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She kept hold of Lucy’s hand as she started toward the first available car. She tried the handle, only to find it locked. Hiding Lucy inside the first house, she started to check for the keys, praying internally that she found them. The stench of decay surrounded her.
But house after house came up empty. And then she found a set of keys.
Once she had Lucy and their belongings in the car and she’d helped Lucy into the passenger’s side seat, Sasha took her place behind the wheel.
Although she wanted to just get the hell out of here, she also knew that not stopping at the grocery store she’d seen would be foolish. They needed all the supplies they could get, especially with how far they were traveling.
“Where are we going?” Lucy sounded terrified. Sasha reached out and took her hand in hers.
“We need to get enough supplies to last us until we get to the next destination,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because, if it turns out we can’t stop in that town, I don’t want us to starve.”
“Right, good thinking.”
Sasha parked the car in the deserted lot, vehicles with their doors open on either side of her, trash being blown around as if this was a ghost town in a movie.
It is.
It’s dead, like the world.
She wanted to tell Lucy to stay put, to keep the doors locked, but common sense told her they needed to stay together.
“Come on. In and out. Real easy.”
They headed inside the supermarket, Sasha’s heart racing, her gun tucked in her waistband.
“Stay quiet, just in case,” Sasha whispered.
She held on to Lucy’s hand, and together they headed inside. The store looked trashed, with barren shelves and garbage littered around the ground. She grabbed a basket and together they started going up and down the aisles, looking for anything.
A lot had been taken already, the memory of what this place probably used to look like filling Sasha’s had.
They’d found several cans, some missing the labels so the contents were anyone’s guess. There was a crushed bag of chips, some jerky, and even powdered milk. She’d found a few water bottles that had fallen underneath a shelf and shoved everything they found in the basket.
Sasha steered clear of the fresh produce section, the stench of rotting fruits and vegetables almost too much to stomach.
Lucy seemed in a good mood, especially when she found a bag of candy. She didn’t rush Lucy along, because the truth was, Sasha didn’t know how long it would be before they had this kind of freedom again.
Pushing her fingers through her hair, she waited, trying to stay calm even as her body started to sweat. They needed to keep moving. That was more evident than ever.
With their basket loaded up, they headed back out of the door to the car, but it was the sight before her that had Sasha grabbing Lucy’s hand and pushing her behind her.
Less than a few feet from them were three men, all holding weapons, all of them grinning at them.
“Well, well, well, look what we’ve got here,” the big one in front said.
Sasha stared at all of them, and even with a gun at her disposal, there was no way she’d be able to fight all of them. She had to do something though. The way the men looked at her, she didn’t like it. Not for herself and certainly not for Lucy.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Evil sees evil
Malachi had watched them leave the house, going from home to home, searching, scavenging. They’d finally found a car, and panic had seized him at the very thought that he’d lose them. No way could he find a ride in enough time to follow her.
But he’d seen her head toward town, praying to a God he didn’t even believe in to cut him some slack and let her stop. Malachi had no fucking clue why he was acting this way, but the need to keep her close was strong, like a strong drug running through his veins, refusing to ease, making him need more of that high.
He could have played it off like he’d been without a woman for far too long, but that would be a lie. When he’d looked at her that first time it had been like a shot of electricity had slammed into his body, twisting up his organs, refusing to ease up unless he made her his.
Fucking insanity, that’s what this was, that’s how he was acting.
But he could no longer stop himself than cease breathing.
So he’d run through the woods, taking the short way into town, the way he knew would have him cutting his time by half. The very thought she might not be there when he arrived was like cold ice around his gut. But how the fuck would he keep her close? They didn’t know each other, and if she was smart, she’d stay far back from him, her instincts telling her he wasn’t a good man.
