Stars shimmered in the navy blue sky and as dinner plates cleared from the table, Corbin offered to pull a night shift for sniping duty. Domino, who had been silent during their meal, grunted his approval and excused himself for bed. Meanwhile, Sarah lingered around the kitchen cleaning up. The plan was to sneak over to Chuck's home once everyone had gone to bed, but her presence made it difficult.
"Would you like some company for sniping duty?" Armis asked.
"Sure, that would be great." Corbin's eyes drifted to Sarah, whose back faced them while washing dishes.
"I'm tired." Everleigh faked a yawn. "I'm going to bed."
"Stay with me," Sarah said over her shoulder. "I'd like some company too."
"Um..." Everleigh's eyes widened as she glanced between Corbin and Armis. They nodded at her to do it. "Sure, ok."
"Well, let's head to the tower!" Corbin said, with a screech of his chair against the floor as he stood.
"Don't stay up too late." Armis squeezed Everleigh's shoulder.
As they exited the home, they knew their plan was off to a terrible start.
∆∆∆
Wood logs snapping in the fireplace filled the quiet as both women sat across from each other in the living room. Steam rose from their teacups as the minutes passed until Sarah cleared her throat-starting a procession of chatting Everleigh's ear off. She tried her best to be polite by smiling and nodding as Sarah talked about Josephine and her daughters. However, her expression dropped when Sarah asked about her parents.
"Well..." She folded her legs under her bottom while sitting on the floor. "My mother died giving birth to me, so I don't know what she was like. All I have to go on is memories Armis shares with me. And our father died when our house burned down."
"Oh dear... Was it long ago?"
"Feels like it, but it was just a little over a year ago. We lived in our neighbors abandoned home for a while, but it never felt safe, so we kept moving-squatting in one abandoned home after another." Everleigh's voice drifted, her eyes settling on the teacup as if lost in a memory.
"I'm sorry." Sarah frowned. "I shouldn't have asked."
"It's ok. Armis and I rarely talk about it, but I know it's important to."
"Absolutely." Sarah nodded. "It's the way we keep our loved ones alive in our hearts." She set her cup down on the coffee table and extended her hands. "Come on. Come sit on the couch with me."
"Ok." Everleigh shrugged and made her way over.
As she sat down, Sarah shared part of the blanket with her by draping it over Everleigh's legs. It was warm from Sarah's body heat and soothing as she snuggled into it, letting the soft fleece encase her.
"Comfy?"
"Yes." Everleigh smiled and sipped more tea.
"Tell me, why are you still dressed? Don't you have pajamas?"
Everleigh looked down at her worn-out skinny jeans with leather patches on the knees. The cotton in her grey T-shirt had become so thin you could see her sports-bra through it.
"It's just easier to remain dressed when you're on the road. Never know when you have to run."
"I'm guessing you had to do a lot of that over the year."
"We were always on alert. Even though we avoided going into big cities, people are just as desperate out in the country. We had some run-ins."
"I see..." Sarah nodded with her elbow propped on the armrest and her folded knuckles under her chin. She took a slow sip of tea, then raised her brow. "So you and Corbin?"
The question was so sudden it drained the warmth from the blanket, and Everleigh straightened. The shift in conversation was not a delicate or smooth one, so her mind raced-her eyes searching the ground. Why did Sarah want to know? Considering their history, it felt like jealousy aimed her way through Sarah's penetrating stare.
"I'm sorry, it's none of my business."
"It's not what you think," Everleigh replied with a sideways glance.
"How so?" Sarah crooked a smile. "I see you looking at each other."
Everleigh shook her head. "It's not like that. We've just met."
"Sometimes that's all it takes." Sarah's eyes shifted to the fire. "Corbin just has that way about him. You can't help but absorb his presence."
"I wouldn't know. I've only known my father, brother, and our neighbors. So, I'm kind of awkward around people."
With her eyes still on the fire, Sarah responded, "You're doing just fine. I think he likes that about you."
Heat bloomed across Everleigh's cheeks, causing her to brush her fingers over her skin. Had Sarah noticed? But when she glanced at the melancholy woman, Sarah continued gazing at the fire. Was she reflecting on a memory of her and Corbin? It was hard to tell if either of them still had feelings for one another, but if Sarah haunting Corbin's dreams were any sign, then the chance was likely. Everleigh wrapped her arms around her torso as an ache grew in her stomach.
