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  “I’m worried about my brother getting more and more mixed up with the wrong people,” Hayes said.

  I tried to push the scowl off my face. “It isn’t Linus doing the wrong thing, it’s my father and the people that support him. People on level one don’t have enough food, medicine, enough for their kids. No one realizes how bad it is.”

  “And Linus is stepping into dangerous territory. How do you think he’ll do out here? Alone,” Hayes said.

  “Go back,” I said my voice rising slightly. “Tell my father I made you come with me… that you didn’t want to. Tell him we all died. Maybe he’ll take it easy on you because you're the only survivor.”

  Hayes looked down at his feet before his eyes flicked back up to meet mine. “Stop trying to get rid of me. It’s not going to be that easy. I can be here with you and worried about my brother at the same time.”

  “What really happened?” Gina asked turning to me.

  A beast howled in the distance. I drew in a sharp breath as I pressed my hand to my chest. I was afraid the beasts would come looking for the rest of their pack.

  “We should go,” I said.

  Gina nodded. We took the packs with us as we continued on. Hayes carried his clothes wrapped up into a tight ball. We were going to need to find a way for him to clean his shirt because having him walk around in the unknown world shirtless was making me nervous. We didn’t know what kinds of things were around and Hayes having one less thing on made me feel like he was slightly less protected.

  I told Gina everything that had happened with Ezra the night we left. She sobbed as we walked away but it wasn’t because of what I told her, it was because of the men we were walking away from.

  I couldn’t ask who they were. It would only make things harder. More said. Their deaths were on my father, not us. At least that’s what I told myself. He could have let us go… he didn’t have to send anyone after us.

  Grayson looked through the backpacks as we walked. There was more food and water but not much else. They hadn’t been prepared. They didn’t have anything they could have used to protect themselves.

  Gina likely knew how lucky she was to be alive. And it proved to me how little my dad cared about anyone. The only one he cared about was himself.

  As the sky became darker, the howls seemed to increase. Were we walking deeper into the beast’s territory? Or maybe they were hungry after the storm.

  “There was a building we stayed in the last night but it’s a bit north of here,” Gina said spinning in a circle as she kept walking. “I think.”

  “We might need to go back,” I said.

  She nodded and stared at the sky for a moment. “This way, I think.”

  Chapter Eight

  The building Gina brought us to was different from the first we’d rested in. Our building had been old and covered with moss, plants, and vines but this building had been constructed of wood. There wasn’t anything growing on either the interior or the exterior of the building which meant it had been built somewhat recently.

  It had a squeaky door with a lock and no windows. There were sections of the wood that weren’t placed tightly together that allowed us to see out between the cracks.

  “I don’t know if we should stay here,” I said nervously wrapping my arms around my middle.

  The small building only had two rooms — a wide open space with nothing inside and a small bathroom. The bathroom was nothing more than a bench with a hole cut into the wood.

  “Why not?” Gina asked. “The door is locked.”

  “Yeah… I guess I’m just worried that whoever built this will come back to it,” I said.

  Gina shrugged. “You guys are the first people I’ve seen since I’ve been out here.”

  “Okay, but clearly there must be people out here or this building wouldn’t exist, right?” I asked.

  “So?” Gina asked. “Even if there are people out here, what makes you think they’ll be mad that we’re here? We’ll just explain and they’ll probably understand.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond. Mister Paul, the man at the camp, had told us about the natives, telling us to steer clear. He hadn’t specifically told us why but he must have had reasons if he was warning us about them.

  “We’ve all heard the stories that the only people that survived are inside the wall,” Gina said. “At least those were the stories I was told. No one could survive the storms.”

  “I don’t believe that’s true,” I said and then I told her all about Mister Paul and the people living in the camp we stayed at during the thunderstorm. Then I told her what Mister Paul had told us about the natives. “People can survive out here and they’ve been doing it. There’s a good chance that people have been doing it since the storms started and that we’d been lied to.”

  Hayes had his eyes on me as I spoke. It seemed as though he was waiting for me to tell Gina why I was really out beyond the wall. He would want me to explain why I had a bag packed but I wasn’t sure how to tell her.

  Eventually, I would.

  She’d come out here by my dad’s orders with several others who were devoured to the bone by the wild beasts. And still, she had no desire to go back into the city.

  Telling her wouldn’t change that. Or at least I had to believe that. What I didn’t know was how she’d feel about what I’d done.

  I sucked in a short breath.

  “I think my friends have survived out here since they were banished,” I blurted out the words quickly so I wouldn’t have a chance to back out. “And if they didn’t, I’m going to try to find out what happened to them. There might be more out here than we were told about.”

  “That would be amazing if they did. How can I help?” Gina asked eagerly.

  Grayson grinned at her from across the room. He was sitting on the floor with his eyes half-closed.

  “I’m not sure yet,” I said wanting to shoot Hayes a smug look but I decided against it. It wasn’t like I wanted to rub anything in his face even though I hadn’t made him chase after me. I hadn’t made him come out here.

