The Last Struggle - A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Ravaged Land: Divided Book 3) Page 12

  “I’m going to go check on Shawn and Ryder,” I said placing my hand on the doorknob.

  Logan suddenly remembered I existed. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  “Yeah, sure, why not?” I tapped my hip where my gun rested. “I’m the one that’s armed.”

  “That won’t do any good against a pack of natives,” Logan said raising a brow.

  I tilted my head to the side. “I’d see a pack of natives coming a mile away. It’ll be fine.”

  “I could go with her,” Abby said.

  Logan and I both shook our heads at the same time. I held up my palm and opened the front door.

  I stepped out onto the porch and stuck my head back inside. “That won’t be necessary.”

  I quickly closed the door and made my way over to the lake.

  20

  Ryder was wearing a half-smile as I approached. He pointed at the bucket they’d brought with them.

  “Guess how many I caught and how many Shawn caught?” Ryder said.

  I looked inside the bucket and counted three fish, two of which were quite small.

  “Have a guess?” Ryder asked as Shawn stepped up next to me. “I caught them all.”

  “Nice,” I said feeling Shawn’s eyes on me. It felt as though his stare had made the temperature rise several degrees.

  “Came out by yourself?” Shawn asked keeping his voice low.

  I watched as Ryder cast his line out into the lake. He looked happier than he had in a long time.

  “I did,” I said avoiding Shawn’s eyes.

  I knew he wanted to tell me that I’d been foolish, or that I shouldn’t have risked it, but he didn’t say it.

  The clouds in the distance were dark, and the wind howled and whistled through the trees. A shiver ran up and down my spine at the feeling in the air.

  “There’s a storm coming,” I said.

  “Maybe it’ll cool things down,” Ryder said slowly reeling in his line. “Think we have enough?”

  Shawn picked up his fishing pole as a harsh wind blew into us.

  “Yeah, this will do for now,” Shawn said looking over his shoulder at the dark clouds. “It’s going to be a strong one.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “I can feel it… it’s like there is a charge in the air.”

  My head bobbed up and down in complete understanding because I had felt it too.

  “Let’s get inside,” Shawn said.

  “Maybe we should stay a little longer. I heard once the best time to catch fish is just before a storm,” Ryder said shoving a hand into his pocket.

  Shawn chuckled. “Really where did you hear that?”

  “I don’t remember. But hey, look at how many I caught, it could totally be true,” Ryder said grinning.

  Ryder grabbed the bucket, and we started to walk back toward the storage shed. There was a strange vibration in the ground that made me stop in my tracks.

  “Do you guys feel that?” I asked, but they looked at one another and then at me, both shaking their head.

  Maybe I was imagining it, but it felt as though the ground was shaking ever so slightly. Perhaps it was just on account of the storm. In fact, I was pretty sure I could even hear a faint rumble.

  With each step closer to the house, the ground seemed to shake more and more.

  “You guys really don’t feel that?” I asked.

  “I do now,” Shawn said slowing his pace as he looked around. “What is it?”

  “Earthquake?” Ryder asked, his nose scrunched up.

  I shrugged. Since I’d never been in an earthquake, I had no idea what it might feel like.

  “What’s that?” Shawn said, his eyes squinted as he peered into the distance.

  I turned to follow his gaze. Just below the dark clouds gathering miles off, was a thick cloud of dust that appeared to be rising off of the ground.

  “Dust storm?” Ryder asked, but he was shaking his head if he was already voiding the suggestion.

  “I think we should get inside,” I said feeling my nerves prickle as the dust cloud seemed to grow nearer.

  “I think you’re right,” Shawn said grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the storage shed.

  Ryder grabbed the fishing pole from Shawn and ran ahead. “Get her inside.”

  “Will do,” Shawn said, and Ryder ran ahead to put their supplies away. Water splashed out of their bucket as he stepped out of the building and waved us along.

  Ryder was at our heels as we ran toward the front porch. We all stopped and turned to look at the growing dust cloud.

  It seemed as though something was pushing the cloud. There was movement at the bottom, and I could hear the noises better.

  “Oh my God,” I said when I spotted the animals running.

  “Holy shit,” Ryder said stepping down onto the ground below the porch step. “There must be hundreds of them.”

  “We should get inside,” Shawn said tugging on my arm.

  Ryder turned and looked at us with a big grin on his face. “We should shoot one. I mean… right?”

  “It’ll be too loud,” I said just as thunder rumbled in the distant.

  “If anyone is out there, they’ll think it’s thunder. Besides, I don’t think they’d be able to hear it. Listen to that stampede,” Ryder said.

  The pounding of their hooves hitting the ground grew louder and louder the closer they came toward the house.

  “Think of the food,” Ryder said.

  I shook my head. “Without all the snow and ice we had in the north, it’ll go bad in no time… especially with this heat.”

  They were moving far faster than I had realized. In minutes they’d be wildly rushing through our yard.

  “Well, we’d eat good today,” Ryder said with a smile on his face. “We all need it.”

  “I don’t know,” I said rubbing my palm down the front of my pants.

  “Want me to do it?” Ryder asked raising an eyebrow.

