The Last Remnants Read online

  I looked over my shoulder, but I couldn’t see anything. It looked like a navy sheet hanging down from the sky blocking out everything.

  “What do we do now?” Abby said in a soft voice.

  “We keep going,” Ryder said.

  “When do we get to take a break?” she asked rubbing the back of her neck.

  Ryder patted her back. “Sorry, I know it’s hard. But keep moving as if your life depends on it because it might.”

  It hadn’t been long after the clouds blocked out the moon that the rain started to fall. The ground was slick, and we had to slow down our pace to a careful yet brisk walk.

  The air felt heavy. It felt like a thick fog had surrounded us like a cushion. There was a hint of sweetness on my tongue whenever I drew in a breath. I could smell the pungent scent of moss covered wood even though I couldn’t see any trees around.

  With each step, my feet slid just a bit on the dead grasses and mud. I took another step forward, and suddenly my feet had a bit more traction.

  We were on a road. It was in terrible condition, cracked and broken in many places but it was far easier to walk on than the wet ground.

  “A road,” I said, and the others looked down. It had been a long time since I’d seen a road like the one we were on.

  “Think this used to be a highway maybe,” Logan said looking at the stretched out wide path in front of us.

  “Maybe it leads somewhere,” Charlie said, not bothering to hide the tinge of hope.

  I let out a slow controlled breath. “Might lead us into trouble, and I think we’ve had enough of that.”

  Shawn bumped his shoulder into mine and took my hand into his. “You’re going to lead us south, and we’re all going to be OK. Isn’t that right?”

  “Well,” I said swallowing down the sour taste that formed in the back of my throat. That had been my plan, but after everything we’d been through, I worried that wasn’t realistic. I couldn’t imagine a time we’d ever be able to be safe.

  “Well, I believe in your plan,” Shawn said not waiting for me to finish my thought.

  “Me too,” Ryder said.

  I wiped the beads of moisture off of my cheeks. “At least you guys do because I’ve lost all faith. If we’ve managed to lose the natives, I still don’t know how we’re going to survive long without our supplies.”

  I wanted to cry just thinking about my backpack. It held everything I’d taken from my home. My items. My memories. All of it was gone forever.

  The only thing I had left was what was in my pockets, and the memories that would always be in my mind. It wasn’t going to be easy to find food, but there was no point in worrying about it when I wasn’t even sure we’d escaped the natives.

  When the sun started to touch the horizon, the world around us lit up a bit more. The rain had stopped hours ago, but the dampness clung to the air.

  I turned and exhaled slowly when noticing that our surroundings were completely empty. There was nothing in front, to the sides, or behind us. It was just a bumpy road stretched out for miles in front of us.

  “We made it another day,” Shawn said stretching his arms over his head as he yawned.

  “Hopefully that’s a good thing,” Abby said with a shiver. “How much longer until we can rest?”

  Ryder scanned the area. “Maybe up there.”

  He pointed at what looked like a hunk of rusted metal sitting on its side in the ditch. It was coated with moss, and a tall weed was growing out of an opening.

  “But just a short rest,” Ryder said placing his hand over his eyes and rubbing vigorously. “They could still be after us for all we know.”

  “Lots of days of traveling in are in your future,” Logan said flashing Abby a smile. “It’s tiring, but I’m glad you’re with us.”

  “Me too,” she said smiling back. “This is what you guys were doing before Tina found you?”

  I nodded. “Just walking around making our way. It was easier when we had our things.”

  “Well, you still have your gun,” Abby said.

  “Can’t eat a gun,” I said. My eyes shifted to Ryder’s empty hands. “What happened to Charlie’s club?”

  “I lost it going down that stupid hill,” Ryder said flicking out his blade. “Still have this though.”

  My hand jerked to my hip to make sure my gun was still there. “And once I’m out of bullets, I’ll have nothing.”

  The sun finally peeked over the horizon highlighting the gray clouds that scattered the sky.

  “Looks like we might get more rain,” Ryder said approaching the hunk of metal with his blade in hand.

  “Better than snow though, right?” Charlie asked, leaning against the rusted metal.

  “I suppose so,” Ryder said crouching down to pick at some of the grasses. “Wonder if this is edible.”

  I glanced over at the tall bruised up grasses. “Hmm, not sure but I think it’s a good sign that things are starting to grow. Hopefully, we’ll spot something we can eat.”

  “Maybe we can find a lake or river and catch some fish,” Logan said.

  “Doesn’t look like worms should be hard to find,” I said as one scooted across the cracked pavement. “Hey Ryder,” I said gesturing at the worm, “that’s edible.”

  He laughed and covered his mouth. “Not that hungry yet.”

  “Good thing we had our fill of Tina’s stuff,” Charlie said. “But I could really go for one of those salty bags of chips right now.”

