The Survivor Chronicles: Book 1, The Upheaval (21 page)

Carol cursed loudly; Xander caught hold of her arm as she tripped over a tree root and nearly fell. Sweat tickled the back of Riley’s neck, slid down her face and plastered her tank top uncomfortably to her. Annoying strands of hair had straggled free of her ponytail to tease at her skin. Now that the sun was out, the day had grown a good ten degrees hotter, even in the shade of the woods. It was the summer, but the heat seemed a little higher than normal and she found herself struggling to breathe. She longed to sit and catch her breath in the oppressive air, but she thought if she sat she would never get back up.

She looked back to the sky. The planes were up there, circling endlessly like sharks just waiting for the kill. The thought caused her to shudder as she hugged herself. Perhaps Logan, or even Green airport, hadn’t been as badly damaged as the airport in Mansfield seemed to have been. She hoped so anyway.

A loud snapping to her right drew her attention to the hill near them. There was a small group of people moving through the forest about fifty feet away from them, and further up the hill. Her hand instinctively went to the gun at her side. How that reaction had become an instinct already she didn’t know, but it felt right, and she had a feeling that it was only the first of many times that it would happen. Bobby and Lee grouped closer to her as they hurried to join with Xander and Carol.

Xander was studying the people on the hill, his brow furrowed as he frowned up at them. He held the rest of them back for a minute, waiting as the other group moved further into the woods, and finally out of view. “Maybe we should go back to the street,” Carol suggested.

“To become target practice for some psycho?” Lee inquired disbelievingly.

“We don’t know that someone was purposely shooting at us.”

“No, but I don’t want to take the chance that they were, either. I don’t want to be anywhere near a bunch of panicked people with guns.”

Riley completely agreed with him. She wasn’t about to be some sick jerk’s trophy. She patted the damp hair on top of her head; nope, there still weren’t any antlers there so she definitely wasn’t going back to the main road. “Route one can’t be much farther. We’ll stay in the woods until then,” Xander compromised. “Come on, let’s keep moving.”

He tugged on Carol’s arm as he pulled her with him. Riley followed silently behind watching where she stepped, anxious that she was going to fall into a streaming pit of death. She hadn’t realized Xander had also fallen back until he grabbed hold of another branch that would have poked her right in the eye.

She glanced up at him as he pushed the branch aside and smiled at her. “Thanks,” she muttered.

“Gotta watch out for those branches, they tend to be attached to the trees surrounding us.”

She scowled at him. She should have known he would spoil anything nice with some wise ass comment or another. He simply continued to smile that infuriating smile at her as he pushed another branch out of the way. She stopped focusing on her feet and started focusing on her surroundings before she lost an eye.

“Look,” Lee blurted.

They all froze, Riley’s head tilted back as she followed Lee’s arm to the sky. She half expected to see a plane spiraling toward them. Instead, she was rewarded with the long green streak of another flare. Her shoulders slumped as she was engulfed by the sudden urge to simply cry, and to never stop crying. She blinked back tears as the green flare hovered for a brief period of time before spiraling away into nothingness.

“That’s a good sign,” Xander murmured.

“Yes,” she agreed, unable to look at him as she fought against the tears threatening to spill.

He touched her arm soothingly before turning away. She stared at the back of his head, uncertain of this kindness from him. She remembered him as the boy who had tormented her, pulled her hair, called her Dumbo and hid her toys. Oh, there had been moments over the years when he'd been kind to her. Moments when she'd even found him comforting and sweet, and had almost liked him, but they'd been overshadowed by his relentless teasing. She was baffled by this side of him, and she didn’t know how to combine the frustrating boy he’d been, with the self-assured man who was now leading them through the woods.

She was surprised to find Carol watching her with an amused look. Riley didn’t understand the heat that washed through her cheeks, as Carol wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Riley rolled her eyes at her friend and started walking beside Bobby again.

It was unnaturally still, but then she hadn’t seen any birds since they had taken their downward plunge, and she hadn’t seen any animals since they’d all seemed to herd into one unknown location. She’d never realized how much she would miss the sound and sights of squirrels, birds, and other active forest creatures until now.

“You know Xander has a crush on you, right?”

Riley's brow furrowed as she lifted her head. She’d been so focused on trying not to get slapped in the face, and wondering about the forest creatures, that she hadn’t realized Carol had fallen back to walk with her. “Huh?”

Carol grinned at her as she nodded toward her brother. “Xander. Crush. You.”

Riley frowned at her; she glanced at where Xander and Lee were walking ahead of them. Xander was still watching the hill, searching for any sign of the people that had been there before. Lee was focused on the homes just beyond the tree line. “No he doesn’t,” Riley retorted.

Bobby snorted as Carol laughed. “Yeah, he does,” Carol insisted.

Riley continued to study Xander, confused by Carol’s statement. “I don’t think so, Carol.”

“I do,” she insisted.

“Since when?” Riley demanded.

“Since he realized you were a girl, and he was a boy,” Bobby muttered. “Since the first time he pulled your pigtail on the playground. Since any of us can remember.”

