𝙵𝙻𝙴𝚂𝙷 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙱𝙾𝙽𝙴 | 𝚃. 𝙾𝚃𝚃𝙾 𐂃

Chapter 19

Hailey perused near the gate, checking the distance for a sign of Mike and their vehicles. She rubbed the end of her long-sleeved shirt against the tip of her nose and flushed cheeks. The sun already hung high in the air, the Ranch was bustling with life and breakfast was long gone. She was worried and it showed in her face and the antsy back and forth pacing. She asked Cristine for information, but her sister knew as much as she; which was practically nothing. She rather have the loud rumbling of the engine than this silence, this forever lasting peace just riled her up more than necessary. Unfortunately, that wish didn't come true and Hailey sniffed and crossed her arms together anxiously when Cristine stepped in line next to her.

"You'll get a heatstroke." Cristine pushed a cap into her face from the side, looking into the distance. After that, Cristine corrects her own protection from the sun. She breaths out a low, thoughtful tune before drumming her fingers against the wooden log that pulled the barbed wire taut.

"Daddy doesn't think they'll make it back," Hailey said softly, gaze plastered on the horizon line.

"He said that to you?" Cristine moved her neck, a faint frown tightening her expression even more. Her father had said the same thing to her, yes, but to be this blunt with Hailey wasn't like him. He usually shielded her from it all. Coddled her. Now that Cristine thought about it, this sudden change in their father's behavior happened ever since he confessed to her that this was his past haunting him.

"Not in those exact words. I think he doesn't want me to worry about Mike, but the way he said it hurt." Hailey's downcast vision was pulled by the slanted hills and their dark green bushes. Rolling her stiff shoulders back and forth, she pushed her chest out when correcting her posture and deeply inhaled and exhaled. "Also, daddy just came in at dawn. I think- I think he's been starting to drink again. He and mom argued about it."

Sucking in her breath, Cristine forced her disgust down and clenched and unclenched her hands. The last thing she wanted Hailey to ever witness was their father's greatest weakness. Cristine was convinced with him opening up to her like that meant something changed, but it was just another disappointment. Cristine should've been used to it. Should have expected him to reach for that bottle again, but she still had hope that this time it would be different. It wasn't and she rubbed at the dent between her brow.

At her sister's uncanny silence, Hailey unabashedly met with focused dark eyes of her sister and wanted to ask her how long she thought this feel of waiting in this unknown pit would last. She watched the expression on Cristine's face switch from tensed to surprised when before she made a run for the gates and yelled at the guards, "open the gates!" It still had to register to Hailey what happened, but when she did, her eyes widened. Her hear thundered up her throat when she saw the limping sextet under the beating sun; when she saw Mike!

-

"They're all dead!" Mike proclaimed, fully ignoring Troy's feigned exclamation to mask this mission as nothing but an utter and complete failure. Their people were slaughtered and here Troy was more concerned about not trying to spook the people when they had a right to know what their fate would entail if they didn't lea e the Ranch. They could best decide that for themselves and their families instead of living in a lie. Mike refused to listen to his best friend who whispered under his breath to keep lock his shit down.

"They're dead!" He repeated before glaring into Troy's stormy eyes and ignored him. "If we don't leave, we'll die! Just like Phil and the rest! They'll butcher us like the others!" The dreadful message came as a shock to the Survivalists and logically it started a sequence of buzzing words and claims of fear. The ambience of the people swirled and aside from a handful of strong-willed individuals, the uniform courage was nowhere to be found.