The McClane Apocalypse Book Five (16 page)

It sounds as if Cory is already asleep on the
other side of the room. He’s breathing loudly, steadily.

Paige adds, “Trust me.”

Her tone is serious and melancholy. Simon’s
not sure if she’s just tired or if she’s genuinely upset about
something.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“Nothing,” she evades.

Simon rolls over so that he can face her. He
can just barely make out the soft lines of her face and the curve
of her slim hip. Her red hair, in contrast to the darkness, nearly
glows from the dwindling flames on the other side of the room. His
sister just has a warmth about her, or like Samantha likes to say,
an earthiness.

“What is it? Something that happened with
your friends while you were on your own?”

She squeaks out a barely audible, “Yes.”

“Mistakes were made,” Simon speculates.

“Yes, big mistakes,” she says and then frowns
hard.

“Tell me,” Simon demands gently. He prods a
few more times until she relents.

“We…we were on our own, just the four of us,”
she says and then pauses for a long time.

“Go on,” he urges.

“I don’t really wanna’ talk about it, Simon,”
she says.

Paige tries to turn away from him, but Simon
holds her shoulder so that she cannot.

“Maybe you should,” Simon suggests.

“We were on our own,” she starts again.
“After we left the third FEMA camp, we tried going it alone for a
while. We were north of Atlanta. This was before we hitched a ride
to Jersey with those Army guys- or Marines I guess is what they
were. We found a big warehouse. Thought it was empty. We were
camped out there for about a week. Gavin went out one night looking
for more baby food and formula for Maddie.”

She doesn’t continue but sighs hard. Simon
gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze of encouragement.

Paige clears her voice before continuing, “So
he was gone and it was just me and Talia and Maddie. The baby was
asleep on a dirty old crib mattress we’d found and dragged in
there. It was the middle of the night, like right now. I’d been out
running around and looting already that day. It seemed like I
walked the city for miles with Gavin that morning and afternoon
looking for food and water. We were exhausted, but he volunteered
to go back out alone so I could get some rest. I was sound asleep.
I woke up when someone grabbed my foot through my sleeping bag. I
thought it was just Gavin.”

Simon
grimaces
. He’s not sure he wants to know what
happened.
He wishes
he could tell
her to stop, but at his damn insistence she feels compelled to
recount her story. Instead of making her stop, Simon clenches his
jaw to brace for what’s coming.

“It was a man. He looked hungry… and dirty.
Wild even, like he was even more desperate than us. He was maybe
thirty years old or so. I figured he was robbing us for our food,
which wasn’t much. I don’t even remember what he said. I was still
in my sleeping bag. He tried to grab me, pull me up. I kicked him.
Then I realized he wasn’t there to rob us. I heard Talia crying out
for help. She was only about twenty or so feet from me, but I was
too busy fighting with that man. Maddie was on the little mattress
over against the wall in a corner thankfully still sleeping. I
didn’t want him to notice her.”

Simon swallows hard and listens.

“I could just barely see my friend. I
was struggling against the guy who was on top of me trying to get
me out of the sleeping bag. There was another man. He was already
on Talia. She wasn’t fighting him or crying out for help anymore,
though. He had a knife to her throat. I just remember the
hopelessness in her eyes as he raped her. She was just lying there
looking at me. Tears were streaming down her face, but she wasn’t
making any sounds. I figured it was up to me to do something. I had
to stop the man who was hurting her and the man who was going to
rape me. I had to save her and save myself, too. The man ripped
open my sleeping bag, broke the zipper. I had a knife in my pillow
case. It wasn’t much of anything. It wasn’t like the daggers you
guys all carry or the one that Sam
carries
. It was pathetic. I didn’t really know how
to use it. It wasn’t like you and I grew up hunting and fishing. I
managed to slip it out. I tried to stab him. I don’t even know
where. I can’t remember. I think I
attempted
to stab him in the chest, just cut him
somewhere near his chest. I wasn’t very successful because he
knocked it out of my hand. He punched me in the jaw. I tried
fighting back. I punched and kicked at him. He was skinny but
stronger than anything. It was like he was high on drugs or maybe
just evil. I remember thinking that I’d failed my friend. I didn’t
know what they’d do to Maddie, either. If they’d kill her
or
kill us. A second later, Gavin came
in and shot the man on Talia. Then he
shot
the man I’d tried to stab.”

