Finding Home - A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 2) (17 page)

When we stopped moving there was a horribly loud ringing in my ears. For a second I wondered if I had died. I looked out of the cracked front window and it took me several minutes to realize the SUV was on its side. I couldn’t even guess at how many times we had rolled.

“Everyone OK?” Owen shouted from the front, still buckled in his seat. He was holding on to the armrest not trusting the belt to stop him from falling on top of Dean.

I looked over at Penn and he was doing the same so he didn’t fall on me. I was just dangling there but at least if I fell, it wouldn’t be far. There were only a few inches between me and the ground.

“I’m OK, I think,” I shouted over the ringing noise as I looked myself over. I didn’t see any blood pouring out from anywhere so I figured I was mostly fine. Except for that ringing in my ears.

“Yeah,” Penn said glancing at me and then back at Sienna who had been tossed around since she hadn’t been wearing her seatbelt. She looked dazed and had a scratch on her cheek but she seemed surprisingly fine. Sienna was balled up against the side of the SUV sitting on a broken window. She was the only one actually on the ground while the rest of us hung there by our seatbelts.

“Uhh,” she moaned as she grabbed her elbow. She was definitely going to be bruised up, that is if she hadn’t broken anything.

When I realized Dean hadn’t said anything a sense of panic suddenly set in. “Dean?” I called out as I tried to look around his seat.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m OK.” A wave of relief washed over me as the feeling of dread dissipated. I don’t know what I would have done if something would have happened to him. Or anyone else for that matter. I was really over losing people.

Owen brushed away the broken glass from his window with his shirt-covered forearm, and put one arm outside, while grabbing the steering wheel tightly with his other hand. “Unbuckle me,” he asked Dean as he held himself up.

Dean reached over and clicked the red button to release him. Thankfully the belt released relatively slowly because Owen had underestimated how far he’d fall without the support of the belt. He quickly caught himself before falling on top of Dean. Owen grunted and hoisted himself out of the SUV.

He gestured to Dean to make his way out. Dean didn’t have as much trouble getting out since he had been so close to the ground. He climbed out of the SUV the same way Owen had and then laid down on top. “You’re next Ros,” he said reaching his hand out.

I couldn’t reach him while still buckled in. I tried to brace myself as best as I could and Penn reached over to unbuckle me when I nodded at him. But I hadn’t been prepared enough for gravity. I fell the short distance to the ground landing on my shoulder first. Little shards of glass poked into my hands and felt like a bunch of little stings. I used the passenger seat to pull myself up and dusted the glass bits out of my hands.

I hoisted my way up to the window and Dean and Owen worked together to pull me out. Penn was telling Sienna to go next as I lowered myself off of the SUV and onto the ground. She looked at me as they lifted her out. Her eyes were wide, disoriented, and she appeared to be in some kind of state of shock. I hoped she hadn’t hit her head too hard or something. She made her way over to me and we hugged as the boys waited to see if Penn needed any help getting out of the SUV. But I assumed he wouldn’t, and just as I had suspected, he agilely maneuvered out of the vehicle with ease.

“What happened?” I asked looking at the dented up heap of metal. Owen walked around inspecting it. He kneeled down by the front end of the SUV.

“The wheel came off,” he said almost sounding more like he was asking a question than making a statement.

He pulled himself on top of the SUV and did something inside of the rim of the other front wheel. He looked at Dean and then over at us.

“What is it?” Sienna asked, her voice shaking.

“The lug nuts on this wheel are loose. My guess is that’s what happened to the other side too,” Owen said as he twisted at the back wheel that appeared to be bent at an awkward angle. His hand didn’t move as he twisted around, and he hadn’t said anything, so I assumed that tire was fine.

“How does that happen?” I said quietly. But neither Penn nor Sienna answered me. “Now what?” I shouted to Owen.

He lowered himself down and kicked the SUV, “I guess we try to find a new one. I think I saw a driveway back that way a mile or two. You guys wait here… Penn you come with me.”

It wasn’t a question— it was an order. Penn looked around and then glanced at me as if he was looking for guidance. I just shrugged my shoulders.

“Umm, sure,” Penn said looking around nervously. I could tell he didn’t want to leave me. He should have known I’d be perfectly safe with Dean. I was sure Owen knew Dean wouldn’t be comfortable leaving Penn here with Sienna and I as Dean and Owen went off in search of a new vehicle. This was the way that made the most sense to them, even though I knew we’d be fine with Penn.

Dean stepped closer to Sienna and I, “Are you sure you guys are OK? Anything broken? Bleeding?” He glanced at me before he turned his attention to his sister. He looked into her still wide eyes and I guess he was satisfied with what he saw because then he looked me over.

“I’m fine,” I said with a forced smile, “are you?”

“Yeah, I might have a few bruises tomorrow but nothing major.”

Owen stuffed the gun into his waistband and I was almost tempted to warn him about Penn’s abilities but decided to keep it to myself. Owen could handle himself and I was sure he wouldn’t let his guard down around Penn like I had. I wondered what it would take for Penn to earn their trust. Maybe he never would be able to. I wouldn’t be able to blame them since I still didn’t fully trust him, but I trusted him enough.

“Wait here. We’ll be back,” he said as they turned and walked away from us. They left us standing near the road next to the crumpled up SUV.

Dean suggested we move away from the road and hide ourselves behind the SUV. I checked for my gun just to make sure it was still there and hadn’t fallen out during the crash. Thankfully it was right where I had put it in my waistband. I breathed a short sigh of relief but hoped I wouldn’t have to use it. That was one good thing about Penn borrowing it in a time of need, he wasn’t afraid to use it. I didn’t know if I could do it. Even if I had to.

