Sole Survivors: Crux Survivors, Book 2 Page 5

  “We lost my sister a year ago.” Tripp’s voice was barely audible because of the rain and his tone. He stared at the pickles. “She would have loved these.”

  “I’m sorry.” She reached out, hesitated, then touched the sleeve of his brown coat. “I know what that’s like. Not a sister, but a father…and a husband.”

  He raised his face. “You were married? When? After the Crux?”

  She nodded. “I was nineteen when my father and I found Dax scavenging one of the buildings in town. He was with us about four years and I miss him every single day. My dad died three years ago.”

  “Are there other people?”

  “Just me.”

  “You’ve been completely alone for three years?”

  She nodded again.

  “I don’t think I could do it.” He ate another pickle. “These are really good.” He put the lid on the jar. “I’ll save these to share with Chase. I have nightmares about losing him. I almost did.”

  Keera tapped her cheek. “The scars?”

  “Yeah. He was shot when our sister was. Two other people lived with us at the time and they were both killed as well. I didn’t know how to help my brother. I just sat there for weeks, feeding him and dressing the wounds, but they healed all wrong. I should have sewed them closed, done something differently.”

  “He’s still alive, Tripp.”

  “I didn’t think he’d live. I had to dig one of the bullets out of his chest and he wouldn’t stop bleeding. I thought he was going to lose an eye. And his face…”

  “He has a great face,” Keera blurted out. She bit her lip, feeling that heat crawling into her cheeks this time.

  Tripp started to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “He does, doesn’t he? It’s kind of fierce. He got our father’s eyes.”

  “You both have blue eyes.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t get that cool narrowing by the nose. Makes his stare kind of—”

  “Shivery.” Oops. She hadn’t meant to let that word pop out.

  This time, he laughed. “Not a word I would have chosen. Well maybe when I was younger and he was pissed at me. But it was a different kind of shiver, you know?”

  “Sorry. That things slip out thing happens to me too, apparently. It’s been a while since anyone heard me, though.”

  Quiet filled the car, then both of them leaned forward to look out of the windshield when the rain suddenly let up. Water still streamed from the tree above her car, but the relentless pounding stopped.

  “So, do you remember where you guys parked the RV? I’m sure I can get the car there. Does your stove still work?”

  “Yeah, Chase and I both got pretty good at fixing that. Cooked food—so much better than raw.”

  “We’ll see how you two like my gumbo.”

  Chase watched Keera and his brother get out of her little electric car. Keera wore a bomber jacket, jeans and black work boots. Pair of boots like that would sure come in handy while hunting. Her green jacket looked fairly new too—the material vaguely familiar to him. Weatherproof, if he remembered correctly. She had her black hair up in a ponytail.

  She made his mouth water.

  Tripp’s mouth moved a mile a minute and though Keera nodded and murmured back to him often, her gaze locked on Chase. Felt like someone punched him in the gut. They stared at each other and he wondered if she felt it, the connection that was tearing his gut into knots. He tore his gaze away from hers.

  His brother finally took his eyes off Keera and when they focused on the people standing by the semi-truck half hidden by trees, he went still.

  Then he pulled his gun and took aim.

  Keera looked startled.

  Chase turned to find Ross and Dorian aiming their guns right back.

  “Wait!” Chase yelled, running toward his brother. “They aren’t raiders!”

  “How do you know?” Tripp asked, his mouth curling at one corner, his aim never wavering.

  “I just do. Lower the gun, Tripp.” Chase glanced at Keera only to find a knife in each of her hands. He grinned, couldn’t help it. “They’re good people. Promise.”

  “Scumbag raiders look just like you and me, Chase.” The expression on Tripp’s face was the hardest Chase had ever seen on it.

  “We aren’t raiders.”

  Chase stopped at the hesitant voice, his eyes widening when he got a good look at the skinny kid with shoulder-length blond hair who stepped between Jenna and Ross. He hadn’t come into the RV with the others and though Chase had seen him before, he hadn’t been able to really get a good look at his face. He only came up to Dorian’s shoulders and his green eyes stood out even from this distance. Chase had thought Dorian was pretty for a guy, but this kid was something else. His narrow features had an elegant cast that made him seem almost surreal—like those elves in the old movie Tripp loved about hobbits and a ring.

