The Last Struggle - A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Ravaged Land: Divided Book 3) Read online

  The Last Struggle

  Ravaged Land: Divided

  Kellee L. Greene

  Contents

  THE LAST STRUGGLE

  Mailing List

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Final Note

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Ravaged Land - Preview

  Ravaged Land - Chapter one

  Ravaged Land - Chapter two

  THE LAST STRUGGLE

  ravaged land: divided

  —————

  BY

  KELLEE L. GREENE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 Kellee L. Greene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author.

  First Edition April 2018

  Mailing List

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  Coming Soon…

  A heart-pounding new series you are not going to want to miss is in the works! Please subscribe to the mailing list to be one of the first to know when it’s available! And follow Kellee L. Greene on Facebook.

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Ravaged Land: Divided

  The Last Disaster - Book 1

  The Last Remnants - Book 2

  The Last Struggle - Book 3

  Ravaged Land Series

  Ravaged Land -Book 1

  Finding Home - Book 2

  Crashing Down - Book 3

  Running Away - Book 4

  Escaping Fear - Book 5

  Fighting Back - Book 6

  The Island Series

  The Island - Book 1

  The Fight - Book 2

  The Escape - Book 3

  The Erased - Book 4

  The Alien Invasion Series

  The Landing - Book 1

  The Aftermath - Book 2

  Destined Realms Series

  Destined - Book 1

  1

  I wasn’t sure how many days had passed after we’d escaped Tina and her gang, but we’d been traveling for weeks stopping only for food and to catch up on sleep. It was impossible to shake the feeling that we were being followed, so we never stayed in one place for too long.

  It was hard to find food, but occasionally we’d trap a small animal, and every so often, I’d find a small amount of greens that I knew were safe to eat. We were getting by, but only just barely.

  The temperature was warming, and things were starting to grow back. A little bit of green brightened the browns and tans of our world.

  We were lucky that water had been easy to find, but with the rapidly warming temperatures, I didn’t know how long it would last. Everything seemed to be drying out rather quickly. The earth had little cracks, and the ground was dusty.

  It was a particularly hot day, but we kept moving despite the heat. Ryder led the way with Shawn and me only a few steps behind. Charlie and Abby were behind us, with Logan bringing up the rear.

  Charlie and Abby continued to grow closer, but I didn’t mind because it had stopped her from rolling her eyes at me so frequently. She was too busy socializing with Abby to worry about antagonizing me.

  “What’s that?” Ryder asked as he held out his arms to stop us. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was behind us. “It could be a trap.”

  I squinted at the dots sitting on the horizon. “Buildings.”

  “There could be someone waiting for unsuspecting victims,” Shawn said.

  “Could be a good place for a nap,” Charlie said covering her yawn.

  Ryder met my eyes. “Should we check it out, or go around?”

  I chewed on my cheek as I scanned the area. We hadn’t seen anyone since leaving Tina’s group. The warmer it got, the fewer people we saw. Then again, maybe it had nothing to do with the temperature. Maybe no one just happened to be around the areas we’d been traveling through.

  My fingers lightly grazed the cool metal of my gun. “Let’s check it out. It’s probably a waste, but there could be something of use.”

  “I agree,” Ryder said, and Logan nodded.

  We started to walk toward the buildings, moving at a slower pace as we observed the area for anything unusual. But the only thing that was out of the ordinary was the somewhat larger sized house we were approaching. Very rarely did we come across buildings in such decent condition.

  “It doesn’t appear to be in that bad of shape,” I said quietly.

  The house was made of brick, and the other smaller building was made of stone. There had been a third structure, but it had mostly collapsed to the ground.

  “Somehow after everything, this place survived,” Abby said with a smile stretched across her face. “Most of it anyway.”

  As we got closer, I noticed the fence that surrounded the large property. There were parts missing, but it still managed to outline the area that had once been what appeared to be a rather large farm.

  I pulled out my gun as we stepped over part of the fence that had been knocked down. The house was a two-story building, and as we drew nearer, I saw that it was in even better shape than I had originally thought. It was as though the storms had completely missed the home.

  “Look at that,” Ryder said slapping his thigh.

  “Shh!” I said, worried that someone might be around to hear his excitement. It was far too nice of a place to be completely abandoned.

