Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Closing In

AIDEN

Zach and I hike for the better part of the day, only pausing a few times to hydrate and refuel. What am I going to do about Zach? His questions are getting more insistent and specific, and I’m finding it harder to resist answering them. Now he’s asking about joining my group. I hold Zach off by sticking to short and vague answers to most of his questions. Eventually, he tires of not getting real answers, and we continue in silence for most of the afternoon.

It doesn’t help that he suddenly transformed into this adorable guy. I keep catching myself looking at him. His captivating eyes. His cute little nose. He’s smiling a lot more now, which brightens his entire face. Even the change of clothes after his shower is a big improvement. His old ones were dirty and frumpy, hanging on his body. Now, he’s wearing well-fitting blue jeans that accentuate his butt. And his T-shirt clings tighter to his slender frame. When he lifts his arms to take on and off his backpack, his shirt lifts, showing off his stomach.

But mostly, what that’s doing is dredging up feelings about Marcus, which I’ve been quite successful at burying. Until Zach, that is. In the last couple of days, Marcus has occupied more of my mind, forcing me to relive those terrible memories.

My original plan to strike off alone is still the best bet. The longer Zach stays with me, the more risk we are to each other. He’s in danger as long as he’s with me. And if I have to make hard choices, it’ll be tougher with another person around. So it has to happen.

If this car thing works out, I’ll stick around long enough to find another working car. Then we go our separate ways. He won’t be happy. But that can’t factor into my decision. He’ll have to adapt.

The shadows are getting long when we finally make it to the campground. It’s deep in the woods, off an unpaved Forest Service road. Zach was right. It feels remote, and we should be safe here for the night. It’ll be nice to have well water and vaulted toilets. Much better than having to boil water and dig holes in the woods.

I’m still nervous about being right in the campground, so I convince Zach to set up a few hundred feet into the woods. We find a nice flat spot for our tents, butting up to a massive boulder with a slightly concave side. As I dig into my backpack, I’m impressed by all the things Zach packed for us. For tonight, I take out an ultralight tent and chair, a bedroll, a lightweight sleeping bag, a small pot for cooking, a dehydrated meal pack, and fire-making tools.

“Wow, you really know how to pack a backpack, Zach.”

“Felix and I used to go backpacking for a week at a time. We had plans to do the Pacific Crest Trail at some point.”

“You must miss him a lot, huh?”

“Yeah—I do.”

Of course, he misses his boyfriend. Another reason to keep personal entanglements to a minimum. Getting in the way of his feelings for his true love is cruel. Even if we both know there’s a good chance Felix is no longer alive. Until he knows, acting on any feelings for me would be like him cheating on his boyfriend.

After we set up the tents and chairs, we risk a small, smokeless fire and warm up some water to rehydrate our meals. We mostly sit in silence throughout dinner.

Zach’s face is lit gently by the campfire light. He looks miles away. Probably thinking about Felix. I’m hit with this unexpected pang of jealousy. Where the hell did that come from? He turns and sees me staring at him. My instinct is to look away, but after looking down for a moment, I force my gaze back. We both watch each other for a bit with relaxed faces and warm smiles. No agenda. Just liking each other’s company.

What in the hell am I doing? Am I falling for him? Every instinct tells me this is a bad idea. But the feeling in the pit of my stomach says otherwise.

“Hey.” Zach breaks the silence. “You do know, when I’m sitting around a campfire, I can’t resist singing.”

“Zach, I would love to hear your amazing voice again.”

Zach’s face lights up with a big smile. It’s so sweet I can’t help but laugh.

“You’re so good at harmony,” Zach says. “Do you know ‘The Sound of Silence’?”

“I love that song. But you have to do Garfunkel. I can’t hit those notes.”

“You got it. I’ll sing the intro.”

Zach’s amazing voice rings out. His pitch is perfect, and his incredible timbre seems to hug every note. I almost hate to sing over that extraordinary voice. But when we hit the first verse, I come in with the harmony, and the notes combine beautifully.

At the end of the first verse, I close my eyes and let the music fill my entire consciousness. At this moment, I feel nothing but joy.

*

ZACH

The music we make together is so beautiful. Aiden said he wasn’t ready for new attachments. But isn’t it too late already? I saw the way he kept checking me out. And man, it was exciting. Every time I caught him looking my way, I had to fight back a smile. I haven’t felt this way about somebody in a very long time.

The flickering firelight dances on his face. His eyes are closed, and he focuses on the notes. I want to get close to him so our voices can blend more thoroughly. So I scoot my chair over until I’m right next to him. His lips form into a smile as I do. We’re almost touching.

When we get to the end of the song, Aiden opens his eyes, and I see nothing but joy. He looks straight into my eyes. I so desperately want to kiss him.

But then, his face transforms. The joy changes to something almost like fear. He turns his face to the fire and takes quick and shallow breaths. His fists clench, and he shuts his eyes tightly.

“Aiden?”

His face looks pained. When I reach out to touch his shoulder, he shrinks away from my hand as if it burns him.

“I’m sorry, Zach. I just—I can’t.”

He shuts his eyes again and takes slow breaths. When he opens them, they’re downcast. Fear is replaced by deep sadness.

“I’m sorry.” His voice cracks. “I need to sleep.”

He gets up from his chair, with shoulders slumped down, and heads to his tent looking shell-shocked. I’m so stunned by the sudden change I can only watch him walk away.

I sit by the fire and contemplate what happened. In a matter of moments, Aiden went from joyous to almost panicked. There’s something more there that he’s not telling me. More than losing Marcus. That was terror in his eyes. The Great Collapse has spared no one from the beast called trauma. And some are in an active battle with it.

