Path of the Horseman (10 page)

She trailed off when Josh curled his hand
around her calf and gave her leg a gentle squeeze. Maddy blinked
and took herself out of the memory. She relaxed and smiled at him.
He retuned it, and that cold bitterness filled my chest again.
Stupid human heart.

“Josh and Ricardo saved me, and we picked up
the others along the way. We’re looking for the safe haven, and we
decided to cut through this resort to find supplies when we got
stuck.”

I stopped listening halfway through because I
heard the words “safe haven.”

“There’s nowhere safe around here,” Simon
said. “I don’t leave the resort much, but I know Vegas is a
madhouse. It’s filled with Plagued and Soulless, and God knows what
else.”

Maddy was shaking her head again. “There’s a
safe haven nearby. I don’t know how many, but there are other
survivors there.”

Reason told me that if Maddy and her friends
had survived, maybe there were others who had, too. But my true
nature told me otherwise.

“There’s no safe haven,” I told her. “Maybe
there was one before, but the Soulless would have found it by
now.”

Maddy held my eyes. “You don’t have a radio
with you, do you?”

“What difference would that make?”

Maddy nudged Josh with her boot again. He
didn’t look pleased. She set aside her can of soup and crackers,
then picked herself up into a sitting position.

“Come on, Josh. They have a right to know.
They might want to go.”

Josh didn’t seem to like that idea. It
suggested that she wanted Simon and me to join their vulnerable
gang. Maddy’s impatience got the best of her. Letting out a short
huff, she crawled forward and grabbed the radio from Josh’s belt.
She turned her back and held it out of his reach, fiddling with
buttons and knobs until she got it working.

That stupid bitterness came back for round
three. It was cute seeing Maddy getting the better of macho Josh,
who had no intention of hurting his pretty friend. I couldn’t help
but wish it were me weakly attempting to wrestle with her.

My growing fantasy was cut short when the
radio crackled to life and started speaking.

“–
afe. Repeat, if you are receiving this
transmission, there is a safe haven. We are aware that not every
survivor has a working radio, so if you are listening to this, let
them know they are not alone. Leave them messages. Tell them that
the Valley of Fire RV Park near Arch Rock is filled with survivors.
Highly trained military personnel guard the perimeter. We have food
and shelter, and everyone is valued and cared for. Repeat. You are
not alone. If you find the Park, you will be safe.
”

The phantom voice on the other end of the
radio sounded credible. They sounded sincere. They were telling
every human left alive the words they’d been dying to hear.

That was why I didn’t trust it.

“Sounds like the kind of message professional
cannibals would leave.”

Maddy shot me a dark look. “Trust me.
Cannibals are not this sophisticated.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You’ve come across
them?”

She didn’t answer me. Damn. How much shit had
this girl seen?

“Have you tried radioing them back?” Simon
asked.

“Yeah,” replied Josh. “The message is
automated. Whoever’s playing it left it on a loop without sending a
receiving signal.”

“Then that transmission could be months old,”
my brother reasoned. “There could be nothing there, assuming you
even make it.”

“Then there’s no harm in checking it out, is
there?” Maddy countered.

“If nothing else, there will be supplies,”
Josh added. “We can see what kind of condition the place is in,
then go from there.”

“And where the hell would you go, exactly?” I
asked. “The world’s been fucked up the ass one too many times,
Rambo. You’re not going to find the Garden of Eden in an RV Park,
I’ll tell you that much.”

“Probably not, but we’d find something,”
Maddy argued. “We’ve run out of places to hide. While you and your
brother have been hiding out, you’ve got no idea how bad things
have been turning out there. It seems like every city we go to,
we’re swarmed by Plagued or hunted by Soulless.”

Because Ciaran and his flying monkeys are
looking for you,
I decided not to say. I was following Simon’s
advice and not letting Maddy know she was looking at half of the
people responsible for her homelessness.

“Then why would you want to stay in one
place?” asked Simon. “If they’re hunting you, they’ll find you. The
Valley of Fire wasn’t habitable even before the Plague
started.”

“Because we need to go somewhere and remember
that we’re human,” she told him. “Running like this makes me feel
like an animal. We’re stuck in a world of monsters we can barely
fight, and can only kill if we’re extremely lucky. If we don’t stop
and find a place to restart and remember what we are, then we’re no
better than the creatures trying to eat us.”

Not one of us tried to disprove Maddy’s point
or tell her that it was hopeless. Logan was going to introduce
himself to them sooner rather than later. But the belief and
conviction in her voice wouldn’t let us argue with her. Maddy truly
and wholly believed that she and her traveling band of misfits
would find a place of peace. Even if the haven was a lie, she
thought they’d find a way out of the darkness and into the light.
It was written on her face in Technicolor and sunlight. I couldn’t
think of any gentle way to let her down, and it made me feel like
more of an asshole, because I knew that there were millions of
Plagued, Simon had dried out the earth, Kade had burned everything
he could see to the ground, and Logan had cleaned up after all of
us.

Pointing all that out wouldn’t win me any
points with the tough beauty sitting on the couch.

“Look, we’re all pretty beat,” Josh said.
“Why don’t we get some sleep and figure out the next step
tomorrow?”

He looked at Maddy and held out his hand. She
frowned, but shut off the radio and gave it back to him. Josh
hooked it to his belt and stood up, picking his rucksack off of the
floor. He slung it over his shoulder and grabbed his rifle, then
looked at Maddy as she gathered her things and stretched up to her
full height. The stretch made her look taller than she was.

“Want to share a room?” Josh asked.

“I kinda want my own, actually. This is
probably the first and last luxury hotel I’ll ever stay at. Might
as well enjoy it, right?”