Riley’s frown deepened as she stared at him. That simply couldn’t be possible; she would have noticed something like that. Wouldn’t she? But then again, probably not. She never really noticed anything like that, and it was always Carol who informed her when a boy liked her. Riley thought of the hundreds of sleepovers they’d had together over the years. All the late night talks they’d had about which boy they liked, their first kisses and boyfriends, the first time either of them had rounded second, and what they expected of their futures. In all of those talks, in all the idle gossip, Xander’s name had never once come up as a romantic interest. Why wouldn’t Carol have told her about this new development?

“You think she’s right?” she asked Bobby.

“Oh, she is definitely, one hundred percent, right,” Bobby said emphatically.

“But all he’s ever done is torment me.”

“No one ever said he was Casanova,” Bobby replied with a casual shrug as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “That was his sad attempt at flirting.”

“Well, he sucks at it,” she grumbled.

Bobby laughed as he nodded. “That he does.”

Riley was silent as she pondered their words and studied Xander curiously. “Do you know how many times he called me Dumbo?”

“Come on Ri. With those ears it was only a matter of time before someone slapped you with that nickname.”

“Jerk,” she mumbled as he grinned at her.

“It’s true," Bobby insisted. "He just did it first.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded of her friend.

Carol shrugged; she frowned as she studied her brother. “Honestly, I thought he’d finally stop being an idiot by now, and actually tell you how he felt. I mean we’ve all been waiting for him to do so for years.”

Riley’s eyes widened, she'd thought Bobby had only been kidding before. “Years? Everyone else has known for years?”

“He’s not very subtle you know. And that is what I meant when I said the first time he pulled you pigtails,” Bobby informed her.

“Apparently he was more subtle than you realized,” Riley muttered shooting him a disgruntled look. “But it really doesn’t matter; I think there’s a lot more to be concerned about right now.”

Carol was silent, and then she grabbed hold of Riley’s arm and pulled her to a stop. “It does matter now, more than ever. It’s why I told you, instead of continuing to wait for my boneheaded brother to do it. The world is falling apart around us; don’t you think that living for the moment, for the day, is a lot more important than old insults, and his childish attempts at trying to convey his feelings to you?”

Carol’s words were so fervent, so desperate that they tugged at her heart. She’d never seen her friend look so intense about something.

“Isn’t he dating that Jenny girl?” she managed to croak out. Riley hadn’t particularly liked the blond Xander had brought home from school one weekend last fall. Jenny had been obnoxious, and at one point Riley had been certain Carol herself was going to throttle the girl. Jenny also hadn’t been able to handle her liquor. She’d gotten so drunk she decided to streak across the football field. To say Carol hadn’t approved of her brother’s choice was an understatement, and she’d made it one hundred percent clear afterward.

“That girl,” Carol muttered as she rolled her eyes and Bobby laughed at the memory. “No, thankfully he dumped her.”

“I wouldn’t have exactly called it dating anyway,” Bobby snorted.

Carol elbowed him in the ribs as she scrunched her nose. “Yuck.”

Riley silently agreed. “So you would actually approve of me dating your brother?”

Carol shrugged as she managed a wan smile. “I’d kick his ass if he messed it up, but yeah, if you thought you might like him too? I wouldn’t mind. We could be sister-in-laws!”

“Way to rush things,” Riley muttered as Bobby chuckled.

“Do you think you might like him?” Carol pressed.

Before this day, she would have shuddered in revulsion at the mere thought of having to spend an hour alone with Xander, never mind actually spending an hour with him in any kind of romantic way. But now, studying him as he continued ahead of her, she found she didn’t dislike him quite as much as she used to. Though she didn’t know exactly how, or what, she did feel for him. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

Carol’s eyes sparkled as she grinned brightly. “I suppose that’s something, at least it’s not the flat out ‘No’ you would’ve given me yesterday. I’m not entirely sure there will still be a thing like dating after this day either though.”

“That might be the one bonus to all of this,” Bobby said. “Save me some money, and some awkward groping attempts at the movies.”

“Bobby!” Carol and Riley both hissed as he grinned at them.

“It’s true. Dating sucks, and it’s way overrated.”

“Well, I’m glad the pending apocalypse eased your troubles,” Carol informed him.

“Yeah, it definitely helped,” he agreed as he draped his arms around both their shoulders and started pulling them with him. Xander glanced back at them, frowning as he spotted Bobby. Riley could feel the laughter that bubbled through Bobby’s chest. “I do so love to annoy him.”

“So do I,” Riley admitted.

She couldn’t help but study Xander differently though as he continued to stare relentlessly at Bobby’s arm. He was handsome, with those warm eyes and kissable mouth, but his obnoxious tendencies had overshadowed that years ago. But a crush on her? It seemed such an odd thing to realize, and though Bobby and Carol both agreed, she just wasn’t sure it was true. Xander had tended to go for the cheerleader types, which she most certainly was not. He’d also done nothing but poke and prod at her for as long as she could remember.

Yeah, he really sucked at flirting, she decided firmly.