"Are you feeling alright?" Sarah pressed the tips of her fingers to Everleigh's knee.
"Yes," she squeaked, her head bolting upright, not realizing how her posture had curled inward as she held her stomach. Never had she felt such an ache. It was like an anchor plummeting towards the ocean floor.
"You sure?"
"It's nothing. Maybe I'm just tired."
"Then you should get lots of sleep." Sarah reached across to tuck some hair behind Everleigh's ear and held her chin. "I can tell traveling has been rough on you. Having to be aware of your surroundings and dangers, but you don't have to anymore. You and your brother are welcome to stay for as long as you need."
"Thank you."
"And tomorrow, I want you to eat a nutritious breakfast. Understood?"
"Ok." Everleigh nodded, and Sarah took Everleigh's forehead in her hands, kissing it.
"Now go on. Get some sleep."
As Everleigh rose from the couch and made her way to the stairs, she noticed the ache in her belly subsided. For a moment, Sarah had shown her a mother's affection, and it filled her with warmth. However, the feeling was short-lived when she reached the bedroom and closed the door behind her. Leaning against it, she blew out a breath.
It was time to meet up with Corbin and Armis, but figuring out how to exit the house unseen, would be tricky with Sarah awake.
∆∆∆
Through the rifle scope lens, Corbin watched a figure moving behind the curtain of Chuck's home. Was the man awake? Unless it wasn't just him living there? It was a possibility that never crossed his mind but now caused sweat to collect at his temples. The night wasn't cold, yet it wasn't warm either. It was this strange in-between Corbin usually wouldn't mind. Nights sleeping in the desert were better when the air felt balanced. However, Armis was right. The night felt off, and his fingertips became slick against the metal of the rifle.
Setting the weapon aside, Corbin climbed down from the tower to check on Armis and found him sitting at the base of the steps-his slumped posture leaning against the railing. He'd proven to be a vigorous man, but Armis was over-exerting himself by not resting enough. After all, he was still recovering from bullet wounds.
"You alright?"
"Fine," Armis replied and got to his feet. "What did you see?"
"Looks like he's in his living room. That means the basement is clear."
"Good." Armis stretched but recoiled, wincing.
"Still hurting?"
"Yeah, but I can grit through it. If Everleigh doesn't show up in ten minutes, I'm going in alone."
"Armis." Corbin grabbed his forearm. "You can't go in there alone. We wait for Everleigh, and if she doesn't show, we postpone this."
"No. We do this tonight. I'm not waiting another day to find out what's going on here!"
Corbin glanced at him. "Be smart. I'm heading back up, so please, stay here."
Letting go, he climbed up the tower despite the unease settling in his neck. He didn't know Armis well, but he knew the man was reactive and made decisions on the fly. It wasn't something Corbin was used to. His years of wandering the wasteland and dodging danger, taught him to think situations thoroughly before taking action. By the time he made it to the top, his shoulders were tense. As he rolled his arms to relax his muscles, he peeked over the railing, but Armis was no longer at the foot of the steps.
Grabbing the sniper rifle, he pressed his eye to the scope and scanned the field. He spotted Armis creeping along the trail towards Chuck's home and slapped the wooden railing with a curse tumbling from his lips.
"Stubborn ass!"
∆∆∆
Everleigh studied the bedroom window as she thought of options for sneaking out. With Sarah lingering in the living room, popping out the screen and crawling down the shingles of the porch roof was the only option. Tightening the laces on her boots, and patting herself down to make sure her weapons were in place, Everleigh prepared herself for what was to come. She pried open the window with a knife, causing the opd frame to protest with a squeak that might as well have been a scream in the quiet home. Glancing over her shoulder, she stared at the door. Did Sarah hear her?
After a few beats of silence, she hiked herself up and through the window sill with the agility of a cat, her motions graceful and soft. From there, she did a crab-like crawl to the edge of the porch roof and slid herself off. However, her landing was not as delicate as a feline. Her ankles gave when she hit the ground, causing her to slam onto her bottom.
Defeated, she puffed the hair out of her face, muttering a few choice words before getting to her feet and making a mad dash for the tower.
By the time she arrived, it was too late.
