AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But she’s not hesitating today.
When the light fades from Adam’s eyes, his hands hanging slack by his legs, she releases the strap. He falls forward with a thud. The screams and chants from the crowd silenced.
“You all need to go,” she yells out to them. “You’ve had your revenge, but it’s not safe. The ground could cave in.” She throws the strap to the ground, wide eyes following her every step back to us before she turns around once more yelling, “Go!” and they scatter away in all directions.
“He deserved…” Alex trails off.
“We aren’t going to start that way,” Mary says, cupping his face. “Wasting time on revenge,” she shakes her head. “No. We leave this shit behind.”
My family walks toward us in the distance, Luke’s arm around Sam’s body limping behind them all.
“We win again,” I whisper to their figures, the boys breaking out into a run, closing the distance between us.
“What?” Alex says.
I take his hand and squeeze it, still watching my family make their way over. “We’ve won, Alex,” I explain. “They’re dead, and that’s what they deserve. Now let’s go.”
The look he gives me shifts from disbelief to elation, and he wraps his arms around me and Mary, pulling us both against him.
I reach my arms around to hold them both, and murmur into his chest, “It's time to start over.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
After the Storms
Tenyearslater
“Something’s washed up,” Luke says. He’s holding a glass bottle, corked and duck taped with a child-like smile on his face. Sam wipes his dirty hands with a washcloth standing in the doorway, laughing behind Luke.
“Is that…” I set down the knife I’m chopping with and hold out my hand. Luke gives it to me, grinning wider. “A message in a fucking bottle?”
“I think so,” Luke pipes up. His excitement pours off of him, and it’s contagious, making me laugh along with him.
“Lori and Morgan stayed with the nets,” Sam says. He takes off his shoes and comes inside, planting a kiss on my cheek.
“She wasn’t curious?” I ask, turning the bottle in my hands. It’s simple enough, something that stored food or medicine, and the glass is thick. There are a few chips along the bottom, but no water has seeped through.
“She more or less rolled her eyes at it, and lectured us about work that needs to get done,” Sam shrugs. “But she’s coming in a bit.”
Luke slides into a seat at the table, reaching for some tomato I’ve sliced up. “We’ve been out there since dawn,” he says. “Damn, that’s fresh.”
“It’s a good crop this year,” I smirk, setting the bottle in the center of the table. “Soil’s getting better and better. Have more. We can’t eat or can them fast enough.” I despise canning, so the more food that makes its way into everyone’s bellies, the better.
Sam slices one in half and bites into it like an apple, closing his eyes when the juices run down his chin. “Lori said something about the boy’s birthday, and then Tucker ran off to get BeLew.”
Hank strides into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He takes a seat at the table after rummaging around the cabinets and mumbles something about breakfast before he lays his head down on the wood.
“You’re awful tired for someone who’s slept until two, son.” Luke messes his hair up and pats him on the shoulder.
“Teenagers are supposed to sleep late,” I defend him.
“Then why’s his brother up at dawn?” Luke jokes.
“Because he’s a freak,” Hank mumbles, pushing Luke away. They swat at each other a few times before he moves to my side, and I hand him a loaf of bread. He smiles, cutting slices to make himself a tomato sandwich.
“Are you liking this shift?” I ask him. “You can switch anytime.”
He shakes his head and shoves a chunk of bread into his mouth, ripping off a bite. “I like some alone time,” he says, his mouth full, and he swallows roughly. “And I like the night fishing. It’s my thing.”