  “Let’s not talk about food. That’ll just make it worse,” I said, patting my stomach.

  Everyone grew quiet as they rested. I looked at the position of the sun and tried to plan our route.

  Shawn bumped me with his elbow and jerked his head to the side. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

  “Sure,” I said glancing at the others, but no one seemed to even notice us stepping away.

  I crossed my arms and looked into his eyes. He met my gaze for a second before turning to look back at his boots.

  “Everything OK?” I asked, starting to feel flutters in my stomach.

  “Yeah, it’s just that, I think we need to talk to Ryder,” Shawn said.

  I scrunched up my nose. “What do you mean?”

  “About us.” He swallowed hard. “Time is getting away from us.”

  My heart bounced as he ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at me with those eyes. Those beautiful sparkling eyes.

  I didn’t realize at first, but I was already nodding.

  “Not now,” I said pressing my lips together. “But yeah… soon.”

  “I want us to be together,” Shawn said keeping his voice low. “He’ll be OK with it. At least he will in time.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I said, crossing my arms. It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have, but I didn’t want to put my life on hold. Ryder had made his choice, and I deserved to make mine too. “I’ll talk to him when things settle down.”

  Shawn flashed me a gorgeous smile that made my insides swirl. “Good. Because if you don’t, I will.”

  “Is that a threat?” I asked smiling back at him.

  “Think of it more like motivation,” he said placing his arm around my shoulder as he turned me back toward the others.

  “Maybe I rather you do it.”

  “Really? Because I will, right now—”

  “No, not really.” I chewed my lip. “I’ll do it. I will.”

  I let out a heavy sigh and turned away from the group to check our surroundings.

  Everything was peaceful. For a moment, I almost thought that maybe things could actually work out.

  All I knew for sure was that I wasn’t ready to give up trying.

  This is the end of The Last Remnants, book two in the Ravaged Land: Divided series.

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  If you enjoyed this book you may also enjoy the Ravaged Land Series.

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  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Ravaged Land: Divided

  The Last Disaster - Book 1

  The Last Remnants - Book 2

  Book 3 Coming Soon!

  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

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  Coming Soon…

  Book three in the Ravaged Land: Divided series is coming soon. 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.

  About the Author

  Kellee L. Greene is a stay-at-home-mom to two super awesome and wonderfully sassy children. She loves to read, draw and spend time with her family when she’s not writing. Writing and having people read her books has been a long time dream of hers and she’s excited to write more. Her favorites genres are Fantasy and Sci-fi. Kellee lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two kids and two cats.

  For more information:

  www.kelleelgreene.com

  Ravaged Land - Preview

  The Ravaged Land Series - Book One

  Ravaged Land - Chapter one

  I think I took it all for granted. I had become accustomed to my daily routine and to be totally honest, I liked it. In fact, there was nothing I enjoyed more than sitting still, reading a book, soaking in the bathtub, watching a movie, or other simple things that some people think are monotonous. They are always on the go, scheduling the next event, sending text messages and taking quick showers, but I didn’t mind being slow. I relished it. I thought everyone should take a more leisurely approach to life, what was the rush anyway? Had I been able to see into the future, I may have thought differently. I might have changed how I had lived my life.

  There had been something drastically different in the air that afternoon, but I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly what it was. The whole day had been hot and humid, the weatherman had predicted a thunderstorm, and we were under a tornado watch. My clothes had been soggy from dripping sweat all day in the unpleasant claustrophobic classrooms they refused to air condition. I had felt gross and was eager to change into something dry, ideally right into my pajamas. This day had been draining, and I was exhausted. Maybe I'd curl up in bed after a cool bath, read a book and listen to the storms pass by. That sounded like heaven.

  I wanted to put a name to the smell floating in my nostrils. It was salty and musty, making me think of under-cooked French fries. Both the smell and the feeling in the air had been unsettling and I couldn’t wait to get home. I walked faster hoping I’d beat the rain since my clothes were already wet enough. I crossed my arms in front of me and let my backpack hang off my shoulder as I walked fast with my head down. After the bell had rang letting school out I had practically sprinted out of the building leaving a little earlier than I usually did. Since it had been the last day before summer vacation, everyone else was lingering and making plans for the summer with their friends. They had all apparently been oblivious to that unusual fragrance in the air.

  “Have a great summer Roslyn!” A tall girl shouted to me from across the street, waving at me altogether too excitedly as she opened the passenger door of a beat-up blue corvette. I couldn't remember her name, so I smiled awkwardly and waved at her. Then as if I felt weird about my hand up in the air, I dropped it down to gather up my dark blonde hair letting it fall down over my left shoulder.

