I fumed for a couple of seconds, considering. The last thing I wanted was responsibility for two more people.
But the flip side was, I needed them. I needed every good fighter I could find, and I sure as hell needed someone with medical training that didn’t come out of a booklet from the American Heart Association. And if they had half the skills I thought they did, then I needed them.
“Okay,” I said finally, slipping the car into gear. “Here’s the deal. You can come with me to Base Camp. Dawn, we’ve got a guy who—”
“Justin, who does first aid. Lily told me about him.”
“You can help Justin. And Darren, you can . . . I don’t know. We’ll find something for you to do. But you’re not coming with me to Texas. And that’s final.”
Darren held his hand back for another fist bump from his sister. I could tell from their expressions that neither of them thought I was serious about keeping their asses in Utah.
And I was afraid they were right.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Lily
“That’s the fourth church you’ve driven past,” Lily said, leaning forward toward the front of the Cayenne as they drove through some town in the Midwest.
Ticks didn’t always avoid churches, but it worked more often than not.
Ely smiled at her over his shoulder. “You don’t honestly think I’ve survived this long on my own by relying on faith in God, do you?”
“So, what, you drive straight through?”
“When I have to.”
No wonder he needed so many energy drinks. And no wonder he was such an ass. Apparently the guy hadn’t slept in seven months.
“Well, you don’t have to tonight. If we’re driving straight through, pull over and I’ll take a shift.”
“Nah. We don’t have enough gas for tonight. We’ll find some to siphon in the morning. And I just found what I need.” He nodded out the direction of the windshield.
Just ahead of them, on their right, a huge building hunkered down beside a mostly empty parking lot. A familiar blue-and-yellow sign hung crookedly from the front of the building. The sign in the parking lot had crashed to the ground.
“You can’t be serious,” Lily said. “A Wal-Mart?” she asked.
“Yep. There’s one in almost every town in America.”
“A Wal-Mart?” she repeated dumbly.
Ely pulled the Cayenne up to the front of the store and stopped in the fire lane. Not that it mattered. In case of an emergency, the EMS would not be coming to their rescue.
The Wal-Mart had obviously been looted. All of the front windows, however, had plywood installed over them. One of the panels had been ripped off. Another hung crooked. The glass behind both was broken. Still, someone—some employee or manager—had cared enough to try to preserve the store before it had finally fallen.
She looked out in the parking lot, where there were maybe a dozen cars parked. Some neatly in spots, others at angles as if they’d just been abandoned. On the far end was a dark smear of something that she didn’t want to look at too closely. And she was thankful the dusk obscured the view.
Ely pushed his door open and she did the same, cringing when an icy wind cut right through her clothes. Wrapping her arms gingerly around her and hopping a little to generate body heat, she scanned the area, ignoring the pain radiating from her shoulder. Almost directly across the road was a small airport, its landing strip clearly visible from where she stood. “There’s an airport. Lots of cars in that parking lot,” she pointed out.
“Good catch.” He winked at her. “We’ll get some gas there in the morning.”
She frowned, eyeing the Wal-Mart. McKenna’s door swung open, and she levered herself out of the front seat. She arched her back, moaning faintly as she stretched. It was an achy sound, not a good one.
Lily rounded the back of the Cayenne and stepped close to Ely, hoping that McKenna wouldn’t be able to hear her. “I don’t like this. McKenna doesn’t look good. And it’s almost dark. What are we doing here, really?”
He met her gaze then and for the first time since she’d met him, she felt like he wasn’t secretly laughing at her. “This is the best sanctuary I’ve found. Trust me.”
She didn’t want to trust him. But right now, he was all she had. “Okay. What do I do?”
He reached into the back of the Cayenne, moved aside a palm frond, and pulled out a shotgun. “First, we secure the building. Then we settle in for the night.” He pulled out a pistol and handed it to her, butt first. “I assume you know how to use this?”
“And I assume you know that won’t do shit against a Tick?” She pulled her bow out of the backseat. She didn’t tell him she wasn’t even sure she could notch an arrow with her arm like this. Why give him the satisfaction?
“Great. I’m bunking tonight with Katniss Everdeen. I’ll let you know if we need that.”
“She’s really good with the bow,” McKenna said from the other side of the car. Ely and Lily both looked over at her. “She can really shoot and it’s more effective against Ticks than any gun, even a shotgun. That bow saved my life.”
That might have been a stretch, but Lily appreciated her taking her side.
Ely gave her bow a suspicious look and added, “Just try not to shoot me.”
“Yeah, I’ll try,” Lily said dryly. It would be easier if he didn’t make it so damn tempting.
To McKenna, he said, “You can wait in the car until we’re sure the building is clear. Keep it running; she’s a bitch to start if she gets too cold and the last thing we want is to have to start her again. We’ll be out in ten minutes to get you. Don’t go anywhere.”
Lily slung her quiver of arrows across her back and followed Ely up to the storefront, where one of the plywood panels hung lopsided. He swung the shotgun up to his shoulder and pulled a flashlight from the waistband of his jeans.
His flashlight wasn’t a crank-powered lantern like hers but a Maglite with a bright beam, so that when he aimed it through the broken plate-glass window into the building the light panned across the front of the store. Things scurried away from the beam of light, but nothing looked sinister.
Ely took a step back then kicked the heel of his boot through the glass. Five quick kicks later, he’d expanded the opening enough to climb into the store.
She followed him in, stepping gingerly over the jagged shards of glass. What little merchandise that hadn’t been sold or stolen lay in ruins on the ground. Even the shelves and racks had been knocked over. As they walked through the dry goods aisle, she paused by a pile of debris. She nudged the tip of her bow through the mound.
“Keep up.”
She glanced up to see Ely ten steps ahead and scowling.
“I was just looking—”
“There’s no point. There’s nothing left here worth finding.”
“But—”
“That’s not why we’re here. Keep moving.”
Ely held his Maglite in his left hand, with his shotgun up, pressed to his shoulder with the barrel resting on his left wrist. He constantly panned the light over the floor, scanning for danger. He moved quickly and quietly through the store, straight toward the back.
He pushed through the door into the back storeroom. For a moment, she simply gaped. The storeroom hadn’t been hit as hard. Apparently most people didn’t think about all the stuff at the back of a Wal-Mart. All the things still in boxes that were waiting to be unpacked.