Sienna and I sorted through anything in sight that may have been of some value. Some of our things had been scattered along the path the SUV had taken until it had stopped next to a big tree. We had been lucky that it had stopped about six inches away from the tree instead of slamming into it. Sienna and I leaned up side by side against the tree and watched Owen and Penn walk away until we couldn’t see them any more.

Since having been separated from them, it was hard to actually watch them walk away. There were so many things that could go wrong. Penn and Owen were extremely capable of taking care of themselves, but when it came to HOME it wouldn’t matter. It would be two against an army.

“Maybe we should have all went,” I muttered to Sienna. She looked at me as if she hadn’t been worried about it, but now that I had said something she was nervous too. I looked at my legs to avoid her stare. “I guess they probably thought it would be faster just the two of them.”

“Probably,” she said picking at the bark on the tree. “And maybe it’s a good idea to keep us here to watch the supplies.”

After several minutes Dean popped up and looked sideways at the SUV. He looked like he was trying to figure out exactly what had caused the accident. Owen had already discovered the lug nuts were loose but was there something more to it?

“Ros?” Dean said breaking the silence causing both Sienna and I to jump. We smiled at one another realizing just how little it took to cause that kind of a reaction from us. For the rest of our lives we’d probably just be jumpy people.

“Yeah?” I said squinting at him. He was down by the tire inspecting the wheel.

“Had anyone besides Penn come to the house while you were there?”

I tilted my head sideways, “Not that I know of.”

“Did you use the SUV frequently? Park it anywhere someone might have been able to tamper with it?”

“Well I used it a bit at first to collect supplies, but once it snowed I barely took it out. It sat parked at the cabin for weeks, maybe even months.”

He flipped one of the lug nuts up into the air and caught it. I could tell he was thinking about something while he played catch with the nut. “Sure is strange,” he said and tossed it into the air again.

“What’s strange?” I said crossing my arms.

“Well, lug nuts don’t just fall off, unless maybe they weren’t tightened right in the first place. And since you hadn’t really been taking it anywhere it seems strange that all of a sudden they’d be loose,” he said kicking at the now flat tire.

I shook my head, “What are you getting at?”

He stood close and looked back and forth between Sienna and I, “I think someone did this on purpose.”

“Who would do that? No one had been around…,” I said stopping once I realized who he was implying had loosened the lug nuts. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. He was always with me!” I said trying to remember if that had actually been true. Obviously when I was sleeping he hadn’t been, but it didn’t make sense. Why would he mess with the SUV and then get into that same vehicle endangering himself?

Dean turned his back to me and scanned the horizon. He tossed the lug nut back and forth between his hands. After a long pause he started pacing, “What about when he first arrived?”

“What about it, Dean?” I said not caring that I sounded annoyed with him. For some reason I was bothered by the fact that he would accuse Penn of something so horrendous. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. “Well?”

“You saw him at the stream and then at the front door. Did you see him in between?”

“Well, no, but he wouldn’t have had the energy or time—”

“Probably not based on what you told me,” he said and I could tell he was trying to figure it out. He was trying to find out exactly when Penn might have done it. He was already convinced it was him, he just had to figure out when. And what would his motive have been? “Surely he was out of your sight sometimes. Like maybe when you were sleeping or using the bathroom,” Dean said looking between Sienna and I. I wasn’t sure but he seemed to be waiting for her to back him up on his theory.

“Penn isn’t like that. He’s had it rough since this all went down too you know… his father died of hypothermia and his sister was raped, I think, or at least attempted, and then she eventually died too. He’s lucky to even be alive himself,” I said stepping in front of him to look him in the eye.

“We’ve all lost people. Just because Penn lost someone doesn’t mean he couldn’t do something like this,” Dean said shifting his gaze out towards the horizon.

“He wouldn’t do the things you are implying,” I said as the vision of him shooting the man in cold blood filled my mind. I wouldn’t have thought he would have done that either, but I saw him do it with my own eyes.

Dean shrugged. I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince him it hadn’t been Penn. I also knew when Owen and Penn got back Dean would probably question him about it. It made my stomach turn that in the back of my mind the words ‘what if’ were swirling around.

Penn had been nothing but good to me. He wouldn’t have done that. It could have killed me if I had taken the SUV out by myself. It could have killed all of us. We were lucky to have survived with only a few scratches. The outcome could have been far worse than what it was, there was no way Penn would have done that and let us get into the SUV. He wouldn’t have gotten into the SUV himself. I really didn’t like the fact that Dean’s skepticism was causing me to doubt Penn’s character.

I wasn’t about to let Dean know that his doubts about Penn had gotten to me. But why would he even want to tamper with the SUV? If he wanted to kill me, he had plenty of opportunities while it had just been the two of us. My mind went through every day and every minute trying to analyze whether he would have had time to mess with the SUV. Could he have had an opportunity to loosen the lug nuts without me knowing about it?

Of course he had.

Chapter fifteen.

“They sure have been gone a long time,” Sienna said wrapping her arms around herself as her body lightly shivered. It was starting to get quite chilly, and we were without any kind of heat source. “It’s going to get dark in a few hours.”

Since we didn’t really have a way to check the time, the best we could do was guess. I figured it had to have been at least two hours since Owen and Penn had walked away. “They should have been back by now,” I said looking towards the sun as it made its way to the horizon.

“Something went wrong,” Sienna said walking closer to Dean.

“I think we should go back to the house,” Dean said sounding almost sure of himself. “Owen will go back there when he sees we’ve left. He’ll probably go back there knowing we wouldn’t stay out here overnight. Maybe we’ll just run into them on the way back,” Dean said and walked over to the SUV. He grabbed three bottles of water through the broken back window.