All Is Silence - Deserted Lands #1

Chapter 31 - Part II

Zach woke to full sun alone in a strange bed. He sighed deeply and shoved himself up. He found the others in the living room: Rachael playing blocks with Saj, Spike sleeping in the sun and Duke cleaning his guns. Duke nodded at Zach.

Nev’s fingers tapped away on the computer. He crossed to her and hugged her from behind.

“Sorry,” he whispered in her ear.

“I know.” She turned her head and kissed his cheek. “Me too.” Her words convicted him. She was sorry he’d been a jerk. But they also implied it would be okay.

“What’d you find?” Zach motioned to the computer.

“Nothing new.” She shook her head. “It’s like Utah is the dead zone. There’s nothing happening. Not sure how I can explain it. No online activity. It’s like someone’s controlling the web. It’s up, but nothing is originating from here. She pulled her chair back from the computer and turned to face him. “You wanna go for a run?” She jabbed him gently in the gut.

“Yeah, get some fresh air. Rachael, you okay with Saj?”

“Of course.“

“Be back in a bit.” Zach stared at Duke. What a freaking weird world. “Are you and Spike okay?”

Duke nodded. “I think so. I fed him some beef stick last night.” He grinned. “That won him over. How about you?"

Zach shrugged. You want to know if I have a grudge with you? “I don’t know.”

Duke nodded. “Fair.” He turned back to the guns.

Zach and Nev pulled on jackets and headed out into the cold.

They ran in silence for a while. Running cleared his head. Finding Lizzie’s dad had been the whole plan. He wasn’t sure what to do, but clearly they couldn’t abandon Lizzie. They needed a new plan. If they rescued Lizzie and her dad was still a prisoner… She wouldn’t leave without him. Their new plan would have to include getting Mannie and Jess.

“I tried sending texts to Jess’ phone and Mannie’s. Nothing back.” Nev said.

They slowed to an easier pace, Zach puffed between words. “I guess we wait. Keep a low profile.” They jogged on.

After a bit, Nev turned and continued to jog backwards. “I miss my folks. And my grandpa. And grandma. Can’t hardly see how Lizzie could handle missing Jayce.”

“Yeah, but she left Saj?” Zach shook his head. “I don’t understand it.”

“I don’t get how she thinks she can break her dad out of The City.”

“The key word in that sentence is ‘think.’ Lizzie reacts; she doesn’t think.” Zach temper burned. “We need to take care of each other, but she keeps doing her own thing. She’s so...so..." He stopped running, unable to talk and run like Nev. She stopped beside him.

“Selfish,” Nev finished. “But as selfish as she was, she made sure we got out of there. Now we have to do the same for her.”

He clenched his fists. “They got the Tank. Makes me feel naked."

“Then let’s get another one. And we need weapons.” Nev’s lips tightened into a line. “I don’t like guns. Never have. But last night when Duke handed one to me, it felt necessary.”

“Duke seems well-stocked, but we should find you something your size.”

They returned to the house hand in hand.

                                *      *      *

Carter drove with a scowl on his face. Something was going on and he had stopped being loquacious. He sat there stewing over something.

The sky darkened and Lizzie lost hope of seeing her dad today.

Carter barked, “Shut off the damn music.”

She pulled some headphones out of the glove-box and slid them over her ears; Carter didn’t argue.

Lizzie was no longer sure she wanted go into The City as a captive. If she could figure out a way to get them in an accident and pop the air bags, maybe she could run away.

The moon loomed large and low over the hills, glowing bright against the faded sky. The snow had eased off, only a few flakes, but it was deep on the freeway.

Before Lizzie could figure out how to enact her car crash plan, Carter’s walkie-talkie spit static then voices; Lizzie jerked the headphones from her ears, so she could hear what was going on. She didn’t like how worried Carter looked.

The walkie talkie speaker scratched, “Carter, we got trouble.”

“On my way. Get reinforcements.” He released the talk button.

“What?” Lizzie asked.

“Independents sighted near my home base.” Carter gripped the steering wheel and the truck sped up. He didn’t say another word until they pulled into “home base,” the county jail.