  “Hmm,” Gina said tapping her chin with her index finger. “I’m not even sure what I’d do if I had been banished without supplies. What would they have done?”

  “They wouldn’t have even known what they could eat out here,” Hayes said.

  Gina’s face scrunched into a half-frown. “I know I wouldn’t have a clue. What are we going to do when we run out of supplies?”

  “Hayes knows a lot of things we can eat,” I said.

  “Yeah but they aren’t good,” Grayson said his eyes all the way closed.

  Hayes turned to Gina. “Mushrooms.”

  “I love mushrooms,” Gina said.

  “Who doesn’t?” Hayes asked throwing his hands into the air.

  “I don’t,” Grayson said his lips barely moving.

  I rubbed the perspiration off the back of my neck. “You’re going to have to learn to like them. I’m sure we’re all going to have to eat things that we don’t like to survive.”

  “Easy for you to say,” Grayson mumbled. “You like mushrooms.”

  “Anyway,” Gina said waving her hand at him. “What is your plan out here? How do you hope to find your friends?”

  “That’s one thing I wish I would have been able to figure out before I had to escape,” I said.

  “Wait,” Gina said. “Were you planning to leave the city?”

  I shrugged.

  “You were,” she said glancing at my bag. “How long?”

  I looked down at my feet and then back at her. “Ever since I heard about the tunnel.”

  Gina stared at me. “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t have done anything differently. Still, we need a plan.”

  “Since we’re already headed east, we’ll go that way for a while,” I said lowering my head into my hands. There was no way we’d ever be able to canvas all of the land. “Hopefully, we’ll find something along the way… a clue as to which way they might have gone.
I’m hoping they wouldn’t have traveled too far from the city maybe hoping that one day they’d be able to get back in.”

  Gina nodded. “Would they have stayed together?”

  “I think so,” I said chewing on the inside of my cheek. “I have no reason to think they wouldn’t… we were all pretty close.”

  I could feel Hayes’s eyes on me but I refused to meet them. He had always wanted to be part of our little group but it just hadn’t ever worked out. He was always busy and he didn’t get along with Boone. Hayes wouldn’t ever admit it but he’d been jealous of him.

  We’d all liked him even though he was a little older but he also had a lot more responsibilities. So, Hayes ended up being an occasional friend even though he didn’t make it a secret that he’d always wanted more.

  Things with Boone and I had been… confusing. He didn’t like my father but he liked me. We liked each other. In fact, I always thought, we all had thought, that Boone and I would end up together.

  My other friends Trixie and Wren had often planned the wedding while I rolled my eyes. There were times I wondered if my father had banished them just to get rid of Boone.

  Their dislike for one another had been mutual. And Boone hadn’t bothered to keep it a secret.

  Boone hadn’t liked how my father had treated me and it frustrated him that he couldn’t do anything about it. He also hadn’t liked how my father had ignored those on level one.

  He wanted to start a rebellion. A mutiny. But he hadn’t ever actually taken steps to take down my father, at least not as far as I had known.

  If we found Boone, I wasn’t sure how Hayes would feel or how he’d react. Hell, I wasn’t even sure how I’d react. Things had changed since I’d last seen him. I wasn’t going to pretend that what happened between Hayes and me hadn’t.

  I cared about him… a lot but honestly, I cared a lot about Boone too.

  There was a good chance though that if Boone had survived, he’d moved on. It wasn’t like he had been waiting for me because he would have known the odds of ever seeing me again were slim.

  It was silly to even be thinking about him because what had happened between us, was in the past. It had only happened the one time… in the heat of the moment. But I’d always wonder what would have happened if he hadn’t been banished.

  “Get some sleep,” Gina said. “You look like hell.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her words. “I feel like hell.”

  “Go ahead,” Gina said. “I’m good for a few hours yet. I’ll wake you if I need to.”

  I was tempted to argue with her but when a yawn slipped out, I knew it was a battle I wouldn’t win.

  Hayes was twisting his finger together and barely looked at me as I lowered myself next to him.

  “Is this seat taken?” I asked.

  Hayes shook his head and stretched out his arm around my shoulders. He was warm and I felt safe but unfortunately, I could also feel the distance between us.

  I wished I could have made it better but there probably wasn’t anything that could. Hayes kissed the top of my head before resting his cheek down.

  If there was one person I could count on… it was Hayes.

  Chapter Nine

  It was roughly midday when we came to the small river. There was some kind of critter or insect at the top of the trees making a rattling sound. It felt like they were trying to alert anyone and everything to our presence.

  The river was deep but the water was clear as it rushed by us slower than the water flowed from my bathtub faucet back in the city. I stood on the small rocks that covered the riverbank.

  “We should boil some of this. Take what we can,” Hayes said crouching down to wash his hands in the water.

  With how dry my mouth was, it was hard not to scoop some of it up and pour it into my mouth. But I didn’t think it would be safe to drink it, considering the water that came into the city needed to be treated.

  “You should wash your shirt,” I said.

