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Lucy slept soundly beside her. That was one of the good things at least, that her sister was a deep sleeper. It saved on panic and having to explain that shit had hit the fan once more.
“Everything okay?” she whispered softly and a second later he looked at her. He shook his head slowly before facing forward again, staring out the windshield.
“Car’s dead. An engine failure judging by the sound.” The sound of his hands tightening around the leather steering wheel came through loudly. “And I don’t have tools to fix it.” He took one of his hands off the steering wheel and rubbed it over his jaw, smoothing it over his beard. “But it’s too late to try to find another vehicle. We can bunker down here for now, pray no one fucks with us, and tomorrow morning start hiking and search for another vehicle.” He rested his head back and exhaled slowly. “Shit,” he said softly and closed his eyes. “If it’s not one fucking thing it’s another.”
It was like he spoke to himself, and she wanted to comfort him, to tell him everything was okay. But this was stressful, with obstacles continuously being thrown in their path. They didn’t even know for sure where they were headed.
They just hoped like hell they could find somewhere that was safe.
All Sasha kept thinking about was the incident with the men coming out of the woods, Malachi taking them down with the car, and how they were never truly safe unless they kept moving. And now they were stranded on the side of the road.
There were woods on either side of them, and the long stretch of road seemed to go on for miles. The moon was full and framed by the trees, so at least it was a good amount of light.
She tried to clear her mind of the negative thoughts, to tell herself that she was safe with Malachi, that Lucy would be okay. But she was afraid. And fear had people lashing out, taking risks and chances they normally wouldn’t.
If it came down to it, she’d protect her little sister with her life. She looked over at Malachi, his eyes now open as he stared out the front windshield again.
Sasha would protect him with her life as well.
She thought about how it had felt to have him between her thighs, his mouth on the most intimate part of her, the way his tongue had moved through her slit. She’d never had anyone touch her down there, and she’d wanted to go further. But in hindsight, she was glad he’d stopped. Because even though there might not be an opportune time to be together, she wanted to make it as special as she could.
He looked over at her, the shadows placing across his face, his expression hardened but softening almost instantly.
“I wish I could make things safe for the two of you,” he whispered.
“Everything will be okay,” she said softly, and although she couldn’t promise that, could never make a guarantee like that, Sasha could fight with everything in her to try and make it a possibility.
Malachi placed his hand over hers. It was big and stabilized her, making her feel calm, as if she were grounded. She felt sleep start to take control, a heavy weight settling in her core and pulling her under. It claimed her until she finally let the darkness take over.
The sun beat down through the break in the trees, twigs snapping beneath her feet. Sasha adjusted her backpack and looked over her shoulder at Lucy, her sister trailing close behind, grime and dirt covering her face. Her blond hair was a wild mass, any semblance of a ponytail a distant memory.
Malachi was just ahead of them, movements calculated, his eyes scanning their surroundings.
They’d been walking for hours, having collected all their belongings from the car and making their way into the woods. They had a map, but that wouldn’t help them out here in the middle of nowhere.
Malachi stopped and pulled out the compass, looking at it and then turning to the right, where north obviously was. He started walking again and they followed, no one speaking, but then again, there was really nothing that needed said.
It was another twenty minutes of them hiking before she heard Lucy grumble, “My feet hurt and I’m hungry.”
Sasha turned and walked over to Lucy, wrapped her arm around her shoulder, and pulled her in close. “We’re just gonna go for a little bit more before we stop, okay?” Sasha looked up and saw Malachi watching them. “She needs to rest. We’ve been going for hours.”
He gave a grunt and nodded. “We have hours left before we’re halfway to the next town.” He looked around, as if surveying the land, maybe planning their next move. “We should probably just set up camp and start first thing in the morning. Sun is gonna set soon anyway.”
