Hayden took a piece of splintered wood from their small supply and stirred the fire down until the flames weren’t jumping so high. “Better if we burn it slowly, make it last.”
“So now you think the fire was a good idea?”
“I never said it was a bad idea.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“It might get cold sitting outside like this. We have to make it last.”
Jake started laughing again. Hayden could see the side of his tongue wiggling against his teeth. The dim orange light flickered off his mottled forehead and blackened nose. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m pretty sure... you wanted me... dead a few hours ago,” Jake said between hitching gasps. “Now here you are... wanting to spend the night together.”
Hayden had to look away from the ruined face, but he started giggling as well. “This is crazy. The bomb, losing everything and everyone. And then the last man on earth shows up, and it’s the man whose wife I was having an affair with.”
“I think it’s called karma.”
They both burst out at the same time. Hayden laughed so hard he started to cry. After they’d settled down, he threw more wood into the fire, and they shuffled back on their rear ends until they were resting against the shelter opening walls again. “I’m sorry, Jake... I’m really sorry about Mandy.”
“I know.”
“I don’t think we’re going to get any crops planted this spring.”
Jake was too tired and weak to laugh. “Good. I never liked... farming all that much anyway.”
“So why’d you do it?”
His shoulders hitched up half an inch. Hayden took it for a shrug. “My Dad was a farmer... so was my Grampa... it’s one of those... things you’re born into.”
“Well I’ll miss it,” Hayden answered after a long pause. “I’ll miss getting up early and watching the sun rise. I’ll miss walking along the edge of a healthy crop of wheat, and I’ll miss the smell of cow shit. I’ll miss it all.”
There was a longer pause. Much longer. The flames winked out and the embers left smouldered a comforting orange. Hayden went to throw another piece on, and Jake stopped him.
“No more... looks nice like it is.” Jake settled down further into the ground. “You’ll take good care of him? You promise?”
“Yes. I promise.” Jake’s breathing sounded more laboured than it did before the fire. “Can I get you some water now?”
“Maybe just a bit.”
When Hayden returned with the bottle, Jake was dead.
***
“Are you ready?”
“I guess so,” Nicholas answered. Hayden lifted him onto the horse’s back. “Where we going?”
He climbed up after him, settling in behind the boy. “Trixie knows where the river is. She’ll take us there now, and we’ll follow it southeast. There should be cities that way... or whatever’s left of them. We’ll find somebody to help us, I’m sure of it.”
There had been no sunrise to speak of, but it wasn’t quite as dark as the morning before. The air didn’t seem so dirty. Maybe the wind and twisters had sucked most of the ash and crud along with them. It wasn’t a beautiful morning, and it wasn’t the worst Hayden had seen. The truly ugly mornings were yet to come. They set out away from the hole in the hill.
“What happened to the scary man that sounded like my Dad? Isn’t he coming with us?”
Trixie trotted by a mound of loosely packed dirt and rocks. Hayden looked down at it and grimaced. He should have told Jake the entire truth—that the affair had resulted in so much more. A part of Hayden figured Jake already knew. Maybe it wasn’t worth mentioning at the end. He kissed Nicholas’s head and whispered. “No, he isn’t. And I’ll be your dad... now.”
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Live Again (Out of Time Book 1)
Last Contact (Out of Time Book 2)
Lost Playground (Out of Time Book 3)
All Inclusive (Out of Time Book 4)
Ambition (The Long Haul Book 1)
Retribution (The Long Haul Book 2)
Annihilation (The Long Haul Book 3)
Thaw (CRYERS Book 1)
Burn (CRYERS Book 2)
Twisted Tales (Volume 1)
Twisted Tales (Volume 2)
Twisted Tales (Volume 3)