  I cocked my head to the side. “No, if anyone does it, it’ll be me.”

  As we stood there staring at the animals rushing toward us, it felt like all of the air was being sucked out of the area. Everything around us had become still as if it were the calm before the storm.

  Ryder leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. “It’s deer. Come on, Emery, shoot one of them.”

  “Ryder,” Shawn warned.

  They locked eyes and held each other for a long moment before Ryder looked away.

  “Fine,” Ryder said throwing his hands up in the air as he stepped back onto the porch. “Who knows if we’ll ever get a chance like this again.”

  I knew it was mostly Ryder’s stomach that was doing the talking. We’d been living on mostly rice since we’d arrived at the farm, and his body, all of our bodies, were craving more.

  Logan would probably get better even faster with something a bit heartier. Something that would be filling in a much different way than the rice was.

  “OK,” I said as the pounding on the ground increased. My heart rate sped up to match the sounds of their impending arrival. “I’ll do it.”

  I took out my gun and stared at the pack of deer heading our way.

  “Yeah!” Ryder said clapping his hands together as he came to stand next to me.

  I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at him. “You are far too excited about me killing an animal.”

  “What can I say? I’m hungry.” Ryder grinned.

  “Are you sure about this?” Shawn asked.

  “Do you think I shouldn’t?” I asked, lowering the gun, and Ryder groaned.

  Shawn crossed his arms as he eyed Ryder. “I don’t think you should unless you want to.”

  “It’s fine,” I said squinting at the deer. I could see there black, almond-shaped eyes staring in our direction.

  “Here they come,” Ryder said.

  We all took a step back closer to the house as the deer rushed forward. They were going to run right past the house.


  I jumped when someone knocked on the window behind Shawn.

  “What’s going on?” Logan shouted through the glass.

  “Stampede,” Ryder shouted back.

  Logan’s face scrunched up as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard him right. But just then, the first deer in the pack ran right by the front porch.

  He wore a magnificent crown of antlers that seemed as though it would have been impossible for him to hold up. But he was doing it, and seemingly with ease.

  The other deer were on his heels charging after him. They were too close to one another, and I was surprised they hadn’t managed to trip each other up.

  A strong wind blew my hair back out of my face. At first, I thought the wind was from the storm that would be arriving shortly, but quickly realized it was from the deer.

  A loud crash sounded off to our right, and Shawn held out his arms protectively. When I saw the deer that had slammed into the side of the porch get up and shake his head, I aimed my gun at it. In less than a second, he kicked his feet and joined right back into the pack as if nothing had happened.

  It was hard to aim at any deer in particular. They moved much faster than I had expected.

  “I can’t line up a shot,” I said as my gun glided along with each target I tried to pick in the pack.

  My dad and I had done target practice but never on moving objects.

  “Just shoot,” Ryder said nudging me. “You can’t miss.”

  The noises of the stampede made it hard to concentrate. Even the wind they created was distracting me. I could taste the dust that had found its way into my nostrils.

  My hand started to shake, and I tightened my grip. I felt a bead of sweat drip down the side of my face, and the dust that clung to it made it itch.

  I started to take in a breath, but it almost made me gag.

  “Come on, Emery,” Ryder urged softly. “You can do it.”

  I widened my stance and pulled the trigger. A deer made a strange honk like noise as it stumbled and fell to the ground. The deer behind it looked panicked as they tried to hop over it, but most of them stomped on him.

  The dust was thick, but I could see through it well enough to see the deer was suffering. It wasn’t my bullet that was going to take its life, it was the other deer stomping on him that would slowly take it out of this world.

  “God dammit,” I said softly as I covered my mouth. I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t listen. I buried my face against Shawn’s chest and waited for the stampede to end.

  Maybe if we had been more desperate for food, it wouldn’t have bothered me as much. But shooting the deer was more agonizing than it had been when I’d shot and killed Ross. Ross had deserved it. This deer? I wasn’t sure if he had.

  “I’m taking her inside,” Shawn shouted over the sounds of the rushing deer.

  When I was in the house, it wasn’t much quieter. Shawn held me until the stampede finally came to an end.

  “Go help him,” I said to Shawn. “I’m going to go lie down.”

  “Are you sure? I can stay with you,” Shawn said.

  I shook my head. It might have been the last thing I needed, but I wanted to be alone.

  21

  That night we’d had a feast. Shawn and Ryder had prepared the fish and the deer meat, along with a ton of rice. We all ate more than we should have as we listened to the storm pass by.

  It was a violent storm with strong winds that made the house creak and crack. Lighting cracked and cut through the night sky like a knife while thunder rumbled the ground worse than the stampede.

  The flashes of lightning were so bright it would illuminate every room in the entire house. Each of us wearing the same scared expression with each ear-piercing crack.

  “Hope it doesn’t strike the house,” Ryder said glancing at Logan.

  “Why not?” Abby asked as flashes of light brightened her face.

  “It could start a fire.” Ryder hadn’t taken his eyes off of Logan. “And if there’s a fire….”

  Logan stood up and crossed his arms. “I can walk.”

