Away From the Sun (7 page)

“But we’re forced to,” I say.
 

Remi sighs. “I suppose you’re right.”

“So, you know Gabe well?”

She looks away from me, her color suddenly returning. “We’ve known each other a few months now. I think he’s one of the few people that is trustworthy.”

“There are plenty of bad ones,” I say, “but more than a few good ones.”

“I don’t share your optimism, little sister.”

“It’s no easy task being optimistic in this world,” I say.
 

“When you’ve seen all the crap I’ve seen, you’d lose any optimism real quick.”

 
And there it is. It comes to me just like the last day I saw her.
Remi the victim.
It’s the same reason I was happy to see her finally go to college. It’s the same reason I rarely enjoyed my weekend when she would come home for brief visits. No matter how bad someone else has it, Remi can top it. I hate the way she dismisses my experiences as if to say that I haven’t been through enough to lose any optimism. It’s what keeps my mouth closed about Lucas. I don’t want to tell her about the one person I loved, dying right in front of me because
I know
she will go right into a story about someone she cared about that died. The way Remi empathizes is by topping a story.
 

She automatically assumes that if I am still an optimist, then I must not have seen the things that she has seen. I must not have had to do things that I could only imagine in a nightmare. I must not have seen my boyfriend’s brains splatter all over the front of my shirt. I must not have had to leave his body for the greyskins to eat.
 

As these thoughts swim through my head, I catch my lips curling and my eyebrows sinking. I try to stop it, but Remi has already noticed. She looks away from me quickly and changes the subject.
 

“I need to let Stephen know that Gabe and Ethan are trustworthy,” she says.
 

“Is
Stephen
trustworthy?” I ask.
 

She thinks for a moment, and then nods. “I think so. I think he wants what’s best for his people here. I’m just afraid that will mean joining up with Shadowface.”

“But if Shadowface employs raiders…”

“I know,” Remi says. “But when you’re a leader, you can justify a lot of things if it means your people will be well-fed and protected. Think about it. If Shadowface employs the raiders, then raiders aren’t going to attack your settlement, right?”

“I guess. But that doesn’t make it right.”

“I agree.”
 

“I want to be in on this meeting, too,” I say. “I think I’ve had enough of a run-in with Shadowface’s people to give an account.”

“I’ll talk to Stephen,” she says.
 

We sit for another long moment. I want to ask her more questions. I want to know what her life has been like for the past three years. I want to know how she came to be here. But these conversations will come later. I’m sure it will take time for her to open up, as it will for me. Maybe she will try to one-up every story I have, and maybe she won’t. Three years of living the way we have can change people.

I don’t know my sister anymore. She doesn’t know me. We now have the rest of our lives to figure it out. I just hope the rest of our lives aren’t cut short.

It’s weird seeing Gabe here. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he told me he loved me in a very vulnerable moment for us both. I had been walking away, banished from the one place I wanted to call home, and he was the one that had to carry out my sentence. I suppose it’s also a little strange for him since he might not be sure that I heard him tell me that he loved me. I told him all about my hearing ability. I told him how I overheard…what had my sister called him? Scarecrow? He didn’t seem overly surprised at the notion that I had this ability, but he was sure curious enough to try it out.

I stand with him in the parking lot, just outside the main office building in Elkhorn. A barrel fire keeps our hands warm as we huddle close. He stands next to me instead of across from me. I can tell he’s trying to block the wind.
 

I roll my eyes at him. “Don’t try to revive chivalry. It’s as dead as the greyskins.”

“Yet they move and eat,” he says to me with a grin.
 

“Pretty morbid. Think about it. These things that used to be people still live in their own way, don’t they?”

“No,” he says, staring into the flames. “Just because they eat doesn’t make them alive. They eat, bite, and scratch to keep the virus going.”

“I know,” I say. “I get it. I’m just saying it’s weird that they are still alive. That they move, but they’re dead.”

He smiles at me. “Are you just now thinking this out? It’s been three years, you know.”

“Shut up,” I say.
 

