The Benders

In book two of The Breeders Series we catch up with Riley, Clay, Ethan, Mama, and Dr. Rayburn. They’ve escaped the Breeders, but still carry the wounds inflicted by their escape. Clay is particularly bad off with a gunshot wound to his hand. Clay mourns the loss of his hand as deeply as Riley mourns the loss of her stepfather, Arn. However, she takes comfort in the fact that her family is finally together.

After a few days on the road, they are captured by a band of savage men and driven to an abandoned shopping mall called the Citadel. Inside, they find a society where women are free and all worship the group’s prophet, the Messiah.

Dressing and acting like Jesus, the Messiah knows information about Riley and Clay that only Breeders would know. That night Riley and her Mama are separated from the boys and locked inside an abandoned storefront. When Mama wakes up in a pool of blood, Riley panics and Mama is taken away. The words of the doctors echo in her head—the baby inside Mama is a Breeders’ fetus, and something is terribly wrong with it.

The next morning Riley meets Mage, the Messiah’s daughter. Mage gives the gang a tour of the mall-turned-city. At the end of a dark hallway, they find a crevasse where Riley hears moaning. A guard drags her away, telling her she should never venture near the dark hole again.

That night, the Believers hold a ceremony to baptize two brothers into the brotherhood, the group of loyalists who protect the Messiah. It’s clear that something is wrong with the health of all who join and, when the boys are asked to drink the baptismal water, one refuses and runs. Now Riley knows the water is tainted. They need to flee, but Mama’s illness makes it impossible to leave.

Later, in the cafeteria, the boy who ran from the baptism returns, brandishing a gun. As he’s about to attack Mage, Clay saves her. Through his heroic act, Clay earns the Messiah’s favor. He wants Clay to join his brotherhood, but Riley tells Clay to refuse, worried Clay will be poisoned by the polluted water.

When Riley and Ethan are finally taken to see Mama, she’s worse than before. The nurses tell Riley there’s nothing to be done; her mama will die. The only way to save her is a costly medicine that no one but the Messiah can authorize. Riley begs the Messiah for her mother’s life and he agrees, but only if Clay will join his brotherhood.

That night, Clay is inducted into the brotherhood and goes down in the crevasse for the final act of the ceremony. Riley follows, knowing that strange things lurk in the dark. When she finds the brotherhood, they are swimming and drinking from an underground lake. Soon they become animalistic and wild. Riley runs away, knowing in her heart this is her fault.

Riley confronts the Messiah and asks for their freedom. The Messiah says if they stay for the communion ceremony, he will provide supplies and a truck, things that are vital to her mother’s survival. Planning to back out of the deal if anything smells fishy, Riley agrees.

The whole city gathers for communion. Riley and her family are called on stage, where the Messiah asks her to drink the water. Riley refuses. One of the brotherhood, Andrew, draws a gun and tells her to drink. Clay tackles the guard and turns the gun on the Messiah. The prophet, mumbling about self-sacrifices, pulls the trigger, killing himself. The place erupts into pandemonium.

Riley, Clay, Ethan, Rayburn, and Mama run. Their only hope of escape is the crevasse. What they find there is a group of decaying creatures that Riley mistakes for zombies. She soon learns they are outcast Believers, too weak to revolt against the Messiah’s men. When they hear the Messiah is dead and everyone thinks Clay killed him, they decide to trade Clay for their freedom.

Riley and the group go up to the main level only to find that there are no guards posted. One drunk guard tells them the end has come and there is no point in fighting. With Mage’s help, Rayburn, Clay, and Riley head down to the basement to stop the Believers from killing everyone.

They find the pump room, where Rayburn is shot and killed. Poison begins to flood the mall. Mage, Clay, and Riley rush back to help Mama and Ethan escape. Clay shoots his way through the guards and they head for the garage and safety.

But the Messiah’s brotherhood is waiting for them. The Messiah’s number two, Andrew, has dubbed himself the new Messiah and orders Riley, Clay, and her family to be killed. One of the guards stands up to Andrew and claims he can prove Andrew is in cahoots with the Breeders. A group sets out to learn the truth. They get to the crevasse, but cannot find the forgotten who will tell them of Andrew’s evil plan. Andrew erupts into a rage, snatches Ethan, and threatens to throw him over the crevasse’s edge. One of the forgotten arrives and attacks Andrew. Mama dives in to save Ethan and falls over the edge with Andrew. Both plummet to their death.

Riley is devastated by the death of her mother. The brotherhood elects a new leader in the face of Andrew’s death. Clay and Riley renew their commitment to each other and then, with Ethan, they set off to find Auntie.

Clay holds the empty revolver in his fist. The determined look on his face makes me think if he stares at it long enough, he can conjure bullets from thin air. And maybe he can. In the last few weeks, I’ve seen him do some goddamned amazing things. But, if Clay could’ve done it, he would have, seeing as how bullets are the most valuable commodities in the land. Even Clay can’t make that magic happen.

And it’s bullets we need because over the hill a curl of campfire smoke rises into the dusk. The smell of crisping meat makes my empty stomach clench. We ain’t had a decent meal in five days, just jerky and water and that’s gone, too. Whoever’s on the other side of this hill better be ready for a fight. We sure are.

