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

  “Were you down there too?” I asked turning to Abby.

  Ryder narrowed his eyes at me as if he didn’t understand my question. He hadn’t noticed the difference in Logan because he’d been too focused on Charlie.

  Abby slowly nodded. “I didn’t eat any!”

  The moment she finished her sentence, Ryder’s expression changed. He blinked several times before fixing his gaze on Logan. He suddenly noticed the difference.

  “You too?” Ryder stammered.

  “Fuck,” Logan said. “We weren’t thinking.”

  Ryder held up his index finger, jerking it into Logan's face before throwing his hand into the air in frustration and storming out of the room. His footsteps moved down the stairs quickly, and we all jumped when the front door slammed shut.

  “You should lie down,” I said glancing at Logan briefly.

  “I’m fine,” he said crossing his arms.

  I could tell he wasn’t fine. He wasn’t as bad as Charlie, but he was clearly not well. Abby looked at me briefly and sighed. She placed her hand lightly on Logan’s bicep.

  “Would you help me with something?” Abby asked, blinking her eyes.

  “Anything to get out of this room,” Logan said. He acted as if he was angry with Shawn and me, but I knew he wasn’t, he was angry at himself.

  They left the room without another word, slowly making their way down the stairs. Shawn sat down in a chair and placed his palm on his forehead.

  “Jesus,” he said, his leg bouncing up and down. His voice was softer than a whisper. “She’s in rough shape.”

  I nodded afraid that maybe she could hear him through the haze of her illness. If there was any lingering hope inside of her, I wanted to make sure she would grab hold and never let go.

  “Charlie,” I said taking her hand into mine. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but don’t give up. Keep fighting against this and come back to us. We need you here.”

  Even in sickness, I was probably the last person she’d want to hear from, but I wanted to say it. I wanted her to fight her way through.

  “The Evolved had medicine,” Shawn said clasping his hands together. “If we could find some, maybe it would help.”

  “That’s a great idea, but where are we going to find anything? It’s not like we can find one of The Evolved bases and just go ask for some.”

  “That city,” Shawn said looking at the door as if he could see through the walls and had spotted the distant city. “It’s not that far. I’ll be back in a few days.”

  My head was shaking back and forth before he’d even finished his sentence. “You’re not going out there alone.”

  “What choice do we really have?” Shawn stood up abruptly. “We have two sick… what if the only way,” he said swallowing down some of his words before finishing, “is with medicine?”

  “Then I’m coming with you.” I straightened my spine. Shawn opened his mouth to protest. “I’m the one with the gun.”

  He snapped it shut as if he didn’t know how to shut down my argument. Although, given a little more time I was sure he’d have come up with something.

  Shawn gestured for me to follow him out into the hallway. He glanced at Charlie and then fixed his gaze on me.

  “The odds of anything being there are slim,” he said.

  “I know,” I said.

  “We should go soon. I don’t know how much time she has left,” Shawn said.

  I swallowed hard. “You think it’s that bad?”

  His head moved downward, but he kept his eyes on me. “I do. Let’s go find Ryder.”

  “Should we leave her?” I said looking back into the room. Her chest rose up slightly and then lowered back down. Her body was still, and I was nervous she wasn’t going to take another breath. “I’ll wait here.”

  He started to walk away, but I caught his arm tightly before he’d taken more than two steps away. “Don’t leave without me.”

  “I won’t.”

  I didn’t let go. “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  My eyes were glued to Shawn as he made his way down the stairs. Once the front door closed, I went back into the room to sit with Charlie.

  Her chest moved up again. It seemed as though too much time was elapsing between breaths.

  I leaned forward and took her hand in mine. I wanted to tell her to hang on, but my tongue felt like it had turned into sandpaper.

  Charlie was tough. She’d hang on. She had to.

  9

  The farm got smaller and smaller as Shawn and I walked away making our way toward to the city we’d avoided before we’d found the farm. We hadn’t bothered to take anything with us because we didn’t want to end up being forced to leave any of it behind. They would need it more than us should something happen. Shawn and I both filled up on as much rice and water as we could before we’d left the farm.

  I was still surprised that Ryder had let us leave. It hadn’t even been much of a fight.

  Shawn had told him how slim the odds were of even finding anything. And even if we did find something, we had no idea if it would even work for whatever ailed Charlie.

  Ryder said it was worth a shot. He’d been fighting back tears when he’d mumbled that she was like a little sister to him and that he couldn’t lose her. We all agreed that we had to try.

  Logan had been in bed when we left. I wasn’t even sure if he knew we were leaving, but if he had, I didn’t doubt he would have been on board. In the short hours between when Logan had felt ill and when Shawn and I departed, Abby hadn’t left Logan’s side, other than to get him the occasional refill of water.

  “I reminded Ryder to keep watch in case the drunk guy comes back,” Shawn said. “Although, I’m sure it was already in the back of his mind. He just seems… distracted.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure he is, but he’s not careless.”

  “I think if we really move, we can make it there before nightfall,” Shawn said.