  Ryder nodded, but he hadn’t looked satisfied. “But for how long?”

  Logan’s hand tightened at his side and then relaxed as he lowered himself back down onto the chair.

  “We’d figure it out,” I said pressing my lips together.

  “There’s always the storage building. That’s made out of brick,” Shawn said. “I’m sure Logan could easily make it that far.”

  Logan nodded, and silence filled the room. The storm occupied much of my thoughts. Every time there was a storm I wondered if it would be the one that would finish us off. My parents didn’t like the storms, and I guessed that because of that, I hadn’t either. Nothing good ever happened after a storm.

  The sun came up bright and early the next day and was already hard at work to dry out the yard before I’d even opened my eyes. I stared at the door not wanting to get out of bed.

  Several minutes ago, someone had walked down the hall and stopped in my doorway, but I wasn’t sure who it had been. I’d closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep.

  I wasn’t sure what it was that was holding me down, but whatever it was had a hold on me that I couldn’t seem to push away.

  Voices fluttered in the air like butterflies around me. The others were up and going about their morning routine, but I didn’t want to be a part of it.

  It wasn’t that I wanted to be alone again, in fact, that was probably the last thing I wanted. Deep down I knew that what I didn’t want to do was confront our plans for the future.

  I didn’t want to decide if we should stay in the house, or if we should strike out in search of something better. Something different.

  For all I knew, there wasn’t anything out there. Maybe the farm was the best we were going to ever have and planting the seeds I’d taken with me would be the right thing to do.

  My stomach twisted at the idea. If I planted my seeds, we could still be forced to leave the farm, and I would lose everything. The seeds I carried with me, were the last thing I still had as a reminder of home.

  There was always the chance that the seeds would grow and feed us for years to come. I could get more seeds from the plants but planting them felt too risky. Too permanent.

  There was a chance I wouldn’t ever be able to plant them, and it was hard to come to terms with that notion. My mom had told me to plant them in the south, where it was warm, and they’d grow. We had a farm. It was warm. And as long as there wasn’t anything wrong with the seeds after all this time, they’d grow.

  But I couldn’t commit. The others would be asking soon what we should do. They’d want me to decide if we should stay or if we should go. I was pretty sure all of them, except for maybe Shawn, would have a strong preference for staying. Even with the man who occasionally showed up and left people in the storage shed to die wandering about. He could come back, but he would be easy to deal with. At least, I believed that’s what they would say.

  The floorboards at the end of the hallway creaked. I could hear whispers deciding whether or not they should wake me. Their voices weren’t urgent, so I wasn’t worried. I closed my eyes and relaxed my body.

  “Maybe she’s tired,” Abby whispered.

  Someone said something, but I hadn’t been able to make out what they’d said. I was pretty sure the soft mumbles had belonged to Shawn.

  “Give her a few more minutes,” Abby said, and after a brief hesitation, the floorboards creaked as they walked away.

  My eyes popped open, and I turned so my back was toward the door. I stared at the bright window.

  If only my mom could give me some kind of sign, to let me know this was the place I was meant to stay. We had water and fish. There was a field that needed a little work but would definitely work for planting the seeds I had.

  Was there anything else out there? What if this was it?

  I needed a sign. Any sign.

  I closed my eyes, and in my mind, I begged my mom for a sign
al. But of course, nothing happened.

  The front door crashed as someone flung it open. When the door slammed shut, I abruptly sat up in bed.

  Ryder walked past the hallway and stopped just before the kitchen. I could see his tensed body at the end of the hall.

  Ryder's hand shot up to his head, and he held it in place. “Holy shit, you guys are not going to believe what I found.”

  22

  I crawled out of bed, and everyone stared at me as I walked down the hall. Ryder glanced over his shoulder to see what they were looking at but quickly turned back to face them.

  “What is it?” Logan said concern filling his eyes.

  “I don’t know how we missed it, to be honest,” Ryder said with a hint of a laugh.

  Shawn shook his head. “Missed what?”

  “OK, well, I moved some shit around in the storage building and there was a door, just like the one in the kitchen,” Ryder said as I stepped around to join in the meeting. “I figured I’d probably just find more canned junk, but that isn’t at all what I’ve found.”

  Shawn shot me a look and turned back to Ryder. “So, what did you find?”

  “A stockpile of grenades, but that’s not all,” Ryder said raising his eyebrows. “There are a couple guns, ammo, and more. It’s like someone had been preparing for the end of the world. There are even packets of seeds down there.”

  “Seeds?” I asked feeling the heat rising through my body.

  Ryder nodded. “I don’t know if they’ll grow, but it’s worth a shot, right?”

  My fingers twisted together. I was being confronted with the exact conversation I’d been trying to avoid.

  Ryder stepped closer, and there was no doubt he could sense my nerves. “I know you aren’t sure about staying, but I think this is a sign, don’t you?”

  “What?” I said swallowing hard.

  “Guns to protect ourselves and seeds to start growing. Maybe this is the place you were searching for all along,” Ryder said placing his hands on my shoulders.

  My eyes darted over to Shawn. The back of my neck was sticky with sweat, and my insides were swirling.