“What’s really weird is that Waverly is your sister,” he says. “Must be pretty great to find someone from your family.”

“It is great,” I say. “I gave up hope on my family a long time ago. I never thought I would see her again. It’s good, but it brings up strange emotions. I don’t know. It’s gotten me to think about my parents, and I don’t like that one bit. I don’t like that I don’t miss them, you know?”

“No,” he says. “I don’t know. I’d give anything to see my dad again.”

“I wish I had that same feeling,” I say. “Then again, if I did, I suppose it would be harder for me. Except I feel guilty that I don’t care that much.”

“Maybe you should stop feeling guilty about who you miss or don’t miss, and get joy out of finding your sister.”

“I guess. That’s something else, though. Now I feel this overbearing responsibility for her. When she was gone—when I thought she was dead—it was just me. I never really had to care for someone. Now…I can’t let something happen to her.”

“It’s not a bad thing,” he says. “That’s called love.”

His eyes meet mine for a second, but I look away from him and stare into the barrel. I don’t want Gabe to love me, if that’s what he is getting at. What am I saying? He has already gotten to that. I’m not ready for it. Not sure I ever will be.

“How did you end up here anyway?” Gabe asks, changing the subject.

“I was at the hospital, looking for information about Paxton’s daughter.”

“And they caught you?”

“More like rescued me,” I say. I shudder to think about how close I had been to killing myself. If it weren’t for Stephen and his men, I would be dead and eaten by now.

I clear my throat. “But before they got to me, I found my ticket back into Crestwood. I just feel a little strange using it.”

His eyes widen and he stands a little straighter. “You found his daughter?”

“No, but just about as good. I found his granddaughter. She’s here. Her name is Evie.”

“That’s it then,” he says. “You’re good to come back with me.”

“But I can’t just take her,” I say. “These people have been taking care of her since she was born. It would be horrible to steal her away.”

Gabe looks away from me and back into the fire. I can tell thoughts are racing through his head. “Did you find any documents about his daughter?”

“I did, but nothing that says she’s deceased. Only that she had a baby. There’s no way for me to get into Crestwood without Paxton learning of his granddaughter. Believe me, I’ve thought it through a lot.”

“Wow,” he says. “That’s quite a position you’re in. Do you think Paxton would want to take her?”

“Of course,” I say. “It’s all he has of his own flesh and blood. Wouldn’t you want to take her?”

“I guess. The girl would probably be safer at Crestwood than here.”

“Except that Shadowface runs the show,” I say.
 

“I suppose this meeting we’re going to is about Shadowface?” Gabe says.

“I would say so.”

“So, did you see him?”

“I’m not sure,” I say. “And it could have been a she.”

“Oh, I never really thought about that.”

“I guess that’s the point. Shadowface doesn’t want you to know if he’s a
she
or a
he.”

“No, I guess not.”

A voice breaks into our conversation. We both turn and see Stephen walking up. “Meeting’s about to start,” he says. “You two will join us, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Gabe says.
 

“I don’t even really know why you’re having a meeting,” I say to Stephen. “You know you can’t just ally yourself with Shadowface.”

“Clearly you’ve never led a settlement,” he says with a smirk. “Come on, let’s get some opinions out in the air.”

“I thought that’s what I just did,” I say.
 

“Other than your own, I meant.”

Gabe and I follow Stephen into the office building. The hallway isn’t busy. There are few people around. I guess most of them are trying to stay warm in their rooms. He leads us up a flight of stairs and down another long hallway until we come into an old, large conference room. It’s the type of room, that was no doubt used for big business meetings. There’s a giant table in the middle with swivel chairs all around it. There are a lot more people in here than I expected. I nod a curt
hello
to Mitch, who stares at me as I walk in. The guy sort of gives me the creeps. I don’t know what it is about him, but he seems preoccupied in a weird way. The entire trip back to Elkhorn, he kept asking Stephen and me questions. He started out asking us about where we are from, but he kept going. He asked us about our childhood, and what our relationships with our grandparents were like. To say it felt strange is an understatement.
 

