The Divide: Origins (14 page)

As they sat beside it, Zoe and Liam slowly
fell asleep. Meanwhile, Rebecca noticed that Max wasn’t even attempting to rest.
Something was bothering him, and she thought she knew what it was.

“How old were they?” Rebecca asked.

“I don’t know. I would guess around
fifteen. It was a boy and girl. I can’t blame them for being hostile. You can’t
trust many people in this world. Still, I wish it hadn’t come to this. We
could’ve shared this place for the night. No one had to die.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You had to kill
them. Otherwise, you would be dead, and we would still be standing out in the
cold. I have a feeling this isn’t the last questionable thing we’re going to
do.”

“I’m afraid you’re right. It’s best not
to worry, though. We’ll find a car and head for Texas tomorrow. Maybe things
will be better there. At the very least, maybe our nights won’t be so cold,”
Max said and tried to look like everything was fine.

“You
don’t have to do that with me. If you feel guilty, you can show it. Come here,”
she said and put her head on his chest.

It
had only been a few days, and they barely knew each other. Even so, it felt
right. Maybe Max needed to feel another person next to him, or maybe Rebecca
really was a person he could have loved if everything had been different.
Regardless, she was what he needed then. They closed their eyes and drifted
away in each other’s arms.

* * * * *

A
few miles down the road, Brandon was driving out of town. They had fought hard,
but it was a massacre. They had lost the school, and in the process, so many
innocent lives. He lost Mack, too. His brother was dead, and he couldn’t help
but blame himself. He was the one who had the bright idea to protect the people
of that town. They could have left. More than that, he blamed the deserters,
though. Several men just left when the fighting began. With their help, they
could have stood a chance.

A
few miles outside of town, he passed a wrecked vehicle. It was covered in ice
and snow, but he could tell by the model that it was one of theirs. He
remembered Max taking the car, and then they never saw him or the others again.
What he wouldn’t give to string them up himself. They were dead, though. That
was the only thing that mattered. No one could have survived long in those
conditions. Brandon took comfort in the fact that their deaths were much worse
than a bullet to the head. He hoped that Max had plenty of time to think about
the choice he made while he slowly froze to death.

As
he was driving, he spotted a house in the corner of the woods. He could see a
very dim light in the window. Was it possible that Max and his people had
survived? He hoped so. That would mean he could take vengeance on them. Brandon
turned onto the dirt driveway and cut the car off a few yards from the home.
Then he got out and walked to the front door. He could just kick it in, but
that would draw a lot of unwanted attention. Brandon opted to walk around to
the back where he found two fresh bodies. Max had killed two kids to take that
place. Now he knew what he had to do. Not only was he dealing with a deserter,
but
Max was the worst kind of monster. He would pay for
everything, if it
was
the last thing Brandon did.

He
reached for the door and found that it had been kicked in. Max had closed it,
but nothing was stopping him from walking in silently. He stepped inside and
walked through the kitchen and into the living room. Brandon found everyone
sleeping comfortably by a heater. How could they sleep soundly when they had
left so many to die? He didn’t understand, but it was at that moment when he
knew there was no turning back. Brandon raised his gun. Max would never feel a
thing.

Chapter 14

Heaven Or Hell?

A
shot rang out in the night, and Max awoke to see Brandon fall to the floor. He
looked to his left and saw the source of the shot. Liam had woken up just in
time, but he looked noticeably shaken by what he had just done. There was no
time for comfort, however. Brandon was still alive, and his gun was only lying
feet away from him. Max walked over and kicked it away. When he examined the
wound, he saw that Brandon had been hit in the stomach. The pain was nearly too
much for Brandon to take, but in truth, death might have been a mercy with
everything that he had lost.

“Why?”
Brandon asked.

“Why
what?” Max asked.

“Why
did you abandon us when we needed you most? We . . . gave you food and . . .”
he managed to say before losing his breath.

“It
was nothing personal. I’ve just got to keep my people safe. That’s all this
world is anymore. Let me ease your pain. Thank you for everything you did for
us, and I’m sorry I couldn’t stay to fight with your group. I just had more
important people to look after,” Max said and raised his gun.

Brandon
nodded for him to continue. He had lost his brother, the town, and likely his
family. What good was left for him but a quick death? Max pulled the trigger,
and all of Brandon’s pain ended in an instant.

“Everyone
should go back to sleep. We’re moving early tomorrow morning, so we’ll need all
the rest we can get. I’m going to put him outside,” Max said and dragged the
body to the backdoor.

Liam
didn’t go back to sleep. He followed Max and helped him drag Brandon outside.
Once they laid his body beside the former residents of the house, Liam said
what was really on his mind.

“I’ve
never killed anyone. I don’t know how to deal with this. Maybe I should, but I
don’t.”

“Why
did you shoot him?”