Her eyes landed on Corbin as he rushed down the steps. "He went on his own!"
"What? Why did you let him leave!"
"I didn't. I told him to stay put, but your brother is a stubborn ass," Corbin replied.
Spinning on her heels, she began running toward Chuck's home, so Corbin charged after her and threw his arms around her-tackling her to the ground.
"Let me go!" Everleigh growled.
"I can't." Corbin tightened his grip.
"Corbin, if you don't let me go, I swear to God."
"Listen to me," He breathed into her ear. "I'll go in, and you watch our backs. Ok?"
"No." Everleigh pushed against him, trying to pry her arms loose from his hold, but he wouldn't let her go. "He's my brother, so I have to go in, and right now, we're wasting time!"
In her eyes was an icy determination as she stared at him over her shoulder-a look that could punch through brick walls. Entertaining the idea of being her hero was foolish and Corbin knew it.
"Fine," he said, releasing her, but took her face into his hands and planted a deep kiss on her lips.
"What's that for?"
"Good luck."
A breeze swept between them as she studied his face, but then she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in for another. "One more for the road."
∆∆∆
When Armis squeezed through a short rectangular window in the basement, he expected the air to smell mildewy or dusty, but it had a clean lemony scent. Chuck kept the area organized, but it was dark with shadows from the faint moonlight creeping in. Armis made his way, hugging the walls and inching around corners-a dagger in one hand and a pistol in the other.
A faint whirring caused his ears to twitch, so he listened closely as he followed the noise, leading him to a doorway with a crack of light seeping through. It opened to a room that appeared empty, but he proceeded with caution as he pushed on the door.
Stepping inside, he found himself in a communications room with an old operating system. Countless wires dangled from a circuit board like fishing worms exploding from a can, and in front of it was a radio with a handheld speaking device.
Many papers and notes were tacked to a wall, and a map hung on another. Armis didn't have to ask questions to know it was a secret room. Whatever Chuck was up to had to be important. What concerned Armis most was that Chuck was communicating with someone. But who? And why?
He crept closer to study the map and saw it was a collage of state maps taped together with Idaho at the center. Thankfully, he'd created a legend that showed what each color and symbol represented. Blue dots demonstrated bodies of water, and the number by them said how significant the source was. Yellow dots indicated ghost towns, but the X next to them meant they could be scavenged. Green dots stated the land was unaffected by the drought and farmable. The green dots also had numbers by them, but written in blue ink. Those numbers represented the population in that area.
Rubbing his chin, Armis noticed a pink thumbtack piercing the top-center part of Idaho, and the legend showed it meant home. This gave him a better idea of where Corbin brought them. Domino's family lived in a town called McCall, which also had a green dot on it. He ran his finger up toward the border and saw another green dot in a town called Bonners Ferry.
"Hm..." He narrowed his eyes and darted them down to the pink thumbtack.
Not only did it have the green dot, but it had numbers written by it in blue ink and then another set of numbers in red ink. His eyes flashed to the legend again. Red ink indicated the population of women. Tension swelled his shoulders, prompting him to roll them. The original number was crossed out and replaced with a new one, stating seventeen women instead of sixteen. His stomach tightened. Was the correction made because of Everleigh coming into town?
Standing there, his vision sprinkled with stars, and a throbbing pain radiated his skull. His knees weakened, forcing him forward as he slapped a hand to the wall, catching himself. Something began trickling down his neck, and when he reached back, he felt wetness. It was blood.
"Shit!" Spinning around in time, he brought his arm up to block another blow from Chuck.
The man had rage in his eyes like a bull ready to mangle a matador. Pain reverberated through Armis's ribcage as the man drove his other fist into his side. The stitches were tearing, but he grit his teeth and fought back.
Using his legs to launch him forward, Armis threw himself into Chuck, but his body thudded against solid muscle like a brick wall. Chuck was a sturdy man, but his balance gave a little as he slammed his fists on Armis's back. Spotting his weakness, Armis repeatedly shoved until their bodies collapsed, and Armis found himself at an advantage.
Crawling over him, he sat on Chuck's chest and wrapped his hands around his neck-squeezing. However, the man swung his arms upward, jabbing Armis's ribs with the power of a professional boxer. Each blow may as well have been iron anvils slamming into him. He could feel himself weakening as his bullet wounds burned with pain. If only he didn't drop his weapons during the tussle.