Next to him is,
I think,
his girlfriend, Ashley. Then there’s his father who smells like he just came out of a burning building. On the other side of the table is Waverly. She looks up at me with her big blue eyes and motions for me to sit next to her. I do so gladly, and give a short nod to her friend, Ethan. Gabe sits on my other side. The last person in the room is Lydia who stares daggers into me.
 

Ever since I told her that I had been looking for information about Jessi Paxton, Robert Paxton’s daughter, she has thought of me as nothing but trouble. Before I came here, I found out that Jessi Paxton had had a daughter named Evelyn. As it turned out, Lydia has taken care of little Evie since the day she was born. Lydia has more claim to the tiny blonde-headed girl than Paxton ever will. But telling him about his granddaughter would most certainly get me back into Crestwood. Though, if Crestwood is in league with Shadowface and his goons, I might not even want to go back. I’m interested to hear what these people have to say.
 

“We’re here to expose Shadowface for who he is,” Jeremiah says.
 

“And kill him?” Stephen adds, raising an eyebrow.
 

“If it comes to that, yes.”

“Seems a bit drastic,” Stephen says. “The man is willing to bring settlements together and provide for them in exchange for unwavering allegiance.”

Mitch speaks up next. “What all of you fail to realize is just how dangerous Shadowface really is.”

“Not
all
of us,” Waverly says quickly. “I know very well how dangerous Shadowface can be.”

“He hires raiders,” Ethan says, looking from Mitch to Stephen. “They were chasing us because we had something they wanted.”

“They killed two people in our group,” Waverly continues. “They would have killed us, if Gabe hadn’t helped us.”

I look at Gabe and smile at him. He turns just a little red.
 

“And what’s your part in this?” Stephen asks Gabe.
 

Gabe clears his throat. “I’m the lead scout in Crestwood. My leader, Paxton doesn’t know I’m here. It was my job to escort Remi out of the town, as well as Waverly and her friends. All of it seemed like Paxton’s decisions, but the more we looked into it, the more we could see that it was under Shadowface’s orders. The only thing that had me perplexed was Shadowface’s motive.”

“Well,” Jeremiah says, “it would seem that the motive would have to do with whatever item of theirs you were carrying.” He looks at Waverly when he says this. “What was it?”

Waverly stares at him for a long moment, studying him. She looks around the room, and finally at me. “I’m not sure I have to give you that information,” she says, turning back to Jeremiah. “I don’t know who you are.”

“I am someone that is just trying to help,” he says with a smile. It seems forced as if he’s trying to hold himself back from looking too desperate for information.
 

Waverly looks away from Jeremiah, then at Ethan. They share a look for a long moment before Ethan finally nods to her. Waverly lets out a sigh and reaches for something in her pocket. She pulls out a small, metal canister.
 

All eyes fall on the object in her hands. Jeremiah’s eyes widen more than anyone else’s. I wouldn’t doubt it if he already knows what it is. “This is what they were after,” she says. “If you unscrew the middle, there is a glass vial.”

“Filled with a red liquid?” Jeremiah asks.
 

Waverly hesitates for a minute. “Yes. How did you know?”

“May I see it?” he asks, extending an arm over the table. When he notices Waverly’s skeptical look, he smiles again. “I’ll give it back.”

Her eyebrows are downturned, and I can tell she is unsure. Slowly, she hands Jeremiah the canister. His fingers wrap around the middle as he takes hold of it. He unscrews the middle just as Waverly described. Sure enough, he pulls out a small, cylindrical glass vial filled with a crimson liquid.
 

“Blood,” Jeremiah says.
 

“I figured that,” Waverly answers. “I just don’t understand why.”

Jeremiah holds the vial between his thumb and forefinger into the light above his head to get a better look. He turns it sideways and upwards, watching the liquid move from side to side.
 

“Well,” he says, “if it is from Shadowface, as you claim, then it is probably the blood of a Starborn.” He studies the faces of everyone in the room for a brief second. “I don’t expect any of you have heard of a Starborn but…”