  The boy cleared his throat. “I promise we aren’t raiders. These people wouldn’t hurt anyone. Trust me, I know.”

  Chase looked back to find Tripp standing perfectly still, his mouth open as he stared at the kid.

  “This is Cadmar,” Jenna said, stepping around Dorian to put her arm around the boy’s shoulders. “He speaks the truth. We’re only here because we saw your brother lurking around our camp.”

  “I wasn’t lurking. I heard shots. Thought you might have my brother.”

  “You were lurking.” She grinned. “But you’re forgiven.”

  They’d been here a couple of hours, all but the boy huddling in his RV while the rain had been hardest. He liked them. A lot. Ross was a big man who carried his heart on his sleeve. He looked at the other two like they were made of something more precious than gold—though that particular metal was no longer precious. Dorian, elegant, interesting and kind of nosy, had proved right away that he had serious brains going on under all those black curls. Jenna…well, she was something else. Like Dorian, long legged and lean and strong and so damned gorgeous, Chase had to stop himself from staring. He had a feeling neither of the two men with her would appreciate it.

  Tripp lowered his gun, gaze still stuck on Cadmar. “That’s your name? Really?”

  “Tripp,” Chase admonished. “Like you have room to talk.”

  He chuckled. “True. But we both have verbs for names.” He walked closer to Cadmar, head tilted to the side. “You like movies, Cad?”

  The younger kid shuddered. “That ain’t a nickname I like. You get why, right? And I don’t know if I like movies. Never seen one.”

  “Tripp.” Chase touched his arm. “The player broke, remember?”

  Tripp’s shoulders slumped. “That’s right.”

  “I have several.” Keera squared her shoulders, stared hard at Chase, then walked slowly toward him until she could talk low. “You sure they weren’t with the others?”

  He kept from showing his surprise with effort. She had no reason to trust him outside of his help yesterday. “I’ve been with them a couple of hours. My gut says no.”

  Jenna smiled at Keera. “We’re on our way to a farm north of here. Cadmar’s parents are being held there by the bad guys. You live near here?”

  Keera hugged her arms to her chest. “Maybe. You with that kid you’re hugging?”

  Cadmar scowled. “She’s not, but she could be. I’m nineteen—not a kid.”

  Ross chuckled. “Jenna is with me and with this one.” He pointed at Dorian. “I’m Ross and this is Dorian and Jenna. We’ve been together since we were kids. Well, not together, together that long…” He broke off, cheeks turning red.

  Dorian threw his head back and laughed. Chase lifted his eyebrows at the pure joy of the sound. He’d forgotten what it was like to hear laughter. Real laughter. He hadn’t heard any since Maggie.

  “Ha ha, Dorian,” Ross mumbled. “What I meant is we’ve known each other since we were kids. We weren’t together. Well, we were but not the way I made it sound. What I meant was—”

  “Damn, Boss, just shut up.” Do
rian walked to the bigger man and rose on his toes to kiss him. He grinned at Ross until Ross smiled back. He then turned back to Keera. “We are together together now—that is all that matters. Do you have family at home?”

  She shook her head. “It’s just been me about three years.”

  He frowned. “I’m sorry. Would you like to join us for some food? We were about to combine some—canned veggies from us and some of the food packs Chase so generously offered.”

  Keera stepped closer to Chase. It surprised him, but also filled him with warmth. There was an implicit trust being offered…one he hadn’t earned yet.

  “I brought food for Chase and Tripp. We can eat that instead.” She touched his arm but still spoke to the others. “I grow and can my own food. There’s enough gumbo for everyone. There’s also deer sausage. Fresh.”

  The younger kid took another step forward. “Deer sausage? I haven’t had that since I was home.” He smiled, still looking at Tripp more than anyone else.

  Tripp nearly fell over his own feet as he lurched back toward Keera’s little car. “I’ll get the food.”

  Keera chuckled.