  My eyes narrowed at him. “I thought you said it was going to take a few days.”

  “It’s just the two of us. I think we can move pretty fast. Anyway, it’s just an estimate.”

  “How far away do you think it is?” I asked.

  Shawn stared out into the distance. “Ten miles give or take.”

  “I don’t know if—”

  “For her, we can.”

  I pressed my lips together to stop myself from uttering another word. Shawn wanted to remain optimistic. Even if it seemed hard, maybe even impossible under the circumstances, I had to try. For Charlie.

  We walked in silence for a long while before either of us spoke. I was staring up at the broken gray clouds when Shawn broke the silence.

  “So… about last night.”

  “Oh, God,” I said clenching my hands into tight fists. He was about to tell me what a mistake it had been. He’d probably crept out of the bedroom the second I’d fallen asleep.

  Shawn scratched the side of his head nervously. “I just hoped that I didn’t scare you off with that whole falling for you stuff. It was probably far too soon to say something like that, right?”

  I let out a quick breath that pinched my throat. A wave of relief washed over my entire body.

  “Are you kidding?” I blushed. “I liked hearing it.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I mean, I guess I already knew how you felt but who wouldn’t like hearing that?”

  Shawn grinned, and his eyes twinkled when he looked at me. “In that case, maybe I should just come out and say what I really wanted to say.”

  “What did you really want to say?”

  “Aw put me on the spot,” Shawn teased.

  I laughed. “You put yourself on the spot. Come on, out with it.”

  “You sure you’re ready for this? It’s kind of big.”

  “Hit me with it.”

  “Well, I wanted to mention the love word, but it’s definitely too soon for that, right?”

  I swallowed hard
. Maybe it was, but maybe in the world we lived in, it would be OK to say it sooner rather than later. Who knew if we’d have a later? I’d never even thought I’d hear the words at all, except from my parents, but that wasn’t the same.

  “I don’t think it’s too soon.” My heart fluttered with anticipation.

  “OK,” Shawn said taking a breath as he grabbed my hand. “In that case, I think I love you. Wait, no, that came out wrong… I do love you. I know I love you. Holy fuck, I cannot believe I just said that out loud.”

  I chuckled and squeezed his hand. I thought I’d find the words easy to say because I felt the same, but my stomach bubbled. Sure, the feelings were mutual but actually saying the words out loud was something completely different.

  “I love you too,” I said, but my voice hadn’t sounded like my own.

  Shawn hadn’t seemed to notice. He stopped walking to pick me up off of the ground and spin me in a circle. His eyes sparkled brighter than the sky on a clear day.

  As he lowered me back down, he stopped when our lips were inches apart. I wrapped my hands around his neck and kissed him.

  It was a short kiss, but it was filled with everything we felt for one another. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to spare. We couldn’t stand out in the open making out all day even if that was what I would have preferred.

  We were both smiling when we pulled ourselves away from one another. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in so he could place a gentle kiss on the top of my head.

  “Who would have thought?” Shawn asked with a half-smile. “The Evolved with a native.”

  I shook my head. “I’m just me. And you’re just you. We have no labels.”

  The sun popped out for a split second before the clouds hid it from view again. I looked behind us, unable to see anything that had looked familiar. The farmhouse wasn’t there, it felt like it was just Shawn and me, and that everything else had vanished.

  Of course, that wasn’t true. Charlie was back at the house struggling to fight whatever poison was inside her body. Logan had been able to talk, but he too was falling quickly.

  “How are your legs feeling?” Shawn asked looking at my feet.

  “Fine.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Perfect. Then let’s kick it into high gear.”

  I raised an eyebrow but forced my legs to move faster. “I thought we already were.”

  Even though we’d put in all we could, we hadn’t made it to the city before the sky grew dark. The cloudy skies made everything darker sooner, and even though we considered continuing in the darkness, in the end, we decided to rest for the night.

  We’d had our fill of rice before leaving the farm, but that didn’t stop my stomach from rumbling loudly. Apparently, I’d gotten accustomed to eating a bit more regularly even though it had only been over a very short amount of time.

  “Are you cold?” Shawn asked.

  I was huddled under a mostly uprooted tree, but it didn’t provide any warmth. The days had been warm, but the nights were quite chilly. Shawn stood out several feet away and continued to scan the horizon even though it was much too dark to see very far.

  “It’s not too bad,” I said, but I shivered giving away my little white lie. We could have started a fire, but with it just being the two of us in the middle of nowhere, I preferred not doing anything that could draw unwanted attention.

  My mind wandered off imagining what it would have been like if things had gone according to my original plan. I’d be stuck out here under a tree hiding all alone. Or maybe I wouldn’t even have made it as far as we had.

  My desire to help Charlie surged hard through my veins making sitting still difficult. I shifted myself around trying to get comfortable. We shouldn’t have stopped. We should have kept traveling through the night. Then again, I knew the odds of actually finding anything were slim to none.

