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I’m concerned about her and Cade. I’m fully aware that Cade isn’t the easiest of people to get along with, but he seems to have taken an instant dislike to her. Is it jealousy? Is that the reason he doesn’t want her around? I’d thought it might do him some good to have a younger stepsister around, might soften him up a little, give him someone to look out for other than Darius and himself, but the opposite seems to have happened. He’s even spiker than normal. Admittedly, these aren’t exactly normal times, but he’d been that way even before the plane had taken off.
If we’re going to survive this, we need to pull together. It won’t help anyone for us to be fighting among ourselves.
I do acknowledge, however, that I made a mistake by taking Laney in. When social services called and explained the situation, I’d imagined her to be some gawky teenage kid, not this beautiful young woman with heart-stopping, pale blue eyes. She’d have been better off going to a foster home. It would only have been for a week, and at least she’d have been safe. She would never have been on the damned plane.
We stop to drink some water, though I’m concerned about how much we have and how long it’s going to last. Water is going to be far more important than food, at least initially. I want to believe we’ll be found and rescued in the next twenty-four hours, or the place we’re heading to now will contain someone who can call for help or who will have their own supplies, but we can’t take that for granted. Assuming we’re going to be rescued soon could prove fatal. We need to prepare for the possibility that we won’t.
I wonder how much daylight we have left. I don’t want us to still be wandering around out here when it gets dark. Whatif we went in the wrong direction and we’ve completely missed whatever place I caught sight of?
But finally, the trees head of us thin, and a log cabin appears between the trunks.
“We found it!” Cade calls over his shoulder.
My heart hitches. Thank fuck for that.
“Hello?” Cade yells, picking up his pace. “Is anyone here?”
The minute I get closer, I can see we’re out of luck. The windowpanes are still in place—which was what made the cabin visible to me from a distance, but they’re cracked and filthy. A wooden porch runs around the outside of the cabin, but the forest is doing its best to claim it back again, creepers winding around the balustrades like snakes around a charmer’s arm. The roof still looks like it’s in one piece, and a chimney protrudes from between the moss-covered slates. Even though there is clearly no one living here, it will provide shelter, and we might even find some more supplies
“It doesn’t look like there’s anyone here,” Cade says.
Darius draws to a halt. “Is there a vehicle around?”
Cade purses his lips. “Can’t see one.”
“There must be a road or some kind of trail,” Darius says. “How else would whoever owns this place get here?”
I look around. “It’s probably a hunter’s cabin. They wouldn’t live here full time, just use it as a base while they’re in the forest.”
“That’s a good thing, though, right?” Laney’s tone is pitched higher with hope. “If people come here, then they might find us.”
“Hunting season begins mid-September. We’ve got a while to wait if that’s the case, and we don’t even know if this place is still used. It doesn’t look as though anyone’s been here for some time.”
Laney bites her lip. “We should have left a note of some kind back at the plane. We should have told people we were coming here.”
“What on?” Cade’s tone is cutting. “A piece of paper? Which we could have then left with a burning plane? Sounds sensible.”
She shoots him a scowl. “I don’t know, but we should have tried something. If rescuers arrive, how will they know where to find us?”
“If rescuers arrive, we’ll see helicopters or something flying above the forest. We’ll know to go back.”
She throws up her hands. “We’ve been walking for hours. If we just happen to see or hear a helicopter in the distance, do you really think we’ll make it back there before they give up and leave again? If the fire has spread to the middle of the plane, it’ll burn up any evidence that shows we weren’t in the plane when it burned.”
Cade stares at her. “Are you stupid? They’re not going to just arrive and leave again. A plane went down. People died. There will be a whole investigation around it to find out what happened.”
Laney’s cheeks flame red, twin spots appearing. Her eyes go glassy, and she blinks several times.
I keep my voice low. “All right, that’s enough, Cade.”
He spins to me. “Why? Am I wrong?”
“No, but this is a stressful situation, and calling people stupid isn’t going to help anyone.” I look to the girl. “You okay, Laney?”
Cade makes a tsking sound with his tongue and teeth. “She’s the favorite now, is she, Reed? Except you’re not exactly looking at her like a daughter, are you?”
I harden my tone. “That’senough.”
Tossing a beautiful young woman into the wilderness with the three of us, fuck. What had I been thinking?