  Chase watched her, hardly able to take his eyes away. “Thanks for bringing the food.”

  “I brought some clothes, too. They might fit. Most of them were set aside for my father and he was shorter than both of you. But the ones that belonged to Dax should fit you both. They’ll just be a little wide.”

  He wondered who Dax had been when he saw the shadow that passed over her expression when she said his name. Chase stuck his finger through a hole in the thigh of his jeans. “This is my best pair.”

  She smiled and his heart lurched into his throat. She had full, full lips and they stretched into a wide smile that lit up her whole face. “I have a better idea.” She took a deep breath, tightened her fingers on his arm and called out. “Hey Tripp? Instead of unloading that now, how about we all go to my place? I have a nice, big fire pit and a pot. We can heat up a lot of gumbo.”

  He stood by the car, the excitement on his face bright. “Sure, okay.”

  Keera looked back at Chase. “It’s safer there, a lot farther off the road and if more raiders show up, we can barricade ourselves inside. It’s a warehouse, camouflaged, and my father built it with high windows great for firing if needed.”

  “Wow. Sounds about perfect.” He lowered his voice. “Are you sure you trust us…all of us…enough to take us there?”

  “No.”

  He lifted his scarred eyebrow.

  “I don’t trust any of you fully yet, but I’ve done nothing but be alone and prepare for the future for a long, long time. If I want more, I have to take some chances, right?”

  “For what it’s worth, I believe these are all good people.”

  “Then it’s not much of a chance, is it?”

  Chapter Five

  She’d made the decision to risk bringing all these people to her home. Once she made a firm choice, she always followed through, but Keera couldn’t stop her hands shaking as she led the two other vehicles to her warehouse. Built to blend, the green and brown building nestled in the midst of a thick stand of trees. The small clearing let in enough sunlight to power the solar panels on her roof. From the outside the warehouse didn’t look like much. Just a square, metal building with a large garage door on the right side. Her fenced-off garden was on the right and wrapped around the back. In the spring and summer it would be overgrown with plants, but now it was bare. She parked her car, jumped out and opened the garage door so she could pull her car inside. But she hesitated, left the car out when she remembered they had yet to unpack her gifts. She held up a hand to tell Chase and Ross to stop their vehicles. They’d have to leave them outside. Her warehouse held the car, but with the built-in apartment, there wasn’t room for more.

  The noise of their engines sounded so foreign in her normally quiet home. She hugged her arms to herself, trying to calm her nerves.

  Tripp and Cadmar jumped out of the RV as soon as Chase turned the engine off. They walked up to the open garage, Tripp looking inside while Cadmar chattered at him. She wondered if the younger man had once taken his eyes off Tripp—even in the RV.

  Chase got out of the RV, his gaze going to her first, then around the area, before coming back to her. He looked so tough standing there with his muscles bulging in his crossed arms and his scruffy hair and beard picking up light from the sun. He’d pulled on a long-sleeved flannel shirt over a T-shirt that had faded to a grayish color. Neither shirt was thick enough to ward off the chill in the air today.

  “Oh,” she breathed. “I forgot to give this to you right away.” She opened one of the back doors on her car and pulled out his jacket. “Thanks for loaning this to me yesterday. I have another in my car I think will fit you too.”

  “Thanks.” He took the jacket, lifted it toward his face, then stopped abruptly to squeeze it in his fists.

  She thought he almost sniffed his coat. Butterflies filled her stomach at the thought of him trying to get a whiff of her.

  “This place is great,” he murmured, faint red filling his cheeks as if he realized she’d caught his intention.

  “My father picked this heavily wooded spot when I was little. He called it our private getaway and we kept only the places close to the warehouse trimmed while letting everything else grow wild.”

  “It was a good idea. I couldn’t see the place until we were right up on it.”

  “Nice garden area.” Dorian said as he came up to them. He’d tied his shoulder-length black hair into a short tail. His eyes looked huge and dark in his narrow face. “Do you have a greenhouse?”

  She shook her head. “No, but I grow some stuff inside the warehouse with growing lamps. Herbs, tomatoes and peppers.”

  “Any fruit trees?”