“When
I woke up, I saw him aiming his gun at you. I slept with my gun close by, so it
was easy to surprise him. If I hadn’t shot, you would probably be dead.”

“Then
take comfort in knowing that the kill was justified. You took his life to save
mine. I’m grateful. We don’t know each other that well, so I don’t know if we
could call each other friends, but I think I’m valuable to this group. If you
had let me die, you would’ve lost your link to Jerome’s brother, and he’s
supposed to be our key to surviving all of this. Thank you for having the courage
to pull the trigger.”

“You
would’ve done the same for me. I know I had to do it, but let me ask you
something. Is it really okay to just leave them here to rot? Shouldn’t we at
least bury these people?”

“Ordinarily,
I would say yes. These are extreme circumstances, though. We don’t have any
tools to bury them, and if I’m being honest, I don’t think we can spare the
energy to do the job. We’re already going to be up against enough. If we exert
ourselves too much here, who knows if we’ll have the strength to face what
comes next?”

“What
happens next?”

“I
wish I knew. It’s freezing outside right now, and by tomorrow morning, it’s
going to be hotter than we can handle. We’ve seen earthquakes and tornados so
far. I would say Mother Nature could have a fresh new hell waiting on us at any
moment.”

“You’re
probably right. Why do you think all of this happened, Max?”

Max
was getting a little frustrated by then. They needed to get some sleep, but at
the same time, he thought Liam opening up was a good thing. He was asking the
normal questions for the first time, and he
had
just asked the biggest question of all. Why was this happening to them? Was it
some kind of divine punishment? Religious people might even think these were
signs of the apocalypse. A man of science would simply say it was one random
act of many more to come on the earth. Just like the dinosaurs had their
extinction, this was theirs. Where did he fall in all of this? He had been an educator
of science, but that didn’t mean he was closed to other possibilities, and in a
world as crazy as theirs, nothing could be ruled out.

“I
don’t know, Liam. I would like to say that this is all just a coincidence, and
we’re going to bounce back from it as a species, but I don’t know that. This
could be our extinction, or it could be some kind of wakeup call from a Divine
Being. I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t think we should care. The only thing
that matters is getting to Texas. I have to assume it will be better there.”

“And
what if it isn’t? It could be even hotter the further south we go.”

“If
it is, look at it this way. At least the nights won’t be so bad. Besides, there
has to be hope somewhere. Why not there?”

“All
right. Thanks for the talk. Let’s get some rest now.”

Max
lay back down, but his mind wouldn’t shut off. What if Texas wasn’t the answer?
He didn’t even know if Jerome’s brother would help them. For all he knew, the
guy might be dead. If he really had so many supplies like his brother said,
then who was to say that someone didn’t kill him and take it all for
themselves? Maybe that should be the plan, Max thought. It would be easy to
kill one guy, and if he had fuel, generators, and plenty of food, Max would be
able to keep his people alive for a long time.

Max
snapped back to reality after a minute and realized what he was thinking. This
was a different world, but it was their responsibility to maintain at least
some of their humanity. Even if it would be easiest to kill him and take what
Troy had for
himself
, Max knew that wasn’t the answer.

“Go
to sleep. I know tonight has been rough, but we’re going to need you rested in
the morning,” Rebecca said.

“I
didn’t even know you were awake.”

“I’ve
been listening to you toss and turn for the last few minutes. It’s going to be
fine, Max. Just rest, and we’ll figure everything out in the morning.”

He
closed his eyes and thought of what he would say when they got to Texas. He
didn’t know much about Jerome Leland’s brother, but he had to hope that he
would be a reasonable man who didn’t have the heart to leave four people to
die. If he
wasn’t
, they would be taking what he had
for themselves by force. Even if he wanted to deny it, that was what the world
had come to - survival of the fittest.

* * * * *

The
following morning, they found what canned goods they could in the kitchen and
walked out to Brandon’s vehicle. It was early, and none of them felt like
leaving yet, but there was no time to waste. They weren’t going to be able to
make the trip in a day, but Max was certain they could do it in two, and there
was no way he wanted to stretch it to three. It was time for their journey to
be over. He had to know if this was a wild goose chase or if they were actually
going to find a place to call home.

They
drove for hours and just talked as if things were normal. There was no talk of
what happened the night before or of the people they lost. For one day, they
were just four people getting to know the small details of each other’s lives.
It was nice, but a part of Max felt like it was an illusion. Things couldn’t be
this good for long, and he was wondering when it was going to come crashing
down around them.

“Hey,
what are you thinking about?” Rebecca asked after noticing how out of it he
looked.

“I
was just thinking about things. What are we going to do once we get to Texas?”

“I
guess that depends on what we find.”

“What
if this guy has a great setup and he’s willing to help us? What if life can
resemble normality there? Who will we be? What will our dreams consist of in
Texas?”

