Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I wipe the sleep from my eyes and scramble to sit up. The sleeping bag in question is covering Hope and Hailey, both of whom stare at the men in terror.
These men aren’t just angry at us for stealing. They’ve come to make us pay. That’s evident in the multiple guns they’ve brought with them, all of which are pointing at each one of us in our group.
“Please,” I start, voice raspy with sleep. “It was me, not the girls. Let me explain.”
The gritty man barks out a laugh. “Hear that, Nate? This pitiful excuse of a man not only wants to take credit but also wants to explain why he took your pregnant wife’s bed.”
Nate, clearly the leader, hocks up a massive ball of phlegm and spits it at me. Luckily, it lands on the canvas covering my nearly naked body. Stripping out of our wet clothes to let them dry seemed like a great idea last night and certainly allowed us more warmth. Now, I’m feeling all kinds of vulnerable and at a disadvantage in nothing but my boxers.
“We thought it was abandoned,” I say, locking eyes with the steely eyed leader with fury flaming bright in his gaze. “Our people were starving and injured. We’d already grabbed a few things when we discovered the hiding children.”
Nate’s nostrils flare. “The only reason you people aren’t dead right now is because those kids are untouched. The only reason.”
I nod emphatically. “We’re not bad people. Just trying to get somewhere safe. I’m really sorry.”
“He’s sorry, Garrett,” Nate says to the other guy. “What’s sorry worth where we’re from?”
“Nothin’.”
Nate’s eyes narrow. “Hear that. Nothing. Your sorry is useless to me.”
“What do you want?” Tyler demands, indignation in his tone. “Like you said, if you wanted us dead, we’d be dead already.”
One of the other guys steps closer to Hope and Hailey, eyeing them with interest. “I see something I want.”
Before Aaron can clobber the guy, Nate grunts. “Knock it off, Ed. We don’t trade in women.”
Ed chuckles as though he were joking. Something tells me if the bigger man wasn’t their leader, Ed would have no problem taking one or both of our girls to make up for our transgressions.
“I understand we’ve messed up,” I say again, hoping for a diplomatic tone. “We can give you back everything we took plus more if you’ll just leave us be. That’s all we want.”
Garrett perks up at that. “Plus more?”
Tyler tenses beside me but doesn’t utter a word.
“Yeah,” I say with a resigned sigh. “We found box cutters, bottled water, nuts, and noodle cups. You can have it all plus everything we took.”
Jesse curses under his breath and Hope makes a groaning sound. I know that’ll leave us once again without supplies, but our lives are more important at this point. We can find more supplies—actually abandoned stuff like here at the post office. I won’t make that mistake again.
“You their leader?” Nate asks, cocking his head to the side, the muzzle of his gun that’s pointed at my face never wavering.
“Yes,” I blurt out, thought it feels wrong.
A real leader wouldn’t have brought his people into this situation. I’m just a broken guy trying to survive. Nothing special. Nothing more.
“Okay then,” Nate says, motioning with his gun. “Get your clothes on. Me and you are going to take a walk to your supplies cache while my men make sure yours don’t do anything stupid.”
Tyler starts to say something, no doubt an argument of some kind, but I cut him off with a sharp shake of my head. Quickly, I rise to my feet and start throwing on my mostly dry clothes. Once I’ve tied my boots, I give Nate a nod and then gesture toward the back.
“After you,” he says with a grunt. “For both our sakes, let’s just hope what you promise actually exists.”
My stomach grumbles hungrily and I wish I’d have thought to separate the supplies in case of a situation like this. Of course there’s no way I could have known. Now I have to give it all up just to get these people to go away.
Again, guilt swells up over me, this time for my own people, not theirs.
I guide him to the break room where the food and water have been brought from the cabinets and set on one of the tables. He eyes it with curiosity but makes no moves to touch it.
“Any of those bins survive?” Nate asks. “Or did you butcher them all for blankets?”
“There’re more.”
“Go get one and load up our stuff.”
Their stuff.
Rather than uttering any words to get myself shot, I make my way into the warehouse part of the building to locate one of the big rolling bins. I push it back to the break room and stop near the door.
“Get it put in there,” Nate says, wiggling his gun from the table to the bin. “I don’t have all day.”