  We walked around the smaller stone building that looked as though maybe it had once been used to store farm equipment. But now it was just a water-stained building with random junk inside.

  We made our way cautiously to the house. The porch sagged in places, but for the most part, it looked like it would hold.

  “One clear,” Ryder said, raising his eyebrow at me.

  I narrowed my eyes at him and stepped in front of him gripping my gun tighter. “Stay back.”

  From a distance, I looked up at the house trying to see into the windows. I waiting to catch movement but there wasn’t anything. The windows were dirty, but they were clean enough that I would have been able to detect even the tiniest of movement from a person or the curtains.

  I slowly stepped up the small set of stairs and onto the porch. My breathing slowly as I inched over and peeked inside the window.

  Every piece of furniture that had been in the house seemed to still be in place. It was as if the house had been frozen in time.

  “Unbelievable,” I mumbled.
>
  “What?” Shawn asked.

  “The condition of this place,” I said gesturing toward the window. “Take a look.”

  They all stepped up to the windows on either side of the door and looked inside. Their mouths dropped down one by one in surprise.

  “Can we stay?” Charlie asked light touching the dirty window with her fingertips. She looked like a child that wanted her wish granted more than anything else in the entire world, but I didn’t believe it was possible.

  Ryder and I looked at one another. His lip curled up on the end, and I already knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to grant her wish.

  “What do you think?” Ryder asked keeping his voice low.

  “I don’t know,” I said looking over my shoulder and then back inside the house. “It’s kind of close to that big city we avoided back there.”

  Shawn nodded. “We don’t even know if this place is safe yet. You guys are getting ahead of yourselves.”

  “Let’s check it out then,” Ryder said nudging me.

  I opened the door, surprised it wasn’t locked. I could tell by the echoing inside the home that it was most likely empty. Of course, someone could be hiding, and that was exactly what they would want me to think, but there weren’t any footprints in the dust and dirt that coated the floor.

  Shawn followed me as I walked through the first floor. Ryder and Logan quietly went up the stairs to check the second floor while Charlie and Abby flopped down on the sofa. Apparently, they felt comfortable enough to make themselves at home.

  When we entered the dusty but organized master bedroom, Shawn grabbed my arm and spun me toward him. I bumped lightly into his chest.

  “What do you think about this place?” he asked wearing a completely unreadable expression. Shawn was trying hard not to influence my opinion one way or the other.

  “It seems empty,” I said mostly avoiding what he was really asking me about.

  Shawn raised his eyebrow, not even the slightest bit fooled. “I meant about staying.”

  “I’m not sure… what do you think?” I asked pressing my lips together as I cocked my head to the side.

  He chuckled and shook his head slightly. “It doesn’t really matter what I think.”

  “Of course it does.” I softened my expression. “You’re just as much a part of all of this as anyone else in this house is.”

  “I’ll do whatever you want to do,” Shawn said, gazing into my eyes. “You should know that by now.”

  I stepped back and crossed my arms as I let out a long, heavy sigh. “God, I wish I knew what to do. The weather here is pretty decent, or at least will be once everything dries out.” I shook my head as if trying to rid of the uncertainty. “We’ll still need food, but maybe we should stay a day or two to rest up? What do you think?”

  “I’ll do whatever—”

  I pressed my fingertips against his lips. “Tell me what you’d do if the decision were completely up to you.”

  I slowly pulled my fingers away from his mouth.

  “It’s not up to—”

  “But if it were?”

  Shawn ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I think a day or two sounds good.”

  I shook my head knowing that was the best I was going to get out of him and walked over to the window. For a second, I could almost picture what a magnificent sight the farm must have been before the storms took everything away.

  Shawn stepped up behind me and gently placed his hand on my shoulder. He slowly moved it down my arm, and I tried to hold in a shiver. I could feel his breath near the side of my neck, but he backed away when the sounds of footsteps coming down the hall made their way into the room.

  “House is clear,” Ryder said stepping into the room. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. “I can’t believe this place is in such good condition after all this time. There might be some damage to the roof considering the water-stained ceiling upstairs, but otherwise, this place is too good to be true.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” I said my voice soft. The better the place appeared, the more likely it was that everyone would want to stay. And the harder it would be to tell them we had to keep moving.