  I had to hold on to the hope that once we made it back to the farm, Charlie would already be back to her old self. She’d act annoyed that we’d left. She’d probably tell us how careless and stupid it had been, but I wouldn’t care even a little bit. I’d just be happy she was back to her normal complaining self.

  “What are you smiling about?” Shawn asked as he lowered himself to the ground next to me.

  “Nothing,” I said, not feeling like explaining my thoughts. In fact, I was afraid that if I tried, I’d burst out into tears, and that was not what I needed to be doing. We needed to be alert and prepared.

  “I’ll pretend it was about me,” Shawn said bumping his elbow into me lightly.

  My insides warmed at his touch, and my mind drifted to what it had felt like to be with Shawn. Being back at the house, taking things slow was how things should have been, but nothing was ever that easy. And it probably never would be. All I could do was be happy with what we were able to have.

  “Why don’t you try to get some rest?” Shawn said, patting his thigh, offering it for me to use as my pillow.

  “I don’t think I can sleep.”

  “Why not? You must be exhausted.”

  I looked back in the direction that we’d come from. “I can’t stop thinking about her. Maybe we should just keep going. It’s quiet, we’d be able to hear if anyone was approaching us.”

  “Maybe. But if we arrive at night, and the city is already occupied, I worry about our chances of survival.”

  “Aren’t you worried about our chances either way?”

  Shawn nodded. “Of course, but in the darkness, in a place I don’t know, I feel like we’d be at a huge disadvantage.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. It’s just that I really want to find something and get back to her.” I sighed as I shook my head. “Not that I really believe we’ll find anything.”

  “If only I could break into our old base up north.”

  “Who knows if whatever The Evolved had would even help her. We don’t even know what’s wrong with her.”

  Shawn looked down at his fingers as he played with a small pebble. “Some kind of food poisoning I’d guess, but yeah, what they had might have been useless for her. I just want to help her get better.”

  “I know. I do too.”

  “She looked terrible.”

  I bit my lip, hoping the tinge of pain would stop the tear that was threatening to leak out of the corner of my eye.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” Shawn said wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “There’s always a chance she’ll fight whatever it is off.”

  “It’s fine. I have eyes. She looked worse than terrible.” I rested my head down on Shawn’s shoulder. “And Logan… I can’t stop wondering if the same thing is going to happen to him. Maybe it already has, and we just abandoned them when they needed us.”

  “They wanted us to go. We’re trying to help. Ryder thought it was worth a shot even though he knew it was a slim one.”

  An icy chill ran up and down my spine. “Ryder doesn’t want to lose them.”

  “None of us do,” Shawn said looking down at the pebble.

  “I’m afraid of what it’ll do to him.”

  My body stiffened, not because of the cold, but because the fear of losing everyone suddenly overwhelmed me. Maybe it would have been better to stay alone. At least then the only person I could have lost was myself.

  10

  The rundown city popped into view. It was like a blister on the horizon that kept swelling. The city felt like something we should have been walking away from, not toward. My skin prickled at the feeling that there were hundreds of eyes on us.

  There was a stillness in the air, but at least the hot sun was illuminating every building. A strong earthy scent filled my nostrils as we walked past a rotting tree stump.

  “Be ready,” Shawn warned as we drew closer to the city with each step.

  We hadn’t yet slowed our pace. If anyone was inside the city watching for intruders, they’d see us coming, but there wasn’t anything we could do about it, except turn
around.

  “I’m always ready,” I said, sounding way more confident than I actually was.

  As we got closer to the outskirts of what had once been a large city, most of what remained had crumbled to the ground. But as we walked down what had once been a street, more remnants of the past remained intact. Some of the buildings still stood tall although the integrity of the structure was highly questionable.

  The air in the city was still, and warmer, or at least it had felt that way. My hand hovered near my hip although I hoped nothing would happen where I’d actually need to use it.

  We walked close together, keeping our bodies tight to the remaining structures. Shawn looked each of the remaining buildings up and down.

  “What are we looking for?” I asked when we stopped in front of a tall, large building with a wide opening where the doors must have been long ago even though there were no signs on the ground that they had ever existed.

  “I’m not exactly sure. A hospital, I guess.”

  “What do they look like?”

  Shawn shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure. We’ll just have to check out what we can. Like this place.”

  He stepped inside the building and looked up at the tall ceiling. There was a crack that ran along to top near the entrance although the way across to the back of the room we were standing in.

  “What if this whole place falls down on us?” I asked drawing in a slow and steady breath.

  “Then that’s that,” Shawn said.

  We walked slowly through the building as if one wrong step could cause a collapse. There were rusted, torn apart chairs laying on their sides and a large desk several feet from the doors. The wood was dark with black speckles covering almost every inch, and it smelled like rot.

  A faded sign hung on the wall with just three seemingly random letters. Shawn waved his hand back toward the door.

  “I don’t think this is right. Let’s keep looking,” he said.

  We walked back out making our way down the street, poking our head into the various buildings. Nothing must have fit what Shawn was looking for, and maybe it just didn’t exist any longer.