Josh moved his eyes from me to Simon, then
fixed on me. He was probably assuming I was the bigger threat, and
he was right.

Maddy picked up on his unease. “Relax, Josh.
If these guys try something, I’ll show them how much of a helpless
damsel I’m not.”

She said it casually, playfully, but I had no
doubt she could and would back up her threat.

“Okay. See you in the morning, Maddy.”

“Get some rest, Josh. You need it.”

Josh smiled at her, but there was stiffness
behind it. Trouble in paradise, perhaps? Josh glared a warning at
me one last time, then took his things and left the suite. Once he
was gone, Maddy looked at Simon.

“What’s the next best room?”

Simon shrugged at her, bewildered. “Down the
hall and to the left? I don’t know. I kinda picked this room and
never left.”

Maddy nodded. “Down the hall and to the left
it is.” She turned to me. “Would you mind walking me there?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “After your ‘I’m no
damsel’ speech? Do I need to be worried?”

Maddy grinned and waved dismissively. “Relax.
It’s the threat I give all the boys.” She grabbed a fruit cup and
her backpack, thanking Simon again. She made her way to the door,
stopping to glance back at me.

“You coming or not?”

I hesitated, positive she wanted to talk to
me about something. I looked at Simon, wondering why she would
leave him out. Simon stared at me.

“I’m tired. Go.”

“Are you gonna lock me out?”

“Depends how much longer you stand here.”

The thought of sleeping in the hallway
instead of that semi-soft couch was what made me leave the suite
with Maddy. I closed the door behind me, hoping I wouldn’t come
back to find it locked.

Maddy was already walking down the hallway. I
moved briskly to catch up with her, feeling eyes on my back. I
turned my head, and sure enough, found Josh shooting daggers in my
direction. He scowled when we made eye contact, then closed the
door with a sharp bang.

The noise got even Maddy’s attention. She
frowned at Josh’s door.

“I don’t think your boyfriend likes me very
much,” I stated as Maddy and I began walking again.

“Josh isn’t my boyfriend,” she informed.
“He’s more like an overprotective big brother.”

I seriously doubted that, but how would I
know? My older brothers were a shut-in, a bully, and a
deserter.

“So, why’d you want an escort?”

Maddy lifted one shoulder, then dropped it.
“Honestly? I wanted to talk to somebody. I can’t remember the last
time I just chatted with a stranger. I love everyone in my group
and would do anything for them, but I like encountering the new and
the strange.”

“Good thing I’m the latest attraction at the
Lunatic Zoo.”

Maddy chuckled. “Well, you did go all Chuck
Norris on the Plagued out there.” She looked up at my face. Her
deep blue eyes seemed even bigger than before.

“Thank you for that, by the way. No one else
said it and they probably won’t, but we’re all grateful. If you
hadn’t shown up, I’m pretty sure we would’ve been dinner.”

I nodded at her, absorbing her sincerity,
though I definitely didn’t deserve it.

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?”

“One of my brothers is big into combat.”

“How many brothers do you have?”

“Three. I’m the youngest.”

“Really? Simon looks younger than you.”

I grinned at her. “Are you trying to say I’ve
got wrinkles?”

Maddy nudged my elbow with her own, grinning
widely. “He exfoliates, doesn’t he?”

“Don’t tell anyone. It’s his dirty
secret.”

She laughed, then asked, “What are your other
brothers like?”

Simple enough to answer. “One’s a psychopath
and the other’s got a bad case of depression.”

“Wow. Bet your Sunday dinners are
interesting.”

Yeah. We set the world on fire during the
last one.

We finally reached the suite door, and I had
to ask Maddy what had been on my mind ever since she walked into
Simon’s suite. “How can you be like this?”

Maddy turned around. “Be like what?”

“Positive. The world’s gone to dog shit but
you smile and laugh through it. I don’t get how.”

Maddy hesitated, like she didn’t understand
the question, or didn’t want to answer it. After a brief moment,
she smirked and shrugged her cute, lopsided shrug. It was missing
its earlier spark.

“If I don’t laugh at the world, I’ll end up
crying over it,” Maddy confessed. Her smile was half-hearted. “One
of those things isn’t as fun as the other.”

We stood there in silent comprehension for a
while, both of us fascinated by each other. We were like two alien
species meeting for the first time. I knew I should have walked
away and let her sleep, but the only thing I wanted to do was stare
into the depths of Maddy’s eyes and learn everything about her.

I knew about attraction from the memories
given to me by the Bosses, but it just seemed like a waste of time.
Caring about people was a burden that always crushed you in the
end, and the more you cared, the harder the pressure was. I always
imagined my concern would extend to Simon, Logan, and maybe Kade if
he were in a good mood. But now I had taken in seven survivors, and
I was already willing to risk my life for one of them that I barely
knew.

This was going to be a problem in the
future.

“Thanks for the walk and talk,” Maddy
whispered. “You have no idea how much I needed it.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” I replied. “See you
tomorrow.”

I turned and started walking away, though I
swore she was still watching me. I didn’t entertain the thought by
looking back.

When I reached Simon’s suite, the door was
unlocked.

Miracles happened after all.

I expect a shit storm every time I wake up. I
don’t know why I assumed today would be any different.

Slamming doors were the first signs
everything was not all right outside the palace walls. I sat up,
knife in hand from where I had hidden it under the pillow. I heard
Josh shouting outside and got to my feet. I was rushing the door
when Simon yanked it open. He was moving so fast he nearly bowled
over me.

“About fucking time,” he said crossly. “The
Soulless brought friends. There must be fifteen of them out there,
and all the noise they’re making is drawing the Plagued.”