Finding Home - A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Ravaged Land Series Book 2) (4 page)

“Deal,” he said with a small smile and a big yawn. He stretched his legs out and put his head down on the arm of the sofa. Everything he had been through and then reliving it had worn him out. I picked up the empty bowl, not even a single grain of rice was stuck to the sides of it. I brought it to the kitchen and cleaned it out. “What about you? What’s your story?”

“Well….” I paused and took a breath. There was no way I could tell him. I had to do the smart thing. The safe thing, just in case he wasn’t who he said he was. This was my house. He would have to do more to earn my trust somehow. I didn’t have to earn his. I opened my mouth and turned to look at him, but he was already sleeping.

He could stay here and rebuild his strength but he didn’t get to know about me. Even if it seemed as though I could trust him, I didn’t. After all, he had killed two men, but what if it hadn’t played out exactly as he had said? He had come here unarmed and wasn’t hiding a gun anywhere, so what happened to it? The risks of him staying here permanently were just too high.

I would have to come up with a believable story, one that I would remember in case he asked questions. The last thing I’d want was to get caught in a lie. I’d keep it very simple. He didn’t need to know anything more than I had gotten lucky and survived.

I could tell him I traveled north after I had gotten separated from my mom and found this place. It had a hint of the truth, it only left out every single thing that had happened in between then and now. It would be easy enough to remember and I knew I could make it sound believable. I decided that would be my story when he asked again. And I knew he would.

Chapter four.

Over the last three weeks, not only did Penn get stronger and healthier, he had also become a huge help. He’d go outside to gather and chop wood in the cold, prepare meals, collect, boil and bottle water, anything he saw that needed doing, he did. And without me asking him for help. He had observed how I had been living while he healed, and then as he got better just sort of fell into the groove. We had become a team. And even though I didn’t say much to him, I didn’t feel as lonely.

I put down the book I had been reading when he came in from chopping wood. I couldn’t help but notice how much better he was looking. He looked healthy. His hair was damp from sweat and little beads of perspiration dripped down from the hair at his temples.

He closed the door behind him, walked towards the living room and peeled off his shirt. Penn wasn’t skin and bones any more. Even though he was still thin, he now had some meat on his bones, and his muscles were more defined. His skin had color again and even his eyes gleamed with life. That undead glassy appearance and his big dark circles were gone. He wasn’t even close to the same person who had collapsed at my doorstep weeks ago.

The bad news was that since he had been here, I hadn’t been able to venture out and continue my search to find where HOME was located. But it wasn’t completely his fault. The brutal winter didn’t want to let go. But each day it was reluctantly releasing its grip.

Even though I was beginning to trust Penn a little, I still didn’t fully trust him and I probably never would. But now that he seemed to be doing better, I could send him on his way and back out into the cold and treacherous snow. Spring would come sooner or later. Surely he was well enough that he could leave and find his own place.

“You’re getting stronger,” I said while we ate our noodle soup dinner he had prepared for us. I avoided making eye contact with him. Penn was resting his back against the side of the sofa with a blanket half draped over his naked chest. Even with how much stronger he seemed to be, it didn’t make me feel any better about having to send him away.

“I am,” he said as he slurped a spoonful of the soup. I couldn’t get a read on his tone or his expression. That was something I found difficult with Penn and it certainly didn’t help with the trust factor.

“We should probably ta—”

“I know… I’ve been dreading this. I’ll admit, I’m not excited to leave.”

It was my turn to slurp the soup to avoid talking. It really wasn’t hurting anything to have him here. If he was here to kill me, he would have done so by now. It’s not like he had just been waiting weeks for that perfect moment that he could sneak up on me and slit my throat. Even though I barricaded myself in my room every night, he could have made his move after the first couple days. But he hadn’t. He never once seemed anything but normal. And not even a little threatening.

“Ahh…ergh,” I started and cleared my throat, “maybe you don’t have to go. I mean, if you want to I could give you food and water, but if you want to sta—”

“Yes, I’d love to stay. I can help you out with anything. I’ve been trying,” he said setting his bowl down on the coffee table and sliding down the sofa closer to my chair.

“You already help me out with everything… well, almost everything,” I said wishing I could take back what I had just said.

His eyebrows scrunched together, and he tilted his head. I took another spoonful of the soup and set my bowl down. My eyes locked with his. I wanted to take a good look inside, to see if everything I saw in those sparkling blue eyes was pure and good. But they were just bright, and clear, nothing that indicated safety, nor danger for that matter. They were just a pair of eyes looking back at me.

“I’d be more than happy to help you with anything you need. I don’t have anywhere else to go. No family left. Nothing to do. I would just be out there in the wilderness… wandering around until death found me again.” He tightened the blanket around himself as if he was trying to hide from the grim reaper.

“Ugh, I don’t even know where to start,” I said waving my hand in the air as if I was trying to swat something away from my face. I stood up and paced in front of the fireplace. The air felt colder somehow even though I was closer to the heat. I crossed my arms and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to tell him, I was afraid I’d regret it, but maybe he could help me find my friends again. Maybe he’d prove to be an asset. After all, he was from Alaska, maybe he knew something about the area that I didn’t.

“Start at the beginning. Tell me your story,” he said as he sat back and put his full attention on me.

Before I could let myself give it too much thought, I started telling him what had happened that day after school. I started with the storms, and then the shelter. Then I told him everything in-between, including everything about HOME.

“Hmm,” he said pressing his palms against his thighs.

