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Okay. Welcome to crazy town.
She was shaking her head before he even finished, an unsettling feeling moving deep in the pit of her stomach. But it wasn’t over Tree Man and his insane rambling, but the way he said it, how his voice held so much passion and certainty, so much truth.
“We should be going,” Malachi said, his voice hard and final.
Lucy started whining, but Sasha shushed her and helped her get her bag back on. They had a lot of ground to cover, and for some strange reason, deep within her, she knew this was just the beginning of their journey.
They’d been walking for hours, the sun would be setting soon, and Sasha was carrying Lucy on her back because Lucy’s little legs were killing her, as per her words.
This was rough on her sister, Sasha knew that, and she wished she could promise it would get better, but she knew it would get worse first.
Malachi was ahead of them, and Tree Man in front of Malachi. Sasha could hear Tree Man humming softly, but other than that he’d stayed pretty much quiet, with no insane rambling, no weird conversations being started.
Twigs snapped under their feet, and Sasha’s belly started to grumble.
Then Tree Man held up his hand, and his shirt fell partially down his forearm. They all stopped and Sacha noticed the mark on his arm. She remembered him saying a dog had bitten him, and although she was several feet back, she could see how red and inflamed it was. It was infected, and she knew if he didn’t get some antibiotics soon it would be bad news.
But he didn’t complain, didn’t even mention it aside from that one time. So maybe it wasn’t that bad.
“The town’s up ahead.” Malachi was the one to speak.
Sasha looked in the distance and could barely make out the road, and a large green sign that told them they were entering Wicklow.
“Tree Man,” Lucy said. “Your arm.”
He turned around and smiled at her, pushing his shirtsleeve down as if it was no big deal. And maybe it wasn’t. Because although it looked bad, it wasn’t like Sasha was a medical expert.
“It’s nothing, sweet Lucy.” He smiled down at her. “Just a scratch, a dog bite scratch. If one thing is for certain, it’s that lending a helping hand will get you bitten. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” He started in on his rambles again but all Lucy did was giggle.
Sasha set Lucy down, taking her hand in hers, pulling her closer.
“You guys stay here. I’m going to scout out the town, make sure it’s safe, then I’ll come back and we can go in together.” Malachi looked at Tree Man. “You’re coming with me.”
Tree Man saluted him.
At this point in the game, she trusted Malachi implicitly. He knew what to do, how to survive.
Malachi and Tree Man walked through the woods and toward the town, and she and Lucy stayed back, waiting and watching, used to this situation, this scenario.
“I’m scared,” Lucy whispered and Sasha pulled her in close for a hug.
“It’s okay. Malachi knows what he’s doing.”
She didn’t know how long they stood there, but it seemed like an eternity before Malachi and Tree Man came back.
“It’s good. Deserted. I didn’t have time to look through the grocery store or pharmacy, so I’m not holding out much hope it hasn’t been ransacked, but I figure anything we find is a plus.”
Well, it was a relief there wasn’t anyone there. “We should probably get a map. Figure out which way we need to go exactly?” Sasha asked.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Malachi rubbed his hand on the back of his head, looking at the ground as if he were thinking. “I saw a gas station. It’s probably our best bet to find a map, that or at the grocery store.” He looked between Lucy and Sasha. “Ready?”
They were all in agreement. Sasha looked down at Lucy and got down on her haunches so she was eye level with her. “You stay close to Malachi or me, and you be as quiet as you can, okay?”
Lucy nodded, her expression serious.
“Quiet like a mouse, okay, Lucy?”
Lucy nodded again and ran her finger over her lips, like she was zipping them up.
Sasha leaned in and kissed her on the forehead and then stood, taking her hand again and walking toward Malachi.
Malachi looked over his shoulder at them, and the expression on his face had Sasha’s heart racing. She thought about all they had done, how her feelings for him were growing by the minute, and that being with him in every possible way was exactly what she wanted. But what time was the right time?
When was the best time to give her virginity to the man she was falling in love with when the end of the world surrounded them?