Our truck died over a week ago and our bullets ran out three days back. I think of the three square meals a day we had at the Citadel and wanna cry. Their provisions lasted us about a week. I look over at my brother, Ethan, and a knot forms in my throat. The little fat he put on at Citadel has wasted off his cheeks, leaving them hollow. His dark hair is dusty and coarse, and the nice clothes we were given have already worn through at the elbows and knees from skulking around cacti and climbing up rocky hillsides. He’s got his tan back, which out in the desert is a good thing. We’ve been away from the Believers long enough that their way of life’s been baked off our bodies. It’s some consolation to starving out in the desert.

When Ethan catches my eye, he throws on a little smile, but I know he’s suffering just like me. I dig into the pack on my back and hand him the water canteen.

He looks down at the water jug and shakes his head. “I’m fine. You drink it,” he whispers, shoving the jug back to me.

I shake my head and push it back. “Took a drink an hour ago.”

“Don’t believe you,” he whispers, blowing out a breath that stirs the sand in front of his face. “You always give me too much.”

“Do not,” I say, pressing the jug into his hands.

Clay shoots us both a will-you-hush-up look and trains his eyes on the crest of the hill where the smoke rolls into the heavens. “We can worry ’bout who drank what later. Right now I need your eyes and ears on this. Riley, come up with me.” He gestures to the crest of the hill. “Ethan, stay by the packs.” Ethan protests, but Clay cuts him off with a look. They’ve become like brothers over the last few months. Something I’m still getting used to.

I give Ethan’s arm a squeeze and press my hunting knife into his palm. Then I scoot on my belly to Clay. Slowly, we inch up until we can peer down into the valley.

Everything is just as it was twenty minutes ago. The hill rolls into a low, bowl-shaped valley about fifty feet wide. Down in the valley, a camp fire crackles inside a ring of rocks. On one side, a figure sits on a boulder, tending the blaze. From here we can tell it’s a man, though he could be a wizened old shell or a behemoth who’ll cleave us in half with his bare hands for all we know. I glance at Clay, who works his jaw back and forth. If we run into this scene, we gamble with our lives. But then, every damn day is a gamble.

On the other side of the fire the second of our worries lies wrapped in a tattered blanket. It’s a person, though definitely smaller. Could be a boy. Could be a woman.

We know nothing, and that’s what’s eating at me. We should just turn around and leave.

Clay points and draws my attention to the man tending the fire. A long black shadow rests at his feet, likely a shotgun, though we can’t be sure. I glance at Clay, trying to discern from his face whether he thinks this is a problem or not. Most guns around here are for show. Bullets are harder to come by than chocolate cake and even more desired. If he’s got bullets, we’re in trouble. I got a six-inch hunting knife and Clay’s got a nine-inch serrated blade. We’ll have to get close to do any sort of damage, and if he hears us, he can pick us off easy.

I scoot back down the hill and lie on my back. The night sky thickens with stars. Coyotes howl in the distance, a night sound I’m so familiar with it is usually soothing. But not tonight. I roll over and look at Clay.

“This is plain crazy. We’ll get shot up before we make it to the fire.”

Clay looks over at me, his sky-blue eyes finding mine. God, they soften me every time, but right now I don’t wanna be soft.

“Riley,” he says, smiling. “One old man and his boy can’t stop me. You know we got this.” He flashes white teeth in a look that would melt any girl from here to White Sands. If there were any girls from here to White Sands.

I scowl and cross my arms over my bound breasts. “You mighta got this if you had bullets, but you don’t.” I gesture to the useless revolvers at his hips. “What’re you gonna do, chuck those at him?”

Clay smiles again, unfazed. “If I need to.”

“This ain’t funny,” I say, frowning. “If he hears us coming down, we’re dead in two blasts. Ethan’ll starve to death beneath that cactus.

Clay’s smile fades. He scoots closer to me until his body is inches from mine. I refuse to face. Instead, I try to puzzle out my fate in the stars above.

“Riley,” he whispers, his breath on my cheek.

I don’t move.

“Riley.” His hand slinks under the fabric at my waist, fingers caressing the skin there. Tingles ignite were his touch meets my skin. Finally I roll toward him. His blue eyes match the last wink of day in the west and his stubbled cheeks make him look both rugged and manly. Any hint of the sickness from the Believers’ water has left. What’s left is a deep tan and wind-blown hair.

He slides a hand out and cups my cheek. “When I say we got this,” he pauses and runs a thumb from my cheekbone to my jaw. “We got this. I wouldn’t put you or Ethan in danger.”

I nod, but he insists. “Do you trust me?”

I think of what we’ve been through—the Breeders and the fight with Clay’s parents, the Citadel and how we fought side by side as the mall filled with poison. I press my hand to the gold band he gave me, resting on a chain beneath my shirt.

“Yes,” I breathe, my lips moving inches from his.

A voice from the valley below us stops my heart cold. We pull apart, eyes wide. Carefully we inch up to the edge and peer down.

The man leans over the fire, stirring something in the pot. He speaks to whomever is under the blanket. Clay and I watch for a moment and slide back down.

“I think I recognize the one by the fire,” Clay whispers, pulling out his knife and inspecting it. “He’s a trader. Ruthless one. Sells boys, too.”

I think of Ethan back down the ridge. “Does this change things?”

Clay shakes his head. A hardness has settled over his features. “That bastard down there deserves what I’m about to do to him.”

I put my hand on his arm. “I thought we said no killing.”

He doesn’t meet my gaze, just stares at the razor-sharp knife in his hand. “I never said no killin’.”

I tighten my grip on his arm. “Listen, killing for supplies, that ain’t right.”