Page 155 of After the Burn

It felt good. For the first time since the meteors fell, we weren’t running from something.

We were hunting it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

TARYN

The silo wasn’t far.

Wren led us through a narrow strip of woods behind an abandoned feed store, then across a drainage ditch swollen from the storm.

“Technically, it’s not just a silo,” she said. “There’s a little office attached.”

“That’s where we’ll stay.” Finley held Rory in his arms, trying to keep her dry as he crossed the ditch.

Finley’s expression was completely apathetic, and I got it. He’d lost the woman that he loved, but the way things stood now, there was no grieving period… only survival.

“And I’m leaving Mojo to guard you.” Wren smiled at Rory.

Beck smirked. “That relieves my mind. With a stuffed chicken to guard them, we can take our time.”

Colson cuffed him on the back of the head.

None of us were in the mood to smile, especially Finley, but I was relieved to see the corner of his mouth lift slightly. He was going to be okay—well, as okay as any of us could be in this new reality.

Wren sighed. “Isn’t he just the most romantic man you’ve ever met?”

Colson blushed, then stepped closer to Wren and laced his fingers with hers.

I was curious about the big guy. I’d have to get the deets on him from Wren after we rescued Lila.

“He’s just amazing,” Beck said sarcastically, fluttering his lashes. “The standard to which all men should live up to.”

Colson glowered at him, and Beck flipped him off.

It was a nice moment of levity, but the anger I still carried from earlier was riding me hard.

Hearing those men discuss women like we were property was hard to swallow. Knowing we’d gone from productive members of society to prostitutes and baby machines went against everything my dad had raised me to believe.

Yes, Ben had been hard on me, but he’d always taught me I could do anything if I put in the effort.

Those bastards had talked about me like I was something they could buy.

They’d soon find out just how wrong they were. I wouldn’t be hunted like a fucking animal. If they wanted me that badly, I’d make them regret it.

The silo appeared through the trees a few minutes later.

A tall cylinder of corrugated steel rose above the weeds, dull with age and streaked orange with rust. An old conveyor chute sagged from one side, and sections of the roof had peeled back, revealing black gaps beneath the metal.

Beside it sat a squat concrete office with one boarded window and a faded sign hanging crooked over the door.

HICKMAN FEED & STORAGE.

The place looked forgotten long before the world ended, which made it perfect.

The office door stood ajar, with a dark smear marking the concrete beneath it.

Beck pulled his knife, Lucas shifted his hatchet into his hand, and I slid GG free.