When she stopped again, the house was deadly silent. She took several deep breaths. She hadn’t cried like that in a very long time, if ever. All of the emotions she’d kept inside her to help her survive her ordeal had come flooding out. Now, she felt a little better. Or at least, she felt like she could keep going in life. She felt like she could start anew.
She sat up in the bed, her mind whirring. She had to survive. She saw that now. There was no other option. Not many people could survive what she went through, and she almost didn’t make it. But she was alive, and that had to mean something. She had to still have some purpose on this earth. Maybe she was still meant to find Jake. Maybe things were just going to get better. She didn’t imagine that they could get worse, but then again, she’d thought that before.
She just had to rebuild herself. She had to be more resilient, less caring, sharper and more alert. She had to switch off her emotions and focus on survival. She couldn’t get attached to someone like Peaches again. It was too dangerous. The only person she wanted any attachment to ever again was Jake. He was the only one that mattered now.
She wondered if he was lying awake thinking of her too. She wondered if he’d suffered without her the way she had without him. She hoped not. She didn’t want him to go through the things she had. She hoped that he and Megan had found a way to survive. She hoped that they hadn’t gone too far astray. Because she’d made her decision. Once she was healed, she was heading out there to find them.
The thought terrified her. She felt relatively safe in her house now. She had supplies and a base to protect her from people outside. She had weapons that would scare away anyone who tried to mess with her. But it wasn’t worth having without Jake and Megan there. What was the point in living just to be alone for the rest of her life? Recent days had shown her how easily life could be snatched away from you. It had shown her that she might not have as many days as she had hoped. But whatever happened, she wanted her final days to be with the people she cared about.
She would have to face the open road. She would probably have to go on foot, since the truck was running out of fuel. She’d have to face anything she came across alone. But it had to be worth it. If she could push away her fear for a while, then she was determined that she could do what she set out to do.
But first, she had to rest. She had to get better. She knew she’d never heal from the traumas that she experienced, and her hand would always be in disrepair. She knew that if she made it back to Jake, he might not even recognize the person it had made her into. She was cold inside and hardened to the world around her. She was a different person than she had been before she got into Tex’s car. But she hoped he’d still know how to love her. She hoped he could still find a place in his heart for her.
Because he was her only reason left to live.
Twenty-Four
Megan
There was blood. A lot of it. Megan gasped in horror and tried to talk Jake into waking up, but he passed out almost as soon as the bullet hit him. Megan looked around her in fear. She didn’t like her odds if Jake was out of action. The man had claimed to have a family inside the house. What if there were more of them, ready to pounce and kill her?
She forced herself to leave Jake behind for a moment and she rushed inside the house, stepping over the bloodied corpse of the house owner. She quickly searched the house, looking for signs of life, but it was quickly evident to her the man had lived alone. The house was untidy and smelt of a man who was used to living on his own, drinking a lot of beer in front of the TV and mourning his long gone wife who left him for a better man. It was a relief to find that he was the only one, but now, she still had to make sure Jake survived his wound.
She rushed back out to him. The bullet had made it clean through his arm, which she was glad of. She didn’t want to go digging around under his skin to try and get it out. She still had no idea what to do for someone with a bullet wound, except stop the bleeding. She ran back inside to look for a first aid kit and found one in the kitchen. Coming back out with antiseptic and bandages, she got to work on Jake’s arm.
By the time she’d stemmed the blood flow and cleaned the wound, Jake was beginning to wake up. He groaned in pain as he tried to sit up, but she shook her head at him.
“You need to stay still for me. I’m going to lift your arm above your head. I’ve heard that stops you bleeding out too fast.”
Jake choked out a laugh. “So I’ll die slower?”
“You’re not going to die,” Megan said firmly, lifting his arm up and holding it there as he groaned in pain. “I won’t let that happen. We still have to find Aby.”
“What if she’s gone?” Jake said, his voice cracking. “Just let me go, Megan.”
She didn’t even bother to respond. She knew that Jake didn’t really want to die. He might think he did, but he’d regret even thinking that once he was better. Megan made the decision there and then. They’d