Constellations filled Armis's vision as Chuck latched onto his shoulders and jammed a finger into his wound before head-butting him. As he felt his body give and flop onto the man's chest, Chuck slid out from under him.
"You should have minded your own business," he hissed.
Armis rolled onto his back and had black spots flashing in his vision like strobes. He blinked to clear them and saw Chuck bending to pick something up. In the next blink, the man aimed a gun at him. Armis swallowed, his thoughts a scramble of fight or flight, but on the next blink, he saw Everleigh.
She pressed a gun to Chuck's head and pulled on the hammer. The sound of the click froze him, and the scowl he wore faded into a realization.
"Is that you, little daisy?" Chuck asked.
"Drop the gun, or I'll drop you."
Everleigh's voice was calm-her hand steady. After all, their father taught them well. Never let fear translate in your voice, or else vulnerability becomes the fracture in your upper-hand, he would say. Neither of them bluffed when making threats, but Chuck didn't know that. He turned to face her and met the barrel of the gun with his forehead.
"I could have protected you," Chuck sneered.
"Drop the gun," Everleigh repeated, but Chuck laughed like a man who just lost all his money in a poker game.
In one quick motion, he swatted the gun away and backhanded her. She stumbled sideways, her eyes pooling with tears from the fiery sting on her cheek. Armis scrambled to his feet and launched himself at Chuck. Together, they became a tangle of limbs as they ping-ponged around the room, destroying items in their path. With each body-punch, Armis weakened, so Chuck pinned him against the switch-board. He cocked his fist, but Everleigh jumped onto his back and drove one of her blades into his flesh.
She repeated the motion with a needle's quickness on a sewing machine, causing Chuck to abandon Armis. He spun wildly to shake her off, but she clung to him and continued plunging the blade. Roaring in pain, he slammed himself backward into the wall, knocking the breath from Everleigh's lungs. He repeated this until her grip dwindled, and she dropped to the floor like a potato sack.
"It didn't have to be this way," Chuck growled, reaching for the gun on the floor.
A sharp pop sliced through the air, and a bullet pierced his hand. Chuck cradled his fist and danced in place from the pain as smoke curled from the small barrel of Everleigh's derringer.
"Don't you dare reach for that gun again!" she demanded, wiping blood from her lip as she got to her feet on wobbly legs.
Armis staggered to his feet as well before plucking his weapons from the ground and aiming the gun. "You better pray for your life."
But Chuck stared at him-sizing up the threat as his eyes shifted from Armis to Everleigh and back again. "You do not know who's roof you're sleeping under. I could have helped you, daisy."
"Explain." Armis pulled the slide on the gun, but Chuck scoffed.
"Domino will do whatever it takes to protect his family."
"Like what?"
"You think I'll tell you? I'm not doing you any favors!"
"Tell us." Everleigh cocked the hammer on her derringer.
"You deserve what's coming to you." Chuck smiled and launched a glop of spit at Everleigh's face.
And Armis saw red.
Without thinking twice, he pounded his finger on the trigger, releasing every bullet into Chuck's chest. The burly man slid to the floor as gurgles escaped his mouth in bubbles of blood. A subtle smile remained on his lips, with his teeth stained crimson, matching the streaks left behind on the wall like a curtain.
"Wipe that smirk off your face!" Armis shouted.
"Eat shit," he wheezed, his last breath leaving his body. Chuck flopped sideways, causing Armis and Everleigh to step back. His eyes remained open and unblinking as he stared at the ceiling, blood dribbling down the corner of his mouth. Dead.
"We should go." Everleigh tugged on her brother's arm.
"Yes, and away from here," Armis replied through clenched teeth.
As they left the basement, neither of them exchanged a single word. Nor as they walked out of the home through the front door. The moon was high in the sky with thin clouds drifting past and a chill breezing through the tall blades of grass. Crickets chirped as they marched across, meeting Corbin halfway as he ran towards them, the rifle bouncing against his back.
"What happened!"
"Go see for yourself!" Armis replied, walking past him and taking Everleigh's hand, hauling her with him. "Don't look back. Just keep moving."
Despite him saying so, she stared over her shoulder and watched Corbin run towards Chuck's home.
A mistake Corbin would regret.