The Undesirable (Undesirable Series) (22 page)

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

My eyes fly open, but I don’t move.

“Charlotte!” says Fostino. “Charlotte, I know you’re back there!” I don’t get up. I still don’t move. Fostino switches on a blue flashlight, shines it down the aisle, and moves toward the back of the store. “I shot him in the back of the head, Charlotte.” He gets closer with every sentence. “Do you hear me? I shot him. He’s dead. I promise. I won’t shoot you.” He’s almost to the back of the store now.

I gulp and croak out some words. “But what about the rewar—“

“I lied, Charlotte, I had to. I lied to keep us alive.” When he turns to the corner, I can tell he’s breathing hard. “I had to make him trust me, so he’d be easier to kill.” He kneels down next to me. “Oh, God. Are you okay? What is this on you? Is this your blood? Did Nelson hurt you?”

When I don’t respond right away, he yanks me to him. His hands search my hair, he pushes tendrils out of my eyes and wipes away some of the blood spatter on my face. He repeats himself. “You okay? Are you okay? Oh, God. Oh, my God.” He mumbles in my ear and it’s almost incoherent. “I can’t take this, not now. Please, God—”

“I’m okay,” I mutter into his tight chest. I hear every one of his ragged breaths and I match them with my own. Adrenaline pushes through every vein in my body and my heart races as I process what just happened. “I should be dead,” I say as I try to slow down the strong beats of my heart. “I should be dead right now.” 

“You aren’t,” he says. “You’re not dead.” Fostino pulls my head away from his chest.  His right hand massages my tight neck as I stare into his beautiful, soulful, wistful eyes. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” he says again and again. Each time he says it, the words start to soothe me. I never want him to stop.

Before I know it, his nose rubs my forehead, a hand grabs my neck, and he pulls my lips to his. I kiss him back with force. My tongue searches for his and my heartbeat slows down even as we increase our speed. I am terrified and safe at the same time. Then, just as fast as we began, he stops us.

“We have to get out of here soon,” he says, and even I can hear the concern in his voice. “No, now.”

“You killed a member of The Party,” I say in the darkness. “You did it for me.”

“Yes, I did. I did it to save you.”

I glance back at the door to the secret bunker in the store. “I think I killed Nelson, too. I stabbed him down there, twice. I didn’t check for sure. I just ran up here and I—” My voice cracks as I speak the last words. “I thought you and that man were going to kill me. I thought you’d betrayed me.” All of the sudden, I stand up as the reality of what has just happened hits me.

He stands up too, and his hands grip mine. “I’ll never betray you, Charlotte. I want to keep you safe.”

Now I really am crying. “I just can’t believe we almost died here in this store, like this.”

“Shh, stop saying that,” Fostino says. “You’re not going to die. We’re not going to die. Not now. I won’t let us.” Then, he shifts his weight and pulls me a few steps down the aisle. “But I don’t want to stay here any longer. We have to get out of here. Now. Please.” He glances at the door. “Now. No time to waste. Nelson might still be alive. Come on.”

Before I reply, he takes my hand, pulls me up, and propels me up the rest of the aisle. We pass right by the body of the dead member of The Party.

“I want to see him,” I tell Fostino. He shines the light on the man. He lies face down on the floor as the blood and brains from his head spill out from the wound in his head. The blue light from the dropped flashlight shows us how much blood he has lost. There’s no doubt this man is dead.

“Ugh,” I say as my stomach turns. “It’s just so awful.”

“Yeah, death is not pretty.” Fostino mutters. “Let’s go.” He nods at me and we both run out the door to the Humvee.

A few moments later, we pull out onto the street and start down the road.

“Okay, Charlotte. Focus,” Fostino says, his urgent tone still unmistakable. “Do you know the rest of the way?”

“Yes,” I reply, and point down the road. “It’s a straight shot from here. We’re over halfway to Lake Erie. It won’t be long now.” 

*

Fostino cuts the engine as he pulls the Humvee off the road at the familiar bend along the Michigan shoreline. The car rolls to a stop and we both get out. He takes my hand and we walk to the shoreline of Lake Erie. I breathe out a sigh of relief because I can’t believe we’re at the shoreline. Our new home lies across the lake.

Still in survival mode, I peek at my Hologram Watch. It’s 4:15 AM.

“There’s the speedboat,” I say with relief. For once in my life, the time reassures me. I smile a little in the morning darkness. “We take it to get to Canada.” I point across the lake. “Amherstburg and the safe house for the SSR— it’s over there.”

