She did have a moment of doubt.
When he talked back to her, it was like a breath of fresh air. Here was a man who knew almost nothing about the situation, nothing about her, nothing about the fact that she was being chased by her brother and his gang of friends who were trying to kill her, and he goes out and complains about the way she was talking. It was just so surreal.
And then the doubt crept in. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe the man would actually just help her if she’d be nice to him and explained some of the situations. Maybe there would be a way out of all of this.
But then Matt’s gang found them and brought this all to the forefront.
Walter had more power at that rest stop than he knew. Neither side wanted to be the one to make the decision. Sure, Danni was nearly rabid, being at the point to try and kill Becca, and once the girl got the chance, she tried to do so. But the rest hadn’t. Matt could have broken open the ground under the force field at any time and attacked her, but he didn’t. He didn’t for the same reason that he was down fighting at the lumber yard instead of back here with his sister. He knew where she was, and yet he hung back and fought Walter instead.
He could have been the one to persuade Becca to go out of the force field peacefully. She was protecting them, but if he had asked her, implored that it would have been better for Matt’s gang to live than herself, she would have dropped the field and then she’d be dead now, and perhaps more than just one member of Matt’s gang would live.
She leaned up against the side of the house. Inside, a kid was saying something to their parents, but she couldn’t make out the words. Maybe they were angry about this or that. Becca wanted to go into the house and tell the kid not to take his parents for granted.
Tears welled in her eyes.
Oh God, why did it have to be her? Why couldn’t it have been anyone else that got infected with the NaU as she had? If Matt had gotten it, would their roles have reversed? Becca didn’t have a child on the way, but she had a life full of living. She liked to think that it wouldn’t have changed her, the desperation, the anger, the fear at the imbalance of it all. Matt would probably have let Jolie kill him, take the NaU, and then would Becca, Danni, hell, maybe even Robbie and Carol go after her, try and kill her in the snow?
Or was it just because it was Becca that had gotten the Keeper NaU that all of this had happened?
The snow had seeped into her boots and jeans, but she didn’t even care anymore. When Matt had finally had her in his grasp, ready to do it, to rip her head off or break her neck, she had welcomed it. To feel the oncoming dark, the freedom from responsibility, from everything, to just sit back and allow the stream of life to take her and lead her somewhere else. Her family wasn’t religious, but Becca believed in God, the Almighty Father above, whose plan all of this was a part of. She believed in God, but that didn’t mean she liked him.
Matt could have done it right then and there—take her life, and all of this business would be over. Walter would be angry, but he’d get over it. The man had only known about the McCarthys for less than a day, and they would cease to be of importance once the coming dawn finally came.
And then Matt could go on, living, a man who had nothing all of his life, now with something at last.
None of it was fair, but Becca had arrived at a place beyond fair. She stood up and stumbled through the snow. A car drove past her, headed down the street. Becca almost took their car but decided against it. It would be better if she walked anyway. It would give her more time to clear her head.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Matt brought a half-ton log down on Walter’s chest.
The two of them had been fighting for some time, neither one making much of a dent on the other. It was amusing, and Matt liked it since it took his mind off having to kill his sister, but the decay was in him, and wasting time was no longer something he could afford to do.
He brought the log down on the man. Walter’s body was crushed and pressed against the snow. Matt moved a couple bars of metal and latched his arms and legs to the ground beneath it. Peter’s NaU was starting to bring the man back together, but it wasn’t possible with the log on top of him. Matt hoped he wouldn’t die, at least not yet.
He stumbled over to Walter, the snow coming up to his knees. It felt good on his skin, and while he knew he’d probably never get used to walking, it felt good to feel the snow under his feet.
Walter’s head was still visible underneath the log.
“This has been fun, Walter, but it’s time for this to end.”
Matt could kill the man right here and be done with it. But Walter still had a couple more weeks in him, and it would be wrong for Matt to take that from him. He was an innocent bystander in all of this, and it would do him best if he just stayed there on the sidelines.
“I’m going to kill Becca now,” Matt said. “You