  Ryder kicked at the floor with the tip of his boot. “How will you know when you’ve found what you’re looking for?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. My eyes were glued to the outside scenery. I could see for miles.

  “Maybe this is it,” Ryder said pushing himself off of the wall.

  I shook my head and refused to look at either of them. I didn’t want to see even a slight glimpse of their disappointment.

  “Maybe,” I said, but my voice wavered. “I was thinking just a couple days to rest.”

  If there was going to be some kind of mysterious magical feeling that would strike me when I’d found the place I was looking for, it hadn’t happened with this house. It was a nice place, but still, it seemed as though it was too close to everything. Too close to the city we’d passed. Too close to the last time we’d seen the natives. But maybe one day I’d have to come to terms with the fact that everything was too close to something else.

  In this world, danger was looming around every corner, and that was just the way it was.

  I just wasn’t ready to settle. What worried me was that maybe I never would be ready to settle, but it wasn’t just me that I had to worry about. Our decisions rested on my shoulders. The others waited for my call on everything. What if I’d make the wrong call?

  “What the hell is he doing?” I said narrowing my eyes.

  “What is who doing?” Shawn asked.

  I looked at Ryder over my shoulder. “Logan’s out there. Did you know about this?”

  Ryder nodded, and Shawn looked back and forth between us. “What’s going on?”

  “He wanted to check out the property,” Ryder said with a slight shrug as the front door slammed shut.

  Logan’s footsteps loudly pounded against the flooring as he made his way closer to us. He stopped in the doorway and gripped the frame tightly. His fingertips turned white.

  “You guys aren’t going to believe this,” Logan said, working to catch his breath.

  “What is it?” I said placing my hand on my gun.

  Logan shook his head. “Nothing you need your gun for. Come with me. You guys have to see it to believe it.”

  2

  We all followed Logan out of the house, past the brick building toward the back of the property. The door on the brick building squeaked on its hinge as a light breeze blew by.

  Logan led us over an area that had probably once been a field planted with plentiful fruits and vegetables before approaching a wild area where the life was starting to come back to the plants that remained. After we walked around a thick patch of twigs and mostly dead brush, I saw what Logan had brought us out to see.

  “Holy shit!” Ryder said, placing his palms on top of his head.

  Stretched out in front of us was a rather large lake. It spread out beyond the property, but I could see all around it. With all the things that had been left inside the house, we’d be able to boil the water and finally have something clean to drink.

  I wanted to point out that we still had a lack of food, but everyone was so excited about the lake.

  “It’s even better news than what you’re all thinking,” Logan said rubbing his hands together as if he was about to perform a magic trick.

  “What do you mean?” Charlie asked with wide eyes.

  “Well,” Logan said, hesitating as he tried to not to look pleased with himself. He was failing miserably. “I found a couple fishing poles in that storage building. They look a bit rusted, but I think I can probably get them to work.”

  Shawn was shaking his head. “There isn’t going to be any fish in there. Look at the water.”

  The water was rather dingy.

  “We won’t know unless we try,” Logan said, walking backward away from us moving in the direction of the
storage building. “Anyone want to help me?”

  Charlie and Abby looked at one another. They both shrugged their shoulders at the same time before giggling and turning to follow Logan.

  Ryder crossed his arms and then uncrossed them heavily. “Well, I guess I don’t have anything better to do.”

  He walked away leaving Shawn and I standing there staring at the water. I cleared my throat and turned to him.

  “I guess we could start boiling some water. Maybe poke around the house a bit to see what else we can find,” I said before chewing on my lip.

  His eyes moved down to my lips, and he swallowed hard. “Have you given any more thought to when you might tell Ryder about us?”

  “I haven’t,” I said letting out a slow breath. “It’s just that—”

  “No, I get it, really I do,” Shawn said lightly brushing his fingertips across the back of my hand. “I’m just so sick of waiting.”

  He looked around before taking a step closer. My breath felt as though it was caught in my throat. Shawn looked into my eyes, and it was almost as if I could read his thoughts.

  “I want to kiss you. I want to touch you… hold you,” Shawn said, inching his lips closer to mine before pulling away. He stepped back and gestured over his shoulder. “But I can’t.”