“So, that’s why I’m here. I’m just waiting to find that damn base so I can get my friends back.” I stopped pacing and faced him.

He popped up and grabbed my hands. His eyes were filled with a new excitement as if I had just given his life purpose. He was brimming with an energy I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t understand what was going through his mind, but I couldn’t help but smile at him.

“It’s perfect!” he said shaking my hands vigorously.

“What?” I said unable to remove the stupid grin from my face. Seeing him like this reminded me of Ryan. It was similar to how he’d be so serious, but then when he became happy he was a completely different person. Penn and Ryan had that in common, and it made me miss Ryan even more than I already did.

“I can help you! I mean I owe you so much more than that for saving my life, but I can help you find your friends. It’s a start… it’s the least I can do.”

I shook my head. There was no way I could ever ask him to help me, or lead him to that horrific place. The place that had intentionally separated me from my friends. HOME had taken Ryan from me. And I was sure they were capable of much worse things. The less he knew about that place, the better it would be for him.

“Oh I couldn’t ask you to do that,” I said. “But you could stay here, guard the house. Then once I get them back I’ll have somewhere safe to go.”

“No! I want to help you. It would be my way of repaying you for saving me.” Penn was inches from my face as he tried to convince me how much I needed his help.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea. I can’t put you in danger like that.”

“We’d be safer and stronger together,” he said, and while that made sense, I wouldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to him if we found HOME.

“How about this, you can help me find it, but once we do I’m on my own.”

“Come on, Ros! That’s ridiculous! I can help you. We make a great team,” he said as he gestured around the cabin. “Please… please let me help you.”

I carefully wiggled my hands free and drank down the rest of my soup. It would be nice to have someone with me, but it was just too dangerous. I couldn’t do that to him. He didn’t know what I was up against. Penn seemed like a good guy, and even though he could take action when the situation called for it, like he had with those men attacking his sister, it wouldn’t be right to drag him into this mess. It would null and void everything I’d done up to this point to help him.

“I don’t know,” I said carrying my bowl to the kitchen and rinsing it clean in the sink using a splash of bottled water. I wiped it dry as he rinsed out his bowl after me.

“Please, we can do this… we can find them. Together. I just know it,” he said, and I couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. Just having this goal made him happy. And I could understand why. In this world, just trying to live day-to-day without TV or internet or video games, was kind of, well, boring. And with where we were, confined up in the Alaskan wilderness, it was isolating, not to mention overwhelmingly depressing. I didn’t think he’d let up. In fact, he’d probably beg me nonstop until I agreed.

“Ugh, I hope I don’t regret this,” I said pausing briefly. I wanted to be sure I was about to make the right choice. “Fine, we’ll do it together.”

He grabbed me and hugged me, “You won’t regret it! We’ll get them back!” I held in my sigh at the feeling of his warm skin against mine. It reminded me of how alive we still were, even though sometimes I felt it would be better, easier, if I wasn’t. I was still very much alive, and I had a purpose.

There was nothing easy about this life. It wasn’t as if we had much of a choice. Before this happened we had lived all of our days in comfort, surrounded by luxuries of all kinds. Things you don’t even realize are luxuries. Everything that had changed in my life had been a complete shock. The fact that I was still alive was baffling. Eventually my luck would run out.

He moved me away from him slightly so he could look me in the eyes. The look on his face was serious and intense. I felt the air in the room change and I coughed in an attempt to break up the awkwardness I felt. Something had just happened between us but I wasn’t sure what it was. All I knew was that it couldn’t happen. I deliberately took a small step backwards and flashed him a thin smile.

“Wait here, I have something I want to show you,” I said before I ran up the stairs to gather my notebooks. He was sitting at the small kitchen table when I returned. “Look here,” I said as I opened to a page with one of my maps drawn out.

He looked it over while he traced his finger around, “You did this? Drew this all out like this?”

I nodded and bit my lip. I was proud of all the work I had done. They were detailed and easy to understand. The only bad thing about them was that they didn’t indicate where HOME was, only all the places HOME wasn’t.

“Wow, this is amazing,” he said as he flipped pages and skimmed over my notes. “I remember seeing this! I walked passed this and over here too, along this stream,” he said, as he recognized some of the places on the map.

“It’s just too bad I don’t know where HOME is yet.” I massaged my forehead with my fingertips. My head ached as if it was trying to process too much information.

“If the base is anywhere around here, and with the help of these maps, there is no way we won’t find it. When should we start? Tomorrow?”

“Are you well enough for that? It’s still snowy and cold…,” I said looking him over as if I were a doctor. I thought back to when I had tended to Seth and Ryan after their injuries. It was clear after what had happened to them, I wasn’t a doctor. Not even close.

“I’m more than ready. Let’s start this way,” he said pointing near the stream. I didn’t have any reason to argue. His guess was as good as mine. Maybe even better since he had lived in Alaska.

“We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

* * *

When the sun had risen over the horizon, I woke abruptly as if an alarm had gone off in my head. I was beyond excited to get back out and start looking for my friends again. Since Penn had arrived I’d missed out on a lot of searching time, not only because of him, but mostly because of the snow. Every day I hadn’t searched for them was a day I got further away from finding them. If they were even still at HOME.

I changed my clothes and went downstairs where I found two backpacks already packed sitting by the front door. Penn was sitting on the couch waiting for me with his jacket on. I couldn’t help but laugh. Perhaps he was going crazy from being trapped in this small space with me, or maybe he was actually excited to start this adventure. Do something. Have a purpose.