  She nodded. “Out back. Peach, apple and avocado trees.”

  “Really?” He came up on his toes, excitement making his dark eyes sparkle. “Please tell me you’ve saved avocado seeds.”

  When he grinned, Keera’s eyes widened. Holy shit, the man was a looker. “Of course. I’ve even got a couple of small trees growing in pots. Feel free to go see. The adult trees are around back. The babies are inside the warehouse.”

  “Thanks.” He turned, his long, elegant legs moving quickly.

  Keera watched him go. She couldn’t help it.

  “I know. It’s hard not to look at him, isn’t it?” Jenna came up to her and lifted her hand to shield the sun from her eyes.

  “Sorry,” Keera murmured.

  “Don’t be. I’ve been watching him since we were kids and look.” She pointed at Ross, who stood next to the back of the semi-truck. He’d paused while opening the back to watch Dorian stride toward the backyard. “Everyone watches him. I’ve even caught Cadmar peeking a time or two. Dorian just has a way about him.” She waved at the warehouse. “Damn, it’s so exciting to meet you people. And this place is so cool! You know I’m dying to see inside, right?”

  Keera grinned. “Come on, I’ll show you all. Should we wait for Dorian?”

  Her blonde hair bobbed in its ponytail as she shook her head. “He’ll wander in after a while. He’ll explore the garden first.”

  Pride filled Keera as she led them in through the open garage door. The plans for the place were originally created for a type of construction office with a big, open space and stairs that led up to offices. Her father had built the office part as a two bedroom apartment instead. She had a fully functioning kitchen, bathroom and anything else she needed.

  Chase hadn’t said a word but he’d followed them and he stood inside, big arms crossed as he took in the long tables built against the entire left wall. They broke only for the stairs, then continued on to the other side. She’d installed the grow lamps herself and the long surfaces were covered in plants she grew throughout the year. “I keep tomatoes and peppers going all year. Lots of good nutrients in them. Cucumbers too.” She pointed at the trellis where huge, green leav
es peeked out from the vines that had wrapped the white wood. “I also grow a lot of herbs for cooking and tea.”

  Chase touched one of the ripe tomatoes, walked a couple of steps and just stopped.

  She followed his gaze to the green bell peppers. “Those have done really well this year. I’m letting some turn red, but there are so many feel free to pick as many as you want.” She looked at Jenna. “You too. The tomatoes are good. I have way too many of those so I’ve canned a lot of them. I have enough canned to last years, but I grow them fresh because there is nothing like eating them right off the vine.”

  He still didn’t take anything. “I haven’t had a fresh tomato or a pepper in a long time. I think I’ll wait until I can sit down and enjoy them.” He turned to look down at her. “Thank you.”

  His low, deep voice and the intensity in that sharp, blue stare drew the air from her lungs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jenna smile and wander to the herb end of the indoor garden. Keera stared back at Chase, wondering if he was feeling even an inkling of the crazy emotion that ran through her. She could see his attraction to her in the way he looked at her, in the flare of his nostrils. He’d stared at her body back at the creek…but any man would have stared at the way that wet shirt had fit her.

  Nerves hit her so hard, she stepped back.

  Chase frowned.

  “I’m going to get my pot for the gumbo. Why don’t you two come up with me? See the apartment? I have hot water in the shower if anyone would like to use it.”

  “I love you already,” Jenna murmured as she followed Keera up the stairs. “This place is fantastic. Did your father install the ledges under the upper windows, too? I take it you use that long metal tool to bring down the rope ladders?”

  “Yeah, my dad liked to be prepared. He always said the only way raiders would get us out would be to burn us out. He couldn’t figure out a way to keep that from happening. I did stop him from digging trenches around the property, though I think that’s what he was starting when he fell and broke his leg.” Stupid infection had gotten her father in the end. Pushing away the sadness, Keera opened the door to her apartment. “This part wasn’t built for comfort—just efficiency. But I have replacement parts for everything and have managed to keep it all going.” She frowned when Chase didn’t follow them in, then stepped back outside the door to find he stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Come on. You’re welcome to use the shower, have something to drink.”