“Were you…?” Simon can’t bring himself to
finish.

“No, thank God. I
was only seconds
away from being raped, but he
didn’t get to because Gavin saved me. I had a sore jaw for a few
weeks. Gavin was afraid it was broken, but I assured him that my
skull was harder than it looked. He always fought so hard for me
and Talia and Maddie. That’s why she took his death so hard. Why we
all three did. He was like our big brother.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” Simon
says, his stomach turning at her story.

“I know,” she concedes. “After that and after
Talia had a few days to heal and rest, we left that place. A few
weeks later, I shot a man who’d jumped Gavin when we were on our
way on foot to another FEMA camp. He’d sneaked up behind my friend
and hit him with a baseball bat. Gavin found a small gun on the man
who’d raped Talia and gave it to me after that bad night. I used
the last bullet returning the favor for Gavin.”

“Good, he deserved it,” Simon tells his
sister.

“Yes, he did. I didn’t feel bad at all.
By then, I was done feeling
sorry
for anyone. Not after what happened to Talia. It just became
about surviving and finding you. That’s the only thing that kept me
going. And it’s why I never slept the night through until I came
here. I don’t always sleep the whole night through even here, but I
sleep a lot better.”

Simon has to blink hard to
clear
his mind. “Was she all right? I
mean, after the rape?”

“No, not really. She never was again. I think
she’s fine physically but not mentally. It wasn’t until we made it
here that she seemed any better at all. I’m glad she’s found
Chet.”

“He’ll always look after her and
Maddie,” Simon whispers in the dark. “You don’t have to worry about
her now. The Reynolds are good people. Chet’s
a tough
man, able, good, kind. And hard when he
needs to be.”

“I’m relieved. She told me the other
day when we went there to help plan the wedding that she’s
pregnant. Chet is over the moon about it. So is Talia, but I’m not
so sure it
’s a great
idea
.”

“Wow, that’s some news.”

“She asked me not to tell everyone, so keep
it on the DL,” Paige implores.

“Don’t worry about her. He’ll take good care
of her and Maddie and their new baby,” Simon assures her.

“He doesn’t seem like he’s too lethal, but if
you say so.”

“Oh, he is. Trust me, he is. She’s safe
now,” Simon promises. She has no idea how lethal the Reynolds
brothers can be when the need arises. And Chet’s been shot twice,
although his sister doesn’t know
of
the first time. He’s a lot tougher than his kind smile
reveals.

“He seems like he really cares for her. I’m
glad because I won’t have to worry about her. And I’m glad they
just live next door… sort of,” Paige says.

They are both quiet for a few moments. “I’ll
never let anything like that happen to you again, sis,” Simon
promises. “I swear it.”

“I know,” Paige says solemnly. “But
mistakes get made, Simon. We’ll have as long as we
get
to have together. Sometimes it’s
out of our hands. Things happen. Mistakes.”

She rolls onto her side away from him again.
Simon has a difficult time going to sleep. He lies awake for hours
thinking about his sister and her friends and the trying times
they’ve had while on the road fending for themselves. Her words
seemed prophetic, and he doesn’t like to consider the possible
truth behind them.

According to the wall clock, at a little
after three a.m., Cory rises and dresses to go wherever he goes.
Somehow he senses that Simon is also not asleep. He stops at the
foot of Simon’s bed before leaving.

“I’m glad your sister made it here safely,
bro,’ and that… well, she didn’t suffer like her friend. If
anything ever happens to you, I’ll take care of her. You have my
word on it. I promise.”