  I was probably about halfway home when I looked up from the sidewalk. Across the street was a boy in my class I didn’t really know, but I recognized him only because he was often the object of discussions I’d overheard the other girls chittering about. He was cute, dark hair, dark eyes but guys like that don’t have an interest in girls like me anyway. He wouldn’t want someone who was as boring and low-key as I was. A boy like that is only interested in the most popular, the most beautiful and the most interesting girls. In front of me was another boy from my class, Ryan I thought, kicking a stone as if it were a soccer ball. Another one of the boys all the girls went crazy over, he was absolutely gorgeous, but he didn’t know it, or at least if he did, he didn’t care.

  There was another group somewhere behind me. I could hear them talking, making plans for the night, and next they’d probably plan out the whole summer. After I rolled my eyes, I was hit smack dab in the middle of my forehead by an abnormally large drop of wetness. I wiped my skin dry with the back of my hand and tilted my head upwards. The dark ominous clouds looming ahead traveled at what seemed to be an unrealistic speed. Only moments ago the sun had been shining but now a darkness akin to night was setting in, the feeling made me shiver even in this heat.

  I looked to the others to see if anyone else had noticed the extreme raindrops but the boy across the street still had his head down and was even further ahead of me. The other boy, Ryan, who had been in front of me had turned off and was walking into what I assumed was his house.

  The drops of water started to fall quicker, each one smacking against my face and the exposed skin of my arms with small but annoying stings. I swung my backpack in front of me to look for something I could put over my head. Before I even got a chance to unzip my pack there was a loud thunk followed by the clanging rattle of a street sign. It had made such an unusual high pitched noise that my ears started to ring.

  Another chunk of hail hit the ground a foot in front of me with a thud, crashing so hard it broke into countless smaller pieces on impact. They scattered all around my feet looking like little chips of glass. This was by far the largest and most dangerous hail I’d ever seen in my entire life. Within thirty seconds of each other, another two large pieces fell only a few feet away from me, and thankfully not on my head. How many more of these large ice blocks would fall? These pieces of hail weren’t the small and smooth pebble-like hail I’d seen a hundred times before, instead they were rough and thick, jagged like chipped and broken rocks. I put my backpack over my head hoping it would at least protect me from the falling shards, but in all reality they probably weighed several pounds and the backpack wouldn’t do much of anything to soften the blow.

  Down the street a car window shattered with a loud pop and crack. I hadn't been expecting it and I jumped backwards startled by the sudden noise. My house was still a fair distance away, and the hail didn’t seem to be letting up. If anything, it was getting worse. I needed to find a place to hang out temporarily until this lethal storm passed. The girl in the group behind me let out an awful howl. I whipped around to see watery blood streaming down her face. Her crystal blue eyes were wide with surprise. I guessed that she'd been hit by the small chunk of hail that rocked to a stop near her feet. Had it been one of the larger pieces she wouldn’t have been able to let out her painful cry.

  The house Ryan had walked into had a covered porch. I called over to the group behind me, pointing as I ran up the walk. “Over here, come this way!” I said, and they followed. I didn’t think he’d mind... considering.

  A car barreled down the street and I realized what was about to happen only seconds before it did. The driver didn't have a chance. The girl next to me with the gash in her forehead let out a scream that made my bones ache. It had been like something out of a horror movie. The boulder of hail which had been the size of a large watermelon smashed through the windshield. Copious cracks sprouted out from
the hole that had been left by the chunk of hail further weakening the glass. The car slammed into a parked van, and the driver was ejected from his seat. The broken windshield had slowed the drivers exit and his body was sprawled out on the hood of the car like a rag doll. Blood pooled out from his middle and oozed out of his nose and ears. He laid there staring blankly towards me, his body motionless. Oh crap, was he dead?

  The boy who had been ahead of me on the other side of the street was running towards the car, but he stopped suddenly when he saw the body spread out on the car. He put his hand on his forehead and then both hands over his eyes. I guessed it had been someone he knew. The winds picked up and the booms from the thunder and lightning shook the earth so much I worried it was an earthquake. It was terrifying.

  The tall boy who was with the girl spun her around so she was facing the house and the guy with black hair stood in front of me to block my view since I had been unable to turn myself away from the gruesome scene. The front door to the house flung open, partly from the wind and partly from an aggressive push. The bang startled me and I jumped into the bigger guy grabbing his arm way too tightly.

  “You guys have to come with me,” he said. “Please, follow me.” He gestured for us to follow him and it took me a few minutes to understand as my brain hadn't worked the same way it had before seeing the crash. Ryan was trying to get us to go with him somewhere. I caught another glimpse of the guy across the street, he was looking at us, he didn’t say anything he just stood there. The others hadn’t noticed him, I was about to say something when I was jostled by the guy with the black hair whose name I couldn’t recall.