What Little Remains (The Fallout Trilogy Book 1) (25 page)

There is an emptiness that has settled on my heart when I
think of him and my home. The emptiness is from losing my second family in less
than a year.

And more than anything, I’m terrified. Terrified that Ricky
is going to find me. Terrified that Ricky will hurt Nicole or John. I am
terrified and grateful for all the people that are in the way of Ricky getting
to me. I’m scared that I won’t find Danny or that Ricky will find him first. I
don’t even know where to start looking for him.

I close my eyes. I take a deep breath and let it out slowly,
clearing my mind. I focus on the sounds around me. I hear the crickets
chirping, along with the rustling of the leaves in the trees as the wind blows
gently around. I didn’t notice before, but it smells fresh here. Back home, it
smelled like a mixture of the animals we had there and burnt wood. Here, it
smells like wood and leaves. I shiver slightly at the chill in the air but keep
walking.

I’ve made it this far.

October 13

This isn’t the first city that I’ve come across in South
Carolina. I approach each with the same caution, bow drawn and ready to fire,
knives that can be quickly accessed. The sun is setting, and I’m losing light
quickly. I need a roof over my head tonight because it’s going to rain. I got
caught in a thunderstorm two weeks ago, and it took my body a few days to feel
right. I lost so much time because I couldn’t run for very long.

I have no idea what city this is, but it looks like someone
already came through and cleaned out everything that might be of use.

I strain my ears for sounds. I haven’t run into anyone in
one month. When I do run into people, I do my best not to endanger them. I
don’t tell them my history. I don’t even give them my real name. The last
family that I ran into fed me the first full meal that I had had in weeks.

“A sweet girl like you shouldn’t be out in this world
alone,” the mom, Janet, had sighed when I was getting ready to leave.

I gave her a sad smile, but I wasn’t about to change my
mind. If I didn’t leave, Ricky would be more than willing to kill them to reach
me. “I appreciate what all you’ve done for me, but I can’t impose anymore. You
all stay safe,” I said as I left them.

Janet nodded, wiping her hands on her apron before handing
me a tin full of biscuits and other things that lasted me a week. I nodded my
thanks and left, not looking back once as I felt the pressure of her eyes on my
back.

I push the image from my mind and focus. The sounds of
animals are missing. Every town that I’ve been to has had some form of animal
life that has taken over. From a distance, I’ve seen deer, and bears and their
cubs that have taken up residence in otherwise deserted cities.

I have no idea what happened at Fort Lee after I left. Part
of me hopes that Ricky just gave in and agreed to stay there. There is this
nagging feeling, in the pit of my stomach, that I’m being hunted. But tonight,
I need to rest. I’ve been going non-stop for a week. The nagging sensation that
Ricky is a lot closer than I want picks at the back of my mind. If that is
true, I don’t have too much of a choice but to move quickly from place to
place.

I make a wide circle in the spot I’m in when something
catches my eye. It’s a school bus. I walk over cautiously, trying not to step
on broken glass or loose wires. All of the walking has worn out the bottom of
my shoes. I need new ones. Glass can more easily slip through the bottom of my
shoe now, and the last thing I need is a nasty little shock.

I look behind me, waiting a moment to see if I hear anything
before turning back around and looking at the bus. The front part of it is
under a telephone pole, but I touch the door handle on the emergency exit on
the back of the bus anyway, glad that I didn’t light up like the Fourth of
July.

I manage to open it and peer inside. It doesn’t look like
many animals have found their way in here. I try to avoid areas that are highly
inhabited with other animals. I prefer to stay out of buildings, sleeping in
places with many exits. I know there are a lot of dangerous, territorial
animals out here, and I don’t want one to find me when I am sleeping.
 

Also a plus, the bus has three easy exits, the back
emergency exit, the top of the bus emergency hatch, and the front door that I
can climb a pole to get over. Plus it looks like no one in
their
right mind would stay here for shelter. I climb in and pull the door closed
behind me, grateful that it is at least partly blocked off from the elements,
but there is still a draft.

I set down the bow and arrow glad to have them off my back.
I look around expectantly. I put down my backpack and sit on the faded and
cracked leather seats. The cushion is worn, but it is the most comfortable
thing that I have sat on in a long time. I lean back against it and close my
eyes, ready to go to sleep.

Hunger rears its ugly head, and I groan as I lean up. I
forgot that I hadn’t eaten yet. I reach over and grab my backpack, pulling it
onto my lap. I rummage through it, letting the empty wrappers drop to the
ground. I can’t do this when I’m in the woods because its evidence, but I kick
them under the seat. No one will ever know. The thought makes me a little giddy
in a way that lets me know I need to eat quickly and go to sleep or I’m going
to have more to worry about than Ricky.

Before I left, John gave me a very long lecture about sleep
and how important it is. I can tell that I am weaker without sleep, that I’m
more paranoid. There have only been a few nights where I didn’t sleep.
 

I reach to the very bottom of my bag, and I realize that I
have no food left. I can’t believe this. I stand quickly, gathering my bow and
arrow. I grab my matches from my bag, slip them into my pocket, and I open the
bus door, hop out, and then shut it behind me. I walk as quietly as I can
around the place before I find a good spot and stop. I ready my bow with an
arrow that is waiting to fly.

I wait for something small; I don’t need a deer, that’s way
too much meat for me. I want something smaller, like a squirrel or a rabbit.

Three hours later, I am finished with my meal. I started the
fire as far away from the bus as I could get. When I finished, I put out the
fire, scattering the ashes away and piling trash on top of it. I put my bow
away and grab a knife, walking carefully back to the bus. I do my best to be
quiet, not wanting to draw any more attention to the area.