Cory states this without asking
anything in return and without conditions. His friend is a man of
his word, too. Simon knows he wouldn’t offer something like this
without meaning it
entirely
. He
also knows that his sister and Cory don’t even get along well, but
he’s still putting forth a pledge to protect her above all else.
Before he can even respond, Cory leaves the cabin without another
comment.

Simon finally falls asleep a few
minutes later, but his dreams are plagued with nightmarish visions
of his sister coming to harm’s way
on
his watch because he makes a mistake.

Chapter Eight

Paige

“I just don’t know if this is going to be
enough bread!” Hannah exclaims as she turns out the last loaf from
a glass pan onto the stone surface of the island.

“Don’t worry, Hannie,” Reagan tells
her. “They’re cooking
like
a
whole damn cow or something, so it’ll be
fine
. Besides, men are going to concentrate on
eating the
meat,
not
bread.”

Paige grins. The kitchen smells insanely
good. They are all covered in flour, but it was worth it. They’ve
made yeast rolls, biscuits, and loaves of bread to take to Talia’s
wedding dinner.

“Don’t speak like a heathen in Grams’s
kitchen, Reagan Harrison!” Hannah corrects.

“Well, it’s enough bread,” Reagan
restates.

“Right,” Sue agrees. “And as soon as Paige
finishes with the Caprese salad, we’ll have that, too. The guys
took over the roasters full of sweet corn, and I have two trays of
cheeses cut up at my cabin that we’re taking. I’m gonna run out to
my house and see if Derek’s got any of my kids ready to go yet. I
seriously doubt it!”

Paige smiles and nods. Reagan snorts once and
laughs at her sister’s dilemma. Paige was given the task of cutting
up the remainder of the summer tomatoes and mixing them with basil,
oil, and chunks of mozzarella cheese that Sue and Reagan made
yesterday.

“Hey, Paige, if that dress
doesn’t work, let me know and I’ll send a few more over for you to
try on,” Sue says kindly, her brown hair pulled into such an
elegant chignon.

“Ok, thanks, Sue,” Paige calls to her before
the oldest sister dashes through the back door.

They should be leaving for the Reynolds
farm in a few hours, but they are still in the kitchen, which is
nothing unusual. She doesn’t want to be late for her friend’s
wedding, though. She and Sue have already been over there twice
today. Once to deliver flower arrangements that Sue spent all night
working on and the second time to deliver a small wedding cake and
four pies that Hannah and Sam had made last night. Chet flew over
on his four-wheeler a few hours ago to say that at last count
around thirty people from
town
were already there.
Fortunately,
he also said that they’ve all brought at least one covered
dish. Apparently everyone wants a day of celebration and joy and
not the usual chaos of building the wall and defending their town
from violent intruders. The McClane men went over last night to
offer chairs, benches and tables they’d dragged out of the
barns.

“This is finished,” Paige announces.

“Cool, let me get a couple containers,”
Reagan suggests and disappears into the pantry.

Hannah is smiling ear to ear. She’s in her
element. Reagan was right when she said that her sister would cheer
up if Cory ever came home. She has improved exponentially. He seems
to bring her a lot of joy. Paige can’t personally understand why
being around that Neanderthal would bring anyone joy, but,
nonetheless, she’s glad that Hannah is happier.

Reagan returns with glass containers and
lids, and they pour the tomato salad into them.

“I’d better hunt down Jacob and John,” Reagan
tells them. “There’s no telling what those two are up to or what
condition they are in. We need to get moving.”

“Agreed! Me, too,” Hannah exclaims as she
removes her white apron and hangs it on its hook near the door
while flailing her hands wildly around. “I should find Kelly. The
last I talked to him he said he was going outside to feed the cows.
Good grief! We’re going to be late. And Grandpa’s officiating!”

Paige laughs heartily at her new friends.
Their sisterly affection is contagious.

“And you need to get washed up, sis,” Reagan
tells Hannah. “You are covered in flour. It’s even in your hair,
Hannie. Better grab a quick shower. I’ll find the guys and get them
hustling.”