“Those
are hard questions to answer. What do you guys think?” Rebecca asked and looked
back at Zoe and Liam.

“I
don’t know what I’m going to do. I guess I’ll just spend the first couple of
days resting and not having to worry about anything,” Liam said.

“That’s
not much of a dream,” Zoe said.

“Oh,
really? What about you?”

“I
miss school. If we’re going toward something that seems normal, then that’s
exactly what I want. I’ll be surrounded by kids my own age in an environment
that resembles exactly what I’m used to.”

“In
a conversation about dreams,
you
would wish for school.”

“What
is
that
supposed to mean?”

“I
didn’t say anything before because as far as I could tell, you might be the
only girl left on earth I have a shot with, but I think you might be a bit of a
nerd, Zoe,” Liam said and smiled.

“Who
says you have a shot with me?” Zoe asked and looked away.

“So
what about you, Max?” Rebecca asked.

“I
only have one requirement. The place we’re staying at can’t have bars. As long
as that’s so, I’ll be in heaven.”

“I
had almost forgotten that you were in prison before everything. What was it
like?” Zoe asked.

“Yeah,
did you drop the soap?” Liam joked.

“First
of all, that’s not funny. I didn’t drop anything or get molested by anyone,”
Max said and smiled.

“What
was it like, though?” Rebecca asked.

“I
guess it wasn’t very different than out here. Every day was a struggle to
survive. Jerome and I had people who didn’t like us. Thankfully, Jerome was
gigantic, so most people wouldn’t mess with us. It still didn’t stop the
occasional fight from happening. It’s crazy to think about, but some guys
would’ve killed each other for a pack of cigarettes. Now people on the outside
would kill each other for a loaf of bread and a heater. Oh, well. At least I
have some people I can trust now. You guys aren’t so bad, and I don’t think I
have to worry about dropping the soap with any of you.”

“I
make no guarantees about that. You’re a really pretty man, Max,” Liam joked.

At
that moment, everyone burst out laughing. This type of conversation was
something they had needed for a while.

“What
about you, Rebecca. What do you want?” Zoe asked.

“A
warm bed and some type of society. It doesn’t have to be like it was before. I
know it can never be exactly the same, but a town, schools, and jobs would be
nice. Some type of government should exist, so we can have order and do things
like
buy
property and get married. I guess I just want
stability.”

“So
you want a job, a house, and you want to marry someone. Let’s see. Who might
that person be?” Zoe asked while glancing up at Max.

“You’ve
got
to be joking. Max and I just met.
I’m definitely not talking about that. I just want to know that it’s an option
for me again at some point in the future.”

“If
you say so, but you did protest a little too much. I would watch out for her,
Max,” Zoe teased.

Before
Max could respond, his thoughts shifted to something else. It was already
starting to get dark, and as much as he loved their banter on the road and
wanted to drive straight through, it was time to stop. They were in Arkansas,
and they would easily be able to make it to Texas the next day. The only
question was where they should stay. He didn’t see a suitable place, but as he
drove, he found what might have been the best place possible. A prison sat on a
hill in the distance. The gate had been crushed. He figured it was from
escaping inmates like
himself
. Most prisons have
backup generators and a well-stocked kitchen. Max knew that it would be the
perfect place to stay, as long as others didn’t have the same idea as him.
There was a chance that a lot of the prisoners had set up shop there. He could
handle prison life, and he knew how to deal with the people who might be in
there, but that didn’t mean his companions did. He pulled off to the side of
the road next to the gate.

“What
are we doing?” Rebecca asked.

“We
need a place to stay, and that prison will likely have backup generators. That
means hot water. We can shower, and I’m sure there will be food there, too.”

“So
why are you hesitating? A hot shower sounds like the most incredible thing in
the world right now.”

“I
don’t know who’s in there. I’m sure some of the inmates were intelligent enough
to stay and set up shop. We might not be welcome, and even if we are, I don’t
feel comfortable taking a boy and two women into an environment with men who
haven’t seen the light of day until recently. I think that’s our best option
for a place to stay as far as electricity and supplies go, but I might not be
able to protect everyone in there. What do you think?”

“I
don’t know. The rest of this town looks like it got hit pretty badly. Most of
the houses are nothing but rubble. That prison looked like it held up pretty
well, though. I hear what you’re saying, but it might be the
only
option we have.”

“I
say we do it. We have guns, if it comes to that,” Liam said.

Zoe
stayed silent. She had seen what men fresh out of prison could do. Max might
have been the exception, but she doubted that there
were
many more like him. If there were several men like Jerome in there, then things
wouldn’t end well. Max and Liam would probably get killed, and God only knows
what kind of terrible things would happen to her and Rebecca. This was a bad
idea, and she knew it.