I walk to the bus, looking around; making sure that no one
is following me. I open the door, climb inside, and shut it behind me. Wrapping
up the meat that I haven’t finished, I tuck it away in the tin that Janet gave
me. I look at the seats and pull my knife out. It’s an older bus, so what I’m
about to do shouldn’t be too hard. I cut the seam where the seat meets the
back. After unscrewing a few screws, it falls backwards, giving me something
more like a bed to sleep on.

Satisfied with my work, I reach into my backpack and grab my
blanket. Putting my backpack down for a pillow, I cover myself up with the
blanket, ready for a good long sleep. I grip my knife in my hand, like I do
every night before I go to sleep, ready for anything that might happen.

In these last few months, I’ve gotten really good at going
to sleep right away. I push away all my thoughts and take nice, deep breaths. I
feel sleep coming to me, and I close my eyes tight, ready for what I hope will
be the first full night of sleep I’ve had in a long time.

My shoulder is finally regaining some of its range. The
first couple weeks were brutal, but once I stopped babying it and stretched it
out regularly, it started to improve. After long days, especially when I don’t
get enough sleep, it bothers me a little bit more.

Glass crunches outside, like someone stepped on it with
boots. I open my eyes, gripping my knife so hard that my hands shake. I wait,
if it’s an animal, then it will keep moving. If it’s a person, then hopefully
they’ll keep moving. If it’s a group of people, then someone is going to have
to talk at some point.

I wait, tense and shaking, keeping my breathing as quiet as
I can. God, I hope that it isn’t scavengers. Someone has already been through
this town, and they shouldn’t feel the need to stay here. I suppress a shudder
at the thought of what they’d do if they found me. Hopefully it’s just an
animal or one person. When I run into people traveling solo, they don’t pose as
big of a threat. I can take one person by myself if necessary. Hell, on a good
day, I might be able to take two.
 

I hear a grunting sound, and I stop breathing. It’s
definitely a person. They kick a few things around, metal from the sound of it.
I strain my ears. At least two people are out there.

“Do you all see anything?” I hear a familiar voice ask, not
bothering to keep his voice down. It’s Daren, and now I know that there are
more than two people out there.

“No,” Jack answers him, and I allow myself to breathe again.
I need to breathe. If I don’t breathe, then I will die.

Slowly and quietly, I slide off the chairs and crawl under
the seat that I just flipped over. I reach out, sliding my bow to me and
grabbing my backpack. I keep my breaths quiet and even. I lie on my stomach
under the chairs, my bow next to me, my backpack in front of my face and my
blanket still on me. I have the knife in my hand, and I wait. If Daren is here,
Ricky isn’t far behind.

“Did you all find anything?” Ricky asks, and it sounds like
he’s coming from where I started the fire.

“No, she’s hiding her tracks well,”
Daren
says. His voice sounds tired.

“She’s a smart girl. Always was,” Ricky says, his tone
almost proud. “That’s why I wanted her.”

I close my eyes.
Wanted
;
not loved.

“Do you want to keep moving?” Jack asks, but his voice
sounds just as tired as Daren’s. I don’t think Ricky has let them stop very
often.

“No, let’s stop here for the night. She’s not traveling
through the night anymore. I don’t think that we’re too far behind,” Ricky
says. If he only knew how close he was.

“Alright,” Daren says sounding relieved. “I’ll start a
fire.”

“I’ll find us something to eat,” Jack says and he walks off.

I feel Ricky still out there. Does he feel me here too? My
blood is racing. This means that John must have succeeded. Daren would never be
here if Ricky still had control over Fort Lee. That means that John, Alec, and
Nicole were successful in throwing Ricky out of power. They are safe.

Daren comes back, his walk more distinctive than Jack’s, and
I hear him starting a fire.

“What are we still doing?” he asks Ricky. “What are we going
to do when we find her? She’s obviously done, Rick. You can’t push her into
coming back with you. Why won’t you just let her go?”

                 
 
“It might take six months, or a year,”
Ricky says, his voice steady. “But eventually I will find her, or she will find
her way back to me. But I will
never
let her go. She is mine.”

The finality in his tone makes my skin crawl, and I close my
eyes tightly. I knew this could happen. I knew there was more than a chance he
was hunting me. This isn’t a bad thing. He will leave in the morning and I will
go in the opposite direction. It will take them a while to figure it out, since
the rain will wash away whatever tracks I make.

For the first time in three months, a ghost of a smile
flickers on my face. For the first time, I know whose game he is playing. And
for the first time since I left, I am a move ahead
.

Acknowledgements

There are so many people to
thank for helping my dream become a reality. I would like to thank my sister
Jessica
Doering
for all of the time and energy she
has put into helping me edit and make decisions about this book. My book would
truly not be the same without her.

I would like to thank JC
Williams, for the amazing work he did with my book cover. His patience was
incomparable and his artistic eye unparalleled.

I would like to thank Kim
Davis, a writer and teacher, who mentored me at the beginning of my journey and
told me that I had a story worth telling. Without her, I am not sure that I
would have found the courage to publish.

I would like to thank my
brother James. He knows what he did.

I would like to thank my
Grandma Wise, who is such an inspiration to me. She is the woman who told me to
use the word "when", not "if", when I talked about
publishing this book.

I would like to thank my
friends, Rebecca,
Karly
, Michelle, and Elise for
reading my manuscript and helping me get it to where it is today.

I would like to thank Mrs.
Kirwan
, Ms. Gary, and Ms. Caswell. These women are truly
amazing English teachers whose time, patience, and guidance has gotten me to
where I am today.

Finally, I would like to
thank my parents for all of the work that they put into raising me and for
helping make my dream a reality. They never once questioned my ability and
always encouraged my dream. I am truly lucky to have such amazing and
encouraging people in my life.