“I’m glad the speedboat is here.” Fostino squeezes my left hand. I can see him clearly in the fading moonlight.

“Me too. God, up until this second I couldn’t convince myself it would be.” I laugh. Then I study him a little. “You know, I’ve always wondered something.”

“What?”

I bite my lip as I think of how to phrase the question. “Remember that night in the cornfield?”

“Yes.” He looks at me sideways as his hands tighten on the wheel of the Humvee. “What about it?”

I lean closer to him. “You said you’d tell me more sometime about the final decision they made about you being a pilot. So, what was it?”

For the first time since I’ve known him, Fostino gives me a huge, confident, radiant smile. “I failed their personality test to get into pilot training. I passed every category — leadership, academics, athletics. But then I failed the last one.” He reaches a hand off the steering wheel and brushes a few pieces of hair off my face. “Conformity.”  His laughter fills the vehicle. “Can you believe that? That’s what I failed. Conformity.”

I laugh, too, harder than I have in a long time. “I guess they were right about you. And me.”

“Know what?” He holds up his wrist and unclasps his Hologram Watch. Then he throws it in the water. “There. That’s what they can do with their conformity.”

I follow his lead and giggle some more when the watch hits the water. “I always hated those things.”

“Me too.” Fostino keeps laughing and speeds up the car a little.

We don’t look back.

“The sun will come up pretty soon. We should be across the lake by then.” Fostino pulls me closer to kiss my cheek. I hear relief in his voice when he says the next words. “Looks like it won’t take us long.”

We’re at the boat now. We both watch at it as it rocks back and forth in the muddy water.

Fostino bites his lip. “I wish Farrah had come with us, and my mother. I hate what happened to them.” He rubs one hand across his forehead.

“I know.” I give him a sympathetic half smile. “It hurts me, too.”

“You know, Char,” Fostino says after about five minutes. “The Party’s not finished with us. There’s no way in hell that this is over. Not at all.” He makes a vague gesture to the South. “And I think we just raised the stakes a little bit.”

“You’re right, but I don’t care.” I grit my teeth and put my hands on the speedboat. Fostino follows my lead. I take a deep breath before we both start to push it in the water. “We’ve got work to do once we get across, but for the first time since I found out who my father really is, I’m ready to do it.” I toss him another grin. “Come on. Freedom waits.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Undesirable
began as a series of strange dreams I felt compelled to write down. Over time the story grew, and before I knew it I wrote every chance I could. Creating this book became my passion. I willingly gave it every second of spare time I had.

This work is dedicated to my Dad. He and I shared a love of reading and writing. I hope somewhere in heaven, he knows I have finished this novel.

Like so many projects, this book would never have succeeded without the support and encouragement of so many people. I have so many people to thank.

First, I must thank my husband, Sean. Without your love, I would never have finished this project. You are my rock. You believe in me when I don’t believe in myself.

Second, I must thank the rest of my immediate family. My parents have always lifted me up, convinced I would one day sit down and write a novel. Mom and Greg, thank you for your love and support. Thank you for always being there for me. And to my extended family of grandparents, stepsisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, brother-in-law, mother-in-law, and father-in-law: thank you as well for all the love you have shown me.

Jennifer: I can’t thank you enough for the final copy edits for
The Undesirable
. While no work is ever error free, you caught mistakes no one else did. 

Cynthia, Mary Karen, Josselyn, Allegra, and Lisa: you ladies are amazing. You were so much more than beta readers. You provided awesome feedback, criticism, support, and insight as this book went through the editing process. Fostino and Charlotte’s survival story is stronger because of each of you. They are better characters because of your help. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

To Chuck: thank you for giving this book one last read. It needed an English teacher’s eyes.

Zach, Amy S., Britnee, Sarah M., Danielle, Katie C., Tasia, Beth, Brian, La’Tasha, Dave, Sara P., Madeline, Amy W., Katy C., Meghan, Blaine, Samara, Gene, Leah, Jacob, Angie, Kate B., Sarah W. and Amanda: thank you for your friendship. Without each of you to lend an encouraging ear or be a sounding board for this story, I don’t think I would have ever completed this work. I needed cheerleaders, and you all didn’t hesitate. Many of you even took late night phone calls to discuss the story. Words can’t express my appreciation.

To my lifelong high school and elementary school friends: thank you for always being there. Each of you has been there through so much of my life. I can’t imagine life without you. Over the years, you heard me say I wanted to write a novel. I finally did it!

Finally, to my readers: thank you. Thank you for taking a chance and downloading this book. Thank you for reading. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

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