a long while she had fallen asleep without the sounds of chains jingling in her ear or dreading what awaited her.
CHAPTER 23
KATE
Kate was on the auto body shop’s rooftop with Ted when she saw them coming back. She could see both ATVs through her binoculars. She had been waiting to hear from them through the radio nearly all day yesterday, but once Will announced they were going into the woods, the radio went quiet.
This morning, when it squawked, she could feel her heart in her throat, waiting for bad news. There were none. They were coming back — and they were both fine.
“They’re back,” she announced.
“Thank God,” Ted said, relief in his voice, too.
Last night hadn’t been easy for any of them. It occurred to her that they had become too reliant on Will and Danny, and without the two ex-Rangers around, the night seemed colder and scarier.
She watched the ATVs get closer. She made out Danny, in front on his yellow Yamaha. Then Will came into view, with a second person riding behind him. A woman with blonde hair.
“Ted, can you stay here?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks.”
She climbed down and went into the office. Carly was there with Vera, talking to Luke. Kate woke up this morning to find him sitting up on his bedroll. He looked pale and was too weak to walk, but he was alive. That was all that mattered. He had survived the night.
He looked up from a can of corn as she walked in now. “Don’t get mad, but I think I’m eating your corn.”
“Just make sure you eat everything. You need the strength.”
“Yes, Mom.”
They exchanged a brief smile before he shyly went back to eating the corn with a spork.
Carly was making coffee with some old grounds she found in the back, using a portable coffee maker salvaged from a house a few weeks back.
“They’re back,” Kate announced.
“Oh, thank God,” Carly said. “Are they all right?”
“Will said they were fine on the radio.”
“What about…you know,” Luke said. She knew he was referring to the men who shot him.
“I don’t know,” Kate said. “I’ll find out.”
She slipped out of the office just as Will and Danny turned into the dirt parking lot, a thick cloud of dust floating into the air in their wake.
Carly came out behind Kate. “Who’s the girl?”
“I don’t know. Will didn’t mention her.”
Danny stopped in front of them and turned off the engine. Before he could hop down, Carly rushed forward into his arms. It was all he could do to grab her before they both tumbled over the ATV.
He laughed. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”
“You had me worried,” she said and punched him playfully in the shoulder. “Why didn’t you or Will call over the radio last night?”
“We tried, but nothing got through the trees.”
“Don’t ever do that again,” she said and kissed him hard on the mouth.
Will parked next to them. “Get a fucking room.”
Danny flipped him off while still kissing Carly.
The woman climbed off the ATV. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, with dirty, shoulder-length blonde hair. Soft blue eyes complemented a thin five-five frame, though she didn’t look malnourished. She wore a long, crumpled dress that had seen better days. Despite her unkempt appearance, Kate thought she was breathtaking.
She felt a curious sensation while looking at the blonde. It had, she realized, been a while since she looked at another woman and felt anything approaching jealousy.
“Welcome back,” Kate said to Will.
She resisted the urge to jump into Will’s arms the way Carly had done with Danny.
You’re too old for that.
Seeing how attractive this woman was, Kate felt a childish need to assert herself.
Will introduced them, including Ted, who waved down from the roof.
The woman, Lara, waved ‘Hi’ to them in that awkward way people did when they met strangers and were unsure of their surroundings. Kate felt sorry for her, thrust into a group that was already intimately familiar with one another after surviving on the road together for almost a month now.
“I’m making coffee,” Carly announced. “I promise, it’s not as bad as last time.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Danny said. “Last time was great.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“I mean it. I didn’t know coffee could be so painful.”
She gave him another punch and they piled back into the office, all except for Will and Kate. He pulled his M4A1 out of a scabbard alongside the ATV, took out the magazine, and replaced it with one that didn’t have a white ‘X’ printed on the side. The ones with the X were loaded with silver bullets, something they carried with them at all times now.
“How was last night?” he asked.
“We managed.”
“No ghouls?”
“None that we saw. Or heard.” He looked surprised. “Why?” she asked. “Did you see any?”
“A few last night. They were probing the cabin we stayed in.” He shrugged it off. “What about Luke?”
“He’s alive and eating again. That’s a good sign, right?”
Will nodded. “That’s a very good sign. We’ll have to keep monitoring him.”
“Where did you find her?” Kate asked. “The girl.”
“Girl?” Will said.
“What is she, twenty?”
He laughed. “Twenties. I forgot to ask for a birth certificate.”
“Where did you find her?”
He told her about the Sundays. The cabin. Finding Lara standing over Jack Sunday’s bullet-riddled body.
“Go easy on her, Kate,” he added. “She’s been through a lot.”
“We all have,” she said quickly. She felt instantly guilty, and added in a softer tone, “You’re right. That sounds like she’s had a nightmare time.”
“Bonus points: she’s a third-year medical student.”
She nodded and looked at him closely.
He smiled back. “What?”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
He slipped his arms around her and pulled her to him, kissed her softly. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him tighter against her.
In the back of her mind, she hoped Lara was watching. It would save them both a lot of trouble later on.
Lara was leaning over Luke on the couch when they caught up with the others in the office. She had removed parts of the gauze and she looked like she knew what she was doing. Or at least, more than they did.
“You guys did a pretty good job,” Lara said to Danny.
“You sure I didn’t leave a knife inside there?” Danny said. “I’m pretty sure I was using it to cut the gauze when I was bandaging him up. But I can’t seem to find it now.”
“You better not,” Luke grunted. “Seriously, man, I’m going to kick your ass if you did.”