  We’d combined the supplies that Gina and the others had been carrying into another backpack. It didn’t make sense for us to carry extra packs and use up our energy if we didn’t need to. This way, we took turns and hopefully would be able to travel further.

  Hayes opened my backpack and took out his bloodstained shirt. He looked at the stains and then further down the river.

  “I think I’ll go downstream so I don’t accidentally contaminate the water with whatever this is,” Hayes said.

  “Stay where we can see you,” I said and Hayes nodded before walking away.

  Grayson pointed at a wider section of the river in the distance. “I wonder if there might be some fish over that way.”

  “Maybe!” Gina said with an excited hop. “We should see if we can find something we could use as a net.”

  Grayson grinned and gestured for Gina to follow him. I grimaced as I watched them walk away.

  “Don’t go far!” I called after them.

  It was like they’d forgotten how dangerous we’d been told the outside world had been. Hell, it hadn’t been that long since the large beasts had attacked.

  “We won’t, mom,” Gina called and they both chuckled loud enough for me to hear them.

  They won’t be teasing me if they get lost out there with no supplies.

  Hayes glanced over in my direction as he scrubbed at a stubborn spot with a small wet stone. If he wasn’t careful, he would tear his shirt.

  I hadn’t realized how important clothes were when I’d packed for my journey. It wasn’t like there would be anyone around that would be making new clothing. Even if I found old fabric, I wouldn’t know the first thing about sewing it together to form anything useful.

  If the sun kept beating down on us making the days hot and humid none of us would even want to wear clothes. Of course, we’d have to for protection. Our clothing was our armor, although it wasn’t great armor.

  Hayes examined his shirt as he walked back over. His chin jerked toward the trees behind me.

  “Where did they run off to?” he asked.

  “They’re looking for something they can use for a net,” I said. “They think there could be fish in the deeper part of the river.”

  Hayes’s eyes follow the river to where it widened. “Hmm, maybe. Wonder if we could use the spear.”

  “Spearfishing?”

  “Yeah,” Hayes grinned. “You have to be absolutely still,” he said as he turned into a statue. Hayes didn’t even blink until he opened his mouth again a long moment later. “And then, when they least expect it, you jab them with the spear.”

  He wrapped his arms around me as if catching me was the same as catching a fish swimming wildly in the river. Still, I laughed.

  The smile fell off my face as I stared into his eyes. He held me close and it felt good to be in his arms again.

  My fingers slid up his neck and into his hair. His lips grazed mine and my body softened.

  “You shouldn’t have come after me,” I said as I leaned back to look into his eyes. “If anything happens to you… I don’t know how—”

  “Nothing is going to happen to me.”

  “Don’t say that!” My eyes were impossibly wide.

  Hayes shook his head and grinned. “Are you superstitious?”

  “No, yeah, I don’t know. Maybe a little. I just don’t want you tempting fate.”

  “There is no such thing as fate,” Hayes said firmly. “We make our own destiny, which is why I came after you. You’re all I’ve ever wanted. There wasn’t anything that could stop me from coming after you.”

  I snickered. “My dad had control over every aspect of my life. I didn’t have a lot of choices, so fate seemed like something that had been set in stone.”

  “But then you came out here. You changed everything,” Hayes said before kissing me again. My skin warmed and my insides started to tingle. “How are we ever going to find alone time out here?”

  I frowned. “I’m not sure we will. At least no
t until we find a place to make our own. What do you know about building houses?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” Hayes said with a sigh. “I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help on this adventure.”

  “Are you kidding? Without you we wouldn’t know what we can and can’t eat,” I said. “It’s possible you are the most important person in our little group.”

  “I don’t know. Grayson has the spear and you’ve got my dull kitchen knife,” Hayes said stepping away. “Anyway, we should probably get to boiling the water. We’re going to need to find somewhere to stay before nightfall.”

  Hayes collected water in the small pot I’d brought along and I gathered some of the small twigs around us. I placed the medium-sized stones in a circle around the twigs.

  “How does it look?” I asked.

  “Like you know what you’re doing.”

  “I’ve seen pictures.”

  I dug around in my backpack for the lighter that Linus had given me. I opened it wider, trying to see where it had shifted to.

  “Do you know where the lighter is?” I asked Hayes glancing up in his direction.

  He was checking the dryness of his shirt but behind him, Gina and Grayson were running toward us ducking with panicked expressions on their faces. Before Hayes could answer, I zipped my backpack and stood.

  “Something is wrong. Put on your shirt,” I said.

  He pulled it on even though it looked like it was still quite damp. The bloodstains were fainter but still noticeable as they clung to the threads of the fabric.

  “Get down!” Grayson said in a low but demanding voice.

  Hayes and I both lowered our head but we didn’t know where to hide. There were trees and tall grasses but we didn’t know what or who we were hiding from.

  “Someone’s over there,” Gina explained as they approached. “I don’t think they saw us.”

  “What were they doing?” I asked.

  “Collecting water, I think,” Gina replied.

  We walked over to one of the bigger trees, trying to keep ourselves hidden. It didn’t take long for me to spot the person Gina and Grayson had seen.