I’m lost in thought until the last embers die down to nothing. Then I head off to my tent and go to sleep.

*

I wake in the middle of the night. A noise woke me. I’m sure of it. But now, I only hear the sounds of the forest. Then it happens again, and I recognize it. The crunching of boots on gravel. But it’s muted and far away. Through the window of my tent, flashlights shine around. My heart races, and I reach for my gun. But like the footsteps, the flashlights are several hundred feet away. In the campground.

There are two, or maybe three, people. They speak in hushed tones. The beam from a flashlight shoots off into the woods once or twice. Another heads in our direction. I flick off the safety on my rifle, ready for anything. More hushed voices. And then, the flashlight moves again, and the crunching of gravel fades away as the figures continue on.

The tension in my body releases, but I stay frozen in place until long after they are gone. Then I head to Aiden’s tent. Dawn is not far off, with the blackness of the sky turning into a deep purple.

“Aiden, wake up,” I whisper.

“I’m awake,” he says through the tent flap.

“Did you see them?”

“Yes. We should go. Now.”

We pack as fast as we can. Dawn is arriving quickly. If people are still in the area, we want to be mobile. Instead of returning to the campground, we take a wide berth around it. We meet back up with the northern Forest Service road but stay a hundred feet to the west of it.

The forest hampers our progress. After an hour of slow going, we risk heading back to the road. The junkyard is at least an eight-hour hike, and I want to be sure we have plenty of sunlight left to find the car, get it running, and hit the road. I’m also looking forward to seeing Ezra again.

We’ve barely spoken a word since we left camp. I’m almost afraid to say anything, unsure of what Aiden’s reaction will be. If he wants to talk about what happened at the campfire, I’ll let him make the first move. It needs to be on his terms.

After close to an hour of silence, he finally speaks.

“Zach. About last night. Sorry for how I reacted. I’m dealing with some stuff.”

“You can talk to me about it if you want.”

He gives a sad laugh. “Thanks. Maybe eventually.”

“Okay,” I say quietly.

He said he doesn’t want attachments, but I’m getting mixed signals. And I’m as light as a feather each time he’s nice to me. I try to convince myself that we shouldn’t get close, and I should fight the attraction. But if I’m honest with myself, that’s not what I want at all. I’m so confused.

We’re both eager to reach our destination, so we only stop once for a quick break at lunch. As we head out of the mountains, the trees get sparser, replaced by rolling golden hills of grassland. That means we’re nearing the junkyard, but it also means we’re more exposed.

I survey the surroundings. “I figure we’re less than an hour away.”

“Okay. So tell me a little of what to expect when we get there.”

“Well, it’s just Ezra and his junkyard. In the middle of nowhere. He’s on the outskirts of some town, but I’m not even sure what it’s called.”

“And you’re sure he’ll give us his car?”

“Yeah, that’s what he said.” In reality, he said he’d trade it for all my supplies. And I’d be glad to do that. But that assumes Connor and his gang haven’t trashed the vault. I keep this little detail to myself. We can deal with it when the time comes.

“What kind—” Aiden cuts himself off, craning his neck to listen. “Car! Quick, hide!”

The trees have thinned out, but we find a drainage ditch with some scrub brush covering it. It’s not perfect, but it’ll have to do. I only hope we took cover quickly enough before anybody saw us. We’re lucky Aiden has such good hearing and detected the cars quickly.

We both lie flat on our stomachs in the dirt. The sound of tires on gravel is now clear. The cold steel of the rifle in my hand is ready if the vehicles stop near us.

I push myself up enough to see several large trucks with enormous wheels speeding our way, kicking up a massive cloud of dust in their wake. Flags mounted on the rear of the trucks flap furiously in the wind. They’re all black, with a golden image of a snake wrapping itself around a rifle.

As I hunker back down, my pulse quickens as the sound of the trucks gets louder. Aiden looks over at me, clearly alarmed by my reaction. His look of worry is making it worse. My throat constricts, and I’m finding it hard to breathe.

The trucks are driving right by us now, the engine sounds loud and throaty. Tires kick up the gravel, flying all over us, and we’re blanketed with a cloud of dust.

I’m overwhelmed with the sudden urge to run, certain they will find us. I move to get up, wanting to get away as quickly as possible. Aiden puts a hand on my chest. I lurch from it, but he holds me down gently but firmly and whispers in my ear.

“It’s going to be okay, Zach.”

His touch and voice combined are enough to calm me and let me catch my breath. I inhale deeply, slowing my pulse.

And then they pass.

The sound of engines and gravel gets quieter. I exhale, relief flooding over me. My panic dissipates quickly.

Aiden looks me in the eye. “You okay?”

I nod. “Yeah. Thanks. Sorry I freaked out.”

We lie there, unmoving and quiet, until the dust settles and the sound of the trucks has long faded.

“That was the flag of the Freedom Liberation Army.” Aiden’s eyebrows draw together. “They might have been the ones at the camp too. We can’t assume these roads are safe anymore. Let’s keep our guard up.”

My fear from earlier is turning into low-grade anger. Anger for being chased and for not knowing why. And from being kept in the dark.

I turn to Aiden, my whole body tense. “I need to know more about what we’re up against. My life is in danger, and I don’t have a clue as to why. I barely know the first thing about you.”

“I told you, Zach. It’s for your own good.”

“That’s bullshit. You have to give me something.”

Aiden stands there, his jaws clenched. He breathes in deeply a few times. “Okay. If we start walking again, I’ll fill you in. But I’m going to start at the beginning.”