“It was The Elected,” he barley gets out.
“They were following us?” I ask.
“Yes,” he breaths. “They wanted me dead. Search their truck for whatever you can find,” more gurgles follow.
Blood begins to trickle down his mouth, out of his nose, down his ears.
“I wish things were different,” I begin to cry.
“Me too,” Eli says, patting my back.
“I always loved you,” Robert says with his last living breath. “Please forgive me.”
In the matter of two days, both our mother and father have died, making Eli, Dia, Shae, and I all orphans. A flock of birds fly overhead both reminding me that we are in all of this to find the peace that I pray exists. They also tease me… those birds remind me of every person who has ever died in my life… and those numbers were only growing as I am brought back to reality as I say goodbye once again to Robert Towers.
And deep down, somewhere in the hollows of the darkest places within me… I do, I do forgive him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Silently, we allow just enough time to remove Robert from the bed of the truck, placing his body in a hole in the Earth put there by years of war and fighting. Mar clings near to Eli while Jake stays close to me. Neither one of them know exactly what to say. Whoever knows what to say at a time like this?
Dia peers into the hole with a single tear rolling down her cheek. I think she knows she needs to be sad but isn’t sure why. For now, we won’t explain to her that Robert was her father, or that he was a bad man who had done many mean things to lots of people, but one day we will. One day, she will ask about her mother and father, and we will have to tell her about her mom and how she was amazing, and we will need to tell her about her father and this day.
“The guys and I are going to investigate the other vehicle to see if we find anything,” Jake whispers into my ear.
He knows I as much as anyone know it’s important to not lose focus and to keep going.
We started out this journey looking for two little girls to save them from what it is The Elected have in mind for them. Now, we are in this thing for so much more. For some reason, the war is calling to us more than anything.
I nod my head, allowing myself a few more seconds to peer into the dark pit that is now my father’s grave. We must keep going to save Baxley, Shae, and Syl. If they are even still alive. And to try to stop this fight at all costs. The way my life is going, I wouldn’t count on it.
“Come and look at this,” Zac calls over to us. He is carrying some weird looking box along with a clipboard.
The box is charred from the fire, but other than that, it looks to be intact. Zac struggles to carry the box it is so bulky. He comes to the center of our group, plopping the box on the ground, handing the clipboard to me.
“What is it?” Samantha asks.
“Not sure,” Zac says, “but one of the men who died in the truck was holding onto this thing for dear life.” He pats the charred box.
“Let’s see what was so important to risk their lives for.” Shawn smirks. He smashes the butt of his gun into the half-broken lock of the box. It doesn’t budge.
Samantha aims her gun at the lock, shooting it three times with no successful results.
“Seriously now?” Samantha groans exasperatedly.
“What’s this thing made of?” Shawn questions.
All of us take turns bashing at the lock of the box with our guns and shooting it while hoping that one of us can break it. With every second that passes, it becomes even more clear that the lock is going nowhere.
“I say we blow this sucker up!” Samantha laughs while looking at Cara.
“I only have five more,” Cara says.
“Can we spare one more?” Leah asks.
“I don’t know,” Cara laughs, “how often do you guys come across the need for a grenade?”
“Often,” Zac playfully scoffs.
Cara laughs at his response while getting a grenade out of her bag, handing it to Jake.
“What if it destroys what’s inside?” I ask, always the negative one. I am trying to focus on the task at hand rather than look at the contents of the clipboard.
“Have you seen this thing?” Mar asks. “It’s a tank! We will be lucky if the blast will even open it.”
We all chuckle, letting it feel good to laugh.
Jake takes the box several yards out, motioning us all to get down and out of the way of the debris.
“Pull,” Jake yells, as he pulls the pin and takes off running until he reaches where I am hunkered down.
If a grenade responds correctly, it will not go off when the pin is pulled. The reason it goes off is because the striker lever has been pushed. Since Jake placed the grenade on the ground by the trunk, the grenade will need to be activated. Persuaded to detonate if you will.
Jake puts his M-16 up to his shoulder and pulls the trigger, aiming directly at the explosive on the ground. A fraction of a second later, the grenade detonates, sending the box into the air a good thirty-five feet.
The blast echoes through the entire wasteland.
“Good one, Jakey.” Samantha grins.
“Thanks, Sammie,” Jake plays back.
Eli and Shawn run over to where the
